- 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-lat2:4.1.1-4.1.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
Amidst the growing threat of war and unrest from neighboring peoples following the previous year's decision, the tribune Canuleius proposes bills on intermarriage between patricians and plebeians and on allowing plebeians to run for the consulship, reigniting class conflict.
hos secuti M. Genucius et C. Curtius consules. fuit annus domi forisque infestus. nam principio anni et de conubio patrum et plebis C. Canuleius tribunus plebis rogationem promulgavit, qua contaminari sanguinem suum patres confundique iura gentium rebantur, et mentio primo sensim inlata a tribunis, ut alterum ex plebe consulem liceret fieri, eo processit deinde, ut rogationem novem tribuni promulgarent, ut populo potestas esset, seu de plebe seu de patribus vellet, consules faciendi;
These were succeeded by the consuls Marcus Genucius and Gaius Curtius. It was a year of hostility both at home and abroad. For at the beginning of the year, Gaius Canuleius, a tribune of the plebs, promulgated a bill concerning the intermarriage of patricians and plebeians, by which the patricians believed their blood would be contaminated and the rights of the gentes confounded; and a suggestion, at first gradually introduced by the tribunes, that it should be lawful for one of the consuls to be chosen from the plebs, later advanced to the point that nine tribunes promulgated a bill to the effect that the people should have the power of making consuls whether they wished from the plebs or from the patricians.
id vero si fieret, non vulgari1 modo cum infimis, sed prorsus auferri a primoribus ad plebem summum imperium credebant.
If indeed this were to happen, they believed that the supreme power would not merely be shared in a common fashion with the lowest classes, but would be completely snatched away from the leading men to the plebs.
laeti ergo audiere patres Ardeatium populum ob iniuriam agri abiudicati descisse et Veientes depopulatos extrema agri Romani et Volscos Aequosque ob communitam Verruginem fremere; adeo vel infelix bellum ignominiosae paci praeferebant.
Therefore, the patricians were glad to hear that the people of Ardea had revolted because of the injustice of the confiscated land, that the Veientes had plundered the borders of the Roman territory, and that the Volscians and Aequians were raging because of the fortification of Verrugo; so much did they prefer even an unsuccessful war to an ignominious peace.
his itaque in maius etiam acceptis, ut inter strepitum tot bellorum conticiscerent actiones tribuniciae, dilectus haberi, bellum armaque vi summa apparari iubent, si quo intentius possit, quam T. Quinctio consule2 apparatum sit.
Accordingly, having received these reports with even greater exaggeration so that, amidst the noise of so many wars, the tribunician actions might be silenced, they ordered a levy to be held and war and arms to be prepared with the utmost force, to see if it could be prepared even more vigorously than when Titus Quinctius was consul.
tum C. Canuleius pauca in senatu vociferatus: nequiquam territando consules avertere3 plebem a cura novarum legum; numquam eos se vivo dilectum habituros, antequam ea, quae promulgata ab se collegisque essent, plebes scivisset, confestim ad contionem advocavit.
Then Gaius Canuleius, having shouted a few words in the senate—that the consuls were in vain trying to turn the plebs away from their concern for the new laws by frightening them, and that they would never hold a levy as long as he lived, before the plebs had enacted what had been promulgated by himself and his colleagues—immediately summoned them to an assembly.
- 4.1.3vulgari
The word vulgari is not the ablative singular of the adjective vulgaris (common), but the present passive infinitive of the verb vulgare (to make common, share). It functions as part of the accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction with summum imperium as its subject, and is construed with cum infimis (with the lowest classes), forming a parallel structure with the subsequent sed prorsus auferri (but completely snatched away).
- 4.1.5T. Quinctio consule
The phrase T. Quinctio consule is an ablative absolute consisting of two nouns, functioning as an adverbial phrase of time meaning 'when Titus Quinctius was consul'.
- 4.1.6avertere
The infinitive avertere is not a historical infinitive but an infinitive in indirect discourse (Oratio Obliqua) introduced by the preceding participle vociferatus (having shouted). Its subject is the accusative consules, representing the content of the statement: 'that the consuls were trying to turn away'.