§44.34.1haec cum ita fieri placere contione advocata pronuntiasset, adiecit urbanae contioni convenientem orationem: §44.34.2unum imperatorem in exercitu providere et consulere, quid agendum sit, debere, nunc per se, nunc cum iis, quos advocaverit in consilium; qui non sint advocati, eos nec palam nec secreto, consilia sua.
When he had called an assembly of the soldiers and announced that these measures were approved to be carried out in this way, he added a speech suitable for a city assembly: "A single general in an army ought to foresee and consult what is to be done, now by himself, now with those whom he has called into counsel; those who have not been called should not proffer their own plans, either publicly or secretly.
§44.34.3militem haec tria curare debere, corpus ut quam validissimum et pernicissimum habeat, arma apta, cibum paratum ad subita imperia; §44.34.4cetera scire de se dis immortalibus et imperatori suo curae esse.
A soldier ought to care for these three things: to have his body as strong and agile as possible, his weapons fit, and his food ready for sudden orders; as for the rest, they should know that themselves and their affairs are the care of the immortal gods and their own general.
in quo exercitu milites consultent, imperator rumoribus vulgi circumagatur, ibi nihil salutare esse.
In an army where the soldiers deliberate and the general is turned about by the rumors of the crowd, there is nothing salutary.
§44.34.5se, quod sit officium imperatoris, provisurum, ut bene gerendae rei occasionem iis praebeat: illos nihil, quid futurum sit, quaerere, ubi datum signum sit, tum militarem navare operam debere. ab his praeceptis contionem dimisit, §44.34.6volgo etiam veteranis fatentibus se illo primum die, tamquam tirones, quid agendum esset in re militari, didicisse.
He himself, as was the duty of a general, would take care to provide them with an opportunity for successful action; they should inquire nothing of what was to be, but when the signal was given, then they ought to perform their military duty." With these instructions he dismissed the assembly, while even the veterans commonly confessed that on that day, for the first time, as if they were recruits, they had learned what was to be done in military service.
§44.34.7non sermonibus tantum his, cum quanto adsensu audissent verba consulis, ostenderunt, sed rerum praesens effectus erat.
Nor did they show only by these words with how great assent they had heard the consul's speech, but there was an immediate effect of these things.
§44.34.8neminem totis mox castris quietum videres: acuere alii gladios, alii galeas bucculasque, alii loricas tergere, alii aptare corpori arma experirique sub his membrorum agilitatem, quatere alii pila, alii micare gladiis mucronemque intueri, §44.34.9ut facile quis cerneret, ubi primum conserendi manum cum hoste data occasio esset, aut victoria egregia aut morte memorabili finituros bellum.
Soon you could see no one quiet in the whole camp: some were sharpening their swords, others polishing their helmets and cheek-pieces, others wiping their breastplates, others fitting their armor to their bodies and testing under them the agility of their limbs, others shaking their javelins, others brandishing their swords and looking at the points, so that anyone could easily perceive that, as soon as the first opportunity was given of coming to close quarters with the enemy, they would finish the war either by an outstanding victory or by a memorable death.
§44.34.10Perseus quoque, cum adventu consulis simul et veris principio strepere omnia moverique apud hostes velut novo bello cerneret, mota a Phila castra in adversa ripa posita, nunc ad contemplanda opera sua circumire ducem haud dubie transitus speculantem, nunc Romanorum esse.
Perseus also, when he saw that at the arrival of the consul and at the same time at the beginning of spring everything was in a bustle and in motion among the enemy as if for a new war, and that the camp, moved from Phila, was pitched on the opposite bank and was now in the possession of the Romans, and that the general, undoubtedly spying out a crossing, was going about to examine his fortifications,