[3] Whether Valerius was the first who introduced this custom among the Romans or whether he found it already established by the kings and adopted it, I cannot say for certain; but I do know from my acquaintance with universal history, as handed down by the most ancient poets and the most celebrated historians, that it was an ancient custom instituted by the Romans to celebrate the virtues of illustrious men at their funerals and that the Greeks were not the authors of it.
[4] ἀγῶνας μὲν γὰρ ἐπιταφίους τιθεμένους ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐνδόξοις ἀνδράσι γυμνικούς τε καὶ ἱππικοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν προσηκόντων ἱστορήκασιν, ὡς ὑπό τ᾽ Ἀχιλλέως ἐπὶ Πατρόκλῳ καὶ ἔτι πρότερον ὑφ᾽ Ἡρακλέους ἐπὶ Πέλοπι: ἐπαίνους δὲ λεγομένους ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς οὐ γράφουσιν ἔξω τῶν Ἀθήνησι τραγῳδοποιῶν, οἳ κολακεύοντες τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ Θησέως θαπτομένοις καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἐμύθευσαν. ὀψὲ γάρ ποτε Ἀθηναῖοι προσέθεσαν τὸν ἐπιτάφιον ἔπαινον τῷ νόμῳ, εἴτ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπ᾽ Ἀρτεμισίῳ καὶ περὶ Σαλαμῖνα καὶ ἐν Πλαταιαῖς [p. 165] ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἀποθανόντων ἀρξάμενοι, εἴτ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ Μαραθῶνα ἔργων. ὑστερεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ Μαραθώνια τῆς Βρούτου ταφῆς, εἰ δὴ ἀπὸ τούτων πρώτων ἤρξαντο οἱ ἔπαινοι λέγεσθαι τοῖς ἀπογενομένοις, ἑκκαίδεκα ἔτεσιν.
[4] For although these writers have given accounts of funeral games, both gymnastic and equestrian, held in honour of famous men by their friends, as by Achilles for Patroclus and, before that, by Heracles for Pelops, yet none of them makes any mention of eulogies spoken over the deceased except the tragic poets at Athens, who, out of flattery to their city, invented this legend also in the case of those who were buried by Theseus. For it was only at some late period that the Athenians added to their custom the funeral oration, having instituted it either in honour of those who died in defence of their country at Artemisium, Salamis and Plataea, or on account of the deeds performed at Marathon. But even the affair at Marathon — if, indeed, the eulogies delivered in honour of the deceased really began with that occasion — was later than the funeral of Brutus by sixteen years.
[5] εἰ δέ τις ἐάσας σκοπεῖν, οἵ τινες ἦσαν οἱ πρῶτοι τοὺς ἐπιταφίους ἐπαίνους καταστησάμενοι, τὸν νόμον αὐτὸν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ βουληθείη καταμαθεῖν, παρ᾽ ὁποτέροις ἄμεινον ἔχει, τοσούτῳ φρονιμώτερον εὑρήσει παρὰ τοῖσδε κείμενον αὐτὸν ἢ παρ᾽ ἐκείνοις, ὅσῳ γ᾽ Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν πολέμων θαπτομένοις καταστήσασθαι τοὺς ἐπιταφίους ἀγορεύεσθαι λόγους δοκοῦσιν ἐκ μιᾶς τῆς περὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀρετῆς, κἂν τἆλλα φαῦλος γένηταί τις, ἐξετάζειν οἰόμενοι δεῖν τοὺς ἀγαθούς:
[5] However, if anyone, without stopping to investigate who were the first to introduce these funeral orations, desires to consider the custom in itself and to learn in which of the two nations it is seen at its best, he will find that it is observed more wisely among the Romans than among the Athenians. For, whereas the Athenians seem to have ordained that these orations should be pronounced at the funerals of those only who have died in war, believing that one should determine who are good men solely on the basis of the valour they show at their death, even though in other respects they are without merit,
[6] Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐνδόξοις ἀνδράσιν, ἐάν τε πολέμων ἡγεμονίας λαβόντες ἐάν τε πολιτικῶν ἔργων προστασίας συνετὰ βουλεύματα καὶ πράξεις ἀποδείξωνται καλάς, ταύτην ἔταξαν εἶναι τὴν τιμήν, οὐ μόνον τοῖς κατὰ πόλεμον ἀποθανοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὁποιᾳδήποτε χρησαμένοις τοῦ βίου τελευτῇ, ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς περὶ τὸν βίον ἀρετῆς οἰόμενοι δεῖν ἐπαινεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀγαθούς, οὐκ ἐκ μιᾶς τῆς περὶ τὸν θάνατον εὐκλείας.
