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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [56.1] The tribunes, having received this decree, went to the assembly and after reading it before the populace, bestowed much praise upon the senate and upon Appius, who had proposed it. And when the time came for the election of magistrates, the tribunes called an assembly and asked the consuls-elect to come and fulfil their promises to the populace; and they, appearing, resigned their magistracy. [2] The populace kept praising and admiring them, and when they were to vote for lawgivers, made them their first choice. Those chosen at the election by the centuriate assembly were Appius Claudius and Titus Genucius, who were to have been consuls for the following year; Publius Sestius, consul of that year; the three who had brought the laws from the Greeks, Spurius Postumius, Servius Sulpicius and Aulus Manlius; one of the consuls of the preceding year, Titus Romilius, the man who had been condemned when tried before the populace on a charge brought by Siccius and was now chosen because he was thought to have offered a motion favourable to the populace; and, from among the other senators, Gaius Julius, Titus Veturius and Publius Horatius, all ex-consuls. At the same time the offices of the tribunes, aediles, quaestors and any other traditional Roman magistrates were abrogated.

  [57.1] The next year the lawgivers took over the administration of affairs and established a form of government of the following general description. One of them had the rods and the other insignia of the consular power, assembled the senate, certified its decrees, and performed all the other functions belonging to the head of the state; while the others, by way of reducing the invidious character of their office to the more democratic level, differed in appearance but little from the mass of citizens. Then another of them in turn was vested with this authority, and thus it went on in rotation for a year, each one in succession receiving the command for a certain number of days as agreed upon. [2] But all of them sat from early morning arbitrating cases involving private and public contracts in which complaints might arise between citizens and the subjects and allies of the Romans and peoples of doubtful allegiance to Rome, examining each case with complete fairness and justice. [3] That year the Roman commonwealth seemed to be exceedingly well governed by the decemvirs. Above all they were commended for their care of the plebeians and for opposing, in defence of the weaker parties, every kind of violence; and it was said by many that the commonwealth would have no further need of champions of the populace or any of the other magistracies so long as a single wise leadership was directing all the affairs of the state. Of this régime Appius was looked upon as the head, [4] and all the praise that belonged to the whole decemvirate was given by the populace to him. For he gained a reputation for probity not only by those things which he did in concert with his colleagues from the best motives, but much more by the manner in which he conducted himself personally, as in the matter of greetings, friendly conversation and other kindly courtesies toward the poor.

  [5] These decemvirs, having formed a body of laws both from those of the Greeks and from their own unwritten usages, set them forth on ten tables to be examined by any who wished, welcoming every amendment suggested by private persons and endeavouring to correct them in such a manner as to give general satisfaction. For a long time they continued to consult in public with the best men and to make the strictest scrutiny of their code of laws. [6] When they were satisfied with what was written, they first convened the senate and, no fresh objection being made to the laws, they got a preliminary decree passed concerning them. Then, having summoned the people to the centuriate assembly, the pontiffs, the augurs and the other priests being present and having directed the performance of the religious rites according to custom, they gave the centuries their ballots. [7] And when the people too had ratified the laws, they caused them to be engraved on bronze pillars and set them up in order in the Forum, choosing the most conspicuous place. Then, as the remaining time of their magistracy was short, they assembled the senators and proposed for their consideration what kind of magistrates should be chosen at the next election.

  [58.1] After a long debate the opinion of those prevailed who favoured choosing a decemvirate again to be the supreme power in the state. For not only was their code of laws manifestly incomplete, in view of the short time in which it had been compiled, but in the case of the laws already ratified some magistracy absolute in power seemed necessary in order that willingly or unwillingly people might abide by them. But the chief motive that induced the senate to give the preference to the decemvirate was the suppression of the tribunician power, which they desired above everything. [2] This was the result of their public deliberations; but in private the leading men of the senate resolved to canvass for this magistracy, fearing that certain turbulent spirits, if they gained such power, might cause some great mischief. The popular assembly having gladly received the resolution of the senate and confirmed it with the greatest enthusiasm, the decemvirs themselves appointed the time for the election; and those among the patricians who were most distinguished for both their dignity and age stood candidates for the magistracy. [3] Upon this occasion Appius, who was the chief of that decemvirate, received great praise from everybody and the whole crowd of plebeians desired to continue him in the magistracy, believing that no one else would govern better. He at first pretended to refuse it and asked them to excuse him from a service that was both troublesome and invidious; but at last, when they all pressed him, he not only consented to seek the office himself, but also, accusing the best of the rival candidates of being ill disposed toward him through envy, openly espoused the candidacy of his friends. [4] Thus he was again chosen in the centuriate assembly as a lawgiver, for the second time, and with him Quintus Fabius, surnamed Vibulanus, who had been thrice consul, a man adorned with every virtue and without reproach up to that time. From among the other patricians those favoured by Appius and chosen were Marcus Cornelius, Marcus Sergius, Lucius Minucius, Titus Antonius and Manius Rabuleius, men of no great distinction; and from among the plebeians, Quintus Poetelius, Caeso Duilius and Spurius Oppius. For these also were taken in by Appius in order to flatter the plebeians; he pointed out that, as only one magistracy was appointed to govern all the citizens, it was just that the populace also should be represented in it. [5] Thus Appius, who was in great repute for all these actions and was looked upon as superior to both their kings and the annual magistrates who had governed the state, assumed the magistracy again for the following year. These were the things done by the Romans during that decemvirate, and there was nothing else worth relating.

