- 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-lat2:7.17.1-7.17.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
During the wars with the Tiburtes, Faliscans, and Tarquinienses, Roman soldiers are initially terrified by the enemies' bizarre attire but ultimately achieve victory. The first plebeian dictator, Marcius Rutilus, celebrates a triumph, but the patricians, seeking to prevent a plebeian consulship, force an interregnum, which eventually results in the election of two patrician consuls.
novi consules inde, M. Fabius Ambustus iterum et M. Popilius Laenas iterum, duo bella habuere, facile alterum cum Tiburtibus, quod Laenas gessit, qui hoste in urbem conpulso agros vastavit;
Then the new consuls, Marcus Fabius Ambustus for the second time and Marcus Popilius Laenas for the second time, had two wars. One, which was easy, was with the Tiburtes, conducted by Laenas, who, having driven the enemy into their city, devastated their fields;
Falisci Tarquiniensesque alterum consulem prima pugna fuderunt. inde terror maximus fuit, quod sacerdotes eorum facibus ardentibus anguibusque praelatis incessu furiali militem Romanum insueta turbaverunt specie.1 et tum quidem velut lymphati et attoniti munimentis suis trepido agmine inciderunt;
The Faliscans and Tarquinienses routed the other consul in the first battle. From this arose the greatest terror, because their priests, with burning torches and snakes held before them, advancing in a furious gait, threw the Roman soldier into confusion by this unaccustomed sight. And at that time indeed, as if maddened and struck with awe, they rushed in a trembling column into their own fortifications;
deinde, ubi consul legatique ac tribuni puerorum ritu vana miracula paventes2 inridebant increpabantque, vertit animos repente pudor, et in ea ipsa, quae fugerant, velut caeci ruebant.
Then, when the consul, the legates, and the tribunes mocked and rebuked them for fearing empty portents like children, shame suddenly turned their minds, and they rushed like blind men into those very things from which they had fled.
discusso itaque vano apparatu hostium cum in ipsos armatos se intulissent, averterunt totam aciem; castrisque etiam eo die potiti praeda ingenti parta victores reverterunt, militaribus iocis cum apparatum hostium tum suum increpantes pavorem.
Therefore, having shattered the empty display of the enemy, when they had flung themselves upon the armed men themselves, they routed their whole army; and having also gained possession of their camp on that day, and acquired immense booty, they returned as victors, jesting in soldierly fashion as they mocked both the enemy’s display and their own fear.
concitatur deinde omne nomen Etruscum, et Tarquiniensibus Faliscisque ducibus ad salinas perveniunt. adversus eum terrorem dictator C. Marcius Rutilus primus de plebe dictus magistrum equitum item de plebe C. Plautium dixit.
Then the entire Etruscan name was aroused, and under the leadership of the Tarquinienses and Faliscans they reached the salt-works. Against this terror, the dictator Gaius Marcius Rutilus, the first appointed from the plebs, named Gaius Plautius, likewise from the plebs, as master of the horse.
id vero patribus indignum videri,3 etiam dictaturam iam in promiscuo esse; omnique ope inpediebant, ne quid dictatori ad id bellum decerneretur parareturve. eo promptius cuncta ferente dictatore populus iussit.
Indeed, this seemed intolerable to the patricians, that even the dictatorship was now in common; and they obstructed with all their power, lest anything should be decreed or prepared for the dictator for that war. The people, however, ordered everything the more promptly on the proposal of the dictator.
profectus ab urbe utraque parte Tiberis ratibus exercitu, quocumque fama hostium ducebat, traiecto multos populatores agrorum vagos palantes oppressit;
Having set out from the city, and having ferried his army on rafts to either side of the Tiber, wherever the rumor of the enemy led, he crushed many plunderers of the fields who were wandering and straggling about;
castra quoque necopinato adgressus cepit et octo milibus hostium captis, ceteris aut caesis aut ex agro Romano fugatis sine auctoritate patrum populi iussu triumphavit. quia nec per dictatorem plebeium nec per consulem comitia consularia haberi volebant et alter consul Fabius bello retinebatur, res ad interregnum rediit. interreges deinceps Q. Servilius Ahala, M. Fabius, Cn. Manlius, C. Fabius, C. Sulpicius, L. Aemilius, Q. Servilius, M. Fabius Ambustus.
he also attacked and captured their camp unexpectedly, and having captured eight thousand of the enemy, and either slain the rest or driven them from the Roman territory, he celebrated a triumph without the authorization of the patricians, by the order of the people. Because, they did not wish the consular elections to be held either by a plebeian dictator or by a plebeian consul, and the other consul, Fabius, was detained by war, the state reverted to an interregnum. The successive interreges were Quintus Servilius Ahala, Marcus Fabius, Gnaeus Manlius, Gaius Fabius, Gaius Sulpicius, Lucius Aemilius, Quintus Servilius, Marcus Fabius Ambustus.
in secundo interregno orta contentio est, quod duo patricii consules creabantur, intercedentibusque tribunis interrex Fabius aiebat in duodecim tabulis legem esse, ut, quodcumque postremum populus iussisset, id ius ratumque esset; iussum populi et suffragia esse.4
In the second interregnum, a dispute arose because two patrician consuls were being created; and when the tribunes vetoed this, the interrex Fabius declared that there was a law in the Twelve Tables that whatever the people should have ordered last, that should be the established law; and that the votes were the order of the people.
cum intercedendo tribuni nihil aliud, quam ut differrent comitia, valuissent, duo patricii consules creati sunt, C. Sulpicius Peticus tertium M. Valerius Publicola, eodemque die magistratum inierunt.
When the tribunes, by their veto, had been able to achieve nothing else than to postpone the elections, two patrician consuls were elected, Gaius Sulpicius Peticus for the third time and Marcus Valerius Publicola, and on the same day they entered upon their office.
- 7.17.3insueta specie
Ablative of cause or means, meaning 'by their unaccustomed appearance,' explaining why the Roman soldiers were thrown into confusion (turbaverunt).
- 7.17.4puerorum ritu vana miracula paventes
The present participle paventes ('those who fear') refers to the Roman soldiers who function as the direct object of the verbs inridebant and increpabant. puerorum ritu ('in the manner of children') modifies paventes.
- 7.17.7indignum videri
Historical infinitive. The infinitive is used instead of the imperfect indicative (videbatur) in the main clause to create a vivid and subjective description of the patricians' reaction.
- 7.17.12iussum populi et suffragia esse
An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect speech. The subject is the plural accusative suffragia ('votes'), while iussum populi ('the order of the people') serves as the predicate.