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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [3] Having discussed and settled these matters, they besought the gods to assist them in the pursuit of their holy and just aims, and then went to the Forum. They were followed by their slaves, who carried upon a bier spread with black cloth the body of Lucretia, unprepared for burial and stained with blood; and directing them to place it in a high and conspicuous position before the senate-house, they called an assembly of the people.

  [4] ὄχλου δὲ συναχθέντος οὐ μόνον τοῦ κατ᾽ ἀγορὰν τότ᾽ ὄντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὅλην: διεξῄεσαν γὰρ οἱ κήρυκες διὰ τῶν στενωπῶν τὸν δῆμον εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν καλοῦντες: ἀναβὰς ὁ Βροῦτος, ἔνθα τοῖς συνάγουσι τὰς ἐκκλησίας δημηγορεῖν ἔθος ἦν, καὶ τοὺς πατρικίους παραστησάμενος ἔλεξε τοιάδε.

  [4] When a crowd had gathered, not only of those who were in the Forum at the time but also of those who came from all parts of the city (for the heralds had gone through all the streets to summon the people thither), Brutus ascended the tribunal from which it was the custom for those who assembled the people to address them, and having placed the patricians near them, spoke as follows:

  [1] ὑπὲρ ἀναγκαίων καὶ κοινῶν πραγμάτων τοὺς λόγους μέλλων πρὸς ὑμᾶς ποιεῖσθαι, ἄνδρες πολῖται, περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ πρῶτον ὀλίγα βούλομαι προειπεῖν: ἴσως γάρ τισιν ὑμῶν, μᾶλλον δ᾽ ἀκριβῶς οἶδ᾽ ὅτι πολλοῖς τεταράχθαι δόξω τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀνὴρ οὐ φρενήρης περὶ τῶν μεγίστων ἐπιχειρῶν λέγειν, ᾧ κηδεμόνων οὐχ 23 ὑγιαίνοντι δεῖ.

  [77.1] “Citizens, as I am going to speak to you upon urgent matters of general interest, I desire first to say a few words about myself. For by some, perhaps, or more accurately, as I know, by many of you, I shall be thought to be disordered in my intellect when I, a man of unsound mind, attempt to speak upon matters of the greatest importance — a man who, as being not mentally sound, has need of guardians.

  [2] ἴστε δὴ τὴν κοινὴν ὑπόληψιν, ἣν περὶ ἐμοῦ πάντες εἴχετε ὡς ἠλιθίου, ψευδῆ γενομένην καὶ οὐχ ὑπ᾽ ἄλλου τινὸς κατασκευασθεῖσαν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ. ὁ δ᾽ ἀναγκάσας με μήθ᾽ ὡς ἡ φύσις ἠξίου μήθ᾽ ὡς ἥρμοττέ μοι ζῆν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς Ταρκυνίῳ τ᾽ ἦν βουλομένῳ κἀμοὶ συνοίσειν ἔδοξεν, ὁ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς φόβος ἦν.

  [2] Know, then, that the general opinion you all entertained of me as of a fool was false and contrived by me and by me alone. That which compelled me to live, not as my nature demanded or as beseemed me, but as was agreeable to Tarquinius and seemed likely to be to my own advantage, was the fear I felt for my life.

  [3] πατέρα γάρ μου Ταρκύνιος ἀποκτείνας ἅμα τῷ παραλαβεῖν τὴν ἀρχήν, ἵνα τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ κατάσχοι [p. 125] πολλὴν σφόδρα οὖσαν, καὶ ἀδελφὸν πρεσβύτερον, ὃς ἔμελλε τιμωρήσειν τῷ θανάτῳ τοῦ πατρός, εἰ μὴ γένοιτο ἐκποδῶν, ἀφανεῖ θανάτῳ διαχρησάμενος, οὐδ᾽ ἐμοῦ δῆλος ἦν φεισόμενος ἐρήμου τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων γεγονότος, εἰ μὴ τὴν ἐπίθετον ἐσκηψάμην μωρίαν.

