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Livy · History of Rome §38.44.1-38.44.11

Decree on Ambracia and Manlius' Request for a Triumph

Passage 1431 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Aemilius takes advantage of Flaminius' absence to pass a decree favorable to the Ambraciots. Later, the proconsul Manlius returns to Rome and demands a triumph, but the majority of his ten commissioners oppose it.

§38.44.1Cum Aemilius callidam malitiam inimici velut notam omnibus insimularet et tempus eum morando extracturum diceret, ne consule inimico Romam veniret, certamine consulum biduum absumptum est; §38.44.2nec praesente Flaminio decerni quicquam videbatur posse.
Since Aemilius charged the cunning malice of his enemy as if it were known to all, and said that he would drag out the time by delaying, so that he might not come to Rome while his enemy was consul, two days were consumed in the dispute of the consuls; nor did it seem possible for anything to be decreed while Flaminius was present.
§38.44.3captata occasio est, Cum aeger forte Flaminius abesset, et referente Aemilio senatus consultum factum est, §38.44.4ut Ambraciensibus suae res omnes redderentur; in libertate essent ac legibus suis uterentur; portoria, quae vellent, terra marique caperent, dum eorum immunes Romani ac socii nominis Latini essent; §38.44.5signa aliaque ornamenta, quae quererentur ex aedibus sacris sublata esse, de iis, Cum M. Fulvius Romam revertisset, placere ad collegium pontificum referri, et quod ii censuissent, fieri.
An opportunity was seized when Flaminius happened to be absent due to illness, and on the motion of Aemilius a decree of the senate was passed, that all their property should be restored to the Ambraciots; they should be free and enjoy their own laws; they should collect what harbor dues they pleased by land and sea, provided that the Romans and the allies of the Latin name should be exempt from them; regarding the statues and other ornaments which they complained had been taken from the sacred temples, it was resolved that, when Marcus Fulvius returned to Rome, the matter should be referred to the college of pontiffs, and what they should decide should be done.
§38.44.6neque his contentus consul fuit, sed postea per infrequentiam adiecit senatus consultum, Ambraciam vi captam esse non videri.
Nor was the consul content with these, but afterwards, in a thin attendance of the senate, he added a decree of the senate that Ambracia did not appear to have been taken by force.
§38.44.7supplicatio inde ex decemvirorum decreto pro valetudine populi per triduum fuit, quia gravis pestilentia urbem atque agros vastabat.
Then there was a thanksgiving for three days for the health of the people by decree of the decemvirs, because a severe pestilence was devastating the city and the fields.
§38.44.8Latinae inde fuerunt.
Then the Latin festival was held.
quibus religionibus liberati consules et dilectu perfecto — novis enim uterque maluit uti militibus — in provinciam profecti sunt, veteresque omnes dimiserunt.
Delivered from these religious obligations and having completed the levy—for both preferred to use new soldiers—the consuls set out for their province, and disbanded all the veterans.
§38.44.9post consulum profectionem Cn. Manlius proconsul Romam venit; cui Cum ab Ser. Sulpicio praetore senatus ad aedem Bellonae datus esset, §38.44.10et ipse commemoratis rebus ab se gestis postulasset, ut ob eas diis immortalibus honos haberetur sibique triumphanti urbem invehi liceret, §38.44.11contradixerunt pars maior decem legatorum, qui Cum eo fuerant, et ante alios L. Furius Purpurio et L. Aemilius Paulus.
After the departure of the consuls, Gnaeus Manlius the proconsul came to Rome; to whom, when an audience of the senate had been granted at the temple of Bellona by the praetor Servius Sulpicius, and he himself, having recounted his achievements, had demanded that honor should be paid to the immortal gods on account of them and that he should be allowed to enter the city in triumph, the majority of the ten commissioners who had been with him opposed it, and before others Lucius Furius Purpurio and Lucius Aemilius Paulus.

Notes

  1. 38.44.1ne consule inimico Romam veniret — A negative clause of purpose with an ablative absolute lacking a present participle (consule inimico, composed of a noun and an adjective). It means 'lest he (Fulvius) should come to Rome while his enemy was consul (i.e., during Aemilius' term of office).'
  2. 38.44.4dum eorum immunes Romani ac socii nominis Latini essent — The conjunction dum with the subjunctive (essent) introduces a proviso ('provided that', 'so long as'). The genitive pronoun eorum refers to the preceding portoria (harbor dues) and is governed by the adjective immunes ('exempt from').
  3. 38.44.5placere ad collegium pontificum referri — The main clause in indirect discourse (accusative with infinitive) following the ut-clauses detailing the senate's decree. The passive infinitives referri and fieri serve as the subjects of the impersonal infinitive placere ('it was resolved that...').
  4. 38.44.11contradixerunt pars maior decem legatorum — A case of constructio ad sensum (synesis), where the plural verb contradixerunt agrees in sense with the grammatically singular subject pars maior, which logically implies multiple individuals (the majority of the ten commissioners).

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §38.44.1-38.44.11. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:38.44.1-38.44.11

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