[13] After these bands of dancers came a throng of lyre-players and many flute-players, and after them the persons who carried the censers in which perfumes and frankincense were burned along the whole route of the procession, also the men who bore the show-vessels made of silver and gold, both those that were sacred owing to the gods and those that belonged to the state. Last of all in the procession came the images of the gods, borne on men’s shoulders, showing the same likenesses as those made by the Greeks and having the same dress, the same symbols, and the same gifts which tradition says each of them invented and bestowed on mankind. These were the images not only of Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Neptune, and of the rest whom the Greeks reckon among the twelve gods, but also of the son of still more ancient from whom legend says the twelve were sprung, namely, Saturn, Ops, Themis, Latona, the Parcae, Mnemosynê, and all the rest to whom temples and holy places are dedicated among the Greeks; and also of those whom legend represents as living later, after Jupiter took over the sovereignty, such as Proserpina, Lucina, the Nymphs, the Muses, the Seasons, the Graces, Liber, and the demigods whose souls after they had left their mortal bodies are said to have ascended to Heaven and to have obtained the same honours as the gods, such as Hercules, Aesculapius, Castor and Pollux, Helen, Pan, and countless others.
[14] καίτοι εἰ βάρβαροι ἦσαν οἱ τὴν Ῥώμην οἰκίσαντες καὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν ταύτην καταστησάμενοι, τί προσῆκεν αὐτοῖς τοὺς μὲν Ἑλληνικοὺς ἅπαντας σέβειν θεούς τε καὶ δαίμονας, τῶν δὲ πατρίων ὑπερορᾶν; ἢ δειξάτω τις ἡμῖν ἔξω τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ φῦλον ἕτερον, ᾧ πάτριά ἐστι ταῦτα τὰ ἱερά, καὶ τότε διαβαλλέτω ταύτην τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ὡς οὐχ ὑγιῆ.
[14] Yet if those who founded Rome and instituted this festival were barbarians, how could they properly worship all the gods and other divinities of the Greeks and scorn their own ancestral gods? Or let someone show us any other people besides the Greeks among whom these rites are traditional, and then let him censure this demonstration as unsound.
[15] συντελεσθείσης δὲ τῆς πομπῆς ἐβουθύτουν εὐθὺς οἵ θ᾽ ὕπατοι καὶ τῶν ἱερέων οἷς ὅσιον, καὶ ὁ τῶν θυηπολιῶν τρόπος ὁ αὐτὸς ἦν τῷ [p. 119] παρ᾽ ἡμῖν. χερνιψάμενοί τε γὰρ αὐτοὶ καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ καθαρῷ περιαγνίσαντες ὕδατι καὶ Δημητρίους καρποὺς ἐπιρράναντες αὐτῶν ταῖς κεφαλαῖς, ἔπειτα κατευξάμενοι, θύειν τότε τοῖς ὑπηρέταις αὐτὰ ἐκέλευον. τῶν δ᾽ οἱ μὲν ἑστῶτος ἔτι τοῦ θύματος σκυτάλῃ τοὺς κροτάφους ἔπαιον, οἱ δὲ πίπτοντος ὑπετίθεσαν τὰς σφαγίδας, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο δείραντές τε καὶ μελίσαντες ἀπαρχὰς ἐλάμβανον ἐξ ἑκάστου σπλάγχνου καὶ παντὸς ἄλλου μέλους, ἃς ἀλφίτοις ζέας ἀναδεύσαντες προσέφερον τοῖς θύουσιν ἐπὶ κανῶν: οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς ἐπιθέντες ὑφῆπτον καὶ προσέσπενδον οἶνον κατὰ
[15] After the procession was ended the consuls and the priests whose function it was presently sacrificed oxen; and the manner of performing the sacrifices was the same as with us. For after washing their hands they purified the victims with clear water and sprinkled corn on their heads, after which they prayed and then gave orders to their assistants to sacrifice them. Some of these assistants, while the victim was still standing, struck it on the temple with a club, and others received it upon the sacrificial knives as it fell. After this they flayed it and cut it up, taking off a piece from each of the inwards and also from every limb as a first-offering, which they sprinkled with grits of spelt and carried in baskets to the officiating priests. These placed them on the altars, and making a fire under them, poured wine over them while they were burning.
[16] τῶν ἁγνιζομένων. ἕκαστον δ᾽ ὅτι κατὰ νόμους ἐγίνετο τοὺς ἀμφὶ θυσίαν ὑφ᾽ Ἑλλήνων κατασταθέντας, ἐκ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως γνῶναι ῥᾴδιον. καὶ γὰρ χερνιπτομένους εἰσάγει τοὺς ἥρωας καὶ οὐλαῖς χρωμένους ἐν οἷς φησι:
χερνίψαντο δ᾽ ἔπειτα καὶ οὐλοχύτας ἀνέλοντο.
τριχοτομοῦντάς τ᾽ ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὰς τρίχας καὶ τιθέντας ἐπὶ τὸ πῦρ ὧδε γράφων:
ἀλλ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἀπαρχόμενος κεφαλῆς τρίχας ἐν πυρὶ βάλλε.
