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), 31.13

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[1] ¹ XIII. When all these scruples had been allayed — ² for the sacrilege at Locri had been investigated by Quintus Minucius and the money replaced in the treasury out of the property of the guilty — and

[2] the consuls were on the point of leaving for their provinces, many private citizens, to whom was due this year the third payment on

[3] the loans made in the consulship of Marcus Valerius and Marcus Claudius,³ appealed to the senate because the consuls had declared that, since the treasury hardly sufficed for the new war, which was to be waged with a great fleet and large armies, there was no money at their command with which to make the payment.

[4] The senate could not resist their complaints: If the state wished to use for the Macedonian war, the petitioners argued, the money loaned for the Punic war, since one conflict followed hard upon another, what else would be the result than the confiscation of their property in return for an act of generosity, as if it had been a crime?

[5] Since the request of these citizens was reasonable, and since nevertheless the state could

[6] not repay the loan, the senate took an action which was midway between justice and expediency, namely, that, since many of the creditors said that there was much land for sale, to purchase which cash was needed, the opportunity should be given them to receive public land lying within the fiftieth milestone;

[7] the consuls were to appraise this land and to impose an annual rental of one as per iugerum⁴ by way of attesting that this was public land;

[8] consequently, if anyone, when the state should be in funds, should prefer money to the land, he could restore the⁵ land to the people.

[9] The creditors gladly accepted this offer, and the land was called

trientabulum

because it was allotted in discharge of one-third of the debts.

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.) — 31.13 focus

[1] expiatis omnibus religionibus — nam etiam Locris sacrilegium pervestigatum ab Q. Minucio erat, pecuniaque ex bonis noxiorum in thensauros reposita — cum consules in provincias proficisci vellent,

[2] privati frequentes, quibus ex pecunia, quam M. Valerio M. Claudio consulibus mutuam dederant, tertia pensio debebatur eo anno,

[3] adierunt senatum, quia consules, cum ad novum bellum, quod magna classe magnisque exercitibus gerendum esset, vix aerarium sufficeret, negaverant esse, unde iis in praesentia solveretur.

[4] senatus querentes eos non sustinuit: si in Punicum bellum pecunia data in Macedonicum quoque bellum uti res publica vellet, aliis ex aliis orientibus bellis quid aliud quam publicatam pro beneficio tamquam noxia suam pecuniam fore?

[5] cum et privati aecum postularent, nec tamen solvendo aere alieno res publica esset,

[6] quod medium inter aecum et utile erat decreverunt, ut, quoniam magna pars eorum agros volgo venales esse diceret et sibimet emptis opus esse, agri publici, qui intra quinquagesimum lapidem esset, copia iis fieret:

[7] consules agrum aestimaturos et in iugera asses vectigal testandi causa publicum agrum esse imposituros,

[8] ut, si quis, cum solvere posset populus, pecliniam pecuniam habere quam agrum mallet,

[9] restitueret agrum populo. laeti ear eam condicionem privati accepere; trientabulumque is ager, quia pro tertia parte pecuniae datus erat, appellatus.

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).) — 30.13 focus

[1]

Syphacem in castra adduci cum esset nuntiatum, omnis velut ad spectaculum triumphi multitudo effusa est.

[2] praecedebat ipse vinctus; sequebatur grex nobilium Numidarum. tum quantum quisque plurimum poterat ¹ magnitudini- Syphacis famaeque ² gentis victoriam suam augendo addebat:

[3] illum ilium esse regem cuius tantum maiestati duo ³ potentissimi in terris tribuerint populi, Romanus Carthaginiensisque,

[4] ut Scipio imperator suus ad amicitiam eius petendam, relicta provincia Hispania exercituque, duabus quinqueremibus in Africam navigaverit,

[5] Hasdrubal Poenorum imperator non ipse modo ad eum in regnum venerit, sed etiam filiam ei nuptum dederit. habuisse eum uno tempore in potestate duos imperatores, Poenum Romanumque.

[6] sicut ab dis immortalibus pars utraque hostiis mactandis pacem petisset, ita ab eo utrimque pariter amicitiam petitam.

[7] iam tantas habuisse opes ut Masinissam regno pulsum eo redegerit ut vita eius fama mortis et latebris, ferarum modo in silvis rapto viventis, tegeretur.

[8] his sermonibus circumstantium celebratus rex in praetorium ad Scipionem est perductus. movit et Scipionem cum ⁴ fortuna pristina viri praesenti fortunae conlata, tum recordatio hospitii dextraeque datae et foederis publice ac privatim iuncti.

[9] eadem haec et Syphaci animum dederunt in adloquendo victore. nam cum Scipio quid sibi voluisset quaereret qui non societatem solum abnuisset Romanam, sed ultro bellum intulisset,

[10] tum ille peccasse quidem sese atque insanisse fatebatur, sed non tum demum cum arma adversus populum Romanum cepisset; exitum sui furoris eum ⁵ fuisse, non principium; tum se insanisse,

[11] tum hospitia privata et publica public⁶ foedera omnia ex animo eiecisse, ⁷ cum Carthaginiensem matronam domum acceperit.

[12] illis nuptialibus facibus regiam conflagrasse suam; illam furiam pestemque omnibus delenimentis animum suum avertisse atque alienasse, nec conquiesse donec done ipsa manibus suis nefaria sibi arma adversus hospitem atque amicum induerit.

[13] perdito tamen atque adflicto sibi hoc in miseriis solatii esse, quod in omnium hominum inimicissimi sibi domum ac penates eandem pestem ac furiam transisse videat.

