Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79)

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Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 47

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus


  [53.1] When the Latins had dispersed to their several cities, Mamilius and Tarquinius, observing that the enthusiasm of most of the people had flagged, began to abandon their hopes of foreign assistance as not very certain, and changing their minds, they formed plans to stir up in Rome itself a civil war, against which their enemies would not be on their guard, by fomenting a sedition of the poor against the rich. [2] Already the greater part of the common people were uneasy and disaffected, especially the poor and those who were compelled by their debts no longer to have the best interests of the commonwealth at heart. For the creditors showed no moderation in the use of their power, but haling their debtors to prison, treated them like slaves they had purchased. [3] Tarquinius, hearing of this, sent some persons who free from suspicion to Rome with money, in company with the ambassadors of the Latins, and these men, engaging in conversation with the needy and with those who were boldest, and giving them some money and promising more if the Tarquinii returned, corrupted a great many of the citizens. And thus a conspiracy was formed against the aristocracy, not only by needy freemen, but also by unprincipled slaves who were beguiled by hopes of freedom. The latter, because of the punishment of their fellow-slaves the year before, were hostile toward their masters and in a mood to plot against them, since they were distrusted by them and suspected of being ready themselves also to attack them at some time if the opportunity should offer; and accordingly they hearkened willingly to those who invited them to make the attempt. [4] The plan of their conspiracy was as follows: The leaders of the undertaking were to wait for a moonless night and then seize the heights and the other strong places in the city; and the slaves, when they perceived that the others were in possession of those places of advantage (which was to be made known to them by raising a shout), were to kill their masters while they slept, and having done this, to plunder the houses of the rich and open the gates to the tyrants.

  [54.1] But the divine Providence, which has on every occasion preserved this city and down to my own times continues to watch over it, brought their plans to light, information being given to Sulpicius, one of the consuls, by two brothers, Publius and Marcus Tarquinius of Laurentum, who were among the heads of the conspiracy and were forced by the compulsion of Heaven to reveal it. [2] For frightful visions haunted them in their dreams whenever they slept, threatening them with dire punishments if they did not desist and abandon their attempt; and at last they thought that they were pursued and beaten by some demons, that their eyes were gouged out, and that they suffered many other cruel torments. In consequence of which they would wake with fear and trembling, and they could not even sleep because of these terrors. [3] At first they endeavoured, by means of certain propitiatory and expiatory sacrifices, to avert the anger of the demons who haunted them; but accomplishing naught, they had recourse to divination, keeping secret the purpose of their enterprise and asking only to know whether it was yet the time to carry out their plan; and when the soothsayer answered that they were travelling an evil and fatal road, and that if they did not change their plans they would perish in the most shameful manner, fearing lest others should anticipate them in revealing the secret, they themselves gave information of the conspiracy to the consul who was then at Rome. [4] He, having commended them and promised them great rewards if they made their actions conform to their words, kept them in his house without telling anyone; and introducing to the senate the ambassadors of the Latins, whom he had hitherto kept putting off, delaying his answer, he now gave them the answer that the senators had decided upon. [5] “Friends and kinsmen,” he said, “go back and report to the Latin nation that the Roman people did not either in the first instance grant the request of the Tarquinienses for the restoration of the tyrants or afterwards yield to all the Tyrrhenians, led by King Porsena, when they interceded in behalf of these same exiles and brought upon the commonwealth the most grievous of all wars, but submitted to seeing their land laid waste, their farm-houses set on fire, and themselves shut up within their walls for the sake of liberty and of not having to act otherwise than they wished at the command of another. And they wonder, Latins, that though you are aware of this, you have nevertheless come to them with orders to receive the tyrants and to raise the siege of Fidenae, and, if they refuse to obey you, threaten them with war. Cease, then, putting forward these stupid and improbable excuses for enmity; and if for these reasons you are determined to dissolve your ties of kinship and to declare war, defer it no longer.”

  [55.1] Having given this answer to the ambassadors and ordered them to be conduct out of the city, he then told the senate everything relating to the secret conspiracy which he had learned from the informers. And receiving from the senate full authority to seek out the participants in the conspiracy and to punish those who should be discovered, he did not pursue the arbitrary and tyrannical course that anyone else might have followed under the like necessity, but resorted to the reasonable and safe course that was consistent with the form of government then established. [2] Thus he was unwilling, in the first place, that citizens should be seized in their own houses and haled thence to death, torn from the embraces of their wives, children and parents, but considered the compassion which the relations of the various culprits would feel at the violent snatching away of those who were closest to them, and also feared that some of the guilty, if they were driven to despair, might rush to arms, and those who were forced to turn to illegal methods might engage in civil bloodshed. Nor, again, did he think he ought to appoint tribunals to try them, since he reasoned that they would deny all guilty and that no certain and incontrovertible proof of it, besides the information he had just received, could be laid before the judges to which they would give credit and condemn the citizens to death. [3] But he devised a new method of outwitting those who were stirring up sedition, a method by which, in the first place, the leaders of the conspiracy would of themselves, without any compulsion, meet in one place, and then would be convicted by incontrovertible proofs, so that they would be left without any defence whatever; furthermore, as they would not then be assembled in an unfrequented place nor convicted before a few witnesses only, but their guilt would be made manifest in the Forum before the eyes of all, they would suffer the punishment they deserved, and there would be no disturbance in the city nor uprisings on the part of others, as often happens when the seditious are punished, particularly in dangerous times.

