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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [45.1] Tarquinius, considering that those rulers who have not got their power legally but have obtained it by arms require a body-guard, not of natives only, but also of foreigners, earnestly endeavoured to gain the friendship of the most illustrious and most powerful man of the whole Latin nation, by giving his daughter to him in marriage. This man was Octavius Mamilius, who traced his lineage back to Telegonus, the son of Ulysses and Circe; he lived in the city of Tusculum and was looked upon as a man of singular sagacity in political matters and a competent military commander.

  [2] τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα φίλον ἔχων καὶ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἀρίστους ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει τῶν τὰ κοινὰ πραττόντων προσλαβὼν τότ᾽ ἤδη καὶ τῶν ὑπαιθρίων ἐπεχείρει πειρᾶσθαι πολέμων καὶ στρατιὰν ἐπὶ Σαβίνους ἐξάγειν οὐ βουλομένους ὑπηκόους εἶναι τοῖς ἐπιτάγμασιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν ὁμολογιῶν οἰομένους, [p. 80] ἐξ οὗ Τύλλιος ἐτελεύτησε, πρὸς ὃν ἐποιήσαντο τὰς ὁμολογίας.

  [2] When Tarquinius had gained the friendship of this man and through him had won over the chief men at the head of affairs in each city, he resolved then at last to try his strength in warfare in the open and to lead an expedition against the Sabines, who refused to obey his orders and looked upon themselves as released from the terms of their treaty upon the death of Tullius, with whom they had made it.

  [3] γνοὺς δὲ ταῦτα προεῖπε δι᾽ ἀγγέλων ἥκειν εἰς τὴν ἐν Φερεντίνῳ γινομένην ἀγορὰν τοὺς εἰωθότας ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Λατίνων συνεδρεύειν, ἡμέραν τινὰ ὁρίσας, ὡς περὶ κοινῶν καὶ μεγάλων πραγμάτων σὺν αὐτοῖς βουλευσόμενος.

  [3] After he had taken this resolution he sent messengers to invite to the council at Ferentinum those who were accustomed to meet together there on behalf of the Latin nation, and appointed a day, intimating that he wished to consult with them concerning some important matters of mutual interest.

  [4] οἱ μὲν δὴ παρῆσαν, ὁ δὲ Ταρκύνιος αὐτὸς ὁ καλέσας αὐτοὺς ὑστέρει. ὡς δὲ πολὺς ἐγένετο καθημένοις ὁ χρόνος καὶ ἐδόκει τοῖς πλείοσιν ὕβρις εἶναι τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἀνήρ τις ἐν πόλει μὲν οἰκῶν Κορίλλῃ, δυνατὸς δὲ καὶ χρήμασι καὶ φίλοις καὶ τὰ πολέμια ἄλκιμος πολιτικόν τε λόγον εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἀδύνατος, Τύρνος Ἑρδώνιος ὄνομα, Μαμιλίῳ τε διάφορος ὢν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὰ κοινὰ φιλοτιμίαν καὶ Ταρκυνίῳ διὰ τὸν Μαμίλιον ἀπεχθόμενος, ὅτι κηδεστὴν ἐκεῖνον ἠξίωσε λαβεῖν ἀνθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, πολλὴν ἐποιεῖτο τοῦ Ταρκυνίου κατηγορίαν τ᾽ ἄλλα διεξιὼν ἔργα τοῦ ἀνδρός, οἷς αὐθάδειά τις ἐδόκει προσεῖναι καὶ βαρύτης, καὶ τὸ μὴ παρεῖναι πρὸς τὸν σύλλογον αὐτὸν τὸν κεκληκότα τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων παρόντων.

  [4] The Latins, accordingly, appeared, but Tarquinius, who had summoned them, did not come at the time appointed. They waited for a long time and the majority of them regarded his behaviour as an insult. Among them was a certain man, named Turnus Herdonius, who lived in the city of Corilla and was powerful by reason of both of his riches and of his friends, valiant in war and not without ability in political debate; he was not only at variance with Mamilius, owing to their rivalry for power in the state, but also, on account of Mamilius, an enemy to Tarquinius, because the king had seen fit to take the other for his son-in-law in preference to himself. This man now inveighed at length against Tarquinius, enumerating all the other actions of the man which seemed to shown evidence of arrogance and presumption, and laying particular stress upon his not appearing at the assembly which he himself had summoned, when all the rest were present.

