Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Rev. Canon Roberts (Translator), 9.33

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[1] The¹ consuls for the following year were Q. Fabius and C. Marcius Rutilus. Fabius took over the command at Sutrium, and brought reinforcements from Rome.

[2] A fresh army was also raised in Etruria and sent to support the besiegers. Very many years had elapsed since there had been any contests between the patrician magistrates and the tribunes of the plebs.

[3] Now, however, a dispute arose through that family which seemed marked out by destiny to be the cause of quarrels with the plebs and its tribunes. Appius Claudius had now been censor eighteen months, the period fixed by the Aemilian Law for the duration of that office.

[4] In spite of the fact that his colleague, C. Plautius, had resigned, he could under no circumstances whatever be induced to vacate his office. P. Sempronius was the tribune of the plebs who commenced an action for limiting his censorship to the legal period.

[5] In taking this step he was acting in the interests of justice quite as much as in the interests of the people, and he carried the sympathies of the aristocracy no less than he had the support of the masses.

[6] He recited the several provisions of the Aemilian Law and extolled its author, Mamercus Aemilius, the Dictator, for having shortened the censorship. Formerly, he reminded his hearers, it was held for five years, a time long enough to make it tyrannical and despotic, Aemilius limited it to eighteen months.

[7] Then turning to Appius he asked him: “Pray tell me, Appius, what would you have done had you been censor at the time that C. Furius and M. Geganius were censors?” Appius Claudius replied that the tribune's question had not much bearing on his case.

[8] He argued that though the law might be binding in the case of those censors during whose period of office it was passed, because it

[9] was after they had been appointed that the people ordered the measure to become law, and the last order of the people was law for the time being, nevertheless, neither he nor any of the censors subsequently appointed could be bound by it because all succeeding censors had been appointed by the order of the people and the last order of the people was the law for the time being. ²

Ab urbe condita. Titus Livius (Livy). Rev. Canon Roberts (Translator). Medford, MA. 1997-10-28.

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Current edition Perseus

History of Rome (English) (Volumes 1-2. Roberts, Canon, Rev, translator. London, New York: J. M. Dent and Sons; E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912.)

Editions (3)

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.) — 9.33 focus

[1] Q. Fabius, insequentis anni consul, bellum ad Sutrium excepit, collega Fabio C. Marcius Rutilus datus est.

[2] ceterum et Fabius supplementum ab Roma adduxit et novus exercitus domo accitus Etruscis venit. Permulti permulti anni iam erant,

[3] cum inter patricios magistratus tribunosque nulla certamina fuerant, cum ex ea familia, quae velut fatales cum tribunis ac plebe simultates exercebat, certamen oritur.

[4] Ap. Appi Claudius censor circumactis decem et octo mensibus, quod Aemilia lege finitum censurae spatium temporis erat, cum C. Plautius, collega eius, magistratu se abdicasset, nulla vi conpelli, ut abdicaret, potuit.

[5] P. Sempronius erat tribunus plebis, qui finiendae censurae intra legitimnum legitimum tempus actionem susceperat, non popularem magis quam iustam nec in vulgus quam optimo cuique gratiorem.

[6] is cum identidem legem Aemiliam recitaret auctoremque eius Mam. Aemilium dictatorem laudibus ferret, qui quinquennalem ante censuram et longinquitate potestatis dominantem intra sex mensum et anni coegisset spatium,

[7] “dic agedum” inquit, “ Ap. Appi Claudi, quidnam facturus fueris, si eo tempore, quo C. Furius et M. Geganius censores fuerunt, censor fuisses.”

[8] negare Appius interrogationem tribuni magno opere ad causam pertinere suam;

[9] nam etsi tenuerit lex Aemilia eos censores, quorum in magistratu lata esset, quia post illos censores creatos ear eam legem populus iussisset quodque postremum iussisset, id ius ratumque esset, non tamen aut se aut eorum quemquam, qui post earn eam legem latam creati censores essent, teneri ea lege potuisse.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Conway, Robert Seymour; Walters, Charles Flamstead; Johnson, Stephen Keymer, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914-1935. (Oxford Classical Texts)) — 9.33 focus

[1]

Q. ¹ Fabius, insequentis anni consul, bellum ad Sutrium excepit, collega Fabio C. Marcius Rutulus ² datus est.

[2] ceterum et Fabius supplementum ab Roma adduxit et novus exercitus domo accitus Etruscis venit.

[3] permulti anni iam erant cum inter patricios magistratus tribunosque nulla certamina fuerant, cum ex ea familia cui velut fato lis ³ cum tribunis ac plebe erat certamen oritur.

[4] Ap . Claudius censor circumactis decem et octo mensibus quod Aemilia lege finitum censurae spatium temporis erat, cum C. Plautius collega eius magistratu se abdicasset, nulla vi compelli ut abdicaret potuit.

[5] P. Sempronius erat tribunus plebis, qui finiendae censurae intra legitimum tempus actionem susceperat, non popularem magis quam iustam nec in volgus quam optimo cuique gratiorem.

[6] is cum identidem legem Aemiliam recitaret auctoremque eius Mam. Aemilium dictatorem laudibus ferret, qui quinquennalem ante censuram et longinquitate potestatis ⁴ dominantem intra sex mensum et anni coegisset spatium,

[7]

dic agedum

inquit,

Appi Claudi, quidnam facturus fueris, si eo tempore quo C. Furius et M. Geganius ⁵ censores fuerunt censor fuisses.

