§43.5.1eodem tempore de C. Cassio, qui consul priore anno fuerat, tum tribunus militum in Macedonia cum A. Hostilio erat, querellae ad senatum delatae sunt, et legati regis Gallorum Cincibili venerunt. §43.5.2frater eius verba in senatu fecit questus Alpinorum populorum agros, sociorum suorum, depopulatum C. Cassium esse et inde multa milia hominum in servitutem abripuisse. §43.5.3sub idem tempus Carnorum Histrorumque et Iapydum legati venerunt: duces sibi ab consule Cassio primum imperatos, qui in Macedoniam ducenti exercitum iter monstrarent; §43.5.4pacatum ab se tamquam ad aliud bellum gerendum abisse.
At the same time, complaints were brought to the senate about Gaius Cassius, who had been consul the previous year and was then a military tribune in Macedonia with Aulus Hostilius, and envoys of Cincibilus, king of the Gauls, arrived. His brother spoke in the senate, complaining that Gaius Cassius had plundered the lands of the Alpine peoples, their allies, and had carried away from there many thousands of people into slavery. About the same time, envoys of the Carni, Histri, and Iapydes arrived: they said that guides had first been demanded of them by the consul Cassius, to show the way to him as he led his army into Macedonia; he had departed from them peacefully, as if to wage another war.
inde ex medio regressum itinere hostiliter peragrasse fines suos; caedes passim rapinasque et incendia facta; nec se ad id locorum scire, propter quam causam consuli pro hostibus fuerint. §43.5.5et regulo Gallorum absenti et his populis responsum est senatum ea, quae facta querantur, neque scisse futura, neque, si sint facta, probare.
Then, having turned back from the middle of his journey, he had traversed their territory in a hostile manner; slaughter, plunder, and burnings had been committed everywhere; and up to that time they did not know for what reason they had been treated as enemies by the consul. An answer was given both to the absent king of the Gauls and to these peoples, that the senate had neither known that those things which they complained of were going to happen, nor, if they had been done, did they approve of them.
sed indicta causa damnari absentem consularem virum iniurium esse, cum is rei publicae causa absit; §43.5.6ubi ex Macedonia redisset C. Cassius, tum, si coram eum arguere vellent, cognita re senatum daturum operam, uti satisfiat. §43.5.7nec responderi tantum iis gentibus, sed legatos mitti, duos ad regulum trans Alpis, tres circa eos populos placuit, qui indicarent, quae patrum sententia esset. §43.5.8munera mitti legatis ex binis milibus aeris censuerunt; fratri reguli haec praecipua, torques duo ex quinque pondo auri facti et vasa argentea quinque ex viginti pondo et duo equi phalerati cum agasonibus et equestria arma ac sagula, et comitibus eorum vestimenta, liberis servisque. §43.5.9haec missa; illa petentibus data, ut denorum equorum iis commercium esset educendique ex Italia potestas fieret. §43.5.10legati cum Gallis missi trans Alpis C. Laelius, M. Aemilius Lepidus, ad ceteros populos C. Sicinius, P. Cornelius Blasio, T. Memmius.
But it was unjust for an absent consular man to be condemned without his case being heard, when he was absent on the business of the state; when Gaius Cassius had returned from Macedonia, then, if they wished to accuse him face to face, the senate, having investigated the matter, would take care that satisfaction should be given. It was decided not only that an answer should be given to these nations, but also that envoys should be sent, two to the king across the Alps, and three around those peoples, to declare what the opinion of the senators was. They decreed that gifts of two thousand asses each should be sent to the envoys; to the brother of the king, these special gifts: two torcs made of five pounds of gold, and five silver vessels of twenty pounds, and two caparisoned horses with grooms, and equestrian arms and military cloaks, and clothing for their companions, both free and slave. These things were sent; and at their request, the following was granted: that they should have the right to purchase ten horses each and the power to export them from Italy. The envoys sent across the Alps with the Gauls were Gaius Laelius and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus; to the other peoples, Gaius Sicinius, Publius Cornelius Blasio, and Titus Memmius.