§29.18.1unum est, de quo nominatim et nos queri religio infixa animis cogat et vos audire et exsolvere rem publicam vestram religione, si ita vobis videbitur, velimus, patres conscripti.
There is one thing, conscript fathers, concerning which a deeply implanted religious duty in our minds compels us to complain by name, and concerning which we would wish you to hear and to release your republic from religious guilt, if it shall so seem good to you.
§29.18.2vidimus enim, cum quanta caerimonia non vestros solum colatis deos, sed etiam externos accipiatis.
For we have seen with what great ceremony you worship not only your own gods, but also receive foreign ones.
§29.18.3fanum est apud nos Proserpinae, de cuius sanctitate templi credo aliquam famam ad vos pervenisse Pyrrhi bello, §29.18.4qui, cum ex Sicilia rediens Locros classe praeterveheretur, inter alia foeda, quae propter fidem erga vos in civitatem nostram facinora edidit, thensauros quoque Proserpinae intactos ad eam diem spoliavit; atque ita, pecunia in naves inposita, ipse terra est profectus.
There is among us a sanctuary of Proserpina, concerning the sanctity of which temple I believe some report reached you during the war with Pyrrhus, who, when returning from Sicily he was passing by Locri with his fleet, among other foul deeds which he committed against our state on account of our loyalty toward you, also despoiled the treasures of Proserpina, untouched up to that day; and thus, having placed the money on his ships, he himself set out by land.
§29.18.5quid ergo evenit, patres conscripti?
What then happened, conscript fathers?
§29.18.6classis postero die foedissima tempestate lacerata, omnesque naves, quae sacram pecuniam habuerunt, in litora nostra eiectae sunt.
On the following day, the fleet was shattered by a most horrible storm, and all the ships which carried the sacred money were cast onto our shores.
qua tanta clade edoctus tandem deos esse superbissimus rex pecuniam omnem conquisitam in thensauros Proserpinae referri iussit.
Instructed by so great a disaster that gods indeed exist, the most arrogant king ordered all the gathered money to be carried back to the treasures of Proserpina.
nec tamen illi umquam postea prosperi quicquam evenit, pulsusque Italia ignobili atque inhonesta morte temere nocte ingressus Argos occubuit.
And yet nothing prosperous ever happened to him afterward, and having been driven from Italy, he fell by an ignoble and dishonorable death, having rashly entered Argos by night.
§29.18.7haec cum audisset legatus vester tribunique militum et mille alia, quae non augendae religionis causa, sed praesenti deae numine saepe conperta nobis maioribusque nostris referebantur, §29.18.8ausi sunt nihilo minus sacrilegas admovere manus intactis illis thensauris et nefanda praeda se ipsos ac domos contaminare suas et milites vestros.
When your legate and the military tribunes had heard these things and a thousand others, which were related to us and our ancestors not for the sake of magnifying religious dread but as facts frequently proven by the present power of the goddess, they nevertheless dared to lay sacrilegious hands upon those untouched treasures and to defile themselves, their homes, and your soldiers with the unspeakable plunder.
§29.18.9quibus, per vos fidem vestram, patres conscripti, priusquam eorum scelus expietis, neque in Italia neque in Africa quicquam rei gesseritis, ne, quod piaculi commiserunt, non suo solum sanguine sed etiam publica clade luant.
By your faith, conscript fathers, under these men, before you expiate their crime, do not carry on any business either in Italy or in Africa, lest they should atone for the guilt they have committed, not with their own blood alone, but also with public disaster.
§29.18.10quamquam ne nunc quidem, patres conscripti, aut in ducibus aut in militibus vestris cessat ira deae: aliquotiens iam inter se signis conlatis concucurrerunt; dux alterius partis Pleminius, alterius duo tribuni militum erant.
Although not even now, conscript fathers, does the anger of the goddess cease either among your leaders or among your soldiers; already several times they have rushed together in battle array with standards joined; Pleminius was the leader of one party, and two military tribunes were the leaders of the other.
non acrius cum Carthaginiensibus quam inter se ipsi ferro dimicaverunt, §29.18.11praebuissentque occasionem furore suo Locros recipiendi Hannibali, nisi accitus ab nobis Scipio intervenisset.
