§35.42.1intentis in apparatum novi belli Romanis ne ab Antiocho quidem cessabatur.
While the Romans were intent on the preparation for a new war, not even by Antiochus was there any inactivity.
§35.42.2tres eum civitates tenebant, Zmyrna et Alexandria Troas et Lampsacus, quas neque vi expugnare ad eam diem poterat neque condicionibus in amicitiam perlicere, neque ab tergo relinquere traiciens ipse in Europam volebat.
Three cities were detaining him, Smyrna, Alexandria Troas, and Lampsacus, which up to that day he had been able neither to capture by force nor to entice into friendship by treaties, nor did he wish to leave them behind his back when he himself was crossing over into Europe.
§35.42.3tenuit eum et de Hannibale deliberatio.
Deliberation concerning Hannibal also detained him.
et primo naves apertae, quas cum eo missurus in Africam fuerat, §35.42.4moratae sunt; deinde, an omnino mittendus esset, consultatio mota est, maxime a Thoante Aetolo, qui omnibus in Graecia tumultu completis Demetriadem adferebat in potestate esse et, §35.42.5quibus mendaciis de rege, multiplicando verbis copias eius, erexerat multorum in Graecia animos, isdem et regis spem inflabat: omnium votis eum accersi, concursum ad littora futurum, unde classem regiam prospexissent.
And at first the open ships, which he had intended to send with him to Africa, caused delay; then, a consultation was raised whether he should be sent at all, especially by Thoas the Aetolian, who, having filled everything in Greece with confusion, reported that Demetrias was in his power, and, with the same lies about the king with which, by multiplying his forces in words, he had aroused the minds of many in Greece, he also inflated the king's hope: that he was being summoned by the prayers of all, and that there would be a rushing together to the shores from where they should have sighted the royal fleet.
§35.42.6hic idem ausus de Hannibale est movere sententiam prope iam certam regis.
This same man dared to shake the king's opinion concerning Hannibal, which was already nearly fixed.
nam neque dimittendam partem navium a classe regia censebat, §35.42.7neque, si mittendae naves forent, minus quemquam ei classi quam Hannibalem praeficiendum: §35.42.8exulem illum et Poenum esse, cui mille in dies nova consilia vel fortuna sua vel ingenium possit facere, §35.42.9et ipsam eam gloriam belli, qua velut dote Hannibal concilietur, nimiam in praefecto regio esse.
For he thought neither that a part of the ships should be sent away from the royal fleet, nor, if ships had to be sent, that anyone should be placed in command of that fleet less than Hannibal to be appointed: that he was an exile and a Carthaginian, to whom either his fortune or his character could suggest a thousand new plans day by day, and that very glory in war, by which as if by a dowry Hannibal was recommended, was too great for a royal officer.
regem conspici, regem unum ducem, unum imperatorem videri debere.
The king ought to be looked upon, the king alone ought to be seen as the leader, the sole commander.
§35.42.10si classem, si exercitum amittat Hannibal, idem damni fore, ac si per alium ducem amittantur; §35.42.11si quid prospere eveniat, Hannibalis eam, non Antiochi gloriam fore; si vero universo bello vincendi Romanos fortuna detur, quam spem esse sub rege victurum Hannibalem, uni subiectum,
if Hannibal should lose the fleet, or the army, the loss would be the same as if they were lost through another leader; if anything should turn out successfully, that glory would be Hannibal's, not Antiochus'; but if indeed in the whole war the fortune of conquering the Romans should be given, what hope was there that Hannibal would live under a king, subject to a single man, who had almost not tolerated his own fatherland?
§35.42.12qui patriam prope non tulerit? non ita se a iuventa eum gessisse, spe animoque complexum orbis terrarum imperium, ut in senectute dominum laturus videatur.
That he had not so conducted himself from his youth, having embraced in hope and mind the empire of the world, that in his old age he would seem likely to tolerate a master.
§35.42.13nihil opus esse regi duce Hannibale; comite et consiliario eodem ad bellum uti posse.
that there was no need for the king of Hannibal as a leader; that he could use the same man as a companion and counselor for the war.
§35.42.14modicum fructum ex ingenio tali neque gravem neque inutilem fore; si summa petantur, et dantem et accipientem praegravatura.
that a moderate benefit from such a talent would be neither burdensome nor useless; if the highest things were sought, they would weigh heavily on both the giver and the receiver.