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), 35.8

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[1] While this was going on in Spain, the day of the elections was drawing near. And so Lucius Cornelius the consul left Marcus Claudius with the army and returned to Rome.

[2] When he had discoursed in the senate about his achievements and the condition in which his province was, he voiced a complaint

[3] to the Fathers because, after so great a war had been so successfully finished by a single victory, no honour had been paid to the immortal gods. He then demanded that they decree a thanksgiving and a triumph at the same time.

[4] Before, however, the formal motion was put, Quintus Metellus, who had been consul and dictator,¹ said that letters had arrived at the same time, addressed both to the senate by Lucius Cornelius and to a great part of the senators by Marcus Marcellus, that these reports contradicted one another, and that a decision had been postponed for the reason that the debate might be held in the presence of the writers of these letters.

[5] He had accordingly assumed that the consul, who knew that something unfavourable to himself had been written by his subordinate, since he had himself to come to Rome, would bring his lieutenant with him to the City, especially as it would have been more correct to entrust

[6] the army to Tiberius Sempronius, who had the imperium,²³ than to a

[7] lieutenant: as matters stood, it seemed that he had wilfully kept away a man who, if he made in person the statement which he had made in writing, might both bring his charges openly and, supposing he asserted what was untrue, be himself charged, until the truth was clearly revealed. It was his proposal, therefore, that nothing which the consul demanded should be decreed for the

[8] present. When he pressed his claims with undiminished vigour, that the

[9] thanksgiving be voted and that he be allowed to ride into the City in triumph, Marcus and Gaius Titinius, tribunes of the people, declared that they would veto it if any decree of the senate were passed regarding the question.

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.) — 35.8 focus

[1] cum haec in Hispania gerebantur, comitiorum iam appetebat dies. itaque L. Cornelius consul relicto ad exercitum M. Claudio Romam venit.

[2] is in senatu cum de rebus ab se gestis disseruisset,

[3] quoque statu provincia esset, questus est cum patribus conscriptis, quod tanto bello una secunda pugna tam feliciter perfecto non esset habitus diis immortalibus honos.

[4] postulavit deinde, supplicationem simul triumphumque decernerent. prius tamen quam relatio fieret, Q. Metellus, qui consul dictatorque fuerat, litteras eodem tempore dixit et consulis L. Corneli ad senatum et M. Marcelli ad magnam partem senatorum adlatas esse inter se pugnantis,

[5] eoque dilatam esse consultationem, ut praesentibus auctoribus earum litterarum disceptaretur. itaque expectasse sese, ut consul, qui sciret ab legato suo adversus se scriptum aliquid, cum ipsi veniendum esset, deduceret eum secum Romam,

[6] cum etiam verius esset Ti. Sempronio imperiur imperium habenti tradi exercitum quam legato:

[7] nunc videri esse amotum de industria, qui, si ea, quae scripsisset, praesens diceret, et arguere coram, et, si quid vani adferret, argui posset, donec ad liquidum veritas explorata esset.

[8] itaque nihil eorum, quae postularet consul, decernendum in praesentia censere.

[9] cum pergeret nihilo segnius referre, ut supplicationes decernerentur triumphantique sibi urbem invehi liceret, M. et C. Titinii tribuni plebis se intercessuros, si de ea re fieret senatus consultum, dixerunt.

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).) — 30.8 focus

[1]

Scipionem , velut iam debellato quod ad Syphacem Carthaginiensesque attineret, Uticae oppugnandae intentum iamque machinas admoventem muris avertit fama redintegrati belli;

[2] modicisque praesidiis ad speciem modo obsidionis terra marique relictis ipse cum robore exercitus ire ad hostes pergit.

[3] primo in tumulo quattuor milia ferme distante ab castris regiis consedit; postero die cum equitatu in Magnos—ita vocant—Campos subiectos ei tumulo ¹ degressus, succedendo ad stationes hostium lacessendoque levibus proeliis diem absumpsit.

[4] et per insequens biduum tumultuosis hinc atque illinc excursionibus in vicem nihil dictu satis dignum fecerunt; quarto die in aciem utrimque descensum est.

[5] Romanus principes post ² hastatorum prima signa, in subsidiis triarios constituit; equitatum Italicum ab dextro cornu, ab laevo Numidas Masinissamque opposuit.

[6] Syphax Hasdrubalque Numidis adversus Italicum equitatum, Carthaginiensibus contra Masinissam locatis Celtiberos in- mediam aciem adversus signa legionum accepere.

[7] ita instructi concurrunt. primo³ impetu simul utraque cornua, et Numidae et Carthaginienses, pulsi; nam neque ⁴ Numidae, maxima pars agrestes, Romanum equitatum neque Carthaginienses, et ipse novus miles, Masinissam recenti super cetera victoria terribilem sustinuere.

[8] nudata utrimque cornibus Celtiberum acies stabat, quod nec in fuga salus ulla ostendebatur locis ignotis, neque spes veniae ab Scipione erat, quem bene meritum de se et gente sua mercennariis armis in Africam oppugnatum ⁵⁶ venissent.

