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Livy · History of Rome §34.21.1-34.21.8

Capture of Bergium, Pacification of Hispania, and Thanksgiving

Passage 1188 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Consul Cato captured the fort of Bergium with the help of a local chief, executed the robbers, and established new revenues from the mines, leading to a decree of a three-day thanksgiving in Rome.

§34.21.1confestim inde victor ad Bergium castrum ducit.
From there, victorious, he immediately led his army to the fort of Bergium.
receptaculum id maxime praedonum erat, et inde incursiones in agros pacatos provinciae eius fiebant.
This was chiefly a receptacle for robbers, and from there incursions were made into the peaceful lands of that province.
§34.21.2transfugit inde ad consulem princeps Bergistanus et purgare se ac popularis coepit: non esse in manu ipsis rem publicam; praedones receptos totum suae potestatis id castrum fecisse.
From there, a chief of the Bergistani fled to the consul and began to exculpate himself and his fellow citizens: that the government was not in their own hands, and that the robbers they had admitted had made that fort entirely under their own power.
§34.21.3consul eum domum redire conficta aliqua probabili, cur afuisset causa iussit; §34.21.4cum se muros subisse cerneret intentosque praedones ad tuenda moenia esse, tum uti cum suae factionis hominibus meminisset arcem occupare.
The consul ordered him to return home, having devised some plausible reason for why he had been absent; and when he should see that he himself had approached the walls and that the robbers were intent on defending the fortifications, then he should remember to seize the citadel with the men of his faction.
§34.21.5id, uti praeceperat, factum; repente anceps terror hinc muros ascendentibus Romanis, illinc arce capta barbaros circumvasit.
This was done just as he had instructed; suddenly a double terror seized the barbarians, on one side from the Romans climbing the walls, on the other from the citadel having been captured.
huius potitus loci consul eos, qui arcem tenuerant, liberos esse cum cognatis suaque habere iussit, §34.21.6Bergistanos ceteros quaestori ut venderet imperavit, de praedonibus supplicium sumpsit.
Having gained possession of this place, the consul ordered those who had held the citadel to be free with their relatives and to keep their possessions, but ordered the rest of the Bergistani to be sold by the quaestor, and inflicted punishment on the robbers.
§34.21.7pacata provincia vectigalia magna instituit ex ferrariis argentariisque, quibus tum institutis locupletior in dies provincia fuit.
Having pacified the province, he established great revenues from the iron and silver mines, and by their establishment the province became richer day by day.
§34.21.8ob has res gestas in Hispania supplicationem in triduum patres decreverunt.
On account of these achievements in Hispania, the senators decreed a thanksgiving of three days.

Notes

  1. 34.21.2non esse in manu ipsis rem publicam — The dative ipsis functions as a dative of possession, where 'in manu ipsis' means 'in their hands' or 'in their power'. The clause is an accusative and infinitive construction dependent on the indirect discourse introduced by 'purgare... coepit'.
  2. 34.21.2totum suae potestatis id castrum fecisse — The genitive 'suae potestatis' is a genitive of possession or property, functioning as an object complement of 'fecisse' (whose subject is 'praedones receptos' and object is 'id castrum'), meaning 'had made that fort entirely under their own power'.
  3. 34.21.3conficta aliqua probabili, cur afuisset causa — An ablative absolute construction where 'aliqua probabili causa' agrees with 'conficta', though deeply separated by the hyperbaton and the insertion of the indirect question 'cur afuisset' (subjunctive pluperfect due to sequence of tenses) which modifies 'causa'.
  4. 34.21.4tum uti cum suae factionis hominibus meminisset arcem occupare — The clause 'uti... meminisset' forms an indirect command (ut-clause) dependent on 'iussit' in the preceding sentence. 'meminisset' is the pluperfect subjunctive of the defective verb 'memini' (which has only perfect-system forms), functioning as an imperfect subjunctive in meaning due to the sequence of tenses.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §34.21.1-34.21.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:34.21.1-34.21.8

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