negas efficacem esse iram, cuius hortatu miles summo imperio praelatus est? Quae quidem non proculcavit tantum imperia, sed etiam gessit impotenter: nam Q. Metellus, cum utramque Hispaniam consul prius, deinde pro consule paene <to>tam subegisset, postquam cognovit Q. Pompeium consulem inimicum suum successorem sibi mitti, omnes qui modo militiam suam voluerunt finiri dimisit, commeatus petentibus neque causis excussis neque constituto tempore dedit, horrea custodibus remotis opportuna rapinae praebuit, arcus sagittasque Cretensium frangi atque in amnem abici iussit, elephantis cibaria dari vetuit.
Can you deny the efficacy of anger at whose urging a soldier was preferred over the supreme command? Anger not only trod command under foot but exercised it unconscionably. Q. Metellus had subjugated almost all of both Spains first as Consul, then as Proconsul. When he learned that Consul Q. Pompeius, his enemy, was being sent to succeed him, he discharged all soldiers who wanted their service terminated, granted leave of absence to all who applied for it without examining reasons or fixing times, removed the guards of the storehouses making them an easy target for looters, ordered the bows and arrows of the Cretans to be broken and thrown into the river, and forbade their rations to be given the elephants.
final_alignments\Valerius_Memorable_Book9.json