[9] igitur circumfusis undique hostibus alii super alios cadentes obstinate moriebantur; omnibusque in eos versis aliquantum ad fugam temporis Syphax et Hasdrubal praeceperunt. fatigatos caede diutius quam pugna victores nox oppressit.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 35.8 focus

[1]

cum haec in Hispania gerebantur, comitiorum iam appetebat dies. itaque L. Cornelius consul relicto ad exercitum M. Claudio legato Romam venit.

[2] is in senatu cum de rebus ab se gestis disseruisset,

[3] quoque statu provincia esset, questus est cum patribus conscriptis, quod tanto bello una secunda pugna tam feliciter perfecto non esset habitus diis immortalibus honos. postulavit deinde, supplicationem simul triumphumque decernerent.

[4] prius tamen quam relatio fieret, Q. Metellus , qui consul ¹ dictatorque fuerat, litteras eodem tempore dixit et consulis L. Corneli ad senatum et M. Marcelli ad magnam partem senatorum adlatas esse inter se pugnantis,

[6] cum etiam verius esset Ti. Sempronio imperium habenti tradi exercitum quam legato:

[7] nunc videri esse amotum de industria, qui ea, quae scripsisset, praesens dicere et arguere coram, et, si quid vani adferret, argui posset, donec ad liquidum veritas explorata esset.

[8] itaque nihil eorum, quae postularet consul, decernendum in praesentia censere.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 35.8 focus

[1]

While this passed in Spain, the day of election was drawing near. Lucius Cornelius, therefore, the consul, left Marcus Claudius, lieutenant-general, in command of the army, and came to Rome.

[2] After representing in the senate the services which he had performed, and the present state of the province, he expostulated with the conscript fathers on

[3] their not having ordered a thanksgiving to the immortal gods, when so great a war was so happily terminated by one successful battle; and then demanded, that they would at the same time decree a supplication and a triumph.

[4] But, before the question was put, Quintus Metellus, who had been consul and dictator, said, that,

letters had been brought at the same time from the consul, Lucius Cornelius, to the senate, and from Marcus Marcellus, to a great part of the senators; which letters contradicted each other, and for that reason the consideration of the business had been adjourned, in order that it might be debated when the writers of those letters should be present.

[5]

He had expected, therefore, that the consul, who knew that the lieutenant-general had written something to his disadvantage, would, when he himself was obliged to come, have brought him with him to Rome; especially, as the command of the army would, with more propriety, have been committed to Tiberius Sempronius, who already possessed authority, than to the lieutenant-general.

[6]

As the case stood at present, it appeared as if the latter was kept out of the way designedly, lest he might assert in person the same things which he had written in his letters;

[7]

and, face to face, either substantiate his charges, or, if he had alleged any thing untrue, be convicted of misrepresentation, until the truth should be clearly discovered.

[8]

For this reason he was of opinion, that the senate should not, at present, assent to either of the decrees demanded by the consul.

[9] When he, however, persisted with undiminished energy in putting the question, that a thanksgiving should be ordered, and himself allowed to ride into the city in triumph; the plebeian tribunes, Marcus and Caius Titinius, declared, that they would enter their protest, if the senate passed any decree on the subject.

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.) — 35.8 focus

[1]

Meanwhile the date of the elections was approaching, and L. Cornelius, after handing over his command to M. Claudius, went to Rome.

[2] After expatiating in the senate upon his services and the state in which he had left the province, he took the senators to task for not having paid due honour to the immortal gods, now that such a serious war had been terminated by a single victorious battle.

[3] He then asked the House to decree a public thanksgiving, and at the same time a triumph for him.

[4] Before the question was put, however, Q. Metellus, who had filled the offices of consul and dictator, said that the despatch which L. Cornelius had sent to the senate and the letter which M. Marcellus had sent to most of the senators were in conflict with one another, and the discussion of this question had been adjourned in order that it might take place when the writers of these letters were present.

[5] He had been expecting, therefore, that the consul, who knew that his lieutenant had made statements reflecting on him, would bring him with him when he had to come to Rome, especially as the army ought really to have been handed over to Tiberius Sempronius, who had the imperium, and not to a staff officer.

[6] It seemed now as if the man had been purposely kept out of the way who could have repeated his written statements face

[7] to face with his opponent and established them if possible, while any groundless charge he made could have been disproved until at last the truth had been clearly ascertained. He gave it as his opinion, therefore, that none of the decrees which the consul asked for should, for the present at all events, be made.

[8] As the consul still persisted in asking the senate to decree a public thanksgiving and

[9] authorise him to ride in triumph through the City, two of the tribunes of the plebs, M. Titinius and C. Titinius, said that they would exercise their right of veto if a resolution of the senate were passed to that effect.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. Metellus was consul in 206 B.C. (XXVIII. x. 2) and dictator in 205 B.C. (XXIX. x. 2).

2. Sempronius had been consul the preceding year and no prorogation of his imperium is recorded; his successor had arrived, and nothing is known to indicate that Metellus' statement is accurate. Indeed, in v. 1 above Livy calls Sempronius a legatus. On the basis of this scanty evidence it seems that the criticism of Merula was unjustified. See also the note on vi. 9 above.

3. B.C. 193

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 35.8

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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