Liv. 22.39.1" sī aut collēgam, id quod māllem, tuī similem, L. Aemilī, habērēs aut tū collēgae tuī essēs similis, supervacānea esset ōrātiō mea;'If you had a colleague like yourself, Lucius Aemilius, which I would prefer, or if you were like your colleague, my speech would be superfluous; Liv. 22.39.2nam et duo bonī cōnsulēs etiam mē indīcente omnia ē rē pūblicā fidēque vestrā facerētis et malī nec mea verba auribus vestrīs nec cōnsilia animīs acciperētis.for as two good consuls you would do everything in the interest of the state and of your own good faith even without my telling you, and as bad ones you would take neither my words into your ears nor my advice into your minds. Liv. 22.39.3Nunc et collēgam tuum et tē tālem virum intuentī mihi tēcum omnis ōrātiō est, quem videō nēquīquam et virum bonum et cīvem fore, sī alterā parte claudente rē pūblicā malīs cōnsiliīs idem ac bonīs iūris et potestātis erit.As it is, when I look at your colleague and at you, such a man as you are, my whole speech is with you, who I see will be a good man and a good citizen in vain, if, with the state lame on one side, bad counsels have the same right and power as good.
Liv. 22.39.4Errās enim, L. Paule, sī tibi minus certāminis cum C. Terentiō quam cum Hannibale futūrum cēnsēs;For you are mistaken, Lucius Paulus, if you think you will have less of a struggle with Gaius Terentius than with Hannibal; Liv. 22.39.4nesciō an īnfestior hic adversārius quam ille hostis maneat tē, cum tū cum illō in aciē tantum, cum hōc omnibus locīs ac temporibus sīs certātūrus, et adversus Hannibalem legiōnēsque eius tuīs equitibus ac peditibus pugnandum tibi sit, Varrō dux tuīs mīlitibus tē sit oppugnātūrus.I rather think this adversary awaits you more hostile than that enemy, since you will contend with the latter only in the battle line, with the former in every place and at every time, and against Hannibal and his legions you must fight with your own cavalry and infantry, while Varro as commander will attack you with your own soldiers. Liv. 22.39.5Ōminis etiam tibi causā absit C. Flāminī memoria.For the omen's sake, too, let the memory of Gaius Flaminius be far from you. Liv. 22.39.6Tamen ille cōnsul dēmum et in prōvinciā et ad exercitum coepit furere;Yet he began to rage only once he was consul, in his province and with the army; Liv. 22.39.6hic, priusquam peteret cōnsulātum, deinde in petendō cōnsulātū, nunc quoque cōnsul, priusquam castra videat aut hostem, īnsānit.this man has been raving since before he sought the consulship, then while seeking it, and now too as consul, before he sees the camp or the enemy.
Liv. 22.39.7Et quī tantās iam nunc procellās proelia atque aciēs iactandō inter togātōs ciet, quid inter armātam iuventūtem cēnsēs factūrum et ubi extemplō rēs verba sequitur?And one who even now stirs up such storms among men in togas by boasting of battles and battle lines, what do you think he will do among young men in arms, and where action follows words at once? Liv. 22.39.8Atquī sī, quod factūrum sē dēnūntiat, extemplō pugnāverit, aut ego rem mīlitārem, bellī hoc genus, hostem hunc ignōrō aut nōbilior alius Trasumennō locus nostrīs clādibus erit.And yet, if he fights at once, as he declares he will, either I know nothing of warfare, of this kind of war, of this enemy, or some other place will be more famous than Trasimene for our disasters. Liv. 22.39.9Nec glōriandī tempus adversus ūnum est, et ego contemnendō potius quam adpetendō glōriam modum excesserim;This is no time for boasting in front of one man, and, if anything, I have gone too far in despising glory rather than in seeking it; Liv. 22.39.9sed ita rēs sē habet: ūna ratiō bellī gerendī adversus Hannibalem est, quā ego gessī.but this is how the matter stands: there is one way of waging war against Hannibal, the way I waged it.
