- 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-lat2:40.57.1-40.57.9
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Perseus seizes the Macedonian throne, and the grand plan of the late Philip is detailed, which involved utilizing the Bastarnae to destroy the Dardanians and launch an invasion of Italy to counter Rome.
oppressit igitur necopinantes ignarosque omnes Perseus et regnum scelere partum invasit. peropportuna mors Philippi fuit ad dilationem et ad vires bello subtrahendas. nam post paucis diebus gens Bastarnarum, diu sollicitata, ab suis sedibus magna peditum equitumque manu Histrum traiecit.
Therefore, Perseus overwhelmed everyone who was off their guard and ignorant, and seized the kingdom acquired through crime. The death of Philip was extremely opportune for the delay of war and for withdrawing forces from it. For a few days later, the Bastarnae, who had long been solicited, crossed the Danube with a large force of infantry and cavalry from their own settlements.
inde praegressi, qui nuntiarent regi, Antigonus et Cotto:1 Cotto nobilis erat Bastarna, Antigonus e regiis unus, saepe cum ipso Cottone legatus ad concitandos Bastarnas missus. haud procul Amphipoli fama, inde certi nuntii occurrerunt mortuum esse regem; quae res omnem ordinem consilii turbavit.
Setting out in advance from there to report to the king were Antigonus and Cotto: Cotto was a noble Bastarnian, and Antigonus was one of the king’s courtiers, who had often been sent as an envoy with Cotto himself to stir up the Bastarnae. Not far from Amphipolis, first a rumor, and then certain messengers met them, announcing that the king was dead; which event threw the entire order of the plan into confusion.
compositum autem sic fuerat, transitum per Thraciam tutum et commeatus Bastarnis ut Philippus praestaret. id ut facere posset, regionum principes donis coluerat, fide sua obligata pacato agmine transituros Bastarnas.
Now the arrangement had been made as follows: that Philip should provide a safe passage through Thrace and provisions for the Bastarnae. In order to be able to do this, he had conciliated the chieftains of the regions with gifts, pledging his own word that the Bastarnae would pass through in a peaceful march.
Dardanorum gentem delere propositum erat inque eorum agro sedes dare Bastarnis.
His purpose was to destroy the nation of the Dardanians and to give their land to the Bastarnae for settlements.
duplex inde erat commodum futurum, si et Dardani, gens semper infestissima Macedoniae temporibusque iniquis regum imminens, tolleretur, et Bastarnae relictis in Dardania coniugibus liberisque ad populandam Italiam possent mitti.2
A double advantage was to arise from this: on the one hand, if the Dardanians, a nation always most hostile to Macedonia and threatening during the adverse times of its kings, were removed; and on the other, if the Bastarnae, leaving their wives and children in Dardania, could be sent to ravage Italy.
per Scordiscos iter esse3 ad mare Hadriaticum Italiamque; alia via traduci exercitum non posse. facile Bastarnis Scordiscos iter daturos: nec enim aut lingua aut moribus abhorrere; et ipsos adiuncturos se, cum ad praedam opulentissimae gentis ire vidissent.
The route to the Adriatic Sea and Italy lay through the Scordisci; the army could not be led across by any other way. The Scordisci would easily grant passage to the Bastarnae, for they differed neither in language nor in customs; and they would even join them when they saw them marching to the plunder of a most wealthy nation.
inde in omnem eventum consilia accommodabantur: sive caesi ab Romanis forent Bastarnae,4 Dardanos tamen sublatos praedamque ex reliquiis Bastarnarum et possessionem liberam Dardaniae solacio fore;
Therefore, plans were adapted to every eventuality: if the Bastarnae should be slaughtered by the Romans, yet the destruction of the Dardanians, the plunder from the remnants of the Bastarnae, and the free possession of Dardania would be a consolation;
sive prospere rem gessissent, Romanis aversis in Bastarnarum bellum recuperaturum se in Graecia, quae amisisset. haec Philippi consilia fuerant.
on the other hand, if they should succeed, while the Romans were turned away by the war with the Bastarnae, he would recover what he had lost in Greece. These had been the plans of Philip.
- 40.57.3praegressi, qui nuntiarent regi, Antigonus et Cotto
praegressi can be understood either as a participle with the copula omitted (praegressi sunt), functioning as the main verb, or as a participle modifying Antigonus et Cotto as they became the object of occurrerunt later in the sentence. Here it is translated as a main verb with the ellipsis of sunt. qui nuntiarent is a relative clause of purpose with the subjunctive.
- 40.57.6si et Dardani ... tolleretur, et Bastarnae ... possent mitti
Although the si clauses (with the imperfect subjunctive) are conditionally phrased, they function appositionally to explain the specific details of the "double advantage" (duplex commodum).
- 40.57.7per Scordiscos iter esse
From this point through section 9, the specific contents of the late Philip's "plans" (consilia) are reported in indirect speech (oratio obliqua), where the main clauses are expressed by the accusative with infinitive construction (iter esse, non posse, iter daturos [esse], adiuncturos se [esse]).
- 40.57.8sive caesi ab Romanis forent Bastarnae
As a conditional clause within indirect speech, what would be a future perfect indicative in direct speech is here attracted into the pluperfect subjunctive (caesi forent, where forent is an alternative form for essent) due to the past sequence of tenses. The apodosis is solacio fore (future infinitive).