- 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-lat2:9.29.1-9.29.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
While the Samnite war draws to a close, a threat of war with Etruria arises, prompting Rome to appoint a dictator. In the same year, Appius Claudius holds the censorship alone and completes great public works, but after transferring sacred rites to public slaves, the Potitii family is wiped out and Appius himself goes blind.
profligato fere Samnitium bello, priusquam ea cura decederet patribus Romanis, Etrusci belli fama exorta est.
When the war with the Samnites was nearly brought to an end, before that anxiety could depart from the Roman senators, a rumor of an Etruscan war arose.
nec erat ea tempestate gens alia, cuius secundum Gallicos tumultus arma terribiliora essent1 cum propinquitate agri tum multitudine hominum.
Nor was there at that time any other nation whose arms, after the Gallic tumults, were more terrifying, both because of the proximity of their territory and the multitude of their men.
itaque altero consule in Samnio reliquias belli persequenti2 P. Decius, qui graviter aeger Romae restiterat, auctore senatu dictatorem C. Sulpicium Longum, is magistrum equitum C. Iunium Bubulcum dixit.
And so, while the other consul was prosecuting the remnants of the war in Samnium, Publius Decius, who had remained at Rome seriously ill, on the authority of the senate, named Gaius Sulpicius Longus dictator, and he named Gaius Iunius Bubulcus master of the horse.
is, prout rei magnitudo postulabat, omnes iuniores sacramento adigit, arma quaeque alia res poscit summa industria parat; nec tantis apparatibus elatus de inferendo bello agitat, quieturus haud dubie, nisi ultro arma Etrusci inferrent.3
He, as the magnitude of the matter demanded, bound all the younger men by oath, and prepared weapons and whatever else the situation required with the greatest industry; nor, puffed up by such great preparations, did he think of initiating war, being undoubtedly about to remain quiet unless the Etruscans should bring war of their own accord.
eadem in conparando cohibendoque bello consilia et apud Etruscos fuere: neutri finibus egressi. et censura clara eo anno Ap. Claudi et C. Plauti fuit, memoriae tamen felicioris ad posteros nomen Appi est, quod viam munivit et aquam in urbem duxit eaque unus perfecit, quia ob infamem atque invidiosam senatus lectionem verecundia victus collega magistratu se abdicaverat;
The same counsels in preparing for and restraining war were present also among the Etruscans; neither side marched out of their borders. And the censorship of Appius Claudius and Gaius Plautius in that year was famous, yet the name of Appius is of happier memory to posterity, because he paved the road and brought water into the city, and completed these works alone, since his colleague, overcome by shame on account of a disgraceful and offensive selection of the senate, had abdicated his office;
Appius iam inde antiquitus insitam pertinaciam familiae gerendo solus censuram obtinuit.
Appius, exercising the stubbornness engrafted in his family from of old, held the censorship alone.
eodem Appio auctore Potitii, gens, cuius ad aram maximam Herculis familiare sacerdotium fuerat, servos publicos ministerii delegandi causa sollemnia eius sacri docuerant.
On the suggestion of this same Appius, the Potitii, a family which had possessed the hereditary priesthood at the Great Altar of Hercules, taught public slaves the solemn rites of that sacrifice for the purpose of delegating the service.
traditur inde, dictu mirabile et quod demovendis statu suo sacris4 religionem facere possit, cum duodecim familiae ea tempestate Potitiorum essent, puberes ad triginta, omnis intra annum cum stirpe exstinctos;
It is handed down from this—a thing wonderful to tell, and one which might cause religious dread against moving sacred rites from their proper state—that although there were at that time twelve families of the Potitii, and about thirty adults, all were extinct within a year, together with their stock;
nec nomen tantum Potitiorum interisse sed censorem etiam Appium memori deum ira post aliquot annos luminibus captum.
and not only did the name of the Potitii perish, but even the censor Appius, by the mindful wrath of the gods, was deprived of his sight a few years later.
- 9.29.2cuius secundum Gallicos tumultus arma terribiliora essent
The subjunctive 'essent' is a subjunctive of characteristic, describing the sort of nation ('gens alia') that existed. The preposition 'secundum' means 'after' or 'next to'.
- 9.29.3altero consule in Samnio reliquias belli persequenti
An ablative absolute construction consisting of the noun 'altero consule' and the present participle 'persequenti'. The participle uses the i-stem ending '-i' (persequenti) instead of the usual '-e' for its ablative singular.
- 9.29.4quieturus haud dubie, nisi ultro arma Etrusci inferrent
The future active participle 'quieturus' functions as the apodosis of a conditional sentence (with 'nisi... inferrent' in the imperfect subjunctive), with 'erat' omitted from 'quieturus erat'. It expresses an intention or likelihood in the past (he was undoubtedly going to remain quiet).
- 9.29.10demovendis statu suo sacris
A gerundive construction in the ablative (or dative). Combined with 'statu suo' (from its proper state), it means 'moving sacred rites from their proper state', acting as the object or cause for 'religionem facere' (to cause religious dread).
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-22)
- 2026-09-22 AI review — source 1