§30.42.1tum de legatis Philippi et Carthaginiensium actum.
Then the matter of the envoys of Philip and the Carthaginians was discussed.
§30.42.2priores Macedonas introduci placuit; quorum varia oratio fuit, partim purgantium, quae questi erant missi ad regem ab Roma legati de populatione sociorum, partim ultro accusantium quidem et socios populi Romani, §30.42.3sed multo infestius M. Aurelium, quem ex tribus ad se missis legatis dilectu habito substitisse et se bello lacessisse contra foedus et saepe cum praefectis suis signis conlatis pugnasse, partim postulantium, §30.42.4ut Macedones duxque eorum Sopater, qui apud Hannibalem mercede militassent, tum capti in vinclis essent, sibi restituerentur.
It was decided that the Macedonians should be introduced first; their speech was varied, partly excusing those things which the envoys sent from Rome to the king had complained of regarding the plundering of the allies, partly in turn accusing even the allies of the Roman people, but much more fiercely Marcus Aurelius, whom they said, after holding a levy, had remained behind out of the three envoys sent to him, and had provoked them to war contrary to the treaty and had often fought in pitched battle with their prefects, partly requesting that the Macedonians and their leader Sopater, who had served for pay under Hannibal and were then held captive in chains, should be restored to them.
§30.42.5adversus ea M. Furius, missus ad id ipsum ab Aurelio ex Macedonia, disseruit Aurelium relictum, ne socii populi Romani fessi populationibus vi atque iniuria ad regem deficerent; §30.42.6finibus sociorum non excessisse, dedisse operam, ne impune in agros eorum populatores transcenderent.
In reply to this, Marcus Furius, sent for this very purpose from Macedonia by Aurelius, argued that Aurelius had been left behind lest the allies of the Roman people, exhausted by plunderings, should defect to the king through force and injustice; that he had not gone beyond the boundaries of the allies, and had taken care that plunderers should not cross into their fields with impunity.
Sopatrum ex purpuratis et propinquis regis esse; eum cum quattuor milibus Macedonum et pecunia missum nuper in Africam esse Hannibali et Carthaginiensibus auxilio.
He said that Sopater was one of the king's purple-clad courtiers and relatives; and that he had recently been sent to Africa with four thousand Macedonians and money to help Hannibal and the Carthaginians.
§30.42.7de his rebus interrogati Macedones cum perplexe responderent, nequaquam ipsi simile responsum tulerunt: §30.42.8bellum quaerere regem et, si pergat, propediem inventurum.
When the Macedonians, questioned on these matters, replied perplexedly, they by no means received a similar reply themselves: that the king was seeking war and, if he continued, he would find it soon.
dupliciter ab eo foedus violatum, et quod sociis populi Romani iniurias fecerit ac bello armisque lacessiverit, et quod hostes auxiliis et pecunia iuverit.
The treaty had been violated by him in a twofold manner, both because he had done injustices to the allies of the Roman people and provoked them with war and arms, and because he had helped the enemy with aid and money.
§30.42.9et P. Scipionem recte atque ordine fecisse videri et facere, quod eos, qui arma contra populum Romanum ferentes capti sint, hostium numero in vinclis habeat, §30.42.10et M. Aurelium e re publica facere, gratumque id senatui esse, quod socios populi Romani, quando iure foederis non possit, armis tueatur.
And that Publius Scipio seemed to have acted and was acting rightly and properly in keeping those in chains as enemies who were captured carrying arms against the Roman people, and that Marcus Aurelius was acting in the interest of the state, and that this was pleasing to the senate, that he protected the allies of the Roman people with arms when he could not do so by the right of the treaty.
§30.42.11cum hoc tam tristi responso dimissis Macedonibus legati Carthaginienses vocati; quorum aetatibus dignitatibusque conspectis — nam longe primi civitatis erant — tum pro se quisque dicere vere de pace agi.
When the Macedonians had been dismissed with this so harsh response, the Carthaginian envoys were called; whose ages and dignities having been observed — for they were by far the chief men of the state — everyone then said for themselves that negotiations for peace were truly being made.
§30.42.12insignis tamen inter ceteros Hasdrubal erat — Haedum populares cognomine appellabant — pacis semper auctor adversusque factioni Barcinae.
Remarkable however among the others was Hasdrubal — whom his fellow citizens called by the nickname Haedus — always a proponent of peace and opposed to the Barcine faction.
§30.42.13eo tum plus illi auctoritatis fuit belli culpam in paucorum cupiditatem ab re publica transferenti.
Therefore, more authority belonged to him at that time as he transferred the blame of the war from the state onto the greed of a few.
§30.42.14qui cum varia oratione usus esset, nunc purgando crimina nunc quaedam fatendo, ne impudenter certa negantibus difficilior venia esset, nunc monendo etiam patres conscriptos, ut rebus secundis modeste ac moderate uterentur; §30.42.15si se atque Hannonem audissent Carthaginienses et tempore uti voluissent, daturos fuisse pacis condiciones, quas tunc peterent.
He, having used a varied speech, now by excusing the crimes, now by admitting certain things, lest pardon should be harder for those who shamelessly denied what was certain, now also by advising the conscript fathers to use good fortune modestly and moderately; said that if the Carthaginians had listened to him and Hanno and had wished to use the opportunity, they would have been the ones to give the terms of peace which they were then seeking.
raro simul hominibus bonam fortunam bonamque mentem dari; §30.42.16populum Romanum eo invictum esse, quod in secundis rebus sapere et consulere meminerit.
Good fortune and a good mind were rarely given to men at the same time; that the Roman people were invincible for this reason, that in good fortune they remembered to be wise and to take counsel.
et hercule mirandum fuisse, si aliter faceret.
And indeed it would have been surprising if they had done otherwise.
§30.42.17ex insolentia, quibus nova bona fortuna sit, inpotentes laetitiae insanire; populo Romano usitata ac prope iam obsoleta ex victoria gaudia esse, ac plus paene parcendo victis quam vincendo imperium auxisse, §30.42.18— ceterorum miserabilior oratio fuit commemorantium, ex quantis opibus quo reccidissent Carthaginiensium res: nihil iis, qui modo orbem prope terrarum obtinuerint armis, superesse praeter Carthaginis moenia; §30.42.19his inclusos non terra, non mari quicquam sui iuris cernere; urbem quoque ipsam ac penates ita habituros, si non in ea quoque, quo nihil ulterius sit,
Those to whom good fortune was new, out of insolence, became mad with joy, being unable to control it; to the Roman people, joys from victory were customary and now almost obsolete, and they had increased their empire almost more by sparing the vanquished than by conquering, — the speech of the others was more miserable, recounting from how great wealth to what point the affairs of the Carthaginians had fallen: that nothing remained to those who had lately held almost the whole world with arms, except the walls of Carthage; that enclosed in these, they saw nothing of their own right either on land or on sea; that they would possess even the city itself and their household gods only if, in it also, beyond which there was nothing, the Roman people did not wish to rage.
§30.42.20saevire populus Romanus velit cum flecti misericordia patres appareret, senatorem unum infestum perfidiae Carthaginiensium succlamasse ferunt, per quos deos foedus icturi essent, cum eos, per quos ante ictum esset, fefellissent; §30.42.21“per eosdem” inquit Hasdrubal, “quoniam tam infesti sunt foedera violantibus. ”
When it appeared that the fathers were being moved by pity, they say that one senator, hostile to the treachery of the Carthaginians, cried out, by what gods they were going to strike a treaty, since they had deceived those by whom it had been struck before; "By the same ones," said Hasdrubal, "since they are so hostile to those who violate treaties."