[8] negare Appius interrogationem tribuni magno opere ad causam pertinere suam;

[9] nam etsi tenuerit lex Aemilia eos censores quorum in magistratu lata esset, quia post illos censores creatos eam legem populus iussisset quodque postremum iussisset id ius ratumque esset, non tamen aut se aut eorum quemquam qui post eam legem latam creati censores essent teneri ea lege potuisse.

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).) — 9.33 focus

[1]

Q. ¹ Fabius, insequentis anni consul, bellum ad Sutrium excepit, collega Fabio C. Marcius Rutulus ² datus est.

[2] ceterum et Fabius supplementum ab Roma adduxit et novus exercitus domo accitus Etruscis venit.

[3] permulti anni iam erant cum inter patricios magistratus tribunosque nulla certamina fuerant, cum ex ea familia cui velut fato lis ³ cum tribunis ac plebe erat certamen oritur.

[5] P. Sempronius erat tribunus plebis, qui finiendae censurae intra legitimum tempus actionem susceperat, non popularem magis quam iustam nec in volgus quam optimo cuique gratiorem.

[7]

dic agedum

inquit,

Appi Claudi, quidnam facturus fueris, si eo tempore quo C. Furius et M. Geganius ⁵ censores fuerunt censor fuisses.

[8] negare Appius interrogationem tribuni magno opere ad causam pertinere suam;

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)) — 9.33 focus

[2] Quintus Fabius, consul in the following ¹ year, took over the campaign at Sutrium. for colleague he was given Gaius Marcius Rutulus.

Fabius brought up replacements from Rome, and a new army came from Etruria to reinforce the enemy.

[3] for a great many years now there had been no contests between the patrician magistrates and the tribunes, when a dispute —arose through that family which was fated, as it seemed, to wrangle with the tribunes and with the plebs.

[4] Appius Claudius the censor, on the expiration of the eighteen months which had been fixed by the Aemilian law ² as the limit of the censorship, although his colleague Gaius Plautius had abdicated, could himself by no compulsion be prevailed upon to do likewise.

[5] it was Publius Sempronius, a tribune of the people, who commenced an action to confine the censorship to its legal limits —an action no less just than popular, and as welcome to every aristocrat as to the common people.

[6] having repeatedly read out the Aemilian law, and praised its author, Mamercus Aemilius the dictator, for confining the censorship —which had until then been tenable for five years and was proving despotic by reason of the long continuance of its authority —within

[7] the space of a year and a half, he said,

come , tell us, Appius Claudius, what you would have done had you been censor at the ³ time when Gaius Furius and Marcus Geganius were censors.

[8] Appius replied that the tribune's question had no particular bearing upon his own case;

[9] for even though the Aemilian law had bound those censors in whose term of office it had been passed, because the people had enacted the law after their election to the censorship and their latest enactment was always the effective law, yet neither himself nor any one of those who had been chosen censors subsequently to the passage of that law could have been bound by it. ⁴

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 9.33 focus

[1]

Quintus Fabius, consul for the ensuing year, succeeded to the command of the army at Sutrium; the colleague given to him was Caius Marcius Rutilus.

[2] On the one side, Fabius brought with him a reinforcement from Rome, and on the other, a new army had been sent for, and came from home, to the Etrurians.

[3] Many years had now passed without any disputes between the patrician magistrates and plebeian tribunes, when a contest took its rise from that family, which seemed raised by fate as antagonists to the tribunes and commons of those times;

[4] Appius Claudius, being censor, when the eighteen months had expired, which was the time limited by the Aemilian law for the duration of the censorship, although his colleague Caius Plautius had already resigned his office, could not be prevailed on, by any means, to give up his.

[5] There was a tribune of the commons, Publius Sempronius; he undertook to enforce a legal process for terminating the censorship within the lawful time, which was not more popular than just, nor more pleasing to the people generally than to every man of character in the city.

[6] After he frequently appealed to the Aemilian law, and bestowed commendations on Mamercus Aemilius, who, in his dictatorship, had been the author of it, for having contracted, within the space of a year and six months, the censorship, which formerly had lasted five years, and was a power

[7] which, in consequence of its long continuance, often became tyrannical, he proceeded thus:

[8]

Tell me, Appius Claudius, in what manner you would have acted, had you been censor, at the time when Caius Furius and Marcus Geganius were censors?

Appius insisted, that

the tribune's question was irrelevant to his case.

[9]

For, although the Aemilian law might bind those censors, during whose magistracy it was passed, —because the people made that law after they had become censors; and whatever order is the last passed by the people, that is held to be the law, and valid: — yet neither he, nor any of those who had been created censors subsequent to the passing of that law, could be bound by it.

Notes on the current edition

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

1. Appius Claudius prolongs his Censorship in defiance of the Law.

2. Appius' argument is this: The Aemilian Law only restricted the censorship of Furius and Geganius, because whilst their election was tantamount to one “order of the people” the Aemilian Law was a second “order of the people” superseding the first. But in all subsequent elections there was only one “order of the people,” viz. the election itself, and therefore the original law which fixed the duration of the office at five years resumed its validity.

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 9.33

Rev. Canon Roberts (Translator)

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