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), 31.29

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[1] The council of the Aetolians, which they call Panaetolian,¹ was to be held on the appointed day. To be present at it, both the king's representatives hastened their journey and Lucius Furius Purpurio² the lieutenant, arrived, sent by the consul; ambassadors of the Athenians also came to this council.

[2] The Macedonians, with whom the latest treaty³ had been made, were first heard.

[3] They said that they had nothing new to say since nothing new had happened; inasmuch as, for the⁴ same reasons for which they had made peace with Philip after trying the useless Roman alliance, they should wish to keep a peace once for all established.

[4]

Or do you prefer,

said one of the ambassadors,

to imitate Roman presumption, or shall I call it fickleness? After ordering that your ambassadors at Rome should receive the answer, 'Why do you come to us, Aetolians, when without our authority you made peace with Philip?

[5]

', these same Romans now demand that you make war -on Philip along with them; as they formerly pretended that they had taken arms against him on your account and for your sakes, now they forbid you to be at peace with Philip.

[6]

They crossed to Sicily first to assist Messina; the second time, to rescue and restore to liberty Syracuse, besieged by the Carthaginians; now they themselves hold both Messina and Syracuse and all Sicily and they have made it a province, tributary and subject to their rods and axes.⁵

[7]

No doubt, just as you hold your council at Naupactus, under your own

[8]

laws, with magistrates elected by yourselves, able to choose freely whomsoever you wish as friend and enemy, able to have peace or war at your own discretion, so a council of the Sicilian cities is called at Syracuse or Messina or Lilybaeum: the Roman praetor presides at the council; the men whom he has summoned by his authority assemble;

[9]

they see him seated on his lofty platform, rendering haughty justice, with a throng of lictors around him; their rods threaten their backs, the axes their throats; and year by year the lots grant them one master after another.

[10]

At that they should not marvel, nor can they, when they see the Italian cities, Rhegium, Tarentum, Capua, subject to⁶ the same rule, not to mention the nearer cities on whose ruins Rome rose to power.

[11]

Capua indeed, tomb and monument of the Campanian race, survives, its people buried, exiled, driven away, a city despoiled, without senate, without people, without magistrates, a monstrosity, more cruelly left habitable than if it had been destroyed.

[12]

It is madness to hope that anything will remain in the same condition if foreigners, separated from us more by language, manners and laws than by the space of land and sea, shall gain control.

[13]

The rule of Philip seems to interfere somewhat with your liberty; but he, though he would justly be angry with you, has asked nothing from you except peace and to-day desires nothing but your loyalty to your pledge of peace.

[14]

Make foreign armies at home in this land and wear their yoke: too late and all in vain will you call upon Philip to aid you when you have the Roman as master.

[15]

The Aetolians, the Acarnanians, the Macedonians, men of the same speech, are united or disunited by trivial causes that arise from time to time; with aliens, with barbarians, all Greeks wage and will wage eternal war; for they are enemies by the will of nature, which is eternal, and not from reasons that change from day to day.

[16]

But my speech shall end just where it began: in this same place you, the same men, decided three years⁷ ago on peace with this same Philip, with the disapproval of these same Romans who are now trying to break the peace we pledged and signed. In this situation fortune has made no change; why you should change, I do not see.

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.) — 31.29 focus

[1] concilium Aetolorum stata die, quod Panaetolium vocant, futurum erat. huic ut occurrerent, et regis legati iter adcelerarunt, et a consule missus L. Furius Purpurio legatus venit;

[2] Atheniensium quoque legati ad id concilium occurrerunt. primi Macedones, cum quibus recentissimum foedus erat, auditi sunt.

[3] qui in nulla nova re nihil se novi habere, quod adferrent, dixerunt; quibus enim de causis experta inutili societate Romana pacem cum Philippo fecissent, compositam semel pacem servare eos debere.

