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Livy · History of Rome §10.47.1-10.47.7

Census, Civic Events, and the Summoning of Aesculapius

Passage 531 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

This section describes the replacement of newly elected tribunes due to religious flaws, the census conducted by the censors, new practices in the games, the paving of a road with fines, and the consulting of the sacred books regarding a severe plague, which directed the summoning of Aesculapius.

§10.47.1exacto iam anno novi tribuni plebis magistratum inierant, iisque ipsis, quia vitio creati erant, quinque post dies alii suffecti. —
The year having already expired, the new tribunes of the plebs entered upon their magistracy; and because they themselves had been elected under an irregular omen, five days later others were substituted in their place.
§10.47.2lustrum conditum eo anno est a P. Cornelio Arvina, C. Marcio Rutilo censoribus; censa capitum milia ducenta sexaginta duo trecenta viginti unum.
A lustrum was performed that year by the censors Publius Cornelius Arvina and Gaius Marcius Rutilus; two hundred and sixty-two thousand three hundred and twenty-one citizens were registered.
§10.47.3censores vicesimi sexti a primis censoribus, lustrum undevicesimum fuit.
These were the twenty-sixth censors since the first, and it was the nineteenth lustrum.
— eodem anno coronati primum ob res bello bene gestas ludos Romanos spectarunt palmaeque tum primum translato e Graecia more victoribus datae. —
In the same year, those who had been crowned for the first time on account of successful exploits in war spectated the Roman Games, and then for the first time, by a custom imported from Greece, palms were given to the victors.
§10.47.4eodem anno ab aedilibus curulibus, qui eos ludos fecerunt, damnatis aliquot pecuariis via a Martis silice ad Bovillas perstrata est.
In the same year, by the curule aediles who exhibited those games, a road was paved from the basalt temple-stone of Mars to Bovillae, using the fines of several condemned cattle-owners.
comitia consularia L. Papirius habuit; §10.47.5creavit consules Q. Fabium Maximi f. Gurgitem et D. Iunium Brutum Scaevam; ipse Papirius praetor factus.
Lucius Papirius held the consular elections; he elected as consuls Quintus Fabius Gurges, son of Maximus, and Decimus Junius Brutus Scaeva; Papirius himself was made praetor.
§10.47.6multis rebus laetus annus vix ad solacium unius mali, pestilentiae urentis simul urbem atque agros, suffecit; portentoque iam similis clades erat, et libri aditi, quinam finis aut quod remedium eius mali ab diis daretur.
A year joyful in many respects was scarcely sufficient to alleviate a single evil, a pestilence wasting both the city and the countryside at the same time; and the disaster was already like a portent, and the books were consulted as to what end or what remedy for that evil would be given by the gods.
§10.47.7inventum in libris Aesculapium ab Epidauro Romam arcessendum.
It was found in the books that Aesculapius must be summoned from Epidaurus to Rome.
neque eo anno, quia bello occupati consules erant, quicquam de ea re actum, praeterquam quod unum diem Aesculapio supplicatio habita est.
Nor was anything done in that matter during that year, because the consuls were occupied with war, except that a supplication was held to Aesculapius for one day.

Notes

  1. 10.47.1vitio — A constitutional and religious technical term meaning 'with a flaw in the auspices.' Due to this irregularity, the initial election was deemed invalid, necessitating a supplementary election (suffectio).
  2. 10.47.3coronati — Perfect participle masculine plural nominative, modifying the omitted subject of the sentence, referring to those (specifically generals) who had distinguished themselves in war.
  3. 10.47.4damnatis aliquot pecuariis — Ablative absolute. Semantically, it indicates the source of funding for the road construction: 'several illegal cattle-owners on public land having been fined and condemned.'
  4. 10.47.6vix ... suffecit — Literally 'scarcely sufficed,' but pragmatically expressing a strong negative contrast: despite the year being joyful in many other respects, it was far from enough to mitigate or compensate for the severe misery of the plague.
  5. 10.47.7Aesculapium ... arcessendum — An accusative and gerundive construction (with esse omitted), forming an accusative with infinitive clause that serves as the subject (or content) of the impersonal perfect passive 'inventum [est]' ('it was found [in the books] that...').

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §10.47.1-10.47.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:10.47.1-10.47.7

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