Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor), 35.7.2

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[2] This was due to the fact that another anxiety was weighing upon them —that the public was burdened by interest-payments,¹ and that, although greed was held in check by numerous laws governing usury, a way of evasion was opened because accounts were transferred to allies, who were not under the operation of these laws;² thus debtors were overwhelmed with unrestricted charges.

Ab urbe condita. Titus Livius (Livy). Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor). Medford, MA. .

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

History of Rome (English) (Foster, Benjamin Oliver; Moore, Frank Gardener; Sage, Evan T.; Schlesinger, Alfred C., translators. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1919-1959. (Loeb Classical Library))

Editions (3)

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.) — 35.7.2 focus

[2] instabat enim cura alia, quod civitas faenore laborabat, et quod, cum multis faenebribus legibus constricta avaritia esset, via fraudis inita erat, ut in socios, qui non tenerentur iis legibus, nomina transcriberent; ita libero faenore obruebantur debitores.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Livy in Fourteen Volumes. Foster, Benjamin Oliver; Moore, Frank Gardener; Schlesinger, Alfred C., editors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1919-1959 (printing).) — 30.7.2 focus

[2] mox eodem patentibus portis Romani accepti, nec quicquam hostile, quia voluntate concesserant in dicionem, factum. duae subinde urbes captae direptaeque. ea praeda et quae castris incensis ex igne rapta erat militi concessa est.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 35.7.2 focus

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 35.7.2 focus

[2] and although avarice had been restricted by many laws respecting usury, yet a fraudulent course had been adopted —that of transferring the securities to subjects of some of the allied states, who were not bound by those laws, by which means usurers over-whelmed their debtors by unlimited interest.

History of Rome Perseus (Volumes 1-2. Roberts, Canon, Rev, translator. London, New York: J. M. Dent and Sons; E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912.) — 35.7.2 focus

[2] There was another pressing question to be dealt with. The citizens were suffering from money-lenders, and though numerous laws had been made in restraint of avarice they were evaded through the fraudulent transferring of the bills to subjects of the allied States who were not bound by these laws. In this way debtors were being overwhelmed by unlimited interest.

Notes on the current edition

Ab Urbe Condita With An English Translation, books 1-10, 21-45, with periochae 11-20

1. Creditors had found a device for collecting rates of interest higher than those allowed by law (cf. VII. xvi. 1, etc.), by transferring the ownership of accounts to subjects of allied states, who thus became the real or fictitious lenders. The procedure was to make suitable entries on the creditors' ledgers. The legislation now adopted made such transactions between citizens and allies matters of public record (and, presumably, enforceable only when so recorded). Litigation arising therefrom favoured the debtor, and the plebiscite of Sempronius made the Roman code obligatory.

2. The laws referred to formed parts of the ius civile, which applied only to cives and was enforced by the praetor urbanus. Cases to which allies were parties were tried before the praetor peregrinus, and the provisions of the ius civile were not binding.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 35.7.2

Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor)

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