§38.49.1iniquo enim loco dimicavi.
"For I fought in an unfavorable place," they say.
dic igitur, quo aequiore potuerim dimicare.
Tell me then, in what more favorable place I could have fought.
cum hostes montem cepissent, loco se munito tenerent, nempe eundum ad hostes erat, si vincere vellem. §38.49.2quid? si urbem eo loco haberent et moenibus se tenerent? nempe oppugnandi erant.
When the enemy had taken the mountain and held themselves in a fortified position, surely one had to go against the enemy, if I wished to conquer. What? If they had a city in that place and held themselves within walls? Surely they would have had to be besieged.
quid? ad Thermopylas aequone loco M’. Acilius cum rege Antiocho pugnavit?
What? At Thermopylae, did Manius Acilius fight with King Antiochus in a favorable place? What?
§38.49.3quid? Philippum non eodem modo super Aoum amnem iuga tenentem montium T. Quinctius deiecit? equidem adhuc, qualem aut sibi fingant aut vobis videri velint hostem fuisse, non invenio. §38.49.4si degenerem et emollitum amoenitate Asiae, quid periculi vel iniquo loco subeuntibus fuit? si timendum et feritate animorum et robore corporum, huicine tantae victoriae triumphum negatis? §38.49.5caeca invidia est, patres conscripti, nec quicquam aliud scit quam detractare virtutes, corrumpere honores ac praemia earum. §38.49.6mihi quaeso ita ignoscatis, patres conscripti, si longiorem orationem non cupiditas gloriandi de me, sed necessaria criminum defensio fecit. §38.49.7an etiam per Thraciam saltus patentes, qui angusti erant, et plana ex arduis et culta ex silvestribus facere potui et praestare, necubi notis sibi latebris delitescerent latrones Thraces, §38.49.8ne quid sarcinarum raperetur, ne quod iumentum ex tanto agmine abstraheretur, ne quis vulneraretur, ne ex vulnere vir fortis ac strenuus Q. Minucius moreretur? §38.49.9in hoc casu, quo infeliciter incidit, ut talem civem amitteremus, haerent; §38.49.10quod saltu iniquo, loco alieno cum adortus nos hostis esset, duae simul acies primi et novissimi agminis haerentem ad impedimenta nostra exercitum barbarorum circumvenerunt, quod multa milia illo ipso die, §38.49.11plura multo post dies paucos ceciderunt et ceperunt, hoc, si ipsi tacuerint, vos scituros, cum testis orationis meae totus exercitus sit, non credunt? §38.49.12si gladium in Asia non strinxissem, si hostem non vidissem, tamen triumphum in Thracia duobus proeliis merueram.
Did Titus Quinctius not dislodge Philip in the same way, who was holding the ridges of the mountains above the Aous river? For my part, I still do not find what kind of enemy they either imagine for themselves or wish him to seem to you to have been. If he was degenerate and softened by the pleasantness of Asia, what danger was there even for those advancing in an unfavorable place? If he was to be feared both for the ferocity of his spirit and the strength of his body, do you deny a triumph to so great a victory as this? Envy is blind, conscript fathers, and knows nothing else than to detract from virtues and to spoil their honors and rewards. Pray forgive me, conscript fathers, if not a desire of boasting about myself, but the necessary defense against charges, has made my speech rather long. Or could I indeed, through Thrace, make the passes open which were narrow, and make the steep places level and the wooded places cleared, and guarantee that Thracian bandits would not hide anywhere in hiding places known to them, lest any of the baggage should be snatched, lest any beast of burden should be dragged away from so great a column, lest anyone should be wounded, lest from his wound that brave and vigorous man, Quintus Minucius, should die? On this misfortune, in which we unluckily happened to lose such a citizen, they dwell; but that, when the enemy had attacked us in an unfavorable pass, in an unsuitable place, two lines at once, of the van and of the rear, surrounded the army of the barbarians as it was clinging to our baggage, and that many thousands on that very day, and many more a few days later, they slew and captured—do they not believe that you will know this, even if they themselves remain silent, since the entire army is a witness to my speech? If I had not drawn a sword in Asia, if I had not seen an enemy, yet I had deserved a triumph in Thrace by two battles.
sed iam dictum satis est; §38.49.13quin pro eo, quod pluribus verbis vos quam vellem fatigavi, veniam a vobis petitam impetratamque velim, patres conscripti. ”
But enough has been said now; nay, in return for the fact that I have fatigued you with more words than I wished, I would wish pardon to be sought and obtained from you, conscript fathers."