σκυτάλαις τε παίοντας τὰ μέτωπα τῶν ἱερείων καὶ τὰ πεσόντα θύοντας, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐμαίου ποιεῖ θυσίας:
κόψε δ᾽ ἀπαρχόμενος σχίζῃ δρυός, ἣν λίπε κείων.
τὸν δ᾽ ἔλιπε ψυχή: τοὶ δ᾽ ἔσφαξάν τε καὶ εὗσαν.
[16] It is easy to see from Homer’s poems that every one of these ceremonies was performed according to the customs established by the Greeks with reference to sacrifices. For he introduces the heroes washing their hands and using barley grits, where he said:
Then washed their hands and took up barley-grains.
And also cutting off the hair from the head of the victim and placing it on the fire, writing thus:
And he, the rite beginning, cast some hairs,
Plucked from the victim’s head, upon the fire.
He also represents them as striking the foreheads of the victims with clubs and stabbing them when they had fallen, as at the sacrifice of Eumaeus:
Beginning then the rite, with limb of oak —
One he had left when cleaving wood — he smote
The boar, which straightway yielded up his life;
And next his throat they cut and singed his hide.
[17] ἀπαρχάς τ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν σπλάγχνων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων [p. 120] λαμβάνοντας μελῶν, καὶ ταύτας ἀλφίτοις δεύοντας καὶ καθαγίζοντας ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ποιεῖ θυσίας:
ὁ δ᾽ ὠμοθετεῖτο συβώτης,
πάντοθεν ἀρχόμενος μελέων ἐς πίονα δημόν:
καὶ τὰ μὲν πυρὶ βάλλε παλύνας ἀλφίτου ἀκτῇ.
[17] And also at taking the first offerings from the inwards and from the limbs as well and sprinkling them with barley-meal and burning them upon the altars, as at that same sacrifice:
Then made the swineherd slices of raw meat,
Beginning with a cut from every limb,
And wrapping them in rich fat, cast them all
Upon the fire, first sprinkling barley-meal.
[18] ταῦτα δὲ Ῥωμαίους ἔτι καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πράττοντας ἐπὶ ταῖς θυσίαις ἰδὼν ἐπίσταμαι: καὶ μιᾷ πίστει τῇδε ἀρκούμενος οὐ βαρβάρους ἐπείσθην εἶναι τοὺς οἰκιστὰς τῆς Ῥώμης, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ πολλῶν τόπων συνεληλυθότας Ἕλληνας. ὀλίγα μὲν γὰρ ἐπιτηδεύματα περὶ θυσίας τε καὶ ἑορτὰς ὁμοίως Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάρους τινὰς ἐπιτελεῖν ἐνδέχεται, πάντα δὲ ταὐτὰ πράττειν ἀπίθανον.
[18] These rites I am acquainted with from having seen the Romans perform them at their sacrifices even in my time; and contented with this single proof, I have be
come convinced that the founders of Rome were not barbarians, but Greeks who had come together out of many places. It is possible, indeed, that some barbarians also may observe a few customs relating to sacrifices and festivals in the same manner as the Greeks, but that they should do everything in the same way is hard to believe.
[1] λοιπὸν δ᾽ ἔτι μοι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀγώνων, οὓς μετὰ τὴν πομπὴν ἐπετέλουν, ὀλίγα διελθεῖν. πρῶτος ὁ τῶν τεθρίππων τε καὶ συνωρίδων καὶ τῶν ἀζεύκτων ἵππων ἐγίνετο δρόμος, ὡς παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι τὸ
[73] It now remains for me to give a brief account of the games which the Romans performed after the procession. The first was a race of four-horse chariots, two-horse chariots, and of unyoked horses, as has been the custom among the Greeks, both anciently at Olympia and down to the present.
[2] ἀρχαῖον Ὀλυμπίασί τε καὶ μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος. ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἱππικαῖς ἁμίλλαις ἐπιτηδεύματα δύο τῶν πάνυ παλαιῶν ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐνομοθετήθη φυλαττόμενα ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων μέχρι τῶν κατ᾽ ἐμὲ διάκειται χρόνων, τό τε περὶ τὰ τρίπωλα τῶν ἁρμάτων, ὃ παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι μὲν ἐκλέλοιπεν, ἀρχαῖον ὄν ἐπιτήδευμα καὶ ἡρωικόν, ᾧ ποιεῖ τοὺς Ἕλληνας Ὅμηρος ἐν ταῖς μάχαις χρωμένους: [p. 121] δυσὶ γὰρ ἵπποις ἐζευγμένοις, ὃν τρόπον ζεύγνυται συνωρίς, τρίτος παρείπετο σειραῖος ἵππος ῥυτῆρι συνεχόμενος, ὃν ἀπὸ τοῦ παρῃωρῆσθαί τε καὶ μὴ συνεζεῦχθαι παρῄορον ἐκάλουν οἱ παλαιοί: ἕτερον δὲ παρ᾽ ὀλίγαις ἔτι φυλαττόμενον πόλεσιν Ἑλληνίσιν ἐν ἱερουργίαις τισὶν ἀρχαϊκαῖς, ὁ τῶν παρεμβεβηκότων τοῖς ἅρμασι δρόμος.
