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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [2] θᾶττον δ᾽ ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἁπάντων ἐλπίδα τέλος εἰληφότος τὸ κάλλιστον τοῦ πολέμου τοσοῦτον ἀπέσχετε τοῦ χαίρειν καὶ πολλὴν εἰδέναι τῷ δήμῳ χάριν, ὥστε κατέχειν ἡμᾶς ἔτι ἠξιοῦτε ἄκοντας ὑπὸ ταῖς σημαίαις ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις, ἵνα παρέλθητε τὰς ὑποσχέσεις ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς διέγνωτε. οὐχ ὑπομένοντος δὲ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὸν φενακισμὸν οὐδὲ τὴν αἰσχύνην τοῦ ἔργου, ἀλλ᾽ εἰσενέγκαντος εἰς τὴν πόλιν τὰ σημεῖα καὶ διαφέντος ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα τὰς δυνάμεις, πρόφασιν ποιησάμενοι ταύτην τοῦ μὴ τὰ δίκαια ποιεῖν τοῦτον ὑβρίσατε, τῶν δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁμολογιῶν οὐδεμίαν ἐφυλάξατε, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τρία τὰ μέγιστα παρηνομήσατε, τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς βουλῆς καταλύσαντες καὶ τὴν πίστιν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς [p. 378] διαφθείραντες καὶ τοῖς εὐεργέταις ἀνόνητον ποιήσαντες τὴν χάριν τῶν πόνων.

  [2] But, once the war was ended in a most glorious manner and sooner than anyone had expected, you were so far from rejoicing and feeling yourselves under great obligation to the people, that you thought fit to keep us still in arms and under our standards against our will, that you might violate your promises as you had determined from the beginning. Then, when Servilius would not submit to the deceit nor to the dishonour of your action, but brought the standards into the city and sent the forces to their homes, you, making this an excuse for not doing us justice, insulted him and kept not a single one of your promises to us, but at one and the same time committed three most lawless acts, in that you destroyed the prestige of the senate, you ruined the credit of Servilius, and you deprived your benefactors of the recompense that was due to their labours.

  [3] ταῦτα δὴ καὶ ἄλλα πρὸς τούτοις ὅμοια πολλὰ ἔχοντες λέγειν πρὸς ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀξιοῦμεν, ὦ πατρίκιοι, πρὸς ἱκεσίας καὶ δεήσεις ὑμῶν τραπέσθαι, οὐδ᾽ ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ δεινὰ δεδρακότες ἐπ᾽ ἀδείᾳ καὶ ἀμνηστίᾳ κάθοδον λαμβάνειν. οὐ μὴν ἀκριβολογεῖσθαί γε περὶ τούτων ἐν τῷ παρόντι οἰόμεθα χρῆναι, ἐπειδὴ περὶ ὁμονοίας διαλεξόμενοι συνεληλύθαμεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀμελείᾳ καὶ λήθῃ παραδόντες αὐτὰ φέρομεν.

  [3] Since, therefore, patricians, we have these and many other things of the like nature to allege against you, we do not think fit to have recourse to supplicating and entreating you, nor, like men guilty of heinous crimes, to secure our return by accepting impunity and amnesty. However, we do not feel that we ought to enter into a minute discussion of these grievances at present, since we are met to treat of an agreement, but leaving them to indifference and oblivion, we simply put up with them.

  [1] ἐφ᾽ οἷς δὲ πρεσβεύετε καὶ τίνων δεόμενοι ἥκετε, τί οὐ λέγετε φανερῶς; ἐπὶ ποίαις ἐλπίσι κατελθεῖν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀξιοῦτε; ποίαν ἡγεμόνα τῆς ὁδοῦ λαβόντας τύχην; τίνος ὑποδεξομένης ἡμᾶς εὐθυμίας ἢ χαρᾶς; οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄχρι τοῦδε φιλάνθρωπον ὑμῶν ἢ χρηστὸν προτεινομένων ἀκούομεν, οὐ τιμάς, οὐκ ἀρχάς, οὐκ ἐπανόρθωσιν ἀπορίας, οὐκ ἄλλο ἁπλῶς οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν. καίτοι οὐ λέγειν ὑμᾶς ἐχρῆν, ἃ μέλλετε ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ ποιήσαντες λέγειν, ἵνα προειληφότες ἤδη τι ἔργον ἀπ᾽ εὐνοίας γενόμενον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ

  [78.1] “But why do you not declare openly the terms of your mission and say plainly what you have come to ask? On the strength of what hopes do you ask us to return to the city? The prospect of what kind of fortune awaiting us are we to take to guide us on the way? The prospect of what cheer or joy that is going to receive us? For we have not as yet heard you promise any act of kindness or of benefit — no honours, no magistracies, no relief of our poverty, nor, in a word, anything else whatever. And yet it is not what you intend to do that you should tell us, but what you have already done, in order that, having already some action before us as an earnest of your goodwill, we may infer that the remaining actions will be of like nature.

