- 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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- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:3.69.1-3.69.10
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
The speech of Consul Quinctius moves the plebeians, and the levy is completed with unprecedented speed. The Roman army immediately marches out, encounters the enemy, and battle is joined.
raro alias tribuni popularis oratio acceptior plebi quam tunc severissimi consulis fuit.1
Rarely at other times was the speech of a popular tribune more acceptable to the plebs than that of the most severe consul was then.
iuventus quoque, quae inter tales metus detractationem militiae telum acerrimum adversus patres habere solita erat, arma et bellum spectabat. et agrestium fuga spoliatique in agris et vulnerati foediora iis, quae subiciebantur oculis, nuntiantes totam urbem ira inplevere.
The youth also, who amid such fears had been accustomed to hold the refusal of military service as their sharpest weapon against the patricians, were looking to arms and war. Furthermore, the flight of the rustics, and those plundered in the fields, and the wounded, reporting things more horrible than those which were presented to their eyes, filled the whole city with wrath.
in senatum ubi ventum est, ibi vero in Quinctium omnes versi, ut unum vindicem maiestatis Romanae intueri,2 et primores patrum dignam dicere contionem imperio consulari, dignam tot consulatibus ante actis, dignam vita omni, plena honorum saepe gestorum, saepius meritorum.
When they had entered the senate, there indeed everyone turned toward Quinctius, looking upon him as the sole defender of Roman majesty; and the leading men of the patricians declared that his speech was worthy of the consular power, worthy of so many consulships previously held, and worthy of his whole life, which was full of honors often held and even more often deserved.
alios consules aut per proditionem dignitatis patrum plebi adulatos aut acerbe tuendo iura ordinis asperiorem domando multitudinem fecisse;3 T. Quinctium orationem memorem maiestatis patrum concordiaeque ordinum et temporum in primis habuisse.
They said that other consuls had either, through the betrayal of the dignity of the patricians, flattered the plebs, or, by bitterly defending the rights of their order, had made the crowd harsher in attempting to subdue them; whereas Titus Quinctius had delivered a speech mindful of the majesty of the fathers, of the harmony of the orders, and especially of the times.
orare eum collegamque, ut capesserent rem publicam; orare tribunos, ut uno animo cum consulibus bellum ab urbe ac moenibus propulsari vellent plebemque oboedientem in re tam trepida patribus praeberent: appellare tribunos communem patriam4 auxiliumque eorum inplorare vastatis agris, urbe prope oppugnata.
They begged him and his colleague to take charge of the state; they begged the tribunes that, with one mind with the consuls, they should wish the war to be driven away from the city and the walls, and render the plebs obedient to the fathers in so critical a situation; they appealed to the tribunes by their common country and implored their aid, now that the fields were devastated and the city was almost besieged.
consensu omnium dilectus decernitur habeturque. cum consules in contione pronuntiassent tempus non esse causas cognoscendi; omnes iuniores postero die prima luce in campo Martio adessent;
By the consent of all, a levy was decreed and held. When the consuls had proclaimed in the assembly that there was no time for examining excuses, and that all the younger men must be present on the following day at daybreak in the Campus Martius;
cognoscendis causis eorum, qui nomina non dedissent, bello perfecto se daturos tempus; pro desertore futurum,5 cuius non probassent causam: omnis iuventus adfuit postero die.
declaring that they would give time for examining the excuses of those who had not given their names once the war was finished, and that whoever’s excuse they did not approve would be treated as a deserter: all the youth was present on the following day.
cohortes sibi quaeque centuriones legerunt, bini senatores singulis cohortibus praepositi. haec omnia adeo mature perfecta accepimus, ut signa eo ipso die a quaestoribus ex aerario prompta delataque in campum quarta diei hora mota ex campo sint exercitusque novus paucis cohortibus veterum militum voluntate sequentibus manserit ad decimum lapidem.
Each cohort chose centurions for itself, and two senators were placed in command of each cohort. We have received the account that all these things were completed so speedily that the standards, brought out from the treasury by the quaestors on that very day and carried down to the Campus, were moved from the Campus at the fourth hour of the day, and the new army, with a few cohorts of veteran soldiers following voluntarily, halted at the tenth milestone.
insequens dies hostem in conspectum dedit, castraque ad Corbionem castris sunt coniuncta.
The following day brought the enemy into sight, and their camp was joined to the camp near Corbio.
tertio die, cum ira Romanos, illos, cum totiens rebellassent, conscientia culpae ac desperatio inritaret, mora dimicandi nulla est facta.
On the third day, since anger incited the Romans, and the consciousness of guilt and despair incited the enemy, since they had rebelled so many times, no delay in fighting was made.
- 3.69.1raro alias tribuni popularis oratio acceptior plebi quam tunc severissimi consulis fuit
This sentence contains the comparative adjective "acceptior" and must be understood with some ellipsis. The subject "tribuni popularis oratio" (the speech of a popular tribune) is compared to "tunc severissimi consulis [oratio]" (the speech of the most severe consul at that time). The construction means: "Rarely at any other time was the speech of a popular tribune more acceptable to the plebs than that of the most severe consul was then."
- 3.69.3intueri
The verb "intueri" is a historical infinitive, functioning with the force of an indicative imperfect or perfect in a main clause. Its subject is the preceding "omnes." The verb "dicere" in the subsequent clause is also a historical infinitive.
- 3.69.4asperiorem domando multitudinem fecisse
In this indirect speech, "fecisse" has "multitudinem" as its object, with "asperiorem" functioning as its predicate accusative ("had made the crowd harsher"). "domando" is the ablative of the gerund, expressing means ("by taming" or "by attempting to subdue").
- 3.69.5appellare tribunos communem patriam
The verb "appellare" usually means "to appeal to [someone]." Here it takes a double accusative ("tribunos" and "communem patriam"), or functions with an ellipsis of the preposition "per" ("to appeal to the tribunes by their common country"). It is interpreted as calling upon the tribunes in the name of their common country.
- 3.69.7pro desertore futurum
The accusative subject of the future infinitive "futurum [esse]", namely "eum" (the antecedent of the relative clause starting with "cuius"), is omitted. The clause "cuius non probassent causam" ("whose excuse they did not approve") modifies this omitted "eum." The whole construction means "that he whose excuse they did not approve would be treated as a deserter."