[6] the Romans, on the other hand, appointed this honour to be paid to all their illustrious men, whether as commanders in war or as leaders in the civil administration they have given wise counsels and performed noble deeds, and this not alone to those who have died in war, but also to those who have met their end in any manner whatsoever, believing that good men deserve praise for every virtue they have shown during their lives and not solely for the single glory of their death.
[1] Ἰούνιος μὲν δὴ Βροῦτος ὁ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκβαλὼν καὶ πρῶτος ἀποδειχθεὶς ὕπατος, ὀψὲ μὲν εἰς ἐπιφάνειαν προελθών, ἀκαρῆ δὲ χρόνον ἀνθήσας ἐν αὐτῇ Ῥωμαίων ἁπάντων κράτιστος φανεὶς τοιαύτης [p. 166] τελευτῆς ἔτυχε, γενεὰν οὔτε ἄρρενα καταλιπὼν οὔτε θήλειαν, ὡς οἱ τὰ Ῥωμαίων σαφέστατα ἐξητακότες γράφουσι, τεκμήρια πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα τούτου φέροντες, ὑπὲρ ἅπαντα δ᾽ ὃ δυσαντίλεκτόν ἐστιν, ὅτι τοῦ πατρικίων γένους ἐκεῖνος ἦν, οἱ δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνης αὑτοὺς λέγοντες εἶναι τῆς οἰκίας Ἰούνιοί τε καὶ Βροῦτοι πάντες ἦσαν πλήβειοι καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς μετῄεσαν, ἃς τοῖς δημοτικοῖς μετιέναι νόμος, ἀγορανομίας τε καὶ δημαρχίας, ὑπατείαν δ᾽ οὐδείς, ἧς τοῖς πατρικίοις 8 μετῆν.
[18.1] Such, then, was the death of Junius Brutus, who overthrew the monarchy and was appointed the first consul. Though he attained late to a place of distinction and flourished in it but a brief moment, yet he was looked upon as the greatest of all the Romans. He left no issue, either sons or daughters, according to the writers who have investigated the history of the Romans most accurately; of this they offer many proofs, and this one in particular, which is not easily refuted, that he was of a patrician family, whereas those who have claimed to be descended from that family, as the Junii and Bruti, were all plebeians and were candidates for those magistracies only which were open by law to the plebeians, namely, the aedileship and tribuneship, but none of them stood for the consulship, to which the patricians only were eligible.
[2] ὀψὲ δέ ποτε καὶ ταύτης ἔτυχον τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὅτε συνεχωρήθη καὶ τοῖς δημοτικοῖς αὐτὴν λαβεῖν. ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων οἷς μέλει τε καὶ διαφέρει τὸ σαφὲς εἰδέναι παρίημι σκοπεῖν.
[2] Yet at a late period they obtained this magistracy also, when the plebeians too were allowed to hold it. But I leave the consideration of these matters to those whose business and interest it is to discover the precise facts.
[1] μετὰ δὲ τὴν Βρούτου τελευτὴν ὁ συνύπατος αὐτοῦ Οὐαλέριος ὕποπτος γίνεται τοῖς δημοτικοῖς ὡς βασιλείαν κατασκευαζόμενος: πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι μόνος κατέσχε τὴν ἀρχὴν δέον εὐθὺς ἑλέσθαι τὸν συνύπατον, ὥσπερ ὁ Βροῦτος ἐποίησε Κολλατῖνον ἐκβαλών: ἔπειθ᾽ ὅτι τὴν οἰκίαν ἐν ἐ
πιφθόνῳ τόπῳ κατεσκευάσατο λόφον ὑπερκείμενον τῆς ἀγορᾶς ὑψηλὸν ἐπιεικῶς καὶ περίτομον, ὃν καλοῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι Οὐελίαν,
[19.1] After the death of Brutus his colleague Valerius became suspected by the people of a design to make himself king. The first ground of their suspicion was his continuing alone in the magistracy, when he ought immediately to have chosen a colleague as Brutus had done after he had expelled Collatinus. Another reason was that he had built his house in an invidious place, having chosen for that purpose a fairly high and steep hill, called by the Romans Velia, which commands the Forum.