  [2] 9 τοιαῦτα ἔσεσθαι εἰκάσωμεν. οἴομαι τοίνυν πρὸς ταῦτα ἐρεῖν αὐτούς, ὅτι περὶ πάντων ἥκουσιν. αὐτοκράτορες, ὥσθ᾽, ὅ τι ἂν πείσωμεν ἀλλήλους, τοῦτ᾽ ἔσται κύριον. ἔστω ταῦτ᾽ ἀληθῆ: γιγνέσθω τἀκόλουθα τούτοις: οὐδὲν ἀντιλέγω. βούλομαι δὲ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτ᾽ ἐσόμενα παρ᾽ αὐτῶν μαθεῖν, ἐπειδὰν εἴπωμεν ἡμεῖς, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἀξιοῦμεν ποιεῖσθαι τὴν κάθοδον καὶ συγχωρηθῇ ταῦτα [p. 379] ὑπὸ τούτων, τίς ἐγγυητὴς ἔσται τῶν ὁμολογιῶν ἡμῖν;

  [2] I suppose, though, that they will answer to this that they are come with full powers in all matters, so that whatever we can persuade one another to accept is to be valid. Grant this to be so, and let the natural results follow; I offer no objections. But I desire to learn from them what is to happen afterwards, when we have stated the conditions upon which we think fit to return and these conditions have been accepted by them: Who will stand surety to us for the carrying out of the terms?

  [3] τίνι πιστεύσαντες ἀσφαλείᾳ τὰ ὅπλα θήσομεν ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν καὶ καταστήσομεν αὖθις εἰς τὴν τούτων ἐξουσίαν τὰ σώματα; πότερον τοῖς ψηφίσμασι τῆς βουλῆς τοῖς ὑπὲρ τούτων γραφησομένοις, οὐ γὰρ δὴ γεγραμμένοις; καὶ τί πάλιν κωλύσει ἑτέροις ἀκυρωθῆναι ταῦτα ψηφίσμασιν, ὅταν Ἀππίῳ καὶ τοῖς ὅμοια φρονοῦσιν ἐκείνῳ φανῇ; ἢ τοῖς ἀξιώμασι τῶν πρεσβευτῶν, οἳ τὰς ἑαυτῶν παρέχονται πίστεις; ἀλλὰ διὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων καὶ πρότερον ἡμᾶς ἐξηπάτησαν. ἢ ταῖς ἐπὶ τῶν θεῶν ὁμολογίαις δι᾽ ὅρκων τὰ πιστὰ πορισάμενοι παρ᾽ αὐτῶν; ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἅπασαν πίστιν ἀνθρωπίνην ταύτην δέδοικα, ἣν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἡγεμονίαις ὄντων καταφρονουμένην ὁρῶ, καὶ τὰς ἀκουσίους συμβάσεις τοῖς ἄρχειν ἀξιοῦσι πρὸς τοὺς ἐλευθερίας μεταποιουμένους, οὐ νῦν πρῶτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλάκις ἤδη καταμαθών, ἐπίσταμαι τοσοῦτον ἰσχυούσας χρόνον, ὅσον ἂν αὐτῶν αἱ ἀνάγκαι κρατῶσι.

  [3] Trusting to what assurance shall we drop the arms from our hands and put our persons again in the power of these men? Shall we trust to the decrees of the senate that will be drawn up concerning these matters? For surely they have not been drawn up already. And what shall hinder these from being annulled in turn by other decrees, whenever Appius and those of his faction shall think fit? Or shall we trust to the high standing of the envoys who pledge their own good faith? But the senate has already made use of these men to deceive us. Or shall we trust to agreements sworn to by
oaths taken in the name of the gods, gaining our assurance from these? But for my part, I am more afraid of this than of any other kind of assurance men can give, because I observe that it is treated contemptuously by those in positions of command, and because I understand, not now for the first time, but as the result of many experiences in the past, that forced agreements made by men desirous of ruling with those who strive to retain their freedom last only as long as the necessity exists which compelled those agreements.

