[9,9] Βραδεῖα μὲν ἡ ἀγανάκτησις ὑμῶν γίνεται περὶ ὧν ὑβρίζεσθε ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, ἄνδρες στρατιῶταί τε καὶ ἡγεμόνες· καὶ τὸ βουλόμενον ἑκάστου χωρεῖν ὁμόσε τοῖς ἐναντίοις πολὺ τοῦ δέοντος ὕστερον φαινόμενον ἄωρόν ἐστι. παλαίτερον γὰρ ἔτι τοῦθ´ ὑμᾶς ἔδει πράττειν, ὅτε πρῶτον αὐτοὺς εἴδετε καταβαίνοντας ἐκ τῶν ἐρυμάτων καὶ μάχης ἄρχειν βουλομένους. τότε γὰρ δήπου καλὸς ὁ περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἦν ἀγὼν καὶ τοῦ Ῥωμαίων φρονήματος ἄξιος. νῦν δ´ ἀναγκαῖος ἤδη γίνεται, καὶ οὐδ´, ἂν τὸ κράτιστον λάβῃ τέλος, ὁμοίως καλός. εὖ δὲ καὶ νῦν ποιεῖτε ὅμως ἐπανορθώσασθαι τὴν βραδυτῆτα βουλόμενοι καὶ τὰ παραλειφθέντα ἀναλαβεῖν, καὶ πολλὴ χάρις ὑμῖν τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ κράτιστα ὁρμῆς, εἴ γ´ ὑπ´ ἀρετῆς γίνεται· κρεῖττον γάρ ἐστιν ὀψὲ ἄρξασθαι τὰ δέοντα πράττειν ἢ μηδέποτε· εἴτ´ οὖν ἅπαντες ὁμοίους ἔχετε περὶ τῶν συμφερόντων λογισμούς, καὶ ἡ προθυμία τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ὁρμῆς ἅπαντας ἡ αὐτὴ κατείληφε. νῦν δὲ φοβούμεθα, μὴ τὰ περὶ τῆς κληρουχίας προσκρούσματα τῶν δημοτικῶν πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τέλει μεγάλης αἴτια τῷ κοινῷ γένηται βλάβης· ὑποψία τε ἡμᾶς κατείληφεν, ὡς ἡ περὶ τῆς ἐξόδου καταβοὴ καὶ ἀγανάκτησις οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς προαιρέσεως παρὰ πάντων γίνεται, ἀλλ´ οἱ μὲν ὡς τιμωρησόμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους προθυμεῖσθε τοῦ χάρακος ἐξελθεῖν, οἱ δ´ ὡς ἀποδρασόμενοι. ἐξ ὧν δὲ παρέστηκεν ἡμῖν ταῦθ´ ὑποπτεύειν, οὐ μαντεῖαί εἰσιν οὐδὲ στοχασμοί, ἀλλ´ ἔργα ἐμφανῆ καὶ οὐδὲ ταῦτα παλαιά, ἀλλ´ ἐν τῷ παρελθόντι ἐνιαυτῷ γενόμενα, ὡς ἅπαντες ἴστε, ὅτ´ ἐπὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς πολεμίους τούτους πολλῆς καὶ ἀγαθῆς ἐξελθούσης στρατιᾶς, καὶ τῆς πρώτης μάχης τὸ κράτιστον ἡμῖν λαβούσης τέλος, δυνηθέντος ἂν τοῦ τότ´ ἄγοντος ὑμᾶς ὑπάτου Καίσωνος, ἀδελφοῦ δ´ ἐμοῦ τουδὶ καὶ τὸν χάρακα τῶν πολεμίων ἐξελεῖν καὶ νίκην τῇ πατρίδι καταγαγεῖν λαμπροτάτην, φθονήσαντες αὐτῷ δόξης τινές, ὅτι δημοτικὸς οὐκ ἦν, οὐδὲ τὰ κεχαρισμένα τοῖς πένησι διετέλει πολιτευόμενος, τῇ πρώτῃ νυκτὶ μετὰ τὴν μάχην ἀνασπάσαντες τὰς σκηνὰς ἄνευ παραγγέλματος ἀπέδρασαν ἐκ τοῦ χάρακος, οὔτε τὸν κίνδυνον ἐνθυμηθέντες τὸν καταληψόμενον αὐτοὺς ἀτάκτως καὶ χωρὶς ἡγεμόνος ἀπιόντας ἐκ πολεμίας γῆς καὶ ταῦτ´ ἐν νυκτί, οὔτε τὴν αἰσχύνην, ὅση καθέξειν αὐτοὺς ἔμελλεν, ὑπολογισάμενοι, ὅτι παρεχώρουν τοῖς πολεμίοις