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de iis tantum, qui fidem secuti P. Servilii consulis Volsco, Aurunco Sabinoque militassent bello, agendum censebat. T. Lartius non id tempus esse, ut merita tantummodo exsolverentur: totam plebem aere alieno demersam esse; nec sisti posse, ni omnibus consulatur. Quin 2 si alia aliorum sit condicio, accendi magis discordiam quam sedari. App. Claudius et natura immitis, et efferatus hinc plebis odio, illinc Patrum laudibus, non miseriis, ait, sed licentia tantum concitum turbarum, et lascivire magis plebem, quam saevire. Id adeo3 malum ex provocatione natum : quippe minas esse consulum, non imperium, ubi ad eos, qui una peccaverint, provocare liceat. Agedum,' inquit, 'dictatorem, a quo provocatio non est, creemus. Jam hic, quo

nunc omnia ardent, conticescet 5 furor. Pulset tum mihi lictorem, qui sciet jus de tergo vitaque sua penes unum illum esse, cujus majestatem violavit.'7

30. Multis, ut erat, horrida et atrox videbatur Appii sententia, rursus Verginii Lartiique exemplo haud salubres, utique Lartii putabant sententiam, quae totam fidem tolleret medium maxime et moderatum utroque9 consilium Verginii habebatur. Sed factione respectuque rerum privatarum, quae semper offecere officientque publicis consiliis, Appius vicit; ac prope fuit, ut dictator ille idem crearetur.

the debate. This Verginius rem non vulgabat, literally did not make the thing general; that is, was of opinion that liberation from the nexus should not be extended to all without distinction.

1 We say sisto aliquid, transitively, I keep steady, keep in existence; passively without a subject, sisti non potest, existence cannot be maintained;' and lastly, intransitively, respublica sistere non potest, 'the state can exist no longer; it totters to its fall.'

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2' Nay, more.'

3 Adeo introduces the conclusion and essential point of the speech,

in short, that this evil,' &c. See Zumpt, § 281.

4 That is, to the people.

5 Others read conticiscet, an exception from the formation rule of inchoatives, as to which see Gram. § 215. So also in chap. 55, opinions vary between conticescente and conticiscente.

6 Compare Praefatio, p. 16, note 5.

7 Should grammatically have been violaverit, being an inseparable part of the indirect speech.

8They thought the views of both Verginius and Lartius mischievous, on account of the example (that is, as affording dangerous precedents), particularly that of Lartius.' Sententias must be supplied to the first clause, out of the following sententiam.

9 For both sides' in utramque partem.

Quae res utique alienasset plebem periculosissimo tempore, cum Volsci Aequique et Sabini forte una omnes in armis essent. Sed curae fuit consulibus et senioribus Patrum, ut imperium, suo1 vehemens, mansueto permitteretur ingenio. M.' Valerium dictatorem, Volesi filium,2 creant. Plebes etsi adversus se creatum dictatorem videbat, tamen cum provocationem fratris lege haberet, nihil ex ea familia triste nec superbum timebat. Edictum deinde a dictatore propositum confirmavit animos, Servilii fere consulis edicto conveniens. Sed et homini et potestati melius rati credi, omisso certamine nomina dedere. Quantus nunquam ante exercitus, legiones decem effectae; ternae inde datae consulibus, quattuor dictator usus. Nec jam poterat bellum differri. Aequi Latinum agrum invaserant. Oratores Latinorum ab senatu petebant, ut aut mitterent subsidium, aut se ipsos tuendorum finium causa capere arma sinerent.3 Tutius visum est defendi inermes Latinos, quam pati retractare arma. Vetusius consul missus est. Is finis populationibus fuit: cessere Aequi campis, locoque magis quam armis freti summis se jugis montium tutabantur.

Alter

consul in Volscos profectus, ne et ipse tereret tempus, vastandis maxime agris hostem ad conferenda propius castra dimicandumque acie excivit. Medio inter castra campo, ante suum quisque vallum, infestis signis constitere. Multitudine aliquantum Volsci superabant; itaque effusi et contemptim pugnam iniere. Consul Romanus nec promovit aciem, nec clamorem reddi passus, defixis pilis 4 stare suos

1In or from its own nature:' ingenio is expressed only once, but understood as double; in different cases, however the ablative and the dative-both having the same form.

