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), 37.19

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[1] Aemilius summoned Eumenes from Pergamum and the Rhodians and held a council. The Rhodians did not disdain peace; Eumenes maintained that it was neither honourable to discuss the question of peace at that time nor possible to reach a conclusion to the discussion:

For how,

he said,

shall we honourably, shut up and besieged within our walls, accept what may be called terms of peace?

[2]

Again, in whose eyes will this be a valid peace, which we shall conclude without a consul, with no authority of the senate, without the order of the Roman people?

[3]

Now I ask, if peace is made by you, will you return immediately to Rome and withdraw your fleet and army, or wait to see what the consul's pleasure is regarding it, what the senate decrees, or what the people orders?¹

[4]

And so the result is that you stay in Asia and that your forces, led back once more to their winter stations, abandoning the war, exhaust your allies with furnishing supplies, and then, if it

[5]

seems proper to those with whom the authority lies, start wholly afresh a new war, although this war, if there² is no slackening, through delay, of the impetus we now have, we can have finished, with the aid of the gods, before winter.

[6] This argument prevailed, and the answer was given to Antiochus that until the arrival of the consul the question of peace could not be discussed.

[7] Antiochus, having tried in vain for peace, devastated first the lands of the Elaeans, then of the Pergamenians, and leaving there his son Seleucus, marching as though through a hostile country to Adramytteum, sought the rich land which they call the plain of Thebe, celebrated in

[8] the poem of Homer,³ and in no place in Asia was richer booty won by the king's troops. Likewise to Adramytteum came Aemilius and Eumenes, brought thither by the fleet.

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.) — 37.19 focus

[1] Aemilius Eumene a Pergamo accito adhibitis et Rhodiis consilium habuit. Rhodii baud haud aspernari pacem; Eumenes nec honestum dicere ease esse eo tempore de pace agi, nec exitum rei imponi posse:

[2] “qui enim” inquit “aut honeste, inclusi moenibus et obsessi, velut leges pacis accipiemus? aut cui rata ista pax erit, quam sine consule, non ex auctoritate senatus, non iussu populi Romani pepigerimus?

[3] quaero enim pace per te facta rediturusne extemplo in Italiam sis, classem exercitumque deducturus, an expectaturus, quid de ea re consuli placeat, quid senatus censeat aut populus iubeat?

[4] restat ergo, ut maneas in Asia, et rursus in hiberna copiae reductae omisso bello exhauriant commeatibus praebendis socios, deinde,

[5] si ita visum iis sit, penes quos potestas fuerit, instauremus novum de integro bellum, quod possumus, si ex hoc impetu rerum nihil prolatando remittitur,

[6] ante hiemem diis volentibus perfecisse.” haec sententia vicit, responsumque Antiocho est ante consulis adventum de pace agi non posse.

[7] Antiochus pace nequiquam temptata, evastatis Elaeensium primum, deinde Pergamenorum agris, relicto ibi Seleuco filio, Adramytteum hostiliter itinere facto petit agrum opulentum, quem vocant Thebes campum, carmine Homeri nobilitatum;

[8] neque alio ullo loco Asiae maior regiis militibus parta est praeda. eodem Adramytteum, ut urbi praesidio essent, navibus circumvecti Aemilius et Eumenes venerunt.

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).) — 43.19 focus

[1]

Perseus praesidio Uscanae imposito multitudinem omnem deditorum, quae prope numero ¹ exercitum aequabat, Stuberram abducit.

[2] ibi Romanis - quattuor milia autem hominum erant - praeter principes in custodiam civitatum ² divisis, Uscanensibus Illyriisque venditis, in Penestas ³ exercitum reducit ad Oaeneum ⁴ oppidum in potestatem redigendum,

[3] et alioqui opportune situm et transitus ea est in Labeates, ubi Gentius regnabat.

