Liv. 22.38.1Dīlēctū perfectō cōnsulēs paucōs morātī diēs, dum ab sociīs ac nōmine Latīnō venīrent mīlitēs.When the levy was complete, the consuls waited a few days while soldiers came from the allies and those of Latin status. Liv. 22.38.2Tum quod numquam anteā factum erat, iūre iūrandō ab tribūnīs mīlitum adāctī mīlitēs;Then, something which had never been done before, the soldiers were bound by an oath administered by the military tribunes; Liv. 22.38.3nam ad eam diem nihil praeter sacrāmentum fuerat, iussū cōnsulum conventūrōs neque iniussū abitūrōs, et ubi ad decuriātum aut centuriātum convēnissent, suā voluntāte ipsī inter sēsē decuriātī equitēs, centuriātī peditēs coniūrābant sēsē fugae atque formīdinis ergō nōn abitūrōs neque ex ōrdine recessūrōs nisi tēlī sūmendī aut aptandī et aut hostis feriendī aut cīvis servandī causā.for until that day there had been nothing but the military oath to assemble at the consuls' command and not to leave without orders; and when they had assembled to be formed into decuries or centuries, of their own will the cavalry in their decuries and the infantry in their centuries swore among themselves that they would not leave for the sake of flight or fear, nor withdraw from the ranks except to take up or fit a weapon, and either to strike an enemy or to save a fellow citizen.
Liv. 22.38.5Id ex voluntāriō inter ipsōs foedere ad tribūnōs ac lēgitimam iūris iūrandī adāctiōnem trānslātum.This was transferred from a voluntary compact among themselves to the tribunes and a legal administering of the oath. Liv. 22.38.6Contiōnēs priusquam ab urbe signa movērentur, cōnsulis Varrōnis multae ac ferōcēs fuēre, dēnūntiantis bellum arcessītum in Ītaliam ab nōbilibus mānsūrumque in visceribus reī pūblicae, sī plūrēs Fabiōs imperātōrēs habēret, sē, quō diē hostem vīdisset, perfectūrum.Before the standards moved from the city, the speeches of the consul Varro were many and fierce, declaring that the war had been invited into Italy by the nobles and would remain in the vitals of the state if it had more generals like Fabius; he himself would finish it on the day he saw the enemy. Liv. 22.38.7Collēgae eius Paulī ūna, prīdiē quam ab urbe proficīscerētur, cōntiō fuit, vērior quam grātior populō, quā nihil inclēmenter in Varrōnem dictum nisi id modo, mīrārī sē, quī dux, priusquam aut suum aut hostium exercitum, locōrum situm, nātūram regiōnis nōsset iam nunc togātus in urbe scīret, quae sibi agenda armātō forent, et diem quoque praedīcere posset, quā cum hoste signīs collātīs esset dīmicātūrus: sē, quae cōnsilia magis rēs dent hominibus quam hominēs rēbus ea ante tempus inmātūra nōn praeceptūrum;His colleague Paulus made a single speech, on the day before he set out from the city, more true than pleasing to the people, in which nothing harsh was said against Varro except only this, that he wondered how a general, before he knew either his own army or the enemy's, the lie of the land or the nature of the region, could already know now, while still in his toga in the city, what he would have to do when in arms, and could even foretell the day on which he would fight a pitched battle with the enemy: he himself would not lay down beforehand, before the time, unripe plans, plans which circumstances give to men rather than men to circumstances; Liv. 22.38.11optāre, ut, quae cautē ac cōnsultē gesta essent, satis prosperē ēvenīrent;he hoped that what was done cautiously and with deliberation would turn out successfully enough; Liv. 22.38.12temeritātem, praeterquam quod stulta sit īnfēlīcem etiam ad id locōrum fuisse.rashness, besides being foolish, had also been unlucky up to that point.
Liv. 22.38.13Suā sponte appārēbat tūta celeribus cōnsiliīs praepositūrum, et, quō id cōnstantius persevērāret, Q. Fabius Maximus sīc eum proficīscentem adlocūtus fertur:It was evident that of his own accord he would put safe courses before hasty ones, and, so that he might persist in this the more steadfastly, Quintus Fabius Maximus is said to have addressed him thus as he set out: