[2] οὗτος ὑπεριδὼν μὲν τοῦ δημοτικοῦ πλήθους, ὑπεριδὼν δὲ τῶν πατρικίων, ὑφ᾽ ὧν ἐπὶ τὴν δυναστείαν παρήχθη, ἔθη τε καὶ νόμους καὶ πάντα τὸν ἐπιχώριον κόσμον, ᾧ τὴν πόλιν ἐκόσμησαν οἱ πρότεροι βασιλεῖς, συγχέας καὶ διαφθείρας εἰς ὁμολογουμένην τυραννίδα μετέστησε τὴν ἀρχήν.
[2] This man, despising not only the populace, but the patricians as well, by whom he had been brought to power, confounded and abolished the customs, the laws, and the whole native form of government, by which the former kings had ordered the commonwealth, and transformed his rule into an avowed tyranny.
[3] καὶ πρῶτον μὲν φυλακὴν κατεστήσατο περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀνθρώπων θρασυτάτων ξίφη καὶ λόγχας φερόντων ἐπιχωρίων τε καὶ ἀλλοδαπῶν, οἳ νυκτός τε περὶ τὴν βασίλειον αὐλιζόμενοι αὐλὴν καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἐξιόντι παρακολουθοῦντες, ὅπῃ πορεύοιτο, πολλὴν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιβουλευσόντων ἀσφάλειαν παρείχοντο. ἔπειτα τὰς ἐξόδους οὔτε συνεχεῖς οὔτε τεταγμένας, ἀλλὰ σπανίους καὶ ἀπροσδοκήτους ἐποιεῖτο ἐχρηματίζετό τε περὶ τῶν κοινῶν κατ᾽ οἶκον μὲν τὰ πολλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων [p. 75]
[3] And first he placed about his person a guard of very daring men, both natives and foreigners, armed with swords and spears, who camped round the palace at night and attended him in the daytime wherever he went, effectually securing him from the attempts of conspirators. Secondly, he did not appear in public often or at stated times, but only rarely and unexpectedly; and he transacted the public business at home, for the most part, and in the presence of none but his most intimate friends, and only occasionally in the Forum.
[4] συμπαρόντων, ὀλίγα δ᾽ ἐν ἀγορᾷ. προσελθεῖν δ᾽ οὐδενὶ τῶν βουλομένων ἐπέτρεπεν, εἰ μή τινα καλέσειεν αὐτός: οὔτε τοῖς προσιοῦσιν εὐμενὴς οὐδὲ πρᾷος ἦν, ἀλλ᾽ οἷα δὴ τύραννος, βαρύς τε καὶ χαλεπὸς ὀργὴν καὶ φοβερὸς μᾶλλον ἢ φαιδρὸς ὀφθῆναι: καὶ τὰς περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητήτων συμβολαίων κρίσεις οὐκ ἐπὶ τὰ δίκαια καὶ τοὺς νόμους, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ τρόπους ἀναφέρων ἐποιεῖτο. διὰ ταῦτ᾽ ἐπωνυμίαν τίθενται αὐτῷ Ῥωμαῖοι τὸν Σούπερβον, τοῦτο δὲ δηλοῦν βούλεται κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν γλῶτταν τὸν ὑπερήφανον. τὸν δὲ πάππον αὐτοῦ Πρίσκον ἐκάλουν: ὡς δ᾽ ἡμεῖς ἂν εἴποιμεν, προγενέστερον: ὁμώνυμος γὰρ ἦν τῷ νεωτέρῳ κατ᾽ ἄμφω τὰ ὀνόματα.
[4] To none who sought an audience would he grant it unless he himself had sent for them; and even to those who did gain access to him he was not gracious or mild, but, as is the way with tyrants, harsh and irascible, and his aspect was terrifying rather than genial. His decisions in controversies relating to contracts he rendered, not with regard to justice and law, but according to his own moods. For these reasons the Romans gave him the surname of Superbus, which in our language means “the haughty”; and his grandfather they called Priscus, or, as we should say, “the elder,” since both his names were the same as those of the younger man.
