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54. On the death of Africanus the spirits of his [2??] adversaries rose, the first of them being Marcus Porcius Cato, who even during his life had been accustomed to snarl at his greatness. It was with his backing, it is thought, that the Petillii initiated the prosecution of Africanus while he lived and after his death introduced a motion. [3] The motion was to this effect: “Do you wish and order,1 citizens, with [p. 189]respect to the money which was captured from,2 taken from, levied upon King Antiochus and those who were under his rule, and what of this money has not been accounted for to the state,3 that regarding this matter Servius Sulpicius [4??] the city praetor shall refer to the senate the question, whom, of those who are now praetors, the senate wishes to investigate this matter?” [5] This proposal was at first vetoed by Quintus and Lucius Mummius; they deemed it proper that the senate should inquire regarding money which had not been turned in to the treasury in the manner in which it had always been done before.4 [6] The Petillii kept assailing the influential position and tyrannical power of the Scipios in the senate. Lucius Furius Purpurio, a man of consular rank, who had been one of the ten commissioners in Asia, proposed to extend the field of [7??] the investigation to include moneys which had been taken, not only from Antiochus, but from other kings and peoples as well, striking at his enemy Gnaeus Manlius.5 [8] Lucius Scipio also, who was evidently about to speak for himself rather than against the bill, came forward to oppose it. He complained that only after the death of his brother Publius Africanus, a man conspicuous above all for courage and fame, this proposal had originated; [9] for it was not [p. 191]enough that no eulogy had been pronounced before6 the Rostra over Publius Africanus after his death7 without also bringing charges against him; [10] even the Carthaginians had been satisfied with the exile of Hannibal, the Roman people was not content even with the death of Publius Scipio without also tearing to shreds his reputation as he lay in the tomb, and, besides, sacrificing his brother as an additional victim to their jealousy. [11] Marcus Cato supported the bill —and a speech of his on the money of King Antiochus is extant —and by his influence deterred the tribunes, the Mummii, from further opposing the measure. [12] With their veto withdrawn, therefore, all the tribes voted “aye.”8

1 The formula retains the subjunctive even in direct quotation.

2 B.C. 187

3 There was no systematic or effective method of verifying a general's returns of the booty he had collected; one device, of uncertain validity, was seen in the case of Glabrio (XXXVII. lvii. 13-14). The episode of Scipio Nasica (XXXVI. xxxvi. 1-2 and the note) suggests that the senate was either unable to secure accurate information or tolerant of plausible irregularities in the accounts of a general and his quaestor. Yet the fears of Manlius and the investigation which follows of the accounts of the Scipios show that some method existed, although one wonders how the Petillii knew that there were discrepancies in the present instance.

4 The protest is not against the auditing of the accounts but at the method, which, to judge from similar incidents in Roman history, was designed to increase the probability of a conviction. The Romans were generally intuitively distrustful of special procedures invented for particular situations.

5 It is clear from XXXIX. vi. 4 that Manlius was afraid of such an inquiry, although he could say that missing property had been carried off by the Thracians.

6 B.C. 187

7 The habit of pronouncing public laudationes over distinguished men was very old (II. xlvii. 11, etc.). It would appear from liii. 8 above that Africanus had not wanted such a eulogy.

8 The alternative formula “uti rogas” is also employed: ef XXXIII. xxv. 7.

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load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1873)
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load focus Summary (Latin, W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Summary (English, Evan T. Sage, Ph.D., 1936)
load focus Latin (Evan T. Sage, Ph.D., 1936)
load focus English (Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, 1873)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus English (William A. McDevitte, Sen. Class. Mod. Ex. Schol. A.B.T.C.D., 1850)
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  • Commentary references to this page (15):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.8
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.10
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 36.21
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 37.57
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.14
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.22
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.32
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.40
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.42
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.54
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.6
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.10
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 41-42, commentary, 41.8
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, book 45, commentary, 45.26
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, book 45, commentary, 45.4
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