- 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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- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:23.48.1-23.48.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-25
With the situation in Campania calming down, letters arrive from the Scipio brothers in Spain describing their desperate lack of supplies and funds, leading the Senate to rely on the credit of public contractors.
quieta inde stativa fuere, ac retro etiam consul movit castra, ut sementem Campani facerent, nec ante violavit agrum Campanum, quam1 iam altae in segetibus herbae pabulum praebere poterant.
Thereafter the permanent camp was quiet, and the consul even moved his camp back so that the Campanians might do their sowing; nor did he violate the Campanian land before the grass in the grainfields, already high, was able to provide forage.
id convexit in Claudiana castra super Suessulam ibique hiberna aedificavit. M. Claudio proconsuli imperavit, ut retento Nolae necessario ad tuendam urbem praesidio ceteros milites dimitteret Romam, ne oneri sociis et sumptui rei publicae2 essent.
This he carried into the Claudian camp above Suessula, and built winter quarters there. He commanded the proconsul M. Claudius to dismiss the remaining soldiers to Rome, keeping at Nola only the guard necessary to defend the city, so that they might not be a burden to the allies and an expense to the state.
et Ti. Gracchus, a Cumis Luceriam in Apuliam legiones cum duxisset, M. Valerium inde praetorem Brundisium cum eo quem Luceriae habuerat exercitum misit tuerique oram agri Sallentini et providere, quod ad Philippum bellumque Macedonicum attineret, iussit.
And Tiberius Gracchus, when he had led his legions from Cumae to Luceria in Apulia, sent the praetor M. Valerius from there to Brundisium with the army he had had at Luceria, and ordered him to guard the coast of the Sallentine territory and to look out for what pertained to Philip and the Macedonian war.
exitu aestatis eius qua haec gesta perscripsimus, litterae a P. et Cn. Scipionibus venerunt, quantas quamque prosperas in Hispania res gessissent; sed pecuniam in stipendium vestimentaque et frumentum exercitui et sociis navalibus omnia deesse.3
At the close of that summer in which we have described these events, letters arrived from Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, stating what great and successful deeds they had performed in Spain, but that money for pay, clothing, and grain for the army and the naval allies, everything was lacking.
quod ad stipendium attineat, si aerarium inops sit, se aliquam rationem inituros, quo modo ab Hispanis sumant; cetera utique ab Roma mittenda esse, nec aliter aut exercitum aut provinciam teneri posse.
As for the pay, if the treasury were destitute, they would find some way to obtain it from the Spaniards; but the other things must by all means be sent from Rome, and otherwise neither the army nor the province could be held.
litteris recitatis nemo omnium erat, quin et vera scribi et postulari aequa fateretur; sed occurrebat animis, quantos exercitus terrestris navalisque tuerentur, quantaque nova classis mox paranda esset, si bellum Macedonicum moveretur:
After the letters were read, there was no one who did not confess both that the truth was written and that the demands were fair; but it occurred to their minds what great land and sea forces they were supporting, and how great a new fleet must soon be prepared if a Macedonian war should be started:
Siciliam ac Sardiniam, quae ante bellum vectigales fuissent, vix praesides provinciarum exercitus alere; tributo sumptus suppeditari;
that Sicily and Sardinia, which before the war had been tributary, could scarcely support the armies of their provincial governors, and that the expenses were supplied by the tribute;
ceterum ipsum tributum conferentium numerum tantis exercituum stragibus et ad Trasumennum lacum et ad Cannas inminutum; qui superessent pauci, si multiplici gravarentur stipendio, alia perituros peste.
furthermore, that the very number of those paying the tribute had been diminished by such great slaughters of the armies both at Lake Trasimene and at Cannae; and that if the few who survived were burdened with a manifold tax, they would perish by another plague.
itaque nisi fide staret res publica, opibus non staturam.4
And so, unless the state stood by credit, it would not stand by resources.
prodeundum in contionem Fulvio praetori esse, indicandas populo publicas necessitates cohortandosque, qui redempturis auxissent patrimonia,5 ut rei publicae, ex qua crevissent, tempus commodarent conducerentque ea lege praebenda, quae ad exercitum Hispaniensem opus essent, ut, cum pecunia in aerario esset, iis primis solveretur.
They resolved that the praetor Fulvius must go before the assembly, point out the public necessities to the people, and exhort those who had increased their private fortunes by public contracts, that to the state, from which they had grown, they should grant time, and contract to supply the things needed for the Spanish army on the condition that, when there should be money in the treasury, they should be the first to be paid.
haec praetor in contione edixit, quoque die vestimenta ac frumentum Hispaniensi exercitui praebenda, quaeque alia opus essent navalibus sociis, esset locaturus.
The praetor proclaimed these things in the assembly, and announced on what day he would let the contracts for supplying clothing and grain to the Spanish army, and whatever else was needed for the naval allies.
- 23.48.1nec ante... quam
A correlative construction ('not before... than' or 'only when...'). It emphasizes that the consul waited until the grain crops were tall enough to serve as forage before he began to devastate the Campanian territory.
- 23.48.2oneri sociis et sumptui rei publicae
A double dative construction. It combines the datives of purpose (oneri, sumptui) with the datives of reference (sociis, rei publicae), indicating that the soldiers should not become a burden to the allies and an expense to the state.
- 23.48.4sed pecuniam in stipendium... deesse
An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect discourse (oratio obliqua) dependent on the implied verb of communicating in 'litterae venerunt'. It smoothly transitions from the indirect question 'quantas... gessissent' to the direct report of the contents of the letter.
- 23.48.9fide staret... opibus non staturam
The verb 'stare' takes the ablative of means (fide, opibus) to mean 'to stand by' or 'depend upon'. 'staturam' is a future active infinitive with the omission of 'esse' (staturam [esse]) in indirect discourse. This is a contrasting expression showing that the preservation of the state depends on public credit (fides) rather than financial resources (opes).
- 23.48.10qui redempturis auxissent patrimonia
The word 'redempturis' is the ablative plural of 'redemptura' (public contracting, tax farming, or supplying contracts). It refers to the wealthy citizens (such as the equestrian order) who had accumulated private wealth through state contracts in the past, now being asked to support the state during the financial crisis of the Second Punic War.