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46. The snow had now entirely covered the face of the country, and they could no longer dispense with the shelter of houses: the consul therefore led home his troops from Samnium. [2] While he was on his way to Rome, a triumph was decreed him with universal consent; and accordingly he triumphed while in office, and with extraordinary splendour, considering the circumstances of those times. [3] The cavalry and infantry marched in the procession, adorned with presents. Great numbers of civic, vallar, and mural crowns were seen.1 The spoils of the Samnites were inspected with much curiosity, and compared, in respect of [5] magnificence and beauty, with those taken by his father, which were well known, from being frequently exhibited as ornaments of the public places. Several prisoners of distinction, renowned for their own exploits and those of their ancestors, were led in the cavalcade. There were carried in the train two millions and thirty-three thousand asses in weight.2 This money was said to be produced by the sale of the prisoners. Of silver, taken in the cities, one thousand three hundred and thirty [p. 692]pounds. [6] All the silver and brass were lodged in the treasury, no share of this part of the spoil being given to the soldiers. The ill humour in the commons was further exasperated, because the tax for the payment of the army was collected by contribution; whereas, said they, if the vain parade of conveying the produce of the spoil to the treasury had been disregarded, donations [7] might have been made to the soldiers out of the spoil, and the pay of the army also supplied out of that fund. The temple of Quirinus, vowed by his father when dictator, (for that he himself had vowed it in the heat of battle, I do not find in any ancient writer, nor indeed could he in [8] so short a time have finished the building of it,) the son, in the office of consul, dedicated and adorned with military spoils. And of [9??] these, so great was the abundance, that not only that temple and the forum were decorated with them, [10] but some were also distributed among the allies and colonies in the neighbourhood, to serve as ornaments to their temples and public places. Immediately after his triumph, he led his army into winter quarters in the territory of Vescia; because that country was harassed by the Samnites. Meanwhile, [11] in Etruria, the consul Carvilius having set about laying siege to Troilium, suffered four hundred and seventy of the richest inhabitants to depart; they [12] had paid a large sum of money for permission to leave the place: the town, with the remaining multitude, he took by storm. He afterwards reduced, by force, five forts strongly situated, wherein were slain two thousand four hundred of the enemy, and not quite two thousand made prisoners. To the Faliscians, who sued for peace, he granted [13] a truce for a year, on condition of their furnishing a hundred thousand asses in weight,3 and that year's [14??] pay for his army. This business completed, he returned home to a triumph, which, though it was less illustrious than that of his colleague, in respect of his share in the defeat of the Samnites, was yet raised to an equality with it, by [15] his having put a termination to the war in Etruria. He carried into the treasury three hundred and ninety thousand asses in weight.4 Out of the remainder of the money accruing to the public from the spoils, [16] he contracted for the building of a temple to Fors Fortuna, near to that dedicated to the same goddess by king Servius Tullius; and gave to the soldiers, out of the spoil, one hun- [p. 693]dred and two asses5 each, and double that sum to the centu- rions and horsemen, who received this donative the more gratefully, on account of the parsimony of his colleague.

1 These [4] marks of honour were bestowed for having saved the lives of citizens, or for having been the first to mount walls or ramparts.

2 £4940 13s. 6d.

3 £322 18s. 4d.

4 £1259 7s. 6d.

5 6s. 7d.

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load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus Summary (English, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1926)
load focus Summary (Latin, W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus Summary (Latin, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1926)
load focus Latin (Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1926)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1898)
load focus English (Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912)
load focus Latin (Charles Flamstead Walters, Robert Seymour Conway, 1919)
load focus English (Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., 1926)
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  • Commentary references to this page (7):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.20
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 31.49
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.25
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 33.27
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 34.34
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 36.36
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.38
  • Cross-references to this page (26):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (18):
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