Humanitext Reader

Livy · History of Rome §42.2.1-42.2.7

Envoys' Report on Perseus and Expiation of Prodigies

Passage 1592 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Ambassadors returned from Aetolia and Macedonia report King Perseus's war preparations and internal strife in Aetolia. In response to ominous portents, the Books of Fate are consulted, and supplications and sacrifices are performed as prescribed by the decemvirs.

§42.2.1principio huius anni legati, qui in Aetoliam et Macedoniam missi erant, renuntiarunt, sibi conveniendi regis Persei, cum alii abesse eum, alii aegrum esse, falso utrumque, fingerent, potestatem non factam.
At the beginning of this year, the ambassadors who had been sent to Aetolia and Macedonia reported that they had not been given the opportunity of meeting King Perseus, since some feigned that he was away and others that he was ill, both pretenses being false.
§42.2.2facile tamen apparuisse sibi, bellum parari, nec ultra ad arma ire regem dilaturum.
However, it had been easily apparent to them, they said, that war was being prepared, and that the king would not delay much longer in taking up arms.
item in Aetolia seditionem gliscere in dies, neque discordiarum principes auctoritate sua coerceri potuisse.
Likewise, in Aetolia, internal strife was growing day by day, and the leaders of the factions could not be restrained by their authority.
§42.2.3cum bellum Macedonicum in expectatione esset, priusquam id susciperetur, prodigia expiari pacemque deum peti precationibus, qui editi ex fatalibus libris essent, placuit.
Since the Macedonian war was in expectation, before it should be undertaken, it was resolved that the prodigies should be expiated and the peace of the gods sought by the prayers which had been prescribed from the Books of Fate.
§42.2.4Lanuvi classis magnae species in caelo visa dicebatur, et Priverni lana pulla terra enata, et in Veienti apud Rementem lapidatum;
At Lanuvium, the appearance of a great fleet was said to have been seen in the sky; at Privernum, dark wool was said to have grown from the ground; and in the territory of Veii, near Remens, there was a shower of stones.
§42.2.5Pomptinum omne velut nubibus lucustarum coopertum esse; in Gallico agro, qua induceretur aratrum, sub existentibus glaebis pisces emersisse.
the entire Pomptine district was said to have been covered as if by clouds of locusts; and in the Gallic land, where the plow was driven, fish emerged from under the turned-up clods.
ob haec prodigia libri fatales inspecti, §42.2.6editumque ab decemviris est, et quibus diis quibusque hostiis sacrificaretur, et ut supplicatio prodigiis expiandis fieret, alteraque, quae priore anno valetudinis populi causa vota esset, ea uti fieret feriaeque essent.
On account of these prodigies, the Books of Fate were consulted, and the decemvirs announced both the gods to whom and the victims with which sacrifices should be offered, and that a supplication should be made for expiating the prodigies; and also that another supplication, which had been vowed the previous year for the health of the people, should be performed and that there should be a public holiday.
§42.2.7itaque sacrificatum est, ut decemviri scriptum ediderant.
And so, the sacrifices were performed just as the decemvirs had prescribed in writing.

Notes

  1. §42.2.1conveniendi regis Persei — A gerundive construction in the genitive case modifying the noun potestas (opportunity). Though logically equivalent to a gerund with a direct object (*conveniendi regem Perseum), the noun (regis Persei) is attracted into the genitive case, and the gerundive (conveniendi) agrees with it in gender, number, and case, which is standard in classical Latin.
  2. §42.2.3qui editi ex fatalibus libris essent — The verb essent in the relative clause is in the subjunctive mood either because of syntactic attraction to the infinitive clause (prodigia expiari pacemque deum peti) dependent on the impersonal verb placuit, or because it represents an indirect clause of characteristic or prescription ('such prayers as had been prescribed from the Books of Fate').
  3. §42.2.6alteraque ... ea uti fieret — The nominative altera is placed at the beginning of the clause for topicalization, and then picked up within the ut-clause by the pronoun ea (ea uti fieret, where uti is equivalent to ut). While standard syntax would have been ut altera fieret, this construction emphasizes the contrast with the previously mentioned supplication.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §42.2.1-42.2.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:42.2.1-42.2.7

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