[4] praetereunti frequens castellum, Draudacum nomine, peritorum quidam regionis eius nihil Oaeneo ⁵ capto opus esse ait, nisi in potestate et Draudacum sit; opportunius etiam ad omnia positum esse.

[5] admoto exercitu omnes ⁶ extemplo dediderunt sese. ad⁷ quam spe celeriorem deditionem ⁸ erectus, postquam animadvertit quantus agminis sui terror esset, undecim alia castella eodem metu in potestatem redigit.

[6] ad perpauca vi opus fuit, cetera voluntate dedita; et in his recepti mille et quingenti dispositi per praesidia milites Romani.

[7] magno usui Carvilius Spoletinus erat in colloquiis dicendo nihil in ipsos saevitum. deinde⁹ Oaeneum perventum est, quod sine iusta oppugnatione capi non poterat. et maiore aliquanto quam cetera iuventute et ¹⁰ validum oppidum moenibus erat,

[8] et hinc amnis Artatus nomine, hinc mons praealtus et aditu difficilis cingebat.

[9] haec spem ad resistendum oppidanis dabant. Perseus circumvallato oppido aggerem a parte superiore ducere instituit, cuius altitudine muros superaret.

[10] quod opus dum perficitur, crebris interim proeliis, quibus per excursiones et moenia sua oppidani tutabantur et opera hostium impediebant, magna eorum multitudo multitude variis casibus absumpta est, et qui supererant labore diurno nocturnoque et ¹¹ volneribus inutiles erant.

[11] ubi primum agger iniunctus muro est, et cohors regia, quos Nicatoras appellant, transcendit et scalis multis simul partibus impetus in urbem est factus.

[12] puberes omnes interfecti sunt; coniuges liberosque eorum in custodiam dedit; praedae alia militum cessere.

[13] Stuberram inde victor revertens ad Gentium ¹² legatos Pleuratum illyrium llyrium , exulantem apud se, et Adaeum ¹³ Macedonem a Beroea ¹⁴ mittit;

[14] iis mandat, ut exponerent aestatis eius hiemisque acta sua adversus Romanos Dardanosque; adicerent ¹⁵¹⁶ recentia in Illyrico hibernae expeditionis opera; hortarentur Gentium in amicitiam secum et cum Macedonibus iungendam.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 37.19 focus

[1]

Aemilius Eumene a Pergamo accito adhibitis et Rhodiis consilium habuit. Rhodii haud aspernari pacem; Eumenes nec honestum dicere esse eo tempore de pace agi, nec exitum rei imponi posse:

[2] ”qui enim“ inquit ”aut honeste inclusi moenibus et obsessi velut leges pacis accipiemus? aut cui rata ista pax erit, quam sine consule, non ex auctoritate senatus, iniussu populi Romani pepigerimus?

[3] quaero enim pace per te facta rediturusne extemplo in Italiam sis, classem exercitumque deducturus, an expectaturus, quid de ea re consuli placeat, quid senatus censeat aut populus iubeat?

[4] restat ergo, ut maneas in Asia, et rursus in hiberna copiae reductae omisso bello exhauriant commeantibus praebendis socios,

[5] deinde, si ita visum iis sit, penes quos potestas fuerit, instauremus novum de integro bellum, quod possumus, si ex hoc impetu rerum nihil prolatando remittitur, ante hiemem diis volentibus perfecisse.“

[6] haec sententia vicit, responsumque Antiocho est ante consulis adventum de pace agi non posse.

[7] Antiochus pace nequiquam temptata, evastatis Elaeensium primum, deinde Pergamenorum agris, relicto ibi Seleuco filio, Adramytteum hostiliter itinere facto ¹ petit agrum opulentum, quem vocant Thebes campum, carmine Homeri nobilitatum;

[8] neque alio ullo loco Asiae maior regiis militibus parta est praeda. eodem Adramytteum, ut urbi praesidio essent, navibus circumvecti Aemilius et Eumenes venerunt.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 37.19 focus

[1]

Aemilius sent to Pergamus for Eumenes, and desiring the Rhodians to be present, held a council on the message. The Rhodians were not averse to a pacification; but Eumenes affirmed that

it was not honourable to treat of peace at that time, nor could an end be put to the thing.

