LIVY, Cincinnatus, Summoned from the Plough Flashcards
vis Sabinorum ingens prope ad moenia urbis infesta populatione venit. foedati agri, terror iniectus urbi est. tanta trepidatio fuit quanta si urbem, non castra hostes obsiderent.
A huge force of Sabines, with terrible devastation, came almost to the walls of the city. The fields were laid waste, the city was struck with terror. There was as great a panic as if the enemy were besieging the city, not the camp.
itaque civibus dictatorem dici placuit qui rem perculsam restitueret, et Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus consensu omnium dicitur.
Therefore, the citizens decided that a dictator should be appointed to restore the shattered state, and Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was chosen by the consent of all.
spes unica imperii populi Romani, Quinctius trans Tiberim, contra eum ipsum locum ubi nunc navalia sunt, quattuor iugerum colebat agrum, quae prata Quinctia vocantur.
Quinctius, the sole hope of the Roman people, cultivated a farm of four acres, which are now called the Quinctian meadows, across the Tiber, opposite the very place where the docks now are.
ibi ab legatis - seu fossam fodiens palae innixus, seu cum araret, operi certe (id quod constat) agresti intentus - salute data in vicem redditaque rogatus est ut togatus mandata senatus audiret.
There - whether leaning on a stake while digging a ditch, or while ploughing, certainly (as is generally accepted) engrossed in some farming task - after greetings had been given and in turn responded to, he was asked by one of the envoys to listen to the commands of the senate, once he was dressed in the toga.
admiratus rogitansque ‘satin salve?’ uxorem togam propere e tugurio proferre iubet. qua simul absterso pulvere ac sudore velatus processit, dictatorem eum legati gratulantes consalutant, in urbem vocant; qui terror sit in exercitu exponunt.
Bewildered, and asking continually ‘Is everything quite all right?’ he ordered his wife to bring his toga quickly from their cottage. As soon as he stepped forward dressed in it, after wiping off the dust and sweat, the envoys, congratulating him, hailed him as dictator, called him into the city and explained what terror there was in the army.
