[35.7] opprimō.
[35.8] Cf. XIII, 41.
[35.9] cum . . . obvēnisset: ‘when the two consuls had dreamed.’ How literally? The subject of obvēnisset is eōs . . . cecidisset. So the subject of convēnit is utī . . . dēvovēret.
[35.11] Decius’ act was called dēvōtiō, and proceeded from the idea that for the victim which the Manes seemed to be claiming another might be substituted. According to Livy, Decius used this formula: “As a substitute for the commonwealth, the army, the legions, and the allies of the Roman people I devote to the Manes myself and the legions and allies of the enemy.”
[Text-only version] [XV.] Mānius Curius
Mānius Curius contrā Samnītēs profectus[1] eōs ingentibus proeliīs
vīcit.[2] In quō bellō cum permultum agrī[3] hominumque[3]
māximam vim[4] cēpisset,[5] ipse inde[6] dītārī adeō[7] nōluit, ut, cum
interversae[8] pecūniae arguerētur, catīllō[9] līgneō, quō[10] ūtī ad
[5] sacrificia cōnsuēverat,[11] in medium prōlātō iūrāret sē nihil amplius
dē praedā hostīlī in domum suam convertisse. Curiō[12] ad focum
sedentī in agrestī scamnō et ex līgneō catīllō cēnantī cum māgnum
aurī pondus Samnītēs attulissent,[13] repudiātī ab eō sunt dīxitque
nōn[14] aurum habēre[15] sibi praeclārum vidērī, sed iīs quī habērent
[10] aurum imperāre.[15] Quō respōnsō Curius Samnītibus ostendit sē
neque aciē vincī neque pecūniā corrumpī posse. Agrī captī septēna
iūgera populō virītim dīvīsit[16]; cumque ipsī senātus iūgera
quīnquāgintā adsīgnāret, plūs accipere nōluit quam singulīs cīvibus
erat datum, dīxitque perniciōsum esse cīvem,[17] quī eō,[18] quod
[15] reliquīs tribuerētur, contentus nōn esset.[19]
Posteā cōnsul creātus adversus Pyrrhum missus est: cumque
in Capitōliō dēlēctum habēret et iūniōrēs taediō[20] bellī nōmina[21]
nōn darent, coniectīs in ūrnam omnium tribuum nōminibus
prīmum[22] nōmen ūrnā extrāctum citārī iussit et cum adulēscēns nōn
[20] respondēret, bona[23] ēius hastae subiēcit, deinde cum is
questus[1] dē iniūriā cōnsulis tribūnōs[2] plēbis appellāsset, ipsum quoque
vēndidit, nihil[3] opus esse reī pūblicae eō cīve,[4] quī nescīret
pārēre, dīcēns. Neque tribūnī plēbis adulēscentī[5] auxiliō[5] fuērunt;
posteāque rēs[6] in cōnsuētūdinem abiit, ut dēlēctū rīte āctō,
[25] quī[7] mīlitiam dētrēctāret, in servitūtem vēnderētur. Hōc[8] terrōre
cēterī adāctī[9] nōmina prōmptius dedērunt.
Hīs cōpiīs Curius Pyrrhī exercitum cecīdit[10] dēque eō rēge
triumphāvit. Īnsīgnem[11] triumphum fēcērunt quattuor elephantī
