Humanitext Reader

Livy · History of Rome §21.15.1-21.15.6

The Spoils of Saguntum and Chronological Problems

Passage 546 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

After describing the booty obtained from the fall of Saguntum, the text examines chronological inconsistencies regarding the duration of the siege and the arrival in Italy, discussing their alignment with the consular terms.

§21.15.1captum oppidum est cum ingenti praeda.
The town was captured with immense booty.
quamquam pleraque ab dominis de industria corrupta erant, et in caedibus vix ullum discrimen aetatis ira fecerat, et captivi militum praeda fuerant, §21.15.2tamen et ex pretio rerum venditarum aliquantum pecuniae redactum esse constat et multam pretiosam supellectilem vestemque missam Carthaginem.
Although most things had been intentionally destroyed by their owners, and in the slaughters anger had made scarcely any distinction of age, and the captives had been the booty of the soldiers, nevertheless it is certain both that a considerable amount of money was realized from the price of the sold goods, and that much precious furniture and clothing was sent to Carthage.
§21.15.3octavo mense quam coeptum oppugnari, captum Saguntum quidam scripsere; inde Carthaginem Novam in hiberna Hannibalem concessisse; quinto deinde mense, quam ab Carthagine profectus sit, in Italiam pervenisse.
Some have written that Saguntum was captured in the eighth month after its siege was begun; that from there Hannibal withdrew into winter quarters to New Carthage; and then that in the fifth month after he set out from Carthage, he arrived in Italy.
§21.15.4quae si ita sunt fieri non potuit, ut P. Cornelius Ti. Sempronius consules fuerint, ad quos et principio oppugnationis legati Saguntini missi sint et qui in suo magistratu cum Hannibale, alter ad Ticinum amnem, ambo aliquanto post ad Trebiam, pugnaverint.
If these things are so, it could not have happened that Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius were consuls, to whom both at the beginning of the siege the Saguntine envoys had been sent, and who in their own magistracy fought with Hannibal, the one at the river Ticinus, and both some time later at the Trebia.
§21.15.5aut omnia breviora aliquanto fuere aut Saguntum principio anni, quo P. Cornelius Ti. Sempronius consules fuerunt, non coeptum oppugnari est, sed captum.
Either all these events were considerably shorter, or Saguntum was not begun to be besieged, but captured, at the beginning of the year in which Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius were consuls.
§21.15.6nam excessisse pugna ad Trebiam in annum Cn. Servili et C. Flamini non potest, quia C. Flaminius Arimini consulatum iniit, creatus a Ti. Sempronio consule, qui post pugnam ad Trebiam ad creandos consules Romam cum venisset, comitiis perfectis ad exercitum in hiberna rediit.
For the battle at the Trebia cannot have extended into the year of Gnaeus Servilius and Gaius Flaminius, because Gaius Flaminius entered upon his consulship at Ariminum, having been elected by Tiberius Sempronius the consul, who, after he had come to Rome to elect consuls after the battle at the Trebia, returned to his army in winter quarters once the comitia were completed.

Notes

  1. 21.15.3octavo mense quam — Meaning 'in the eighth month after...'. The relative particle `quam` functions similarly to `postquam` and introduces a temporal clause, measuring the interval after an event from a noun expressing time (here `octavo mense`).
  2. 21.15.4fieri non potuit, ut — The negative past form of the impersonal expression `fieri potest ut` ('it is possible that...'). The `ut` clause functions as a subject clause (substantive clause) and takes the subjunctive (here perfect `fuerint`).
  3. 21.15.4ad quos ... et qui ... — Two relative clauses referring to the antecedent `P. Cornelius Ti. Sempronius` are joined by the conjunctions `et... et...` ('both... and...'). The first clause has the prepositional relative pronoun `ad quos`, while the second has the nominative `qui`, coordinating different grammatical cases.
  4. 21.15.6creatus — Meaning 'having been elected [as consul]'. In Roman constitutional practice, this refers to the procedure where the presiding consul held the comitia to elect the next consuls and officially declared/designated (`creare`) the successful candidates.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §21.15.1-21.15.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:21.15.1-21.15.6

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