- 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-lat2:4.31.1-4.31.9
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
After three of the military tribunes suffer a defeat against Veii due to divided command, Rome appoints Mamercus Aemilius as dictator. In response, the Veientes ally with the Fidenates and move the war to Fidenae, spreading panic in Rome.
tribuni militum consulari potestate quattuor creati sunt, T. Quinctius Poenus ex consulatu, C. Furius, M. Postumius, A. Cornelius Cossus.
Four military tribunes with consular power were created: Titus Quinctius Poenus, after his consulship, Gaius Furius, Marcus Postumius, and Aulus Cornelius Cossus.
ex his Cossus praefuit urbi; tres dilectu habito profecti sunt Veios documentoque fuere,1 quam plurium imperium bello inutile esset. tendendo ad sua quisque consilia, cum aliud alii videretur, aperuerunt occasionem ad bene rem gerendam hosti;
Of these, Cossus had charge of the city; the other three, having held a levy, set out for Veii, and served as a proof of how useless in war is the command of several persons. By each striving for his own plans, while one thing seemed best to one and another to another, they opened an opportunity to the enemy for conducting affairs successfully.
incertam namque aciem signum aliis dari, receptui aliis cani iubentibus2 invasere opportune Veientes. castra propinqua turbatos ac terga dantes accepere; plus itaque ignominiae quam cladis est acceptum. maesta civitas fuit vinci insueta;
For while the line was in confusion, because some were ordering the signal to be given and others were commanding the retreat to be sounded, the Veientes attacked them at a favorable moment. The nearby camp received them as they were thrown into disorder and turning their backs; thus, more of disgrace than of disaster was sustained. The state, unaccustomed to being defeated, was full of sorrow;
odisse tribunos, poscere dictatorem: in eo verti spes civitatis. et cum ibi quoque religio obstaret, ne non posset nisi ab consule dici dictator,3 augures consulti eam religionem exemere.
they hated the tribunes and demanded a dictator: on him the hope of the state turned. And when there also a religious scruple stood in the way, lest a dictator could not be appointed except by a consul, the augurs, being consulted, removed that religious difficulty.
A. Cornelius dictatorem Mam. Aemilium dixit et ipse ab eo magister equitum est dictus; adeo, simul fortuna civitatis virtute vera eguit, nihil censoria animadversio effecit, quo minus4 regimen rerum ex notata indigne domo peteretur.
Aulus Cornelius named Mamercus Aemilius dictator, and was himself named master of the horse by him; so true it is that as soon as the fortune of the state required genuine merit, the censorial animadversion did nothing to prevent the direction of affairs from being sought from a house that had been undeservedly branded.
Veientes re secunda elati missis circum Etruriae populos legatis iactando tres duces Romanos ab se uno proelio fusos, cum tamen nullam publici consilii societatem movissent, voluntarios undique ad spem praedae adsciverunt.
The Veientes, elated by their success, sent envoys around the peoples of Etruria, boasting that three Roman generals had been routed by them in a single battle; yet, although they moved them to no public alliance of counsel, they enrolled volunteers from all sides with the hope of plunder.
uni Fidenatium populo rebellare placuit; et tamquam nisi ab scelere bellum ordiri nefas esset, sicut legatorum antea, ita tum novorum colonorum caede inbutis armis Veientibus sese coniungunt.
The people of Fidenae alone decided to rebel; and, as if it were a sacrilege to begin war except by a crime, just as they had done before with the slaughter of the envoys, so now, having stained their arms with the murder of the new colonists, they joined themselves with the Veientes.
consultare inde principes duorum populorum, Veios an Fidenas sedem belli caperent. Fidenae visae opportuniores; itaque traiecto Tiberi Veientes Fidenas transtulerunt bellum. Romae terror ingens erat.
Then the leaders of the two peoples consulted whether they should choose Veii or Fidenae as the seat of war. Fidenae seemed more convenient; and so, crossing the Tiber, the Veientes transferred the war to Fidenae. At Rome there was great terror.
accito exercitu a Veis eoque ipso ab re male gesta perculso castra locantur ante portam Collinam, et in muris armati dispositi, et iustitium in foro tabernaeque clausae, fiuntque omnia castris quam urbi similiora,
The army having been summoned from Veii, and that very army being demoralized by their ill success, they pitched their camp before the Colline Gate, and armed men were posted on the walls, and a cessation of public business was declared in the forum, and the shops were closed, and everything became more like a camp than a city,
- 4.31.2documentoque fuere
documento is a dative of purpose (predicative dative), which together with fuere (the archaic form of fuerunt) forms a double-dative-like construction, expressing that the three tribunes "served as a proof" of the following indirect question.
- 4.31.3signum aliis dari, receptui aliis cani iubentibus
iubentibus is an ablative absolute participle whose implied subject is the commanding tribunes. It governs two accusative with infinitive clauses: signum... dari (passive infinitive of the transitive do) and receptui... cani (impersonal passive infinitive of cano, with receptui as a dative of purpose).
- 4.31.4ne non posset nisi ab consule dici dictator
This is a subjunctive noun clause introduced by ne after the verb of hindrance obstaret. The double negative non... nisi ("not... except") inside the clause expresses a strict limitation: "lest a dictator could not be appointed except by a consul."
- 4.31.5nihil censoria animadversio effecit, quo minus...
A clause introduced by quo minus after a negative expression of hindrance (nihil effecit, "did not prevent"). It indicates that the censorial animadversion (reprimand) previously incurred by Mamercus Aemilius did not prevent the state from seeking his leadership.