§27.44.1Romae haud minus terroris ac tumultus erat, quam fuerat biennio ante, cum castra Punica obiecta Romanis moenibus portisque fuerant.
At Rome, there was no less of terror and confusion than there had been two years before, when the Carthaginian camp had been pitched opposite the Roman walls and gates.
neque satis constabat animis, tam audax iter consulis laudarent vituperarentne; apparebat, quo nihil iniquius est, ex eventu famam habiturum: §27.44.2castra prope Hannibalem hostem relicta sine duce, cum exercitu, cui detractum foret omne quod roboris, quod floris fuerit, et consulem in Lucanos ostendisse iter, cum Picenum et Galliam peteret, §27.44.3castra relinquentem nulla alia re tutiora quam errore hostis, qui ducem inde atque exercitus partem abesse ignoraret.
Nor was it sufficiently clear in their minds whether they should praise or blame so bold a march of the consul; it was apparent, than which nothing is more unjust, that it would get its reputation from the outcome: namely, that a camp had been left near the enemy Hannibal without a leader, with an army from which had been withdrawn all that was of strength, all that was of flower, and that the consul had shown a march into Lucania, though he was heading for Picenum and Gaul, leaving a camp secured by nothing other than the error of the enemy, who was ignorant that the leader and a part of the army were absent from there.
§27.44.4quid futurum, si id palam fiat, et aut insequi Neronem cum sex milibus armatorum profectum Hannibal toto exercitu velit aut castra invadere praedae relicta sine viribus, sine imperio, sine auspicio?
What would happen if this should become openly known, and Hannibal should wish either to pursue Nero, who had set out with six thousand armed men, with his entire army, or to invade the camp left as a prey, without strength, without command, without auspices?
§27.44.5veteres eius belli clades, duo consules proximo anno interfecti terrebant; et ea omnia accidisse, cum unus imperator, unus exercitus hostium in Italia esset; nunc duo bella Punica facta, duos ingentes exercitus, duos prope Hannibales in Italia esse.
The old disasters of that war, and the two consuls slain the previous year, terrified them; and all those things had happened when there was one general, one army of the enemy in Italy; now two Carthaginian wars had been made, there were two huge armies, almost two Hannibals in Italy.
§27.44.6quippe et Hasdrubalem patre eodem Hamilcare genitum, aeque inpigrum ducem, per tot annos in Hispania Romano exercitatum bello, gemina victoria insignem duobus exercitibus cum clarissimis ducibus deletis.
For Hasdrubal also was begotten of the same father Hamilcar, an equally active leader, trained in the Roman war in Spain through so many years, distinguished by a double victory, two armies with their most famous leaders having been destroyed.
§27.44.7nam itineris quidem celeritate ex Hispania et concitatis ad arma Gallicis gentibus multo magis quam Hannibalem ipsum gloriari posse: §27.44.8quippe in iis locis hunc coegisse exercitum, quibus ille maiorem partem militum fame ac frigore, quae miserrima mortis genera sint, amisisset.
Indeed, as to the speed of his march from Spain and the rousing of the Gallic nations to arms, he could boast much more than Hannibal himself: for he had assembled an army in those very places where the other had lost the greater part of his soldiers through hunger and cold, which are the most miserable kinds of death.
§27.44.9adiciebant etiam periti rerum Hispaniae, haud cum ignoto eum duce C. Nerone congressurum, sed quem in saltu impedito deprensus forte haud secus quam puerum conscribendis fallacibus condicionibus pacis frustratus elusisset.
Those skilled in Spanish affairs also added that he would not have to clash with C. Nero, an unknown leader, but with one whom, when by chance trapped in a difficult pass, he had frustrated and eluded no differently than a boy by drawing up deceptive conditions of peace.
§27.44.10omnia maiora etiam vero praesidia hostium, minora sua, metu interprete semper in deteriora inclinato, ducebant.
They considered all the enemy's resources greater than the truth, and their own smaller, with fear always leaning towards the worse as an interpreter.