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), 31.20

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[1] At the same time Lucius Cornelius Lentulus the proconsul returned from Spain.

[2] When he had given the senate an account of his vigorous and successful administration, extending over many years,¹ and had asked that he be permitted to enter Rome in triumph, the senate decreed that his achievements deserved the honour,

[3] but that there was no precedent handed down from antiquity that one who had not been in command as dictator or consul or praetor should celebrate a triumph. He had held the province of Spain as proconsul² and not as consul or praetor.

[4] Nevertheless, it was proposed that he enter the city in ovation,³ though

[5] the tribune Tiberius Sempronius Longus objected that this would be no more in accordance with ancestral custom or any precedent.

[6] Finally, prevailed upon by the general agreement of the senators, the tribune withdrew his veto, and Lucius Cornelius, by authority of the senate, was allowed to enter the city in ovation. He⁴ brought home forty-three thousand pounds of silver and two thousand four hundred

[7] and fifty pounds of gold from the booty, and presented to each of his soldiers a sum amounting to one hundred and twenty asses.

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.) — 31.20 focus

[1] per idem tempus L. Cornelius Lentulus pro consule ex Hispania rediit.

[2] qui cum in senatu res ab se per multos annos fortiter feliciterque gestas exposuisset postulassetque, ut triumphanti sibi invehi liceret in urbem,

[3] res triumpho dignas esse censebat senatus, sed exemplum a maioribus non accepisse, ut, qui neque dictator neque consul neque praetor res gessisset, triumpharet:

[4] pro consule illum Rispaniam Hispaniam provinciam, non consulem aut praetorem obtinuisse.

[5] decurrebatur tamen eo, ut ovans urbem iniret, intercedente Ti. Sempronio Longo tribuno plebis, qui nihilo magis id more maiorum aut ullo exemplo futurum diceret.

[6] postremo victus consensu patrum tribunus cessit, et ex senatus consulto L. Lentulus ovans urbem est ingressus.

[7] argenti tulit ex praeda quadraginta tria milia pondo, auri duo milia quadringenta quinquaginta. militibus ex praeda centenos vicenos asses divisit.

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).) — 30.20 focus

[1]

frendens gemensque ac vix lacrimis temperans dicitur legatorum verba audisse.

[2] postquam edita sunt mandata,

iam non perplexe

inquit,

sed palam revocant qui vetando supplementum et pecuniam mitti iam pridem retrahebant. ¹

[3]

vicit ergo Hannibalem non populus Romanus totiens caesus fugatusque, sed senatus Carthaginiensis obtrectatione atque invidia.

[4]

neque hac deformitate reditus mei tam P. Scipio exsultabit atque efferet sese quam Hanno, qui domum nostram, quando alia re non potuit, ruina Carthaginis oppressit.

[5] iam hoc ipsum praesagiens animo praeparaverat ante naves. itaque inutili militum turba praesidii specie in oppida Bruttii agri quae pauca metu magis quam fide continebantur dimissa, quod roboris in exercitu erat in Africam transvexit,

[6] multis Italici generis, quia ² in Africam secuturos abnuentes concesserant in Iunonis Laciniae delubrum inviolatum ad eam diem, in templo ipso foede interfectis.

[7] raro quemquam alium patriam exsilii causa relinquentem tam ³ maestum abisse ferunt quam Hannibalem hostium terra excedentem. respexisse saepe Italiae litora, et deos hominesque accusantem in se quoque ac suum ipsius caput exsecratum,

[8] quod ⁴ non cruentum ab Cannensi victoria militem Romam duxisset. Scipionem ire ad Carthaginem ausum, qui consul hostem Poenum in Italia non vidisset;

[9] se, centum milibus armatorum ad Trasumennum, ad Cannas caesis, circa Casilinum Cumasque et Nolam consenuisse. haec accusans querensque ex diutina possessione Italiae est detractus.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 31.20 focus

[1]

per idem tempus L. Cornelius Lentulus pro consule ex Hispania rediit.

