Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, D. Spillan, A.M., M.D. (Translator), Cyrus Edmonds (Translator), William A. McDevitte (Translator), 5.20

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[1]

When the dictator now saw that the victory was in his hands, that a most opulent city was on the point of being taken, and that there would be more spoil than had been obtained in all previous wars taken together, that he might not incur either the resentment of the soldiers from a parsimonious

[2] partition of the plunder, or displeasure among the patricians from a prodigal lavishing of it, he sent a letter to the senate,

that by the kindness of the immortal gods, his own measures, and the perseverance of the soldiers, Veii would be soon in the power of the Roman people.

[3] What did they thinly should be done with respect to the spoil? Two opinions divided the senate; the one that of the elder Publius Licinius, who on being first asked by his son, as they say, proposed it as his opinion, that a proclamation should be openly sent forth to the people, that whoever wished to share in the plunder, should proceed to the camp before Veii;

[4] the other that of Appius Claudius, ¹ who, censuring such profusion as unprecedented, extravagant, partial, and one that was unadvisable, if they should once judge it criminal, that money taken from the enemy should be [deposited] in the treasury when exhausted by wars, advised their pay to be paid to the soldiers out of that money, so that the commons might thereby have to pay less tax. For that

the families of all would feel their share of

[5]

such a bounty in equal proportion; that the hands of the idlers in the city, ever greedy for plunder, would not then carry off the prizes due to brave warriors, as it generally so happens that

[6]

according as each individual is wont to seek the principal part of the toil and danger, so is he the least active as a plunderer.

Licinius, on the other hand, argued that the money in that case would ever prove the source of jealousy and animosity, and that it would afford grounds for charges before the commons, and thence for seditions and new laws. "That it was more advisable therefore that the feelings of the commons should be conciliated by that bounty; that succour should be afforded them, exhausted and drained

[7] by a tax of so many years, and that they should feel the fruits arising from a war, in which they had in a manner grown old. What each took from the enemy with his own hand and brought home with him would be more gratifying and delightful, than if he were to receive a much larger share at the will of another. That the dictator himself wished to shun the odium and recriminations arising from the matter; for that reason he transferred it to the senate. The senate, too, ought to hand the

[8] matter thus referred to them over to the commons, and suffer every man to have what the fortune of war gave to to him. This proposition appeared to be the safer, as it would make the senate popular. A proclamation was therefore issued, that those who chose should proceed to the camp to the dictator for the plunder of Veii.

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.) — 5.20 focus

[1] dictator cum iam in manibus videret victoriam esse, urbem opulentissimam capi tantumque praedae fore, quantum non omnibus in unum conlatis ante bellis fuisset,

[2] ne quam inde aut militum iram ex malignitate praedae partitae aut invidiam apud patres ex prodiga largitione caperet, litteras ad senatum misit: deum inmortalium benignitate,

[3] suis consiliis, patientia militum Veios iam fore in potestate populi Romani; quid de praeda faciendum censerent?

[4] duae senatum distinebant sententiae, senis P. Licini, quem primum dixisse a filio interrogatum ferunt, edici palam placere populo, ut, qui particeps esse praedae vellet,

[5] in castra Veios iret, altera Ap. Claudi, qui largitionem novam, prodigam, inaequalem, inconsultam arguens, si semel nefas ducerent captam ex hostibus in aerario exhausto bellis pecuniam esse, auctor erat stipendii ex ea pecunia militi numerandi, ut eo minus tributi plebes conferret;

[6] eius enim doni societatem sensuras aequaliter omnium domos, non avidas in direptiones manus otiosorum urbanorum praerepturas fortium bellatorum praemia esse, cum ita ferme eveniat, ut segnior sit praedator, ut quisque laboris periculique praecipuam petere partem soleat. Licinius contra suspectam

[7] et invisam semper ear eam pecuniam fore aiebat causasque criminum ad plebem, seditionum inde ac legum novarum praebituram;

[8] satius igitur esse reconciliari eo dono plebis animos, exhaustis atque exinanitis tributo tot annorum succurri et sentire praedae fructum ex eo bello, in quo prope consenuerint. gratius id fore laetiusque, quod quisque sua manu ex hoste captum domum rettulerit, quam si multiplex alterius arbitrio accipiat.

