Liv. 21.18.1Hīs ita conparātīs, ut omnia iūsta ante bellum fierent, lēgātōs maiōrēs nātū Q. Fabium M. Līvium L. Aemilium C. Licinium Q. Baebium in Āfricam mittunt ad percunctandōs Carthāginiēnsēs, pūblicōne cōnsiliō Hannibal Saguntum oppugnāsset, et, sī, id quod factūrī vidēbantur, fatērentur ac dēfenderent pūblicō cōnsiliō factum, ut indīcerent populō Carthāginiēnsī bellum.With these preparations made so that everything proper should be done before the war, they send senior envoys, Quintus Fabius, Marcus Livius, Lucius Aemilius, Gaius Licinius and Quintus Baebius, to Africa to ask the Carthaginians whether Hannibal had attacked Saguntum by the decision of the state, and, if they admitted and defended it as done by the state's decision, as they seemed likely to do, to declare war on the Carthaginian people. Liv. 21.18.3Rōmānī postquam Carthāginem vēnērunt cum senātus datus esset et Q. Fabius nihil ultrā quam ūnum, quod mandātum erat, percunctātus esset, tum ex Carthāginiēnsibus ūnus: "praeceps vestra, Rōmānī, et prior lēgātiō fuit, cum Hannibalem tamquam suō cōnsiliō Saguntum oppugnantem dēposcēbātis;After the Romans reached Carthage, when they had been granted an audience with the senate and Quintus Fabius had asked nothing beyond the one question he had been charged with, then one of the Carthaginians said: 'Your earlier embassy, Romans, was hasty, when you demanded the surrender of Hannibal as though he were attacking Saguntum on his own decision; Liv. 21.18.4cēterum haec lēgātiō verbīs adhūc lēnior est, rē asperior.but this embassy, though so far milder in words, is harsher in substance.
Liv. 21.18.4Tunc enim Hannibal et īnsimulābātur et dēposcēbātur;For then Hannibal was both accused and demanded; Liv. 21.18.5nunc ab nōbīs et cōnfessiō culpae exprimitur et ut ā cōnfessīs rēs extemplō repetuntur.now a confession of guilt is wrung from us, and reparation is demanded at once, as from men who have confessed. Liv. 21.18.6Ego autem nōn prīvātō pūblicōne cōnsiliō Saguntum oppugnātum sit quaerendum cēnseam, sed utrum iūre an iniūriā.But for my part I would think the question to be asked is not whether Saguntum was attacked by private or by public decision, but whether rightly or wrongly. Liv. 21.18.7Nostra enim haec quaestiō atque animadversiō in cīvem nostrum est, quid nostrō aut suō fēcerit arbitriō;For this inquiry and the punishment of our own citizen, as to what he has done on our authority or his own, belong to us; Liv. 21.18.7vōbīscum ūna disceptātiō est, licueritne per foedus fierī.with you there is one matter of dispute: whether it was permitted by the treaty. Liv. 21.18.8Itaque quoniam discernī placet, quid pūblicō cōnsiliō, quid suā sponte imperātōrēs faciant, nōbīs vōbīscum foedus est ā C. Lutātiō cōnsule ictum, in quō cum cavērētur utrōrumque sociīs, nihil dē Saguntīnīs — necdum enim erant sociī — cautum est.And so, since you wish a distinction to be drawn between what generals do by public decision and what of their own accord, we have a treaty with you struck by the consul Gaius Lutatius, in which, while provision was made for the allies of both sides, nothing was provided about the Saguntines — for they were not yet allies.
Liv. 21.18.9At enim eō foedere, quod cum Hasdrubale ictum est, Saguntīnī excipiuntur."But," you say, "in the treaty that was struck with Hasdrubal the Saguntines are excepted." Liv. 21.18.9Adversus quod ego nihil dictūrus sum, nisi quod ā vōbīs didicī.Against this I shall say nothing except what I have learned from you. Liv. 21.18.10Vōs enim quod C. Lutātius cōnsul prīmō nōbīscum foedus īcit, quia neque ex auctōritāte patrum nec populī iussū ictum erat, negāstis vōs eō tenērī;For you denied that you were bound by the treaty which the consul Gaius Lutatius first struck with us, because it had been struck neither on the authority of the senators nor by order of the people; Liv. 21.18.10itaque aliud dē integrō foedus pūblicō cōnsiliō ictum est.and so another treaty was struck afresh by public decision. Liv. 21.18.11Sī vōs nōn tenent foedera vestra nisi ex auctōritāte aut iussū vestrō icta, nē nōs quidem Hasdrubalis foedus, quod nōbīs īnsciīs īcit, obligāre potuit.If your treaties do not bind you unless they are struck on your authority or by your order, neither could Hasdrubal's treaty, which he struck without our knowledge, bind us. Liv. 21.18.12Proinde omittite Saguntī atque Hibērī mentiōnem facere, et, quod diū parturit animus vester, aliquandō pariat."So stop talking of Saguntum and the Ebro, and let your mind at last bring forth what it has long been labouring with.' Liv. 21.18.13Tum Rōmānus sinū ex togā factō "Hīc" inquit "vōbīs bellum et pācem portāmus: utrum placet, sūmite."Then the Roman, making a fold in his toga, said: 'Here we bring you war and peace: take whichever you please.' Liv. 21.18.13Sub hanc vōcem haud minus ferōciter, daret utrum vellet, succlāmātum est.At these words there was an answering shout, no less fierce, that he should give whichever he wished.
Liv. 21.18.14Et cum is iterum sinū effūsō bellum dare dīxisset accipere sē omnēs respondērunt et, quibus acciperent animīs, īsdem sē gestūrōs.And when he had let the fold fall again and said that he gave war, they all replied that they accepted it, and that they would wage it with the same spirit with which they accepted it.