§42.43.1haec dicenti ei cum adsensum esset, Marcius auctor fuit mittendi Romam legatos; cum experienda omnia ad ultimum nec praetermittendam spem ullam censuisset rex, reliqua consultatio erat, quonam modo tutum iter legatis esset.
When agreement was given to him as he said these things, Marcius was the advisor of sending ambassadors to Rome; since the king had resolved that everything must be tried to the utmost and that no hope should be neglected, the remaining consultation was how there might be a safe journey for the ambassadors.
§42.43.2ad id cum necessaria petitio indutiarum videretur cuperetque Marcius neque aliud conloquio petisset, gravate et in magnam gratiam petentis concessit.
Since a request for a truce seemed necessary for this, and Marcius desired it and had sought nothing else by the conference, he [Perseus] granted it reluctantly, and as a great favor to the requester.
§42.43.3nihil enim satis paratum ad bellum in praesentia habebant Romani, non exercitum, non ducem, cum Perseus, ni spes vana pacis occaecasset consilia, omnia praeparata atque instructa haberet, et suo maxime tempore atque alieno hostibus incipere bellum posset.
For the Romans had nothing sufficiently prepared for war at present, neither army nor general, whereas Perseus, unless a vain hope of peace had blinded his plans, had everything prepared and equipped, and could have begun the war at a time most favorable to himself and unfavorable to the enemy.
§42.43.4ab hoc conloquio, fide indutiarum interposita, legati Romani in Boeotiam † §42.43.5comparati sunt.
After this conference, the pledge of a truce having been interchanged, the Roman ambassadors [departed] into Boeotia † †were directed.
ibi iam motus coeperat esse discedentibus a societate communis concilii Boeotorum quibusdam populis, ex quo renuntiatum erat respondisse legatos appariturum, quibus populis proprie societatem cum rege iungi displicuisset.
There a movement had already begun to arise, with certain peoples departing from the alliance of the common council of the Boeotians, ever since it had been reported that the ambassadors had replied that it would become clear which peoples were individually displeased that an alliance should be joined with the king.
§42.43.6primi a Chaeronia legati, deinde a Thebis in ipso itinere occurrerunt, adfirmantes non interfuisse se, quo societas ea decreta esset, concilio; quos legati, nullo in praesentia responso dato, Chalcidem se sequi iusserunt.
First ambassadors from Chaeronea, then from Thebes met them on the journey itself, asserting that they had not been present at the council in which that alliance had been decreed; whom the ambassadors, giving no reply for the present, ordered to follow them to Chalcis.
§42.43.7Thebis magna contentio orta erat ex alio certamine.
At Thebes a great contention had arisen from another struggle.
comitiis praetoris et Boeotarcharum victa pars iniuriam persequens coacta multitudine decrevit, ne Boeotarchae urbibus reciperentur.
In the election of the praetor and the Boeotarchs, the defeated party, seeking to avenge the injustice, having gathered a crowd, decreed that the Boeotarchs should not be received into the cities.
§42.43.8exules Thespias universi concesserunt; inde — recepti enim sine cunctatione erant — Thebas iam mutatis animis revocati decretum faciunt, ut duodecim, qui privati coetum et concilium habuissent, exilio multarentur.
The exiles all withdrew to Thespiae; from there—for they had been received without hesitation—having been recalled to Thebes, as minds had now changed, they made a decree that the twelve, who as private citizens had held a gathering and assembly, should be punished with exile.
§42.43.9novus deinde praetor — Ismenias is erat, vir nobilis ac potens — capitalis poenae absentis eos decreto damnat.
Then the new praetor—this was Ismenias, a noble and powerful man—condemned them in their absence to capital punishment by a decree.
Chalcidem fugerant; inde ad Romanos Larisam profecti causam cum Perseo societatis in Ismeniam contulerant; §42.43.10ex ea contentione ortum certamen.
They had fled to Chalcis; departing from there to the Romans at Larissa, they had laid the blame of the alliance with Perseus upon Ismenias; From that contention a dispute arose.
utriusque partis legati ad Romanos venerunt, et exules accusatoresque Ismeniae et Ismenias ipse.
Ambassadors of both parties came to the Romans, both the exiles as the accusers of Ismenias, and Ismenias himself.