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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [1] ἐνθυμούμενοί τε δὴ ταῦτα καὶ ὅσα δὴ ἕτερα ἡμῖν εἴρηται πρότερον, ἔτι δὲ τῶν παρακαλούντων ἐπὶ τὰς διαλλαγὰς ἀναμιμνησκόμενοι, ὅτι οὐ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν μόνοις ἤ πρώτοις πενία πρὸς πλοῦτον ἐστασίασε καὶ ταπεινότης πρὸς ἐπιφάνειαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἁπάσαις ὡς εἰπεῖν καὶ μικραῖς καὶ μεγάλαις πόλεσι πολέμιον ὡς τὰ πολλὰ τοῦ πλείονος τοὔλαττον καθίσταται: ἐν αἷς οἱ προεστηκότες τοῦ κοινοῦ μετριάσαντες μὲν ἔσωσαν τὰς πατρίδας, αὐθαδείᾳ δὲ χρησάμενοι μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν καὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς διώλεσαν:

  [54.1] “When you consider these things as well as those that I have mentioned earlier, and recall, further, the considerations which encourage you to make the accommodation, namely, that we are not the only people, nor the first, among whom poverty has raised sedition against wealth, and lowliness against eminence, but that in nearly all states, both great and small, the lower class is generally hostile to the upper (and in all these states the men in power, when they have shown moderation, have saved their countries, but when they have acted arrogantly, have lost not only their goods, but their lives as well);

  [2] καὶ ὅτι πᾶν χρῆμα, ὃ ἂν ἐκ πολλῶν σύνθετον ᾖ, νοσεῖν πέφυκε κατά τι τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μορίων, καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις ὡς οὔτε [p. 343] ἀνθρωπείου σώματος αἰεὶ τὸ κάμνον ἀποτεμεῖν χρὴ μέρος: αἰσχρά τε γὰρ ἡ ὄψις ἂν γίνοιτο τοῦ λειπομένου καὶ ἡ φύσις οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ διαρκής: οὔτε πολιτικῆς κοινωνίας τὴν νοσοῦσαν ἐξελαύνειν μοῖραν: οὐ γὰρ ἂν φθάνοι διὰ τῶν ἰδίων μερῶν τὸ σύμπαν ἀπολόμενον σὺν χρόνῳ: τῆς τ᾽ ἀνάγκης ἐνθυμηθέντες ὅσον τὸ κράτος, ᾗ καὶ θεοὶ εἴκουσι μόνῃ, μὴ χαλεπαίνετε πρὸς τὰς τύχας, μηδ᾽ ὡς ἁπάντων ἡμῖν κατ᾽ εὐχὴν ἐσομένων αὐθαδείας ἐμπίμπλασθε καὶ ἀμαθίας, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπικλάσθητε καὶ εἴξατε παραδείγμασι χρησάμενοι τῆς εὐβουλίας μὴ τοῖς ὀθνείοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἡμετέροις αὐτῶν ἔργοις.

  [2] and when you remember that everything that is composed of many parts is generally affected with a disorder in some one of them, and, furthermore, that neither the ailing part of a human body ought always to be lopped off (for that would be to render the appearance of the rest ugly and its term of life brief) nor the disordered part of a civil community to be driven out (since that would be the quickest way of destroying the whole in time through the loss of its separate parts); and when you consider also how great is the power of necessity, the one thing to which even the gods yield, be not vexed at your misfortunes nor allow yourselves to be filled with arrogance and folly, as if everything were going to succeed according to our wishes, but relent and yield, deriving examples of prudence, not from the actions of others, but from our own.

  [1] καὶ γὰρ ἄνδρα ἕνα καὶ πόλιν ὅλην ἐπὶ ταῖς καλλίσταις τῶν ἰδίων πράξεων φιλοτιμεῖσθαι χρή, καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς ὅπως ὁμολογούμεναι ταύταις ἔσονται σκοπεῖν. ὑμεῖς τοίνυν ἤδη πολλοὺς πολεμίους, ὑφ᾽ ὧν τὰ μέγιστα ἠδικήθητε, ὑποχειρίους λαβόντες, οὔτ᾽ ἀνελεῖν οὔτ᾽ ἐκβαλεῖν ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων ἐβουλήθητε, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἴκους καὶ κλήρους αὐτοῖς ἀπέδοτε, καὶ πατρίδας οἰκεῖν, ἐξ ὧν ἔφυσαν, εἰάσατε, ἰσοψήφοις τ᾽ εἶναι καὶ πολίταις ὑμετέροις ἤδη τισὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐχαρίσασθε.

