- 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-lat2:31.1.1-31.1.10
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-04
The author expresses relief at completing the narrative of the Punic War and awe at the growing scale of his work, before introducing the background of the Macedonian War and the events that led the Romans to renew hostilities.
me quoque iuvat, velut ipse in parte laboris ac periculi fuerim, ad finem belli Punici pervenisse.
It is a pleasure for me as well, as if I myself had been a partaker of the labor and danger, to have arrived at the end of the Punic War.
nam etsi profiteri ausum1 perscripturum res omnis Romanas in partibus singulis tanti operis fatigari minime conveniat, tamen, cum in mentem venit tris et sexaginta annos2 —
For although it would be highly unfitting for one who has dared to promise that he will write the entire Roman history to grow weary in the individual parts of so great a work, yet, when it comes to mind that sixty-three years—
tot enim sunt a primo Punico ad secundum bellum finitum —
for so many there are from the first Punic war to the end of the second—
aeque multa volumina occupasse mihi, quam occupaverint quadringenti octoginta septem anni a condita urbe ad Ap. Claudium consulem, qui primum bellum Carthaginiensibus intulit, iam provideo animo, velut qui3 proximis litori vadis inducti mare pedibus ingrediuntur, quidquid progredior, in vastiorem me altitudinem ac velut profundum invehi, et crescere paene opus, quod prima quaeque perficiendo minui videbatur.
have occupied just as many volumes for me as the four hundred and eighty-seven years from the founding of the city to the consul Appius Claudius, who first brought war upon the Carthaginians, occupied, I now foresee in my mind, like those who, led into the shallows nearest the shore, enter the sea on foot, that the further I advance, the more I am carried into a vaster depth and, as it were, an abyss, and that the work almost increases, which seemed to be diminished by completing each of the first parts.
pacem Punicam bellum Macedonicum excepit, periculo haudquaquam comparandum aut virtute ducis aut militum robore, claritate regum antiquorum vetustaque fama gentis et magnitudine imperii, quo multa quondam Europae, maiorem partem Asiae obtinuerant armis, prope nobilius.
The Punic peace was followed by the Macedonian war, by no means to be compared in danger, or in the virtue of the commander, or in the strength of the soldiers, yet almost more famous for the brilliance of its ancient kings, the old renown of the nation, and the greatness of its empire, by which they had formerly held by arms much of Europe and the greater part of Asia.
ceterum coeptum bellum adversus Philippum decem ferme ante annis triennio prius depositum erat, cum Aetoli et belli et pacis fuissent causa.
For the rest, the war begun against Philip nearly ten years before had been suspended three years earlier, when the Aetolians had been the cause both of the war and of the peace.
vacuos deinde pace Punica iam Romanos4 et infensos Philippo cum ob infidam adversus Aetolos aliosque regionis eiusdem socios pacem, tum ob auxilia cum pecunia nuper in Africam missa Hannibali Poenisque preces Atheniensium, quos agro pervastato in urbem compulerat, excitaverunt ad renovandum bellum.
Subsequently, the Romans, now free through the Punic peace and hostile to Philip, both on account of the faithless peace towards the Aetolians and other allies of the same region, and on account of the auxiliary forces with money recently sent into Africa to Hannibal and the Carthaginians, were aroused to renew the war by the entreaties of the Athenians, whom Philip had driven into their city after utterly devastating their territory.
- 31.1.2profiteri ausum
The accusative participle 'ausum' modifies the omitted accusative pronoun 'me' (referring to the author) which serves as the subject of the infinitive 'fatigari'. The object of 'profiteri' is the future infinitive 'perscripturum [esse]'.
- 31.1.2cum in mentem venit tris et sexaginta annos —
The subject of 'in mentem venit' (it comes to mind) is the accusative and infinitive clause in §31.1.4: 'tris et sexaginta annos ... occupasse mihi' (that sixty-three years have occupied just as many volumes for me). The parenthetical clause §31.1.3 is inserted in between.
- 31.1.5velut qui
The antecedent demonstrative pronoun, such as '[ei] qui' (those who), is omitted before the relative 'qui', meaning 'like those who...'. This comparison clause illustrates the manner of the main action as experienced by the author.
- 31.1.9vacuos deinde pace Punica iam Romanos
The core of the sentence structure is: 'preces Atheniensium' (the entreaties of the Athenians: subject) in §31.1.10 'excitaverunt' (aroused: verb) 'Romanos' (the Romans: object) in §31.1.9. 'Romanos' is modified by the adjectives 'vacuos' and 'infensos', with the reasons for their hostility to Philip introduced by 'cum ob... tum ob...'.