§9.38.1dum haec in Etruria geruntur, consul alter C. Marcius Rutilus Allifas de Samnitibus vi cepit.
While these things were being done in Etruria, the other consul, Gaius Marcius Rutilus, took Allifae from the Samnites by force.
multa alia castella vicique aut deleta hostiliter aut integra in potestatem venere.
Many other forts and villages were either destroyed in a hostile manner or came into their power undamaged.
per idem tempus et classis Romana a P. Cornelio, §9.38.2quem senatus maritimae orae praefecerat, in Campaniam acta cum adpulsa Pompeios esset, socii inde navales ad depopulandum agrum Nucerinum profecti, proximis raptim vastatis, unde reditus tutus ad naves esset, dulcedine, ut fit, praedae longius progressi excivere hostes.
Around the same time, the Roman fleet also, under Publius Cornelius, whom the senate had put in charge of the maritime coast, having been driven to Campania, when it had put in at Pompeii, the naval allies from there set out to plunder the territory of Nuceria. Having quickly devastated the nearest places, from where there was a safe return to the ships, led on further, as usually happens, by the sweetness of the booty, they aroused the enemy.
§9.38.3palatis per agros nemo obvius fuit, cum occidione occidi possent; redeuntes agmine incauto procul navibus adsecuti agrestes exuerunt praeda, partem etiam occiderunt; quae superfuit caedi trepida multitudo ad naves conpulsa est.
While they were scattered through the fields, no one stood in their way, though they might have been utterly destroyed; as they were returning in a careless column far from the ships, the country people caught up with them, stripped them of their booty, and even killed some of them; the trembling multitude that survived the slaughter was driven back to the ships.
§9.38.4profectio Q. Fabi trans Ciminiam siluam quantum Romae terrorem fecerat, tam laetam famam in Samnium ad hostes tulerat interclusum Romanum exercitum obsideri, cladisque imaginem furculas Caudinas memorabant:
The expedition of Quintus Fabius across the Ciminian forest had brought to the enemy in Samnium a rumor as joyful as the terror it had caused at Rome: that the Roman army, being cut off, was blockaded; and they kept recalling the Caudine Forks as an image of the disaster.
§9.38.5eadem temeritate avidam ulteriorum semper gentem in saltus invios deductam, saeptam non hostium magis armis quam locorum iniquitatibus esse.
With the same temerity, they said, a nation always greedy for more had been led into pathless forests and was enclosed no more by the arms of the enemy than by the difficulties of the places.
iam gaudium invidia quadam miscebatur, §9.38.6quod belli Romani decus ab Samnitibus fortuna ad Etruscos avertisset.
Already their joy was being mixed with a certain envy, because fortune had turned the glory of the Roman war from the Samnites to the Etruscans.
§9.38.7itaque armis virisque ad opprimendum C. Marcium consulem concurrunt, protinus inde Etruriam per Marsos ac Sabinos petituri, si Marcius dimicandi potestatem non faciat.
Therefore, they ran together with arms and men to crush the consul Gaius Marcius, intending to seek Etruria immediately from there through the Marsi and the Sabines, if Marcius should not give them an opportunity to fight.
§9.38.8obvius iis consul fuit.
The consul met them.
dimicatum proelio utrimque atroci atque incerto eventu est, et cum anceps caedes fuisset, adversae tamen rei fama in Romanos vertit ob amissos quosdam equestris ordinis tribunosque militum atque unum legatum et, quod insigne maxime fuit, consulis ipsius vulnus.
The battle was fought on both sides with fierce conflict and uncertain outcome; and though the slaughter had been equal, yet the rumor of defeat turned against the Romans on account of the loss of certain equestrian officers, military tribunes, and one legate, and, what was most remarkable, the wounding of the consul himself.
ob haec etiam aucta fama, §9.38.9ut solet, ingens terror patres invasit, dictatoremque dici placebat; nec, quin Cursor Papirius diceretur, in quo tum summa rei bellicae ponebatur, dubium cuiquam erat.
Because of these things, the rumor being still further increased, as is usual, a great terror seized the senators, and it was resolved that a dictator should be named; nor was there any doubt in anyone's mind that Papirius Cursor would be named, in whom at that time the highest hope of military affairs was placed.
§9.38.10sed nec in Samnium nuntium perferri omnibus infestis tuto posse nec vivere Marcium consulem satis fidebant; alter consul Fabius infestus privatim Papirio erat.
But they did not fully trust either that a messenger could be carried safely into Samnium, since all places were hostile, or that the consul Marcius was alive; the other consul, Fabius, was privately hostile to Papirius.
§9.38.11quae ne ira obstaret bono publico, §9.38.12legatos ex consularium numero mittendos ad eum senatus censuit, qui sua quoque eum, non publica solum auctoritate moverent, ut memoriam simultatium patriae remitteret.
Lest this anger should stand in the way of the public good, the senate decreed that legates from among the men of consular rank should be sent to him, who might move him by their own authority also, and not only by that of the public, to yield the memory of his private feuds to his country.
§9.38.13profecti legati ad Fabium cum senatus consultum tradidissent adiecissentque orationem convenientem mandatis, consul demissis in terram oculis tacitus ab incertis, quidnam acturus esset, legatis recessit; §9.38.14nocte deinde silentio, ut mos est, L. Papirium dictatorem dixit.
The legates, having set out to Fabius, when they had delivered the decree of the senate and added words suitable to their instructions, the consul, with his eyes cast down to the ground, retired in silence from the legates, who were uncertain what he was going to do; then in the silence of the night, as is the custom, he named Lucius Papirius dictator.
cui cum ob animum egregie victum legati gratias agerent, obstinatum silentium obtinuit ac sine responso ac mentione facti sui legatos dimisit, ut appareret insignem dolorem ingenti conprimi animo.
When the legates returned thanks to him for his extraordinarily conquered mind, he maintained an obstinate silence and dismissed the legates without any answer or mention of his deed, so that it was apparent that a remarkable pain was being suppressed by a mighty soul.
§9.38.15Papirius C. Iunium Bubulcum magistrum equitum dixit; atque ei legem curiatam de imperio ferenti triste omen diem diffidit, quod Faucia curia fuit principium, duabus insignis cladibus, captae urbis et Caudinae pacis, quod utroque anno eiusdem curiae fuerat principium.
Papirius named Gaius Junius Bubulcus master of the horse; and as he was proposing the curiate law concerning the imperium, a sad omen adjourned the day, because the Faucia curia was the first to vote, famous for two disasters, the capture of the city and the Caudine peace, because in both years the same curia had been the first.
§9.38.16Macer Licinius tertia etiam clade, quae ad Cremeram accepta est, abominandam eam curiam facit.
Licinius Macer makes that curia abominable also by a third disaster, which was received at Cremera.