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), 34.3

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[1] "If they win in this, what will they not attempt? Review all the laws with which your forefathers restrained their licence and made them subject to their husbands; even with all these bonds you can scarcely control them. What of this?

[2] If you suffer them to seize these bonds one by one and wrench themselves free and finally to be placed on a parity with their husbands, do you think that you will be able to endure them? The moment they begin to be your equals, they will be your superiors.

[3] But, by Hercules, they object to the passage of any new law against them, they complain not of law but of wrongs done them;

[4] what they want, rather, is that you repeal this law which you have approved and ratified and which in the trial and experience of so many years you have found good: in other words, that by abolishing this one law you weaken the force of all the rest.

[5] No law is entirely convenient for everyone; this alone is asked, whether it is good for the majority and on the whole. If every law which harms anyone in his private affairs is to be repealed and discarded, what good will it do for all the citizens to pass laws which those at whom they are aimed will at once annul?

[6] I should like to know what it is which has caused the panic-stricken matrons to rush out into the streets and barely refrain from entering the Forum and a public meeting. Is it that our captives, their fathers, husbands, sons or brothers, may be ransomed from Hannibal?

[7] Such a calamity to the state is far away, and may it always¹ be; but yet, when it did happen, you refused this to their pious prayers.²

[8] But it was not affection nor anxiety about their dear ones which had brought them together: it was a religious rite, and they were about to receive the Idaean Mother as she came from Pessinus in Phrygia.³ What pretext, respectable even to mention, is now given for this insurrection of the women?

[9] 'That we may glitter with gold and purple,' says one, 'that we may ride in carriages on holidays and ordinary days, that we may be borne through the city as if in triumph over the conquered and vanquished law and over the votes which we have captured and wrested from you; that there may be no limits to our spending and our luxury.'

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.) — 34.3 focus

[1] quid enim, si hoc expugnaverint, non temptabunt? recensete omnia muliebria iura, quibus licentiam earum adligaverint maiores vestri per quaeque eas subiecerint viris; quibus omnibus constrictas vix tamen continere potestis.

[2] quid? si carpere singula et extorquere et exaequari ad extremum viris patiemini, tolerabiles vobis eas fore creditis? extemplo, simul pares esse coeperint,

[3] superiores erunt. at hercule ne quid novum in eas rogetur recusant, non ius sed iniuriam deprecantur,

[4] imlo, immo, ut, quam accepistis iussistis suffragiis vestris legem, quam usu tot annorum et experiendo comprobastis, hanc ut abrogetis, id est ut unam tollendo legem ceteras infirmetis.

[5] nulla lex satis commoda omnibus est; id modo quaeritur, si maiori parti et in summam prodest. si, quod cuique privatim officiet ius, id destruet ac demolietur, quid attinebit universos rogare leges, quas mox abrogare, in quos latae sunt,

[6] possint? volo tamen audire, quid sit, propter quod niatronae matronae consternatae procucurrerint in publicum ac vix foro se et contione abstineant.

[7] ut captivi ab Hannibale redimantur parentes, viri, liberi, fratres earum? procul abest absitque semper talis fortuna rei publicae;

[8] sed tamen, cum fuit, negastis hoc piis precibus earum. at non pietas nec sollicitudo pro suis, sed religio congregavit eas: matrem Idaeam a Pessinunte ex Phrygia venientem accepturae sunt. quid honestum dictu saltem seditioni praetenditur muliebri?

[9] “ut auro et purpura fulgamus” inquit, “ut carpentis festis profestisque diebus, velut triumphantes de lege victa et abrogata et captis et ereptis suffragiis vestris, per urbem vectemur; ne ullus modus sumptibus, ne luxuriae sit.”

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).) — 30.3 focus

[1]

his transactis consules praetoresque in provincias profecti. omnibus tamen, velut eam sortitis, Africae cura erat, seu quia ibi summam rerum bellique verti cernebant seu ut Scipioni gratificarentur, in ¹ quem tum omnis versa civitas erat.

[2] itaque non ex Sardinia tantum, sicut ante dictum est, sed ex Sicilia quoque et Hispania vestimenta frumentumque, et arma etiam ex Sicilia ² et omne genus commeatus eo portabantur.

[3] nec Scipio ullo tempore hiemis belli opera remiserat, quae multa simul undique eum circumstabant: Uticam obsidebat; castra in conspectu Hasdrubalis erant;

[4] Carthaginienses deduxerant naves, classem paratam instructamque ad commeatus intercipiendos habebant. inter haec ne Syphacis quidem reconciliandi curam ex animo miserat, ³ si forte iam satias ⁴ amoris in uxore ex multa copia eum ⁵ cepisset.

[5] ab Syphace magis pacis cum Carthaginiensibus condiciones, ut Romani Romanii Africa, Poeni Italia excederent, quam, si bellaretur, spes ulla desciturum adferebatur.

[6] haec per nuntios nuttios acta magis equidem crediderim—et ita pars maior auctores sunt—quam ipsum Syphacem, ut Antias Valerius prodit, in castra Romana ad conloquium venisse.

[7] primo eas condiciones imperator Romanus vix auribus admisit; postea, ut causa probabilis suis commeandi foret in castra hostium, mollius eadem ilia abnuere ac spem facere saepius ultro citroque ⁶ agitantibus rem conventuram.

[8] hibernacula Carthaginiensium, ⁷ congesta temere ex agris materia exaedificata, lignea ferme tota erant.

[9] Numidae praecipue harundine textis storeaque pars maxima tectis passim nullo ordine, quidam, ut sine imperio occupatis locis, extra fossam etiam vallumque habitabant.

