- 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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- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:31.35.1-31.35.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
King Philip sends light-armed forces and cavalry to harass the Romans, but the Roman troops engage in a persistent, stationary hand-to-hand combat, thoroughly defeating and routing the flexible but lightly protected royal forces.
rex tam celerem aleam universi certaminis timens quadringentos Trallis — Illyriorum id, sicut alio diximus loco, est genus — et Cretenses trecentos, addito his peditibus pari numero equitum,1 cum duce Athenagora, uno ex purpuratis, ad lacessendos hostium equites misit.
The king, fearing such a swift hazard of a general engagement, sent four hundred Trallians — this, as we have mentioned in another place, is a tribe of Illyrians — and three hundred Cretans, with an equal number of cavalry added to these infantrymen, under the command of Athenagoras, one of the courtiers, to harass the enemy’s cavalry.
ab Romanis autem — aberat acies eorum paulo plus quingentos passus — velites et equitum duae ferme alae emissae, ut numero quoque eques pedesque hostem aequarent.
On the part of the Romans, however — their battle line was a little more than five hundred paces away — light-armed troops and about two squadrons of cavalry were sent out, so that in number also both horse and foot might equal the enemy.
credere regii genus pugnae, quo adsueverant, fore, ut2 equites in vicem insequentes refugientesque nunc telis uterentur, nunc terga darent, Illyriorum velocitas ad excursiones et impetus subitos usui esset, Cretenses in invehentem se effuse hostem sagittas conicerent.
The king’s troops believed that the kind of battle would be the one to which they were accustomed: namely, that the cavalry, alternately pursuing and retreating, would now discharge their weapons, now turn their backs, the speed of the Illyrians would be of service for incursions and sudden charges, and the Cretans would launch arrows at the enemy charging forward in loose order.
turbavit hunc ordinem pugnandi non acrior quam pertinacior3 impetus Romanorum;
This order of fighting was disrupted by an attack of the Romans which was not so much fierce as it was persistent;
nam haud secus, quam si tota acie dimicarent, et velites emissis hastis comminus gladiis rem gerebant, et equites, ut semel in hostem evecti sunt, stantibus equis, partim ex ipsis equis, partim desilientes immiscentesque se peditibus pugnabant.
for just as if they were fighting in a general engagement, the light-armed troops, after throwing their spears, carried on the fight hand-to-hand with swords, and the cavalry, once they had ridden against the enemy, with their horses stationary, fought partly from their horses, and partly leaping down and mingling themselves with the infantry.
ita nec eques regius equiti par erat, insuetus ad stabilem pugnam, nec pedes concursator et vagus et prope seminudus genere armorum veliti Romano parmam gladiumque habenti pariterque et ad se tuendum et ad hostem petendum armato.
Thus neither was the royal cavalryman, unaccustomed to stationary combat, a match for the Roman cavalryman, nor was the royal infantryman — a skirmisher, roving, and almost half-naked by the nature of his armor — a match for the Roman light-armed soldier, who possessed a round shield and a sword and was equally armed both to protect himself and to attack the enemy.
non tulere itaque dimicationem nec alia re quam velocitate tutantes se in castra refugerunt.
Therefore, they did not withstand the conflict, and defending themselves by no other means than their speed, they fled back to the camp.
- 31.35.1addito his peditibus pari numero equitum
Ablative absolute. 'his peditibus' refers to the 700 infantrymen in total (400 Trallians and 300 Cretans). 'pari numero' means 'with an equal number (of 700)', which is modified by the genitive 'equitum'. It translates to 'with an equal number of cavalry added to these infantrymen.'
- 31.35.3credere regii genus pugnae, quo adsueverant, fore, ut
'credere' is a historical infinitive with 'regii' ('the king's troops') as its subject. It governs an accusative and infinitive construction ('fore', short for 'futurum esse', with 'genus pugnae' as subject), meaning 'the king's men believed that the kind of battle... would take place'. The 'ut' clause is a substantive clause of result explaining 'fore', which governs the subjunctives 'uterentur', 'darent', 'esset', and 'conicerent'.
- 31.35.4non acrior quam pertinacior
The correlation of two comparatives with 'quam' is used to contrast and emphasize qualities, meaning 'not so much fierce as persistent' or 'no less fierce than persistent'. It indicates that the Romans' charge ('impetus') was characterized more by its stubborn persistence ('pertinax') than by mere initial fierceness ('acer').