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), 9.18

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[2] and we are speaking of an Alexander not yet overwhelmed with prosperity, which none has ever been less able to bear.

for viewing him in the light of his new fortune and of the new character —if I may use the expression —which

[3] he had assumed as conqueror, he would evidently have come to Italy more like Darius than like Alexander, at the head of an army that had forgotten Macedonia and was already adopting the degenerate customs of the Persians.

[4] i am loath, in writing of so great a prince, to remind the reader of the ostentatious alteration in his dress, and of his desire that men should prostrate themselves in adulation, a thing which even conquered Macedonians would have found oppressive, much more then those who had been victorious;

[5] of his cruel punishments and the murder of his friends as they drank and feasted; of the boastful lie about his origin. ¹ what if his love of wine had every day grown stronger? and his truculent and ² fiery anger?

[6] i mention only things which historians regard as certain. can we deem such vices to be no detraction from a general's good qualities? but there was forsooth the danger —as the silliest of the Greeks, ³ who exalt the reputation even of the Parthians against the Romans, are fond of alleging —that

[7] the Roman People would have been unable to withstand the majesty of Alexander's name, though I think that they had not so much as heard of him; and that out of all the Roman nobles not one would have dared to lift up his voice against him, although in Athens, a city crushed by the arms of Macedonia, at the very moment when men had before their eyes the reeking ruins of the

[8] neighbouring Thebes, they dared inveigh against him freely, as witness the records of their speeches. ⁴

[9] however imposing the greatness of the man may appear to us, still this greatness will be that of one man only, and the fruits of little more than ten years of success. those who magnify it for this reason, that the Roman People, albeit never in any war, have yet suffered defeat in a number of battles, whereas Alexander's fortune was never aught but prosperous in any battle, fail to perceive that they are comparing the achievements of a man —and

[10] a young man too —with those of a people that was now in its four hundredth year of warfare.

[11] should it occasion us surprise if, seeing that upon the one side are counted more generations than are years upon the other, ⁵ fortune should have varied more ⁶ in that long time than in a life of thirteen years?

[12] why not compare a man's fortune with a man's, and a general's with a general's? How many Roman generals could I name who never suffered a reverse in battle! in our annals and lists of magistrates you may run through pages of consuls and dictators of whom it never on any day repented the Roman People, whether of their generalship or fortune.

[13] and what makes them more wonderful than Alexander or any king is this: some were dictators of ten or twenty days, and none held the consulship above a year;

[14] their levies were obstructed by the tribunes of the plebs; they were late in going to war, and were called back early to conduct elections;

[15] in the midst of their undertakings the year rolled round; now the rashness, now the frowardness of a colleague occasioned them losses or difficulties; they succeeded to affairs which others had mismanaged, they received an army of raw recruits, or one badly disciplined.

[16] now consider kings: not only are they free from all impediments, but they are lords of time and circumstance, and in their counsels carry all things with them, instead of following in their train.

[17] so then, an undefeated Alexander would have warred against undefeated generals, and would have brought the same pledges of Fortune to the crisis.

[18] nay , he would have run a greater risk than they, inasmuch as the Macedonians would have had but a single Alexander, not only exposed to many dangers, but incurring them voluntarily, while there would have ⁷ been

[19] many Romans a match for Alexander, whether for glory or for the greatness of their deeds, of whom each several one would have lived and died as his own fate commanded, without endangering the State.

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.) — 9.18 focus

[1] et loquimur de Alexandro nondum merso secundis rebus, quarum nemo intolerantior fuit.

[2] qui si ex habitu novae fortunae novique, ut ita dicam, ingenii,

[3] quod sibi victor induerat, spectetur, Dareo magis similis quam Alexandro in Italiam venisset et exercitum Macedoniae oblitum degenerantemque iam in Persarum mores adduxisset.

[4] referre in tanto rege piget superbam mutationem vestis et desideratas humi iacentium adulationes, etiam victis Macedonibus graves, nedum victoribus, et foeda supplicia et inter vinum et epulas caedes amicorum et vanitatem ementiendae divinae stirpis.

[5] quid? si vini amor in dies fieret acrior, quid?

[6] si trux ac praefervida ira nec quicquam dubium inter scriptores refero — , nullane haec damna imperatoriis virtutibus ducimus? id vero periculum erat, quod levissimi ex Graecis, qui Parthorum quoque contra nomen Romanum gloriae favent, dictitare solent, ne maiestatem nominis Alexandri, quem ne fama quidem illis notum arbitror fuisse,

[7] sustinere non potuerit populus Romanus, et adversus quem Athenis, in civitate fracta Macedonum armis, cernentes tur tum maxime prope fumantes Thebarum ruinas contionari libere ausi sint homines, id quod ex monumentis orationum patet, adversus eum nemo ex tot proceribus Romanis vocem liberam missurus fuerit! Quantalibet magnitude magnitudo hominis concipiatur animo;

[8] unius tamen ea magnitudo hominis erit, collecta paulo plus decem annorum felicitate;

[9] quam qui eo extollunt, quod populus Romanus, etsi nullo bello, multis tamen proeliis victus sit, Alexandro nullius pugnae non secunda fortuna fuerit, non intellegunt se hominis res gestas, et eius iuvenis, cum populi iam quadringentesimum bellantis annum rebus conferre.

