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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [3] Whenever these verdicts were rendered with the best motives and the pride of the mighty was justly humbled, this institution appeared a great and admirable thing, and met with general praise, but when a virtuous and able statesman incurred hatred and was unjustly done away with, the rest of the world was shocked at the institution and the authors of it were condemned. The Romans have often deliberated whether they should repeal this institution or preserve it as they received it from their ancestors, but have never come to any final decision.

  [4] εἰ δὲ δεῖ καὶ αὐτὸν ἀποφήνασθαι περὶ τηλικούτων πραγμάτων γνώμην, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ τὸ μὲν ἔθος αὐτὸ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸ ἐξεταζόμενον χρήσιμον εἶναι καὶ πόλει τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἀναγκαιότατον, κρεῖττον δὲ καὶ χεῖρον γίνεσθαι παρὰ τοὺς τῶν δημάρχων τρόπους. ὅταν μὲν γὰρ τύχωσι τῆς ἐξουσίας ταύτης ἄνδρες δίκαιοι καὶ σώφρονες καὶ τὰ κοινὰ ἀναγκαιότερα τῶν ἰδίων τιθέμενοι, ὁ μὲν ἀδικῶν τὰ κοινὰ τιμωρίαν δούς, ἣν προσῆκε, πολὺ δέος τοῖς ὅμοια παρεσκευασμένοις δρᾶν ἐνειργάσατο, ὁ δ᾽ ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ κρατίστου πρὸς τὰ κοινὰ παριὼν οὔτε δίκην ἀσχήμονα ὑπέσχεν οὔτ᾽ εἰς αἰτίας ἀλλοτρίους τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων κατέστη.

  [4] If I am to express an opinion myself concerning matters of so great moment, I believe that the institution, considered by itself, is advantageous, and absolutely necessary to the Roman commonwealth, but that it becomes better or worse according to the character of the tribunes. For when this power falls into the hands of just and prudent men, who prefer the interest of the public to their own, the punishing as he deserves of one who has injured his country strikes terror into the minds of all who are prepared to mankind similar offences, while the good man who enters public life with the best intentions neither incurs the disgrace of being brother to trial nor is accused of wrongdoing inconsistent with his habits.

  [5] ὅταν δὲ πονηροὶ καὶ ἀκόλαστοι καὶ φιλοκερδεῖς ἄνθρωποι τηλικαύτης ἐξουσίας τύχωσι, τἀναντία τούτων γίνεται. ὥστ᾽ οὐ τὸ ἔθος ἐπανορθοῦσθαι προσῆκεν ὡς ἡμαρτημένον, ἀλλὰ σκοπεῖν, ὅπως ἄνδρες καλοὶ καὶ ἀγαθοὶ τοῦ δήμου [p. 104] γενήσονται προστάται καὶ μὴ τοῖς τυχοῦσι τὰ μέγιστα εἰκῆ ἐπιτραπήσεται.

  [5] But when wicked, intemperate and avaricious men gain so great power, the contrary of all this happens. Hence, instead of reforming the institution as faulty, they ought to consider by what means good and worthy men may become protectors of the people, and positions of the greatest importance may not be conferred at random on the first who chance to turn up.

  [1] ἡ μὲν δὴ πρώτη Ῥωμαίοις ἐμπεσοῦσα μετὰ τὴν ἐκβολὴν τῶν βασιλέων στάσις ἔσχε τοιαύτας αἰτίας καὶ εἰς τοῦτο κατέσκηψε τὸ τέλος: ἐμήκυνα δὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν λόγον τοῦ μή τινα θαυμάσαι, πῶς ὑπέμειναν οἱ πατρίκιοι τηλικαύτης ἐξουσίας ποιῆσαι τὸν δῆμον κύριον, οὔτε σφαγῆς τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν γενομένης οὔτε φυγῆς, οἷον ἐν ἄλλαις πολλαῖς ἐγένετο πόλεσι. ποθεῖ γὰρ ἕκαστος ἐπὶ τοῖς παραδόξοις ἀκούσμασι τὴν αἰτίαν μαθεῖν καὶ τὸ πιστὸν ἐν ταύτῃ τίθεται μόνῃ.

