Ab urbe condita

Titus Livius (Livy)

Livy. History of Rome, Volumes 1-2. Roberts, Canon, Rev, translator. London, New York: J. M. Dent and Sons; E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912.

In contempt of my orders, whilst the auspices were still indecisive and the sanctions of religion withheld, you dared

to give battle, in defiance of all the military custom and discipline of our ancestors, in defiance of the will of the gods. Answer the questions put to you, but beware of uttering a single word about anything else.

Lictor, stand by him!” Fabius found it far from easy to reply to each question in detail, and protested against the same man being both accuser and judge in a matter of life and death.