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Livy · History of Rome §23.21.1-23.21.7

Provincial Demands for Supplies and Creation of the Mensarii

Passage 677 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The propraetors of Sicily and Sardinia request pay and provisions for their troops, but the Roman Senate, lacking funds, orders them to secure resources on their own. While Sicily is aided by King Hiero and Sardinia by its allied cities, Rome appoints financial commissioners (triumviri mensarii) to address its silver shortage.

§23.21.1per idem fere tempus litterae ex Sicilia Sardiniaque Romam allatae.
At about the same time, letters from Sicily and Sardinia were brought to Rome.
§23.21.2priores ex Sicilia T. Otacilii propraetoris in senatu recitatae sunt: P. Furium praetorem cum classe ex Africa Lilybaeum venisse; ipsum graviter saucium in discrimine ultimo vitae esse; militi ac navalibus sociis neque stipendium neque frumentum ad diem dari neque, unde detur, esse; magnopere suadere, §23.21.3ut quam primum ea mittantur, sibique, si ita videatur, ex novis praetoribus successorem mittant.
The former, from Sicily, from the propraetor T. Otacilius, was read in the senate: that the praetor P. Furius had come with a fleet from Africa to Lilybaeum; that he himself, severely wounded, was in the ultimate danger of his life; that neither pay nor corn was being given on the due day to the soldiers and naval allies, nor was there any source from which it might be given; and that he strongly urged, that these should be sent as soon as possible, and that they should send him, if it seemed good, a successor from the new praetors.
§23.21.4eademque ferme de stipendio frumentoque ab A. Cornelio Mammula propraetore ex Sardinia scripta.
Almost the same things concerning pay and corn were written from Sardinia by the propraetor A. Cornelius Mammula.
responsum utrique, non esse, unde mitteretur, iussique ipsi classibus atque exercitibus suis consulere.
It was answered to both that there was no source from which it could be sent, and they themselves were ordered to consult for their own fleets and armies.
§23.21.5T. Otacilius ad unicum subsidium populi Romani, Hieronem, legatos cum misisset, in stipendium quanti argenti opus fuit et sex mensum frumentum accepit; §23.21.6Cornelio in Sardinia civitates sociae benigne contulerunt.
When T. Otacilius had sent ambassadors to Hiero, the sole resource of the Roman people, he received as much money as was needed for pay, and corn for six months; in Sardinia, the allied states contributed generously to Cornelius.
et Romae quoque propter penuriam argenti triumviri mensarii rogatione M. Minuci tribuni plebis facti, L. Aemilius Papus, qui consul censorque fuerat, et M. Atilius Regulus, qui bis consul fuerat, et L. Scribonius Libo, qui tum tribunus plebis erat.
And at Rome also, on account of the scarcity of money, triumviri mensarii were appointed on the proposal of M. Minucius, tribune of the plebs: L. Aemilius Papus, who had been consul and censor, M. Atilius Regulus, who had been twice consul, and L. Scribonius Libo, who was then tribune of the plebs.
§23.21.7et duumviri creati M. et C. Atilii aedem Concordiae, quam L. Manlius praetor voverat, dedicaverunt;
And duumviri were elected, M. and C. Atilii, who dedicated the temple of Concord, which the praetor L.
et tres pontifices creati, Q. Caecilius Metellus et Q. Fabius Maximus et Q. Fulvius Flaccus, in locum P. Scantini demortui et L. Aemili Pauli consulis et Q. Aeli Paeti, qui ceciderant pugna Cannensi.
Manlius had vowed; and three pontiffs were elected, Q. Caecilius Metellus, Q. Fabius Maximus, and Q. Fulvius Flaccus, in the place of P. Scantinius, deceased, and of the consul L. Aemilius Paullus and Q. Aelius Paetus, who had fallen in the battle of Cannae.

Notes

  1. 23.21.2neque, unde detur, esse — `unde detur` is a clause with the subjunctive present passive introduced by the relative adverb `unde` ('from which it might be given'), and `esse` is used in the accusative-with-infinitive construction (indirect speech) to mean 'there is not [a source]'.
  2. 23.21.2magnopere suadere — `suadere` is either a historical infinitive functioning as a main verb, or an infinitive in indirect speech with Otacilius as the subject, governing the following `ut` clause.
  3. 23.21.4classibus atque exercitibus suis consulere — The verb `consulere` with the dative case (`classibus atque exercitibus suis`) means 'to look after' or 'to provide for the interests of' someone or something.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §23.21.1-23.21.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:23.21.1-23.21.7

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