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Livy · History of Rome §42.32.1-42.32.8

Allotment of Consular Provinces and Appeal of Veteran Centurions

Passage 1622 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

A dispute arose between the consuls Cassius and Licinius over the assignment of provinces, but despite Cassius' arguments regarding Licinius' oath, the senate ordered a lottery which assigned Macedonia to Licinius and Italy to Cassius. While the consuls conducted a rigorous levy, veteran centurions appealed to the tribunes of the plebs regarding their recruitment priority.

§42.32.1inter consules magis cavillatio quam magna contentio de provincia fuit.
Between the consuls there was rather a verbal quibble than a great dispute concerning the province.
Cassius sine sorte se Macedoniam optaturum dicebat, nec posse collegam salvo iureiurando secum sortiri.
Cassius kept saying that he would choose Macedonia without a lottery, and that his colleague could not draw lots with him without violating his oath.
§42.32.2praetorem cum, ne in provinciam iret, in contione iurasse se stato loco statisque diebus sacrificia habere, quae absente se recte fieri non possent; quae non magis consule quam praetore absente recte fieri posse, si senatus non, quid velit in consulatu, potius quam, quid in praetura iuraverit P. Licinius, animadvertendum esse censeat;
For when his colleague had been praetor, in order not to go to his province, he had sworn in an assembly that he had sacrifices to perform at a stated place and on stated days, which could not be properly performed in his absence; and that these could no more be properly performed in the absence of a consul than in that of a praetor, unless the senate should decide that they ought to pay attention to what Publius Licinius had sworn in his praetorship rather than what he wished in his consulship.
§42.32.3se tamen futurum in senatus potestate.
He added, however, that he would remain under the authority of the senate.
§42.32.4consulti patres, cui consulatum populus Romanus non negasset, ei ab se provinciam negari, superbum rati, sortiri consules iusserunt.
The senators, when consulted, thinking it arrogant that a province should be denied by them to a man to whom the Roman people had not denied the consulship, ordered the consuls to draw lots.
P. Licinio Macedonia, C. Cassio Italia obvenit.
Macedonia fell to Publius Licinius, Italy to Gaius Cassius.
§42.32.5legiones inde sortiti sunt: prima et tertia ut in Macedoniam traicerentur, secunda et quarta ut in Italia remanerent.
They then drew lots for the legions: that the first and third should be transported to Macedonia, and the second and fourth should remain in Italy.
§42.32.6dilectum consules multo intentiore, quam alias, cura habebant.
The consuls conducted the levy with much more intense care than at other times.
Licinius veteres quoque scribebat milites centurionesque; et multi voluntate nomina dabant, quia locupletes videbant, qui priore Macedonico bello aut adversus Antiochum in Asia stipendia fecerant.
Licinius enrolled veteran soldiers and centurions as well; and many gave their names voluntarily, because they saw that those who had served in the previous Macedonian war or against Antiochus in Asia had become wealthy.
§42.32.7cum tribuni militum, qui centuriones, sed primum quemque citarent, tres et viginti centuriones, qui primos pilos duxerant, citati tribunos plebis appellarunt.
When the military tribunes, who [lacuna] the centurions, but were summoning each of the foremost, twenty-three centurions who had led the first maniples, having been summoned, appealed to the tribunes of the plebs.
duo ex collegio, M. Fulvius Nobilior et M. Claudius Marcellus, ad consules rem reiciebant: §42.32.8eorum cognitionem esse debere, quibus dilectus quibusque bellum mandatum esset; ceteri cognituros se, de quo appellati essent, aiebant, et si iniuria fieret, auxilium civibus laturos.
Two of the college, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, referred the matter back to the consuls, saying that the investigation of these men ought to belong to those to whom the levy and the war had been entrusted; the rest of the tribunes declared that they would investigate the matter on which they had been appealed to, and if any injustice was being done, they would bring aid to the citizens.

Notes

  1. 42.32.1salvo iureiurando — Ablative absolute construction, meaning "without violating his oath" or "his oath being kept safe." Cassius argues that his colleague Licinius cannot take part in the lottery for Macedonia (which would require leaving Rome) without breaking the oath he made during his praetorship to remain in Rome for religious duties.
  2. 42.32.2praetorem cum ... iurasse ... habere ... posse — Part of a long indirect discourse (Oratio Obliqua) reporting Cassius' arguments. `cum` is the conjunction ("when"). `praetorem` is used predicatively within the `cum` clause and also serves as the subject accusative of the infinitive `iurasse` (syncopated from `iuravisse`), meaning "that when he had been praetor, he had sworn..." The subsequent infinitives `habere` and `posse` are coordinated in accusative-with-infinitive construction representing Cassius' assertions.
  3. 42.32.4cui ... ei — A correlative structure where the relative pronoun `cui` (dative) precedes its antecedent `ei` (dative) by prolepsis. `ei` is the indirect object of the passive infinitive `negari` in the accusative-and-infinitive clause `provinciam negari`, which is governed by `superbum rati` ("thinking it arrogant that..."). It refers to the idea that "to him to whom the Roman people had not denied the consulship, a province should be denied by them."
  4. 42.32.8eorum cognitionem esse debere — A genitive of possession/duty construction (`eorum`), meaning "it is the duty/right of those..." The relative clause `quibus...` ("to whom the levy and war had been entrusted," i.e., the consuls) serves as the antecedent of `eorum`. The whole phrase means "that the investigation (`cognitio`) of these matters ought to be the duty of those to whom..."

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §42.32.1-42.32.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:42.32.1-42.32.8

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