[15,7] Ὅτι μαθόντες οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι Σαυνίτας στρατιὰν ἀγείρειν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πρέσβεις ἔπεμψαν, οἱ δὲ προχειρισθέντες ἐκ τῶν βουλευτῶν πρέσβεις ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τοὺς προβούλους τῶν Σαυνιτῶν ἔλεξαν· Ἀδικεῖτε, ἄνδρες Σαυνῖται, παραβαίνοντες τὰς ὁμολογίας, ἃς ἐποιήσασθε πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὄνομα μὲν ὑποδυόμενοι συμμάχων, ἔργα δὲ πράττοντες πολεμίων, πολλαῖς μὲν ἡττηθέντες ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων μάχαις, δεήσει δὲ μεγάλῃ καταλυσάμενοι τὸν πόλεμον καὶ τυχόντες εἰρήνης οἵας ἐβούλεσθε· τὰ δὲ τελευταῖα φίλοι γενέσθαι τῆς πόλεως ἡμῶν προθυμηθέντες καὶ σύμμαχοι καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς Ῥωμαίοις ὀμόσαντες ἕξειν ἐχθροὺς καὶ φίλους. Ὧν ἁπάντων ἐπιλαθόμενοι καὶ παρ´ οὐδὲν ἡγησάμενοι τοὺς ὅρκους ἐγκατελείπετε μὲν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ πρὸς Λατίνους πολέμῳ καὶ πρὸς Οὐολούσκους συστάντι, οὓς δι´ ὑμᾶς ἐχθροὺς ἔχομεν οὐ βουλόμενοι τοῦ καθ´ ὑμῶν αὐτοῖς συνάρασθαι πολέμου· ἐν δὲ τῷ παρελθόντι ἐνιαυτῷ Νεαπολίτας δεδιότας ἀναδεῖξαι τὸν καθ´ ἡμῶν πόλεμον ἁπάσῃ σπουδῇ καὶ προθυμίᾳ χρώμενοι παρωρμήσατε, μᾶλλον δ´ ἠναγκάσατε καὶ τὰς δαπάνας ἐπιχορηγεῖτε καὶ τὴν πόλιν δι´ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἔχετε. νῦν δὲ παρασκευάζεσθε στρατιὰν ἐκ παντὸς ἀγείροντες τόπου, πρόφασιν μὲν ἑτέραν ποιούμενοι, τὸ δ´ ἀληθὲς ἐπὶ τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἐγνωκότες ἄγειν ἀποίκους· καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτας τὰς ἀδίκους πλεονεξίας Φουνδανοὺς παρακαλεῖτε καὶ Φορμιανοὺς καὶ ἄλλους τινάς, οἷς ἡμεῖς ἰσοπολιτείας μετεδώκαμεν. Οὕτω δὲ φανερῶς καὶ ἀναισχύντως συγχεόντων ὑμῶν τὰ περὶ τῆς φιλίας καὶ συμμαχίας ὅρκια, {ποιοῦντες} πρεσβείαν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐκρίναμεν ἀποστεῖλαι πρῶτον, καὶ μὴ πρότερον ἄρξαι τῶν ἔργων πρὶν ἢ πειραθῆναι τῶν λόγων. ἃ δὲ προκαλούμεθα ὑμᾶς, καὶ ὧν τυχόντες τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς παρελθοῦσιν ὀργὴν ἀποπληρώσειν οἰόμεθα, ταῦτα ἔστι· πρῶτον μὲν ἀπάγειν ὑμᾶς ἀξιοῦμεν τὴν ἀποσταλεῖσαν Νεαπολίταις συμμαχίαν, ἔπειτα μηδεμίαν ἐκπέμπειν στρατιὰν κατὰ τῶν ἀποίκων τῶν ἡμετέρων μηδὲ τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἐπὶ πάσας τὰς πλεονεξίας παρακαλεῖν· εἰ δὲ μὴ πᾶσι δόξαντα ταῦτα ὑμῖν {ἃ} ἔπραττόν τινες, ἀλλ´ ἀπὸ τῆς ἑαυτῶν γνώμης, παραδοῦναι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἡμῖν ἐπὶ δίκην. τούτων τυχόντες ἀρκούμεθα, μὴ τυχόντες δὲ θεοὺς καὶ δαίμονας, οὓς ἐν ταῖς συνθήκαις ὠμόσατε, μαρτυρόμεθα, καὶ τοὺς εἰρηνοδίκας ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἄγοντες ἐληλύθαμεν.

[15,7] The Romans, learning that the Samnites were assembling an army, first sent ambassadors; these ambassadors, chosen from among the senators, came to the deputies of the Samnites and said: 2 "You do wrong, Samnites, to transgress the compact which you made with us, assuming the name of allies while in reality performing the deeds of enemies. After being defeated in many battles by the Romans, you secured a termination of the war in answer to your earnest entreaties and obtained a peace such as you desired; and at the last you were eager to become friends and allies of our state and swore to have the same enemies and friends as the Romans. 3 But forgetting all this and regarding your oaths as naught, you deserted us in the war that arose with the Latins and with the Volscians, whom we have as enemies on your account because we were unwilling to join them in their war against you; and this last year, when the Neapolitans were afraid to declare war against us, you devoted all your zeal and efforts to encouraging them, or rather compelling them, to do so, and are paying all the expenses and are holding their city with your own forces. 4 And now you are preparing an army, gathering it from every quarter, alleging indeed a different reason, but in reality (p307) having resolved to lead it against our colonists; and to these unjust encroachments you are inviting the Fundans and Formians, as well as some others to whom we have granted citizenship. 5 Though you were thus openly and shamelessly violating your treaty of friendship and alliance, we, nevertheless, pursuing the just course, decided to send an embassy to you first and not to begin with deeds before trying arguments. The things which we ask you to do, and the obtaining of which we believe will satisfy our anger at your past deeds, are these: First, we wish you to withdraw the armed assistance you have sent to the Neapolitans, and, second, not to send out any army against our colonists nor to invite our subjects to all your encroachments. 6 If some of you have been doing these things without the approval of all, but on their own initiative, we ask you to surrender the men to us for trial. If we gain these demands, we are content; but if we fail to obtain them, we call to witness the gods and lesser divinities by whom you swore in making the treaty, and we have come bringing with us the fetiales for this purpose."