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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [6] But I will declare frankly, even though you may call me bold for it, what seems to me to be the reason why you reach out for no coveted honour or glory. You have a wife whose disposition is in no respect like your own and who by her allurements and enchantments has softened you; and by her you will insensibly be transformed from a man into a nonentity. Just so have I a husband who is timorous and has nothing of a man in him, who makes me humble though I am worthy of great things, and though I am fair of body, yet because of him I have withered away.

  [7] εἰ δ᾽ ἐξεγένετο σοί τε λαβεῖν ἐμὲ γυναῖκα κἀμὲ σοῦ τυχεῖν ἀνδρός, οὐκ ἂν ἐν ἰδιώτῃ βίῳ τοσοῦτον διεζήσαμεν χρόνον. τί οὖν οὐκ ἐπανορθούμεθα τὸ τῆς τύχης ἐλάττωμα ἡμεῖς μεταθέμενοι τοὺς γάμους, καὶ σὺ μὲν ἀπαλλάττεις τοῦ βίου τὴν σαυτοῦ γυναῖκα, ἐγὼ δὲ ταὐτὸ διαθήσομαι τὸν ἐμὸν ἄνδρα; ὅταν δὲ τούτων διαχειρισθέντων συνέλθωμεν εἰς ταὐτό, ἀσφαλῶς ἤδη τὰ λοιπὰ βουλεύσομεν, ἐκποδῶν πεποιημένοι τὰ λυποῦντα ἡμᾶς. καὶ γὰρ ἐὰν τἆλλα τις ἀδικεῖν ὀκνῇ, βασιλείας γε χάριν οὐ νέμεσις ἅπαντα τολμᾶν.

  [7] But if it had been possible for you to take me as your wife and for me to get you as my husband, we had not lived so long in a private station. Why, therefore, do we not ourselves correct this error of fate by exchanging our marital ties, you removing your wife from life and I making this disposition of my husband? And when we have put them out of the way and are joined together, we will then consider in secure what remains to be done, having rid ourselves of what now causes our distress. For though one may hesitate to commit all the other crimes, yet for the sake of a throne one cannot be blamed for daring anything.”

  [1] τοιαῦτα τῆς Τυλλίας λεγούσης ἄσμενος δέχεται τὰς αἱρέσεις ὁ Ταρκύνιος, καὶ αὐτίκα δοὺς αὐτῇ πίστεις καὶ λαβὼν τὰ προτέλεια τῶν ἀνοσίων γάμων διαπραξάμενος ἀπέρχεται. διελθόντος δ᾽ οὐ πολλοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνου τοῖς αὐτοῖς πάθεσιν ἀποθνήσκουσιν ἥ τε πρεσβυτέρα τῶν Τυλλίου θυγατέρων καὶ ὁ νεώτερος τῶν Ταρκυνίων.

  [30.1] Such were Tullia’s words, and Tarquinius, gladly agreeing to the course she proposed, immediately exchanged pledges with her, and then, after celebrating the rites preliminary to their unholy nuptials, he departed. Not long after this the elder daughter of Tullius and the year Tarquinius died the same kind of death.

  [2] ἐνταῦθα πάλιν ἀναγκάζομαι μεμνῆσθαι Φαβίου καὶ τὸ ῥᾴθυμον αὐτοῦ περὶ τὴν [p. 56] ἐξέτασιν τῶν χρόνων ἐλέγχειν. ἐπὶ γὰρ τῆς Ἀρροῦντος τελευτῆς γενόμενος οὐ καθ᾽ ἓν ἁμαρτάνει μόνον, ὃ καὶ πρότερον ἔφην, ὅτι γέγραφεν υἱὸν εἶναι Ταρκυνίου τὸν Ἀρροῦντα: ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ᾽ ἕτερον, ὅτι φησὶν ἀποθανόντα ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς Τανακυλλίδος τεθάφθαι, ἣν ἀμήχανον ἦν ἔτι καὶ κατ᾽ ἐκείνους περιεῖναι τοὺς χρόνους.

  [2] Here again, I find myself obliged to make mention of Fabius and to show him guilty of negligence in his investigation of the chronology of events. For when he comes to the death of Arruns he commits not only one error, as I said before, in stating that he was the son of Tarquinius, but also another in saying that after his death he was buried by his mother Tanaquil, who could not possibly have been alive at that time.

