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), 39.43

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[1] Valerius Antias, as one who had never read the speech of Cato and had accepted the story as if it were nothing but a story anonymously circulated, gives another version,¹ similar, however, in its lust and cruelty.

[2] He writes that at Placentia a notorious woman, with whom Flamininus was desperately in love,² had been invited to dinner. There he was boasting to the courtesan, among other things, about his severity in the prosecution of cases and how many persons he had in chains, under sentence of death, whom he intended to behead.

[3] Then the woman, reclining below him, said that she had never seen a person beheaded and was very anxious to behold the sight. Hereupon, he says, the generous lover, ordering one of the wretches to be brought to him, cut off his head with his sword.

[4] This deed, whether³ it was performed in the manner for which the censor rebuked him, or as Valerius reports it, was savage and cruel: in the midst of drinking and feasting, where it is the custom to pour libations to the gods and to pray for blessings, as a spectacle for a shameless harlot, reclining in the bosom of a consul, a human victim sacrificed and bespattering the table with his blood!

[5] At the end of the speech a challenge of Cato to Quinctius is reported: if he would deny this act and the other things which Cato had charged, he should defend himself by legal methods,⁴ but if he confessed it, would he think that anyone would grieve at his disgrace, since he himself, mad with drink and desire, had played with a man's blood at a feast?

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.) — 39.43 focus

[1] Valerius Antias, ut qui nec orationem Catonis legisset et fabulae tantum sine auctore editae credidisset, aliud argumentum, simile tamen et libidine et crudelitate peragit. Placentiae famosam mulierem,

[2] cuius amore deperiret, in convivium arcessitam scribit. ibi iactantem sese scorto inter cetera rettulisse, quam acriter quaestiones exercuisset, et quam multos capitis damnatos in vinculis haberet, quos securi percussurus esset.

[3] tum illam infra eum accubantem negasse umquam vidisse quemquam securi ferientem, et pervelle id videre. hic indulgentem amatorem unum ex illis miseris attrahi iussum securi percussisse.

[4] facinus, sive eo modo, quo censor ohiecit, sive, ut Valerius tradit, commissum est, saevum atque atrox: inter pocula atque epulas, ubi libare diis dapes, ubi bene precari mos esset, ad spectaculum scorti procacis, in sinu consulis recubantis, mactatam humanam victinam victimam esse et cruore mensam respersam!

[5] in extrema oratione Catonis condicio Quinctio fertur, ut si id factum negaret ceteraque, quae obiecisset, sponsione defenlderet defenderet sese: sin fateretur, ignominiane sua quemquam doliturum censeret, cum ipse vino et venere amens sanguine hominis in convivio lusisset?

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.) — 39.43 focus

[1]

Valerius Antias, ut qui nec orationem Catonis ¹ legisset et fabulae tantum sine auctore editae credidisset, aliud argumentum, simile tamen et libidine et crudelitate, peragit.

[2] Placentiae famosam mulierem, cuius amore deperiret, in convivium accersitam scribit. ibi iactantem sese scorto inter cetera rettulisse, quam acriter quaestiones exercuisset, et quam multos capitis damnatos in vinculis haberet, quos securi percussurus esset.

[3] tum illam infra eum adcubantem negasse umquam vidisse quemquam securi ferientem, et pervelle id videre. hic indulgentem amatorem unum ex illis miseris adtrahi iussum securi percussisse.

[4] facinus, sive eo modo, quo censor obiecit, sive, ut Valerius tradit, commissum est, saevum atque atrox, inter pocula atque epulas, ubi libare diis dapes, ubi bene precari mos esset, ad spectaculum scorti procacis, in sinu consulis recubantis, mactatam humanam

[5] victimam esse et cruore mensam respersam! in extrema oratione Catonis condicio Quinctio fertur, ut, si id factum negaret ² ceteraque, quae obiecisset, sponsione defenderet sese; sin fateretur, ignominiane sua quemquam doliturum censeret, cum ipse vino et Venere amens sanguine hominis in convivio lusisset?

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 39.43 focus

[1] Valerius Antias, as he was one who never read Cato's speech, and only gave credit to a tale published without authority, tells the story in another manner, but similar to this in lust and cruelty.

[2] He writes, that, at Placentia, the consul invited to an entertainment a woman of ill fame, with whom he was desperately enamoured.

[3] There, displaying his importance to this courtesan, he told her, among other matters, with what severity he had conducted the inquisitions, and how many he had then in prison under sentence of death, whom he intended to behead.

[4] Then she, being next him on the couch, said, that having never seen an executioner perform his office, she was very desirous of seeing such a thing; on which, the indulgent lover ordered one of those wretches to be dragged to the spot, and there cut off his head.

[5] The deed of death, whether committed as the censor or as Valerius reports it, was barbarous and inhuman; that in the midst of feasting and cups, when it is customary to offer libations to the gods, and to pray for happiness, a human victim should be butchered, and the table stained with his blood, and this for the entertainment of an acknowledged wanton.

[6] In the latter part of Cato's speech, he proposes to Quintius, that if he denied this fact, and the others of which he accused him, he should give security to abide a legal trial; but if he confessed them, could he suppose, he asked him, that any one would be sorry for his disgrace; the disgrace of him who, in the midst of a feast, being intoxicated with wine and lust, had sported with the blood of a human being.

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.) — 39.43 focus

[1] Valerius Antias, as though he had never read Cato's speech and had only given credence to an unauthenticated; story, relates a different incident, but resembling the above in its lust and cruelty.

[2] According to him, a woman of Placentia, a bad character, with whom the consul was madly in love, was invited by him to a banquet.

[3] Here, boasting of his exploits, he told the harlot, amongst other things, what a stern inquisitor he had been, how many who had been condemned to death he was keeping in chains till he executed them.

[4] She was reclining on the same couch with him, and remarked that she had never seen an execution and would dearly love to see one. Thereupon, to indulge her, he ordered one of those unhappy wretches to be brought in and then struck off his head.

[5] Whether the incident took the form described in the censor's speech, or whether it was as Valerius narrates it, in any case a cruel and brutal crime was perpetrated. During a festive meal, when it is customary to pour libations to the gods and wish all happiness to the guests, a human victim was sacrificed and the table sprinkled with blood to delight the eyes of a wanton harlot lying on a consul's breast!

[6] Cato closed his speech by saying that if Quinctius denied the charges he gave him the option of providing security and letting the case go to trial, but if he admitted them, did he suppose that any one would grieve over his disgrace after he had amused himself, when maddened by wine and lust, by shedding a man's blood at a banquet?

Notes on the current edition

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

1. This form of the story was followed by Valerius Maximus (II. ix. 3) and possibly by Cicero ( Cato maior 42).

2. The phrase is conventional in erotic literature.

3. B.C. 184

4. Although mentioned also by Plutarch ( Cato 17), the procedure is obscure. The sponsio (a sort of judicial wager) was a recognized feature of legal procedure, but it may be less technically used here. Plutarch represents this challenge as given and accepted before the assembly: this could be true only in case of a conviction and an appeal. Titus seems, in Plutarch, to be a party also.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 39.43

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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