[14] neque prudentiorem ⁸ neque constantiorem Masinissam quam Syphacem esse, etiam ⁹ iuventa incautiorem; certe stultius illum ilium atque intemperantius ¹⁰ eam quam se duxisse.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 31.13 focus

[1]

expiatis omnibus religionibus—nam etiam Locris sacrilegium pervestigatum ab Q. Minucio erat, pecuniaque ex bonis noxiorum in thensauros reposita—cum consules in provincias proficisci vellent,

[2] privati frequentes, quibus ex pecunia, quam M. Valerio M. Claudio consulibus mutuam dederant, tertia pensio debebatur eo anno,

[3] adierunt senatum, quia consules, cum ad novum bellum, quod magna classe magnisque exercitibus gerendum esset, vix aerarium sufficeret, negaverant esse, unde iis in ¹ praesentia solveretur.

[5] cum et privati aecum postularent, nec tamen solvendo aere alieno res publica esset, quod medium inter aecum et utile erat decreverunt, ut,

[6] quoniam magna pars eorum agros volgo venales esse diceret et sibimet emptis opus esse, agri publici, qui intra quinquagesimum lapidem esset, copia iis fieret:

[7] consules agrum aestimaturos et in iugera asses vectigal testandi causa publicum agrum esse imposituros,

[8] ut, si quis, cum solvere posset populus, ² pecuniam habere quam agrum mallet, restitueret agrum populo.

[9] laeti eam condicionem privati accepere; trientabulumque is ager, quia pro tertia parte pecuniae datus erat, appellatus.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 31.13 focus

[1]

All religious scruples were fully removed by expiations; at Locri, too, the affair of the sacrilege had been thoroughly investigated by Quintus Minucius, and the money replaced in the treasury out of the effects of the guilty.

[2] When the consuls wished to set out to their provinces, a number of private persons, to whom the third payment became due that year, of the money which they had lent to the public in the consulate of Marcus Valerius and Marcus Claudius, applied to the senate.

[3] The consuls, however, declared that the treasury being scarcely sufficient for the exigencies of a new war, in which a great fleet and great armies must be employed, there were no means of paying them at present.

[4] The senate could not stand against them when they complained, that

if the state intended to use, for the purpose of the Macedonian war, the money which had been lent for the Punic war, as one war constantly arose after another, what would be the issue, but that, in return for their generosity, their property would be confiscated as for some crime?

[5] The demands of the private creditors being equitable, and the state being in no capacity of discharging the debt, they decreed a middle course between equity and convenience;

[6] resolving that

whereas many of them mentioned that lands were frequently exposed to sale, and that they themselves wished to become purchasers, they should, therefore, have liberty to purchase any belonging to the public, and which lay within fifty miles of the city.

[7]

That the consuls should make a valuation of these, and impose on each acre one as, as an acknowledgment that the land was the property of the public, in order that, when the people should become able to

[8]

pay, if any one chose rather to have the money than the land, he might restore it.

[9] The private creditors accepted the terms with joy; and that land was called Trientius and Tabulius, because it was given in lieu of the third part of their money.

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.) — 31.13 focus

[1]

When all the acts of expiation had been duly performed, and the sacrilege at Locri had been investigated by Q. Minucius, and the money, recovered from the sale of the goods of the guilty persons, had been replaced in the treasury, the consuls were now anxious to start for their provinces, but a delay arose.

[2] A number of persons had lent money to the State during the consulship of M. Valerius and M. Claudius, and the repayment of the third instalment was due this year.

[3] The consuls informed them that the money in the treasury would hardly meet the cost of the new war, which would have to be carried on with a large fleet and large armies and that there was no means of paying them for the present.

[4] They appealed to the senate and pleaded that if the State chose to use the money which was lent for the Punic War to defray the cost of the Macedonian War also, and one war arose out of another, it would simply mean that their money would be confiscated in return for the service they had rendered as though it had really been an injury.

[5] The senate acknowledged that they had a grievance. The creditors' demands were just, but the State was unable to meet its liabilities and the senate decided upon a course which was fair to both sides and of practical utility.

[6] Many of the applicants had stated that there was land everywhere for sale and they wanted to become purchasers; the senate accordingly made a decree that they should have the option of taking any part of the public domain-land within fifty miles of the City.

[7] The consuls would value the land and impose a nominal tax of one as per jugerum as acknowledgment of its being public land, and when the State could pay its debts

[8] any of them who wished to have his money rather than the land could have it and restore the land to the people.

[9] They gladly accepted these terms, and the land thus occupied was called trientabulus because it was given in lieu of a third part of their loan.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. xxiii (xxii). 16) to have been a writer of comedies.

2. B.C. 200

3. These citizens, in 210 B.C. (XXVI. xxxvi. 8), loaned money to the state for the prosecution of the war with Hannibal, although from Livy's account they gave rather than loaned the money. In 204 B.C. (XXIX. xvi. 1) an arrangement was made for repayment in three biennial instalments, the third of which would be due in 200 B.C. Nevertheless, a final payment (perhaps to those who did not accept the arrangement described in sects. 6-9 below) was made in 196 B.C. (XXXIII. xlii. 2).

4. Since the value of the as was about two cents, or one penny, and the iugerum was about three-fifths of an acre, the rental was purely nominal and was imposed to prevent the transfer of the title to this land to the individual; this permitted the later optional settlement described below.

5. B.C. 200

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 31.13

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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