§39.1.1dum haec, si modo hoc anno acta sunt, Romae aguntur, consules ambo in Liguribus gerebant bellum.
While these things were being done in Rome, if indeed they were done in this year, both consuls were waging war in Liguria.
§39.1.2is hostis velut natus ad continendam inter magnorum intervalla bellorum Romanis militarem disciplinam erat; nec alia provincia militem magis ad virtutem acuebat.
This enemy was, as it were, born for the purpose of maintaining military discipline for the Romans during the intervals between great wars; nor did any other province sharpen the soldier more toward valor.
nam Asia §39.1.3et amoenitate urbium et copia terrestrium maritimarumque rerum et mollitia hostium regiisque opibus ditiores quam fortiores exercitus faciebat.
For Asia, by the pleasantness of its cities, the abundance of resources both by land and sea, the softness of the enemy, and the royal wealth, made armies wealthier rather than braver.
§39.1.4praecipue sub imperio Cn.
Especially under the command of Cn.
Manlii solute ac neglegenter habiti sunt.
Manlius, they were held in a loose and negligent manner.
itaque asperius paulo iter in Thracia et exercitatior hostis magna clade eos castigavit.
Therefore, a slightly rougher march in Thrace and a more practiced enemy chastised them with a great disaster.
§39.1.5in Liguribus omnia erant, quae militem excitarent, loca montana et aspera, quae et ipsis capere labor erat et ex praeoccupatis deicere hostem; §39.1.6itinera ardua, angusta, infesta insidiis; hostis levis et velox et repentinus, qui nullum usquam tempus, nullum locum quietum aut securum esse sineret; oppugnatio necessaria munitorum castellorum, laboriosa simul periculosaque; inops regio, quae parsimonia astringeret milites, praedae haud multum praeberet.
Among the Ligurians, there was everything that could excite a soldier: mountainous and rugged places, which were a labor for them to capture, and from which it was difficult to dislodge an enemy who had already occupied them; steep, narrow roads, infested with ambushes; a light, swift, and sudden enemy, who would allow no time and no place anywhere to be quiet or safe; the necessary storming of fortified castles, which was both laborious and dangerous; a poor region, which constrained the soldiers to parsimony and offered little plunder.
§39.1.7itaque non lixa sequebatur, non iumentorum longus ordo agmen extendebat.
Therefore, no camp-followers followed, and no long train of baggage animals lengthened the column.
nihil praeter arma et viros omnem spem in armis habentes erat.
There was nothing except weapons and men who had all their hope in weapons.
§39.1.8nec deerat umquam cum iis vel materia belli vel causa, quia propter domesticam inopiam vicinos agros incursabant.
Nor was there ever lacking with them either the material or the cause of war, because on account of their domestic poverty they raided the neighboring fields.
nec tamen in discrimen summae rerum pugnabatur.
Nevertheless, they did not fight in a decisive struggle for the ultimate issue.