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), 38.32

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[1] When the ambassadors reported this to the Achaeans, with the approval of all the cities which were represented at that council, war was declared upon the Lacedaemonians.

[2] Winter¹ prevented the immediate prosecution of the war; nevertheless, their territories were devastated by small raids, more like brigandage than war, not only on land but also by ships from the sea.

[3] This² disturbance brought the consul to the Peloponnesus; and by his order a council was called at Elis and the Lacedaemonians summoned to take part in the debate.

[4] Not only a lively debate took place there but also a violent quarrel, to which the consul, although in other respects, favouring both sides in a spirit of conciliation, he had given ambiguous replies, put an end by the one peremptory demand that they should refrain from war until they had sent ambassadors to the senate in Rome. Both sides sent embassies to Rome.

[5] The Lacedaemonian exiles also entrusted their case and their representation to the Achaeans.

[6] Diophanes and Lycortas, both from Megalopolis, were chiefs of the Achaean delegation, and they, opposed as they were to one another on public questions generally, at this time also delivered speeches quite inconsistent with one another.

[7] Diophanes was for entrusting to the senate the adjudication of all questions: they, he said, would best settle the disputes between the Achaeans and the Lacedaemonians;

[8] Lycortas, acting on the instructions of Philopoemen, demanded that the Achaeans be permitted to carry out whatever they had decreed in accordance with the treaty and their own laws, and that the Romans should grant them, unabridged, the freedom of which they themselves were the source.

[9] The people of the Achaeans at that time had great influence with the Romans; nevertheless, it was decreed that no change should be made in the status of the Lacedaemonians.³ The reply, however, was so ambiguous that both the Achaeans accepted it as a concession of freedom of action regarding Lacedaemon and the Lacedaemonians interpreted it as not granting the Achaeans full⁴ authority.

[10] This power the Achaeans employed unrestrainedly and tyrannically. Philopoemen was re-elected to the chief magistracy.⁵

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.) — 38.32 focus

[1] id ubi legati ad Achaeos rettulerunt, omnium civitatium, quae eius concilii erant, consensu bellum Lacedaemoniis indictum est. ne extemplo gereretur,

[2] hiems impediit; incursionibus tamen parvis, latrocinii magis quam belli modo, non terra tantum sed etiam navibus a maria mari fines eorum vastati.

[3] hic tumultus consulem Peloponnesum adduxit, iussuque eius Elin concilio indicto Lacedaemonii ad disceptandum acciti.

[4] magna ibi non disceptatio modo sed altercatio fuit, cui consul, cum alia satis ambitiose partem utramque fovendo incerta respondisset, una denuntiatione, ut bello abstinerent, donec Romam ad senatum legatos misissent, finem imposuit.

[5] utrimque legatio missa Romam est. exules quoque Lacedaemoniorum suam causam legationemque Achaeis iniunxerunt.

[6] Diophanet et Lycortas, Megalopolitani ambo, principes legationis Achaeorum fuerunt, qui, dissidentes in re publica, tum quoque minime inter se convenientis orationes habuerunt.

[7] Diophanes senatui disceptationem omnium rerum permittebat: eos optime controversias inter Achaeos ac Lacedaemonios finituros esse;

[8] Lycortas ex praeceptis Philopoemenis postulabat, ut Achaeis ex foedere ac legibus suis, quae decressent, agere liceret, libertatemque sibi illibatam, cuius ipsi auctores.

[9] essent, praestarent. magnae auctoritatis apud Romanos tur tum gens Achaeorum erat; novari tamen nihil de Lacedaemoniis placebat. ceterum responsum ita perplexur perplexum fuit, ut et Achaei sibi de Lacedaemone permissum acciperent,

[10] et Lacedaemonii non omnia concessa iis interpretarentur. hac potestate immodice Achaei ac superbe usi sunt. Philopoemeni continuatur magistratus.

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).) — 43.23 focus

[1]

Rex cum non ¹ minore vexatione iumentorum hominumque quam venerat in Macedoniam rediit; Appium tamen ab obsidione Phanotes fama ducentis ad Stratum Persei summovit.

