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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [69.1] The Romans, after choosing interreges, as they are called, to preside at the election of magistrates — a course they are accustomed to take whenever a state of “anarchy,” or lack of a regular government, occurs — elected Lucius Lucretius and Titus Veturius Geminus consuls. In their consulship the pestilence ceased and all civil complaints, both public and private, were postponed. Sextus Titius, one of the tribunes, endeavoured, it is true, to revive the measure for the allotment of land, but the populace would not permit it and deferred the matter to more suitable times. [2] A great eagerness came upon all to take revenge on those who had made expeditions against the city on the occasion of the pestilence. And the senate having straightway voted for war and the people having confirmed the decree, they proceeded to enrol their forces; and no man who was of military age, not even if the law exempted him, wished to be left out of the expedition. The army having been divided into three bodies, one of them, commanded by Quintus Furius, an ex-consul, was left to defend the city, while the other two marched out with the consuls against the Aequians and the Volscians. [3] This same course had also been taken already by the enemy. For their best army, assembled from both nations, was in the field under two commanders, and intended to begin with the territory of the Hernicans, in which they were then encamped, and to proceed against all the territory that was subject to the Romans; their less useful forces were left to guard their towns, lest some sudden attack might be made upon them by enemies. [4] In view of this situation the Roman consuls thought it best to attack their foes’ cities first; for they reasoned to this effect, that the allied army would fall apart if each of the two nations learned that their own possessions were in the direst peril, and that they would think it much more important to save their own possessions than to destroy those of the enemy. Lucretius accordingly invaded the country of the Aequians and Veturius that of the Volscians. The Aequians, for their part, permitted everything outside their walls to be destroyed, but guarded their city and their fortresses.

  [70.1] The Volscians, however, inspired by rashness and arrogance and despising the Roman army as inadequate to cope with their own large numbers, came out to fight in defence of their land and encamped near Veturius. But, as usually happens with an army of fresh levies composed of a crowd of both townsmen and farmers got together for the occasion, of which many are not only unarmed but also unacquainted with danger, the Volscian army dared not so much as encounter the enemy; [2] but the greater part of them, thrown into confusion at the first onset of the Romans and unable to endure either their war-cry or the clash of their arms, fled precipitately inside the walls, with the result that many of them perished when overtaken in the narrow parts of the roads and many more when they were crowding about the gates as the cavalry pursued them. [3] The Volscians, therefore, having met with this disaster, reproached themselves for their folly and were unwilling to hazard another engagement. But the generals who commanded the armies of the Volscians and Aequians in the field, when they heard that their possessions were being attacked, resolved to perform some brave action on their part also, namely, to take their army out of the country of the Hernicans and Latins and lead it against Rome in their present mood of anger and haste. For they too had some such thought as this in mind, that they should succeed in one or the other of two glorious achievements — either to take Rome, if it was unguarded, or to drive the enemy out of their own territory, since the consuls would be forced to hasten to the relief of their own country when it was attacked. [4] Having come to this decision, they made a forced march, in order that they might fall upon the city unexpectedly and immediately get to work.

  [71.1] Having got as far as the city of Tusculum and learning that the whole circuit of Rome was lined with armed men and that four cohorts of six hundred men each were encamped before the gates, they abandoned their march on Rome; and encamping, they laid waste the district close to the city, which they had left untouched on their former incursion. [2] But when one of the consuls, Lucius Lucretius, appeared and made camp not far from them, they thought this an excellent opportunity to join battle before the other army of the Romans, commanded by Veturius, should come to the assistance of Lucretius; and placing their baggage on a certain hill and leaving two cohorts to defend it, the rest advanced into the plain. Then they engaged the Romans and acquitted themselves bravely in the conflict for a long time; [3] but some of them, being informed by the guards in the rear that an army was coming down over a hill, assumed that the other consul had arrived with the forces under his command, and fearing to be hemmed in between the two armies, they no longer stood their ground, but turned to flight. In this ancient both their generals fell after performing the deeds of valiant men, and likewise many other brave men fighting at their side. Those who escaped from the battle scattered and every man retired to his own city. [4] As a result of this victory Lucretius laid waste the country of the Aequians in great security, and Veturius that of the Volscians, till the time for the elections was at hand. Then both of them, breaking camp, returned to Rome with their armies and celebrated the triumphs awarded for victories, Lucretius entering the city in a chariot drawn by four horses and Veturius on foot. For these two triumphs are granted to generals by the senate, as I have stated; they are equal in other respects, but differ in this, that one is celebrated in a chariot and the other on foot.

