Liv. 21.53.1Cēterum nēminī omnium maior ea iūstiorque quam ipsī cōnsulī vidērī;But to no one at all did that victory seem greater or more complete than to the consul himself; Liv. 21.53.1gaudiō efferrī, quā parte cōpiārum alter cōnsul victus foret, eā sē vīcisse: restitūtōs ac refectōs mīlitibus animōs, nec quemquam esse praeter conlēgam, quī dīlātam dīmicātiōnem vellet;he was carried away with joy that he had won with the very part of the forces in which the other consul had been beaten: the soldiers' spirits were restored and revived, and there was no one except his colleague who wanted the fight put off; Liv. 21.53.2eum animō magis quam corpore aegrum memoriā vulneris aciem ac tēla horrēre.he, sick in mind more than in body, shrank from battle-line and weapons through the memory of his wound. Liv. 21.53.2Sed nōn esse cum aegrō senēscendum.But one should not grow old alongside a sick man. Liv. 21.53.3Quid enim ultrā differrī aut terī tempus?For why should time be put off or wasted any longer? Liv. 21.53.3Quem tertium cōnsulem, quem alium exercitum expectārī?What third consul, what other army were they waiting for?
Liv. 21.53.4Castra Carthāginiēnsium in Ītaliā ac prope in cōnspectū urbis esse.The camp of the Carthaginians was in Italy and almost within sight of the City. Liv. 21.53.4Nōn Siciliam ac Sardiniam victīs adēmptās nec cis Hibērum Hispāniam petī, sed solō patriō terrāque, in quā genitī forent, pellī Rōmānōs "quantum ingemīscant" inquit "patrēs nostrī circā moenia Carthāginis bellāre solitī, sī videant nōs, prōgeniem suam, duōs cōnsulēs cōnsulārēsque exercitūs, in mediā Ītaliā paventīs intrā castra, Poenum, quod inter Alpīs Appennīnumque agrī sit, suae diciōnis fēcisse?"It was not Sicily and Sardinia, taken from the conquered, nor Spain this side of the Ebro that was being sought, but the Romans were being driven from their fathers' soil and the land in which they had been born. 'How deeply,' he said, 'would our fathers groan, who used to wage war around the walls of Carthage, if they saw us, their offspring, two consuls and two consular armies, cowering inside our camp in the middle of Italy, and the Carthaginian having made all the land between the Alps and the Apennines his own domain?' Liv. 21.53.6Haec adsidēns aegrō collēgae, haec in praetōriō prope cōntiōnābundus agere.This he urged as he sat beside his sick colleague, this at headquarters, almost as if haranguing an assembly.
Liv. 21.53.6Stimulābat et tempus propinquum comitiōrum, nē in novōs cōnsulēs bellum differrētur, et occāsiō in sē ūnum vertendae glōriae, dum aeger collēga erat.He was spurred on too by the nearness of the time for the elections, lest the war be passed on to new consuls, and by the chance of turning the glory to himself alone while his colleague was ill. Liv. 21.53.7Itaque nēquīquam dissentiente Cornēliō parārī ad propinquum certāmen mīlitēs iubet.And so, though Cornelius disagreed in vain, he orders the soldiers to make ready for an imminent battle. Liv. 21.53.7Hannibal cum, quid optimum foret hostī, cerneret, vix ūllam spem habēbat temerē atque inprōvidē quicquam cōnsulēs āctūrōs;Hannibal, since he saw what would be best for the enemy, had scarcely any hope that the consuls would do anything rash or improvident; Liv. 21.53.8cum alterīus ingenium, fāmā prius, deinde rē cognitum, percitum ac ferōx scīret esse ferōciusque factum prosperō cum praedātōribus suīs certāmine crēderet, adesse gerendae reī fortūnam haud diffīdēbat.but since he knew that the temper of one of them, known first by report and then from experience, was excitable and fierce, and believed it had grown fiercer through the successful clash with his raiders, he did not doubt that the opportunity for action was at hand.
Liv. 21.53.9Cuius nē quod praetermitteret tempus, sollicitus intentusque erat, dum tīrō hostium mīles esset, dum meliōrem ex ducibus inūtilem vulnus faceret, dum Gallōrum animī vigērent, quōrum ingentem multitūdinem sciēbat segnius secūtūram, quantō longius ab domō traherentur.He was anxious and alert not to let slip any moment for this, while the enemy's soldiers were raw recruits, while his wound kept the better of the generals out of action, while the spirits of the Gauls were vigorous, whose huge numbers he knew would follow more sluggishly the farther they were drawn from home. Liv. 21.53.11Cum ob haec tāliaque spērāret propinquum certāmen et facere, sī cessārētur, cuperet, speculātōrēsque Gallī, ad ea explōranda, quae vellet, tūtiōrēs, quia in utrīsque castrīs mīlitābant, parātōs pugnae esse Rōmānōs rettulissent, locum īnsidiīs circumspectāre Poenus coepit.Since for these and similar reasons he hoped for a battle soon and wished to bring one on if there were delay, and since Gallic scouts, safer for exploring what he wanted because they served in both camps, had reported that the Romans were ready for battle, the Carthaginian began to look about for a place for an ambush.