- Source
- Titi Livi ab urbe condita libri editionem priman, Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
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- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:2.5.1-2.5.10
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-04
The senate permits the plebs to plunder the royal property, and the land of the Tarquinii becomes the Campus Martius, with the discarded grain forming an island in the Tiber. Subsequently, the consul Brutus resolutely executes the conspirators, including his own sons, and the slave who reported the plot is rewarded with freedom and citizenship.
de bonis regiis, quae reddi ante censuerant, res integra refertur ad patres. ii victi ira vetuere reddi, vetuere in publicum redigi:
Concerning the royal goods, which they had previously voted to be returned, the matter was referred back to the senators as undecided. Overcome by anger, they forbade them to be returned, and forbade them to be brought into the public treasury:
diripienda plebi1 sunt data, ut contacta regia praeda spem in perpetuum cum iis pacis amitteret. ager Tarquiniorum, qui inter urbem ac Tiberim fuit, consecratus Marti Martius deinde campus fuit.
they were given to the plebs to be plundered, so that, having touched the royal booty, they might lose for ever the hope of peace with them. The land of the Tarquinii, which was between the city and the Tiber, having been consecrated to Mars, became thereafter the Campus Martius.
forte ibi tum seges farris dicitur fuisse matura messi. quem campi fructum2 quia religiosum erat consumere, desectam cum stramento segetem magna vis hominum simul inmissi corbibus fudere in Tiberim tenui fluentem aqua, ut mediis caloribus solet.
By chance, there is said to have been then a crop of spelt ripe for harvest. Because it was a religious taboo to consume this fruit of the field, a great force of men, sent in all at once, carried the reaped crop together with the straw in baskets and threw it into the Tiber, which was flowing with shallow water, as is usual in the height of summer.
ita in vadis haesitantis frumenti acervos sedisse inlitos limo; insulam inde paulatim et aliis, quae fert temere flumen, eodem invectis factam. postea credo additas moles manuque adiutum, ut iam eminens area firmaque templis quoque ac porticibus sustinendis esset.
Thus, the heaps of grain, sticking in the shallows, settled down, covered with mud; from this, an island was gradually formed, as other things which the river carries at random were drifted to the same spot. Afterwards, I believe, embankments were added and aid was given by hand, so that it might be an area already elevated and firm enough to support even temples and porticos.
direptis bonis regum damnati proditores sumptumque supplicium, conspectius eo, quod poenae capiendae ministerium patri de liberis consulatus inposuit, et, qui spectator erat amovendus, eum ipsum fortuna exactorem supplicii dedit.
When the goods of the kings had been plundered, the traitors were condemned and punishment was inflicted, more conspicuous because the consulship imposed upon a father the duty of executing the punishment on his own children, and fortune gave him as the exactor of the punishment who should have been removed as a spectator.
stabant deligati ad palum nobilissimi iuvenes; sed a ceteris, velut ab ignotis capitibus, consulis liberi omnium in se averterant oculos, miserebatque non poenae magis homines quam sceleris,3 quo poenam meriti essent:
The most noble young men stood bound to the stake; but from the others, as if from unknown persons, the children of the consul drew the eyes of all upon themselves, and people pitied not more the punishment than the crime by which they had deserved the punishment:
illos eo potissimum anno patriam liberatam, patrem liberatorem, consulatum ortum ex domo Iunia, patres, plebem, quidquid deorum hominumque Romanorum esset, induxisse in animum, ut superbo quondam regi, tum infesto exuli proderent.
that they, in that year of all years, had brought themselves to betray the liberated fatherland, the father its liberator, the consulship arising from the Junian house, the senators, the plebs, and whatever there was of Roman gods and men, to one who was once a proud king and was now a hostile exile.
consules in sedem processere suam, missique lictores ad sumendum supplicium. nudatos virgis caedunt securique feriunt, cum inter omne tempus pater vultusque et os eius spectaculo esset eminente animo patrio4 inter publicae poenae ministerium.
The consuls proceeded to their tribunal, and the lictors were sent to inflict the punishment. They beat with rods those who had been stripped bare and struck them with the axe, while during all that time the father, his look and his face, was a prominent spectacle, his fatherly mind showing through during the service of public punishment.
secundum poenam nocentium, ut in utramque partem arcendis sceleribus exemplum nobile esset, praemium indici pecunia ex aerario, libertas et civitas data. ille primum dicitur vindicta liberatus.
Following the punishment of the guilty, in order that there might be a noble example in both directions for deterring crimes, a reward of money from the treasury, freedom, and citizenship were given to the informer. He is said to have been the first to be liberated by the vindicta.
quidam vindictae quoque nomen tractum ab illo putant; Vindicio ipsi nomen fuisse. post illum observatum, ut, qui ita liberati essent, in civitatem accepti viderentur.
Some think that the name of the vindicta also was derived from him; that his own name was Vindicius. After him, it was observed that those who had been liberated in this way were considered to be received into citizenship.
- 2.5.2diripienda plebi
plebi is a dative of agent accompanying the gerundive diripienda ('to be plundered'), meaning 'to be plundered by the plebs.' This is a standard construction with the gerundive representing the person who must perform the action, instead of the preposition ab with the ablative.
- 2.5.3quem campi fructum
An adjectival use of the relative pronoun qui. The antecedent fructum is incorporated into the relative clause, functioning at the beginning of the sentence as a 'relative connection' linking back to the previous context (the field of Mars). It is best translated as if it were a conjunction and a demonstrative pronoun ('and this fruit of the field').
- 2.5.6miserebatque non poenae magis homines quam sceleris
The usage of the impersonal verb miserebat (imperfect of miseret). The person feeling pity is expressed in the accusative (homines), while the cause or object of pity is in the genitive (poenae, sceleris), meaning 'people pitied not more the shadow than the substance' or rather 'not more the punishment than the crime.' The subsequent §2.5.7 with the accusative with infinitive clause (illos... induxisse) explains the specific content of this sceleris.
- 2.5.8eminente animo patrio
An ablative absolute construction consisting of the present participle eminente and the noun phrase animo patrio. Meaning 'with his fatherly mind showing through,' it describes the internal conflict and expression of the father Brutus, contrasting it with the context of executing public duties (inter publicae poenae ministerium).