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), 4.20

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[1]

Having been everywhere victorious, the dictator, as decreed by the senate and ratified by the people, returned to the City in triumphal procession.

[2] By far the greatest spectacle in the triumph was Cossus, bearing the spoils of honour of the slain king, while the soldiers sang rude verses about him, comparing him to Romulus.

[3] The spoils he fastened up as an offering, with solemn dedication, in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, near the spoils of Romulus, which had been the first to be called opima, and were at that time the only ones. Cossus had drawn the gaze of the citizens away from the car of the dictator upon himself, and the honours of that crowded festival were virtually his alone.

[4] The dictator, at the people's behest, presented to Jupiter ¹ on the Capitol a golden chaplet of a pound in weight, from the public treasury.

[5] Following all previous historians, I have stated that Aulus Cornelius Cossus was a military tribune when he brought the second spoils of honour to the temple of Jupiter Feretrius.

[6] But besides that only those are properly held to be

spoils of honour

which one commander has taken from another commander, and that we know no

commander

but him under whose auspices the war is waged, the very words inscribed upon the spoils disprove their account and mine, and show that it was as consul that Cossus captured them.

[7] Having heard from the lips of Augustus Caesar, the founder or renewer of all the temples, that he had entered the shrine of Jupiter Feretrius, which he repaired when it had crumbled with age, and had himself read the inscription on the linen breast-plate, I have thought it would be almost sacrilege to rob Cossus of such a witness to his spoils as Caesar, the restorer of that very temple. ²

[8] Where the error in regard to this matter lies, in consequence of which such ancient annals and also the books of the magistrates, written on linen and deposited in the temple of Moneta, which Licinius Macer cites from time to time as his authority, only give Aulus Cornelius Cossus as consul (with Titus Quinctius Poenus) seven years later, is a matter on which everybody is entitled to his opinion.

[9] For there is this further reason why so famous a battle could not be transferred to the later year, that the consulship of Cossus fell within a period of about three years when there were no wars, owing to a pestilence and a dearth of crops, so that certain annals, as though death-registers, offer ³ nothing but the names of the consuls.

[10] The third year after Cossus's consulship saw him military tribune with consular powers, and in the same year he was master of the horse, in which office he fought another famous cavalry-engagement.

[11] Here is freedom for conjecture, but in my opinion it is idle; for one may brush aside all theories when the man who fought the battle, after placing the newly-won spoils in their sacred resting-place, testified in the presence of Jupiter himself, to whom he had vowed them, and of Romulus —witnesses not to be held lightly by a forger —that he was Aulus Cornelius Cossus, consul. ⁴

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.) — 4.20 focus

[1] omnibus locis re bene gesta dictator senatus — consulto iussuque populi triumphans in urbem rediit.

[2] longe maximum triumphi spectaculum fuit Cossus spolia opima regis interfecti gerens. in eum milites carmina incondita aequantes eum Romulo canere. spolia in aede Iovis Feretrii prope Romuli spolia,

[3] quae prima opima appellata sola ea tempestate erant, cum sollemni dedicatione dono fixit; averteratque in se a curru dictatoris civium ora et celebritatis eius diei fructum prope solus tulerat.

[4] dictator coronam auream libram pondo ex publica pecunia populi iussu in Capitolio Iovi donum posuit.

[5] Omnis omnes ante me auctores secutus A. Cornelium Cossum tribunum militum secunda spolia opima Iovis Feretrii templo intulisse exposui;

[6] ceterum, praeterquam quod ea rite opima spolia habentur, quae dux duci detraxit, nec ducem novimus, nisi cuius auspicio bellum geritur, titulus ipse spoliis inscriptus illos meque arguit consulem ea Cossum cepisse.

[7] hoc ego cum Augustum Caesarem, templorum omnium conditorem aut restitutorem, ingressum aedem Feretrii Iovis, quam vetustate dilapsam refecit, se ipsum in thorace linteo scriptum legisse audissem, prope sacrilegium ratus sum Cosso spoliorum suorum Caesarem, ipsius templi auctorem, subtrahere testem.

[8] quis ea in re sit error, quod tam veteres annales quodque magistratuum libri, quos linteos in aede repositos Monetae Macer Licinius citat identidem auctores, decimo post demum anno cum T. Quinctio Poeno A. Cornelium Cossum consulem habeant, existimatio communis omnibus est.

[9] nam etiam illud accedit, ne tam clara pugna in eum annum transferri possit, quod inbelle triennium ferme pestilentia inopiaque frugum circa A. Cornelium consulem fuit, adeo ut quidam annales velut funesti nihil praeter nomina consulum suggerant.

