From this point onward the Romans at once undertook wars against the Samnites, a people strong in wealth and arms, on behalf of the Campanians and the Sidicini. The Samnite war, waged with doubtful fortune, was taken up in turn by Pyrrhus, perhaps the greatest enemy of the Roman name; the war with Pyrrhus was soon followed by the Punic war:
1 Iam hinc statim a Romanis aduersum Samnitas, gentem opibus armisque ualidam, pro Campanis et Sedicinis bella suscepta sunt. Samniticum bellum ancipiti statu gestum Pyrrhus uel maximus Romani nominis hostis excepit; Pyrrhi bellum mox Punicum consecutum est:
and although the gates of Janus, always standing open, show that there was never any respite from the disasters of wars after the death of Numa, yet from then on, as if at midday, the heat of evils, pressing down over the whole sky, glowed white-hot.
2 et quamuis numquam post mortem Numae a bellorum cladibus fuisse cessatum patentes semper Iani portae indicent, ex eo tamen ueluti per meridiem toto inpressus caelo malorum feruor incanduit.
Further, once the Punic war had begun, whether wars, slaughters, ruins and every kind of unspeakable death ever ceased before the reign of Caesar Augustus — let whoever thinks the Christian times deserve to be defamed inquire, find out, and declare.
3 porro autem, inchoato semel bello Punico utrum aliquando bella caedes ruinae atque omnia infandarum mortium genera nisi Caesare Augusto imperante cessauerint, inquirat inueniat prodat quisquis infamanda Christiana tempora putat.
Except, however, that between the Punic wars, in the passing of a single year, like a bird flying by, the Romans — because the gates of Janus were closed — were so enticed, amid the fevers and diseases of the commonwealth, by this briefest sign of peace, as by a very slight draught of cold water, that, growing hot again for the worse, they were afflicted much more grievously and violently.
4 absque illo tamen inter bella Punica unius anni ueluti auis praeteruolantis excursu Romani propter clausas Iani portas inter febres morbosque reipublicae ad hoc breuissimo pacis signo uelut tenuissimo aquae gelidae haustu inlecti sunt, ut in peius recalescentes multo grauius uehementiusque adflictarentur.
But if it is established beyond all doubt that it was under Augustus Caesar first, after the peace with Parthia, that the whole world laid down its arms, abolished its discords, was settled in a general peace and a new quiet, and obeyed Roman laws; that it preferred Roman jurisdiction to its own arms and, spurning its own leaders, chose Roman judges;
5 At uero, si indubitatissime constat sub Augusto primum Caesare post Parthicam pacem uniuersum terrarum orbem positis armis abolitisque discordiis generali pace et noua quiete conpositum Romanis paruisse legibus, Romana iura quam propria arma maluisse spretisque ducibus suis iudices elegisse Romanos,
and finally that all nations, all provinces, innumerable cities, countless peoples, and all lands had a single will — to serve peace with free and honourable zeal and to take counsel for the common good — something that previously not even a single city, or a single people of citizens, or, what is more, a single household of brothers had been able to maintain without interruption;
6 postremo omnibus gentibus, cunctis prouinciis, innumeris ciuitatibus, infinitis populis, totis terris unam fuisse uoluntatem libero honestoque studio inseruire paci atque in commune consulere - quod prius ne una quidem ciuitas unusue populus ciuium uel, quod maius est, una domus fratrum iugiter habere potuisset -;
and if, moreover, since these things came about while Caesar held power, it is made manifest by the clearest proof that it was in the very reign of Caesar that the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ shone forth in this world:
7 quodsi etiam, cum imperante Caesare ista prouenerint, in ipso imperio Caesaris inluxisse ortum in hoc mundo Domini nostri Iesu Christi liquidissima probatione manifestum est:
then those whom envy drove to blasphemy will be compelled, however unwillingly, to recognize and confess that this peace of the whole world and its most tranquil serenity came about not through the greatness of Caesar but through the power of the Son of God, who appeared in the days of Caesar; and that the world itself, in a general recognition, obeyed not the emperor of a single city but the creator of the whole world, who, as the rising sun floods the day with light, so at his coming mercifully clothed the world in an outspread peace. This will be set out more fully when, the Lord himself bringing it to pass, we have come to that point.
8 inuiti licet illi, quos in blasphemiam urguebat inuidia, cognoscere faterique cogentur, pacem istam totius mundi et tranquillissimam serenitatem non magnitudine Caesaris sed potestate filii Dei, qui in diebus Caesaris apparuit, exstitisse nec unius urbis imperatori sed creatori orbis uniuersi orbem ipsum generali cognitione paruisse, qui, sicut sol oriens diem luce perfundit, ita adueniens misericorditer extenta mundum pace uestierit. quod plenius, cum ad id ipso perficiente Domino uentum fuerit, proferetur.