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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [25] After this speech of Marcius the opinions of the senators were divided and a great tumult arose among them. For those who from the beginning had opposed the plebeians and submitted to the accommodation against their will, among whom were almost all the youth and the richest and most ambitious of the older senators, some of them resenting the losses sustained in the loans they had made under contract and others their defeat when they sought office, applauded Marcius as a man of spirit and a lover of his country, who advised what was best for the commonwealth.

  [2] λέγοντα: οἱ δὲ δημοτικὰς ἔχοντες τὰς προαιρέσεις τῶν τρόπων καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον οὐ πέρα τοῦ δέοντος ἐκτετιμηκότες τῆς τ᾽ εἰρήνης οὐδὲν ἀναγκαιότερον ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἤχθοντο τοῖς λεγομένοις ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν γνώμην οὐ προσίεντο: ἠξίουν τε μὴ τοῖς βιαίοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς εὐγνώμοσι περιεῖναι τῶν ταπεινοτέρων, μηδ᾽ ἀπρεπές, ἀλλ᾽ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγεῖσθαι τὸ ἐπιεικές, ἄλλως τε καὶ πρὸς τοὺς συμπολιτευομένους ἐπ᾽ εὐνοίᾳ γινόμενον: [p. 40] μανίαν τ᾽ ἀπέφαινον αὐτοῦ τὴν συμβουλήν, οὐ παρρησίαν οὐδὲ ἐλευθερίαν. βραχὺ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο τὸ μέρος καὶ ἀσθενὲς ὂν περιεωθεῖτο ὑπὸ τοῦ βιαιοτέρου.

  [2] On the other hand, the senators whose sympathies were with the populace and who set no undue value on riches and thought nothing was or necessary than peace, were offended at his speech and rejected his advice. These maintained that they ought to surpass the humbler citizens, not in violence, but in kindness, and that they ought to regard reasonableness as not unbecoming, but necessary, particularly when it was manifested out of goodwill towards their fellow-citizens; and they declared that the advice of Marcius was madness, not frankness of speech or liberty. But this group was small and weak, and hence was overborne by the more violent party.

  [3] ταῦτα δ᾽ ὁρῶντες οἱ δήμαρχοι: παρῆσαν γὰρ τῷ συνεδρίῳ παρακληθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων: ἐβόων τε καὶ ἤσπαιρον καὶ τὸν Μάρκιον λυμεῶνα καὶ ὄλεθρον τῆς πόλεως ἀπεκάλουν πονηροὺς διεξιόντα κατὰ τοῦ δήμου λόγους, καὶ εἰ μὴ κωλύσειαν αὐτὸν οἱ πατρίκιοι πόλεμον ἐμφύλιον εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσάγοντα θανάτῳ ζημιώσαντες ἢ φυγῇ, αὐτοὶ ποιήσειν τοῦτ᾽ ἔλεγον.

  [3] The tribunes, seeing this — for they were present in the senate at the invitation of the consuls — cried out and were in great conflict of mind, calling Marcius the pest and bane of the state for uttering malicious words against the populace; and unless the patricians should prevent his design of introducing civil war into the state by punishing him with death or banishment, they said they would do so themselves.

  [4] θορύβου δ᾽ ἔτι πλείονος ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις τῶν δημάρχων γενομένου, καὶ μάλιστ᾽ ἐκ τῶν νεωτέρων τὰς ἀπειλὰς δυσανασχετούντων ἐπαρθεὶς τούτοις ὁ Μάρκιος αὐθαδέστερον ἤδη καθήπτετο τῶν δημαρχων καὶ θρασύτερον: εἰ μὴ παύσεσθε μέντοι, λέγων, ταράττοντες τὴν πόλιν ὑμεῖς καὶ ἐκδημαγωγοῦντες τοὺς ἀπόρους, οὐκέτι λόγῳ διοίσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἔργῳ.

  [4] When a still greater tumult arose at these words of the tribunes, particularly on the part of the younger senators, who bore their threats with impatience, Marcius, inspired by these manifestations, now attacked the tribunes with greater arrogance and boldness, saying to them: “Unless you cease disturbing the commonwealth and stirring up the poor by your harangues, I shall no longer oppose you with words, but with deeds.”

