Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, D. Spillan, A.M., M.D. (Translator), Cyrus Edmonds (Translator), William A. McDevitte (Translator), 3.19

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[1]

Peace being established, the tribunes then pressed on the patricians to fulfil the promise of Publius Valerius; they pressed on Claudius, to free the shade of his colleague from breach of faith, and to allow the business of the law to proceed. The consul asserted that he would suffer the discussion on the law to go on, till he had a colleague appointed in the room of the deceased.

[2] These disputes held on until the elections for substituting a consul. In the month of December, ¹ by the most zealous exertions of

[3] the patricians, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus, Caeso's father, is elected consul to enter on his office without delay. The commons were dismayed at their being about to have as consul a man incensed against them, powerful by the support of the patricians, by his own merit, and by three sons, not one of whom yielded to Caeso in greatness of

[4] spirit; whilst they were superior to him by their exercising prudence and moderation, when the occasion required. When he entered on his office, in his frequent harangues from the tribunal, he was not more vehement in restraining the commons than in reproving the senate,

by the listlessness of which body the tribunes of the commons, now become perpetual, by means of their tongues and prosecutions exercised regal

[5]

authority, not as in a republic of the Roman people, but as if in an ill-regulated family. That with his son Caeso, fortitude, constancy, all the splendid qualifications of youth in war or in peace, had been driven and exiled from the city of Rome: that talkative and turbulent men, sowers

[6]

of discord, twice and even thrice re-elected tribunes, lived in the most destructive practices with regal tyranny. Did that Aulus Virginius,

says he,

deserve less punishment than Appius Herdonius, because he was not in the Capitol? considerably more, by Jove, (in the mind of any one) who would judge the matter fairly. Herdonius, if nothing else, by avowing himself an enemy, in a manner gave you notice to take up arms: this man, by denying the existence

[7]

of war, took arms out of your hands, and exposed you defenceless to your slaves and exiles. And did you, (without any offence to Caius Claudius and to Publius Valerius, now no more let me say it,) did you advance against the Capitoline hill before you expelled those enemies from the forum. It is shameful before gods and men. When the enemy were in the citadel, in the very Capitol, when the leader of the exiles and slaves, after profaning every thing, took up his residence in the

[8]

shrine of Jupiter, the best and greatest, arms were taken up in Tusculum sooner than in Rome. It was a matter of doubt whether Lucius Mamilius, the Tusculan leader, or Publius Valerius and Caius Claudius, the consuls, recovered the Roman citadel, and we, who formerly did not suffer the Latins to touch arms, even in their own defence, when they had the enemy in their very frontiers, should have been taken and destroyed now, had not the Latins taken up arms of their own accord. Tribunes, is this bringing

[9]

aid to the commons, to expose them in a defenceless state to be butchered by the enemy. Now, if any one, even the humblest individual of your commons, (which portion you have as it were broken off from the rest of the state, and made it your country and pe- culiar commonwealth,) if any one of these persons were to bring word that his house was beset by an armed band of slaves, you would think that assistance should be afforded to him. Was Jupiter, the best

[10]

and greatest, when surrounded by the arms of exiles and of slaves, deserving of no human aid? And do these persons require that they be considered sacred and inviolable, ² with whom the gods themselves are neither sacred nor inviolable? But, steeped as ye are in crimes against both gods and men, do ye say that you will pass your law this year? Verily then the day on which I was created consul was a disastrous day for the commonwealth, much more

[11]

so even than that on which Publius Valerius the consul fell, if ye should carry it. Now, first of all,

says he,

Romans, it is the intention of myself and of my colleague to march the legions against the Volsci and the Aequi. I know not by what fatality we find the gods more propitious when we are at war than in peace. How great the danger from those states would have been, had they known that the Capitol was besieged by exiles, it is better to conjecture from the past, than to feel from actual experience.

