§9.45.1P. Sulpicio Saverrione P. Sempronio Sopho consulibus Samnites, seu finem seu dilationem belli quaerentes, legatos de pace Romam misere.
In the consulship of P. Sulpicius Saverrio and P. Sempronius Sophus, the Samnites, seeking either an end or a postponement of the war, sent envoys to Rome concerning peace.
§9.45.2quibus suppliciter agentibus responsum est, nisi saepe bellum parentes pacem petissent Samnites, oratione ultro citro habita de pace transigi potuisse; nunc, quando verba vana ad id locorum fuerint, rebus standum esse.
To these pleading suppliantly, it was answered that if the Samnites had not often sought peace while preparing war, a settlement concerning peace could have been reached by mutual discussion; but now, since words had been vain up to this point, they must take their stand on deeds.
§9.45.3P. Sempronium consulem cum exercitu brevi in Samnio fore; eum, ad bellum pacemne inclinent animi, falli non posse; §9.45.4conperta omnia senatui relaturum; decedentem ex Samnio consulem legati sequerentur.
That the consul P. Sempronius would soon be in Samnium with an army; that he could not be deceived as to whether their minds inclined toward war or peace; that he would report all discovered facts to the senate; and that the envoys should follow the consul as he departed from Samnium.
eo anno cum pacatum Samnium exercitus Romanus benigne praebito commeatu peragrasset, foedus antiquum Samnitibus redditum.
In that year, when the Roman army had traversed Samnium, which was now pacified, with provisions kindly supplied, the ancient treaty was restored to the Samnites.
ad Aequos inde, §9.45.5veteres hostes, ceterum per multos annos sub specie infidae pacis quietos, versa arma Romana, quod incolumi Hernico nomine missitaverant simul cum iis Samniti auxilia §9.45.6et post Hernicos subactos universa prope gens sine dissimulatione consilii publici ad hostes desciverat; §9.45.7et postquam icto Romae cum Samnitibus foedere fetiales venerant res repetitum, temptationem aiebant esse, ut terrore incusso belli Romanos se fieri paterentur, quod quanto opere optandum foret, Hernicos docuisse, cum, quibus licuerit, suas leges Romanae civitati praeoptaverint; §9.45.8quibus legendi, quid mallent, copia non fuerit, pro poena necessariam civitatem fore.
Then, against the Aequi, ancient enemies, who for many years had remained quiet under the guise of an unfaithful peace, the Roman arms were turned, because while the name of the Hernici was still unimpaired, they had repeatedly sent auxiliary forces to the Samnites along with them, and after the subjugation of the Hernici, almost the entire nation, without disguising their public decision, had defected to the enemy; and after the treaty was struck at Rome with the Samnites and the fetials had come to demand redress, they asserted that it was a mere trial, so that, by striking terror of war, they might suffer themselves to become Romans; how greatly this was to be wished, the Hernici had shown, since, when they had been allowed, they had preferred their own laws to Roman citizenship; to those who had not had the opportunity of choosing what they preferred, a compulsory citizenship would be in place of a punishment.
ob haec vulgo in conciliis iactata populus Romanus bellum fieri Aequis iussit; §9.45.9consulesque ambo ad novum profecti bellum quattuor milia a castris hostium consederunt.
Because of these things commonly bandied about in their councils, the Roman people ordered war to be made on the Aequi; and both consuls, having set out for the new war, encamped four miles from the enemy's camp.
§9.45.10Aequorum exercitus, ut qui suo nomine permultos annos inbelles egissent, tumultuario similis, sine ducibus certis, sine imperio, trepidare.
The army of the Aequi, as men who under their own name had spent many years without war, resembled a tumultuous crowd, without certain leaders, without command, and was in a state of panic.
§9.45.11alii exeundum in aciem, alii castra tuenda censent; movet plerosque vastatio futura agrorum ac deinceps cum levibus praesidiis urbium relictarum excidia; §9.45.12itaque postquam inter multas sententias una, quae omissa cura communium ad respectum suarum quemque rerum vertit, §9.45.13est audita, ut prima vigilia diversi e castris ad deportanda omnia tuendasque moenibus urbes abirent, cuncti eam sententiam ingenti adsensu accepere.
Some thought they should march out into line of battle, others that the camp should be defended; the majority were moved by the future devastation of their fields and subsequently the destruction of the abandoned cities left with weak garrisons; and so, after among many opinions one, which, abandoning all care for the common interest, turned each man to the consideration of his own affairs, was heard, to the effect that at the first watch they should depart in different directions from the camp to carry away all their property and defend their cities with walls, all accepted this opinion with immense approval.
§9.45.14palatis hostibus per agros prima luce Romani signis prolatis in acie consistunt et, ubi nemo obvius ibat, pleno gradu ad castra hostium tendunt.
When the enemy had dispersed through the fields, at dawn the Romans, having advanced their standards, stood in line of battle, and, when no one came to meet them, they marched at a quick pace to the enemy's camp.
§9.45.15ceterum postquam ibi neque stationes pro portis nec quemquam in vallo nec fremitum consuetum castrorum animadverterunt, insolito silentio moti metu insidiarum subsistunt.
But after they noticed there neither guards before the gates nor anyone on the rampart, nor the accustomed noise of a camp, moved by the unusual silence and fearing an ambush, they halted.
§9.45.16transgressi deinde vallum cum deserta omnia invenissent, pergunt hostem vestigiis sequi.
Then, having crossed the rampart, when they found everything deserted, they proceeded to follow the enemy by their tracks.
sed vestigia in omnes aeque ferentia partes, ut in dilapsis passim, primo errorem faciebant; §9.45.17post per exploratores conpertis hostium consiliis ad singulas urbes circumferendo bello unum et triginta oppida intra dies quinquaginta omnia oppugnando ceperunt, quorum pleraque diruta atque incensa, nomenque Aequorum prope ad internecionem deletum.
But the tracks, leading equally in all directions, as among men dispersed everywhere, at first caused confusion; afterward, when the designs of the enemy were ascertained through scouts, by carrying the war around to individual cities, they captured thirty-one towns in fifty days, all by storming them, of which most were demolished and burned, and the name of the Aequi was destroyed almost to utter extinction.
de Aequis triumphatum; §9.45.18exemploque eorum clades fuit, ut Marrucini, Marsi, Paeligni, Frentani mitterent Romam oratores pacis petendae amicitiaeque.
A triumph was celebrated over the Aequi; and their disaster served as an example, so that the Marrucini, Marsi, Paeligni, and Frentani sent envoys to Rome to seek peace and friendship.
his populis foedus petentibus datum.
To these peoples, who petitioned for it, a treaty was granted.