[2] ἐκλεξάμενος. πυθόμενος δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, ὅτι ταῦτα λυπεῖ τὸν δῆμον, ἀρχαιρεσιῶν προθεὶς ἡμέραν [p. 167] ὕπατον αἱρεῖται Σπόριον Λουκρήτιον, ὃς οὐ πολλὰς ἡμέρας τὴν ἀρχὴν κατασχὼν ἀποθνήσκει. εἰς δὲ τὸν ἐκείνου τόπον καθίστησι Μάρκον Ὁράτιον, καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ λόφου μετατίθεται κάτω, ἵν᾽ ἐξείη Ῥωμαίοις, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐκκλησιάζων ἔφη, βάλλειν αὐτὸν ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ μετεώρου τοῖς λίθοις, ἐάν τι λάβωσιν ἀδικοῦντα.
[2] But the consul, being informed by his friends that these things displeased the people, appointed a day for the election and chose for his colleague Spurius Lucretius, who died after holding the office for only a few days. In his place he then chose Marcus Horatius, and removed his house from the top to the bottom of the hill, in order that the Romans, as he himself said in one of his speeches to the people, might stone him from the hill above if they found him guilty of any wrongdoing.
[3] βεβαίαν τε πίστιν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοὺς δημοτικοὺς λαβεῖν βουλόμενος ἀφεῖλεν ἀπὸ τῶν ῥάβδων τοὺς πελέκεις, καὶ κατεστήσατο τοῖς μεθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ὑπάτοις ἔθος, ὃ καὶ μέχρι τῆς ἐμῆς διέμεινεν ἡλικίας, ὅταν ἔξωθεν τῆς πόλεως γένωνται χρῆσθαι τοῖς πελέκεσιν, ἔνδον δὲ ταῖς ῥάβδοις κοσμεῖσθαι μόναις:
[3] And desiring to give the plebeians a definite pledge of their liberty, he took the axes from the rods and established it as a precedent for his successors in the consulship — a precedent which continued to be followed down to my day — that, when they were outside the city, they should use the axes, but inside the city they should be distinguished by the rods only.
[4] νόμους τε φιλανθρωποτάτους ἔθετο βοηθείας ἔχοντας τοῖς δημοτικοῖς: ἕνα μέν, ἐν ᾧ διαρρήδην ἀπεῖπεν ἄρχοντα μηδένα εἶναι Ῥωμαίων, ὃς ἂν μὴ παρὰ τοῦ δήμου λάβῃ τὴν ἀρχήν, θάνατον ἐπιθεὶς ζημίαν, ἐάν τις παρὰ ταῦτα ποιῇ, καὶ τὸν ἀποκτείναντα τούτων τινὰ ποιῶν ἀθῷον: ἕτερον δ᾽, ἐν ᾧ γέγραπται, Ἐάν τις ἄρχων Ῥωμαίων τινὰ ἀποκτείνειν ἢ μαστιγοῦν ἢ ζημιοῦν εἰς χρήματα θέλῃ, ἐξεῖναι τῷ ἰδιώτῃ προκαλεῖσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ δήμου κρίσιν, πάσχειν δ᾽ ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ μηδὲν ὑπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἕως ἂν ὁ δῆμος ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ψηφίσηται.
[4] He also introduced most beneficent laws which gave relief to the plebeians. By one of these he expressly forbade that anyone should be a magistrate over the Romans who did not receive the office from the people; and he fixed death as the penalty for transgressing the law, and granted impunity to the one who should kill any such transgressor. In a second law it is provided: “If a magistrate shall desire to have any Roman put to death, scourged, or fined a sum of money, the private citizen may summon the magistrate before the people for judgment, and in the mean time shall be liable to no punishment at the hands of the magistrate till the people have given their vote concerning him.”
[5] ἐκ τούτων γίνεται τῶν πολιτευμάτων τίμιος τοῖς δημοτικοῖς, καὶ τίθενται αὐτῷ ἐπωνύμιον Ποπλικόλαν: τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλήνων διάλεκτον βούλεται δηλοῦν δημοκηδῆ. καὶ τὰ μὲν [p. 168] ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ συντελεσθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων τοιάδε ἦν:
[5] These measures gained him the esteem of the plebeians, who gave him the nickname of Publicola, which means in the Greek language dêmokêdês or “the People’s Friend.” These were the achievements of the consuls that year.