  [4] τίς οὖν ἡ τοιαύτη φιλία καὶ πίστις, ἐν ᾗ παρὰ γνώμην ἀλλήλους θεραπεύειν ἀναγκασθησόμεθα φυλάττοντες τοὺς οἰκείους ἑκάτεροι καιρούς; ὑποψίαι δὲ δὴ τό γε μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ διαβολαὶ συνεχεῖς κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων φθόνοι τε καὶ μίση καὶ πᾶσ᾽ ἄλλη κακῶν ἰδέα καὶ πολὺς ὁ περὶ τοῦ φθάσαι διολέσαντας τὸ ἀντίπαλον ἀγών, ὡς ἐν τῷ μέλλειν κειμένου τοῦ παθεῖν. [p. 380]

  [4] What kind of friendship, therefore, and good faith is that under which we shall be obliged to court one another against our will while we each are watching for our own opportunities? And after this will come suspicions and continual accusations of one another, jealousies and hatreds and every other kind of evil, and a constant struggle to see which of us shall first effect the destruction of his adversary, each believing that in delay lies disaster.

  [1] πολέμου δὲ πολιτικοῦ ὡς ἅπαντες ἴσασι κάκιον χρῆμα οὐδέν, ἐν ᾧ τὰ μὲν κρατηθέντα ἀτυχεῖ, τὰ δὲ κρατήσαντα ἀδικεῖ, καὶ περίεστι τοῖς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν φιλτάτων ἀπόλλυσθαι, τοῖς δὲ τὰ φίλτατα διολέσαι. ἐπὶ τοιαύταις δὴ τύχαις καὶ συμφοραῖς οὐκ εὐκταίας μήτε ὑμεῖς, ὦ πατρίκιοι, καλεῖτε ἡμᾶς, μήτε ἡμεῖς αὐτοῖς ὑπακούωμεν, ὦ δημόται, ἀλλ᾽, ὡς διῄρηκεν ἡμᾶς ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἡ τύχη, στέργωμεν. ἐχέτωσαν μὲν οὖν οὗτοι τὴν πόλιν ὅλην καὶ καρπούσθωσαν ἡμῶν δίχα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων ἀπολαυέτωσαν μόνοι, τοὺς ταπεινοὺς καὶ ἀδόξους δημότας ἐκβαλόντες ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος: ἀπαλλαττώμεθα δ᾽ ἡμεῖς, ὅποι ποτ᾽ ἂν ἡμᾶς ὁ δαίμων ἄγῃ τόπον ἀλλότριον ἐκλιπεῖν νομίσαντες, οὐ πόλιν ἰδίαν.

  [79.1] “There is no greater evil, as all are aware, than civil war, in which the conquered are unfortunate and the conquerors are unjust, and it is the fate of the former to be destroyed by their dearest ones, and of the latter to destroy those who are dearest to them. To such misfortunes and to such abhorred calamities do not summon us, patricians, nor let us, plebeians, answer their summons, but let us acquiesce in the fate which has separated us. No, let them have the whole city to themselves and enjoy it without us, and let them reap alone every other advantage after they have driven the humble and obscure plebeians from the fatherland. As for us, let us depart whithersoever Heaven shall conduct us, feeling that we are leaving an alien place and not our own city.

  [2] οὔτε γὰρ ἡμῶν τινι ἐνθάδε ὑπολείπεται κλῆρος γῆς οὔτε πατρῷον ἐφέστιον οὔτε ἱερὰ κοινὰ οὔτε ἀξίωμα ὡς ἐν πατρίδι, ὧν περιεχόμενοι φιλοχωροῖμεν ἂν καὶ παρὰ γνώμην μένειν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἡ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων τοῖς σώμασι μετὰ πολλῶν πόνων ἐλευθερία: ἐπεὶ τὰ μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ πόλεμοι διέφθειραν, τὰ δ᾽ ἡ τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίων σπάνις ἐξανήλωσε, τὰ δ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπερηφάνων δανειστῶν τούτων ἀφῃρέθημεν: οἷς τελευτῶντες ἠναγκαζόμεθα τοὺς ἑαυτῶν κλήρους οἱ δείλαιοι γεωργεῖν, σκάπτοντες φυτεύοντες ἀροῦντες ποίμνια νέμοντες ὁμόδουλοι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν δορικτήτοις ἀνδραπόδοις ὄντες, οἱ μὲν ἁλύσει [p. 381] δεθέντες, οἱ δὲ πέδαις, οἱ δ᾽ ὥσπερ τὰ χαλεπώτατα τῶν θηρίων κλοιοῖς καὶ μύδροις.

  [2] For there remains to none of us here either an allotment of land, or an ancestral hearth, or common sacrifices, or any position of dignity, such as one would possess in one’s fatherland, the desire for which things might induce us to cling to this country even against our will; nay we have not even the liberty of our own persons which we have purchased with many hardships. For some of these advantages have been destroyed by the many wars, some have been consumed by the scarcity of the necessaries of daily life, and of others we have been robbed by these haughty money-lenders, for whom we poor wretches are at last obliged to till our own allotments, digging, planting, ploughing, tending flocks, and becoming fellow-slaves with our own slaves taken by us in war, some of us being bound with chains, some with fetters, and others, like the most savage of wild beasts, dragging wooden clogs and iron balls.

