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), 32.17

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[1] The allies then returned to Carystus, all the population of which, before the troops disembarked, left the city and fled to the citadel.

[2] Presently they sent ambassadors to seek protection from the Roman commander. Life and liberty were¹ at once granted the citizens; a ransom of three hundred nummi² per head was fixed for the Macedonians, and they were ordered to give up their arms and depart. Having paid this ransom they were transported to Boeotia unarmed.

[3] The fleets, having captured two important cities of Euboea within a few days, sailed around Sunium, the promontory of the land of Attica, and steered toward Cenchreae, the port of the Corinthians.

[4] Meanwhile³ the consul was finding the siege of Atrax longer and more difficult than anyone had expected, and the enemy resisted in a way that he had not in the least anticipated.

[5] For he had believed that the whole task would be to batter down the wall; and that if he had opened a way into the city for the soldiers, the flight and slaughter of the enemy would follow, as usually happens in captured towns;

[6] but when a section of the wall was thrown down by the battering-rams and the soldiers had entered the city over the ruins, that was, so to speak, the beginning of new and fresh toil.

[7] For the Macedonians who formed the garrison, numerous and picked men, thinking that it would be a most noble exploit to

[8] defend the city with arms and valour rather than with walls, in close array, strengthening their formation by increasing the number of ranks within it, when they saw the Romans scaling the ruins, thrust them out over ground that was rough and admitted no easy retreat.

[9] The consul was enraged, and thought that this disgrace not merely meant a delay in capturing this one city, but affected the final issue of the war as a whole, which generally turns on the influence of little things;

[10] clearing out the place which was heaped up with the debris of the fallen wall, he moved up⁴ a tower of great height, carrying a large number of men in its numerous galleries, and sent out cohorts, one after the other, under their standards, to pierce, if possible, with their attack the wedge-formation of the Macedonians — they themselves call it the phalanx.

[11] But in addition to the limits of space, only a little of the wall having been destroyed, the enemy had the advantage in character of weapons and in tactics.

[12] When the Macedonians inclose order held before them spears of great length, and when the Romans, hurling

[13] their javelins to no purpose, had drawn their swords against this sort of testudo,⁵ closely-fashioned as if with shields, they could neither approach near enough to engage hand to hand nor cut off the ends of

[14] the spears, and if they did cut off or break any of them, the spearshaft, the broken part being itself sharp, helped, along with the points of the undamaged pikes, to make a sort of wall.

[15] Moreover, the parts of the rampart that still stood protected the two flanks, nor was it possible either to retire or to charge from a distance, a manoeuvre which usually throws the ranks into disorder.

[16] An accident, too, served to increase the courage of the enemy; for when the tower was being moved along the terrace of loosely-compacted earth, one of its wheels, slipping into a deep rut, caused the tower to lean so much that it seemed to the enemy about to fall,

[17] and caused a panic fear among the soldiers standing upon it.

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.) — 32.17 focus

[1] Carystus inde repetita, unde, priusquam e navibus copiae exponerentur, omnis multitudo urbe deserta in arcem confugit.

[2] inde ad fidem ab Romano petendam oratores mittunt. oppidanis extemplo vita ac libertas concessa est; Macedonibus treceni nummi in capita statutum pretium est, et ut armis traditis abirent.

[3] hac summa redempti inermes in Boeotiam traiecti. navales copiae duabus claris urbibus Euboeae intra dies paucos captis circumvectae Sunium, Atticae terrae promunturium, Cenchreas, Corinthiorum emporium, petierunt.

[4] consul interim omnium spe longiorem Atracis atrocioremque oppugnationem habuit, et ea, qua minimuum minimum credidisset, resistebant hostes.

[5] nam omnem laborem in muro crediderat diruendo fore; si aditum armatis in urbem patefecisset, fugam inde caedemque hostium fore, qualis captis urbibus fieri solet;

[6] ceterum postquam parte muri arietibus decussa per ipsas ruinas transcenderunt in urbem armati, illud principiul principium velut novi atque integri laboris fuit.

[7] nam Macedones, qui in pracsidio praesidio erant et multi et delecti,

[8] gloriam etiam egregiam rati, si armis potius et virtute quam moenibus urbem tuerentur, conferti, pluribus introrsus ordinibus acie firmata, cum transcendere ruinas sensissent Romanos, per impeditum ac difficilem ad receptum locum expulerunt.