  [55.1] “For the individual man and the state as a whole ought to emulate the most illustrious of their own actions and to consider how all their any other actions may correspond with these. Thus you yourselves, when in times past you subdued many of your enemies at whose hands you had suffered the greatest injuries, desired neither to destroy them nor to dispossess them of what was theirs, but restored their houses and lands to them and permitted them to live in the countries that had given them birth, and actually granted to some of them the privilege both of being your fellow-citizens and of exercising equal rights of suffrage.

  [2] τούτου δ᾽ ἔτι θαυμασιώτερον ἔργον ὑμῶν ἔχω λέγειν, ὅτι καὶ τῶν ὑμετέρων πολιτῶν πολλοὺς μεγάλα εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐξαμαρτόντας ἀφήκατε τῶν τιμωριῶν, εἰς αὐτοὺς. μόνους ἀποσκήψαντες τοὺς αἰτίους τὴν ὀργήν, ὧν ἦσαν οἵ τε [p. 344] Ἀντέμνας κληρουχήσαντες καὶ Κρουστομέρειαν καὶ Μεδύλλειαν καὶ Φιδήνην καὶ ἄλλοι συχνοί. τί γὰρ δεῖ πάντας ἐξαριθμεῖσθαι νυνί, οὓς ὑμεῖς ἐκ πολιορκίας κρατηθέντας μετρίως ἐνουθετήσατε καὶ πολιτικῶς; καὶ οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως ἢ κινδυνός τις διὰ ταῦτα κατέλαβε τὴν πόλιν ἢ ψόγος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπαινεῖταί τε ὑμῶν τὸ ἐπιεικὲς καὶ οὐδὲν ἠλάττωται τοῦ ἀσφαλοῦς.

  [2] But I have yet a more wonderful act of yours to relate, which is, that you have permitted many even of your own fellow-citizens who commit grievous offences against you to go unpunished, while you have visited your resentment solely upon those who were guilty. Of this number were the colonies sent out to Antemnae, Crustumerium, Medullia, Fidenae, and to many other places. But why should I now enumerate all those whom, after you had taken their towns by storm, you admonished mildly and as became fellow-citizens? And so far has the commonwealth been from incurring either danger or censure from this course, that your clemency is applauded and at the same time your security is not at all diminished.

  [3] ἔπειτα οἱ τῶν πολεμίων φειδόμενοι τοῖς φίλοις πολεμήσετε, καὶ οἱ τὰ ὑποχείρια γενόμενα μεθιέντες ἀζήμια τοὺς συγκατακτησαμένους ὑμῖν τὴν ἀρχὴν ζημιώσετε, πόλιν τε τὴν αὐτῶν ὑμῶν παρέχοντες ἅπασι τοῖς δεομένοις ἀσφαλῆ καταφυγήν, ταύτης ἀπελαύνειν ὑπομενεῖτε τοὺς αὐθιγενεῖς, οἷς καὶ συνετράφητε καὶ συνεπαιδεύθητε καὶ πολλῶν ἐκοινωνήσατε κακῶν τε καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἐν εἰρήνῃ τε καὶ κατὰ πολέμους; οὐκ, ἐὰν τά γε δίκαια καὶ τὰ προσήκοντα τοῖς ὑμετέροις ἔθεσι βούλησθε πράττειν καὶ χωρὶς ὀργῆς κρίνητε τὸ συμφέρον.

  [3] After that will you, who spare your enemies, make war upon your friends? Will you, who permit the conquered to go unpunished, punish those who aided you in acquiring your dominion? Will you, who offer your own city as a safe refuge for all who stand in need of it, bring yourselves to drive out of that city the natives with whom you have been reared and educated and with whom you have shared many experiences both evil and good in peace as well as in war? No, not if you desire to act with justice and in conformity with your traditions, and if without passion you judge what is to your interest.

  [1] ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι μὲν δεῖ καταλύσασθαι τὴν στάσιν, εἴποι τις ἄν, ο�
�χ ἧττον ἡμεῖς ἐγνώκαμεν καὶ πολλὴν παρεσχήμεθα προθυμίαν: πῶς δ᾽ ἂν καταλυσαίμεθ᾽ αὐτήν, τοῦτο πειρῶ λέγειν. ὁρᾷς γάρ, ὅση περὶ τὸν δῆμόν ἐστιν αὐθάδεια, ὃς οὔτε πέμπει πρὸς ἡμᾶς περὶ διαλύσεων αὐτὸς ἀδικῶν οὔτε τοῖς ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἀποσταλεῖσιν ἀποκρίνεται πολιτικὰς καὶ φιλανθρώπους ἀποκρίσεις, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπερηφανεῖ καὶ ἀπειλεῖ, καὶ εἰκάσαι ῥᾴδιον [p. 345] οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι βούλεται. πρὸς δὲ ταῦτα τί παραινῶ

  [56.1] “But, someone may say, we know as well as you that the sedition ought to be appeased, and we have laboured earnestly to that end. Undertake not to tell us how we may appease it. For you see how headstrong the people are grown: though they themselves are the offenders, they neither send to us to treat of an accommodation nor give to the men we have sent to them answers that are those of fellow-citizens or considerate, but indulge in haughtiness and threats, so that it is not easy to guess what they want. Hear, then, in what manner I advise you to act now in this situation.