  [1] ἠγριωμένης δὲ τῆς βουλῆς, ὡς ἔμαθον οἱ δήμαρχοι πλείους ὄντας τοὺς βουλομένους ἀφελέσθαι τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἐξουσίαν τῷ δήμῳ τῶν ἐμμένειν ταῖς ὁμολογίαις ἀξιούντων, ἐξέδραμον ἐκ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου κεκραγότες καὶ θεοὺς τοὺς ὁρκίους ἐπικαλούμενοι. καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο συναγαγόντες εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὸν δῆμον ἐδήλωσαν αὐτῷ τοὺς ἐν τῇ βουλῇ ῥηθέντας λόγους ὑπὸ τοῦ Μαρκίου, καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα εἰς ἀπολογίαν ἐκάλουν.

  [26.1] The senate being now embittered, the tribunes, finding that those who desired to take away the power granted to the people outnumbered those who advised adhering to the agreement, rushed out of the senate-house shouting and calling upon the gods who had been witnesses to their oaths. After this they assembled the people, and having acquainted them with the speech made by Marcius in the senate, they summoned him to make his defence.

  [2] ὡς δ᾽ οὐ προσεῖχεν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ὑπηρέτας, ὑφ᾽ ὧν ἐκαλεῖτο, προπηλακίζων τοῖς λόγοις ἀνεῖρξεν, [p. 41] ἀγανακτήσαντες ἔτι μᾶλλον οἱ δήμαρχοι παραλαβόντες τούς τ᾽ ἀγορανόμους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν συχνοὺς ὥρμησαν ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν: ὁ δ᾽ ἔτυχεν ἔτι διατρίβων πρὸ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου τῶν τε πατρικίων πολλοὺς ἐπαγόμενος καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἑταιρίαν περὶ αὑτὸν ἔχων.

  [2] But when he paid no regard to them, but repulsed with abusive words the attendants by whom he was summoned, the tribunes grew still more indignant, and taking with them the aediles and many other citizens, ran to seize him; he chanced to be still standing before the senate-house, attended by a large number of the patricians and by the rest of his faction.

  [3] ὡς δὲ συνεῖδον αὐτὸν οἱ δήμαρχοι, προσέταξαν τοῖς ἀγορανόμοις ἐπιλαβέσθαι τοῦ σώματος καί, εἰ μὴ ἑκὼν βούλεται ἀκολουθεῖν, βίᾳ ἄγειν: εἶχον δὲ τότε τὴν ἀγορανομικὴν ἐξουσίαν Τῖτος Ἰούνιος Βροῦτος καὶ Γάιος Οὐισέλλιος Ῥοῦγας. οἱ μὲν δὴ προσῄεσαν ὡς ἐπιληψόμενοι τοῦ ἀνδρός, οἱ δὲ πατρίκιοι δεινὸν ἡγησάμενοι τοὖργον ὑπὸ τῶν δημάρχων πρὸ δίκης ἄγεσθαί τινα σφῶν βίᾳ προὔστησαν τοῦ Μαρκίου καὶ τύπτοντες τοὺς ὁμόσε χωροῦντας ἀπήλασαν.

  [3] When the tribunes caught sight of him, they ordered the aediles to lay hold of his person and, if he refused to follow them, to bring him away by force. The aediles at that time were Titus Junius Brutus and Gaius Visellius Ruga. These advanced with the intention of seizing him; but the patricians, looking upon it as a terrible thing that any one of their number should be forcibly carried away by the tribunes before being tried, placed themselves in front of Marcius, and striking all who approached him, drove them away.

  [4] διαβοηθέντος δὲ τοῦ πάθους ἀνὰ τὴν πόλιν ὅλην ἐξεπήδων ἅπαντες ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν: οἱ μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἀξιώμασιν ὄντες καὶ χρημάτων ἔχοντες εὖ τὸν Μάρκιον ὑπερασπιοῦντες ἅμα τοῖς πατρικίοις καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἀνακτησόμενοι πολιτείαν, οἱ δὲ ταπεινοὶ ταῖς τύχαις καὶ βίου σπανίζοντες �
�μύνειν παρεσκευασμένοι τοῖς δημάρχοις καὶ ποιεῖν, ὅ τι ἂν ἐκεῖνοι κελεύσωσιν: ἥ τ᾽ αἰδώς, ὑφ᾽ ἧς κρατούμενοι τέως οὐδὲν ἐτόλμων εἰς ἀλλήλους παρανομεῖν, τότ᾽ ἀνῄρητο ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν. οὐ μὴν ἔδρασάν γ᾽ οὐδὲν ἀνήκεστον τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἀνεβάλοντο, γνώμῃ τε καὶ παρακλήσει τῶν ὑπάτων εἴξαντες. [p. 42]

  [4] The news of this occurrence having been spread through the whole city, all rushed out of their houses, the magistrates and the men of means with the purpose of assisting the patricians in protecting Marcius and of recovering their ancient form of government, and those of humble condition and straitened circumstances prepared to aid the tribunes and to carry out any orders they might give. And the feeling of respect, which had hitherto restrained them from venturing to commit any lawless acts against one another, they had now abandoned. However, they did not commit any irreparable deed that day, but postponed a decision until the following day, out of deference to the advice and exhortations of the consuls.