  [5] ἀπολογουμένου δὲ τοῦ Μαμιλίου καὶ εἰς ἀναγκαίας τινὰς ἀναφέροντος αἰτίας τὸν τοῦ Ταρκυνίου χρονισμὸν ἀναβάλλεσθαι τ᾽ ἀξιοῦντος τὸν σύλλογον εἰς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἡμέραν, πεισθέντες οἱ πρόεδροι τῶν Λατίνων ἀνεβάλοντο τὴν βουλήν.

  [5] But Mamilius attempted to excuse Tarquinius, attributing his delay to some unavoidable cause, and asked that the assembly might be adjourned to the next day; and the presiding officers of the Latins were prevailed on to do so.

  [1] τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ παρῆν ὁ Ταρκύνιος καὶ συναχθέντος τοῦ συλλόγου μικρά θ᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ χρονισμοῦ προειπὼν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡγεμονίας εὐθὺς ἐποιεῖτο [p. 81] λόγους ὡς κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον αὑτῷ προσηκούσης, ἐπειδὴ Ταρκύνιος αὐτὴν κατέσχεν ὁ πάππος αὐτοῦ πολέμῳ κτησάμενος, καὶ τὰς συνθήκας παρείχετο τὰς γενομένας ταῖς πόλεσι πρὸς ἐκεῖνον.

  [46.1] The next day Tarquinius appeared and, the assembly having been called together, he first excused his delay in a few words and at once entered upon a discussion of the supremacy, which he insisted belonged to him by right, since Tarquinius, his grandfather, had held it, having acquired it by war; and he offered in evidence the treaties made by the various cities with Tarquinius.

  [2] πολὺν δὲ λόγον ὑπὲρ τοῦ δικαίου καὶ τῶν ὁμολογιῶν διεξελθὼν καὶ μεγάλα τὰς πόλεις εὐεργετήσειν ὑποσχόμενος, ἐὰν ἐν τῇ φιλίᾳ διαμείνωσι, τελευτῶν ἔπειθεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ Σαβίνων ἔθνος συστρατεύειν.

  [2] After saying a great deal in favour of his claim and concerning the treaties, and promising to confer great advantages on the cities in case they should continue in their friendship, he at last endeavoured to persuade them to join him in an expedition against the Sabines.

  [3] ὡς δ᾽ ἐπαύσατο λέγων, παρελθὼν ὁ Τύρνος ὁ καὶ τὸν ὀψισμὸν αὐτοῦ διαβαλὼν οὐκ εἴα τοὺς συνέδρους παραχωρεῖν τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὡς οὔτε κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον αὐτῷ προσηκούσης οὔτ᾽ ἐπὶ τῷ συμφέροντι τῶν Λατίνων δοθησομένης: καὶ πολλοὺς ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων διεξῆλθε λόγους τὰς μὲν συνθήκας, ἃς ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τὸν πάππον αὐτοῦ παραδιδόντες τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, λελύσθαι λέγων μετὰ τὸν ἐκείνου θάνατον διὰ τὸ μὴ προσγεγράφθαι ταῖς ὁμολογίαις τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι δωρεὰν καὶ τοῖς Ταρκυνίου ἐγγόνοις, τὸν δ᾽ ἀξιοῦντα τῶν τοῦ πάππου δωρεῶν κληρονομεῖν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων παρανομώτατον ἀποφαίνων καὶ πονηρότατον καὶ τὰς πράξεις αὐτοῦ διεξιών, ἃς ἐπὶ τῷ

  [3] When he had ceased speaking, Turnus, the man who had censured him for his failure to appear in time, came forward and sought to dissuade the council from yielding to him the supremacy, both on the ground that it did not belong to him by right and also because it would not be in the interest of the Latins to yield it to him; and he dwelt long upon both these points. He said that the treaties they had made with the grandfather of Tarquinius, wh
en they granted to him the supremacy, had been terminated after his death, no clause having been added to those treaties providing that the same grant should descend to his posterity; and he showed that the man who claimed the right to inherit the grants made to his grandfather was of all men the most lawless and most wicked, and he recounted the things he had done in order to possess himself of the sovereignty over the Romans.