[2]

For,

said he,

how can we, shut up as we are, within our walls, and besieged, with honour accept terms of peace? Or to whom shall that treaty be valid, which we shall conclude, without the presence of the consul, without a vote of the senate, and without an order of the Roman people?

[3]

For, let me ask, supposing the matter concluded by you, would you immediately go home to Italy, and carry away your fleet and army, or would you wait to know the consul's determination on the case; what the senate should decree, or the people order?

[4]

It remains therefore that you must stay in Asia, that your troops being led back again into winter quarters, the war being given over, must exhaust the allies in furnishing provisions;

[5]

and then, if it seem fit to those who have the power of determining, we must begin the whole war anew, which we are able, with the aid of the gods, to finish before winter, if no relaxation from our present vigorous movements is made by delay.

[6] This opinion prevailed; and the answer given to Antiochus was, that they could not treat of peace before the arrival of the consul.

[7] Antiochus, peace being tried for in vain, ravaged, first, the territory of Elaea, then that of Pergamus; and, leaving there his son Seleucus, marched in a hostile manner to Adramyttium, whence he proceeded to a rich tract of country called the Plain of Thebes, a city celebrated in one of Homer's poems; and in no other place in Asia did the king's soldiers find such a plenty of booty.

[8] At the same time, Aemilius and Eumenes also, sailing round with the fleet, came to Adramyttium, to protect the city.

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.) — 37.19 focus

[1]

Aemilius invited Eumenes over from Pergamum and held a council, at which both Eumenes and the Rhodians were present. The Rhodians were not disinclined for peace, but Eumenes said that no peace proposals could be honourably entertained at that moment, nor could any final settlements be made.

[2] "How," he asked, "shall we, beleaguered and shut within our walls, listen with honour to any terms of peace? Or who will regard any peace settlement as valid if made without the consent of the consul, the authority of the senate and the order of the people of Rome?

[3] I put this question to you-If peace be made through you, are you going to return at once to Italy and carry away your army and your fleet, or will you wait to learn what the consul thinks, what decision the senate comes to, what order the people make?

[4] It remains, then, that you must stay in Asia and, all active operations suspended, your troops must be sent into winter quarters to drain the resources of your allies by the requisitions of your commissariat.

[5] And then, if the supreme powers so decide, we must begin the war all over again, whereas, if our strong offensive were in no way slackened or hampered by delay, we could have brought it to a close, if the gods so willed it, before winter sets in."

[6] This argument prevailed, and Antiochus was told that, till the consul arrived, there could be no discussion of the terms of peace.

[7] Finding his efforts to procure peace fruitless, Antiochus proceeded to devastate the lands of the people of Elea and then those belonging to Pergamum. Here he left Seleucus and continued his march with the intention of attacking Adramytteum, till he reached the rich district known as the "Plain of Thebe," celebrated in the poem of Homer.

[8] In no other locality in Asia was a greater amount of plunder secured by the king's troops. Aemilius and Eumenes, sailing round with their fleet, also appeared before Adramytteum as a protection to the city.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. While Aemilius had the imperium, that of Scipio was superior to his, and it is not certain that Aemilius had any authority on land, since he had been assigned the maritima provincia (ii. 10 above). There would surely have been a dispute had Aemilius concluded a peace treaty under such conditions, before the arrival of the consul, and in any case the ratification of senate and assembly was necessary. The position of Eumenes is sound in Roman constitutional practice, as well as consistent with his own dignity. He did not wish Antiochus to use the siege of Pergamum as something with which to bargain.

2. B.C. 190

3. The city, but not the plain, of Thebe is mentioned by Homer ( Il. I. 366, etc.).

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 37.19

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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