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Livy · History of Rome §33.2.1-33.2.9

Collapse of King Attalus and Alliance with Boeotia

Passage 1120 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

King Attalus collapses while speaking at the council and is left in Thebes for treatment. The Boeotians approve an alliance with the Romans, and Quinctius returns to Elatia, having secured his rear.

§33.2.1in concilio Attalus primus verba fecit.
In the council, Attalus was the first to speak.
orsus a maiorum suorum suisque et communibus in omnem Graeciam et propriis in Boeotorum gentem meritis, §33.2.2senior iam et infirmior, quam ut contentionem dicendi sustineret, obmutuit et concidit; §33.2.3et dum regem auferunt perferuntque parte membrorum captum, paulisper contio intermissa est.
He began with the services, both common to all Greece and peculiar to the nation of the Boeotians, of his ancestors and of himself, but being now too old and weak to sustain the strain of speaking, he fell silent and collapsed; and while they carried out and bore away the king, who was paralyzed in a part of his limbs, the assembly was interrupted for a short time.
§33.2.4Aristaenus inde, Achaeorum praetor, eo cum maiore auctoritate auditus, quod non alia, quam quae Achaeis suaserat, Boeotis suadebat.
Thereupon Aristaenus, the praetor of the Achaeans, was heard with all the greater authority, because he was advising the Boeotians to do nothing other than what he had advised the Achaeans.
§33.2.5pauca ab ipso Quinctio adiecta, fidem magis Romanam quam arma aut opes extollente verbis.
A few words were added by Quinctius himself, who in his speech extolled Roman good faith rather than arms or wealth.
§33.2.6rogatio inde a Plataeensi Dicaearcho lata recitataque de societate cum Romanis iungenda nullo contra dicere audente omnium Boeotiae civitatum suffragiis accipitur iubeturque.
Then a proposal brought forward and read by Dicaearchus of Plataea, concerning the forming of an alliance with the Romans, was accepted and decreed by the votes of all the states of Boeotia, with no one daring to speak against it.
§33.2.7concilio dimisso Quinctius, tantum Thebis moratus, §33.2.8quantum Attali repens casus coegit, postquam non vitae praesens periculum vis morbi attulisse sed membrorum debilitatem visa est, relicto eo ad curationem necessariam corporis, §33.2.9Elatiam, unde profectus erat, redit Boeotis quoque, sicut prius Achaeis, ad societatem adscitis et, quoniam tuta ea pacataque ab tergo relinquebantur, omnibus iam cogitationibus in Philippum et quod relicum belli erat conversis.
The council having been dismissed, Quinctius delayed in Thebes only so long as the sudden stroke of Attalus compelled him; after it appeared that the violence of the disease had not brought present danger to his life, but rather a paralysis of his limbs, leaving him there for the necessary care of his body, he returned to Elatia, whence he had set out, now that the Boeotians also, as previously the Achaeans, had been received into alliance, and, since those parts were left safe and pacified in his rear, all his thoughts were now turned toward Philip and what remained of the war.

Notes

  1. §33.2.1orsus — Perfect participle of the deponent verb ordior (to begin speaking). It can be taken as a participle leading to obmutuit in §33.2.2, or more naturally, as an independent clause with the ellipse of est (orsus est).
  2. §33.2.2senior iam et infirmior, quam ut — A comparative followed by quam ut and the subjunctive (sustineret), expressing a result or limitation ('too ... to ...'). Literally, 'older now and weaker than that he could sustain the strain of speaking.'
  3. §33.2.3parte membrorum captum — The perfect participle captus from capere is used in a medical or physical sense to mean 'deprived of function, paralyzed.' parte membrorum is an ablative of specification ('in a part of his limbs'), describing hemiplegia or paralysis caused by a stroke.
  4. §33.2.4eo cum maiore auctoritate auditus, quod — The ablative eo correlates with the quod clause to express degree with a comparative ('all the more... because...'). The verb auditus stands for auditus est with the ellipse of est.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §33.2.1-33.2.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:33.2.1-33.2.9

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