Liv. 21.40.1" sī eum exercitum, mīlitēs, ēdūcerem in aciem, quem in Galliā mēcum habuī, supersēdissem loquī apud vōs;'If I were leading out into battle line the army which I had with me in Gaul, soldiers, I should have refrained from addressing you; Liv. 21.40.2quid enim adhortārī referret aut eōs equitēs, quī equitātum hostium ad Rhodanum flūmen ēgregiē vīcissent, aut eās legiōnēs, cum quibus fugientem hunc ipsum hostem secūtus cōnfessiōnem cēdentis ac dētractantis certāmen prō victōriā habuī?for what point would there be in encouraging either those cavalry who had splendidly defeated the enemy's horse at the river Rhône, or those legions with which I pursued this very enemy in flight and held his admission, as he retreated and shirked battle, to be as good as a victory? Liv. 21.40.3Nunc quia ille exercitus, Hispāniae prōvinciae scrīptus, ibi cum frātre Cn. Scīpiōne meīs auspiciīs rem gerit, ubi eum gerere senātus populusque Rōmānus voluit, ego, ut cōnsulem ducem adversus Hannibalem ac Poenōs habērētis, ipse mē huic voluntāriō certāminī obtulī, novō imperātōrī apud novōs mīlitēs pauca verba facienda sunt.As it is, because that army, enrolled for the province of Spain, is campaigning there under my auspices with my brother Gnaeus Scipio, where the Senate and the Roman people wished it to campaign, I have offered myself of my own accord for this contest, so that you might have a consul as your leader against Hannibal and the Carthaginians; and a new commander must say a few words to new soldiers.
Liv. 21.40.5Nē genus bellī nēve hostem ignōrētis, cum iīs est vōbīs, mīlitēs, pugnandum, quōs terrā marīque priōre bellō vīcistis, ā quibus stīpendium per vīgintī annōs exēgistis, ā quibus capta bellī praemia Siciliam ac Sardiniam habētis.So that you may not be ignorant of the nature of the war or of the enemy: you have to fight, soldiers, against men whom you defeated by land and sea in the former war, from whom you exacted tribute for twenty years, from whom you hold Sicily and Sardinia, taken as prizes of war. Liv. 21.40.6Erit igitur in hōc certāmine is vōbīs illīsque animus, quī victōribus et victīs esse solet.In this contest, therefore, you and they will have the spirit that victors and vanquished usually have. Liv. 21.40.6Nec nunc illī, quia audent, sed quia necesse est, pugnātūrī sunt;Nor are they going to fight now because they dare, but because they must; Liv. 21.40.7nisi crēditis, quī exercitū incolumī pugnam dētractāvēre, eōs duābus partibus peditum equitumque in trānsitū Alpium āmissīs plūs speī nactōs esse.unless you believe that those who refused battle when their army was intact have gained more hope now that they have lost two-thirds of their infantry and cavalry in crossing the Alps.
Liv. 21.40.8"At enim paucī quidem sunt, sed vigentēs animīs corporibusque, quōrum rōbora ac vīrēs vix sustinēre vīs ūlla possit.""But, they say, they are few indeed, but vigorous in mind and body, men whose strength and might scarcely any force could withstand." Liv. 21.40.9Effigiēs immō, umbrae hominum, fame frīgore inluviē squālōre ēnectī, contūsī ac dēbilitātī inter saxa rūpēsque;On the contrary, they are likenesses, shadows of men, half dead from hunger, cold, filth and squalor, bruised and crippled among the rocks and cliffs; Liv. 21.40.9ad hoc praeūstī artūs, nive rigentēs nervī, membra torrida gelū, quassāta frāctaque arma, claudī ac dēbilēs equī: cum hōc equite, cum hōc pedite pugnātūrī estis;besides this, their limbs are frostbitten, their sinews stiff with snow, their bodies shrivelled by the cold, their weapons battered and broken, their horses lame and feeble: this is the cavalry, this the infantry you are going to fight; Liv. 21.40.10reliquiās extrēmās hostis, nōn hostem habētis;you have the last remnants of an enemy, not an enemy; Liv. 21.40.10ac nihil magis vereor, quam nē, cum vōs pugnāverītis, Alpēs vīcisse Hannibalem videantur.and I fear nothing more than that, when you have fought, it may seem that it was the Alps that defeated Hannibal.
Liv. 21.40.11Sed ita forsitan decuit cum foederum ruptōre duce ac populō deōs ipsōs sine ūllā hūmānā ope committere ac prōflīgāre bellum, nōs, quī secundum deōs violātī sumus, commissum ac prōflīgātum cōnficere.But perhaps it was fitting that the gods themselves, without any human help, should begin and all but decide a war against a commander and a people who break treaties, and that we, who after the gods have been most wronged, should finish what has been begun and all but decided.