  [59.1] The following year Appius Claudius and the other decemvirs, having received the consular power on the ides of May (for the Romans reckoned their months by the course of the moon, and the full moon fell on the ides), [2] first of all took a solemn oath, without the knowledge of the populace, and made a compact among themselves not to oppose one another in anything, but that whatever was approved by any one of them should be ratified by all the others; and they agreed that they would hold their magistracy for life and admit no other person into the government, that they would all enjoy the same honours and possess the same power, and that they would rarely make use of the votes of the senate or populace and then only in absolutely necessary cases, but would do almost everything on their own authority. [3] When the day came on which they were to enter upon their magistracy, after they had offered the usual initial sacrifices to the gods (for the Romans look upon this day as holy and particularly make it a point of religion neither to hear nor to see anything disagreeable during its course), the decemvirs set out early in the morning, each one accompanied by the insignia of royalty. [4] When the people saw that they no longer preserved the same democratic and modest form of leadership or passed on the insignia of royalty from one to another, as before, they fell into great despair and dejection. [5] They were terrified by the axes attached to the bundles of rods which were borne by the lictors, twelve of whom preceded each of the decemvirs and with blows forced the throng back from the streets, as had been the practice formerly under the kings. This custom, how
ever, had been abolished, immediately after the expulsion of the kings, by Publius Valerius, a friend of the populace, who succeeded to their power, and all the consuls after him, following the good example he was felt to have set, no longer attached the axes to the bundles of rods except when they went out of the city either upon military expeditions or upon other occasions; [6] but when they set out on a foreign war or inspected the affairs of their subjects, they then added the axes to the rods. This was in order that the terrifying sight, as one employed against their enemies or slaves, might give as little offence as possible to the citizens.

  [60.1] When, therefore, they all saw this token, which was considered to be a mark of the kingly power, they were in great fear, as I said, believing that they had lost their liberty and chosen ten kings instead of one. The decemvirs having by this means struck terror into the masses and made up their mind that they must rule them by fear thereafter, each of them formed a faction, choosing from among the youth those who were most daring and most attached to their persons. [2] Now the fact that most men of no means and low condition showed themselves flatterers of a tyrannical power and preferred their private advantages to the public good, was neither extraordinary nor surprising; but that there were found many even of the patricians who, though they had some reason, on the basis of either wealth or birth, to feel great pride, nevertheless consented to join with the decemvirs in destroying the liberty of their country, that seemed an amazing thing to everybody. But the decemvirs, by humouring people with all the pleasures that are calculated to subdue mankind, governed the commonwealth with great ease, holding the senate and people in no account, but becoming themselves both the lawgivers and the judges in all matters, putting many of the citizens to death and stripping others of their estates unjustly. [3] In order, however, that their acts, illegal and cruel as they were, might have a specious appearance and seem to be carried out in accordance with justice, they appointed courts to try every matter; but the accusers, chosen from among the instruments of their tyranny, were suborned by the decemvirs themselves and the courts filled with men of their factions, who gratified one another by turns in rendering their decisions. [4] Many complaints, and those not the ones of least importance, the decemvirs decided by themselves. Hence the litigants who had less right on their side were under the necessity of attaching themselves to the factions, since they could not otherwise be sure of success; and in time the corrupted and infected element in the city became more numerous than the sound element. For those to whom the doings of the decemvirs were obnoxious would not consent even to remain any longer within the city’s walls, but retired to the country while awaiting the time for the election of magistrates, in the expectation that the decemvirs would resign their power after completing their year’s term and would appoint other magistrates. [5] As for Appius and his colleagues, they caused the remaining laws to be inscribed on two tables and added them to those they had published before. Among these new laws was this one, that it should not be lawful for the patricians to contract marriages with the plebeians — a law made for no other reason, in my opinion, than to prevent the two orders from coming together in harmony when once blended together by intermarriages and ties of affinity. [6] And when the time for the election of magistrates was at hand, the decemvirs bade a hearty farewell to both the ancestral customs and the newly-written laws, and without asking for a vote of either senate or people, continued in the same magistracy.

