§28.27.1tum silentio per praeconem facto ita coepit: “numquam mihi defuturam orationem, qua exercitum meum adloquerer, §28.27.2credidi, non quo verba umquam potius quam res exercuerim, sed quia prope a pueritia in castris habitus adsueram militaribus ingeniis; §28.27.3apud vos quem ad rodum loquar, nec consilium nec oratio suppeditat, quos ne quo nomine quidem appellare debeam scio.
Then, silence having been made by the herald, he began thus: "I believed that speech would never fail me in addressing my army, not because I have ever cultivated words rather than deeds, but because, having been kept in camps almost from boyhood, I had become accustomed to the military disposition; but how to speak before you, neither plan nor speech supplies me, since I do not even know by what name I ought to call you.
§28.27.4cives? qui a patria vestra descistis, — an milites? qui imperium auspiciumque abnuistis, sacramenti religionem rupistis, — hostes? corpora, ora, vestitum, habitum civium adgnosco; facta, dicta, consilia, animos hostium video.
Citizens? You who have revolted from your country—or soldiers? You who have rejected command and auspices, and broken the sanctity of your oath—or enemies? I recognize the bodies, faces, clothing, and appearance of citizens; I see the deeds, words, plans, and minds of enemies.
§28.27.5quid enim vos nisi quod Ilergetes et Lacetani, aut optastis aliud aut sperastis? et illi tamen Mandonium atque Indibilem, regiae nobilitatis viros, duces furoris secuti sunt; vos auspicium et imperium ad Umbrum Atrium et Calenum Albium detulistis.
For what else did you either wish or hope than what the Ilergetes and Lacetanians did? And yet they followed Mandonius and Indibilis, men of royal nobility, as leaders of their madness; you deferred the auspices and command to Umber Atrius and Calenus Albius.
§28.27.6negate vos id omnes fecisse aut factum voluisse, milites; paucorum eum furorem atque amentiam esse; libenter credam negantibus.
Deny that you all did this or wished it done, soldiers; assert that it was the madness and folly of a few; I will gladly believe those who deny it.
nec enim ea sunt commissa, quae, vulgata in omnem exercitum, sine piaculis ingentibus expiari possint.
For the crimes committed are not such as, if spread through the whole army, could be expiated without huge sacrifices.
§28.27.7invitus ea tamquam vulnera attingo, sed nisi tacta tractataque sanari non possunt.
Unwillingly I touch upon these things as if they were wounds, but unless touched and handled, they cannot be healed.
§28.27.8equidem pulsis Hispania Carthaginiensibus nullum locum tota provincia, nullos homines credebam esse, ubi vita invisa esset mea: sic me non solum adversus socios gesseram, sed etiam adversus hostes.
Indeed, when the Carthaginians were driven from Spain, I believed there was no place in the entire province, no men, where my life would be hated: so had I conducted myself not only toward our allies but also toward our enemies.
§28.27.9in castris en meis — quantum opinio fefellit. — fama mortis meae non accepta solum, sed etiam expectata est.
Behold, in my own camp—how greatly my opinion deceived me!—the rumor of my death was not only received but even eagerly expected.
§28.27.10non quod ego vulgari facinus per omnes velim — equidem, si totum exercitum meum mortem mihi optasse crederem, hic statim ante oculos vestros morerer, nec me vita iuvaret invisa civibus et militibus meis —; §28.27.11sed multitudo omnis sicut natura maris per se inmobilis est; ut venti et aurae cient, ita aut tranquillum aut procellae in vobis sunt; et causa atque origo omnis furoris penes auctores est, vos contagione insanistis; §28.27.12qui mihi ne hodie quidem scire videmini, quo amentiae progressi sitis, quid facinoris in me, quid in patriam parentesque ac liberos vestros, quid in deos sacramenti testes, quid adversus auspicia, sub quibus militatis, quid adversus morem militiae disciplinamque maiorum, quid adversus summi imperii maiestatem ausi sitis.
Not that I would wish the crime to be generalized among all—indeed, if I believed that my whole army had wished for my death, I would die here immediately before your eyes, nor would a life hated by my citizens and my soldiers bring me any pleasure—; but the whole multitude, like the nature of the sea, is of itself immobile; as winds and breezes stir it, so either calm or tempests are in you; and the cause and origin of all madness lies with the instigators; you became insane by contagion; who seem to me not even today to know to what point of madness you have progressed, what crime you have dared against me, what against your country, parents, and children, what against the gods who are witnesses of your oath, what against the auspices under which you serve, what against the custom of military service and the discipline of our ancestors, what against the majesty of the supreme command.
§28.27.13de me ipso taceo; temere potius quam avide credideritis; is denique ego sim, cuius imperii taedere exercitum minime mirandum sit: — patria quid de vobis meruerat, quam cum Mandonio et Indibili consociando consilia prodebatis??
About myself I am silent; let us say you believed it rashly rather than eagerly; let me indeed be such a one whose command it is least to be wondered at that the army was weary of:—what had your country deserved of you, which you betrayed by sharing plans and associating with Mandonius and Indibilis?
§28.27.14quid populus Romanus, cum imperium ablatum ab tribunis suffragio populi creatis ad homines privatos detulistis, cum eo ipso non contenti, si pro tribunis illos haberetis, fasces imperatoris vestri ad eos, quibus servus, cui imperarent, numquam fuerat, Romanus exercitus detulistis?
What had the Roman people deserved, when you transferred the command, taken away from the tribunes elected by the vote of the people, to private individuals, and, not content with that itself, if you were to have them instead of tribunes, when you, a Roman army, carried the fasces of your general to those who had never even had a slave whom they might command?
§28.27.15in praetorio tetenderunt Albius et Atrius classicum apud eos cecinit, signum ab iis petitum est, sederunt in tribunali P. Scipionis, lictor apparuit, summoto incesserunt, fasces cum securibus praelati sunt.
In the general's tent Albius and Atrius pitched their tents; the trumpet sounded under them; the signal was sought from them; they sat on the tribunal of Publius Scipio; the lictor appeared; they marched out with the crowd cleared away; the fasces with axes were carried before them.
§28.27.16lapides pluere et fulmina iaci de caelo et insuetos fetus animalia edere vos portenta esse putatis: hoc est portentum, quod nullis hostiis, nullis supplicationibus sine sanguine eorum, qui tantum ausi facinus sunt, expiari possit.
That stones rain, and lightnings are hurled from heaven, and animals produce unusual offspring you consider to be portents: this is the portent, which can be expiated by no victims, no supplications, without the blood of those who dared so great a crime."