| Ex libro XVI
Origo
Carthaginiensium
et primordia urbis eorum referuntur.
Contra quos
et
Hieronem, regem Syracusanorum, auxilium Mamertinis ferendum senatus
censuit,
cum de ea re inter suadentes ut id fieret, dissuadentesque contentio
fuisset;
transgressisque tunc primum mare exercitibus Romanis adversus Hieronem
saepius bene pugnatum. Petenti
pax data est.
Lustrum a
censoribus
conditum est. Censa
sunt civium capita CCCLXXXII milia CCXXXIIII.
Decimus
Iunius
Brutus munus gladiatorium in honorem defuncti patris primus edidit.
Colonia
Aesernia
deducta est.
Res praeterea
contra
Poenos et Vulsinios prospere gestas continet.
|
From book 16
A description
is
offered of the origins of the Carthaginians
and the early history of their city.
[264
BCE]
Against them and against king Hiero of the
Syracusans, the
Senate
decided to offer help to the Mamertines.
There had been much debate between those for and against it. For the
first
time, the Romans crossed the sea with an army and they fought
successfully
against Hiero. [263]
When
he sued for peace, it was granted.
The lustrum
ceremony was performed by the censors.
382,234 citizens were registered.
To honor his
father,
Decimus Junius Brutus was the first one to organize gladiatorial games.
A colony
was founded at Aesernia.
It [book 16]
also
contains accounts of successful wars against the Carthaginians and
Volsinians.
|
| Ex libro XVII
Cn. Cornelius
consul
a classe Punica circumventus et per fraudem, veluti in conloquium
evocatus,
captus est.
C. Duillius
consul
adversus classem Poenorum prospere pugnavit, primusque omnium Romanorum
ducum navalis victoriae duxit triumphum. Ob
quam causam ei perpetuus quoque honos habitus est, ut revertenti a cena
tibicine canente funale praeferretur.
L. Cornelius
consul
in Sardinia et Corsica contra Sardos et Corsos et Hannonem, Poenorum
ducem,
feliciter pugnavit.
Atilius
Calatinus
cos. cum in locum a Poenis circumsessum temere exercitum duxisset, M.
Calpurni,
tribuni militum, virtute et opera evasit, qui cum CCC militibus
eruptione
facta hostes in se converterat.
Hannibal, dux
Poenorum,
victa classe cui praefuerat, a militibus suis in crucem sublatus est.
Atilius
Regulus
cos. victis navali proelio Poenis in Africam traiecit.
|
From book 17
Consul
Gnaeus Cornelius was cornered by a Carthaginian navy and was captured
under
the pretext of negotiations.
[260]
Consul
Gaius Duillius successfully fought against the Carthaginian navy, and
was
the first Roman leader to celebrate a a naval triumph. Therefore,
he was given a lasting right to have himself accompanied by a torch
carrier
and a flutist when he returned home from dinner.
[259]
Consul
Lucius Cornelius [Scipio] fought successfully in Sardinia and Corsica
against
the Sardines, Corsicans and the Carthaginian commander Hanno.
[258]
Consul
Atilius Calatinus, carelessly led his troops to a place where they were
surrounded by Carthaginians, but escaped by the courage and energy of
the
military tribune Marcus Calpurnius, who made a sortie with 300 soldiers
and diverted the enemy's attention.
[257]
The
Carthaginian general Hannibal
was crucified by his own men after the navy he commanded had been
defeated.
[256]
Consul
[Marcus] Atilius Regulus crossed to Africa after he had defeated the
Carthaginians
in a naval battle [at Cape Ecnomus].
|
| Ex libro XVIII
Atilius
Regulus
in Africa serpentem portentosae magnitudinis cum magna clade militum
occidit.
Et cum aliquot proeliis bene adversus Carthaginienses pugnasset,
successorque
ei a senatu prospere bellum gerenti non mitteretur, id ipsum per
litteras
ad senatum scriptas questus est, in quibus inter causas petendi
successoris
erat quod agellus eius a mercennariis desertus esset. Quaerente
deinde Fortuna ut magnum utriusque casus exemplum in Regulo proderetur,
arcessito a Carthaginiensibus Xanthippo, Lacedaemoniorum duce, victus
proelio
et captus est. Res
deinde a ducibus Romanis omnibus terra marique prospere gestas
deformaverunt
naufragia classium.