  [2] νῦν πράττειν, ἀκούσατέ μου. ἐγὼ τὸν δῆμον οὔτ᾽ ἀδιαλλάκτως οἴομαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχειν οὔτε δράσειν τι, ὧν ἀπειλεῖ, τεκμαιρόμενος, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὅμοια τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἡμῶν ἐσπουδακέναι περὶ τὰς διαλύσεις οἴομαι. ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ καὶ πατρίδα τὴν τιμιωτάτην κατοικοῦμεν καὶ βίους καὶ οἴκους καὶ γενεὰς καὶ πάντα τὰ πλείστου ἄξια ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐξουσίαις ἔχομεν: ὁ δ᾽ ἄπολις καὶ ἀνέστιός ἐστι καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων αὐτῷ στέρεται σωμάτων βίου τε τοῦ καθ᾽ ἡμέραν οὐκ εὐπορεῖ.

  [2] For my part, I do not believe either that the people are irreconcilable toward us or that they will carry out any of their threats. My reason is that their actions do not agree with their words, and I judge that they are far more in earnest than we about the accommodation. For while we continue to live in our own country, which is most dear to us, and have in our own power our fortunes, our houses, our families, and everything that means most to us, they are without country or habitation, are bereft of their dearest relations, and lack for their daily bread.

  [3] τίνος οὖν χάριν, εἴ τις ἔροιτό με, τὰς προκλήσεις οὐ δέχεται τὰς ἡμετέρας ὅμως κακοπαθῶν αὐτός τε οὐδὲν ἐπιπρεσβεύεται πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὅτι νὴ Δία, φαίην ἄν, ἄχρι τοῦδε λόγων ἀκούει παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς, ἔργον δ᾽ οὐδὲν ὁρᾷ γινόμενον ἐξ αὐτῶν οὔτε φιλάνθρωπον οὔτε μέτριον, ἐξηπατῆσθαί τε οἴεται πολλάκις ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν ὑπισχνουμένων ἀεί τινα πρόνοιαν αὐτοῦ ποιήσεσθαι, μηδὲν δὲ προνοουμένων. πρεσβείας δὲ πέμπειν οὐχ ὑπομένει διὰ τοὺς ἐνθάδε κατηγορεῖν εἰωθότας αὐτοῦ δεδοικώς τε μή τινος, ὧν ἀξιοῖ, διαμάρτῃ.

  [3] If anyone should ask me for what reason, then, the people even under these miseries do not accept our invitations and why they do not on their own initiative send to treat with us, I should answer: Because, most assuredly, they thus far hear words from the senate, but see no act of kindness or moderation follow the words; and the feel that they have been often deceived by us, in that we are always promising to take some measures of relief for them, but taking none. They are unwilling to send envoys to us because of those who are accustomed to inveigh against them here and because they fear they may fail of some of their demands.

  [4] τάχα δ᾽ ἄν τι καὶ φιλοτιμίας ἀνοήτου περὶ αὐτὸν εἴη πάθος: καὶ οὐδέν γε θαυμαστόν, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς εἰσί τινες, οἷς τὸ δύσερι τοῦτο καὶ φιλόνεικον ἔνεστιν ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ κοινῆ οὐκ ἀξιοῦσιν ἡττᾶσθαι [p. 346] τοῦ ἀντιπάλου, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ παντὸς ἀεὶ ζητοῦσι περιεῖναι τρόπου καὶ μὴ πρότερον χαρίζεσθαί τι, ἢ λαβεῖν τὸ μέλλον εὖ πάσχειν ὑποχείριον. ἐννοούμενος δὴ ταῦτα οἴομαι δεῖν πρεσβείαν ἀποσταλῆναι πρὸς τοὺς δημοτικοὺς ἐκ τῶν μάλιστα πιστευομένων:

  [4] Perhaps too they may be possessed by some feeling of senseless rivalry. And no wonder; since there are some even among us ourselves in whom this quarrelsome and contentious spirit resides, both in private and in public matters, men who cannot bear to be overcome by their adversaries, but are always seeking by any means whatever to get the better of them and never to confer a favour before they have subdued those who are to have the benefit of it.

