Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 22

voted for) it.

11. +provocatione+ = _right of appeal_.

18. +prodicta+ = _adjourned_, from the first hearing. --R.

19. +a.s.sertor V.+ = _who claimed V. as his slave_.]

+Results of the Secession+. 'The Valerian Laws, by the second of which it was ordained that in criminal trials, when the life of a citizen was at stake, the sentence of the Consul should be subject to an appeal to the people. This Valerian Law of Appeal was the Roman Habeas Corpus Act.' --Ihne.

D18

WAR WITH THE ETRUSCANS OF FIDENAE AND VEII.

_Cossus wins the Spolia Opima, 437 B.C._

Erat tum inter equites tribunus militum A. Cornelius Cossus, eximia pulchritudine corporis, animo ac viribus par memorque generis, quod amplissimum acceptum maius auctiusque reliquit posteris. Is c.u.m ad impetum Tolumni, quac.u.mque se intendisset, {5} trepidantes Romanas videret turmas insignemque eum regio habitu volitantem tota acie cognosset, 'Hicine est' inquit 'ruptor foederis humani violatorque gentium iuris? Iam ego hanc mactatam victimam, si modo sancti quicquam in terris esse di {10} volunt, legatorum manibus dabo.' Calcaribus subditis infesta cuspide in unum fertur hostem; quem c.u.m ictum equo deiecisset, confestim et ipse hasta innixus se in pedes excepit.

Adsurgentem ibi regem umbone resupinat repet.i.tumque saepius cuspide {15} ad terram affixit. Tum exsangui detracta spolia, caputque abscisum victor spiculo gerens terrore caesi regis hostes perfudit. Ita equitum quoque fusa acies, quae una fecerat anceps certamen. Dictator legionibus fugatis instat et ad castra compulsos {20} caedit.

LIVY, iv. 19.

[Linenotes: 3. +par+ = _equally distinguished by_, equal, that is, to his beauty. --S.

5. +Tolumni+ = Lars Tolumnius, King of the Veientos, in alliance with Fidenae (about 5 miles N.E. of Rome).]

+quac.u.mque se intendisset+ = _wherever he directed his charge._ 8-11. +Hicine ... manibus dabo.+ Fidenae had frequently been colonised by Rome, and had as frequently revolted. When the Romans sent four amba.s.sadors to Fidenae to demand satisfaction for this last revolt, the people of Fidenae murdered them. Tolumnius is a.s.sociated with their crime.

12. +infesta cuspide+ = _with couched lance._ 13-14. +hasta ... excepit+ = _with the help of his spear leapt to the ground_. Lit. 'resting on his spear caught himself on his feet.'

--Stephenson.

15. +umbone resupinat+ = _he throws him back with the boss of his s.h.i.+eld._ +repet.i.tum+ = _piercing him again and again_. --S.

19. +Dictator+ = Mamercus Aemilius, a man of energy and ability.]

The +spolia opima+ (_spoils of honour_) were the arms taken on the field of battle by the victorious from the vanquished general. They were won on only three occasions:--

i. by +Romulus+, ii. by +Cossus+, iii. by +Marcellus+ (the Conqueror of Syracuse), who in his first consuls.h.i.+p, 222 B.C., slew with his own hand Viridomarus, King of the Insubrian Gauls. Cf. Prop. V. x.

D19

THE WAR WITH VEII, 405-396 B.C. (1)

_First Pay given to Citizen Soldiers, 406 B.C._

Additum deinde omnium maxime tempestivo principum in mult.i.tudinem munere, ut ante mentionem ullam plebis tribunorumve decerneret senatus, ut stipendium miles de publico acciperet, c.u.m ante id tempus de suo quisque functus eo munere esset. {5} Nihil acceptum umquam a plebe tanto gaudio traditur. Concursum itaque ad curiam esse prensatasque exeuntium ma.n.u.s et patres vere appellatos, effectum esse fatentibus, ut nemo pro tam munifica patria, donec quicquam virium superesset, corpori {10} aut sanguini suo parceret. c.u.m commoditas iuvaret, rem familiarem saltem acquiescere eo tempore, quo corpus addictum atque operatum rei publicae esset, tum quod ultro sibi oblatum esset, non a tribunis plebis agitatum, non suis sermonibus efflagitatum, {15} id efficiebat multiplex gaudium c.u.mulatioremque gratiam rei. . . . Et lege perlata de indicendo Veientibus bello exercitum magna ex parte voluntarium novi tribuni militum consulari potestate Veios duxere. {20}

LIVY, iv. 59, 60.

[Linenotes: 1. +tempestivo+ = _seasonable_ (_timely_), in view of the coming struggle with Veii, and the necessity for winter campaigns.

2. +munere.+ Livy tells us (cap. 60) that the Senate did _not_ provide the pay as a present, but simply paid punctually their proper share of the _war-tax (tributum) in accordance with their a.s.sessment (c.u.m senatus summa fide ex censu contulisset)_.

4. +de publico+ = _out of the Public Treasury_.

9. +fatentibus+ = _while men admitted_. --R.