[9] ipsum dictatorem fugere invidiam ex eo criminaque; eo delegasse ad senatum; senatum quoque debere reiectam rem ad se permittere plebi ac pati habere, quod cuique fors belli dederit. Haec haec tutior visa sententia est,

[10] quae popularem senatum faceret. edictum itaque est, ad praedam Veientem, quibus videretur, in castra ad dictatorem proficiscerentur.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Conway, Robert Seymour; Walters, Charles Flamstead; Johnson, Stephen Keymer, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914-1935. (Oxford Classical Texts)) — 5.20 focus

[2] dictator cum iam in manibus videret victoriam esse, urbem opulentissimam capi, tantumque praedae fore quantum non omnibus in unum conlatis ante bellis fuisset,

ne quam inde aut militum iram ex malignitate praedae partitae aut invidiam apud patres ex prodiga largitione caperet, litteras ad senatum misit,

[3] deum immortalium benignitate suis consiliis patientia militum Veios iam fore in potestate populi Romani;

[4] quid de praeda faciendum censerent? duae senatum distinebant sententiae, senis P. Licini, quem primum dixisse a filio interrogatum ferunt, edici palam placere populo ut qui particeps esse praedae vellet in castra Veios iret,

[5] altera Ap. Claudi, qui largitionem novam prodigam inaequalem inconsultam arguens, si semel nefas ducerent captam ex ¹ hostibus in aerario exhausto bellis pecuniam esse, auctor erat stipendii ex ea pecunia militi numerandi ut eo minus tributi plebes conferret;

[6] eius enim doni societatem sensuras aequaliter omnium domos, non avidas in direptiones manus otiosorum urbanorum praerepturas fortium bellatorum praemia esse, cum ita ferme eveniat ut segnior sit praedator, ut quisque laboris periculique praecipuam petere partem soleat.

[7] Licinius contra suspectam et invisam semper eam pecuniam fore aiebat causasque criminum ad plebem, seditionum inde ac legum novarum praebituram;

[8] satius igitur esse reconciliari eo dono plebis animos, exhaustis atque exinanitis tributo tot annorum succurri, et sentire praedae fructum ex eo bello in quo prope consenuerint. gratius id fore laetiusque quod quisque sua manu ex hoste captum domum rettulerit quam si multiplex alterius arbitrio accipiat. ipsum dictatorem fugere invidiam ex eo criminaque;

[9] eo delegasse ad senatum; senatum quoque debere reiectam rem ad se permittere plebi ac pati habere quod cuique fors belli dederit.

[10] haec tutior visa sententia est quae popularem senatum faceret. edictum itaque est ad praedam Veientem quibus videretur in castra ad dictatorem proficiscerentur.

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).) — 5.20 focus

[2] dictator cum iam in manibus videret victoriam esse, urbem opulentissimam capi, tantumque praedae fore quantum non omnibus in unum conlatis ante bellis fuisset,

ne quam inde aut militum iram ex malignitate praedae partitae aut invidiam apud patres ex prodiga largitione caperet, litteras ad senatum misit,

[3] deum immortalium benignitate suis consiliis patientia militum Veios iam fore in potestate populi Romani;

[6] eius enim doni societatem sensuras aequaliter omnium domos, non avidas in direptiones manus otiosorum urbanorum praerepturas fortium bellatorum praemia esse, cum ita ferme eveniat ut segnior sit praedator, ut quisque laboris periculique praecipuam petere partem soleat.

[7] Licinius contra suspectam et invisam semper eam pecuniam fore aiebat causasque criminum ad plebem, seditionum inde ac legum novarum praebituram;

[9] eo delegasse ad senatum; senatum quoque debere reiectam rem ad se permittere plebi ac pati habere quod cuique fors belli dederit.

[10] haec tutior visa sententia est quae popularem senatum faceret. edictum itaque est ad praedam Veientem quibus videretur in castra ad dictatorem proficiscerentur.

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)) — 5.20 focus

[1]

The dictator saw that victory was at last within his grasp, and that a city of great wealth was on the point of being taken, with booty more than if all previous wars had been put together.

[2] Lest, therefore, he might incur either the resentment of the soldiers, in consequence of a niggardly division of the spoils, or the ill-will of the Fathers, if he were lavish in sharing them out, he wrote to the senate, that thanks to the

[3] favour of the immortal gods, his own direction, and the patient efforts of his troops, Veii would presently be in the power of the Roman People, and asked what disposition they proposed making of the plunder.