  [3] ἐδείχθη γὰρ ἐν ἀρχαῖς ἑβδομηκοστὸν ἔχουσα καὶ πέμπτον ἔτος ἡ Τανακυλλίς, ὅτε βασιλεὺς Ταρκύνιος ἐτελεύτα: προστεθέντων δὴ τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ πέντε ἔτεσιν ἑτέρων τετταράκοντα ἐτῶν: ἐν γὰρ ταῖς ἐνιαυσίοις ἀναγραφαῖς κατὰ τὸν τετταρακοστὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς Τυλλίου ἀρχῆς τὸν Ἀρροῦντα τετελευτηκότα παρειλήφαμεν: ἐτῶν ἡ Τανακυλλὶς ἔσται πεντεκαίδεκα πρὸς τοῖς ἑκατόν. οὕτως ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις αὐτοῦ τὸ περὶ τὴν ἐξέτασιν τῆς ἀληθείας ταλαίπωρον.

  [3] For it was shown in the beginning that when Tarquinius died Tanaquil was seventy-five years of age; and if to the seventy-five years forty more are added (for we find in the annals that Arruns died in the fortieth year of the reign of Tullius), Tanaquil must have been one hundred and fifteen years old. So little evidence of a laborious inquiry after truth do we find in that author’s history.

  [4] μετὰ τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον οὐδὲν ἔτι διαμελλήσας ὁ Ταρκύνιος ἐπάγεται γυναῖκα τὴν Τυλλίαν οὔτε τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῆς βεβαιοῦντος τὸν γάμον οὔτε τῆς μητρὸς συνευδοκούσης, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὴν παρ᾽ ἑαυτῆς λαβών.

  [4] After this deed of theirs Tarquinius married Tullia without any further delay, though the marriage had neither the sanction of her father nor the approval of her mother, but he took her of her own gift.

  [5] ὡς δὲ συνεκεράσθησαν αἱ ἀνόσιοι καὶ ἀνδροφόνοι φύσεις, ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας τὸν Τύλλιον, εἰ μὴ βούλοιτο ἑκὼν παραδοῦναι τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐμηχανῶντο ἑταιρίας τε συνάγοντες καὶ τῶν πατρικίων τοὺς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντας πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τὰ δημοτικὰ πολιτεύματα παρακαλοῦντες [p. 57] ἔκ τε τοῦ δημοτικοῦ πλήθους τοὺς ἀπορωτάτους, οἷς οὐδενὸς τῶν δικαίων φροντὶς ἦν, χρήμασιν ἐξωνούμενοι καὶ οὐδὲ ἀφανῶς ἕκαστα τούτων πράττοντες.

  [5] As soon as these impious and bloodthirsty natures were commingled they began plotting to drive Tullius from the throne if he would not willingly resign his power. They got together bands of their adherents, appealed to such of the patricians as were ill-disposed towards the king and his popular institutions, and bribed the poorest among the plebeians who had no regard for justice; and all this they did without any secrecy.

  [6] ταῦτα δ᾽ ὁρῶν ὁ Τύλλιος ἤχθετο μὲν καὶ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ δεδιώς, εἴ τι πείσεται προκαταληφθείς: ἠγανάκτει δ᾽ οὐχ ἥκιστα, εἰ θυγατρὶ καὶ γαμβρῷ πολεμεῖν ἀναγκασθήσεται καὶ τιμωρίας ὡς παρ᾽ ἐχθρῶν λαμβάνειν, πολλάκις μετὰ τῶν φίλων προκαλούμενος εἰς λόγους τὸν Ταρκύνιον, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐγκαλῶν, τὰ δὲ νουθετῶν, τὰ δὲ πείθων μηδὲν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐξαμαρτάνειν: ὡς δ᾽ οὐ προσεῖχεν αὐτῷ τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τῆς βουλῆς ἔφη τὰ δίκαια πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐρεῖν, συγκαλέσας τὸ συνέδριον:

  [6] Tullius, seeing what was afoot, was not only disturbed because of his fears for his own safety, if he should be caught unprepared and come to some harm, but was especially grieved at the thought that he should be forced to take up arms against his own daughter and his son-in-law and to punish them as enemies. Accordingly, he repeatedly invited Tarquinius and his friends to
confer with him, and sought, with by reproaches, now by admonitions, and again by arguments, to prevent him from doing him any wrong. When Tarquinius gave no heed to what he said but declared he would plead his cause before the senate, Tullius called the senators together and said to them:

  [7] ἄνδρες, ἔφη, βουλευταί, Ταρκύνιος ἑταιρίας ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ συνάγων καὶ προθυμούμενος ἐκβαλεῖν με τῆς ἀρχῆς καταφανὴς γέγονέ μοι. βούλομαι δὲ πάντων ὑμῶν παρόντων μαθεῖν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ, τί πεπονθὼς ἰδίᾳ κακὸν ἢ τί τὴν πόλιν ὁρῶν ἀδικουμένην ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ ταῦτ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ μηχανᾶται. ἀπόκριναι δή, Ταρκύνιε, μηδὲν ἀποκρυψάμενος, τί μου κατηγορεῖν ἔχεις, ἐπειδὴ τούτους ἠξίους ἀκοῦσαι.

