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Livy · History of Rome §42.10.1-42.10.15

Completion of the Census and Dispute of the New Consuls

Passage 1600 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

After the census is completed at Rome and measures are taken against a plague of locusts in Apulia, the new consuls Gaius Popilius and Publius Aelius enter office and clash intensely with the senate over Popilius' brother.

§42.10.1eo anno lustrum conditum est; censores erant Q. Fulvius Flaccus A. Postumius Albinus; Postumius condidit. §42.10.2censa sunt civium Romanorum capita ducenta sexaginta novem milia et quindecim, minor aliquanto numerus, quia L. Postumius consul pro contione edixerat, qui socium Latini nominis ex edicto C. Claudi consulis redire in civitates suas debuissent, ne quis eorum Romae, et omnes in suis civitatibus censerentur. §42.10.4concors et e re publica censura fuit.
In that year the lustrum was closed; the censors were Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Aulus Postumius Albinus; Postumius closed it. There were registered two hundred and sixty-nine thousand and fifteen Roman citizens, a somewhat smaller number, because the consul Lucius Postumius had proclaimed in an assembly that none of those allies of the Latin name who, according to the edict of the consul Gaius Claudius, ought to have returned to their own states, should be registered at Rome, and that all should be registered in their own states. The censorship was harmonious and beneficial to the state.
omnes, quos senatu moverunt quibusque equos ademerunt, aerarios fecerunt et tribu moverunt; neque ab altero notatum alter probavit. §42.10.5Fulvius aedem Fortunae equestris, quam proconsul in Hispania dimicans cum Celtiberorum legionibus voverat, annis sex post, quam voverat, dedicavit, et scaenicos ludos per quadriduum, unum diem in circo fecit. §42.10.6L. Cornelius Lentulus, decemvir sacrorum, eo anno mortuus est.
All those whom they expelled from the senate and from whom they took away their horses, they reduced to the class of aerarii and removed from their tribes; nor did one censor approve what had been branded by the other. Fulvius, six years after he had vowed it, dedicated the temple of Equestrian Fortune, which he had vowed when fighting as proconsul in Spain against the legions of the Celtiberians, and celebrated stage plays for four days, and one day of games in the circus. Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, decemvir of sacred rites, died in that year.
in locum eius suffectus A. Postumius Albinus. §42.10.7lucustarum tantae nubes a mari repente in Apuliam inlatae sunt, ut examinibus suis agros late operirent. §42.10.8ad quam pestem frugum tollendam Cn. Sicinius, praetor designatus, cum imperio in Apuliam missus, ingenti agmine hominum ad colligendas eas coacto aliquantum temporis absumpsit.
In his place Aulus Postumius Albinus was substituted. Such great clouds of locusts were suddenly brought from the sea into Apulia that they covered the fields far and wide with their swarms. To remove this plague of the crops, Gnaeus Sicinius, the praetor-elect, sent with command into Apulia, spent a considerable amount of time, having gathered a huge multitude of people to collect them.
§42.10.9principium insequentis anni, quo C. Popilius et P. Aelius fuerunt consules, residuas contentiones ex priore anno habuit. §42.10.10patres referri de Liguribus renovarique senatus consultum volebant, et consul Aelius referebat.
The beginning of the following year, in which Gaius Popilius and Publius Aelius were consuls, inherited the remaining contentions from the previous year. The senators wished the matter concerning the Ligurians to be referred to them and the decree of the senate to be renewed, and the consul Aelius referred it.
Popilius et collegam et senatum pro fratre deprecabatur, prae se ferens, si quid decernerent, intercessurum. §42.10.11collegam deterruit; patres eo magis, utrique pariter consuli infensi, in incepto perstabant.
Popilius entreated both his colleague and the senate on behalf of his brother, making it clear that, if they should decree anything, he would interpose his veto. He deterred his colleague; the senators, all the more hostile to both consuls alike, persisted in their undertaking.
itaque cum de provinciis ageretur et Macedonia iam imminente Persei bello peteretur, Ligures ambobus consulibus decernunt; §42.10.12Macedoniam decreturos negant, ni de M. Popilio referretur.
Therefore, when the provinces were being discussed, and Macedonia was being sought since the war with Perseus was already imminent, they decreed Liguria to both consuls; they declared they would not decree Macedonia unless the matter concerning Marcus Popilius was referred to them.
postulantibus deinde, ut novos exercitus scribere aut supplementum veteribus liceret, utrumque negatum est. §42.10.13praetoribus quoque in Hispaniam supplementum petentibus negatum, M. Iunio in citeriorem, Sp. Lucretio in ulteriorem. §42.10.14C. Licinius Crassus urbanam iurisdictionem, Cn. Sicinius inter peregrinos erat sortitus, C. Memmius Siciliam, Sp. Cluvius Sardiniam. §42.10.15consules ob ea irati senatui, Latinis feriis in primam quamque diem indictis, in provinciam abituros esse denuntiarunt, nec quicquam rei publicae acturos, praeterquam quod ad provinciarum administrationem adtineret.
When they subsequently requested that they be allowed to enlist new armies or to recruit reinforcements for the old ones, both requests were refused. To the praetors also who requested reinforcements for Spain, Marcus Junius for the Hither and Spurius Lucretius for the Farther, it was refused. Gaius Licinius Crassus had obtained by lot the jurisdiction of the city, Gnaeus Sicinius that between citizens and foreigners, Gaius Memmius Sicily, and Spurius Cluvius Sardinia. The consuls, angry at the senate because of these things, having proclaimed the Latin festival for the earliest possible day, declared that they would depart for their province, and would perform no public business except what pertained to the administration of the provinces.

Notes

  1. §42.10.2socium — An archaic contracted form of sociorum, the genitive plural of the noun socius, standing in parallel with Latini nominis to denote the allies.
  2. §42.10.4neque ab altero notatum alter probavit — The word notatum is a substantival use of the participle notatus (referring to a person or act branded with censorship). The clause indicates that what was branded by one censor was not approved (i.e., reversed) by the other, showing mutual consensus and cooperation between the two censors.
  3. §42.10.10intercessurum — A future infinitive intercessurum [esse] in indirect speech (accusative with infinitive construction), with the subject accusative pronoun se (referring to Popilius) omitted. It forms the apodosis of a conditional statement (si quid decernerent, intercessurum).
  4. §42.10.15Latinis feriis in primam quamque diem indictis — An ablative absolute. The phrase in primam quamque diem is an idiomatic expression meaning 'on the earliest possible day'. Since the Latin festival (feriae Latinae) was a movable feast proclaimed annually by the consuls, appointing it immediately reflects the consuls' confrontational stance as they sought to hasten their departure to their provinces and abandon public business.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §42.10.1-42.10.15. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:42.10.1-42.10.15

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