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), 39.33

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[1] In the beginning of the following year,¹ when Quintus Caecilius, Marcus Baebius and Tiberius Sempronius, who had been sent to arbitrate between the kings, Philip and Eumenes, and the cities of the Thessalians, had reported on their mission, the consuls Publius Claudius and Lucius Porcius

[2] also introduced into the senate the ambassadors of these kings and of the cities.

[3] The same arguments were² repeated on both sides that had been used before the commissioners in Greece. Then the Fathers decreed another new commission, of which Appius Claudius was the chief, to go to Greece and Macedonia to see whether the cities had been restored to the Thessalians and Perrhaebians.

[4] They were also instructed that the garrisons were to be withdrawn from Aenus and Maronea and that the whole sea coast should be freed from Philip and the Macedonians.

[5] They were directed to visit the Peloponnesus also, from which the previous commission³ had come away leaving the position of things more uncertain than if they had not gone: for in addition to everything else they had even been sent away without an answer, and the Achaean council had not been summoned as they

[6] requested. When Quintus Caecilius complained bitterly of this conduct and the Lacedaemonians at the same time lamented that their walls had been destroyed, their common people taken away to Achaia and enslaved, the laws of Lycurgus, on which their state had been based up to that time, annulled,⁴ the principal reply of

[7] the Achaeans to the charge that a council had been refused was to read the law which forbade the calling of the council except when it was a question of peace or war or when ambassadors arrived from the senate with letters or written

[8] instructions.⁵ That this excuse might not be given again, the senate made it plain that it was their duty to see that Roman commissioners should always have the opportunity to address the council of the people, just as to them too the senate was open as often as⁶ they wished.⁷

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.) — 39.33 focus

[1] principio insequentis anni P. Claudius L. Porcius consules, cum Q. Caecilius M. Baebius Ti. Sempronius, qui ad disceptandum inter Philippum et Eumenem reges Thessalorumque civitates missi erant,

[2] legationem renuntiassent, regum quoque eorum civitatiumque legatos in senatum introduxerunt.

[3] eadem utrimque iterata, quae dicta apud legatos in Graecia erant. aliam deinde novam legationem patres, cuius princeps Ap. Claudius fuit, in Graeciam et Macedoniam decreverunt ad visendum, redditaene civitates Thessalis et Perrhaebis essent.

[4] iisdem mandatum, ut ab Aeno et Maronea praesidia deducerentur, maritimaque omnis Thraciae ora a Philippo et Macedonibus liberaretur.

[5] Peloponnesum quoque adire iussi, unde prior legatio discesserat incertiore statu rerum, quan quam si non venissent: nam super cetera etiam sine response responso dimissi, nec datum petentibus erat Achaeorum concilium.

[6] de qua re querente graviter Q. Caecilio et simul Lacedaemoniis deplorantibus moenia diruta, abductam plebem in Achaiam et venumdatam, ademptas, quibus ad earn eam diem civitas stetisset,

[7] Lycurgi leges, Achaei maxime concilii negati crimen excusabant recitando legem, quae nisi belli pacisve causa, et cum legati ab senatu cum litteris aut scriptis mandatis venirent, vetaret indici concilium.

[8] ea ne postea excusatio esset, ostendit senatus curae iis esse debere, ut legatis Romanis semper adeundi concilium gentis potestas fieret, quem ad modum et illis, quotiens vellent, senatus daretur.

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.) — 39.33 focus

[1]

principio insequentis anni P. Claudius L. Porcius consules, cum Q. Caecilius M. Baebius Ti. Sempronius , qui ad disceptandum inter Philippum et Eumenem reges Thessalorumque civitates missi erant,

[2] legationem renuntiassent, regum quoque eorum civitatiumque legatos in senatum introduxerunt. eadem utrimque iterata, quae dicta apud legatos in Graecia erant,

[3] aliam deinde novam legationem patres, cuius princeps Ap. Claudius fuit, in Graeciam et Macedoniam decreverunt ad visendum, redditaene civitates Thessalis et Perrhaebis essent.

[4] iisdem mandatum, ut ab Aeno et Maronea praesidia deducerentur maritimaque omnis Thraciae ora a Philippo et Macedonibus liberaretur.

[5] Peloponnesum quoque ¹ adire iussi, unde prior legatio discesserat incertiore statu rerum, quam si non venissent: nam super cetera etiam sine responso dimissi nec datum petentibus erat Achaeorum concilium.