Liv. 22.39.10Nec ēventus modo hoc docet — stultōrum iste magister est — ;Nor is it only the outcome that teaches this — that is the teacher of fools — ; Liv. 22.39.10sed eadem ratiō, quae fuit, futūra, dōnec rēs eaedem manēbunt, inmūtābilis est.but the same reasoning that has held will hold, unchangeable, as long as circumstances remain the same. Liv. 22.39.11In Ītaliā bellum gerimus, in sēde ac solō nostrō;We are waging war in Italy, on our own home and soil; Liv. 22.39.11omnia circā plēna cīvium ac sociōrum sunt;everything around us is full of citizens and allies; Liv. 22.39.11armīs virīs equīs commeātibus iuvant iuvābuntque: id iam fideī documentum in adversīs rēbus nostrīs dedērunt;they help us and will help us with arms, men, horses and supplies: they have already given this proof of their loyalty in our adversity; Liv. 22.39.12meliōrēs prūdentiōrēs cōnstantiōrēs nōs tempus diēsque facit;time and each day make us better, wiser, steadier; Liv. 22.39.12Hannibal contrā in aliēnā, in hostīlī est terra, inter omnia inimīca īnfestaque, procul ab domō, ab patriā;Hannibal, on the other hand, is in a foreign land, an enemy land, amid everything unfriendly and hostile, far from home, from his country; Liv. 22.39.13neque illī terrā neque marī est pāx;for him there is no peace on land or sea; Liv. 22.39.13nūllae eum urbēs accipiunt, nūlla moenia;no cities receive him, no walls; Liv. 22.39.14nihil usquam suī videt;nowhere does he see anything of his own; Liv. 22.39.14in diem raptō vīvit;he lives from day to day on plunder; Liv. 22.39.14partem vix tertiam exercitūs eius habet, quem Hibērum amnem trāiēcit;he has scarcely a third of the army with which he crossed the river Ebro; Liv. 22.39.14plūrēs fame quam ferrō absūmptī, nec hīs paucīs iam victus suppeditat.more have been carried off by hunger than by the sword, and even for these few there is no longer food enough.
Liv. 22.39.15Dubitās ergō, quīn sedendō superātūrī sīmus eum, quī senēscat in diēs, nōn commeātus, nōn supplēmentum, nōn pecūniam habeat?Do you doubt, then, that by sitting still we shall overcome a man who is wasting away by the day, who has no supplies, no reinforcements, no money? Liv. 22.39.16Quam diū prō Gereoni, castellī Āpūliae inopis, tanquam prō Carthāginis moenibus sedet?How long has he been sitting before Gereonium, a poor fort in Apulia, as though before the walls of Carthage? Liv. 22.39.16Sed nē adversus tē quidem dē mē glōriābor: Servīlius atque Atīlius, proximī cōnsulēs, vidē quem ad modum eum lūdificātī sint.But not even before you will I boast of myself: see how Servilius and Atilius, the last consuls, made a fool of him. Liv. 22.39.17Haec ūna salūtis est via, L. Paule, quam difficilem īnfestamque cīvēs tibi magis quam hostēs facient.This is the one road to safety, Lucius Paulus, and your fellow citizens rather than the enemy will make it hard and dangerous for you. Liv. 22.39.18Idem enim tuī quod hostium mīlitēs volent, idem Varrō cōnsul Rōmānus quod Hannibal Poenus imperātor cupiet.For your soldiers will want the same as the enemy's, and Varro the Roman consul will desire the same as Hannibal the Carthaginian general.
Liv. 22.39.18Duōbus ducibus ūnus resistās oportet.You alone must resist two commanders. Liv. 22.39.18Resistēs autem, sī adversus fāmam rūmōrēsque hominum satis firmus steteris, sī tē neque collēgae vāna glōria neque tua falsa īnfāmia mōverit.And you will resist, if you stand firm enough against men's talk and rumours, if neither your colleague's empty glory nor your own false disrepute moves you. Liv. 22.39.19Vēritātem labōrāre nimis saepe aiunt, extinguī numquam: vānam glōriam quī sprēverit, vēram habēbit sine, timidum prō cautō, tardum prō cōnsīderātō, inbellem prō perītō bellī vocent.They say that truth is too often hard-pressed but never extinguished: whoever scorns empty glory will have true glory; let them call you timid instead of cautious, slow instead of deliberate, unwarlike instead of skilled in war. Liv. 22.39.20Mālō, tē sapiēns hostis metuat, quam stultī cīvēs laudent.I would rather a wise enemy feared you than foolish citizens praised you. Liv. 22.39.20Omnia audentem contemnet Hannibal, nihil temerē agentem metuet nec ego, ut nihil agātur, moneō, sed ut agentem tē ratiō dūcat, nōn fortūna;Hannibal will despise a man who dares everything, and fear one who does nothing rashly; nor do I advise that nothing be done, but that in action reason guide you, not fortune; Liv. 22.39.21tuae potestātis semper tū tuaque omnia sint;may you and all that is yours always be in your own power; Liv. 22.39.21armātus intentusque sīs;be armed and alert; Liv. 22.39.21neque occāsiōnī tuae dēsīs neque suam occāsiōnem hostī dēs.neither fail your own opportunity nor give the enemy his.
Liv. 22.39.21Omnia nōn properantī clāra certaque erunt;To one who does not hurry, everything will be clear and certain; Liv. 22.39.22festīnātiō inprōvida est et caeca."haste is improvident and blind.'