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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [72.1] Before beginning the games the principal magistrates conducted a procession in honour of the gods from the Capitol through the Forum to the Circus Maximus. Those who led the procession were, first, the Romans’ sons who were nearing manhood and were of an age to bear a part in this ceremony, who rode on horseback if their fathers were entitled by their fortunes to be knights, while the others, who were destined to serve in the infantry, went on foot, the former in squadrons and troops, and the latter in divisions and companies, as if they were going to school; this was done in order that strangers might see the number and beauty of the youths of the commonwealth who were approaching manhood.

  [2] κάλλος οἵα τις ἦν. τούτοις ἠκολούθουν ἡνίοχοι τὰ τέθριππά τε καὶ τὰς συνωρίδας καὶ τοὺς ἀζεύκτους ἵππους ἐλαύνοντες: μεθ᾽ οὓς οἱ τῶν ἀθλημάτων ἀγωνισταὶ τῶν τε κούφων καὶ τῶν βαρέων τὸ μὲν ἄλλο σῶμα γυμνοί, τὸ δὲ περὶ τὴν αἰδῶ καλυπτόμενοι. τοῦτο καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ τὸ ἔθος ἐν Ῥώμῃ διέμενεν, ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐγίνετο παρ᾽ Ἕλλησιν: ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἑλλάδι καταλέλυται Λακεδαιμονίων αὐτὸ καταλυσάντων.

  [2] These were followed by charioteers, some of whom drove four horses abreast, some two, and others rode unyoked horses. After them came the contestants in both the light and the heavy games, their whole bodies naked except their loins. This custom continued even to my time at Rome, as it was originally practised by the Greeks; but it is now abolished in Greece, the Lacedaemonians having put an end to it.

  [3] ὁ δὲ πρῶτος ἐπιχειρήσας ἀποδυθῆναι τὸ σῶμα καὶ γυμνὸς Ὀλυμπίασι δραμὼν ἐπὶ τῆς πεντεκαιδεκάτης ὀλυμπιάδος Ἄκανθος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ἦν. τὰ δὲ πρὸ τούτων δι᾽ αἰσχύνης εἶχον ἅπαντες Ἕλληνες ὅλα γυμνὰ φαίνειν ἐν ταῖς ἀγωνίαις τὰ σώματα, ὡς Ὅμηρος τεκμηριοῖ, μαρτύρων ἀξιοπιστότατός τε καὶ ἀρχαιότατος ὢν ζωννυμένους τοὺς ἥρωας ποιῶν. τὴν γοῦν Αἴαντος καὶ Ὀδυσσέως πάλην ἐπὶ τῇ Πατρόκλου ταφῇ γενομένην ἀφηγούμενός φησι:

  τὼ δὲ ζωσαμένω βήτην ἐς μέσσον ἀγῶνα:

  [p. 114]

  [3] The first man who undertook to strip and ran naked at Olympia, at the fifteenth Olympiad, was Acanthus the Lacedaemonian. Before that time, it seems, all the Greeks had been ashamed to appear entirely naked in the games, as Homer, the most credible and the most ancient of all witnesses, shows when he represents the heroes as girding up their loins. At any rate, when he is describing the wrestling-match of Aias and Odysseus at the funeral of Patroclus, he says:

  And then the twain with loins well girt stepped forth

  Into the lists.

  [4] καὶ ἔτι σαφέστερον ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ τοῦτο ποιεῖ φανερὸν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἴρου καὶ Ὀδυσσέως πυγμῆς ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς ἔπεσιν:

  ὥς ἔφαθ᾽: οἱ δ᾽ ἄρα πάντες ἐπῄνεον: αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς

  ζώσατο μὲν ῥάκεσιν περὶ μήδεα, φαῖνε δὲ μηροὺς

  καλούς τε μεγάλους τε. φάνεν δέ οἱ εὐρέες ὦμοι

  στήθεά τε στιβαροί τε βραχίονες.

