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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [51.1] “While our affairs in the open country are in this unhappy state, the situation within the walls is no less terrible. For we have neither provided ourselves with allies well in advance, as if we expected to be besieged, nor are we, unaided, sufficiently numerous to resist so many hostile nations; and even of this small and inadequate army the greater part consists of plebeians — labourers, clients, and artisans — not altogether trustworthy guardians for a tottering aristocracy. Moreover, the continual desertion of these now to the seceders has rendered all the rest liable to suspicion. [2] But more than all these things, the impossibility of bringing in provisions while the country is in the power of the enemy already terrifies us, and when we are once in actual want, will terrify us still more; and, apart from this, the war allows not a moment’s peace of mind. Yet surpassing all these calamities are the wretched wives, the infant children, and aged parents of the seceders wandering to and fro in the Forum and through every street, in pitiful garb and postures of mourning, weeping, supplicating, clinging to the hands and knees of everyone and bewailing the forlorn condition that afflicts them now and will according to them even more — a dreadful and intolerable sight! [3] No one, surely, is of so cruel a nature as not to have his heart touched at seeing these things, or to feel some sympathy for the misfortunes of his fellow-creatures. So that, if we are not going to trust the good faith of the plebeians, we shall have to get rid of these persons also, since some of them will be of no use while we are under siege and the others cannot be relied on to remain friendly. But when these too are driven away, what forces will be left to defend the city? And depending upon what assistance shall we dare to encounter these perils? Yet as for our natural refuge and our only trustworthy hope, the patrician youth, they are few, as you see, and it behooves us not to let our spirits rise because of them. Why, then, do those who propose that we submit to war indulge in nonsense and deceive us, instead of openly advising us to deliver up the city at once to our enemies without bloodshed and without trouble?

  [52.1] “But perhaps I myself am infatuated when I speak thus, and am asking you to fear things that are not formidable. The commonwealth is very likely threatened with no other danger as yet than a change of inhabitants, a matter of no serious consequence; and it would be very easy for us to receive into the body politic a multitude of labourers and clients from every nation and place. [2] For this is the plan which many of the opponents of the plebeians keep prating of, and these by no means the most unimportant of them; to such a pitch of folly, indeed, have some already come, that instead of expressing salutary opinions they utter wishes impossible of realization. But I should like to ask these men: What superabundance of time will be afforded us to carry out these plans when the enemy is so near the city? What allowance will be made for the tarrying and delay of our auxiliaries who are to come, though we are in the midst of perils that do not tarry or delay? What man or what god will grant us security and will without molestation get together reinforcements from every quarter and conduct them hither? Besides, who are the people who will leave their own countries and remove to us? Are they such as have habitations, families, fortunes, and the respect of their fellow-citizens because of the distinction of their ancestors or a reputation for their own merit? And yet who would consent to leave behind his own blessings in order to share ignominiously the misfortunes of others? For they will come hither to share, not in peace and luxury, but in dangers and war, the successful issue of which cannot be foreseen. [3] Or shall we bring in a multitude of homeless plebeians, like those driven from hence, who because of debts, judgments, and other like misfortunes will gladly remove to any place that may offer? But these, even though otherwise of a good and modest disposition — to concede them this much — yet just because of their being neither native born nor of like habits with us, and because they will not be acquainted with our customs, laws, and training, would no doubt be far, nay infinitely, worse than our own plebeians.

  [53.1] “The natives have here their wives, children, parents, and many others that are dear to them, to serve as pledges; yes, and there is their fondness for the soil that reared them, a passion that is implanted in all men and not to be eradicated; but as for this multitude which we propose to invite here, this people without roof or home, if they should take up their abode with us having none of these pledges here, in defence of what blessing would they care to face dangers, unless one were to promise to give them portions land and some part or other of the city, after first dispossessing the present owners — things we refuse to grant to our own citizens who have often fought in their defence? And possibly they might not be content with even these grants alone, but would also insist upon an equal share of honours, of magistracies, and of all the other advantages with the patricians. [2] If, therefore, we do not grant them every one of their demands, shall we not have them as our enemies when they fail to obtain what they ask? And if we grant their demands, our country and our constitution will be lost, destroyed by our own hands. I do not add here that what we need at the present time is men trained to war, men of disciplined bodies; not husbandmen, labourers, merchants, or followers of menial trades, who will be obliged to learn military discipline and to give proof of their skill at one and the same time (and skill in any unwonted activity is difficult), such as a promiscuous collection of men resorting hither from every nation is bound to be. [3] As for a military alliance, I neither see any formed to assist us, nor, if any allies unexpectedly appeared, should I advise you to admit them inconsiderately within your walls, since I know that many a city has been enslaved by troops introduced to garrison it.