  [3] For my father was put to death by Tarquinius upon his accession to the sovereignty, in order that he might possess himself of his property, which was very considerable, and my elder brother, who would have avenged his father’s death if he had not been put out of the way, was secretly murdered by the tyrant; nor was it clear that he would spare me, either, now left destitute of my nearest relations, if I had not pretended a folly that was not genuine.

  [4] τοῦτό με τὸ πλάσμα πιστευθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου μὴ ταὐτὰ παθεῖν ἐκείνοις ἐρρύσατο καὶ μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος διασέσωκε χρόνου: νῦν δ᾽ αὐτὸ πρῶτον, ἥκει γὰρ ὁ καιρός, ὃν εὐχόμην τε καὶ προσεδεχόμην, πέμπτον ἤδη τοῦτο καὶ εἰκοστὸν ἔτος φυλάξας ἀποτίθεμαι. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ ἐμοῦ τοσαῦτα.

  [4] This fiction, finding credit with the tyrant, saved me from the same treatment that they had experienced and has preserved me to this day; but since the time has come at last which I have prayed for and looked forward to, I am now laying it aside for the first time, after maintaining it for twenty-five years. So much concerning myself.

  [1] τὰ δὲ κοινά, ὑπὲρ ὧν ὑμᾶς εἰς ἐκκλησίαν συνεκάλεσα, ταῦτ᾽ ἐστί. Ταρκύνιον οὔτε κατὰ τοὺς πατρίους ἡμῶν ἐθισμοὺς καὶ νόμους τὴν δυναστείαν κατασχόντα οὔτ᾽, ἐπειδὴ κατέσχεν ὅπως δή ποτε λαβών, καλῶς αὐτῇ καὶ βασιλικῶς χρώμενον, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπερβεβληκότα πάντας ὕβρει τε καὶ παρανομίᾳ τοὺς ὅπου δή ποτε γενομένους τυράννους, ἀφελέσθαι τὴν ἐξουσίαν βεβουλεύμεθα συνελθόντες οἱ πατρίκιοι, πάλαι μὲν δέον, ἐν καιρῷ δὲ νῦν αὐτὸ ποιοῦντες ἐπιτηδείῳ, ὑμᾶς τ᾽, ὦ δημόται, συνεκαλέσαμεν, ἵνα τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀποδειξάμενοι τὴν ἑαυτῶν συναγωνιστὰς ἀξιώσωμεν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι, πράττοντας ἐλευθερίαν τῇ πατρίδι, ἧς οὔτε πρότερον ἡμῖν ἐξεγένετο μεταλαβεῖν, ἐξ οὗ Ταρκύνιος τὴν ἀρχὴν κατέσχεν, οὔθ᾽ ὕστερον, ἐὰν νῦν μαλακισθῶμεν, ἐξέσται.

  [78] “The state of public affairs, because of which I have called you together, is this: Inasmuch as Tarquinius neither obtained the sovereignty in accordance with our ancestral customs and laws, nor, since he obtained it — in whatever manner he got it — has he been exercising it in an honourable or kingly manner, but has surpassed in insolence and lawlessness all the tyrants the world ever saw, we patricians met together and resolved to deprive him of his power, a thing we ought to have done long ago, but are doing now when a favourable opportunity has offered. And we have called you together, plebeians, in order to declare our own decision and then ask for your assistance in achieving liberty for our country, a blessing which we night have hitherto been able to enjoy since Tarquinius obtained the sovereignty, nor shall hereafter be able to enjoy if we show weakness now.

