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Livy · History of Rome §30.2.1-30.2.13

Coastal Defense Deployments and Expiation of Portents

Passage 983 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Rome reorganized its fleet and military forces to defend Sicily, Sardinia, and the Italian coast, extended the commands in Spain, and prepared to perform expiatory rites and hold the great games in response to numerous ominous portents.

§30.2.1in Siciliam tria milia militum sunt scripta, et quia, quod roboris ea provincia habuerat, in Africam transvectum fuerat, et quia, ne qua classis ex Africa traiceret, quadraginta navibus custodiri placuerat Siciliae maritumam oram. §30.2.2tredecim novas naves Villius secum in Siciliam duxit; ceterae in Sicilia veteres refectae.
thousand soldiers were enlisted for Sicily; this was both because whatever strength that province had possessed had been transported to Africa, and because it had been resolved that the maritime coast of Sicily should be guarded by forty ships, lest any fleet should cross over from Africa. took thirteen new ships with him to Sicily; the other, old ships in Sicily were repaired.
§30.2.3huic classi M. Pomponius, prioris anni praetor, prorogato imperio praepositus novos milites ex Italia advectos in naves imposuit. §30.2.4parem navium numerum Cn.
Pomponius, praetor of the previous year, having had his command extended, was placed in charge of this fleet, and put on board the new soldiers who had been brought from Italy. senate decreed an equal number of ships for Cn.
Octavio praetori item prioris anni, cum pari iure imperii ad tuendam Sardiniae oram patres decreverunt; Lentulus praetor duo milia militum dare in naves iussus. §30.2.5et Italiae ora, quia incertum erat, quo missuri classem Carthaginienses forent — videbantur autem, quidquid nudatum praesidiis esset, petituri — M. Marcio, praetori prioris anni, cum totidem navibus tuenda data est. §30.2.6tria milia militum in eam classem ex decreto patrum consules scripserunt et duas legiones urbanas ad incerta belli. §30.2.7Hispaniae cum exercitibus imperioque veteribus imperatoribus, L. Lentulo et L. Manlio Acidino, decretae.
Octavius, likewise praetor of the previous year, with equal authority of command for guarding the coast of Sardinia; Lentulus the praetor was ordered to supply two thousand soldiers for the ships. coast of Italy also, because it was uncertain where the Carthaginians would send their fleet—and indeed they seemed likely to attack whatever place was left bare of garrisons—was given to M. Marcius, praetor of the previous year, to be guarded with the same number of ships. this fleet, the consuls enlisted three thousand soldiers according to the decree of the senate, and also two city legions for the uncertainties of war. Spains, with the existing armies and command, were decreed to the former commanders, L. Lentulus and L. Manlius Acidinus.
viginti omnino legionibus et centum sexaginta navibus longis res Romana eo anno gesta.
In all, the Roman state was conducted that year with twenty legions and one hundred and sixty warships.
praetores in provincias ire iussi. §30.2.8consulibus imperatum, ut, priusquam ab urbe proficiscerentur, ludos magnos facerent, quos T. Manlius Torquatus dictator in quintum annum vovisset, si eodem statu res publica staret. §30.2.9et novas religiones excitabant in animis hominum prodigia ex pluribus locis nuntiata.
The praetors were ordered to go to their provinces. consuls were commanded, before they departed from the city, to celebrate the great games which the dictator T. Manlius Torquatus had vowed for the fifth year, if the commonwealth should remain in the same condition. portents reported from several places were raising new religious anxieties in the minds of men.
aurum in Capitolio corvi non lacerasse tantum rostris crediti sed etiam edisse; §30.2.10mures Antii coronam auream adrosere; circa Capuam omnem agrum locustarum vis ingens, ita ut, unde advenissent, parum constaret, complevit. §30.2.11eculeus Reate cum quinque pedibus natus; Anagniae sparsi primum ignes in caelo, dein fax ingens arsit; §30.2.12Frusinone arcus solem tenui linea amplexus est, circulum deinde ipsum maior solis orbis extrinsecus inclusit; Arpini terra campestri agro in ingentem sinum consedit. §30.2.13consulum alteri primam hostiam immolanti caput iocineris defuit.
Crows were believed not only to have torn the gold on the Capitol with their beaks but even to have eaten it; Antium, mice gnawed a golden crown; around Capua, a huge swarm of locusts filled the entire territory, so that it was not clear from where they had come. Reate, a colt was born with five feet; at Anagnia, scattered fires first appeared in the sky, and then a huge torch blazed; Frusino, an arc encircled the sun with a thin line, and then a larger solar disc enclosed that very circle from the outside; at Arpinum, the land in the plain subsided into a huge hollow. one of the consuls was sacrificing the first victim, the head of the liver was missing.
ea prodigia maioribus hostiis procurata; editi a collegio pontificum dei, quibus sacrificaretur.
These portents were expiated with full-grown victims; the gods to whom sacrifice should be made were designated by the college of pontiffs.

Notes

  1. 30.2.1quod roboris — A partitive genitive dependent on the neuter relative pronoun quod. It literally means 'what of strength', referring to the elite force or main strength.
  2. 30.2.5videbantur autem ... petituri — A personal construction of the verb videor (akin to nominativus cum infinitivo) combined with the future participle petituri, meaning 'they seemed likely to attack'. It functions as a parenthetical clause.
  3. 30.2.13caput iocineris — A technical term in Roman extispicy (divination by entrails). It refers to the 'head of the liver' (a lobe or process such as the processus pyramidalis); its absence was considered an extremely unfavorable omen.
  4. 30.2.13quibus sacrificaretur — Subjunctive (imperfect passive impersonal) in a relative clause. It shows sequence of tenses after the past main verb editi [sunt] and expresses purpose or fitness ('gods to whom sacrifice should be made').

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §30.2.1-30.2.13. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:30.2.1-30.2.13

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