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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [2] Nay, do you, answer me rather, Tullius, and declare why you think me unworthy to inherit the honours of my grandfather and what specious reason you allege for depriving me of them. Is it because you do not regard me as the legitimate offspring of his blood, but as some supposititious and illegitimate child? If so, why did you act as guardian to one who was a stranger to his blood, and why did you deliver up his estate to me as soon as I reached manhood? Or is it that you still look upon me as an orphan child and incapable of handling the business of the state — me who am not far from fifty years old? Lay aside now the dissimulation of your shameless questions and cease at last to play the rogue.

  [3] ἐρωτημάτων καὶ παῦσαί ποτε ἤδη πονηρὸς ὤν: εἰ δὲ τι δίκαιον ἔχεις πρὸς ταῦτ᾽ εἰπεῖν, ἕτοιμός εἰμι τούτοις ἐπιτρέπειν δικασταῖς, ὧν οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις ἑτέρους εἰπεῖν ἄνδρας ἐν τῇ πόλει κρείττους: ἐὰν δ᾽ ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδιδράσκων, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀεί σοι ποιεῖν σύνηθες, ἐπὶ τὸν ἐκδημαγωγούμενον ὑπὸ σοῦ καταφεύγῃς ὄχλον, οὐκ ἐπιτρέψω σοι: παρεσκεύασμαι γὰρ ὡς καὶ τὰ δίκαια ἐρῶν καὶ εἰ μὴ πείθοιο τὰ βίαια πράξων.

  [3] However, if you have any just reason to allege against what I have said, I am ready to leave the decision to these men as judges, than whom you can name none better in the city. But if you attempt to run away from this tribunal and fly for refuge, as is ever your habit, to the rabble you mislead by your cajolery, I will not permit it. For I am prepared, not only to speak in defence of my rights, but also, if this should fail to convince you, to act with force.”

  [1] παυσαμένου δ᾽ αὐτοῦ παραλαβὼν τὸν λόγον ὁ Τύλλιος ἔλεξεν ὧδε: ἅπαντα μέν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἄνθρωπον ὄντα δεῖ προσδοκᾶν, ὦ βουλή, τὰ παράδοξα καὶ μηδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι ἄπιστον, ὅπου γε κἀμὲ Ταρκύνιος οὑτοσὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς παῦσαι πρόθυμός ἐστιν: ὃν ἐγὼ νήπιον παραλαβὼν καὶ ἐπιβουλευόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἔσωσα καὶ ἐξέθρεψα καὶ εἰς ἄνδρας ἐλθόντα κηδεστὴν ἠξίωσα λαβεῖν, καὶ εἴ τι πάθοιμι διάδοχον ἔμελλον καταλείψειν ἁπάντων τῶν ἐμῶν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρὰ γνώμην ἅπαντ᾽ ἀπήντηκέ μοι καὶ ὥσπερ ἀδικῶν αὐτὸς ἐγκαλοῦμαι, τὴν μὲν τύχην ὕστερον ἀνακλαύσομαι,

  [33.1] When he had done speaking, Tullius took the floor and said: “Anything, it seems, senators, that is unexpected is to be expected by a mortal man, and nothing should be regarded as incredible, since Tarquinius here is set upon deposing me from my office, though I received him when he was an infant and, when his enemies were forming designs against his life, preserved him and brought him up, and when he came to be a man, saw fit to take him for a son-in-law and in the event of my death was intending to leave him heir to all that I possessed.

  [2] 9 τὰ δὲ δίκαια νῦν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐρῶ. ἐγὼ τὴν μὲν ἐπιτροπείαν ὑμῶν ἔλαβον, ὦ Ταρκύνιε, νηπίων καταλειφθέντων οὐχ ἑκών, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀναγκασθείς: ἐπειδὴ τὸν μὲν πάππον ὑμῶν οἱ τῆς βασιλείας ἀντιποιούμενοι φανερῶς ἀπέκτειναν, ὑμῖν δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις αὐτοῦ συγγενέσιν ἐπιβουλεύειν ἐλέγοντο [p. 61] ἀφανῶς: καὶ πάντες τοῦθ᾽ οἱ προσήκοντες ὑμῖν ὡμολόγουν, ὅτι κρατήσαντες ἐκεῖνοι τῆς ἀρχῆς οὐδὲ σπέρμα τοῦ Ταρκυνιείου καταλείψουσι γένους. κηδεμὼν δὲ καὶ φύλαξ οὐδεὶς ὑμῶν ἕτερος ἦν, ὅτι μὴ γυνή, πατρὸς μήτηρ, καὶ αὐτὴ διὰ γῆρας ἑτέρων δεομένη κηδεμόνων: ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἐμοὶ κατελείπεσθε μόνῳ φύλακι τῆς ἐρημίας, ὃν νῦν ἀλλότριον καὶ οὐδὲν προσήκοντα ἀποκαλεῖς.

