Ab Urbe Condita 1.42

Liv. 1.42.1Nec iam pūblicīs magis cōnsiliīs Servius quam prīvātīs mūnīre opēs et nē, quālis Ancī līberum animus adversus Tarquinium fuerat, tālis adversus sē Tarquinī līberum esset, duās fīliās iuvenibus rēgiīs, Lūciō atque Arruntī Tarquiniīs, iungit;

And now Servius began to strengthen his power by private measures no less than by public ones; and so that the attitude of Tarquinius' children towards himself should not be what the attitude of Ancus' children had been towards Tarquinius, he married his two daughters to the young princes, Lucius and Arruns Tarquinius;

Note. nē … esset: purpose clause. līberum: genitive plural of līberī, 'of the children'. Lucius Tarquinius will become the last king, Tarquinius Superbus.

Liv. 1.42.2nec rūpit tamen fātī necessitātem hūmānīs cōnsiliīs, quīn invidia regnī etiam inter domesticōs īnfīda omnia atque īnfesta faceret.

yet he did not break the necessity of fate by human plans, for jealousy over the throne made everything faithless and hostile even within the family.

Note. quīn … faceret: 'so that jealousy did not make'. Livy foreshadows the murder of Servius by his own daughter and son-in-law.

Liv. 1.42.2Peropportūnē ad praesentis quiētem statūs bellum cum Vēientibus— iam enim indūtiae exierant— aliīsque Etrūscīs sūmptum.

Very conveniently for the quiet of the present state of affairs, war was taken up with Veii — for the truce had now run out — and with other Etruscans.

Note. Veii was the great Etruscan city a few miles north of Rome across the Tiber, Rome's chief rival for centuries.

Liv. 1.42.3In eō bellō et virtūs et fortūna ēnituit Tullī;

In that war both the courage and the good fortune of Tullius shone out;

Liv. 1.42.3fūsōque ingentī hostium exercitū haud dubius rēx, seu patrum seu plēbis animōs perīclitārētur, Rōmam rediit.

and when he had routed a huge enemy army he returned to Rome, king beyond doubt, whether he tested the feelings of the senators or of the people.

Note. fūsō … exercitū: ablative absolute. seu … seu: 'whether … or'.

Liv. 1.42.3Adgrediturque inde ad pācis longē maximum opus, ut, quem ad modum Numa dīvīnī auctor iūris fuisset, ita Servium conditōrem omnis in cīvitāte discrīminis ōrdinumque, quibus inter gradūs dignitātis fortūnaeque aliquid interlūcet, posterī fāmā ferrent.

Then he set about the greatest work of peace by far, so that, just as Numa had been the founder of religious law, so later generations would celebrate Servius as the founder of every distinction in the state and of the classes by which some difference shows between grades of rank and fortune.

Note. quem ad modum … ita: 'just as … so'. Numa, the second king, was credited with founding Roman religious law; Servius with the political and military organisation.

Liv. 1.42.5Cēnsus enim īnstituit, rem salūberrimam tantō futūrō imperiō, ex quō bellī pācisque mūnia nōn virītim, ut ante, sed prō habitū pecūniārum fierent;

For he established the census, a most beneficial thing for an empire that was to be so great, by which the duties of war and peace were to be carried out not man by man, as before, but according to the amount of one's property;

Note. Cēnsus: the census, a register of citizens and property. prō habitū pecūniārum: 'according to the amount of one's property' — duties and voting power were tied to wealth.

Liv. 1.42.5tum classēs centuriāsque et hunc ōrdinem ex cēnsū discrīpsit vel pācī decōrum vel bellō.

then from the census he laid out the classes and centuries and this order, fitting for both peace and war.

Note. classēs centuriāsque: Servius' five property classes, each divided into centuries, which became the units of voting in the comitia centuriāta. Livy describes them in detail in the next chapter.