§29.27.1ubi illuxit, Scipio e praetoria nave silentio per praeconem facto “divi divaeque,” inquit “qui maria terrasque colitis, vos precor quaesoque, uti quae in meo imperio gesta sunt, §29.27.2geruntur postque gerentur, ea mihi, populo plebique Romanae, sociis nominique Latino, qui populi Romani quique meam sectam, imperium auspiciumque terra mari que secuntur, bene verruncent, eaque vos omnia bene iuvetis, bonis auctibus auxitis; §29.27.3salvos incolumesque victis perduellibus victores, spoliis decorates, praeda onustos triumphantesque mecum domos reduces sistatis; inimicorum hostiumque ulciscendorum copiam faxitis; §29.27.4quaeque populus Carthaginiensis in civitatem nostram facere molitus est, ea ut mihi populoque Romano in civitatem Carthaginiensium exempla edendi facultatem detis. ” §29.27.5secundum has preces cruda exta caesa victima, uti mos est, in mare proiecit tubaque signum dedit proficiscendi.
When it grew light, Scipio, after silence was made by a herald from the flagship, said: "O gods and goddesses who dwell in the seas and lands, I pray and beseech you that those things which have been done under my command, are being done, and shall be done hereafter, may turn out well for me, for the Roman populus and plebs, for the allies and the Latin name, who follow the sect, command, and auspice of the Roman people and myself by land and sea; and that you may kindly aid all these things and increase them with good growth; that you may restore us safe and sound, as victors over our vanquished enemies, adorned with spoils, laden with booty, and triumphing with me, back to our homes; and that you may grant the opportunity of taking vengeance on our personal and public enemies; and that you may give to me and to the Roman people the opportunity of inflicting examples of punishment upon the state of the Carthaginians for those things which the Carthaginian people have attempted to do against our state." Following these prayers, he threw the raw entrails of the slain victim into the sea, as is the custom, and gave the signal for departure with a trumpet.
§29.27.6vento secundo vehementi satis profecti celeriter e conspectu terrae ablati sunt; et a meridie nebula excepit ita, vix ut concursus navium inter se vitarent; lenior ventus in alto factus.
Setting out with a sufficiently strong favorable wind, they were quickly carried out of sight of land; and from midday a fog enveloped them in such a way that they could scarcely avoid colliding with one another; the wind became lighter on the deep.
noctem insequentem eadem caligo obtinuit; §29.27.7sole orto est discussa, et addita vis vento.
The same fog held during the following night; with the rising of the sun it was dispersed, and strength was added to the wind.
§29.27.8iam terram cernebant.
Now they were discerning land.
haud ita multo post gubernator Scipioni ait non plus quinque milia passuum Africam abesse, Mercuri promunturium se cernere; si iubeat eo dirigi, iam in portu fore omnem classem.
Not so long after, the pilot said to Scipio that Africa was not more than five miles away, and that he discerned the Cape of Mercury; if he should order the ships to be steered there, the whole fleet would soon be in port.
§29.27.9Scipio, ut in conspectu terra fuit, precatus deos, uti bono rei publicae suoque Africam videret, dare vela et alium infra navibus accessum petere iubet.
Scipio, as soon as the land was in sight, having prayed to the gods that he might see Africa to the good of the state and of himself, ordered them to set sail and to seek another landing place lower down for the ships.
§29.27.10vento eodem ferebantur; ceterum nebula sub idem ferme tempus, quo pridie, exorta conspectum terrae ademit, et ventus premente nebula cecidit.
They were carried by the same wind; but a fog, arising at almost the same time as the day before, took away the sight of land, and the wind fell as the fog pressed upon them.
§29.27.11nox deinde incertiora omnia fecit.
The night then made everything more uncertain.
itaque ancoras, ne aut inter se concurrerent naves aut terrae inferrentur, iecere.
Therefore they cast anchors, lest the ships should either collide with one another or be driven onto the land.
§29.27.12ubi inluxit, ventus idem coortus nebula disiecta aperuit omnia Africae litora.
When it grew light, the same wind having arisen and the fog being dispersed, the whole coast of Africa was revealed.
Scipio, quod esset proximum promunturium, percunctatus cum Pulchri promunturium id vocari audisset, “placet omen” inquit; §29.27.13“huc dirigite naves. ” eo classis decurrit, copiaeque omnes in terram expositae sunt.
Scipio, having inquired what the nearest cape was, when he heard that it was called the Cape of Pulcher, said: "I like the omen; steer the ships here." The fleet ran down thither, and all the forces were landed on the shore.
prosperam navigationem sine terrore ac tumultu fuisse permultis Graecis Latinisque auctoribus credidi.
That the voyage was prosperous, without terror or confusion, I have believed on the authority of very many Greek and Latin writers.
§29.27.14Coelius unus praeterquam quod non mersas fluctibus naves, ceteros omnes caelestes maritimosque terrores, postremo abreptam tempestate ab Africa classem ad insulam Aegimurum, §29.27.15inde aegre correctum cursum exponit, et prope obrutis navibus iniussu imperatoris scaphis, haud secus quam naufragos, milites sine armis cum ingenti tumultu in terram evasisse.
Coelius alone, except for the fact that the ships were not sunk by the waves, relates all the other terrors of the sky and the sea, and finally that the fleet was swept away by a storm from Africa to the island of Aegimurus, and that the course was corrected from there with difficulty, and that, the ships being nearly overwhelmed, the soldiers without arms escaped to the land with great confusion in boats without the order of the general, just like shipwrecked men.