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Livy · History of Rome §37.17.1-37.17.10

Aemilius' Planned Expedition to Patara and Return to Samos

Passage 1342 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

After retreating from Ephesus, Aemilius decides to attack Patara but spares Iasus due to the allies' pleading. Later, at Loryma, considering the safety of their rear and the lack of harbor capacity, he abandons the expedition and returns to Samos.

§37.17.1Aemilius postquam omissas in Lycia res et Livium profectum in Italiam cognovit, cum ipse ab Epheso tempestate repulsus irrito incepto Samum revertisset, §37.17.2turpe ratus temptata frustra Patara esse, proficisci eo tota classe et summa vi adgredi urbem statuit.
After Aemilius learned that the operations in Lycia had been abandoned and that Livius had set out for Italy—when he himself, having been driven back from Ephesus by a storm, had returned to Samos with his attempt frustrated— thinking it shameful that Patara had been attempted in vain, he decided to set out there with the entire fleet and to attack the city with the utmost force.
§37.17.3Miletum et ceteram oram sociorum praetervecti in Bargylietico sinu escensionem ad Iasum fecerunt.
Sailing past Miletus and the rest of the allies' coast, they made a landing at Iasus in the Bargylietic gulf.
urbem regium tenebat praesidium; agrum circa Romani hostiliter depopulati sunt.
A royal garrison held the city; the Romans hostilely devastated the surrounding fields.
§37.17.4missis deinde, qui per colloquia principum et magistratuum temptarent animos, postquam nihil in potestate sua responderunt esse, ad urbem oppugnandam ducit.
Then, having sent messengers to sound out their attitudes through conversations with the leading men and magistrates, after they replied that nothing was in their power, he led his forces to besiege the city.
§37.17.5erant Iasensium exules cum Romanis; ii frequentes Rhodios orare institerunt, ne urbem et vicinam sibi et cognatam innoxiam perire sinerent; sibi exilii nullam aliam causam esse quam fidem erga Romanos; §37.17.6eadem vi regiorum, qua ipsi pulsi sint, teneri eos, qui in urbe maneant; omnium Iasensium unam mentem esse, ut servitutem regiam effugerent.
Exiles of the Iasians were with the Romans; they in large numbers began to entreat the Rhodians not to allow a city, both neighboring and kindred to them, to perish innocent; they said that they had no other cause of exile than their loyalty toward the Romans; that those who remained in the city were held by the same force of the royal troops by which they themselves had been expelled; and that the mind of all the Iasians was one, to escape the royal servitude.
§37.17.7Rhodii moti precibus Eumene etiam rege adsumpto simul suas necessitudines commemorando, simul obsessae regio praesidio urbis casum miserando pervicerunt, ut oppugnatione abstineretur.
The Rhodians, moved by their prayers, having also brought in King Eumenes, by both recalling their close ties and pitying the plight of the city besieged by the royal garrison, prevailed so that he abstained from the siege.
§37.17.8profecti inde pacatis ceteris cum oram Asiae legerent, §37.17.9Loryma — portus adversus Rhodum est — pervenerunt.
Setting out from there, having pacified the rest, as they were coasting along Asia, they reached Loryma—a harbor opposite Rhodes.
ibi in principiis sermo primo inter tribunos militum secretus oritur, deinde ad aures ipsius Aemilii pervenit, abduci classem ab Epheso, ab suo bello, ut ab tergo liber relictus hostis in tot propinquas sociorum urbes omnia impune conari posset.
There, a secret talk first arose among the military tribunes in the headquarters, and then reached the ears of Aemilius himself, to the effect that the fleet was being drawn away from Ephesus, from its own war, so that the enemy, left free from behind, could attempt everything with impunity against so many neighboring cities of the allies.
§37.17.10movere ea Aemilium; vocatosque Rhodios cum percontatus esset, num Pataris universa classis in portu stare posset, cum respondissent non posse, causam nactus omittendae rei Samum naves reduxit.
These things moved Aemilius; and when, having summoned the Rhodians, he asked whether the entire fleet could stand in the harbor at Patara, and they replied that it could not, having obtained a pretext for abandoning the undertaking, he led the ships back to Samos.

Notes

  1. 37.17.1cum ipse ... revertisset — The conjunction cum introduces a clause of cause or circumstance, describing the background fact that Aemilius himself had returned to Samos after his failed attempt at Ephesus, contrasting with the main clause Aemilius ... statuit.
  2. 37.17.2temptata frustra Patara esse — The subject of the infinitive esse is the neuter plural accusative Patara, forming an accusative and infinitive construction dependent on the participle ratus (from reor, 'to think').
  3. 37.17.4nihil in potestate sua esse — An accusative and infinitive construction functioning as the object of responderunt. The reflexive possessive sua refers to the subject of the clause (the leading men and magistrates of Iasus), meaning 'nothing was in their own power.'
  4. 37.17.9abduci classem ab Epheso — An accusative and infinitive clause in apposition to sermo (talk, rumor), explaining its content. abduci is a present passive infinitive, indicating that the fleet was being drawn away from Ephesus.
  5. 37.17.10causam nactus omittendae rei — omittendae rei is a gerundive construction in the genitive agreeing with rei, modifying causam, meaning 'a pretext/cause for abandoning the undertaking.'

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §37.17.1-37.17.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:37.17.1-37.17.10

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