- 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-lat2:23.24.1-23.24.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
Following the senate's request, the dictator holds elections where Postumius and Gracchus are chosen consuls. Shortly after, disastrous news arrives that the consul-elect Postumius and his army have been utterly destroyed in a Gallic forest by a trap set by the Boii.
postero die consultus a M. Pomponio praetore senatus decrevit dictatori scribendum,1 uti, si e re publica censeret esse, ad consules subrogandos veniret cum magistro equitum et praetore M. Marcello, ut ex iis praesentibus noscere patres possent, quo statu res publica esset, consiliaque ex rebus caperent. qui acciti erant, omnes venerunt relictis legatis, qui legionibus praeessent.
On the following day, the senate, consulted by the praetor M. Pomponius, decreed that a letter should be written to the dictator, that, if he judged it to be in the interest of the state, he should come with the master of the horse and the praetor M. Marcellus to choose substitute consuls, so that from their presence the senators might be able to know in what condition the state was, and take counsel from the facts. All those who had been summoned came, leaving behind legates to command the legions.
dictator de se pauca ac modice locutus in magistrum equitum Ti. Sempronium Gracchum magnam partem gloriae vertit, comitiaque edixit, quibus L. Postumius tertium absens, qui tum Galliam provinciam obtinebat, et Ti. Sempronius Gracchus, qui tum magister equitum et aedilis curulis erat, consules creantur.
The dictator, speaking briefly and modestly about himself, turned a great part of the glory to the master of the horse Ti. Sempronius Gracchus, and proclaimed the elections, in which L. Postumius for the third time in his absence, who was then governing the province of Gaul, and Ti. Sempronius Gracchus, who was then master of the horse and curule aedile, were elected consuls.
praetores inde creati M. Valerius Laevinus iterum, Ap. Claudius Pulcher, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, Q. Mucius Scaevola.
Next, the praetors were elected: M. Valerius Laevinus for the second time, Ap. Claudius Pulcher, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, Q. Mucius Scaevola.
dictator creatis magistratibus Teanum in hiberna ad exercitum redit relicto magistro equitum Romae, qui, cum post paucos dies magistratum initurus esset, de exercitibus scribendis conparandisque in annum patres consuleret.
The magistrates having been elected, the dictator returned to the army in winter quarters at Teanum, leaving the master of the horse at Rome, who, since he was to enter office after a few days, was to consult the senators about enrolling and preparing armies for the coming year.
cum eae res maxime agerentur nova clades nuntiata, aliam super aliam cumulante in eum annum fortuna, L. Postumium consulem designatum in Gallia ipsum atque exercitum deletos.2
While these things were being chiefly transacted, a new disaster was reported, fortune piling one upon another in that year: that the consul-elect L. Postumius himself and his army had been destroyed in Gaul.
silva erat vasta — Litanam Galli vocabant —, qua exercitum traducturus erat. eius silvae dextra laevaque circa viam Galli arbores ita inciderunt, ut inmotae starent, momento levi inpulsae occiderent.
There was a vast forest—the Gauls called it Litana—through which he was about to lead his army. On the right and left of this forest around the road, the Gauls had so cut into the trees that they stood unmoved, but would fall if pushed by a slight force.
legiones duas Romanas habebat Postumius sociumque3 ab supero mari tantum conscripserat, ut viginti quinque milia armatorum in agros hostium induxerit.
Postumius had two Roman legions, and had enlisted so many allies from the upper sea that he led twenty-five thousand armed men into the territory of the enemy.
Galli oram extremae silvae cum circumsedissent, ubi intravit agmen saltum, tum extremas arborum succisarum impellunt. quae alia in aliam instabilem per se ac male haerentem incidentes4 ancipiti strage arma viros equos obruerunt, ut vix decem homines effugerent.
When the Gauls had surrounded the edge of the forest, as soon as the column entered the pass, they then pushed the outermost of the cut trees. These, falling one upon another, which were unstable in themselves and poorly holding, overwhelmed arms, men, and horses in a double-sided collapse, so that scarcely ten men escaped.
nam cum exanimati plerique essent arborum truncis fragmentisque ramorum, ceteram multitudinem inopinato malo trepidam Galli saltum omnem armati circumsedentes interfecerunt, paucis e tanto numero captis, qui pontem fluminis petentes, obsesso ante ab hostibus ponte, interclusi sunt.
For since most of them had been killed by the trunks and broken branches of the trees, the Gauls, surrounding the entire pass in arms, killed the rest of the multitude who were terrified by the unexpected disaster, with only a few out of so great a number being captured, who, seeking the bridge of the river, were cut off because the bridge had been occupied beforehand by the enemy.
ibi Postumius omni vi, ne caperetur, dimicans occubuit. spolia corporis caputque praecisum ducis Boi ovantes templo, quod sanctissimum est apud eos, intulere.
There Postumius, fighting with all his might lest he should be captured, fell. The Boii, triumphing, carried the spoils of his body and the severed head of the general into the temple which is most sacred among them.
purgato inde capite, ut mos iis est, calvam auro caelavere, idque sacrum vas iis erat, quo sollemnibus libarent, poculumque idem sacerdotibus ac templi antistitibus.
Then, having cleaned the head, as is their custom, they gilded the skull with gold, and it was a sacred vessel for them with which to make libations on solemn occasions, and the same served as a cup for the priests and the overseers of the temple.
praeda quoque haud minor Gallis quam victoria fuit; nam etsi magna pars animalium strage silvae oppressa erat, tamen ceterae res, quia nihil dissipatum fuga est, stratae per omnem iacentis agminis ordinem inventae sunt.
The booty also was no less a prize to the Gauls than the victory; for although a great part of the animals had been crushed by the ruin of the forest, yet the other things, because nothing had been scattered by flight, were found strewn along the entire line of the prostrate column.
- 23.24.1dictatori scribendum
In the impersonal passive periphrastic construction scribendum [esse], dictatori is not a dative of agent ('the dictator must write'), but a dative of the indirect object of the verb scribere ('a letter should be written to the dictator'). The agent (the senate) is omitted as it is clear from the context.
- 23.24.6L. Postumium consulem designatum in Gallia ipsum atque exercitum deletos
This is an accusative with infinitive clause (with esse omitted) explaining the concrete content of nova clades (new disaster), which is the subject of nuntiata [est]. Since the singular nouns Postumium and exercitum are joined by atque, the predicate participle deletos takes the masculine accusative plural form.
- 23.24.8sociumque
The word socium with the conjunction -que is not an accusative singular, but an archaic genitive plural form (sociorum), which is common in classical Latin. It functions as a genitive modifying tantum [numerum], which is the object of conscripserat ('had enlisted'), parallel to legiones duas.
- 23.24.9quae alia in aliam instabilem per se ac male haerentem incidentes
quae is a relative connection (connecting relative pronoun) in the feminine nominative plural, referring back to the arbores (trees) of the previous sentence. It is the subject of the participle incidentes ('falling') and is combined with the reciprocal expression alia in aliam ('one upon another'). The phrase starting with instabilem modifies aliam.