Liv. 22.60.1Ubi is fīnem fēcit, extemplō ab eā turbā, quae in comitiō erat, clamor flēbilis est sublātus, manūsque ad cūriam tendēbant ōrantēs, ut sibi līberōs, frātrēs, cognātōs redderent.When he had finished, at once a tearful cry was raised by the crowd which was in the comitium, and they stretched out their hands towards the Curia, begging that their children, brothers and kinsmen be given back to them. Liv. 22.60.2Fēminās quoque metus ac necessitās in forō turbae virōrum inmiscuerat.Fear and necessity had also mingled women with the crowd of men in the forum. Liv. 22.60.2Senātus summōtīs arbitrīs cōnsulī coeptus.The senate, with outsiders removed, began to be consulted. Liv. 22.60.3Ibi cum sententiīs variārētur, et aliī redimendōs dē pūblicō, aliī nūllam pūblicē inpēnsam faciendam nec prohibendōs ex prīvātō redimī, sī quibus argentum in praesentiā dēesset, dandam ex aerāriō pecūniam mūtuam praedibusque ac praediīs cavendum populō cēnsērent, tum T. Mānlius Torquātus, prīscae ac nimis dūrae, ut plērīsque videātur, sevēritātis, interrogātus sententiam ita locūtus fertur: "sī tantummodo postulāssent lēgātī prō iīs, quī in hostium potestāte sunt, ut redimerentur, sine ūllīus īnsectātiōne eōrum brevī sententiam perēgissem;There, as opinions varied, and some proposed that they be ransomed at public expense, others that no public expense should be incurred, but that they should not be prevented from being ransomed from private funds, and that if any lacked the money at present, it should be lent from the treasury and the people secured by sureties and property, then Titus Manlius Torquatus, a man of old-fashioned and, as most would think, excessively harsh severity, when asked his opinion, is said to have spoken thus: 'If the envoys had merely asked, on behalf of those in the enemy's power, that they be ransomed, I should have stated my opinion briefly, without attacking any of them; Liv. 22.60.7quid enim aliud quam admonendī essētis, ut mōrem trāditum ā patribus necessāriō ad rem mīlitārem exemplō servārētis?for what else would you need but to be reminded to keep the custom handed down by your fathers, with an example necessary for military discipline?
Liv. 22.60.7Nunc autem, cum prope glōriātī sint, quod sē hostibus dēdiderint, praeferrīque nōn captīs modo in aciē ab hostibus sed etiam iīs, quī Venusiam Canusiumque pervēnērunt, atque ipsī C. Terentiō cōnsulī aequum cēnsuerint, nihil vōs eōrum, patrēs cōnscrīptī, quae illīc ācta sunt, ignōrāre patiar.But now, since they have almost boasted of having surrendered to the enemy, and have thought it right to be preferred not only to those captured by the enemy in battle, but even to those who reached Venusia and Canusium, and to the consul Gaius Terentius himself, I will not allow you, conscript fathers, to be ignorant of anything that was done there. Liv. 22.60.8Atque utinam haec, quae apud vōs āctūrus sum, Canusiī apud ipsum exercitum agerem, optimum testem ignāviae cuiusque et virtūtis, aut ūnus hīc saltem adesset P. Semprōnius, quem sī istī ducem secūtī essent, mīlitēs hodiē in castrīs Rōmānīs, nōn captīvī in hostium potestāte essent.And I wish that I were saying these things, which I am about to say before you, at Canusium before the army itself, the best witness of each man's cowardice and courage, or that at least Publius Sempronius alone were here; had these men followed him as their leader, they would today be soldiers in a Roman camp, not captives in the enemy's power.
Liv. 22.60.9Sed cum, fessīs pugnandō hostibus, tum victōriā laetīs et ipsīs plērīsque regressīs in castra sua, noctem ad ērumpendum līberam habuissent, et septem mīlia armātōrum hominum ērumpere etiam per cōnfertōs hostēs possent, neque per sē ipsī id facere cōnātī sunt neque alium sequī voluērunt.But when, with the enemy tired from fighting, glad besides of their victory, and most of them returned to their own camp, they had had the night free for breaking out, and seven thousand armed men could have broken out even through a dense enemy, they neither attempted to do it by themselves nor were willing to follow another. Liv. 22.60.10Nocte prope tōtā P. Semprōnius Tuditānus nōn dēstitit monēre, adhortārī eōs, dum paucitās hostium circā castra sineret, dum quiēs ac silentium esset, dum nox inceptum tegere posset, sē ducem sequerentur: ante lūcem pervenīre in tūta loca, in sociōrum urbēs posse.For almost the whole night Publius Sempronius Tuditanus did not cease warning and urging them, while the small number of enemies around the camp allowed it, while there was quiet and silence, while night could cover the attempt, to follow him as their leader: before dawn they could reach safe places, the cities of allies.