[2] Cleuas cum praesidio impigrorum iuvenum insecutus sub radicibus prope inviis montium ² ad mille hominum ex agmine impedito occidit, ad ducentos cepit.

[3] Appius superatis angustiis in campo quem Meleona vocant stativa dierum paucorum habuit. interim Cleuas assumpto Philostrato, qui quingentos ex ³ Epirotarum gente habebat, in agrum Antigonensem transcendit. ⁴ Macedones ad depopulationem profecti;

[4] Philostratus⁵ cum cohorte sua in insidiis loco ⁶ obscuro consedit. in palatos populatores cum erupissent ab Antigonea armati, ⁷ fugientes eos persequentes effusius in vallem insessam ab hostibus praecipitant.

[5] ibi ad mille ⁸ occisis, centum ferme captis, et ubique prospere gesta re prope stativa Appi castra movent, ne qua vis sociis suis ab Romano exercitu inferri possit.

[6] Appius nequiquam in his locis terens tempus, dimissis Chaonum Thesprotorumque ⁹ et si qui alii Epirotae erant praesidiis, cum Italicis militibus in Illyricum regressus, per Parthinorum ¹⁰ socias urbes in hiberna militibus divisis, ¹¹ ipse Romam sacrificii causa redit.

[7] Perseus ex Penestarum gente mille pedites, ducentos equites revocatos Cassandream, praesidio ut essent, misit.

[8] Ab Gentio eadem adferentes redierunt. nec deinde alios atque alios mittendo temptare eum destitit, cum appareret, quantum in eo praesidii esset, nec tamen impetrare ab animo posset, ut impensam in rem maximi ad omnia momenti faceret.

Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn Perseus (Weissenborn, W.; Müller, H. J., editors. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1873-1883.) — 38.32 focus

[1]

id ubi legati ad Achaeos rettulerunt, omnium civitatium, quae eius concilii erant, consensu bellum Lacedaemoniis indictum est. ne extemplo gereretur, hiems impediit;

[2] incursionibus tamen parvis, latrocinii magis quam belli modo, non terra tantum sed etiam navibus a mari fines eorum vastati.

[3] hic tumultus consulem Peloponnesum adduxit, iussuque eius Elin concilio indicto Lacedaemonii ad disceptandum acciti.

[4] magna ibi non disceptatio modo sed altercatio fuit, cui ¹ consul, cum alia satis ambitiose partem utramque fovendo incerta respondisset, una denuntiatione, ut bello abstinerent, donec Romam ad senatum legatos misissent, finem imposuit.

[5] utrimque legatio missa Romam est. exules quoque Lacedaemoniorum suam causam legationemque Achaeis iniunxerunt.

[6] Diophanes et Lycortas, Megalopolitani ambo, principes legationis Achaeorum fuerunt, qui, dissidentes in re publica, tum quoque minime inter se convenientis orationes habuerunt.

[7] Diophanes senatui disceptationem omnium rerum permittebat: eos optime controversias inter Achaeos ac Lacedaemonios finituros esse;

[8] Lycortas ex praeceptis Philopoemenis postulabat, ut Achaeis ex foedere ac legibus suis, quae decressent, agere liceret, libertatemque sibi illibatam,

[9] cuius ipsi auctores essent, praestarent, magnae auctoritatis apud Romanos tum gens Achaeorum erat; novari tamen nihil de Lacedaemoniis placebat. ceterum responsum ita perplexum fuit, ut et Achaei sibi de Lacedaemone permissum acciperent, et Lacedaemonii non omnia concessa iis interpretarentur.

[10] hac potestate immodice Achaei ac superbe usi sunt. ² Philopoemeni continuatur magistratus.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 38.32 focus

[1]

When the Achaean ambassadors returned with an account of these proceedings, war was declared against the Lacedaemonians, by a unanimous vote of all the states of the confederacy; but the winter prevented its being commenced immediately.

