- 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
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:6.15.1-6.15.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The dictator Cossus returns to Rome and, surrounded by the senators, demands that M. Manlius produce evidence for his allegations regarding the Gallic gold. Manlius retorts that the dictatorship was created to suppress the plebs in defense of usurers, and demands that the patricians bring their plunder into the open.
ita suspensis rebus dictator accitus ab exercitu in urbem venit. postero die senatu habito cum satis periclitatus voluntates hominum discedere senatum ab se vetuisset, stipatus ea multitudine, sella in comitio posita viatorem ad M. Manlium misit;
While matters were thus in suspense, the dictator, having been summoned, came from the army into the city. On the following day, having held the senate, when he had sufficiently tested the inclinations of the people and had forbidden the senate to depart from him, surrounded by that multitude, having placed his curule chair in the comitium, he sent a summoner to M. Manlius;
qui dictatoris iussu vocatus, cum signum suis dedisset adesse certamen, agmine ingenti ad tribunal venit.
who, being summoned by the dictator’s order, after he had given a sign to his followers that the contest was at hand, came to the tribunal with a huge train.
hinc senatus, hinc plebs, suum quisque intuentes ducem, velut in acie constiterant.
On one side the senate, on the other the plebs, each looking at their own leader, had taken their stand as if in battle array.
tum dictator silentio facto: “utinam” inquit “mihi patribusque Romanis ita de ceteris rebus cum plebe conveniat, quem ad modum quod ad te attinet eamque rem, quam de te sum quaesiturus, conventurum satis confido.
Then the dictator, silence having been made, said: “Would that I and the Roman patricians might agree with the plebs on all other matters in the same way as I am fully confident we shall agree on what concerns you and that matter which I am about to ask of you.
spem factam a te civitati video, fide incolumi ex thensauris Gallicis, quos primores patrum occultent, creditum solvi posse. cui ego rei tantum abest ut inpedimento sim, ut contra te, M. Manli, adhorter,1 liberes faenore plebem Romanam et istos incubantes publicis thensauris ex praeda clandestina evolvas.
I see that a hope has been held out by you to the state, that without destroying public credit, debts can be discharged from the Gallic treasures which the foremost of the patricians are hiding. So far am I from being an obstacle to this matter, that on the contrary, M. Manlius, I exhort you to set the Roman plebs free from debt, and to dislodge those who are brooding over the public treasures from their secret plunder.
quod nisi facis, sive ut et ipse in parte praedae sis, sive quia vanum indicium est, in vincla te duci iubebo nec diutius patiar a te multitudinem fallaci spe concitari.”
But if you do not do this, whether because you yourself also want to share in the plunder, or because the disclosure is groundless, I will order you to be led into chains, and will no longer suffer the multitude to be excited by you with a false hope.”
ad ea Manlius nec se fefellisse ait, non adversus Volscos, totiens hostis, quotiens patribus expediat, nec adversus Latinos Hernicosque, quos falsis criminibus in arma agant, sed adversus se ac plebem Romanam dictatorem creatum esse;
To this Manlius replied that he was not deceived: it was not against the Volscians, who were enemies as often as it suited the patricians, nor against the Latins and Hernicians, whom they were driving to arms by false accusations, but against himself and the Roman plebs that a dictator had been appointed;
iam omisso bello, quod simulatum sit, in se impetum fieri, iam dictatorem profiteri patrocinium faeneratorum adversus plebem, iam sibi ex favore multitudinis crimen et perniciem quaeri. “offendit” inquit “te, A. Corneli, vosque, patres conscripti, circumfusa turba lateri meo? quin eam diducitis a me singuli vestris beneficiis, intercedendo, eximendo de nervo cives vestros, prohibendo iudicatos addictosque duci, ex eo, quod afluit opibus vestris, sustinendo necessitates aliorum? sed quid ego vos, de vestro inpendatis, hortor?2
now, the war, which had been feigned, being abandoned, an attack was being made upon him; now the dictator was openly professing the patronage of the usurers against the plebs; now, from the favor of the multitude, a charge and destruction were being sought against him.
sortem reliquam ferte; de capite deducite, quod usuris pernumeratum est; iam nihilo mea turba quam ullius conspectior erit.
”Does the crowd,” he said, “poured around my side, offend you, A. Cornelius, and you, conscript fathers? Why do you not draw it away from me, each of you by your own benefits, by interceding, by releasing your fellow-citizens from the stocks, by preventing those judged and assigned for debt from being led away, by sustaining the needs of others from that which overflows from your wealth? But why do I exhort you to spend from your own? Take only the remaining principal; deduct from the capital what has been paid in interest; then my crowd will immediately be in no way more conspicuous than anyone else’s.
+ extra markers: 6.15.10 (translation introduced markers absent in the source; merged into this section)
at enim quid ita solus ego civium curam ago? nihilo magis, quod respondeam, habeo, quam si quaeras, quid ita solus Capitolium arcemque servaverim. et tum universis, quam potui, opem tuli et nunc singulis feram.
But, you will say, why do I alone thus take care of the citizens? I have no more to answer than if you were to ask why I alone saved the Capitol and the citadel. Both then I brought aid to all of you together, as far as I could, and now I will bring it to individuals.
nam quod ad thensauros Gallicos attinet, rem suapte natura facilem difficilem interrogatio facit. cur enim quaeritis, quod scitis? cur, quod in sinu vestro est, excuti iubetis potius, quam ponatis, nisi aliqua fraus subest?
For as to the Gallic treasures, the inquiry makes a matter, easy in its own nature, difficult. For why do you ask what you know? Why do you order that which is in your own bosom to be shaken out, rather than lay it down, unless some fraud lies beneath?
quo magis argui praestigias iubetis vestras, eo plus vereor, ne abstuleritis observantibus etiam oculos. itaque non ego, vobis ut indicem praedas vestras, sed vos id cogendi estis,3 ut in medium proferatis.”
The more you order your tricks to be refuted, the more I fear lest you have taken away even their eyes from those who are watching. Therefore, it is not I who must be forced to disclose your plunder to you, but you who must be compelled to bring it forward into the midst.”
- 6.15.5tantum abest ut inpedimento sim, ut contra te, M. Manli, adhorter
The structure of the idiom tantum abest ut... ut... ("so far is it from ... that ..."). The first ut-clause serves as the subject clause of the impersonal verb abest, while the second ut-clause is a consecutive adverbial clause (result clause). Additionally, inpedimento is a dative of purpose, forming a double dative construction with the subject ego.
- 6.15.9de vestro inpendatis, hortor
A subjunctive clause of purpose (volitive) introduced by the verb hortor. Although such noun clauses are usually introduced by ut, here ut is omitted, and the present subjunctive inpendatis follows directly. de vestro is a nominal use of the neuter possessive adjective, meaning "from your own property."
- 6.15.13non ego, vobis ut indicem praedas vestras, sed vos id cogendi estis
Omission in a contrastive structure. After the initial non ego, a verbal phrase corresponding to the latter half vos id cogendi estis (you must be compelled), such as cogendus sum (I must be compelled), is omitted. The first ut-clause ("that I should disclose") depends on this omitted passive periphrastic expression.