AE 1980, 0858 (Q9708)

(ll. 1-4:) [Aulus Gabinius, son of Aulus, and Lucius Calpurnius Piso, son of Lucius; the consuls,] lawfully [proposed to the people and the people lawfully resolved, in the forum before the temple] of Castor on the sixth day before the Kalends [---, the tribe --- was the first to vote,] Aulus Gabinius Capito, son of Aulus, [voted first for his tribe]. (ll. 5-21:) [Would you wish,] would you order, since the res publica of the Roman people has been augmentedby [the resources] and the counsels [of the immortal gods, an since the loyalty of the Athenians,] a most famous state, [towards the Roman people] has been confirmed, [and since that state is] decorated [with many sanctuaries,] among which number the sanctuary of Apollo is established [as the most ancient] and the most sacred [on the island of Delos, and since because of the sacredness] and holiness [of that sanctuary] and its [ancient] rites [it was agreed by our ancestors that that] island, in which island [it is agreed] that Apollo and Diana were born, should be freed from taxes, which island, within [the memory] of men [has alway been exempt] from the control of [all] kings, states and peoples, sacred, free, [and immune,] and [since] the pirates, who for many [years have laid waste] the world [and have plundered the sanctuaries] shrines and images of the immortal gods and the [most] sacred places, have been defeated and destroyed as a result of the Lex Gabinia, and every[most sacred and holy] seat of Apolloand Diana, except for the island of Delos, has been restored to its ancient [state and splendour], and it [is] consonant with the dignity and majesty of the Roman people, [now that the res publica] has been most [gloriously] served, and its empire increased, and peace [established] throughout the world, for that the most noble and most holy island [to be returned] to the immortal gods [and for the whole] island to be freed, (ll.21-31) (would you wish, would you order) that it be not [up for contract then]when its tax, [according to the conditions declared] in the auction which L. Cae[sar and C. Curio, the censors] conducted for the island of Delos, [shall have been collected this year], and that no further tax [or anything for] the guarding of public corn [should be owed, and that] no-one thereafter should auction the island [of Delos and the islands] which [are] around Delos, [in whose number] (there are) Artemita and Celadea [and the neighbouring islands,] or make [the island of Delos] and those islands [liable to tax, and that those who inhabit or have inhabited or thereafter] shall inhabit [the island of] Delos [should not owe] tax; [and that, whatever] rights the island [of Delos and those who inhabited the island] possessed [before] Mithridates [opened hostilities] against [the Roman people,] the island of Delos [and those who] shall inhabit [it] should possess [the same] rights; [and that ---] or animals which they import [---] and Delos [---] Delos;(ll. 31-6) and that, whoever [shall have made liable to tax or auctioned] that island or [(those) islands,] which are written down above, his property and goods, [up to] half, should be subject to a fine, and that in relation to that] matter [there should be action according to] statute [and that every] magistrate [should see that there should be trial] and judgment [and that no-one] should intercede against [him or do anything else to the effect that there should not be,] or improperly be, [judgment] concerning this matter [and] trial. If there is something prescribed by what is sacred such that [it be not right to propose,] nothing [of it] is proposed [according to this statute].[NOTE: This translation is in some details based on an edition of the text different from the one accepted by EDH, e.g. in ll. 21-2, and in lines 31-6].