§5.21.1ingens profecta multitudo replevit castra.
A huge multitude set out and filled the camp.
tum dictator auspicato egressus, §5.21.2cum edixisset, ut arma milites caperent, “tuo ductu” inquit, “Pythice Apollo, tuoque numine instinctus pergo ad delendam urbem Veios tibique hinc decimam partem praedae voveo.
Then the dictator, having gone out after taking the auspices, when he had ordered the soldiers to take up arms, said: "Under your guidance, Pythian Apollo, and inspired by your divine power, I go to destroy the city of Veii, and to you I vow a tenth part of the booty from here.
te simul, §5.21.3Iuno regina, quae nunc Veios colis, precor, ut nos victores in nostram tuamque mox futuram urbem sequare, ubi te dignum amplitudine tua templum accipiat. ” §5.21.4haec precatus superante multitudine ab omnibus locis urbem adgreditur, quo minor ab cuniculo ingruentis periculi sensus esset.
At the same time, Queen Juno, who now dwell in Veii, I pray that you may follow us as victors into our city, which is soon to be yours as well, where a temple worthy of your majesty may receive you." Having prayed thus, he attacked the city from all sides with an overwhelming multitude, so that there might be less awareness of the danger threatening from the tunnel.
§5.21.5Veientes, ignari se iam a suis vatibus, iam ab externis oraculis proditos, iam in partem praedae suae vocatos deos, alios votis ex urbe sua evocatos hostium templa novasque sedes spectare seque ultimum illum diem agere, §5.21.6nihil minus timentes quam subrutis cuniculo moenibus arcem iam plenam hostium esse in muros pro se quisque armati discurrunt mirantes, §5.21.7quidnam id esset, quod, cum tot per dies nemo se ab stationibus Romanus movisset, tum velut repentino icti furore inprovidi currerent ad muros.
The Veientes, unaware that they had already been betrayed by their own prophets and by foreign oracles, that the gods had already been invited to share in their spoils, and that others, summoned from their city by vows, were looking toward the temples and new abodes of the enemy, and that they themselves were living their final day, fearing nothing less than that, the walls having been undermined by a tunnel, the citadel was already full of enemies, ran in arms to the walls, each for his own part, wondering what on earth it could mean that, while for so many days no Roman had moved from his post, they were then running blindly to the walls as if struck by a sudden madness.
Inseritur huic loco fabula: §5.21.8immolante rege Veientium vocem haruspicis dicentis, qui eius hostiae exta prosecuisset, ei victoriam dari exauditam in cuniculo movisse Romanos milites, ut adaperto cuniculo exta raperent et ad dictatorem ferrent.
At this point a story is introduced: that while the king of the Veientes was offering sacrifice, the voice of the soothsayer saying that victory was given to him who should carve up the entrails of that victim, being overheard in the tunnel, moved the Roman soldiers to open the tunnel, snatch the entrails, and carry them to the dictator.
§5.21.9sed in rebus tam antiquis si, quae similia veris sint, pro veris accipiantur, satis habeam; haec ad ostentationem scaenae gaudentis miraculis aptiora quam ad fidem neque adfirmare neque refellere operae pretium est.
But in matters of such antiquity, if what is like the truth is accepted as true, I should be satisfied; these things, more suited for theatrical display which delights in marvels than for historical credibility, are not worth the trouble of either affirming or refuting.
§5.21.10cuniculus delectis militibus eo tempore plenus in aedem Iunonis, quae in Veientana arce erat, armatos repente edidit, et pars aversos in muris invadunt hostes, pars claustra portarum revellunt, pars, cum ex tectis saxa tegulaeque a mulieribus ac servitiis iacerentur, inferunt ignes.
At that moment, the tunnel, full of chosen soldiers, suddenly discharged the armed men into the temple of Juno, which was on the citadel of Veii; and some attacked the enemy on the walls from behind, some tore open the bars of the gates, and others, while stones and tiles were being thrown from the roofs by women and slaves, set fire to the buildings.
§5.21.11clamor omnia variis terrentium ac paventium vocibus mixto mulierum ac puerorum ploratu complet.
A shout filled all places with the diverse voices of those terrifying and those terrified, mingled with the wailing of women and children.
§5.21.12momento temporis deiectis ex muro undique armatis patefactisque portis cum alii agmine inruerent, alii desertos scanderent muros, urbs hostibus inpletur; omnibus locis pugnatur;
In a moment of time, the armed defenders having been thrown down from the wall on all sides and the gates opened, while some rushed in in a body, and others scaled the deserted walls, the city was filled with enemies; they fought in every place.
§5.21.13deinde multa iam edita caede senescit pugna, et dictator praecones edicere iubet, ut ab inermi abstineatur.
Then, after much slaughter had already been committed, the fighting slackened, and the dictator ordered the heralds to proclaim that they should spare the unarmed.
is finis sanguinis fuit.
That was the end of the bloodshed.
§5.21.14dedi inde inermes coepti, et ad praedam miles permissu dictatoris discurrit.
From that point the unarmed began to surrender, and the soldiers, with the dictator's permission, dispersed for plunder.
quae cum ante oculos eius aliquantum spe atque opinione maior maiorisque pretii rerum ferretur, dicitur manus ad caelum tollens precatus esse, §5.21.15ut, si cui deorum hominumque nimia sua fortuna populique Romani videretur, ut eam invidiam lenire quam minimo suo privato incommodo publicoque populi Romani liceret.
When this booty was carried before his eyes, considerably greater in quantity and of greater value than had been hoped or expected, he is said, raising his hands to heaven, to have prayed that, if his own fortune and that of the Roman people seemed excessive to any of the gods or men, it might be permitted to mitigate that jealousy with the least possible personal misfortune to himself and public loss to the Roman people.
§5.21.16convertentem se inter hanc venerationem traditur memoriae prolapsum cecidisse, idque omen pertinuisse postea eventu rem coniectantibus visum ad damnationem ipsius Camilli, captae deinde urbis Romanae, quod post paucos accidit annos, cladem.
It is recorded that, as he turned himself around during this prayer, he slipped and fell; and to those who later judged the matter by the event, that omen seemed to pertain to the condemnation of Camillus himself, and to the subsequent disaster of the capture of the city of Rome, which happened a few years later.
§5.21.17atque ille dies caede hostium ac direptione urbis opulentissimae est consumptus.
And that day was spent in the slaughter of the enemy and the pillaging of a most wealthy city.