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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [2] θεοῖς φίλον, ᾤετο πεπρᾶχθαι καλέσας ἅπαντας εἰς τὸν ἀποδειχθέντα τόπον περιγράφει τετράγωνον σχῆμα τῷ λόφῳ, βοὸς ἄρρενος ἅμα θηλείᾳ ζευχθέντος ὑπ᾽ ἄροτρον ἑλκύσας αὔλακα διηνεκῆ τὴν μέλλουσαν ὑποδέξεσθαι τὸ τεῖχος: ἐξ οὗ Ῥωμαίοις τὸ ἔθος τοῦτο [p. 149] τῆς περιαρόσεως τῶν χωρίων ἐν οἰκισμοῖς πόλεων παραμένει. ἐργασάμενος δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τῶν βοῶν ἑκατέρους ἱερεύσας ἄλλων τε πολλῶν θυμάτων καταρξάμενος ἐφίστησι τοῖς ἔργοις τὸν λεών. ταύτην ἔτι καὶ

  [2] When he thought everything had been done which he conceived to be acceptable to the gods, he called all the people to the appointed place and described a quadrangular figure about the hill, tracing with a plough drawn by a bull and a cow yoked together a continuous furrow designed to receive the foundation of the wall; and from that time this custom has continued among the Romans of ploughing a furrow round the site where they plan to build a city. After he had done this and sacrificed the bull and the cow and also performed the initial rites over many other victims, he set the people to work.

  [3] εἰς ἐμὲ τὴν ἡμέραν Ῥωμαίων ἡ πόλις ἑορτῶν οὐδεμιᾶς ἥττονα τιθεμένη καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἔτος ἄγει, καλοῦσι δὲ Παρίλια. θύουσι δ᾽ ἐν αὐτῇ περὶ γονῆς τετραπόδων οἱ γεωργοὶ καὶ νομεῖς θυσίαν χαριστήριον ἔαρος ἀρχομένου. πότερον δὲ παλαίτερον ἔτι τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην ἐν εὐπαθείαις διάγοντες ἐπιτηδειοτάτην οἰκισμῷ πόλεως ἐνόμισαν, ἢ τοῦ κτίσματος ἄρξασαν ἱερὰν ἐποιήσαντο καὶ θεοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ τοὺς ποιμέσι φίλους γεραίρειν ᾤοντο δεῖν οὐκ ἔχω βεβαίως εἰπεῖν.

  [3] This day the Romans celebrate every year even down to my time as one of their greatest festivals and call it the Parilia. On this day, which comes in the beginning of spring, the husbandmen and herdsmen offer up a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the increase of their cattle. But whether they had celebrated this day in even earlier times as a day of rejoicing and for that reason looked upon it as the most suitable for the founding of the city, or whether, because it marked the beginning of the building of the city, they consecrated it and thought they should honour on it the gods who are propitious to shepherds, I cannot say for certain.

  [1] ἃ μὲν οὖν ἐμοὶ δύναμις ἐγένετο σὺν πολλῇ φροντίδι ἀνευρεῖν Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ Ῥωμαίων συχνὰς ἀναλεξαμένῳ γραφὰς ὑπὲρ τοῦ τῶν Ῥωμαίων. γένους, τοιάδ᾽ ἐστίν. ὥστε θαρρῶν ἤδη τις ἀποφαινέσθω πολλὰ χαίρειν φράσας τοῖς βαρβάρων καὶ δραπετῶν καὶ ἀνεστίων ἀνθρώπων καταφυγὴν τὴν Ῥώμην ποιοῦσιν Ἑλλάδα πόλιν αὐτήν, ἀποδεικνύμενος μὲν κοινοτάτην τε πόλεων καὶ φιλανθρωποτάτην, ἐνθυμούμενος. ὅτι τὸ μὲν τῶν Ἀβοριγίνων φῦλον Οἰνωτρικὸν ἦν, τοῦτο δὲ Ἀρκαδικόν:

