- 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-lat2:8.36.1-8.36.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
Dictator Papirius returns to the camp after arranging affairs in Rome, but initially faces a military stalemate due to the soldiers' deliberate lack of cooperation. He wins back their loyalty by showing care for the wounded, leading to a decisive victory over the Samnites and their plea for peace.
postquam dictator praeposito in urbe L. Papirio Crasso, magistro equitum Q. Fabio vetito1 quicquam pro magistratu agere, in castra rediit, neque civibus satis laetus adventus eius fuit nec hostibus quicquam attulit terroris.
After the dictator, having appointed L. Papirius Crassus in charge of the city, and having forbidden the master of the horse, Q. Fabius, to perform any act in his official capacity, returned to the camp, his arrival was neither joyful enough to the citizens, nor did it bring any terror to the enemy.
namque postero die, seu ignari venisse dictatorem, seu, adesset an abesset, parvi facientes, instructa acie ad castra accesserunt. ceterum tantum momenti in uno viro L. Papirio fuit, ut, si ducis consilia favor subsecutus militum foret,2 debellari eo die cum Samnitibus potuisse pro haud dubio habitum sit;
For on the following day, whether ignorant that the dictator had come, or making little account of whether he were present or absent, they approached the camp with their army drawn up in battle array. But there was so much weight in L. Papirius alone, that, if the support of the soldiers had followed the plans of the leader, it was held as beyond doubt that the war with the Samnites could have been finished on that day;
ita instruxit aciem, ita loco ac subsidiis, ita omni arte bellica firmavit. cessatum3 a milite ac de industria, ut obtrectaretur laudibus ducis, inpedita victoria est. plures Samnitium cecidere, plures Romani vulnerati sunt. sensit peritus dux, quae res victoriae obstaret:
so well did he draw up the line, so well did he strengthen it with the position and the reserves, and with all the art of war. But there was a slackness on the part of the soldiers, and deliberately, so that the praises of the leader might be detracted from, victory was impeded. More of the Samnites fell, but more of the Romans were wounded. The experienced leader perceived what thing stood in the way of victory:
temperandum ingenium suum esse et severitatem miscendam comitate.
that his own temper had to be moderated, and severity mixed with affability.
itaque adhibitis legatis ipse circumiens saucios milites, inserens in tentoria caput singulosque, ut sese haberent, rogitans curam eorum nominatim legatis tribunisque et praefectis demandabat.
Therefore, having summoned the legates, he himself went around among the wounded soldiers, putting his head into their tents and repeatedly asking each one how they were, and he committed the care of them by name to the legates, tribunes, and prefects.
rem per se popularem ita dextere egit, ut medendis corporibus4 animi multo prius militum imperatori reconciliarentur nec quicquam ad salubritatem efficacius fuerit, quam quod grato animo ea cura accepta est.
A practice, popular in itself, he conducted so dextrously that, by the healing of their bodies, the minds of the soldiers were reconciled to their commander much earlier; nor was anything more efficacious for their recovery than the fact that this care was received with grateful minds.
refecto exercitu cum hoste congressus haud dubia spe sua militumque ita fudit fugavitque Samnites, ut ille ultimus eis dies conferendi signa cum dictatore fuerit.
Having restored the army, he engaged with the enemy, and with no doubtful hope of his own and of the soldiers, he so routed and put to flight the Samnites that that day was the last for them to measure strength with the dictator.
incessit deinde, qua duxit praedae spes, victor exercitus perlustravitque hostium agros, nulla arma, nullam vim nec apertam nec ex insidiis expertus.
Then the victorious army marched wherever the hope of plunder led, and traversed the fields of the enemy, experiencing no arms, no force, either open or from ambush.
addebat alacritatem, quod dictator praedam omnem edixerat militibus; nec ira magis publica quam privatum compendium in hostem acuebat.
It added to their alacrity that the dictator had proclaimed all the plunder for the soldiers; nor did public resentment whet them against the enemy more than private gain.
his cladibus subacti Samnites pacem a dictatore petiere; cum quo pacti, ut singula vestimenta militibus et annuum stipendium darent, cum ire ad senatum iussi essent, secuturos se dictatorem responderunt, unius eius fidei virtutique causam suam commendantes. ita deductus ex Samnitibus exercitus.
Subdued by these disasters, the Samnites sought peace from the dictator; having agreed with him to give a single garment to each of the soldiers and a year’s pay, when they were ordered to go to the senate, they replied that they would follow the dictator, committing their cause to his sole good faith and valor. Thus the army was led back from the Samnites.
- 8.36.1vetito
This participle forms an ablative absolute construction with Q. Fabio as its logical subject. vetito is a perfect passive participle (either used impersonally in the neuter ablative or agreeing with Q. Fabio in the masculine ablative singular), governing the infinitive agere to mean "having been forbidden to act".
- 8.36.3subsecutus foret
This represents the subjunctive pluperfect subsecutus esset, forming the protasis of a past contrary-to-fact condition. The apodosis is expressed by the infinitive clause debellari ... potuisse, which stands for potuit (the indicative perfect, regularly used instead of the subjunctive pluperfect to express possibility in contrary-to-fact conditions) converted into a perfect infinitive in indirect discourse within the result clause ut ... habitum sit.
- 8.36.4cessatum
An impersonal passive construction using the perfect passive participle neuter singular of the intransitive verb cesso, with the auxiliary est omitted. Accompanied by the ablative of agent a milite (singular used collectively for "by the soldiers"), it means "there was a slackness on the part of the soldiers."
- 8.36.7medendis corporibus
A gerundive construction in which the gerundive agrees with the noun corporibus in gender, number, and case. It is used in the ablative to express means or instrument, meaning "by the healing of their bodies."