  [7] “Senators, it has become clear to me that Tarquinius is gathering bands of conspirators against me and is anxious to drive me from power. I desire to learn from him, therefore, in the presence of you all, what wrong he has personally received from me or what injury he has seen the commonwealth suffer at my hands, that he should be forming these plots against me. Answer me, then, Tarquinius, concealing nothing, and say what you have to accuse me of, since you have asked that these men should hear you.”

  [1] λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ταρκύνιος: βραχύς ἐστιν ὁ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ λόγος, ὦ Τύλλιε, καὶ δίκαιος: καὶ διὰ τοῦτο προειλόμην αὐτὸν εἰς τούτους ἐκφέρειν. Ταρκύνιος ἐμὸς ὢν πάππος ἐκτήσατο τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀράμενος: ἐκείνου τελευτήσαντος ἐγὼ διάδοχός εἰμι κατὰ τοὺς κοινοὺς ἁπάντων Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων νόμους: [p. 58] καὶ προσήκει μοι καθάπερ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς διαδεχομένοις τὰ παππῷα, μὴ μόνον τῶν χρημάτων, ἀλλὰ

  [31.1] Tarquinius answered him: “My arriving, Tullius, is brief and founded on justice, and for that reason I have chosen to lay it before these men. Tarquinius, my grandfather, obtained the sovereignty of the Romans after fighting many hard battles in its defence. He being dead, I am his successor according to the laws common to all men, both Greeks and barbarians, and it is my right, just as it is of any others who succeed to the estates of their grandfathers, to inherit not only his property but his kingship as well.

  [2] καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ κληρονομεῖν. σὺ δὲ τὰ μὲν χρήματα τὰ καταλειφθέντα ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ παραδέδωκάς μοι, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν ἀποστερεῖς με καὶ τοσοῦτον ἤδη κατέχεις χρόνον, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ δικαίου λαβών: οὔτε γὰρ μεσοβασιλεῖς σε ἀπέδειξαν, οὔτε ἡ βουλὴ ψῆφον ὑπὲρ σοῦ διήνεγκεν, οὔτε ἀρχαιρεσίαις νομίμοις τῆς ἐξουσίας ταύτης ἔτυχες, ὡς ὁ πάππος τε οὑμὸς καὶ πάντες οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι βασιλεῖς: ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀνέστιον καὶ ἄπορον καὶ πρὸς καταδίκας ἢ χρέα τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ἀπολωλεκὸς φῦλον, ᾧ τῶν κοινῶν οὐδενὸς ἔμελε, καταμισθοδοτήσας καὶ πάντα τρόπον διαφθείρας, καὶ οὐδὲ τότε μέντοι σαυτῷ πράττειν τὴν δυναστείαν λέγων, ἀλλ᾽ ἡμῖν φυλάξειν σκηπτόμενος ὀρφανοῖς οὖσι καὶ νηπίοις, ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα παρῆλθες καὶ πάντων ἀκουόντων ὡμολόγεις, ὅταν ἀνδρωθῶμεν ἡμεῖς, ἐμοὶ

  [2] You have, it is true, delivered up to me the property that he left, but you are depriving me of the kingship and have retained possession of it for so long a time now, though you obtained it wrongfully. For neither did any interreges appoint you king nor did the senate pass a vote in your favour, nor did you obtain this power by a legal election of the people, as my grandfather and all the kings before him obtained it; but by bribing and corrupting in every way possible the crowd of vagabonds and paupers, who had been disfranchised for convictions or for debts and had no concern for the public interests, and by not admitting even then that you were seeking the power for yourself, but by pretending that you were going to guard it for us who were orphans and infants, you came into control of affairs and kept promising in the hearing of all that when we came to manhood you would hand over the sovereignty to me as the elder brother.

