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Livy · History of Rome §32.31.1-32.31.6

Minucius' Campaign in Northern Italy and the Thanksgiving

Passage 1109 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The consul Minucius shifts to a campaign of plunder upon the dispersal of the Boii, and also forces the Ligurian Ilvates to surrender. In Rome, a four-day thanksgiving is decreed upon receiving news of both consuls' victories.

§32.31.1Minucius consul primo effusis populationibus peragraverat finis Boiorum, deinde, ut relictis Insubribus ad sua tuenda receperant sese, castris se tenuit acie dimicandum cum hoste ratus.
The consul Minucius had at first traversed the territory of the Boii with widespread devastations; then, when they had left the Insubres and retreated to defend their own possessions, he kept himself in camp, thinking that he must fight a decisive battle with the enemy.
§32.31.2nec Boi detrectassent pugnam, ni fama Insubres victos adlata animos fregisset.
Nor would the Boii have declined battle, had not the news of the defeat of the Insubres broken their spirit.
itaque relicto duce castrisque dissipati per vicos, sua quisque ut defenderent, rationem gerendi belli hosti mutarunt.
Therefore, abandoning their leader and camp, they dispersed through the villages to defend each his own property, and thus they changed the method of waging war for the enemy.
§32.31.3omissa enim spe per unam dimicationem rei decernendae rursus populari agros et urere tecta vicosque expugnare coepit.
For, having lost the hope of deciding the issue by a single battle, he began again to lay waste the fields, burn the houses, and storm the villages.
§32.31.4per eosdem dies Clastidium incensum.
During those same days, Clastidium was burned.
inde in Ligustinos Ilvates, qui soli non parebant, legiones ductae.
From there, the legions were marched against the Ligurian Ilvates, who alone did not submit.
§32.31.5ea quoque gens, ut Insubres acie victos, Boios ita, ut temptare spem certaminis non auderent, territos audivit, in dicionem venit.
This nation also, when they heard that the Insubres had been defeated in battle, and that the Boii were so terrified that they did not dare to risk the fortune of a conflict, surrendered.
§32.31.6litterae consulum amborum de rebus in Gallia prospere gestis sub idem tempus Romam adlatae M. Sergius praetor urbanus in senatu eas, deinde ex auctoritate patrum ad populum recitavit.
Letters from both consuls concerning the successful operations in Gaul were brought to Rome about the same time; Marcus Sergius, the praetor of the city, read them in the senate, and then, by the authority of the senators, to the people.
supplicatio in quadriduum decreta.
A thanksgiving of four days was decreed.

Notes

  1. §32.31.1dimicandum — An impersonal gerundive (dimicandum esse) in the accusative with infinitive construction, serving as the object of the participle ratus (from reor, 'thinking'). Governed by ratus, which agrees with the subject Minucius consul, it denotes necessity: 'thinking that he must fight'.
  2. §32.31.2hosti mutarunt — The word hosti is a dative of disadvantage or reference ('for the enemy'). It indicates that by dispersing, the Boii forced a change in the method of waging war upon their enemy (the Roman consul Minucius), who could no longer seek a single decisive battle.
  3. §32.31.3coepit — The subject of this verb is the consul Minucius, not the Boii mentioned in the previous sentence. It is Minucius who, having lost the hope of deciding the issue in a single battle, turned back to a strategy of ravaging and storming.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §32.31.1-32.31.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:32.31.1-32.31.6

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