  [2] But now that everything has happened to me contrary to my expectation and I myself am accused of wrongdoing, I shall lament my misfortune later one, but at present I will plead my just cause against him. I took upon myself, Tarquinius, the guardianship of your brother and yourself when you were left infants, not of my own will, but compelled by the circumstances, since those who aspired to the kingship had openly assassinated your grandfather and were said to be plotting secretly against you and the rest of his kin; and all your friends acknowledged that if those men once got the power into their hands they would not leave even a seed of the race of Tarquinius. And there was no one else to care for you and guard you but a woman, the mother of your father, and she, by reason of her great age, herself stood in need of others to care for her; but you children were left in my charge alone, to be guarded in your destitute condition — though you now call me a stranger and in no degree related to you.

  [3] τοιούτοις μέντοι πράγμασιν ἐπιστὰς ἐγὼ τούς τ᾽ ἀποκτείναντας τὸν πάππον ὑμῶν ἐτιμωρησάμην καὶ ὑμᾶς εἰς ἄνδρας ἤγαγον καὶ γενεᾶς ἄρρενος οὐχ ὑπαρχούσης τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κυρίους προειλόμην ποιῆσαι. ἔχεις τὸν τῆς ἐπιτροπῆς λόγον, ὦ Ταρκύνιε, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἐπιχειρήσειας εἰπεῖν, ὡς ψεύδομαί τι τούτων.

  [3] Nevertheless, when I had been put in command of such a situation, I not only punished the assassins of your grandfather and reared you boys to manhood, but, as I had no male issue, I proposed to make you the owners of what I possessed. You have now, Tarquinius, the account of my guardianship, and you will not venture to say that a word of it is false.

  [1] περὶ δὲ τῆς βασιλείας, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτ᾽ ἐστιν, ὃ κατηγορεῖς μου, ἄκουσον, ὅπως τ᾽ αὐτῆς ἔτυχον, καὶ δι᾽ ἃς αἰτίας οὔθ᾽ ὑμῖν οὔτ᾽ ἄλλῳ τινὶ μεθίεμαι. ὅτε τῆν ἐπιμέλειαν τῆς πόλεως παρέλαβον, αἰσθόμενος ἐπιβουλάς τινας κατ᾽ ἐμαυτοῦ γινομένας, παραδοῦναι τῷ δήμῳ τὰ πράγματ᾽ ἐβουλήθην: καὶ συναγαγὼν ἅπαντας εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἀπεδίδουν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀντὶ τῆς ἐπιφθόνου ταύτης καὶ πλείω τὰ λυπηρὰ τῶν ἡδέων ἐχούσης ἡγεμονίας τὴν ἀκίνδυνον ἀντικαταλλασσόμενος ἡσυχίαν.

  [34] “But concerning the kingship, since this is the point of your accusation, learn not only by what means I obtained it, but also for what reasons I am not resigning it either to you or to anyone else. When I took upon myself the oversight of the commonwealth, finding that there were certain plots forming against me, I desired to surrender the conduct of affairs to the people; and having called them all together in assembly, I offered to resign the power to them, exchanging this envied sovereignty, the source of more pains than pleasures, for a quiet life free from danger.

  [2] οὐκ ἠνέσχοντο Ῥωμαῖοι ταῦτά μου πράττειν βουλομένου οὐδ᾽ ἠξίωσαν ἕτερόν τινα τῶν κοινῶν ἀποδεῖξαι κύριον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐμὲ κατέσχον [p. 62] καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἔδωκάν μοι ψῆφον ἐπενέγκαντες, τὴν ἑαυτῶν, Ταρκύνιε, κτῆσιν, οὐ τὴν ὑμετέραν:

 
[2] But the Romans would not permit me to follow this preference, nor did they see fit to make anyone else master of the state, but retained me and by their votes gave me the kingship — thing which belonged to them, Tarquinius, rather than to you or your brother —

  [3] ὥσπερ γε καὶ τὸν πάππον ὑμῶν παρήγαγον ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα ξένον ὄντα καὶ οὐδὲν προσήκοντα τῷ πρότερον βασιλεῖ: καίτοι παῖδάς γ᾽ Ἄγκος Μάρκιος ὁ βασιλεὺς κατέλιπεν ἀκμάζοντας, οὐχ υἱωνοὺς καὶ νηπίους, ὥσπερ ὑμᾶς Ταρκύνιος. εἰ δὲ κοινὸς ἁπάντων νόμος ἦν τοὺς διαδεχομένους τήν τε φανερὰν οὐσίαν καὶ τὰ χρήματα τῶν ἐκλειπόντων βασιλέων σὺν τούτοις καὶ τὰς βασιλείας αὐτῶν παραλαμβάνειν, οὐκ ἂν Ταρκύνιος ὁ πάππος ὑμῶν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρέλαβεν Ἄγκου τελευτήσαντος, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν ἐκείνου παίδων.

