§26.30.1Permutatis provinciis Siculi in senatum introducti multa de Hieronis regis fide perpetua erga populum Romanum verba fecerunt in gratiam publicam avertentes; §26.30.2Hieronymum ac postea Hippocraten atque Epicyden tyrannos cum ob alia tum propter defectionem ab Romanis ad Hannibalem invisos fuisse sibi.
When the provinces had been exchanged, the Sicilians, being introduced into the senate, spoke at length about the constant loyalty of King Hiero toward the Roman people, turning it to the public credit; they asserted that the tyrant Hieronymus, and afterwards Hippocrates and Epicydes, had been hated by them both for other reasons and especially because of their defection from the Romans to Hannibal.
ob eam causam et Hieronymum a principibus iuventutis prope publico consilio interfectum, §26.30.3et in Epicydis Hippocratisque caedem septuaginta nobilissimorum iuvenum coniurationem factam; quos Marcelli mora destitutos, quia ad praedictum tempus exercitum ad Syracusas non admovisset, indicio facto omnis ab tyrannis interfectos.
For that reason, Hieronymus also had been killed by the leaders of the youths, almost by a public conspiracy; and that for the murder of Epicydes and Hippocrates, a conspiracy of seventy of the noblest youths had been formed; but, being abandoned through the delay of Marcellus, because he had not moved his army to Syracuse at the appointed time, they had all been killed by the tyrants after information was given.
§26.30.4eam quoque Hippocratis et Epicydis tyrannidem Marcellum excitasse Leontinis crudeliter direptis.
They added that Marcellus had also excited that tyranny of Hippocrates and Epicydes by cruelly plundering Leontini.
§26.30.5numquam deinde principes Syracusanorum desisse ad Marcellum transire pollicerique se urbem, cum vellet, ei tradituros; sed eum primo vi capere maluisse;
Thereafter, the leaders of the Syracusans had never ceased to go over to Marcellus and to promise that they would deliver the city to him whenever he wished; but he had preferred at first to take it by force.
§26.30.6dein, cum id neque terra neque maria omnia expertus potuisset, auctores traditarum Syracusarum fabrum aerarium Sosim et Moericum Hispanum quam principes Syracusanorum habere, totiens id nequiquam ultro offerentis, praeoptasse, quo scilicet iustiore de causa vetustissimos socios populi Romani trucidaret ac diriperet.
Then, when he had been unable to achieve this after trying everything by land and sea, he preferred to have as the authors of the surrender of Syracuse the coppersmith Sosis and the Spaniard Moericus rather than the leaders of the Syracusans, who had so many times offered it in vain of their own accord, clearly in order that he might have a more justifiable excuse to slaughter and plunder the oldest allies of the Roman people.
§26.30.7si non Hieronymus ad Hannibalem defecisset, sed populus Syracusanus et senatus, si portas Marcello Syracusani publice et non oppressis Syracusanis tyranni eorum Hippocrates et Epicydes clausissent, si Carthaginiensium animis bellum cum populo Romano gessissent, §26.30.8quid ultra quam quod fecerit, nisi ut deleret Syracusas, facere hostiliter Marcellum potuisse?
If it had been not Hieronymus who had defected to Hannibal, but the Syracusan people and senate; if the Syracusans had officially closed their gates against Marcellus, and not their tyrants Hippocrates and Epicydes while the Syracusans were oppressed; if they had waged war against the Roman people with the spirit of Carthaginians, what more hostile act could Marcellus have done, beyond what he actually did, unless he were to utterly destroy Syracuse?
§26.30.9certe praeter moenia et tecta exhausta urbis et refracta ac spoliata deum delubra, dis ipsis ornamentisque eorum ablatis, nihil relictum Syracusis esse, bona quoque multis adempta, §26.30.10ita ut ne nudo quidem solo, reliquiis direptae fortunae, alere sese ac suos possent.
Certainly, except for the walls and empty houses of the city, and the broken and plundered temples of the gods, the gods themselves and their ornaments having been carried away, nothing had been left in Syracuse, and property had also been taken away from many, so that they could not support themselves and their families even on the bare soil, the only remnant of their plundered fortune.
orare se patres conscriptos, ut, si nequeant omnia, saltem quae compareant cognoscique possint; restitui dominis iubeant.
They begged the conscript fathers that, if they could not restore everything, they would at least order that whatever appeared and could be identified be restored to its owners.
§26.30.11talia conquestos cum excedere ex templo, ut de postulatis eorum patres consuli possent, §26.30.12Laevinus iussisset, “maneant immo,” inquit Marcellus, “ut coram iis respondeam, quando ea condicione pro vobis, patres conscripts, bella gerimus, at victos armis accusatores habeamus, duae captae hoc anno urbes, Capua Fulvium reum, Marcellum Syracusae habeant. ”
When they had made these complaints, and Laevinus had ordered them to withdraw from the temple, 'Nay, rather let them remain,' said Marcellus, 'that I may answer in their presence, since we wage wars for you, conscript fathers, on such terms that we have those conquered by arms as our accusers; let the two cities captured this year have Capua holding Fulvius as defendant, and Syracuse holding Marcellus.'