  τὸν δὲ πτωχὸν οὐκέτι βουλόμενον μάχεσθαι, ἀλλ᾽ ἀποδειλιῶντα εἰσάγων τάδε εἴρηκεν:

  ὡς ἂρ ἔφαν: Ἴρῳ δὲ κακῶς ὠρίνετο θυμός:

  ἀλλὰ καὶ ὣς μνηστῆρες ἄγον ζώσαντες ἀνάγκῃ.

  τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἔθος ἀρχαῖον ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὂν οἱ φυλάττοντες μέχρι τοῦδε Ῥωμαῖοι δῆλοί εἰσιν οὐ προσμαθόντες παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ὕστερον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ μεταθέμενοι σὺν χρόνῳ καθάπερ ἡμεῖς.

  [4] And he makes this still plainer in the Odyssey upon the occasion of the boxing-match between Irus and Odysseus, in these verses:

  He spake, and all approved; Odysseus then

  His rags girt round his loins, and showed his thighs

  So fair and stout; broad shoulders too and chest

  And brawny arms there stood revealed.

  And when he introduces the beggar as no longer willing to engage but declining the combat through fear, he says:

  They spake, and Irus’ heart was sorely stirred;

  Yet even so the suitors girt his loins

  By force and led him forward.

  Thus it is plain that the Romans, who preserve this ancient Greek custom to this day, did not learn it from us afterwards nor even change it in the course of time, as we have done.

  [5] ἠκολούθουν δὲ τοῖς ἀγωνισταῖς ὀρχηστῶν χοροὶ πολλοὶ τριχῇ νενεμημένοι, πρῶτοι μὲν ἀνδρῶν, δεύτεροι δ᾽ ἀγενείων, τελευταῖοι δὲ παίδων, οἷς παρηκολούθουν αὐληταί τ᾽ ἀρχαϊκοῖς ἐμφυσῶντες αὐλίσκοις βραχέσιν, ὡς καὶ εἰς τόδε χρόνου γίνεται, καὶ κιθαρισταὶ λύρας ἑπταχόρδους ἐλεφαντίνας καὶ τὰ καλούμενα βάρβιτα κρέκοντες. ὧν παρὰ μὲν Ἕλλησιν ἐκλέλοιπεν ἡ χρῆσις ἐπ᾽ ἐμοῦ πάτριος οὖσα: παρὰ δὲ Ῥωμαίοις ἐν ἁπάσαις φυλάττεται ταῖς ἀρχαίαις θυηπολίαις.

  [5] The contestants were followed by numerous bands of dancers arranged in three divisions, the first consisting of men, the second of youths, and the third of boys. These were accompanied by flute-players, who used ancient flutes that were small and short, as is done even to this day, and by lyre-players, who plucked ivory lyres of seven strings and the instruments called barbita. The use of these has ceased in my time among the Greeks, though traditional with them, but is preserved by the Romans in all their ancient sacrificial ceremonies.

  [6] σκευαὶ δὲ τῶν ὀρχηστῶν ἦσαν χιτῶνες φοινίκεοι ζωστῆρσι χαλκέοις ἐσφιγμένοι, καὶ ξίφη παρηρτημένα, [p. 115] καὶ λόγχαι βραχύτεραι τῶν μετρίων: τοῖς δ᾽ ἀνδράσι καὶ κράνη χάλκεα λόφοις ἐπισήμοις κεκοσμημένα καὶ πτεροῖς. ἡγεῖτο δὲ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον χορὸν εἷς ἀνήρ, ὃς ἐνεδίδου τοῖς ἄλλοις τὰ τῆς ὀρχήσεως σχήματα, πρῶτος εἰδοφορῶν τὰς πολεμικὰς καὶ συντόνους κινήσεις ἐν τοῖς προκελευσματικοῖς ὡς τὰ πολλὰ ῥυθμοῖς.

  [6] The dancers were dressed in scarlet tunics girded with bronze cinctures, wore swords suspended at their sides, and carried spears of shorter than average length; the men also had bronze helmets adorned with conspicuous crests and plumes. Each group was led by one man who gave the figures of the dance to the rest, taking the lead in representing their warlike and rapid movements, usually in the proceleusmatic rhythms.

