- 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-lat2:44.27.1-44.27.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-12
Perseus, out of avarice, refused to pay the Gauls, causing them to retreat and losing a great strategic opportunity. He similarly withheld the promised money from King Gentius, who then imprisoned the Roman envoys, ultimately leaving Macedonia in a self-destructive disadvantage.
apparebat omnibus mercedem timeri nec quicquam aliud; sed cum suadere consulenti nemo auderet, remittitur Antigonus, qui nuntiaret quinque milium equitum opera tantum uti regem, non tenere multitudinem aliam.
It was clear to all that the pay was what was feared, and nothing else; but since no one dared to advise him when he consulted them, Antigonus was sent back to announce that the king would use the services of only five thousand cavalry, and would not keep the rest of the multitude.
quod ubi audivere barbari, ceterorum quidem fremitus fuit indignantium se frustra excitos sedibus suis; Clondicus rursus interrogat, ecquid ipsis quinque milibus, quod convenisset, numeraret?
When the barbarians heard this, there was indeed a murmur among the rest, who were indignant at having been summoned from their homes in vain; Clondicus asked again whether he would pay to those five thousand themselves what had been agreed upon.
cum adversus id quoque misceri ambages cerneret, inviolato fallaci nuntio, quod vix speraverat ipse posse contingere, retro ad Histrum perpopulati Threciam, qua vicina erat viae, redierunt.
When he saw that evasions were being mixed up in response to this as well, without harming the deceitful messenger—which the messenger himself had scarcely hoped could happen—they returned back to the Hister, thoroughly plundering Thrace where it lay near their route.
quae manus, quieto sedente rege ad Elpeum adversus Romanos, per Perrhaebiae saltum in Thessaliam traducta non agros tantum nudare populando potuit, ne quos inde Romani commeatus expectarent, sed ipsas excindere urbes1 tenente ad Elpeum Perseo Romanos, ne urbibus sociis opitulari possent.
If this force, while the king sat quietly at Elpeus against the Romans, had been led through the pass of Perrhaebia into Thessaly, it could not only have laid bare the fields by plundering, so that the Romans could expect no provisions from there, but also have destroyed the cities themselves, while Perseus held the Romans at Elpeus, so that they could not help their allied cities.
ipsis quoque Romanis de se cogitandum fuisset,2 quando neque manere amissa Thessalia, unde exercitus alebatur, potuissent, neque progredi, cum ex adverso castra Macedonum essent.
The Romans themselves would also have had to consider their own safety, since, if Thessaly were lost, from which their army was supported, they would neither have been able to remain, nor to advance, since the camp of the Macedonians was directly opposite them.
hoc amisso auxilio Perseus animos Macedonum, qui ea pependerant spe, haud mediocriter debilitavit.
By losing this assistance, Perseus discouraged in no small degree the spirits of the Macedonians, who had depended on that hope.
eadem avaritia Gentium regem sibi alienavit. nam cum trecenta talenta Pellae missis a Gentio numerasset, signare eos pecuniam passus est; inde decem talenta ad Pantauchum missa, eaque praesentia dari regi iussit;
The same avarice alienated King Gentius from him. For when he had paid three hundred talents at Pella to the envoys sent by Gentius, he allowed them to seal the money; thence ten talents were sent to Pantauchus, and he ordered that these should be given immediately to the king;
reliquam pecuniam signatam Illyriorum signo portantibus suis praecipit, parvis itineribus veherent, dein cum ad finem Macedoniae ventum esset, subsisterent ibi ac nuntios ab se opperirentur.
the rest of the money, sealed with the seal of the Illyrians, he ordered his own carriers to convey by short journeys, and then, when they had come to the boundary of Macedonia, to halt there and await messengers from him.
Gentius exigua parte pecuniae accepta cum adsidue a Pantaucho ad lacessendos hostili facto Romanos stimularetur, M. Perpennam et L. Petilium legatos, qui tum forte ad eum venerant, in custodiam coniecit.
Gentius, having received only a tiny part of the money, while he was continually urged by Pantauchus to provoke the Romans with some hostile act, cast into prison Marcus Perpenna and Lucius Petilius, the envoys who had then happened to come to him.
hoc audito Perseus contraxisse eum necessitatem ratus ad bellandum utique cum Romanis, ad revocandum, qui pecuniam portabat, misit, velut nihil aliud agens, quam ut quanta maxima posset praeda ex se victo Romanis reservaretur.3
When Perseus heard this, thinking that the king had brought upon himself the necessity of warring by all means with the Romans, sent to recall the person who was carrying the money, just as if he were doing nothing else than ensuring that the greatest possible spoil from his own defeat should be reserved for the Romans.
et ab Eumene Herophon ignotis, quae occulte acta erant, redit. de captivis actum esse et ipsi evolgaverant et Eumenes consulem vitandae suspicionis causa certiorem fecit.
Also, Herophon returned from Eumenes, without what had been secretly transacted being known. That negotiations had been about the captives they themselves had also spread abroad, and Eumenes, for the sake of avoiding suspicion, informed the consul.
- 44.27.4quae manus ... traducta non agros tantum nudare populando potuit ... sed ipsas excindere urbes ...
The perfect indicative potuit is used instead of the pluperfect subjunctive to express a past counterfactual result ("it could have... but did not"). In Latin, verbs denoting ability or obligation (such as possum, debeo) frequently appear in the indicative rather than the subjunctive in the apodosis of a conditional sentence.
- 44.27.6ipsis quoque Romanis de se cogitandum fuisset
An impersonal passive periphrastic construction using the gerundive, expressing obligation. The pluperfect subjunctive of sum (fuisset) marks this as a past counterfactual result ("they would have had to consider"). The dative ipsis quoque Romanis functions as the dative of agent ("by the Romans themselves").
- 44.27.12velut nihil aliud agens, quam ut ... reservaretur
The comparative conjunction velut ("as if") modifies the present participle agens, portraying the subjective intention of the subject, Perseus. This is followed by nihil aliud ... quam ut ("doing nothing else than that..."), where the conjunction ut introduces a purpose clause with the imperfect subjunctive reservaretur.