§36.27.1ceterum Heraclea capta fregit tandem animos Aetolorum, §36.27.2et paucos post dies, quam ad bellum renovandum acciendumque regem in Asiam miserant legatos, abiectis belli consiliis pacis petendae oratores ad consulem miserunt.
But the capture of Heraclea at last broke the spirit of the Aetolians, and a few days after they had sent envoys to Asia to renew the war and summon the king, they cast aside their war plans and sent spokesmen to the consul to sue for peace.
§36.27.3quos dicere exorsos consul interfatus, cum alia sibi praevertenda esse dixisset, redire Hypatam eos datis dierum decem indutiis et L. Valerio Flacco cum iis misso iussit eique, quae secum acturi fuissent, exponere, et si qua vellent alia.
As they began to speak, the consul interrupted them, and saying that he had other matters to attend to first, ordered them to return to Hypata, granting a ten days' truce and sending Lucius Valerius Flaccus with them, whom they were to inform of what they had intended to discuss with himself, and of any other matters they wished.
§36.27.4Hypatam ut est ventum, principes Aetolorum apud Flaccum concilium habuerunt consultantes, quonam agendum modo apud consulem foret.
When they arrived at Hypata, the chief men of the Aetolians held a council in the presence of Flaccus, debating how they should act before the consul.
§36.27.5parantibus iis antiqua iura foederum ordiri meritaque in populum Romanum absistere iis Flaccus iussit, §36.27.6quae ipsi violassent ac rupissent; confessionem iis culpae magis profuturam et totam in preces orationem versam; nec enim in causa ipsorum, sed in populi Romani clementia spem salutis positam esse; §36.27.7et se suppliciter agentibus iis adfuturum et apud consulem et Romae in senatu; eo quoque enim mittendos fore legatos.
When they prepared to start with the ancient rights of treaties and their services to the Roman people, Flaccus ordered them to desist from these, which they themselves had violated and broken; he told them that a confession of guilt would be of more use to them, and that their whole speech should be turned into entreaties; for their hope of safety lay not in their own cause, but in the clemency of the Roman people; and that if they acted as suppliants, he would support them both before the consul and in the senate at Rome; for envoys would have to be sent there also.
§36.27.8haec una via omnibus ad salutem visa est, ut in fidem se permitterent Romanorum; ita enim et illis violandi supplices verecundiam se imposituros, et ipsos nihilo minus suae potestatis fore, si quid melius fortuna ostendisset.
This seemed to everyone the only path to safety: to surrender themselves to the good faith of the Romans; for in this way they would impose on the Romans a sense of shame at violating suppliants, and they themselves would nonetheless remain under their own control, if fortune should show anything better.