[6,6] Ὡς δ´ εἰς χεῖρας ἥξειν ἔμελλον, οἵ τε τῶν Λατίνων στρατηγοὶ συγκαλέσαντες τοὺς σφετέρους πολλὰ εἰς τὸ ἀνδρεῖον ἐπαγωγὰ καὶ δεήσεις τῶν στρατιωτῶν μακρὰς διεξῆλθον, ὅ τε Ῥωμαῖος ὀρρωδοῦντας ὁρῶν τοὺς σφετέρους, ὅτι πλήθει συνοίσονται μακρῷ προὔχοντι τοῦ σφετέρου, ἐξελέσθαι τὸ δέος αὐτῶν ἐκ τῆς διανοίας βουλόμενος συνεκάλεσεν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν· καὶ παραστησάμενος τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους τῶν ἐκ τοῦ βουλευτικοῦ συνεδρίου καὶ τιμιωτάτους ἔλεξε τοιάδε· Θεοὶ μὲν ἡμῖν ὑπισχνοῦνται δι´ οἰωνῶν τε καὶ σφαγίων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης μαντικῆς ἐλευθερίαν τῇ πόλει παρέξειν καὶ νίκην εὐτυχῆ, ἀμοιβάς τε ἡμῖν ἀποδιδόντες ἀγαθάς, ἀνθ´ ὧν αὐτοὺς σέβοντες καὶ τὰ δίκαια ἀσκοῦντες ἐν παντὶ τῷ βίῳ {ἡμῶν} διετελέσαμεν, καὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἡμῶν νεμεσῶντες κατὰ τὸ εἰκός, ὅτι πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα πεπονθότες ὑφ´ ἡμῶν ἀγαθὰ συγγενεῖς τε ὄντες καὶ φίλοι καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ὀμωμοκότες ἕξειν ἐχθροὺς καὶ φίλους, ἁπάντων ὑπεριδόντες τούτων πόλεμον ἐπιφέρουσιν ἡμῖν ἄδικον, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἀρχῆς καὶ δυναστείας, ὁποτέρους ἡμῶν μᾶλλον αὐτὴν ἔχειν προσῆκεν· ἧττον γὰρ ἂν ἦν δεινόν· ἀλλ´ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ταρκυνίων τυραννίδος, ἵνα δούλην ἀντ´ ἐλευθέρας τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῖς ποιήσωσι. χρὴ δὲ καὶ ὑμᾶς, ἄνδρες λοχαγοί τε καὶ στρατιῶται, μαθόντας, ὅτι συμμάχους ἔχετε τοὺς θεούς, οἵπερ αἰεὶ τὴν πόλιν σώζουσιν, ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γενέσθαι περὶ τόνδε τὸν ἀγῶνα· ἐπισταμένους, ὅτι τῆς παρὰ θεῶν βοηθείας ὑπάρχει τυγχάνειν τοῖς γενναίως ἀγωνιζομένοις καὶ πάντα τὰ παρ´ ἑαυτοῖς εἰς τὸ νικᾶν πρόθυμα παρεχομένοις, οὐ τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς βουλομένοις ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν ταλαιπωρεῖν. ὑπάρχει δ´ ἡμῖν πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα πλεονεκτήματα πρὸς τὸ νικᾶν ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης παρεσκευασμένα, τρία δὲ πάντων κάλλιστα καὶ φανερώτατα.

[6,6] When they were on the point of engaging, the Latin generals called their men together and said many things calculated to incite them to valour, and addressed long appeals to the soldiers. And the Roman dictator, seeing his troops alarmed because they were going to encounter an army greatly superior in number to their own, and desiring to dispel that fear from their minds, called them to an assembly, and place gate near him the oldest and most honoured members of the senate, addressed them as follows: "The gods by omens, sacrifices, and other auguries promise to grant to our commonwealth liberty and a happy victory, both by way of rewarding us for the piety we have shown toward them and the justice we have practised during the whole course of our lives, and also from resentment, we may reasonably suppose, against our enemies. For these, after having received many great benefits from us, being both our kinsmen and friends, and after having sworn to look upon all our enemies and friends as their own, have scorned all these obligations and are bringing an unjust war upon us, not for the sake of supremacy and dominion, to determine which of us ought more rightly to possess it, — that, indeed, would not be so terrible, — but in support of the tyranny of the Tarquinii, in order to make our commonwealth enslaved once more instead of free. But it is necessary that you too, both officers and men, knowing that you have for allies the gods, (p257) who have always preserved our city, should acquit yourselves as brave men in this battle, remembering that the assistance of the gods is given to those who fight nobly and eagerly contribute everything in their power toward victory, not to those who fly from dangers, but to those who are willing to undergo hardships in their own behalf. We have many other advantages conducive to victory prepared for us by Fortune, but three in particular, which are the greatest and the most obvious of all.