  [7] Ἑλληνικὸν δ᾽ ἄρα καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἦν ἐν τοῖς πάνυ παλαιὸν ἐπιτήδευμα, ἐνόπλιος ὄρχησις ἡ καλουμένη πυρρίχη, εἴτ᾽ Ἀθηνᾶς πρώτης ἐπὶ Τιτάνων ἀφανισμῷ χορεύειν καὶ ὀρχεῖσθαι σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις τἀπινίκια ὑπὸ χαρᾶς ἀρξαμένης, εἴτε παλαίτερον ἔτι �
�ουρήτων αὐτὴν καταστησαμένων, ὅτε τὸν Δία τιθηνούμενοι θέλγειν ἐβούλοντο κτύπῳ τε ὅπλων καὶ κινήσει μελῶν ἐνρύθμῳ καθάπερ ὁ μῦθος ἔχει.

  [7] This also was in fact a very ancient Greek institution — I mean the armed dance called the Pyrrhic — whether it was Athena who first began to lead bands of dancers and to dance in arms over the destruction of the Titans in order to celebrate the victory by this manifestation of her joy, or whether it was the Curetes who introduced it still earlier when, acting as nurses to Zeus, they strove to amuse him by the clashing of arms and the rhythmic movements of their limbs, as the legend has it.

  [8] δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τούτου τὴν ἀρχαιότητα ὡς ἐπιχωρίου τοῖς Ἕλλησιν Ὅμηρος πολλαχῇ μὲν καὶ ἄλλῃ, μάλιστα δ᾽ ἐν ἀσπίδος κατασκευῇ, ἣν Ἀχιλλεῖ δωρήσασθαί φησιν Ἥφαιστον. ὑποθέμενος γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ δύο πόλεις τὴν μὲν εἰρήνῃ κοσμουμένην, τὴν δὲ πολέμῳ κακοπαθοῦσαν, ἐν ᾗ τὴν ἀμείνω καθίστησι τύχην ἑορτὰς ποιῶν καὶ γάμους καὶ θαλίας ὥσπερ εἰκὸς καὶ ταῦτα λέγει:

  κοῦροι δ᾽ ὀρχηστῆρες ἐδίνεον: ἐν δ᾽ ἄρα τοῖσιν

  αὐλοὶ φόρμιγγές τε βοὴν ἔχον: αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες

  ἱστάμεναι θαύμαζον ἐπὶ προθύροισιν ἑκάστη.

  [p. 116]

  [8] The antiquity of this dance also, as one native to the Greeks, is made clear by Homer, not only in many other places, but particularly in describing the fashioning of the shield which he says Hephaestus presented to Achilles. For, having represented on it two cities, one blessed with peace, the other suffering from war, in the one on which he bestows the happier fate, describing festivals, marriages, and merriment, as one would naturally expect, he says among other things:

  Youths whirled around in joyous dance, with sound

  Of flute and harp; and, standing at their doors,

  Admiring women on the pageant gazed.

  [9] καὶ αὖθις ἕτερον ἐν αὐτῇ λέγων διακεκοσμῆσθαι Κρητικὸν ἠιθέων τε καὶ παρθένων χορὸν ὧδε εἴρηκεν:

  ἐν δὲ χορὸν ποίκιλλε περικλυτὸς ἀμφιγυήεις,

  τῷ ἴκελον οἷόν ποτ᾽ ἐνὶ Κνωσσῷ εὐρείῃ

  Δαίδαλος ἤσκησεν καλλιπλοκάμῳ Ἀριάδνῃ.

  ἔνθα μὲν ἠίθεοι καὶ παρθένοι ἀλφεσίβοιαι

  ὠρχεῦντ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἐπὶ καρπῷ χεῖρας ἔχουσαι.

  κόσμον τ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀφηγούμενος, ἵνα δῆλον ἡμῖν ποιήσειεν, ὅτι ἡ τῶν ἀρρένων κίνησις ἐνόπλιος ἦν, τάδε λέγει:

  καί ῥ᾽ αἱ μὲν καλὰς στεφάνας ἔχον, οἱ δὲ μαχαίρας

  εἶχον χρυσείας ἐξ ἀργυρέων τελαμώνων.

