- 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-lat2:6.31.1-6.31.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Amid intense domestic discord in Rome over the issue of debt, the news of a Volscian invasion prompts the tribunes to block the military levy until they extract debt concessions from the patricians, after which the Roman armies ravage the Volscian territory and return.
insequentis anni principia statim seditione ingenti arsere tribunis militum consulari potestate Sp. Furio, Q. Servilio iterum, L. Menenio tertium, P. Cloelio, M. Horatio, L. Geganio. erat autem et materia et causa seditionis aes alienum.
The beginning of the following year immediately blazed with a huge sedition under the military tribunes with consular power, Spurius Furius, Quintus Servilius for the second time, Lucius Menenius for the third time, Publius Cloelius, Marcus Horatius, and Lucius Geganius. Now, both the material and the cause of the sedition was debt.
cuius noscendi gratia Sp. Servilius Priscus Q. Cloelius Siculus censores facti, ne rem agerent,1 bello impediti sunt;
For the purpose of ascertaining this, Spurius Servilius Priscus and Quintus Cloelius Siculus were made censors, but they were prevented by war from carrying out their business;
namque trepidi nuntii primo, fuga deinde ex agris legiones Volscorum ingressas fines popularique passim Romanum agrum attulere.
for first alarming messages, and then flight from the fields brought word that the legions of the Volscians had entered the borders and were plundering the Roman territory far and wide.
in qua trepidatione tantum afuit, ut2 civilia certamina terror externus cohiberet, ut contra eo violentior potestas tribunicia inpediendo dilectu esset, donec condiciones inpositae patribus, ne quis, quoad debellatum esset, tributum daret aut ius de pecunia credita diceret.
In which panic, so far was it from the case that external terror restrained civil strifes, that on the contrary the tribunician power was all the more violent in obstructing the levy, until conditions were imposed on the patricians, that no one, as long as the war lasted, should pay tribute or administer justice concerning loaned money.
eo laxamento plebi sumpto mora dilectui non est facta. legionibus novis scriptis placuit duos exercitus in agrum Volscum legionibus divisis duci; Sp. Furius M. Horatius dextrorsus in maritimam oram atque Antium, Q. Servilius et L. Geganius laeva ad montes Ecetram pergunt.
This relief having been obtained for the plebs, no delay was made for the levy. New legions having been enrolled, it was decided that, the legions being divided, two armies should be led into the Volscian territory; Spurius Furius and Marcus Horatius proceeded to the right towards the maritime coast and Antium, Quintus Servilius and Lucius Geganius to the left towards the mountains to Ecetra.
neutra parte hostis obvius fuit; populatio itaque non illi vagae similis, quam Volscus latrocinii more, discordiae hostium fretus et virtutem metuens, per trepidationem raptim fecerat, sed ab iusto exercitu iusta ira facta, spatio quoque temporis gravior. quippe a Volscis timentibus,3 ne interim exercitus ab Roma exiret, incursiones in extrema finium factae erant; Romano contra etiam in hostico morandi causa erat, ut hostem ad certamen eliceret.
In neither quarter did the enemy present themselves; the plundering, therefore, was not like that rambling one which the Volscian, in the manner of brigandage, relying on the discord of his enemies and fearing their courage, had hastily made in alarm, but was carried out by a regular army with a just resentment, and was also heavier by reason of the length of time. Indeed, by the Volscians, fearing lest in the meantime an army should go out from Rome, incursions into the furthest borders had been made; to the Roman, on the contrary, there was a reason for delaying even in the enemy’s territory, in order to draw the enemy to a battle.
itaque omnibus passim tectis agrorum vicisque etiam quibusdam exustis, non arbore frugifera, non satis in spem frugum relictis, omni, quae extra moenia fuit, hominum pecudumque praeda abacta, Romam utrimque exercitus reducti.
And so, all the houses of the fields far and wide and even some villages having been burned, neither fruitful trees nor crops being left in hope of harvest, and all the booty of men and cattle which was outside the walls having been driven off, the armies on both sides were led back to Rome.
- 6.31.2ne rem agerent
A subjunctive clause following the verb 'impediti sunt' (were prevented) to express the prevention of an action. It can be interpreted as a clause of purpose or preventive result, meaning 'lest they should carry out their business' (i.e., 'prevented from carrying out').
- 6.31.4tantum afuit, ut... ut...
A standard Latin correlative idiom meaning 'so far was it from [X] that [Y]'. The first 'ut' clause ('ut civilia certamina... cohiberet') is a subject clause acting as the subject of 'tantum afuit', while the second 'ut' clause ('ut contra eo violentior... esset') expresses the result. 'eo' is an ablative of measure of difference modifying the comparative 'violentior', meaning 'all the more'.
- 6.31.6a Volscis timentibus
An ablative of agent phrase indicating the doer of the action 'incursiones... factae erant' in the following §6.31.7. Accompanied by the present participle 'timentibus' (fearing), its causal force is emphasized by 'quippe' (indeed, because), establishing a contrast with the subsequent 'Romano contra' (to the Roman, on the contrary).