[1] ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἐγκρατῶς ἤδη κατέχειν ὑπελάμβανε τὴν ἀρχήν, παρασκευάσας ἐκ τῶν ἑταίρων τοὺς πονηροτάτους δι᾽ ἐκείνων ἦγεν εἰς ἐγκλήματα καὶ θανάτου δίκας πολλοὺς τῶν ἐπιφανῶν: πρώτους μὲν τοὺς ἐχθρῶς διακειμένους πρὸς αὐτόν, οἷς οὐκ ἦν βουλομένοις Τύλλιον ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκπεσεῖν: ἔπειτα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οὓς ὑπελάμβανε βαρεῖαν ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν μεταβολὴν καὶ οἷς πολὺς πλοῦτος ἦν.
[42.1] When he thought he was now in secure possession of the sovereignty, he suborned the basest of his friends to bring charges against many of the prominent men and place them on trial for their lives. He began with such as were hostile to him and resented his driving of Tullius from power; and next he accused all those whom he thought to be aggrieved by the change and those who had great riches.
[2] οἱ δ᾽ ὑπάγοντες αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τὰς δίκας ἄλλους ἐπ᾽ ἄλλαις ψευδέσιν αἰτίαις, μάλιστα δ᾽ ἐπιβουλεύειν αἰτιώμενοι τῷ βασιλεῖ, κατηγόρουν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ δικαστῇ. ὁ δὲ τῶν μὲν θάνατον κατεδίκαζε, τῶν δὲ φυγήν, καὶ τὰ χρήματα τούς τ᾽ [p. 76] ἀναιρουμένους καὶ τοὺς ἐξελαυνομένους ἀφαιρούμενος τοῖς μὲν κατηγόροις μικράν τινα μοῖραν ἀπέθυεν,
[2] When the accusers brought these men to trial, charging them with various fictitious crimes but chiefly with conspiring against the king, it was by Tarquinius himself, sitting as judge, that the charges were heard. Some of the accused he condemned to death and others to banishment, and seizing the property of both the slain and the exiled, he assigned some small part to the accusers but retained the largest part for himself.
[3] αὐτὸς δὲ τὰ πλείω κατεῖχεν. ἔμελλον δ᾽ ἄρα πολλοὶ τῶν δυνατῶν, πρὶν ἁλῶναι τὰς ἐπαγομένας σφίσι δίκας, εἰδότες ὧν ἕνεκεν ἐπεβουλεύοντο, καταλείψειν τῷ τυράννῳ τὴν πόλιν ἑκόντες καὶ πολλῷ πλείονες ἐγένοντο τῶν ἑτέρων. ἦσαν δέ τινες, οἳ καὶ κρύφα διεφθάρησαν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ κατ᾽ οἰκίας τε καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἀγρῶν ἀναρπαζόμενοι, λόγου ἄξιοι ἄνδρες, ὧν οὐδὲ τὰ σώματα 12 ἐφάνη.
[3] The result was therefore bound to be that many influential men, knowing the motives underlying the plots against them, voluntarily, before they could be convicted of the charges brought against them, left the city to the tyrant, and the number of these was much greater than of the others. There were some who were even seized in their homes or in the country and secretly murdered by him, men of note, and not even their bodies were seen again.
[4] ἐπεὶ δὲ διέφθειρε τὸ κράτιστον τῆς βουλῆς μέρος θανάτοις τε καὶ ἀειφυγίαις, ἑτέραν βουλὴν αὐτὸς κατεστήσατο παραγαγὼν ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν ἐκλιπόντων τιμὰς τοὺς ἰδίους ἑταίρους. καὶ οὐδὲ τούτοις μέντοι τοῖς ἀνδράσιν οὔτε πράττειν ἐπέτρεπεν οὐδὲν 13 οὔτε λέγειν ὅ τι μὴ κελεύσειεν αὐτός.