  ἡγεμόνας τε τῆς ὀρχήσεως αὐτῶν τοὺς ἐνδιδόντας τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ προκαταρχομένους εἰσάγων τοιάδε γράφει:

  πολλὸς δ᾽ ἱμερόεντα χορὸν περιΐσταθ᾽ ὅμιλος

  τερπόμενοι: δοιὼ δὲ κυβιστητῆρε κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς

  μολπῆς ἐξάρχοντες ἐδίνευον κατὰ μέσσους.

  [9] And again, in describing another Cretan band of dancers, classing of youths and maidens, with which the shield was adorned, he speaks in this manner:

  And on it, too, the famous craftsman wrought,

  With cunning workmanship, a dancing-floor,

  Like that which Daedalus in Cnossus wide

  For fair-haired Ariadnê shaped. And there

  Bright youths and many-suitored maidens danced

  While laying each on other’s wrists their hands.

  And in describing the dress of these dancers, in order to show us that the males danced in arms, he says:

  The maidens garlands wore, the striplings swords

  Of gold, which proudly hung from silver belts.

  And when he introduces the leaders of the dance who gave the rhythm to the rest and began it, he writes:

  And great the throng which stood about the dance,

  Enjoying it; and tumblers twain did whirl

  Amid the throng as prelude to the song.

  [10] οὐ μόνον δ᾽ ἐκ τῆς ἐναγωνίου τε καὶ κατεσπουδασμένης ὀρχήσεως τῶν χορῶν, ᾗ παρὰ τὰς θυηπολίας τε καὶ πομπὰς ἐχρῶντο Ῥωμαῖοι, τὸ συγγενὲς ἄν τις αὐτῶν τὸ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἴδοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῆς κερτόμου καὶ τωθαστικῆς. μετὰ γὰρ τοὺς ἐνοπλίους χοροὺς οἱ τῶν σατυριστῶν ἐπόμπευον χοροὶ τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν εἰδοφοροῦντες σίκιννιν. σκευαὶ δ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἦσαν τοῖς μὲν εἰς Σιληνοὺς εἰκασθεῖσι μαλλωτοὶ χιτῶνες, οὓς ἔνιοι χορταίους καλοῦσι, καὶ περιβόλαια ἐκ παντὸς [p. 117] ἄνθους: τοῖς δ᾽ εἰς Σατύρους περιζώματα καὶ δοραὶ τράγων καὶ ὀρθότριχες ἐπὶ ταῖς κεφαλαῖς φόβαι καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ὅμοια. οὗτοι κατέσκωπτόν τε καὶ κατεμιμοῦντο τὰς σπουδαίας κινήσεις ἐπὶ τὰ γελοιότερα μεταφέροντες.

  [10] But it is not alone from the warlike and serious dance of these bands which the Romans employed in their sacrificial ceremonies and processions that one may observe their kinship to the Greeks, but also from that which is of a mocking and ribald nature. For after the armed dancers others marched in procession impersonating satyrs and portraying the Greek dance called sicinnis. Those who represented Sileni were dressed in shaggy tunics, called by some chortaioi, and in mantles of flowers of every sort; and those who represented satyrs wore girdles and goatskins, and on their heads manes that stood upright, with other things of like nature. These mocked and mimicked the serious movements of the others, turning them into laughter-provoking performances.

  [11] δηλοῦσι δὲ καὶ αἱ τῶν θριάμβων εἴσοδοι παλαιὰν καὶ ἐπιχώριον οὖσαν Ῥωμαίοις τὴν κέρτομον καὶ σατυρικὴν παιδιάν. ἐφεῖται γὰρ τοῖς κατάγουσι τὰς νίκας ἰαμβίζειν τε καὶ κατασκώπτειν τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἄνδρας αὐτοῖς στρατηλάταις, ὡς Ἀθήνησι τοῖς πομπευταῖς τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν ἁμαξῶν πρότερον ἅμα τοῖς σκώμμασι παροχουμένοις, νῦν δὲ ποιήματ᾽ ᾄδουσιν αὐτοσχέδια.

