Note 13 — URBIS RŌMAE VIRĪ INLŪSTRĒS Complete text as printed
Reading edition
19.13 Livy relates that at the capture of the Latin town Corniculum, Servius’ father was killed and his mother taken prisoner. Out of respect to her high rank, Tanaquil set her free and welcomed her to the palace. There Servius was born, and he was brought up in Tarquin’s household.
19.14 ferunt . . . accidisse: in English, the verb corresponding to ferunt would be parenthetical, thus: ‘a prodigy, they say, happened.’
19.15 prōdigium . . . mīrābile: ‘a prodigy, strange to look upon, and marvelously fulfilled.’ vīsū and ēventū are ablatives of specification to mīrābile: H 480 (424): M 650: A 253: G 397: B 226, 1.
20.1 Flammae speciēs: ‘the semblance of fire.’ We may render the whole sentence, ‘Fire seemed to envelop,’ etc.
20.2 summam . . . intellēxit: cf. p. 17, n. 12.
20.3 Cf. p. 1, n. 5.
20.4 governed by ēducābat understood.
20.5 quīdam and ūnus often have no more force than the English indefinite article.
20.6 mīlitibus . . . dīmicantibus: causal.
20.7 raptum . . . mīsit: cf. p. 2, n. 8. To lose the standard was as much of a disgrace then as it is now to lose the flag.
20.8 Cūius . . . grātiā: an expression of purpose = quod ut reciperet.
20.9 Roman houses in general had no windows on the ground floor.
20.10 Cf. p. 19, n. 12.
20.11 H 603, 2 (519, 2): M 921: A 328: G 572: B 293, III, 2, and p. xx, G 3.
20.12 dat. with dictō audientēs essent, which together = pārērent: H 426 (385, I): M 530: A 227 and N. 2: G 346 and N. 5: B 187, II. dictō is dat. with audientēs, which here itself = ‘obeying.’
20.13 i.e. instead of being formally chosen king by the senate and people (p. 15, n. 11).
20.14 subigō.
20.15 fossās . . . dūxit: this statement harmonizes with VI, 14: see note there. Remains of the wall and ditch are extant, especially along the east side of the Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal hills.
20.16 The census was not, as with us, a mere enumeration of the inhabitants, but an enrollment and classification of them according to property for purposes of taxation and military service. Hence the clause in . . . distribuit is in part an explanation of cēnsum ōrdināvit.
20.17 These classes were six in number.
20.18 According to Livy, there were 193 centuries. At elections each century cast a single vote, the opinion of the majority of its members being regarded as the voice of the whole century. The first, or richest class, contained 98 centuries, and so controlled 98 votes, more than a majority.
21.1 Iam tum: ‘even in those early days.’
21.2 This temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. See Acts xix, 24 f.
21.3 commūniter . . . factum (esse): ‘that the states of Asia had united in building it.’ How literally?
21.4 et ipsī = etiam ipsī, or ipsī quoque: ‘they too,’ i.e. as well as the cīvitātēs Asiae.
21.5 ‘in conjunction with.’ The whole might have been expressed thus: ut illī (i.e. the Latīnī) et populus Rōmānus . . . aedificārent. Cf. lines 23, 24.
21.6 Quō factō = postquam hōc (i.e. the building of the temple) factum est.
21.7 Cf. p. 18, n. 17.
21.8 Sc. esse. For the personal construction dīcitur, see H 611, 1 (534, I and N. 1): M 962: A 330, b, 1: G 528, 1: B 332.
21.9 Subjunctive, because in a subordinate clause of indir. disc. For the tense, cf. p. 6, n. 1.
21.10 ‘The (aforesaid) Latin,’ mentioned in l. 28. This is one of the cases where Latin suffers from the lack of the definite article.
21.11 ‘cunningly.’ Cf. p. 4, n. 4.
21.12 The Tiber ran close to the foot of the Aventine hill on which (l. 26) the temple of Diana stood.
21.13 = cum habēret, ‘since he had.’ cum . . . vidēret is also causal.
21.14 abl. of quality: H 473, 2 (419, II): M 643: A 251: G 400: B 224.
21.15 ferōcem . . . ferōcī: note that the order in the second of these two pairs of words is the reverse of that in the first. Cf. l. 36, alteram ferōcem, mītem alteram. This arrangement is called Chiasmus: H 666, 2 (562): M 1150: A 344, f, and N.: G 682, and R.: B 350, II, c).
22.1 The daughter of Tullius.
22.2 advocātō . . . coepit = senātum advocāvit et . . . coepit. Cf. p. 2, n. 8.
22.3 quā rē . . . contendit: ‘while Servius, after he had heard of this action, was hastening,’ etc. For the tense of contendit, see p. 3, n. 14.
22.4 Sc. Cūriae.
22.5 dēcessisset . . . redīret: ‘had departed . . . and was returning.’
22.6 super ipsum corpus: ‘over the very body’; ipsum emphasizes the wickedness of Tullia. Roman feeling usually required that the utmost respect be shown to the bodies of the dead.
22.7 Used here as in VI, 27.