  BOOK XI

  [1.1] In the eighty-third Olympiad (the one at which Criso of Himera gained the prize), Philiscus being archon at Athens, the Romans abolished the decemvirate which had governed the commonwealth for three years. I shall now endeavour to relate from the beginning in what manner they attempted to do away with this domination which was already deeply rooted, who the leaders were in the cause of liberty, and what their motives and pretexts were. For I assume that such information is necessary and an excellent thing for almost everyone, but particularly for those who are employed either in philosophical speculation or in the administration of public affairs. [2] For most people are not satisfied with learning this alone from history, that the Persian War, to take that as an example, was won by the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, who in two battles at sea and one on land overcame the barbarian at the head of three million troops, though their own forces together with their allies did not exceed one hundred and ten thousand; but they wish also to learn from history of the places where those actions occurred, to hear of the causes that enabled those men to perform their wonderful and astonishing exploits, to know who were the commanders of the armies, both Greek and barbarian, and to be left ignorant of not a single incident, one may say, that happened in those engagements. [3] For the minds of all men take delight in being conducted through words to deeds and not only in hearing what is related but also in beholding what is done. Nor, indeed, what they hear of political events, are they satisfied with learning the bare summary and outcome of the events, as, for instance, that the Athenians agreed with the Lacedaemonians to demolish the walls of their city, to break up their fleet, to introduce a garrison into their citadel, and, instead of their traditional democratic, to set up an oligarchy to govern the state, and permitted all this without so much as fighting a battle with them; but they at once demand to be informed also of the necessity which reduced the Athenians to submit to such dire and cruel calamities, what the arguments were that persuaded them, and by what men those arguments were urged, and to be informed of all the circumstances that attended those events. [4] Men who are engaged in the conduct of civil affairs, among whom I for my part include also those philosophers who regard philosophy as consisting in the practice of fine actions rather than of fine words, have this in common with the rest of mankind, that they take pleasure in a comprehensive survey of all the circumstances that accompany events. And besides their pleasure, they have this advantage, that in difficult times they render great service to their countries as the result of the experience thus acquired and lead them as willing followers to that which is to their advantage, through the power of persuasion. [5] For men most easily recognize the policies which either benefit or injure them when they perceive these illustrated by many examples; and those who advise them to make use of these are credited by them with prudence and great wisdom. It is for these reasons, therefore, that I have determined to report in accurate detail all the circumstances which attended the overthrow of the oligarchy, in so far as I consider them worthy of notice. [6] I shall begin my account of them, however, not with the final incidents, which most people regard as the sole cause of the re-establishment of liberty, — I mention the wrongs committed by Appius with regard to the maiden because of his passion for her, — since these were merely an aggravation and a final cause for the resentment of the plebeians, following countless others, but I shall begin with the first insults the citizens suffered at the hands of the decemvirate. These I shall mention first, and then relate in order all the lawless deeds committed under that régime.

  [2.1] The first ground for the hatred against the oligarchy seems to have been this, that its members had joined their second term of office immediately to their first, thus showing alike their scorn of the people and their contempt of the senate. Another was their treatment of the most reputable Romans who were dissatisfied with their actions, some of whom, on the strength of false and heinous accusations, they were expelling from the city and others they were putting to death, suborning some of their own faction to accuse them and themselves trying these cases. But more than anything else was the licence they gave to the most audacious of the young men by whom each of them was always attended, to plunder and pillage the goods of those who opposed their administration. [2] These youths, as if the country had been taken by force of arms, not only stripped the legal owners of their effects, but even violated their wives, when these were beautiful, abused such of their daughters as were marriageable, and when any showed resentment, they beat them like slaves. Thus they bright it about that tho
se who found these proceedings intolerable left their country along with their wives and children and removed to the neighbouring cities, where they were received by the Latins on account of their affinity and by the Hernicans in acknowledgement of the right of citizenship lately granted to them by the Romans. Consequently, as was to be expected, there were in the end none left behind but the friends of tyranny and such as had no concern for the public good. [3] For neither the patricians, who were unwilling to flatter the rulers and yet were unable to oppose their actions, remained in the city, nor did those necessary to the magistrates; but the greater part of these also had removed with their entire families and, leaving their houses empty, were now living in the country. [4] The oligarchical faction, however, was pleased with the flight of the most distinguished men, not only for many other reasons, but particularly because it greatly increased the arrogance of the licentious youth not to have before their eyes those persons whose presence would have made them blush whenever they committed any wanton act.