  [89.1] Such, then, are the facts concerning the origin of the Romans which I have been able to discover a reading very diligently many works written by both Greek and Roman authors. Hence, from now on let the reader forever renounce the views of those who make Rome a retreat of barbarians, fugitive and vagabonds, and let him confidently affirm it to be a Greek city, — which will be easy when he shows that it is at once the most hospitable and friendly of all cities, and when he bears in mind that the Aborigines were Oenotrians, and these in turn Arcadians,

  [2] μεμνημένος δὲ τῶν συνοικησάντων αὐτοῖς Πελασγῶν, οἳ Θετταλίαν καταλιπόντες [p. 150] Ἀργεῖοι τὸ γένος ὄντες εἰς Ἰταλίαν ἀφίκοντο: Εὐάνδρου τε αὖ καὶ Ἀρκάδων ἀφίξεως, οἳ περὶ τὸ Παλλάντιον ᾤκησαν, Ἀβοριγίνων αὐτοῖς παρασχόντων τὸ χωρίον: ἔτι δὲ Πελοποννησίων τῶν σὺν Ἡρακλεῖ παραγενομένων, οἳ κατῴκησαν ἐπὶ τοῦ Σατορνίου: τελευταῖον δὲ τῶν ἀπαναστάντων ἐκ τῆς Τρωάδος καὶ συγκερασθέντων τοῖς προτέροις. τούτων γὰρ ἂν οὐδὲν εὕροι τῶν ἐθνῶν οὔτε ἀρχαιότερον οὔτε Ἑλληνικώτερον.

  [2] and remembers those who joined with them in their settlement, the Pelasgians who were Argives by descent and came into Italy from Thessaly; and recalls, moreover, the arrival of Evander and the Arcadians, who settled round the Palatine hill, after the Aborigines had granted the place to them; and also the Peloponnesians, who, coming along with Hercules, settled upon the Saturnian hill; and, last of all, those who left the Troad and were intermixed with the earlier settlers. For one will find no nation that is more ancient or more Greek than these.

  [3] αἱ δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐπιμιξίαι, δι᾽ ἃς ἡ πόλις πολλὰ τῶν ἀρχαίων ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀπέμαθε, σὺν χρόνῳ ἐγένοντο. καὶ θαῦμα μὲν τοῦτο πολλοῖς ἂν εἶναι δόξειε τὰ εἰκότα λογισαμένοις, πῶς οὐχ ἅπασα ἐξεβαρβαρώθη Ὀπικούς τε ὑποδεξαμένη καὶ Μαρσοὺς καὶ: Σαυνίτας καὶ Τυρρηνοὺς καὶ Βρεττίους Ὀμβρικῶν τε καὶ Λιγύων καὶ Ἰβήρων καὶ Κελτῶν συχνὰς μυριάδας ἄλλα τε πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἔθνη τὰ μὲν ἐξ αὐτῆς Ἰταλίας, τὰ δ᾽ ἐξ ἑτέρων ἀφιγμένα τόπων μυρία ὅσα οὔτε ὁμόγλωττα οὔτε ὁμοδίαιτα, ὧν οὔτε φωνὰς οὔτε δίαιταν καὶ βίους σύγκλυδας ἀναταραχθέντας ἐκ τοσαύτης διαφωνίας πολλὰ τοῦ παλαιοῦ

  [3] But the admixtures of the barbarians with the Romans, by which the city forgot many of its ancient institutions, happened at a later time. And it may well seem a cause of wonder to many who reflect on the natural course of events that Rome did not become entirely barbarized after receiving the Opicans, the Marsians, the Samnites, the Tyrrhenians, the Bruttians and many thousands of Umbrians, Ligurians, Iberians and Gauls, besides innumerable other nations, some of whom came from Italy itself and some from other regions and differed from one another both in their language and habits; for their very ways of life, diverse as they were and thrown into turmoil by such dissonance, might have been expected to cause many innovations in the ancient order of the city.

