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Livy · History of Rome §34.56.1-34.56.13

Ligurian Raids and the Senate's State of Emergency

Passage 1223 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Upon receiving reports of Ligurian raids near Pisae and Luna, consul Minucius enrolled new city legions and requested troops from the allies. Following news of destruction in Placentia and unrest among the Boii, the senate declared a state of emergency, suspended the tribunes' examination of military exemptions, and decreed additional troop mobilizations.

§34.56.1nihil eo anno belli expectantibus consulibus litterae M. Cinci — §34.56.2praefectus is Pisis erat — adlatae, Ligurum viginti milia armatorum coniuratione per omnia conciliabula universae gentis facta Lunensem primum agrum depopulatos, Pisanum deinde finem transgressos omnem oram maris peragrasse.
In that year, while the consuls were expecting no war, a letter from Marcus Cincius — he was the prefect at Pisae — was delivered, reporting that twenty thousand armed Ligurians, having formed a conspiracy in all the assembly-places of the entire tribe, had first devastated the territory of Luna, and then, crossing the boundary of Pisa, had overrun the whole sea-coast.
§34.56.3itaque Minucius consul, cui Ligures provincia evenerat, ex auctoritate senatus in rostra escendit et edixit, §34.56.4ut legiones duae urbanae, quae superiore anno conscriptae essent, post diem decimum Arretii adessent; in earum locum se duas legiones urbanas scripturum.
Therefore, the consul Minucius, to whom the Ligurians had fallen as his province, by authority of the senate ascended the rostra and issued an edict: that the two city legions which had been enrolled the previous year should be present at Arretium after ten days; and that in their place he would enroll two city legions.
§34.56.5item sociis et Latino nomini, magistratibus legatisque eorum, qui milites dare debebant, edixit, ut in Capitolio se adirent.
Likewise, he issued an edict to the allies and the Latin name, to their magistrates and envoys who were obliged to furnish soldiers, that they should come to him on the Capitol.
§34.56.6iis quindecim milia peditum et quingentos equites, §34.56.7pro numero cuiusque iuniorum, discripsit et inde ex Capitolio protinus ire ad portam et, ut maturaretur res, proficisci ad dilectum iussit.
For them he apportioned fifteen thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry, according to the number of youth of each, and ordered them to go straight from the Capitol to the gate and, that the matter might be hastened, to depart for the levy.
§34.56.8Fulvio Flaminioque terna milia Romanorum peditum, centeni equites in supplementum et quina milia socium Latini nominis et duceni equites decreti, mandatumque praetoribus, ut veteres dimitterent milites, cum in provinciam venissent.
For Fulvius and Flaminius three thousand Roman infantry and one hundred cavalry each were decreed as reinforcements, along with five thousand infantry of the allies and the Latin name and two hundred cavalry, and the praetors were commanded to discharge the veteran soldiers when they arrived in their province.
§34.56.9cum milites, qui in legionibus urbanis erant, frequentes tribunos plebei adissent, uti causas cognoscerent eorum, quibus aut emerita stipendia aut morbus causae essent, quo minus militarent, eam rem litterae Ti. Sempronii discusserunt, §34.56.10in quibus scriptum erat, Ligurum decem milia in agrum Placentinum venisse et eum usque ad ipsa coloniae moenia et Padi ripas cum caedibus et incendiis perpopulatos esse; §34.56.11Boiorum quoque gentem ad rebellionem spectare.
When the soldiers who were in the city legions had approached the tribunes of the plebs in large numbers, asking them to investigate the claims of those who had either completed their service or had sickness as a reason for not serving, a letter from Tiberius Sempronius dispelled that trouble, in which it was written that ten thousand of the Ligurians had come into the territory of Placentia and had utterly devastated it with slaughter and fire up to the very walls of the colony and the banks of the Padus; and that the tribe of the Boii also was looking toward rebellion.
ob eas res tumultum esse decrevit senatus; tribunos plebei non placere causas militaris cognoscere, quo minus ad edictum conveniretur.
On account of these matters, the senate decreed a state of emergency, and decided that it was not pleasing to them that the tribunes of the plebs should investigate military excuses so as to prevent assembling according to the edict.
§34.56.12adiecerunt etiam, ut socii nominis Latini, qui in exercitu P. Cornelii Ti. Sempronii fuissent et dimissi ab iis consulibus essent, ut, ad quam diem L. Cornelius consul edixisset et in quem locum edixisset Etruriae, §34.56.13convenirent, et uti L. Cornelius consul in provinciam proficiscens in oppidis agrisque, qua iturus esset, si quos ei videretur, milites scriberet armaretque et duceret secum dimittendique ei, quos eorum quandoque vellet, ius esset.
They also added that the allies of the Latin name, who had been in the army of Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius and had been discharged by those consuls, should assemble by the day which Lucius Cornelius the consul should appoint and at the place in Etruria which he should appoint; and that Lucius Cornelius the consul, departing for his province, should enlist, arm, and lead with him such soldiers as he saw fit in the towns and fields through which he was about to go, and that he should have the right to discharge whichever of them he wished at any time.

Notes

  1. 34.56.2Ligurum viginti milia armatorum ... depopulatos ... transgressos ... peragrasse — This is an accusative-with-infinitive construction of indirect speech. The main verb is the perfect infinitive peragrasse, with the neuter plural noun milia as its subject. However, the participles depopulatos and transgressos agree in the masculine plural accusative, matching the actual meaning of the subject (male armed soldiers) rather than its grammatical neuter gender; this is a classic case of constructio ad sensum.
  2. 34.56.11tribunos plebei non placere causas militaris cognoscere, quo minus ad edictum conveniretur — This passage expresses the official resolution of the senate. The accusative-and-infinitive clause tribunos ... cognoscere (the tribunes investigating military excuses) serves as the subject of the impersonal expression non placere ("it did not please the senate"). The subsequent conjunction quo minus ("lest / so as to prevent") introduces the subjunctive conveniretur, which is an impersonal passive verb meaning "to assemble."
  3. 34.56.12ut socii nominis Latini ... ut ... convenirent — This is a substantive clause of purpose introduced by adiecerunt etiam from the beginning of the sentence. Due to the insertion of a long relative clause and conditional phrases, the conjunction ut is repeated for clarity; convenirent in 56.13 is the main verb of this clause.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §34.56.1-34.56.13. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:34.56.1-34.56.13

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