capite: = vita, ABL. OF PRICE, a kind of instrumental abl. denoting the price or cost of the action; here, for your life.
dimices: dimicare,to fight, struggle.
237. regiae: regia, palace.
hoc…bellum (238): adj. and noun, often widely separated in Livy, here frame the entire sentence, adding emphasis to Mucius’ bold declaration.
238. nullam…timueris (239): ne or a similar negative + the perf. subjunct. in 2nd pers. = a negative command.
239. uni…erit: the affair will be between you alone and (us) one by one.
240. infensus: hostile.
circumdari ignes (241): lit., fires to be put around him = him to be burned.
241. minitabundus: threatening.
expromeret: expromere,to disclose, tell.
propere: adv., quickly.
242. quas insidiarum…minas: = quas minas insidiarum.
ambages:ambiguous words, riddles.
en: interj., behold, see.
tibi:for yourself, DAT. OF REF.
243. vile: cheap, worthless.
Boldly demonstrating his courage, Mucius wins Porsenna’s admiration and is released.
Roman soldier mosaic Imperial palace, Istanbul, Turkey
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
240 Cum rex, simul ira infensus periculoque conterritus, circumdari ignes minitabundus iuberet, nisi expromeret propere quas insidiarum sibi minas per ambages iaceret, “En tibi,” inquit, “ut sentias quam vile corpus sit eis qui magnam gloriam vident,” dextramque accenso ad sacrificium foculo inicit. Quam 245 cum velut alienate ab sensu torreret animo, prope attonitus miraculo rex, cum ab sede sua prosiluisset amoverique ab altaribus iuvenem iussisset, “Tu vero abi,” inquit, “in te magis quam in me hostilia ausus. Iuberem macte virtute esse, si pro mea patriaista virtus staret: nunc iure belli liberum te intactum inviolatumque 250 hinc dimitto.”
244. dextram: sc. manum.
foculo: foculus,little fire, brazier.
quam cum (245): = cum eam, i.e., dextram.
245. velut alienato…animo: ABL. ABS.
torreret: torrere,to burn, roast.
attonitus:thunderstruck, astonished.
248. macte: in origin the voc. of mactus, honored, but treated as indecl.; the common idiomatic phrase macte virtute, which often = well done, congratulations, here with iuberem esse means something like honored for your courage.
251. meritum: merit, service.
quando quidem: conj. (sometimes written as a single word), since.
253. nequisti: = nequivisti, from nequire, to be unable; the implied main cl. follows, “I will tell you what you want to know.”
254. hac via: in this way or manner.
grassaremur: grassari,to proceed (against).
255. cuiusque…primi: sc. sors, the lot of each one first = of each in order.
quoad: conj., how long, as long as, until.
opportunum: lit., suitable; here, accessible (to us), vulnerable.
257. Scaevolae: from scaevus, left, dat. by attraction to cui; we would say to whom the cognomen Scaevola (the “Left-handed”) was given.
clade: clades,destruction, loss.
cognomen: the formal Roman name was composed of three elements, the nomen (indicating the gens or family), the praenomen (the given name, which stood before the nomen), and the cognomen (which stood after the nomen and in origin must have been rather like what we call a nickname, often based on some physical characteristic as here in the case of Gaius Mucius Scaevola).
