Humanitext Reader

Livy · History of Rome §32.40.1-32.40.11

Dispute over Argos and Plundering by Nabis

Passage 1118 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The dispute between King Attalus and Nabis over Argos ended without agreement, though Nabis provided Cretan troops to the Romans and made a truce with the Achaeans. While Quinctius attempted to win over Philocles at Corinth and Attalus bestowed gifts on Sicyon, Nabis and his wife carried out ruthless plundering of the citizens in Argos.

§32.40.1de Argis quoque disceptatio ab Attalo rege est mota, cum fraude Philoclis proditam urbem vi ab eo teneri argueret, ille ab ipsis Argivis se defenderet accitum.
A dispute concerning Argos was also raised by King Attalus, since he argued that the city, betrayed by the treachery of Philocles, was held by Nabis by force, while Nabis defended himself by saying that he had been invited by the Argives themselves.
§32.40.2contionem rex Argivorum postulabat, ut id sciri posset; nec tyrannus abnuere; sed deductis ex urbe praesidiis liberam contionem non immixtis Lacedaemoniis declaraturam, quid Argivi vellent, praeberi debere dicebat rex; tyrannus negavit deducturum.
The king demanded an assembly of the Argives so that this might be known; nor did the tyrant refuse; but the king said that a free assembly, with the garrisons withdrawn from the city and without the interference of the Lacedaemonians, ought to be provided to declare what the Argives wanted; the tyrant denied that he would withdraw them.
§32.40.3haec disceptatio sine exitu fuit.
This dispute was without result.
§32.40.4de colloquio discessum sescentis Cretensibus ab tyranno datis Romano indutiisque inter Nicostratum, praetorem Achaeorum, et Lacedaemoniorum tyrannum in quattuor menses factis.
The conference broke up with six hundred Cretans being given by the tyrant to the Roman, and a truce of four months being made between Nicostratus, the praetor of the Achaeans, and the tyrant of the Lacedaemonians.
§32.40.5inde Quinctius Corinthum est profectus et ad portam cum Cretensium cohorte accessit, ut Philocli praefecto urbis appareret tyrannum a Philippo descisse.
From there Quinctius set out for Corinth and approached the gate with the cohort of Cretans, so that it might appear to Philocles, the prefect of the city, that the tyrant had revolted from Philip.
§32.40.6Philocles et ipse ad imperatorem Romanum in colloquium venit hortantique, ut extemplo transiret urbemque traderet, ita respondit, ut distulisse rem magis quam negasse videretur.
Philocles himself also came to the Roman general for a conference, and to him, urging that he should immediately desert and surrender the city, he replied in such a way that he seemed to have postponed the matter rather than to have refused it.
§32.40.7a Corintho Quinctius Anticyram traiecit; inde fratrem ad temptandam Acarnanum gentem misit.
From Corinth Quinctius crossed to Anticyra; from there he sent his brother to sound out the nation of the Acarnanians.
§32.40.8Attalus ab Argis Sicyonem est profectus.
Attalus set out from Argos for Sicyon.
ibi et civitas novis honoribus veteres regis honores auxit, et rex ad id, quod sacrum Apollinis agrum grandi quondam pecunia redemerat iis, §32.40.9tum quoque, ne sine aliqua munificentia praeteriret civitatem sociam atque amicam, decem talenta argenti dono dedit et decem milia medimnum frumenti; atque ita Cenchreas ad naves redit.
There, both the state increased the old honors of the king with new honors, and the king, in addition to the fact that he had once ransomed the sacred land of Apollo for them with a large sum of money, then too, so that he might not pass by the allied and friendly state without some munificence, gave ten talents of silver as a gift and ten thousand medimni of grain; and thus he returned to his ships at Cenchreae.
§32.40.10et Nabis firmato praesidio Argis Lacedaemonem regressus, cum ipse viros spoliasset, ad feminas spoliandas uxorem Argos remisit.
And Nabis, having strengthened the garrison at Argos and returned to Lacedaemon, since he himself had plundered the men, sent his wife back to Argos to plunder the women.
§32.40.11ea nunc singulas illustres, nunc simul plures genere inter se iunctas accersendo blandiendoque ac minando non aurum modo iis, sed postremo vestem quoque mundumque omnem muliebrem ademit.
She, by summoning now single illustrious women, now several joined to one another by birth at the same time, and by coaxing and threatening, took away from them not only their gold, but finally also their clothing and all female finery.

Notes

  1. 32.40.1ille ab ipsis Argivis se defenderet accitum — An accusative with infinitive construction `se ... accitum [esse]` (with `esse` omitted) dependent on `defenderet` ('he argued in defense'). The pronoun `ille` refers to the tyrant Nabis.
  2. 32.40.2nec tyrannus abnuere — Historical infinitive, equivalent to the third-person singular imperfect `abnuebat`, with `tyrannus` as its subject.
  3. 32.40.2tyrannus negavit deducturum — Active future infinitive (`deducturum [esse]` with `esse` omitted). The subject accusative `se` (referring to the tyrant himself) is also omitted.
  4. 32.40.4de colloquio discessum — Impersonal passive of the intransitive verb `discedo` (`discessum [est]` with `est` omitted), meaning 'the conference broke up' or 'people departed from the meeting.'
  5. 32.40.6hortantique, ut extemplo transiret urbemque traderet, ita respondit — Dative singular of the present participle `hortans` (`hortanti`), acting as the indirect object of the main verb `respondit` ('replied to him who was urging'). The `ut` clause represents the content of the urging.
  6. 32.40.8ad id, quod sacrum Apollinis agrum grandi quondam pecunia redemerat iis — A prepositional phrase `ad id` followed by an appositive `quod` clause, meaning 'in addition to the fact that...' or 'besides the fact that...'.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §32.40.1-32.40.11. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:32.40.1-32.40.11

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.