- 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-lat2:26.35.1-26.35.10
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
The consuls issue an edict requiring private citizens to provide rowers, sparking violent protests from the war-weary plebeians. The consuls grant them a three-day delay and then consult the senate on how to secure naval forces when the treasury is empty.
dimissis Siculis Campanisque dilectus habitus.
After the Sicilians and Campanians were dismissed, a levy was held.
scripto deinde exercitu de remigum supplemento agi coeptum; in quam rem cum neque hominum satis, nec, ex qua pararentur stipendiumque acciperent, pecuniae quicquam ea tempestate in publico esset, edixerunt consules, ut privati ex censu ordinibusque, sicut antea, remiges darent cum stipendio cibariisque dierum triginta.
Then, when the army had been enrolled, they began to discuss the reinforcement of the rowers; on which matter, since at that time there were neither enough men in public, nor any money from which they might be procured and receive their pay, the consuls issued an edict, that private citizens, according to their census and classes, as before, should supply rowers with pay and provisions for thirty days.
ad id edictum tantus fremitus hominum, tanta indignatio fuit, ut magis dux quam materia seditioni deesset: secundum Siculos Campanosque1 plebem Romanam perdendam lacerandamque sibi consules sumpsisse.
At this edict, so great a murmur of the people and so great an indignation arose, that a leader rather than the material for a rebellion was lacking: they complained that, next to the Sicilians and Campanians, the consuls had taken it upon themselves to ruin and tear to pieces the Roman plebs.
per tot annos tributo exhaustos nihil reliqui praeter terram nudam ac vastam habere. tecta hosti, incendisse,2 servos agri cultores rem publicam abduxisse nunc ad militiam parvo aere emendo, nunc remiges imperando;
Exhausted by tribute for so many years, they had nothing left except bare and desolate land. Their houses had been burned by the enemy; the state had carried off the slaves who cultivated the fields, now by purchasing them for military service at a low price, now by requisitioning them as rowers.
si quid cui argenti aerisve fuerit, stipendio remigum et tributis annuis ablatum. se, ut dent, quod non habeant, nulla vi, nullo imperio cogi posse. bona sua venderent, in corpora, quae reliqua essent, saevirent. ne unde redimantur quidem quicquam superesse.
If anyone had had any silver or bronze, it had been taken away by the pay of the rowers and the annual tributes. They could be compelled by no force, by no command, to give what they did not have. Let them sell their goods, let them vent their rage upon the bodies that remained; there was not even anything left from which they might be ransomed.
haec non in occulto sed propalam in foro atque oculis ipsorum consulum ingens turba circumfusi fremebant,3 nec eos sedare consules nunc castigando, nunc consolando poterant.
These things they murmured not in secret but openly in the forum and under the very eyes of the consuls, surrounded by a huge crowd; nor could the consuls quiet them, now by rebuking, now by consoling them.
spatium deinde iis tridui se dare ad cogitandum dixerunt; quo ipsi ad rem inspiciendam et expediendam usi sunt.
Then they said that they gave them a space of three days to consider; which time they themselves used for inspecting and expediting the matter.
senatum postero die habuerunt de remigum supplemento; ubi cum multa disseruissent, cur aequa plebis recusatio esset, verterunt orationem eo, ut dicerent privatis id seu aequum seu iniquum onus iniungendum esse:
On the following day they held a meeting of the senate concerning the reinforcement of the rowers; where, after they had discussed at length why the refusal of the plebs was reasonable, they turned their speech to this point, to say that this burden, whether just or unjust, must be imposed on private individuals:
nam unde, cum pecunia in aerario non esset, paraturos navalis socios?4 quo modo autem sine classibus aut Siciliam obtineri aut Italia Philippum arceri posse aut tuta Italiae litora esse?
for from what source, when there was no money in the treasury, would they procure naval allies? And how, moreover, without fleets could either Sicily be held, or Philip be kept away from Italy, or the coasts of Italy be safe?
- 26.35.4secundum Siculos Campanosque
The preposition secundum here means 'next after' or 'following'. It expresses the plebeians' grievance that, immediately after the fates of the Sicilians and Campanians were decided, they themselves were next in line to be ruined.
- 26.35.5tecta hosti incendisse
hosti is a dative of disadvantage. While it is grammatically possible to take se (the plebeians) as the subject of the active infinitive incendisse ('they had burned their houses to the enemy/to prevent the enemy's use'), it is here interpreted in accordance with the general historical context as 'their houses had been burned by the enemy' (with hosti representing the agent/adversary of the burning).
- 26.35.7ingens turba circumfusi fremebant
An instance of synesis (constructio ad sensum). Although the collective noun turba (crowd) is grammatically feminine singular, both the participle circumfusi (masculine plural) and the verb fremebant (third-person plural) agree with the plural masculine individuals implied by the noun.
- 26.35.10nam unde, cum pecunia in aerario non esset, paraturos navalis socios?
A rhetorical question in indirect discourse. A direct question (such as 'unde parabunt?') becomes an accusative and infinitive construction (paraturos [esse]) in indirect speech introduced by dicerent in the previous section. The infinitives posse and esse in the following sentence share this same structure.