- 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-lat2:3.29.1-3.29.9
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
The dictator Quinctius demotes Minucius to lieutenant while returning to Rome to celebrate a grand triumph. After ensuring the condemnation of the false witness Volscius, Quinctius resigns his dictatorship, and the Roman forces achieve victories on other fronts.
castris hostium receptis plenis omnium rerum — nudos enim emiserat — praedam omnem suo tantum militi dedit;
Having taken the enemy’s camp, which was full of all kinds of things — for he had sent them away naked — he gave all the spoil only to his own soldiers;
consularem exercitum ipsumque consulem increpans “carebis” inquit “praedae parte, miles, ex eo hoste, cui prope praedae fuisti;1 et tu, L. Minuci, donec consularem animum incipias habere, legatus his legionibus praeeris.”
Rebuking the consular army and the consul himself, he said, “You, soldiers, shall have no share of the spoil from that enemy to whom you were almost a spoil yourselves; and you, L. Minucius, until you begin to have the spirit of a consul, shall command these legions as a lieutenant.”
ita se Minucius abdicat consulatu iussusque ad exercitum manet. sed adeo tum imperio meliori animus mansuete oboediens erat, ut beneficii magis quam ignominiae hic exercitus memor et coronam auream dictatori libram pondo decreverit2 et proficiscentem eum patronum salutaverit.
Thus Minucius resigned his consulship and, as ordered, remained with the army. But at that time minds were so submissively obedient to a superior command that this army, remembering the benefit more than the disgrace, both voted a golden crown of a pound in weight to the dictator and saluted him as their patron upon his departure.
Romae a Q. Fabio praefecto urbis senatus habitus triumphantem Quinctium quo veniebat agmine urbem ingredi iussit. ducti ante currum hostium duces, militaria signa praelata, secutus exercitus praeda onustus. epulae instructae dicuntur fuisse ante omnium domus, epulantesque cum carmine triumphali et sollemnibus iocis comisantium modo currum secuti sunt.
At Rome, a senate being held by Q. Fabius, the prefect of the city, they ordered Quinctius to enter the city in triumph with the army in the order in which he was coming. The leaders of the enemy were led before his chariot, the military standards were carried before him, and the army followed, laden with spoil. Banquets are said to have been spread before the houses of all, and the banqueters, with triumphal songs and customary jests, followed the chariot in the manner of revellers.
eo die L. Mamilio Tusculano adprobantibus cunctis civitas data est. confestim se dictator magistratu abdicasset, ni comitia M. Volsci, falsi testis, tenuissent:3 ea ne inpedirent tribuni, dictatoris obstitit metus. Volscius damnatus Lanuvium in exilium abiit.
On that day, with the approval of all, citizenship was granted to L. Mamilius of Tusculum. The dictator would have immediately resigned his office, had not the trial of M. Volscius, the false witness, detained him; and the fear of the dictator prevented the tribunes from obstructing it. Volscius, being condemned, went into exile at Lanuvium.
Quinctius sexto decimo die dictatura in sex menses accepta se abdicavit. per eos dies consul Nautius ad Eretum cum Sabinis egregie pugnat; ad vastatos agros ea quoque clades accessit Sabinis. Minucio Fabius successor in Algidum missus.
Quinctius resigned on the sixteenth day the dictatorship which he had accepted for six months. During those days the consul Nautius fought brilliantly against the Sabines near Eretum; to their devastated lands this disaster was also added for the Sabines. Fabius was sent to Mount Algidus as successor to Minucius.
extremo anno agitatum de lege ab tribunis est; sed quia duo exercitus aberant, ne quid ferretur ad populum, patres tenuere;4 plebes vicit, ut quintum eosdem tribunos crearent.
At the end of the year, the law was agitated by the tribunes; but because two armies were absent, the patricians prevented any proposal from being brought before the people; yet the plebeians prevailed so far as to elect the same tribunes for a fifth time.
lupos visos in Capitolio ferunt a canibus fugatos; ob id prodigium lustratum Capitolium esse. haec eo anno gesta.
It is reported that wolves seen on the Capitol were driven away by dogs; on account of that prodigy, the Capitol was purified. These were the transactions of that year.
- 3.29.2cui prope praedae fuisti
A double dative construction combining the dative of relation cui (referring to the antecedent hoste) and the dative of purpose or effect praedae. It literally means "for whom you were almost for a prey (i.e., to whom you almost became a prey)."
- 3.29.3coronam auream dictatori libram pondo decreverit
A consecutive clause introduced by adeo... ut. Despite the secondary main verb erat (imperfect), the verbs in the ut-clause (decreverit and salutaverit) are in the perfect subjunctive (historical perfect), emphasizing the historical occurrence of the results as actual facts. The phrase libram pondo is an idiomatic expression for "a pound in weight," where pondo is originally an ablative meaning "by weight."
- 3.29.6confestim se dictator magistratu abdicasset, ni comitia M. Volsci, falsi testis, tenuissent
A past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence. Both the verb in the protasis tenuissent and the verb in the apodosis abdicasset (a contracted form of abdicaverisset) are in the pluperfect subjunctive. The phrase abdicasset se magistratu means "he would have resigned his office." The plural noun comitia (assembly, here referring to the judicial trial) is the subject of tenuissent, meaning "had not the trial of M. Volscius detained him."
- 3.29.8ne quid ferretur ad populum, patres tenuere
The clause ne... ferretur (imperfect subjunctive) expresses the purpose or intention of the patricians ("lest anything should be proposed to the people") or functions as a clause of prevention depending on the main verb. The verb tenuere (a syncopated form of tenuerunt) is used here intransitively or with an implied object to mean "held out" or "obstructed the proceedings."