§29.1.1Scipio postquam in Siciliam venit, voluntarios milites ordinavit centuriavitque.
After Scipio came into Sicily, he organized and divided into centuries the volunteer soldiers.
§29.1.2ex iis trecentos iuvenes, florentes aetate et virium robore, inermes circa se habebat, ignorantes, quem ad usum neque centuriati neque armati servarentur.
From among them, he kept three hundred young men, in the prime of their age and physical strength, unarmed about him, who did not know for what purpose they were being kept without being either organized into centuries or armed.
§29.1.3tum ex totius Siciliae iuniorum numero principes genere et fortuna trecentos equites, qui secum in Africam traicerent, legit, diemque iis, qua equis armisque instructi atque ornati adessent, edixit.
Then, from the total number of young men in Sicily, he chose three hundred horsemen, leaders in birth and fortune, to cross over with him to Africa, and appointed a day for them on which they were to appear equipped and furnished with horses and arms.
§29.1.4gravis ea militia procul domo terra marique labores multos magna pericula allatura videbatur; neque ipsos modo sed parentes cognatosque eorum ea cura angebat.
That service, far from home, on land and sea, seemed likely to bring many labors and great dangers; and that anxiety troubled not only themselves but also their parents and kinsmen.
§29.1.5ubi dies, quae edicta erat, advenit, arma equosque ostenderunt.
When the appointed day arrived, they showed their arms and horses.
tum Scipio renuntiari sibi dixit quosdam equites Siculorum tamquam gravem et duram horrere eam militiam; §29.1.6si qui ita animati essent, malle eos sibi iam tum fateri, quam postmodo querentes segnes atque inutiles milites rei publicae esse; expromerent, quid sentirent; cum bona venia se auditurum.
Then Scipio said that it had been reported to him that some of the Sicilian horsemen dreaded that military service as being heavy and hard; if any were so minded, he preferred that they should confess it to him then and there, rather than later complain and be sluggish and useless soldiers to the commonwealth; let them express what they felt; he would listen to them with kind indulgence.
§29.1.7ubi ex iis unus ausus est dicere se prorsus, si sibi, utrum vellet, liberum esset, nolle militare, tum Scipio ei: §29.1.8“quoniam igitur, adulescens, quid sentires, non dissimulasti, uicarium tibi expediam, cui tu arma equumque et cetera instrumenta militiae tradas et tecum hinc extemplo domum ducas, exerceas, docendum cures equo armisque. ” §29.1.9laeto condicionem accipienti unum ex trecentis quos inermes habebat, tradit.
When one of them dared to say that he absolutely did not wish to serve, if he had the free choice of which he preferred, then Scipio said to him: "Since, therefore, young man, you have not concealed what you felt, I will procure a substitute for you, to whom you may hand over your arms, horse, and other equipment of service, and whom you may take home with you immediately from here, and train and see to his instruction in horse and arms." To him, gladly accepting the condition, he handed over one of the three hundred whom he had kept unarmed.
ubi hoc modo exauctoratum equitem cum gratia imperatoris ceteri viderunt, se quisque excusare et vicarium accipere.
When the others saw that a horseman had been discharged in this manner with the favor of the general, they each excused themselves and accepted a substitute.
§29.1.10ita trecentis Siculis Romani equites substituti sine publica inpensa.
Thus Roman horsemen were substituted for the three hundred Sicilians without public expense.
docendorum atque exercendorum curam Siculi habuerunt, quia edictum imperatoris erat, ipsum militaturum, qui ita non fecisset.
The Sicilians had the care of instructing and training them, because there was a decree of the general that anyone who did not do so should serve in person.
§29.1.11egregiam hanc alam equitur evasisse ferunt multisque proeliis rem publicam adiuvisse.
They say that this excellent squadron of cavalry turned out well and assisted the commonwealth in many battles.
§29.1.12legiones inde cum inspiceret, plurimorum stipendiorum ex iis milites delegit, maxime qui sub duce Marcello militaverant, §29.1.13quos cum optima disciplina institutos credebat, tum etiam ab longa Syracusarum obsidione peritissimos esse urbium oppugnandarum: nihil enim parvum, sed Carthaginis iam excidia agitabat animo.
Then, when he inspected the legions, he selected from them the soldiers of the longest service, especially those who had served under the commander Marcellus, whom he believed not only to have been trained in the best discipline, but also, from the long siege of Syracuse, to be highly skilled in besieging cities; for he was meditating in his mind nothing small, but already the destruction of Carthage.