2 Thus a brother of P. Valerius Publicola, who, along with Junius Brutus, founded the republic, and who is also (i. 58) called a son of Volesus. As to the law of Publicola, granting the right of appeal to the people, and alluded to in the next sentence, see ii. 8, sub init.

3 If the old Roman annalists really made this statement, then they must have misunderstood the connection which at this time existed between the Romans and the Latins: for so far from the latter being then subjects of the former, they were not even bound to them by a league; and the treaty which is mentioned (chap. 34) as having been concluded the following year was an aequum foedus, a treaty as between nations on terms of equality. In chap. 53 we find the Latins successfully defending themselves against their enemies the Aequi and Volsci, without any aid from the Romans.

4 With the pila placed on (or, to keep them steady, perhaps stuck

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jussit; ubi ad manum venisset hostis, tum coortos tota vi gladiis rem gerere. Volsci cursu et clamore fessi cum se velut stupentibus metu intulissent Romanis, postquam impressionem sensere ex adverso factam et ante oculos micare gladios, haud secus quam si in insidias incidissent, turbati vertunt terga; et ne ad fugam quidem satis virium fuit,1 quia cursu in proelium ierant. Romani contra, quia principio pugnae quieti steterant, vigentes corporibus, facile adepti fessos, et castra impetu ceperunt, et castris exutum hostem Velitras persecuti uno agmine victores cum victis in urbem irrupere. Plusque ibi sanguinis, promiscua omnium generum caede, quam in ipsa dimicatione factum.2 Paucis data venia, qui inermes in deditionem venerunt.

31. Dum haec in Volscis geruntur, dictator Sabinos, ubi longe plurimum belli fuerat, fundit fugatque et exuit castris. Equitatu immisso mediam turbaverat hostium aciem, qua, dum se cornua latius pandunt, parum apte introrsum 3 ordinibus aciem firmaverant. Turbatos pedes invasit. Eodem impetu castra capta debellatumque est. Post pugnam ad Regillum lacum non alia illis annis pugna clarior fuit. Dictator triumphans urbem invehitur. Super solitos honores locus in Circo ipsi posterisque ad spectaculum 4 datus; sella in eo loco curulis posita. Volscis devictis Veliternus ager ademptus; Velitras 5 coloni ab urbe missi et colonia deducta.

Cum Aequis post aliquanto pugnatum est, invito quidem consule, quia loco iniquo subeundum erat ad hostes: sed

into) the ground,' equivalent to our military expression with their arms grounded. Livy has no doubt omitted, in mentioning the orders, to give this that as soon as the enemy was within range, the pila should be taken up and thrown, and then (but not till then) the soldiers should attack with their swords drawn.

1 See the same phrase, chap. 26.

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2 Sanguinem facere rare for caedem facere. It occurs only in two other passages, ix. 13, ibi plus, quam in acie, sanguinis ac caedis factum; and xxxv. 51, nondum aut indicto bello, aut ita commisso, ut strictos gladios aut sanguinem factum usquam audissent. In omnium generum, all classes of the population,' Livy refers no doubt to the fact, that Velitrae was properly a Latin town which had been but recently taken by the Volsci, and in which Latins still dwelt along with them.

3Inwardly,' by troops placed behind each other.

According to i. 35, as much as a place where he might erect a seat to see from.'

5 At the present day Velletri is a considerable town in the States of the Church, twenty-seven Roman miles south from Rome.

milites extrahi rem criminantes, ut dictator, priusquam ipsi redirent in urbem, magistratu abiret, irritaque, sicut ante consulis, promissa ejus caderent, perpulere, ut forte temere in adversos montes agmen erigeret. Id male commissum 1 ignavia hostium in bonum vertit; qui, priusquam ad conjectum teli veniretur, obstupefacti audacia Romanorum, relictis castris, quae munitissimis tenuerant locis, in aversas valles desiluere; ubi satis praedae et victoria incruenta fuit.

