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Livy · History of Rome §40.32.1-40.32.8

Defeat of the Celtiberians and Rewards by Flaccus

Passage 1535 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Realizing their camp is lost, the Celtiberians put up a desperate resistance but are heavily defeated by the fierce Roman assault and reinforcements. Flaccus rewards the victorious soldiers.

§40.32.1postremi Celtiberorum qui in acie erant, primi flammam conspexere, deinde per totam aciem vulgatum est castra amissa esse et tum cum maxime ardere.
Those at the rear of the Celtiberians who were in the line of battle were the first to see the flame; then the news spread through the entire line that the camp was lost and was at that very moment burning fiercely.
unde illis terror, inde Romanis animus crevit.
From this, terror grew for them, and courage for the Romans.
§40.32.2iam clamor suorum vincentium accidebat, iam ardentia hostium castra apparebant.
Already the shout of their own victorious men was reaching them, already the burning camp of the enemy was in sight.
§40.32.3Celtiberi parumper incertis animis fluctuati sunt: ceterum postquam receptus pulsis nullus erat nec usquam nisi in certamine spes, pertinacius de integro capessunt pugnam.
For a moment the Celtiberians wavered with hesitant minds; but after they saw that there was no retreat for those who were repulsed, and no hope anywhere except in battle, they renewed the fight more stubbornly.
§40.32.4acie media urgebantur acriter a quinta legione: adversus laevum cornu, in quo sui generis provincialia auxilia instruxisse Romanos cernebant, cum maiore fiducia intulerunt signa.
In the center of the line they were hard pressed by the fifth legion; against the left wing, where they saw that the Romans had drawn up provincial auxiliaries of their own race, they advanced their standards with greater confidence.
§40.32.5iam prope erat, ut sinistrum cornu pelleretur Romanis, ni septima legio successisset.
The Roman left wing was already near to being driven back, had not the seventh legion come to its support.
simul ab oppido Aebura, qui in praesidio relicti erant, in medio ardore pugnae advenerunt, et Acilius ab tergo erat.
At the same time, those who had been left as a garrison in the town of Aebura arrived in the middle of the heat of the battle, and Acilius was at their rear.
§40.32.6diu in medio caesi Celtiberi: qui supererant in omnes passim partes capessunt fugam.
For a long time the Celtiberians, hemmed in, were cut down; those who survived fled in all directions.
equites bipartito in eos emissi magnam caedem edidere.
The cavalry, sent against them in two divisions, inflicted great slaughter.
ad viginti tria milia hostium eo die occisa, capta quattuor milia septingenti cum equis plus quingentis, et signa militaria octoginta octo.
Up to twenty-three thousand of the enemy were killed that day, four thousand seven hundred captured along with more than five hundred horses, and eighty-eight military standards.
§40.32.7magna victoria, non tamen incruenta fuit: Romani milites de duabus legionibus paulo plus ducenti, socium Latini nominis octingenti triginta, externorum auxiliarium ferme duo milia et quadringenti ceciderunt.
It was a great victory, yet not bloodless; of the Roman soldiers from the two legions a little more than two hundred fell, of the allies of the Latin name eight hundred and thirty, and of the foreign auxiliaries nearly two thousand four hundred.
§40.32.8praetor in castra victorem exercitum reduxit, Acilius manere in captis ab se castris iussus.
The praetor led his victorious army back to camp, and Acilius was ordered to remain in the camp he had captured.
postero die spolia de hostibus lecta, et pro contione donati, quorum virtus insignis fuerat.
On the following day, the spoils were gathered from the enemy, and those whose valor had been conspicuous were rewarded in front of the assembly.

Notes

  1. 40.32.1unde illis terror, inde Romanis animus crevit — The single verb crevit (grew/increased) at the end of the clause governs both terror and animus as their common predicate (zeugma). The correlative adverbs unde (from which) and inde (thence) both refer to the preceding event (the loss and burning of the camp), serving as the respective origins for the psychological shifts of the enemies and the Romans.
  2. 40.32.3receptus pulsis nullus erat — pulsis (those who had been repulsed) is a perfect passive participle of pellere used substantively, functioning as a dative of interest or possession. The phrase translates to 'there was no retreat (receptus) for those who had been repulsed.'
  3. 40.32.5iam prope erat, ut sinistrum cornu pelleretur Romanis, ni septima legio successisset — This sentence combines a virtual apodosis introduced by prope erat ut ('it was near that...'), using the indicative past to emphasize the imminence of the event, with an unreal condition introduced by ni ('if... not') containing the pluperfect subjunctive successisset. Romanis is best understood as a dative of interest/reference ('for the Romans, the left wing...') rather than an ablative of agent.
  4. 40.32.7socium — A genitive plural of the noun socius (ally), where the archaic/poetic contracted form socium is used instead of the standard sociorum. It is governed by the phrase of the Latin name (Latini nominis).

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §40.32.1-40.32.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:40.32.1-40.32.8

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