[4] After he had destroyed the best part of the senate by death or by exile for life, he constituted another senate himself by working his own followers into the honours of the men who had disappeared; nevertheless, not even these men were permitted by him to do or say anything but what he himself commanded.
[5] ὥσθ᾽ ὁπόσοι κατελείφθησαν ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ βουλευταὶ τῶν ἐπὶ Τυλλίου καταλεγέντων, διάφοροι τοῖς δημοτικοῖς τέως ὄντες καὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν τῆς πολιτείας ἐπὶ τῷ σφετέρῳ νομ
ίζοντες ἀγαθῷ γενήσεσθαι: τοιαύτας γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὑπέτεινεν ὁ Ταρκύνιος ὑποσχέσεις ἐξαπατῶν καὶ φενακίζων: τότε μαθόντες, ὅτι τῶν κοινῶν οὐδενὸς ἔτι μετεῖχον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν παρρησίαν ἅμα τοῖς δημοτικοῖς ἀφῃρέθησαν, ὠδύροντο μὲν καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα [p. 77] τῶν παρόντων δεινότερα ὑπώπτευον, στέργειν δὲ τὰ παρόντα ἠναγκάζοντο δύναμιν οὐκ ἔχοντες κωλύειν τὰ πραττόμενα.
[5] Consequently, when the senators who were left of those who had been enrolled in the senate under Tullius and who had hitherto been at odds with the plebeians and had expected the change in the form of government to turn out to their advantage (for Tarquinius had held out such promises to them with a view of deluding and tricking them) now found that they had no longer any share in the government, but that they too, as well as the plebeians, had been deprived of their freedom of speech, although they lamented their fate and suspected that things would be still more terrible in the future than they were at the moment, yet, having no power to prevent what was going on, they were forced to acquiesce in the existing state of affairs.
[1] ταῦτα δ᾽ ὁρῶντες οἱ δημοτικοὶ δίκαια πάσχειν αὐτοὺς ὑπελάμβανον καὶ ἐπέχαιρον ὑπ᾽ εὐηθείας, ὡς ἐκείνοις μόνοις τῆς τυραννίδος βαρείας ἐσομένης, σφίσι δ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἀκινδύνου. ἧκε δὲ κἀκείνοις οὐ μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον ἔτι πλείω τὰ χαλεπά. τούς τε γὰρ νόμους τοὺς ὑπὸ Τυλλίου γραφέντας, καθ᾽ οὓς ἐξ ἴσου τὰ δίκαια παρ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἐλάμβανον καὶ οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πατρικίων ὡς πρότερον ἐβλάπτοντο περὶ τὰ συμβόλαια, πάντας ἀνεῖλε: καὶ οὐδὲ τὰς σανίδας, ἐν αἷς ἦσαν γεγραμμένοι, κατέλιπεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτας καθαιρεθῆναι κελεύσας ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς διέφθειρεν.
[43.1] The plebeians, seeing this, looked upon them as justly punished and in their simplicity rejoiced at their discomfiture, imagining that the tyranny would be burdensome to the senators alone and would involve no danger to themselves. Nevertheless, to them also came even more hardships not long afterwards. For the laws drawn up by Tullius, by which they all received justice alike from each other and by which they were secured from being injured by the patricians, as before, in their contracts with them, were all abolished by Tarquinius, who did not leave even the tables on which the laws were written, but ordered these also to be removed from the Forum and destroyed.
