§9.25.1consules ab Sora profecti in agros atque urbes Ausonum bellum intulerunt.
The consuls, having set out from Sora, carried the war into the lands and cities of the Ausones.
§9.25.2mota namque omnia adventu Samnitium, cum apud Lautulas dimicatum est, fuerant coniurationesque circa Campaniam passim factae; §9.25.3nec Capua ipsa crimine caruit; quin Romam quoque et ad principum quosdam inquirendo ventum est.
For all things had been thrown into confusion by the arrival of the Samnites when the battle was fought at Lautulae, and conspiracies had been formed here and there around Campania; nor was Capua itself free from suspicion; indeed, the inquiry reached even to Rome and to certain of the leading men.
ceterum Ausonum gens proditione urbium, sicut Sora, in potestatem venit.
However, the nation of the Ausones came into power by the betrayal of their cities, just as Sora had.
§9.25.4Ausona et Minturnae et Vescia urbes erant, ex quibus principes iuventutis duodecim numero in proditionem urbium suarum coniurati ad consules veniunt; docent suos iam — §9.25.5pridem exoptantes Samnitium adventum, simul ad Lautulas pugnatum audierint, pro victis Romanos habuisse, iuventute, armis Samnitem iuvisse; fugatis inde Samnitibus incerta pace agere §9.25.6nec claudentis portas Romanis, ne arcessant bellum, et obstinatos claudere, si exercitus admoveatur: in ea fluctuatione animorum opprimi incautos posse.
Ausona, Minturnae, and Vescia were the cities from which twelve leading young men, having conspired for the betrayal of their own cities, came to the consuls; they explained that their fellow citizens, already — having long since eagerly desired the arrival of the Samnites, as soon as they heard of the battle fought at Lautulae, had regarded the Romans as defeated and had aided the Samnite with young men and arms; but that after the Samnites had been put to flight from there, they were acting in an uncertain peace, neither closing their gates to the Romans, lest they should summon war, and yet firmly resolved to close them if an army should be moved near: in that fluctuation of minds, they, being off their guard, could be overwhelmed.
§9.25.7his auctoribus mota propius castra missique eodem tempore circa tria oppida milites, partim armati, qui occulti propinqua moenibus insiderent loca, partim togati tectis veste gladiis, qui sub lucem apertis portis urbes ingrederentur.
On their advice, the camp was moved closer, and at the same time soldiers were sent around the three towns, partly armed men, who in concealment were to occupy places near the walls, partly clad in the toga, with swords hidden under their garments, who at dawn, the gates being opened, were to enter the cities.
§9.25.8ab his simul custodes trucidari coepti, simul datum signum armatis, ut ex insidiis consurgerent.
By these latter, at one and the same time, the guards began to be slaughtered, and the signal was given to the armed men to rise up from the ambush.
ita portae occupatae triaque oppida eadem hora eodemque consilio capta.
Thus the gates were seized, and the three towns were captured in the same hour and by the same plan.
§9.25.9sed quia absentibus ducibus impetus est factus, nullus modus caedibus fuit; deletaque Ausonum gens vix certo defectionis crimine, perinde ac si internecivo bello certasset.
But because the attack was made in the absence of the leaders, there was no limit to the slaughter; and the nation of the Ausones was destroyed, with scarcely any certain charge of defection, just as if they had fought in a war of extermination.