  [3] αἰκίας δὲ δὴ καὶ προπηλακισμοὺς καὶ μάστιγας καὶ πόνους ἐκ νυκτὸς εἰς νύκτα καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην ὠμότητα καὶ ὕβριν καὶ ὑπερηφανίαν, ἣν ὑπεμείναμεν, ἐῶ. τοσούτων οὖν καὶ τηλικούτων ἀπηλλαγμένοι κακῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος, ὅση σπουδὴ καὶ δύναμις ἑκάστῳ πάρεστι φεύγωμεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἄσμενοι τύχην καὶ θεὸν οἵπερ ἡμᾶς σώζουσιν ἡγεμόνας τῆς ὁδοῦ ποιησάμενοι, πατρίδα νομίζοντες τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ πλοῦτον τὴν ἀρετήν. πᾶσα γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὑποδέξεται γῆ κοινωνούς, τὰ μὲν ἀλύπους ἐσομένους τοῖς ὑποδεξαμένοις, τὰ δ᾽ ὠφελίμους.

  [3] I same nothing of the tortures and insults, the stripes, the labours from dawn till dark, and every other cruelty, violence, and insolence that we have undergone. Accordingly, now that we are freed by Heaven from so many and great evils, let us gladly fly from them with all the eagerness and ability each of us possesses, taking as the guides of our journey Fortune and the god who ever preserve us, and looking upon our liberty as our country and our valour as our wealth. For any land will receive us as partners, since we shall be no cause of offence in any case to those who receive us, and in some cases shall actually be of service.

  [1] παραδείγματα δὲ τούτων γενέσθωσαν ἡμῖν πολλοί τε Ἕλληνες πολλοί τε βάρβαροι, μάλιστα δ᾽ οἱ τούτων τε καὶ ἡμῶν πρόγονοι: ὧν οἱ μὲν μετ᾽ Αἰνείου συναναστάντες ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην ἐν τῇ Λατίνων γῇ πόλιν ᾤκισαν, οἱ δ᾽ ὕστερον ἐξ Ἄλβας ἀναστάντες Ῥωμύλου τὴν ἀποικίαν ἄγοντος ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς τόποις ἱδρύσαντο τὴν ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἐκλειπομένην.

  [80.1] “Of this let many Greeks and many barbarians serve us as examples, particularly the ancestors of both these men and ourselves; some of whom, leaving Asia with Aeneas, came into Europe and built a city in the country of the Latins, and others, coming as colonists from Alba under the leadership of Romulus, built in these parts the city we are now leaving.

  [2] ὑπάρχει τε ἡμῖν δύναμις οὐκ ὀλίγῳ πλείων μόνον τῆς ἐκείνοις γενομένης, ἀλλὰ καὶ τ
ριπλασία, καὶ πρόφασις δικαιοτέρα τῆς μεταναστάσεως. οἱ μέν γε ἐξ Ἰλίου μεταναστάντες ὑπὸ πολεμίων ἐξηλαύνοντο, ἡμεῖς δ᾽ αὐτόθεν ὑπὸ φίλων: ἐλεεινότερον δὲ δήπου τὸ πρὸς [p. 382] τῶν οἰκείων ἢ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐλαύνεσθαι. οἱ δὲ Ῥωμύλῳ

  [2] We have with us forces not merely a left larger than they had, but actually three times their number, and a more just cause for removing. For those who removed from Troy were driven out by enemies, but we are driven hence by friends; and it is a more pitiable experience doubtless to be expelled by one’s own people than by foreigners.

  [3] συναράμενοι τῆς στρατείας ἐπὶ τῷ κτήσασθαι κρείττονα γῆν ὑπερεῖδον τῆς πατρῴας: ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸν ἄπολιν καὶ τὸν ἀνέστιον ἐκλείποντες βίον, οὔτε θεοῖς ἐπίφθονον οὔτε ἀνθρώποις λυπηρὰν οὔτε γῇ τινι βαρεῖαν στέλλομεν ἀποικίαν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ δι᾽ αἵματος καὶ φόνων ἐμφυλίων ἐλθόντες πρὸς τοὺς ἀπελαύνοντας ἡμᾶς, οὐδὲ πυρὶ καὶ σιδήρῳ κακώσαντες τὴν ἐκλειπομένην γῆν, οὐδ᾽ ἄλλο μνημόσυνον οὐδὲν αἰωνίου καταλιπόντες ἔχθρας, ὡς ταῖς παρεσπονδημέναις φυγαῖς καὶ εἰς ἀβουλήτους ἀνάγκας κατακλεισθείσαις ἔθος ἐστὶ