[10] haec relata Scipioni spem fecerant castra hostium per occasionem incendendi.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 34.3 focus

[1]

quid enim, si hoc expugnaverint, non temptabunt? recensete omnia muliebria iura, quibus licentiam earum adligaverint maiores vestri per quaeque subiecerint viris; quibus omnibus constrictas vix tamen continere potestis.

[2] quid? si carpere singula et extorquere et aequari ad extremum viris patiemini, tolerabiles vobis eas fore creditis? extemplo, simul pares esse coeperint, superiores erunt.

[3] at hercule ne quid novum in eas rogetur recusant,

[4] non ius sed iniuriam deprecantur, immo, ut, ¹ quam accepistis iussistis suffragiis vestris legem, quam usu tot annorum et experiendo comprobastis, hanc ut abrogetis, id est ut unam tollendo legem ceteras infirmetis.

[6] volo tamen audire, quid sit, propter quod matronae consternatae procucurrerint in publicum ac vix foro se et contione abstineant.

[7] ut captivi ab Hannibale redimantur parentes, viri, liberi, fratres earum? procul abest absitque semper talis fortuna rei publicae; sed tamen, cum fuit, negastis hoc piis precibus earum.

[8] at non pietas nec sollicitudo pro suis, sed religio congregavit eas: matrem Idaeam a Pessinunte ex Phrygia venientem accepturae sunt. quid honestum dictu saltem seditioni praetenditur muliebri?

[9] ‘ut auro et purpura fulgamus’ inquit, ‘ut carpentis festis profestisque diebus, ² velut triumphantes de lege victa et abrogata et captis et ereptis suffragiis vestris, per urbem vectemur; ne ullus modus sumptibus, ne luxuriae sit.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 34.3 focus

[1]

"Recollect all the institutions respecting the sex, by which our forefathers restrained their undue freedom, and by which they subjected them to their husbands; and yet, even with the help of all these restrictions, you can scarcely keep them within bounds.

[2] If, then, you suffer them to throw these off one by one, to tear them all asunder, and, at last, to be set on an equal footing with yourselves, can you imagine that they will be any longer tolerable by you?

[3] The moment they have arrived at an equality with you, they will have become your superiors. But, forsooth, they only object to any new law being made against them: they mean to deprecate, not justice, but severity.

[4] Nay, their wish is, that a law which you have admitted, established by your suffrages, and confirmed by the practice and experience of so many years to be beneficial, should now be repealed; that is, that, by abolishing one law, you should weaken all the rest.

[5] No law perfectly suits the convenience of every member of the community: the only consideration is, whether, upon the whole, it be profitable to the greater part. If, because a law proves obnoxious to a private individual, that circumstance should destroy and sweep it away, to what purpose is it for the community to enact general laws, which those, with reference to whom they were passed, could presently repeal?

[6] I should like, however, to hear what this important affair is which has induced the matrons thus to run out into public in this excited manner, scarcely restraining from pushing into the forum and the assembly of the people.

[7] Is it to solicit that their parents, their husbands, children, and brothers may be ransomed from captivity under Hannibal? By no means: and far be ever from the commonwealth so unfortunate a situation.

[8] Yet, even when such was the case, you refused this to their prayers. But it is not duty, nor solicitude for their friends; it is religion that has collected them together. They are about to receive the Idaean Mother, coming out of Phrygia from Pessinus! What motive, that even common decency will allow to be mentioned, is pretended for this female insurrection?

[9] Why, say they, that we may shine in gold and purple; that, both on festal and common days, we may ride through the city in our chariots, triumphing over vanquished and abrogated law, after having captured and wrested from you your suffrages; and that there may be no bounds to our expenses and our luxury.

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.) — 34.3 focus

[1]

"Call to mind all the regulations respecting women by which our ancestors curbed their licence and made them obedient to their husbands, and yet in spite of all those restrictions you can scarcely hold them in.

[2] If you allow them to pull away these restraints and wrench them out one after another, and finally put themselves on an equality with their husbands, do you imagine that you will be able to tolerate them? From the moment that they become your fellows they will become your masters.

[3] But surely, you say, what they object to is having a new restriction imposed upon them, they are not deprecating the assertion of a right but the infliction of a wrong.

[4] No, they are demanding the abrogation of a law which you enacted by your suffrages and which the practical experience of all these years has approved and justified. This they would have you repeal; that means that by rescinding this they would have you weaken all.

[5] No law is equally agreeable to everybody, the only question is whether it is beneficial on the whole and good for the majority. If everyone who feels himself personally aggrieved by a law is to destroy it and get rid of it, what is gained by the whole body of citizens making laws which those against whom they are enacted can in a short time repeal?

[6] I want, however, to learn the reason why these excited matrons have run out into the streets and scarcely keep away from the Forum and the Assembly.

[7] Is it that those taken prisoners by Hannibal-their fathers and husbands and children and brothers-may be ransomed? The republic is a long way from this misfortune, and may it ever remain so!

[8] Still, when this did happen, you refused to do so in spite of their dutiful entreaties. But, you may say, it is not dutiful affection and solicitude for those they love that has brought them together; they are going to welcome Mater Idaea on her way from Phrygian Pessinus. What pretext in the least degree respectable is put forward for this female insurrection?

[9] 'That we may shine,' they say, 'in gold and purple, that we may ride in carriages on festal and ordinary days alike, as though in triumph for having defeated and repealed a law after capturing and forcing from you your votes.'

Notes on the current edition

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

1. B.C. 195

2. See XXII. lxi. 3, where Livy records the refusal to redeem the Romans captured at Cannae.

3. The worship of the Magna Mater was imported into Rome in 204 B.C., and the stone which symbolized the goddess was received by the women (XXIX. x. 5; xiv. 10).

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 34.3

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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