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Livy · History of Rome §10.15.1-10.15.12

Devastation of Samnium and Defense of Plebeian Consulship

Passage 499 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Decius prevents the Apulians from joining the Samnites by defeating them, and both consuls devastate Samnium. Returning to Rome, Fabius thwarts Appius Claudius's attempt to restore patrician dominance over the consulship and ensures the election of the plebeian Volumnius as his colleague.

§10.15.1Samnitibus Apuli se ante proelium coniunxissent, ni P. Decius consul iis ad Maleventum castra obiecisset, extractos deinde ad certamen fudisset.
The Apulians would have joined the Samnites before the battle, had not the consul Publius Decius thrown his camp in their way near Maleventum, and then, having drawn them out to battle, routed them.
§10.15.2ibi quoque plus fugae fuit quam caedis: duo milia Apulorum caesa; spretoque eo hoste Decius in Samnium legiones duxit.
There too, there was more of flight than of slaughter: two thousand of the Apulians were slain; and Decius, having disregarded that enemy, led his legions into Samnium.
§10.15.3ibi duo consulares exercitus diversis vagati partibus omnia spatio quinque mensum evastarunt.
There, the two consular armies, wandering in different directions, devastated everything over a space of five months.
§10.15.4quadraginta et quinque loca in Samnio fuere, in quibus Deci castra fuerunt, alterius consulis sex et octoginta; §10.15.5nec valli tantum ac fossarum vestigia relicta, sed multo illis insigniora monumenta vastitatis circa regionumque depopulatarum.
There were forty-five places in Samnium in which Decius's camp was pitched, and eighty-six of the other consul; nor were only the remains of ramparts and trenches left, but monuments of devastation around and of depopulated regions far more conspicuous than those.
§10.15.6Fabius etiam urbem Cimetram cepit.
Fabius also took the city of Cimetra.
ibi capta armatorum duo milia nongenti, caesi pugnantes ferme nongenti triginta.
There, two thousand nine hundred armed men were captured, and about nine hundred and thirty were slain while fighting.
§10.15.7inde comitiorum causa Romam profectus maturavit eam rem agere.
Thence he set out for Rome for the sake of the elections and hastened to conduct that business.
cum primo vocatae Q. Fabium consulem dicerent omnes centuriae, §10.15.8Ap. Claudius, consularis candidatus, vir acer et ambitiosus, non sui magis honoris causa, quam ut patricii recuperarent duo consularia loca, cum suis tum totius nobilitatis viribus incubuit, ut se cum Q. Fabio consulem dicerent.
When all the centuries first called were naming Quintus Fabius as consul, Appius Claudius, a candidate for the consulship, a sharp and ambitious man, not so much for the sake of his own honor as that the patricians might recover the two consular places, exerted himself with both his own strength and that of the entire nobility to have them name him as consul along with Quintus Fabius.
§10.15.9Fabius primo de se eadem fere quae priore anno dicendo abnuere.
Fabius at first refused, saying almost the same things about himself as in the previous year.
circumstare sellam omnis nobilitas; orare, ut ex caeno plebeio consulatum extraheret maiestatemque pristinam cum honori tum patriciis gentibus redderet.
All the nobility stood around his chair, begging that he would drag the consulship out of the plebeian mire and restore its pristine majesty both to the office and to the patrician families.
§10.15.10Fabius silentio facto media oratione studia hominum sedavit; facturum enim se fuisse dixit, ut duorum patriciorum nomina reciperet, si alium quam se consulem fieri videret; §10.15.11nunc se suam rationem comitiis, cum contra leges futurum sit, pessimo exemplo non habiturum.
Fabius, after silence was made, quieted the passions of the men in the middle of his speech; for he said that he would have acted so as to accept the names of two patricians, if he saw anyone other than himself being made consul; but now, since it would be contrary to the laws and a very bad precedent, he would not have his own name considered in the elections.
§10.15.12ita L. Volumnius de plebe cum Ap. Claudio consul est factus, priore item consulatu inter se comparati.
Thus Lucius Volumnius, from the plebeians, was made consul along with Appius Claudius, having been compared with each other in their previous consulship as well.
nobilitas obiectare Fabio fugisse eum Ap. Claudium collegam, eloquentia civilibusque artibus haud dubie praestantem.
The nobility reproached Fabius with having fled from Appius Claudius as a colleague, who was undoubtedly outstanding in eloquence and civic skills.

Notes

  1. 10.15.1coniunxissent, ni... obiecisset, ... fudisset — A conditional sentence expressing a past contrary-to-fact situation. The apodosis is `coniunxissent` (subjunctive pluperfect) and the protasis is introduced by `ni` (shortened form of `nisi`) containing `obiecisset` and `fudisset` (both subjunctive pluperfect).
  2. 10.15.5multo illis insigniora monumenta — The word `multo` (by much / far) is an ablative of degree of difference modifying the comparative `insigniora`. The word `illis` (those things, i.e., the remains of ramparts and trenches) is an ablative of comparison acting as the object of comparison.
  3. 10.15.10facturum enim se fuisse dixit, ut duorum patriciorum nomina reciperet, si alium quam se consulem fieri videret — An apodosis of a contrary-to-fact conditional sentence in indirect discourse. The direct form `fecissem` (subjunctive pluperfect) becomes `facturum fuisse` (future active participle with `fuisse`, forming the perfect active infinitive of a conditional) under the verb of saying `dixit`. The protasis `si... videret` (subjunctive imperfect) represents the condition in past time, adjusted for sequence of tenses.
  4. 10.15.11se suam rationem comitiis ... non habiturum — The idiom `rationem habere` means 'to take account of' or 'to consider'. In an electoral context with `comitiis`, it specifically means 'to accept or consider someone's candidacy'. Here, `non habiturum [esse]` expresses Fabius's determination not to allow his own candidacy to be considered in the elections.
  5. 10.15.12obiectare Fabio fugisse eum Ap. Claudium collegam — The word `obiectare` is a historical infinitive. In the following accusative and infinitive clause, `eum` (referring to Fabius) is the subject accusative, `Ap. Claudium` is the object accusative of `fugisse`, and `collegam` (colleague) is in apposition to `Ap. Claudium` or acts as a predicative accusative. It means they reproached Fabius that he had fled from Appius Claudius as a colleague.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §10.15.1-10.15.12. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:10.15.1-10.15.12

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