[4] “an imitari” inquit unus ex legatis “Romanorum licentiam, an levitatem dicam, mavultis? qui cum legatis vestris Romae responderi ita iussissent: “quid ad nos venitis, Aetoli, sine quorum auctoritate pacem cum Philippo fecistis?”,

[5] iidem nunc, ut bellum secum adversus Philippum geratis, postulant; et antea propter vos et pro vobis arma sumpta adversus eum simulabant, nunc vos in pace esse cum Philippo prohibent.

[6] Messanae ut auxilio essent, primo in Siciliam transcenderunt; iterum, ut Syracusas oppressas ab Carthaginiensibus in libertatem eximerent;

[7] et Messanam et Syracusas et totam Siciliam ipsi habent vectigalemque provinciam securibus et fascibus subiecerunt.

[8] scilicet sicut vos Naupacti legibus vestris per magistratus a vobis creatos concilium habetis, socium hostemque libere quem velitis lecturi, pacem ac bellum arbitrio habituri vestro, sic Siculorum civitatibus Syracusas aut Messanam aut Lilybaeum indicitur concilium: — praetor Romanus conventus agit;

[9] eo imperio evocati conveniunt; excelso in suggestu superba iura reddentem, stipatum lictoribus vident; virgae tergo, secures cervicibus imminent; et quotannis alium atque alium dominum sortiuntur.

[10] nec id mirari debent aut possunt, cum Italiae urbes Regium, Tarentum, Capuam, ne finitimas, quarum ruinis crevit urbs Roma, nominem, eidem subiectas videant imperio.

[11] Capua quidem, sepulcrum ac monumentum Campani populi, elato et extorri eiecto ipso populo, superest, urbs trunca sine senatu, sine plebe, sine magistratibus, prodigium, relicta crudelius habitanda, quam si deleta foret.

[12] furor est, si alienigenae homines, plus lingua et moribus et legibus quam maris terrarumque spatio discreti, haec tenuerint, sperare quicquam eodem statu mansurum.

[13] Philippi regnum officere aliquid videtur libertati vestrae; qui, cum merito vestro vobis infensus esset, nihil a vobis ultra quam pacem petiit fidemque hodie pacis pactae desiderat.

[14] adsuefacite his terris legiones externas et iugum accipite: sero ac nequiquam, cum dominum Romanum habebitis, socium Philippum quaeretis.

[15] Aetolos, Acarnanas, Macedonas, eiusdem linguae homines, leves ad tempus ortae causae diiungunt coniunguntque; cum alienigenis, cum barbaris aeternum omnibus Graecis bellum est eritque; natura enim, quae perpetua est, non mutabilibus in diem causis hostes sunt.

[16] sed unde coepit oratio mea, ibi desinet: hoc eodem loco iidem homines de eiusdem Philippi pace triennio ante decrevistis iisdem improbantibus ear eam pacem Romanis, qui nunc pactam et compositam turbare volunt. in qua consultatione nihil fortuna mutavit, cur vos mutetis, non video.”

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).) — 30.29 focus

[1]

iam Hadrumetum pervenerat ¹ Hannibal; unde, ad reficiendum ex iactatione maritima militem paucis diebus sumptis, excitus pavidis nuntiis omnia circa Carthaginem obtineri armis adferentium, magnis itineribus Zamam contendit.

[2] Zama quinque dierum iter ab Carthagine abest. inde praemissi speculatores ² cum excepti ab custodibus Romanis deducti ad Scipionem essent, traditos eos tribuno ³ militum, iussosque omisso metu visere omnia, per castra qua vellent circumduci iussit;

[3] percunctatusque satin ⁴ per commodum ⁵ omnia explorassent, datis qui prosequerentur, retro ad Hannibalem dimisit.

[4] Hannibal nihil quidem eorum quae nuntiabantur—nam et Masinissam cum sex milibus peditum, quattuor equitum venisse eo ipso forte die adferebant—, laeto animo audivit, ⁶ maxime hostis fiducia, quae ⁷ non de nihilo profecto concepta esset, perculsus. ⁸

[5] itaque quamquam et ipse causa belli erat et adventu suo turbaverat et pactas indutias et spem foederum, tamen, si integer quam si victus peteret pacem, aequiora ⁹ impetrari posse ratus, nuntium ad Scipionem misit, ut conloquendi secum potestatem faceret.

