Humanitext Reader

Livy · History of Rome §5.32.1-5.32.9

Warning of the Gauls and the Exile of Camillus

Passage 291 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The newly elected military tribunes successfully wage war against the Volsinians and Sappinates, granting them a truce. Meanwhile, a divine voice warning of the approaching Gauls is ignored, and Camillus is forced into exile following his impeachment.

§5.32.1kalendis Quinctilibus magistratum occepere L. Lucretius, Ser. Sulpicius, M. Aemilius, L. Furius Medullinus septimum, Agrippa Furius, C. Aemilius iterum.
On the Kalends of July, Lucius Lucretius, Servius Sulpicius, Marcus Aemilius, Lucius Furius Medullinus for the seventh time, Agrippa Furius, and Gaius Aemilius for the second time entered upon their magistracy.
ex his L. Lucretio §5.32.2et C. Aemilio Volsinienses provincia evenit, Sappinates Agrippae Furio et Ser. Sulpicio.
To Lucius Lucretius of these and Gaius Aemilius, the Volsinienses fell as their province; to Agrippa Furius and Servius Sulpicius, the Sappinates.
prius cum Volsiniensibus pugnatum est.
First, the war was waged with the Volsinienses.
§5.32.3bellum numero hostium ingens, certamine haud sane asperum fuit.
The war was great in the number of the enemy, but by no means sharp in actual conflict.
fusa primo concursu acies, in fugam versa milia octo armatorum ab equitibus interclusa positis armis in deditionem venerunt.
Their battle line was routed at the first onset, and eight thousand armed men, turned to flight and cut off by the cavalry, laid down their arms and surrendered.
§5.32.4eius belli fama effecit, ne se pugnae committerent Sappinates; moenibus armati se tutabantur.
The report of this war caused the Sappinates not to risk a battle; they protected themselves, armed, within their walls.
Romani praedas passim et ex Sappinati agro et ex Volsiniensi nullo eam vim arcente egerunt, §5.32.5donec Volsiniensibus fessis bello ea condicione, ut res populo Romano redderent stipendiumque eius anni exercitui praestarent, in viginti annos indutiae datae.
The Romans carried off booty everywhere both from the Sappinate territory and from the Volsinian, with no one resisting their violence, until to the Volsinians, weary of the war, a truce for twenty years was granted on the condition that they should restore property to the Roman people and provide the pay of the army for that year.
§5.32.6eodem anno M. Caedicius de plebe nuntiavit tribunis se in Nova via, ubi nunc sacellum est supra aedem Vestae, vocem noctis silentio audisse clariorem humana, quae magistratibus dici iuberet Gallos adventare.
In the same year, Marcus Caedicius, a plebeian, reported to the tribunes that in the Nova Via, where now there is a shrine above the temple of Vesta, he had heard in the silence of the night a voice clearer than human, which ordered him to tell the magistrates that the Gauls were approaching.
§5.32.7id, ut fit, propter auctoris humilitatem spretum et quod longinqua eoque ignotior gens erat.
This, as usually happens, was disregarded because of the humble station of the author, and because the nation was remote and therefore more unknown.
neque deorum modo monita ingruente fato spreta, sed humanam quoque opem, quae una erat, M. Furium ab urbe amovere.
And not only were the warnings of the gods disregarded as fate pressed on, but they also removed from the city Marcus Furius, who was their only human help.
§5.32.8qui, die dicta ab L. Apuleio tribuno plebis propter praedam Veientanam, filio quoque adulescente per idem tempus orbatus cum accitis domum tribulibus et clientibus, quae magna pars plebis erat, percunctatus animos eorum responsum tulisset, se conlaturos quanti damnatus esset, §5.32.9absolvere eum non posse, in exilium abiit, precatus ab diis inmortalibus, si innoxio sibi ea iniuria fieret, primo quoque tempore desiderium sui civitati ingratae facerent.
Having had a day appointed for trial by Lucius Apuleius, a tribune of the plebs, on account of the Veientane booty, and having also been bereaved of his young son about the same time, when he had summoned his tribesmen and clients (who made up a great part of the plebs) to his house and sounded their feelings, and had received the reply that they would contribute whatever sum he was condemned to pay, but that they could not acquit him, he went into exile, praying to the immortal gods that, if this injury was being done to him who was innocent, they would as soon as possible make his ungrateful country feel the need of him.
absens quindecim milibus gravis aeris damnatur.
In his absence, he was condemned to a fine of fifteen thousand asses of heavy copper.

Notes

  1. 5.32.2Volsinienses provincia evenit — Volsinienses is masculine plural nominative, while the verb evenit is third-person singular. Here, the concept of "the Volsinians" (i.e., the war with them) is treated as the subject, and the singular nominative provincia ("province" or "sphere of duty") is placed as a predicate nominative, with which the verb evenit agrees.
  2. 5.32.6quae magistratibus dici iuberet Gallos adventare — The relative pronoun quae refers back to vocem. The subjunctive iuberet is used because it is in a subordinate clause of indirect speech. The verb iuberet takes the passive infinitive dici as its object, which in turn takes the accusative-with-infinitive clause Gallos adventare ("that the Gauls were approaching") as its subject: "which ordered that it be told to the magistrates that the Gauls were approaching."
  3. 5.32.8qui, die dicta ... in exilium abiit — A long period whose main skeleton is qui... in exilium abiit ("he went into exile"). Interposed are: (1) the ablative absolute die dicta..., (2) the perfect participle orbatus, and (3) the cum clause cum... responsum tulisset. Inside this cum clause are nested the ablative absolute accitis..., the relative clause quae..., the deponent perfect participle percunctatus, and the indirect statement se conlaturos [esse]... absolvere eum non posse explaining the content of responsum.
  4. 5.32.9desiderium sui — sui is the genitive of the third-person reflexive pronoun, functioning here as an objective genitive with the noun desiderium ("longing" or "need"), meaning "the longing/need for himself (Camillus)."

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §5.32.1-5.32.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:5.32.1-5.32.9

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