  [5] τοὺς δ᾽ ἀποσταλησομένους ἄνδρας αὐτοκράτορας εἶναι παραινῶ, διαλυσομένους αὐτοῖς τὴν στάσιν, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἂν αὐτοὶ δικαιῶσι, καὶ μηδὲν ἔτι τῇ βουλῇ προσαναφέροντας: αὐτοὶ γὰρ εἴσονται τοῦτο. οἱ δὲ νῦν ὑπεροπτικοὶ δοκοῦντες εἶναι καὶ βαρεῖς μαθόντες, ὅτι ἀληθῶς σπουδάζετε περὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν, καὶ εἰς ἐπιεικεστέρας συγκαθήσουσιν αἱρέσεις, οὐδὲν ἀξιοῦντες οὔτε τῶν αἰσχρῶν οὔτε τῶν ἀδυνάτων. τὸ γὰρ ἠρεθισμένον ἅπαν, ἄλλως τε κἂν ταπεινὸν ᾖ, πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ὑπερηφανοῦντας ἀγριαίνεσθαι φιλεῖ, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς θεραπεύοντας ἡμεροῦσθαι.

  [5] In view of these considerations I think an embassy should be sent to the plebeians consisting of persons in whom they have the greatest confidence; and I advise that those to be sent be invested with full power to put an end to the sedition upon such terms as they themselves shall think fit, without again referring anything to the senate. For if the plebeians, who now seem to be scornful and sullen, shall become aware of this, learning that you are in earnest regarding the accommodation, they will condescend to more moderate conditions and will demand nothing of us that is either dishonourable or impossible. For all men, when inflamed with anger, particularly those of humble condition, are wont to be enraged against those who treat them haughtily, but to be mild toward those who court their favour.”

  [1] ταῦτ᾽ εἰπόντος τοῦ Μενηνίου θροῦς πολὺς ἐνέπεσε τῇ βουλῇ, καὶ διελάλουν ἕκαστοι κατὰ συμμορίας, οἱ μὲν οἰκείως διακείμενοι πρὸς τοὺς δημοτικοὺς παρακαλοῦντες ἀλλήλους πᾶσαν εἰσφέρεσθαι προθυμίαν, ὅπως κατάξουσι τὸν δῆμον εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, ἐπειδὴ προσειλήφεσαν ἡγεμόνα τῆς τότε γνώμης ἀνδρῶν ἀριστοκρατικῶν τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον: οἱ δ᾽ ἀριστοκρατικοὶ [p. 347] καὶ περὶ παντὸς θέλοντες μὴ κινεῖσθαι ἐκ τοῦ πατρίου κόσμου τὴν πολιτείαν ἀποροῦντες, ὅ τι χρήσονται τοῖς παροῦσι, μεταθέσθαι μὲν οὐκ ἀξιοῦντες τὰς προαιρέσεις, μένειν δ᾽ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐγνωσμένων οὐ δυνάμενοι: οἱ δ᾽ ἀκέραιοί
τε καὶ τῶν στάσεων οὐδετέρᾳ συμφιλονεικοῦντες εἰρήνην ἄγειν βουλόμενοι καὶ ὅπως μὴ τειχήρεις ἔσονται σκοπεῖν ἀξιοῦντες.

  [57.1] When Menenius had thus spoken, a great murmuring broke out in the senate and the members consulted together, each with their own groups. Those who were favourably disposed toward the plebeians exhorted one another to devote every energy toward bringing the people back to their country, now that they had got as the champion of their present view the most distinguished man of the aristocratic party. The aristocrats, in turn, who above everything wished no change to be made in the traditional form of government, were at a loss how to act in the present juncture, being unwilling to change their principles and yet unable to persist in their resolutions. And those, again, who were neutral and sided with neither of the parties in their strife, desired to see peace prevail and demanded that the senate should consider means to prevent the city from being besieged.

  [2] σιωπῆς δὲ γενομένης ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν ὑπάτων ἐπαινέσας τὸν Μενήνιον τῆς γενναιότητος, καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀξιώσας ὁμοίους ἐκείνῳ γενέσθαι κηδεμόνας λέγοντάς τε ὅσα φρονοῦσι μετὰ παρρησίας καὶ πράττοντας δίχα ὄκνου τὰ δόξαντα, δεύτερον ἐκάλει τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐξ ὀνόματος, ἀξιῶν γνώμην ἀποφήνασθαι, Μάνιον Οὐαλέριον ἀδελφὸν τοῦ συνελευθερώσαντος ἀπὸ τῶν βασιλέων τὴν πόλιν, ἄνδρα παρ᾽ ὁντιναοῦν τῶν ἀριστοκρατικῶν τῷ δήμῳ κεχαρισμένον.