  BOOK X

  [1.1] The year after their consulship occurred the eightieth Olympiad (the one at which Torymbas, a Thessalian, won the foot-race), Phrasicles being archon at Athens; and Publius Volumnius and Servius Sulpicius Camerinus were chosen consuls at Rome. These men led no army into the field, either to take revenge on those who had injured the Romans themselves as well as their allies or to keep guard over their possessions, but they devoted their attention to the domestic evils, fearing lest the populace might organize against the senate and work some mischief. [2] For they were being stirred up again by the tribunes and instructed that the best of political institutions for free men is an equality of rights; and they demanded that all business both private and public should be carried on according to laws. For at that time there did not exist as yet among the Romans an equality either of laws or of rights, nor were all their principles of justice committed to writing; but at first their kings had dispensed justice to those who sought it, and whatever they decree was law. [3] After they ceased to be governed by kings, along with the other functions of royalty that of determining what justice is devolved upon the annual consuls, and it was they who decided what was just between litigants in any matter whatsoever. [4] These decisions as a rule conformed to the character of the magistrates, who were appointed to office on the basis of good birth. A very few of them, however, were kept in sacred books and had the force of laws; but the patricians alone were acquainted with these, because they spent their time in the capital, while the masses, who were either merchants or husbandmen and came down to the capital only for the markets at intervals of many days, were as yet unfamiliar with them. [5] The first attempt to introduce this measure establishing an equality of rights was made by Gaius Terentius in the preceding year, while he was tribune; but he was forced to leave the business unfinished because the plebeians were then in the field and the consuls purposely detained the armies in the enemy’s country till their term of office expired.

  [2.1] At the time in question Aulus Verginius and the other tribunes took up the measure and wished to carry it through. But in order to prevent this from happening and that the magistrates might not be compelled to conduct the government in accordance with laws, the consuls, the senate and all the rest of the citizens of greatest influence in the commonwealth kept resorting to all manner of devices. There were many sessions of the senate and continual meetings of the assembly, and attempts of all kinds were made by the magistrates against one another; from all of which it was manifest to everyone that some great and irreparable mischief to the commonwealth would arise out of this contention. [2] To these human reasonings were added the te
rrible portents sent by the gods, some of which were neither found recorded in the public archives nor were the memory of them preserved by any other means. [3] As for all the flashes shooting through the sky and outbursts of fire continuing in one place, the rumblings of the earth and its continual tremblings that occurred, the spectres, now of one shape and now of another, flitting through the air and voices that disturbed men’s minds, and everything else of that nature which took place, all these manifestations were found to have occurred in times past as well, to either a greater or lesser degree. But a prodigy which they were unfamiliar with as yet and had never heard of, and the one which caused them the greatest terror was this: There descended upon the earth from heaven what appeared to be a heavy snowstorm, only it brought down, instead of snow, pieces of flesh, some smaller and some larger. [4] Most of these while still in mid air were seized by flocks of birds of every kind, which flew up and snatched them in their beaks; but those pieces which fell to the ground, both in the city itself and in the country, lay there a long time without either changing to such a colour as pieces of flesh acquire with time, or becoming rotten, and no bad smell was given off by them. [5] The native soothsayers were unable to conjecture the meaning of this prodigy; but in the Sibylline books it was found that the city would be involved in a struggle to prevent the enslavement of its citizens after foreign enemies had penetrated inside the walls, and that this war against the foreigners would begin with civil strife, which they must banish from the city in its inception, invoking the gods by sacrifices and prayers to avert the dangers; then they would gain the victory over their enemies. [6] When this had been announced to the multitude, the priests who were in charge of such matters first sacrificed victims to the gods who remedy and avert evils; after which the senate assembled in the senate-house, the tribunes being also present, and considered means of safeguarding and preserving the commonwealth.

  [3.1] As for putting an end to their mutual recriminations and acting with unanimity concerning public affairs, as the oracles advised, all were in agreement; but how this was to be brought about, and which party should take the first step by yielding to the other the point at issue and thus put an end to the dissension, caused them no little embarrassment. [2] For the consuls and the leaders of the senate declared that the tribunes who were proposing new measures and demanding the overthrow of the time-honoured constitution were to blame for the disturbance. On the other hand, the tribunes denied that they were asking for anything that was either unjust or disadvantageous when they wished to introduce a good system of laws and equality of rights, but declared that the consuls and the patrician would be to blame for the dissension if they increased the spirit of lawlessness and greed and emulated the usual practices of tyrants. [3] These and many like reproaches were uttered by each side for many days and the time passed in vain; meanwhile no business in the city, either public or private, was being brought to completion. When nothing worth while was being accomplished, the tribunes desisted from the kind of harangues and accusations they were wont to make against the senate; and calling an assembly of the populace, they promised them to bring in a law embodying their demands. [4] This being approved of by the populace, they read without further delay the law which they had prepared, the chief provisions of which were as follows: That ten men should be chosen by the people meeting in a legitimate assembly, men who were at once the oldest and the most prudent and had the greatest regard for honour and a good reputation; that these men should draw up the laws concerning all matters both public and private and lay them before the people; and that the laws to be drawn up by them should be exposed in the Forum for the benefit of the magistrates who should be chosen each year and also of persons in private station, as a code defining the mutual rights of citizens. [5] After the tribunes had proposed this law, they gave leave to all who so desired to speak against it, appointing the third market-day for this purpose. Many in fact — and those not the least important of the senators, both old and young — did speak against the law, delivering speeches that were the result of much thought and preparation; and this went on for many days. [6] Then the tribunes, chafing at the loss of time, would no longer permit the opponents of the law to speak against it, but appointing a day for ratifying it, urged the plebeians to be present in force, assuring them that they should not be bored by any more long harangues but should give their votes by tribes concerning the law. After making these promises the tribunes dismissed the assembly.

