§39.12.1satis exploratum de Aebutio ratus consul non vanum auctorem esse, Aebutia dimissa socrum rogat, ut Hispalam indidem ex Aventino libertinam, non ignotam viciniae, arcesseret ad sese: eam quoque esse quae percunctari vellet.
Thinking that the matter regarding Aebutius had been sufficiently verified, and that the informant was not untrustworthy, the consul, having dismissed Aebutia, asked his mother-in-law to summon to her presence Hispala, a freedwoman from the same area on the Aventine, who was well known in the neighborhood; for she too was someone he wished to question.
§39.12.2ad cuius nuntium perturbata Hispala, quod ad tam nobilem et gravem feminam ignara causae arcesseretur, postquam lictores in vestibulo turbamque consularem et consulem ipsum conspexit, prope exanimata est.
Hispala, troubled by this summons because she was being called to such a noble and grave lady without knowing the reason, was nearly frightened to death when she saw the lictors in the vestibule, the consular crowd, and the consul himself.
§39.12.3in interiorem partem aedium abductam socru adhibita consul, si vera dicere inducere in animum posset, negat perturbari debere; fidem vel a Sulpicia, tali femina, vel ab se acciperet;
After she was led into the inner part of the house, with his mother-in-law present, the consul told her that she ought not to be afraid if she could bring herself to speak the truth; she should receive a guarantee of safety either from Sulpicia, such an honorable lady, or from himself.
§39.12.4expromeret sibi, quae in luco Stimulae Bacchanalibus in sacro nocturno solerent fieri.
Let her disclose to him what was accustomed to take place in the grove of Stimula during the nightly rites of the Bacchanalia.
§39.12.5hoc ubi audivit, tantus pavor tremorque omnium membrorum mulierem cepit, ut diu hiscere non posset.
When she heard this, such great terror and trembling of all her limbs seized the woman that for a long time she could not open her mouth.
§39.12.6tandem confirmata puellam admodum se ancillam initiatam cum domina ait: aliquot annis, ex quo manumissa sit, nihil quid ibi fiat scire.
At last, having recovered her composure, she said that as a mere girl, when she was a slave, she had been initiated along with her mistress; but for several years, since she had been manumitted, she knew nothing of what was done there.
iam id ipsum consul laudare, §39.12.7quod initiatam se non infitiaretur: sed et cetera eadem fide expromeret.
Now the consul praised this very fact, namely, that she did not deny having been initiated; but he urged her to disclose the rest with the same honesty.
§39.12.8neganti ultra quicquam scire, non eandem dicere, si coarguatur ab alio, ac per se fatenti veniam aut gratiam fore; eum sibi omnia exposuisse, qui ab illa audisset.
When she denied knowing anything further, he said that there would not be the same pardon or favor for her if she were refuted by another as there would be if she confessed of her own accord; for the one who had heard it from her had disclosed everything to him.