  [1] τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ πρῶτοι καταβάντες εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν οἱ δήμαρχοι συνεκάλουν τὸν δῆμον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καὶ παριόντες ἐκ διαδοχῆς πολλὰ μὲν τῶν πατρικίων κατηγόρουν ὡς ἐψευσμένων τὰς συνθήκας καὶ παραβεβηκότων τοὺς ὅρκους, οὓς ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ ἀμνηστίας τῶν πάλαι, πίστεις παραφέροντες τοῦ μὴ βεβαίως αὐτοὺς διηλλάχθαι πρὸς τὸ δημοτικὸν τήν τε τοῦ σίτου σπάνιν, ἣν αὐτοὶ κατέσκευσαν, καὶ τὰς ἀποστολὰς τῶν κληρουχιῶν ἀμφοτέρων καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα ἐμηχανήσαντο μειώσεως τοῦ πλήθους ἕνεκα.

  [27.1] The next day the tribunes were the first to descend to the Forum; and assembling the people, they came forward one after the other and preferred many charges against the patricians, alleging that they had violated their treaty and transgressed the oaths by which they had promised the people to forget and forgive the past. As proofs that they were not sincerely reconciled to the plebeians they pointed to the scarcity of corn which the patricians had brought about, to the sending out of the two colonies, and to all the other things they had contrived with a view to diminishing the number of the populace.

  [2] πολλὰ δὲ τοῦ Μαρκίου καθήπτοντο τοὺς ῥηθέντας ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ λόγους ἐν τῇ βουλῇ διεξιόντες, καὶ ὅτι καλούμενος εἰς ἀπολογίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἠξίωσεν ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀφικομένους ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀγορανόμους τύπτων ἀπήλασεν. ἐκάλουν δὲ μάρτυρας τῶν ἐν τῇ βουλῇ γενομένων τοὺς ἐντιμοτάτους τῶν ἐκεῖ, τῆς δὲ περὶ τοὺς ἀγορανόμους ὕβρεως ἅπαντας τοὺς τότε παρόντας κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν δημοτικούς.

  [2] After that they inveighed violently against Marcius, repeating the words he had spoken in the senate, and told them that, when he was summoned by the people to make his defence before them, he had not only not deigned to come, but had even driven away with blows the aediles who came to fetch them. They summoned, as witnesses of what had passed in the senate, the most honoured members of that body, and, as witnesses of the insult offered to the aediles, all the plebeians who had been present at the time in the Forum.

  [3] ταῦτα δ᾽ εἰπόντες ἐδίδοσαν, εἰ βουλομένοις εἴη, τοῖς πατρικίοις ἀπολογίαν, κατέχοντες ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὸν δῆμον, ἕως ἡ βουλὴ διαλυθείη. ἔτυχον γὰρ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν τούτων συνεδρεύοντες οἱ πατρίκιοι διαποροῦντες, εἴτ᾽ ἀπολογητέον αὐτοῖς εἴη πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ ὧν διεβλήθησαν,

  [3] Having spoken thus, they gave leave to the patricians to make their defence if they wished; and for that purpose they kept the people together till the senate should be dismissed.

  [4] εἴτε μενετέον ἐφ᾽ ἡσυχίας. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ αἱ πλείους γνῶμαι τὰ φιλανθρωπότερα τῶν αὐθαδεστέρων προείλοντο, διαλύσαντες οἱ ὕπατοι τὸν σύλλογον προῆλθον [p. 43] εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν τάς τε κοινὰς ἀπολυσόμενοι διαβολὰς καὶ περὶ τοῦ Μαρκίου τὸν δῆμον ἀξιώσοντες μηθὲν βουλεῦσαι ἀνήκεστον. καὶ παρελθὼν ὁ πρεσβύτερος αὐτῶν Μηνύκιος ἔλεξε τοιάδε.