  [4] κόσμου τῆς πόλεως νεοχμῶσαι εἰκὸς ἦν: ἐπεὶ ἄλλοι γε συχνοὶ ἐν βαρβάροις οἰκοῦντες ὀλίγου χρόνου διελθόντος ἅπαν τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἀπέμαθον, ὡς μήτε φωνὴν Ἑλλάδα φθέγγεσθαι μήτε %5ἐπιτηδεύμασιν Ελλήνων [p. 151] χρῆσθαι, μήτε θεοὺς τοὺς αὐτοὺς νομίζειν, μήτε νόμους τοὺς ἐπιεικεῖς, ᾧ μάλιστα διαλλάσσει φύσις Ἑλλὰς βαρβάρου, μήτε τῶν ἄλλων συμβολαίων μηδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν. ἀποχρῶσι δὲ τὸν λόγον τόνδε ὡς ἀληθῆ εἶναι Ἀχαιῶν οἱ περὶ τὸν Πόντον ᾠκημένοι τεκμηριῶσαι, Ἠλείων μὲν ἐκ τοῦ Ἑλληνικωτάτου γενόμενοι, βαρβάρων δ
ὲ συμπάντων τῶν νῦν ὄντες ἀγριώτατοι.

  [4] For many others by living among barbarians have in a short time forgotten all their Greek heritage, so that they neither speak the Greek language nor observe the customs of the Greeks nor acknowledge the same gods nor have the same equitable laws (by which most of all the spirit of the Greeks differs from that of the barbarians) nor agree with them in anything else whatever that relates to the ordinary intercourse of life. Those Achaeans who are settled near the Euxine sea are a sufficient proof of my contention; for, though originally Eleans, of a nation the most Greek of any, they are now the most savage of all barbarians.

  [1] Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ φωνὴν μὲν οὔτ᾽ ἄκρως βάρβαρον οὔτ᾽ ἀπηρτισμένως Ἑλλάδα φθέγγονται, μικτὴν δέ τινα ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, ἧς ἐστιν ἡ πλείων Αἰολίς, τοῦτο μόνον ἀπολαύσαντες ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν ἐπιμιξιῶν, τὸ μὴ πᾶσι τοῖς φθόγγοις ὀρθοεπεῖν, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα, ὁπόσα γένους Ἑλληνικοῦ μηνύματ᾽ ἐστὶν ὡς οὐχ ἕτεροί τινες τῶν ἀποικησάντων διασώζοντες, οὐ νῦν πρῶτον ἀρξάμενοι πρὸς φιλίαν ζῆν, ἡνίκα τὴν τύχην πολλὴν καὶ ἀγαθὴν ῥέουσαν διδάσκαλον ἔχουσι τῶν καλῶν οὐδ᾽ ἀφ᾽ οὗ πρῶτον ὠρέχθησαν τῆς διαποντίου τὴν Καρχηδονίων καὶ Μακεδόνων ἀρχὴν καταλύσαντες, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ παντὸς οὗ συνῳκίσθησαν χρόνου βίον Ἕλληνα ζῶντες καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκπρεπέστερον ἐπιτηδεύοντες πρὸς ἀρετὴν νῦν ἢ πρότερον.

  [90.1] The language spoken by the Romans is neither utterly barbarous nor absolutely Greek, but a mixture, as it were, of both, the greater part of which is Aeolic; and the only disadvantage they have experienced from their intermingling with these various nations is that they do not pronounce all their sounds properly. But all other indications of a Greek origin they preserve beyond any other colonists. For it is not merely recently, since they have enjoyed the full tide of good fortune to instruct them in the amenities of life, that they have begun to live humanely; nor is it merely since they first aimed at the conquest of countries lying beyond the sea, after overthrowing the Carthaginian and Macedonian empires, but rather from the time when they first joined in founding the city, that they have lived like Greeks; and they do not attempt anything more illustrious in the pursuit of virtue now than formerly.

