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Barlow 88. DE TUBICINE CAPTIVO
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Tubicen quidam in bello captivus detinebatur. Qui Hostes supplicabundus orabat ut non se interficerent, quandoquidem totum inermis esset et nullum eorum vulnerasset. Cui sic Hostes: “Quia tu sis inermis et pugnandi excors, ideo moriere, qui tubae cantu inimicos nostros ad pugnam concitaveris.”
Translation: A certain trumpet-player was held captive during a war. He pleaded and begged the enemy soldiers to not kill him, since he was completely harmless and had hurt none of them. The enemy soldiers said to him, "Because you were harmless and witless in war, you therefore will die, since you stirred up our enemies to battle with the song of your war-trumpet."
[This translation is meant as a help in understanding the story, not as a "crib" for the Latin. I have not hesitated to change the syntax to make it flow more smoothly in English, altering the verb tense consistently to narrative past tense, etc.]
The Moral of the Story:
Docet quod
magis
laesae maiestatis
sunt rei habendi
primores,
qui
consilium et rationes
bellum movendi
praecipiunt
quam gregarii milites
qui
eorum morem gerunt praeceptis.
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