  [4.1] After this the consuls and the most influential of the patricians, going to the tribunes, upbraided them more harshly than before, saying that they would not permit them to propose laws, and especially laws not recommended by a preliminary decree of the senate. For laws were compacts of states affecting all alike, and not of a single portion of the residents of states. They further pointed out that it is the first step in the most wicked, irremediable and indecent ruination for both states and households when the worst element prescribes laws for the best. [2] “And what authority,” they asked, “have you, tribunes, to introduce or to abrogate laws? Did you not receive this magistracy from the senate upon explicit terms? Did you not ask that the tribunes might come to the assistance of those of the poor who were injured and oppressed, but should meddle with nothing else? But, be that as it may, even if you previously possessed some power which you had wrongfully extorted from us, because the senate weakly gave in to each encroachment of yours, have you not lost even this power now through the changed character of your elections? [3] For neither a decree of the senate appoints you any longer to the magistracy, nor do the curiae give their votes concerning you, nor are there offered up to the gods before your election the sacrifices appointed by the laws, nor is anything else done in connexion with your magistracy that is holy in the eyes of the gods or right in the sight of men. What share have you, then, any longer in any of the things that are holy and call for reverence — of which the law was one — now that you have renounced everything lawful?” [4] These were the arguments that the older and the young patricians, going about the city in organized groups, used with the tribunes. The more fair-minded of the plebeians they sought to win over by friendly intercourse, and the refractory and turbulent they attempted to terrify with threats of dangers which they would incur unless they came to their senses. Indeed, in the case of some who were very poor and abject and cared naught for the public interests in comparison with their own advantage, they drove them out of the Forum with blows as if they had been slaves.

  [5.1] But the person who was attended with the largest number of followers and had the most influence of all the young men at that time was Caeso Quintius, the son of Lucius Quintius called Cincinnatus, a man of both illustrious birth and of a fortune inferior to none, the handsomest of youths to look upon, distinguished above all others in warfare, and possessing a natural talent for speaking. This he freely indulged at that time against the plebeians; and he neither spared words hard for free men to listen to nor refrained from deeds that matched his words. For these reasons the patricians held him in great esteem and urged him to continue on his dangerous course, promising to afford him impunity; but the plebeians hated him above all men. [2] This man the tribunes determined to remove out of the way first, expecting to terrify the rest of the youths and compel them to act sensibly. Having come to this decision and got ready their accusations and numerous witnesses, they brought him to trial for a crime against the state, for which they fixed death as the penalty. When they had summoned him to appear before the populace and the day they had appointed for the trial had come, they called an assembly and delivered lengthy speeches against him, enumerating all the acts of violence he had committed against the plebeians and presenting as witnesses the victims of his acts in person. [3] When they gave him leave to speak, the youth himself, being called upon to make his defence, refused, but asked the right to give satisfaction to the private persons themselves for the injuries of which they accused him, the hearing to take place before the consuls.
His father, however, observing that the plebeians were offended by the haughtiness of the youth, endeavoured to excuse him by showing that most of the accusations were false and deliberately invented against his son; [4] that the instances which he could not deny were slight and trivial and not deserving the resentment of the public, and that not even these had proceeded from design or insolence, but from a youthful ambition which had led him to do many unpremeditated things in scrimmages — perhaps to suffer many too — since he was neither at the prime of life nor at the best age for clear judgement. [5] And he asked the plebeians not only to entertain no resentment for the offences which he had committed against a few, but even to feel grateful for the services he had constantly rendered to them all in the wars while trying to secure liberty for his fellow citizens in private life, supremacy for his country, and for himself, if he should be guilty of any offence, friendly consideration and succour from the people generally. He proceeded to enumerate all the campaigns and all the battles in which he had received from his generals rewards of valour and crowns, how many citizens he had shielded in battle, and how often he had been the first man to scale the enemy’s walls. [6] And at last he ended with appeals to their compassion and with entreaties; in consideration of his fairness toward all men and of his life in general, which stood approved as free from all reproach, he asked of the people one single favour — to safeguard his son for him.