- 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-lat2:23.9.1-23.9.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
Upon hearing of the plot to assassinate Hannibal, Pacuvius desperately persuades his son by appealing to parental affection, safety, and the sanctity of oaths. The youth yields to his father's pleas, abandons the plan, and throws away his sword.
quae ubi vidit audivitque senex, velut si iam agendis, quae audiebat, interesset,1 amens metu “per ego te,”2 inquit “fili, quaecumque iura liberos iungunt parentibus, precor quaesoque, ne ante oculos patris facere et pati omnia infanda uelis.
When the old man saw and heard these things, as if he were already present at the execution of those very deeds which he was hearing about, out of his mind with fear, he said: ”My son, by whatever rights bind children to parents, I pray and beseech you, do not wish to commit and to suffer all unspeakable things before the eyes of your father.
paucae horae sunt, intra quas iurantes per quidquid deorum est, dextrae dextras iungentes, fidem obstrinximus, — ut sacratas fide manus digressi a conloquio extemplo in eum armaremus?3
It is but a few hours within which, swearing by whatever of the gods exists, joining right hands to right hands, we bound our faith — only that, having departed from the conference, we should immediately arm against him hands consecrated by our pledge?
ab hospitali mensa surgis, ad quam tertius Campanorum adhibitus es ab Hannibale, ut eam ipsam mensam cruentares hospitis sanguine? Hannibalem pater filio meo potui placare, filium Hannibali non possum?
Do you rise from the hospitable table, to which you were admitted by Hannibal as the third of the Campanians, in order to stain that very table with the blood of your host? As a father, I was able to appease Hannibal for my son; can I not appease my son for Hannibal?
sed sit nihil sancti, non fides, non religio, non pietas; audeantur infanda, si non perniciem nobis cum scelere ferunt.
But let there be nothing sacred — neither loyalty, nor religion, nor filial piety; let unspeakable things be dared, if they do not bring ruin upon us along with the crime.
unus adgressurus es Hannibalem? quid illa turba tot liberorum servorumque? quid in unum intenti omnium oculi? quid tot dextrae? torpescent in amentia illa?
Are you, alone, going to attack Hannibal? What of that crowd of so many free men and slaves? What of the eyes of all, fixed on that one man? What of so many right hands? Will they grow numb during that madness of yours?
voltum ipsius Hannibalis, quem armati exercitus sustinere nequeunt, quem horret populus Romanus, tu sustinebis? ut alia auxilia desint:4 me ipsum ferire corpus meum opponentem pro corpore Hannibalis sustinebis?
Will you endure the face of Hannibal himself, which armed armies cannot withstand, which the Roman people shudder at? Granted that other aids should fail: will you bear to strike me myself as I oppose my own body in front of the body of Hannibal?
atqui per meum pectus petendus ille tibi transfigendusque est. sed hic te deterreri sine potius quam illic vinci; valeant preces apud te meae, sicut pro te hodie valuerunt.”
And yet, through my breast must he be sought and pierced by you. But allow yourself to be deterred here rather than conquered there; let my prayers prevail with you, just as they prevailed for you today.”
lacrimantem inde iuvenem cernens medium conplectitur atque osculo haerens non ante precibus abstitit, quam pervicit, ut gladium poneret fidemque daret nihil facturum tale. tum iuvenis “ego quidem” inquit “quam patriae debeo pietatem, exsolvam patri. tuam doleo vicem,5 cui ter proditae patriae sustinendum est crimen, semel, cum defectionis ab Romanis, iterum, cum pacis cum Hannibale fuisti auctor, tertio hodie, cum restituendae Romanis Capuae mora atque impedimentum es.
Seeing the youth weeping thereupon, he clasped him around the waist, and clinging to him with a kiss, did not desist from prayers until he prevailed upon him to lay down his sword and give his word that he would do no such thing. Then the youth ”I indeed will pay to my father the duty which I owe to my country. I grieve for your lot, who must bear the charge of a thrice-betrayed country: once, when you were the author of the defection from the Romans; a second time, when you were the author of the peace with Hannibal; for the third time today, when you are a delay and hindrance to restoring Capua to the Romans.
tu, patria, ferrum, quo pro te armatus hanc arcem hostium inii, quoniam parens extorquet, recipe.”
Do you, my country, receive the sword with which, armed for you, I entered this stronghold of the enemies, since my parent wrests it away.”
haec cum dixisset, gladium in publicum trans maceriam horti abiecit et, quo minus res suspecta esset, se ipse convivio reddidit.
When he had said these things, he threw the sword over the garden wall into the public street, and, so that the matter might be less suspected, returned himself to the banquet.
- 23.9.1velut si iam agendis, quae audiebat, interesset
velut si ("as if") introduces a conditional clause of comparison, taking the imperfect subjunctive interesset. agendis is a gerundive (agreeing with an implied dative plural noun, e.g., rebus, which is modified by the relative clause quae audiebat) dependent on interesset (which governs the dative).
- 23.9.2per ego te
A standard hyperbaton in oaths and entreaties, where the nominative subject pronoun ego is inserted between the preposition per and its accusative object te.
- 23.9.3— ut sacratas fide manus digressi a conloquio extemplo in eum armaremus?
The clause ut ... armaremus (imperfect subjunctive) after the dash is an independent clause of indignation or reluctant outcome, expressing a rhetorical question or exclamation of absurdity: "was it only to arm...?" in contrast to the sacredness of the oath described just before.
- 23.9.7ut alia auxilia desint
ut with the present subjunctive desint is concessive, meaning "even though / granted that other aids should fail".
- 23.9.10tuam doleo vicem
vicem is the accusative of vicis (turn, lot, plight), serving here as the direct object of the transitive verb doleo (or an adverbial accusative of respect), meaning "I grieve for your situation / on your account".
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — note 1