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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [2] I arrived in Italy at the very time that Augustus Caesar put an end to the civil war, in the middle of the one hundred and eighty-seventh Olympiad. and having from that time to this present day, a period of twenty-two years, lived at Rome, learned the language of the Romans and acquainted myself with their writings, I have devoted myself during all that time to matters bearing upon my subject.

  [3] καὶ τὰ μὲν παρὰ τῶν λογιωτάτων ἀνδρῶν, οἷς εἰς ὁμιλίαν ἦλθον, διδαχῇ παραλαβὼν, τὰ δ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἱστοριῶν ἀναλεξάμενος, ἃς οἱ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἐπαινούμενοι Ῥωμαίων συνέγραψαν Πόρκιός τε Κάτων καὶ Φάβιος Μάξιμος καὶ Οὐαλέριος ὁ Ἀντιεὺς καὶ Λικίνιος Μάκερ Αἴλιοί τε καὶ Γέλλιοι καὶ Καλπούρνιοι καὶ ἕτεροι συχνοὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἄνδρες οὐκ ἀφανεῖς, ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνων ὁρμώμενος τῶν πραγματειῶν ῾εἰσὶ δὲ ταῖς Ἑλληνικαῖς χρονογραφίαις ἐοικυῖαἰ, τότε ἐπεχείρησα τῇ γραφῇ.

  [3] Some information I received orally from men of the greatest learning, with whom I associated; and the rest I gathered from histories written by the approved Roman authors — Porcius Cato, Fabius Maximus, Valerius Antias, Licinius Macer, the aelii, Gellii and Calpurnii, and many others of note; with these works, which are like the Greek annalistic accounts, as a basis, I set about the writing of my history.

  [4] ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ διείλεγμαι. λοιπὸν ἔτι δέ μοι καὶ περὶ τῆς ἱστορίας αὐτῆς προειπεῖν, τίσι τε αὐτὴν περιλαμβάνω χρόνοις καὶ περὶ τίνων ποιοῦμαι πραγμάτων τὴν διήγησιν καὶ ποταπὸν ἀποδίδωμι τὸ σχῆμα τῇ πραγματείᾳ.

  [4] So much, then, concerning myself. But it yet remains for me to say something also concerning the history itself — to what periods I limit it, what subjects I describe, and what form I give to the work.

  [1] ἄρχομαι μὲν οὖν τῆς ἱστορίας ἀπὸ τῶν παλαιοτάτων μύθων, οὓς παρέλιπον οἱ πρὸ ἐμοῦ γενόμενοι συγγραφεῖς χαλεποὺς ὄντας ἄνευ πραγματείας μεγάλης ἐξευρεθῆναι:

  [8.1] I begin my history, then, with the most ancient legends, which the historians before me have omitted as a subject difficult to be cleared up with diligent study;

  [2] καταβιβάζω δὲ τὴν διήγησιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ πρώτου Φοινικικοῦ πολέμου τὴν γενομένην ἐνιαυτῷ τρίτῳ τῆς ὀγδόης καὶ εἰκοστῆς ἐπὶ ταῖς ἑκατὸν ὀλυμπιάσιν. ἀφηγοῦμαι δὲ τούς τε ὀθνείους πολέμους τῆς πόλεως ἅπαντας, ὅσους ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς χρόνοις ἐπολέμησε, καὶ τὰς ἐμφυλίους στάσεις [p. 13] ὁπόσας ἐστασίασεν, ἐξ οἵων αἰτιῶν ἐγένοντο καὶ δἰ οἵων τρόπων τε καὶ λόγων κατελύθησαν: πολιτειῶν τε ἰδέας διέξειμι πάσας ὅσαις ἐχρήσατο βασιλευομένη τε καὶ μετὰ τὴν κατάλυσιν τῶν μονάρχων, καὶ τίς ἦν αὐτῶν ἑκάστης ὁ κόσμος: ἔθη τε τὰ κράτιστα καὶ νόμους τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους διηγοῦμαι καὶ συλλήβδην ὅλον ἀποδείκνυμι τὸν ἀρχαῖον βίον τῆς πόλεως.