[10] miremur, si, cum ex hac parte saecula plura numerentur quam ex illa anni, plus in tam longo spatio quam in aetate tredecim annorum fortuna variaverit?

[11] quin tu hominis cum homine et ducis cum duce fortunam confers? quot Romanos duces nominem,

[12] quibus numquam adversa fortuna pugnae fuit! paginas in annalibus magistratuumque fastis percurrere licet consulum dictatorumque, quorum nec virtutis nec fortunae ullo die populum Romanum paenituit.

[13] et, quo sint mirabiliores quam Alexander aut quisquam rex, denos vicenosque dies quidam dictaturam, nemo plus quam annum consulatum gessit;

[14] ab tribunis plebis dilectus inpediti sunt; post tempus ad bella ierunt, ante tempus comitiorum causa revocati sunt; in ipso conatu rerum circumegit se annus;

[15] collegae nunc temeritas nunc pravitas inpedimento aut damno fuit; male gestis rebus alterius sucessum successum est; tironem aut mala disciplina institutum exercitum acceperunt.

[16] at hercule reges non liberi solum inpedimentis omnibus sed domini rerum temporumque trahunt consiliis cuncta, non sequuntur.

[17] invictus ergo Alexander cum invictis ducibus bella gessisset et eadem fortunae pignora in discrimen detulisset;

[18] immo etiam eo plus periculi subisset, quod Macedones unum Alexandrum habuissent, multis casibus non solum obnoxium sed etiam offerentem se,

[19] Romani multi fuissent Alexandro vel gloria vel rerum magnitudine pares, quorum suo quisque fato sine publico discrimine viveret morereturque.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Conway, Robert Seymour; Walters, Charles Flamstead; Johnson, Stephen Keymer, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914-1935. (Oxford Classical Texts)) — 9.18 focus

[1]

et loquimur de Alexandro nondum merso secundis rebus, quarum nemo intolerantior fuit.

[2] qui si ex habitu novae fortunae novique, ut ita dicam,

[3] ingenii quod sibi victor induerat spectetur, Dareo magis similis quam Alexandro in Italiam venisset et exercitum Macedoniae oblitum degenerantemque iam in Persarum mores adduxisset.

[5] quid si vini amor in dies fieret acrior? quid si trux ac ¹ praefervida ira?—Nec quicquam dubium inter scriptores refero—, nullane haec damna imperatoriis virtutibus ducimus?

[6] id vero periculum erat, quod levissimi ex Graecis, qui Parthorum quoque contra nomen Romanum gloriae favent, dictitare solent, ne maiestatem nominis Alexandri, quem ne fama quidem illis notum arbitror fuisse,

[7] sustinere non potuerit populus Romanus; et adversus quem Athenis, in civitate fracta Macedonum armis, cernentes ² tum maxime prope fumantes Thebarum ruinas, contionari libere ausi sunt homines—id quod ex monumentis orationum patet—adversus eum nemo ex tot proceribus Romanis vocem liberam missurus fuerit!

[8] quantalibet magnitudo magnitude hominis concipiatur animo; unius tamen ea magnitudo hominis erit collecta paulo plus decem annorum felicitate;

[9] quam qui eo extollunt quod populus Romanus etsi nullo bello multis tamen proeliis victus sit, Alexandro nullius pugnae non secunda fortuna fuerit, non intellegunt se hominis res gestas, et eius iuvenis, cum populi iam quadringentesimum ³ bellantis annum rebus conferre.

[10] miremur si, cum ex hac parte saecula plura numerentur quam ex illa anni, plus in tam longo spatio quam in aetate tredecim annorum ⁴ fortuna variaverit?

[11] quin tu hominis cum homine et ducis cum duce fortunam confers? ⁵

[12] quot Romanos duces nominem quibus nunquam adversa fortuna pugnae fuit! paginas in annalibus magistratuumque fastis ⁶ percurrere licet consulum dictatorumque quorum nec virtutis nec fortunae ullo die populum Romanum paenituit.

[13] et quo sint mirabiliores quam Alexander aut quisquam rex, denos vicenosque dies quidam dictaturam, nemo plus quam annum consulatum gessit;

[14] ab tribunis plebis dilectus impediti sunt; post tempus ad bella ierunt, ante tempus comitiorum causa revocati sunt; in ipso conatu rerum circumegit se annus;

[15] collegae nunc temeritas nunc pravitas impedimento aut damno fuit; male gestis rebus alterius successum est; tironem aut mala disciplina institutum exercitum acceperunt.

[16] at hercule reges non liberi solum impedimentis omnibus sed domini rerum temporumque trahunt consiliis cuncta, non sequuntur.

[17] invictus ergo Alexander cum invictis ducibus bella gessisset et eadem fortunae pignora in discrimen detulisset;

[18] immo etiam eo plus periculi subisset quod Macedones unum Alexandrum habuissent, multis casibus non solum obnoxium sed etiam offerentem se, Romani ⁷ multi fuissent Alexandro vel gloria vel rerum magnitudine pares, quorum suo quisque fato sine publico discrimine viveret morereturque.

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).) — 9.18 focus