[2] But when they availed naught with their plea and they saw the tyrant inclined to the other side because of the earnestness and entreaties of the exiles, they desired time to prepare a defence. And having deposited a sum of money as a pledge for their appearance, in the interval while the suit was pending and they were no longer guarded, they fled; whereupon the tyrant seized their servants, their pack-animals, and the money they had brought with them to purchase corn.
[3] ταύταις μὲν οὖν ταῖς πρεσβείαις τοιαῦτα παθούσαις ἀπράκτοις ἀναστρέψαι συνέβη, [p. 20] ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ πόλεων οἱ πεμφθέντες κέγχρους τε καὶ ζέας συνωνησάμενοι ταῖς ποταμηγοῖς σκάφαις κατεκόμισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. αὕτη βραχύν τινα χρόνον ἡ ἀγορὰ Ῥωμαίους διέθρεψεν: ἔπειτ᾽ ἐξαναλωθεῖσα εἰς τὰς αὐτὰς ἀπορίας κατέστησεν αὐτούς. ἦν δ᾽ οὐθὲν εἶδος ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς, ὃ οὐκ ἐπείραζον ἔτι, συνέβαινέ τ᾽ οὐκ ὀλίγοις αὐτῶν, τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν σπάνιν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀτοπίαν τῆς οὐκ εἰωθυίας ἐδωδῆς, τοῖς μὲν ἀρρώστων διακεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα, τοῖς δὲ παρημελημένοις διὰ πενίαν καὶ παντάπασιν ἀδυνάτως:
[3] It was the fate of these embassies, then, after being treated in the manner I have related, to return without having accomplished anything. But the ambassadors who had been sent to the cities in Tyrrhenia bought there a quantity of millet and spelt and brought it down to Rome in river-boats. This supply sustained the Romans for a short time, but its exhaustion brought them to the same straits as before. There was no sort of food to which men have ever been reduced through necessity that they did not venture to try; and it happened that not a few of them, by reason both of the scarcity and of the strangeness of the unaccustomed food, were either weakened in body or were neglected because of their poverty and entirely helpless.
[4] ὡς δὲ τοῦτ᾽ ἔγνωσαν οἱ νεωστὶ κεκρατημένοι τῷ πολέμῳ Οὐολοῦσκοι, πρεσβειῶν ἀπορρήτοις διαποστολαῖς ἐνῆγον ἀλλήλους εἰς τὸν κατ᾽ αὐτῶν πόλεμον, ὡς ἀδυνάτων ἐσομένων, εἴ τις αὐτοῖς ἐπίθοιτο κεκακωμένοις πολέμῳ τε καὶ λιμῷ ἀντέχειν. θεῶν δέ τις εὔνοια, οἷς φροντὶς ἦν μὴ περιιδεῖν ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς Ῥωμαίους γενομένους, ἐκφανέστατα καὶ τότε τὴν ἑαυτῆς δύναμιν ἀπεδείξατο. τοσοῦτος γάρ τις ἄφνω εἰς τὰς πόλεις τῶν Οὐολούσκων φθόρος λοιμικὸς ἐνέσκηψεν, ὅσος ἐν οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ τόπῳ μνημονεύεται γενόμενος οὔθ᾽ Ἑλλάδος οὔτε βαρβάρου γῆς, πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν καὶ τύχην καὶ φύσιν ἐρρωμένων τε καὶ ἀσθενῶν σωμάτων ὁμοίως διεργαξόμενος. [p. 21] ἐδήλωσε δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς συμφορᾶς πόλις ἐπιφανὴς τῶν Οὐολούσκων, Οὐέλιτραι ὄνομα αὐτῇ, μεγάλη τε καὶ πολυάνθρωπος οὖσα τέως, ἧς ὁ λοιμὸς μίαν ὑπελείπετο μοῖραν ἐκ τῶν δέκα, τὰς δ᾽ ἄλλας ὑπολαβὼν ἀπήνεγκε.
