§34.12.1et illo quidem die sic sine responso dimissi.
And indeed on that day they were thus dismissed without an answer.
consulem nocte, quae insecuta est, anceps cura agitare; nolle deserere socios, §34.12.2nolle minuere exercitum, quod aut moram sibi ad dimicandum aut in dimicando periculum adferre posset.
During the night that followed, a double care troubled the consul: he was unwilling to desert the allies, and unwilling to diminish his army, which might bring either delay for him to fight, or danger in fighting.
§34.12.3stat sententia non minuere copias, ne quid interim hostes inferant ignominiae; §34.12.4sociis spem pro re ostentandam censet; saepe vana pro veris, maxime in bello, valuisse, et credentem se aliquid auxilii habere, perinde atque haberet, ipsa fiducia et sperando atque audendo servatum.
His decision stood not to diminish his forces, lest the enemy should bring some disgrace in the meantime; he thought that hope instead of reality should be shown to the allies; that false things had often prevailed instead of true, especially in war, and that one who believed that he had some help, just as if he had it, was saved by that very confidence, by hoping and by daring.
§34.12.5postero die legatis respondet, quamquam vereatur, ne suas vires aliis eas commodando minuat, tamen se illorum temporis ac periculi magis quam sui rationem habere.
The next day he replied to the envoys that, although he feared lest he should diminish his own strength by lending it to others, nevertheless he took more account of their emergency and danger than of his own.
§34.12.6denuntiari militum parti tertiae ex omnibus cohortibus iubet, ut cibum, quem in naves imponant, mature coquant, navesque in diem tertium expediri.
He ordered it to be announced to a third part of the soldiers from all cohorts that they should quickly cook the food which they were to put on board the ships, and that the ships should be prepared for the third day.
§34.12.7duos ex legatis Bilistagi atque Ilergetibus nuntiare ea iubet; §34.12.8filium reguli comiter habendo et muneribus apud se retinet.
He ordered two of the envoys to announce these things to Bilistages and the Ilergetes; the son of the petty king he retained with himself by treating him courteously and with gifts.
legati non ante profecti, quam impositos in naves milites viderunt; id pro haud dubio iam nuntiantes non suos modo sed etiam hostis fama Romani auxilii adventantis impleverunt.
The envoys did not set out until they saw the soldiers put on board the ships; reporting this now as a certainty, they filled not only their own people but also the enemy with the rumor of the approaching Roman help.