  [2] and I bring the narrative down to the beginning of the First Punic War, which fell in the third year of the one hundred and twenty-eighth Olympiad. I relate all the foreign wars that the city waged during that period and all the internal seditions with which she was agitated, showing from what causes they sprang and by what methods and by what arguments they were brought to an end. I give an account also of all the forms of government Rome used, both during the monarchy and after its overthrow, and show what was the character of each. I describe the best customs and the most remarkable laws; and, in short, I show the whole life of the ancient Romans.

  [3] σχῆμα δὲ ἀποδίδωμι τῇ πραγματείᾳ οὔθ᾽ ὁποῖον οἱ τοὺς πολέμους μόνους ἀναγράψαντες ἀποδεδώκασι ταῖς ἱστορίαις οὔθ᾽ ὁποῖον οἱ τὰς πολιτείας αὐτὰς ἐξ̓ ἑαυτῶν διηγησάμενοι οὔτε ταῖς χρονικαῖς παραπλήσιον, ἃς ἐξέδωκαν οἱ τὰς Ἀτθίδας πραγματευσάμενοι: μονοειδεῖς γὰρ ἐκεῖναί τε καὶ ταχὺ προσιστάμεναι τοῖς ἀκούουσιν: ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ ἁπάσης ἰδέας μικτὸν ἐναγωνίου τε καὶ θεωρητικῆς καὶ ἡδείας, ἵνα καὶ τοῖς περὶ τοὺς πολιτικοὺς διατρίβουσι λόγους καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὴν φιλόσοφον ἐσπουδακόσι θεωρίαν καὶ εἴ τισιν ἀοχλήτου δεήσει διαγωγῆς ἐν ἱστορικοῖς ἀναγνώσμασιν,

  [3] As to the form I give this work, it does not resemble that which the authors who make wars alone their subject have given to their histories, nor that which others who treat of the several forms of government by themselves have adopted, nor is it like the annalistic accounts which the authors of Atthides have published (for these are monotonous and soon grow tedious to the reader), but it is a combination of every kind, forensic, speculative and narrative, to the intent that it may afford satisfaction both to those who occupy themselves with political debates and to those who are devoted to philosophical speculations, as well as to any who may desire mere undisturbed entertainment in their reading of history.

  [4] ἀποχρώντως ἔχουσα φαίνηται. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἱστορία περὶ τοιούτων τε γενήσεται πραγμάτων καὶ τοιούτου τεύξεται σχήματος: ὁ δὲ συντάξας αὐτὴν Διονύσιός εἰμι Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασεύς: ἄρχομαι δ᾽ ἐνθένδε.

  [4] Such things, therefore, will be the subjects of my history and such will be its form. I, the author, am Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the son of Alexander. And at this point I begin.

  [1] τὴν ἡγεμόνα γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης ἁπάσης [p. 14] πόλιν, ἣν νῦν κατοικοῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι, παλαιότατοι τῶν μνημονευομένων λέγονται κατασχεῖν βάρβαροι Σικελοί, ἔθνος αὐθιγενές: τὰ δὲ πρὸ τούτων οὔθ᾽ ὡς κατείχετο πρὸς ἑτέρων οὔθ᾽ ὡς ἔρημος ἦν οὐδεὶς ἔχει βεβαίως εἰπεῖν. χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον Ἀβοριγῖνες αὐτὴν παραλαμβάνουσι πολέμῳ μακρῷ τοὺς ἔχοντας ἀφελόμενοι:

  [9.1] This city, mistress of the whole earth and sea, which the Romans now inhabit, is said to have had as its earliest occupants the barbarian Sicels, a native race. As to the condition of the place before their time, whether it was occupied by others or uninhabited, none can certainly say. But some time later the Aborigines gained possession of it, having taken it from the occupants after a long war.

