- 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-lat2:31.48.1-31.48.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
A heated debate arises in the senate regarding Lucius Furius's triumph. While the elders argue that they should wait for the consul, the majority emphasizes the actual achievements and the urgency of the military situation, defending Furius's decision.
apud magnam partem senatus et magnitudine rerum gestarum valebat et gratia.
With a large part of the senate, he was influential both by the greatness of his achievements and by his personal influence.
maiores natu negabant triumphum, et quod alieno exercitu rem gessisset et quod provinciam reliquisset cupiditate rapiendi per occasionem triumphi;
The elders denied him the triumph, both because he had conducted the campaign with another’s army and because he had left his province out of a desire to snatch a triumph on the opportunity.
id vero eum nullo exemplo fecisse; consulares praecipue expectandum fuisse consulem censebant;
Indeed they declared that he had done this with no precedent; the consulars especially thought that the consul ought to have been awaited.
potuisse1 enim castris prope urbem positis tutanda colonia ita, ut acie non decerneret, in adventum eius rem extrahere; quod praetor non fecisset, senatui faciendum esse, ut consulem expectaret;
For, by pitching camp near the city, he could have protected the colony in such a way that he did not decide the issue in a pitched battle, and prolonged the matter until his arrival; since the praetor had not done this, the senate ought to do so, by waiting for the consul.
ubi coram disceptantis consulem et praetorem audissent, verius de causa existimaturos esse.
When they had heard the consul and the praetor debating face to face, they would judge the case more truly.
magna pars senatus nihil praeter res gestas, et an in magistratu suisque auspiciis gessisset, censebant spectare senatum debere.
A large part of the senate thought that the senate ought to regard nothing except the achievements, and whether he had conducted them during his magistracy and under his own auspices.
ex duabus coloniis, quae velut claustra ad cohibendos Gallicos tumultus oppositae fuissent, cum una direpta et incensa esset, traiecturumque id incendium velut ex continentibus tectis in alteram tam propinquam coloniam esset,2 quid tandem praetori faciendum fuisse?
Of the two colonies which had been placed as barriers, as it were, to restrain Gallic uprisings, when one had been plundered and burned, and that fire was about to pass, as if from contiguous roofs, into the other colony so close by, what, pray, ought the praetor to have done?
nam si sine consule geri nihil oportuerit, aut senatum peccasse, qui exercitum praetori dederit — potuisse enim, sicut non praetoris sed consulis exercitu rem geri voluerit, ita finire senatus consulto,3 ne per praetorem sed per consulem gereretur, aut consulem, qui non, cum exercitum ex Etruria transire in Galliam iussisset, ipse Arimini occurrerit, ut bello interesset, quod sine eo geri fas non esset.
For if nothing ought to have been done without the consul, either the senate had erred, which had given the army to the praetor—for they could have, just as they wished the action to be conducted not by a praetor’s but by a consul’s army, so limited it by a decree of the senate, that it should be conducted not by the praetor but by the consul—, or the consul had erred, who, when he had ordered the army to cross from Etruria into Gaul, did not himself meet them at Ariminum so that he might take part in the war, which could not lawfully be waged without him.
non expectare belli tempora moras et dilationes imperatorum, et pugnandum esse interdum, non quia velis, sed quia hostis cogat.
The crises of war did not wait for the delays and postponements of commanders, and sometimes one had to fight, not because you wished to, but because the enemy compelled it.
pugnam ipsam eventumque pugnae spectari debere. fusos caesosque hostis, castra capta ac direpta, coloniam liberatam obsidione, alterius coloniae captivos recuperatos restitutosque suis, debellatum uno proelio esse.
The battle itself and the outcome of the battle ought to be regarded. The enemy had been routed and slaughtered, their camp captured and plundered, the colony freed from siege, the captives of the other colony recovered and restored to their people, the war finished in a single battle.
non homines tantum ea victoria laetatos, sed diis quoque immortalibus per triduum supplicationes habitas, quod bene ac feliciter, non quod male ac temere res publica a L. Furio praetore gesta esset. data fato etiam quodam Furiae genti Gallica bella.
Not only had men rejoiced in that victory, but thanksgivings had also been offered to the immortal gods for three days, because the republic had been conducted well and successfully, not badly and rashly, by the praetor Lucius Furius. Gallic wars had even been given by a certain fate to the Furius clan.
- 31.48.4potuisse
The perfect infinitive potuisse in indirect discourse represents the indicative potuit (or potuerat) of direct speech, expressing an unfulfilled past possibility ("he could have"). The implied subject is Furius.
- 31.48.7traiecturumque id incendium velut ex continentibus tectis in alteram tam propinquam coloniam esset
The second predicate within the cum-clause. It is an active periphrastic conjugation consisting of the future active participle traiecturum (agreeing with the neuter subject incendium) and the imperfect subjunctive esset, expressing an imminent likelihood in past time ("the fire was about to pass").
- 31.48.8potuisse enim, sicut... ita finire senatus consulto
This potuisse is also an infinitive in indirect discourse (parallel to peccasse). The subject is senatum (the senate), understood from the preceding clause, which takes the complementary infinitive finire (to limit/define), meaning "for the senate could have defined by a decree of the senate."