Surrender of Ergavica and Conflicting Accounts of Hispania — Livy, History of Rome Book 40 (40.50.1–40.50.7), Latin & English

§40.50.1

Ergavica inde, nobilis et potens civitas, aliorum circa populorum cladibus territa portas aperuit Romanis.

From there, Ergavica, a famous and powerful city, terrified by the disasters of the other neighboring peoples, opened its gates to the Romans.

§40.50.2

eam deditionem oppidorum haud cum fide factam quidam auctores sunt: e qua regione¹ abduxisset legiones, extemplo inde rebellatum, magnoque eum postea proelio ad montem Chaunum cum Celtiberis a prima luce ad sextam horam diei signis collatis pugnasse, multos utrimque cecidisse;

Some authors state that those surrenders of the towns were not made with good faith: from whichever region he had withdrawn the legions, rebellion immediately broke out there, and afterwards he fought a great battle with the Celtiberians near Mount Chaunus from dawn until the sixth hour of the day in a pitched battle, and many fell on both sides;

§40.50.3

nec aliud magnopere, cur vicisse crederes,² fecisse Romanos, nisi quod postero die lacessierint proelio manentes intra vallum:

nor did the Romans do anything else of great importance to make one believe they had won, except that on the following day they provoked to battle those remaining within the rampart;

§40.50.4

spolia per totum diem legisse; tertio die proelio maiore iterum pugnatum, et tum demum haud dubie victos Celtiberos castraque eorum capta et direpta esse.

they spent the whole day collecting spoils; on the third day, another larger battle was fought, and only then were the Celtiberians decisively defeated and their camp captured and plundered.

§40.50.5

viginti duo milia hostium eo die esse caesa, plus trecentos captos, parem fere equorum numerum, et signa militaria septuaginta duo. inde debellatum, veramque pacem, non fluxa, ut ante, fide Celtiberos fecisse.

On that day, twenty-two thousand of the enemy were slain, more than three hundred captured, along with almost an equal number of horses, and seventy-two military standards. From then on, the war was brought to an end, and the Celtiberians made a true peace, not with unstable faith as before.

§40.50.6

eadem aestate et L. Postumium in Hispania ulteriore bis cum Vaccaeis egregie pugnasse scribunt:

In the same summer, they write that Lucius Postumius also fought twice with outstanding success against the Vaccaei in Farther Spain:

§40.50.7

ad triginta et quinque milia hostium occidisse et castra expugnasse. propius vero est serius in provinciam pervenisse, quam ut ea aestate potuerit res gerere.³

he slew up to thirty-five thousand of the enemy and captured their camp. But it is closer to the truth that he arrived too late in the province to have been able to conduct operations that summer.

Syntax notes3 items

40.50.2quidam auctores sunt: e qua regione
Led by 'quidam auctores sunt' (some authors state), a chain of indirect speech (accusative with infinitive) continues down to 'fecisse' in 50.5. 'e qua regione' is a relative clause qualifying the territory of the surrendered towns mentioned before.
40.50.3cur vicisse crederes
The imperfect subjunctive 'crederes' expresses potentiality or characterization ('why you should believe they had won'). It fits within the general negative structure 'nec aliud... nisi quod' (they did nothing else... except that).
40.50.7serius in provinciam pervenisse, quam ut ea aestate potuerit res gerere
The comparative 'serius' followed by 'quam ut' and the subjunctive 'potuerit' (expressing result) forms a construction meaning 'too late to have been able to conduct operations that summer.'

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25)urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:40.50.1-40.50.7