Ab Urbe Condita 1.31

Liv. 1.31.1Dēvictīs Sabīnīs cum in magnā glōriā magnīsque opibus regnum Tullī ac tōta rēs Rōmāna esset, nūntiātum rēgī patribusque est in monte Albānō lapidibus plūvisse.

After the Sabines were defeated, when the reign of Tullus and the whole Roman state stood in great glory and great power, it was reported to the king and senators that it had rained stones on the Alban Mount.

Note. Devictis Sabinis is an ablative absolute. lapidibus pluvisse: impersonal 'it rained (with) stones', ablative of means. Showers of stones (probably meteorites or volcanic debris) were a standard Roman prodigy.

Liv. 1.31.2Quod cum crēdī vix posset, missīs ad id vīsendum prōdigium, in cōnspectū haud aliter, quam cum grandinem ventī glomerātam in terrās agunt, crēbrī cecidēre caelō lapidēs.

Since this could hardly be believed, men were sent to see the portent, and in their sight stones fell thick from the sky, just as when winds drive hail heaped together onto the earth.

Note. missis: ablative absolute with the noun understood, 'men having been sent'. haud aliter quam cum …: 'just as when …', a simile in prose. cecidere = ceciderunt.

Liv. 1.31.3Vīsī etiam audīre vōcem ingentem ex summī cacūminis lūcō, ut patriō rītū sacra Albānī facerent, quae velut diīs quoque simul cum patriā relictīs oblīviōnī dederant, et aut Rōmāna sacra suscēperant aut fortūnae, ut fit, obīrātī cultum relīquerant deum.

They also seemed to hear a mighty voice from the grove on the topmost peak, telling the Albans to perform their rites in their fathers' way; they had consigned these to oblivion, as if they had left their gods behind along with their country, and had either taken up Roman rites or, as happens, angry with fortune, had given up the worship of the gods.

Note. Visi … audire: 'they seemed to hear', with the subject of the missis carried over. The Albans had abandoned their ancestral cult when they were moved to Rome; the voice orders them to resume it. fortunae obirati: 'angry with fortune', obirascor + dative. deum = deorum, the older genitive plural.

Liv. 1.31.4Rōmānīs quoque ab eōdem prōdigiō novendiāle sacrum pūblicē susceptum est, seu vōce caelestī ex Albānō monte missa— nam id quoque trāditur— seu haruspicum monitū;

The Romans too undertook a public nine-day rite because of the same portent, either through a heavenly voice sent from the Alban Mount — for that too is reported — or on the advice of the soothsayers;

Note. novendiale sacrum: a nine-day festival of expiation. haruspices were Etruscan diviners who read entrails and portents; Rome consulted them on prodigies throughout the Republic.

Liv. 1.31.4mānsit certē sollemne, ut, quandōque idem prōdigium nūntiārētur, fēriae per novem diēs agerentur.

at any rate the custom remained that whenever the same portent was reported, a holiday was kept for nine days.

Note. quandoque = quandocumque, 'whenever'; the subjunctive nuntiaretur is due to the purpose clause (ut … agerentur) it belongs to.

Liv. 1.31.4Haud ita multō post pestilentiā labōrātum est.

Not long afterwards the city was afflicted by a plague.

Note. laboratum est: impersonal passive, 'there was distress from plague'.

Liv. 1.31.5Unde cum pigritia mīlitandī orerētur, nūlla tamen ab armīs quiēs dabātur ā bellicōsō rēge, salūbriōra etiam crēdente mīlitiae quam domī iuvenum corpora esse, dōnec ipse quoque longinquō morbō est inplicitus.

Although this gave rise to an unwillingness to serve in the army, still no rest from arms was granted by the warlike king, who believed that the bodies of the young were healthier on campaign than at home, until he himself was struck down by a long illness.

Note. Unde: 'as a result of which'. salubriora … esse depends on credente (ablative absolute with rege implied): Tullus thought soldiers healthier on campaign than at home. militiae and domi are locatives.

Liv. 1.31.6Tunc adeō frāctī simul cum corpore sunt spīritūs illī ferōcēs, ut, quī nihil ante ratus esset minus rēgium quam sacrīs dēdere animum, repente omnibus magnīs parvīsque superstitiōnibus obnoxius dēgeret religiōnibusque etiam populum inplēret.

Then those fierce spirits were so broken along with his body that he, who had earlier thought nothing less fitting for a king than to give his mind to religion, suddenly spent his life a slave to every superstition great and small, and filled the people too with religious scruples.

Note. qui nihil … minus regium … ratus esset quam sacris dedere animum: 'he who had thought nothing less kingly than to devote his mind to religion' — the warlike Tullus is the opposite of the pious Numa. Livy pointedly makes the change come with illness, not conviction.

Liv. 1.31.7Vulgō iam hominēs eum statum rērum, quī sub Numā rēge fuerat, requīrentēs, ūnam opem aegrīs corporibus relictam, sī pāx veniaque ab diīs inpetrāta esset, crēdēbant.

People generally, longing now for the state of affairs there had been under King Numa, believed that the one help left for their sick bodies was if peace and pardon were obtained from the gods.

Note. Numa Pompilius, the second king, was Rome's model of religious founder. si … impetrata esset: the subjunctive reports the people's belief (virtual indirect speech).

Liv. 1.31.8Ipsum rēgem trādunt volventem commentāriōs Numae, cum ibi quaedam occulta sollemnia sacrificia Iovī Ēliciō facta invēnisset, operātum iīs sacrīs sē abdidisse;

They say that the king himself, turning over the notebooks of Numa, found there certain secret ritual sacrifices made to Jupiter Elicius, and shut himself away to perform those rites;

Note. Iuppiter Elicius: Jupiter 'drawn down' by ritual, at an altar Numa had set up on the Aventine (1.20). operatum: operor + dative, 'to be busy with religious rites'. The sentence is indirect speech after tradunt: abdidisse (and in the next sentence initum esse, conflagrasse).

Liv. 1.31.8sed nōn rīte initum aut cūrātum id sacrum esse, nec sōlum nūllam eī oblātam caelestium speciem, sed īrā Iovis sollicitātī prāvā religiōne fulmine ictum cum domō cōnflagrāsse.

but that the rite was not begun or carried out properly, and not only was no vision of the heavenly gods granted him, but, struck by a thunderbolt through the anger of Jupiter, provoked by the faulty worship, he was burned up together with his house.

Note. fulmine ictum … conflagrasse: the accusative ictum agrees with the king, the understood subject of the infinitive. Other versions said Tullus was murdered by Ancus; Livy reports only the religious story.

Liv. 1.31.8Tullus magnā glōriā bellī regnāvit annōs duōs et trīgintā.

Tullus reigned thirty-two years with great glory in war.

Note. regnavit annos duos et triginta: accusative of duration of time. Traditional dates: 672–640 BC.