Liv. 21.43.1Cum sīc aliquot spectātīs paribus adfectōs dīmīsisset, contiōne inde advocātā ita apud eōs locūtus fertur: "sī, quem animum in aliēnae sortis exemplō paulō ante habuistis, eundem mox in aestimandā fortūnā vestrā habueritis, vīcimus, mīlitēs;When, after watching a number of pairs, he had dismissed them in this frame of mind, he then called an assembly and is said to have spoken to them as follows: 'If you show presently, in judging your own fortune, the same spirit that you showed a little while ago at the example of another's lot, we have won, soldiers; Liv. 21.43.2neque enim spectāculum modo illud, sed quaedam velutī imāgō vestrae condiciōnis erat.for that was not merely a spectacle but, as it were, a kind of image of your own condition. Liv. 21.43.3Ac nesciō an maiōra vincula maiōrēsque necessitātēs vōbīs quam captīvīs vestrīs fortūna circumdederit: dextrā laevāque duo maria claudunt nūllam nē ad effugium quidem nāvem habentīs, circā Padus amnis maior ac violentior Rhodanō, ab tergō Alpēs urgent, vix integrīs vōbīs ac vigentibus trānsitae.And I am not sure that fortune has not bound you with greater chains and harsher necessities than your captives: on the right and left two seas shut you in, and you have not a single ship even for escape; around you is the river Po, greater and more violent than the Rhône; behind you press the Alps, which you crossed barely when you were fresh and vigorous.
Liv. 21.43.5Hīc vincendum aut moriendum, mīlitēs, est, ubi prīmum hostī occurristis.Here, soldiers, where you have first met the enemy, you must conquer or die. Liv. 21.43.5Et eadem fortūna, quae necessitātem pugnandī imposuit, praemia vōbīs ea victōribus prōpōnit, quibus ampliōra hominēs nē ab diīs quidem immortālibus optāre solent.And the same fortune that has laid on you the necessity of fighting holds out to you, if you win, rewards such that men do not usually pray for greater even from the immortal gods. Liv. 21.43.6Sī Siciliam tantum ac Sardiniam parentibus nostrīs ēreptās nostrā virtūte recuperātūrī essēmus, satis tamen ampla pretia essent: quidquid Rōmānī tot triumphīs partum congestumque possident, id omne vestrum cum ipsīs dominīs futūrum est.If we were only going to recover by our courage Sicily and Sardinia, which were snatched from our fathers, the prizes would still be ample enough: but whatever the Romans possess, won and amassed in so many triumphs, all of it is going to be yours, together with its very owners. Liv. 21.43.7In hanc tam opīmam mercēdem, agite dum, diīs bene iuvantibus arma capite.To win this rich reward, come then, take up your arms, with the gods' good help.
Liv. 21.43.8Satis adhūc in vāstīs Lūsītāniae Celtibēriaeque montibus pecora cōnsectandō nūllum ēmolumentum tot labōrum perīculōrumque vestrōrum vīdistis;Long enough have you chased flocks in the vast mountains of Lusitania and Celtiberia and seen no profit from all your toils and dangers; Liv. 21.43.9tempus est iam opulenta vōs ac dītia stīpendia facere et magna operae pretia merērī, tantum itineris per tot montēs flūminaque et tot armātās gentēs ēmēnsōs.it is time now for you to serve rich and wealthy campaigns and to earn great rewards for your labour, now that you have travelled so long a road through so many mountains and rivers and so many armed nations. Liv. 21.43.10Hīc vōbīs terminum labōrum fortūna dedit;Here fortune has given you the end of your toils; Liv. 21.43.10hīc dignam mercēdem ēmeritīs stīpendiīs dabit.here she will give you a worthy reward when your service is done. Liv. 21.43.11Nec, quam magnī nōminis bellum est, tam difficilem exīstimārītis victōriam fore: saepe et contemptus hostis cruentum certāmen ēdidit et inclutī populī rēgēsque perlevī mōmentō victī sunt.And do not suppose that victory will be as difficult as the war is great in name: often a despised enemy has produced a bloody contest, and famous peoples and kings have been defeated with the slightest effort.
Liv. 21.43.12Nam dēmptō hōc ūnō fulgōre nōminis Rōmānī quid est, cūr illī vōbīs comparandī sint?For take away this one glitter of the Roman name, and what is there in which they are to be compared with you? Liv. 21.43.13Ut vīgintī annōrum mīlitiam vestram cum illā virtūte, cum illā fortūnā taceam, ab Herculis columnīs, ab Oceanō terminīsque ultimīs terrārum per tot ferōcissimōs Hispāniae et Galliae populōs vincentēs hūc pervēnistis;To say nothing of your twenty years of service, with that valour of yours and that fortune, you have come here from the Pillars of Hercules, from the Ocean and the farthest bounds of the earth, victorious through so many of the fiercest peoples of Spain and Gaul; Liv. 21.43.14pugnābitis cum exercitū tīrōne, hāc ipsā aestāte caesō victō circumsessō ā Gallīs, ignōtō adhūc ducī suō ignōrantīque ducem an mē in praetōriō patris, clārissimī imperātōris, prope nātum, certē ēductum, domitōrem Hispāniae Galliaeque, victōrem eundem nōn Alpīnārum modo gentium sed ipsārum, quod multō maius est, Alpium, cum sēmēnstrī hōc cōnferam duce, dēsertōre exercitūs suī?you will fight with an army of recruits, which this very summer was cut to pieces, beaten and besieged by the Gauls, still unknown to its general and not knowing him. Or am I, who was almost born, and certainly brought up, in the headquarters tent of my father, a most illustrious commander, I, the conqueror of Spain and Gaul, the victor likewise not only of the Alpine tribes but, what is far greater, of the Alps themselves, to compare myself with this six-month general, the deserter of his own army?
Liv. 21.43.16Cui sī quis dēmptīs signīs Poenōs Rōmānōsque hodiē ostendat, ignōrātūrum certum habeō, utrīus exercitūs sit cōnsul.If anyone were to show him the Carthaginians and the Romans today with their standards removed, I am certain that he would not know of which army he is consul. Liv. 21.43.17Nōn ego illud parvī aestimō, mīlitēs, quod nēmō est vestrum, cuius nōn ante oculōs ipse saepe mīlitāre aliquod ēdiderim facinus, cui nōn īdem ego virtūtis spectātor ac testis notāta temporibus locīsque referre sua possim decora.I do not count it a small thing, soldiers, that there is not one of you before whose eyes I have not myself often performed some feat of arms, and none to whom I, the spectator and witness of his courage, cannot recount his own distinctions, noted with their times and places. Liv. 21.43.18Cum laudātīs ā mē mīliēns dōnātīsque alumnus prius omnium vestrum quam imperātor, prōcēdam in aciem adversus ignōtōs inter sē ignōrantēsque.With men whom I have praised and rewarded a thousand times, I, the foster-child of you all before I was your commander, shall advance into battle against men unknown to and ignorant of each other.