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Livy · History of Rome §21.6.1-21.6.8

Saguntum's Appeal and the Roman Decision to Send Envoys

Passage 537 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Following disputes between Saguntum and the Turdetani, Saguntum appealed to Rome for help, prompting the Roman Senate, after hearing news of the sudden siege of Saguntum, to dispatch ambassadors to Hannibal and Carthage.

§21.6.1cum Saguntinis bellum nondum erat, ceterum iam belli causa certamina cum finitimis serebantur, maxume Turdetanis. §21.6.2quibus cum adesset idem, qui litis erat sator, nec certamen iuris, sed vim quaeri appareret, legati a Saguntinis Romam missi auxilium ad bellum iam haud dubie imminens orantes. §21.6.3consules tunc Romae erant P. Cornelius Scipio et Ti. Sempronius Longus.
There was not yet war with the Saguntines, but already the seeds of dispute, as a cause for war, were being sown with their neighbors, especially the Turdetani. Since the very same man who was the sower of the dispute was backing them, and it was clear that not a legal contest but violence was being sought, ambassadors were sent from the Saguntines to Rome, begging for aid against a war that was now undoubtedly imminent. The consuls at Rome then were Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius Longus.
qui cum legatis in senatum introductis de re publica rettulissent, placuissetque mitti legatos in Hispaniam ad res sociorum inspiciendas, §21.6.4quibus si videretur digna causa, et Hannibali denuntiarent, ut ab Saguntinis, sociis populi Romani, abstineret, et Carthaginem in Africam traicerent ac sociorum populi Romani querimonias deferrent, §21.6.5- hac legatione decreta necdum missa, omnium spe celerius Saguntum oppugnari allatum est.
When they, having introduced the ambassadors into the senate, had laid the state of affairs before it, and it had been decided that ambassadors should be sent to Spain to inspect the affairs of the allies, so that, if the cause seemed worthy to them, they might both warn Hannibal to abstain from the Saguntines, the allies of the Roman people, and cross over to Carthage in Africa to deliver the complaints of the allies of the Roman people. This embassy having been decreed but not yet sent, word was brought, quicker than anyone's expectation, that Saguntum was being besieged.
tunc relata de integro res ad senatum; §21.6.6et alii provincias consulibus Hispaniam atque Africam decernentes terra marique rem gerendam censebant, alii totum in Hispaniam Hannibalemque intendebant bellum; §21.6.7erant, qui non temere movendam rem tantam expectandosque ex Hispania legatos censerent. §21.6.8haec sententia, quae i tutissima videbatur, vicit, legatique eo maturius missi P. Valerius Flaccus et Q. Baebius Tamphilus Saguntum ad Hannibalem atque inde Carthaginem, si non absisteretur bello, ad ducem ipsum in poenam foederis rupti deposcendum.
Then the matter was referred anew to the senate. And some, decreeing Spain and Africa as provinces for the consuls, voted that the war should be waged by land and sea, while others were for directing the whole war against Spain and Hannibal; there were those who thought that so great a matter should not be rashly moved, and that the ambassadors from Spain should be awaited. This opinion, which seemed the safest, prevailed, and the ambassadors, Publius Valerius Flaccus and Quintus Baebius Tamphilus, were dispatched all the sooner to Hannibal at Saguntum, and from there to Carthage, if he did not desist from war, to demand the general himself in punishment for the broken treaty.

Notes

  1. §21.6.2quibus cum adesset idem — quibus is a relative pronoun used at the beginning of a clause (connecting relative) referring back to Turdetanis in the preceding sentence. The verb adesset is used in the sense of "to support" or "to side with," and the subject is idem, qui litis erat sator (the very same man who was the sower of the dispute, i.e., Hannibal).
  2. §21.6.4quibus si videretur digna causa — quibus is the dative of the relative pronoun referring to legatos (ambassadors) in the preceding sentence, integrated into the conditional clause si videretur. It functions as a dative of judge or reference ("if the cause should seem worthy to them").
  3. §21.6.7expectandosque ex Hispania legatos — This is an accusative with infinitive construction using the gerundive expectandos, with the verb esse omitted, acting as the object of censerent. It expresses necessity or obligation ("that the ambassadors from Spain ought to be awaited").
  4. §21.6.8in poenam foederis rupti — The perfect passive participle rupti agrees with the noun foederis, forming an "ab urbe condita" type construction where the phrase expresses the action itself ("the breaking of the treaty"). Thus, it means "in punishment for the breaking of the treaty."

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §21.6.1-21.6.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:21.6.1-21.6.8

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