Description
Book SynopsisIn the first twelve chapters of Book 9 of his Ab Urbe Condita, Livy tells the story of how, in 321 B.C., a young and untested Samnite commander named C. Pontius traps four Roman legions in the narrow mountain pass in the southern Apennines called the Caudine Forks. Stunned at his own success, he seeks the counsel of his father, who tells him that he must either let them go unscathed or slaughter them all to the man; there is no third option. For Pontius, however, turnabout is fairer play: long bristling under the jackboot of Roman saevitia et superbia, he decides to take this opportunity to inflict a little of his own. He frees the Romans, yes, but only after humiliating them by making them strip to their under-tunics and crawl beneath the yoke of the vanquished. What Pontius fails to realize is that the Romans will never suffer such indignation without answering with absolute reprisal. So, by his own foolish act of saevitia et superbia, Pontius guarantees the v
Table of Contents
Preface – Acknowledgments – List of Abbreviations – Introduction – Text. Ab Urbe Condita: Book 9.1–12.328 – Commentary –Appendix I: Glossary of Political and Military Offices and Proper Names and Places – Appendix II: Glossary of Grammatical Terms and Rhetorical and Poetical Devices – Vocabulary.
