§29.26.1multae classes Romanae e Sicilia atque ipso illo portu profectae erant; ceterum non eo bello solum — nec id mirum, praedatum enim tantummodo pleraeque classes ierant —, sed ne priore quidem ulla profectio tanti spectaculi fuit; §29.26.2quamquam, si magnitudine classes aestimares, et bini consules cum binis exercitibus ante traiecerant et prope totidem rostratae in illis classibus fuerant, quot onerariis Scipio tum traiciebat; §29.26.3nam praeter quadraginta longas naves quadringentis ferme onerariis exercitum travexit.
Many Roman fleets had set out from Sicily and from that very port; however, not only in this war — and that was no wonder, for most of the fleets had gone merely to plunder —, but not even in the prior war was any departure of such a great spectacle; although, if one were to estimate the fleets by their size, both two consuls with two armies had crossed over before, and there had been almost as many war-ships in those fleets as the transports with which Scipio was then crossing; for besides forty warships, he transported his army on nearly four hundred transports.
§29.26.4sed et bellum bello secundum priori ut atrocius Romanis videretur, cum quod in Italia bellabatur, tum ingentes strages tot exercituum simul caesis ducibus effecerant, §29.26.5et Scipio dux partim factis fortibus partim suapte fortuna quadam ingenti ad incrementa gloriae celebratus converterat animos, §29.26.6simul et mens ipsa traiciendi nulli ante eo bello duci temptata, quod ad Hannibalem detrahendum ex Italia transferendumque et finiendum in Africa bellum se transire vulgaverat.
But both because the second war, next to the former war, was made to seem more terrible to the Romans — both the fact that it was waged in Italy and the huge slaughters of so many armies with their slain generals having brought this about —, and because the leader Scipio, celebrated for his increase of glory partly by his brave deeds and partly by a certain immense fortune of his own, had turned their minds, and at the same time the very idea of crossing over, attempted by no leader before him in this war, because he had made it known that he was crossing over to draw Hannibal out of Italy, to transfer the war, and to finish it in Africa.
§29.26.7concurrerat ad spectaculum in portum omnis turba non habitantium modo Lilybaei, sed legationum omnium ex Sicilia, quae et ad prosequendum Scipionem officii causa convenerant et praetorem provinciae M. Pomponium secutae fuerant; §29.26.8ad hoc legiones, quae in Sicilia relinquebantur, ad prosequendos commilitones processerant; nec classis modo prospectantibus e terra, sed terra etiam omnis circa referta turba spectaculo navigantibus erat.
All the crowd had gathered at the port for the spectacle, not only of the inhabitants of Lilybaeum, but of all the embassies from Sicily, who had assembled both for the sake of duty to see Scipio off and had followed Marcus Pomponius, the praetor of the province; in addition to this, the legions which were being left in Sicily had marched forward to see their fellow soldiers off; and not only was the fleet a spectacle to those looking out from the land, but all the land around, packed with a crowd, was also a spectacle to those sailing.