Book 1, Chapter 35
Original Latin
77 Quid? bello Punico secundo nonne C. Flaminius consul iterum neglexit signa rerum futurarum magna cum clade rei publicae? Qui exercitu lustrato cum Arretium versus castra movisset et contra Hannibalem legiones duceret, et ipse et equus eius ante signum Iovis Statoris sine causa repente concidit nec eam rem habuit religioni obiecto signo, ut peritis videbatur, ne committeret proelium. Idem cum tripudio auspicaretur, pullarius diem proelii committendi differebat. Tum Flaminius ex eo quaesivit, si ne postea quidem pulli pascerentur, quid faciendum censeret. Cum ille quiescendum respondisset, Flaminius: ‘Praeclara vero auspicia, si esurientibus pullis res geri poterit, saturis nihil geretur!’ itaque signa convelli et se sequi iussit. Quo tempore cum signifer primi hastati signum non posset movere loco nec quicquam proficeretur, plures cum accederent, Flaminius re nuntiata suo more neglexit. Itaque tribus iis horis concisus exercitus atque ipse interfectus est.
Musean translation
Complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the Latin in separate source-only tasks and reviewed throughout against it. Both books, all 130 chapters and 282 numbered sections; no historical English translation used. Latin transcription credited to the Perseus Project under CC BY-SA 4.0, Müller’s 1915 Teubner edition.
77 “And in the Second Punic War, did not Gaius Flaminius, consul for the second time, neglect signs of the future, with terrible loss to the state? After purifying his army, he had broken camp for Arretium and was leading his legions against Hannibal, when both he and his horse suddenly fell for no reason before the statue of Jupiter Stator. Yet he felt no religious scruple at this, though the sign, as the experts understood it, had been put in his path to warn him not to join battle. Again, when he was taking the auspices from the chickens' feeding, their keeper tried to postpone the day of battle. Flaminius asked what he thought should be done if the chickens refused to eat even later. When the man replied that they must stay still, Flaminius said: ‘Splendid auspices indeed, if we can act when the chickens are hungry, but do nothing when they are full!’ He therefore ordered the standards pulled up and the troops to follow him. At that point the standard-bearer of the first company of spearmen could not move his standard from its place, and even when more men came to help they made no progress. On receiving the report, Flaminius ignored it, as usual. And so, within those three hours, his army was cut to pieces and he himself was killed.
Plain English translation
Complete machine-assisted Plain English translation, made independently and directly from the Latin, never from the Musean edition. Both books and every numbered section; a separate Latin-source model review covered the entire text. No human specialist review is claimed.
77 “And in the Second Punic War, didn't Gaius Flaminius, consul for the second time, ignore signs of the future, with terrible losses for the state? He had purified his army and moved camp toward Arretium, leading his legions against Hannibal. In front of the image of Jupiter, who stops retreat, he and his horse suddenly fell for no apparent reason. He felt no religious concern about it, although the experts thought a sign had been put in his way to stop him from fighting. When he also took the auspices by observing the sacred chickens' feeding, their keeper kept putting off the day for battle. Flaminius asked him what he thought they should do if the chickens still refused to eat later. The man answered that they should stay put. ‘Wonderful auspices!’ said Flaminius. ‘We can act if the chickens are hungry, but if they're full we can do nothing!’ He therefore gave the order to uproot the standards and march behind him. But when the standard-bearer for the first company of spearmen tried to move his standard, it would not budge. Even when more men came to help, they made no progress. Flaminius was told of this, and ignored it as usual. Within those three hours his troops were slaughtered, and Flaminius was killed along with them.
About this section
Book 1, Chapter 35 is part of On Divination by Marcus Tullius Cicero. This page sets the Latin original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is chapter 35 of 130 in the work, which is kept in the Roman tradition.
Open the work page for the full contents, every edition, and the download links, or go back to Explore to browse other complete works in the Roman tradition. The reader keeps your place when you are signed in and lets you compare the original with each translation, one edition at a time.