que frustra saepe consilio advocato cum pro antiquatis rogationes essent, "bene habet" inquit Sextius; "quando quidem tantum intercessionem pollere placet, isto ipso telo tutabimur plebem. Agitedum, comitia indicite, patres, 9 tribunis militum creandis; faxo ne iuvet vox ista 'veto,' quam nunc concinentes collegas nostros tam laeti auditis." Haud inritae cecidere minae; comitia praeter aedilium tri- 10 bunorumque plebi nulla sunt habita. Licinius Sextiusque tribuni plebis refecti nullos curules magistratus creari passi sunt; eaque solitudo magistratuum et plebe reficiente duos tribunos et iis comitia tribunorum militum tollentibus per quinquennium urbem tenuit.

these magistrates could not be prevented by the tribunician intercessio. Otherwise, the senate would have made use of tribunes to prevent the reëlection of Licinius and Sextius. For the form plebi see on 3, 35, 8.--curules magistratus: see on 5, 41, 2.— per quinquennium: this statement is not generally accepted, as it is thought that the state could not have existed for five years without magistrates of controlling power. According to Diod. 15, 75 (cf. Plin. 16, 44) the interregnum lasted only one year.

The proposals were first introduced in 377. The struggle for their passage was continued for ten years, Licinius and Sextius being elected every year. Meantime, on account of a war with Velitrae, they had allowed the

9 42. Vixdum perfunctum eum bello atrocior domi seditio 37.excepit; et per ingentia certamina dictator senatusque vic

tus, ut rogationes tribuniciae acciperentur; et comitia consulum adversa nobilitate habita, quibus L. Sextius de plebe 10 primus consul factus. Et ne is quidem finis certaminum fuit. Quia patricii se auctores futuros negabant, prope secessionem plebis res terribilesque alias minas civilium I certaminum venit, cum tandem per dictatorem condicionibus sedatae discordiae sunt concessumque ab nobilitate plebi de consule plebeio, a plebe nobilitati de praetore uno, qui 12 ius in urbe diceret, ex patribus creando. Ita ab diutina ira tandem in concordiam redactis ordinibus cum dignam eam

Consuls were elected by the comitia centuriata.

10. patricii. . . negabant: the election of consuls was not complete until it received the official sanction of the patrician members of the senate, the patrum auctoritas. Elsewhere Livy uses patres, not patricii, in this sense.-prope: cf. 1, 25, 13.

II. condicionibus: by an agreement, compromise. — sedatae sunt: see on 5, 46, I convertit. - praetore in 242 B.C. a second praetor was added, one having charge of cases between citizens (praetor urbanus), the other of cases in which one or more of the parties were foreigners (praetor peregrinus). The number was constantly increased until under Julius Caesar there were sixteen. A plebeian held the office for the first time in patribus = 337 B.C. nobilitate, the whole class of patricians.

rem senatus censeret esse, meritoque id, si quando umquam alias, deum inmortalium fore, ut ludi maximi fierent et dies unus ad triduum adiceretur, recusantibus id munus aedili- 13 bus plebis, conclamatum a patriciis est iuvenibus se id honoris deum inmortalium causa libenter facturos, ut aediles fierent. Quibus cum ab universis gratiae actae essent, 14 factum senatus consultum, ut duoviros aediles ex patribus dictator populum rogaret, patres auctores omnibus eius anni comitiis fierent.

4.

12. si

mances.

13. recusantibus: as the state furnished the money, it is hard to find a reason for this refusal; probably this is an attempt to explain another concession on the part of the plebeians. - aedilibus plebis: first appointed in 494 as assistants of the tribunes, but their powers had been gradually increased; they had a general supervision of certain festivals. ut: provided that; cf. Sen. Ben. 2, 15, I dabo egenti, sed ut ipse non egeam.

alias: see on 1, 28, iot races, athletic contests, and, deum inmortalium: connect after 364 B.C., dramatic perforwith merito; according to the merit of the gods, i.e. as they deserved. ut... adiceretur: this clause was anticipated in dignam, but the intervening words, merito .fore, unless they are to be taken as entirely parenthetical, compel us to explain it as a substantive clause, in app. with id. — ludi maximi: first celebrated, according to Livy I, 35, 9, by Tarquinius Priscus, sollemnes (celebrated in fulfillment of a vow), deinde annui, mansere ludi, Romani magnique varie appellati. They came to be celebrated regularly in the fall, and the number of days, originally one, was constantly increased until, under Augustus, the celebration continued from the 4th of September to the 15th; see on 45, I, 2. After they were regularly established as an annual festival, they were called ludi Romani. They included a procession, char

14. aediles: curule aediles were elected by the comitia tributa, and some years later acquired membership in the senate. The patricians relinquished in a few years the exclusive right to the office. rogaret: used with two accusatives in the technical sense, to propose for election. - auctores: see on § 10.

