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| ID |
5849 |
| Text |
Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII (417 - 418) Orosius |
| Quotation |
18 Pudet recordationis. quid enim dicam improbitatem magis an miseriam Romanorum? Immo uerius uel improbam miseriam uel miseram improbitatem. 19 Quis credat eo tempore, quo aerarium populi Romani egenam stipem priuata conlatione poscebat, miles in castris non nisi aut puer aut seruus aut sceleratus aut debitor et ne sic quidem numero idoneus erat, senatus in curia omnis paene nouicius uidebatur, postremo cum ita inminutis fractisque omnibus desperabatur, ut consilium de relinquenda Italia subiretur: - 20 eo tempore, cum unum domesticum, ut diximus, bellum ferri nullo modo posset, tria insuper transmarina bella fuisse suscepta? Vnum in Macedonia contra Philippum potentissimum Macedoniae regem, alterum in Hispania contra Hasdrubalem Hannibalis fratrem, tertium in Sardinia contra Sardos et alterum Hasdrubalem Carthaginiensium ducem; extra hoc quartum Hannibalis, quo in Italia premebantur. 21 Et tamen fortis in alterutrum desperatio in meliora profecit, nam in his omnibus desperando pugnarunt, pugnando uicerunt. Ex quo euidenter ostenditur non tempora tunc fuisse tranquilliora otiis, sed homines miseriis fortiores. |
| Translation |
18. O, the shame of recording these things! Should I speak more of the
Romans’ depravity than of their wretchedness? Or rather I should talk of
their depraved wretchedness or their wretched depravity? 19. Who would
believe that at a time when the treasury of the Roman people was asking
for pitiful contributions from private individuals, when there was not a
soldier in the camp who was not a boy or a slave or a criminal or a debtor,
and there were not enough even of them, when almost every senator in the
house seemed to be a new member, and finally, when everything had been so
depleted and broken down that they reached such a state of desperation that
a motion to leave Italy was submitted; 20. who can believe that at a time,
when, as we have said, they could in no way sustain one war at home, they
undertook three more abroad? One was against Philip, the powerful king of
Macedonia, the second in Spain against Hasdrubal, Hannibal’s brother,
and the third in Sardinia against the Sardinians and the other Hasdrubal, the
Carthaginians’ general. Apart from these, there was the fourth war against
Hannibal by whom they were being hard pressed in Italy. 21. Nevertheless, a courage born of despair in each of these fields turned things out for
the better. For in all these places they fought from despair, and from their
fighting emerged victorious, by which we can clearly see that the times then
were not any calmer from their being at leisure, but rather that men were
braver in their misfortunes. |
| Quotation source |
Lib. 4, Cap. 16, 18-21 (Vol. II, pp. 52-3, trans. Fear, p. 188) |
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