- 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-lat2:23.6.1-23.6.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
Following the consul's speech, the Campanian ambassador Vibius Virrius urges his countrymen to seize the opportunity of Roman decline to claim the empire of Italy, leading the populace and senate to decide on sending envoys to Hannibal. Livy notes with caution an alternative account from some annals regarding an prior, outrageous demand made to Rome.
Ab hac oratione1 consulis dimissis redeuntibusque domum legatis unus ex iis, Vibius Virrius, tempus venisse ait, quo Campani non agrum solum ab Romanis quondam per iniuriam ademptum recuperare, sed imperio etiam Italiae potiri possint:
After this speech of the consul, the ambassadors having been dismissed and returning home, one of them, Vibius Virrius, said that the time had come when the Campanians could not only recover the land formerly taken from them by the Romans through injustice, but also gain possession of the empire of Italy:
foedus enim cum Hannibale quibus velint legibus facturos; neque controversiam fore, quin,2 cum ipse confecto bello Hannibal victor in Africam decedat exercitumque deportet, Italiae imperium Campanis relinquatur.
for they would make a treaty with Hannibal on whatever terms they wished; and there would be no doubt that, when Hannibal himself, as victor after the conclusion of the war, should depart for Africa and withdraw his army, the empire of Italy would be left to the Campanians.
haec Virrio loquenti adsensi omnes ita renuntiant legationem, uti deletum omnibus videretur nomen Romanum.
All agreeing with Virrius as he spoke thus, they reported the embassy in such a manner that the Roman name seemed to everyone to be blotted out.
extemplo plebs ad defectionem ac pars maior senatus spectare;
Immediately the populace and the greater part of the senate began to look toward defection;
extracta tamen auctoritatibus seniorum per paucos dies est res. postremo vincit sententia plurium, ut iidem legati, qui ad consulem Romanum ierant, ad Hannibalem mitterentur.
the matter, however, was delayed for a few days by the authority of the elders. At last, the opinion of the majority prevailed, that the same ambassadors who had gone to the Roman consul should be sent to Hannibal.
quo priusquam iretur3 certumque defectionis consilium esset, Romam legatos missos a Campanis in quibusdam annalibus invenio postulantes,4 ut alter consul Campanus fieret, si rem Romanam adiuvari vellent;
Before they went there, and before the plan of defection was fixed, I find in certain annals that ambassadors were sent by the Campanians to Rome, demanding that one of the two consuls should be a Campanian, if they wished the Roman state to be helped;
indignatione orta summoveri a curia iussos esse missumque lictorem, qui ex urbe educeret eos atque eo die manere extra finis Romanos iuberet. quia nimis compar Latinorum quondam postulatio erat, Coeliusque et alii id haud sine causa praetermiserant scriptores, ponere pro certo sum veritus.
and that, indignation having arisen, they were ordered to be removed from the senate-house, and a lictor was sent to lead them out of the city and order them to remain outside the Roman territory on that day. Because this demand was too similar to the former demand of the Latins, and because Coelius and other writers had not without reason omitted it, I have been afraid to set it down as certain.
- 23.6.1Ab hac oratione
The preposition ab here denotes temporal immediacy ('immediately after this speech') rather than origin or cause.
- 23.6.2neque controversiam fore, quin
A quin clause with the subjunctive (relinquatur) following a negative expression of doubt or dispute (neque controversiam fore), meaning 'there would be no doubt/dispute that...'.
- 23.6.6quo priusquam iretur
The verb iretur is the impersonal passive of the intransitive ire, referring to the action itself without a specific agent ('before it was gone thither', i.e., 'before they set out'). quo is a relative adverb ('whither').
- 23.6.6Romam legatos missos a Campanis in quibusdam annalibus invenio postulantes
This complex structure features the accusative and infinitive clause legatos missos [esse] as the object of the main verb invenio ('I find'), with the accusative noun legatos further modified by the active present participle postulantes ('demanding').