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Livy · History of Rome §36.4.1-36.4.9

Offers of Allied Support and the Senate's Response

Passage 1284 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Envoys from Kings Philip and Ptolemy, as well as from the Carthaginians and King Masinissa, arrived in Rome offering extensive material and military support. The Romans expressed their gratitude but declined unnecessary assistance, accepting the grain only on the condition of paying for it.

§36.4.1sub idem tempus legati ab duobus regibus, Philippo et Ptolomaeo, Romam uenerunt, Philippo pollicente ad bellum auxilia et pecuniam et frumentum; §36.4.2ab Ptolomaeo etiam mille pondo auri, viginti milia pondo argenti adlata.
About the same time, envoys from two kings, Philip and Ptolemy, came to Rome, Philip promising auxiliary troops, money, and grain for the war; from Ptolemy also, one thousand pounds of gold and twenty thousand pounds of silver were brought.
nihil eius acceptum; §36.4.3gratiae regibus actae; et cum uterque se cum omnibus copiis in Aetoliam venturum belloque interfuturum polliceretur, Ptolomaeo id remissum; §36.4.4Philippi legatis responsum gratum eum senatui populoque Romano facturum, si M’. Acilio consuli non defuisset.
None of this was accepted; thanks were returned to the kings; and when each of them promised that he would come to Aetolia with all his forces and take part in the war, this was excused in the case of Ptolemy; to Philip's envoys, the reply was made that he would do what was pleasing to the senate and the Roman people if he did not fail the consul Manius Acilius.
§36.4.5item ab Carthaginiensibus et Masinissa rege legati venerunt.
Likewise, envoys came from the Carthaginians and King Masinissa.
Carthaginienses tritici modium * milia, hordei quingenta ad exercitum, dimidium eius Romam apportaturos polliciti; §36.4.6id ut ab se munus Romani acciperent, §36.4.7petere sese, et classem suo sumptu comparaturos, et stipendium, quod pluribus pensionibus in multos annos deberent, praesens omne daturos; §36.4.8Masinissae legati quingenta milia modium tritici, trecenta hordei ad exercitum in Graeciam, Romam trecenta milia modium tritici, ducenta quinquaginta hordei, equites quingentos, elephantos viginti regem ad M’. Acilium consulem missurum.
The Carthaginians promised to transport... thousand modii of wheat and five hundred thousand of barley to the army, and half of that amount to Rome; that the Romans should accept this as a gift from them, they requested, and promised that they would also prepare a fleet at their own expense, and would pay immediately all the tribute which they owed in several installments over many years; the envoys of Masinissa stated that the king would send five hundred thousand modii of wheat and three hundred thousand of barley to the army in Greece, and to Rome three hundred thousand modii of wheat and two hundred fifty thousand of barley, as well as five hundred cavalry and twenty elephants to the consul Manius Acilius.
§36.4.9de frumento utrisque responsum, ita usurum eo populum Romanum, si pretium acciperent; de classe Carthaginiensibus remissum, praeterquam si quid navium ex foedere deberent; de pecunia item responsum, nullam ante diem accepturos.
Concerning the grain, the reply was given to both that the Roman people would make use of it on the condition that they accepted payment; concerning the fleet, the Carthaginians were excused, except if they owed any ships under the treaty; concerning the money, the reply was likewise given that they would accept none of it before the due date.

Notes

  1. §36.4.2nihil eius — eius is the genitive of the neuter pronoun id, referring to the sum of auri (gold) and argenti (silver) mentioned just before, and functions as a partitive genitive modifying the pronoun nihil, meaning 'none of this'.
  2. §36.4.4eum senatui populoque Romano facturum — An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect speech following the impersonal passive verb responsum (est). The subject accusative eum refers to Philip in context, and is connected with the infinitive facturum (esse). The conditional clause si... non defuisset (pluperfect subjunctive) represents a future perfect in direct speech (si... non defuerit), shifted to the pluperfect due to the past sequence of tenses from responsum.
  3. §36.4.7petere sese — An accusative with infinitive in indirect speech where sese (themselves) is the subject accusative and petere (to request) is the infinitive. This introduces the ut-clause of purpose in §36.4.6, representing the ongoing discourse of the Carthaginian envoys, either in apposition or parallel to polliciti (esse) in §36.4.5.
  4. §36.4.9ita usurum eo populum Romanum, si — An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect speech, where populum Romanum is the subject accusative of usurum (esse), and eo (referring to frumento) is the ablative object of utor. The correlative construction ita ... si expresses a limiting condition: 'would make use of it in such a manner (only) if'.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §36.4.1-36.4.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:36.4.1-36.4.9

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