[9] id consul aegre passus nec eam ignominiam ad unius modo oppugnandae moram urbis sed ad summam universi belli pertinere ratus, quod ex momentis parvarum plerumque rerum penderet,

[10] purgato loco, qui strage semiruti muri cuniulatus cumulatus erat, turrem ingentis altitudinis magnam vim armatorum multiplici tabulato portantem promovit

[11] et cohortes in vicem sub signis, quae cuneum Macedonum — phalangem ipsi vocant — , si possent, vi perrumperent, emittebat.

[12] sed ad loci angustias, baud haud late patente intervallo diruti muri, genus armorum pugnaeque hosti aptius erat.

[13] ubi conferti hastas ingentis longitudinis prae se Macedones obiecissent, velut in constructam densitate clipeorum testudinem Romani pilis nequiquam emissis cum strinxissent gladios,

[14] neque congredi propius neque praecidere hastas poterant, et, si quam incidissent aut praefregissent, hastile fragmento ipso acuto inter spicula integrarum hastarum velut vallum explebat.

[15] ad hoc et muri pars adhuc integra utraque tuta praestabat latera, nec ex longo spatio aut cedendum aut impetus faciendus erat, quae res turbare ordines solet.

[16] accessit etiam fortuita res ad animos eorum firmandos; nam cum turris per aggerem parum densati soli ageretur,

[17] rota una in altiorem orbitam depressa ita turrim inclinavit, ut speciem ruentis hostibus, trepidationem † insanam superstantibus armatis praebuerit.

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).) — 30.17 focus

[1]

multis ante diebus Laelius cum Syphace primoribusque Numidarum captivis Romam venit, quaeque in Africa gesta essent omnia ordine exposuit patribus, ingenti hominum et in praesens laetitia et in futurum spe.

[2] consulti inde patres regem in custodiam Albam mittendum censuerunt, Laelium retinendum, donec done legati Carthaginienses venirent.

[3] supplicatio in quadriduum decreta est. P. Aelius praetor senatu misso et contione inde advocata cum C. Laelio in rostra escendit.

[4] Ibi vero audientes fusos Carthaginiensium exercitus, devictum et captum ingentis nominis regem, Numidiam omnem egregia victoria peragratam,

[5] tacitum continere gaudium non poterant quin clamoribus quibusque aliis multitudo solet laetitiam inmodicam significarent.

[6] itaque praetor extemplo edixit uti aeditui aedes sacras ¹ omnes ² tota urbe aperirent, circumeundi salutandique deos agendique grates per totum diem populo potestas fieret.

[7] postero die legatos Masinissae in senatum introduxit. gratulati primum senatui sunt quod P. Scipio prospere res in Africa gessisset;

[8] deinde gratias egerunt quod Masinissam non appellasset modo regem, sed fecisset restituendo in paternum regnum, in quo post Syphacem sublatum, si ita patribus visum esset, sine metu et certamine esset regnaturus,

[9] dein conlaudatum ³ pro contione amplissimis decorasset donis, quibus ne indignus esset et dedisse ⁴ operam Masinissam et porro daturum esse.

[10] petere ut regium nomen ceteraque Scipionis beneficia et munera senatus decreto confirmaret;

[11] et, nisi molestum esset, illud quoque petere Masinissam, ut Numidas captivos qui Romae in custodia essent remitterent; id sibi amplum apud ⁵ populares futurum esse.

[12] ad ea responsum legatis rerum gestarum prospere in Africa communem sibi cum rege gratulationem esse; Scipionem recte atque ordine videri fecisse, quod eum regem appellaverit, et quidquid aliud fecerit ⁶ quod cordi ⁷ foret Masinissae, id ⁸ patres comprobare ac laudare.

[13] munera quoque ⁹ quae legati ferrent regi decreverunt, sagula purpurea ¹⁰ duo cum fibulis aureis ¹¹ singulis et lato clavo tunicis, equos duo phaleratos, bina equestria arma cum loricis, et tabernacula militaremque supellectilem qualem praeberi consuli mos esset. ¹²

[14] haec regi praetor mittere iussus. legatis in singulos dona ne minus quinum milium, comitibus eorum milium ¹³ aeris, et vestimenta bina legatis, singula comitibus Numidisque qui ex custodia emissi redderentur regi; ad hoc aedes liberae, loca, lautia legatis decreta.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 32.17 focus

[1]

Carystus inde repetita, unde, priusquam e navibus copiae exponerentur, omnis multitudo urbe deserta in arcem confugit.

[2] inde ad fidem ab Romano petendam oratores mittunt. oppidanis extemplo vita ac libertas concessa est; Macedonibus treceni nummi in capita statutum pretium est, et ut armis traditis abirent.

