- 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
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:2.58.1-2.58.9
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-02
The election of tribunes is shifted to the tribal assembly, and their number is increased to five. Appius Claudius leads the campaign against the Volscians but faces sabotage from his soldiers, who resist his harsh commands.
tum primum tributis comitiis creati tribuni sunt. numero etiam additos tres, perinde ac duo antea fuerint,1 Piso auctor est.
Then for the first time the tribunes were elected by the tribal assembly. Piso states that three more were added, just as if there had been only two before.
nominat quoque tribunos, Cn. Siccium, L. Numitorium, M. Duillium, Sp. Icilium, L. Mecilium.
He also names the tribunes: Gnaeus Siccius, Lucius Numitorius, Marcus Duillius, Spurius Icilius, and Lucius Mecilius.
Volscum Aequicumque inter seditionem Romanam est bellum coortum. vastaverant agros, ut, si qua secessio plebis fieret, ad se receptum haberet; conpositis deinde rebus castra retro movere.
During the Roman sedition, a war with the Volscians and the Aequians broke out. They had ravaged the fields so that, if any secession of the plebs should occur, they might have a refuge with them; but when domestic affairs were subsequently settled, they moved their camp back.
Ap. Claudius in Volscos missus, Quinctio Aequi provincia evenit. eadem in militia saevitia Appi, quae domi, esse, liberior, quod sine tribuniciis vinculis erat.
Appius Claudius was sent against the Volscians, while the province of the Aequians fell to Quinctius. In the campaign, Appius showed the same cruelty as at home, but more freely, because he was without the constraints of the tribunes.
odisse plebem plus quam paterno odio: se victum ab ea, se unico consule electo adversus tribuniciam potestatem perlatam legem esse,2 quam minore conatu, nequaquam tanta patrum spe, priores inpedierint consules.
He hated the plebeians with a hatred greater than that of his father: he felt that he had been defeated by them, and that although he had been elected as the sole consul to oppose the tribunitian power, the law had been passed which the previous consuls had obstructed with less effort and by no means with such great hope on the part of the patricians.
haec ira indignatioque ferocem animum ad vexandum saevo imperio exercitum stimulabat. nec ulla vi domari poterat; tantum certamen animis inbiberant.
This anger and indignation stimulated his fierce mind to harass the army with cruel command. Yet it could not be subdued by any force; so great a spirit of opposition had they imbibed in their minds.
segniter, otiose, neglegenter, contumaciter omnia agere; nec pudor nec metus coercebat; si citius agi vellet agmen,3 tardius sedulo incedere; si adhortator operis adesset, omnes sua sponte motam remittere industriam;
They did everything sluggishly, lazily, negligently, and rebelliously; neither shame nor fear restrained them. If he wished the column to march faster, they deliberately walked slower; if an overseer of the work was present, they all voluntarily slackened the industry they had started.
praesenti vultus demittere, tacite praetereuntem execrari, ut invictus ille odio plebeio animus interdum moveretur.
In his presence they cast down their eyes, and as he passed by they silently cursed him, so that even that mind, unconquered by plebeian hatred, was sometimes moved.
omni nequiquam acerbitate prompta nihil iam cum militibus agere, a centurionibus corruptum exercitum dicere, tribunos plebei cavillans interdum et Volerones4 vocare.
Having exerted all his severity in vain, he no longer had any dealings with the soldiers; he said that the army had been corrupted by the centurions, and sometimes, mocking the tribunes of the plebs, he called them “Volerones.”
- 2.58.1additos tres, perinde ac duo antea fuerint
An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect speech introduced by Piso auctor est. additos is a perfect passive infinitive with the omission of esse, agreeing with the subject accusative tres [tribunos]. The verb fuerint in the clause introduced by perinde ac (just as if) is in the perfect subjunctive, which corresponds to a past state relative to the main verb in the present tense (est).
- 2.58.5se victum ab ea, se unico consule electo adversus tribuniciam potestatem perlatam legem esse
An indirect speech sentence representing Appius's thoughts, consisting of two parallel accusative with infinitive clauses: se victum [esse] and perlatam legem esse. se unico consule electo is an ablative absolute ("he having been elected as the sole consul") indicating concession or background, opposing the passage of the law (perlatam legem esse).
- 2.58.7si citius agi vellet agmen
Within the conditional clause si ... vellet (imperfect subjunctive), the passive infinitive agi functions as the object of vellet (whose subject is Appius). agmen is the subject accusative of agi. Literally, "if he wished the column to be driven faster," which contrasts with the soldiers' deliberate slowness (tardius ... incedere, historical infinitive).
- 2.58.9Volerones
A proper noun, Volero (referring to Volero Publilius, the tribune who proposed the Publilian law in the previous year), used in the plural as a common noun to mean "fellows like Volero" with a derogatory nuance. This is a classical Latin usage where a personal name is pluralized to designate a class of people sharing that person's traits.