Ab urbe condita. Titus Livius (Livy). D. Spillan, A.M., M.D. (Translator), Cyrus Edmonds (Translator), William A. McDevitte (Translator). Medford, MA. .

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

History of Rome (English) (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's 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.) — 3.19 focus

[1] pace parta instare tur tum tribuni patribus, ut, P. Valeri fidem exsolverent, instare C. Claudio, ut collegae deos manes fraude liberaret, agi de lege sineret. consul, antequam collegam sibi subrogasset, negare passurum agi de lege.

[2] hae tenuere contentiones usque ad comitia consulis subrogandi. Decembri mense summo patrum studio L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, pater Caesonis, consul creatur, qui magistratum statim occiperet.

[3] perculsa erat plebes consulem habitura iratum, potentem favore patrum, virtute sua, tribus liberis, quorum nemo Caesoni cedebat magnitudine animi, consilium et modum adhibendo, ubi res posceret, priores erant.

[4] is ut magistratum iniit, adsiduis contionibus pro tribunali non in plebe coercenda quam senatu castigando vehementior fruit, cuius ordinis languore perpetui iam tribuni plebis, non ut in re publica populi Romani, sed ut in perdita domo, lingua criminibusque regnarent.

[5] cum Caesone filio suo virtutem, constantiam, omnia iuventutis belli domique decora pulsa ex urbe Romana et fugata esse; loquaces, seditiosos, semina discordiarum, iterum ac tertium tribunos pessimis artibus regia licentia vivere. “Aulus” inquit “ille Verginius,

[6] quia in Capitolio non fuit, minus supplicii quam Ap. Herdonius meruit? plus hercule aliquanto, qui vere rem aestimare velit. Herdonius, si nihil aliud, hostem se fatendo prope denuntiavit, ut arma caperetis; hic negando bellum esse arma vobis ademit nudosque servis vestris et exulibus obiecit.

[7] et vos — C. Claudi pace et P. Valeri mortui loquar — prius in clivum Capitolinum signa intulistis, quam hos hostis de foro tolleretis? pudet deorum hominumque. cum hostes in arce, in Capitolio essent, exulum et servorum dux profanatis omnibus in cella Iovis optimi maximi habitaret, Tusculi ante quam Romae sumpta sunt arma;

[8] in dubio fuit, utrum L. Mamilius, Tusculanus dux, an P. Valerius et C. Claudius consules Romanam arcem liberarent; et qui ante Latinos ne pro se quidem ipsis, cum in finibus hostem haberent, attingere arma passi sumus, nunc, nisi Latini sua sponte arma sumpsissent, capti et deleti eramus.

[9] hoc est, tribuni, auxilium plebi ferre, inermem eam hosti trucidandam obicere? scilicet, si quis vobis humillimus homo de vestra plebe, quam partem velut abruptam a cetero populo vestram patriam peculiaremque rem publicam fecistis, si quis ex his domum suam obsessam a familia armata nuntiaret, ferendum auxilium putaretis:

[10] Iuppiter optimus maximus exulum atque servorum saeptus armis nulla humana ope dignus erat?

[11] et hi postulant, ut sacrosancti habeantur, quibus ipsi dii neque sacri neque sancti sunt? at enim divinis humanisque obruti sceleribus legem vos hoc anno perlaturos dictitatis. tum hercule illo die, quo ego consul sum creatus, male gesta res publica est, peius multo, quam cum P. Valerius consul periit, si tuleritis.

[12] iam primum omnium” inquit, “Quirites, in Volscos et Aequos mihi atque collegae legiones ducere in animo est. nescio quo fato magis bellantes quam pacati propitios habemus deos. quantum periculum ab illis populis fuerit, si Capitolium ab exulibus obsessum scissent, suspicari de praeterito quam re ipsa experiri est melius.”