11-12. +c.u.m ... acquiescere+ = _While the comfortable thought_ (_commoditas_ = lit. _advantage_) _pleased them_ (namely) _that their private property at least was undisturbed_-- i.e. that they paid no war-tax while they were in the field. --Rawlins.

12-13. +quo corpus ... esset+ = _when they were impressed (devoted to) and actively employed in the public service_. --S. +addictus+, properly of an insolvent debtor made over to his creditor = a _bondman_.

16-17. +id ... gratiam rei+ in apposition to +quod ...

efflagitatum+.

19. +tribuni ... potestate.+ Military tribunes with consular power instead of Consuls were elected occasionally from 444 to 367 B.C.

20. +Veios.+ The capture of Veii by Camillus (396 B.C.), in consequence of the introduction of military pay, was enormously important to Rome.]

+Reference.+ Ihne, _Hist._ vol. i. pp. 243-4.

D20

THE WAR WITH VEII, 405-396 B.C. (2)

A. _Lament over Veii._

Heu, Veii veteres, et vos tum regna fuistis, Et vestro posita est aurea sella foro: Nunc intra muros pastoris bucina lenti Cantat, et in vestris ossibus arva metunt. 30

PROPERTIUS, IV. (V.) x. 27-30.

[Linenotes: 27. +Veii+ (Isola Farnese) on R. Cremera, about 12 miles N.W. of Rome.

28. +aurea sella+, i.e. the official seat of the King. Cf. the Sella Curulis at Rome, introduced from Etruria.

29. +bucina+ = _horn_.

30. +et ... metunt+ = _and reapers gather the harvests from fields_ (+metunt arva+) _enriched by the bones of your buried heroes_ (+in ossibus vestris+).]

B. _The Rise of the Alban Lake._

Quid, quod in annalibus habemus, Veienti {5} bello, c.u.m lacus Alba.n.u.s praeter modum crevisset, Veientem quemdam ad nos hominem n.o.bilem profugisse, eumque dixisse, ex fatis, quae Veientes scripta haberent, Veios capi non posse, dum lacus is redundaret: et, si lacus emissus lapsu et cursu suo ad {10} mare profluxisset, perniciosum populo Romano: sin autem ita esset eductus, ut ad mare pervenire non posset, tum salutare nostris fore? Ex quo illa admirabilis a maioribus Albanae aquae facta deductio est. c.u.m autem Veientes bello fessi legatos ad {15} senatum misissent, tum ex his quidam dixisse dicitur, non omnia illum transfugam ausum esse senatu dicere: in iisdem enim fatis scriptum Veientes habere, 'Fore ut brevi a Gallis Roma caperetur:' quod quidem s.e.xennio post Veios captos esse factum {20} videmus.

CICERO, _de Divinatione_, I. xliv. 100.

[Linenotes: 5. +in annalibus+, e.g. in Livy, v. 15.

6. +crevisset+, perh. partly due to the excessive snows of the preceding winter, 397 B.C.

7. +profugisse.+ Livy says he was treacherously made prisoner.

8-9. +ex fatis ... haberent+, i.e. the Etruscan +Libri fatales+, _Books of fate_, cf. the +Libri Sibyllini+ = the Roman Books of fate.

10. +lapsu et cursu suo+ = _in its natural course and stream_.

14. +deductio+ = _draining_ (lit. _a leading off_). The tunnel then cut still carries off the superfluous waters of the lake.

20. +s.e.xennio post+ = _six years after_, i.e. 390 B.C. For the 10 years' siege of Veii, cf. the Trojan War.]

+Reference.+ Plutarch, _Camillus_, iii.-v. Livy, v. 15.

D21

THE WAR WITH VEII, 405-396 B.C. (3)

_The Conquest of Veii._

Veientes ignari se iam a suis vatibus, iam ab externis oraculis proditos, iam in partem praedae suae vocatos deos, alios votis ex urbe sua evocatos hostium templa novasque sedes spectare, seque ultimum illum diem agere, nihil minus timentes {5} quam subrutis cuniculo moenibus arcem iam plenam hostium esse, in muros pro se quisque armati discurrunt mirantes, quidnam id esset, quod, c.u.m tot per dies nemo se ab stationibus Roma.n.u.s movisset, tum velut repentino icti furore improvidi currerent ad {10} muros. . . . Cuniculus delectis militibus eo tempore plenus in aedem Iunonis, quae in Veientana arce erat, armatos repente edidit, et pars aversos in muris invadunt hostes, pars claustra portarum revellunt, pars, c.u.m ex tectis saxa tegulaeque a mulieribus ac {15} servitiis iacerentur, inferunt ignes. Clamor omnia variis terrentium ac paventium vocibus mixto mulierum ac puerorum ploratu complet. Momento temporis deiectis ex muro undique armatis patefactisque portis c.u.m alii agmine irruerent, alii {20} desertos scanderent muros, urbs hostibus impletur; omnibus locis pugnatur; deinde multa iam edita caede senescit pugna, et dictator praecones edicere iubet, ut ab inermi abstineatur.

LIVY, V. 21.