  [2] εἰ μὲν οὖν χρόνον εἶχον, ὅσον [p. 126] ἐβουλόμην, ἢ πρὸς ἀγνοοῦντας ἔμελλον λέγειν, ἁπάσας διεξῆλθον ἂν τὰς τοῦ τυράννου παρανομίας, ἐφ᾽ αἷς οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ἅπασιν εἴη δίκαιος ἀπολωλέναι: ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ ὅ τε καιρός, ὃν τὰ πράγματά μοι δίδωσι, βραχύς, ἐν ᾧ λέγειν μὲν ὀλίγα δεῖ, πράττειν δὲ πολλά, καὶ πρὸς εἰδότας οἱ λόγοι, τὰ μέγιστα καὶ φανερώτατα τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐδ᾽ ἀπολογίας οὐδεμιᾶς δυνάμενα τυχεῖν, ταῦθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ὑπομνήσω.

  [2] Had I as much time as I could wish, or were I about to speak to men unacquainted with the facts, I should have enumerated all the lawless deeds of the tyrant for which he deserves to die, not once, but many times, at the hands of al
l. But since the time permitted me by the circumstances is short, and in this brief time there is little that needs to be said but much to be done, and since I am speaking to those who are acquainted with the facts, I shall remind you merely of those of his deeds that are the most heinous and the most conspicuous and do not admit of any excuse.

  [1] οὗτός ἐστιν, ἄνδρες πολῖται, ὁ Ταρκύνιος ὁ πρὸ τοῦ παραλαβεῖν τὴν ἀρχὴν Ἄρροντα τὸν γνήσιον ἀδελφόν, ὅτι πονηρὸς οὐκ ἐβούλετο γενέσθαι, φαρμάκοις διαχρησάμενος, συνεργὸν εἰς τοῦτο τὸ μῦσος λαβὼν τὴν ἐκείνου γυναῖκα, τῆς δ᾽ αὐτῷ συνοικούσης ἀδελφήν, ἣν ἐμοίχευεν ὁ θεοῖς ἐχθρὸς ἔτι καὶ πάλαι:

  [79.1] “This is that Tarquinius, citizens, who, before he took over the sovereignty, destroyed his own brother Arruns by poison because he would not consent to become wicked, in which abominable crime he was assisted by his brother’s wife, the sister of his own wife, whom this enemy of the gods had even long before debauched.

  [2] 24 οὗτος ὁ τὴν γαμετὴν γυναῖκα, σώφρονα καὶ τέκνων κοινωνὸν γεγονυῖαν, ἐν ταῖς αὐταῖς ἡμέραις καὶ διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν φαρμάκων ἀποκτείνας οὐδ᾽ ἀφοσιώσασθαι τῶν φαρμακειῶν ἀμφοτέρων τὰς διαβολάς, ὡς οὐχ ὑφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ γενομένων, ἠξίωσεν ἐλεεινῷ χρησάμενος σχήματι καὶ μικρᾷ προσποιήσει πένθους, ἀλλ᾽ εὐθὺς ἅμα τῷ αὐτὰ διαπράξασθαι τὰ θαυμαστὰ ἔργα, πρὶν ἢ μαρανθῆναι τὰς ὑποδεξαμένας τὰ δύστηνα σώματα πυράς, φίλους εἱστία καὶ γάμους ἐπετέλει καὶ τὴν ἀνδροφόνον νύμφην ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς ἀδελφῆς θάλαμον ἤγετο τὰς ἀπορρήτους ἐμπεδῶν πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁμολογίας: ἀνόσια καὶ ἐξάγιστα [p. 127] καὶ οὔθ᾽ Ἑλλάδος οὔτε βαρβάρου γῆς οὐδαμόθι γενόμενα πρῶτος εἰς τὴν Ῥωμαίων πόλιν εἰσαγαγὼν καὶ

  [2] This is the man who on the same days and with the same poisons killed his wedded wife, a virtuous woman who had also been the mother of children by him, and did not even deign to clear himself of the blame for both of these poisonings and make it appear that they were not his work, by assuming a mourning garb and some slight pretence of grief; nay, close upon the heels of his committing those monstrous deeds and before the funeral-pyre which had received those miserable bodies had died away, he gave a banquet to his friends, celebrated his nuptials, and led the murderess of her husband as a bride to the bed of her sister, thus fulfilling the abominable contract he had made with her and being the first and the only man who ever introduced into the city of Rome such impious and execrable crimes unknown to any nation in the world, either Greek or barbarian.

