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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [2.1] While he was yet speaking these words Tullus gave him his hand and, raising him for the hearth, bade him be assured that he should not be treated in any manner unworthy of his valour, and said he felt himself under great obligations to him for coming to him, declaring that he looked upon even this as no small honour. He promised him also that he would make all the Volscians his friends, beginning with those of his own city; and not one of his promises did he fail to make good. [2] Soon afterwards Marcius and Tullus conferred together in private and came to a decision to begin war against the Romans. Tullus proposed to put himself immediately at the head of all the Volscians and march on Rome while the Romans were still at odds and had generals averse to war. But Marcius insisted that they ought first to establish a righteous and just ground for war; for he pointed out that the gods take a hand in all actions, and especially in those relating to war, in so far as these are of greater consequence than any others and their outcome is generally uncertain. It happened that there was at that time an armistice and a truce existing between the Romans and the Volscians and also a treaty for two years which they had made a short time before: [3] “If, therefore, you make war upon them inconsiderately and hastily,” he said, “you will be to blame for the breaking of the treaty, and Heaven will not be propitious to you; whereas, if you wait till they do this, you will seem to be defending yourselves and coming to the aid of a broken treaty. How this may be brought about and how they may be induced to violate the treaty first, while we shall seem to be waging a righteous and just war against them, I have discovered after long consideration. It is necessary that the Romans should be deceived by us, in order that they may be the first to commit unlawful acts. [4] The nature of this deceit, which I have hitherto kept secret while awaiting the proper occasion for its employment, but am now forced, because of your eagerness for action, to disclose sooner than I wished, is as follows. The Romans are intending to perform sacrifices and exhibit very magnificent games at vast expense, at which great numbers of strangers will be present as spectators. [5] Wait for this occasion, and then not only go thither yourself, but engage as many of the Volscians as you can to go also and see the games. And when you are in Rome, bid one of your closest friends go to the consuls and inform them privately that the Volscians are intending to attack the city by night and that it is for this purpose that they have come to Rome in so great numbers. For you may be assured that if they hear this they will expel you Volscians from the city without further hesitation and furnish you with a ground for just resentment.”

  [3.1] When Tullus heard this, he was highly pleased, and letting that opportunity for his expedition pass, employed himself in preparing for the war. When the time for the beginning of the festival had come, Julius and Pinarius having already succeeded to the consulship, the flower of the Volscian youth came from every city, as Tullus requested, to see the games; and the greater part of them were obliged to quarter themselves in sacred and public places, as they could not find lodgings in private houses and with friends. And when they walked in the streets, they went about in small groups and companies, so that there was already talk about them in the city and strange suspicions. [2] In the mean time the informer suborned by Tullus, pursuant to the advice of Marcius, went to the consuls, and pretending that he was going to reveal a secret matter to his enemies against his own friends, bound the consuls by oaths, not only to insure his own safety, but also to insure that none of the Volscians should learn who had given the information concerning the alleged plot. [3] The consuls believed his story and immediately convened the senate, summoning the members individually; and the informer, being brought before them and receiving their assurances, gave to them also the same account. The senators even long before this had looked upon it as a circumstance full of suspicion that such numbers of young men should come to see the games from a single nation which was hostile to them, and now that information too was given, the duplicity of which they did not perceive, their opinion was turned into certainty. It was their unanimous decision, therefore, to send the men out of the city before sunset and to order proclamation to be made that all who did not obey should be put to death; and they decreed that the consuls should see to it that their departure took place without insult and in safety.

  [4.1] After the senate had passed this vote some went through the streets making proclamation that the Volscians should depart from the city immediately and that they should all go out by a single gate, the one called the Capuan gate, while others together with the consuls escorted them on their departure. And then particularly, when they went out of the city at the same time and by the same gate, it was seen how numerous they were and how fit all were for service. First of them to depart was Tullus, who went out in haste, and taking his stand in a suitable place not far from the city, picked up those who lagged behind. [2] And when they were all gathered together, he called an assembly and inveighed at length against the Roman people, declaring that it was an outrageous and intolerable insult that the Volscians had received at their hands in being the only strangers to be expelled from the city. He asked that each man should report this treatment in his own city and take measures to put a stop to the insolence of the Romans by punishing them for their lawless behaviour. After he had spoken thus and sharpened the resentment of the Volscians, who were already exasperated at the usage they had met with, he dismissed the assembly. [3] When they returned to their several cities and each related to his fellow citizens the insult they had received, exaggerating what had occurred, every city was angered and unable to restrain its resentment; and sending ambassadors to one another, they demanded that all the Volscians should meet together in a single assembly in order to adopt a common plan concerning war. [4] All this was done chiefly at the instigation of Tullus. And the authorities from every city together with a great multitude of other people assembled at Ecetra; for this city seemed the most conveniently situated with respect to the others for a general assembly. After many speeches had been made by the men in power in each city, the votes of all present were taken; and the view which carried was to begin war, since the Romans had first transgressed in the matter of the treaty.