  [2] οἳ τὸ μὲν πρότερον ἐπὶ τοῖς ὄρεσιν ᾤκουν ἄνευ τειχῶν κωμηδὸν καὶ σποράδες, ἐπεὶ δὲ Πελασγοί τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων τινὲς ἀναμιχθέντες αὐτοῖς συνήραντο τοῦ πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοτέρμονας πολέμου, τὸ Σικελικὸν γένος ἀπαναστήσαντες ἐξ αὐτῆς πόλεις περιεβάλοντο συχνὰς καὶ
παρεσκεύασαν ὑπήκοον αὑτοῖς γενέσθαι πᾶσαν ὅσην ὁρίζουσι ποταμοὶ δύο Λῖρις καὶ Τέβερις: οἳ τὰς μὲν ἀρχὰς λαμβάνουσι τῆς ῥύσεως ἐκ τῆς ὑπωρείας τῶν Ἀπεννίνων ὀρῶν, ὑφ᾽ ὧν δίχα τέμνεται πᾶσα ἐπὶ μῆκος ἡ Ἰταλία, διαστάντες δὲ κατὰ τὰς ἐκβολὰς ὀκτακόσιά που στάδἰ ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων εἰς τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν ἐξερεύγονται πέλαγος, ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν βορείων μερῶν ὁ Τέβερις Ὠστίας πόλεως πλησίον ἐκδιδούς, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ μεσημβρινοῦ κλίματος ὁ Λῖρις Μίντουρναν παραμειβόμενος:

  [2] These people had previously lived on the mountains in unwalled villages and scattered groups; but when the Pelasgians, with whom some other Greeks had united, assisted them in the war against their neighbours, they drove the Sicels out of this place, walled in many towns, and contrived to subjugate all the country that lies between the two rivers, the Liris and the Tiber. These rivers spring from the foot of the Apennine mountains, the range by which all Italy is divided into two parts throughout its length, and at points about eight hundred stades from one another discharge themselves into the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Tiber to the north, near the city of Ostia, and the Liris to the south, as it flows by Minturnae, both these cities being Roman colonies.

  [3] Ῥωμαίων δέ εἰσιν αἱ πόλεις ἀμφότεραι ἄποικοι. καὶ διέμειναν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οἰκήσεως οὐκέτι πρὸς ἑτέρων ἐξελαθέντες, ὀνομάτων ἀλλαγαῖς διτταῖς οἱ αὐτοὶ ἄνθρωποι [p. 15] προσαγορευόμενοι, μέχρι μὲν τοῦ Τρωικοῦ πολέμου τὴν ἀρχαίαν τῶν Ἀβοριγίνων ὀνομασίαν ἔτι σώζοντες, ἐπὶ δὲ Λατίνου βασιλέως, ὃς κατὰ τὸν Ἰλιακὸν πόλεμον ἐδυνάστευε, Λατῖνοι ἀρξάμενοι καλεῖσθαι.

  [3] And these people remained in this same place of abode, both never afterwards driven out by any others; but, although they continued to be one and the same people, their name was twice changed. Till the time of the Trojan war they preserved their ancient name of Aborigines; but under Latinus, their king, who reigned at the time of that war, they began to be called Latins,

  [4] Ῥωμύλου δὲ τὴν ἐπώνυμον αὑτοῦ πόλιν οἰκίσαντος ἑκκαίδεκα γενεαῖς τῶν Τρωικῶν ὕστερον, ἣν νῦν ἔχουσιν ὀνομασίαν μεταλαβόντες, ἔθνος τε μέγιστον ἐξ ἐλαχίστου γενέσθαι σὺν χρόνῳ παρεσκεύασαν καὶ περιφανέστατον ἐξ ἀδηλοτάτου, τῶν τε δεομένων οἰκήσεως παρὰ σφίσι φιλανθρώπῳ ὑποδοχῇ καὶ πολιτείας μεταδόσει τοῖς μετὰ τοῦ γενναίου ἐν πολέμῳ κρατηθεῖσι, δούλων τε ὅσοι παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἐλευθερωθεῖεν ἀστοῖς εἶναι συγχωρήσει, τύχης τε ἀνθρώπων οὐδεμιᾶς εἰ μέλλοι τὸ κοινὸν ὠφελεῖν ἀπαξιώσει: ὑπὲρ ταῦτα δὲ πάντα κόσμῳ τοῦ πολιτεύματος, ὃν ἐκ πολλῶν κατεστήσαντο παθημάτων, ἐκ παντὸς καιροῦ λαμβάνοντές τι χρήσιμον.