Liv. 22.60.11Sī, ut avōrum memoriā P. Decius tribūnus mīlitum in Samniō, sī, ut nōbīs adulēscentibus priōre Pūnicō bellō Calpurnius Flamma trecentīs voluntāriīs, cum ad tumulum eōs capiendum situm inter mediōs dūceret hostīs, dīxit: "Moriāmur, mīlitēs, et morte nostrā ēripiāmus ex obsidiōne circumventās legiōnēs," sī hoc P. Semprōnius dīceret, nec virōs equidem nec Rōmānōs vōs dūcerem, sī nēmō tantae virtūtis extitisset comes.If, as within our grandfathers' memory Publius Decius, a military tribune in Samnium, if, as when we were young men in the first Punic war Calpurnius Flamma said to three hundred volunteers, as he led them to seize a hillock situated in the midst of the enemy, "Let us die, soldiers, and by our death rescue the surrounded legions from siege," if Publius Sempronius had said this, I for my part should not count you either men or Romans, if no one had come forward as a companion in such courage. Liv. 22.60.13Viam nōn ad glōriam magis quam ad salūtem ferentem dēmōnstrat;He shows you a road leading no more to glory than to safety; Liv. 22.60.13reducēs in patriam ad parentīs, ad coniugēs ac līberōs facit.he brings you back home to your country, to your parents, to your wives and children.
Liv. 22.60.13Ut servēminī, dēest vōbīs animus: quid, sī moriendum prō patriā esset, facerētis?To save yourselves you lack the courage: what would you do if you had to die for your country? Liv. 22.60.14Quīnquāgintā mīlia cīvium sociōrumque circā vōs eō ipsō diē caesa iacent.Fifty thousand citizens and allies lie around you, slain on that very day. Liv. 22.60.14Sī tot exempla virtūtis nōn movent, nihil umquam movēbit;If so many examples of courage do not move you, nothing ever will; Liv. 22.60.14sī tanta clādēs vīlem vītam nōn fēcit, nūlla faciet.if so great a disaster has not made life cheap, none will. Liv. 22.60.14Līberī atque incolumēs dēsīderāte patriam;Long for your country while you are free and unharmed; Liv. 22.60.15immō dēsīderāte, dum patria est, dum cīvēs eius estis: sērō nunc dēsīderātis, dēminūtī capite, abaliēnātī iūre cīvium, servī Carthāginiēnsium factī.rather, long for it while it is your country, while you are its citizens: it is too late to long for it now, when you have lost your civil status, been stripped of the rights of citizens, and become slaves of the Carthaginians.
Liv. 22.60.16Pretiō reditūrī estis eō, unde ignāviā ac nēquitiā abīstis?Are you to return for a price to the place you left through cowardice and worthlessness? Liv. 22.60.16P. Semprōnium cīvem vestrum nōn audīstis arma capere ac sequī sē iubentem;You did not listen to Publius Sempronius, your fellow citizen, when he ordered you to take up arms and follow him; Liv. 22.60.16Hannibalem post paulō audīstis castra prōdī et arma trādī iubentem.a little later you listened to Hannibal when he ordered the camp to be betrayed and the arms handed over. Liv. 22.60.17Quamquamquid ego ignāviam istōrum accūsō, cum scelus possim accūsāre?And yet why do I accuse these men of cowardice, when I could accuse them of crime? Liv. 22.60.17Nōn modo enim sequī recūsārunt bene monentem, sed obsistere ac retinēre cōnātī sunt, nī strictīs gladiīs virī fortissimī inertīs summōvissent.For they not only refused to follow the man who gave them good advice, but tried to stand in his way and hold him back, had not the bravest men drawn their swords and driven the cowards off.