[6] id utrum sua sponte fecerit an publico consilio, neutrum cur adfirmem habeo.

[7] Valerius Antias primo proelio victum eum ab Scipione, quo duodecim ¹⁰ milia armatorum in acie sint ¹¹ caesa, mille et septingenti capti, legatum cum aliis decem legatis tradit in castra ad Scipionem venisse.

[8] ceterum Scipio cum conloquium haud abnuisset, ambo ex composito duces castra protulerunt, ut coire ex propinquo possent.

[9] Scipio haud procul Naraggara ¹² urbe, cum ad cetera loco opportune tum quod aquatio intra teli coniectum erat, consedit.

[10] Hannibal tumulum a quattuor milibus inde, tutum commodumque alioqui, nisi quod longinquae aquationis erat, cepit. Ibi in medio locus conspectus undique, ne quid insidiarum esset, delectus.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 31.29 focus

[1]

concilium Aetolorum stata die, quod Panaetolium vocant, futurum erat. huic ut occurrerent, et regis legati iter adcelerarunt, et a consule missus L. Furius Purpurio legatus venit;

[2] Atheniensium quoque legati ad id concilium occurrerunt. primi Macedones, cum quibus recentissimum foedus erat, auditi sunt.

[4] ‘an imitari’ inquit unus ex legatis Romanorum ‘licentiam, an levitatem dicam, mavultis? qui cum legatis vestris Romae responderi ita iussissent; ‘quid ad nos venitis, Aetoli, sine quorum auctoritate pacem cum Philippo fecistis?

[5] ’, iidem nunc, ut bellum secum adversus Philippum geratis, postulant; et antea propter vos et pro vobis arma sumpta adversus eum simulabant, nunc vos in pace esse cum Philippo prohibent.

[6] Messanae ut auxilio essent, primo in Siciliam transcenderunt; iterum, ut Syracusas oppressas ab Carthaginiensibus in libertatem eximerent;

[7] et Messanam et Syracusas et totam Siciliam ipsi habent ² vectigalemque provinciam securibus et fascibus subiecerunt.

[9] —praetor Romanus conventus agit; eo imperio evocati conveniunt; excelso in suggestu superba iura reddentem, stipatum lictoribus vident; virgae tergo, secures cervicibus imminent; et quotannis alium atque alium dominum sortiuntur.

[10] nec id mirari debent aut possunt, cum Italiae urbes Regium, Tarentum, Capuam, ne finitimas, quarum ruinis crevit urbs Roma, nominem, eidem subiectas videant imperio.

[11] Capua quidem, sepulcrum ³ ac monumentum Campani populi, elato et extorri eiecto ipso populo, superest, urbs trunca sine senatu, sine plebe, sine magistratibus, prodigium, relicta crudelius habitanda, quam si deleta foret.

[12] furor est, si alienigenae homines, plus lingua et moribus et legibus quam maris terrarumque spatio discreti, haec tenuerint, sperare quicquam eodem statu mansurum.

[13] Philippi regnum officere aliquid videtur libertati vestrae; qui, cum merito vestro vobis infensus esset, nihil a vobis ultra quam pacem petiit fidemque hodie pacis pactae desiderat.

[14] adsuefacite his terris legiones externas et iugum accipite: sero ac nequiquam, cum dominum Romanum habebitis, socium Philippum quaeretis.

[15] Aetolos, Acarnanas, Macedonas, eiusdem linguae homines, leves ad tempus ortae causae diiungunt coniunguntque; cum alienigenis, ⁴ cum barbaris aeternum omnibus Graecis bellum est eritque; natura enim, quae perpetua est, non mutabilibus in diem causis hostes sunt.

