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Livy · History of Rome §31.30.1-31.30.11

Athenian Envoys Denounce Philip's Sacrilege

Passage 1057 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The Athenian envoys are introduced to the council and vehemently denounce Philip's sacrilegious destruction of temples and tombs in Attica. They implore the Aetolians to join the war against Macedonia, with the gods and the Romans as their guides.

§31.30.1secundum Macedonas ipsis Romanis ita concedentibus iubentibusque Athenienses, qui foeda passi iustius in crudelitatem saevitiamque regis invehi poterant, introducti sunt.
After the Macedonians, with the Romans themselves thus consenting and ordering, the Athenians were introduced; having suffered shameful treatment, they had a more just right to inveigh against the cruelty and savagery of the king.
§31.30.2deploraverunt vastationem populationemque miserabilem agrorum: neque id se queri, quod hostilia ab hoste passi forent; esse enim quaedam belli iura, quae ut facere, ita pati sit fas:
They deplored the wretched devastation and plundering of their fields: and they said they did not complain of having suffered hostile treatment from an enemy; for there are certain laws of war, which it is lawful both to inflict and to suffer.
§31.30.3sata exuri, dirui tecta, praedas hominum pecorumque agi misera magis quam indigna patienti esse; §31.30.4verum enim vero id se queri, quod is, qui Romanos alienigenas et barbaros vocet, adeo omnia simul divina humanaque iura polluerit, ut priore populatione cum infernis deis, secunda cum superis bellum nefarium gesserit.
That crops should be burned, houses demolished, and spoils of men and cattle driven off, was a thing rather wretched than unjust to the sufferer; but what they did indeed complain of was that he, who called the Romans foreigners and barbarians, had so polluted all divine and human laws together, that in his first devastation he waged an impious war against the gods below, and in his second against the gods above.
§31.30.5omnia sepulcra monumentaque diruta esse in finibus suis, omnium nudatos manes, nullius ossa terra tegi.
That all the tombs and monuments in their territories were destroyed, the spirits of all laid bare, and the bones of no one covered with earth.
§31.30.6delubra sibi fuisse, quae quondam pagatim habitantes in parvis illis castellis vicisque consecrata ne in unam urbem quidem contributi maiores sui deserta reliquerint.
That they once had shrines, which their ancestors, living formerly in districts in those small forts and villages, had consecrated, and had not left deserted even when they were consolidated into a single city.
§31.30.7circa ea omnia templa Philippum infestos circumtulisse ignes; semusta, truncata simulacra deum inter prostratos iacere postes templorum.
That around all these temples Philip had carried hostile flames; that half-burned and mutilated statues of the gods lay among the prostrate portals of the temples.
§31.30.8qualem terram Atticam fecerit, exornatam quondam opulentamque, talem eum, si liceat, Aetoliam Graeciamque omnem facturum.
In what condition he had made the Attic land, once adorned and opulent, in such a condition would he, if allowed, make Aetolia and all Greece.
§31.30.9urbis quoque suae similem deformitatem futuram fuisse, nisi Romani subvenissent. eodem enim scelere urbem colentis deos praesidemque arcis Minervam petitam, eodem Eleusine Cereris templum, eodem Piraei Iovem Minervamque; §31.30.10sed ab eorum non templis modo sed etiam moenibus vi atque armis repulsum in ea delubra, quae sola religione tuta fuerint, saevisse.
That a similar deformity would have befallen their city also, had not the Romans come to their aid; for with the same wickedness, the gods who inhabit the city and Minerva, the protector of the citadel, had been attacked, as had the temple of Ceres at Eleusis, and Jupiter and Minerva at the Piraeus; but repulsed by force and arms not only from their temples but even from their walls, he had vented his fury upon those shrines which had been safe by religion alone.
§31.30.11itaque se orare atque obsecrare Aetolos, ut miseriti Atheniensium ducibus diis immortalibus, deinde Romanis, qui secundum deos plurimum possent, bellum susciperent.
Therefore, they begged and implored the Aetolians that, pitying the Athenians, with the immortal gods as guides, and next the Romans, who after the gods had the greatest power, they would undertake the war.

Notes

  1. 31.30.3patienti — Dative singular of the present participle patiens (one who suffers), used substantively to mean 'to the sufferer' or 'to the person enduring it'. It functions as a dative of reference, modifying misera magis quam indigna.
  2. 31.30.6quae ... maiores sui deserta reliquerint — A sentence with a complex structure. The relative pronoun quae (neuter accusative plural, referring back to delubra) is the direct object of reliquerint, and is modified by the perfect participle consecrata. The subject of the clause is maiores sui (their ancestors), which is modified by two participial phrases: pagatim habitantes (living formerly in districts) and ne in unam urbem quidem contributi (even when consolidated into a single city). deserta is a predicate adjective modifying quae.
  3. 31.30.9urbis quoque suae similem deformitatem futuram fuisse, nisi Romani subvenissent — A past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence in indirect discourse (oratio obliqua). In direct discourse, it would be deformitas futura fuit [or esset], nisi Romani subvenissent. In the accusative-and-infinitive (A.C.I.) construction, the verb of the apodosis takes the form of futuram fuisse (future participle in the accusative + fuisse), while the pluperfect subjunctive in the protasis (subvenissent) is retained.
  4. 31.30.11ducibus diis immortalibus, deinde Romanis — An ablative absolute construction (or apposition of nouns) characteristic of Latin, which lacks a present participle for 'to be'. The nouns diis immortalibus and Romanis are placed in apposition with the plural ablative noun ducibus (guides, leaders), meaning 'with the immortal gods, and next the Romans, as guides'.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §31.30.1-31.30.11. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:31.30.1-31.30.11

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