§4.32.1cum trepidam civitatem praeconibus per vicos dimissis dictator ad contionem advocatam increpuit, §4.32.2quod animos ex tam levibus momentis fortunae suspensos gererent, ut parva iactura accepta, quae ipsa non virtute hostium nec ignavia Romani exercitus, sed discordia imperatorum accepta sit, Veientem hostem sexiens victum pertimescant Fidenasque prope saepius captas quam oppugnatas.
The dictator, having summoned an assembly after heralds were sent through the streets, severely chided the trembling state, because they kept their minds anxious from such slight turns of fortune, so that having sustained a small loss — which itself was sustained not by the valor of the enemy nor the cowardice of the Roman army, but by the discord of the generals — they should dread the Veientine enemy, conquered six times, and Fidenae, captured almost more often than besieged.
§4.32.3eosdem et Romanos et hostes esse, qui per tot saecula fuerint, eosdem animos, easdem corporis vires, eadem arma gerere; se quoque eundem dictatorem Mam. Aemilium esse, qui antea Veientium Fidenatiumque adiunctis Faliscis ad Nomentum exercitus fuderit, §4.32.4et magistrum equitum A. Cornelium eundem in acie fore, qui priore bello tribunus militum Larte Tolumnio, rege Veientium, in conspectu duorum exercituum occiso spolia opima Iovis Feretrii templo intulerit.
He said that those who had been through so many centuries were the same Romans and the same enemies, bearing the same spirits, the same physical strength, the same weapons; and that he himself was also the same dictator Mamercus Aemilius, who previously had routed the armies of the Veientes and Fidenates, with the Faliscans joined, at Nomentum, and that the same Aulus Cornelius would be master of the horse in the battle line, who in the previous war, as a military tribune, having slain Lars Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, in the sight of the two armies, had carried the spolia opima into the temple of Jupiter Feretrius.
§4.32.5proinde memores secum triumphos, secum spolia, secum victoriam esse, cum hostibus scelus legatorum contra ius gentium interfectorum, caedem in pace Fidenatium colonorum, indutias ruptas, septimam infelicem defectionem, arma caperent.
Therefore, they should take up arms, mindful that triumphs, spoils, and victory were on their side, whereas with the enemy were the crime of the envoys slain against the law of nations, the slaughter in peace of the Fidenate colonists, broken truces, and a seventh unlucky defection.
§4.32.6simul castra castris coniunxissent, satis confidere nec sceleratissimis hostibus diuturnum ex ignominia exercitus Romani gaudium fore, et populum Romanum intellecturum, §4.32.7quanto melius de re publica meriti sint, qui se dictatorem tertium dixerint, quam qui ob ereptum censurae regnum labem secundae dictaturae suae inposuerint.
As soon as they had joined camp to camp, he was sufficiently confident that the joy of the most wicked enemies from the disgrace of the Roman army would not be long-lasting, and that the Roman people would understand how much better those who had named him dictator for the third time had deserved of the republic than those who, because of the power of the censorship being snatched away, had imposed a stain on his second dictatorship.
uotis deinde nuncupatis profectus mille §4.32.8et quingentos passus citra Fidenas castra locat dextra montibus, laeva Tiberi amne saeptus.
Then, having pronounced vows, he set out, and pitched his camp one thousand and five hundred paces this side of Fidenae, protected on the right by the mountains, on the left by the river Tiber.
§4.32.9T. Quinctium Poenum legatum occupare montes iubet occultumque id iugum capere, quod ab tergo hostibus foret.
He ordered the lieutenant Titus Quinctius Poenus to seize the mountains and to occupy that hidden ridge which would be in the rear of the enemy.
§4.32.10ipse postero die, cum Etrusci pleni animorum ab pristini diei meliore occasione quam pugna in aciem processissent, cunctatus parumper, dum speculatores referrent Quinctium evasisse in iugum propinquum arci Fidenarum, signa profert peditumque aciem instructam pleno gradu in hostem inducit;
On the following day, when the Etruscans, full of spirits from the previous day's favorable turn rather than from actual battle, had advanced into the battle line, he himself delayed a little while, until scouts reported that Quinctius had made his way onto the ridge near the citadel of Fidenae; then he advanced the standards and led the drawn-up line of infantry at a rapid pace against the enemy.
§4.32.11magistro equitum praecipit, ne iniussu pugnam incipiat: se, cum opus sit equestri auxilio, signum daturum; tum ut memor regiae pugnae, memor opimi doni Romulique ac Iovis Feretrii rem gereret.
He instructed the master of the horse not to begin the battle without orders, saying that he himself would give the signal when there should be need of cavalry support; then, that mindful of the royal battle, mindful of the rich offering, and of Romulus and Jupiter Feretrius, he should conduct the affair.
§4.32.12legiones impetu ingenti confligunt.
The legions clashed with a mighty onset.
Romanus odio accensus inpium Fidenatem, praedonem Veientem, ruptores indutiarum, cruentos legatorum infanda caede, respersos sanguine colonorum suorum, perfidos socios, inbelles hostes compellans factis simul dictisque odium explet.
The Roman, kindled with hatred, satisfied his anger alike by deeds and words, calling them the impious Fidenate, the robber Veientine, the breakers of truces, stained with the unspeakable slaughter of envoys, bespattered with the blood of their own colonists, treacherous allies, cowardly enemies.