§33.44.1provinciis ita distributis consules, priusquam ab urbe proficiscerentur, ver sacrum ex decreto pontificum iussi facere, §33.44.2quod A. Cornelius Mammula praetor voverat de senatus sententia populique iussu Cn. Servilio C. Flaminio consulibus.
The provinces having been thus distributed, the consuls, before they set out from the city, were ordered to celebrate a "sacred spring" (ver sacrum) in accordance with a decree of the pontiffs, which the praetor Appius Cornelius Mammula had vowed by resolution of the senate and by order of the people during the consulship of Gnaeus Servilius and Gaius Flaminius.
annis post uno et viginti factum est quam votum.
It was celebrated twenty-one years after it had been vowed.
§33.44.3per eosdem dies C. Claudius Appi filius Pulcher augur in Q. Fabi Maximi locum, qui priore anno mortuus erat, lectus inauguratusque est.
About the same time, Gaius Claudius Pulcher, son of Appius, was chosen and inaugurated as augur in place of Quintus Fabius Maximus, who had died the previous year.
§33.44.4mirantibus iam vulgo hominibus, quod Hispania movisset bellum neglegi, litterae a Q. Minucio adlatae sunt se ad Turdam oppidum cum Budare et Baesadine, imperatoribus Hispanis, signis conlatis prospere pugnasse; duodecim milia hostium caesa, Budarem imperatorem captum, ceteros fusos fugatosque.
While the common people were already wondering that the war which Spain had started was being neglected, a letter was brought from Quintus Minucius, stating that he had fought a successful battle near the town of Turda against Budar and Baesadines, the Spanish commanders; twelve thousand of the enemy had been slain, the commander Budar captured, and the rest routed and put to flight.
§33.44.5his litteris lectis minus terroris ab Hispanis erat, unde ingens bellum expectatum fuerat; omnes curae, utique post adventum decem legatorum, in Antiochum regem conversae.
On the reading of this letter, there was less fear of the Spaniards, from whom a great war had been expected; all anxieties were turned towards King Antiochus, especially after the arrival of the ten commissioners.
§33.44.6hi expositis prius, quae cum Philippo acta essent et quibus legibus data pax, non minorem belli molem instare ab Antiocho docuerunt: §33.44.7ingenti classe, egregio terrestri exercitu in Europam eum traiecisse et, nisi avertisset vana spes, ex vaniore rumore orta, Aegypti invadendae, mox bello Graeciam arsuram fuisse; neque enim ne Aetolos quidem quieturos, cum ingenio inquietam tum iratam Romanis gentem.
These, after first explaining what had been done with Philip and on what terms peace had been granted, informed them that no less a burden of war was threatening from Antiochus: that he had crossed into Europe with a huge fleet and an excellent land army, and that, had not a groundless hope of invading Egypt, arising from an even more groundless rumor, diverted him, Greece would soon have been ablaze with war; for not even the Aetolians would remain quiet, a nation restless by nature and now angry with the Romans.
§33.44.8haerere et aliud in visceribus Graeciae ingens malum, §33.44.9Nabim, nunc Lacedaemoniorum, mox, si liceat, universae Graeciae futurum tyrannum, avaritia et crudelitate omnis fama celebratos tyrannos aequantem; cui si Argos velut arcem Peloponneso inpositam tenere liceat, deportatis in Italiam Romanis exercitibus nequiquam liberatam a Philippo Graeciam fore, pro rege, si nihil aliud, longinquo vicinum tyrannum dominum habituram.
Another great evil was also clinging to the very vitals of Greece: Nabis, now tyrant of the Lacedaemonians, and soon, if permitted, to be the tyrant of all Greece, equaling in greed and cruelty all the tyrants celebrated in fame; if he were allowed to hold Argos, which was set like a citadel over the Peloponnese, then after the Roman armies had been withdrawn to Italy, the liberation of Greece from Philip would have been in vain, and she would have, at least, a neighboring tyrant for a master instead of a distant king.