  [2] μυρία δ᾽ εἰς τοῦτο λέγειν [p. 152] ἔχων καὶ πολλοῖς τεκμηρίοις χρῆσθαι δυνάμενος ἀνδρῶν τε μαρτυρίας φέρειν οὐκ ἀξίων ἀπιστεῖσθαι, πάντα ἀναβάλλομαι ταῦτα εἰς τὸν περὶ τῆς πολιτείας αὐτῶν συγγραφησόμενον λόγον. νυνὶ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἑξῆς δἱήγησιν τρέψομαι τὴν ἀνακεφαλαίωσιν τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ δεδηλωμένων τῇ βίβλῳ τῆς ἐχομένης γραφῆς ποιησάμενος ἀρχήν.

  [2] I have innumerable things to say upon this subject and can adduce many arguments and present the testimony of credible authors; but I reserve all this for the account I purpose to write of their government. I shall now resume the thread of my narrative, after prefacing to the following Book a recapitulation of what is contained in this.

  BOOK II

  [1] ἡ Ῥωμαίων πόλις ἵδρυται μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἑσπερίοις μέρεσι τῆς Ἰταλίας περὶ ποταμὸν Τέβεριν, ὃς κατὰ μέσην μάλιστα τὴν ἀκτὴν ἐκδίδωσιν, ἀπέχουσα τῆς Τυρρηνικῆς θαλάττης ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι σταδίους. οἱ δὲ κατασχόντες αὐτὴν πρῶτοι τῶν μνημονευομένων βάρβαροί τινες ἦσαν αὐτόχθονες Σικελοὶ λεγόμενοι πολλά καὶ ἄλλα τῆς Ἰταλίας χωρία κατασχόντες, ὧν οὐκ ὀλίγα διέμεινεν οὐδ᾽ ἀφανῆ μνημεῖα μέχρι τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς χρόνων, ἐν οἷς καὶ τόπων τινῶν ὀνόματα Σικελικὰ λεγόμενα, μηνύοντα τὴν πάλαι ποτὲ αὐτῶν ἐνοίκησιν.

  [1.1] The city of Rome is situated in the western part of Italy near the river Tiber, which empties into the Tyrrhenian sea about midway along the coast; from the sea the city is distant one hundred and twenty stades. Its first known occupants were certain barbarians, natives of the country, called Sicels, who also occupied many other parts of Italy and of whom not a few distinct memorials are left even to our times; among other things there are even some names of places said to be Sicel names, which show that this people formerly dwelt in the land.

  [2] τούτους ἐκβαλόντες Ἀβοριγῖνες αὐτοὶ κατέσχον τὸν τόπον Οἰνώτρων ὄντες ἀπόγονοι τῶν κατοικούντων τὴν ἀπὸ Τάραντος ἄχρι Ποσειδωνίας παράλιον. ἱερά τις αὕτη νεότης καθοσιωθεῖσα θεοῖς κατὰ τὸν ἐπιχώριον νόμον ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων ἀποσταλῆναι λέγεται χώραν οἰκήσουσα τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου σφίσι [p. 154] δοθησομένην. τὸ δὲ τῶν Οἰνώτρων γένος Ἀρκαδικὸν ἦν ἐκ τῆς τότε μὲν καλουμένης Λυκαονίας, νῦν δὲ Ἀρκαδίας, ἑκουσίως ἐξελθὸν ἐπὶ γῆς κτῆσιν ἀμείνονος ἡγουμένου τῆς ἀποικίας Οἰνώτρου τοῦ Λυκάονος,

  [2] They were driven out by the Aborigines, who occupied the place in their turn; these were descendants of the Oenotrians who inhabited the seacoast from Tarentum to Posidonia. They were a band of holy youths consecrated to the gods according to their local custom and sent out by their parents, it is said, to inhabit the country which Heaven should give them. The Oenotrians were an Arcadian tribe who had of their own accord left the country then called Lycaonia and now Arcadia, in search of a better land, under the leadership of Oenotrus, the son of Lycaon, from whom the nation received its name.