Liv. 22.60.17Prius, inquam, P. Semprōniō per cīvium agmen quam per hostium fuit ērumpendum.Publius Sempronius, I say, had to break out through a column of citizens before he broke through one of enemies. Liv. 22.60.18Hōs cīvēs patria dēsīderet?Should our country long for such citizens as these? Liv. 22.60.18Quōrum sī cēterī similēs fuissent, nēminem hodiē ex iīs, quī ad Cannās pugnāvērunt, cīvem habēret.If the rest had been like them, it would today have not a single citizen among those who fought at Cannae. Liv. 22.60.19Ex mīlibus septem armātōrum sescentī extitērunt, quī ērumpere audērent, quī in patriam līberī atque armātī redīrent, neque hīs sescentīs hostēs obstitēre: quam tūtum iter duārum prope legiōnum agminī futūrum cēnsētis fuisse?Of seven thousand armed men, six hundred came forward who dared to break out, who returned to their country free and armed, nor did the enemy stop these six hundred: how safe do you think the road would have been for a column of almost two legions? Liv. 22.60.20Habērētis hodiē vīgintī mīlia armātōrum Canusiī fortia fidēlia, patrēs cōnscrīptī.You would today have twenty thousand armed men at Canusium, brave and loyal, conscript fathers.
Liv. 22.60.20Nunc autem quem ad modum hī bonī fidēlēsque — nam fortēs nē ipsī quidem dīxerint — cīvēs esse possunt?But now, how can these men be good and loyal citizens (for brave not even they themselves would claim to be)? Liv. 22.60.21Nisi quis crēdere potest adfuisse ērumpentibus, quī, nē ērumperent, obsistere cōnātī sunt, aut nōn invidēre eōs cum incolumitātī tum glōriae illōrum per virtūtem partae, cum sibi timōrem ignāviamque servitūtis ignōminiōsae causam esse sciant.Unless anyone can believe that those who tried to stop them breaking out stood by those who broke out, or that they do not envy them both their safety and the glory won by their courage, when they know that their own fear and cowardice are the cause of their shameful slavery. Liv. 22.60.22Māluērunt in tentōriīs latentēs simul lūcem atque hostem expectāre, cum silentiō noctis ērumpendī occāsiō esset.They preferred to lurk in their tents and wait for daylight and the enemy together, when there was a chance of breaking out in the silence of the night. Liv. 22.60.22Atenim ad ērumpendum ē castrīs dēfuit animus, ad tūtanda fortiter castra animum habuērunt;But, you will say, though they lacked the courage to break out of the camp, they had the courage to defend the camp bravely; Liv. 22.60.22diēs noctēsque aliquot obsessī vallum armīs, sē ipsī tūtātī vallō sunt;besieged for several days and nights, they protected the rampart with their arms and themselves with the rampart; Liv. 22.60.23tandem ultima ausī passīque, cum omnia subsidia vītae dēessent adfectīsque fame vīribus arma iam sustinēre nequīrent, necessitātibus magis hūmānīs quam armīs victī sunt.at last, having dared and endured the utmost, when every means of supporting life was lacking and, their strength weakened by hunger, they could no longer hold up their arms, they were conquered by human necessities rather than by arms.
Liv. 22.60.24Ortō sōle hostis ad vallum accessit;At sunrise the enemy approached the rampart; Liv. 22.60.24ante secundam hōram, nūllam fortūnam certāminis expertī, trādidērunt arma ac sē ipsōs.before the second hour, without trying the fortune of a fight at all, they handed over their arms and themselves. Liv. 22.60.25Haec vōbīs istōrum per bīduum mīlitia fuit.This was these men's military service for you over two days. Liv. 22.60.25Cum in aciē stāre ac pugnāre decuerat, in castra refūgērunt;When they ought to have stood in the line and fought, they fled back to the camp; Liv. 22.60.25cum prō vallō pugnandum erat, castra trādidērunt, neque in aciē neque in castrīs ūtilēs.when they had to fight in front of the rampart, they surrendered the camp, useful neither in the battle line nor in the camp. Liv. 22.60.26Et vōs redimāmus?And are we to ransom you? Liv. 22.60.26Cum ērumpere ē castrīs oportet, cūnctāminī ac manētis;When you ought to break out of the camp, you hesitate and stay; Liv. 22.60.26cum manēre et castra tūtārī armīs necesse est, et castra et arma et vōs ipsōs trāditis hostī.when it is necessary to stay and defend the camp with arms, you hand over camp, arms and yourselves to the enemy.
Liv. 22.60.27Ego nōn magis istōs redimendōs, patrēs cōnscrīptī, cēnseō, quam illōs dēdendōs Hannibalī, quī per mediōs hostīs ē castrīs ērūpērunt ac per summam virtūtem sē patriae restituērunt."For my part, conscript fathers, I no more think these men should be ransomed than that those should be handed over to Hannibal who broke out of the camp through the midst of the enemy and with the highest courage restored themselves to their country.'