  [66.1] Such were the causes and such was the outcome of the first sedition that arose among the Romans after the expulsion of the kings. I have related these at length, to the end that no one may wonder how the patricians ever consented to entrust the populace with so great power, when there had been no slaying or banishing of the best citizens, as has happened in many other states. For everyone, upon hearing of extraordinary events, desires to know the cause that produced them and considers that alone as the test of their credibility.

  [2] ἐλογιζόμην οὖν, ὅτι μοι πολλοῦ καὶ τοῦ παντὸς δεήσει πιστὸς εἶναι ὁ λόγος, εἰ τοσοῦτον ἔφην μόνον, ὅτι παρῆκαν οἱ πατρίκιοι τοῖς δημοτικοῖς τὴν ἑαυτῶν δυναστείαν, καὶ ἐξὸν αὐτοῖς ἐν ἀριστοκρατίᾳ πολιτεύεσθαι τὸν δῆμον ἐποίησαν τῶν μεγίστων κύριον, δι᾽ ἃς δὲ συνεχωρήθη ταῦτ᾽ αἰτίας παρέλιπον: διὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἐπεξῆλθον ἁπάσας.

  [2] I reflected, accordingly, that my account of this affair would gain little or no credit if I contented myself with saying that the patricians resigned their power to the plebeians and that, though they might have continued to live under an aristocracy, they put the populace in control of the most important matters, and if I left out the motives for their making these concessions; and for this reason I have related them all.

  [3] καὶ ἐπειδὴ οὐχ ὅπλοις ἀλλήλους βιασάμενοι καὶ προσαναγκάσαντες, ἀλλὰ λόγοις πείσαντες μεθήρμοσαν, παντὸς μάλιστ᾽ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμην εἶναι τοὺς λόγους αὐτῶν διεξελθεῖν, οἷς τότ᾽ οἱ δυναστεύσαντες ἐν ἑκατέροις ἐχρήσαντο. θαυμάσαιμι δ᾽ ἄν, εἴ τινες τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις πράξεις ἀκριβῶς οἴονται δεῖν ἀναγράφειν, καὶ περὶ μίαν ἔστιν ὅτε μάχην πολλοὺς ἀναλίσκουσι λόγους, τόπων τε φύσεις καὶ ὁπλισμῶν ἰδιότητας καὶ τάξεων τρόπους καὶ στρατηγῶν παρακλήσεις καὶ τἆλλα διεξιόντες ὅσα τῆς νίκης αἴτια [p. 105] τοῖς ἑτέροις ἐγένετο: πολιτικὰς δὲ κινήσεις καὶ στάσεις ἀναγράφοντες οὐκ οἴονται δεῖν ἀπαγγέλλειν τοὺς λόγους, δἰ ὧν αἱ παράδοξοι καὶ θαυμασταὶ πράξεις ἐπετελέσθησαν.

  [3] And since they did not make this change in their government by using compulsion upon one another and the force of arms, but by the persuasion of words, I thought it necessary above all things to report the speeches which the heads of both parties made upon that occasion. I might express my surprise that some historians, though they think themselves obliged to give an exact account of military actions and sometimes expend a great many words over a single battle, describing the terrains, the peculiarities of armament, the ways the lines were drawn up, the exhortations of the generals, and every other circumstance that contributed to the victory of one side or the other, yet when they come to give an account of civil commotions and seditions, do not consider it necessary to report the speeches by which the extraordinary and remarkable events were brought to pass.