[4] When the Volscians, who had been recently conquered in war, became aware of this, they undertook by means of embassies sent out secretly to incite one another to war against the Romans, in the belief that if anyone should attack them while they were distressed both by war and famine, they would be unable to resist. But some benevolence of the gods, who were always careful not to permit the Romans to become subject to their enemies, manifested its power upon this occasion also in a most conspicuous manner. For so great a pestilence suddenly descended upon the cities of the Volscians as is not recorded to have occurred anywhere else in either the Greek or the barbarian world, destroying the people without distinction of age, condition, or sex, it mattered not whether their bodies were strong or weak.
[5] τελευτῶντες δ᾽ οὖν ὅσοι περιῆσαν ἐκ τῆς συμφορᾶς πρεσβευσάμενοι Ῥωμαίοις ἔφρασαν τὴν ἐρημίαν καὶ παρέδοσαν τὴν πόλιν. ἔτυχον δὲ καὶ πρότερον ἐποίκους ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης εἰληφότες, ἀφ᾽ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ τὸ δεύτερον τοὺς κληρούχους παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ᾔτουν.
[5] The extreme nature of the calamity was shown in the case of an important city of the Volscians named Velitrae, till then a large and populous place, of which the plague left but one person out of every ten, attacking and carrying off all the rest. At last those who survived the calamity sent ambassadors to the Romans to inform them of their desolation and to deliver up their city to them. They had even before that time received a colony from Rome, for which reason they now desired colonists to be sent to them a second time.
[1] ταῦτα τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις μαθοῦσι τῆς μὲν συμφορᾶς οἶκτος εἰσῄει, καὶ οὐδὲν ᾤοντο δεῖν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐπὶ τοιαύταις τύχαις μνησικακεῖν, ὡς ἱκανὰς δεδωκόσι τοῖς θεοῖς ὑπὲρ σφῶν δίκας ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἔμελλον δράσειν: Οὐελίτρας δὲ παραλαμβάνειν ἐδόκει κληρούχων οὐκ ὀλίγων ἀποστολῇ πολλὰ τὰ συμφέροντα ἐκ τοῦ πράγματος ἐπιλογιζομένοις.
[13.1] When the Romans learned of this, they felt compassion for their misfortunes and thought they ought to retain no resentment against their enemies when under so severe an affliction, since they had sufficiently atoned to the gods for what they had been intending to do. As to the city of Velitrae, they thought proper to accept it and to send a large colony thither, in consideration of the many advantages that would result to them from that measure.
[2] τό τε γὰρ χωρίον ἱκανὸν εἶναι ἐφαίνετο φυλακῇ ἀξιόχρεῳ καταληφθὲν οἷς ἂν νεωτερίζειν ἢ παρακινεῖν τι βουλομένοις ᾖ μέγα κώλυμα καὶ ἐμπόδιον εἶναι: ἥ τ᾽ ἀπορία τῆς τροφῆς ἡ κατέχουσα τὴν πόλιν οὐ παρ᾽ ὀλίγον μετριωτέρα γενήσεσθαι ὑπωπτεύετο, εἰ μετασταίη τις ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους μοῖρα ἀξιόλογος. μάλιστα δ᾽ ἡ στάσις ἀναρριπιζομένη, πρὶν ἢ πεπαῦσθαι καλῶς ἔτι τὴν προτέραν,
[2] For the place itself, if occupied by an adequate garrison, seemed capable of proving a serious check and hindrance to the designs of any who might be disposed to begin a rebellion or create any disturbance, and it was expected that the scarcity of provisions under which the city then laboured would be far less serious if a considerable part of the citizens removed elsewhere. But, above all other considerations, the sedition which was now flaring up again, before the former one was as yet satisfactorily appeased, induced them to vote to send out the colony.