[2] However, the confines of the Lacedaemonians were laid waste by small expeditions, more like freebooting than a regular war, made not only by land, but also by ships at sea.

[3] This commotion brought the consul into Peloponnesus, and, by his order, a council being summoned at Elis, the Lacedaemonians were called on to plead their own cause.

[4] There were not only violent debates then, but even altercation. To which the consul, although his answer had been indecisive in other respects, since he encouraged both parties through a very eager desire to please, put an end, by one decisive order, that they should desist from hostilities, until they sent ambassadors to Rome, to the senate.

[5] An embassy was despatched by both parties to Rome. The Lacedaemonian exiles intrusted their cause and embassy to the Achaeans.

[6] Diophanes and Lycortas, both of them Megalopolitans, were at the head of the Achaean embassy, who, being at variance in their own republic, there also delivered speeches by no means in unison.

[7] Diophanes was for leaving the determination of every point to the senate —that they would best decide the controversies between the Achaeans and Lacedaemonians;

[8] while Lycortas, according to the instructions of Philopœmen, required, that the senate should permit the Achaeans to execute their own decrees, made conformable to the treaty, and their own laws; and that they should concede to them, uninfringed, the liberty which they themselves had bestowed.

[9] The Achaean nation was, at that time, in high esteem with the Romans; yet it was resolved, that no alteration should be made respecting the Lacedaemonians;

[10] but the answer given was so confused, that, while the Achaeans understood it as full permission given to them in relation to Lacedaemon, the Lacedaemonians construed it, that unlimited power was not conceded to them.

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.) — 38.32 focus

[1]

When these proceedings were reported to the Achaeans, all the States of the League with one consent proclaimed war against the Lacedaemonians.

[2] Winter prevented any immediate operations on a large scale, but their territories were devastated by bodies of raiders both by land and sea, more in the fashion of brigandage than of regular warfare.

[3] It was this disturbance that brought the consul to the Peloponnesus, and by his orders a council was summoned to Elis and the Lacedaemonians were invited to state their case.

[4] The discussion soon became a heated quarrel, which the consul put an end to. He was anxious to befriend both sides and after giving a reply which committed him to nothing, warned them both to abstain from hostilities until their representatives had appeared before the Senate. Both sides sent delegates to Rome; the Lacedaemonian exiles entrusted their cause to the Achaeans.

[5] The leaders of the Achaean embassy were Diophanes and Lycortas, both natives of Megalopolis.

[6] They were opposed to one another in their political views and the speeches they delivered showed a similar divergence. Diophanes was for leaving the decision on every point to the Senate as they would settle

[7] the matters in dispute between the Achaeans and the Lacedaemonians in the best possible way.

[8] Lycortas, acting on instructions from Philopoemen, claimed the right of the Achaeans to execute their decree in accordance with the treaty and their laws, and pleaded that as the Senate had been the instrument of their freedom, so they should preserve that freedom for them undiminished and unimpaired.

[9] At that time the Achaeans stood high in Roman esteem; it was, however, decided that the position of the Lacedaemonians should be in no way changed.

[10] The reply of the senate was so ambiguous that while the Achaeans assumed that they had a free hand with regard to Lacedaemon, the Lacedaemonians interpreted it to mean that the Achaeans had not gained all they asked for.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. This must be the winter of 189- 188 B.C. The details of the chronology are obscure, but the siege of Same must have lasted well into the autumn.

2. B.C. 189

3. The senate probably intended that the Lacedaemonians should remain members of the Achaean League and that their surrender to Fulvius should be ignored. It seems a fair inference that the Achaeans were not to interfere, as Philopoemen proposed to do, in local Spartan affairs. But Roman fondness for sententiousness in legislation made this decree unpardonably vague, considering the gravity of the situation, and one is tempted to conclude that the senate did not really grasp the arguments and was not greatly interested.

4. B.C. 189

5. Elections were normally held in the autumn, and Philopoemen may have been chosen for his sixth term before the embassy to Rome.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 38.32

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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