  [4] and when Romulus founded the city named after himself sixteen generations after the taking of Troy, they took the name which they now bear. And in the course of time they contrived to raise themselves from the smallest nation to the greatest and from the most obscure to the most illustrious, not only by their humane reception of those who sought a home among them, but also by sharing the rights of citizenship with all who had been conquered by them in war after a brave resistance, by permitting all the slaves, too, who were manumitted among them to become citizens, and by disdaining no condition of men from whom the commonwealth might reap an advantage, but above everything else by their form of government, which they fashioned out of their many experiences, always extracting something useful from every occasion.

  [1] τοὺς δὲ Ἀβοριγῖνας, ἀφ᾽ ὧν ἄρχει Ῥωμαίοις τὸ γένος, οἱ μὲν αὐτόχθονας Ἰταλίας, γένος αὐτὸ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸ γενόμενον ἀποφαίνουσιν: Ἰταλίαν δὲ καλῶ τὴν ἀκτὴν σύμπασαν, ὅσην Ἰόνιός τε κόλπος καὶ Τυρρηνικὴ θάλασσα καὶ τρίται περιέχουσιν ἐκ γῆς Ἄλπεις. καὶ τὴν ὀνομασίαν αὐτοῖς τὴν πρώτην φασὶ τεθῆναι [p. 16] διὰ τὸ γενέσεως τοῖς μετ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἄρξαι, ὥσπερ ἂν ἡμεῖς εἴποιμεν γενεάρχας ἢ πρωτογόνους.

  [10.1] There are some who affirm that the Aborigines, from whom the Romans are originally descended, were natives of Italy, a stock which came into being spontaneously (I call Italy all that peninsula which is bounded by the Ionian Gulf and the Tyrrhenian Sea and, thirdly, by the Alps on the landward side); and these authors say that they were first called Aborigines because they were the founders of the families of their descendants, or, as we should call them, genearchai or prôtogonoi.

  [2] ἕτεροι δὲ λέγουσιν ἀνεστίους τινὰς καὶ πλάνητας ἐκ πολλῶν συνελθόντας χωρίων κατὰ δαίμονα περιτυχεῖν ἀλλήλοις αὐτόθι καὶ τὴν οἴκησιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐρύμασι καταστήσασθαι, ζῆν δὲ ἀπὸ λῃστείας καὶ νομῆς. παραλλάττουσι δὲ καὶ τὴν ὀνομασίαν αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ ταῖς τύχαις οἰκειότερον, Ἀβερριγῖνας λέγοντες, ὥστε δηλοῦσθαι αὐτοὺς πλάνητας. κινδυνεύει δὴ κατὰ τούτους μηδὲν διαφέρειν τὸ τῶν Ἀβοριγίνων φῦλον ὧν ἐκάλουν οἱ παλαιοὶ Λελέγων: τοῖς γὰρ ἀνεστίοις καὶ μιγάσι καὶ μηδεμίαν γῆν βεβαίως ὡς πατρίδα κατοικοῦσι ταύτην ἐπετίθεντο τὴν ὀνομασίαν ὡς τὰ

  [2] Others claim that certain vagabonds without house or home, coming together out of many places, met one another there by chance and took up their abode in the fastnesses, living by robbery and grazing their herds. And these writers change their name, also, to one more suitable to their condition, calling them Aberrigenes, to show that they were wanderers; indeed, according to these, the race of the Aborigines would seem to be no different from those the ancients called Leleges; for this is the name they generally gave to the homeless and mixed peoples who had no fixed abode which they could call their country.

  [3] πολλά. ἄλλοι δὲ Λιγύων ἀποίκους μυθολογοῦσιν αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι τῶν ὁμορούντων Ὀμβρικοῖς: οἱ γὰρ Λίγυες οἰκοῦσι μὲν καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας πολλαχῇ, νέμονται δέ τινα καὶ τῆς Κελτικῆς. ὁποτέρα δ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἐστι γῆ πατρίς, ἄδηλον: οὐ γὰρ ἔτι λέγεται περὶ αὐτῶν προσωτέρω σαφὲς οὐδέν.

