§29.19.1haec cum ab legatis dicta essent, quaesissetque ab iis Q. Fabius, detulissentne eas querellas ad P. Scipionem, responderunt missos legatos esse, sed eum belli apparatu occupatum esse et in Africam aut iam traiecisse aut intra paucos dies traiecturum; et legati gratia quanta esset apud imperatorem, §29.19.2expertos esse, cum inter eum et tribunos cognita causa tribunos in vincla coniecerit, legatum aeque sontem aut magis etiam in ea potestate reliquerit.
When these things had been said by the envoys, and Quintus Fabius had asked them whether they had reported those complaints to Publius Scipio, they answered that envoys had been sent, but that he was occupied with the preparation for war and had either already crossed over into Africa or would cross over within a few days; and that they had experienced how great the favor of the legate was with the general, since, having investigated the case between him and the tribunes, Scipio had cast the tribunes into chains, but had left the legate, who was equally or even more guilty, in that same authority.
§29.19.3iussis excedere templo legatis, non Pleminius modo, sed etiam Scipio principum orationibus lacerari.
When the envoys were ordered to depart from the temple, not only Pleminius but also Scipio was torn to pieces by the speeches of the leading men.
ante omnes Q. Fabius natum eum ad conrumpendam disciplinam militarem arguere; §29.19.4sic et in Hispania plus prope per seditionem militum quam bello amissum.
Above all, Quintus Fabius argued that he was born for the destruction of military discipline; thus in Spain also, almost more had been lost through the mutiny of the soldiers than by war.
externo et regio more et indulgere licentiae militum et saevire in eos.
In a foreign and kingly fashion, he both indulged the license of the soldiers and raged against them.
§29.19.5sententiam deinde aeque trucem orationi adiecit: Pleminium legatum vinctum Romam deportari placere et ex vinculis causam dicere ac, si vera forent, quae Locrenses quererentur, in carcere necari bonaque eius publicari; §29.19.6P. Scipionem, quod de provincia decessisset iniussu senatus, revocari, agique cum tribunis plebis, ut de imperio eius abrogando ferrent ad populum; §29.19.7Locrensibus coram senatum respondere, quas iniurias sibi factas quererentur, eas neque senatum neque populum Romanum factas velle, viros bonos sociosque et amicos eos appellari, liberos, coniuges quaeque alia erepta essent, restitui; pecuniam, quanta ex thensauris Proserpinae sublata esset, conquiri, duplamque pecuniam in thensauros reponi, §29.19.8et sacrum piaculare fieri, ita ut prius ad conlegium pontificum referretur, quod sacri thensauri moti violati essent, quae piacula, quibus deis, quibus hostiis fieri placeret; milites, §29.19.9qui Locris essent, omnes in Siciliam transportari; quattuor cohortes sociorum Latini nominis in praesidium Locros adduci.
Then he added to his speech an equally harsh proposal: that it was pleasing that the legate Pleminius be brought to Rome in chains and plead his case from chains, and, if the complaints of the Locrians should be true, that he be put to death in prison and his property be confiscated; that Publius Scipio, because he had departed from his province without the order of the senate, be recalled, and that negotiations be made with the tribunes of the plebs so that they might propose to the people the abrogation of his command; that an answer be given to the Locrians before the senate that the senate and the Roman people did not wish those injuries, of which they complained as having been done to them, to be done; that they be called good men, allies, and friends; that their children, wives, and whatever other things had been snatched away be restored; that the money, as much as had been taken from the treasures of Proserpina, be sought out, and double the amount of money be replaced in the treasures; and that an expiatory sacrifice be made, in such a way that it should first be referred to the college of pontiffs, because the sacred treasures had been moved and violated, as to what expiations, to which gods, and with which victims it was pleasing that they should be made; and that the soldiers, who were at Locri, all be transported to Sicily; and that four cohorts of allies of the Latin name be brought to Locri for a garrison.
§29.19.10perrogari eo die sententiae accensis studiis pro Scipione et adversus Scipionem non potuere.
On that day, opinions could not be fully collected, since passions were inflamed for Scipio and against Scipio.
§29.19.11praeter Plemini facinus Locrensiumque cladem ipsius etiam imperatoris non Romanus modo sed ne militaris quidem cultus iactabatur: §29.19.12cum pallio crepidisque inambulare in gymnasio, libellis eum palaestraeque operam dare; aeque segniter molliterque cohortem totam Syracusarum amoenitate frui; Carthaginem atque Hannibalem excidisse de memoria; §29.19.13exercitum omnem licentia corruptum, qualis Sucrone in Hispania fuerit, qualis nunc Locris, sociis magis quam hosti metuendum.
In addition to the crime of Pleminius and the disaster of the Locrians, even the general's own lifestyle, which was not only un-Roman but not even military, was bandied about: that he walked about in the gymnasium with a Greek cloak and sandals, and devoted his time to books and the wrestling-ground; that his entire retinue, with equal laziness and softness, enjoyed the pleasantness of Syracuse; that Carthage and Hannibal had slipped from memory; that the entire army was corrupted by license, such as it had been at Sucro in Spain, and such as it was now at Locri, and was to be feared by allies more than by the enemy.