- 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-lat2:36.18.1-36.18.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
At dawn, both armies draw up their forces, and a fierce battle begins in the narrow pass. The Romans struggle against the strong Macedonian defense of the rampart and their spears, but the tide begins to turn when Cato defeats the Aetolians and appears on the hill overlooking the camp.
ab hac contione dimissi milites, priusquam corpora curarent, arma telaque parent. luce prima signo pugnae proposito instruit aciem consul, arta fronte, ad naturam et angustias loci. rex, postquam signa hostium conspexit, et ipse copias educit. levis armaturae partem ante vallum in primo locavit, tum Macedonum robur, quos sarisophorus appellabant, velut firmamentum circa ipsas munitiones constituit.
Dismissed from this assembly, the soldiers, before taking care of their bodies, prepare their arms and weapons. At dawn, when the signal for battle was displayed, the consul draws up his line of battle, with a narrow front, according to the nature and narrowness of the place. The king, after he beheld the standards of the enemy, also leads out his forces. He stationed a part of the light-armed troops in front of the rampart in the vanguard, then he established the strength of the Macedonians, whom they called sarisophori, as a support, as it were, around the fortifications themselves.
his ab sinistro cornu iaculatorum sagittariorumque et funditorum manum sub ipsis radicibus montis posuit, ut ex altiore loco nuda latera hostium incesserent.
On their left wing, right under the very roots of the mountain, he placed a band of javelin-throwers, archers, and slingers, so that from the higher ground they might attack the exposed flanks of the enemy.
ab dextro Macedonibus ad ipsum munimentorum finem, qua loca usque ad mare invia palustri limo et voraginibus claudunt, elephantos cum adsueto praesidio posuit, post eos equites, tum modico intervallo relicto ceteras copias in secunda acie.
On the right wing of the Macedonians, up to the very end of the fortifications, where the ground, impassable all the way to the sea, is closed by marshy mud and quicksands, he placed the elephants with their accustomed guard, behind them the cavalry, and then, leaving a moderate interval, the rest of the forces in the second line of battle.
Macedones pro vallo locati primo facile sustinebant Romanos, temptantis ab omni parte aditus, multum adiuvantibus, qui1 ex loco superiore fundis velut nimbum glandis et sagittas simul ac iacula ingerebant;
The Macedonians stationed in front of the rampart at first easily held off the Romans, who were trying the approaches from every side, while those who from the higher ground were showering with sling-shots a cloud of leaden bullets, as it were, and arrows along with javelins, gave great assistance;
deinde, ut maior nec iam toleranda vis hostium inferebat se, pulsi loco intra munimenta subductis ordinibus concesserunt; inde ex vallo prope alterum vallum hastis prae se obiectis fecerunt.2
then, as the greater and no longer tolerable force of the enemy pressed forward, being driven from their position, they retreated inside the fortifications after withdrawing their ranks; from there, they made almost another rampart in front of themselves by presenting their spears from the rampart.
et ita modica altitudo valli erat, ut et locum superiorem suis ad pugnandum praeberet, et propter longitudinem hastarum subiectum haberet hostem.
And the height of the rampart was so moderate that it both provided a higher position for its own men to fight from, and because of the length of the spears, held the enemy under its reach.
multi temere subeuntes vallum transfixi sunt; et aut incepto irrito recessissent aut plures cecidissent, ni M. Porcius ab iugo Callidromi deiectis inde Aetolis et magna ex parte caesis — incautos enim et plerosque sopitos oppresserat — super imminentem castris collem apparuisset.3
Many who rashly approached the rampart were transfixed; and they would have either retreated with their attempt frustrated or more would have fallen, had not Marcus Porcius, after driving the Aetolians from the ridge of Callidromon and slaughtering a great part of them—for he had surprised them off their guard and mostly asleep—appeared on the hill overlooking the camp.
- 36.18.5multum adiuvantibus, qui
An ablative absolute using the present participle adiuvantibus. Its logical subject is the implied antecedent of the relative pronoun qui.
- 36.18.6prope alterum vallum hastis prae se obiectis fecerunt
The direct object of fecerunt is alterum vallum, and prope functions as an adverb meaning 'almost' or 'virtually' ('they made virtually another rampart by projecting their spears').
- 36.18.8et aut incepto irrito recessissent aut plures cecidissent, ni M. Porcius ... apparuisset
A past counterfactual conditional sentence. The pluperfect subjunctives recessissent and cecidissent form the apodosis, while apparuisset, introduced by the negative conditional conjunction ni (nisi), forms the protasis.