Livy · History of Rome §36.30.1-36.30.6

Acilius Marches to Naupactus and Begins the Siege

Passage 1310 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Manius Acilius marches towards Naupactus over Mount Oeta, encountering difficulties along the way but exploiting the enemy's lack of preparedness to begin the siege of the city.

§36.30.1M’. Acilius vendita aut concessa militi circa Heracleam praeda, postquam nec Hypatae pacata consilia esse, et Naupactum concurrisse Aetolos, ut inde totum impetum belli sustinerent, §36.30.2audivit, praemisso Ap. Claudio cum quattuor milibus militum ad occupanda iuga, qua difficiles transitus montium erant, §36.30.3ipse Oetam escendit Herculique sacrificium fecit in eo loco, quem Pyram, quod ibi mortale corpus eius dei sit crematum, appellant.

Manius Acilius, after the booty around Heraclea had been sold or granted to the soldiers, when he heard that there were no peaceful counsels at Hypata, and that the Aetolians had rushed to Naupactus to sustain from there the entire brunt of the war, having sent Appius Claudius ahead with four thousand soldiers to occupy the ridges where the passages of the mountains were difficult, himself ascended Mount Oeta and offered sacrifice to Hercules in that place which they call Pyra, because the mortal body of that god had been cremated there.

inde toto exercitu profectus reliquum iter satis expedito agmine fecit; §36.30.4ut ad Coracem ventum est — mons est altissimus inter Callipolim et Naupactum —, ibi et iumenta multa ex agmine praecipitata cum ipsis oneribus sunt et homines vexati; §36.30.5et facile apparebat, quam cum inerti hoste res esset, qui tam impeditum saltum nullo praesidio, ut clauderet transitum, insedisset.

Setting out from there with his whole army, he made the remainder of the journey with a sufficiently unencumbered column; when they came to Corax—which is a very high mountain between Callipolis and Naupactus—there many beasts of burden from the column fell headlong with their loads, and the men were harassed; and it was easily apparent how sluggish an enemy they had to deal with, who had occupied so difficult a pass with no garrison to block the passage.

§36.30.6tum quoque vexato exercitu ad Naupactum descendit, et uno castello adversus arcem posito ceteras partes urbis divisis copiis pro situ moenium circumsedit.

Then too, with the army harassed, he descended to Naupactus, and having placed one fort opposite the citadel, he surrounded the other parts of the city with divided forces according to the situation of the walls.

nec minus operis laborisque ea oppugnatio quam Heracleae habuit.

Nor did that siege involve less work and labor than that of Heraclea.

Notes

36.30.1vendita aut concessa militi circa Heracleam praeda — Ablative absolute containing perfect participles, expressing the background circumstances prior to the main verb (audivit): "after the booty had been sold or granted."
36.30.4ut ad Coracem ventum est — An impersonal passive construction using the third-person singular neuter perfect passive form of the intransitive verb venire (ventum est): literally, "when it was come to Corax," meaning "when they arrived at Corax."
36.30.5qui ... insedisset — The relative pronoun qui introducing the subjunctive pluperfect insedisset; it functions as a causal relative clause, establishing the reason or justification for the characterization in the main clause (inerti hoste: "since they had occupied...").
36.30.6quam Heracleae — Heracleae is the genitive singular of the place name Heraclea. In the second part of the comparison (quam), the noun oppugnatio is omitted, so that it elliptically means "than the siege of Heraclea had."

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §36.30.1-36.30.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:36.30.1-36.30.6

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