§45.5.1quae dum aguntur, classis Cn.
While these things were going on, the fleet of Cn.
Octavi Samothracam est adpulsa.
Octavius was brought to land at Samothrace.
is quoque praesenti admoto terrore modo minis, modo spe perlicere, ut se traderet, cum conaretur, adiuvit in hoc eum res seu casu contracta seu consilio.
He also, while trying to entice him to surrender, now by threats, now by hope, through bringing immediate terror to bear, was aided in this by an event brought about either by chance or by design.
§45.5.2L. Atilius, inlustris adulescens, cum in contione esse populum Samothracum animum advertisset, a magistratibus petit, ut sibi paucis adloquendi populi potestatem facerent.
L. Atilius, an illustrious youth, when he noticed that the people of Samothrace were in assembly, asked the magistrates to grant him the opportunity of addressing the people in a few words.
§45.5.3permisso “utrum nos, hospites Samothraces, vere accepimus an falso sacram hanc insulam et augusti totam atque inviolati soli esse?” §45.5.4cum creditae sanctitati adsentirentur omnes, “cur igitur” inquit “pollui eam homicida, sanguine regis Eumenis violavit, et, cum omnis praefatio sacrorum eos, quibus non sint purae manus, sacris arceat, vos penetralia vestra contaminari cruento latronis corpore sinetis?” §45.5.5nobilis fama erat apud omnes Graeciae civitates Eumenis regis per Euandrum Delphis prope perpetrata caedes.
Permission having been granted, he said: "Have we, hosts of Samothrace, heard truly or falsely that this island is sacred and all of its soil is august and inviolable?" When all agreed to the believed sanctity, "Why then," he said, "has a murderer polluted it and violated it with the blood of King Eumenes, and, while every preface to the sacred rites debars from the rites those whose hands are not pure, will you allow your innermost shrines to be contaminated by the bloody body of a robber?" The murder of King Eumenes, almost perpetrated at Delphi by Euander, was a famous rumor among all the states of Greece.
§45.5.6itaque, praeterquam quod in potestate Romanorum sese insulamque totam et templum cernebant esse, ne inmerito quidem ea sibi exprobrari rati, Theondan, qui summus magistratus apud eos erat — regem ipsi appellant —, ad Persea mittunt, qui nuntiaret argui caedis Euandrum Cretensem; §45.5.7esse autem iudicia apud sese more maiorum conparata de iis, qui incestas manus intulisse intra terminos sacratos templi dicantur; §45.5.8si confideret Euander innoxium se rei capitalis argui, veniret ad causam dicendam; si committere se iudicio non auderet, liberaret religione templum ac sibimet ipse consuleret.
Therefore, besides the fact that they saw themselves, the whole island, and the temple to be in the power of the Romans, thinking also that these reproaches were not indeed undeservedly cast upon them, they sent Theondas, who was the chief magistrate among them — they themselves call him king —, to Perseus, to announce that Euander the Cretan was accused of the murder; and that there were trials established among them according to the custom of their ancestors concerning those who were said to have brought unholy hands within the sacred boundaries of the temple; if Euander was confident that he was accused of a capital crime while innocent, he should come to plead his cause; if he did not dare to commit himself to a trial, he should free the temple from religious pollution and look out for himself.
§45.5.9Perseus sevocato Euandro iudicium subeundi nullo pacto auctor esse: nec causa nec gratia parem fore.
Perseus, having called Euander aside, by no means advised him to undergo a trial; for he would not be equal either in cause or in favor.
suberat et ille metus, ne damnatus auctorem se nefandi facinoris protraheret.
There was also that underlying fear, lest, if condemned, he should drag him forward as the author of the unspeakable deed.
reliqui quid esse, nisi ut fortiter moriatur?
What else was left but that he should die bravely?
§45.5.10nihil palam abnuere Euander; sed cum veneno se malle mori quam ferro dixisset, occulte fugam parabat.
Euander openly refused nothing; but when he said that he preferred to die by poison rather than by the sword, he was secretly preparing flight.
quod cum renuntiatum regi esset, metuens, ne tamquam a se subtracto poenae reo iram Samothracum in se converteret, interfici Euandrum iussit.
When this was reported to the king, fearing lest he might turn the anger of the Samothracians upon himself as if the accused had been withdrawn from punishment by him, he ordered Euander to be put to death.
§45.5.11qua perpetrata temere caede subit extemplo animum, in se nimirum receptam labem, quae Euandri fuisset; ab illo Delphis volneratum Eumenen, ab se Samothracae Euandrum occisum; ita duo sanctissima in terris templa se uno auctore sanguine humano violata.
When this rash murder had been perpetrated, it immediately came to his mind that the stain which had been Euander's had indeed been received upon himself; that Eumenes had been wounded at Delphi by him, and Euander had been killed at Samothrace by himself; thus two of the most sacred temples on earth had been violated with human blood by his sole authorship.
§45.5.12huius rei crimen corrupto pecunia Theonda avertit, ut renuntiaret populo Euandrum sibi ipsum mortem conscisse.
He averted the blame for this deed by bribing Theondas with money, so that he should report to the people that Euander had brought death upon himself.