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Conway, Robert Seymour; Walters, Charles Flamstead; Johnson, Stephen Keymer, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914-1935. (Oxford Classical Texts)) — 3.19 focus

[1]

pace parta instare tum tumr tribuni patribus ut P. Valeri fidem exsolverent, instare C. Claudio, ¹ ut collegae deos manes fraude liberaret, agi de lege sineret. consul antequam collegam sibi subrogasset negare passurum agi de lege.

[2] hae tenuere contentiones usque ad comitia consulis subrogandi. decembri mense summo patrum studio L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, pater Caesonis, consul creatur, qui magistratum statim occiperet.

[4] is ut magistratum iniit, adsiduis contionibus pro tribunali non in plebe coercenda quam senatu castigando vehementior veliementior fuit, cuius ordinis languore perpetui iam tribuni plebis, non ut in re publica populi Romani sed ut in perdita domo lingua criminibusque regnarent.

[5] cum Caesone filio suo virtutem, ² constantiam, omnia iuventutis belli domique decora pulsa ex urbe Romana et fugata esse; loquaces, seditiosos, semina discordiarum, iterum ac tertium tribunos pessimis artibus regia licentia vivere.

[6]

Aulus

inquit

ille Verginius, quia in Capitolio non fuit, minus supplicii quam Ap. Herdonius meruit? plus hercule aliquanto, qui vere rem aestimare velit. Herdonius , si nihil aliud, hostem se fatendo prope denuntiavit ut arma caperetis; hic negando bellum ³ esse arma vobis ademit nudosque servis vestris et exsulibus obiecit.

[7]

et vos—C. Claudi pace et P. Valeri mortui loquar—prius in clivum Capitolinum signa intulistis quam hos hostes de foro tolleretis? pudet deorum deorumn hominumque. cum hostes in arce, in Capitolio essent, exsulum et servorum dux profanatis omnibus in cella Iovis optimi maximi habitaret, Tusculi ante quam Romae Rornae sumpta sunt arma; in dubio fuit,

[8]

utrum L. Mamilius, Tusculanus dux, an P. Valerius et C. Claudius consules Romanam arcem liberarent; et qui ante Latinos ne pro se quidem ipsis, cum in finibus hostem haberent, attingere arma passi sumus, nunc, nisi Latini sua sponte arma sumpsissent, capti et deleti eramus.

[9]

hoc est, tribuni, auxilium plebi ferre, inermem eam earn hosti trucidandam obicere? scilicet , si quis vobis humillimus homo de vestra plebe, quam partem velut ⁴ abruptam a cetero populo vestram patriam peculiaremque rem publicam fecistis, si quis ex his domum suam obsessam ⁵ a familia armata nuntiaret, ferendum auxilium putaretis:

[10]

iuppiter luppiter optimus maximus exsulum atque servorum saeptus armis nulla humana ope dignus erat? et hi postulant ut sacrosancti habeantur, quibus ipsi di neque sacri neque sancti sunt?

[11]

at enim divinis humanisque obruti sceleribus legem vos hoc anno perlaturos dictitatis. tum tur hercule illo die quo ego consul sum creatus, male gesta res publica est, peius multo, quam cum P. Valerius consul periit,—si tuleritis.

[12]

iam primum omnium

inquit,

Quirites , in Volscos et Aequos mihi atque collegae legiones ducere in animo est. nescio quo fato magis bellantes quam pacati propitios habemus deos. quantum periculum ab illis populis fuerit, si Capitolium ab exsulibus obsessum scissent, suspicari de praeterito quam re ipsa experiri est melius.

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).) — 3.19 focus

[1]

[2] hae tenuere contentiones usque ad comitia consulis subrogandi. decembri mense summo patrum studio L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, pater Caesonis, consul creatur, qui magistratum statim occiperet.

[6]

Aulus

inquit

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

iuppiter luppiter optimus maximus exsulum atque servorum saeptus armis nulla humana ope dignus erat? et hi postulant ut sacrosancti habeantur, quibus ipsi di neque sacri neque sancti sunt?

