§9.10.1movit patres conscriptos cum causa tum auctor nec ceteros solum sed tribunos etiam plebei, ut se in senatus dicerent fore potestate.
The conscript fathers were moved both by the cause and by its author, and not only the others but even the tribunes of the plebs declared that they would be in the power of the senate.
§9.10.2magistratu inde se extemplo abdicaverunt traditique fetialibus cum ceteris Caudium ducendi.
Thereupon they immediately abdicated their office, and were handed over to the fetials to be led with the others to Caudium.
§9.10.3hoc senatus consulto facto lux quaedam adfulsisse civitati visa est.
When this decree of the senate was passed, a certain light seemed to have shone upon the state.
Postumius in ore erat, eum laudibus ad caelum ferebant, devotioni P. Deci consulis, aliis claris facinoribus aequabant: §9.10.4emersisse civitatem ex obnoxia pace illius consilio et opera; ipsum se cruciatibus et hostium irae offerre piaculaque pro populo Romano dare.
Postumius was on everyone's lips; they extolled him with praises to the heavens, and equalized him to the self-devotion of the consul Publius Decius and to other illustrious deeds: by his counsel and exertion the state had emerged from a humiliating peace; that he was offering his own person to tortures and the wrath of the enemy, and giving himself as an expiation for the Roman people.
§9.10.5arma cuncti spectant et bellum: en umquam futurum, ut congredi armatis cum Samnite liceat?
All looked to arms and war: would there ever come a time when they might meet the Samnite in arms?
§9.10.6in civitate ira odioque ardente dilectus prope omnium voluntariorum fuit.
In a state burning with anger and hatred, the levy consisted almost entirely of volunteers.
rescriptae ex eodem milite novae legiones ductusque ad Caudium exercitus.
New legions were enrolled from the very same soldiers, and the army was marched to Caudium.
§9.10.7praegressi fetiales ubi ad portam venere, vestem detrahi pacis sponsoribus iubent, manus post tergum vinciri.
When the fetials, having gone ahead, arrived at the gate, they ordered the garments to be stripped from the guarantors of peace, and their hands to be bound behind their backs.
cum apparitor verecundia maiestatis Postumi laxe vinciret, “quin tu” inquit “adducis lorum, ut iusta fiat deditio!” §9.10.8tum ubi in coetum Samnitium et ad tribunal ventum Ponti est, A. Cornelius Arvina fetialis ita verba fecit: §9.10.9“quandoque hisce homines iniussu populi Romani Quiritium foedus ictum iri spoponderunt atque ob eam rem noxam nocuerunt, ob eam rem, quo populus Romanus scelere inpio sit solutus, hosce homines vobis dedo. ” §9.10.10haec dicenti fetiali Postumius genu femur quanta maxime poterat vi perculit et clara voce ait se Samnitem civem esse, illum legatum fetialem a se contra ius gentium violatum: eo iustius bellum gesturos.
When the officer, out of respect for the dignity of Postumius, bound him loosely, Postumius said, "Why do you not draw the strap tight, so that the surrender may be duly performed?" Then, when they had come into the assembly of the Samnites and to the tribunal of Pontius, Aulus Cornelius Arvina, the fetial, spoke as follows: "Since these men, without the command of the Roman people of the Quirites, guaranteed that a treaty would be struck, and by that act committed a crime, for that reason, in order that the Roman people may be freed from impious guilt, I surrender these men to you." As the fetial was saying this, Postumius struck his thigh with his knee with as much force as he possibly could, and said in a clear voice that he was a Samnite citizen, and that he had violated that ambassador and fetial contrary to the law of nations; therefore, they would wage war with greater justice.