Remus is killed in an ensuing quarrel, and Romulus gains sole power.
ROME
Priori Remo augurium venisse fertur, sex vultures; iamque nuntiato augurio cum duplex numerus Romulo sese ostendisset, utrumque regem sua multitudo consalutaverat. Tempore illi praecepto, at hi numero avium regnum trahebant. Inde cum 45 altercatione congressi, certamine irarum ad caedem vertuntur. Ibi in turba ictus Remus cecidit. Vulgatior fama est ludibrio fratris Remum novos transiluisse muros, inde ab irato Romulo, cum verbis quoque increpitans adiecisset “Sic deinde quicumque alius transiliet moenia mea!” interfectum. Ita solus potitus 50 imperio Romulus; condita urbs conditoris nomine appellata. (I.3.10–7.3, excerpts)
49. potitus…appellata (50): sc. est with each; like other Lat. writers, Livy often omits forms of esse when easily understood from the context.
51. duobus…exercitus: i.e., of Rome and Alba Longa. After Romulus had firmly established the Roman state and its constitution, and then mysteriously vanished in a storm and was transformed into the god Quirinus, the people elected as their king Numa, a man of peace and piety who was credited with having systematized Roman religious institutions. Rome’s third king was the warlike Tullus Hostilius, among whose campaigns was one against Alba, the very city from which Romulus had come. To avoid great bloodshed in what amounted to a civil war, both sides agreed to the plan recounted in the following passage.
trigemini:triplet.
52. aetate…viribus: ABL. OF SPECIFICATION with dispares.
53. constat: impers., it is agreed.
nec ferme:and scarcely, and hardly.
res: here, story, tradition.
nobilior:more renowned, well known.
54. error: confusion, uncertainty.
utrous populi: i.e., whether Roman or Alban.
55. utroque: adv., in both directions; i.e., Livy’s sources were divided over the question.
trahunt: sc. nos.
56. qui…vocent: REL. CL. OF CHARACTERISTIC.
Horatios: OBJ. COMPLEM.
57. agunt: negotiate, arrange.
dimicent: dimicare,to fight, struggle;quisque often takes a pl. vb., they should each….
58. fore: depends on idea of speech implicit in the preceding cl.
59. convenit: convenire, to come together, meet, be agreed upon; often impers., it is agreed (so convenerat, 63). Here, where we would say are agreed upon, the compound subj. is thought of as a single idea, hence the sg. vb.
dimicarent: the ANTICIPATORY SUBJUNCT. is used with antequam and priusquam to express anticipation or purpose, before they should fight.
foedus:treaty, pact.
ictum…est (60): the thought develops from striking a sacrificial victim by which a treaty is sanctified to simply ratifying or “striking” a treaty.
60. his legibus: on these conditions (lit., in accordance with these laws), which are explained by the appos. cl. ut…imperitaret.
cuius populi:whichever nation’s.
61. vicissent: SUBJUNCT. BY ATTRACTION within the JUSSIVE NOUN CL.
is: sc. populus from the preceding populi.
cum bona pace: i.e., in peace and harmony.
The Horatii and the Curiatii
Arrangements for settling a war between Rome and Alba by a fight between two sets of triplets, one from each city.
“The Oath of the Horatii” Jacques Louis David, 18th century Louvre, Paris, France
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
Forte in duobus tum exercitibus erant trigemini fratres nec aetate nec viribus dispares. Horatios Curiatiosque fuisse satis constat, nec ferme res antiqua alia est nobilior; tamen in re tam clara nominum error manet, utrius populi Horatii, utrius 55 Curiatii fuerint. Auctores utroque trahunt; plures tamen invenio qui Romanos Horatios vocent; hos ut sequar inclinat animus.
Cum trigeminis agunt reges ut pro sua quisque patria dimicent ferro: ibi imperium fore unde victoria fuerit. Nihil recusatur, tempus et locus convenit. Priusquam dimicarent, foedus 60 ictum inter Romanos et Albanos est his legibus ut, cuius populi cives eo certamine vicissent, is alteri populo cum bona pace imperitaret.
64. sui: their own (people), i.e., the people of each side.
utrosque: their own set of triplets.
deos…intueri (66): the IND. STATE., with its several subjs. and two objs. (arma…manus) is dependent on the speech act implied in adhortarentur, urged them on (saying that…).
