§29.22.1Venientibus iis Syracusas Scipio res, non verba ad purgandum sese paravit.
To them as they came to Syracuse, Scipio prepared facts, not words, for his exculpation.
exercitum omnem eo convenire, classem expediri iussit, tamquam dimicandum eo die terra marique cum Carthaginiensibus esset.
He ordered the entire army to assemble there and the fleet to be made ready, as if he had to fight on that day by land and sea with the Carthaginians.
§29.22.2quo die venerunt hospitio comiter acceptis, postero die terrestrem navalemque exercitum, non instructos modo, sed hos decurrentes, classem in portu simulacrum et ipsam edentem navalis pugnae, ostendit;
Having received them with friendly hospitality on the day they arrived, on the following day he showed them the land and naval forces, not only drawn up in array, but also performing maneuvers, and at the same time the fleet in the harbor presenting a representation of a naval battle.
§29.22.3tum circa armamentaria et horrea bellique alium apparatum visendum praetor legatique ducti;
Then the praetor and the legates were conducted to view the armories, the granaries, and the other preparation for war.
§29.22.4tantaque admiratio singularum universarumnque rerum incussa, ut satis crederent aut illo duce atque exercitu vinci Carthaginiensem populum aut nullo alio posse,
And so great an admiration of individual things and of the whole together was inspired in them, that they fully believed that either under that leader and with that army the Carthaginian people could be conquered, or by no other.
§29.22.5iuberentque, quod di bene verterent, traicere et spei conceptae, quo die illum omnes centuriae priorem consulem dixissent, primo quoque tempore compotem populum Romanum facere;
And they ordered him, and may the gods turn it to good, to cross over, and to make the Roman people master of the hope they had conceived on the day when all the centuries had declared him the first consul, at the very first opportunity.
§29.22.6adeoque laetis inde animis profecti sunt, tamquam victoriam, non belli magnificum apparatum nuntiaturi Romam essent.
And they set out from there with minds so joyful, as if they were going to announce to Rome a victory, and not the magnificent preparation for war.
§29.22.7Pleminius quique in eadem causa erant postquam Romam est ventum, extemplo in carcerem conditi.
Pleminius and those who were in the same case, as soon as they arrived at Rome, were immediately cast into prison.
ac primo producti ad populum ab tribunis apud praeoccupatos Locrensium clade animos nullum misericordiae locum habuerunt;
And at first, when they were produced before the people by the tribunes, they found no room for pity among minds already preoccupied by the disaster of the Locrians.
§29.22.8postea cum saepius producerentur, iam senescente invidia molliebantur irae, et ipsa deformitas Plemini memoriaque absentis Scipionis favorem ad vulgum conciliabat.
Afterward, as they were produced more frequently, their anger was softened, their hatred now growing old, and the very wretched appearance of Pleminius and the memory of the absent Scipio conciliated favor toward them among the common people.
§29.22.9mortuus tamen prius in vinclis est, quam iudicium de eo populi perficeretur.
He died in prison, however, before the judgment of the people concerning him could be completed.
§29.22.10hunc Pleminium Clodius Licinus in libro tertio rerum Romanarum refert ludis votivis, quos Romae Africanus iterum consul faciebat, conatum per quosdam, quos pretio corruperat, aliquot locis urbem incendere, ut effringendi carceris fugiendique haberet occasionem; patefacto dein scelere delegatum in Tullianum ex senatus consulto.
Concerning this Pleminius, Clodius Licinus relates in his third book of Roman History, that during the votive games, which Africanus, as consul for the second time, was exhibiting at Rome, he attempted, through some persons whom he had corrupted with money, to set fire to the city in several places, in order that he might have an opportunity of breaking out of prison and escaping; and that, the crime being afterward discovered, he was transferred to the Tullianum by a decree of the senate.
§29.22.11de Scipione nusquam nisi in senatu actum, ubi omnes legatique et tribuni, classem, exercitum ducemque verbis extollentes, effecerunt, ut senatus censeret primo quoque tempore in Africam traiciendum Scipionique permitteretur, §29.22.12ut ex iis exercitibus, qui in Sicilia essent, ipse eligeret, quos in Africam secum traiceret, quos provinciae relinqueret praesidio.
Concerning Scipio, there was no action anywhere except in the senate, where all the legates and tribunes, extolling the fleet, the army, and the general in their speeches, brought it about that the senate decreed that he should cross over into Africa at the very first opportunity, and that permission should be granted to Scipio, to select himself from those armies which were in Sicily those whom he would take over with him into Africa, and those whom he would leave for the defense of the province.