9.
In the midst of the preparations for the war, ambassadors arrived from King Ptolemy, to say that the Athenians had asked the king's aid against Philip,
[2]
but that, although they were allies in common, the king would send no fleet or army to Greece to defend or attack anyone without the authorization of the Roman people;
[3]
he would either remain quiet at home, if the Romans planned to defend their allies, or permit the Romans to stay at home, if they preferred, and himself send such forces as could easily defend Athens against Philip.
[4]
The senate thanked the king, saying that it was the intention of the Roman people to defend its allies; if need of anything for this war arose, they would inform the king, knowing that the resources of his kingdom were firm and trustworthy supports of the republic. Gifts of five thousand asses each were then presented to the ambassadors by order of the senate.
[5]
[p. 29]
While the consuls were levying troops and preparing1 what was needful for the war, the state, ever concerned with religion, especially at the outset of new wars, having held thanksgivings and offered prayers at all the seats
[6]
of the gods, that nothing might be left undone which had ever been done before, ordered the consul to whom the province of Macedonia had been assigned to vow games and a gift to Jupiter.
[7]
A delay in the matter of this public vow was caused by Licinius the pontifex maximus, who said that a vow for an indefinite sum was not allowable; that a specific sum2 should be vowed, because this money could not be used for war, but should be set aside at once and not mixed with other moneys; if this happened, he said, the vow could not be fulfilled in strict conformity to its terms. Although the consul was moved both by the argument and its author, he was nevertheless directed to appeal to the college3 of priests, to learn whether a vow for an indeterminate sum could properly be undertaken.
[8]
The pontiffs replied that it was possible and even more correct.
[9]
The consul, at the dictation of the pontifex maximus, recited his vow in the language formerly used in connection with the quinquennial games,4 with the exception that he promised games and a gift of an amount to be determined by the senate at the time the vow was paid.5
[10]
The great games had been vowed eight times before for definite sums; this was the first vow for an indefinite amount.6 [p. 31]
1 B.C. 200
2 The point which Licinius makes becomes clear when we recall the scrupulous exactness with which the Romans satisfied all their obligations to the gods. Licinius is responsible for the precision and propriety of the language used in the vow, and he fears that if the Romans make a vague and indefinite promise the gods will make a vague and indefinite response. Whatever the intention may have been, a vow of this sort inevitably assumes, to the outsider, the aspect of a bargain.
3 The pontiffs as a body had final jurisdiction as interpreters of the ius divinum, or body of ordinances controlling the relations of men to gods.
4 When the ludi Romani (cf. the note on iv. 5 above) became annual, special attention was devoted to those occurring every fifth year.
5 These games were held in 194 B.C.: cf. XXXIV. xliv. 6.
6 These statements cannot be verified.
Livy. Books XXXI-XXXIV with an English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935: no copyright notice.
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