  [3] ἐφ᾽ οὗ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν τὸ ἔθνος ἔλαβεν. Ἀβοριγίνων δὲ κατεχόντων τὰ χωρία πρῶτοι μὲν αὐτοῖς γίνονται σύνοικοι Πελασγοὶ πλάνητες ἐκ τῆς τότε μὲν καλουμένης Αἱμονίας, νῦν δὲ Θετταλίας, ἐν ᾗ χρόνον τινὰ ᾤκησαν: μετὰ δὲ τοὺς Πελασγοὺς Ἀρκάδες ἐκ Παλλαντίου πόλεως ἐξελθόντες Εὔανδρον ἡγεμόνα ποιησάμενοι τῆς ἀποικίας Ἑρμοῦ καὶ νύμφης Θέμιδος υἱόν, οἳ πρὸς ἑνὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ λόφων πολίζονται ὃς ἐν μέσῳ μάλιστα κεῖται τῆς Ῥώμης, Παλλάντιον ὀνομάσαντες τὸ χωρίον ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ πατρίδος.

  [3] While the Aborigines occupied this region the first who joined with them in their settlement were the Pelasgians, a wandering people who came from the country then called Haemonia and now Thessaly, where they had lived for some time. After the Pelasgians came the Arcadians from the city of Pallantium, who had chosen as leader of their colony Evander, the son of Hermes and the nymph Themis. These built a town beside one of the seven hills that stands near the middle of Rome, calling the place Pallantium, from their mother-city in Arcadia.

  [4] χρόνοις δ᾽ οὐ πολλοῖς ὕστερον Ἡρακλέους καταχθέντος εἰς Ἰταλίαν, ὅτε τὴν στρατιὰν ἐξ Ἐρυθείας οἴκαδε ἀπήγαγε, μοῖρά τις ὑπολε
ιφθεῖσα τῆς σὺν αὐτῷ δυνάμεως Ἑλληνικὴ πλησίον ἱδρύεται τοῦ Παλλαντίου, πρὸς ἑτέρῳ τῶν ἐμπεπολισμένων τῇ πόλει λόφων, ὃς τότε μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων Σατόρνιος ἐλέγετο, νῦν δὲ Καπιτωλῖνος ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων: Ἐπειοὶ οἱ πλείους τούτων ἦσαν ἐκ πόλεως Ἤλιδος ἐξαναστάντες διαπεπορθημένης αὐτοῖς τῆς πατρίδος ὑφ᾽ Ἡρακλέους. [p. 155]

  [4] Not long afterwards, when Hercules came into Italy on his return home with his army from Erytheia, a certain part of his force, consisting of Greeks, remained behind be settled near Pallantium, beside another of the hills that are now inclosed within the city. This was then called by the inhabitants Saturnian hill, but is now called the Capitoline hill by the Romans. The greater part of these men were Epeans who had abandoned their city in Elis after their country had been laid waste by Hercules.

  [1] γενεᾷ δ᾽ ἑκκαιδεκάτῃ μετὰ τὸν Τρωικὸν πόλεμον Ἀλβανοὶ συνοικίζουσιν ἄμφω τὰ χωρία ταῦτα τείχει περιλαβόντες καὶ τάφρῳ. τέως δὲ ἦν αὔλια βουφορβίων τε καὶ ποιμνίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων καταγωγαὶ βοτήρων ἄφθονον ἀναδιδούσης πόαν τῆς αὐτόθι γῆς οὐ μόνον τὴν χειμερινήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν θερεινόμον διὰ τοὺς ἀναψύχοντάς τε καὶ κατάρδοντας αὐτὴν ποταμούς.

  [2.1] In the sixteenth generation after the Trojan war the Albans united both these places into one settlement, surrounding them with a wall and a ditch. For until then there were only folds for cattle and sheep and quarters of the other herdsmen, as the land round about yielded plenty of grass, not only for winter but also for summer pasture, by reason of the rivers that refresh and water it.