  [56.1] Another historian, now, might have thought it sufficient to state merely the gist of this matter, namely, that the consul apprehended those who had taken part in the conspiracy and point them to death, as if the facts needed little explanation. But I, since I regarded the manner also of their apprehension as being worthy of history, decided not to omit it, considering that the readers of histories do not derive sufficient profit from learning the bare outcome of events, but that everyone demands that the causes of events also be related, as well as the ways in which things were done, the motives of those who did them, and the instances of divine intervention, and that they be left uninformed of none of the circumstances that naturally attend those events. And for statesmen I perceive that the knowledge of these things is absolutely necessary, to the end that they may have precedents for their use in the various situations that arise. [2] Now the manner of apprehending the conspirators devised by the consul was this: From among the senators he selected those who were in the vigour of their age and ordered that, as soon as the signal should be given, they, together with their most trusted friends and relations, should seize the strong places of the city where each of them chanced to dwell; and the knights he commanded to wait, equipped with their swords, in the most convenient houses round the Forum and to do whatever he should command. [3] And to the end that, while he was apprehending the citizens, neither their relations nor any of the other citizens should create a disturbance and that there might be no civil bloodshed by reason of this commotion, he sent a letter to the consul who had been appointed to conduct the siege of Fidenae, bidding him co
me to the city at the beginning of night with the flower of his army and to encamp upon a height near the walls.

  [57.1] Having made these preparations, he ordered those who had given information of the plot to send word to the heads of the conspiracy to come to the Forum about midnight bringing with them their most trusted friends, there to learn their appointed place and station and the watch-word and what each of them was to do. This was done. And when all the leaders among the conspirators had assembled in the Forum, signals, not perceived by them, were given, and immediately the heights were filling with men who had taken up arms in defence of the state and all the parts round the Forum were under guard by the knights, not a single outlet being left for any who might desire to leave. [2] And at the same time Manius, the other consul, having broken camp at Fidenae, arrived in the Field with his army. As soon as day appeared, the consuls, surrounded by armed men, advanced to the tribunal and ordered the heralds to go through all the streets and summon the people to an assembly; and when the entire populace of the city had flocked thither, they acquainted them with the conspiracy formed to restore the tyrant, and produced the informers. [3] After that they gave the accused an opportunity of making their defence if any of them had any objections to offer to the information. When none attempted to resort to denial, they withdrew from the Forum to the senate-house to ask the opinion of the senators concerning them; and having caused their decision to be written out, they returned to the assembly and read the decree, which was as follows: To the Tarquinii who had given information of the attempt should be granted citizenship and ten thousand drachmae of silver to each and twenty acres of the public land; and the conspirators should be seized and put to death, if the people concurred. [4] The assembled crowd having confirmed the decree of the senate, the consuls ordered those who had come together for the assembly to withdraw from the Forum; then they summoned the lictors, who were equipped with their swords, and these, surrounding the guilty men in the place where they were hemmed in, put them all to death. After the consuls had caused these men to be executed, they received no more informations against any who had participated in the plot, but acquitted of the charges everyone who had escaped summary punishment, to the end that all cause of disturbance might be removed from the city. [5] In such fashion were those who had formed the conspiracy put to death. The senate then ordered all the citizens to be purified because they had been under the necessity of giving their votes about shedding the blood of citizens, on the ground that it was not lawful for them to be present at the sacred rites and take part in the sacrifices before they had expiated the pollution and atoned for the calamity by the customary lustrations. After everything that was required by divine law had been performed by the interpreters of religious matter according to the custom of the country, the senate voted to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and to celebrate games, and set aside three days as sacred for this purpose. And when Manius Tullius, one of the consuls, fell from the sacred chariot in the Circus itself during the procession at the sacred games called after the name of the city, and died the third day after, Sulpicius continued alone in the magistracy during the rest of the time, which was not long.

