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Roman History, Books I-III

Titus Livius (Livy) · c. 30–17 CE; composed over more than forty years (extant Books I–III are within this span) primary

passage 169 of 212 · BOOK I > BOOK III (30/73)

↪ you wandered here via “Quintus Minucius command” — the connecting lines are tinted below

in brief
The defeated Aequans are sent under a yoke, the dictator limits spoil to his own soldiers, demotes the consul Minucius, and grants a triumph while Volscius is condemned and exiled at Lanuvium.

The yoke was formed of three spears, two fixed in the ground, and one tied across between the upper ends of them. Under this yoke the dictator sent the Æquans.

The enemy's camp, which was full of all their belongings--for he had sent them out of the camp half naked--having been taken, he distributed all the booty among his own soldiers only: rebuking the consul's army and the consul himself, he said: "Soldiers, you shall not enjoy any portion of the spoil taken from that enemy to whom you yourselves nearly became a spoil: and you, Lucius Minucius, until you begin to assume a spirit worthy of a consul, shall command these legions only as lieutenant." Minucius accordingly resigned his office of consul, and remained with the army, as he had been commanded. But so meekly obedient were the minds of men at that time to authority combined with superior merit, that this army, remembering his kindness, rather than their own disgrace, both voted a golden crown of a pound weight to the dictator, and saluted him as their preserver when he set out. The senate at Rome, convened by Quintus Fabius, prefect of the city, ordered Quinctius to enter the city in triumph, in the order of march in which he was coming. The leaders of the enemy were led before his car: the military standards were carried before him: his army followed laden with spoil. Banquets are said to have been spread before the houses of all, and the soldiers, partaking of the entertainment, followed the chariot with the triumphal hymn and the usual jests,[38] after the manner of revellers. On that day the freedom of the state was granted to Lucius Mamilius of Tusculum, amid universal approbation. The dictator would have immediately laid down his office had not the assembly for the trial of Marcus Volscius, the false witness, detained him; the fear of the dictator prevented the tribunes from obstructing it. Volscius was condemned and went into exile at Lanuvium. Quinctius laid down his dictatorship on the sixteenth day, having been invested with it for six months. During those days the consul Nautius engaged the Sabines at Eretum with distinguished success: besides the devastation of their lands, this additional blow also befell the Sabines. Fabius was sent to Algidum as successor to Minucius. Toward the end of the year the tribunes began to agitate concerning the law; but, because two armies were away, the patricians carried their point, that no proposal should be made before the people. The commons succeeded in electing the same tribunes for the fifth time. It is said that wolves seen in the Capitol were driven away by dogs, and that on account of that prodigy the Capitol was purified. Such were the transactions of that year.

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topics: conquest, plunder, and captives · crime and punishment · justice as a virtue

Roman History, Books I-III · Titus Livius (Livy) · 30 BCE–17