§26.41.1in Hispania principio veris P. Scipio navibus deductis evocatisque edicto Tarraconem sociorum auxiliis classem onerariasque ostium inde Hiberi fluminis petere iubet.
In Spain, at the beginning of spring, Publius Scipio, having launched the ships and summoned the auxiliary forces of the allies to Tarraco by an edict, ordered the fleet and the transports to head from there for the mouth of the river Ebro.
§26.41.2eodem legiones ex hibernis convenire cum iussisset, ipse cum quinque milibus sociorum ab Tarracone profectus ad exercitum est.
When he had ordered the legions to assemble from their winter quarters at the same place, he himself, setting out from Tarraco with five thousand of the allies, went to the army.
quo cum venisset, adloquendos maxime veteres milites, qui tantis superfuerunt cladibus, ratus contione advocata ita disseruit: §26.41.3“nemo ante me novus imperator militibus suis, priusquam opera eorum usus esset, gratias agere iure ac merito potuit; §26.41.4me vobis, priusquam provinciam aut castra viderem, obligavit fortuna, primum quod ea pietate erga patrem patruumque meum vivos mortuosque fuistis, §26.41.5deinde quod amissam tanta clade provinciae possessionem integram et populo Romano et successori mihi virtute vestra obtinuistis.
When he had arrived there, thinking that the veteran soldiers, who had survived such great disasters, ought especially to be addressed, he called an assembly and spoke as follows: "No new general before me could rightfully and deservedly thank his soldiers before he had made use of their services; but to you, before I saw the province or the camp, fortune has bound me, first because you were of such devotion towards my father and uncle, living and dead, and secondly because, by your valor, you maintained the possession of the province, which had been lost in so great a disaster, unimpaired both for the Roman people and for me, their successor.
§26.41.6sed cum iam benignitate deum id paremus atque agamus, non ut ipsi maneamus in Hispania, sed ne Poeni maneant, nec ut pro ripa Hiberi stantes arceamus transitu hostes, sed ut ultro transeamus transferamusque bellum, §26.41.7vereor, ne cui vestrum maius id audaciusque consilium quam aut pro memoria cladium nuper acceptarum aut pro aetate mea videatur.
But since now, by the favor of the gods, we are preparing and striving for this, not that we ourselves may remain in Spain, but that the Carthaginians may not remain, and not that standing on the bank of the Ebro we should keep the enemy from crossing, but that we ourselves should cross over and transfer the war, I fear lest this plan may seem to any of you too great and too bold, either in proportion to the memory of the disasters recently suffered or in proportion to my age.
§26.41.8adversae pugnae in Hispania nullius in animo quam meo minus oblitterari possunt quippe cui pater et patruus intra triginta dierum spatium, ut aliud super aliud cumularetur familiae nostrae funus, interfecti sunt; §26.41.9sed ut familiaris paene orbitas ac solitudo frangit animum, ita publica cum fortuna tum virtus desperare de summa rerum prohibet.
The adverse battles in Spain can be less effaced in the mind of no one than in mine, inasmuch as to me my father and uncle were slain within the space of thirty days, so that one death was heaped upon another for our family; but as this almost personal bereavement and loneliness breaks my spirit, so both public fortune and valor forbid me to despair of the general state of affairs.
ea fato quodam data nobis sors est, ut magnis omnibus bellis victi vicerimus.
This lot has been given to us by a certain fate, that in all great wars we should conquer after being conquered.
§26.41.10vetera omitto, Porsinam, Gallos Samnites; a Punicis bellis incipiam.
I omit ancient instances, Porsina, the Gauls, the Samnites; I will begin with the Punic wars.
quot classes, quot duces, quot exercitus priore bello amissi sunt!
How many fleets, how many leaders, how many armies were lost in the prior war!
§26.41.11iam quid hoc bello memorem? omnibus aut ipse adfui cladibus ant, quibus afui, maxime unus omnium eas sensi.
Now what should I mention in this war? I myself was present at all the disasters, or in those from which I was absent, I felt them more than anyone else.
Trebia, Trasumennus, Cannae quid aliud sunt quam monumenta occisorum exercituum consulumque Romanorum?
Trebia, Trasimene, Cannae, what else are they than monuments of slaughtered armies and Roman consuls?
§26.41.12adde defectionem Italiae, Siciliae maioris partis, Sardiniae; adde ultimum terrorem ac pavorem, castra Punica inter Anienem ac moenia Romana posita et visum prope in portis victorem Hannibalem: in hac ruina rerum stetit una integra atque immobilis uirtus populi Romani, haec omnia strata humi erexit ac sustulit.
Add the defection of Italy, of the greater part of Sicily, of Sardinia; add the ultimate terror and dread, the Punic camp pitched between the Anio and the Roman walls, and the victor Hannibal seen almost at our gates: in this ruin of affairs the valor of the Roman people alone stood unimpaired and immovable, and raised up and lifted all these things which lay prostrate on the ground.
§26.41.13vos omnium primi, milites, post Cannensem cladem vadenti Hasdrubali ad Alpis Italiamque, qui si se cum fratre coniunxisset, nullum iam nomen esset populi Romani, ductu auspicioque patris mei obstitistis; et hae secundae res illas adversas sustinuerunt.
