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Livy · History of Rome §39.45.1-39.45.8

Allocation of Provinces and Measures Against Transalpine Gauls

Passage 1492 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The newly elected consuls and praetors are assigned their provinces, and directives are issued to handle the Gauls who have crossed into Italy to construct a town.

§39.45.1in insequentem annum crearunt consules M. Claudium Marcellum Q. Fabium Labeonem.
For the following year, they elected Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Quintus Fabius Labeo as consuls.
M. Claudius Q. Fabius idibus Martiis, quo die consulatum inierunt, de provinciis suis praetorumque rettulerunt.
Marcus Claudius and Quintus Fabius, on the Ides of March, the day on which they entered office, made a motion regarding their own provinces and those of the praetors.
§39.45.2praetores creati erant C. Valerius flamen Dialis qui et priore anno petierat, et Sp. Postumius Albinus et P. Cornelius Sisenna L. Pupius L. Iulius Cn. Sicinius.
The praetors who had been elected were Gaius Valerius, the priest of Jupiter (flamen Dialis), who had also run in the previous year, Spurius Postumius Albinus, Publius Cornelius Sisenna, Lucius Pupius, Lucius Julius, and Gnaeus Sicinius.
§39.45.3consulibus Ligures cum iisdem exercitibus, quos P. Claudius et L. Porcius habuerant, provincia decreta est.
To the consuls, Liguria was decreed as their province, with the same armies that Publius Claudius and Lucius Porcius had commanded.
§39.45.4Hispaniae extra sortem prioris anni praetoribus cum suis exercitibus servatae.
The Spains were reserved, without casting lots, for the praetors of the previous year along with their armies.
praetores ita sortiri iussi, uti flamini Diali utique altera iuris dicendi Romae provincia esset: §39.45.5peregrinam est sortitus.
The praetors were ordered to draw lots in such a way that the Flamen Dialis should by all means receive one of the two jurisdictions at Rome: he drew the foreign jurisdiction.
Sisennae Cornelio urbana, Sp. Postumio Sicilia, L. Pupio Apulia, L. Iulio Gallia, Cn. Sicinio Sardinia evenit.
To Cornelius Sisenna fell the urban jurisdiction, to Spurius Postumius Sicily, to Lucius Pupius Apulia, to Lucius Julius Gaul, and to Gnaeus Sicinius Sardinia.
L. Iulius maturare est iussus.
Lucius Julius was ordered to make haste.
§39.45.6Galli Transalpini per saltus ignotae antea viae, ut ante dictum est, in Italiam transgressi oppidum in agro, qui nunc est Aquileiensis, aedificabant.
The Transalpine Gauls, having crossed into Italy through mountain-passes by a road previously unknown, as was said before, were building a town in the territory which is now Aquileia.
§39.45.7id eos ut prohiberet, quod eius sine bello posset, praetori mandatum est. si armis prohibendi essent, consules certiores faceret: ex his placere alterum adversus Gallos ducere legiones.
The praetor was commanded to prevent them from doing this, so far as it could be done without war; if they had to be stopped by force of arms, he was to inform the consuls, and it was the senate's pleasure that one of them should lead the legions against the Gauls.
§39.45.8extremo prioris anni. augur in demortui Cn. Cornelii Lentuli locum creatus erat Sp. Postumius Albinus.
At the very end of the previous year, Spurius Postumius Albinus had been co-opted as augur in place of the deceased Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus.

Notes

  1. 39.45.4flamini Diali utique altera iuris dicendi Romae provincia esset — The phrase flamini Diali is a dative of possessor with esset. The feminine adjective altera ('one of the two') refers to the two domestic judicial provinces at Rome: the urban jurisdiction (provincia urbana) and the foreign jurisdiction (provincia peregrina). Because the priest of Jupiter (flamen Dialis) was bound by religious taboos that prohibited him from leaving Rome, it was necessary to guarantee him one of these two posts.
  2. 39.45.7id eos ut prohiberet — A double accusative construction with prohibere ('to prevent/hinder'). The neuter pronoun id refers to the action of building a town described in the preceding sentence, while eos refers to the Gauls.
  3. 39.45.7quod eius sine bello posset — A restrictive relative clause. The genitive pronoun eius is a partitive genitive depending on the neuter relative pronoun quod (literally, 'what of it'), meaning 'so far as was possible without war.'
  4. 39.45.7ex his placere alterum adversus Gallos ducere legiones — An indirect statement dependent on a verb of deciding implied by the context. The main infinitive is ducere, whose subject accusative is alterum ('one of the two [consuls]', with ex his referring back to the consuls).

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §39.45.1-39.45.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:39.45.1-39.45.8

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