- 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-lat2:4.29.1-4.29.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
The Roman army pursued Messius and captured the Volscian camp, achieving a total victory; the dictator triumphed and abdicated, while a grim story of him executing his own son for disobedience is discussed and questioned. Additionally, the dedication of the Temple of Apollo causes political friction, and the first Carthaginian intervention in Sicily is recorded.
Messium impetus per stratos caede hostes cum globo fortissimorum iuvenum extulit1 ad castra Volscorum, quae nondum capta erant. eodem omnis acies inclinatur.
The charge carried Messius, with a band of the bravest young men, through the enemies strewn in slaughter to the camp of the Volscians, which had not yet been captured. In the same direction the whole battle line inclined.
consul effusos usque ad vallum persecutus ipsa castra vallumque adgreditur; eodem et dictator alia parte copias admovet.
The consul, having pursued the scattered enemy right up to the rampart, attacked the camp itself and the rampart; to the same place the dictator also moved up his forces from another side.
non segnior oppugnatio est, quam pugna fuerat. consulem signum quoque intra vallum iniecisse ferunt, quo milites acrius subirent,2 repetendoque signo primam inpressionem factam; et dictator proruto vallo iam in castra proelium intulerat.
The assault was no less vigorous than the battle had been. They say that the consul even threw a standard inside the rampart, so that the soldiers might advance more fiercely, and that by recovering the standard the first breakthrough was made; and the dictator, having demolished the rampart, had already carried the fight into the camp.
tum abici passim arma ac dedi hostes coepti; castrisque et his captis hostes praeter senatores omnes venumdati sunt. praedae pars sua cognoscentibus Latinis atque Hernicis reddita, partem sub hasta dictator vendidit; praepositoque consule castris ipse triumphans invectus urbem dictatura se abdicavit. egregiae dictaturae tristem memoriam faciunt, qui3 filium ab A. Postumio, quod occasione bene pugnandi captus iniussu decesserit praesidio, victorem securi percussum tradunt.
Then on all sides weapons began to be cast away and the enemy to surrender; and this camp also being captured, all the enemy except the senators were sold into slavery. A part of the booty was restored to the Latins and Hernicians who recognized their own property, and a part the dictator sold under the spear; and having left the consul in charge of the camp, he himself entered the city in triumph and abdicated the dictatorship. Those who relate the following bring a sad memory upon this illustrious dictatorship: namely, those who hand down that his son, because he had been enticed by an opportunity of fighting well and had left his post without orders, was, though victorious, beheaded by Aulus Postumius with an axe.
nec libet credere et licet in variis opinionibus; et argumento est, quod imperia Manliana, non Postumiana appellata sunt, cum, qui prior auctor tam saevi exempli foret, occupaturus insignem titulum crudelitatis fuerit.4 Imperioso quoque Manlio cognomen inditum; Postumius nulla tristi nota est insignitus.
I have no desire to believe this, and we are at liberty not to do so, amidst the conflict of opinions; and a proof of this is that such orders were called “Manlian,” not “Postumian,” whereas he who was the first author of so savage a precedent would have been bound to acquire a conspicuous title for cruelty. Moreover, to Manlius the cognomen of “Imperiosus” was given, while Postumius was marked by no sad stigma.
Cn. Iulius consul aedem Apollinis absente collega sine sorte dedicavit. aegre id passus Quinctius, cum dimisso exercitu in urbem redisset, nequiquam in senatu est conquestus.
Gnaeus Julius, the consul, dedicated the temple of Apollo in the absence of his colleague, without drawing lots. Quinctius, resenting this, when he had disbanded his army and returned to the city, complained in the senate, but in vain.
insigni magnis rebus anno additur5 nihil tum ad rem Romanam pertinere visum, quod Carthaginienses, tanti hostes futuri, tum primum per seditiones Siculorum ad partis alterius auxilium in Siciliam exercitum traiecere.
To a year remarkable for great events it is added—an event which at the time seemed to have no relevance to Roman affairs—that the Carthaginians, destined to be such great enemies, then for the first time, owing to the factions of the Sicilians, crossed with an army into Sicily to assist one of the parties.
- 4.29.1Messium impetus ... extulit
impetus (nominative singular) is the subject, and Messium (accusative singular) is the direct object of the verb extulit (perfect active of effero). This is a characteristic Latin expression where an abstract noun (impetus) is made the subject rather than the person (Messius).
- 4.29.3quo milites acrius subirent
The ablative neuter singular of the relative pronoun quo functions as a conjunction introducing a purpose clause containing a comparative (here the adverb acrius), equivalent to ut eo ("so that thereby..."). Consequently, the verb subirent is in the imperfect subjunctive.
- 4.29.4egregiae dictaturae tristem memoriam faciunt, qui...
The subject of the main verb faciunt is the omitted antecedent of the relative clause qui ... tradunt (in §4.29.5). The genitive egregiae dictaturae depends on memoriam as an objective genitive, meaning "they create a sad memory of this distinguished dictatorship."
- 4.29.6cum, qui prior auctor tam saevi exempli foret, occupaturus insignem titulum crudelitatis fuerit
The main verb of the cum clause, fuerit, is part of the active periphrastic subjunctive occupaturus fuerit. This is the standard construction to express a past contrary-to-fact apodosis ("would have seized") within a subordinate clause requiring the subjunctive (here, a causal or concessive cum clause). foret (equivalent to esset) in the relative clause is in the imperfect subjunctive due to sequence of tenses.
- 4.29.8insigni magnis rebus anno additur
insigni ... anno is the dative singular of the noun anno with its modifying adjective insigni, serving as the indirect object of the passive verb additur (it is added) used impersonally. The subject of additur is the subsequent quod clause.