- 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-lat2:2.52.1-2.52.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-03
With the return of peace and stable grain supplies, domestic political strife resumes over the agrarian law, leading to the prosecution and death of the former consul Menenius. His successor Servilius is also accused but successfully defends himself through a bold speech and the support of his colleague.
urbi cum pace laxior etiam annona rediit et advecto ex Campania frumento et, postquam timor sibi cuique futurae inopiae abiit, eo, quod abditum fuerat, prolato.
With peace, a lower price of grain also returned to the city, both because of grain imported from Campania, and because, after the fear of future scarcity had departed from each individual, that which had been hidden was brought forward.
ex copia deinde otioque lascivire rursus animi et pristina mala, postquam foris deerant, domi quaerere.
Then, from abundance and leisure, the minds of the people began to grow wanton again, and to seek at home the former evils, now that they were lacking abroad.
tribuni plebem agitare suo veneno, agraria lege; in resistentes incitare patres nec in universos modo, sed in singulos. Q. Considius et T. Genucius, auctores agrariae legis, T. Menenio diem dicunt. invidiae erat amissum Cremerae praesidium, cum haud procul inde stativa consul habuisset;
The tribunes agitated the commons with their own poison, the agrarian law; they incited them against the patricians who resisted, not only as a whole, but also against individuals. Quintus Considius and Titus Genucius, the proposers of the agrarian law, brought a charge against Titus Menenius. The loss of the garrison at Cremera was a source of odium, since not far from there the consul had had his standing camp;
ea oppressit,1 cum et patres haud minus quam pro Coriolano adnisi essent, et patris Agrippae favor hauddum exolevisset.
this odium crushed him, although both the patricians had exerted themselves no less than for Coriolanus, and the favor toward his father Agrippa had not yet died out.
in multa temperarunt tribuni; cum capitis anquisissent,2 duo milia aeris damnato multam dixerunt. ea in caput vertit. negant tulisse ignominiam aegritudinemque; inde morbo absumptum esse.
In the matter of the fine the tribunes were moderate; though they had prosecuted him on a capital charge, they imposed a fine of two thousand asses on him when condemned. This fine, however, turned into a capital matter. They say he could not bear the disgrace and grief, and from that cause was carried off by disease.
alius deinde reus Sp. Servilius, ut consulatu abiit, C. Nautio et P. Valerio consulibus, initio statim anni ab L. Caedicio et T. Statio tribunis die dicta non, ut Menenius, precibus suis aut patrum, sed cum multa fiducia innocentiae gratiaeque tribunicios impetus tulit.
Then another person was accused, Spurius Servilius, as soon as he retired from the consulship, in the consulship of Gaius Nautius and Publius Valerius. Being prosecuted at the very beginning of the year by the tribunes Lucius Caedicius and Titus Statius, he bore the attacks of the tribunes not, like Menenius, with his own prayers or those of the patricians, but with great confidence in his innocence and popularity.
et huic proelium cum Tuscis ad Ianiculum erat crimini. sed fervidi animi vir, ut in publico periculo ante, sic tum in suo, non tribunos modo, sed plebem oratione feroci refutando exprobrandoque T. Meneni damnationem mortemque, cuius patris munere restituta quondam plebs eos ipsos, quibus tum saeviret, magistratus, eas leges haberet,3 periculum audacia discussit. iuvit et Verginius collega, testis productus, participando laudes; magis tamen Menenianum — adeo mutaverant animi — profuit iudicium.
For him too, the battle with the Etruscans at the Janiculum was the ground of accusation. But being a man of a fiery spirit, as formerly in public danger, so then in his own, by refuting not only the tribunes but also the commons with a fierce speech and reproaching them with the condemnation and death of Titus Menenius — by the service of whose father the commons had once been restored and now held those very magistrates against whom they were then raging, and those laws — he dispelled the danger by his boldness. His colleague Verginius also helped him, being produced as a witness and sharing in his praises; yet the judgment of Menenius — so much had their minds changed — was of more service.
- 2.52.4ea oppressit
The feminine singular nominative pronoun 'ea' refers back to 'invidia' (implied by 'invidiae' in the preceding sentence). The accusative object (eum, referring to Menenius) is omitted. It means 'this odium crushed him'.
- 2.52.5cum capitis anquisissent
The verb 'anquirere' (to prosecute, investigate) takes the genitive 'capitis' (of a capital charge, life/citizenship) as a genitive of charge or penalty. The 'cum' clause here is concessive ('although they had prosecuted him on a capital charge').
- 2.52.7cuius patris munere restituta quondam plebs eos ipsos, quibus tum saeviret, magistratus, eas leges haberet
The relative pronoun 'cuius' refers to T. Menenius and modifies 'patris' (referring to his father, Agrippa Menenius). 'restituta' refers to the reconciliation of the plebeians after the Secession to the Sacred Mount. The direct objects of 'haberet' are 'eos ipsos magistratus' and 'eas leges', with the subjunctive relative clause 'quibus tum saeviret' ('against whom they were then raging') modifying 'magistratus'. The entire structure serves to reproach the plebeians for their ingratitude toward the son of their benefactor.