  [5.1] When the authorities had proposed to the assembly to consider in what manner they ought to carry on the war against them, Tullus came forward and advised them to summon Marcius and inquire of him how the power of the Romans might be overthrown, since he knew better than any man both the weakness and the strength of the commonwealth. This met with their approval, and at once they all cried out to summon the man. Then Marcius, having found the opportunity he desired, rose up with downcast looks and with tears in his eyes and after a brief pause spoke as follows:

  [2] “If I thought you all entertained the same opinion of my misfortune, I should not think it necessary to make any defence of it; but when I consider that, as is to be expected among many men of different characters, there are some to whom will occur the notion, neither true nor deserved by me, that the people would not have banished me from my country without a real and just cause, I think it necessary above all things first to clear myself publicly before you all in the matter of my banishment. [3] But have patience with me, I adjure you by the gods, even those of you who are beside acquainted with the facts, while I relate what I have suffered from my enemies and show that I have not deserved this misfortune which has befallen me; and do not be anxious to hear what you must do before you have inquired what sort of man I am who am now going to express my opinion. The account I shall give of these matters will be brief, even though I begin from far back.

  [4] “The original constitution of the Romans was a mixture of monarchy and aristocracy. Afterwards Tarquinius, their last king, thought fit to make his government a tyranny; for which reason the leading men of the aristocracy, combining against him, expelled him from the state, and taking upon themselves the administration of public affairs, formed such a system of government as all men acknowledge to be the best and wisest. Not long ago, however, but only two or thr
ee years since, the poorest and idlest of the citizens, having bad men as their leaders, not only committed many other outrages, but at last endeavoured to overthrow the aristocracy. [5] At this all the leaders of the senate were grieved and thought they ought to consider how the insolence of these disturbers of the government could be stopped; but more active in this regard than the other aristocrats, were, of the older senators, Appius, a man deserving of praise on many accounts, and, of the younger men, I myself. And the speeches which on every occasion we made before the senate were frank, not by way of making war upon the populace, but from a suspicion we had of government by the worst elements; nor again from a wish to enslave any of the Romans, but from a desire that the liberty of all might be preserved and the management of public affairs be entrusted to the best men.

  [6.1] “This being observed by those most unprincipled leaders of the populace, they resolved to remove first out of their way the two of us who most openly opposed them — not, however, by attacking us both at once, lest the attempt should appear invidious and odious, but beginning with me who was the younger and the easier to be dealt with. In the first place, then, they endeavoured to destroy me without a trial; and after that they demanded that I be delivered up by the senate in order to be put to death. But having failed of both purposes, they summoned me to a trial in which they themselves were to be my judges, and charged me with aiming at tyranny. [2] They had not learned even this much — that no tyrant makes war upon the populace by allying himself with the best men, but, on the contrary, destroys the best element in the state with the aid of the populace. And they did not give me the tribunal that was traditional, by summoning the centuriate assembly, but rather a tribunal which all admit to be most unprincipled — one set up in my case and mine alone — in which the working class and vagabonds and those who plot against the possessions of others were sure to prevail over good and just men and such as desire the safety of the commonwealth. [3] This profit, then, and no more did I gain from my innocence, that, though tried by the mob, of which the greater part were haters of the virtuous and for that reason hostile to me, I was condemned by two votes only, even though the tribunes threatened to resign their power if I were acquitted, alleging that they expected to suffer the worst at my hands, and though they displayed all eagerness and zeal against me during the trial. [4] After meeting with such treatment at the hands of my fellow citizens I felt that the rest of my life would not be worth living unless I took revenge upon them; and for this reason, when I was at liberty to live free from vexations either in any of the Latin cities I pleased, because of our ties of kinship, or in the colonies lately planted by our fathers, I was unwilling to do so, but took refuge with you, though I knew you had suffered ever so many wrongs at the hands of the Romans and had conceived the greatest resentment against them, in order that in conjunction with you I might take revenge upon them to the utmost of my power, both by words what words were wanted, and by deeds, where deeds were wanted. And I feel very grateful to you for receiving me, and still more for the honour you show me, without either resenting or taking into account the injuries which you received from me, your erstwhile enemy, during the wars.