[6] de qua re querente graviter Q. Caecilio et simul Lacedaemoniis deplorantibus moenia diruta, abductam plebem in Achaiam et venumdatam, ademptas,

[7] quibus ad eam diem civitas stetisset, Lycurgi leges, Achaei maxime concilii negati crimen excusabant recitando legem, quae, nisi belli pacisve causa et cum legati ab senatu cum litteris aut scriptis mandatis venirent, vetaret indici concilium.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 39.33 focus

[1]

In the beginning of the following year, Publius Claudius and Lucius Porcius, the consuls, when Quintus Caecilius, Marcus Baebius, and Tiberius Sempronius, who had been sent to adjust the matters in dispute between the kings, Philip and Eumenes, and the states of the Thessalians, had given an account of

[2] their embassy, introduced to the senate ambassadors from those kings and states.

[3] On this occasion, the same arguments were repeated by all parties, which had been urged before the ambassadors in Greece. The senate then decreed that a new embassy, the principal man of which was Appius Claudius, should be sent into Macedonia and Greece, to know whether the several states had been restored to the Rhodians, Thessalians, and Perrhaebians.

[4] Instructions were given to the same, that the garrisons should be withdrawn from Aenus and Maronea, and that all the sea-coast of Thrace should be made free and independent of Philip and the Macedonians. They were ordered also to go to Peloponnesus, from which the former ambassadors had departed, leaving affairs in a more unsettled state than they would have been if they had not come thither.

[5] For besides other matters, they were even sent away without an answer by the Achaean council, nor was an audience of that body granted to them at their request.

[6] When Quintus Caecilius made a heavy complaint on this subject, and at the same time the Lacedaemonians deplored the demolition of their walls, the carrying off their poor people into Achaia, the selling of them there, and the depriving them of the laws of Lycurgus, by which the nation had been supported unto that time, the

[7] Achaians laboured principally to excuse their having refused a meeting of the council by quoting a law which enacted, that a council should not be summoned, except on business of peace or war, or when ambassadors should come from the senate with letters or written instructions.

[8] That this kind of excuse should not be made in future, the senate observed to them, that they ought to take care that Roman ambassadors should at all times have an opportunity of applying to their council, in like manner as an audience of the senate was always given to them, at any time when they wished it.

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.) — 39.33 focus

[1]

The commissioners who had been sent to adjust the differences between Philip and Eumenes and the cities in Thrace had given in their report, and at the commencement of the year, the consuls introduced the envoys from the two monarchs and the cities to the senate.

[2] The same arguments as had been used before the commissioners in Greece were repeated on both sides.

[3] The senate decreed that a fresh commission should go to Greece and Macedonia to find out whether the cities had been given back to the Thessalians and Perrhaebians. Instructions were also given that the garrisons should be withdrawn from Aenus and Maronea, and that the whole of the Thracian sea-board should be cleared of Philip and his Macedonians.

[4] The commissioners were further ordered to visit the Peloponnese which the former commission had left in a more unsatisfactory situation than if they had

[5] not gone there, for they had come away without receiving any assurances, and the council of the Achaean League had refused their request for an interview.

[6] Q. Caecilius complained in very strong terms of their conduct, and the Lacedaemonians at the same time deplored the razing of their walls, the removal of the population as slaves into Achaia, and the abolition of the laws of Lycurgus, on which up to that day the stability of their State had rested.

[7] The Achaeans met the charge of refusing to convene their council by quoting the law which forbade the summoning of a council except where the question was one of peace or war, or when delegates came from the senate with despatches or written instructions.

[8] That they might not have that excuse for the future, the senate pointed out to them that it was their duty to see that Roman envoys had at all times an opportunity of approaching their council, just as an audience of the senate was granted to them whenever they wished for one.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. B.C. 184

2. B.C. 184

3. In chaps. xxiv. —xxix. above, Livy said nothing about a visit to the Achaean League by the commission headed by Caecilius. In XXIII. xi. (XXII. xv.), however, Polybius gives the same account as that which Livy gives here.

4. Cf. XXXVIII. xxxiv; the enslaved commons here are apparently the adscripti of that chapter.

5. It is nowhere made clear whether this was a law of the council itself (cf. XXXI. xxv. 9) or a part of the treaty between Rome and the League.

6. B.C. 184

7. The situation required a delicate adjustment between the sovereignty of the League and the quasi-protectorate of Rome.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 39.33

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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