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Livy · History of Rome §42.9.1-42.9.8

Popilius' Protest to Senate and Postumius' Elections

Passage 1599 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The consul Popilius vehemently protested to the senate, but returned to his province after his demands were rejected. The other consul Postumius returned from his land surveys and conducted the elections.

§42.9.1consul, qua ferocia animi usus erat in Liguribus, eandem ad non parendum senatui habuit.
The consul possessed the same stubbornness of mind in refusing to obey the senate as he had employed against the Ligurians.
§42.9.2legionibus extemplo Pisas in hibernacula missis iratus patribus, infestus praetori Romam redit; senatuque extemplo ad aedem Bellonae vocato, multis verbis invectus in praetorem, qui, §42.9.3cum ob rem bello bene gestam uti diis immortalibus honos haberetur referre ad senatum debuisset, adversus se pro hostibus senatus consultum fecisset, quo victoriam suam ad Ligures transferret dedique iis prope consulem praetor iuberet:
Having immediately sent his legions into winter quarters at Pisae, he returned to Rome, angry with the senators and hostile to the praetor; and having immediately summoned the senate to the temple of Bellona, he attacked the praetor in many words, who, when he ought to have referred to the senate that honor should be paid to the immortal gods for the successful conduct of the war, had made a decree of the senate against him in favor of the enemy, by which he transferred his victory to the Ligurians and, as a praetor, almost ordered the consul to be surrendered to them.
§42.9.4itaque multam ei se dicere; a patribus postulare, ut senatus consultum in se factum tolli iuberent, §42.9.5supplicationemque, quam absente se ex litteris de bene gesta re publica missis decernere debuerint, praesente se honoris deorum primum causa, deinde et sui aliquo tamen respectu decernerent.
Therefore, he declared that he was imposing a fine upon him, and demanded of the senators that they should order the decree of the senate made against him to be annulled, and that they should decree the thanksgiving, which they ought to have decreed in his absence based on his letters sent about the successful conduct of public affairs, now in his presence, first for the sake of the honor of the gods, and then also with some regard for himself.
§42.9.6nihilo lenioribus, quam absens, senatorum aliquot orationibus increpitus neutra impetrata re in provinciam redit.
Rebuked by the speeches of several senators, which were not at all milder than when he was absent, he returned to his province without having obtained either request.
§42.9.7alter consul Postumius consumpta aestate in recognoscendis agris, ne visa quidem provincia sua comitiorum causa Romam rediit.
The other consul Postumius, having spent the summer in surveying the lands, returned to Rome for the sake of the elections without even having seen his province.
§42.9.8consules C. Popilium Laenatem P. Aelium Ligurem creavit.
He elected Gaius Popilius Laenas and Publius Aelius Ligus as consuls.
praetores exinde facti C. Licinius Crassus M. Iunius Pennus Sp. Lucretius Sp. Cluvius Cn. Sicinius C. Memmius iterum.
The praetors chosen after this were Gaius Licinius Crassus, Marcus Junius Pennus, Spurius Lucretius, Spurius Cluvius, Gnaeus Sicinius, and Gaius Memmius for the second time.

Notes

  1. 42.9.1qua ferocia animi usus erat in Liguribus, eandem — A syntactic structure where the antecedent noun is attracted into the relative clause. The demonstrative `eandem` in the main clause refers back to `qua ferocia` in the relative clause and should be understood as `eandem ferociam`, meaning the consul showed the same stubbornness to the senate as he did to the Ligurians.
  2. 42.9.4dicere; a patribus postulare — Historical infinitives in indirect speech. Tied to the tense of the main verb in the preceding clauses (like `redit` or `invectus [est]`), they express the content of the consul's speech using the accusative and infinitive construction (with the subject accusative `se` implied).
  3. 42.9.5decernerent — A subjunctive of indirect command continuing from the verb of demanding `postulare` in the previous section, with the conjunction `ut` omitted here. The phrase `supplicationem... decernerent` means 'that they should decree the thanksgiving'.
  4. 42.9.8creavit — The subject of the third-person singular verb `creavit` is the other consul `Postumius` from the previous section. It indicates that Postumius, having returned to Rome, presided over the assembly and 'elected' (created) the consuls for the following year.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §42.9.1-42.9.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:42.9.1-42.9.8

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