Humanitext Reader

Livy · History of Rome §33.4.1-33.4.6

Philip Encourages His Troops and Comparison of Forces

Passage 1122 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Philip encourages his soldiers by defending the past defeat at the Aous river, while the narrator details the military strength of both the Macedonian and Roman armies.

§33.4.1acceptae ad Aoum flumen in angustiis cladi ter a Macedonum phalange ad Atracem vi pulsos Romanos opponebat. §33.4.2et illic tamen,abi insessas fauces Epiri non tenuissent, primam culpam fuisse eorum, qui neglegenter custodias servassent, §33.4.3secundam in ipso certamine levis armaturae mercennariorumque militum; Macedonum vero phalangem et tunc stetisse et loco aequo iustaque pugna semper mansuram invictam. §33.4.4decem et sex milia militum haec fuere, robur omne virium eius regni.
To the disaster suffered in the narrows at the Aous river, he opposed the fact that the Romans had been thrice driven back by force by the Macedonian phalanx at Atrax. And yet even there, where they had not held the occupied passes of Epirus, the first blame belonged to those who had negligently kept watch, the second, in the battle itself, to the light-armed and mercenary soldiers; but the Macedonian phalanx had both stood firm then, and on equal ground and in a regular battle would always remain undefeated. These were sixteen thousand soldiers, the entire strength of the forces of that kingdom.
ad hoc duo milia caetratorum, quos peltastas appellant, Thracumque et Illyriorum — Trallis est nomen genti — par numerus, §33.4.5bina milia erant, et mixti ex pluribus gentibus mercede conducti auxiliares mille ferme et quingenti et duo milia equitum.
In addition to this, there were two thousand shield-bearers, whom they call peltasts, and an equal number of Thracians and Illyrians—Tralles is the name of the tribe— there were two thousand of each, and about one thousand five hundred mercenaries of auxiliary forces mixed from several nations, and two thousand cavalry.
cum iis copiis rex hostem opperiebatur. §33.4.6Romanis ferme par numerus erat; equitum copiis tantum, quod Aetoli accesserant, superabant.
With these forces the king awaited the enemy. The Romans had almost an equal number; only in cavalry forces did they excel, because the Aetolians had joined them.

Notes

  1. §33.4.1cladi — Dative case governed by the verb "opponebat". It is contrasted with the accusative infinitive phrase "ter ... pulsos Romanos" which serves as the direct object.
  2. §33.4.2abi — A scribal error or variant spelling for the relative adverb "ubi" (where, when).
  3. §33.4.5bina milia — The distributive numeral "bina" (two each) is used, referring back to the "equal number (par numerus) of Thracians and Illyrians" in the previous sentence, indicating that there were 2,000 Thracians and 2,000 Illyrians (4,000 in total).

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §33.4.1-33.4.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:33.4.1-33.4.6

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