§27.27.1ceterum consulem Marcellum tanta cupiditas tenebat dimicandi cum Hannibale, ut numquam satis castra castris conlata crederet.
But such a great desire to fight with Hannibal possessed the consul Marcellus that he never believed the camps were brought close enough to each other.
§27.27.2tum quoque vallo egrediens signum dedit, ut ad locum miles esset paratus, ut, si collis, in quem speculatum irent, placuisset, vasa colligerent ac sequerentur.
On that occasion also, as he was going out from the rampart, he gave the signal for the soldiers to be ready at their posts, so that if the hill to which they were going to reconnoitre should please them, they might pack up their baggage and follow.
§27.27.3exiguum campi ante castra erat; inde in collem aperta undique et conspecta ferebat via.
There was a small space of plain before the camp; from there a road, open on all sides and visible, led to the hill.
Numidis speculator, nequaquam in spem tantae rei positus, sed si quos vagos pabuli aut lignorum causa longius a castris progressos possent excipere, signum dat, ut pariter ab suis quisque latebris exorerentur.
A scout, stationed not by any means in hope of so great a prize, but to see if they could capture any stragglers who had advanced too far from the camp for the purpose of foraging or woodcutting, gave the signal to the Numidians that they should all rise up together from their respective hiding places.
§27.27.4non ante apparuere, quibus obviis ab iugo ipso consurgendum erat, quam circumiere, qui ab tergo intercluderent viam.
Those who were to rise from the ridge itself to block them in front did not appear until those who were to cut off the road from behind had gone around.
§27.27.5tum undique omnes exorti et clamore sublato impetum fecere.
Then all rose up from every side and, raising a shout, made an attack.
cum in ea valle consules essent, ut neque evadere possent in iugum occupatum ab hoste nec receptum ab tergo circumventi haberent, extrahi tamen diutius certamen potuisset, ni coepta ab Etruscis fuga pavorem ceteris iniecisset.
Although the consuls were in that valley, so that they could neither escape to the ridge occupied by the enemy nor, being surrounded, have a retreat from behind, yet the contest could have been prolonged for a longer time, had not the flight begun by the Etruscans struck terror into the rest.
§27.27.6non tamen omisere pugnam deserti ab Etruscis Fregellani, donec integri consules hortando ipsique ex parte pugnando rem sustinebant; §27.27.7sed postquam vulneratos ambo consules, Marcellum etiam transfixum lancea prolabentem ex equo moribundum videre, tum et ipsl — perpauci autem supererant — cum Crispino consule duobus iaculis icto et Marcello adolescente saucio et ipso effugerunt.
The Fregellans, though deserted by the Etruscans, did not however give up the fight, as long as the consuls, remaining unhurt, maintained the struggle by encouraging them and themselves fighting in part; but after they saw both consuls wounded, and Marcellus even pierced with a lance, falling dying from his horse, then they themselves also — and very few survived — fled with the consul Crispinus, who had been struck by two javelins, and the young Marcellus, who was himself wounded.
§27.27.8interfectus A. Manlius tribunus militum, et ex duobus praefectis socium M’. Aulius occisus, L. Arrenius captus.
Aulus Manlius, the military tribune, was killed, and of the two prefects of the allies, Manius Aulius was slain, Lucius Arrenius captured.
et lictores consulum quinque vivi in hostium potestatem venerunt, ceteri aut interfecti aut cum consule effugerunt.
Also five of the consuls' lictores fell alive into the hands of the enemy; the rest were either killed or escaped with the consul.
equitum tres §27.27.9et quadraginta aut in proelio aut in fuga ceciderunt, duodeviginti vivi capti.
Forty-three horsemen fell either in battle or in flight, and eighteen were captured alive.
§27.27.10tumultuatum in castris fuerat, ut consulibus irent subsidio, cum consulem et filium alterius consulis saucios exiguasque infelicis expeditionis reliquias ad castra venientes cernunt.
There had been a tumult in the camp to go to the assistance of the consuls, when they saw the consul and the son of the other consul wounded, and the scanty remains of the ill-fated expedition, coming toward the camp.
§27.27.11mors Marcelli cum alioqui miserabilis fuit, tum quod nec pro aetate — iam enim maior sexaginta annis erat — neque pro veteris prudentia ducis tam inprovide se conlegamque et prope totam rem publicam in praeceps dederat.
The death of Marcellus, while lamentable in other respects, was especially so because, neither in accordance with his age — for he was now over sixty years old — nor in keeping with the prudence of an experienced general, he had so heedlessly plunged himself, his colleague, and almost the entire commonwealth into ruin.
§27.27.12multos circa unam rem ambitus fecerim si, quae de Marcelli morte variant auctores, omnia exequi velim.
I should make many digressions around a single subject if I wished to follow out all the details in which authors differ concerning the death of Marcellus.
§27.27.13ut omittam alios, Coelius triplicem gestae rei memoriam edit: unam traditam fama, alteram scriptam in laudatione fili, qui rei gestae interfuerit, tertiam, quam ipse pro inquisita ac sibi conperta adfert.
To pass over others, Coelius produces a threefold record of the event: one handed down by rumour, another written in the funeral oration of his son, who was present at the action, and a third which he himself brings forward as investigated and ascertained by him.
§27.27.14ceterum ita fama variat, ut tamen plerique loci speculandi causa castris egressum, omnes insidiis circumventum tradant.
However, the rumour varies to such an extent that nevertheless most authors record that he went out of the camp for the purpose of reconnoitring the place, and all hand down that he was surrounded by an ambush.