[2] ἔπειτα κατέλυσε τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν τιμημάτων εἰσφορὰς καὶ εἰς τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τρόπον ἀποκατέστησε: καὶ ὁπότε δεήσειεν αὐτῷ χρημάτων, τὸ ἴσον διάφορον ὁ πενέστατος τῷ πλουσιωτάτῳ κατέφερε. τοῦτο τὸ πολίτευμα πολὺ τοῦ δημοτικοῦ πλήθους ἀπανήλωσεν ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης εὐθὺς εἰσφορᾶς ἀναγκαζομένου κατὰ κεφαλὴν ἑκάστου δραχμὰς δέκα εἰσφέρειν. συνόδους τε συμπάσας, ὅσαι πρότερον ἐγίνοντο κωμητῶν ἢ φρατριαστῶν ἢ γειτόνων ἔν τε τῇ πόλει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγρῶν ἐφ᾽ ἱερὰ καὶ θυσίας ἅπασι κοινὰς προεῖπε μηκέτι συντελεῖν, ἵνα μὴ συνιόντες εἰς ταὐτὸ πολλοὶ βουλὰς ἀπορρήτους μετ᾽ ἀλλήλων ποιῶνται περὶ καταλύσεως τῆς ἀρχῆς.
[2] After this he abolished the taxes based on the census and revived the original form of taxation; and whenever he required money, the poorest citizen contributed the same amount as the richest. This measure ruined a large part of the plebeians, since every man was obliged to pay ten drachmae as his individual share of the very first tax. He also forbade the holding in future of any of the assemblies to which hitherto the inhabitants of the villages, the members of the curiae, or the residents of a neighbourhood, both in the city and in the country, had resorted in order to perform religious ceremonies and sacrifices in common, lest large numbers of people, meeting together, should form secret conspiracies to overthrow his power.
[3] ἦσαν δ᾽ αὐτῷ πολλαχῇ διεσπαρμένοι κατόπται [p. 78] τινὲς καὶ διερευνηταὶ τῶν λεγομένων τε καὶ πραττομένων λεληθότες τοὺς πολλούς, οἳ συγκαθιέντες εἰς ὁμιλίαν τοῖς πέλας καὶ ἔστιν ὅτε κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου λέγοντες αὐτοί, πεῖραν τῆς ἑκάστου γνώμης ἐλάμβανον: ἔπειθ᾽ οὓς αἴσθοιντο τοῖς καθεστηκόσι πράγμασιν ἀχθομένους κατεμήνυον πρὸς τὸν τύραννον: αἱ δὲ τιμωρίαι κατὰ τῶν ἐλεγχθέντων ἐγίνοντο πικραὶ καὶ ἀπαραίτητοι.
[3] He had spies scattered about in many places who secretly inquired into everything that was said and done, while remaining undiscovered by most persons; and by insinuating themselves into the conversation of their neighbours and sometimes by reviling the tyrant themselves they sounded every man’s sentiments. Afterwards they informed the tyrant of all who were dissatisfied with the existing state of affairs; and the punishments of those who were found guilty were severe and relentless.
[1] καὶ οὐκ ἀπέχρη ταῦτα μόνον εἰς τοὺς δημοτικοὺς αὐτῷ παρανομεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιλέξας ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους, ὅσον ἦν πιστὸν ἑαυτῷ καὶ εἰς τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας ἐπιτήδειον, τὸ λοιπὸν ἠνάγκασεν ἐργάζεσθαι τὰς κατὰ πόλιν ἐργασίας, μέγιστον οἰόμενος εἶναι κίνδυνον τοῖς μονάρχοις, ὅταν οἱ πονηρότατοι τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ ἀπορώτατοι σχολὴν ἄγωσι, καὶ ἅμα προθυμίαν ἔχων ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρχῆς τὰ καταλειφθέντα ἡμίεργα ὑπὸ τοῦ πάππου τελειῶσαι, τὰς μὲν ἐξαγωγίμους τῶν ὑδάτων τάφρους, ἃς ἐκεῖνος ὀρύττειν ἤρξατο, μέχρι τοῦ ποταμοῦ καταγαγεῖν, τὸν δ᾽ ἀμφιθέατρον ἱππόδρομον οὐδὲν ἔξω κρηπίδων ἔχοντα παστάσιν ὑποστέγοις περιλαβεῖν:
[44.1] Nor was he satisfied merely with these illegal vexations of the plebeians, but, after selecting from among them such as were loyal to himself and fit for war, he compelled the rest to labour on the public works in the city; for he believed that monarchs are exposed to the greatest danger when the worst and the most needy of the citizens live in idleness, and at the same time he was eager to complete during his own reign the works his grandfather had left half finished, namely, to extend to the river the drainage canals which the other had begun to dig and also to surround the Circus, which had been carried up no higher than the foundations, with covered porticos.
