§5.16.1priusquam a Delphis oratores redirent Albanive prodigii piacula invenirentur, novi tribuni militum consulari potestate L. Iulius Iulus, L. Furius Medullinus quartum, L. Sergius Fidenas, A. Postumius Regillensis, P. Cornelius Maluginensis, A. Manlius magistratum inierunt.
Before the envoys returned from Delphi or the expiations for the Alban portent were found, the new military tribunes with consular power, Lucius Iulius Iulus, Lucius Furius Medullinus for the fourth time, Lucius Sergius Fidenas, Aulus Postumius Regillensis, Publius Cornelius Maluginensis, and Aulus Manlius, entered upon their office.
§5.16.2eo anno Tarquinienses novi hostes exorti.
In that year, the Tarquinienses arose as new enemies.
quia multis simul bellis, Volscorum ad Anxur, ubi praesidium obsidebatur, Aequorum ad Labicos, qui Romanam ibi coloniam oppugnabant, ad hoc Veienti quoque et Falisco et Capenati bello occupatos videbant Romanos nec intra muros quietiora negotia esse certaminibus patrum ac plebis, §5.16.3inter haec locum iniuriae rati esse praedatum in agrum Romanum cohortes expedites mittunt: aut enim passuros inultam eam iniuriam Romanos, ne novo bello se onerarent, aut exiguo eoque parum valido exercitu persecuturos.
Because they saw that the Romans were occupied with many wars at the same time—with the Volscians at Anxur, where the garrison was besieged, with the Aequi at Labici, who were attacking the Roman colony there, and in addition to this, with the Veientine, Faliscan, and Capenate wars—and that affairs within the walls were no quieter due to the struggles between the patricians and the plebeians, thinking that among these difficulties there was an opportunity for an inroad, they sent light-armed cohorts into the Roman territory to plunder: for they thought that either the Romans would allow this injury to go unavenged, lest they burden themselves with a new war, or they would pursue them with a small and therefore insufficiently strong army.
§5.16.4Romanis indignitas maior quam cura populationis Tarquiniensium fuit; eo nec magno conatu suscepta nec in longum dilata res est.
To the Romans, the indignity was greater than their concern over the plundering of the Tarquinienses; therefore, the matter was undertaken with no great effort nor was it long delayed.
§5.16.5A. Postumius et L. Iulius non iusto dilectu — etenim ab tribunis plebis inpediebantur —, sed prope omnium voluntariorum, quos adhortando incitaverant, coacta manu per agrum Caeretem obliquis tramitibus egressi redeuntes a populationibus gravesque praeda Tarquinienses oppressere.
Aulus Postumius and Lucius Iulius, not by a regular levy—for they were hindered by the tribunes of the plebs—but with a force assembled almost entirely of volunteers whom they had aroused by exhortation, set out through the territory of Caere by oblique paths and surprised the Tarquinienses as they were returning from their plundering, laden with spoil.
§5.16.6multos mortales obtruncant, omnes exuunt inpedimentis et receptis agrorum suorum spoliis Romam revertuntur.
They slaughtered many of them, stripped them all of their baggage, and having recovered the spoils of their own lands, returned to Rome.
§5.16.7biduum ad recognoscendas res datum dominis; tertio incognita — erant autem ea pleraque hostium ipsorum — sub hasta veniere, quodque inde redactum, militibus est divisum.
Two days were given to the owners to identify their property; on the third day, the unclaimed items—and most of these belonged to the enemy themselves—were sold under the spear, and the proceeds therefrom were distributed to the soldiers.
cetera bella maximeque Veiens incerti exitus erant. iamque
The other wars, and especially that with Veii, were of uncertain issue.
§5.16.8Romani desperata ope humana fata et deos spectabant, cum legati ab Delphis venerunt sortem oraculi adferentes congruentem responso captivi vatis: “Romane, aquam Albanam cave lacu contineri, cave in mare manare suo flumine sinas; emissam per agros rigabis dissipatamque rivis extingues;
And now, the Romans, despairing of human aid, were looking to fate and the gods, when the envoys arrived from Delphi bringing the response of the oracle, which agreed with the reply of the captive prophet: "Roman, beware of letting the Alban water be contained in the lake, beware of allowing it to flow into the sea by its own stream; having drawn it off, you shall water the fields with it, and dissipate it by channels till it is spent.
§5.16.9tum tu insiste audax hostium muris memor, quam per tot annos obsides urbem, ex ea tibi his, quae nunc panduntur, fatis victoriam datam.
Then advance boldly against the enemy's walls, mindful that from that city which you have besieged for so many years, victory is granted to you by these fates which are now revealed.
§5.16.10bello perfecto donum amplum victor ad mea templa portato sacraque patria, quorum omissa cura est, instaurata, ut adsolet, facito. ”
When the war is finished, bring as victor a rich gift to my temples, and perform the ancestral rites, the care of which has been neglected, having restored them as is customary."