[3] ἐνῆγεν αὐτοὺς ψηφίζεσθαι τὸν ἀπόστολον. πάλιν γάρ, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον, ὁ δῆμος ἠρεθίζετο καὶ δι᾽ ὀργῆς [p. 22] εἶχε τοὺς πατρικίους, πολλοί τε καὶ χαλεποὶ κατ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐγίνοντο λόγοι τῶν μὲν ὀλιγωρίαν ἐγκαλούντων καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ πολλοῦ προείδοντο τὴν ἐσομένην τοῦ σίτου σπάνιν καὶ
προὐμηχανήσαντο τὰ πρὸς τὴν συμφορὰν ἀλεξήματα, τῶν δ᾽ ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν γεγονέναι τὴν σιτοδείαν ἀποφαινόντων δι᾽ ὀργήν τε καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ κακῶσαι τὸ δημοτικὸν ἀναμνήσει τῆς ἀποστάσεως.
[3] For once more the plebeians were becoming inflamed, as before, and growing exasperated against the patricians, were uttering many harsh words against them, some accusing them of neglect and indolence in not having long foreseen the scarcity of corn that was to occur, and taken the necessary precautions to avert the calamity, and others declaring that the scarcity had been brought about by their contrivance, because of their resentment and a desire to injure the plebeians when they remembered their secession.
[4] διὰ ταύτας μὲν δὴ τὰς αἰτίας ἡ τῶν κληρούχων ἀποστολὴ ταχεῖα ἐγίνετο τριῶν ἀποδειχθέντων ἀνδρῶν ὑπὸ τῆς βουλῆς ἡγεμόνων. τῷ δήμῳ δὲ κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἦν ἀσμένῳ τοὺς κληρούχους διαλαγχάνειν ὡς λιμοῦ τ᾽ ἀπαλλαχθησομένῳ καὶ χώραν οἰκήσοντι εὐδαίμονα: ἔπειτ᾽ ἐνθυμουμένῳ τὸν λοιμόν, ὃς. ἐν τῇ μελλούσῃ αὐτὸν ὑποδέχεσθαι πόλει πολὺς γενόμενος τούς τ᾽ οἰκήτορας διεφθάρκει καὶ δέος παρεῖχε, μὴ καὶ τοὺς ἐποίκους ταὐτὸν ἐργάσηται, μεθίστατο κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς τἀναντία ἡ γνώμη, ὥστ᾽ οὐ πολλοί τινες ἐφάνησαν οἱ μετέχειν βουλόμενοι τῆς ἀποικίας, ἀλλὰ πολὺ ἐλάττους ὧν ἡ βουλὴ ἐψηφίσατο, καὶ οὗτοι δ᾽ ἤδη σφῶν αὐτῶν κατεγνώκεσαν ὡς κακῶς βεβουλευμένων καὶ ὑπανεδύοντο τὴν ἔξοδον.
[4] For these reasons the colony was sent out promptly, three persons being appointed by the senate to be the leaders of it. The plebeians were pleased at first that lands were to be allotted to colonists, since they would thus be freed from the famine and inhabit a fertile country; but afterwards, when they bethought themselves of the pestilence which had raged violently in the city that was to receive them and had not only destroyed the inhabitants, but gave room to fear that it would treat the new settlers in the same manner, their feelings were gradually reversed. Consequently those who offered themselves to join the colony were not many, but far fewer than the senate had decreed; and these, moreover, were already blaming themselves for having been ill advised and were endeavouring to avoid going out.
[5] κατελήφθη μέντοι τοῦτο τὸ μέρος καὶ τὸ ἄλλο τὸ μὴ ἑκουσίως συναιρόμενον τῆς ἐξόδου ψηφισαμένης τῆς βουλῆς ἐξ ἁπάντων [p. 23] γενέσθαι Ῥωμαίων κλήρῳ τὴν ἔξοδον, κατὰ δὲ τῶν λαχόντων, εἰ μὴ ἐξίοιεν, χαλεπὰς καὶ ἀπαραιτήτους θεμένης ζημίας. οὗτός τε δὴ ὁ στόλος εἰς Οὐελίτρας εὐπρεπεῖ ἀνάγκῃ καταληφθεὶς ἀπεστάλη, καὶ ἕτερος αὖθις οὐ πολλαῖς ἡμέραις ὕστερον εἰς Νώρβαν πόλιν, ἥ ἐστι τοῦ Λατίνων ἔθνους οὐκ ἀφανής.