[2] εἰς ταῦτα δὴ πάντες οἱ πένητες εἰργάζοντο σῖτα παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ μέτρια λαμβάνοντες: οἱ μὲν λατομοῦντες, οἱ δ᾽ ὑλοτομοῦντες, οἱ δὲ τὰς κομιζούσας ταῦθ᾽ ἁμάξας ἄγοντες, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων αὐτοὶ τὰ ἄχθη φέροντες: μεταλλεύοντές τε τὰς ὑπονόμους [p. 79] σήραγγας ἕτεροι καὶ πλάττοντες τὰς ἐν α�
��ταῖς καμάρας καὶ τὰς παστάδας ἐγείροντες, καὶ τοῖς ταῦτα πράττουσι χειροτέχναις ὑπηρετοῦντες χαλκοτύποι τε καὶ τέκτονες καὶ λιθουργοὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν ἔργων ἀφεστῶτες ἐπὶ ταῖς δημοσίαις κατείχοντο χρείαις.
[2] At these undertakings all the poor laboured, receiving from him but a moderate allowance of grain. Some of them were employed in quarrying stone, others in hewing timber, some in driving the wagons that transported these materials, and others in carrying the burdens themselves upon their shoulders, still others in digging the subterranean drains and constructing the arches over them and in erecting the porticos and serving the various artisans who were thus employed; and smiths, carpenters and masons were taken from their private undertakings and kept at work in the service of the public.
[3] περὶ ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἔργα τριβόμενος ὁ λεὼς οὐδεμίαν ἀνάπαυσιν ἐλάμβανεν: ὥσθ᾽ οἱ πατρίκιοι τὰ τούτων κακὰ καὶ τὰς λατρείας ὁρῶντες ἔχαιρόν τ᾽ ἐν μέρει καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἐπελανθάνοντο ἀλγεινῶν: κωλύειν μὲν γὰρ οὐδέτεροι τὰ γινόμενα ἐπεχείρουν.
[3] Thus the people, being worn out by these works, had no rest; so that the patricians, seeing their hardships and servitude, rejoiced in their turn and forgot their own miseries. Yet neither of them attempted to put a stop to these proceedings.
[1] λογιζόμενος δ᾽ ὁ Ταρκύνιος, ὅτι τοῖς μὴ κατὰ νόμους λαβοῦσι τὰς δυναστείας, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων κτησαμένοις, οὐ μόνον ἐπιχωρίου δεῖ φυλακῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ξενικῆς, τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον ἐκ τοῦ Λατίνων ἔθνους καὶ πλεῖστον ἁπάντων δυνάμενον ἐσπούδαζε φίλον ποιήσασθαι τῷ γάμῳ συζεύξας τῆς θυγατρός, ὃς ἐκαλεῖτο μὲν Ὀκταούιος Μαμίλιος, ἀνέφερε δὲ τὸ γένος εἰς Τηλέγονον τὸν ἐξ Ὀδυσσέως καὶ Κίρκης, κατῴκει δ᾽ ἐν πόλει Τύσκλῳ, ἐδόκει δὲ τὰ πολιτικὰ συνετὸς ἐν ὀλίγοις εἶναι καὶ πολέμους στρατηγεῖν ἱκανός.
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 512