τῆς ἡγεμονίας, τὸ γοῦν ἐφ´ ἑαυτοῖς μέρος, καὶ ταῦθ´ οἱ νικήσαντες τοῖς κεκρατημένοις. τούτους δὴ τοὺς ἄνδρας ὀρρωδοῦντες, ὦ ταξίαρχοί τε καὶ λοχαγοὶ καὶ στρατιῶται, τοὺς οὔτ´ ἄρχειν δυναμένους οὔτ´ ἄρχεσθαι βουλομένους πολλοὺς καὶ αὐθάδεις ὄντας καὶ τὰ ὅπλα ἔχοντας ἐν χερσίν, οὔτε πρότερον ἐβουλόμεθα μάχην συνάπτειν οὔτε νῦν ἔτι θαρσοῦμεν ἐπὶ τοιούτοις συμμάχοις τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν μεγίστων ἀγῶνα ἄρασθαι, μὴ κωλύματα καὶ βλάβαι γένωνται τοῖς ἅπαντα τὰ καθ´ ἑαυτοὺς πρόθυμα παρεχομένοις. εἰ μέντοι κἀκείνων ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω τὸν νοῦν ἄγει νυνὶ καὶ καταβαλόντες τὸ στασιάζον, ὑφ´ οὗ {νῦν} πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα βλάπτεται τὸ κοινόν, ἤ γε δὴ εἰς τοὺς τῆς εἰρήνης ἀναβαλόμενοι καιρούς, ἐπανορθώσασθαι βούλονται τὰ παρελθόντα ὀνείδη τῇ νῦν ἀρετῇ, μηδὲν ἔτι τὸ κωλῦσον ἔστω χωρεῖν ὑμᾶς ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, τὰς ἀγαθὰς προβαλλομένους ἐλπίδας. ἔχομεν δὲ πολλὰς μὲν καὶ ἄλλας ἀφορμὰς εἰς τὸ νικᾶν, μεγίστας δὲ καὶ κυριωτάτας, ἃς τὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἀνόητον ἡμῖν παρέχει, οἵ γε πλήθει στρατιᾶς μακρῷ προὔχοντες ἡμῶν καὶ τούτῳ μόνῳ δυνηθέντες ἂν πρὸς τὰς ἡμετέρας τόλμας τε καὶ ἐμπειρίας ἀντέχειν ἀπεστερήκασι τῆς μόνης ὠφελείας ἑαυτοὺς ἀπαναλώσαντες τὸ πλεῖον τῆς δυνάμεως μέρος εἰς τὰς τῶν φρουρίων φυλακάς. ἔπειτα δέον αὐτοὺς σὺν εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ λογισμῷ σώφρονι πράττειν ἕκαστα, ἐνθυμουμένους, πρὸς οἵους ἄνδρας {καὶ πολὺ ἀλκιμωτέρους αὐτῶν} ὁ κίνδυνος ἔσται, θρασέως καὶ ἀπερισκέπτως ἐπὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα χωροῦσιν, ὡς ἄμαχοί τινες καὶ ὡς ἡμῶν καταπεπληγότων αὐτούς. αἱ γοῦν ἀποταφρεύσεις καὶ αἱ μέχρι τοῦ χάρακος ἡμῶν καθιππεύσεις καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἐν λόγοις τε καὶ ἔργοις ὑβρίσματα τοῦτο δύναται. ταῦτά τε δὴ ἐνθυμούμενοι καὶ τῶν προτέρων ἀγώνων μεμνημένοι πολλῶν ὄντων καὶ καλῶν, ἐν οἷς αὐτοὺς ἐνικᾶτε, χωρεῖτε μετὰ προθυμίας καὶ ἐπὶ τόνδε τὸν ἀγῶνα· καὶ ἐν ᾧ ἂν ὑμῶν ἕκαστος χωρίῳ ταχθῇ, τοῦθ´ ὑπολαβέτω καὶ οἶκον εἶναι καὶ κλῆρον καὶ πατρίδα· καὶ ὅ τε σώζων τὸν παραστάτην ἑαυτῷ πράττειν τὴν σωτηρίαν ὑπολαβέτω, καὶ ὁ ἐγκαταλιπὼν τὸν πέλας ἑαυτὸν ἡγείσθω τοῖς πολεμίοις προδιδόναι. μάλιστα δ´ ἐκεῖνο μεμνῆσθαι προσῆκεν, ὅτι μενόντων μὲν ἀνδρῶν καὶ μαχομένων ὀλίγον τὸ ἀπολλύμενόν ἐστιν, ἐγκλινάντων δὲ καὶ φευγόντων κομιδῇ βραχὺ σωζόμενον.