[4] The senate was divided between two opinions; the aged Publius Licinius, who was the first, they say, that his son called upon to speak, ¹ advised making public proclamation that the people decreed that whoso desired a share in the spoils should proceed to the camp at Veii;

[5] the other plan was that of Appius Claudius, who declared that such largess was without example, ² reckless, unfair, and ill-advised; if they were persuaded once for all that it was wicked that money ³ captured from the enemy should lie in the treasury, which had been exhausted by the wars, he urged them to pay the soldiers out of it, that

[6] the plebs might have so much the less war-tax to contribute ⁴ ; this was a boon of which all families alike would feel the benefit, nor would the hands of idle city-folk, greedy of pillage, pluck away the rewards of valiant fighting men —since it commonly turned out that in proportion as a man was prone to seek a leading share of toil and danger, he was slow in plundering.

[7] Licinius argued, on the other hand, that this money would breed endless suspicion and hate, and would furnish grounds for accusations before the plebs, and so for agitation and revolutionary laws;

[8] it was better, therefore, to win over by this gift the sympathies of the commons, to succour them, exhausted and impoverished as they were by so' many years' taxation, and to let them enjoy the spoils and fruits of that war in which they had well-nigh grown old men; there would in every instance be more satisfaction and pleasure in what a man took with his own hand from the enemy and brought home, than if he received many times its value at the discretion of another;

[9] the dictator himself would fain avoid the enmity and charges arising from this business, and therefore had handed it over to the senate; the senate, likewise, in its turn, should refer the question to the plebs, and let every man keep what the fortune of war might give him.

[10] This policy seemed the safer, since it would make the senate popular. Accordingly, proclamation was made that all who liked might go to the dictator in camp, to share in the plunder of Veii.

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.) — 5.20 focus

[1] When the Dictator saw that victory was now within his grasp, that a very wealthy city was on the point of capture, and that there would be more booty than had been amassed in all the previous wars taken together, he

[2] was anxious to avoid incurring the anger of the soldiers through too niggardly a distribution of it on the one hand, and the jealousy of the senate through too lavish a grant of it on the other.

[3] He sent a despatch to the senate in which he stated that through the gracious favour of heaven, his own generalship, and the persevering efforts

[4] of his soldiers, Veii would in a very few hours be in the power of Rome, and he asked for their decision as to the disposal of the booty. The senate were divided. It is reported that the aged P. Licinius, who was the first to be asked his opinion by his son, urged that the people should receive public notice that whoever wanted to share in the spoils should go to the camp at Veii.

[5] Appius Claudius took the opposite line. He stigmatised the proposed largesse as unprecedented, wasteful, unfair, reckless. If, he said, they once thought it sinful for money taken from the enemy to lie in the treasury, drained as it had been by the wars, he would advise that the pay of the soldiers be supplied from that source, so that the plebs might have so much less tax to pay.

[6] “The homes of all would feel alike the benefit of a common boon, the rewards won by brave warriors would not be filched by the hands of city loafers, ever greedy for plunder, for it so constantly happens that those who usually seek the foremost place in toil and danger are the least active in appropriating the spoils.”

[7] Licinius on the other hand said that “this money would always be regarded with suspicion and aversion, and would supply material for indictments before the plebs, and consequently bring about disturbances and revolutionary measures.

[8] It was better, therefore, that the plebs should be conciliated by this gift, that those who had been crushed and exhausted by so many years of taxation should be relieved and get some enjoyment from the spoils of a war in which they had almost become old men. When any one brings home something he has taken from the enemy with his own hand, it affords him more pleasure and gratification than if he were to receive many times its value at the bidding of another.

[9] The Dictator had referred the question to the senate because he wanted to avoid the odium and misrepresentations which it might occasion; the senate, in its turn, ought to entrust it to the plebs and allow each to keep what the fortune of war has given him.” This was felt to be the safer course, as it would make the senate popular.

[10] Notice accordingly was given that those who thought fit should go to the Dictator in camp to share in the plunder of Veii.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. According to Niebuhr, (vol. ii. p. 233,) this fear put into the mouth of Claudius, is attributable to ignorance or forgetfulness on the part of Livy, of the early usage in the dividing of spoils, which had ceased to be observed in the time of Augustus. According to former Roman usage, half of the conquering army was employed, under the sanction 5 of a solemn oath, to subtract nothing, in collecting the spoil, which was then partly divided by lot, partly sold, and the proceeds, if promised to the soldiers, disbursed to them man by man, if otherwise, it was brought into the treasury. Both schemes mentioned here by Livy, it will be observed. contemplated compensation to the people for the war-tax which they had so long paid; but that of Licinius was more 6 favourable, especially to the poor, as the ordinary citizens would receive equal shares, and the compensation would be direct and immediate. —Gunne.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 5.20

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

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