  [3] μόνος. οἷα δ᾽ ἐξειργάσατο, ὦ δημόται, τὰ περιβόητα καὶ δεινὰ περὶ τοὺς κηδεστὰς ἀμφοτέρους ἐπιχειρήματα ἐπὶ ταῖς δυσμαῖς ὄντας ἤδη τοῦ βίου; Σερούιον μὲν Τύλλιον τὸν ἐπιεικέστατον τῶν βασιλέων καὶ πλεῖστα ὑμᾶς εὖ ποιήσαντα φανερῶς ἀποσφάξας καὶ οὔτ᾽ ἐκκομιδῆς οὔτε ταφῆς ἐάσας νομίμου τὸ σῶμα τυχεῖν:

  [3] And how infamous and dreadful, plebeians, were the crimes he committed against both his parents-in-law when they were already in the sunset of their lives! Servius Tullius, the most excellent of your kings and your greatest benefactor, he openly murdered and would not permit his body to be honoured with either the funeral or the burial that were customary;

  [4] Ταρκυνίαν δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου γυναῖκα, ἣν προσῆκεν αὐτῷ τιμᾶν ὥσπερ μητέρα, πατρὸς ἀδελφὴν οὖσαν καὶ σπουδαίαν περὶ αὐτὸν γενομένην, πρὶν ἢ πενθῆσαι καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα τῷ κατὰ γῆς ἀνδρὶ ποιῆσαι τὴν ἀθλίαν ἀγχόνῃ διαχρησάμενος, ὑφ᾽ ὧν ἐσώθη καὶ παρ᾽ οἷς ἐτράφη καὶ οὓς διαδέξεσθαι μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἔμελλεν ὀλίγον ἀναμείνας, ἕως ὁ κατὰ φύσιν αὐτοῖς παραγένηται θάνατος.

  [4] and Tarquinia, the wife of Tullius, whom, as she was the sister of his father and had always shown great kindness to him, it was fitting that he should honour as a mother, he destroyed, unhappy woman, by the noose, without allowing her time to mourn her husband under the sod and to perform the customary sacrifices for him. Thus he treated those by whom he had been preserved, by whom he had been reared, and whom after their death he was to have succeeded if he had waited but a short time till death came to them in the course of nature.

  [1] ἀλλὰ τί τούτοις ἐπιτιμῶ τοσαύτας ἔχων αὐτοῦ παρανομίας κατηγορεῖν ἔξω τῶν εἰς τοὺς συγγενεῖς καὶ κηδεστὰς γενομένων, τὰς εἰς τὴν πατρίδα καὶ πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτελεσθείσας, εἰ δὴ καὶ παρανομίας δεῖ καλεῖν αὐτάς, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀνατροπὰς καὶ ἀφανισμοὺς ἁπάντων τῶν τε νομίμων καὶ τῶν ἐθῶν; αὐτίκα τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, ἵν᾽ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἄρξωμαι, πῶς παρέλαβεν; ἆρά γ᾽ ὡς οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι βασιλεῖς; πόθεν; [p. 128]

  [80.1] “But why do I censure these crimes committed against his relations and his kin by marriage when, apart from them, I have so many other unlawful acts of which to accuse him, which he has committed against his country and against us all — if, indeed, they ought to be called merely unlawful acts and not rather the subversion and extinction of all that is sanctioned by our laws and customs? Take, for instance, the sovereignty — to begin with that. How did he obtain it? Did he follow the example of the former kings? Far from it!