[1] τῷ δ᾽ ἑξῆς αὐτός τε πάλιν ἀποδείκνυται Οὐαλέριος τὸ δεύτερον ὕπατος καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ Λουκρήτιος, ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἄξιον λόγου ἐπράχθη, τιμήσεις δ᾽ ἐγένοντο τῶν βίων καὶ τάξεις τῶν εἰς τοὺς πολέμους εἰσφορῶν, ὡς Τύλλιος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐνομοθέτησε, πάντα τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς Ταρκυνίου δυναστείας χρόνον ἀφειμέναι, τότε δὲ πρῶτον ὑπὸ τούτων ἀνανεωθεῖσαι: ἐξ ὧν εὑρέθη τῶν ἐν ἥβῃ Ῥωμαίων περὶ τρισκαίδεκα μυριάδας. καὶ εἰς χωρίον τι Σιγνούριον καλούμενον Ῥωμαίων ἀπεστάλη στρατιά, διὰ φυλακῆς ἕξουσα τὸ φρούριον ἐπὶ ταῖς Λατίνων τε καὶ Ἑρνίκων πόλεσι κείμενον, ὅθεν τὸν πόλεμον προσεδέχοντο.
[20.1] The next year Valerius was appointed consul for the second time, and with him Lucretius. In their consulship nothing worthy of note occurred except that a census was taken and war taxes were levied according to the plan introduced by King Tullius, which had been discontinued during all the reign of Tarquinius and was then renewed for the first time by these consuls. By this census it appeared that the number of Roman citizens who had reached manhood amounted to about 130,000. After this an army of Romans was sent to a place called Signurium in order to garrison that stronghold, which stood as an outpost against the cities both of the Latins and of the Hernicans, from whence they expected war.
[1] Ποπλίου δὲ Οὐαλερίου τοῦ προσαγορευθέντος Ποπλικόλα τὸ τρίτον ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀποδειχθέντος ἀρχὴν καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ Μάρκου Ὁρατίου Πολβίλλου τὸ δεύτερον βασιλεὺς Κλουσινῶν τῶν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ Λάρος ὄνομα, Πορσίνας ἐπίκλησιν, καταφυγόντων ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν Ταρκυνίων, ὑποσχόμενος αὐτοῖς δυεῖν θάτερον ἢ διαλλάξειν αὐτοὺς πρὸς τοὺς πολίτας ἐπὶ καθόδῳ καὶ ἀναλήψει τῆς ἀρχῆς ἢ τὰς οὐσίας ἀνακομισάμενος, ἃς ἀφῃρέθησαν, ἀποδώσειν, ἐπειδὴ πρέσβεις ἀποστείλας εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην ἐν τῷ παρελθόντι ἐνιαυτῷ μεμιγμένας ἀπειλαῖς ἐπικλήσεις κομίζοντας οὔτε διαλλαγὰς εὕρετο [p. 169] τοῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ κάθοδον, αἰτιωμένης τῆς βουλῆς τὰς ἀρὰς καὶ τοὺς ὅρκους τοὺς γενομένους κατ᾽ αὐτῶν, οὔτε τὰς οὐσίας ἀνεπράξατο αὐτοῖς, τῶν διανειμαμένων καὶ κατακληρουχησάντων αὐτὰς οὐκ ἀξιούντων ἀποδιδόναι:
[21.1] A
fter Publius Valerius, surnamed Publicola, had been appointed to the same magistracy for the third time, and with him Marcus Horatius Pulvillus for the second time, the king of the Clusians in Tyrrhenia, named Lars and surnamed Porsenna, declared war on the Romans. He had promised the Tarquinii, who had fled to him, that he would either effect a reconciliation between them and the Romans upon the terms that they should return home and receive back the sovereignty, or that he would recover and restore to them the possessions of which they had been deprived; but upon sending ambassadors the year before to Rome with appeals mingled with threats, he had not only failed to obtain a reconciliation and return for the exiles, the senate basing its refusal on the curses and oaths by which they had bound themselves not to receive them, but he had also failed to recover their possessions, the persons to whom they had been distributed and allotted refusing to restore them.
[2] ὑβρίζεσθαι φήσας ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων καὶ δεινὰ πάσχειν, ὅτι τῶν ἀξιουμένων οὐδετέρου παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἔτυχεν, ἀνὴρ αὐθάδης καὶ διεφθαρμένος τὴν γνώμην ὑπό τε πλούτου καὶ χρημάτων καὶ ἀρχῆς μεγέθους, ἀφορμὰς ὑπέλαβεν ἔχειν καλὰς καταλῦσαι τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν παλαίτερον ἔτι τοῦτο βουλόμενος καὶ προεῖπεν αὐτοῖς τὸν πόλεμον.
[2] And declaring that he was insulted by the Romans and treated outrageously in that he could obtain neither one of his demands, this arrogant man, whose mind was corrupted by both his wealth and possessions and the greatness of his power, thought he now had excellent grounds for overthrowing the power of the Romans, a thing which he had long since been desiring to do, and he accordingly declared war against them.
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 530