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Livy · History of Rome §45.7.1-45.7.5

Paulus's Reception of the Captive Perseus

Passage 1733 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

Paulus celebrates the surrender of Perseus as a second victory and prepares to receive him. When Perseus arrives clad in mourning garments amidst a dense crowd, Paulus receives him with respect and welcomes him into his tent.

§45.7.1secundam eam Paulus, sicut erat, victoriam ratus victimas cecidit eo nuntio, et consilio advocato litteras praetoris cum recitasset, Q. Aelium Tuberonem obviam regi misit, ceteros manere in praetorio frequentis iussit.
Paulus, regarding this as a second victory, as indeed it was, sacrificed victims upon that news, and having summoned a council, when he had read the letter of the praetor, he sent Q. Aelius Tuberon to meet the king, and ordered the rest to remain in the headquarters in a body.
§45.7.2non alias ad ullum spectaculum tanta multitudo occurrit.
At no other time did so great a multitude gather for any spectacle.
patrum aetate Syphax rex captus in castra Romana adductus erat; praeterquam quod nec sua nec gentis fama conparandus, † tunc quod accessio Punici belli fuerat, sicut Gentius Macedonici: §45.7.3Perseus caput belli erat, nec ipsius tantum patris avique ceterorumque, quos sanguine et genere contingebat, fama conspectum eum efficiebat, sed effulgebant Philippus ac magnus Alexander, qui summum inperium in orbe terrarum Macedonum fecerant.
In the generation of our fathers, King Syphax had been captured and brought into the Roman camp; but besides the fact that he was comparable neither in his own fame nor in that of his nation, at that time he had been only an appendage to the Punic war, just as Gentius was to the Macedonian: Perseus was the head of the war, and it was not only his own fame, nor that of his father, grandfather, and the others with whom he was connected by blood and lineage, that made him an object of great attention, but there also shone forth Philip and Alexander the Great, who had made the supreme empire of the Macedonians over the whole world.
§45.7.4pullo amictu cum filio Perseus ingressus est castra nullo suorum alio comite, qui socius calamitatis miserabiliorem eum faceret.
Clad in a dark garment, Perseus entered the camp with his son, with no other companion of his people who, as a partner in his calamity, might make him more pitiable.
progredi prae turba occurrentium ad spectaculum non poterat, donec a consule lictores missi sunt, qui summoto iter ad praetorium facerent.
He was unable to advance because of the crowd of those running to see the spectacle, until lictors were sent by the consul to clear the way and make a passage to the headquarters.
§45.7.5consurrexit consul iussis sedere aliis progressusque paulum introeunti regi dextram porrexit summittentemque se ad pedes sustulit nec attingere genua passus introductum in tabernaculum adversus advocatos in consilium considere iussit.
The consul arose, having ordered the others to remain seated, and advancing a little, stretched out his right hand to the king as he entered, and raised him up as he was casting himself at his feet, not allowing him to touch his knees. Having introduced him into the tent, he ordered him to sit opposite those who had been summoned to the council.

Notes

  1. §45.7.1secundam eam ... victoriam ratus — eam refers to the content of the preceding litteras (letter, which is plural in Latin), but is attracted to the gender and number of the predicate noun victoriam (feminine singular). ratus is the perfect participle of the deponent verb reor (to think, deem), expressing a reason or circumstance leading to the main action cecidit.
  2. §45.7.1frequentis — Accusative plural of the adjective frequens (possessing the archaic -is ending instead of the standard -es). It modifies ceteros, which is the object of the main verb iussit and the subject accusative of the infinitive manere, functioning predicatively to mean 'in a body' or 'crowded together.'
  3. §45.7.4nullo suorum alio comite — nullo alio comite is an ablative absolute construction ('with no other companion,' using the ablative of the noun comes and the pronoun-adjective nullus alius). It is modified by the genitive plural suorum ('of his own people'), emphasizing that Perseus was accompanied by almost nobody from his former retinue.
  4. §45.7.4summoto — The perfect passive participle in the neuter singular ablative of the verb summoveo (to clear away, push back a crowd). It is used here in an impersonal ablative absolute construction, meaning 'the crowd having been cleared' or 'with the way cleared.'

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §45.7.1-45.7.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:45.7.1-45.7.5

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