  [58.1] Publius Veturius Geminus and Publius Aebutius Elva were appointed consuls for the following year. Of these Aebutius was put in charge of the civil affairs, which seemed to require no small attention, lest some fresh uprising should be made by the poor. And Veturius, marching out with one half of the army, laid waste the lands of the Fidenates without opposition, and sitting down before the town, delivered attacks without ceasing; but not being able to take the wall by siege, he proceeded to surround the town with palisades and a ditch, intending to reduce the inhabitants by famine. [2] The Fidenates were already in great distress when assistance from the Latins arrived, sent by Sextus Tarquinius, together with grain, arms and other supplies for the war. Encouraged by this, they made bold to come out of the town with an army of no small size and encamped in the open. The line of contravallation was now of no further use to the Romans, but a battle seemed necessary; and an engagement took place near the city, the outcome of which for some time remained indecisive. Then, forced back by the stubborn endurance of the Romans, in which they excelled because of their long training, the Fidenates, though more numerous, were put to flight by the smaller force. [3] They did not suffer any great loss, however, since their retreat into the city was over a short distance and the men who manned the walls repulsed the pursuers. After this action the auxiliary troops dispersed and returned home, without having been of any service to the inhabitants; and the city found itself once more in the same distress and laboured under a scarcity of provisions. [4] About the same time, Sextus Tarquinius marched with an army of Latins to Signia, then in the possession of the Romans, in expectation of taking the place by storm. When the garrison made a brave resistance, he was prepared to force them by famine to quit the place, and he remained there a considerable time without accomplishing anything worth mentioning; but finding himself disappointed of this hope also when provisions and assistance from the consuls reached the garrison, he raised the siege and departed with his army.

  [59.1] The following year the Romans created Titus Larcius Flavus and Quintus Cloelius Siculus consuls. Of these, Cloelius was appointed by the senate to conduct the civil administration and with one half of the army to guard against any who might be inclined to sedition; for he was looked upon as fair-minded and democratic. Larcius, on his part, set out for the war against the Fidenates with a well-equipped army, after getting ready everything necessary for a siege. [2] And to the Fidenates, who were in dire straits owing to the length of the war and in want of all the necessaries of life, he proved a sore affliction by undermining the foundations of the walls, raising mounds, bringing up his engines of war, and continuing the attacks night and day, in the expectation of taking the city in a short time by storm. [3] Nor were the Latin cities, on which alone the Fidenates had relied in undertaking the war, ably any longer to save them; for not one of their cities had sufficient strength by itself to raise the siege for them, and as yet no army had been raised jointly by the whole nation. But to the ambassadors who came frequently from Fidenae the leading men of the various cities kept giving the same answer, that aid would soon come to them; no action, however, followed corresponding to the promises, but the hopes of assistance they held out went no farther than words. [4] Notwithstanding this, the Fidenates had not altogether despaired of help from the Latins, but supported themselves with constancy under all their dreadful experiences by their confidence in those hopes. Above all else, the famine was what they could not cope with and this caused the death of many inhabitants. When at last they gave way to their calamities, they sent ambassadors to the consul to ask for a truce for a definite number of days, in order to deliberate during that time concerning the conditions upon which they should enter into a league of friendship with the Romans. [5] But this time was not sought by them for deliberating, but for securing reinforcements, as was revealed by some of the deserters who had lately come over to the Romans. For the night before they had sent the most important of their citizens and such as had the greatest influence in the cities of the Latins to their general council bearing the tokens of suppliants.

  [60.1] Larcius, being aware of this beforehand, ordered those who asked for a truce to lay down their arms and open their gates first, and then to treat with him. Otherwise, he told them, they would get neither peace nor a truce nor any other humane or moderate treatment from Rome. He also, by stationing more diligent guards along all the roads leading to the city, took care that the ambassadors sent to the Latin nation should not get back inside the walls. Consequently the besieged, despairing of the hoped for assistance from their allies, were compelled to have recourse to supplicating their enemies. And meeting in assembly, they decided to submit to such conditions of peace as the conqueror prescribed. [2] But the commanders at that time, it seems, were in their whole behaviour so obedient to the civil power and so fa
r removed from tyrannical presumption (which only a few of the commanders in our days, elated by the greatness of their power, have been able to avoid), that the consul, after taking over the city, did nothing on his own responsibility, but ordering the inhabitants to lay down their arms and leaving a garrison in the citadel, went himself to Rome, and assembling the senate, left it to them to consider how those who had surrendered themselves ought to be treated. [3] Thereupon the senators, admiring him for the honour he had shown them, decided that the most prominent of the Fidenates and those who had been the authors of the revolt — these to be named by the consul — should be scourged with rods and beheaded; but concerning the rest, they gave him authority to do everything he thought fit. [4] Larcius, having thus been given full power in all matters, ordered some few of the Fidenates, who were accused by those of the opposite party, to be put to death before the eyes of all and confiscated their fortunes; but all the others he permitted to retain both their city and their goods. Nevertheless, he took from them one half of their territory, which was divided by lot among those Romans who were left in the city as a garrison for the citadel. Having settled these matters, he returned home with his army.

 

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