Tib.
Coruncanius
primus ex plebe pontifex maximus creatus est.
M'. Valerius
Maximus
P. Sempronius Sophus censores cum senatum legerent, XVI senatu
moverunt. Lustrum
condiderunt, quo censa sunt civium capita CCXCVII milia DCCXCVII.
Regulus
missus
a Carthaginiensibus ad senatum ut de pace et (si eam non posset
impetrare)
de commutandis captivis ageret, et iureiurando adstrictus, rediturum se
Carthaginem, si commutari captivos non placuisset, utrumque negandi
auctor
senatui fuit, et cum fide custodita reversus esset, supplicio a
Carthaginiensibus
de eo sumpto periit.
|
From book 18
[255]
In
Africa, [Marcus] Atilius Regulus killed a serpent of portentous
dimensions,
and suffered great losses among his soldiers. But although he had
fought
successfully against the Carthaginians in several battles, the Senate
did
not send him a successor. He complained in a letter to the Senate, in
which
he compared his request to a piece of land that had been left by its
workers. In
the person of Regulus, Fortuna wanted to to give an example of both
sides
of fate: he was defeated and captured by Xanthippus, a Spartan leader
that
had been invited by the Carthaginians to support them. After
this, the Roman commanders pursued the war successfully on land and
sea,
although the effects were spoiled by shipwreck of the fleet.
Tiberius
Coruncanius
was the first plebeian
to be made pontifex
maximus.
The censors
Manius
Valerius Maximus and Publius Sempronius Sophus edited the list of
senators,
and removed sixteen members from the Senate. The
lustrum
ceremony was performed and 297,797 citizens were registered.
The
Carthaginians
sent Regulus to the Senate to conduct peace negotiations or (if he
could
not obtain peace) the exchange of prisoners. Although he was bound by
an
oath to return to Carthage if he did not obtain the exchange, he
advised
the Senate against both proposals. When he returned to imprisonment, he
was executed by the Carthaginians.
|
| Ex libro XIX
Caecilius
Metellus
rebus adversus Poenos prospere gestis speciosum egit triumphum, XIII
ducibus
hostium et CXX elephantis in eo ductis. Claudius
Pulcher cos. contra auspicia profectus (iussit mergi pullos, qui cibari
nolebant) infeliciter adversus Carthaginienses classe pugnavit, et
revocatus
a senatu iussusque dictatorem dicere Claudium Gliciam dixit, sortis
ultimae
hominem, qui coactus abdicare se magistratu postea ludos praetextatus
spectavit.
A. Atilius
Calatinus
primus dictator extra Italiam exercitum duxit. Commutatio
captivorum cum Poenis facta est.
Coloniae
deductae
sunt Fregenae, in agro Sallentino Brundisium.
Lustrum a
censoribus
conditum est. Censa
sunt civium capita CCXLI milia CCXII.
Claudia
(soror
P. Claudi qui contemptis auspiciis male pugnaverat) a ludis revertens
cum
turba premeretur, dixit: "utinam frater meus viveret: iterum classem
duceret." Ob
eam causam multa ei dicta est.
Duo praetores tunc primum creati
sunt.
Caecilius Metellus, pontifex maximus,
A. Postumium consulem, quoniam idem et flamen Martialis erat, cum is ad
bellum gerendum proficisci vellet, in urbe tenuit nec passus est a
sacris
recedere.
Rebus adversus Poenos a pluribus
ducibus prospere gestis, summam victoriae C. Lutatius cos. victa ad
Aegates
insulas classe Poenorum imposuit. Petentibus
Carthaginiensibus pax data est.
Cum templum Vestae arderet, Caecilius
Metellus, pontifex maximus, ex incendio sacra rapuit.
Duae tribus adiectae sunt, Velina
et Quirina.
|
From book 19
[251]
Caecilius
Metellus fought successfully against the Carthaginians [commanded by Hasdrubal]
and organized a spectacular triumph, in which 13 enemy leaders and 120
elephants were to be seen. [249]
Consul
Claudius Pulcher fought without success against the Carthaginian navy
after
evil omens (he had ordered the holy chickens to be drowned if they
refused
to eat). He was recalled by the Senate, ordered to appoint a dictator,
and chose Claudius Glicia, a man of the lowest kind. Although he was
forced
to lay down his office, he afterwards attended the games in a
purple-bordered
toga.
