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Livy · History of Rome §38.58.1-38.58.12

Imprisonment of L. Scipio and Nasica's Appeal to Tribunes

Passage 1445 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

After the trials by Terentius are concluded and Hostilius and Furius are condemned, L. Scipio is about to be imprisoned; P. Scipio Nasica appeals to the tribunes, delivering a speech that highlights the great achievements and honors of the Scipio family.

§38.58.1iudiciis a Q. Terentio praetore perfectis,
After the trials were completed by the praetor Q.
§38.58.2Hostilius et Furius damnati praedes eodem die quaestoribus urbanis dederunt; Scipio cum contenderet omnem quam accepisset pecuniam in aerario esse, nec se quicquam publici habere, in vincula duci est coeptus.
Terentius, Hostilius and Furius, having been condemned, gave sureties on the same day to the urban quaestors; Scipio, when he contended that all the money he had received was in the treasury and that he did not hold any public property, began to be led to prison.
§38.58.3P. Scipio Nasica tribunos appellavit orationemque habuit plenam veris decoribus non communiter modo Corneliae gentis, sed proprie familiae suae.
P. Scipio Nasica appealed to the tribunes and delivered a speech full of true honors, not only common to the Cornelia gens, but especially proper to his own family.
§38.58.4parentes suos et P. Africani ac L. Scipionis, qui in carcerem duceretur, fuisse Cn. et P. Scipiones, clarissimos viros.
He said that the parents of himself, of P. Africanus, and of L. Scipio, who was being led to prison, had been Cn. and P. Scipio, most distinguished men.
§38.58.5eos, cum per aliquot annos in terra Hispania adversus multos Poenorum Hispanorumque et duces et exercitus nominis Romani famam auxissent non bello solum, §38.58.6sed quod Romanae temperantiae fideique specimen illis gentibus dedissent, ad extremum ambo pro republica mortem occubuisse.
These men, when for several years in the land of Spain they had increased the fame of the Roman name against many generals and armies of both Carthaginians and Spaniards, not only by war, but because they had given an example of Roman self-control and good faith to those nations, at last both met death for the republic.
§38.58.7cum illorum gloriam tueri posteris satis esset, P. Africanum tantum paternas superiecisse laudes, ut fidem fecerit non sanguine humano sed stirpe divina satum se esse.
While it would have been enough for posterity to preserve their glory, P. Africanus so far surpassed his father's praises that he created the belief that he was born not of human blood but of divine stock.
§38.58.8L. Scipionem, de quo agatur, ut, quae in Hispania, quae in Africa, cum legatus fratris esset, gessisset, praetereantur, consulem et ab senatu dignum habitum, cui extra sortem Asia provincia et bellum cum Antiocho rege decerneretur, et a fratre, cui post duos consulatus censuramque et triumphum legatus in Asiam iret.
As for L. Scipio, who was the subject of the trial—to pass over what he had done in Spain and in Africa when he was his brother's lieutenant—as consul he was deemed worthy by the senate to be decreed the province of Asia and the war with King Antiochus without casting lots, and by his brother, who, after two consulships, a censorship, and a triumph, went as a lieutenant to Asia for him.
§38.58.9ibi ne magnitudo et splendor legati laudibus consulis officeret, forte ita incidisse, ut, quo die ad Magnesiam signis collatis L. Scipio Antiochum devicisset, aeger P. Scipio Elaeae dierum aliquot via abesset.
There, lest the greatness and splendor of the lieutenant should stand in the way of the consul's glory, it happened by chance that, on the day when L. Scipio defeated Antiochus in a pitched battle at Magnesia, P. Scipio, being ill, was absent at Elaea, a journey of several days.
§38.58.10non fuisse minorem eum exercitum quam Hannibalis, cum quo in Africa esset pugnatum; Hannibalem eundem fuisse inter multos alios regios duces, qui imperator Punici belli fuerit.
That army was not smaller than that of Hannibal, with whom the war had been fought in Africa; the same Hannibal was among many other royal generals, he who had been the commander in the Punic War.
et bellum quidem ita gestum esse, ut ne fortunam quidem quisquam criminari possit; §38.58.11in pace crimen quaeri; eam dici venisse.
And indeed, the war was so conducted that no one could accuse even fortune; in peace, a charge is sought; they say that peace was sold.
hic decem legatos simul argui, quorum ex consilio data pax esset; §38.58.12quamquam exstitissent ex decem legatis, qui Cn.
Here, ten commissioners are accused at the same time, by whose advice the peace was granted; although there had emerged from the ten commissioners those who would accuse Cn.
Manlium accusarent, tamen non modo ad criminis fidem, sed ne ad moram quidem triumphi eam accusationem valuisse.
Manlius, nevertheless that accusation was not of any force, not only for establishing the credibility of the charge, but not even for delaying the triumph.

Notes

  1. §38.58.4parentes suos et P. Africani ac L. Scipionis ... fuisse Cn. et P. Scipiones — An accusative and infinitive construction in indirect discourse (oratio obliqua) introduced by habuit orationem. The reflexive suos refers to the speaker, P. Scipio Nasica. The plural parentes refers to both Cn. Scipio (father of the speaker, Nasica) and P. Scipio (father of Africanus and L. Scipio).
  2. §38.58.8L. Scipionem ... consulem et ab senatu dignum habitum — The accusative L. Scipionem is the subject of the infinitive clause in indirect discourse. The predicate is dignum habitum [esse], where dignus is followed by the relative clause of characteristic/result cui ... decerneretur (imperfect subjunctive).
  3. §38.58.8a fratre, cui ... legatus in Asiam iret — The dative of reference or advantage cui refers to L. Scipio (meaning 'for whom his brother went as a lieutenant'). The antecedent of the relative pronoun is fratre (P. Africanus).
  4. §38.58.12non modo ad criminis fidem, sed ne ad moram quidem triumphi eam accusationem valuisse — A construction of non modo (non) ... sed ne ... quidem. Because the second clause contains the negative ne ... quidem, the negative non after non modo in the first clause is omitted. It means 'the accusation was not only of no force in establishing the credibility of the charge, but not even in delaying the triumph.'

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §38.58.1-38.58.12. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:38.58.1-38.58.12

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