- 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-lat2:7.6.1-7.6.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
A vast chasm opens in the Roman Forum, into which Marcus Curtius leaps as a self-devotion for the state. Later, when Genucius, the first plebeian consul, falls in battle against the Hernici, the patricians claim it as divine anger, and Appius Claudius is appointed dictator.
eodem anno, seu motu terrae seu qua vi alia, forum medium ferme specu vasto conlapsum in inmensam altitudinem dicitur;
In the same year, whether by an earthquake or by some other force, the middle of the Forum is said to have collapsed into an immense depth, forming a vast chasm;
neque eam voraginem coniectu terrae, cum pro se quisque gereret, expleri potuisse, priusquam deum monitu quaeri coeptum, quo plurimum populus Romanus posset:1
and that abyss could not be filled by throwing in earth, though everyone brought it for his part, until, by the warning of the gods, they began to inquire wherein the Roman people was most powerful;
id enim illi loco dicandum vates canebant, si rem publicam Romanam perpetuam esse vellent. tum M. Curtium, iuvenem bello egregium, castigasse ferunt dubitantes, an ullum magis Romanum bonum quam arma virtusque esset, et silentio facto templa deorum inmortalium, quae foro inminent, Capitoliumque intuentem et manus nunc in caelum, nunc in patentes terrae hiatus ad deos manes porrigentem se devovisse;
for the prophets sang that this must be dedicated to that place, if they wished the Roman commonwealth to be perpetual. Then they say that Marcus Curtius, a youth distinguished in war, chided those who doubted whether there was any Roman good greater than arms and valor; and, silence being made, looking towards the temples of the immortal gods, which overlook the Forum, and the Capitoline, and stretching out his hands now towards heaven, now towards the gaping fissures of the earth to the gods of the underworld, he devoted himself;
equoque deinde quam poterat maxime exornato insidentem armatum se in specum inmisisse, donaque ac fruges super eum a multitudine virorum ac mulierum congestas, lacumque Curtium non ab antiquo illo T. Tati milite Curtio Mettio, sed ab hoc appellatum.
and then, mounting his horse adorned as splendidly as possible, he threw himself armed into the chasm, and gifts and crops were heaped upon him by the multitude of men and women, and the Curtian Lake was named not after that ancient soldier of Titus Tatius, Mettius Curtius, but after this man.
cura non deesset, si qua ad verum via inquirentem ferret;2 nunc fama rerum standum est, ubi certam derogat vetustas fidem; et lacus nomen ab hac recentiore insignitius fabula est.
Care would not be lacking if any path could lead the inquirer to the truth; now we must stand by the rumor of things, where antiquity detracts from certain credibility; and the name of the lake is more famous from this more recent story.
post tanti prodigii procurationem eodem anno de Hernicis consultus senatus cum fetiales ad res repetendas nequiquam misisset, primo quoque die ferendum ad populum de bello indicendo Hernicis censuit, populusque id bellum frequens iussit.
After the expiation of so great a prodigy, in the same year, the senate, consulted concerning the Hernici, having sent the fetials in vain to demand redress, decreed that a proposal for declaring war on the Hernici should be brought before the people on the very first day possible, and the people in a crowded assembly ordered that war.
L. Genucio consuli ea provincia sorte evenit. in expectatione civitas erat, quod primus ille de plebe consul bellum suis auspiciis gesturus esset, perinde ut evenisset res, ita communicatos honores pro bene aut secus consulto habitura. forte ita tulit casus, ut Genucius ad hostes magno conatu profectus in insidias praecipitaret et legionibus necopinato pavore fusis consul circumventus ab insciis, quem intercepissent, occideretur. quod ubi est Romam nuntiatum, nequaquam tantum publica calamitate maesti patres, quantum feroces infelici consulis plebei ductu, fremunt omnibus locis: irent, crearent consules ex plebe, transferrent auspicia, quo nefas esset.
This province fell by lot to Lucius Genucius the consul. The state was in expectation, because he, the first consul from the plebs, was about to wage war under his own auspices, being ready to regard the shared honors as well or ill advised, according as the matter should turn out. By chance it so happened that Genucius, having set out against the enemy with great effort, fell headlong into an ambush, and the legions being routed in sudden panic, the consul was surrounded and slain by those who did not even know whom they had cut off. When this was announced to Rome, the patricians, by no means so much grieved by the public calamity as they were insolent because of the unsuccessful leadership of the plebeian consul, murmured in all places: let them go, let them create consuls from the plebs, let them transfer the auspices to where it was a sacrilege!
potuisse patres plebi scito pelli3 honoribus suis; num etiam in deos immortales inauspicatam legem valuisse? vindicasse ipsos suum numen, sua auspicia, quae ut primum contacta sint ab eo, a quo nec ius nec fas fuerit, deletum cum duce exercitum documento fuisse, ne deinde turbato gentium iure comitia haberentur.
The patricians could indeed be driven from their honors by a plebiscite; but had an un-auspiced law prevailed even against the immortal gods? They themselves had vindicated their own divinity, their own auspices, which as soon as they were touched by him who had neither legal nor divine right, the destruction of the army with its leader was a proof that henceforth comitia should not be held with the rights of the gentes disturbed.
his vocibus curia et forum personat. Ap. Claudium, quia dissuaserat legem, maiore nunc auctoritate eventum reprehensi ab se consilii incusantem, dictatorem consensu patriciorum Servilius consul dicit, dilectusque et iustitium indictum.
With these voices anxiety and the Forum resounded. Appius Claudius, because he had opposed the law, now accusing with greater authority the outcome of the counsel which he had censured, was declared dictator by the consul Servilius with the consensus of the patricians, and a levy was held and a suspension of public business was proclaimed.
- 7.6.2quo plurimum populus Romanus posset
An indirect question clause introduced by the interrogative adverb quo ("in what respect", "wherein"), with posset in the subjunctive imperfect. It functions as the object of inquiry for quaeri ("to be inquired").
- 7.6.6cura non deesset, si qua ad verum via inquirentem ferret
A contrary-to-fact conditional sentence in the present. Both the condition si... ferret and the conclusion deesset are in the imperfect subjunctive, implying that such a path to the truth does not exist.
- 7.6.11potuisse patres plebi scito pelli
Part of an indirect discourse expressing the indignation and sarcasm of the patricians. As the main clause of a declarative statement, it uses the accusative and infinitive (potuisse... pelli). Similarly, the following rhetorical question num etiam... valuisse is also expressed with the accusative and infinitive (valuisse) rather than the subjunctive, as is typical for rhetorical questions in the first or third person in indirect speech.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (2, latest 2026-09-22)
- 2026-09-22 AI review — source 2