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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [23.1] The patricians being displeased and indignant at this, he called an assembly of the people and told them that he wondered at those who were displeased at his course, first, for thinking that free men differed from slaves by their very nature rather than by their condition, and, second, for not determining by men’s habits and character, rather than by the accidents of their fortune, those who were worthy of honours, particularly when they saw how unstable a thing good fortune is and how subject to sudden change, and how difficult it is for anyone, even of the most fortunate, to say how long it will remain with him.

  [2] παρέσται χρόνου. ἠξίου τ᾽ αὐτοὺς σκοπεῖν, ὅσαι μὲν ἤδη πόλεις ἐκ δουλείας μετέβαλον εἰς ἐλευθερίαν βάρβαροί τε καὶ Ἑλληνίδες, ὅσαι δ᾽ εἰς δουλείαν ἐξ ἐλευθερίας: εὐήθειάν τε πολλὴν αὐτῶν κατεγίνωσκεν, εἰ τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοῖς ἀξίοις τῶν θεραπόντων μεταδιδόντες, τῆς πολιτείας φθονοῦσι: συνεβούλευέ τ᾽ αὐτοῖς, εἰ μὲν πονηροὺς νομίζουσι, μὴ ποιεῖν ἐλευθέρους, εἰ

  [2] He asked them also to consider how many states, both barbarian and Greek, had passed from slavery to freedom and how many from freedom to slavery. He called it great folly on their part if, after they had granted liberty to such of their slaves as deserved it, they envied them the rights of citizens; and he advised them, if they thought them bad men, not to make them free, and if good men, not to ignore them because they were foreigners.

  [3] δὲ χρηστούς, μὴ περιορᾶν ὄντας ἀλλοτρίους: ἄτοπόν τε πρᾶγμα ποιεῖν αὐτοὺς ἔφη καὶ ἀμαθὲς ἅπασι τοῖς ξένοις ἐπιτρέποντας τῆς πόλεως μετέχειν καὶ μὴ διακρίνοντας αὐτῶν τὰς τύχας μηδ᾽ εἴ τινες ἐκ δούλων ἐγένοντο ἐλεύθεροι πολυπραγμονοῦντας, τοὺς δὲ παρὰ σφίσι δεδουλευκότας ἀναξίους ἡγεῖσθαι ταύτης τῆς χάριτος: φρονήσει τε διαφέρειν οἰομένους τῶν ἄλλων οὐδὲ τὰ ἐν ποσὶ καὶ κοινότατα ὁρᾶν ἔφασκεν, ἃ καὶ τοῖς φαυλοτάτοις εἶναι πρόδηλα, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν δεσπόταις [p. 41] πολλὴ φροντὶς ἔσται τοῦ μὴ προχείρως τινὰς ἐλευθεροῦν, ὡς τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθῶν οἷς ἔτυχε δωρησομένοις: τοῖς δὲ δούλοις ἔτι μείζων ὑπάρξει προθυμία χρηστοῖς εἶναι περὶ τοὺς δεσπότας, ἐὰν μάθωσιν, ὅτι τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἄξιοι κριθέντες εὐδαίμονος εὐθέως καὶ μεγάλης ἔσονται πολῖται πόλεως, καὶ ταῦθ᾽ ἕξουσιν ἀμφότερα παρὰ τῶν δεσποτῶν τἀγαθά.

  [3] He declared that they were doing an absurd and stupid thing, if, while permitting all strangers to share the rights of citizenship without distinguishing their condition or inquiring closely whether any of them had been manumitted or not, they regarded such as had been slaves among themselves as unworthy of this favour. And he said that, though they thought themselves wiser than other people, they did not even see what lay at their very feet and was to be observed every day and what was clear to the most ordinary men, namely, that not only the masters would take great care not to manumit any of their slaves rashly, for fear of granting the greatest of human blessings indiscriminately, but the slaves too would be more zealous to observe their masters faithfully when they knew that if they were thought worthy of liberty they should presently become citizens of a great and flourishing state and receive both these blessings from their masters.

  [4] τελευτῶν δὲ τὸν περὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος εἰσηγήσατο λόγον τοὺς μὲν ἐπισταμένους ὑπομιμνήσκων, τοὺς δ᾽ ἀγνοοῦντας διδάσκων, ὅτι πόλει δυναστείας ἐφιεμένῃ καὶ μεγάλων πραγμάτων ἑαυτὴν ἀξιούσῃ οὐδενὸς οὕτω δεῖ πράγματος ὡς πολυανθρωπίας, ἵνα διαρκέσῃ πρὸς πάντας τοὺς πολέμους οἰκείοις ὅπλοις χρωμένη, καὶ μὴ ξενικοῖς στρατεύμασι καταμισθοφοροῦσα συνεξαναλωθῇ τοῖς χρήμασι: καὶ διὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἔφη τοὺς προτέρους βασιλεῖς ἅπασι μεταδεδωκέναι τῆς πολιτείας τοῖς ξένοις.