Aulus Atilius
Calatinus
was the first dictator to lead an army out of Italy. Prisoners
were exchanged with the Carthaginians.
[244]
Colonies
were founded at Fregenae and at Brundisium in the country of the
Sallentines.
The lustrum
ceremony
was celebrated by the censors.
241,212 citizens were registered.
Claudia (the
sister
of the Publius Claudius who had fought so badly after his contempt for
the omens) said, when she returned from the games and was hindered by
the
crowds: "Oh, that my brother were still alive and commanded a
navy!" Because
of this, she was fined.
[242] For
the first time, two praetors
were elected.
Pontifex maximus Caecilius Metellus
kept consul Aulus Postumius, who was priest of Mars too, in the city
when
he wanted to set out to wage war. He was not allowed to ignore his
religious
duties.
[241] The
war against the Carthaginians was conducted successfully by several
commanders.
The ultimate victory was won by consul Gaius Lutatius near the Aegatian
isles, where he defeated the Carthaginian navy. When
the Carthaginians sued for peace, it was granted.
When the temple of Vesta was burning,
Caecilius Metellus, the pontifex maximus, saved the holy objects from
the
fire.
Two voting districts were added,
called Velina and Quirina.
|
| Ex libro XX
Falisci cum
rebellassent,
sexto die perdomiti in deditionem venerunt.
Spoletium
colonia
deducta est.
Adversus
Liguras
tunc primum exercitus promotus est. Sardi
et Corsi cum rebellassent, subacti sunt.
Tuccia, virgo
Vestalis,
incesti damnata est.
Bellum
Illyriis
propter unum ex legatis, qui ad eos missi erant, occisum indictum est,
subactique in deditionem venerunt.
Praetorum
numerus
ampliatus est ut essent IIII.
Galli
transalpini,
qui in Italiam inruperant, caesi sunt. Eo
bello populum R. sui Latinique nominis DCCC milia armatorum habuisse
dicit. Exercitibus
Romanis tunc primum trans Padum ductis Galli Insubres aliquot proeliis
fusi in deditionem venerunt. M.
Claudius Marcellus cos. occiso Gallorum Insubrium duce, Vertomaro,
opima
spolia rettulit.
Histri subacti sunt. Iterum
Illyrii cum rebellassent, domiti in deditionem venerunt.
Lustrum a censoribus ter conditum
est. Primo
lustro censa sunt civium
capita CCLXX milia CCXII. Libertini
in quattuor tribus redacti sunt, cum antea dispersi per omnes fuissent,
Esquilinam, Palatinam, Suburanam, Collinam. C.
Flaminius censor viam Flaminiam muniit et circum Flaminium exstruxit.
Coloniae deductae sunt in agro de
Gallis capto Placentia et Cremona.
|
From book 20
When the
Faliscans
revolted, they were subdued on the sixth day and their surrender was
accepted.
A colony was
founded
at Spoletum.
For the first
time,
an army was sent out against the Ligures. [237]
When
the Sardines and Corsicans revolted, they were suppressed.
The Vestal
Virgin
Tuccia was condemned for adultery.
[229]
War
was declared on the Illyrians after one of the envoys sent to them had
been killed. Being conquered, they surrendered.
[227]
The
number of praetors was doubled. Now there were four.
[225]
Gauls
from across the Alps invaded Italy and were defeated. It
is said that during this war, the Roman people and its Latin allies
employed
800,000 soldiers. [223]
For
the first time, Roman armies crossed the Po and the Gallic Insubres,
defeated
in battle, were defeated in a series of battles. They
surrendered. [222]
Consul
Marcus
Claudius Marcellus killed the leader of the Gallic Insubres,
Vertomarus,
and returned with the supreme booty.
[221] The
Istrians were subdued. [219]
The
Illyrians revolted again, but were subdued. Their surrender was
accepted.
Three times, the censors celebrated
the lustrum ceremony. On the
first occasion, 270,212 citizens were registered. Freed
slaves were registered in four voting districts: Esquilina, Palatina,
Subura,
and Collina. (Until then, they had been divided more equally.) [220]
Censor
Gaius Flaminius built the Via Flaminia and constructed the Circus
Flaminia.
Colonies were founded in the conquered
Gallic territories at Placentia and Cremona.
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