§9.9.1Tum Postumius “interea dedite” inquit “profanos nos, quos salva religione potestis; dedetis deinde et istos sacrosanctos, cum primum magistratu abierint, sed, §9.9.2si me audiatis, priusquam dedantur, hic in comitio virgis caesos, hanc iam ut intercalatae poenae usuram habeant.
Then Postumius said, "Meanwhile, surrender us, who are profane, which you can do without violating religious obligation; you shall then surrender also those sacrosanct ones as soon as they go out of office, but, if you should listen to me, before they are surrendered, let them be scourged with rods here in the comitium, so that they may have this as interest on their postponed punishment.
§9.9.3nam quod deditione nostra negant exsolvi religione populum, id istos magis, ne dedantur, quam quia ita se res habeat, dicere quis adeo iuris fetialium expers est, qui ignoret?
For as to their denial that the people are released from religious obligation by our surrender, who is so ignorant of the fetial law as not to know that they say this more so that they themselves may not be surrendered than because the matter is really so?
§9.9.4neque ego infitias eo, patres conscripti, tam sponsiones quam foedera sancta esse apud eos homines, apud quos iuxta divinas religiones fides humana colitur; sed iniussu populi nego quicquam sanciri posse, quod populum teneat.
I do not deny, conscript fathers, that guarantees as well as treaties are sacred among those men with whom human faith is cultivated next to divine religions; but I deny that anything can be sanctioned without the command of the people that would bind the people.
§9.9.5an, si eadem superbia, qua sponsionem istam expresserunt nobis Samnites, coegissent nos verba legitima dedentium urbes nuncupare, deditum populum Romanum vos, tribuni, diceretis et hanc urbem, templa, delubra, fines, aquas Samnitium esse?
Or, if with the same pride with which the Samnites wrung that guarantee from us, they had compelled us to pronounce the solemn words of those surrendering cities, would you, tribunes, say that the Roman people had been surrendered, and that this city, temples, shrines, territories, and waters belonged to the Samnites?
§9.9.6omitto deditionem, quoniam de sponsione agitur; quid tandem, si spopondissemus urbem hanc relicturum populum Romanum? si incensurum? si magistratus, si senatum, si leges non habiturum? si sub regibus futurum? di meliora, inquis.
I pass over surrender, since the question is about a guarantee; what, pray, if we had guaranteed that the Roman people would abandon this city? That they would burn it? That they would not have magistrates, nor a senate, nor laws? That they would be under kings? 'May the gods grant better things,' you say.
atqui non indignitas rerum sponsionis vinculum levat: §9.9.7si quid est, in quod obligari populus possit, in omnia potest.
And yet, the unworthiness of the terms does not lighten the bond of a guarantee: if there is anything in which a people can be bound, they can be bound in all things.
et ne illud quidem, quod quosdam forsitan moveat, refert, consul an dictator an praetor spoponderit.
Nor indeed does that matter, which might perhaps move some, whether a consul, a dictator, or a praetor made the guarantee.
§9.9.8et hoc ipsi etiam Samnites iudicaverunt, quibus non fuit satis consules spondere, sed legatos, quaestores, tribunos militum spondere coegerunt.
And this the Samnites themselves also judged, for whom it was not enough that the consuls should make the guarantee, but they compelled the legates, quaestors, and military tribunes to guarantee.
nec a me nunc quisquam quaesiverit, §9.9.9quid ita spoponderim, cum id nec consulis ius esset, nec illis spondere pacem, quae mei non erat arbitrii, pro vobis, qui nihil mandaveratis, possem.
Nor should anyone now ask of me why I made such a guarantee, when that was neither the right of a consul, nor could I guarantee to them a peace which was not at my disposal, on behalf of you, who had commanded nothing.
§9.9.10nihil ad Caudium, patres conscripti, humanis consiliis gestum est: di inmortales et vestris et hostium imperatoribus mentem ademerunt.
Nothing at Caudium, conscript fathers, was done by human counsels; the immortal gods took away their minds from both your commanders and those of the enemy.
§9.9.11nec nos in bello satis cavimus, et illi male partam victoriam male perdiderunt, dum vix locis, quibus vicerant, credunt, dum quacumque condicione arma viris in arma natis auferre festinant.
Neither did we take sufficient precaution in war, nor did they keep the victory they had poorly won, while they hardly believed the places in which they had conquered, and while they hastened to take away arms on any condition from men born to arms.
§9.9.12an, si sana mens fuisset, difficile illis fuit, dum senes ab domo ad consultandum accersunt, mittere Romam legatos? cum senatu, cum populo de pace ac foedere agere? tridui iter expeditis erat; §9.9.13interea in indutiis res fuisset, donec ab Roma legati aut victoriam illis certam aut pacem adferrent.
Or, if their mind had been sound, was it difficult for them, while they summoned the old men from home for consultation, to send legates to Rome? To treat with the senate and with the people concerning peace and a treaty? It was a three days' journey for light-armed men; meanwhile, the matter would have been in a truce, until legates from Rome should bring them either a certain victory or peace.
ea demum sponsio esset, quam populi iussu spopondissemus.
That at last would be a guarantee which we had guaranteed by the command of the people.
§9.9.14sed neque vos tulissetis, nec nos spopondissemus, nec fas fuit alium rerum exitum esse, quam ut illi velut somnio laetiore, quam quod mentes eorum capere possent, §9.9.15nequiquam eluderentur et nostrum exercitum eadem, quae inpedierat, fortuna expediret, vanam victoriam vanior inritam faceret pax, sponsio interponeretur, quae neminem praeter sponsorem obligaret.
But neither would you have tolerated it, nor would we have guaranteed it, nor was it destined by divine law that there should be any other exit of affairs than that they, as if by a dream more joyful than what their minds could grasp, should be vainly deluded, and that the same fortune which had entangled our army should extricate it, that a vainer peace should make void a vain victory, and that a guarantee should be interposed which would bind no one except the guarantor.
§9.9.16quid enim vobiscum, patres conscripti, quid cum populo Romano actum est? quis vos appellare potest, quis se a vobis dicere deceptum? hostis an civis? hosti nihil spopondistis, civem neminem spondere pro vobis iussistis. §9.9.17nihil ergo vobis nec nobiscum est, quibus nihil mandastis, nec cum Samnitibus, cum quibus nihil egistis.
For what was done with you, conscript fathers, what with the Roman people? Who can call upon you, who can say that he has been deceived by you? An enemy or a citizen? To an enemy you have guaranteed nothing, and you ordered no citizen to guarantee on your behalf. You have therefore nothing to do either with us, to whom you commanded nothing, or with the Samnites, with whom you transacted nothing.
§9.9.18Samnitibus sponsores nos sumus rei satis locupletes in id, quod nostrum est, in id, quod praestare possumus, corpora nostra et animos: in haec saeviant, in haec ferrum, in haec iras acuant.
To the Samnites we are guarantors, resources sufficient in that which is ours, in that which we can perform—our bodies and our minds; let them vent their rage on these, let them sharpen their iron and their anger against these.
§9.9.19quod ad tribunos attinet, consulite, utrum praesens deditio eorum fieri possit an in diem differatur; nos interim, T. Veturi vosque ceteri, vilia haec capita luendae sponsioni feramus et nostro supplicio liberemus Romana arma. ”
As far as the tribunes are concerned, deliberate whether their present surrender can be made or whether it should be deferred to a later day; meanwhile, let us, Titus Veturius and the rest of you, bring these cheap heads of ours to pay for the guarantee, and by our punishment free the Roman arms."