§6.22.1insequenti anno Sp. et L. Papirii novi tribuni militum consulari potestate Velitras legiones duxere quattuor collegis, Ser. Cornelio Maluginensi tertium, Q. Servilio, C. Sulpicio, L. Aemilio quartum, ad praesidium urbis et si qui ex Etruria novi motus nuntiarentur — omnia enim inde suspecta erant — relictis.
In the following year, the new military tribunes with consular power, Spurius and Lucius Papirius, led the legions to Velitrae, while their four colleagues—Servius Cornelius Maluginensis for the third time, Quintus Servilius, Gaius Sulpicius, and Lucius Aemilius for the fourth time—were left behind for the defense of the city and in case any new movements should be reported from Etruria (for everything from that direction was suspected).
§6.22.2ad Velitras adversus maiora paene auxilia Praenestinorum quam ipsam colonorum multitudinem secundo proelio pugnatum est ita, ut propinquitas urbis hosti et causa maturioris fugae et unum ex fuga receptaculum esset.
At Velitrae, a successful battle was fought against the auxiliaries of the Praenestines, who were almost more numerous than the population of the colonists themselves, in such a way that the proximity of the city provided the enemy both with a reason for a speedier flight and their only refuge from that flight.
§6.22.3oppidi oppugnatione tribuni abstinuere, quia et anceps erat nec in perniciem coloniae pugnandum censebant.
The tribunes abstained from assaulting the town, because it was hazardous and they did not think they should fight to the destruction of the colony.
litterae Romam ad senatum cum victoriae nuntiis acriores in Praenestinum quam in Veliternum hostem missae.
Letters were sent to Rome to the senate with news of the victory, written in harsher terms against the Praenestine enemy than against the Veliternian.
§6.22.4itaque ex senatus consulto populique iussu bellum Praenestinis indictum;
Therefore, by a decree of the senate and by order of the people, war was declared on the Praenestines.
qui coniuncti Volscis anno insequente Satricum, coloniam populi Romani, pertinaciter a colonis defensam, vi expugnarunt foedeque in captis exercuere victoriam.
In the following year, they joined forces with the Volscians and took by storm Satricum, a colony of the Roman people which had been stubbornly defended by its colonists, and exercised their victory foully upon the captives.
§6.22.5eam rem aegre passi Romani M. Furium Camillum sextum tribunum militum creavere.
Incensed by this event, the Romans elected Marcus Furius Camillus military tribune for the sixth time.
additi collegae A. et L. Postumii Regillenses ac L. Furius cum L. Lucretio et M. Fabio Ambusto.
As his colleagues were added Aulus and Lucius Postumius Regillensis, Lucius Furius, together with Lucius Lucretius and Marcus Fabius Ambustus.
Volscum bellum M. Furio extra ordinem decretum;
The Volscian war was decreed to Marcus Furius out of the regular order.
§6.22.6adiutor ex tribunis sorte L. Furius datur, non tam e re publica, quam ut collegae materia ad omnem laudem esset, et publice, quod rem temeritate eius prolapsam restituit, et privatim, quod ex errore gratiam potius eius sibi quam suam gloriam petiit.
Lucius Furius was assigned by lot from among the tribunes as his assistant, not so much for the benefit of the state as that he might serve as an occasion for his colleague to win every kind of praise—both publicly, because Camillus restored the situation which had collapsed through Furius' rashness, and privately, because after the error he sought to win Furius' gratitude for himself rather than his own glory.
§6.22.7exactae iam aetatis Camillus erat comitiisque iurare parato in verba excusandae valetudini solita consensus populi restiterat; sed vegetum ingenium in vivido pectore vigebat, virebatque integris sensibus, et civilis iam res haud magnopere obeuntem bella excitabant.
Camillus was already of advanced age, and when at the elections he was prepared to swear the usual oath for excusing himself on the ground of ill health, the consensus of the people had resisted him; but a vigorous mind flourished in his lively breast, and he was full of life with unimpaired senses, and wars excited him though he was no longer taking much part in civil affairs.
quattuor legionibus quaternum milium scriptis, §6.22.8exercitu indicto ad portam Esquilinam in posteram diem, ad Satricum profectus.
Four legions of four thousand men each having been enrolled, and the army having been ordered to muster at the Esquiline Gate for the following day, he set out for Satricum.
ibi eum expugnatores coloniae haudquaquam perculsi, fidentes militum numero, quo aliquantum praestabant, opperiebantur.
There, the conquerors of the colony, by no means dismayed, were waiting for him, trusting in the number of their soldiers, in which they were considerably superior.
§6.22.9postquam adpropinquare Romanos senserunt, extemplo in aciem procedunt, nihil dilaturi, quin periculum summae rerum facerent: ita paucitati hostium nihil artes imperatoris unici, quibus solis confiderent, profuturas esse.
When they perceived that the Romans were approaching, they immediately advanced into battle array, by no means disposed to delay risking a decisive conflict; for they believed that against the small numbers of the enemy, the skills of that peerless general—their only source of confidence—would be of no avail.