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Livy · History of Rome §24.2.1-24.2.11

Bruttian Attack on Croton and Fall of the City

Passage 707 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

After the withdrawal of the Carthaginians, the disgruntled Bruttians independently march to attack Croton. Inside Croton, a factional conflict between the commons and the nobles allows the Bruttians, guided by the popular leader Aristomachus, to capture the entire city except for the citadel.

§24.2.1sic a freto Poeni reducti frementibus Bruttiis, quod Regium ac Locros, quas urbes direpturos se destinaverant, intactas reliquissent.
In this way, the Carthaginians withdrew from the strait while the Bruttians grumbled because they had left Regium and Locri, the cities they had intended to plunder, untouched.
§24.2.2itaque per se ipsi conscriptis armatisque iuventutis suae quindecim milibus ad Crotonem oppugnandum pergunt ire, §24.2.3Graecam et ipsam urbem et maritimam, plurimum accessurum opibus, si in ora maris urbem ac portum moenibus validam tenuissent, credentes.
Therefore, by themselves, having enrolled and armed fifteen thousand of their own young men, they proceeded to go to attack Croton, believing that, as this was also a Greek and maritime city, it would add greatly to their power if they should hold a city and harbor strong in walls on the seacoast.
§24.2.4ea cura angebat, quod neque non accersere ad auxilium Poenos satis audebant, ne quid non pro sociis egisse viderentur, et, si Poenus rursus magis arbiter pacis quam adiutor belli fuisset, ne in libertatem Crotonis, sicut ante Locrorum, frustra pugnaretur.
They were anxious with this concern: that they did not quite dare not to summon the Carthaginians to their aid, lest they should seem to have done nothing on behalf of their allies; and yet, if the Carthaginian should again be more an arbiter of peace than a helper in war, they feared lest they should fight in vain for the freedom of Croton, just as previously for that of Locri.
§24.2.5itaque optimum visum est ad Hannibalem mitti legatos caverique ab eo, ut receptus Croto Bruttiorum esset.
Therefore, it seemed best that ambassadors be sent to Hannibal and a guarantee be obtained from him that, when taken, Croton should belong to the Bruttians.
§24.2.6Hannibal cum praesentium eam consultationem esse respondisset et ad Hannonem eos reiecisset, ab Hannone nihil certi ablatum.
Although Hannibal replied that this consultation belonged to those on the spot and referred them to Hanno, nothing certain was obtained from Hanno.
§24.2.7nec enim diripi volebat nobilem atque opulentam urbem et sperabat, cum Bruttius oppugnaret, Poenos nec probare nec iuvare eam oppugnationem appareret, eo maturius ad se defecturos.
For he did not wish a noble and wealthy city to be plundered, and he hoped that, while the Bruttians were attacking it and it was clear that the Carthaginians neither approved of nor helped that siege, the citizens would defect to him all the more quickly.
§24.2.8Crotone nec consilium unum inter populares nec voluntas erat: unus velut morbus invaserat omnes Italiae civitates, ut plebes ab optimatibus dissentirent, senatus Romanis faveret, plebs ad Poenos rem traheret.
In Croton, there was neither one counsel nor one will among the citizens; a single disease, as it were, had invaded all the states of Italy, namely, that the commons disagreed with the nobles, the senate favored the Romans, and the commons tried to draw affairs to the Carthaginians.
§24.2.9eam dissensionem in urbe perfuga nuntiat Bruttiis: Aristomachum esse principem plebis tradendaeque auctorem urbis, et in vasta urbe lateque moenibus disiectis raras stationes custodiasque senatorum esse; quacumque custodiant plebis homines, ea patere aditum.
A deserter reported this dissension in the city to the Bruttians: that Aristomachus was the leader of the commons and the promoter of surrendering the city, and that in a vast city with widely scattered walls, the stations and guards of the senators were sparse; wherever the men of the commons kept watch, an entrance lay open.
§24.2.10auctore ac duce perfuga Bruttii corona cinxerunt urbem acceptique ab plebe primo impetu omnem praeter arcem cepere.
With the deserter as their adviser and guide, the Bruttians surrounded the city and, being received by the commons, captured everything except the citadel at the first assault.
§24.2.11arcem optimates tenebant praeparato iam ante ad talem casum perfugio.
The nobles held the citadel, a refuge already prepared beforehand for such an emergency.
eodem Aristomachus perfugit, tamquam Poenis, non Bruttiis auctor urbis tradendae fuisset.
Aristomachus fled to the same place, as if he had been the promoter of surrendering the city to the Carthaginians, not to the Bruttians.

Notes

  1. §24.2.1frementibus Bruttiis, quod ... reliquissent — frementibus Bruttiis is an ablative absolute using the present participle, expressing the cause or attendant circumstance of the main verb reducti [sunt]. The subsequent quod clause with the subjunctive reliquissent represents the subjective reason for the Bruttians' grumbling, using the subjunctive to reflect their internal thoughts.
  2. §24.2.4neque non accersere — neque non forms a double negation, expressing a strong positive statement ('could not but summon' or 'dared not fail to summon'). The infinitive accersere serves as the complementary infinitive to the verb audebant.
  3. §24.2.4ne in libertatem ... frustra pugnaretur — pugnaretur is an impersonal passive representing the concern 'lest it should be fought (by them) in vain.' It is part of the ne-clause defining the noun cura (anxiety). The preposition in with libertatem indicates purpose ('for/towards freedom').
  4. §24.2.7eo maturius ad se defecturos — defecturos [esse] is a future active infinitive in an accusative and infinitive construction (indirect discourse) governed by sperabat. The subject accusative, representing 'the citizens of Croton' (Crotonienses), is omitted as understood from the context. eo is an ablative of degree of difference modifying the comparative maturius, meaning 'by so much the more (quickly).'
  5. §24.2.11tamquam Poenis, non Bruttiis auctor urbis tradendae fuisset — tamquam ('as if') introduces a conditional comparison of unreality and takes the subjunctive (here, the pluperfect fuisset). It expresses Aristomachus's subjective pretext or assumption that he had promoted the surrender of the city to the Carthaginians (who would not plunder it) rather than to the Bruttians, despite the actual outcome.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §24.2.1-24.2.11. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:24.2.1-24.2.11

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