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Livy · History of Rome §30.43.1-30.43.13

Ratification of the Peace and the Burning of the Fleet

Passage 1025 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Despite consul Lentulus's attempt to obstruct the peace, the plebeians and the senate grant Scipio the authority to finalize the treaty. Carthaginian envoys obtain the release of prisoners, and after their return, peace is established with the burning of the fleet and the execution of deserters.

§30.43.1inclinatis omnium ad pacem animis Cn. Lentulus consul, cui classis provincia erat, senatus consulto intercessit.
When the minds of all were inclined toward peace, Gnaeus Lentulus the consul, whose province was the fleet, interceded against the decree of the senate.
§30.43.2tum M’. Acilius et Q. Minucius tribuni plebis ad populum tulerunt, vellent iuberentne senatum decernere, ut cum Carthaginiensibus pax fieret; et quem eam pacem dare, quemque ex Africa exercitum deportare iuberent.
Then Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the plebs, proposed to the people whether they wished and ordered the senate to decree that peace should be made with the Carthaginians; and whom they ordered to grant that peace, and whom to bring back the army from Africa.
§30.43.3de pace “uti rogas” omnes tribus iusserunt; pacem dare P. Scipionem, eundem exercitum deportare.
Concerning the peace, all the tribes ordered "as you propose"; that Publius Scipio should grant the peace, and that the same man should bring back the army.
§30.43.4ex hac rogatione senatus decrevit, ut P. Scipio ex decem legatorum sententia pacem cum populo Carthaginiensi, quibus legibus ei videretur, faceret.
Based on this proposal, the senate decreed that Publius Scipio, in accordance with the opinion of the ten envoys, should make peace with the Carthaginian people under whatever terms seemed good to him.
§30.43.5gratias deinde patribus egere Carthaginienses et petierunt, ut sibi in urbem introire et colloqui cum civibus suis liceret, qui capti in publica custodia essent; §30.43.6esse in iis partim propinquos amicosque suos, nobiles homines, partim ad quos mandata a propinquis haberent.
Then the Carthaginians thanked the fathers and requested that they be allowed to enter the city and speak with their fellow citizens who were held captive under public guard; for among them were partly their own relatives and friends, noble men, and partly those to whom they had messages from their relatives.
§30.43.7quibus conventis cum rursus peterent, ut sibi quos vellent ex iis redimendi potestas fieret, iussi nomina edere; et cum ducentos ferme ederent, §30.43.8senatus consultum factum est, ut legati Romani ducentos ex captivis, quos Carthaginienses vellent, ad P. Cornelium in Africam deportarent nuntiarentque ei, ut, si pax convenisset, sine pretio eos Carthaginiensibus redderet.
Having met with them, when they requested again that they be given the power of ransoming whichever of them they wished, they were ordered to give their names; and when they gave about two hundred names, a decree of the senate was made that the Roman envoys should bring the two hundred captives, whom the Carthaginians wished, to Publius Cornelius in Africa and tell him that, if peace were agreed upon, he should return them to the Carthaginians without ransom.
§30.43.9fetiales cum in Africam ad foedus feriundum ire iuberentur, ipsis postulantibus senatus consultum in haec verba factum est, ut privos lapides silices privasque verbenas secum ferrent; ut ubi praetor Romanus iis imperaret, ut foedus ferirent, illi praetorem sagmina poscerent.
When the fetials were ordered to go to Africa to strike the treaty, at their own request a decree of the senate was made in these words, that they should carry with them their own flint stones and their own sacred herbs; so that where the Roman praetor ordered them to strike the treaty, they should demand the sacred plants from the praetor.
herbae id genus ex arce sumptum fetialibus dari solet.
Herbs of this kind are customly taken from the citadel and given to the fetials.
§30.43.10ita dimissi ab Roma Carthaginienses cum in Africam venissent ad Scipionem, quibus ante dictum est legibus pacem fecerunt.
The Carthaginians, thus dismissed from Rome, when they had come to Scipio in Africa, made peace under the terms which had been stated before.
§30.43.11naves longas, elephantos, perfugas, fugitivos, captivorum quattuor milia tradiderunt, inter quos Q. Terentius Culleo senator fuit.
They delivered up the warships, elephants, deserters, runaways, and four thousand captives, among whom was the senator Quintus Terentius Culleo.
naves provectas in altum incendi iussit.
Scipio ordered the ships to be led out into the deep and burned.
§30.43.12quingentas fuisse omnis generis, quae remis agerentur, quidam tradunt; quarum conspectum repente incendium tam lugubre fuisse Poenis, quam si ipsa Carthago arderet.
Some hand down that there were five hundred of every kind which were propelled by oars; the sudden fire of which was as mournful a sight to the Carthaginians as if Carthage itself were burning.
de perfugis gravius quam de fugitivis consultum; §30.43.13nominis Latini qui erant, securi percussi, Romani in crucem sublati.
The case of the deserters was decided more severely than that of the runaways; those who were of the Latin name were beheaded, the Romans were crucified.

Notes

  1. 30.43.1senatus consulto intercessit — The verb intercedere (governing the dative) refers to the act of a magistrate, such as a consul or tribune, using his official power of intercession (veto) to block a decree of the senate. Here, Lentulus uses his consular authority to obstruct the peace process in hopes of securing Africa as his own province.
  2. 30.43.2vellent iuberentne — This is the classic formulaic expression used in proposals (rogatio) to the people, velitis iubeatisne ("whether you wish and order"), shifted to the subjunctive imperfect in an indirect question dependent on the historical main verb tulerunt.
  3. 30.43.6partim ad quos mandata a propinquis haberent — The subject of the subjunctive haberent is the Carthaginian envoys (Carthaginienses). The relative pronoun quos contains its antecedent referring to a part of the captives (partim), meaning "those to whom they (the envoys) had messages from their relatives."
  4. 30.43.9praetorem sagmina poscerent — A double accusative construction with the verb poscere (to demand), which takes both a person in the accusative (praetorem) and a thing in the accusative (sagmina), meaning "they should demand the sacred herbs from the praetor."

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §30.43.1-30.43.13. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:30.43.1-30.43.13

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