  [4] He concluded by speaking of the advantage that would result from this policy, reminding those who understood such matters, and informing the ignorant, that to a state which aimed at supremacy and thought itself worthy of great things nothing was so essential as a large population, in order that it might be equal to carrying on all its wars with its own armed forces and might not exhaust itself as well as its wealth in hiring mercenary troops; and for this reason, he said, the former kings had granted citizenship to all foreigners.

  [5] εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦτον καταστήσονται τὸν νόμον, πολλὴν αὐτοῖς ἔλεγεν ἐκ τῶν ἐλευθερουμένων ἐπιτραφήσεσθαι νεότητα καὶ οὐδέποτε ἀπορήσειν τὴν πόλιν οἰκείων ὅπλων, ἀλλ᾽ ἕξειν δυνάμεις αἰεὶ διαρκεῖς, κἂν πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἀναγκασθῇ πολεμεῖν.

  [5] But if they enacted this law also, great numbers of youths would be reared from those who were manumitted and the state would never lack for armed forces of its own, but would always have sufficient troops, even if it should be forced to make war against all the world.

  [6] χωρὶς δὲ τοῦ κοινῇ χρησίμου καὶ ἰδίᾳ πολλὰ ὠφελήσεσθαι τοὺς εὐπορωτάτους Ῥωμαίων, ἐὰν τοὺς ἀπελευθέρους ἐῶσι τῆς πολιτείας μετέχειν, ἐν ἐκκλησίαις τε καὶ ψηφοφορίαις καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις πολιτικαῖς χρείαις τὰς χάριτας, ἐν οἷς μάλιστα δέονται πράγμασι, κομιζομένους [p. 42] καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἀπελευθέρων γινομένους πελάτας τοῖς ἐγγόνοις τοῖς ἑαυτῶν καταλείποντας.

  [6] And besides this advantage to the public, the richest men would privately receive many benefits if they permitted the freedmen to share in the government, since in the assemblies and in the voting and in their other acts as citizens they would receive their reward in the very situations in which they most needed it, and furthermore would be leaving the children of these freedmen as so many clients to their posterity.

  [7] τοιαῦτα λέγοντος αὐτοῦ συνεχώρησαν οἱ πατρίκιοι τὸ ἔθος εἰς τὴν πόλιν παρελθεῖν, καὶ μέχρι τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς χρόνων ὡς ἕν τι τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ ἀκινήτων νομίμων διατελεῖ τοῦτ᾽ ἐν τῇ πόλει φυλαττόμενον.

  [7] These arguments of Tullius induced the patricians to permit this custom to be introduced into the commonwealth, and to this day it continues to be observed by the Romans as one of their sacred and unalterable usages.

  [1] ἐπειδὴ δὲ κατὰ τοῦτο γέγονα τὸ μέρος τῆς διηγήσεως, ἀναγκαῖον εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ διελθεῖν, ὡς εἶχε τότε τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις τὰ περὶ τοὺς δούλους ἔθη, ἵνα μήτε τὸν βασιλέα τὸν πρῶτον ἐπιχειρήσαντα τοὺς δεδουλευκότας ἀστοὺς ποιεῖν μήτε τοὺς παραδεξαμένους τὸν νόμο
ν ἐν αἰτίαις σχῇ τις, ὡς ῥιπτοῦντας εἰκῆ τὰ καλά.

  [24.1] Now that I have come to this part of my narrative, I think it necessary to give an account of the customs which at that time prevailed among the Romans with regard to slaves, in order that no one may accuse either the king who first undertook to make citizens of those who had been slaves, or the Romans who accepted the law, of recklessly abandoning their noble traditions.

  [2] ἐτύγχανον δὴ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις αἱ τῶν θεραπόντων κτήσεις κατὰ τοὺς δικαιοτάτους γινόμεναι τρόπους. ἢ γὰρ ὠνησάμενοι παρὰ τοῦ δημοσίου τοὺς ὑπὸ δόρυ πωλουμένους ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων, ἢ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ συγχωρήσαντος ἅμα ταῖς ἄλλαις ὠφελείαις καὶ τοὺς δορυαλώτους τοῖς λαβοῦσιν ἔχειν ἢ πριαμένοις παρ᾽ ἑτέρων κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς τρόπους κυρίων γενομένων 5 ἐκέκτηντο τοὺς δούλους.

