- 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-lat2:2.55.1-2.55.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-02
Amid rising tensions among the plebs, who are angered by the silence of the tribunes, Volero Publilius, a former centurion, refuses to be conscripted and appeals to the people. He resists the lictors and causes a riot that forces the consuls to retreat, leading to a debate in the senate where the moderate counsel of the elders prevails.
sub hanc pessimi exempli victoriam1 dilectus edicitur, paventibusque tribunis sine intercessione ulla consules rem peragunt.
Immediately after this victory of the worst example, a levy was proclaimed, and with the tribunes trembling with fear, the consuls carried out the business without any intercession.
tum vero irasci plebs tribunorum magis silentio quam consulum imperio et dicere2 actum esse de libertate sua, rursus ad antiqua reditum; cum Genucio una mortuam ac sepultam tribuniciam potestatem. aliud agendum ac cogitandum, quo modo resistatur patribus;
Then indeed the plebs began to be angry more at the silence of the tribunes than at the command of the consuls, and to say that it was all over with their liberty, and that they had returned again to the ancient state; that the tribunician power had died and been buried along with Genucius. They must act and think of something else, in what way they should resist the patricians;
id autem unum consilium esse, ut se ipsa plebs, quando aliud nihil auxilii habeat, defendat. quattuor et viginti lictores apparere consulibus et eos ipsos plebis homines; nihil contemptius neque infirmius, si sint, qui contemnant; sibi quemque ea magna atque horrenda facere.3
and that this was the only counsel, that the plebs should defend itself, since it had no other help. Twenty-four lictors attended the consuls, and they themselves were men of the plebs; nothing was more contemptible or weaker, if there were those who would contemn them; everyone made those things great and terrible for themselves.
his vocibus alii alios cum incitassent, ad Voleronem Publilium, de plebe hominem, quia, quod ordines duxisset, negaret4 se militem fieri debere, lictor missus est a consulibus.
When they had incited one another with these words, a lictor was sent by the consuls to Volero Publilius, a man of the plebs, because he denied that he ought to become a common soldier, since he had been a centurion.
Volero appellat tribunos. cum auxilio nemo esset,5 consules spoliari hominem et virgas expediri iubent. “provoco” inquit “ad populum” Volero, “quoniam tribuni civem Romanum in conspectu suo virgis caedi malunt quam ipsi in lecto suo a vobis trucidari.” quo ferocius clamitabat, eo infestius circumscindere et spoliare lictor.
Volero appealed to the tribunes. When there was no one to help, the consuls ordered the man to be stripped and the rods to be made ready. ”I appeal,” said Volero, “to the people, since the tribunes prefer to see a Roman citizen beaten with rods in their sight than to be slaughtered themselves by you in their beds.” The more fiercely he kept crying out, the more hostilely the lictor began to tear his clothes and strip him.
tum Volero, et praevalens ipse et adiuvantibus advocatis repulso lictore, ubi indignantium pro se acerrimus erat clamor, eo se in turbam confertissimam recipit clamitans “provoco et fidem plebis inploro.
Then Volero, both being very strong himself and with his supporters helping to repel the lictor, where the shout of those indignant on his behalf was loudest, withdrew into the thickest of the crowd, crying out: “I appeal and implore the protection of the plebs.
adeste cives, adeste commilitones; nihil est, quod expectetis tribunos, quibus ipsis vestro auxilio opus est.”
Help, citizens! Help, fellow-soldiers! There is no reason why you should wait for the tribunes, who themselves stand in need of your aid.”
concitati homines veluti ad proelium se expediunt; apparebatque omne discrimen adesse, nihil cuiquam sanctum non publici fore, non privati iuris. huic tantae tempestati cum se consules obtulissent, facile experti sunt parum tutam maiestatem sine viribus esse. violatis lictoribus, fascibus fractis e foro in curiam conpelluntur, incerti, quatenus Volero exerceret victoriam.
The excited men prepared themselves as if for battle; and it was clear that an extreme crisis was present, and that nothing, whether of public or private law, would be sacred to anyone. When the consuls had offered themselves to this great tempest, they easily experienced that majesty without strength is insufficiently safe. Their lictors having been maltreated and their fasces broken, they were driven from the forum into the senate-house, uncertain how far Volero would push his victory.
conticiscente deinde tumultu cum in senatum vocari iussissent, queruntur iniurias suas, vim plebis, Voleronis audaciam.
The tumult then subsiding, when they had ordered the senate to be convoked, they complained of their injuries, the violence of the plebs, and the audacity of Volero.
multis ferociter dictis sententiis vicere seniores, quibus ira patrum adversus temeritatem plebis certari non placuit.6
Although many fierce opinions were delivered, the elders won the day, to whom it did not seem good that the anger of the patricians should contend against the rashness of the plebs.
- 2.55.1sub hanc pessimi exempli victoriam
The preposition sub with the accusative case here expresses temporal proximity, meaning "immediately after" or "on the heels of." It refers to the assassination of the tribune Genucius in the previous chapter, which was a victory for the patricians.
- 2.55.2irasci plebs tribunorum magis silentio quam consulum imperio et dicere
irasci and dicere are historical infinitives (present infinitives used in place of the imperfect indicative) with the collective singular noun plebs as their subject.
- 2.55.3sibi quemque ea magna atque horrenda facere
An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect discourse, where quemque is the subject accusative and facere is the infinitive. The dative of the reflexive pronoun sibi means "for oneself" or "in one's own mind (due to one's own fear)."
- 2.55.4quia, quod ordines duxisset, negaret
The imperfect subjunctive negaret in the quia clause indicates a subjective reason (the reason as asserted by the subject). Inside it, the pluperfect subjunctive duxisset in the quod clause represents a subordinate clause within indirect discourse, reflecting Volero's claim that he had previously led centuries (served as a centurion).
- 2.55.5cum auxilio nemo esset
auxilio is a dative of purpose or tendency, forming a double dative construction with an implied dative of reference (e.g., sibi or plebi), meaning "since no one was there to serve as a help."
- 2.55.11quibus ira patrum adversus temeritatem plebis certari non placuit
In the infinitive clause functioning as the subject of placuit, the passive impersonal infinitive certari of the intransitive verb certo (to contend) is used. It literally means "that it should be contended with the anger of the patricians against the rashness of the plebs did not please them (the elders)."