- 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-lat2:31.20.1-31.20.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Lucius Cornelius Lentulus returns from Spain and requests a triumph, but is refused by the senate due to a lack of precedent; eventually, a compromise is reached allowing him an ovation.
per idem tempus L. Cornelius Lentulus pro consule ex Hispania rediit.
About the same time, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, proconsul, returned from Spain.
qui cum in senatu res ab se per multos annos fortiter feliciterque gestas exposuisset postulassetque, ut triumphanti sibi invehi liceret in urbem, res triumpho dignas esse censebat senatus, sed exemplum a maioribus non accepisse,1 ut, qui neque dictator neque consul neque praetor res gessisset, triumpharet:2
When he had set forth in the senate the things bravely and successfully performed by him over many years, and had requested that he might be allowed to ride into the city in triumph, the senate judged indeed that his achievements were worthy of a triumph, but that they had received no precedent from their ancestors that anyone should triumph who had performed his achievements without having been dictator, consul, or praetor;
pro consule illum Hispaniam provinciam, non consulem aut praetorem obtinuisse.
for he had held the province of Spain as proconsul, not as consul or praetor.
decurrebatur tamen eo, ut3 ovans urbem iniret, intercedente Ti. Sempronio Longo tribuno plebis, qui nihilo magis id more maiorum aut ullo exemplo futurum4 diceret.
An agreement was nevertheless being reached to the effect that he should enter the city in ovation, though Tiberius Sempronius Longus, tribune of the plebs, opposed it, saying that this would be no more in accordance with the custom of the ancestors or any precedent.
postremo victus consensu patrum tribunus cessit, et ex senatus consulto L. Lentulus ovans urbem est ingressus.
At last, overcome by the consensus of the senators, the tribune gave way, and by a decree of the senate, Lucius Lentulus entered the city in ovation.
argenti tulit quadraginta tria milia pondo, auri duo milia quadringenta quinquaginta. militibus ex praeda centenos vicenos asses divisit.
He brought forty-three thousand pounds of silver, and two thousand four hundred and fifty of gold. Out of the booty he distributed one hundred and twenty asses to each of the soldiers.
- 31.20.3accepisse
The infinitive accepisse has the senate (or the Romans in general) as its implied subject. Under the indirect discourse depending on censebat, it expresses the senate's judgment that they had not received such a precedent.
- 31.20.3ut... triumpharet
The ut clause functions as an appositive or stipulative clause defining the specific content of the preceding exemplum (precedent).
- 31.20.5decurrebatur eo, ut
The impersonal passive verb decurrebatur literally means "it was run to that point (eo)". The ut clause expresses the specific compromise that was being reached.
- 31.20.5nihilo magis id more maiorum aut ullo exemplo futurum
This is an accusative-with-infinitive construction in indirect discourse, with esse omitted after futurum. nihilo magis is a comparative phrase expressing strong negation ("by no means more" / "no more").