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Livy · History of Rome §34.41.1-34.41.10

The Nemean Games at Argos and Mixed Reactions to Peace

Passage 1208 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Argos celebrates its liberation by holding the Nemean games and welcoming the Roman army. Meanwhile, the Achaeans and Aetolians express dissatisfaction with the peace terms that left Nabis in power, and an alternative account of the war ending in a pitched battle is mentioned.

§34.41.1laeta civitas celeberrimum festorum dierum ac nobile ludicrum Nemeorum, die stata propter belli mala praetermissum, in adventum Romani exercitus ducisque indixerunt praefeceruntque ludis ipsum imperatorem.
The joyful state proclaimed the most celebrated of festive days and the noble spectacle of the Nemean games, which had been omitted on the appointed day because of the evils of war, for the arrival of the Roman army and their general, and they placed the general himself in charge of the games.
§34.41.2multa erant, quae gaudium cumularent: reducti cives ab Lacedaemone erant, quos nuper Pythagoras quosque ante Nabis abduxerat; §34.41.3redierant, qui post compertam a Pythagora coniurationem et caede iam coepta effugerant; libertatem ex longo intervallo libertatisque auctores Romanos, quibus causa bellandi cum tyranno ipsi fuissent, cernebant.
There were many things which increased their joy: the citizens had been brought back from Lacedaemon, whom recently Pythagoras and whom previously Nabis had carried away; those had returned who, after the conspiracy was discovered by Pythagoras and when the slaughter had already begun, had fled; they beheld liberty after a long interval, and the authors of their liberty, the Romans, for whom they themselves had been the cause of waging war with the tyrant.
testata quoque ipso Nemeorum die voce praeconis libertas est Argivorum.
The liberty of the Argives was also proclaimed by the voice of the herald on the very day of the Nemean games.
§34.41.4Achaeis quantum restituti Argi in commune Achaiae concilium laetitiae adferebant, tantum serva Lacedaemon relicta et lateri adhaerens tyrannus non sincerum gaudium praebebant; §34.41.5Aetoli vero eam rem omnibus conciliis lacerare: cum Philippo non ante desitum bellari, quam omnibus excederet Graeciae urbibus; tyranno relictam Lacedaemonem; §34.41.6regem autem legitimum, qui in Romanis fuerit castris, ceterosque nobilissimos cives in exilio victuros; §34.41.7Nabidis dominationis satellitem factum populum Romanum.
For the Achaeans, as much joy as the restoration of Argos to the common council of Achaea brought, so much did Lacedaemon left enslaved and the tyrant clinging to their flank afford a joy that was not unalloyed; but the Aetolians indeed attacked this matter in all their councils, saying that the war with Philip had not ceased before he withdrew from all the cities of Greece, yet Lacedaemon had been left to a tyrant; and that the legitimate king, who had been in the Roman camp, and the other most noble citizens would live in exile; and that the Roman people had become the satellite of Nabis' tyranny.
Quinctius ab Argis Elatiam, unde ad bellum Spartanum profectus erat, copias reduxit.
Quinctius led his forces back from Argos to Elatia, whence he had set out for the Spartan war.
§34.41.8sunt qui non ex oppido proficiscentem bellum gessisse tyrannum tradant, §34.41.9sed castris adversus Romana positis castra diuque cunctatum, quia Aetolorum auxilia expectasset, coactum ad extremum acie confligere impetu in pabulatores suos a Romanis facto; §34.41.10eo proelio victum castrisque exutum pacem petisse, cum cecidissent quattuordecim milia militum, capta plus quattuor milia essent.
There are some who report that the tyrant did not wage war by sallying forth from the town, but that, having pitched his camp opposite the Roman camp, he hesitated for a long time because he was waiting for the reinforcements of the Aetolians, and was forced at last to fight in a pitched battle when an attack was made by the Romans on his foragers; and that, defeated in that battle and stripped of his camp, he sought peace, after fourteen thousand of his soldiers had fallen and more than four thousand had been captured.

Notes

  1. 34.41.1laeta civitas ... indixerunt — This is an example of constructio ad sensum (synesis), where the singular collective noun `civitas` governs the plural verbs `indixerunt` and `praefecerunt`.
  2. 34.41.3quibus causa bellandi cum tyranno ipsi fuissent — The relative pronoun in the dative, `quibus`, refers to the Romans and functions as a dative of possessor or reference, while the subject pronoun `ipsi` refers to the Argives. The clause means 'for whom they themselves had been the cause of waging war with the tyrant.'
  3. 34.41.4restituti Argi — An example of the dominant use of the participle (similar to the 'ab urbe condita' construction), meaning 'the restoration of Argos' rather than 'Argos restored.' Additionally, `Argi` is the masculine plural nominative form of the city-name Argos.
  4. 34.41.5lacerare — An historical infinitive, expressing an imperfective action with the nominative subject `Aetoli`. The following clauses are in indirect discourse (accusative and infinitive) representing the contents of their criticism.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §34.41.1-34.41.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:34.41.1-34.41.10

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