  [3] in the same manner as they had entrusted the government to your grandfather, who was a foreigner and in no way related to the king who preceded him; and yet King Ancus Marcius had left sons in their prime of life, not children and infants, as you and your brother were left by Tarquinius. But if it were a general law that the heirs to the estate and possessions of deceased kings should also be heirs to their kingly office, Tarquinius, your grandfather would not have succeeded to the sovereignty upon the death of Ancus, but rah the elder of the king’s sons.

  [4] ἀλλ᾽ ὁ δῆμος ὁ Ῥωμαίων οὐ τὸν διάδοχον τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄξιον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματ᾽ ἐκάλει: ἡγεῖτο γὰρ τὰ μὲν χρήματα τῶν κτησαμένων εἶναι, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν τῶν δεδωκότων: καὶ τὰ μὲν ὅταν τι πάθωσιν οἱ κύριοι τοὺς κατὰ γένος ἢ κατὰ διαθήκας διαδόχους προσήκειν παραλαμβάνειν, τὴν δ᾽ ὅταν ἐκλίπωσιν οἱ λαβόντες τοὺς δεδωκότας ἔχειν: εἰ μή τι τοιοῦτον ἔχεις δικαίωμα φέρειν, ὅτι τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ πάππος ὑμῶν ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς τισι παρέλαβεν, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὸς ἔχειν ἀναφαίρετον καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἐγγόνοις καταλιπεῖν, καὶ ὁ δῆμος οὐ κύριος

  [4] But the Roman people did not call to power the heir of the father, but rather the person who was worthy to rule. For they held that, while property belongs to those who acquired it, the kingly office belongs to those who conferred it, and that the former, when anything happens to its owners, ought to descend to the natural heirs or the testamentary heirs, but that the latter, when the persons who received it die, should return to those who gave it. Unless, indeed, you have some claim to offer to the effect that your grandfather received the kingship upon certain express conditions, whereby he was not to be deprived of it himself and could also leave it to you, his grandsons, and that it was not in the power of the people to take it from you and confer it upon me.

  [5] ἦν ἀφελόμενος αὐτὴν ὑμῶν ἐμοὶ δοῦναι. εἰ γάρ τι τοιοῦτον εἰπεῖν ἔχεις, τί οὐ φέρεις τὰς συνθήκας εἰς μέσον; ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις. εἰ δ᾽ οὐ κατὰ τὸν βέλτιστον [p. 63] αὐτῆς ἔτυχον ἐγὼ τρόπον, ὡς λέγεις, μήθ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν μεσοβασιλέων αἱρεθεὶς μήτε τῆς βουλῆς μοι παραδούσης τὰ πράγματα μήτε τῶν ἄλλων γενομένων τῶν κατὰ νόμον, τούτους ἀδικῶ δήπου καὶ οὐχὶ σέ, καὶ ὑπὸ τούτων παυσθῆναι δίκαιός εἰμι τῆς ἀρχῆς, οὐχ ὑπὸ

  [5] If you have any such claim to allege, why do you not produce the contract? But you cannot do so. And if I did not obtain the office in the most justifiable manner, as you say, since I was neither chosen by the interreges nor entrusted with the government by the senate and the other legal requirements were not observed, then surely it is these men here that I am wronging and not you, and I deserve to be deprived of power by them, not by you.

  [6] σοῦ. ἀλλ᾽ οὔτε τούτους οὔτ᾽ ἄλλον οὐδένα ἀδικῶ. μάρτυς δὲ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ δικαίου μοι καὶ τότε δοθείσης καὶ νῦν ὑπαρχούσης ἐξουσίας ὁ χρόνος, ἐν ᾧ τετταρακονταετεῖ γεγονότι Ῥωμαίων οὐδεὶς ἡγήσατό με πώποτ᾽ ἀδικεῖν, οὐδ᾽ ἐκβαλεῖν με τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπεχείρησεν οὔθ᾽ ὁ δῆμος οὔθ᾽ ἡ βουλή.

  [6] But I am not wronging either these men nor anyone else. The length of my reign, which has now lasted forty years, bears me witness that power was both then justly given to me and is now justly vested in me; for during this time none of the Romans ever thought I reigned unjustly, nor did either the people or the senate ever endeavour to drive me from power.

