- 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-lat2:40.24.1-40.24.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Following another accusation by Perseus, King Philip orders the secret assassination of Demetrius to prevent his anti-Roman plans from being exposed. Demetrius is sent to Paeonia, where he is murdered by poison and suffocation.
Demetrium iterum ad patrem accusavit Perseus. fuga per Paeoniam praeparata arguebatur et corrupti quidam, ut comites itineris essent; maxime falsae litterae T. Quinctii urgebant.
Perseus accused Demetrius again to his father. A flight prepared through Paeonia was urged, and that certain persons had been corrupted to be companions of his journey; especially the forged letter of T. Quinctius pressed hard upon him.
nihil tamen palam gravius pronuntiatum de eo est, ut dolo potius interficeretur,1 nec id cura ipsius, sed ne poena eius consilia adversus Romanos nudaret.
However, nothing more severe was publicly pronounced against him, so that he might rather be put to death by treachery, and that not from regard for him, but lest his punishment should disclose the designs against the Romans.
ab Thessalonice Demetriadem ipsi cum iter esset,2 Astraeum Paeoniae Demetrium mittit cum eodem comite Dida, Perseum Amphipolin ad obsides Thracum accipiendos.
When the king himself was on his journey from Thessalonica to Demetrias, he sent Demetrius to Astraeum in Paeonia with the same companion Dida, and Perseus to Amphipolis to receive the hostages of the Thracians.
digredienti ab se Didae mandata dedisse dicitur de filio occidendo. sacrificium ab Dida seu institutum seu simulatum est, ad quod celebrandum invitatus Demetrius ab Astraeo Heracleam venit. in ea cena dicitur venenum datum. poculo epoto extemplo sensit, et mox coortis doloribus, relicto convivio cum in cubiculum recepisset sese, crudelitatem patris conquerens, parricidium fratris ac Didae scelus incusans torquebatur.
As Dida was departing from him, the king is said to have given him orders about putting his son to death. A sacrifice was either instituted or pretended by Dida, invited to celebrate which, Demetrius came from Astraeum to Heraclea. At that dinner, poison is said to have been given. Having drained the cup, he immediately felt it, and soon, pains having arisen, having left the banquet when he had withdrawn into his bedchamber, complaining of his father’s cruelty, and accusing his brother’s parricide and Dida’s crime, he was tortured.
intromissi deinde Thyrsis quidam Stuberraeus et Beroeaeus Alexander iniectis tapetibus in caput faucesque spiritum intercluserunt.
Then, a certain Thyrsis of Stubera and Alexander of Beroea having been let in, throwing blankets over his head and throat, stopped his breath.
ita innoxius adulescens, cum in eo ne simplici quidem genere mortis3 contenti inimici fuissent, interficitur.
Thus the innocent youth, since his enemies had not been content with even a single kind of death in his case, was killed.
- 40.24.2ut dolo potius interficeretur
The ut clause with the imperfect subjunctive interficeretur expresses the purpose of not pronouncing a more severe judgment publicly: namely, to kill Demetrius by treachery rather than openly, to prevent Philip's designs against Rome from being exposed.
- 40.24.3ipsi cum iter esset
ipsi is a dative of possession referring to King Philip, and cum is a temporal conjunction. The phrase means 'when he himself was on a journey'.
- 40.24.8ne simplici quidem genere mortis
ne ... quidem expresses strong negation ('not even'). It refers to the double method of murder depicted immediately before (poison followed by suffocation), meaning 'not content with even a single kind of death'.