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Livy · History of Rome §35.3.1-35.3.6

Minucius' Relief of Pisae and Skirmishes with Ligurians

Passage 1232 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The consul Minucius marches to relieve Pisae from the besieging Ligurians and pitches his camp near them, but avoids a decisive battle due to his raw and uncoordinated troops, focusing instead on defensive skirmishes.

§35.3.1nec in Italia segnius Ligurum bellum crescebat.
Nor was the war with the Ligurians growing any less actively in Italy.
Pisas iam quadraginta milibus hominum, adfluente cotidie multitudine ad famam belli spemque praedae, circumsedebant.
They were already besieging Pisae with forty thousand men, as a multitude flowed in daily attracted by the rumor of war and the hope of plunder.
Minucius consul Arretium die quam edixerat ad conveniendum militibus venit.
The consul Minucius came to Arretium on the day which he had appointed for the soldiers to assemble.
§35.3.2inde quadrato agmine ad Pisas duxit, et cum hostes non plus mille passuum ab oppido trans fluvium movissent castra, consul urbem haud dubie servatam adventu suo est ingressus.
From there he led his army in a square column to Pisae, and since the enemy had moved their camp across the river not more than a mile from the town, the consul entered the city, which had undoubtedly been saved by his arrival.
§35.3.3postero die et ipse trans fluvium quingentos ferme passus ab hoste posuit castra.
On the following day, he himself also pitched his camp across the river, about five hundred paces from the enemy.
inde levibus proeliis a populationibus agrum sociorum tutabatur; §35.3.4in aciem exire non audebat novo milite et ex multis generibus hominum collecto necdum noto satis inter se, ut fidere alii aliis possent.
From there, through light skirmishes, he protected the territory of the allies from devastations; he did not dare to march out into battle array, because his soldiery was raw, collected from many classes of men, and not yet sufficiently acquainted with one another to be able to trust each other.
§35.3.5Ligures multitudine freti et in aciem exibant, parati de summa rerum decernere, et abundantes militum numero passim multas manus per extrema finium ad praedandum mittebant, §35.3.6et, cum coacta vis magna pecorum praedaeque esset, paratum erat praesidium, per quod in castella eorum vicosque ageretur.
The Ligurians, relying on their numbers, both came out into battle line, prepared to decide the issue by a general engagement, and, abounding in the number of their soldiers, they were sending many bands in all directions through the extreme borders for the sake of plundering, and, when a great quantity of cattle and booty had been collected, an escort was ready, by which it might be driven into their strongholds and villages.

Notes

  1. 35.3.1die quam edixerat ad conveniendum militibus — die is the ablative of dies, which acts as the antecedent of the relative pronoun quam. Although dies is typically masculine, it is feminine here as it refers to a specific appointed day. militibus is the dative governed by the transitive verb edixerat (had appointed/proclaimed), and ad conveniendum is a gerund expressing purpose (for assembling).
  2. 35.3.4novo milite — A collective singular (raw soldiery), functioning as an ablative of cause (or attendant circumstance), explaining why the consul did not dare to march out into battle (in aciem exire non audebat). The subsequent participle and adjectives (collecto, noto) agree with this singular noun.
  3. 35.3.6per quod in castella eorum vicosque ageretur — The antecedent of per quod is the neuter noun praesidium (escort). ageretur is the imperfect subjunctive passive, whose grammatical subject is the collective vis magna pecorum praedaeque (a great quantity of cattle and booty) from the temporal cum-clause. The relative clause expresses purpose.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §35.3.1-35.3.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:35.3.1-35.3.6

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