- 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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- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:4.55.1-4.55.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
Due to the state crisis of the capture of the Carventan citadel by the Aequians, the senate yielded to the election of military tribunes, but added a condition excluding the current tribunes from candidacy.
sed nulla erat consularis actio, quam inpediendo id, quod petebant, exprimerent,1 cum mira opportunitate Volscos et Aequos praedatum extra fines exisse in agrum Latinum Hernicumque adfertur.
But there was no consular action which, by obstructing it, they might extort what they were seeking, when with wonderful opportuneness it was reported that the Volscians and Aequians had gone out beyond their borders to plunder in the Latin and Hernician territory.
ad quod bellum ubi ex senatus consulto consules dilectum habere occipiunt, obstare tunc enixe tribuni sibi plebique eam fortunam oblatam memorantes.
When, in accordance with a decree of the senate, the consuls began to hold a levy for this war, the tribunes then strenuously opposed them, declaring that this opportunity had been offered to themselves and to the plebs.
tres erant et omnes acerrimi viri generosique iam, ut inter plebeios. duo singuli singulos sibi consules adservandos adsidua opera desumunt; uni contionibus data2 nunc detinenda, nunc concienda plebs.
There were three of them, and all of them were most energetic men, and already of noble birth as far as plebeians went. Two of them took upon themselves, with unremitting diligence, the task of watching the consuls, one each; to the third was assigned the task of holding public meetings, now to restrain, now to stir up the plebs.
nec dilectum consules nec comitia, quae petebant, tribuni expediebant. inclinante deinde se fortuna ad causam plebis nuntii veniunt arcem Caruentanam dilapsis ad praedam militibus, qui in praesidio erant, Aequos interfectis paucis custodibus arcis invasisse; alios recurrentis in arcem, alios palantes in agris caesos.
Neither could the consuls proceed with the levy, nor the tribunes with the elections they demanded. Then, as fortune inclined towards the cause of the plebs, messengers arrived with news that the Aequians, since the soldiers who were in the garrison had dispersed to plunder, had slain the few guards of the citadel and seized the Carventan citadel, and that some as they ran back to the citadel, and others as they wandered in the fields, had been slaughtered.
ea adversa civitati res vires tribuniciae actioni adiecit. nequiquam enim temptati,3 ut tum denique desisterent inpediendo bello, postquam non cessere nec publicae tempestati nec suae invidiae, pervincunt, ut senatus consultum fiat de tribunis militum creandis, certo tamen pacto, ne cuius ratio haberetur, qui eo anno tribunus plebis esset, neve quis reficeretur in annum tribunus plebis, haud dubie Icilios denotante senatu, quos mercedem seditiosi tribunatus petere consulatum insimulabant. tum dilectus haberi bellumque omnium ordinum consensu apparari coeptum.
This disaster to the state added strength to the action of the tribunes. For, having been urged in vain to desist at last from obstructing the war, and since they yielded neither to the public tempest nor to the unpopularity directed against themselves, they carried their point that a decree of the senate should be passed for electing military tribunes, yet on a certain condition: that no account should be taken of anyone who was a tribune of the plebs that year, nor should any tribune of the plebs be re-elected for the following year, the senate undoubtedly pointing at the Icilii, whom they accused of seeking the consulship as the reward of a seditious tribuneship. Then the levy began to be held, and preparation for war was started with the consensus of all classes.
consules ambo profecti sint ad arcem Caruentanam, an alter ad comitia habenda substiterit, incertum diversi auctores faciunt; illa pro certo habenda, in quibus non dissentiunt, ab arce Carventana, cum diu nequiquam oppugnata esset, recessum,4 Verruginem in Volscis eodem exercitu receptam, populationesque et praedas et in Aequis et in Volsco agro ingentes factas.
Whether both consuls set out for the Carventan citadel, or whether one of them remained to hold the elections, is made uncertain by different authors; those things must be held as certain in which they do not disagree: that they withdrew from the Carventan citadel after it had been besieged for a long time in vain, that Verrugo in the territory of the Volscians was recovered by the same army, and that vast devastations and plundering were carried out in both the Aequian and Volscian territory.
- 4.55.1exprimerent
Subjunctive imperfect. It forms a relative clause of characteristic (or with a nuance of purpose) describing the nature of the antecedent nulla consularis actio.
- 4.55.3data
Nominative feminine singular participle. It modifies the subject plebs (feminine), and together with the dative uni ("to one tribune") forms the core meaning "the plebs, having been assigned to one". This is followed by the gerundives nunc detinenda, nunc concienda [erat] in a predicative construction.
- 4.55.5temptati
Perfect passive participle (masculine plural nominative). It modifies the subject of the main verb pervincunt (the tribunes) and here has a concessive force ("although they were urged in vain").
- 4.55.8recessum
Impersonal use of the perfect passive infinitive recessum [esse] from the intransitive verb recedere (to withdraw). In the accusative-and-infinitive construction, it means "that a withdrawal was made".