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Livy · History of Rome §37.49.1-37.49.8

Dismissal of the Aetolian Envoys and Vote for War

Passage 1374 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The Aetolian envoys, summoned before the Roman senate, maintained an insolent attitude and failed to give clear answers to questions; consequently, they were ordered to leave, and the senate decided to continue the war against them and ordered their departure from Italy within fifteen days.

§37.49.1Aetoli legati in senatum introducti, cum et causa eos sua et fortuna hortaretur, ut confitendo seu culpae seu errori veniam supplices peterent, §37.49.2orsi a beneficiis in populum Romanum et prope exprobrantes virtutem suam in Philippo bello et offenderunt aures insolentia sermonis et eo, §37.49.3vetera et oblitterata repetendo, rem adduxerunt, ut haud paulo plurium maleficiorum gentis quam beneficiorum memoria subiret animos patrum, et quibus misericordia opus erat, §37.49.4iram et odium irritarent.
The Aetolian envoys were introduced into the senate; and although both their own case and fortune urged them to seek pardon as suppliants by confessing either their guilt or error, they began with their services to the Roman people, and, almost reproaching them with their own valor in the war with Philip, they offended their ears both by the insolence of their speech and by this: that by repeating ancient and forgotten matters, they brought things to such a pass that the memory of far more wrongdoings of their nation than of their services entered the minds of the conscript fathers, and they, who stood in need of mercy, provoked anger and hatred.
interrogati ab uno senatore, permitterentne arbitrium de se populo Romano, deinde ab altero, habiturine eosdem quos populus Romanus socios et hostis essent, nihil ad ea respondentes egredi templo iussi sunt.
When asked by one senator whether they would submit the decision concerning themselves to the Roman people, and then by another whether they would have the same allies and enemies as the Roman people, they made no reply to these questions and were ordered to leave the temple.
§37.49.5conclamatum deinde prope ab universo senatu est totos adhuc Antiochi Aetolos esse et ex unica ea spe pendere animos eorum; itaque bellum cum haud dubiis hostibus gerendum perdomandosque feroces animos esse.
A shout was then raised by almost the entire senate that the Aetolians were still entirely on the side of Antiochus, and that their minds depended on that single hope; therefore, war must be waged against them as undoubted enemies, and their fierce spirits must be thoroughly subdued.
§37.49.6illa etiam res accendit, quod eo ipso tempore, quo pacem ab Romanis petebant, Dolopiae atque Athamaniae bellum inferebant.
This circumstance also inflamed them, that at the very time when they were seeking peace from the Romans, they were making war on Dolopia and Athamania.
§37.49.7senatus consultum in M’.
A decree of the senate was passed in accordance with the opinion of M'.
Acilii sententiam, qui Antiochum Aetolosque devicerat, factum est, ut Aetoli eo die iuberentur proficisci ab urbe et intra quintum decimum diem Italia excedere.
Acilius, who had utterly defeated Antiochus and the Aetolians, that the Aetolians should be ordered to depart from the city on that day and to leave Italy within fifteen days.
§37.49.8A. Terentius Varro ad custodiendum iter eorum missus, denuntiatumque, si qua deinde legatio ex Aetolis, nisi permissu imperatoris, qui eam provinciam obtineret, et cum legato Romano venisset Romam, pro hostibus omnis futuros.
A. Terentius Varro was sent to guard their route, and notice was given that if any embassy from the Aetolians should come to Rome thereafter, unless by permission of the commander who held that province and accompanied by a Roman envoy, they would all be treated as enemies.
ita dimissi Aetoli.
Thus the Aetolians were dismissed.

Notes

  1. 37.49.1seu culpae seu errori — Datives of culpae (1st declension) and errori (3rd declension) dependent on veniam... peterent, meaning "to seek pardon for either their guilt or error".
  2. 37.49.2et eo — Ablative of the demonstrative pronoun, anticipating or standing in apposition with the following ablative gerund phrase vetera et oblitterata repetendo ("by repeating ancient and forgotten matters"), meaning "and by this [namely, ...]".
  3. 37.49.3quibus misericordia opus erat — quibus is a relative pronoun referring to the Aetolian envoys (the subject of the main clause) in the dative. The impersonal construction opus est ("there is need of") takes the person who needs in the dative (quibus) and the thing needed in the ablative (misericordia). This clause functions as the subject within the ut clause governing irritarent.
  4. 37.49.4habiturine... essent — The imperfect subjunctive essent combined with the future active participle habituri forms the future active subjunctive in an indirect question. Due to the historical main verb (iussi sunt), the imperfect of the auxiliary verb is used according to the sequence of tenses (consecutio temporum).

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §37.49.1-37.49.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:37.49.1-37.49.8

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