Note 1 — URBIS RŌMAE VIRĪ INLŪSTRĒS Complete text as printed
Reading edition
29.1 The dating is not exact, as the Decemvirs were elected in 451 B.C.
29.2 Cf. p. 5, n. 15.
29.3 quī . . . prōpōnerent: i.e. after studying the laws of Greece, they were to draw up a code and submit it to the people.
29.4 Cf. p. 5, n. 3.
29.5 From this circumstance the code was known as the Lēgēs XII Tabulārum.
29.6 abl. of means; we say ‘on tablets.’ The tablets were of bronze. For many centuries Roman schoolboys had to commit these laws to memory.
29.7 The Decemvirs had been elected for one year, at the end of which time they reported their work still unfinished, and a second board was chosen. The story that follows concerns the second board. All accounts agree that the rule of the first board was in all respects just.
29.8 suā ipsōrum: a strong expression for ‘their own.’
29.9 Cf. p. 4, n. 3.
29.10 See Vocab., cliēns.
29.11 in servitūtem expresses purpose (cf. p. 14, n. 4), and so = ut serva esset.
29.12 Cf. p. 5, n. 3.
29.13 vincō.
29.14 Join with iniēcit manum, and cf. p. 2, n. 7.
29.15 litterārum lūdī: schools where children were taught their A B C’s, i.e. what we should call ‘primary schools.’
29.16 subjunctive as the subordinate clause of the indirect quotation, which depends on minātur. The threat was: Nī (id) fēceris, vī (tē) abstraham.
29.17 abl. abs.
30.1 Neque eō sētius: ‘nevertheless.’ How literally? eō = ‘for that reason.’
30.2 partitive gen. with nihil: H 441 (397, 1): M 564: A 216, a, 3: G 369: B 201, 2.
30.3 dat. with īgnōsce: H 426, 2 (385, II): M 531: A 227: G 346: B 187, II, a.
30.4 cultrō . . . trānsfīgit: cf. p. 2, n. 8.
30.5 tribūnōs: two armies were in the field against the Sabines and Aequians. The eight Decemvirs who commanded them were deposed, and ten tribunes, or ‘captains,’ were chosen in their place.
30.6 cōgō.
30.7 cōnscīscō. With this whole story cf. Macaulay’s Lays, Virginia.