[9,9] "Long delayed is your indignation at the insults you are receiving from the enemy, soldiers and (p311) officers, and the eagerness which you one and all have to come to grips with your opponents, by showing itself much too late, is untimely. For you should have done this still earlier, when you first saw them come down from their entrenchments and eager to begin battle. Then, no doubt, the contest for the supremacy would have been glorious and worthy of the Roman spirit; as things are, it is already becoming a matter of necessity, and however successful its outcome may be, it will not be equally glorious. Yet even now you do well in desiring to atone for your slowness and to retrieve what you have lost by neglect, and great thanks are due to you for your eagerness to follow the best course, whether this springs from valour — for it is better to begin late to do one's duty than never — or whether indeed you have all come to the same logical conclusions as to what is example, and the same eagerness for rushing into battle has seized all of you. But as it is, we are afraid that the grievances of the plebeians against the authorities over the allotment of land may be the cause of great mischief to the commonwealth. And the suspicion has come to us that this clamour and indignation about a sortie do not spring from the same motive with all of you, but that while some desire to go out of the camp in order to take revenge on the enemy, others do so in order to run away. As for the reasons which have induced us to entertain these suspicions, they are neither divinations nor conjectures, but overt deeds, and deeds, too, that happened, not long ago, but only last year, as you all know. For when a large and excellent army had taken the field against this very (p313) enemy and the first battle had had the most successful outcome for us, so that your commander at the time, the consul Caeso, my brother here, could not only have taken the enemy's camp, but also have brought back a most glorious victory for the fatherland, some of the soldiers, begrudging him the glorious because he was not a friend of the people and did not constantly pursue such a course as was pleasing to the poor, struck their tents the first night after the battle and without orders ran away from the camp, neither taking thought for the danger they would incur in retreating from a hostile country in disorderly fashion and without a general, and that too in the night, nor taking into account all the disgrace that was sure to come upon them for yielding the supremacy to the enemy, as far at least as in them lay, and yielding it, moreover, as victors to the vanquished. Being afraid, therefore, tribunes, centurions, and soldiers, of these men who are neither able to command nor willing to obey, who are numerous and bold and have their weapons in their hands, we have been unwilling hitherto to join battle and dare not even now, with such men to support us, engage in a life-and-death struggle, lest they prove hindrances and detriments to those who are displaying all the alacrity in their power. If, however, Heaven is turning the minds of even these men to better ways at the present time, and if, laying aside their seditious spirit, from which the commonwealth is suffering very great harm, or at least postponing it till times of peace, they wish to redeem their pas disgraces by their present valour, let there be no further hindrance to your advancing (p315) against the foe, setting before your eyes the fair hopes of victory. "We have many resources for winning, but greatest and most decisive are those afforded us by the folly of the enemy. For though they far exceed us in the size of their army, and for that reason alone might have withstood our courage and experience, they have deprived themselves of their only advantage by using up the greater part of their forces in garrisoning the forts. In the next place, when they ought to act with caution and sober reason in everything they do, bearing in mind against what kind of men, actually far superior to them in valour, the hazard will be, they enter the struggle recklessly and incautiously, as if forsooth they were some invincible warriors and as if we stood in terror of them. At any rate, their digging of ditches round our camp, their riding up to our entrenchments, and their many insults both in word and actions indicate this. Bearing these thoughts in mind, then, and remembering the many glorious battles of the past in which you have overcome them, enter with alacrity into this contest also. And let every one of you look upon the spot in which he shall be posted as his house, his lot of land, and his country. Let him who saves the man beside him feel that he is effecting his own safety, and let him who forsakes his comrade feel that he is delivering himself up to the enemy. But, above all, you should remember this, that when men stand their ground and fight their losses are small, but when they give way and flee very few are saved."