[5] However, this element was included and likewise the others who had not willingly joined the colony, the senate having ordered that all the Romans should draw lots for completing the colony, and having fixed severe and inexorable penalties for those upon whom the lot fell, if they did not go. This colony, then, was sent to Velitrae after being recruited by a specious compulsion; and not many days after another colony was sent to Norba, which is no mean city of the Latins.
[1] ἐγένετο δ᾽ οὐδὲν τῶν ἐκ λογισμοῦ τοῖς πατρικίοις κατὰ γοῦν τὴν ἐλπίδα λωφήσειν τὴν στάσιν, ἀλλ᾽ οἱ περιλειφθέντες ἔτι χείρους ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἦσαν καὶ πολλῇ τῇ καταβοῇ τῶν βουλευτῶν ἐχρῶντο κατά τε συστροφὰς καὶ ἑταιρίας, ὀλίγοι μὲν συνιόντες τὸ πρῶτον, ἔπειτ᾽ ἀθρόοι συντονωτέρας ἤδη γινομένης τῆς ἀπορίας καὶ συνδραμόντες εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν τοὺς δημάρχους ἐβόων.
[14.1] But nothing turned out according to the calculations of the patricians, insofar at least as their hope of appeasing the sedition was concerned; on the contrary, the people who were left at home were now more exasperated than before and clamoured violently against the senators in their groups and clubs. They met in small numbers at first, but afterwards, as the dearth became more severe, they assembled in a body, and rushing all together into the Forum, cried out for the tribunes.
[2] συναχθείσης δ᾽ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐκκλησίας παρελθὼν Σπόριος Σικίνιος, ὃς ἦν τοῦ ἀρχείου τότε ἡγεμών, αὐτός τε πολὺς ἔρρει κατὰ τῆς βουλῆς αὔξων ὡς μάλιστ᾽ ἐνῆν τὸν κατ᾽ αὐτῆς φθόνον, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἠξίου λέγειν ἃ φρονοῦσιν εἰς τὸ κοινόν, μάλιστα δὲ τὸν Σικίνιον καὶ τὸν Βροῦτον ἀγορανόμους τότ᾽ ὄντας ἀνακαλῶν ἑκάτερον ἐξ ὀνόματος, οἳ καὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀποστάσεως τῷ δήμῳ ἦρξαν, καὶ τὴν δημαρχικὴν ἐξουσίαν εἰσηγησάμενοι πρῶτοι αὐτῆς ἔτυχον.
[2] And these having assembled the people, Spurius Sicinius, who was then at the head of their college, came forward and not only inveighed at length against the senate himself, inflaming the hatred of the people against them as much as he could, but also demanded that the others should express their sentiments publicly, especially Sicinius and Brutus, who were then aediles, calling upon each of them by name; they had been the authors of the first secession of the people as well, and having introduced the tribunician power, had been the first to be invested with it.
[3] παρελθόντες δ᾽ οὗτοι τοὺς κακοηθεστάτους τῶν λόγων ἐκ πολλοῦ παρεσκευασμένοι διεξῄεσαν, ἃ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀκούειν ἦν βουλομένοις, ὡς ἐκ προνοίας τε καὶ ἐπιβουλῆς ὑπὸ τῶν πλουσίων γένοιθ᾽ ἡ περὶ τὸν [p. 24] σῖτον ἀπορία, ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀκόντων ἐκείνων ὁ δῆμος ἐκ τῆς ἀποστάσεως εὕρετο.