§29.1.14inde exercitum per oppida dispertit; frumentum Siculorum civitatibus imperat, ex Italia advecto parcit; veteres naves reficit et cum iis C. Laelium in Africam praedatum mittit;
Then he distributed the army through the towns; he requisitioned grain from the Sicilian cities, and spared that brought from Italy; he refitted the old ships and sent C.
novas Panhormi subducit, quia ex viridi materia raptim factae erant, ut in sicco hibernarent.
Laelius with them to Africa to plunder; he hauled up the new ones at Panormus, because they had been hastily built of green timber, so that they might winter in a dry place.
§29.1.15praeparatis omnibus ad bellum Syracusas nondum ex magnis belli motibus satis tranquillas venit.
All things being prepared for war, he came to Syracuse, which was not yet sufficiently tranquil after the great commotions of the war.
§29.1.16Graeci res a quibusdam Italici generis eadem vi, qua per bellum ceperant, retinentibus, concessas sibi ab senatu repetebant.
The Greeks were demanding back their property, which had been granted to them by the senate, but was retained by certain persons of Italian race with the same violence with which they had seized it during the war.
§29.1.17omnium primum ratus tueri publicam fidem, partim edicto partim iudiciis etiam in pertinaces ad obtinendam iniuriam redditis suas res Syracusanis restituit.
Thinking that to maintain the public faith was the first duty of all, partly by edict and partly by judgments rendered even against those who persisted in retaining the injustice, he restored their property to the Syracusans.
§29.1.18non ipsis tantum ea res, sed omnibus Siciliae populis grata fuit, eoque enixius ad bellum adiuverunt.
This action was pleasing not only to themselves but to all the peoples of Sicily, and for that reason they assisted in the war with greater earnestness.
§29.1.19eadem aestate in Hispania coortum ingens bellum conciente Ilergete Indibili, nulla alia de causa quam per admirationem Scipionis contemptu imperatorum aliorum orto.
In the same summer, a huge war broke out in Spain, stirred up by Indibilis the Ilergetan, for no other reason than that, from his admiration of Scipio, a contempt for other commanders had arisen.
§29.1.20eum superesse unum ducem Romanis ceteris ab Hannibale interfectis rebatur: eo nec ii Hispaniam caesis Scipionibus alium, quem mitterent, habuisse, et postquam in Italia gravius bellum urgueret, adversus Hannibalem eum arcessitum.
He thought that he was the only commander left to the Romans, the others having been slain by Hannibal; and that therefore, after the Scipios were slain, they had had no other whom they could send to Spain, and that after the war in Italy became more pressing, he had been summoned to act against Hannibal.
§29.1.21praeterquam quod nomina tantum ducum in Hispania Romani haberent, exercitum quoque inde veterem deductum; trepida omnia ut inconditam turbam tironum esse. numquam talem occasionem liberandae Hispaniae fore.
In addition to the fact that the Romans had only the names of commanders in Spain, the veteran army also had been withdrawn from there; everything was in alarm, like an unorganized crowd of recruits; never would there be such an opportunity for liberating Spain.
§29.1.22servitum ad eam diem aut Carthaginiensibus aut Romanis, §29.1.23nec in vicem his aut illis, sed interdum utrisque simul.
Up to that day, they had served either the Carthaginians or the Romans, not alternately to these or those, but sometimes to both at the same time.
§29.1.24pulsos ab Romanis Carthaginienses; ab Hispanis, si consentirent, pelli Romanos posse, ut ab omni externo imperio soluta in perpetuum Hispania in patrios rediret mores ritusque.
The Carthaginians had been driven out by the Romans; the Romans could be driven out by the Spaniards if they were to agree, so that Spain, freed forever from all foreign rule, might return to her ancestral customs and rites.
§29.1.25haec taliaque dicendo non populares modo, sed Ausetanos quoque, vicinam gentem, concitat et alios finitimos sibi atque illis populos.
By saying these and similar things, he stirred up not only his own countrymen, but also the Ausetani, a neighboring nation, and other peoples bordering on himself and them.
§29.1.26itaque intra paucos dies triginta milia peditum, quattuor ferme equitum in Sedetanum agrum, quo edictum erat, convenerunt.
Therefore, within a few days, thirty thousand infantry and about four thousand cavalry assembled in the Sedetanian territory, where they had been ordered to meet.