They fought with the sword no less fiercely among themselves than with the Carthaginians, and they would have provided an opportunity for Hannibal to recover Locri through their madness, had not Scipio, summoned by us, intervened.
§29.18.12at hercule milites contactos sacrilegio furor agitat; in ducibus ipsis puniendis nullum deae numen apparuit.
But indeed, madness agitates the soldiers touched by the sacrilege; in punishing the leaders themselves, did no power of the goddess appear?
§29.18.13immo ibi praesens maxime fuit: virgis caesi tribuni ab legato sunt; legatus deinde insidiis tribunorum interceptus, praeterquam quod toto corpore laceratus, naso quoque auribusque decisis exsanguis est relictus; §29.18.14recreatus dein legatus ex vulneribus tribunos militum in vincla coniectos, dein verberatos servilibusque omnibus suppliciis cruciatos occidit, mortuos deinde prohibuit sepeliri.
Nay, rather, she was most present there: the tribunes were beaten with rods by the legate; the legate then, intercepted by the treachery of the tribunes, besides being mangled over his whole body, was left bloodless with his nose and ears cut off; then the legate, recovered from his wounds, killed the military tribunes, who had been cast into chains, then beaten and tortured with all servile punishments, and then forbade the dead to be buried.
§29.18.15has dea poenas a templi sui spoliatoribus habet nec ante desinet omnibus eos agitare furiis, quam reposita sacra pecunia in thensauris fuerit.
The goddess exacts these punishments from the despoilers of her temple, and she will not cease to agitate them with all furies until the sacred money has been replaced in the treasures.
§29.18.16maiores quondam nostri gravi Crotoniensium bello, quia extra urbem templum est, transferre in urbem eam pecuniam voluerunt.
Once our ancestors, during a heavy war with the Crotoniatans, because the temple is outside the city, wished to transfer that money into the city.
noctu audita ex delubro vox est, abstinerent manus: §29.18.17deam sua templa defensuram.
At night a voice was heard from the shrine, that they should keep off their hands: that the goddess would defend her own temple.
quia movendi inde thensauros religio incussa erat, muro circumdare templum voluerunt.
Because a religious dread of moving the treasures from there had been struck into them, they wished to surround the temple with a wall.
ad aliquantum iam altitudinis excitata erant moenia, cum subito conlapsa ruina sunt.
The walls had already been raised to a considerable height when suddenly they collapsed in ruin.
§29.18.18sed et nunc et tunc et saepe alias dea suam sedem suumque templum aut tutata est aut a violatoribus gravia piacula exegit; nostras iniurias nec potest nec possit alius ulcisci quam vos, patres conscripti; §29.18.19ad vos vestramque fidem supplices confugimus.
But both now and then, and often at other times, the goddess has either protected her seat and her temple or has exacted heavy atonements from violators; no other than you, conscript fathers, can or may avenge our injuries; we flee as suppliants to you and your faith.
nihil nostra interest, utrum sub illo legato, sub illo praesidio Locros esse sinatis, an irato Hannibali et Poenis ad supplicium dedatis.
It is of no concern to us whether you permit Locri to be under that legate, under that garrison, or deliver it to the angry Hannibal and the Carthaginians for punishment.
non postulamus, ut extemplo nobis, ut de absente, ut indicta causa credatis; §29.18.20veniat, coram ipse audiat, ipse diluat.
We do not demand that you believe us immediately, as if concerning an absent man, or with the case unheard; let him come, let him hear in person, let him clear himself in person.
si quicquam sceleris, quod homo in homines edere potest, in nos praetermisit, non recusamus, quin et nos omnia eadem iterum, si pati possumus, patiamur, et ille omni divino humanoque liberetur scelere. ”
If he has omitted any crime toward us that a man can commit against men, we do not refuse both that we should suffer all those same things again, if we can endure them, and that he should be freed from all divine and human guilt."