  [7.1] “Come now, what kind of man should I be if, deprived as I am of the glory and honours I ought to be receiving from my fellow citizens to whom I have rendered great services, and, in addition to this, driven away from my country, my family, my friends, from the gods and sepulchres of my ancestors and from every enjoyment, and if, finding all these things among you against whom I made war for their sake, I should not become harsh toward those whom have found enemies instead of fellow citizens, and helpful to those whom I have found friends instead of enemies? For my part, I could not count as a real man anyone who feels neither anger against those who make war upon him nor affection for those who seek his preservation. And I regard as my fatherland, not that state which has renounced me, but the one of which I, an alien, have become a citizen; and as a friendly land, not the one in which I have been wronged, but that in which I find safety. [2] And if Heaven lends a hand and your assistance is as eager as I have reason to expect, I have hopes that there will be a great and sudden change. For you must know that the Romans, having already had experience of many enemies, have feared none more than you, and that there is nothing they continue to seek more earnestly than the means of weakening your nation. [3] And for this reason they hold a number of your cities which they have either taken by war or deluded with the hope of their friendship, in order that you may not all unite and engage in a common war against them. If, therefore, you will strive unceasingly to counteract their designs and will all be of one mind about war, as you are now, you will easily put an end to their power.

  [8.1] “As to the manner in which you will wage the contest and how you will handle the situation, since you ask me to express my opinion — whether this be a tribute to my experience or to my goodwill or to both — I shall give it without concealing anything. In the first place, therefore, I advise you to consider how you may provide yourselves with a righteous and just pretext for the war. And what pretext for war will be not only righteous and just but also profitable to you at the same time, you shall now learn from me. [2] The land which originally belonged to the Romans is of small extent and barren, but the acquired land which they possess as a result of robbing their neighbours is large and fertile; and if each of the injured nations should demand the return of the land that is theirs, nothing would be so insignificant, so weak, and so helpless as the city of Rome. In doing this I think you ought to take the lead. [3] Send ambassadors to them, therefore, to demand back your cities which they are holding, to ask that they evacuate all the forts they have erected in your country, and to persuade them to restore everything else belonging to you which they have appropriated by force. But do not begin war till you have received their answer. For if you follow this advice, you will obtain one of two things you desire: you will either recover all that belongs to you without danger and expense or will have found an honourable and a just pretext for war. For not to covet the possessions others, but to demand back what is one’s own and, failing to obtain this, to declare war, will be acknowledged by all men to be an honourable proceeding. [4] Well then, what do you think the Romans will do if you choose this course? Do you think they will restore the places to you? And if they do, what is to hinder them from relinquishing everything that belongs to others? For the Aequians, the Albans, the Tyrrhenians, and many others will come each to get back their own land. Or do you think they will retain these places and refuse all your just demands? That is my opinion. Protesting, therefore, that they wronged you first, you will of necessity have recourse to arms, and you will have for your allies all who, having been deprived of their possessions, despair of recovering them by any other means than by war. [5] This is a most favourable and a unique opportunity which Fortune has provided for the wronged nations, an opportunity for which they could not even have hoped, of attacking the Romans while they are divided and suspicious of one another and while they have generals who are inexperienced in war. These, then, Rome the considerations which it was fitting to suggest in words and urge upon friends, and I have offered them in all goodwill and sincerity. But when it comes to the actual deeds, what it will be necessary to foresee and contrive upon each occasion, leave the consideration of those matters to the commanders of the forces. [6] For my zeal also shall not be wanting in whatever post you may place me, and I shall endeavour to do my duty with no less bravery than any common soldier or captain or general. Pray take me and use me wherever I may be of service to you, and be assured that if, when I fought against you, I was able to do you great mischief, I shall also be able, when I fight on your side, to be of great service to you.”

  [9.1] Thus Marcius spoke. And the Volscians not only made it clear while he was yet speaking that they were pleased with his words, but, after he had done, they all with a great shout signified that they found his advice most excellent; and permitting no one else to spea
k, they adopted his proposal. After the decree had been drawn up they at once chose the most important men out of every city and sent them to Rome as ambassadors. As for Marcius, they voted that he should be a member of the senate in every city and have the privilege of standing for the magistracies everywhere, and should share in all the other honours that were most highly prized among them. [2] Then, without waiting for the Romans’ answer, they all set to work and employed themselves in warlike preparations; and all of them who had hitherto been dejected because of their defeats in the previous battles now took courage, feeling confident that they would overthrow the power of the Romans. [3] In the mean time the ambassadors they had sent to Rome, upon being introduced into the senate, said that the Volscians were very desirous that their complaints against the Romans should be settled and that for the future they should be friends and allies without fraud or deceit. And they declared that it would be a sure pledge of friendship if they received back the lands and the cities which had been taken from them by the Romans; otherwise there would be neither peace nor secure friendship between them, since the injured party is always by nature an enemy to the aggressor. And they asked the Romans not to reduce them to the necessity of making war because of their failure to obtain justice.