- 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-lat2:8.32.1-8.32.18
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
The dictator Papirius returns and severely questions the master of the horse Fabius for his breach of military discipline, ordering his execution, which leads to high tension due to the pleas of the legates and the fierce resistance of the soldiers.
clamor e tota contione ortus, uti bonum animum haberet: neminem illi vim adlaturum salvis legionibus Romanis. haud multo post dictator advenit classicoque extemplo ad contionem advocavit.
A shout arose from the entire assembly, urging him to keep up his courage: no one would bring violence upon him as long as the Roman legions were safe. Not long after, the dictator arrived and immediately summoned the assembly by trumpet.
tum silentio facto praeco Q. Fabium magistrum equitum citavit. qui simul ex inferiore loco ad tribunal accessit, tum dictator “quaero” inquit “de te, Q. Fabi, cum summum imperium dictatoris sit pareantque ei consules, regia potestas,1 praetores, iisdem auspiciis quibus consules creati, aequum censeas necne magistrum equitum dicto audientem esse?
Then, silence having been made, the herald summoned Quintus Fabius, the master of the horse. As soon as he approached the tribunal from his lower position, the dictator said, “I ask you, Quintus Fabius, since the supreme power belongs to the dictator, and the consuls, who possess kingly power, and the praetors, elected under the same auspices as the consuls, obey him, whether you think it right or not that the master of the horse should be obedient to his command?
itemque illud interrogo, cum me incertis auspiciis profectum ab domo scirem, utrum mihi turbatis religionibus res publica in discrimen committenda fuerit, an auspicia repetenda, ne quid dubiis dis agerem?
And likewise I ask this: since I knew that I had set out from home under uncertain auspices, whether, with the religious rites disturbed, I ought to have committed the state to danger, or whether the auspices should have been taken again, so that I might do nothing while the gods were doubtful?
simul illud, quae dictatori religio inpedimento ad rem gerendam fuerit, num ea magister equitum solutus ac liber potuerit esse? sed quid ego haec interrogo, cum, si ego tacitus abissem, tamen tibi ad voluntatis interpretationem meae dirigenda tua sententia fuerit?2
At the same time, I ask this: could the master of the horse have been free and exempt from whatever religious constraint was an impediment to the dictator in conducting affairs? But why do I ask these things, when, even if I had departed in silence, your judgment should nevertheless have been directed toward interpreting my will?
quin tu respondes, vetuerimne te quicquam rei me absente agere, vetuerimne signa cum hostibus conferre?
Why do you not answer whether I forbade you to conduct any business in my absence, and whether I forbade you to engage in battle with the enemy?
quo tu imperio meo spreto, incertis auspiciis, turbatis religionibus adversus morem militarem disciplinamque maiorum et numen deorum ausus es cum hoste confligere.
Having despised this command of mine, under uncertain auspices and with religious rites disturbed, contrary to military custom, the discipline of our ancestors, and the will of the gods, you dared to fight with the enemy.
ad haec, quae interrogatus es, responde; at extra ea cave vocem mittas.3 accede, lictor.”
Answer these things which you have been asked; but beware of uttering a word beyond them. Approach, lictor.”
aduersus quae singula cum respondere haud facile esset et nunc quereretur eundem accusatorem capitis sui ac iudicem esse, modo vitam sibi eripi citius quam gloriam rerum gestarum posse vociferaretur purgaretque se in vicem atque ultro accusaret, tunc Papirius redintegrata ira spoliari magistrum equitum ac virgas et secures expediri iussit.
Since it was not easy to answer these points one by one, and he now complained that the same man was both the accuser of his life and his judge, and now cried out that his life could be snatched away more quickly than the glory of his achievements, and alternately vindicated himself and went so far as to accuse the other, then Papirius, with renewed anger, ordered the master of the horse to be stripped and the rods and axes to be prepared.
Fabius fidem militum inplorans lacerantibus vestem lictoribus ad triarios tumultum ultima in contione miscentes sese recepit.
