§45.38.1“equidem ipse aliter adfectus animo sum, qui apud exercitum mihi loqui videar, quam paulo ante eram, cum ad plebem urbanam spectabat oratio.
"Indeed, I myself am differently affected in mind, who seem to myself to speak before the army, than I was a little before, when my speech was directed toward the city plebs.
§45.38.2quid autem dicitis, milites? aliquis est Romae, praeter Persea, qui triumphari de Macedonibus nolit: et eum non isdem manibus discerpitis, quibus Macedonas vicistis? vincere vos prohibuisset, si potuisset, qui triumphantis urbem inire prohibet.
But what do you say, soldiers? Is there anyone in Rome, except Perseus, who does not wish a triumph to be celebrated over the Macedonians? And do you not tear him to pieces with the very hands with which you conquered the Macedonians? He would have prevented you from conquering, if he could, who prevents you from entering the city in triumph.
§45.38.3erratis, milites, si triumphum imperatoris tantum et non militum quoque et universi populi Romani esse decus censetis.
You err, soldiers, if you think that a triumph is the honor of the commander only, and not of the soldiers also and of the entire Roman people.
§45.38.4non unius in hoc Pauli.
In this, it is not the [glory] of Paulus alone.
multi etiam, qui ab senatu non inpetrarunt triumphum, in monte Albano triumpharunt; nemo L. Paulo magis eripere decus perfecti belli Macedonici potest quam C. Lutatio primi Punici belli, quam P. Cornelio secundi, quam illi, qui triumphaverant; §45.38.5nec L. Paulum minorem aut maiorem imperatorem triumphus faciet —, militum magis in hoc universique populi Romani fama agitur,
Many also, who did not obtain a triumph from the senate, celebrated triumphs on the Alban Mount; no one can snatch the honor of the completed Macedonian war from Lucius Paulus any more than they could from Gaius Lutatius of the first Punic War, or from Publius Cornelius of the second, or from those who had celebrated triumphs; nor will a triumph make Lucius Paulus a lesser or greater commander; rather, in this, the reputation of the soldiers and of the entire Roman people is more at stake, first, lest it have the reputation of envy and an ungrateful mind toward each most illustrious citizen, and seem in this to imitate the Athenian people, who tore apart their leaders with envy.
§45.38.6primum ne invidiae et ingrati animi adversus clarissimum quemque civem opinionem habeat et imitari in hoc populum Atheniensem lacerantem invidia principes suos videatur. §45.38.7satis peccatum in Camillo a maioribus vestris est, quem tamen ante receptam per eum a Gallis urbem violarunt; satis nuper a vobis in P. Africano.
Enough sin was committed against Camillus by your ancestors, whom, however, they violated before the city was recovered by him from the Gauls; enough recently by you against Publius Africanus.
Literni domicilium et sedem fuisse domitoris Africae, Literni sepulcrum ostendi erubescamus.
Let us blush that Liternum was the home and seat of the conqueror of Africa, and that at Liternum his tomb is shown.
§45.38.8gloria sit par illis viris L. Paulus, iniuria vestra ne exaequetur.
Let Lucius Paulus be equal to those men in glory; let him not be made equal by your wrongdoing.
haec igitur primum infamia deleatur, foeda apud alias gentes, damnosa apud nostros.
Therefore, let this infamy first be wiped out, foul among other nations, ruinous among our own.
§45.38.9quis enim aut Africani aut Pauli similis esse in tam ingrata et inimica bonis civitate velit?
For who would wish to be like Africanus or Paulus in a state so ungrateful and hostile to good men?
§45.38.10si infamia nulla esset et de gloria tantum ageretur, qui tandem triumphus non communem nominis Romani gloriam habet?
If there were no infamy and it were only a question of glory, what triumph, pray, does not contain the common glory of the Roman name?
§45.38.11tot de Gallis triumphi, tot de Hispanis, tot de Poenis ipsorum tantum imperatorum an populi Romani dicuntur? quemadmodum non de Pyrrho modo nec de Hannibale, sed de Epirotis Carthaginiensibusque triumphi acti sunt, sic non M’. Curius tantum nec P. Cornelius, sed Romani triumpharunt.
Are so many triumphs over the Gauls, so many over the Spaniards, so many over the Carthaginians, said to belong to the commanders themselves only, or to the Roman people? Just as triumphs were celebrated not only over Pyrrhus nor over Hannibal, but over the Epirotes and the Carthaginians, so not Manius Curius only nor Publius Cornelius, but the Romans triumphed.
§45.38.12militum quidem propria est causa, qui et ipsi laureati et quisque donis, quibus donati sunt, insignes Triumphum nomine cientes suasque et imperatoris laudes canentes per urbem incedunt.
Indeed, the cause of the soldiers is their very own, who, wearing laurel themselves and each distinguished by the gifts with which they were presented, crying out 'Triumph' by name and singing their own praises and those of their commander, march through the city.
§45.38.13si quando non deportati ex provincia milites ad triumphum sunt, fremunt; et tamen tum quoque se absentis, quod suis manibus parta victoria sit, triumphare credunt.
If ever the soldiers are not brought back from the province for a triumph, they murmur; and yet even then, they believe that they, though absent, triumph, because the victory was won by their own hands.
§45.38.14si quis vos interroget, milites, ad quam rem in Italiam deportati et non statim confecta provincia dimissi sitis, quid Romam frequentes sub signis veneritis, quid moremini hic et non diversi domos quisque abeatis vestras, quid aliud respondeatis, quam vos triumphantis videri velle? vos certe victores conspici velle debebatis.
If anyone should ask you, soldiers, for what purpose you were brought back to Italy and not discharged immediately upon the completion of the province's business, why you have come to Rome in crowds under your standards, why you linger here and do not go away, each to your own homes in different directions, what else would you answer than that you wish to be seen celebrating a triumph? You, at any rate, as victors, ought to have wished to be looked upon."