  [11] The triumphal entrances also show that raillery and fun-making in the manner of satyrs were an ancient practice native to the Romans; for the soldiers who take part in the triumphs are allowed to satirise and ridicule the most distinguished men, including even the generals, in the same manner as those who ride in procession in carts at Athens; the soldiers once jested in prose as they clowned, but now they sing improvised verses.

  [12] εἶδον δὲ καὶ ἐν ἀνδρῶν ἐπισήμων ταφαῖς ἅμα ταῖς ἄλλαις πομπαῖς προηγουμένους τῆς κλίνης τοὺς σατυριστῶν χοροὺς κινουμένους τὴν σίκιννιν ὄρχησιν, μάλιστα δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς τῶν �
�ὐδαιμόνων κήδεσιν. ὅτι δ᾽ οὔτε Λιγύων οὔτ᾽ Ὀμβρικῶν οὔτ᾽ ἄλλων τινῶν βαρβάρων τῶν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ κατοικούντων εὕρημα ἡ σατυρικὴ παιδιὰ καὶ ὄρχησις ἦν, ἀλλ᾽ Ἑλλήνων, δέδοικα, μὴ καὶ ὀχληρὸς εἶναί τισι δόξω, λόγοις πλείοσι πιστοῦσθαι ὁμολογούμενον πρᾶγμα βουλόμενος.

  [12] And even at the funerals of illustrious persons I have seen, along with the other participants, bands of dancers impersonating satyrs who preceded the bier and imitated in their motions the dance called sicinnis, and particularly at the funerals of the rich. This jesting and dancing in the manner of satyrs, then, was not the invention either of the Ligurians, of the Umbrians, or of any other barbarians who dwelt in Italy, but of the Greeks; but I fear I should prove tiresome to some of my readers if I endeavoured to confirm by more arguments a thing that is generally conceded.

  [13] μετὰ δὲ τοὺς χοροὺς τούτους κιθαρισταί τ᾽ ἀθρόοι καὶ αὐληταὶ πολλοὶ παρεξῄεσαν: καὶ μετ᾽ αὐτοὺς οἵ τε τὰ θυμιατήρια κομίζοντες, ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἀρώματα καὶ λιβανωτὸς παρ᾽ ὅλην ὁδὸν ἐθυμιᾶτο, καὶ οἱ τὰ πομπεῖα παραφέροντες ἀργυρίου καὶ χρυσίου πεποιημένα τά τε ἱερὰ καὶ τὰ δημόσια. τελευταῖα δὲ πάντων αἱ τῶν [p. 118] θεῶν εἰκόνες ἐπόμπευον ὤμοις ὑπ᾽ ἀνδρῶν φερόμεναι, μορφάς θ᾽ ὁμοίας παρέχουσαι ταῖς παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι πλαττομέναις καὶ σκευὰς καὶ σύμβολα καὶ δωρεάς, ὧν εὑρεταὶ καὶ δοτῆρες ἀνθρώποις ἕκαστοι παραδίδονται, οὐ μόνον Διὸς καὶ Ἥρας καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ Ποσειδῶνος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οὓς Ἕλληνες ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα θεοῖς καταριθμοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν προγενεστέρων, ἐξ ὧν οἱ δώδεκα θεοὶ μυθολογοῦνται γενέσθαι, Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας καὶ Θέμιδος καὶ Λητοῦς καὶ Μοιρῶν καὶ Μνημοσύνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, ὅσων ἐστὶν ἱερὰ καὶ τεμένη παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι: καὶ τῶν ὕστερον, ἀφ᾽ οὗ τὴν ἀρχὴν Ζεὺς παρέλαβε, μυθολογουμένων γενέσθαι, Περσεφόνης Εἰλειθυίας Νυμφῶν Μουσῶν Ὡρῶν Χαρίτων Διονύσου, καὶ ὅσων ἡμιθέων γενομένων αἱ ψυχαὶ τὰ θνητὰ ἀπολιποῦσαι σώματα εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνελθεῖν λέγονται, καὶ τιμὰς λαχεῖν ὁμοίας θεοῖς, Ἡρακλέους Ἀσκληπιοῦ Διοσκούρων Σελήνης Πανὸς ἄλλων μυρίων.