17.
The year was drawing to its close, and because of concern, especially for the war with Macedonia, men were discussing what consuls they should elect for this year, to bring this war at last to an end.
[2]
A resolution of the senate was therefore passed, that Gnaeus Servilius should come as promptly [p. 145]as possible to hold the elections.
[3]
The praetor1 Sulpicius forwarded the resolution to the consul, and read to the senate a few days later the return despatch from that officer. In this, he set the day for the elections as . . ., and announced his return to the city previous to that time. The consul made haste, and the elections were completed on the day set.
[4]
There were elected as consuls Lucius Aemilius Paulus for the second time, in the fourteenth year after his first term, and Gaius Licinius Crassus.
[5]
On the following day, there were elected to the praetorship Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus, Lucius Anicius Gallus, Gnaeus Octavius, Publius Fonteius Balbus, Marcus Aebutius Helva, and Gaius Papirius Carbo. Concern for the war with Macedonia induced the speeding up of the whole procedure.
[6]
Therefore it was voted that these magistrates-elect should be allotted their fields of operation immediately, so that when it was
[7??]
known which consul had received Macedonia and which praetor the fleet, the designated men might begin their plans and preparations of the supplies necessary for war and might consult the senate if there was need for consultation on any subject.
[8]
It was determined to hold the Latin Festival as soon as was possible on religious grounds after the entrance upon office of the magistrates, to avoid any delay to the consul who was to set out for Macedonia.
[9]
In these decrees, the fields of operation for the consuls were designated as Macedonia and Italy; those for the praetors were, besides the two jurisdictions in the city, the fleet, Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia. [p. 147]Macedonia fell to the lot of the consul Aemilius,2 Italy to3 Licinius.
[10]
Of the praetors, Gnaeus Baebius received the jurisdiction over citizens, Lucius Anicius was given that over aliens and was placed at the disposal of the senate, Gnaeus Octavius received the fleet, Publius Fonteius Spain, Marcus Aebutius Sicily, and Gaius Papirius Sardinia.
1 B.C. 169
2 It was later assumed, cf. C.I.L. I.2 1, p. 194, elogium XV. and Plutarch, Aemilius x that Paulus was elected as general for Macedonia; this cannot be taken literally, as it would have been the senate which assigned him to a province; unless a judicious falsifying of the allotment process took place, the appointment of Paulus was a bit of the felicitas of the Roman people. Crassus had a respectable record as a soldier, cf. XLII. lviii. 12.
3 B.C. 169
Livy. Books XLIII-XLV With An English Translation. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1951: published without copyright notice.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.