Fabius, imploring the protection of the soldiers while the lictors were tearing his clothing, retreated to the triarii, who were causing a disturbance at the edge of the assembly.
inde clamor in totam contionem est perlatus. alibi preces, alibi minae audiebantur; qui proximi forte tribunali steterant, quia subiecti oculis imperatoris noscitari poterant, orabant, ut parceret magistro equitum neu cum eo exercitum damnaret;
From there, the shout was carried through the entire assembly. In one place prayers, in another threats were heard; those who happened to stand nearest to the tribunal, because they could be recognized under the eyes of the commander, begged him to spare the master of the horse and not to condemn the entire army along with him;
extrema contio et circa Fabium globus increpabant inclementem dictatorem nec procul seditione aberant. ne tribunal quidem satis quietum erat;
the edge of the assembly and the crowd around Fabius rebuked the merciless dictator and were not far from mutiny. Not even the tribunal itself was sufficiently quiet;
legati circumstantes sellam orabant, ut rem in posterum diem differret et irae suae spatium et consilio tempus daret:
the lieutenants standing around his chair begged him to postpone the matter to the following day, and to give space to his anger and time for deliberation:
satis castigatam adulescentiam Fabi esse, satis deformatam victoriam; ne ad extremum finem supplicii tenderet neu unico iuveni, neu patri eius, clarissimo viro, neu Fabiae genti eam iniungeret ignominiam.
they said that the youth of Fabius had been sufficiently chastised, and his victory sufficiently tarnished; let him not press on to the extreme limit of punishment, nor inflict such disgrace upon a unique young man, or upon his father, a most distinguished man, or upon the Fabian family.
cum parum precibus, parum causa proficerent, intueri saevientem contionem iubebant: ita inritatis militum animis subdere ignem ac materiam seditioni non esse aetatis, non prudentiae eius;4
When they made little progress by prayers and little by reason, they urged him to look at the raging assembly: with the minds of the soldiers so irritated, to apply fire and fuel to a mutiny was suited neither to his age nor to his wisdom;
neminem id Q. Fabio poenam deprecanti suam vitio versurum,5 sed dictatori, si occaecatus ira infestam multitudinem in se pravo certamine movisset.
no one would turn it into a fault for Quintus Fabius to beg off his punishment, but it would be turned into a fault for the dictator if, blinded by anger, he should stir up a hostile multitude against himself in an improper contest.
postremo, ne id se gratiae dare. Q. Fabi crederet,6 se ius iurandum dare paratos esse non videri e re publica in Q. Fabium eo tempore animadverti.
Finally, lest he should believe that they were doing this out of favor to Quintus Fabius, they stated that they were ready to take an oath that it did not seem to be in the interest of the state for punishment to be inflicted on Quintus Fabius at that time.
- 8.32.3consules, regia potestas
regia potestas is used in apposition to consules, emphasizing that the power of the Republican consuls was equivalent to that of kings.
- 8.32.5dirigenda tua sententia fuerit
Though part of a past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence, the use of the passive periphrastic conjugational form with fuerit (the subjunctive perfect, representing the indicative perfect fuit in indirect speech) strongly emphasizes a factual and objective obligation rather than a mere potentiality (which would be expressed by fuisset).
- 8.32.8cave vocem mittas
The verb cave is followed directly by the present subjunctive mittas without ut or ne, forming an emphatic and colloquial negative command (prohibition).
- 8.32.16non esse aetatis, non prudentiae eius
The genitives aetatis and prudentiae are used predicatively with esse to denote characteristic or fitness ('it is not characteristic of his age, nor of his prudence').
- 8.32.17vitio versurum
The expression employs the double dative idiom vitio vertere (to turn into a fault), with vitio as the dative of purpose/result and Q. Fabio / dictatori as the datives of reference/person.
- 8.32.18ne id se gratiae dare Q. Fabi crederet
The clause ne... crederet represents an indirect negative command or advice given by the legates. In the phrase gratiae dare (to attribute to favor), Q. Fabi functions as an objective genitive.