  [2] The Romans acquired their slaves by the most just means; for they either purchased them from the state at an auction as part of the spoils, or the general permitted the soldiers to keep the prisoners they had taken together with the rest of the booty, or else they bought them of those who had obtained possession of them by these same means.

  [3] οὐδὲν δὴ πρᾶγμα ποιεῖν αἰσχύνης ἢ βλάβης κοινῆς αἴτιον οὔθ᾽ ὁ Τύλλιος ὁ καταστησάμενος τὸ ἔθος οὔθ᾽ οἱ παραδεξάμενοι καὶ διαφυλάξαντες ᾤοντο, εἰ τοῖς ἀφαιρεθεῖσιν ἐν πολέμῳ τήν τε πατρίδα καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν χρηστοῖς γενομένοις περὶ τοὺς καταδουλωσαμένους ἢ τοὺς παρὰ τούτων [p. 43] πριαμένους ἀμφότερα ταῦτα παρὰ τῶν δεσποτῶν ὑπάρξει.

  [3] So that neither Tullius, who established this custom, nor those who received and maintained thought they were doing anything dishonourable or detrimental to the public interest, if those who had lost both their country and their liberty in war and had proved loyal to those who had enslaved them, or to those who had purchased them from these, had both those blessings restored to them by their masters.

  [4] ἐτύγχανον δὲ τῆς ἐλευθερίας οἱ μὲν πλεῖστοι προῖκα διὰ καλοκἀγαθίαν: καὶ κράτιστος ἀπαλλαγῆς δεσποτῶν τρόπος οὗτος ἦν: ὀλίγοι δέ τινες λύτρα κατατιθέντες ἐξ ὁσίων καὶ δικαίων ἐργασιῶν συναχθέντα. ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς χρόνοις οὕτω ταῦτ᾽ ἔχει, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τοσαύτην σύγχυσιν ἥκει τὰ πράγματα καὶ τὰ καλὰ τῆς Ῥωμαίων πόλεως οὕτως ἄτιμα καὶ ῥυπαρὰ γέγονεν, ὥσθ᾽ οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ λῃστείας καὶ τοιχωρυχίας καὶ πορνείας καὶ παντὸς ἄλλου πονηροῦ πόρου χρηματισάμενοι τούτων ὠνοῦνται τῶν χρημάτων τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ εὐθύς εἰσι Ῥωμαῖοι:

  [4] Most of these slaves obtained their liberty as a free gift because of meritorious conduct, and this was the best kind of discharge from their masters; but a few paid a ransom raised by lawful and honest labour.

  This, however, is not the case in our day, but things have come to such a state of confusion and the noble traditions of the Roman commonwealth have become so debased and sullied, that some who have made a fortune by robbery, housebreaking, prostitution and every other base means, purchase their freedom with the money so acquired and straightway are Romans.

  [5] οἱ δὲ συνίστορες καὶ συνεργοὶ τοῖς δεσπόταις γενόμενοι φαρμακειῶν καὶ ἀνδροφονιῶν καὶ τῶν εἰς θεοὺς ἢ τὸ κοινὸν ἀδικημάτων ταύτας φέρονται παρ᾽ αὐτῶν τὰς χάριτας: οἱ δ᾽ ἵνα τὸν δημοσίᾳ διδόμενον σῖτον λαμβάνοντες κατὰ μῆνα καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλη παρὰ τῶν ἡγουμένων γίγνοιτο τοῖς ἀπόροις τῶν πολιτῶν φιλανθρωπία φέρωσι τοῖς δεδωκόσι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν: οἱ δὲ διὰ

  [5] Others, who have been confidants and accomplices of their masters in poisonings, receive from them this favour as their reward. Some are freed in order that, when they have received the monthly allowance of corn given by the public or some other largesse distributed by the men in power to the poor among the citizens, they may bring it to those who granted them their freedom. And others owe their freedom to the levity of their masters and to their vain thirst for popularity.

