That should have been book 22 instead of 25:
[53] Ceterum cum ibi tribuni militum quattuor essent, Fabius Maximus
de legione prima, cuius pater priore anno dictator fuerat, et de
legione secunda L. Publicius Bibulus et P. Cornelius Scipio et de
legione tertia Ap. Claudius Pulcher, qui proxime aedilis fuerat,
omnium consensu ad P. Scipionem admodum adulescentem et ad Ap.
Claudium summa imperii delata est. Quibus consultantibus inter paucos
de summa rerum nuntiat P. Furius Philus, consularis uiri filius,
nequiquam eos perditam spem fouere; desperatam comploratamque rem esse
publicam; nobiles iuuenes quosdam, quorum principem L. Caecilium
Metellum, mare ac naues spectare, ut deserta Italia ad regum aliquem
transfugiant. Quod malum, praeterquam atrox, super tot clades etiam
nouum, cum stupore ac miraculo torpidos defixisset qui aderant et
consilium aduocandum de eo censerent, negat consilii rem esse [Scipio]
Iuuenis, fatalis dux huiusce belli: audendum atque agendum, non
consultandum ait in tanto malo esse. Irent secum extemplo armati qui
rem publicam saluam uellent; nulla uerius quam ubi ea cogitentur
hostium castra esse. Pergit ire sequentibus paucis in hospitium
Metelli et, cum concilium ibi iuuenum de quibus allatum erat
inuenisset, stricto super capita consultantium gladio, "ex mei animi
sententia" inquit, "ut ego rem publicam populi Romani non deseram
neque alium ciuem Romanum deserere patiar; si sciens fallo, tum me,
Iuppiter optime maxime, domum, familiam remque meam pessimo leto
adficias. In haec uerba, L. Caecili, iures postulo, ceterique qui
adestis. Qui non iurauerit in se hunc gladium strictum esse sciat".
Haud secus pauidi quam si uictorem Hannibalem cernerent, iurant omnes
custodiendosque semet ipsos Scipioni tradunt.
Here's a translation:
- Now though there were four tribunes of the soldiers on the ground —Quintus Fabius Maximus of the first legion, whose father had been
dictator the year before, Lucius [2??] Publicius Bibulus and Publius
Cornelius Scipio of the second legion, and Appius Claudius Pulcher,
who had very recently been aedile, of the third legion —the [3]
supreme command was by unanimous consent made over to Publius Scipio,
the merest youth,1 and to Appius Claudius. [4] These two were
considering the general situation, in company with a few others, when
Publius Furius Philus, the son of an ex-consul, came in and told them
that they were idly entertaining a lost hope; the state was already
given over and mourned as dead; [5] some of the young [p. 375]nobles,
of whom Marcus Caecilius Metellus was the2 chief, were looking to the
sea and ships, proposing to abandon Italy and flee for refuge to some
king. [6] These evil tidings, dreadful in themselves and coming as a
new distress on the top of so many disasters, stunned those who heard
them with a dull amazement. But when they would have called a council
to talk the matter over, young Scipio, the predestined leader in this
war, declared that it was no matter for taking counsel: [7] they must
be bold and act, not deliberate, in the face of this great evil; let
them take arms and go with him at once, as many as wished to save the
state; [8] no camp was so truly the camp of the enemy as one where
such thoughts were rife. [9] He proceeded, with only a few followers,
to the quarters of Metellus, where he found a gathering of the young
men of whom he had been informed. [10] Raising his sword over their
heads, as they sat in consultation, “I solemnly swear,” he said, “that
even as I myself shall not desert the republic of the Roman People, so
likewise shall I suffer no other Roman citizen to do so; [11] if I
wittingly speak false, may Jupiter Optimus Maximus utterly destroy me,
my house, my family, and my estate. [12] Marcus Caecilius, I call on
you and the others who are present to swear after these terms, and if
any refuse to swear, let him know that against him this sword is
drawn.” [13] Quaking as though they beheld the victorious Hannibal,
all took the oath, and delivered themselves into the custody of
Scipio.