  [4] For it happened that the patricians were holding a session concerning this very matter, debating whether they should clear themselves to the people of the charges that had been brought against them or should remain quiet. When the majority of the opinions inclined to humane rather than to stubborn measures, the consuls dismissed the meeting and came to the Forum with the intention both of refuting the charges brought against their whole order and of asking the people not to come to any irreparable decision against Marcius. And Minucius, the older of the consuls, coming forward, spoke as follows:

  [1] ἡ μὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς σιτοδείας ἀπολογία πάνυ βραχεῖά ἐστιν, ὦ δημόται, καὶ οὐκ ἄλλους τινὰς παρεξόμεθα ὧν ἂν λέγωμεν ἢ ὑμᾶς μάρτυρας. τήν τε γὰρ ἀφορίαν τῶν σιτικῶν καρπῶν ἐπίστασθε δήπου καὶ αὐτοὶ διὰ τὸν ἐκλειφθέντα σπόρον γενομένην: τήν τ᾽ ἄλλην καταφθορὰν τῆς χώρας οὐ παρ᾽ ἑτέρων ὑμᾶς δεῖ μαθεῖν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς αἰτίας συνέβη,. καὶ ὡς τελευτῶσα ἡ πλείστη τε καὶ ἀρίστη γὴ πάντων ἐσπάνικε καρπῶν τε καὶ ἀνδραπόδων καὶ βοσκημάτων τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων διαρπαζομένη, τὰ δ᾽ ὑμῖν μὴ ἐπιχορηγοῦσα τοσούτοις οὖσι καὶ μηδεμίαν ἄλλην ἀποστροφὴν ἔχουσιν.

  [28.1] “Our defence as regards the scarcity is a very brief one, plebeians, and we shall offer no other witnesses than you yourselves to prove the truth of what we allege. For surely even you yourselves know that the land produced no crops of grain for the reason that none was sown. And as for the general ruin of the land, you have no need to be informed by others to what cause it was due and by what means at last the largest and the most fertile part of the land has come to lack all crops, slaves, and cattle — partly because it was being laid waste by the enemy and partly because it was incapable of supplying you who are so numerous and have no other resource.

  [2] ὥστ᾽ οὐκ ἐξ ὧν οἱ δημαγωγοὶ διαβάλλουσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ ὧν αὐτοὶ ἴστε, τὸν λιμὸν ἡγούμενοι γεγονέναι παύσασθε προσάπτοντες ἐπιβουλὴν ἡμετέραν τῷ πάθει καὶ

  [2] Believe, then, that the famine was occasioned, not by what your demagogues charge, but by what you yourselves know to be true, and cease to attribute this misfortune to plotting on our part and to be angry with us when we are guilty of no wrongdoing.

  [3] δἰ ὀργῆς ἔχοντες ἡμᾶς οὐθὲν ἀδικοῦντας. αἱ δ᾽ ἀποστολαὶ τῶν κληρούχων ἐκ τοῦ ἀναγκαίου ἐγένοντο, κοινῇ δόξαν ὑμῖν ἅπασι δι
ὰ φυλακῆς ἔχειν χωρία εἰς πόλεμον ἐπιτήδεια, καὶ μεγάλα ὤνησαν ἐν καιρῷ σφόδρα ἀναγκαίῳ γενόμεναι τούς τ᾽ ἐξιόντας καὶ τοὺς ὑπολειπομένους ὑμῶν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀφθονωτέρων εὐποροῦσιν [p. 44] ἐκεῖ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων: οἱ δ᾽ ἐνθάδε ὑπομείναντες ἧττον σπανίζουσι τῆς ἀγορᾶς: ἥ τ᾽ ἰσομοιρία τῆς τύχης ἧς μετέσχομεν ὑμῖν τοῖς δημοτικοῖς οἱ πατρίκιοι κλήρῳ ποιησάμενοι τὴν ἔξοδον, οὐ ψέγεται.

  [3] As to the colonists, there was a necessity for sending them out since it was the unanimous decision of all of you to garrison places that will be of use in time of war; and sending them out when the occasion was so very urgent has proved of great advantage both to those who went out and to you who are left behind. For the colonists enjoy there a greater plenty of all the necessaries of life, and those who remain here suffer less from the scarcity of provisions; and the principle of impartiality in sharing the decrees of Fortune, to which we patricians submitted along with you plebeians when we chose the colonists by lot, is not open to censure.