[2] qui cum in senatu res ab se per multos annos fortiter feliciterque gestas exposuisset postulassetque, ut triumphanti sibi invehi liceret in urbem,

[3] res triumpho dignas esse censebat senatus, sed exemplum a maioribus non accepisse, ut, qui neque dictator neque consul neque praetor res gessisset, triumpharet:

[4] pro consule illum Hispaniam provinciam, non consulem aut praetorem obtinuisse.

[5] decurrebatur tamen eo, ut ovans urbem iniret, intercedente Ti. Sempronio Longo tribuno plebis, qui nihilo magis id more maiorum aut ullo exemplo futurum diceret.

[6] postremo victus consensu patrum tribunus cessit, et ex senatus consulto L. Lentulus ovans urbem est ingressus.

[7] argenti ¹ tulit [ex praeda] quadraginta tria milia pondo, auri duo milia quadringenta quinquaginta. militibus ex praeda centenos vicenos asses divisit.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 31.20 focus

[1]

About the same time, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, proconsul, came home from Spain;

[2] and having laid before the senate an account of his brave and successful conduct, during the course of many years, demanded that he might be allowed to enter the city in triumph.

[3] The senate gave their opinion, that

his services were, indeed, deserving of a triumph; but that they had no precedent left them by their ancestors of any person enjoying a triumph, who had not performed the service either of dictator, consul, or praetor;

[4]

that he had held the province of Spain in quality of proconsul, and not of consul, or praetor

They determined, however, that he might enter the city in ovation.

[5] Against this, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, tribune of the people, protested, alleging, that such proceedings would be no more in accordance with the custom of their ancestors, or with any precedent, than the other;

[6] but, overcome at length by the unanimous desire of the senate, the tribune withdrew his opposition, and Lucius Lentulus entered the city in ovation.

[7] He carried to the treasury forty-four thousand pounds weight of silver, and two thousand four hundred pounds weight of gold. To each of the soldiers he distributed, of the spoil, one hundred and twenty asses. 7 s. 9 d.

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.) — 31.20 focus

[1]

About this time L. Cornelius Lentulus returned from Spain where he had been acting as proconsul.

[2] After giving a report of the successful operations which he had conducted there for several years, he asked to be allowed to enter the City in triumph.

[3] The senate were of opinion that his services quite deserved a triumph, but they reminded him that there was no precedent for a general who had not been Dictator or consul or praetor enjoying a triumph, and he had held his command in Spain as proconsul, not as consul or praetor.

[4] However, they went so far as to allow him to enter the City in

[5] ovation, in spite of the opposition of Tiberius Sempronius Longus, one of the tribunes of the plebs, who said that there was no precedent or customary authority for that any more than for the other.

[6] In the end he gave way before the unanimous feeling of the senate, and after they had passed their resolution, Lentulus enjoyed his ovation.

[7] 43,000 pounds of silver and 2450 pounds of gold, captured from the enemy, were carried in the procession. Out of the spoil he distributed 120 ases to each of his men.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. Since 206 B.C. (XXVIII. xxxviii. 1).

2. An anachronism is involved in the use of the word proconsul to translate the phrase pro consule. After the time of Sulla consuls and praetors served in administrative and judicial capacities in Rome during their terms of office, but without exercising imperium (cf. the note on iii. 2 above), and were then sent out as proconsuls and propraetors, with the imperium, to govern the territorial provinces. They were thus eligible for triumphs. In the third century, even private citizens, in cases of emergency, could be commissioned to act pro consule, pro praetore, i.e. as substitutes for magistrates. Not being a regularly elected magistrate, exercising command under auspices which he had himself taken, such a person could not be granted a triumph. Scipio had had the same experience in 206 B.C. (XXVIII. xxxviii. 4), although he had cleared Spain of Carthaginian troops.

3. An ovation was a minor dignity conferred on commanders who were adjudged undeserving of triumphs. The conditions of eligibility were probably identical with those for a triumph, and the tribune's position seems to have been technically correct.

4. B.C. 200

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 31.20

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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