[10] tertius ab consulatu Cossi annus tribunum eum militum consulari potestate habet, eodem anno magistrum equitum; quo in imperio alteram insignem edidit pugnam equestrem. ea libera coniectura est, sed, ut ego arbitror, vana; aversari enim omnes opiniones licet,

[11] cum auctor pugnae recentibus spoliis in sacra sede positis Iovem prope ipsum, cui vota erant, Romulumque intuens, haud spernendos falsi tituli testes, se A. Cornelium Cossum consulem scripserit.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Conway, Robert Seymour; Walters, Charles Flamstead; Johnson, Stephen Keymer, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914-1935. (Oxford Classical Texts)) — 4.20 focus

[1]

omnibus locis re bene gesta dictator senatus consulto iussuque populi triumphans in urbem rediit.

[2] longe maximum triumphi spectaculum fuit Cossus spolia opima regis interfecti gerens. in eum milites carmina incondita aequantes eum Romulo canere.

[3] spolia in aede Iovis Feretri prope Romuli spolia quae, prima opima appellata, sola ea tempestate erant, cum sollemni dedicatione dono fixit; averteratque in se a curru dictatoris civium ora et celebritatis eius diei fructum prope solus tulerat.

[4] Dictator coronam auream, libram pondo; ¹ ex publica pecunia populi iussu in Capitolio Iovi donum posuit.

[5] omnes ante me auctores secutus, A. Cornelium Cossum tribunum militum secunda spolia opima Iovis Feretrii templo intulisse exposui;

[6] ceterum, praeterquam quod ea rite opima spolia habentur quae dux duci detraxit, nec ducem novimus nisi cuius auspicio bellum geritur, titulus ipse spoliis inscriptus illos meque arguit consulem ea Cossum cepisse.

[7] hoc ego cum Augustum Caesarem, templorum omnium conditorem aut restitutorem, ingressum aedem Feretri Iovis, quam vetustate dilapsam refecit, se ipsum in thorace linteo scriptum legisse audissem, prope sacrilegium ratus sum Cosso ² spoliorum suorum Caesarem, ipsius templi auctorem, subtrahere testem.

[8] quis³ ea in re sit error, quod tam veteres annales quodque magistratuum libri, quos linteos in aede repositos Monetae Macer Licinius citat identidem auctores, septimo ⁴ post demum anno cum T. Quinctio Poeno A. Cornelium Cossum consulem habeant, existimatio communis omnibus est.

[9] nam etiam illud accedit, ne tam clara pugna in eum annum transferri posset, quod imbelle triennium ferme pestilentia inopiaque frugum circa A. Cornelium consulem fuit, adeo ut quidam annales velut funesti nihil praeter nomina consulum ⁵ suggerant.

[10] tertius ab consulatu Cossi annus tribunum eum militum consulari potestate habet, eodem anno magistrum equitum; quo in imperio alteram insignem edidit pugnam equestrem.

[11] ea libera coniectura est, sed, ut ego arbitror, vana; aversari enim ⁶ omnes opiniones licet, cum auctor pugnae recentibus spoliis in sacra sede positis, Iovem prope ipsum, cui vota erant, Romulumque intuens, haud spernendos falsi tituli testes, se A. Cornelium Cossum consulem scripserit.

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).) — 4.20 focus

[1]

omnibus locis re bene gesta dictator senatus consulto iussuque populi triumphans in urbem rediit.

[2] longe maximum triumphi spectaculum fuit Cossus spolia opima regis interfecti gerens. in eum milites carmina incondita aequantes eum Romulo canere.

[4] Dictator coronam auream, libram pondo; ¹ ex publica pecunia populi iussu in Capitolio Iovi donum posuit.

[5] omnes ante me auctores secutus, A. Cornelium Cossum tribunum militum secunda spolia opima Iovis Feretrii templo intulisse exposui;

[10] tertius ab consulatu Cossi annus tribunum eum militum consulari potestate habet, eodem anno magistrum equitum; quo in imperio alteram insignem edidit pugnam equestrem.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 4.20 focus

[1]

Matters being managed successfully in every direction, the dictator, by a decree of the senate and order of the people, returned to the city in triumph.

[2] By far the most remarkable object in the triumph was Cossus, bearing the spolia opima of the king he had slain.

[3] The soldiers chaunted their uncouth verses on him, extolling him as equal to Romulus. With the usual form of dedication, he presented, as an offering, the spoils in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, near the spoils of Romulus, which, having been the first called opima, were the only ones at that time;

[4] and he attracted the eyes of all the citizens from the dictator's chariot to himself, and en- joyed almost solely the honour of that day's solemnity. The dictator offered up to Jupiter in the Capitol a golden crown a

[5] pound in weight, at the public expense, by order of the people. Following all the Roman writers, I have represented Aulus Cornelius Cossus as a military tribune, when he carried the second spolia opima to the temple of Jupiter Feretrius.