[16] sed unde coepit oratio mea, ibi desinet: hoc eodem loco iidem homines de eiusdem Philippi pace triennio ante decrevistis iisdem improbantibus eam pacem Romanis, qui nunc pactam et compositam turbare volunt. in qua consultatione nihil fortuna mutavit, cur vos mutetis, non video.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 31.29 focus

[1]

The assembly of the Aetolians, which they call Panetolium, was to meet on a certain day. In order to be present at this, the king's ambassadors hastened their journey, and Lucius Furius Purpureo also arrived, deputed by the consul. Ambassadors from the Athenians, likewise, came to this assembly.

[2] The Macedonians were first heard, as with them the latest treaty had been made;

[3] and they declared, that

as no change of circumstances had occurred, they had nothing new to introduce: for the same reasons which had induced them to make peace with Philip, after experiencing the unprofitableness of an alliance with the Romans, should engage them to preserve it, now that it was established.

[4]

Do you rather choose,

said one of the ambassadors,

to imitate the inconsistency, or levity, shall I call it, of the Romans, who ordered this answer to be given to your ambassadors at Rome: 'Why, Aetolians, do you apply to us, when, without our approbation, you have made peace with Philip?' Yet these same people now require that you should, in conjunction with them, wage war against Philip.

[5]

Formerly, too, they pretended that they took arms on your account, and in your defence against Philip: now they do not allow you to continue at peace with him. To assist Messana, they first embarked for Sicily; and a second time, that they might redeem Syracuse to freedom when oppressed by the Carthaginians.

[6]

Both Messana and Syracuse, and all Sicily, they hold in their own possession, and have reduced it into a tributary province under their axes and rods.

[7]

You imagine, perhaps, that in the same manner as you hold an assembly at Naupactus, according to your own laws, under

[8]

magistrates created by yourselves, at liberty to choose allies and enemies, and to have peace or war at your own option, so the assembly of the states of Sicily is summoned to Syracuse, or Messana, or Lilybaeum. No, a Roman praetor presides at the meeting; summoned by his command they assemble; they behold him, attended by his lictors, seated on a lofty throne, issuing his haughty edicts.

[9]

His rods are ready for their backs, his axes for their necks, and every year they are allotted a different master. Neither ought they, nor can they, wonder at this, when they see all the cities of Italy bending under the same yoke, —Rhegium,

[10]

Tarentum, Capua, not to mention those in their own neighbourhood, out of the ruins of which their city of Rome grew into power.

[11]

Capua indeed subsists, the grave and monument of the Campanian people, that entire people having been either cut off or driven into banishment; the mutilated carcass of a city, without senate, without commons, without magistrates; a sort of prodigy, the leaving which to be inhabited, showed more cruelty than if it had been utterly destroyed.

[12]

If foreigners who are separated from us to a greater distance by their language, manners, and laws, than by the distance by sea and land, are allowed to get footing here, it is madness to hope that any thing will continue in its present state.

[13]

Does the sovereignty of Philip seem in any degree incompatible with your freedom, who, at a time when he was justly incensed against you, demanded nothing more of you than peace; and at present requires no more than the observance of the peace which he agreed to?

[14]

Accustom foreign legions to these countries, and receive the yoke; too late, and in vain, will you look for Philip as an ally, when you shall have the Roman as a master.

[15]

Trifling causes occasionally unite and disunite the Aetolians, Acarnanians, and Macedonians, men speaking the same language. With foreigners, with barbarians, all Greeks have, and ever will have, eternal war: because they are enemies by nature, which is always the same, and not from causes which change with the times. My discourse shall conclude with the same argument with which it began.

[16]

Three years since, the same persons, assembled in this same place, determined on peace with the same Philip, contrary to the inclinations of the same Romans, who now wish that the peace should be broken, after it has been adjusted and ratified. In the subject of your deliberation, fortune has made no change; why you should make any, I do not see.

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.) — 31.29 focus

[1]

The meeting of the Aetolian League which they call the Pan-Aetolium was to be held on a certain day. The king's envoys hastened their journey in order to be in time for it and Lucius Furius Purpurio was also present as representing the consul, as was also a deputation from Athens.

[2] The Macedonians were allowed to speak first, as the treaty with them was the latest that had been made.

