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Livy · History of Rome §38.34.1-38.34.9

Demolition of Sparta's Walls and Abolition of Lycurgus' Laws

Passage 1421 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The Achaeans forced Sparta to demolish its walls, expel foreign mercenaries and liberated slaves, and abolish the laws of Lycurgus, effectively weakening the state, while rebuilding the Megalopolis portico using the proceeds from selling those slaves.

§38.34.1hoc metu iniecto Lacedaemoniis imperatum prlimum, uti muros diruerent; deinde, ut omnes externi auxiliares, qui mercede apud tyrannos militassent, terra Laconica excederent; §38.34.2tum uti quae servitia tyranni liberassent — ea magna multitudo erat — ante diem certam abirent; qui ibi mansissent, eos prendendi abducendi vendendi Achaeis ius esset; §38.34.3Lycurgi leges moresque abrogarent, Achaeorum adsuescerent legibus institutisque: ita unius eos corporis fore et de omnibus rebus facilius consensuros. §38.34.4nihil oboedientius fecerunt, quam ut muros diruerent, nec aegrius passi sunt quam exules reduci. §38.34.5decretum Tegeae in concilio communi Achaeorum de restituendis iis factum est; §38.34.6et mentione illata externos auxiliares dimissos ac Lacedaemoniis adscriptos — ita enim vocabant qui ab tyrannis liberati erant — urbe excessisse et in agros dilapsos, priusquam dimitteretur exercitus, ire praetorem cum expeditis et comprehendere id genus hominum et vendere iure praedae placuit. §38.34.7multi comprehensi venierunt.
This fear having been inspired in the Lacedaemonians, they were first ordered to demolish their walls; next, that all foreign auxiliaries who had served for pay under the tyrants should depart from the Laconian territory; then, that the slaves whom the tyrants had liberated—and they were a great multitude—should depart before a fixed day; and that if any of them remained there, the Achaeans should have the right to seize, carry away, and sell them; and that they should abrogate the laws and customs of Lycurgus, and accustom themselves to the laws and institutions of the Achaeans; for thus they would become one body and would more easily agree on all matters. There was nothing they did more obediently than demolishing the walls, nor did they suffer anything with more bitterness than the recall of the exiles. A decree was passed at Tegea, in the general council of the Achaeans, concerning their restoration; and when mention was made that the foreign auxiliaries who had been dismissed and registered as Lacedaemonians—for so they called those who had been liberated by the tyrants—had left the city and dispersed into the fields, it was resolved that before the army was disbanded, the praetor should go with light-armed troops, apprehend that class of men, and sell them by the law of spoil. Many were apprehended and sold.
porticus ex ea pecunia Megalopoli permissu Achaeorum refecta est, quam Lacedaemonii diruerant. §38.34.8et ager Belbinates, quem iniuria tyranni Lacedaemoniorum possederant, restitutus eidem civitati ex decreto vetere Achaeorum, quod factum erat Philippo Amyntae filio regnante. §38.34.9per haec velut enervata civitas Lacedaemoniorum diu Achaeis obnoxia fuit; nulla tamen res tanto erat damno quam disciplina Lycurgi, cui per octingentos annos adsuerant, sublata.
From that money, with the permission of the Achaeans, the portico at Megalopolis was rebuilt, which the Lacedaemonians had demolished. And the territory of Belbina, which the tyrants of the Lacedaemonians had possessed unjustly, was restored to the same state, in accordance with an old decree of the Achaeans, which had been made during the reign of Philip, the son of Amyntas. By these means, the state of the Lacedaemonians, being as it were enervated, was for a long time subject to the Achaeans; yet nothing was of so much damage to them as the abolition of the discipline of Lycurgus, to which they had been accustomed for eight hundred years.

Notes

  1. 38.34.1imperatum — An impersonal passive perfect. The dative 'Lacedaemoniis' is the recipient of the order, and the subsequent 'uti' ('ut') clauses ('diruerent', 'excederent') introduce the content of the command. This indirect command structure continues into §38.34.2 and §38.34.3 withsubjunctives like 'abrogarent' and 'adsuescerent'.
  2. 38.34.2quae servitia tyranni liberassent — The neuter plural relative pronoun 'quae' incorporates its antecedent 'servitia' into the relative clause. Logically it means 'ea servitia quae tyranni liberassent' (the slaves whom the tyrants had liberated), serving as the subject of 'abirent' which follows the parenthetical 'ea magna multitudo erat'.
  3. 38.34.6mentione illata ... placuit — The accusative with infinitive clause 'externos auxiliares ... excessisse et ... dilapsos [esse]' functions in apposition to or as the content of the ablative absolute 'mentione illata'. The main verb of the sentence is the impersonal 'placuit' (it was resolved), whose grammatical subject is the subsequent infinitive phrase 'ire... et comprehendere... et vendere...'.
  4. 38.34.7venierunt — The perfect third-person plural of the intransitive verb 'veneo' (to be sold, to go on sale). Though highly similar in spelling to 'venerunt' (from 'venio', to come), the context of 'vendendi' in the previous section and 'ex ea pecunia' in the next confirms it means 'they were sold'.
  5. 38.34.9disciplina ... sublata — A noun-participle construction (the so-called 'ab urbe condita' construction), representing the abstract idea 'the abolition of the discipline of Lycurgus'. Placed after the comparative 'quam', it serves as the object of comparison for the subject 'nulla res'. Furthermore, 'tanto erat damno' is a dative of purpose/service, meaning 'was of so much damage'.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §38.34.1-38.34.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:38.34.1-38.34.9

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