- 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-lat2:3.64.1-3.64.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
As the tribunes plot to prolong their own and the consuls' terms, Marcus Duillius, chosen by lot to preside over the assembly, thwarts their ambition by using a legal loophole to limit the election to only five tribunes before dissolving the meeting.
haec victoria tribunorum plebisque prope in haud salubrem luxuriam vertit conspiratione inter tribunos facta, ut iidem tribuni reficerentur et, quo sua minus cupiditas emineret, consules quoque continuarent magistratum.
This victory of the tribunes and the plebs almost turned into a dangerous excess because of a conspiracy formed among the tribunes, that the same tribunes should be re-elected and, in order that their own greed might be less conspicuous, that the consuls also should continue their magistracy.
consensum patrum causabantur, quo per contumeliam consulum1 iura tribunorum plebis labefactata essent.
They alleged as a reason the consensus of the patricians, by which, through the insulting of the consuls, the rights of the tribunes of the plebs had been weakened.
quid futurum2 nondum firmatis legibus, si novos tribunos per factionis suae consules adorti essent? non enim semper Valerios Horatiosque consules fore, qui libertati plebis suas opes postferrent.
What would happen, with the laws not yet established, if they should attack the new tribunes through the consuls of their own faction? For there would not always be consuls like Valerius and Horatius, who would postpone their own power to the liberty of the plebs.
forte quadam utili ad tempus, ut comitiis praeesset, potissimum M. Duillio sorte evenit, viro prudenti et ex continuatione magistratus invidiam inminentem cernenti.
By a certain chance useful for the time, it fell by lot to M. Duillius of all people to preside over the assembly, a man prudent and seeing the impending unpopularity from the continuation of the magistracy.
qui cum ex veteribus tribunis negaret se ullius rationem habiturum pugnarentque collegae, ut liberas tribus in suffragium mitteret aut concederet sortem comitiorum collegis habituris e lege potius comitia quam ex voluntate patrum, iniecta contentione Duillius consules ad subsellia accitos cum interrogasset, quid de comitiis consularibus in animo haberent, respondissentque se novos consules creaturos, auctores populares sententiae haud popularis3 nactus in contionem cum iis processit.
When he declared that he would take no account of any of the old tribunes, and his colleagues strove that he should either send the free tribes to vote or yield by lot the conduct of the assembly to his colleagues, who would hold the assembly according to the law rather than according to the will of the patricians, a dispute having been raised, Duillius, when he had asked the consuls, summoned to the benches, what they had in mind concerning the consular elections, and they had replied that they would create new consuls, having found popular sponsors for an unpopular opinion, proceeded with them into the assembly.
ubi cum consules producti ad populum interrogatique, si eos populus Romanus, memor libertatis per illos receptae domi, memor militiae rerum gestarum, consules iterum faceret, quidnam facturi essent, nihil sententiae suae mutassent, conlaudatis consulibus, quod perseverarent ad ultimum dissimiles decemvirorum esse, comitia habuit; et quinque tribunis plebi creatis cum prae studiis aperte petentium novem tribunorum alii candidati tribus non explerent, concilium dimisit nec deinde comitiorum causa habuit.
There, when the consuls, brought forward to the people and asked what they would do if the Roman people, mindful of the liberty recovered through them at home, mindful of their achievements in war, should make them consuls again, had changed nothing of their opinion, having praised the consuls because they persisted to the last in being unlike the decemvirs, he held the election; and five tribunes of the plebs having been elected, since because of the zealous efforts of the nine tribunes who were openly seeking re-election other candidates did not fill the tribes, he dismissed the assembly, and did not hold it thereafter for the purpose of the election.
satisfactum legi aiebat, quae numero nusquam praefinito, tribuni modo ut relinquerentur, sanciret et ab iis, qui creati essent, cooptari collegas iuberet;
He said that the law was satisfied, which, with no number anywhere prescribed, provided only that tribunes should be left, and ordered that colleagues should be co-opted by those who had been elected;
recitabatque rogationis carmen, in quo est: “tribunos plebei decem rogabo; si qui vos minus hodie decem tribunos plebei feceritis, tum ut ii, quos hi sibi collegas cooptassint, legitimi eadem lege tribuni plebei sint, ut illi, quos hodie tribunos plebei feceritis.”
and he read aloud the formula of the proposal, in which it is: “I will propose ten tribunes of the plebs; if you shall have made fewer than ten tribunes of the plebs today, then those whom these shall have co-opted as colleagues for themselves shall be legitimate tribunes of the plebs under the same law, just as those whom you shall have made tribunes of the plebs today.”
Duillius cum ad ultimum perseverasset negando quindecim tribunos plebei rem publicam habere posse, victa collegarum cupiditate pariter patribus plebeique acceptus magistratu abiit.
When Duillius had persisted to the last in denying that the state could have fifteen tribunes of the plebs, the greed of his colleagues having been overcome, he resigned his office, equally acceptable to the patricians and the plebs.
- 3.64.2per contumeliam consulum
The genitive consulum is an objective genitive, meaning 'the insult offered to the consuls' (the senate's refusal of their triumph), rather than 'an insult committed by the consuls.'
- 3.64.3quid futurum
An accusative-with-infinitive construction with the omission of the infinitive esse in futurum [esse]. It represents a rhetorical question in indirect discourse (which would be quid erit or quid fiat in direct speech).
- 3.64.6auctores populares sententiae haud popularis
populares is an accusative plural modifying auctores ('popular, democratic'), while sententiae haud popularis is a genitive singular dependent on auctores ('of an unpopular opinion'). The words are arranged to contrast the two forms of the adjective popularis.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (2, latest 2026-09-22)
- 2026-09-22 AI review — source 2