  [54.1] “When you consider these things as well as those that I have mentioned earlier, and recall, further, the considerations which encourage you to make the accommodation, namely, that we are not the only people, nor the first, among whom poverty has raised sedition against wealth, and lowliness against eminence, but that in nearly all states, both great and small, the lower class is generally hostile to the upper (and in all these states the men in power, when they have shown moderation, have saved their countries, but when they have acted arrogantly, have lost not only their goods, but their lives as well); [2] and when you remember that everything that is composed of many parts is generally affected with a disorder in some one of them, and, furthermore, that neither the ailing part of a human body ought always to be lopped off (for that would be to render the appearance of the rest ugly and its term of life brief) nor the disordered part of a civil community to be driven out (since that would be the quickest way of destroying the whole in time through the loss of its separate parts); and when you consider also how great is the power of necessity, the one thing to which even the gods yield, be not vexed at your misfortunes nor allow yourselves to be filled with arrogance and folly, as if everything were going to succeed according to our wishes, but relent and yield, deriving examples of prudence, not from the actions of others, but from our own.

  [55.1] “For the individual man and the state as a whole ought to emulate the most illustrious of their own actions and to consider how all their any other actions may correspond with these. Thus you yourselves, when in times past you subdued many of your enemies at whose hands you had suffered the greatest injuries, desired neither to destroy them nor to dispossess them of what was theirs, but restored their houses and lands to them and permitted them to live in the countries that had given them birth, and actually granted to some of them the privilege both of being your fellow-citizens and of exercising equal rights of suffrage. [2] But I have yet a more wonderful act of yours to relate, which is, that you have permitted many even of your own fellow-citizens who commit grievous offences against you to go unpunished, while you have visited your resentment solely upon those who were guilty. Of this number were the colonies sent out to Antemnae, Crustumerium, Medullia, Fidenae, and to many other places. But why should I now enumerate all those whom, after you had taken their towns by storm, you admonished mildly and as became fellow-citizens? And so far
has the commonwealth been from incurring either danger or censure from this course, that your clemency is applauded and at the same time your security is not at all diminished. [3] After that will you, who spare your enemies, make war upon your friends? Will you, who permit the conquered to go unpunished, punish those who aided you in acquiring your dominion? Will you, who offer your own city as a safe refuge for all who stand in need of it, bring yourselves to drive out of that city the natives with whom you have been reared and educated and with whom you have shared many experiences both evil and good in peace as well as in war? No, not if you desire to act with justice and in conformity with your traditions, and if without passion you judge what is to your interest.

  [56.1] “But, someone may say, we know as well as you that the sedition ought to be appeased, and we have laboured earnestly to that end. Undertake not to tell us how we may appease it. For you see how headstrong the people are grown: though they themselves are the offenders, they neither send to us to treat of an accommodation nor give to the men we have sent to them answers that are those of fellow-citizens or considerate, but indulge in haughtiness and threats, so that it is not easy to guess what they want. Hear, then, in what manner I advise you to act now in this situation. [2] For my part, I do not believe either that the people are irreconcilable toward us or that they will carry out any of their threats. My reason is that their actions do not agree with their words, and I judge that they are far more in earnest than we about the accommodation. For while we continue to live in our own country, which is most dear to us, and have in our own power our fortunes, our houses, our families, and everything that means most to us, they are without country or habitation, are bereft of their dearest relations, and lack for their daily bread. [3] If anyone should ask me for what reason, then, the people even under these miseries do not accept our invitations and why they do not on their own initiative send to treat with us, I should answer: Because, most assuredly, they thus far hear words from the senate, but see no act of kindness or moderation follow the words; and the feel that they have been often deceived by us, in that we are always promising to take some measures of relief for them, but taking none. They are unwilling to send envoys to us because of those who are accustomed to inveigh against them here and because they fear they may fail of some of their demands. [4] Perhaps too they may be possessed by some feeling of senseless rivalry. And no wonder; since there are some even among us ourselves in whom this quarrelsome and contentious spirit resides, both in private and in public matters, men who cannot bear to be overcome by their adversaries, but are always seeking by any means whatever to get the better of them and never to confer a favour before they have subdued those who are to have the benefit of it. [5] In view of these considerations I think an embassy should be sent to the plebeians consisting of persons in whom they have the greatest confidence; and I advise that those to be sent be invested with full power to put an end to the sedition upon such terms as they themselves shall think fit, without again referring anything to the senate. For if the plebeians, who now seem to be scornful and sullen, shall become aware of this, learning that you are in earnest regarding the accommodation, they will condescend to more moderate conditions and will demand nothing of us that is either dishonourable or impossible. For all men, when inflamed with anger, particularly those of humble condition, are wont to be enraged against those who treat them haughtily, but to be mild toward those who court their favour.”