  [4] εἰ γάρ τι καὶ ἄλλο τῆς Ῥωμαίων πόλεως μέγα ἐγκώμιόν ἐστι καὶ ζηλοῦσθαι ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἄξιον κἀκεῖνο ἐγένετο κατ᾽ ἐμὴν δόξαν τὸ ἔργον, μᾶλλον δ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἅπαντα πολλὰ καὶ θαυμαστὰ ὄντα λαμπρότατον, τὸ μήτε τοὺς δημοτικοὺς καταφρονήσαντας τῶν πατρικίων ἐπιχειρῆσαι αὐτοῖς, καὶ πολὺν ἐργασαμένους τῶν κρατίστων φόνον ἅπαντα τἀκείνων παραλαβεῖν, μήτε τοὺς ἐν τοῖς
ἀξιώμασιν ἢ διὰ σφῶν αὐτῶν ἢ ξενικαῖς ἐπικουρίαις χρησαμένους διαφθεῖραι τὸ δημοτικὸν ἅπαν καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οἰκεῖν ἀδεῶς τὴν πόλιν:

  [4] For if there is anything about the Roman commonwealth that is worthy of great praise and deserving of imitation by all mankind, or, rather, anything that surpasses in its lustre all the many things which deserve our admiration, it is in my opinion this fact — that neither the plebeians in contempt of the patricians took up arms against them, and after murdering many of the best men, seized all their fortunes, nor, on the other hand, the men in positions of dignity either by themselves alone or with the aid of foreign troops destroyed all the plebeians and after that lived in the city free from fear,

  [5] ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ἀδελφοὺς ἀδελφοῖς ἢ παῖδας γονεῦσιν ἐν οἰκίᾳ σώφρονι περὶ τῶν ἴσων καὶ δικαίων διαλεγομένους πειθοῖ καὶ λόγῳ διαλύεσθαι τὰ νείκη, ἀνήκεστον δ᾽ ἢ ἀνόσιον ἔργον μηθὲν ὑπομεῖναι δρᾶσαι κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων: οἷα Κερκυραῖοί τε κατὰ τὴν στάσιν εἰργάσαντο καὶ Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Μιλήσιοι καὶ Σικελία πᾶσα καὶ συχναὶ ἄλλαι πόλεις. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν διὰ ταῦτα προειλόμην ἀκριβεστέραν μᾶλλον ἢ βραχυτέραν ποιήσασθαι τὴν διήγησιν: κρινέτω δ᾽ ἕκαστος ὡς βούλεται.

  [5] but conferring together about what was fair and just, like brothers with brothers or children with their parents in a well-governed family, they settled their controversies by persuasion and reason and never allowed themselves to commit any irreparable or wicked deeds against one another, such as the Corcyraeans committed at the time of their sedition, and also the Argives, the Milesians, and all Sicily, as well as many other states. For these reasons, therefore, I have chosen to make my narration accurate rather than brief; but let everyone judge of the matter as he thinks fit.

  [1] τότε δ᾽ οὖν τῆς δίκης τοῦτο λαβούσης τὸ τέλος ὁ μὲν δῆμος ἀπελύετο προσειληφὼς ἀνόητον αὔχημα καὶ καθῃρηκέναι τὴν ἀριστοκρατίαν οἰόμενος, οἱ δὲ πατρίκιοι κατηφεῖς τε καὶ ταπεινοὶ καὶ δι᾽ αἰτίας [p. 106] ἔχοντες τὸν Οὐαλέριον, ὑφ᾽ οὗ πεισθέντες ἐπέτρεψαν τῷ δήμῳ τὴν δίκην: ἦν τ᾽ οἰμωγὴ καὶ δάκρυα τῶν οἰκτειρόντων τε καὶ προπεμπόντων τὸν Μάρκιον.

  [67] On the occasion in question, then, when the trial had resulted as I have related, the populace when dismissed had acquired a spirit of frantic jubilation and thought they had destroyed the aristocracy, whereas the patricians were cast down and dejected, and blamed Valerius, by whose persuasion they had been induced to entrust the trial to the populace; and there were lamentations and tears on the part of those who pitied Marcius and escorted him to his home.

