- 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-lat2:8.27.1-8.27.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
Alarmed by the fall of Palaepolis, the Tarentines employ a deceptive scheme among the Lucanians, tricking them into breaking their alliance with Rome and renewing one with the Samnites, though the fraud is eventually discovered too late.
aliud subinde bellum cum alterius orae Graecis exortum.
Immediately afterwards, another war broke out with the Greeks of the other coast.
namque Tarentini, cum rem Palaepolitanam vana spe auxilii aliquamdiu sustinuissent, postquam Romanos urbe potitos accepere, velut destituti ac non qui ipsi destituissent,1 increpare Palaepolitanos, ira atque invidia in Romanos furere, eo etiam, quod2 Lucanos et Apulos — nam utraque eo anno societas coepta est — in fidem populi Romani venisse adlatum est:
For the Tarentines, although they had for some time supported the Palaepolitan cause with a vain hope of assistance, when they heard that the Romans had gained possession of the city, as if they themselves had been deserted and were not the ones who had deserted them, began to upbraid the Palaepolitans and to rage with anger and jealousy against the Romans, and all the more because news was brought that the Lucanians and Apulians—for both alliances were formed in that year—had come into the alliance of the Roman people:
quippe propemodum perventum ad se esse, iamque in eo rem fore, ut3 Romani aut hostes aut domini habendi sint.
arguing indeed that the Romans had almost reached them, and that things would soon come to such a pass that they must hold the Romans either as enemies or as masters.
discrimen profecto rerum suarum in bello Samnitium eventuque eius verti; eam solam gentem restare, nec eam ipsam satis validam, quando Lucanus defecerit;
That the crisis of their own affairs certainly turned upon the war of the Samnites and its outcome; that this nation alone remained, and not even it was sufficiently strong, now that the Lucanians had defected;
quem revocari adhuc inpellique ad abolendam societatem Romanam posse, si qua ars serendis discordiis adhibeatur.
who, however, could still be recalled and urged to abolish the Roman alliance, if any art were applied in sowing discords.
haec consilia cum apud cupidos rerum novandarum valuissent, ex iuventute quidam Lucanorum pretio adsciti, clari magis inter populares quam honesti,4 inter se mulcati ipsi virgis cum corpora nuda intulissent in civium coetum, vociferati sunt se, quod castra Romana ingredi ausi essent, a consulibus virgis caesos ac prope securi percussos esse.
When these counsels had gained weight among those eager for a revolution, certain of the Lucanian youth, hired with money, men more well-known among their countrymen than honest, having scourged themselves mutually with rods, when they had presented their naked bodies to the assembly of the citizens, vociferated that because they had dared to enter the Roman camp, they had been beaten with rods by the consuls and almost beheaded with the axe.
deformis suapte natura res cum speciem iniuriae magis quam doli prae se ferret, concitati homines cogunt clamore suo magistratus senatum vocare, et alii circumstantes concilium bellum in Romanos poscunt, alii ad concitandam in arma multitudinem agrestium discurrunt, tumultuque etiam sanos consternante animos decernitur, ut societas cum Samnitibus renovaretur, legatique ad eam rem mittuntur.
Since the matter, shocking by its own nature, bore the appearance of an injury rather than of a trick, the excited men by their clamor forced the magistrates to summon the senate, and while some standing around the assembly demanded war against the Romans, others ran in different directions to excite the rustic multitude to arms, and amidst a tumult that dismayed even sane minds, it was decreed that the alliance with the Samnites should be renewed, and ambassadors were sent for that purpose.
repentina res quia quam causam nullam tam ne fidem quidem5 habebat, coacti a Samnitibus et obsides dare et praesidia in loca munita accipere, caeci fraude et ira nihil recusarunt.
Because this sudden business had as little credibility as it had any ground, being compelled by the Samnites both to give hostages and to receive garrisons into their fortified places, blind with fraud and rage, they refused nothing.
dilucere deinde brevi fraus coepit, postquam criminum falsorum auctores Tarentum commigravere; sed amissa omni de se potestate nihil ultra, quam ut paeniteret frustra, restabat.6
Soon afterwards the fraud began to grow clear, after the authors of the false charges migrated to Tarentum; but all power over themselves being lost, nothing remained but to repent in vain.
- 8.27.2non qui ipsi destituissent
The demonstrative pronoun ei (or ii) acting as the antecedent is omitted, creating the structure non [ei] qui ipsi [Palaepolitanos] destituissent ("and not as those who had themselves deserted [the Palaepolitans]"). This works adverbially modifying the historical infinitives.
- 8.27.2eo etiam, quod
The ablative eo of the demonstrative pronoun is is an ablative of cause anticipating the following quod-clause ("the fact that..."), meaning "all the more because of this, that...".
- 8.27.3in eo rem fore, ut
A future infinitive version of the idiom in eo [loco/statu] res est, ut... ("matters are at such a point that..."). The ut-clause is a noun clause of result explaining the content of eo.
- 8.27.6clari magis ... quam honesti
A comparison between two qualities of the same subject, indicating that they were "more well-known (clarus, here in an infamous sense) among their countrymen than honest (honestus)."
- 8.27.10quam causam nullam tam ne fidem quidem
The word order of the correlative tam... quam... is inverted, presenting the parallel structure: quam [nullam causam habebat], tam ne fidem quidem [habebat] ("as it had no ground at all, so it did not even have any credibility").
- 8.27.11nihil ultra, quam ut paeniteret frustra, restabat
The phrase nihil ultra quam ut... means "nothing remained except that...". paeniteret is the imperfect subjunctive of the impersonal verb paenitet ("to repent").
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — source 1