Ita trifariam re bello bene gesta, de domesticarum rerum eventu nec Patribus nec plebi cura decesserat. Tanta cum gratia, tum arte praeparaverant feneratores, quae non modo plebem, sed ipsum etiam dictatorem frustrarentur. Namque Valerius, post Vetusii consulis reditum, omnium actionum 2 in senatu primam habuit pro victore populo, rettulitque, quid de nexis fieri placeret. Quae cum rejecta relatio esset, 'Non placeo,' inquit, ‘concordiae auctor. Optabitis, me dius fidius,3 propediem ut mei similes Romana plebes patronos habeat. Quod ad me attinet, neque frustrabor ultra cives meos, neque ipse frustra dictator ero. Discordiae intestinae, bellum externum fecere, ut hoc magistratu egeret res publica. Pax foris parta est, domi impeditur. Privatus potius quam dictator seditioni interero.' Ita curia egressus dictatura se abdicavit. Apparuit causa plebi, suam vicem 4 indignantem magistratu abisse. Itaque velut persoluta fide, quoniam per eum non stetisset,5 quin praestaretur, decedentem domum cum favore ac laudibus prosecuti sunt.

32. Timor inde Patres incessit, ne, si dimissus exercitus foret, rursus coetus occulti conjurationesque fierent. Itaque quamquam per dictatorem delectus habitus esset, tamen, quoniam in consulum verba jurassent, sacramento teneri militem rati, per causam renovati ab Aequis belli educi

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1This bad beginning:' res male committitur, an affair is mismanaged at the commencement.'

2 Actio is sometimes used for a proposal or motion in the senate or popular assembly.

3 Equivalent to me hercle. See Zumpt, § 361.

4 Compare i. 9, p. 31, note 4.

5 Stat per me, it is in my power,' 'rests upon me.'

6 From Livy's description, it appears that the dictator, by virtue of his unlimited power, had completed the levy, but had made the troops swear obedience not to himself, but to the consuls of the year. We must take it so, though it seems strange: we read a little above, however, that the dictator had not, as usual, named a magister equitum, but

ex urbe legiones jussere. Quo facto maturata est seditio. Et primo agitatum dicitur de consulum caede, ut solverentur sacramento ; doctos deinde nullam scelere religionem exsolvi, Sicinio quodam auctore injussu consulum in Sacrum montem secessisse: trans Anienem amnem est, tria ab urbe milia passuum. Ea frequentior fama est, quam cujus Piso 2 auctor est, in Aventinum secessionem factam esse. Ibi sine ullo duce vallo fossaque communitis castris quieti, rem nullam nisi necessariam ad victum sumendo,3 per aliquot dies neque lacessiti neque lacessentes sese tenuere. Pavor ingens in urbe, metuque mutuo suspensa erant omnia. Timere relicta ab suis plebes violentiam Patrum, timere Patres residem in urbe plebem, incerti manere eam an abire mallent.4 Quam diu autem tranquillam, quae secesserit, multitudinem fore? quid futurum deinde, si quod externum interim bellum existat ? Nullam profecto nisi in concordia civium spem reliquam ducere.5 Eam per aequa, per iniqua reconciliandam civitati esse. Placuit igitur oratorem ad plebem mitti Menenium Agrippam, facundum virum et, quod inde oriundus erat, plebi carum. Is intromissus in

had intrusted the command of two armies to the consuls. It seems probable, therefore, that he was appointed solely for the purpose of holding the levy.

1 Religio exsolvitur, 'the obligation is cancelled,' can be said equally well with religione exsolvor. The accusative with the infinitive after dicitur occurs sometimes, though but rarely. See Gram. § 247, and Zumpt, § 607, note. It can be explained here, where there are two clauses, by supplying the active form dicunt out of the preceding passive dicitur.

2 One of the oldest Roman annalists, who was also a distinguished statesman, tribune of the plebs in 149, and consul in 133 B.C. He was surnamed Frugi, and has been mentioned by Livy before this in i. 58, prope fin.

3 The moderation of the plebeians is worthy of immortal praise; but it should not be forgotten that near Mons Sacer, beyond the Anio, was situated the property of the Tribus Claudia (see ii. 16), and that that tribe, hostile to and bitterly hated by the plebs, had to bear the greater part of the burden of their support. The violence of the plebeians in taking corn by force is sarcastically alluded to by Coriolanus in the senate, chap. 34.

4 The fathers were not sure themselves whether it would be more advantageous for them that the plebeians still in the city should secede or remain.

5 The infinitives are of different kinds, some of them belonging to the oratio obliqua, and ducere being an historical infinitive.

6 That is, ex ea-namely, plebe; as above, chap. 2, unde for a quo.