[4] consul interim omnium spe longiorem Atracis atrocioremque oppugnationem habuit, et ea, qua minimum credidisset, resistebant hostes.

[5] nam omnem laborem in muro crediderat diruendo fore; si aditum armatis in urbem patefecisset, fugam inde caedemque hostium fore, qualis captis urbibus fieri solet;

[6] ceterum postquam parte muri arietibus decussa per ipsas ruinas transcenderunt in urbem armati, illud principium velut novi atque integri laboris fuit.

[7] nam Macedones, qui in praesidio erant et multi et delecti, gloriam etiam egregiam rati, si armis potius et virtute ¹ quam moenibus urbem tuerentur,

[8] conferti, pluribus introrsus ordinibus acie firmata, cum transcendere ruinas sensissent Romanos, per impeditum ac difficilem ad receptum locum expulerunt.

[9] id consul aegre passus nec eam ignominiam ad unius modo oppugnandae moram urbis sed ad summam universi belli pertinere ratus, quod ex momentis parvarum plerumque rerum penderet,

[10] purgato loco, qui strage semiruti muri cumulatus erat, turrem ingentis altitudinis magnam vim armatorum multiplici tabulato portantem promovit et cohortes in vicem sub signis,

[11] quae cuneum Macedonum — phalangem ipsi vocant —, si possent, vi perrumperent, emittebat.

[12] sed ad loci angustias, haud late patente intervallo diruti muri, genus armorum pugnaeque hosti aptius erat.

[13] ubi conferti hastas ingentis longitudinis prae se Macedones obiecissent, velut in constructam densitate clipeorum testudinem Romani pilis nequiquam emissis cum strinxissent gladios,

[14] neque congredi propius neque praecidere hastas poterant, et, si quam incidissent aut praefregissent, hastile fragmento ipso acuto inter spicula integrarum hastarum velut vallum explebat.

[15] ad hoc et ² muri pars adhuc integra utraque tuta praestabat latera, nec ex longo spatio aut cedendum aut impetus faciendus erat, quae res turbare ordines solet.

[16] accessit etiam fortuita res ad animos eorum firmandos; nam cum turris per aggerem parum densati soli ageretur,

[17] rota una in altiorem orbitam depressa ita turrim inclinavit, ut speciem ruentis hostibus, trepidationem vanam superstantibus armatis praebuerit.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 32.17 focus

[1]

The design on Carystus was then resumed, and the fleets sailed thither; on which the whole body of the inhabitants, before the troops were disembarked, deserted the city and fled into the citadel, whence they sent deputies to beg protection from the Roman general.

[2] To the townspeople life and liberty were immediately granted; and it was ordered, that the Macedonians should pay a ransom of three hundred drachmas ¹ a head, deliver up their arms, and quit the country.

[3] After being ransomed for the said amount, they were transported, unarmed, to Bœotia. The combined fleets having, in the space of a few days, taken these two important cities of Eubœa, sailed round Sunium, a promontory of Attica, and steered their course to Cenchreae, the grand mart of the Corinthians.

[4] In the mean time, the consul found the siege of Atrax more tedious and severe than had been universally expected, and the enemy resisted in the way which they had least anticipated.

[5] He had supposed that the whole of the trouble would be in demolishing the wall, and that if he could once open a passage for his soldiers into the city, the consequence would then be, the flight and slaughter of the enemy, as usually happens on the capture of towns.

[6] But when, on a breach being made in the wall by the rams, and when the soldiers, by mounting over the ruins, had entered the place, this proved only the beginning, as it were, of an unusual and fresh labour.

[7] For the Macedonians in garrison, who were both chosen men and many in number, supposing that they would be entitled to extraordinary honour if they should

[8] maintain the defence of the city by means of arms and courage, rather than by the help of walls, formed them- selves in a compact body, strengthening their line by an uncommon number of files in depth. These, when they saw the Romans entering by the breaches, drove them back, so that they were entangled among the rubbish, and with difficulty could effect a retreat.

[9] This gave the consul great uneasiness; for he considered such a disgrace, not merely as it retarded the reduction of a single city, but as likely to affect materially the whole process of the war, which in general depends much on the influence of events in themselves unimportant.

[10] Having therefore cleared the ground, which was heaped up with the rubbish of the half-ruined wall, he brought up a tower of extraordinary height, consisting of many stories, and which carried a great number of soldiers.

[11] He likewise sent up the cohorts in strong bodies one after another, to force their way, if possible, through the wedge of the Macedonians, which is called a phalanx.

[12] But in such a confined space, (for the wall was thrown down to no great extent,) the enemy had the advantage, both in the kind of weapons which they used, and in the manner of fighting.

