- 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-lat2:2.59.1-2.59.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-02
The Roman army deliberately loses and flees due to their hostility toward Appius, forcing him to retreat; however, he eventually inflicts severe punishments, including decimation, on those who violated military discipline.
nihil eorum Volsci nesciebant1 instabantque eo magis sperantes idem certamen animorum adversus Appium habiturum exercitum Romanum, quod adversus Fabium consulem habuisset.
The Volscians were by no means ignorant of these things, and they pressed on all the more eagerly, hoping that the Roman army would maintain the same spirit of opposition against Appius as they had held against the consul Fabius.
ceterum multo Appio quam Fabio violentior fuit;2 non enim vincere tantum noluit, ut Fabianus exercitus, sed vinci voluit. productus in aciem turpi fuga petit castra nec ante restitit, quam signa inferentem Volscum munimentis vidit foedamque extremi agminis caedem.
But the opposition to Appius was far more violent than that to Fabius; for the army not only refused to conquer, as Fabius’s army had done, but actually wished to be conquered. Drawn up in battle array, they headed for the camp in shameful flight, and did not stop until they saw the Volscians attacking the fortifications and a foul slaughter of their rear guard.
tum expressa vis ad pugnandum, ut victor iam a vallo submoveretur hostis, satis tamen appareret capi tantum castra militem Romanum noluisse, alibi gaudere sua clade atque ignominia.
Then a force was wrung from them to fight, so that the enemy, already victorious, was driven back from the rampart; yet it remained clear enough that the Roman soldiers had merely been unwilling for their camp to be captured, but elsewhere rejoiced in their own defeat and disgrace.
quibus nihil infractus ferox Appii animus cum insuper saevire vellet contionemque advocaret, concurrunt ad eum legati tribunique monentes, ne ubique experiri vellet imperium, cuius vis omnis in consensu oboedientium esset.
In no way broken by these events, the fierce mind of Appius wished to rage even further and called an assembly; but the legates and tribunes ran to him, warning him not to try his authority everywhere, since all its power lay in the consent of those who obey.
negare vulgo milites se ad contionem ituros, passimque exaudiri3 voces postulantium, ut castra ex Volsco agro moveantur. hostem victorem paulo ante prope in portis ac vallo fuisse, ingentisque mali non suspicionem modo sed apertam speciem obversari ante oculos.
The soldiers commonly declared that they would not go to the assembly, and voices were heard everywhere demanding that the camp be moved out of Volscian territory. They cried out that the victorious enemy had been near their gates and rampart only a short while before, and that not merely a suspicion, but the clear sight of a massive disaster was rising before their eyes.
victus tandem, quando quidem nihil praeter tempus noxae lucrarentur,4 remissa contione iter in insequentem diem pronuntiari cum iussisset, prima luce classico signum profectionis dedit.
Yielding at last, since they would gain nothing but a delay of punishment, he dismissed the assembly and, after ordering the march to be announced for the following day, gave the signal for departure by trumpet at dawn.
cum maxime agmen e castris explicaretur, Volsci, ut eodem signo excitati, novissimos adoriuntur. a quibus perlatus ad primos tumultus eo pavore signaque et ordines turbavit, ut neque imperia exaudiri neque instrui acies posset. nemo ullius nisi fugae memor.
Just as the column was deploying from the camp, the Volscians, as if aroused by the same signal, attacked the rear. The panic carried from them to the front ranks threw both standards and ranks into such confusion that orders could not be heard, nor could a line of battle be formed. No one thought of anything but flight.
ita effuso agmine per stragem corporum armorumque evasere, ut prius hostis desisteret sequi quam Romanus fugere.
Thus they escaped in a scattered column through a carnage of bodies and weapons, so that the enemy ceased to pursue before the Romans ceased to flee.
tandem collectis ex dissipato cursu militibus consul, cum revocando nequiquam suos persecutus esset, in pacato agro castra posuit; advocataque contione invectus haud falso in proditorem exercitum militaris disciplinae, desertorem signorum, ubi signa, ubi arma essent, singulos rogitans, inermes milites, signo amisso signiferos, ad hoc centuriones duplicariosque, qui reliquerant ordines, virgis caesos securi percussit; cetera multitudo sorte decumus quisque ad supplicium lecti.5
At last, having collected the soldiers from their scattered flight, the consul, after pursuing his men in vain to recall them, pitched camp in a peaceful territory; and having called an assembly, he inveighed with no false justice against the army as a betrayer of military discipline, asking each one where their standards were, and where their weapons were, as deserters of their standards, he scourged with rods and beheaded with the axe the unarmed soldiers, the standard-bearers who had lost their standards, and furthermore the centurions and double-pay soldiers who had left their ranks; as for the rest of the multitude, every tenth man chosen by lot was led to execution.
- 2.59.1nihil eorum Volsci nesciebant
This is not a partial negation but a strong affirmation expressed through double negation (the negative pronoun nihil and the negative verb nesciebant), meaning 'they were by no means ignorant of these things' (i.e., they knew everything very well).
- 2.59.2multo Appio quam Fabio violentior fuit
The subject is contextually certamen animorum (spirit of opposition) from the previous sentence. Appio and Fabio are ablatives of comparison, representing in a very concise manner the contrast between the opposition 'against Appius' and 'against Fabius' without repeating the preposition adversus.
- 2.59.5negare vulgo milites ... passimque exaudiri
These are historical infinitives (the present infinitives negare and exaudiri acting as main verbs), equivalent to the imperfect indicative (negabant, exaudiebantur). This literary device is used to describe the action of a tense situation with greater vividness.
- 2.59.6nihil praeter tempus noxae lucrarentur
noxae is the genitive of the noun noxa (offense, punishment), which modifies tempus (time, delay) to mean 'a delay of punishment' (literally 'time of punishment'). Although it could grammatically be taken as a dative of purpose ('for punishment'), the former genitive interpretation is more natural.
- 2.59.11cetera multitudo sorte decumus quisque ad supplicium lecti
An example of construction according to sense (constructio ad sensum). Although the grammatical subject decumus quisque (every tenth man) is singular, conceptually it refers to a plural group of people, which causes the predicate participle to appear in the masculine plural form lecti (with sunt understood).