  [2] πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ. ἐκεῖνοι μέντοι πάντες ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τὰς δυναστείας παρήγοντο κατὰ τοὺς πατρίους ἐθισμοὺς καὶ νόμους: πρῶτον μὲν ψηφίσματος ὑπὸ τῆς βουλῆς γραφέντος, ᾗ περὶ πάντων ἀποδέδοται τῶν κοινῶν προβουλεύειν: ἔπειτα μεσοβασιλέων αἱρεθέντων, οἷς ἐπιτρέπει τὸ συνέδριον ἐκ τῶν ἀξίων τῆς ἀρχῆς διαγνῶναι τὸν ἐπιτηδειότατον: μετὰ ταῦτα ψῆφον ἐπενέγκαντος ἐν ἀρχαιρεσίαις τοῦ δήμου, μέθ᾽ ἧς ἅπαντα ἐπικυροῦσθαι βούλεται τὰ μέγιστα ὁ νόμος: ἐφ᾽ ἅπασι δὲ τούτοις οἰωνῶν καὶ σφαγίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σημείων καλῶν γενομένων, ὧν χωρὶς οὐδὲν ἂν γένοιτο τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σπουδῆς καὶ προνοίας ὄφελος.

  [2] The others were all advanced to the sovereignty by you according to our ancestral customs and laws, first, by a decree of the senate, which body has been given the right to deliberate first concerning all public affairs; next, by the appointment of interreges, whom the senate entrusts with the selection of the most suitable man from among those who are worthy of the sovereignty; after that, by a vote of the people in the comitia, by which vote the law requires that all matters of the greatest moment shall be ratified; and, last of all, by the approbation of the auguries, sacrificial victims and other signs, without w
hich human diligence and foresight would be of no avail.

  [3] φέρε δὴ τί τούτων οἶδέ τις ὑμῶν γενόμενον, ὅτε τὴν ἀρχὴν Ταρκύνιος ἐλάμβανε; ποῖον προβούλευμα συνεδρίου; τίνα μεσοβασιλέων διάγνωσιν; ποίαν δήμου ψηφοφορίαν; ποίους οἰωνοὺς αἰσίους; οὐ λέγων ταῦτα πάντα, καίτοι δέον, εἰ γοῦν ἔμελλεν ἕξειν καλῶς, μηδὲν τῶν ἐν ἔθει κατὰ τοὺς νόμους παραλελεῖφθαι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐάν τις ἓν μόνον ἔχῃ τούτων ἐπιδεῖξαι γεγονός, οὐκ ἀξιῶ τὰ παραλειφθέντα συκοφαντεῖν. πῶς οὖν παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν δυναστείαν; ὅπλοις καὶ βίᾳ καὶ πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων συνωμοσίαις, ὡς τυράννοις ἔθος, ἀκόντων ὑμῶν καὶ δυσχεραινόντων.

  [3] Well, then, which of these things does any one of you know to have been done when Tarquinius was obtaining the sovereignty? What preliminary decree of the senate was there? What decision on the part of the interreges? What vote of the people? What favourable auguries? I do not ask whether all these formalities were observed, though it was necessary, if all was to be well, that nothing founded either in custom or in law should have been omitted; but if it can be shown that any one of them was observed, I am content not to quibble about those that were omitted. How, then, did he come to the sovereignty? By arms, by violence, and by the conspiracies of wicked men, according to the custom of tyrants, in spite of your disapproval and indignation.

  [4] φέρε, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ κατέσχε τὴν δυναστείαν ὁπωσδήποτε λαβών, ἆρα βασιλικῶς αὐτῇ κέχρηται ζηλῶν τοὺς προτέρους ἡγεμόνας, [p. 129] οἳ λέγοντές τε καὶ πράττοντες τοιαῦτα διετέλουν, ἐξ ὧν εὐδαιμονεστέραν τε καὶ μείζω τὴν πόλιν τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις παρέδοσαν, ἧς αὐτοὶ παρέλαβον; καὶ τίς ἂν ὑγιαίνων ταῦτα φήσειεν, ὁρῶν ὡς οἰκτρῶς καὶ κακῶς ἅπαντες ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ διατεθείμεθα;