[13] When the Macedonians, in close array, stretched out before them their long spears against the target fence which was formed by the close position of their antagonists' shields, and when the Romans, after discharging their javelins without effect, drew their swords, these could neither press on to a closer combat, nor cut off the heads of the spears;

[14] and if they did cut or break off any, the shaft, being sharp at the part where it was broken, filled up its place among the points of those which were unbroken, in a kind of palisade.

[15] Besides this, the parts of the wall still standing rendered both the flanks of the Macedonians secure, who were not obliged, either in retreating or in advancing to an attack, to pass through a long space, which generally occasions disorder in the ranks.

[16] An accidental circumstance also helped to confirm their courage: for as the tower was moved along a bank of not sufficiently solid soil, one of the wheels sinking into a rut, made the tower lean in such a manner that it appeared to the enemy as if

[17] falling, and threw the soldiers posted on it into consternation and affright.

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.) — 32.17 focus

[1]

Carystus was the next place to be attacked. Here before the troops were landed the entire population abandoned the city and took refuge in the citadel.

[2] Then they sent envoys to make terms with the Roman general. The townsmen were at once granted life and liberty; the Macedonians were allowed to depart after giving up their arms and paying a sum equivalent to 300 drachmae per man.

[3] After ransoming themselves at this sum they departed for Boeotia. After thus, within a few days, capturing two important cities in Euboea, the fleets rounded Sunium, a promontory in Attica, and brought up at Cenchreae, the commercial port of Corinth.

[4] Meanwhile the consul had on his hands a siege which proved to be more tedious and costly than any one anticipated, and the defence was conducted in a way he was quite unprepared for.

[5] He took it for granted that all his efforts would be devoted to the demolition of the walls and when once he had opened the way into the city the flight and slaughter of the enemy would follow as they usually do when cities are taken by assault.

[6] But after a portion of the wall had been battered down by the rams and the soldiers began to march over the debris into the city

[7] they found themselves at the beginning of a fresh task.

[8] The Macedonian garrison, a large body of picked men, considered it a special distinction to defend the city by their arms and courage rather than by walls, and they formed in close order, their front resting on a column of unusual depth. As soon as they saw the Romans clambering over the ruins of the wall they drove them back over ground covered with obstacles and ill-adapted for retirement.

[9] The consul was intensely mortified, for he looked upon this humiliating repulse as not only helping to prolong the siege of one solitary city, but also as likely to influence the future course of the war which, in his opinion, depended to a great extent upon unimportant incidents.

[10] After clearing the ground where the shattered wall lay in heaps he brought up a movable tower of immense height carrying a large number

[11] of men on its numerous stages, and sent on cohort after cohort to break through, if possible, the massed body of Macedonians, which they call the phalanx.

[12] But in the narrow space-for the breach in the wall was by no means a wide one-the kind of weapon he used and his style of fighting gave the enemy an advantage.

[13] When the serried Macedonian ranks presented their enormously long spears it was like a shield-wall, and when the Romans after fruitlessly hurling their javelins, drew their swords they could not get to close quarters, nor could they hack off the spear-heads;

[14] if they did succeed in cutting or breaking any off, the splintered shafts kept their places amongst the points of the uninjured ones and the palisade remained unbroken.

[15] Another thing which helped the enemy was the protection of their flanks by that part of the wall which was sound; they had not to attack or retire over a wide stretch of ground, which generally disorders the ranks. An accident which happened to the tower gave them still greater confidence.

[16] As it was being moved over ground not thoroughly beaten down, one of the wheels sank in and gave the tower such a list

[17] that it seemed to the enemy to be falling over.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. B.C. 198

2. The value of the nummus or sestertius was about four cents, or two pence.

3. The value of the nummus or sestertius was about four cents, or two pence.

4. B.C. 198

5. For the Roman testudo, see the note on XXXI. xxxix. 14. Livy seems to mean that the multitude of spears, projecting in front of the phalanx, offered a projection against frontal attack comparable to that afforded by the testudo. To visualize this battle, we must picture the phalanx diminished in frontage sufficiently to fit it into the breach in the wall (this protected it against flank attack), and correspondingly deepened. Since the ranks, from front to rear, carried spears of increasingly greater length, the points presented an almost impenetrable barrier. In the characteristic Roman attack, the soldiers threw their javelins to break up, at least temporarily, the hostile formation, and then closed in individual hand-to-hand combat. The mass of the phalanx, in this situation, was too dense to be affected by the javelins, and the spears projecting in front prevented the Romans from closing in and reaching the enemy with their swords.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 32.17

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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