  [4] κατασχεῖν τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν ἐπετελέσατο. διεξελθὼν δὲ πολλὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ δεινὰς κατηγορίας τελευτῶν ἐδίδασκεν, ὡς οὐδὲ τὴν βασιλείαν εἶχε τὴν Ῥωμαίων κατὰ νόμους παρ᾽ ἑκόντων λαβὼν ὥσπερ οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλεῖς, ὅπλοις δὲ καὶ βίᾳ κατισχύσας τυραννικήν τε μοναρχίαν καταστησάμενος τοὺς μὲν ἀποκτείνοι τῶν πολιτῶν, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐξελαύνοι τῆς πατρίδος, τῶν δὲ περικόπτοι [p. 82] τὰς οὐσίας, ἁπάντων δ᾽ ἅμα τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀφαιροῖτο: πολλῆς τε μωρίας ἔφη καὶ θεοβλαβείας εἶναι παρὰ πονηροῦ καὶ ἀνοσίου τρόπου χρηστόν τι καὶ φιλάνθρωπον ἐλπίζειν καὶ νομίζειν, ὡς ὁ τῶν συγγενεστάτων τε καὶ ἀναγκαιοτάτων μὴ φεισάμενος τῶν ἀλλοτρίων φείσεται: παρῄνει τε τέως οὔπω τὸν χαλινὸν εἰλήφασι τῆς δουλείας περὶ τοῦ μὴ λαβεῖν αὐτὸν διαμάχεσθαι, ἐξ ὧν ἕτεροι πεπόνθασι δεινῶν τεκμαιρομένους, ἃ συμβήσεται παθεῖν αὐτοῖς.

  [4] After enumerating many terrible charges against him, he ended by informing them that Tarquinius did not hold even the kingship over the Romans in accordance with the laws by taking it with their consent, like the former kings, but had prevailed by arms and violence; and that, having established a tyranny, he was putting some of the citizens to death, banishing others, despoiling others of their estates, and taking from all of them their liberty both of speech and of action. He declared it would be an act of great folly and madness to hope for anything good and beneficent from a wicked and impious nature and to imagine that a man who had not spared such as were nearest to him both in blood and friendship would spare those who were strangers to him; and he advised them, as long as they had not yet accepted the yoke of slavery, to fight to the end against accepting it, judging from the misfortunes of others what it would be their own fate to suffer.

  [1] τοιαύτῃ καταδρομῇ τοῦ Τύρνου χρησαμένου καὶ τῶν πολλῶν σφόδρα κινηθέντων ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις αἰτησάμενος εἰς ἀπολογίαν ὁ Ταρκύνιος τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἡμέραν καὶ λαβών, ὡς ὁ σύλλογος διελύθη, παρακαλέσας τοὺς ἀναγκαιοτάτους ἐσκόπει μετ᾽ ἐκείνων, τίνα χρηστέον τοῖς πράγμασι τρόπον. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι τοὺς λόγους, οὓς ἦν αὐτῷ λεκτέον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀπολογίας, ὑπετίθεντο καὶ τοὺς τρόπους, οἷς ἔδει τὸ πλῆθος ἀποθεραπεύειν, ἀπελογίζοντο. αὐτὸς δ᾽ ὁ Ταρκύνιος τούτων μὲν οὐδενὸς ἔφη δεῖν τοῖς πράγμασιν, ἰδίαν δὲ γνώμην ἀπεδείκνυτο μὴ τὰ κατηγορηθέντα λύειν, ἀλλ᾽

  [47.1] After Turnus had thus inveighed against Tarquinius and most of those present had been greatly moved by his words, Tarquinius asked that the following day might be set for his defence. His request was granted, and when the assembly had been dismissed, he summoned his most intimate friends and consulted with them how he ought to handle the situation. These began to suggest to him the arguments he should use in his defence and to run over the means by which he should endeavour to win back the favour of the majority; but Tarquinius himself declared that the situation did not call for any such measures, and gave it as his own opinion that he ought not to attempt to refute the accusations, but rather to destroy the accuser himself.

  [2] αὐτὸν τὸν κατηγορήσαντα ἀναιρεῖν. ἐπαινεσάντων δὲ τὴν γνώμην ἁπάντων συνταξάμενος μετ᾽ αὐτῶν τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν πράγματι ἐπεχείρησεν ἥκιστα δυναμένῳ πεσεῖν εἰς πρόνοιαν ἀνθρωπίνην καὶ φυλακήν. [p. 83] τῶν γὰρ παρακομιζόντων τά θ᾽ ὑποζύγια καὶ τὴν ἀποσκευὴν τοῦ Τύρνου θεραπόντων τοὺς πονηροτάτους ἐξευρὼν καὶ διαφθείρας χρήμασιν ἔπειθεν ὑπὸ νύκτα ξίφη πολλὰ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ λαβόντας εἰσενεγκεῖν εἰς τὴν κατάλυσιν τοῦ δεσπότου καὶ ἀποθέσθαι κρύψαντας ἐν τοῖς σκευοφόροις.

