Ab Urbe Condita 1.15

Liv. 1.15.1Bellī Fīdēnātis contāgiōne inrītātī Vēientium animī et cōnsanguinitāte— nam Fīdēnātēs quoque Etrūscī fuērunt—, et quod ipsa propinquitās locī, sī Rōmāna arma omnibus īnfesta fīnitimīs essent, stimulābat, in fīnēs Rōmānōs excucurrērunt populābundī magis quam iūstī mōre bellī.

The minds of the people of Veii were provoked by the contagion of the war with Fidenae and by kinship (for the people of Fidenae too were Etruscans), and because the very nearness of the place spurred them on, if Roman arms were to threaten all their neighbours, they made a raid into Roman territory, more like plunderers than in the manner of a proper war.

Note. Veii, a large Etruscan city just across the Tiber, was Rome's great rival until Camillus took it in 396 BC. contagione: the infection of war spreads like disease. The si clause gives the Veientes' thought: 'if Roman arms should be hostile to all their neighbours'.

Liv. 1.15.2Itaque nōn castrīs positīs, nōn expectātō hostium exercitū raptam ex agrīs praedam portantēs Vēiōs rediēre.

So without pitching camp, without waiting for the enemy's army, they went back to Veii carrying the plunder taken from the fields.

Note. rediere = redierunt; the -ere ending of the third plural perfect is common in Livy.

Liv. 1.15.2Rōmānus contrā, postquam hostem in agrīs nōn invēnit, dīmicātiōnī ultimae īnstrūctus intentusque Tiberim trānsit.

The Roman, on the other hand, not finding the enemy in the fields, crosses the Tiber ready and eager for a decisive battle.

Liv. 1.15.3Quem postquam castra pōnere et ad urbem accessūrum Vēientēs audīvēre, obviam ēgressī, ut potius aciē dēcernerent, quam inclūsī dē tēctīs moenibusque dīmicārent.

When the Veientes heard that he was pitching camp and was going to come up to the city, they went out to meet him, so as to decide the matter in the battle line rather than fight shut up behind their houses and walls.

Note. accessurum: future active participle, 'that he was going to approach'. potius ... quam: 'rather … than'.

Liv. 1.15.4Ibi vīribus nūllā arte adiūtīs tantum veterānī rōbore exercitūs rēx Rōmānus vīcit persecūtusque fūsōs ad moenia hostēs urbe validā mūrīs ac sitū ipsō mūnītā abstinuit;

There, by the sheer strength of his veteran army, with no skill helping its power, the Roman king won; and pursuing the routed enemy to their walls, he kept away from the city, strongly fortified by its walls and by its very position;

Note. viribus nulla arte adiutis: 'with his strength helped by no skill'. situ ipso munita: 'fortified by its very position' (Veii stood on a plateau with steep sides).

Liv. 1.15.4agrōs rediēns vāstat ulcīscendī magis quam praedae studiō.

on his way back he lays waste their fields, from desire for revenge more than for plunder.

Note. ulciscendi magis quam praedae studio: a gerund and a noun in parallel, both depending on studio.

Liv. 1.15.5Eāque clāde haud minus quam adversā pugnā subāctī Vēientēs pācem petītum ōrātōrēs Rōmam mittunt.

Subdued by that loss no less than by the lost battle, the Veientes send spokesmen to Rome to seek peace.

Note. petitum is the supine of purpose after a verb of motion: 'they send spokesmen to ask for peace'.

Liv. 1.15.5Agrī parte multātīs in centum annōs indūtiae datae.

Part of their land was taken from them as a penalty, and a truce for a hundred years was granted.

Note. multatis (supply eis): ablative absolute, 'when they had been fined part of their land'. indutiae were a truce, not a full peace; a hundred-year truce is a formula of the early annals.

Liv. 1.15.6Haec fermē Rōmulō regnante domī mīlitiaeque gesta, quōrum nihil absonum fideī dīvīnae orīginis dīvīnitātisque post mortem crēditae fuit, nōn animus in regnō avītō recuperandō, nōn condendae urbis cōnsilium, nōn bellō ac pāce firmandae.

These were roughly the things done at home and at war in Romulus' reign, and none of them was out of keeping with belief in his divine origin and in the divinity believed in after his death: neither his spirit in recovering his grandfather's kingdom, nor his plan in founding the city, nor in strengthening it by war and by peace.

Note. domi militiaeque: locatives, 'at home and in war'. quorum nihil absonum ... fuit: 'none of which was inconsistent with belief in his divine origin'. The three non clauses list Romulus' qualities: animus in regno avito recuperando, consilium condendae urbis, (consilium) bello ac pace firmandae (urbis).

Liv. 1.15.7Ab illō enim profectō vīribus datīs tantum valuit, ut in quadrāgintā deinde annōs tūtam pācem habēret.

For thanks to the strength he gave it, it became so powerful that for the next forty years it enjoyed a secure peace.

Note. Ab illo ... viribus datis: 'by the strength given (the city) by him'. in quadraginta annos: 'for forty years'.

Liv. 1.15.8Multitūdinī tamen grātior fuit quam patribus, longē ante aliōs acceptissimus mīlitum animīs;

He was, however, more popular with the people than with the senators, and by far the best loved of all by the soldiers;

Note. acceptissimus: superlative of acceptus, 'most welcome, best loved'.

Liv. 1.15.8trecentōsque armātōs ad custōdiam corporis, quōs Celerēs appellāvit, nōn in bellō sōlum sed etiam in pāce habuit.

and he kept three hundred armed men as a bodyguard, whom he called the Celeres, not only in war but also in peace.

Note. The Celeres ('the swift ones') were said to be Romulus' mounted bodyguard.