[11]

[12]

iam primum omnium

inquit,

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (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)) — 3.19 focus

[1]

When peace had been established, the tribunes began to urge the patricians to fulfil the promise made by Publius Valerius; and to urge Gaius Claudius to absolve the manes of his colleague from deceit, and allow the law to be discussed. The consul refused to permit discussion of the law, until he should have accomplished the election of a colleague.

[2] These disputes continued up to the time when the comitia met to fill the vacant consulate. In December, thanks to extraordinary zeal on the part of the patricians, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Caeso's father, was declared consul, to enter upon the office at once.

[3] The plebs were filled with dismay at the prospect of a consul incensed against themselves and strong in the favour of the senate, his own worth, and his three sons, none of whom was inferior to Caeso in courage, while they surpassed him in using wisdom and restraint when the need arose.

[4] Cincinnatus, having taken up the magistracy, harangued the people incessantly from the tribunal; yet was no more vehement in repressing the plebs than in castigating the senate.

[5] It was owing, he declared, to the apathy of that order that the tribunes of the plebs, whose tenure was now become permanent, exercised such a tyranny of speech and accusation as might be expected in a disordered household, but not in the public affairs of the Roman People. With his son Caeso, manhood, ¹ steadfastness, and all the qualities which honour youth in war and in civil life had been driven from Rome and put to rout.

[6] Garrulous, seditious, sowers of discord, obtaining office —by the most wicked practices —for a second and even a third term, the tribunes led as lawless a life as kings.

Did Aulus Verginius,

he cried,

because he was not in the Capitol, deserve less punishment than Appius Herdonius? Nay, somewhat more, if one were disposed to be fair.

[7]

Herdonius had one thing to his credit: by professing himself an enemy, he as good as warned you to arm; the other, denying the existence of a war, took away your arms and exposed you unprotected to your slaves and exiles. And did you —without offence to Gaius Claudius and the dead Publius Valerius be it said, —did you carry your standards against the Capitoline Hill before clearing these enemies out of the Forum? I am ashamed in the sight of gods and men.

[8]

When foes were in the Citadel, foes in the Capitol, when the captain of slaves and exiles, profaning everything, was quartered in the very shrine of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, it was Tusculum —not Rome —where the first sword was drawn. It was a question whether Lucius Mamilius, the Tusculan general, or Publius Valerius and Gaius Claudius, the consuls, would free the Roman Citadel; and we who until then did not allow the Latins to touch their weapons, even in their own defence, though they had an enemy within their borders, had now, unless the Latins had armed of their own free will, been taken captive and destroyed.

[9]

Is this, tribunes, what you mean by helping the plebs, —to deliver them over unarmed to be slaughtered by the enemy? Why, if the humblest man belonging to your plebs, a part ² of the people which you have sundered, as it were, from the rest and made a country of your own and a state apart, —if

[10]

one of these, I say, had announced that his slaves had armed and seized his house, you would have thought yourselves bound to help him; was Jupiter Optimus Maximus, beset by the swords of exiles and slaves, too mean to merit any man's assistance?

[11]

And do these tribunes demand that they be held sacred and inviolable, in whose eyes the very gods are neither the one nor the other? So! Weighed down with crimes against gods and men you assert that you will carry through your law this year! Then, by Heaven, it was an evil day for the nation when I was chosen consul, far more evil than when Publius Valerius the consul fell, —if indeed you carry it!