  [2] When all had praised this opinion, he arranged with them the details of the attack and then set about carrying out a plot that was least likely to be foreseen by any man and guarded against. Seeking out the most evil among the servants of Turnus who conducted his pack animals with the baggage and bribing them with money, he persuaded them to take from him a large number of swords at nightfall and put them away in the baggage-chests where they would not be in sight.

  [3] τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ συναχθείσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας παρελθὼν ὑπὲρ μὲν τῶν κατηγορηθέντων βραχεῖαν ἔλεγεν εἶναι τὴν ἀπολογίαν καὶ δικαστὴν ἁπάντων ἐποιεῖτο τῶν ἐγκλημάτων αὐτὸν τὸν κατήγορον. οὑτοσὶ γάρ, ἔφη, Τύρνος, ὦ σύνεδροι, τούτων ὧν νυνί μου κατηγορεῖ πάντων δικαστὴς γενόμενος αὐτὸς ἀπέλυσέ με, ὅτε τὴν θυγατέρα τὴν ἐμὴν ἐβούλετο λαβεῖν γυναῖκα.

  [3] The next day, when the assembly had convened, Tarquinius came forward and said that his defence against the accusations was a brief one, and he proposed that his accuser himself should be the judge of all the charges. “For, councillors,” he said, “Turnus here, as a judge, himself acquitted me of everything of which he now accuses me, when he desired my daughter in marriage.

  [4] ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἀπηξιώθη τῶν γάμων κατὰ τὸ εἰκός: τίς γὰρ ἂν τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων Μαμίλιον τὸν εὐγενέστατόν τε καὶ κράτιστον Λατίνων ἀπεώσατο, τοῦτον δὲ κηδεστὴν ἠξίωσε λαβεῖν, ὃς οὐδ᾽ εἰς τρίτον πάππον ἀνενεγκεῖν ἔχει τὸ γένος; ἀγανακτῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ νῦν ἥκει μου κατηγορῶν. ἔδει δ᾽ αὐτόν, εἰ μὲν ᾔδει με τοιοῦτον ὄντα, οἷον νῦν αἰτιᾶται, μὴ προθυμεῖσθαι λαβεῖν τότε πενθερόν: εἰ δὲ χρηστὸν ἐνόμιζεν, ὅτε τὴν θυγατέρα με ᾐτεῖτο, μηδὲ νῦν ὡς πονηροῦ κατηγορεῖν.

  [4] But since he was thought unworthy of the marriage, as was but natural (for who in his senses would have refused Mamilius, the man of highest birth and greatest merit among the Latins, and consented to take for his son-in-law this man who cannot trace his family back even five generations?), in resentment for this slight he has now come to accuse me. Whereas, if he knew me to be such a man as he now charges, he ought not to have desired me then for a father-in-law; and if he thought me a good man when he asked me for my daughter in marriage, he ought not now to traduce me as a wicked man.

  [5] καὶ περὶ μὲν ἐμαυτοῦ τοσαῦτα λέγω:
ὑμῖν δ᾽, ὦ σύνεδροι, κινδύνων τὸν μέγιστον τρέχουσιν οὐ περὶ ἐμοῦ σκεπτέον ἐστὶ νυνί, πότερα χρηστὸς ἢ πονηρός εἰμι: τουτὶ γὰρ ἐξέσται καὶ μετὰ ταῦθ᾽ ὑμῖν σκοπεῖν: ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἀσφαλείας καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν πατρίδων ἐλευθερίας. ἐπιβουλεύεσθε [p. 84] γὰρ οἱ κορυφαιότατοι τῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι καὶ τὰ κοινὰ πράττοντες ὑπὸ τοῦ καλοῦ τούτου δημαγωγοῦ, ὃς παρεσκεύασταί τε τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ὑμῶν ἀποκτείνας ἐπιθέσθαι τῇ Λατίνων ἀρχῇ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦθ᾽

  [5] So much concerning myself. As for you, councillors, who are running the greatest of dangers, it is not for you to consider now whether I am a good or a bad man (for this you may inquire into afterwards) but to provide both for your own safety and for the liberty of your respective cities. For a plot is being formed by this fine demagogue against you who are the chief men of your cities and are at the head of affairs; and he is prepared, after he has put the most prominent of you to death, to attempt to seize the sovereignty over the Latins, and has come here for that purpose.