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Livy · History of Rome §4.36.1-4.36.5

Absence of Tribunes and Decree for Consular Elections

Passage 234 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Inspired by the speeches, candidates arose with promises for the plebs, while the military tribunes seized an opportunity in the absence of the plebeian tribunes to pass a senate decree for consular elections.

§4.36.1huius generis orationes cum adsensu auditae incitavere quosdam ad petendum tribunatum militum, alium alia de commodis plebis laturum se in magistratu profitentem.
Speeches of this kind, heard with approval, incited certain men to seek the military tribuneship, each promising that in office he would propose different measures for the benefit of the plebs.
§4.36.2agri publici dividendi coloniarumque deducendarum ostentatae spes et vectigali possessoribus agrorum inposito in stipendium militum erogandi aeris.
Hopes were held out of distributing public land and founding colonies, and of raising money for the soldiers' pay by imposing a tax on the possessors of the land.
§4.36.3captatum deinde tempus ab tribunis militum, quo per discessum hominum ab urbe, cum patres clandestina denuntiatione revocati ad diem certam essent, senatus consultum fieret absentibus tribunis plebi, §4.36.4ut, quoniam Volscos in Hernicorum agros praedatum exisse fama esset, ad rem inspiciendam tribuni militum proficiscerentur consulariaque comitia haberentur.
An opportunity was then seized by the military tribunes, in which, during the departure of the people from the city, when the senators had been recalled on a fixed day by a secret summons, a decree of the senate might be passed in the absence of the tribunes of the plebs, to the effect that, since there was a rumor that the Volscians had gone out to plunder the lands of the Hernici, the military tribunes should set out to investigate the matter, and that comitia for electing consuls should be held.
§4.36.5profecti Ap. Claudium, filium decemviri, praefectum urbis relinquunt, inpigrum iuvenem et iam inde ab incunabulis inbutum odio tribunorum plebisque.
Having set out, they left Appius Claudius, the son of the decemvir, as prefect of the city, an energetic young man and one imbued even from his cradle with hatred for the tribunes and the plebs.
tribuni plebi nec cum absentibus iis, qui senatus consultum fecerant, nec cum Appio, transacta re, quod contenderent, fuit.
The tribunes of the plebs had no ground for contention, now that the matter was finished, either with those who were absent and had passed the decree of the senate, or with Appius.

Notes

  1. §4.36.1alium alia — 'alium' is the accusative subject of the future infinitive 'laturum (esse)' (from 'ferre', meaning to propose a law). 'alia' is the neuter plural accusative object. Together, 'alium alia' expresses a distributive meaning: 'one proposing one thing, another another.'
  2. §4.36.2erogandi aeris — A gerundive construction in the genitive case, modifying the preceding noun 'spes' (hope), meaning 'of paying out money (aeris).'
  3. §4.36.5quod contenderent, fuit — A variation of the 'non est quod' + subjunctive construction ('there is no reason/ground to...'). With 'tribunis' understood as the dative of possession, it means 'the tribunes had no ground for contention.'

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §4.36.1-4.36.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:4.36.1-4.36.5

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