  [2] αὐτὸς δ᾽ ὁ Μάρκιος οὔτ᾽ ἀνακλαυσάμενος ὤφθη τὰς αὑτοῦ τύχας οὔτ᾽ ἀποιμώξας οὔτ᾽ ἄλλο εἰπὼν ἢ δράσας ἀνάξιον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μεγαλοφροσύνης οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν: ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐδήλωσε τὴν γενναιότητα καὶ τὴν καρτερίαν τῆς γνώμης, ἐπειδὴ οἴκαδε ἀφικόμενος γυναῖκά τ᾽ εἶδε καὶ μητέρα καταρρηγνυμένας τοὺς πέπλους καὶ τὰ στέρνα τυπτούσας καὶ οἷα εἰκός ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοιαύταις συμφοραῖς λέγειν τὰς ἀποζευγνυμένας ἀπὸ τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων σφίσι θανάτοις ἢ φυγαῖς ἀναβοώσας.

  [2] But Marcius himself was not seen either to bewail or to lament his own fate or to say or do the least thing unworthy of his greatness of soul; and he showed still greater nobility and resolution when he reached home and saw his wife and mother rending their robes, beating their breasts, and uttering the lamentations natural in such calamities to women who are being separated from their dearest relations by death or banishment.

  [3] οὐθὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὰ δάκρυα καὶ τοὺς θρήνους τῶν γυναικῶν ἔπαθεν, ἀσπασάμενος δ᾽ αὐτὰς μόνον, καὶ παρακαλέσας γενναίως φέρειν τὰς συμφοράς, τούς τε παῖδας αὐταῖς παρακαταθέμενος: ὁ γὰρ πρεσβύτερος τῶν παίδων ἦν δέκα γεγονὼς ἔτη, ὁ δὲ νεώτερος ἔτι ὑπαγκάλιος: ἄλλο δ᾽ οὐθὲν οὔτε φιλοφρονησάμενος οὔτε διοικησάμενος οἷς εἰς τὴν φυγὴν χρήσεσθαι ἔμελλεν, ἐξῄει κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας οὐθενὶ δηλώσας, ὅποι τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν ποιήσοιτο.

  [3] For he was not moved at all by the tears and lamentations of the women, but merely saluted them and exhorted them to bear their misfortunes with firmness; then, recommending his sons to them (the elder son was ten years old and the younger still a child in arms) and without showing any other mark of tenderness or making provision for what would be needed in his banishment, he departed in haste to the gates of the city, informing no one to what place he proposed to retire.

  [1] ὀλίγαις δ᾽ ὕστερον ἡμέραις καθῆκε μὲν ὁ τῶν ἀρχαιρεσιῶν καιρός, ὕπατοι δ᾽ ἀπεδείχθησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου Κόιντος Σουλπίκιος Καμερῖνος καὶ Σέργιος [p. 107] Λάρκιος Φλαύιος τὸ δεύτερον. ταραχαὶ δέ τινες ἐνέπιπτον ἐκ δειμάτων δαιμονίων τῇ πόλει συχναί: ὄψεις τε γὰρ οὐκ εἰωθυῖαι ἐφαίνοντο πολλοῖς, καὶ φωναὶ ἠκούοντο οὐδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ φθεγγομένου, γοναί τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων καὶ βοσκημάτων πολὺ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἐκβεβηκυῖαι εἰς τὸ ἄπιστόν τε καὶ τερατῶδες ἐφέροντο, χρησμοί τ᾽ ᾔδοντο ἐν πολλοῖς χωρίοις, καὶ θειασμοῖς κάτοχοι γυναῖκες οἰκτρὰς ἐμαντεύοντο καὶ δεινὰς τῇ

  [68.1] A few days after this the time came for the election of magistrates, and Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus and Spurius Larcius Flavus were chosen consuls by the people, the latter for the second time. Sundry disturbances fell upon the commonwealth as the result of prodigies, and these were many; for unusual sights appeared to many, and voices too were heard, though no one uttered them; births of children and cattle, so very abnormal as to approach the incredible and the monstrous, were reported; oracles were uttered in many places; and women possessed with a divine frenzy foretold lamentable and dreadful misfortunes to the commonwealth.