[6] But besides that those spoils are rightly considered opima, which one general has taken from another; and we know no general but the person under whose auspices the war is conducted, the inscription itself written on the spoils proves, against both me and them, that Cossus was consul when he took them.

[7] Having once heard Augustus Caesar, the founder or restorer of all our temples, on entering the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, which being dilapidated by time he rebuilt, aver that he himself had read the said inscription on the linen breastplate, I thought it would be next to sacrilege to rob Cossus of such a testimony respecting his spoils as that of Caesar, the renovator of the temple itself.

[8] Whether the mistake is chargeable on the very ancient annals and the linen books of the magistrates, deposited in the temple of Moneta, and which Licinius Macer occasionally cites as authorities, which have Aulus Cornelius Cossus consul with Titus Quintius Pennus, in the ninth year after this, every person may form his own opinion.

[9] For there is this additional proof, that a battle so celebrated could not be transferred to that year; that the three years before and after the consulship of Aulus Cornelius were entirely free from war, in consequence of a pestilence and a scarcity of grain; so that some annals, as if in mourning, present nothing but the names of the consuls.

[10] The third year from the consulship of Cossus has him as military tribune with consular power; in the same year as master of the horse, in which office he fought another distinguished horse battle.

[11] Conjecture is open on the matter; but, as I think, idle surmises may be turned to support any opinion: when the hero of the fight, having placed the recent spoils in the sacred repository, having before him Jove himself, to whom they were consecrated, and Romulus, no contemptible witnesses in case of a false inscription, entitled himself Aulus Cornelius Cossus consul.

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.) — 4.20 focus

[1] Successful in all directions, the Dictator returned home to enjoy the honour of a triumph granted him by decree of the senate and resolution of the people.

[2] By far the finest sight in the procession was Cossus bearing the spolia opima¹ of the king he had slain.

[3] The soldiers sang rude songs in his honour and placed him on a level with Romulus. He solemnly dedicated the spoils to Jupiter Feretrius, and hung them in his temple near those of Romulus, which were the only ones which at that time were called spolia opima prima. All eyes were turned from the chariot of the Dictator to him; he almost monopolised the honours of the day.

[4] By order of the people, a crown of gold, a pound in weight, was made at the public expense and placed by the Dictator in the Capitol as an offering to Jupiter. In stating

[5] that Cossus placed the spolia opima secunda in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius when he was a military tribune I have followed all the existing authorities.

[6] But not only is the designation of spolia opima restricted to those which a commander-in-chief has taken from a commander-in-chief —and we know of no commander-in-chief but the one under whose auspices the war is conducted —but I and my authorities are also confuted by the actual inscription on the spoils, which states that Cossus took them when he was consul.

[7] Augustus Caesar, the founder and restorer of all the temples, rebuilt the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, which had fallen to ruin through age, and I once heard him say that after entering it he read that inscription on the linen cuirass with his own eyes. After that I felt it would be almost a sacrilege to withhold from Cossus the evidence as to his spoils given by the Caesar who restored that very temple.

[8] Whether the mistake, if there be one, may have arisen from the fact that the ancient annals, and the “Linen Rolls” —the lists of magistrates preserved in the temple of Moneta which Macer Licinius frequently quotes as authorities — have an A. Cornelius Cossus as consul with T. Quinctius Poenus, ten years later-of this every man must judge for himself.

[9] For there is this further reason why so famous a battle could not be transferred to this later date, namely, that during the three years which preceded and followed the consulship of Cossus war was impossible owing to pestilence and famine, so that some of the annals, as though they were records of deaths, supply nothing but the names of the consuls.

[10] The third year after his consulship has the name of Cossus as a consular tribune, and in the same year he is entered as Master of the Horse, in which capacity he fought another brilliant cavalry action.

[11] Every one is at liberty to form his own conjecture; these doubtful points, in my belief, can be made to support any opinion. The fact remains that the man who fought the battle placed the newly-won spoils in the sacred shrine near Jupiter himself, to whom they were consecrated, and with Romulus in full view —two witnesses to be dreaded by any forger —and that he described himself in the inscription as “A. Cornelius Cossus, Consul.” ²

Notes on the current edition

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

1. B.C. 437

2. Nepos tells us ( Att. xx. 3) that the restoration of this temple was undertaken at the suggestion of Atticus. It was therefore probably done not later than 32 B.C. , the year in which Atticus died.

3. B.C. 437

4. It is possible that this paragraph was inserted by Livy, without altering the context, some time after the original publication of Books I-V. This would account for the appearance in the preceding paragraph of the version which Livy now rejects, and also for its reappearance in chap. xxxii. Cf. Niebuhr, Röm. Gesch. ii. 517.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 4.20

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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