  [6] κουφότητα τῶν δεσποτῶν καὶ κενὴν δοξοκοπίαν. ἔγωγ᾽ οὖν ἐπίσταμαί τινας ἅπασι τοῖς δούλοις συγκεχωρηκότας εἶναι ἐλευθέροις μετὰ τὰς ἑαυτῶν τελευτάς, ἵνα χρηστοὶ καλῶνται νεκροὶ καὶ πολλοὶ ταῖς κλίναις αὐτῶν ἐκκομιζομέναις παρακολουθῶσι τοὺς πίλους ἔχοντες ἐπὶ ταῖς κεφαλαῖς: ἐν οἷς ἐπόμπευόν τινες, ὡς ἦν [p. 44] παρὰ τῶν ἐπισταμένων ἀκούειν, ἐκ τῶν δεσμωτηρίων ἐξεληλυθότες ἀρτίως κακοῦργοι μυρίων ἄξια διαπεπραγμένοι θανάτων. εἰς τούτους μέντοι τοὺς δυσεκκαθάρτους σπίλους ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀποβλέποντες οἱ πολλοὶ δυσχεραίνουσι καὶ προβέβληνται τὸ ἔθος, ὡς οὐ πρέπον ἡγεμονικῇ πόλει καὶ παντὸς ἄρχειν ἀξιούσῃ

  [6] I, at any rate, know of some who have allowed all their slaves to be freed after their death, in order that they might be called good men when they were dead and that many people might follow their biers wearing their liberty-caps; indeed, some of those taking part in these processions, as one might have heard from those who knew, have been malefactors just out of jail, who had committed crimes deserving of a thousand deaths. Most people, nevertheless, as they look upon these stains that can scarce be washed away from the city, are grieved and condemn the custom, looking upon it as unseemly that a dominant city which aspires to rule the whole world should make such men citizens.

  [7] τόπου τοιούτους ποιεῖσθαι πολίτας. ἔχοι δ᾽ ἄν τις πολλὰ καὶ ἄλλα διαβαλεῖν ἔθη καλῶς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων ἐπινοηθέντα, κακῶς δ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν νῦν ἐπιτριβόμενα. ἐγὼ δὲ τὸν νόμον τοῦτον οὐκ οἴομαι δεῖν ἀναιρεῖν, μή τι μεῖζον ἐκραγῇ τῷ κοινῷ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ κακόν: ἐπανορθοῦσθαι μέντοι φημὶ δεῖν τὰ δυνατὰ καὶ μὴ περιορᾶν ὀνείδη μεγάλα καὶ ῥύπους δυσεκκαθάρτους εἰς τὴν πολιτείαν εἰσαγομένους.

  [7] One might justly condemn many other customs also which were wisely devised by the ancients but are shamefully abused by the men of to-day. Yet, for my part, I do not believe that this law ought to be abolished, lest as a result some greater evil should break out to the detriment of the public; but I do say that it ought to be amended, as far as possible, and that great reproaches and disgraces hard to be wiped out should not be permitted entrance into the body politic.

  [8] καὶ μάλιστα μὲν τοὺς τιμητὰς ἀξιώσαιμ᾽ ἂν τούτου τοῦ μέρους προνοεῖν: εἰ δὲ μή γε, τοὺς ὑπάτους: δεῖ γὰρ ἀρχῆς τιν
ος μεγάλης: οἳ τοὺς καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἐλευθέρους γινομένους ἐξετάσουσι, τίνες ὄντες καὶ διὰ τί καὶ πῶς ἠλευθερώθησαν, ὥσπερ γε τοὺς τῶν ἱππέων καὶ τοὺς τῶν βουλευτῶν βίους ἐξετάζουσιν: ἔπειθ᾽ οὓς μὲν ἂν εὕρωσιν ἀξίους τῆς πόλεως ὄντας, εἰς φυλὰς καταγράψουσι καὶ μένειν ἐφήσουσιν ἐν τῇ πόλει: τὸ δὲ μιαρὸν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον φῦλον ἐκβαλοῦσιν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως εὐπρεπὲς ὄνομα τῷ πράγματι τιθέντες, ἀποικίαν. [p. 45] ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἀπαιτούσης ἀναγκαῖόν τε καὶ δίκαιον ἔδοξεν εἶναί μοι πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιτιμῶντας τοῖς Ῥωμαίων ἔθεσιν εἰπεῖν.

  [8] And I could wish that the censors, preferably, or, if that may not be, then the consuls, would take upon themselves the care of this matter, since it requires the control of some it magistracy, and that they would make inquiries about the persons who are freed each year — who they are and for what reason they have been freed and how — just as they inquire into the lives of the knights and senators; after which they should enroll in the tribes such of them as they find worthy to be citizens and allow them to remain in the city, but should expel from the city the foul and corrupt herd under the specious pretence of sending them out as a colony. These are the things, then, which as the subject required it, I thought it both necessary and just to say to those who censure the customs of the Romans.