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Livy · History of Rome §23.25.1-23.25.11

Gracchus Encourages the Senate to Focus on Carthage

Passage 681 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

As Rome is thrown into panic by the disaster in Gaul, the consul Gracchus encourages the senate. After reviewing the available forces, it is decided to postpone the Gallic war and concentrate on the conflict with Carthage, and various arrangements are made for army commands and the election of a substitute consul.

§23.25.1hac nuntiata clade cum per dies multos in tanto pavore fuisset civitas, ut tabernis clausis velut nocturna solitudine per urbem facta senatus aedilibus negotium daret, §23.25.2ut urbem circumirent aperirique tabernas et maestitiae publicae speciem urbi demi iuberent, tum Ti.
When this disaster was reported, the state was in such great fear for many days that, shops being closed and a silence as if of night being made throughout the city, the senate gave a task to the aediles to go around the city, to order the shops to be opened, and to remove the appearance of public grief from the city; then Ti.
Sempronius senatum habuit consolatusque patres est et adhortatus, §23.25.3ne, qui Cannensi ruinae non succubuissent, ad minores calamitates animos summitterent.
Sempronius held the senate, and consoled and encouraged the senators, that those who had not succumbed to the ruin of Cannae should not cast down their spirits at lesser calamities.
quod ad Carthaginienses hostes Hannibalemque attineret, §23.25.4prospera modo essent, sicut speraret futura; Gallicum bellum et omitti tuto et differri posse, ultionemque eam fraudis in deorum ac populi Romani potestate fore.
As far as it concerned the Carthaginian enemy and Hannibal, provided only things should be prosperous, as he hoped they would be; the Gallic war could be both safely neglected and deferred, and the vengeance for that treachery would be in the power of the gods and the Roman people.
de hoste Poeno exercitibusque, per quos id bellum gereretur, consultandum atque agitandum.
They must consult and deliberate about the Carthaginian enemy and the armies through which that war was to be waged.
§23.25.5ipse primum, quid peditum equitumque, quid civium, quid sociorum in exercitu esset dictatoris, disseruit; tum Marcellus suarum copiarum summam exposuit; §23.25.6quid in Apulia cum C. Terentio consule esset, a peritis quaesitum est.
He himself first discussed what infantry and cavalry, what citizens and allies were in the army of the dictator; then Marcellus set forth the sum of his own forces; what was in Apulia with the consul C. Terentius was inquired of those who knew.
nee, unde duo consulares exercitus satis firmi ad tantum bellum efficerentur, inibatur ratio.
Nor was any plan found from where two consular armies sufficiently strong for so great a war could be made.
itaque Galliam, quamquam stimulabat iusta ira, omitti eo anno placuit.
Therefore, although just anger stimulated them, it was decided that Gaul should be neglected for that year.
§23.25.7exercitus dictatoris consuli decretus est.
The army of the dictator was decreed to the consul.
de exercitu M. Marcelli, qui eorum ex fuga Cannensi essent, in Siciliam eos traduci atque ibi militare, donecin Italia bellum esset, placuit; §23.25.8eodem ex dictatoris legionibus reici militem minimi quemque roboris, nullo praestituto militiae tempore, nisi quod stipendiorum legitimorum esset.
Concerning the army of M. Marcellus, it was decided that those of them who were from the flight of Cannae should be transferred to Sicily and serve there as long as there was war in Italy; to the same place, each of the soldiers of least strength from the dictator's legions should be rejected, with no time of service being predetermined except what was of legitimate campaigns.
§23.25.9duae legiones urbanae alteri consuli, qui in locum L. Postumi suffectus esset, decretae sunt, eumque, cum primum salvis auspiciis posset, creari placuit; §23.25.10legiones praeterea duas primo quoque tempore ex Sicilia acciri, atque inde consulem, cui legiones urbanae evenissent, militum sumere quantum opus esset;
Two city legions were decreed to the other consul who should be substituted in the place of L. Postumius, and it was decided that he should be elected as soon as possible, provided the auspices were favorable; furthermore, that two legions should be summoned from Sicily at the earliest opportunity, and from there the consul to whom the city legions had fallen should take as many soldiers as was necessary; that the command of C.
§23.25.11C. Terentio consul prorogari in annum imperium, neque de eo exercitu, quem ad praesidium Apuliae haberet, quicquam minui.
Terentius as consul should be prorogued for a year, and nothing should be diminished from that army which he had for the defense of Apulia.

Notes

  1. 23.25.1tabernis clausis velut nocturna solitudine per urbem facta — These are two coordinated ablative absolute constructions, functioning together as circumstantial clauses within the consecutive clause `ut... daret`. `tabernis clausis` (with shops closed) and `nocturna solitudine... facta` (a silence as if of night being made) are layered asyndetically to vividly describe the state of panic and mourning in the city upon hearing the news of the disaster.
  2. 23.25.4prospera modo essent — A subjunctive of proviso or conditional wish introduced by `modo` (here in the imperfect subjunctive `essent` due to the historic sequence of tenses set by `habuit... consolatus est`), meaning 'provided only that things should be prosperous' (or 'if only the gods are favorable'). It forms part of the indirect speech (oratio obliqua) reporting Gracchus's address.
  3. 23.25.8minimi quemque roboris — A Latin idiom where `quisque` (here in the accusative singular `quemque`) is combined with a superlative (here the genitive of quality `minimi roboris`, modifying the superlative adjective `minimi`) to express a collective sense of 'all those of the very least strength'. The entire phrase functions as the subject accusative of the passive infinitive `reici` (to be rejected/sent back).

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §23.25.1-23.25.11. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:23.25.1-23.25.11

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