Livy Book 30
Notes on Chapter 15
Masinissae haec audienti: literally,
to Masinissa hearing these things. A dative of advantage/disadvantage.
rubor ... suffusus ... lacrimae ... obortae: Supply
est and
sunt. The king behaves like a naughty boy caught stealing the biscuits.
cum ... dixisset: Most of this sentence is included in the
cum clause. The main clause begins at
ex praetorio. This gives the impression that what Masinissa was really anxious about was getting away to his own tent to hide his shame and confusion, and that everything that he said and begged just had to be said before he rushed off.
se ... futurum ... dixisset: As usual,
esse is omitted from the future infinitive in this indirect statement, as from
traditurum later in the sentence.
promisisse ... se is another indirect statement, even though it seems to depend on
orasset. Once Livy has begun a passage of
oratio obliqua (reported speech) he feels no need to repeat verbs of saying, questioning or commanding.
orasset is the shortened form of
oravisset.
fidei ... consuleret: The verb
consulo may be followed by the accusative, when it means I consult (someone), or, as here, by the dative, when it means I consult the interests of (someone or something).
arbitris remotis: Masinissa has a decision to make which is very personal, and he doesn't want anyone around while he makes up his mind. The word
arbiter means first of all a witness, and only secondarily a judge; here it probably has a bit of both meanings. The king has just been treated like a naughty boy, and he makes sure there is no one else there, either to see his distress or to tell him what to do.
facile ... exaudiri posset: A tent does not stop sound as the stone walls of a house do. Masinissa could be heard (audiri) to the uttermost, very clearly (ex-). Every sob was picked up by the companions he had banished from the tent. The small boy runs to his room and bursts into tears.
ingenti ... edito gemitu: Just as his confusion is known by sobs and sighs
aliquantum temporis, for a while, so those surrounding the tent recognise by one last gigantic groan that he has reached his decision.
fidum e servis: The Romans (and others too, surely) reckoned that slaves as a class were not loyal. Seneca quotes a saying that a man has as many enemies as he has slaves. This 'faithful one out of the slaves' was like a 'trusty' in prison. A master would need to be able to trust a slave who carried poison about with him all the time. Hannibal,
Livy tells us in book 39, kept poison, and committed suicide with it when his enemies were about to close in.
venenum ... iubet: The Latin words in English order would be:
iubet [fidum servum] ferre [venenum] mixtum in poculo ad Sophonibam. He ordered him to take the poison, mixed in a cup, to Sophonisba...
ac simul nuntiare ...: and at the same time to announce - followed by an indirect statement (accusative and infinitive) representing his actual words, "I would have gladly ..." That would have been a (potential) subjunctive. The infinitive consists of the perfect infinitive of
sum, fuisse and the future participle of
praesto, praestaturum. Literally, he had been about to fulfil.
quam uir uxori debuerit: Which [as] a husband he owed to his wife.
debuerit is (perfect) subjunctive, because it is in a subordinate clause in oratio obliqua. So also
possint and
adimant are (present) subjunctive.
qui possint: those who are able, those in power.
secundam fidem: Livy relates in chapter 12 how Sophonisba had asked to be saved from the Romans, and how, if all else failed, she had asked for death rather than capture by them, and how Masinissa had given her his right hand in promise.
patris ... patriae ... duorum regum: Her father was the general Hasdrubal; her county was Carthage; her two husbands were kings Syphax and (briefly) Masinissa.
consuleret: The actual words of Masinissa would have been either 'Let her take counsel',
consulat, or 'Take counsel!',
consule!. Both would become imperfect subjunctive as part of oratio obliqua following a 'historic' verb.
hunc nuntium ac simul venenum ferens: An example of zeugma, the yoking (which is what the Greek word zeugma means) of two objects to the same verb, even though the objects are of very different kinds. A classic example of zeugma is "She went home in a storm of tears and a sedan chair."
accipio ... potuit: There is irony here. Poison as a wedding present is a strange thought, although recent UK cases of husbands assisting their mortally ill wives to die have been interpreted as acts of love. How are we to take the words that follow, "if there is nothing more that my husband could do for his wife"? Is it gratitude that Masinissa has given her the utmost that he could, or is it an implied reproach that he did not do more? Her message to him, that her death would have been better if she had not been married during her funeral, sounds like a bitter reproach. and Livy calls her words 'fierce'.
quod ubi nuntiatum est Scipioni:
quod (which thing) refers to her suicide in general; there is no single word that it agrees with. It is an example of a 'linking relative'.
ne quid ... grauius: lest (the fierce young man decide) anything more serious/too serious. (After si, ne, nisi, num, quis for aliquis must come.)
quod ... luerit ... fecerit: The perfect subjunctives can be interpreted as virtual oratio obliqua - he censured him on the grounds that he atoned ... and made. The reasons are not being stated by Livy as real reasons, but as the reasons that Scipio alleged.
ut a praesenti motu auerteret animum eius: I have suggested that Masinissa behaved like a naughty boy when Scipio rebuked him. Now Scipio is treating him like a little child by giving him new toys to play with to divert his attention
a praesenti motu, from their present motion or course.
regem appellatum: The Romans utterly rejected the idea of being ruled by kings, but they were very ready to support local kings who would keep parts of the empire pacified, just as the Americans have in the 20th century supported dictators who further their interests, while clining to democracy for themselves.
sella curuli ... palmata tunica: Not only does Scipio establish Masinissa as king, but also gives him symbols of a senior Roman magistrate. Only Consuls, Praetors, and certain Aediles (called curule aediles) sat on a
sella curulis. It was the general celebrating a triumph in Rome who carried an ivory staff and wore a
toga picta and a
palmata tunica. The golden bowl may have been for making libations.
addit uerbis honorem: Scipio needed to explain to these non-Romans what these symbols meant to a Roman. What follows is oratio obliqua. "That there was not anything more magnificent than a triumph among the Romans, and that there was not adornment for triumphing (generals) more ample (or magnificent) than that (eo - ablative of comparison) of which (quo, depending on dignum) the Roman people considers (ducat, subjuntive in Oratio obliqua) Masinissa worthy, alone (unum) of all non-Romans. Scipio take it on himself to speak on behalf of the Roman people.
aurea corona: The
corona was not necessarily a sign of kingship. It could mean a garland, such as a triumphing general might wear.
navata opera:
opera is the first declension noun meaning 'effort', not the plural of
opus. navo means 'do zealously'. Incidentally, the word
ignavus, lazy, means the opposite of
navus, diligent.
mollitus regis animus: The little boy is happy again. The shiny toys have done their job. This whole parade reminds one of the patronising idea of 19th century explorers of taking beads for the natives!
erectus ...: and he was raised up to an immediate hope, with Syphax removed, of gaining possession of all Numidia. (The last three words are a gerundive phrase.)