  [3] Still others have a story to the effect that they were colonists sent out by those Ligurians who are neighbours of the Umbrians. For the Ligurians inhabit not only many parts of Italy but some parts of Gaul as well, but which of these lands is their native country is not known, since nothing certain is said of them further.

  [1] οἱ δὲ λογιώτατοι τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν συγγραφέων, ἐν οἷς ἐστι Πόρκιός τε Κάτων ὁ τὰς γενεαλογίας τῶν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ πόλεων ἐπιμελέστατα σ
υναγαγὼν καὶ Γάϊος Σεμπρώνιος καὶ ἄλλοι συχνοί, Ἕλληνας αὐτοὺς εἶναι λέγουσι τῶν ἐν Ἀχαΐᾳ ποτὲ οἰκησάντων, πολλαῖς γενεαῖς πρότερον τοῦ πολέμου τοῦ Τρωικοῦ μεταναστάντας. οὐκέτι μέντοι διορίζουσιν [p. 17] οὔτε φῦλον Ἑλληνικὸν οὗ μετεῖχον, οὔτε πόλιν ἐξ ἧς ἀπανέστησαν, οὔτε χρόνον οὔθ᾽ ἡγεμόνα τῆς ἀποικίας οὔθ᾽ ὁποίαις τύχαις χρησάμενοι τὴν μητρόπολιν ἀπέλιπον: Ἑλληνικῷ τε μύθῳ χρησάμενοι οὐδένα τῶν τὰ Ἑλληνικὰ γραψάντων βεβαιωτὴν παρέσχοντο. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀληθὲς ὅπως ποτ᾽ ἔχει, ἄδηλον: εἰ δ᾽ ἐστὶν ὁ τούτων λόγος ὑγιής, οὐκ ἂν ἑτέρου τινὸς εἴησαν ἄποικοι γένους ἢ τοῦ καλουμένου νῦν Ἀρκαδικοῦ.

  [11.1] But the most learned of the Roman historians, among whom is Porcius Cato, who compiled with the greatest care the “origins” of the Italian cities, Gaius Sempronius and a great many others, say that they were Greeks, part of those who once dwelt in Achaia, and that they migrated many generations before the Trojan war. But they do not go on to indicate either the Greek tribe to which they belonged or the city from which they removed, or the date or the leader of the colony, or as the result of what turns of fortune they left their mother country; and although they are following a Greek legend, they have cited no Greek historian as their authority. It is uncertain, therefore, what the truth of the matter is. But if what they say is true, the Aborigines can be a colony of no other people but of those who are now called Arcadians;

  [2] πρῶτοι γὰρ Ἑλλήνων οὗτοι περαιωθέντες τὸν Ἰόνιον κόλπον ᾤκησαν Ἰταλίαν, ἄγοντος αὐτοὺς Οἰνώτρου τοῦ Λυκάονος: ἦν δὲ πέμπτος ἀπό τε Αἰζειοῦ καὶ Φορωνέως τῶν πρώτων ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ δυναστευσάντων. Φορωνέως μὲν γὰρ Νιόβη γίνεται: ταύτης δὲ υἱὸς καὶ Διὸς, ὡς λέγεται, Πελασγός: Αἰζειοῦ δὲ υἱὸς Λυκάων: τούτου δὲ Δηιάνειρα θυγάτηρ: ἐκ δὲ Δηιανείρας καὶ Πελασγοῦ Λυκάων ἕτερος: τούτου δὲ Οἴνωτρος, ἑπτακαίδεκα γενεαῖς πρότερον τῶν ἐπὶ Τροίαν στρατευσάντων. ὁ μὲν δὴ χρόνος, ἐν ᾧ τὴν ἀποικίαν ἔστειλαν Ἕλληνες εἰς Ἰταλίαν, οὗτος ἦν.