I

B.C.

BOOK VII

Beginning of the Drama

2. Et hoc et insequenti anno C. Sulpicio Petico, C 2 Licinio Stolone consulibus pestilentia fuit. Eo nihil dig 364 num memoria actum, nisi quod pacis deum exposcendae causa tertio tum post conditam urbem lectisternium fuit. 3 Et cum vis morbi nec humanis consiliis nec ope divina levaretur, victis superstitione animis ludi quoque scaenici, nova res bellicoso populo-nam circi modo spectaculum fuerat, inter alia caelestis irae placamina instituti di

Book VII. 2. References: Val. Max. 2, 4, 4. Teuffel, Hist. of Roman Lit., trans. by Warr, I, 3– 28. Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, 37-42, 52-58. Nettleship, Essays, 61-66. Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, 2, 97-99; 3, 135 ff.

2. 1. C. Licinio Stolone: his colleague in the tribuneship, L. Sextius, had been consul two years before, in 366, the first plebeian who held the office.

2. eo: i.e. the year of the consulship just mentioned. - pacis: favor; see on 1, 16, 3.- - tertio : for the third time; the usual adverb in this sense is tertium. The first lectisternium was celebrated in 399 after consultation of the Sibylline Books. The date of the second is unknown. lectisternium: a sacrifice offered to the gods in times of great distress; images of the gods were placed on couches, food was placed be

fore them, and prayers were offered at all the shrines.

3. quoque with reference not to lectisternium, but to the following inter alia.

nova res: no doubt there had been before this rude performances of a more or less dramatic nature, especially at the festivals of rural gods, but they had never been given officially before, or with any formality. Verg. Georg. 2, 385 ff.; Hor. Epist. 2, 145-146; Tibull. 2, 1, 51 ff. It is probable that this innovation is to be connected with the extension of the ludi Romani and the appointment of curule aediles to manage the festival; see 6, 42, 12-14. circi: the valley of the Circus Maximus, between the Palatine and the Aventine, was used for games, according to the tradition, as early as Romulus, but no seats were constructed until the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. - spectacu

cuntur. Ceterum parva quoque, ut ferme principia omnia, 4 et ea ipsa peregrina res fuit. Sine carmine ullo, sine imitandorum carminum actu ludiones, ex Etruria acciti, ad tibicinis modos saltantes haud indecoros motus more Tusco dabant. Imitari deinde eos iuventus simul inconditis inter 5 se iocularia fundentes versibus coepere, nec absoni a voce motus erant. Accepta itaque res saepiusque usurpando 6 excitata. Vernaculis artificibus, quia ister Tusco verbo ludio vocabatur, nomen histrionibus inditum; qui non, sicut 7 ante, Fescennino versu similem inconpositum temere ac

lum: chariot races and athletic contests.

4. quoque: with reference to peregrina; see on § 3 and cf. 4, 49, 6 Bolas quoque, sicut Labicos, coloni mitterentur. — et . . . peregrina: and imported at that. sine carmine actu: with no words, and with no action to express the meaning of words; i.e. it was neither play nor pantomime, but only a dance. — ludiones: lit., players, but here dancers; another form is ludius. Tac. Ann. 14, 21 maiores quoque non abhorruisse spectaculorum oblectamentis pro fortuna quae tum erat, eoque a Tuscis accitos histriones.· bant: :: see on 5, 38, 3.

...

da

5. imitari .. coepere: Livy treats the earlier and purely original efforts of the Romans as not coming properly under the head of the drama; cf. § 7 and see on § 3 nova res. - inconditis: see on 5, 49, 7; rude verses in the Saturnian meter, a native Roman pro

arti

ficibus cf. our use of the word "artist" as applied to players, musicians, etc. ludio a word of general meaning, which might have been applied to any one who took part in ludi; histrio is the regular word for actor. histrionibus: see on I, I, 3 Troiano.

7. sicut ante: referring to the young men of § 5. This section describes the third stage in the development of the drama, the first being represented by the Etruscan dancers, the second by the iuventus of § 5. - Fescennino: Hor. Epist. 2, 1, 145-146 Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morem Versibus alternis opprobria