- 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-lat2:35.4.1-35.4.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Consul Merula invades the territory of the Boii, where the enemy avoids open battle but attempts an ambush on the marching Roman army. The consul detects the trap, prepares his forces, and both sides face a decisive open battle.
cum bellum Ligustinum ad Pisas constitisset consul alter, L. Cornelius Merula, per extremos Ligurum finis exercitum in agrum Boiorum induxit, ubi longe alia belli ratio quam cum Liguribus erat.
When the Ligurian war had come to a standstill at Pisae, the other consul, Lucius Cornelius Merula, led his army through the extreme borders of the Ligurians into the territory of the Boii, where the character of the war was far different from that with the Ligurians.
consul in aciem exibat, hostes pugnam detractabant; praedatumque, ubi nemo obviam exiret, discurrebant Romani, Boi diripi sua impune quam tuendo ea conserere certamen malebant.1
The consul would march out into battle line, but the enemy declined combat; and while the Romans dispersed to plunder, where no one came to meet them, the Boii preferred to have their property plundered with impunity rather than to join battle in defending it.
postquam omnia ferro ignique satis evastata erant, consul agro hostium excessit, et ad Mutinam agmine incauto, ut inter pacatos, ducebat.2
After everything had been sufficiently devastated with fire and sword, the consul departed from the enemy’s territory, and was leading his army toward Mutina in a careless column, as if among pacified people.
Boi ut egressum suis finibus hostem sensere, sequebantur silenti agmine, locum insidiis quaerentes. nocte praetergressi castra Romana saltum, qua transeundum erat Romanis, insederunt.
When the Boii perceived that the enemy had departed from their territory, they followed in a silent column, seeking a place for an ambush. Having bypassed the Roman camp by night, they occupied the pass through which the Romans had to cross.
id cum parum occulte fecissent, consul, qui multa nocte3 solitus erat movere castra, ne nox terrorem in tumultuario proelio augeret, lucem expectavit et, cum luce moveret, tamen turmam equitum exploratum misit.
Since they had done this with too little secrecy, the consul, who had been accustomed to move his camp late at night, waited for daylight, lest the night should increase the terror in a sudden conflict; and although he moved with the light, he nevertheless sent a troop of cavalry to reconnoiter.
postquam relatum est, quantae copiae et in quo loco essent, totius agminis sarcinas in medium coici iussit et triarios vallum circumicere, cetero exercitu instructo ad hostem accessit.
After it was reported how great the forces were and in what place they were, he ordered the baggage of the whole column to be thrown together into the center, and the triarii to throw up a rampart around it; with the rest of the army drawn up, he approached the enemy.
idem et Galli fecerunt, postquam apertas esse insidias et recto ac iusto proelio, ubi vera vinceret virtus, dimicandum4 viderunt.
The Gauls did the same, after they saw that the ambush was disclosed and that they must fight in a straight and regular battle, where true valor would conquer.
- 35.4.2diripi sua impune quam tuendo ea conserere certamen malebant
A comparative construction governed by malebant (from malo, "prefer"). The verb governs two contrasted infinitive phrases: diripi sua impune (passive infinitive diripi, "that their property be plundered with impunity") and conserere certamen (active infinitive, "to join battle"). The ablative gerund tuendo expresses means ("by defending them") modifying conserere.
- 35.4.3ducebat
In military contexts, duco is frequently used intransitively or with an understood object like exercitum, meaning "to march" or "to lead the army."
- 35.4.5multa nocte
Ablative of time. The adjective multus modifying nox literally means "when much of the night was passed," which is an idiomatic expression for "late at night" or "deep in the night."
- 35.4.7dimicandum
The neuter singular of the gerundive from the intransitive verb dimico, representing an impersonal passive periphrastic infinitive with esse omitted (dimicandum esse). It stands as the object of viderunt in indirect discourse, denoting necessity ("that they must fight").