[3] These, having long before prepared the most malicious speeches, came forward and enlarged upon those points that were welcome to the multitude, alleging that the dearth of corn had been occasioned by the contrivance and treachery of the rich, against whose will the people had acquired the liberty by the secession.
[4] ἰσομοιρεῖν τ᾽ οὐδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀπέφαινον τῆς συμφορᾶς τοῖς πένησι τοὺς εὐπόρους: ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ εἶναι καὶ τροφὰς ἐν ἀφανεῖ ἀποκειμένας καὶ χρήματα, οἷς ὠνούμενοι τὰς ἐπεισάκτους ἀγορὰς ἐν πολλῇ ὑπεροψίᾳ ἦσαν τοῦ κακοῦ, τοῖς δὲ δημόταις ἀμφότερα ταῦτ᾽ ἀπόρως ἔχειν: τήν τ᾽ ἀποστολὴν τῶν κληρούχων, ἣν ἐποιήσαντο εἰς νοσερὰ χωρία, ἐκβολὴν ἀποφαίνοντες εἰς προφανῆ καὶ μακρῷ χείρονα ὄλεθρον, αὔξοντες ὡς μάλιστα δυνατοὶ ἦσαν τῷ λόγῳ τὰ δεινά, καὶ τί πέρας ἔσται τῶν κακῶν ἀξι
οῦντες μαθεῖν, ὑπομιμνήσκοντές τε τῶν παλαιῶν αὐτοὺς αἰκισμῶν, οἷς ὑπὸ τῶν πλουσίων ἔτυχον αἰκισθέντες, καὶ
[4] And they declared that the rich did not in the least bear an equal share of this calamity with the poor, since they had not only provisions secretly hoarded up, but also money to purchase imported foodstuffs, and thus could treat the calamity with fine scorn, whereas the plebeians had neither resource. As regarded the colony which they had sent out to a pestilential region, they declared it was a banishment to a manifest and much worse destruction; and exaggerating the evils with all their powers of speech, they asked to be informed what end there was to be of their miseries. They reminded them of the abusive treatment they had formerly received from the rich, and recounted many other things of this nature with great freedom.
[5] τἆλλα τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις κατὰ πολλὴν ἄδειαν διεξιόντες. τελευτῶν δ᾽ ὁ Βροῦτος εἰς ἀπειλήν τινα τοιάνδε κατέκλεισε τὸν λόγον, ὡς εἰ βουληθεῖεν αὐτῷ πείθεσθαι διὰ ταχέων προσαναγκάσων τοὺς ἐκκαύσαντας τὸ δεινὸν καὶ κατασβέσαι. ἡ μὲν δὴ ἐκκλησία διελύετο.
[5] Finally, Brutus closed his speech with some such threats as this, that, if they would follow his advice, he would soon compel those who had kindled this mischief to extinguish it. After which the assembly was dismissed.
[1] οἱ δ᾽ ὕπατοι τῇ κατόπιν ἡμέρᾳ συνεκάλουν τὴν βουλὴν περίφοβοι ὄντες ἐπὶ τοῖς καινοτομουμένοις καὶ τὴν τοῦ Βρούτου δημοκοπίαν εἰς μέγα τι κακὸν ἀποσκήψειν οἰόμενοι. πολλοὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ παντοδαποὶ ὑπό τ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων ἐρρήθησαν ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ λόγοι καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πρεσβυτέρων, τῶν μὲν οἰομένων δεῖν θεραπεύειν τὸν δῆμον ἁπάσῃ εὐπροσηγορίᾳ λόγων [p. 25] καὶ ὑποσχέσει ἔργων καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας αὐτοῦ μετριωτέρους παρασκευάζειν, τιθέντας εἰς μέσον τὰ πράγματα καὶ μετὰ σφῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινῇ συμφέροντος παρακαλοῦντας σκοπεῖν.
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 582