§16.1Quis numerare queat felicis praemia, Galli,
Who could number the rewards of a fortunate military service, Gallus?
§16.2militiae? nam si subeuntur prospera castra, §16.3me pavidum excipiat tironem porta secundo §16.4sidere, plus etenim fati valet hora benigni §16.5quam si nos Veneris commendet epistula Marti §16.6et Samia genetrix quae delectatur harena.
For if a prosperous camp is entered, may the gate welcome me, a trembling recruit, under a favorable star; for indeed, an hour of kind fate is of more value than if a letter of Venus should commend us to Mars and to the mother who delights in Samian sand.
§16.7Commoda tractemus primum communia, quorum §16.8haut minimum illud erit, ne te pulsare togatus §16.9audeat, immo etsi pulsetur, dissimulet nec §16.10audeat excussos praetori ostendere dentes §16.11et nigram in facie tumidis livoribus offam §16.12atque oculum medico nil promittente relictum.
Let us first treat of the common advantages, of which this will be by no means the least: that no citizen wearing a toga dares to beat you; nay, even if he is beaten, let him conceal it, nor dares to show his knocked-out teeth to the praetor, and the black lump on his face with swollen bruises, and the eye left behind with the doctor promising nothing.
§16.13Bardaicus iudex datur haec punire volenti §16.14calceus et grandes magna ad subsellia surae §16.15legibus antiquis castrorum et more Camilli §16.16servato, miles ne vallum litiget extra §16.17et procul a signis.
A Bardaic shoe is given as a judge to one wishing to punish these things, and large calves at big benches, the ancient law of the camp and the custom of Camillus being observed, that a soldier shall not litigate outside the rampart and far from the standards.
‘iustissima centurionum §16.18cognitio est igitur de milite, nec mihi derit §16.19ultio, si iustae defertur causa querellae. ’ §16.20tota cohors tamen est inimica, omnesque manipli §16.21consensu magno efficiunt curabilis ut sit
"Most just of centurions is therefore the trial concerning a soldier, nor will vengeance be lacking to me, if the cause of a just complaint is brought forward." Yet the whole cohort is hostile, and all the maniples with great consensus bring it about that the vengeance is something requiring a cure and heavier than the injury.
§16.22vindicta et gravior quam iniuria, dignum erit ergo §16.23declamatoris mulino corde Vagelli, §16.24cum duo crura habeas, offendere tot caligas, tot
It will be worthy, therefore, of the mulish heart of the declaimer Vagellius, when you have only two legs, to clash with so many military boots, so many thousands of nails.
§16.25milia clavorum, quis tam procul absit ab urbe §16.26praeterea, quis tam Pylades, molem aggeris ultra
Who, besides, would be so far from the city, who so much a Pylades, as to come beyond the mass of the rampart?
Let tears be dried immediately, and let us not solicit friends who are only going to make excuses.
§16.29da testem
iudex cum dixerit, audeat ille §16.30nescio quis, pugnos qui vidit, dicere
vidi, §16.31et credam dignum barba dignumque capillis
When the judge has said, "Produce your witness," let that man dare, whoever he is, who saw the fists, to say, "I saw them," and I will believe him worthy of the beard and worthy of the hair of our ancestors.
§16.32maiorum, citius falsum producere testem §16.33contra paganum possis quam vera loquentem §16.34contra fortunam armati contraque pudorem.
You could more quickly produce a false witness against a civilian than one speaking the truth against the fortune of an armed man and against his honor.
Now let us note other and various rewards of the military oaths.
convallem ruris aviti §16.37improbus aut campum mihi si vicinus ademit §16.38et sacrum effodit medio de limite saxum, §16.39quod mea cum patulo coluit puls annua libo, §16.40debitor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos §16.41vana supervacui dicens chirographa ligni, §16.42expectandus erit qui lites inchoet annus §16.43totius populi, sed tunc quoque mille ferenda §16.44taedia, mille morae; totiens subsellia tantum §16.45sternuntur, iam facundo ponente lacernas §16.46Caedicio et Fusco iam micturiente parati §16.47digredimur, lentaque fori pugnamus harena,
If a wicked neighbor has taken away from me a valley of my ancestral land, or a field, and has dug up from the middle of the boundary the sacred stone which my annual spelt-meal with a broad flat-cake has worshipped, or if a debtor proceeds not to return the money he took, calling the signatures of the useless wood vain, the year of the whole people which begins lawsuits will have to be waited for; but even then, a thousand wearinesses must be borne, a thousand delays; so often the benches are only spread, and while the eloquent Caedicius is already laying aside his cloaks, and Fuscus is already urinating, we, though prepared, are dismissed, and we fight on the slow sand of the forum.
§16.48ast illis quos arma tegunt et balteus ambit, §16.49quod placitum est ipsis praestatur tempus agendi §16.50nec res atteritur longo sufflamine litis.
But to those whom arms protect and the belt surrounds, the time of pleading which is pleasing to themselves is granted, nor is their wealth worn away by a long brake of lawsuit.
§16.51Solis praeterea testandi militibus ius §16.52vivo patre datur, nam quae sunt parta labore §16.53militiae, placuit non esse in corpore census, §16.54omne tenet cuius regimen pater, ergo Coranum
Besides, the right of making a will while the father is alive is given to soldiers alone; for what things are acquired by the labor of military service, it has been decided, are not in the body of the estate, the entire control of which the father holds.
§16.55signorum comitem castrorumque aera merentem §16.56quamvis iam tremulus captat pater; hunc favor aequus §16.57provehit et pulchro reddit sua dona labori,
Therefore, Coranus, a companion of the standards and earning the camp's pay, his father, though already trembling, courts; a fair favor promotes this man and returns its gifts to his beautiful labor.
§16.58ipsius certe ducis hoc referre videtur §16.59ut qui fortis erit, sit felicissimus idem, §16.60ut laeti phaleris omnes et torquibus, omnes
Indeed, this seems to be of interest to the commander himself, that whoever is brave should also be the most fortunate, so that all, joyful with medals and necklaces, all...