  [57.1] When Menenius had thus spoken, a great murmuring broke out in the senate and the members consulted together, each with their own groups. Those who were favourably disposed toward the plebeians exhorted one another to devote every energy toward bringing the people back to their country, now that they had got as the champion of their present view the most distinguished man of the aristocratic party. The aristocrats, in turn, who above everything wished no change to be made in the traditional form of government, were at a loss how to act in the present juncture, being unwilling to change their principles and yet unable to persist in their resolutions. And those, again, who were neutral and sided with neither of the parties in their strife, desired to see peace prevail and demanded that the senate should consider means to prevent the city from being besieged. [2] When silence reigned, the elder of the consuls praised Menenius for his magnanimity and asked the rest to show themselves equally loyal defenders of the state, not only by expressing their opinions frankness, but also by carrying out their resolutions without fear; and then he called upon a second senator by name in the same manner to deliver his opinion. This was Manius Valerius, a brother of the Valerius who had assisted in delivering his country from the kings, a man acceptable to the people beyond any other member of the aristocratic party.

  [58.1] He, rising up, first called the attention of the senate to the policies he himself had pursued and reminded them that, though he had often foretold the dangers they would incur, they had made light of his predictions. He then requested that those who opposed the accommodation should not at this time inquire into the reasonableness of the terms, but, since they had been unwilling to allow the sedition to be appeased while the disputes in the state were still unimportant, that they would now at least consider by what means it might be speedily terminated and might not, by going on still further, insensibly become perhaps incurable, or in any case hard to be cured, and the cause of great evils to them. He told them that the demands of the plebeians would no longer be the same as before, and he did not imagine that the people would enter into a compact upon the same terms, asking merely for an abolition of their debts, but that they would possibly call for some assistance also, by which they might for the future live in safety. [2] For since the institution of the dictatorship, he said, the law that safeguarded their liberty had been abolished, the law which allowed no citizen to be put to death by the consuls without a trial, nor any of the plebeians who had been tried and condemned by the patricians, to be delivered up to those who had condemned them, but granted to those who desired it the right of appealing the decisions from the patricians to the people, and that the judgment of the people should be final. He added that almost all the other privileges enjoyed in former times by the plebeians had been taken away, since they had been unable to obtain from the senate even the usual military triumph for Publius Servilius Priscus, who had deserved this honour more than any other man. [3] At this, he said, most of the people were distressed, as was to be expected, and entertained slender hopes of their security, since neither a consul nor a dictator had been able, even when they wished, to take care of their interests, but the zeal and care they showed for the people had actually gained for some of them abuse and ignominy. He declared that these things had been brought about by plotting, not on the part of the more cultivated men among the patricians, but on the part of some insolent and avaricious men desperately eager for unjust gain, who, having advanced a large amount of money at a high rate of interest and made slaves of many of their fellow-citizens, had, by treating these with cruel and arrogant harshness, alienated the whole body of the plebeians from the aristocracy, and having formed a faction and place at the head of it Appius Claudius, an enemy of the people and a champion of oligarchy, were through him throwing all the affairs of the commonwealth into confusion; and he declared that if the sober part of the senate did not oppose these men, the state was in danger of being enslaved and destroyed. He ended by saying that he concurred in the opinion of Menenius, and asked that the envoys might be sent immediately, and that upon arriving they should endeavour to appease the sedition upon such terms as they desired, but if these were not granted, they should accept such as were offered.

  [59.1] After him, Appius Claudius, who was leader of the faction that opposed the people, being called upon to express his opinion, rose up, a man who set a great value upon himself and not without just cause; for his private life was sober and dignified, while his political principles were noble and calculated to preserve the dignity of the aristocracy. He, taking as his starting poin
t the speech of Valerius, spoke as follows:

  [2] “Valerius would have deserved less censure if he had merely expressed his own opinion, without inveighing against those who hold the opposite view, for in that case he would have had the advantage of not hearing an exposition of his own faults. However, since he has not been content with advising such a course as can end in nothing else than in making us slaves to the worst of the citizens, but has also attacked his opponents and had levelled some of his shafts at me, I find it quite necessary for me also to speak of these matters, and first to clear myself of the charges he has brought against me. For has reproached me with conduct neither seemly nor becoming to a citizen, charging that I have chosen to get money by every possible means and have deprived many of the poor of their liberty, and that the secession of the people took place chiefly because of me. Now it is an easy matter for you to learn that none of these allegations is true or well grounded. [3] For come, tell us, Valerius: Who are the people whom I have enslaved on account of their debts? Who are the citizens I have kept, or now keep, in prison? Which of the seceders is deprived of his country through my cruelty or avarice? Why, you can name none. For I am so far from having enslaved any one of the citizens for debt that, after advancing my own money to very great numbers, I have caused none of those who defrauded me to be either handed over to me or disfranchised, but all of them are free and all are grateful to me and are numbered among my closest friends and clients. I do not say this by way of accusing those who have not acted as I have, nor do I think any men guilty of wrong-doing because they have done what was permitted by law; I am merely attempting to clear myself of the accusations brought against me.