  [2] πόλει τύχας. ἥψατο δέ τις καὶ νόσος τοῦ πλήθους λοιμικὴ καὶ πολλὴν ἐποίησε βοσκημάτων φθοράν: ἀνθρώπων μέντοι θάνατος οὐ πολὺς ἐγένετο, ἀλλ᾽ ἄχρι νόσων τὸ δεινὸν ἐχώρησεν: τοῖς μὲν δὴ ταῦτ᾽ ἐδόκει κατὰ θεοῦ γενέσθαι γνώμην νεμεσῶντος, ὅτι τὸν ἄριστον τῶν πολιτῶν ἐξήλασαν τῆς πατρίδος, τοῖς δ᾽ οὐθὲν τῶν γινομένων θεοῦ ἔργον, ἀλλὰ τυχηρὰ καὶ

  [2] A kind of pestilence also visited the population and destroyed great numbers of cattle; however, not many persons died of it, the mischief going no farther than sickness. Some thought that these things had occurred by the will of H
eaven, which was angry with them for having banished from the country the most deserving of all their citizens, while others held that nothing that took place was the work of Heaven, but that both these and all other human events were due to chance.

  [3] ταῦτα καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ἀνθρώπεια εἶναι πάθη. ἔπειθ᾽ ἧκέ τις ἐπὶ τὸ συνέδριον τῆς βουλῆς ἄρρωστος ἐπὶ κλινιδίου κομιζόμενος, Τῖτος Λατίνιος ὄνομα, πρεσβύτερός τ᾽ ἀνὴρ καὶ οὐσίας ἱκανῆς κύριος, αὐτουργὸς δὲ καὶ τὸν πλείω χρόνον τοῦ βίου ζῶν ἐν ἀγρῷ. οὗτος εἰς τὴν βουλὴν ἐνεχθεὶς ἔφη δόξαι καθ᾽ ὕπνον ἐπιστάντα τὸν Καπιτώλιον Δία λέγειν αὐτῷ: ἴθι, Λατίνιε, καὶ λέγε τοῖς πολίταις, ὅτι μοι τῆς νεωστὶ πομπῆς τὸν ἡγούμενον ὀρχηστὴν οὐ καλὸν ἔδωκαν, ἵν᾽ ἀναθῶνται τὰς ἑορτὰς καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἑτέρας ἐπιτελέσωσιν: οὐ γὰρ [p. 108]

  [3] Afterwards, a certain man named Titus Latinius, being ill, was brought to the senate-chamber in a litter; he was a man advanced in years and possessed of a competent fortune, a farmer who did his own work and passed the greater part of his life in the country. This man, having been carried into the senate, said that Jupiter Capitolinus had, as he thought, appeared to him in a dream and said to him: “Go, Latinius, and tell your fellow-citizens that in the recent procession they did not give me an acceptable leader of the dance, in order that they may renew the rites and perform them over again; for I have not accepted these.”

  [4] δέδεγμαι ταύτας. αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ὕπνων ἔφησεν ἀνστὰς παρ᾽ οὐδὲν ἡγήσασθαι τὸ ὄναρ, ἀλλ᾽ ἕν τι τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ἀπατηλῶν ὑπολαβεῖν. ἔπειτ᾽ αὐτῷ πάλιν κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ἐπιφανὲν ταὐτὸ εἴδωλον τοῦ θεοῦ χαλεπαίνειν τε καὶ ἀγανακτεῖν, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπήγγειλε πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν τὰ κελευσθέντα, καὶ ἀπειλεῖν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο δράσει διὰ ταχέων, ὅτι σὺν μεγάλῳ μαθήσεται κακῷ μὴ ὀλιγωρεῖν τῶν δαιμονίων. ἰδὼν δὲ καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ὄναρ, τὴν αὐτὴν ἔφη ποιήσασθαι περὶ αὐτοῦ δόξαν, καὶ ἅμα δι᾽ αἰσχύνης ἔχειν τὸ πρᾶγμα λαβεῖν, ἀνὴρ αὐτουργὸς καὶ γέρων ὀνείρατα πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν ἐκφέρειν ὀττείας καὶ δειμάτων μεστά, μὴ καὶ γέλωτα ὄφλῃ.