[12]

First of all then, Quirites,

he concluded,

I and my colleague are resolved to lead the legions against the Volsci and the Aequi. We are somehow fated to enjoy the favour of the gods in larger measure when warring than when at peace. How dangerous these peoples would have been, had they known that the Capitol was seized by exiles, we may more profitably conjecture from the past than ascertain by trying 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.) — 3.19 focus

[1] No¹ sooner were order and quiet restored than the tribunes began to press upon the senators the necessity of redeeming the promise made by Publius Valerius; they urged Claudius to free his colleague's manes² from the guilt of deception by allowing the Law to be proceeded with. The consul refused to allow it until he had secured the election of a

[2] colleague. The contest went on till the election was held. In the month of December, after the utmost exertions on the part of the patricians, L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the father of Caeso, was elected consul, and at once took up his

[3] office. The plebeians were dismayed at the prospect of having as consul a man incensed against them, and powerful in the warm support of the senate, in his own personal merits, and in his three children, not one of whom was Caeso's inferior in loftiness of mind, while they were his superiors in exhibiting the prudence and moderation where

[4] necessary. When he entered on his magistracy he continually delivered harangues from the tribunal, in which he censured the senate as energetically as he put down the

[5] plebs. It was, he said, through the apathy of that order that the tribunes of the plebs, now perpetually in office, acted as kings in their speeches and accusations, as though they were living, not in the commonwealth of Rome , but in some wretched ill-regulated family. Courage, resolution, all that makes youth distinguished at home and in the battlefield, had been expelled and banished from Rome with his son

[6] Caeso. Loquacious agitators, sowers of discord, made tribunes for the second and third time in succession, were living by means of infamous practices in regal licentiousness. “Did that fellow,” he asked, “Aulus Verginius, because he did not happen to be in the Capitol, deserve less punishment than Appius Herdonius? Considerably more, by Jove, if any choose to form a true estimate of the

[7] matter. Herdonius, if he did nothing else, avowed himself an enemy and in a measure summoned you to take up arms; this man, by denying the existence of a war, deprived you of your arms, and exposed you defenceless to the mercy of your slaves and exiles. And did you —without disrespect to C. Claudius and the dead P. Valerius, I would ask —did you advance against the Capitol before you cleared these enemies out of the Forum? It is an outrage on gods and men, that when there were enemies in the Citadel, in the Capitol, and the leader of the slaves and exiles, after profaning everything, had taken up his quarters in the very shrine of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, it should be at Tusculum , not at Rome , that arms were first taken

[8] up. It was doubtful whether the Citadel of Rome would be delivered by the Tusculan general, L. Mamilius, or by the consuls, P. Valerius and C. Claudius. We, who had not allowed the Latins to arm, even to defend themselves against invasion, would have been taken and destroyed, had not these very Latins taken up arms

[9] unbidden. This, tribunes, is what you call protecting the plebs, exposing it to be helplessly butchered by the enemy! If the meanest member of your order, which you have as it were severed from the rest of the people and made into a province, a State of your own — if such an one, I say, were to report to you that his house was beset by armed slaves, you would, I presume, think that you ought to render him

[10] assistance; was not Jupiter Optimus Maximus, when shut in by armed slaves and exiles, worthy to receive any human aid? Do these fellows demand that their persons shall be sacred and inviolable when the very gods themselves are neither sacred nor inviolable in their

[11] eyes? But, steeped as you are in crimes against gods and men, you give out that you will carry your Law this year. Then, most assuredly, if you do carry it, the day when I was made consul will be a far worse day for the State than that on which P. Valerius

[12] perished. Now I give you notice, Quirites, the very first thing that my colleague and myself intend to do is to march the legions against the Volscians and Aequi. By some strange fatality, we find the gods more propitious when we are at war than when we are at peace. It is better to infer from what has occurred in the past than to learn by actual experience how great the danger from those States would have been had they known that the Capitol was in the hands of exiles.”

Notes on the current edition

History of Rome, books 1-10, 21-45

1. The consuls under ordinary circumstances used to commence their office at this time on the Calends of August.

2. Neque sacri neque sancti. Whatever is consecrated by religio is said to be sacrum; whilst sanctum is 11 said of that which the law states to be inviolable.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 3.19

D. Spillan, A.M., M.D. (Translator), Cyrus Edmonds (Translator), William A. McDevitte (Translator)

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