  [3] παραδώσειν ὄντι πρεσβυτέρῳ τὴν ἀρχήν. ἐχρῆν μὲν οὖν σε, εἰ τὰ δίκαια ποιεῖν ἤθελες, ὅτε μοι τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πάππου παρεδίδους, ἅμα τοῖς χρήμασι καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀποδεδωκέναι παραδείγμασι χρώμενον τοῖς τῶν καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτρόπων ἔργοις, ὅσοι βασιλικοὺς παῖδας ὀρφανοὺς πατέρων παραλαβόντες εἰς ἄνδρας ἐλθοῦσιν ὀρθῶς καὶ δικαίως τὰς πατρῴας καὶ

  [3] You ought, therefore, if you desired to do right, when you handed over to me the estate of my grandfather, to have delivered up his kingship also together with his property, following the example of all the upright guardians who, having taken upon themselves the care of royal children bereft of their parents, have rightly and justly restored to them the kingdoms of their fathers and ancestors when they came to be men.

  [4] 8 προγονικὰς ἀπέδωκαν ἀρχάς: εἰ δὲ μήπω σοι φρονεῖν τὰ καθήκοντα ἐφαινόμην, ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι διὰ τὸ νέον τῆς ἡλικίας οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἶναι πόλιν τηλικαύτην διοικεῖν, ὅτ᾽ εἰς τὴν κρατίστην παρεγενόμην τοῦ σώματος καὶ [p. 59] τῆς φρονήσεως ἀκμὴν τριάκοντα γεγονὼς ἔτη, μετὰ τοῦ γάμου τῆς θυγατρὸς καὶ τὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐγχειρίσαι πράγματα: ταύτην γέ τοι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἔχων καὶ σὺ τόν τ᾽ οἶκον τὸν ἡμέτερον ἐπιτροπεύειν ἤρξω καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιμελεῖσθαι.

  [4] But if you thought I had not yet attained a proper degree of prudence and that by reason of my youth I was still unequal to the government of so great a state, yet when I attained to my full vigour of body and mind at the age of thirty, you ought, at the same time that you gave me your daughter in marriage, to have put also the affairs of the state into my hands; for it was at that very age that you yourselves first undertook both the guardianship of our family and the oversight of the kingship.

  [1] περιῆν γὰρ ἄν σοι ταῦτα πράξαντι πρῶτον μὲν εὐσεβεῖ καὶ δικαίῳ λέγεσθαι, ἔπειτα συμβασιλεύειν ἐμοὶ καὶ πάσης μετέχειν τιμῆς, εὐεργέτην τε καὶ πατέρα καὶ σωτῆρα καὶ πάντα, ὅσα τιμιώτατα ὀνόματα ὑπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ καλοῖς κεῖται πράγμασιν, ἀκούειν καὶ μὴ τέταρτον ἤδη τοῦτο καὶ τετταρακοστὸν ἔτος ἀποστερεῖν με τῶν ἐμῶν, οὔτε σώματος ἀναπήρου τυχόντα οὔτε διανοίας ἠλιθίου. ἔπειτ᾽ ἐρωτᾶν με τολμᾷς, τί παθὼν δεινὸν ἐχθρὸν ἡγοῦμαί σε καὶ διὰ τί

  [32.1] “If you had done this you would, in the first place, have gained the reputation of a loyal and just man, and
again, you would have reigned with me and shared in every honour; and you would have been called my benefactor, my father, my preserver, and all the other laudatory names that men bestow in recognition of noble actions, instead of depriving me for all these forty-four years of what was mine, though I was neither maimed in body nor stupid in mind. And after that have you the assurance to ask me what ill-treatment provokes me to look upon you as my enemy and for what reason I accuse you?

  [2] σου κατηγορῶ; σὺ μὲν οὖν ἀπόκριναί μοι, Τύλλιε, τίνος αἰτίας χάριν οὐκ ἀξιοῖς με τῶν τοῦ πάππου τιμῶν κληρονομεῖν καὶ τίνα πρόφασιν εὐπρεπῆ τῆς ἀποστερήσεως σκηπτόμενος; πότερον οὐχ ἡγούμενος ἐξ ἐκείνου γένους εἶναί με γνήσιον, ἀλλ᾽ ὑποβολιμαῖόν τινα καὶ νόθον; τί οὖν ἐπετρόπευες τὸν ἀλλότριον τοῦ γένους καὶ τὸν οἶκον ἀνδρωθέντι ἀπεδίδους; ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι νομίζων με ὀρφανὸν εἶναι παῖδα καὶ τὰ κοινὰ πράττειν ἀδύνατον, ὃς οὐ πολὺ ἀπέχω πεντηκονταετίας; κατάβαλε δὲ τὴν εἰρωνείαν τῶν ἀναισχύντων [p. 60]