§41.18.1hostes sub adventum C. Claudi, a quo duce de meminerant nuper ad Scultennam flumen victos fugatosque, locorum magis praesidio adversus infeliciter expertam vim quam armis se defensuri, duos montes Letum et Ballistam ceperunt muroque insuper amplexi sunt.
Upon the approach of Gaius Claudius, whom the enemy remembered as the general by whom they had recently been defeated and routed at the river Scultenna, they, intending to defend themselves against the Roman force which they had unfortunately experienced, rather by the protection of the places than by arms, occupied two mountains, Letum and Ballista, and moreover enclosed them with a wall.
§41.18.2tardius ex agris demigrantes oppressi ad mille et quingenti perierunt; §41.18.3ceteri montibus se tenebant, et ne in metu quidem feritatis ingenitae obliti saeviunt in praedam, quae Mutinae parta erat.
About one thousand five hundred of those who were migrating too slowly from the fields were overtaken and perished; the rest kept themselves on the mountains, and not even in their fear forgetting their inborn ferocity, they raged against the booty which had been acquired at Mutina.
captivos cum foeda laceratione interficiunt; pecora in fanis trucidant verius passim quam rite sacrificant.
They killed the captives with horrible mutilation; they slaughtered the cattle in the temples, rather butchering them everywhere than sacrificing them in due form.
§41.18.4satiati caede animantium, quae inanima erant parietibus adfigunt, vasa omnis generis usui magis quam in speciem facta.
Satiated with the slaughter of living creatures, they fastened to the walls those things which were inanimate, vessels of every kind made for use rather than for show.
§41.18.5Q. Petilius consul, ne absente se debellaretur, litteras ad C. Claudium misit, ut cum exercitu ad se in Galliam veniret: campis Macris se eum expectaturum.
The consul Quintus Petilius, lest the war should be finished in his absence, sent a letter to Gaius Claudius, that he should come with his army to him in Gaul: writing that he would await him in the Macrian plains.
§41.18.6litteris acceptis Claudius ex Liguribus castra movit exercitumque ad campos Macros consuli tradidit.
Upon receiving the letter, Claudius moved his camp from the Ligurians and delivered the army to the consul at the Macrian plains.
eodem paucis post diebus C. Valerius consul alter venit.
To the same place a few days later came Gaius Valerius, the other consul.
§41.18.7ibi divisis copiis, prius quam digrederentur, communiter ambo exercitus lustraverunt.
Having divided the forces there, before they separated, both armies jointly performed a purification.
tum sortiti, quia non ab eadem utrumque parte adgredi hostem placebat, regiones quas peterent.
Then they drew lots for the districts they should seek, because it was not pleasing that both should attack the enemy from the same side.
§41.18.8Valerium auspicato sortitum constabat, quod in templo fuisset; in Petilio id vitii factum postea augures responderunt, quod extra templum sortem in sitellam † in templum latam foris ipse oporteret.
It was established that Valerius had drawn lots after taking the auspices, because he had been in the sacred precinct; in the case of Petilius, the augurs afterwards replied that this defect had occurred, that being outside the sacred precinct, he himself ought to [have drawn] the lot into the urn brought into the precinct, [while being] outside.
§41.18.9profecti inde in diversas regiones. Petilius adversus Ballistae et Leti iugum, quod eos montes perpetuo dorso inter se iungit, castra habuit.
Departing thence into different regions, Petilius pitched his camp against the ridge of Ballista and Letum, which connects those mountains with a continuous ridge.
§41.18.10ibi adhortantem eum pro contione milites, inmemorem ambiguitatis verbi, ominatum ferunt se eo die Letum capturum esse.
There, while he was encouraging his soldiers in assembly, unmindful of the double meaning of the word, they say that he made an omen, saying that on that day he would capture "Letum" (Death / Mount Letus).
§41.18.11duabus simul partibus subire in adversos montes coepit.
He began to ascend the opposing mountains in two divisions at the same time.
ea pars, in qua ipse erat, inpigre succedebat.
The part in which he himself was, advanced vigorously.
alteram hostes cum propulissent, ut restitueret rem inclinatam, consul equo advectus suos quidem a fuga revocavit, ipse, dum incautius ante signa obversatur, missili traiectus cecidit.
When the enemy had repulsed the other part, in order to restore the wavering situation, the consul, riding up on his horse, recalled his men from flight, but he himself, while moving about too incautiously before the standards, was pierced by a missile and fell.
§41.18.12nec hostes ducem occisum senserunt, et suorum pauci, qui viderant, haud neglegenter, ut qui in eo victoriam verti scirent, corpus occultavere.
Neither did the enemy perceive that the general had been killed, and a few of his own men who had seen it, not negligently, as those who knew that victory depended on it, concealed the body.
§41.18.13alia multitudo peditum equitumque deturbatis hostibus montis sine duce cepere.
The rest of the multitude of infantry and cavalry, having dislodged the enemy, captured the mountains without a leader.
ad quinque milia Ligurum occisa; ex Romano exercitu duo et quinquaginta ceciderunt.
About five thousand of the Ligurians were killed; from the Roman army, fifty-two fell.
§41.18.14super tam evidentem tristis ominis eventum etiam ex pullario auditum est vitium in auspicio fuisse, nec id consulem ignorasse.
In addition to so evident an outcome of the gloomy omen, it was also heard from the keeper of the sacred chickens that there had been a defect in the auspices, and that the consul had not been ignorant of it.
§41.18.15C. Valerius audita * * * periti religionum iurisque publici, quando duo ordinarii consules eius anni, alter morbo, alter ferro perisset, suffectum consulem negabant recte comitia habere posse.
Gaius Valerius, having heard [...]. Those skilled in religious matters and public law asserted that, since the two regular consuls of that year had perished, one by disease, the other by the sword, a consul elected in substitute could not rightly hold the elections.
§41.18.16* * * deduxit.
[...] led away.