Humanitext Reader

Livy · History of Rome §34.44.1-34.44.8

Repetition of Sacred Spring, Censors, and Execution of Pleminius

Passage 1211 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The "sacred spring" ritual from the previous year was ordered to be repeated, and new censors were elected who introduced separate seating for senators at games. Meanwhile, a prison-break plot by the imprisoned Pleminius involving arson was thwarted, and he was executed.

§34.44.1ver sacrum factum erat priore anno, M. Porcio et L. Valerio consulibus.
A sacred spring had been celebrated in the previous year, in the consulship of Marcus Porcius and Lucius Valerius.
§34.44.2id cum P. Licinius pontifex non esse recte factum collegio primum, deinde ex auctoritate collegii patribus renuntiasset, de integro faciendum arbitratu pontificum censuerunt, ludosque magnos, qui una voti essent, tanta pecunia, §34.44.3quanta adsoleret, faciendos; ver sacrum videri pecus, quod natum esset inter kal. Martias et pridie kal. Maias P. Cornelio et Ti. Sempronio consulibus.
When Publius Licinius, the pontiff, reported first to the college and then, by authority of the college, to the senators that this had not been properly performed, they decreed that it must be performed anew according to the judgment of the pontiffs, and that the Great Games, which had been vowed together with it, should be celebrated with as much money as was customary; and that the "sacred spring" was understood to refer to the livestock born between the Kalends of March and the day before the Kalends of May, in the consulship of Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius.
§34.44.4censorum inde comitia sunt habita.
After this, the elections for censors were held.
creati censores Sex. Aelius Paetus et C. Cornelius Cethegus.
Elected censors were Sextus Aelius Paetus and Gaius Cornelius Cethegus.
principem senatus P. Scipionem consulem, quem et priores censores legerant, legerunt.
They chose the consul Publius Scipio as leader of the senate, whom the previous censors had also chosen.
tris omnino senatores, neminem curuli honore usum, praeterierunt.
They passed over only three senators in total, none of whom had held a curule office.
§34.44.5gratiam quoque ingentem apud eum ordinem pepererunt, quod ludis Romanis aedilibus curulibus imperarunt, ut loca senatoria secernerent a populo; nam antea in promiscuo spectabant.
They also won immense favor with that order because they instructed the curule aediles to set apart the seats of the senators from the general public at the Roman Games; for previously they had watched them sitting together.
equitibus quoque perpaucis adempti equi, nec in ullum ordinem saevitum.
Horses were taken away from only a very few knights, and severity was not exercised against any order.
atrium Libertatis et villa publica ab iisdem refecta amplifcataque.
The Atrium of Liberty and the Villa Publica were repaired and enlarged by the same censors.
§34.44.6ver sacrum ludique Romani votivi, quos voverat Ser. Sulpicius Galba consul, facti.
The sacred spring and the votive Roman Games, which the consul Servius Sulpicius Galba had vowed, were celebrated.
cum spectaculo eorum occupati animi hominum essent, §34.44.7Q. Pleminius, qui propter multa in deos hominesque scelera Locris admissa in carcerem coniectus fuerat, comparaverat homines, qui pluribus simul locis urbis nocte incendia facerent, ut in consternata nocturno tumultu civitate refringi carcer posset.
While the minds of the people were occupied with their spectacle, Quintus Pleminius, who had been thrown into prison on account of many crimes committed at Locri against gods and men, had recruited men to set fires in several places of the city simultaneously at night, so that, in a state thrown into consternation by the nightly tumult, the prison might be broken open.
§34.44.8ea res indicio consciorum palam facta delataque ad senatum est.
This matter was made public through the disclosure of co-conspirators and reported to the senate.
Pleminius in inferiorem demissus carcerem est necatusque.
Pleminius was lowered into the lower prison and put to death.

Notes

  1. §34.44.2de integro faciendum — The word esse is omitted after faciendum, forming an accusative-with-infinitive construction with the gerundive of necessity depending on censuerunt ("they decreed"). The phrase de integro is an adverbial expression meaning "anew" or "from the beginning."
  2. §34.44.3ver sacrum videri pecus — This clause continues the indirect discourse depending on the main verb censuerunt. Here videri is the passive infinitive of video used in the sense of "to be deemed" or "to be understood as." ver sacrum is the subject accusative and pecus is the predicate accusative.
  3. §34.44.4curuli honore usum — usum is the perfect participle of the deponent verb utor ("to use, enjoy"), here modifying neminem adjectively. Since utor governs the ablative case, curuli honore ("curule office/honor") is in the ablative.
  4. §34.44.5nec in ullum ordinem saevitum — The auxiliary est is omitted after saevitum. This is an impersonal passive construction of the intransitive verb saevio ("to rage, act with severity"), meaning literally "nor was it raged against any order," i.e., "nor was severity exercised against any class."
  5. §34.44.7qui pluribus simul locis urbis nocte incendia facerent — The verb facerent in the relative clause introduced by qui is in the imperfect subjunctive because it expresses purpose (or characteristic) in a clause subordinate to a historical main verb (comparaverat), meaning "he recruited men to set fires..."

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §34.44.1-34.44.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:34.44.1-34.44.8

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