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Livy · History of Rome §5.31.1-5.31.9

Consular Election, Minor Wars, and Pestilence

Passage 290 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The distribution of Veientane land appeases the plebeians, allowing for a peaceful consular election. It details subsequent minor military campaigns, drought, pestilence, and the fateful replacement of a deceased censor, leading to an interregnum.

§5.31.1eo munere delenita plebe nihil certatum est, quo minus consularia comitia haberentur.
The plebeians having been pacified by this gift, there was no dispute to prevent the consular comitia from being held.
§5.31.2creati consules L. Valerius Potitus, M. Manlius, cui Capitolino postea fuit cognomen.
Lucius Valerius Potitus and Marcus Manlius, who was afterwards surnamed Capitolinus, were elected consuls.
hi consules magnos ludos fecere, quos M. Furius dictator voverat Veienti bello.
These consuls celebrated the great games which the dictator Marcus Furius had vowed during the Veientane war.
§5.31.3eodem anno aedes Iunonis reginae ab eodem dictatore eodemque bello vota dedicatur, celebratamque dedicationem ingenti matronarum studio tradunt.
In the same year, the temple of Queen Juno, vowed by the same dictator during the same war, was dedicated, and they relate that the dedication was celebrated with great enthusiasm on the part of the matrons.
§5.31.4Bellum haud memorabile in Algido cum Aequis gestum est fusis hostibus prius paene, quam manus consererent.
A war of little note was waged in Algidus with the Aequi, the enemy being routed almost before they could close in battle.
§5.31.5Valerio, quod perseverantior in iis caedendis in fuga fuit, triumphus, Manlio, ut ovans ingrederetur urbem, decretum est.
A triumph was decreed to Valerius because he was more persistent in cutting them down in their flight, and to Manlius it was decreed that he should enter the city in an ovation.
eodem anno novum bellum cum Volsiniensibus exortum; quo propter famem pestilentiamque in agro Romano ex siccitate caloribusque nimiis ortam exercitus duci nequivit.
In the same year, a new war broke out with the Volsinienses; to which an army could not be led because of a famine and pestilence that had arisen in the Roman territory from excessive drought and heat.
ob quae Volsinienses Sappinatibus adiunctis superbia inflati ultro agros Romanos incursavere; §5.31.6bellum inde duobus populis indictum.
On this account the Volsinienses, having joined themselves with the Sappinates, were puffed up with pride and of their own accord made incursions into the Roman territory; war was thereupon declared against the two nations.
C. Iulius censor decessit; in eius locum M. Cornelius suffectus, quae res postea religioni fruit, quia eo lustro Roma est capta; §5.31.7nec deinde umquam in demortui locum censor sufficitur.
Gaius Iulius, the censor, died; Marcus Cornelius was substituted in his place, a circumstance which was afterwards a matter of religious scruple, because Rome was captured during that lustrum; nor from that time was a censor ever substituted in the place of one who had died.
consulibusque morbo inplicitis placuit per interregnum renovari auspicia.
And as the consuls were seized with illness, it was resolved that the auspices should be renewed through an interregnum.
§5.31.8itaque cum ex senatus consulto consules magistratu se abdicassent, interrex creatur M. Furius Camillus, qui P. Cornelium Scipionem, is deinde L. Valerium Potitum interregem prodidit.
Therefore, when the consuls had abdicated their office in accordance with a decree of the senate, Marcus Furius Camillus was appointed interrex, who nominated Publius Cornelius Scipio, and he then nominated Lucius Valerius Potitus as interrex.
§5.31.9ab eo creati sex tribuni militum consulari potestate, ut, etiam si cui eorum incommoda valetudo fuisset, copia magistratuum rei publicae esset.
By him six military tribunes with consular power were elected, so that, even if any of them should be in ill health, there might be a sufficient number of magistrates for the republic.

Notes

  1. §5.31.1nihil certatum est, quo minus — *nihil certatum est* is an impersonal passive. The *quo minus* clause acts similarly to clauses after verbs of hindering (like *impedire* or *prohibere*), meaning "so that ... might not" or "to prevent ... from being held".
  2. §5.31.5quo propter famem — The relative *quo* refers back to *novum bellum* and functions adverbially to indicate direction (*ad quod bellum*, "to which war"). While it could be interpreted as causal ("whereby"), it is more naturally understood as direction in combination with *duci*.
  3. §5.31.6quae res postea religioni fuit — *quae res* is a relative pronoun referring to the entire preceding clause (the substitution of a deceased censor). *religioni* is a dative of purpose/result (forming a double dative construction with the implied dative of reference), meaning "became a matter of religious scruple or taboo."
  4. §5.31.8prodidit — *prodere* is a specific constitutional term meaning to "nominate" or "appoint" the next *interrex* at the expiration of one's own five-day term.

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §5.31.1-5.31.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:5.31.1-5.31.9

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