- 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-lat2:23.22.1-23.22.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
To fill the vacancies in the senate, a proposal is made to admit Latin allies into the senate, but it is met with strong opposition and suppressed. Ultimately, M. Fabius Buteo is named dictator to revise the senate roll.
cum cetera, quae continuis cladibus fortuna minuerat, quantum consiliis humanis adsequi poterant, patres explessent, tandem se quoque et solitudinem curiae paucitatemque convenientium ad publicum consilium respexerunt.
When the senators had filled up, as far as they could attain by human planning, the other losses which fortune had inflicted by continuous disasters, at length they turned their attention to themselves also, and to the loneliness of the senate house and the small number of those assembling for the public council.
neque enim post L. Aemilium et C. Flaminium censores senatus lectus fuerat, cum tantum senatorum adversae pugnae, ad hoc sui quemque casus per quinquennium absumpsissent.
For indeed the senate had not been revised since the censorship of L. Aemilius and C. Flaminius, while adverse battles, and besides these the individual accidents of each over five years, had swept away so many senators.
cum de ea re M. Aemilius praetor, dictatore post Casilinum amissum profecto tandem ad exercitum, exposcentibus cunctis rettulisset, tum Sp. Carvilius, cum longa oratione non patrum solum inopiam sed paucitatem etiam civium, ex quibus in patres legerentur, conquestus esset, explendi senatus causa et iungendi artius Latini nominis cum populo Romano magnopere se suadere dixit, ut ex singulis populis Latinorum binis senatoribus, quibus patres Romani censuissent,1 civitas daretur atque ei in demortuorum locum in senatum legerentur.
When the praetor M. Aemilius, after the dictator had at last set out for the army after the loss of Casilinum, made a report on this matter at the demand of all, then Sp. Carvilius, having lamented in a long speech not only the shortage of senators but also the small number of citizens from whom they might be chosen into the senate, said that, for the sake of filling up the senate and binding the Latin name more closely to the Roman people, he strongly advised that citizenship should be given to two senators from each state of the Latins, whom the Roman senators should approve, and that they should be elected into the senate in place of the deceased.
eam sententiam haud aequioribus animis quam ipsorum quondam postulatum Latinorum patres audierunt;
The senators heard this proposal with no more favorable minds than they had once heard the demand of the Latins themselves;
et cum fremitus indignantium tota curia esset, et praecipue T. Manlius esse etiam nunc eius stirpis virum diceret, ex qua quondam in Capitolio consul minatus esset, quem Latinum in curia vidisset, eum sua manu se interfecturum,2 Q. Fabius Maximus numquam rei ullius alieniore tempore mentionem factam in senatu dicit, quam inter tam suspensos sociorum animos incertamque fidem id iactum, quod insuper sollicitaret eos.
and while there was a murmur of indignant men throughout the senate house, T. Manlius in particular said that there was even now a man of that stock from which a consul had once threatened on the Capitol that he would kill with his own hand any Latin he saw in the senate house. Q. Fabius Maximus said that never had mention of any matter been made in the senate at a more unsuitable time than this, when, amidst minds of the allies so suspended and their loyalty uncertain, a thing was thrown out which would further disturb them.
eam unius hominis temerariam vocem silentio omnium extinguendam esse et, si quid umquam arcani sanctive ad silendum in curia fuerit, id omnium maxime tegendum, occulendum, obliviscendum, pro indicto habendum esse.
That rash word of a single man must be extinguished by the silence of all, and if there had ever been anything secret or sacred to be kept silent in the senate house, this above all must be covered, hidden, forgotten, and held as unsaid.
ita eius rei oppressa mentio est. dictatorem, qui censor ante fuisset vetustissimusque ex iis, qui viverent, censoriis esset, creari placuit, qui senatum legeret, accirique C. Terentium consulem ad dictatorem dicendum iusserunt.
Thus the mention of that matter was suppressed. It was resolved that a dictator should be appointed who had previously been censor and was the oldest living among those of censorial rank, in order to revise the senate; and they ordered the consul C. Terentius to be summoned to name the dictator.
qui ex Apulia relicto ibi praesidio cum magnis itineribus Romam redisset, nocte proxima, ut mos erat, M. Fabium Buteonem ex senatus consulto sine magistro equitum dictatorem in sex menses dixit.3
Having left a garrison there in Apulia, when he had returned to Rome by forced marches, on the following night, as was the custom, he named M. Fabius Buteo dictator for six months without a master of the horse, in accordance with the decree of the senate.
- 23.22.5quibus patres Romani censuissent
quibus is a relative pronoun in the dative, with binis senatoribus as its antecedent, as censere here takes the dative meaning 'to adjudge [something] to someone'. The subjunctive censuissent is due to oblique clause in indirect speech (under se suadere dixit), representing a future perfect indicative in the original direct speech.
- 23.22.7quem Latinum in curia vidisset, eum sua manu se interfecturum
A conditional sentence in indirect speech representing a general condition ('if he should see any Latin..., he would kill him'). The subjunctive pluperfect vidisset corresponds to a future perfect videro in direct speech, and the subject se of the future infinitive se interfecturum [esse] in the apodosis refers to the speaker Titus Manlius.
- 23.22.11sine magistro equitum dictatorem in sex menses dixit
Usually, a dictator appoints a master of the horse (magister equitum), but here Marcus Fabius Buteo was appointed dictator 'without a master of the horse' (sine magistro equitum). This indicates an exceptional measure for a specific civil task, namely the revision of the senate roll (senatus legendi causa).
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-22)
- 2026-09-22 AI review — source 1