You, soldiers, first of all, after the disaster of Cannae, opposed Hasdrubal as he was marching to the Alps and Italy, who, if he had joined himself with his brother, there would now be no name of the Roman people, under the leadership and auspices of my father; and these successes sustained those reverses.
§26.41.14nunc benignitate deum omnia secunda prospera, in dies laetiora ac meliora in Italia Siciliaque geruntur; in Sicilia Syracusae, §26.41.15Agrigentum captum, pulsi tota insula hostes receptaque provincia in dicione populi Romani est; §26.41.16in Italia Arpi recepti, Capua capta; iter omne ab urbe Roma trepida fuga emensus Hannibal, in extremum angulum agri Bruttii conpulsus, nihil iam maius precatur deos, quam ut incolumi cedere atque abire ex hostium terra liceat.
Now by the favor of the gods all things are going on successfully and prosperously, day by day more joyful and better in Italy and Sicily; in Sicily, Syracuse, Agrigentum has been captured, the enemy have been driven from the whole island, and the recovered province is under the sway of the Roman people; in Italy, Arpi has been recovered, Capua captured; Hannibal, having traversed the whole way from the city of Rome in trembling flight, driven into the furthest corner of the Bruttian territory, now prays for nothing greater from the gods than that it may be permitted to him to withdraw and depart from the enemy's land unharmed.
§26.41.17quid igitur minus conveniat, milites, quam, cum aliae super alias clades cumularentur, ac di prope ipsi cum Hannibale starent, vos hic cum parentibus meis — aequentur enim etiam honore nominis — sustinuisse labantem fortunam populi oomlani, nunc eosdem, cum illic omnia secunda laetaque sunt, animis deficere?
What, therefore, would be less fitting, soldiers, than that, when disasters were being heaped upon disasters, and the gods themselves almost stood with Hannibal, you here with my parents — for let them be made equal even in the honor of the name — sustained the falling fortune of the Roman people, and now, when there all things are successful and joyful, the very same men should lose heart?
§26.41.18nuper quoque quae acciderunt, utinam tam sine meo luctu quam ***.
As to those things also which recently happened, would that they had been as much without my grief as ***.
nunc dii immortales imperii Romani praesides, qui centuriis omnibus, ut mihi imperium iuberent dari, fuere auctores, iidem auguriis auspiciisque et per nocturnos etiam visus omnia laeta ac prospera portendunt.
Now the immortal gods, protectors of the Roman empire, who were the sponsors to all the centuries that they should order command to be given to me, the very same by auguries and auspices and even through nightly visions portend all things joyful and prosperous.
§26.41.19animus quoque meus, maximus mihi ad hoc tempus vates, praesagit nostram Hispaniam esse, brevi extorre hinc omne Punicum nomen maria terrasque foeda fuga impleturum.
My mind also, my greatest prophet up to this time, forebodes that Spain is ours, and that shortly all the Punic name, banished from here, will fill the seas and lands with shameful flight.
§26.41.20quod mens sua sponte divinat, idem subicit ratio haud fallax.
What my mind divines of its own accord, the same is suggested by a reason by no means fallacious.
vexati ab iis socii nostram fidem per legatos implorant, tres duces discordantes, prope at defecerint alii ab aliis, trifariam exercitum in diversissimas regiones distraxere: §26.41.21eadem in illos ingruit fortuna, quae nuper nos adflixit; nam et deseruntur ab sociis, ut prius ab Celtiberis nos, et diduxere exercitus, quae patri patruoque meo causa exitii fuit.
The allies, harassed by them, implore our protection through envoys; three generals, disagreeing among themselves, so that they have almost revolted from one another, have divided their army in three ways into the most diverse regions: the same fortune is assailing them which recently afflicted us; for they are both being deserted by their allies, as we previously were by the Celtiberians, and they have divided their armies, which was the cause of destruction to my father and uncle.
§26.41.22nec discordia intestina coire eos in unum sinet neque singuli nobis resistere poterunt.
Nor will internal discord permit them to unite into one, nor will they individually be able to resist us.
vos modo, milites, favete nomini Scipionum, suboli imperatorum vestrorum velut accisis recrescenti stirpibus.
Only do you, soldiers, favor the name of the Scipios, the offspring of your generals, growing again, as it were, from cut-down stems.
§26.41.23agite, veteres milites, novum exercitum novumque ducem traducite Hiberum, traducite in terras cum multis fortibus factis saepe a vobis peragratas.
Come on, veteran soldiers, lead a new army and a new leader across the Ebro, lead them across into lands often traversed by you with many brave deeds.
§26.41.24brevi faciam, ut, quem ad modum nunc noscitatis in me patris patruique similitudinem oris vultusque et lineamenta corporis, §26.41.25ita ingenii, fidei virtutisque effigiem vobis reddam, ut revixisse aut renatum sibi quisque Scipionem imperatorem dicat. ”
In a short time I will bring it about that, just as you now recognize in me the likeness of my father and uncle in face, expression, and lineaments of the body, so I will restore to you the image of their character, faith, and valor, so that each one may say that the general Scipio has lived again or been reborn for him."