§26.33.1Campanis deinde senatus datus est, quorum oratio miserabilior, causa durior erat.
Then the Campanians were granted an audience before the senate; their speech was more pitiable, but their cause was harder.
§26.33.2neque enim meritas poenas negare poterant, nec tyranni erant, in quos culpam conferrent; §26.33.3sed satis pensum poenarum tot veneno absumptis, tot securi percussis senatoribus credebant: paucos nobilium superesse, quos nec sua conscientia, ut quicquam de se gravius consulerent, impulerit, nec victoris ira capitis damnaverit; eos libertatem sibi suisque et bonorum aliquam partem orare, cives Romanos adfinitatibus plerosque et propinquis etiam cognationibus ex conubio vetusto iunctos.
For they could not deny the punishment they had deserved, nor were there any tyrants upon whom they could shift the blame; but they believed that sufficient penalty had been paid, since so many senators had been carried off by poison and so many beheaded; they argued that only a few of the nobles survived, whom neither their own conscience had impelled to take any more severe measures against themselves, nor the victor's wrath had condemned to death; and that these were entreating for liberty for themselves and their families and some portion of their property, being men who, for the most part, were joined to Roman citizens by marriages of long standing, and by close ties of affinity and even of blood relationship.
§26.33.4summotis deinde e templo paulisper dubitatur, an arcessendus a Capua Q. Fulvius esset — mortuus enim post captam Claudius consul erat —, ut coram imperatore, qui res gessisset, sicut inter Marcellum Siculosque disceptatum fuerat, disceptaretur.
After they had been removed from the temple for a short time, there was some hesitation as to whether Q. Fulvius ought to be summoned from Capua—for the consul Claudius had died after the capture of the city—so that the debate might be conducted in the presence of the commander who had carried out the operations, just as had been done between Marcellus and the Sicilians.
§26.33.5dein cum M. Atilium C. Fulvium fratrem Flacci, legatos eius, et Q. Minucium et L. Veturium Philonem, item Claudii legatos, qui omnibus gerendis rebus adfuerant, in senatu viderent nec Fulvium avocari a Capua nec differri Campanos vellent, §26.33.6interrogatus sententiam M. Atilius Regulus, cuius ex iis, qui ad Capuam fuerant, maxima auctoritas erat,
Then, when they saw in the senate M. Atilius and C. Fulvius, the brother of Flaccus, who had been his legates, and Q. Minucius and L. Veturius Philo, likewise legates of Claudius, who had been present at all the transactions, and since they did not wish either Fulvius to be recalled from Capua or the Campanians' business to be deferred, M.
§26.33.7“in consilio” inquit “arbitror me fuisse consulibus, Capua capta cum quaereretur, ecqui Campanorum bene meritus de re publica nostra esset.
Atilius Regulus, whose authority was the greatest among those who had been at Capua, was asked for his opinion, and said: "I believe that I was present in the council of the consuls when, after the capture of Capua, inquiry was made as to whether any of the Campanians had deserved well of our commonwealth.
§26.33.8duas mulieres conpertum est, Vestiam Oppiam Atellanam Capuae habitantem et Paculam Cluviam, quae quondam quaestum corpore fecisset, illam cotidie sacrificasse pro salute et victoria populi Romani, hanc captivis egentibus alimenta clam suppeditasse:
It was found that only two women had done so: Vestia Oppia, an Atellan living at Capua, and Pacula Cluvia, who had formerly made her living by prostitution; the former had sacrificed daily for the safety and victory of the Roman people, and the latter had secretly supplied provisions to the needy prisoners: that the feelings of all the rest of the Campanians toward us had been the same as those of the Carthaginians, and that those who had been beheaded by Q.
§26.33.9ceterorum omnium Campanorum eundem erga nos animum quem Carthaginiensium fuisse, securique percussos a Q. Fulvio esse magis quorum dignitas inter alios quam quorum culpa eminebat.
Fulvius were men whose high rank among the others was more conspicuous than their guilt.
§26.33.10per senatum agi de Campanis, qui cives Romani sunt, iniussu populi non video posse, idque et apud maiores nostros in Satricanis factum esse, cum defecissent, ut M. Antistius tribunus plebis prius rogationem ferret, scisceretque plebs, uti senatui de Satricanis sententiae dicendae ius esset.
I do not see how the case of the Campanians, who are Roman citizens, can be dealt with by the senate without an order from the people; and indeed, this was done among our ancestors in the case of the Satricans when they revolted, M. Antistius, the tribune of the plebs, first bringing a proposal, and the plebs voting that the senate should have the right to pronounce judgment on the Satricans.
§26.33.11itaque censeo cum tribunis plebis agendum esse, ut eorum unus pluresve rogationem ferant ad plebem, qua nobis statuendi de Campanis ius fiat. ” §26.33.12L. Atilius tribunus plebis ex auctoritate senatus plebem in haec verba rogavit: “omnes Campani, Atellani, Calatini, Sabatini, qui se dediderunt in arbitrium dicionemque populi Romani Q. Fulvio proconsuli, §26.33.13quosque una secum dedidere, quaeque una secum dedidere, agrum urbemque, divina humanaque, utensiliaque sive quid aliud dediderunt, de iis rebus quid fieri velitis, vos rogo, Quirites. ” §26.33.14plebes sic iussit: “quod senatus iuratus, maxima pars, censeat, qui adsient, id volumus iubemusque. ”
Therefore, I recommend that negotiations be opened with the tribunes of the plebs, so that one or more of them may bring a proposal before the plebs, by which the right to decide concerning the Campanians may be granted to us." L. Atilius, a tribune of the plebs, authorized by the senate, put this question to the plebs in the following words: "Concerning all the Campanians, Atellans, Calatinians, and Sabatinians, who have surrendered themselves to the discretion and power of the Roman people to the proconsul Q. Fulvius, and whom they surrendered along with themselves, and what they surrendered along with themselves, their land and city, things sacred and profane, and their utensils or whatever else they surrendered—I ask you, Quirites, what you wish to be done concerning these matters." The plebs thus decreed: "What the senate, under oath, by a majority of those present, shall decide, that we will and command."