- 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-lat2:3.51.1-3.51.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
Verginius advises the soldiers to elect leaders, and ten military tribunes are created. The army among the Sabines also rebels and joins them, after which they elect overall representatives. In the senate, the decemvirs are denounced, but they refuse to resign until the laws are passed.
dimissis legatis admonet milites Verginius in re non maxima paulo ante trepidatum esse, quia sine capite multitudo fuerit, responsumque quamquam non inutiliter, fortuito tamen magis consensu quam communi consilio esse.1
After the envoys were dismissed, Verginius warned the soldiers that a short while ago there had been panic in a matter of no great importance because the multitude had been without a leader, and that their answer, although not useless, had nevertheless been made more by accidental consensus than by common counsel.
placere decem creari, qui summae rei praeessent, militarique honore tribunos militum appellari.
He proposed that ten men should be elected to take charge of the state, and that they should be called military tribunes with military honor.
cum ad eum ipsum primum is honos deferretur, “melioribus meis vestrisque rebus reservate” inquit “ista de me iudicia;
When this honor was offered first to him, he said, ‘Reserve those judgments about me for better times, both for myself and for you;
nec mihi filia inulta honorem ullum iucundum esse patitur, nec in perturbata re publica eos utile est praeesse vobis, qui proximi invidiae sint.
neither does my unavenged daughter allow any honor to be pleasant to me, nor, in a disturbed republic, is it useful for those who are closest to unpopularity to command you.
si quis usus mei est, nihilo minor ex privato capietur.”
If there is any need for my service, it will be rendered no less as a private citizen.’
ita decem numero tribunos militares creant. neque in Sabinis quievit exercitus.
Thus they elected military tribunes, ten in number. Nor did the army among the Sabines remain quiet.
ibi quoque auctore Icilio Numitorioque secessio ab decemviris facta est non minore motu animorum Sicci caedis memoria renovata, quam quem2 nova fama de virgine adeo foede ad libidinem petita accenderat.
There too, at the instigation of Icilius and Numitorius, a secession from the decemvirs took place, with no less excitement of minds, as the memory of the murder of Siccius was revived, than that which the recent news of the maiden so foully sought for lust had kindled.
Icilius, ubi audivit tribunos militum in Aventino creatos, ne comitiorum militarium praerogativam urbana comitia iisdem tribunis plebis creandis3 sequerentur, peritus rerum popularium inminensque ei potestati et ipse, priusquam iretur ad urbem, pari potestate eundem numerum ab suis creandum curat.
Icilius, when he heard that military tribunes had been created on the Aventine, lest the urban elections, by choosing the same men as tribunes of the plebs, should follow the precedent of the military elections, being himself skilled in popular politics and aspiring to that power, took care, before marching to the city, that the same number with equal power should be elected by his own men.
porta Collina urbem intravere sub signis mediaque urbe agmine in Aventinum pergunt. ibi coniuncti alteri exercitui viginti tribunis militum negotium dederunt, ut ex suo numero duos crearent, qui summae rerum praeessent. M. Oppium, Sex. Manilium creant.
They entered the city under standards through the Colline Gate, and marched in column through the middle of the city to the Aventine. There, having joined the other army, they gave the task to the twenty military tribunes to elect two from their number to take supreme charge of affairs. They elected Marcus Oppius and Sextus Manilius.
patres solliciti de summa rerum, cum senatus cottidie esset, iurgiis saepius terunt tempus quam consiliis. Sicci caedes decemviris et Appiana libido et dedecora militiae obiciebantur. placebat Valerium Horatiumque ire in Aventinum. illi negabant se aliter ituros, quam si decemviri deponerent insignia magistratus eius, quo anno iam ante abissent.4
The senators, anxious about the state of affairs, although the senate met daily, wasted time more often in altercations than in deliberations. Against the decemvirs, the murder of Siccius, Appius’s lust, and the disgraces of the military campaign were cast up. It was resolved that Valerius and Horatius should go to the Aventine. They, however, declared that they would not go unless the decemvirs laid down the insignia of that magistracy, from which their term of office had already expired the previous year.
decemviri querentes se in ordinem cogi5 non ante quam perlatis legibus, quarum causa creati essent, deposituros imperium se aiebant.
The decemvirs, complaining that they were being reduced to the ranks, declared that they would not lay down their authority before the laws, for the sake of which they had been created, had been fully carried through.
- 3.51.1responsumque... esse
This is an infinitive clause in indirect discourse, depending on the main verb admonet. responsum ('the answer') serves as the accusative subject, with esse as the copula.
- 3.51.7quam quem
This is a combination of the conjunction quam following the comparative non minore and the relative pronoun quem (in the accusative) which takes motum (understood from the preceding clause) as its antecedent.
- 3.51.8iisdem tribunis plebis creandis
A gerundive construction in the ablative case, expressing means or attendant circumstance: 'by electing the same men as tribunes of the plebs.'
- 3.51.12quo anno iam ante abissent
abissent is from the idiom abire magistratu (to leave office), with magistratu replaced by the relative quo (referring to magistratus), combined with the temporal expression anno ante (a year before). It indicates that their term of office had already expired a year prior.
- 3.51.13in ordinem cogi
The passive of the idiomatic phrase in ordinem cogere, which originally meant 'to reduce an officer to the ranks' in a military context, and by extension 'to reduce a magistrate to the status of a private citizen.'