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Livy · History of Rome §4.34.1-4.34.7

Plunder of Fidenae and Dictator's Triumph

Passage 232 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The Roman army captures and plunders Fidenae, after which the dictator triumphs and resigns his office. The author Livy expresses skepticism about reports of a naval battle fought at Fidenae, citing the narrowness of the river at that time.

§4.34.1hi postquam mixti hostibus portam intravere, in muros evadunt suisque capti oppidi signum ex muro tollunt.
After these men, mixed with the enemy, entered the gate, they climbed onto the walls and raised from the wall to their own men the signal of the captured town.
§4.34.2quod ubi dictator conspexit — iam enim et ipse in deserta hostium castra penetraverat —, cupientem militem discurrere ad praedam spe iniecta maioris in urbe praedae ad portam ducit receptusque intra muros in arcem, quo ruere fugientium turbam videbat, pergit.
When the dictator beheld this — for he himself had already penetrated into the abandoned camp of the enemy — he led the soldiers, who were eager to disperse for plunder, to the gate by instilling the hope of greater plunder in the city, and having been received within the walls, he proceeded to the citadel, where he saw the crowd of fugitives rushing.
§4.34.3nec minor caedes in urbe quam in proelio fuit, donec abiectis armis nihil praeter vitam petentes dictatori deduntur.
Nor was the slaughter in the city less than in the battle, until, having cast away their arms, seeking nothing but their lives, they surrendered to the dictator.
urbs castraque diripiuntur.
The city and the camp were plundered.
§4.34.4postero die singulis captivis ab equite ac centurionibus sorte ductis et, quorum eximia virtus fuerat, binis, aliis sub corona venumdatis exercitum victorem opulentumque praeda triumphans dictator Romam reduxit
On the following day, after one captive each was drawn by lot by the cavalrymen and centurions, and two each to those whose valor had been outstanding, and the others were sold under the crown, the dictator, celebrating a triumph, led the victorious army, rich with plunder, back to Rome.
§4.34.5iussoque magistro equitum abdicare se magistratu ipse deinde abdicavit die sexto decimo reddito in pace imperio, quod in bello trepidisque rebus acceperat.
And having ordered the master of the horse to resign his office, he himself then resigned on the sixteenth day, restoring in peace the supreme power which he had received in war and critical circumstances.
§4.34.6classi quoque ad Fidenas pugnatum cum Veientibus quidam in annales rettulere, rem aeque difficilem atque incredibilem nec nunc lato satis ad hoc amne et tum aliquanto, §4.34.7ut a veteribus accepimus, artiore, nisi in traiectu forte fluminis prohibendo aliquarum navium concursum in maius, ut fit, celebrantes navalis victoriae vanum titulum adpetivere.
Certain writers have recorded in their annals that a battle was also fought by fleet at Fidenae against the Veientes, a thing equally difficult and incredible, since the river is not wide enough for this even now, and then was considerably, as we have received from the ancients, narrower, unless perhaps, in preventing a crossing of the river, they, celebrating the clash of some ships on a larger scale, as usually happens, sought the empty title of a naval victory.

Notes

  1. 4.34.2quod — Relative connection (connecting relative pronoun) referring to the action described in the preceding sentence (the raising of the signal of the captured town), functioning as the direct object within the temporal clause introduced by `ubi`.
  2. 4.34.4singulis captivis ab equite ac centurionibus sorte ductis — An ablative absolute construction. In the subsequent clause `and, quorum... binis`, the words `captivis... ductis` are understood (two captives being assigned to each of those whose valor had been outstanding), which is coordinated with another ablative absolute `aliis sub corona venumdatis`.
  3. 4.34.6classi — An archaic form of the ablative of `classis` (instead of the usual `classe`), acting as an ablative of means or manner modifying the impersonal passive infinitive `pugnatum [esse]` ('that a battle was also fought by fleet').

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §4.34.1-4.34.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:4.34.1-4.34.7

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