[3] They said that as no new circumstances had arisen they had nothing new to urge in support of the existing treaty. The Aetolians, having learnt by experience how little they had to gain by alliance with the Romans, had made peace with Philip, and they were bound to keep it now that it was made.

[4] "Would you prefer," asked one of the envoys, "to copy the unscrupulousness-or shall I call it the levity? —of the Romans? When your ambassadors were in Rome, the reply they received was 'Why do you come to us, Aetolians, after you have made peace with Philip without our consent?' And now the very same men insist upon your joining them in war against Philip.

[5] Formerly they pretended that they had taken up arms against him on your account and for your protection, now they forbid you to be at peace with Philip. In the first Punic war they went to Sicily, ostensibly to help Messana; in the second, to deliver Syracuse from Carthaginian tyranny and restore her freedom.

[6] Now Messana and Syracuse and in fact the whole of Sicily are tributary to them: they have reduced the island to a province in which they exercise absolute power of life and death.

[7] You imagine, I suppose, that the Sicilians enjoy the same rights as you, and that as you hold your council at

[8] Naupactus under your own laws, presided over by magistrates of your own choice, and with full power of forming alliances or declaring war as you please, so it is with the councils which meet in the cities of Sicily, in Syracuse or Messana or Lilybaeum.

[9] No: a Roman governor manages their meetings; it is at his summons that they have to assemble; they see him issuing his edicts from his lofty tribunal like a despot, and surrounded by his lictors; their backs are threatened with the rod, their necks with the axe, and every year they have a different master allotted them.

[10] Nor ought they, nor can they wonder at this when they see the cities of Italy, such as Regium, Tarentum and Capua, lying prostrate beneath the same tyranny, to say nothing of those close to Rome out of whose ruin she has grown to greatness.

[11] Capua does indeed survive as the sepulchre and memorial of the Campanian nation, the people themselves are either dead and buried, or else cast forth as exiles. It is a headless and limbless city without a senate, without a plebs, without magistrates, an unnatural portent in the land. To leave it as a habitation for men was an act of greater cruelty than its utter destruction would have been.

[12] If men of an alien race, separated from you more widely by language, customs and laws than by intervening sea and land, obtain a hold here, it is folly and madness to hope that anything will remain as it is now.

[13] You think that Philip's sovereignty is a danger to your liberty. It was your own doing that he took up arms against you, and his sole aim was to have a settled peace with you. All that he asks today is that you will keep that peace unbroken.

[14] Once make foreign legions familiar with these shores and bow your necks to the yoke, then you will seek in vain and too late for Philip's support as your ally; you will have the Romans for your masters.

[15] Aetolians, Acarnanians, Macedonians are united and disunited by slight and purely temporary causes; with foreigners and barbarians, all Greeks ever have been and ever will be at war. For they are our enemies by nature, and nature is unchanging; their hostility is not due to causes which vary from day to day. But I will end where I began.

[16] Three years ago you decided on this very spot to make peace with Philip. You are the same men that you were then, he is the same that he was, the Romans who were opposed to it then are just those who want to upset it now. Fortune has altered nothing, I do not see why you should alter your minds."

Notes on the current edition

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

1. This council, attended by delegates from all the Aetolian cities, was regularly held in the autumn at Naupactus or Thermum.

2. If the name is correct, this is probably not the same Purpurio who is mentioned in chap. xxi.

3. The Macedonian alliance in 205 B.C. (XXIX. xii. 2) superseded the treaty with Rome of 211 B.C. (XXVI. xxv. 1).

4. B.C. 200

5. The aid rendered to Messina brought on the First Punic War, as a result of which part of Sicily became a province, governed by magistrates whose servants carried the rods and axes as symbols of the imperium. The implication is that the assistance was merely the beginning of conquest. For Syracuse cf. xxxi. 8 and note.

6. B.C. 200

7. Probably the orator minimizes the time for rhetorical effect: the most recent known treaty was that of 205 B.C. (see note to sect. 2).

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 31.29

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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