  [1] ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα ταῦτα πάντ᾽ ἀφῶ καὶ ὁμόσε χωρήσω τοῖς σοῖς λόγοις, εἴ σε παρακαταθήκην παππῴαν ἀπεστέρουν καὶ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἐν ἀνθρώποις δίκαια τὴν σὴν βασιλείαν κατεῖχον, ἐχρῆν σε παραγενόμενον ἐπὶ τοὺς δεδωκότας μοι τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἀγανακτεῖν καὶ κατηγορεῖν ἐμοῦ τε, ὅτι τὰ μὴ προσήκοντα κατέχω, καὶ τῶν δεδωκότων, ὅτι τἀλλότρια ἐχαρίσαντό μοι: ῥᾳδίως γὰρ ἂν ἔπεισας αὐτούς, εἴ τι δίκαιον εἶχες λέγειν.

  [35.1] “But — to pass over all these matters and to come to grips with your charges — if I had been depriving you of a deposit that had been left in my hands by your grandfather in trust for you and, contrary to all the established rules of justice recognized by mankind, had been retaining the kingship which was yours, you ought to have gone to those who granted the power to me and to have vented your indignation and reproaches, both against me, for continuing to hold what did not belong to me, and against them, for having conferred on me what belonged to others; for you would easily have convinced them if you had been able to urge any just claim.

  [2] εἰ δὲ τούτῳ μὲν οὐκ ἐπίστευες τῷ λόγῳ, οὐ δικαίως δ᾽ ἄρχεσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἐνόμιζες ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ καὶ σεαυτὸν ἐπιτηδειότερον εἶναι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῶν κοινῶν παραλαβεῖν, ἐκεῖνα ποιεῖν σοι προσῆκεν: ἐξέτασιν τῶν ἐμῶν ποιησάμενον ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ τὰς σαυτοῦ πράξεις ἐξαριθμησάμενον καλεῖν με εἰς διαδικασίαν: ὧν οὐδέτερον ἐποίησας, ἀλλὰ τοσούτοις χρόνοις [p. 64] ὕστερον ὥσπερ ἐκ μακρᾶς ἀνανήψας μέθης νῦν ἥκεις μου κατηγορῶν καὶ οὐδὲ νῦν, ὅπου δεῖ.

  [2] If, however, you had no confidence in this argument and yet thought that I had no right to rule the state and that you were a more suitable person to be entrusted with its oversight, you ought to have done as follows — to have made an investigation of my mistakes and enumerated your own services and then to have challenged me to a trial for the determination of our respective merits. Neither of these things did you do; but, after all this time, as if recovered from a long fit of drunkenness, you now come to accuse me, and even now not where you should have come.

  [3] οὐ γὰρ ἐνθάδε σοι ταῦτα προσήκει λέγειν: καὶ μηδὲ
ν ἀχθεσθῆτέ μοι ταῦτα λέγοντι, ὦ βουλή: οὐ γὰρ ὑμῶν ἀφαιρούμενος τὴν διάγνωσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τούτου συκοφαντίαν ἐπιδείξασθαι βουλόμενος ταῦτα λέγω: προειπόντα δέ σ᾽ ἔδει μοι τὸν δῆμον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν συναγαγεῖν κἀκεῖ μου κατηγορεῖν. πλὴν ἐπεὶ σὺ τοῦτο πέφευγας, ἐγὼ περὶ σοῦ ποιήσω καὶ συγκαλέσας τὸν δῆμον παρέξομαί σοι δικαστὴν ὧν ἄν μου κατηγορήσῃς, καὶ ἀποδώσω πάλιν αὐτῷ διαγνῶναι, πότερος ἡμῶν ἐπιτηδειότερός ἐστιν ἔχειν τὴν ἀρχήν: καὶ ὅ τι ἂν ἅπαντες οὗτοι γνῶσι πράττειν με δεῖν, ποιήσω.

  [3] For it is not here that you should present these charges — do not take any offence at this statement of mine, senators, for it is not with a view of taking the decision away from you that I say this, but from the desire to expose this man’s calumnies — but you ought to have told me beforehand to call an assembly of the people and there to have accused me. However, since you have avoided doing so, I will do it for you, and having called the people together, I will appoint them judges of any crimes of which you may accuse me, and will again leave it to them to decide which of us two is the more suitable to hold the sovereignty; and whatever they shall unanimously decide I ought to do, I will do.

  [4] καὶ πρὸς μὲν σὲ ταῦθ᾽ ἱκανά: ἐν ἴσῳ γάρ ἐστι τό τε πολλὰ δίκαια πρὸς τοὺς ἀγνώμονας ἀντιδίκους λέγειν καὶ τὸ ὀλίγα: τὸ γὰρ πεῖσον αὐτοὺς εἶναι χρηστοὺς οὐ πεφύκασι φέρειν οἱ λόγοι.