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Livy · History of Rome §42.16.1-42.16.9

Recovery of Eumenes and the Rashness of Attalus

Passage 1606 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The assassins flee, leaving the wounded Eumenes, and kill an lagging companion on their way. Eumenes, recovering consciousness, is secretly transported to Aegina, where his survival is kept hidden; meanwhile, his brother Attalus prematurely acts as the heir to the throne, for which the recovered Eumenes later reproaches him.

§42.16.1latrones, cum brevi circumitu maceriae decurrere ad conficiendum saucium possent, velut perfecta re in iugum Parnasi refugerunt eo cursu, ut, cum unus non facile sequendo per invia atque ardua moraretur fugam eorum, ne ex conprenso indicium emanaret, occiderint comitem. §42.16.2ad corpus regis primo amici, deinde satellites ac servi concurrerunt; §42.16.3tollentes sopitum volnere ac nihil sentientem, vivere tamen ex calore et spiritu remanente in praecordiis senserunt: victurum exigua ac prope nulla spes erat. §42.16.4quidam ex satellitibus secuti latronum vestigia, cum usque ad iugum Parnasi nequiquam fatigati pervenissent, re infecta redierunt, §42.16.5adgressi facinus Macedones ut non inconsulte ita audacter, coeptum nec consulte et timide reliquerunt. §42.16.6conpotem iam sui regem amici postero die deferunt ad navem; inde Corinthum, ab Corintho per Isthmi iugum navibus traductis, Aeginam traiciunt. §42.16.7ibi adeo secreta eius curatio fuit, admittentibus neminem, ut fama mortuum in Asiam perferret. §42.16.8Attalus quoque celerius, quam dignum concordia fraterna erat, credidit; nam et cum uxore fratris et praefecto arcis tamquam iam haud dubius regni heres est locutus. §42.16.9quae postea non fefellere Eumenen;
Although the bandits could have run down by a short detour of the wall to finish off the wounded king, they fled to the ridge of Parnasus as if the deed had been accomplished, in such a swift flight that, when one of them, unable easily to keep up through the pathless and steep places, was delaying their escape, they killed their companion lest information should leak out from him if captured. To the body of the king first his friends, and then his bodyguards and slaves ran together; lifting him up, stunned by the wound and feeling nothing, they nevertheless perceived from the warmth and the breath remaining in his chest that he was alive; but there was little and almost no hope that he would survive. Some of the bodyguards, having followed the tracks of the bandits, when they had reached as far as the ridge of Parnasus, exhausted in vain, returned without having accomplished their purpose. The Macedonians, who had undertaken the crime not without plan but with such boldness, left the task they had begun without planning and in a cowardly manner. The friends, carrying the king, who had now recovered consciousness, on the next day down to a ship, crossed from there to Corinth, and from Corinth, having transported the ships over the ridge of the Isthmus, they crossed over to Aegina. There his treatment was kept so secret, since they admitted no one, that a report of his death spread to Asia. Attalus also believed it more quickly than was worthy of brotherly harmony; for he spoke both with his brother's wife and with the commander of the citadel as if he were already the undisputed heir to the kingdom. These things did not escape Eumenes afterwards; and although he had determined to dissemble, to keep silent, and to bear it, yet at their first meeting he could not restrain himself from reproaching his brother with his premature haste in seeking his wife.
et quamquam dissimulare et tacite habere et pati statuerat, tamen in primo congressu non temperavit, quin uxoris petendae immaturam festinationem fratri obiceret. Romam quoque fama de morte Eumenis perlata est.
The report of Eumenes' death was also brought to Rome.

Notes

  1. 42.16.1conprenso — The ablative masculine singular of the perfect passive participle `conprensus` (from `comprehendo`, to seize/arrest), used substantively to refer to 'the captured person (companion)'. Combined with the preposition `ex`, it indicates the source: 'lest information should leak out from him if captured'.
  2. 42.16.3victurum — The future active infinitive of `vivere` (to live), with the auxiliary `esse` omitted (standing for `victurum esse`). It forms an infinitive clause explaining the content of the noun `spes` (hope), meaning 'there was hope that he would survive'.
  3. 42.16.5ut non inconsulte ita audacter — A correlative construction `ut... ita...` which here carries a concessive force: 'just as they acted not without a plan, so also they acted with boldness' (or 'although not without a plan, yet with such boldness'). This stands in sharp contrast with the subsequent clause `nec consulte et timide` (without planning and in a cowardly manner).
  4. 42.16.9non temperavit, quin ... obiceret — A construction of prevention/restraint where the negative form of `tempero` (to restrain oneself), `non temperare`, is followed by a `quin` clause taking the subjunctive mood (`obiceret` is in the imperfect subjunctive). The phrase expresses the meaning 'he could not restrain himself from reproaching...' or 'he could not help but reproach...'.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §42.16.1-42.16.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:42.16.1-42.16.9

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