- 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-lat2:39.4.1-39.4.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
The proconsul M. Fulvius returns to Rome and requests a triumph for his victories in Aetolia, but the tribune Aburius, acting on behalf of the absent consul Aemilius, threatens to veto the decision. In response, Fulvius denounces Aemilius's persistent hostility and unfair political maneuvers against him.
priusquam consules redirent Romam, M. Fulvius proconsul ex Aetolia redit;
Before the consuls returned to Rome, the proconsul M. Fulvius returned from Aetolia;
isque ad aedem Apollinis in senatu cum de rebus in Aetolia Cephallaniaque ab se gestis disseruisset, petit a patribus, ut, si aequum censerent, ob rem publicam bene ac feliciter gestam et diis immortalibus honorem haberi iuberent et sibi triumphum decernerent.
and when he had discussed in the senate at the temple of Apollo the things achieved by him in Aetolia and Cephallania, he requested of the fathers that, if they thought it fair, they should order honor to be paid to the immortal gods for the state having been well and successfully conducted, and decree a triumph for him.
M. Aburius tribunus plebis, si quid de ea re ante M. Aemilii consulis adventum decerneretur, intercessurum se ostendit:
M. Aburius, a tribune of the plebs, declared that he would interpose his veto if any decision should be made on this matter before the arrival of the consul M. Aemilius;
eum contra dicere velle, proficiscentemque in provinciam ita sibi mandasse, ut ea disceptatio integra in adventum suum servaretur. Fulvium temporis iacturam facere: senatum etiam praesente consule quod vellet decreturum.
he said that Aemilius wished to speak against it, and on departing for his province had instructed him in such a way that this debate should be kept entire until his own arrival. He added that Fulvius was losing time, and that the senate would decree what he wished even in the presence of the consul.
tum Fulvius: si aut simultas M. Aemilii secum ignota hominibus esset, aut quam is eas inimicitias impotenti ac prope regia ira exerceret, tamen non fuisse ferendum1 absentem consulem et deorum immortalium honori obstare et meritum debitumque triumphum morari, imperatorem rebus egregie gestis victoremque exercitum cum praeda et captivis ante portas stare, donec consuli ob hoc ipsum moranti redire Romam libitum esset.
Then Fulvius said: even if either the enmity of M. Aemilius with him were unknown to men, or how he exercised those hostilities with an ungovernable and almost kingly wrath, yet it ought not to have been tolerated that an absent consul should both obstruct the honor of the immortal gods and delay a well-deserved and due triumph, and that a commander after outstanding achievements and a victorious army with booty and captives should stand before the gates, until it should please the consul, who was lingering for this very purpose, to return to Rome.
verum enimvero cum sint notissimae sibi cum consule inimicitiae, quid ab eo quemquam posse aequi exspectare,2 qui per infrequentiam furtim senatus consultum factum ad aerarium detulerit, Ambraciam non videri vi captam, quae aggere ac vineis oppugnata sit, ubi incensis operibus alia de integro facta sint, ubi circa muros supra subterque terram per dies quindecim pugnatum, ubi a prima luce, cum iam transcendisset muros miles, usque ad noctem diu anceps proelium tenuerit, ubi plus tria milia hostium sint caesa.
But indeed, since his enmity with the consul was most notorious, what of fairness could anyone expect from him, who had carried to the treasury a decree of the senate made stealthily in a thinly attended meeting, claiming that Ambracia did not seem to have been taken by force, which had been besieged with a rampart and vineae, where, when the works were burned, others were made anew, where for fifteen days they fought around the walls above and under the ground, where from early dawn, when the soldier had already scaled the walls, an anxious battle had held out for a long time until night, where more than three thousand of the enemy had been slain?
iam de deorum immortalium templis spoliatis in capta urbe qualem calumniam ad pontifices attulerit?
What kind of calumny had he now brought to the pontiffs concerning the plundered temples of the immortal gods in a captured city?
nisi Syracusarum ceterarumque captarum civitatium ornamentis urbem exornari fas fuerit, in Ambracia una capta non valuerit belli ius.
Unless it had been lawful for the city to be adorned with the ornaments of Syracuse and other captured states, but in the single case of captured Ambracia the law of war had not been valid.
se et patres conscriptos orare et ab tribuno petere, ne se superbissimo inimico ludibrio esse3 sinant.
He implored both the conscript fathers and requested of the tribune that they would not suffer him to be a laughingstock to his most arrogant enemy.
- 39.4.5si aut simultas M. Aemilii secum ignota hominibus esset, aut quam is eas inimicitias impotenti ac prope regia ira exerceret, tamen non fuisse ferendum
A counterfactual conditional sentence in indirect speech (Oratio Obliqua). The apodosis, which in direct speech would be in the subjunctive pluperfect or indicative imperfect/pluperfect (non ferendum erat or fuisset), is represented by the perfect passive infinitive non fuisse ferendum under indirect discourse. quam is an exclamatory adverb "how" introducing an indirect question with exerceret in the imperfect subjunctive.
- 39.4.8quid ab eo quemquam posse aequi exspectare
A rhetorical question in indirect speech. A third-person question in direct speech (quid... potest?) is expressed as an accusative with infinitive (posse) in indirect discourse. aequi is a partitive genitive in the neuter singular modifying the interrogative pronoun quid ("anything of fairness").
- 39.4.13ludibrio esse
A "double dative" construction. The dative of purpose ludibrio ("as a laughingstock") and the dative of interest inimico ("to/for the enemy"), with se ("himself") as the subject accusative of the infinitive depending on sinant.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (3, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — note 1
- 2026-09-21 AI review — source 2