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Livy · History of Rome §6.5.1-6.5.8

Proposed Agrarian Laws and Creation of Four Tribes

Passage 319 of 1770 · Latin

Summary

The tribunes of the plebs try to agitate the commoners with agrarian laws regarding the Pomptine territory, but the plebeians, occupied with rebuilding and impoverished, show little interest; subsequently, after an interregnum triggered by religious concerns, new military tribunes are elected and four new tribes are added from the new citizens.

§6.5.1iam et tribuni plebis civitate aedificando occupata contiones suas frequentare legibus agrariis conabantur.
Meanwhile, the tribunes of the plebs also, while the citizens were occupied with building, tried to pack their assemblies by proposing agrarian laws.
§6.5.2ostentabatur in spem Pomptinus ager, tum primum post accisas a Camillo Volscorum res possessionis haud ambiguae.
The Pomptine territory was held out as a prospect, of which the possession was then for the first time undisputed after the power of the Volscians had been broken by Camillus.
§6.5.3criminabantur multo eum infestiorem agrum ab nobilitate esse, quam a Volscis fuerit; ab illis enim tantum, quoad vires et arma habuerint, incursiones eo factas; §6.5.4nobiles homines in possessionem agri publici grassari, nec, nisi, antequam omnia praecipiant, divisus sit, locum ibi plebi fore.
They complained that this land was much more vexatiously harassed by the nobility than it had been by the Volscians; for by the latter, incursions had been made there only so long as they had strength and arms, whereas the nobles were encroaching upon the possession of the public land, and unless it were divided before they pre-empted everything, there would be no room there for the plebs.
haud magno opere plebem moverunt §6.5.5et infrequentem in foro propter aedificandi curam et eandem exhaustam inpensis eoque agri inmemorem, ad quem instruendum vires non essent.
Yet they did not move the plebs very much, who both frequented the forum but little because of their concern with building, and were likewise exhausted by their expenses, and therefore unmindful of land which they had no means to stock.
in civitate plena religionum, §6.5.6tunc etiam ab recenti clade superstitiosis principibus, ut renovarentur auspicia, res ad interregnum rediit.
In a state full of religious fears, which at that time were felt even more superstitiously by the leaders owing to the recent disaster, in order that the auspices might be renewed, the administration returned to an interregnum.
interreges deinceps M. Manlius Capitolinus, Ser. Sulpicius Camerinus, L. Valerius Potitus.
The interreges in succession were Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, Servius Sulpicius Camerinus, and Lucius Valerius Potitus.
§6.5.7hic demum tribunorum militum consulari potestate comitia habuit; L. Papirium, Cn. Cornelium, Cn. Sergium, L. Aemilium iterum, L. Menenium, L. Valerium Publicolam tertium creat.
The last of these finally held the election of military tribunes with consular power; he created Lucius Papirius, Gnaeus Cornelius, Gnaeus Sergius, Lucius Aemilius for the second time, Lucius Menenius, and Lucius Valerius Publicola for the third time.
ii ex interregno magistratum occepere.
These entered upon their office from the interregnum.
§6.5.8eo anno aedis Martis Gallico bello vota dedicata est a T. Quinctio duumviro sacris faciendis.
In that year, the temple of Mars, vowed during the Gallic war, was dedicated by Titus Quinctius, duumvir for performing sacred rites.
tribus quattuor ex novis civibus additae: Steliatina, Tromentina, Sabatina, Arniensis; eaeque viginti quinque tribuum numerum explevere.
Four tribes were added from the new citizens: the Steliatina, Tromentina, Sabatina, and Arniensis; and these completed the number of twenty-five tribes.

Notes

  1. 6.5.1civitate aedificando occupata — civitate occupata forms an ablative absolute. aedificando is the ablative of the gerund, modifying occupata and expressing the cause or means of busy occupation ("while the state/citizens were occupied with building").
  2. 6.5.2possessionis haud ambiguae — Genitive of quality, qualifying Pomptinus ager, describing the status of the land ("of undisputed possession").
  3. 6.5.4nec, nisi, antequam omnia praecipiant, divisus sit, locum ibi plebi fore — A complex subordinate structure in indirect speech. The main clause is nec ... locum ibi plebi fore. The conditional clause is nisi divisus sit, within which the temporal clause antequam omnia praecipiant ("before they pre-empt everything") is nested.
  4. 6.5.5et infrequentem ... et eandem ... eoque agri inmemorem — Adjectival phrases agreeing with the object plebem from the previous sentence. eandem ("likewise the same") emphasizes that the multiple states connected by et ... et ... (being sparse in the forum and being exhausted by expenses) apply to the same subject (the plebs). agri is the genitive governed by the adjective inmemorem ("unmindful of").
  5. 6.5.6superstitiosis principibus — Ablative of cause or an ablative absolute, expressing the reason: "since the leaders had become superstitious owing to the recent disaster (such as the sack of Rome)."

Cite this passage

Livy, History of Rome §6.5.1-6.5.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:6.5.1-6.5.8

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