§9.1.1sequitur hunc annum nobilis clade Romana Caudina pax T. Veturio Calvino Sp. Postumio consulibus.
Following this year is the Caudine Peace, infamous for the Roman disaster, in the consulship of Titus Veturius Calvinus and Spurius Postumius.
§9.1.2Samnites eo anno imperatorem C. Pontium, Herenni filium, habuerunt, patre longe prudentissimo natum, primum ipsum bellatorem ducemque.
In that year, the Samnites had Gaius Pontius, the son of Herennius, as their commander, a man born of a by far most wise father, and himself a foremost warrior and leader.
§9.1.3is, ubi legati, qui ad dedendas res missi erant, pace infecta redierunt, “ne nihil actum” inquit “hac legatione censeatis, expiatum est quidquid ex foedere rupto irarum in nos caelestium fuit.
When the envoys, who had been sent to surrender the property, returned without having concluded peace, he said, "Lest you think that nothing has been achieved by this embassy, whatever heavenly anger there was against us from the broken treaty has been expiated.
§9.1.4satis scio, quibuscumque dis cordi fuit subigi nos ad necessitatem dedendi res, quae ab nobis ex foedere repetitae fuerant, iis non fuisse cordi tam superbe ab Romanis foederis expiationem spretam.
I know well enough that, to whichever gods it was pleasing that we should be driven to the necessity of surrendering the property which had been demanded back from us according to the treaty, it was not pleasing to them that the expiation of the treaty was so haughtily spurned by the Romans.
§9.1.5quid enim ultra fieri ad placandos deos mitigandosque homines potuit, quam quod nos fecimus? res hostium in praeda captas, quae belli iure nostrae videbantur, remisimus;
For what more could have been done to appease the gods and pacify men than what we have done?
§9.1.6auctores belli, quia vivos non potuimus, perfunctos iam fato dedidimus; bona eorum, ne quid ex contagione noxae remaneret penes nos, Romam portavimus.
The goods of the enemy captured as booty, which by the law of war seemed to be ours, we sent back; the authors of the war, because we could not surrender them alive, we surrendered after they had already met their fate; their property, lest any trace of the contagion of guilt should remain among us, we carried to Rome.
§9.1.7quid ultra tibi, Romane, quid foederi, quid dis arbitris foederis debeo? quem tibi tuarum irarum, quem meorum suppliciorum iudicem feram?
What more do I owe to you, Roman, what to the treaty, what to the gods who are the arbiters of the treaty? Whom shall I bring before you as a judge of your anger and of my punishment?
§9.1.8neminem neque populum neque privatum fugio.
I refuse no one, neither a people nor a private citizen.
quod si nihil cum potentiore iuris humani relinquitur inopi, at ego ad deos vindices intolerandae superbiae confugiam et precabor, ut iras suas vertant in eos, §9.1.9quibus non suae redditae res, non alienae adcumulatae satis sint; quorum saevitiam non mors noxiorum, non deditio exanimatorum corporum, non bona sequentia domini deditionem exsatient; qui placari nequeant, nisi hauriendum sanguinem laniandaque viscera nostra praebuerimus.
But if no human law is left to the helpless when facing the more powerful, I will fly to the gods, the avengers of intolerable pride, and I will pray that they turn their wrath upon those for whom the return of their own property and the accumulation of another's is not enough; whose cruelty is not satisfied by the death of the guilty, nor by the surrender of their lifeless bodies, nor by the goods that follow the surrender of their master; who cannot be appeased unless we offer our blood to be drained and our entrails to be torn.
§9.1.10iustum est bellum, Samnites, quibus necessarium, et pia arma quibus nulla nisi in armis relinquitur spes.
War is just, Samnites, to those for whom it is necessary, and arms are sacred to those for whom no hope is left except in arms.
proinde, cum rerum humanarum maximum momentum sit, quam propitiis rem, quam adversis agant dis, pro certo habete priora bella adversus deos magis quam homines gessisse, hoc, quod instat, ducibus ipsis dis gestures. ”
Therefore, since the greatest moment in human affairs is whether men conduct their business with the gods favorable or adverse, hold it for certain that while you waged the former wars against the gods rather than against men, you will wage this one which is at hand with the gods themselves as your leaders."