- 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-lat2:43.13.1-43.13.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-12
Livy defends the recording of prodigies against contemporary negligence out of an ancient religious feeling, detailing various public and private portents reported in Rome and Italy, and the decemvirs' prescribed expiations.
non sum nescius ab eadem neclegentia,1 quia nihil deos portendere vulgo nunc credant, neque nuntiari admodum ulla prodigia in publicum neque in annales referri.
I am not unaware that from the same negligence, because people nowadays generally believe that the gods portend nothing, no prodigies at all are reported to the public or recorded in the annals.
ceterum et mihi vetustas res scribenti nescio quo pacto anticus fit animus, et quaedam religio tenet, quae illi prudentissimi viri publice suscipienda censuerint, ea pro indignis habere,2 quae in meos annales referam.
However, as I write of ancient matters, somehow my own mind becomes antique, and a certain religious feeling holds me from regarding those things which those most wise men deemed worthy of public acceptance as unworthy to be recorded in my own annals.
Anagnia duo prodigia eo anno sunt nuntiata, facem in caelo conspectam et bovem feminam locutam; eam publice ali. Menturnis quoque per eos dies caeli ardentis species affulserat.
Two prodigies were reported from Anagnia in that year: that a torch was seen in the sky, and that a cow spoke; and that she was being fed at public expense. At Minturnae also, during those days, the appearance of a burning sky had shone forth.
Reate imbri lapidavit. Cumis in arce Apollo triduum ac tris noctes lacrimavit. in urbe Romana duo aeditui nuntiarunt, alter in aede Fortunae anguem iubatum a conpluribus visum esse, alter in aede Primigeniae Fortunae, quae in Colle est, duo diversa prodigia, palmam in area enatam et sanguine interdiu pluvisse.
At Reate it rained stones. At Cumae, the statue of Apollo in the citadel wept for three days and three nights. In the city of Rome two temple-keepers made reports: one that in the temple of Fortuna a crested serpent had been seen by several people, the other in the temple of Fortuna Primigenia, which is on the Hill, reported two different prodigies: that a palm tree had sprung up in the courtyard, and that it had rained blood during the day.
duo non suscepta prodigia sunt, alterum, quod in privato loco factum esset,3 — palmam enatam in inpluvio suo T. Marcius Figulus nuntiabat —, alterum, quod in loco peregrino: Fregellis in domo L. Atrei hasta, quam filio militi emerat, interdiu plus duas horas arsisse, ita ut nihil eius ambureret ignis, dicebatur.
There were two prodigies that were not officially accepted: one because it had occurred in a private place—Titus Marcius Figulus reported that a palm tree had sprung up in his impluvium—and the other because it had occurred in a foreign place: at Fregellae, in the house of Lucius Atreus, a spear which he had bought for his soldier son was said to have burned during the day for more than two hours, in such a way that the fire consumed no part of it.
publicorum prodigiorum causa libri a decemviris aditi: quadraginta maioribus hostiis quibus diis consules sacrificarent ediderunt,4 et uti supplicatio fieret cunctique magistratus circa omnia pulvinaria victumis maioribus sacrificarent populusque coronatus esset.
On account of the public prodigies, the books were consulted by the decemvirs; they declared to which gods the consuls should sacrifice with forty larger victims, and ordered that a supplication should be held, and that all the magistrates should sacrifice with larger victims at all the pulvinaria, and that the people should wear wreaths.
omnia, uti decemviri praeierunt, facta.
Everything was done as the decemvirs had prescribed.
- 43.13.1ab eadem neclegentia
An ablative phrase introduced by the preposition ab indicating cause. The subsequent quia... clause explains the specific content of this "same negligence" (namely, that people nowadays do not believe that the gods portend anything).
- 43.13.2quaedam religio tenet ... ea pro indignis habere
religio tenet [me] ("a certain religious feeling holds [me]") takes the infinitive habere to express prevention or restraint ("holds me back from regarding"). ea is the antecedent of the relative pronoun quae (quae ... censuerint) and serves as the direct object of habere with the complement pro indignis ("as unworthy").
- 43.13.6quod in privato loco factum esset
The subjunctive mood factum esset in the causal quod clause indicates that this is not the author's own objective explanation, but the subjective or officially recognized reason on the part of the state (the senate or priests) for deciding "not to accept" (non suscepta) the prodigy. A similar nuance applies to the subsequent phrase quod in loco peregrino.
- 43.13.7quadraginta maioribus hostiis quibus diis consules sacrificarent ediderunt
quibus diis ... sacrificarent ("to which gods the consuls should sacrifice") is an indirect question clause using the imperfect subjunctive, functioning as the direct object of ediderunt ("they declared"). quadraginta maioribus hostiis is an ablative of means or accompaniment, indicating the forty larger victims used in the sacrifice.