[2] In the chariot races two very ancient customs continue to be observed by the Romans down to my time in the same manner as they were first instituted. The first relates to the chariots drawn by three horses, a custom now fallen into disuse among the Greeks, though it was an ancient institution of heroic times which Homer represents the Greeks as using in battle. For running beside two horses yoked together in the same manner as in the case of a two-horse chariot was a third horse attached by a trace; this trace-horse the ancients called parêoros or “outrunner,” because he was “hitched beside” and not yoked to the others. The other custom is the race run by those who have ridden in the chariots, a race which is still performed in a few Greek states upon the occasion of some ancient sacrifices.
[3] ὅταν γὰρ τέλος αἱ τῶν ἱππέων ἅμιλλαι λάβωνται, ἀποπηδῶντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἁρμάτων οἱ παροχούμενοι τοῖς ἡνιόχοις, οὓς οἱ ποιηταὶ μὲν παραβάτας, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καλοῦσιν ἀποβάτας, τὸν σταδιαῖον ἁμιλλῶνται δρόμον αὐτοὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους. τελεσθέντων δὲ τῶν ἱππικῶν δρόμων οἱ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν σώμασιν ἀγωνιζόμενοι τότ᾽ εἰσῄεσαν δρομεῖς τε καὶ πύκται καὶ παλαισταί. τρία γὰρ ἀθλήματα παρὰ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις Ἕλλησι ταῦτ᾽ ἦν, ὡς Ὅμηρος ἐπὶ τῇ Πατρόκλου δηλοῖ ταφῇ.
[3] For after the chariot races are ended, those who have ridden with the charioteers, whom the poets call parabatai and the Athenians apobatai, leap down from their chariots and run a race with one another the length of the stadium. And after the chariot races were over, those who contended in their own persons entered the lists, that is, runners, boxers, and wrestlers; for these three contests were in use among the ancient Greeks, as Homer shows in describing the funeral of Patroclus.
[4] ἐν δὲ τοῖς διὰ μέσου τῶν ἀθλημάτων χρόνοις Ἑλληνικώτατον καὶ κράτιστον ἁπάντων ἐθῶν ἀπεδείκνυντο, στεφανώσεις καὶ ἀναρρήσεις ποιούμενοι τιμῶν, αἷς ἐτίμων τοὺς ἑαυτῶν εὐεργέτας, ὡς Ἀθήνησιν ἐν ταῖς Διονυσιακαῖς ἐγίνετο θυσίαις, καὶ σκύλων, ὅσων ἐκ πολέμων λάβοιεν, ἐπιδείξεις τοῖς εἰς θέαν συνεληλυθόσιν.
[4] And in the intervals between the contests they observed a custom which was typically Greek and the most commendable of all customs, that of awarding crowns and proclaiming the honours with which they rewarded their benefactors, just as was done at Athens during the festivals of Dionysus, and displaying to all who had assembled for the spectacle the spoils they had taken in war.
[5] ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων οὔτε μηθένα ποιήσασθαι λόγον ἀπαιτούσης τῆς ὑποθέσεως καλῶς εἶχεν, οὔτε μηκύνειν πέρα τοῦ δέοντος ἥρμοττε. καιρὸς δ᾽ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπολειπομένην διήγησιν ἐπανάγειν. ὡς γὰρ δὴ τὰ περὶ τὸν ἀπαχθέντα ἐπὶ τιμωρίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ δεσπότου [p. 122] καὶ προηγησάμενον τῆς πομπῆς ἔμαθεν ἡ βουλὴ παρὰ τοῦ τὸ πραχθὲν ἀνανεωσαμένου, τοῦτον ὑπολαβοῦσα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ λέγεσθαι τὸν οὐ καλὸν ἔπαρχον τῶν ὀρχηστῶν, ὥσπερ ἔφην, ἀναζητήσασα τὸν τῷ θεράποντι λωβησάμενον καὶ ζημίαν ἐπιβαλοῦσα, ἧς ἄξιος ἦν, ἑτέραν ἐψηφίσατο τῷ θεῷ πομπὴν ἐπιτελεσθῆναι καὶ ἀγῶνας ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἑτέρους ἀπὸ διπλασίων χρημάτων ἢ πρότερον ἐγένοντο. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐπὶ τούτων συντελεσθέντα τῶν ὑπάτων τοιάδε ἦν.
[5] But as regards these customs, just as it would not have been right to make no mention of them when the subject required it, so it would not be fitting to extend my account farther than is necessary. It is now time to return to the narrative which we interrupted.
After the senate, then, had been informed, by the person who remembered the incident, of the circumstances relating to the slave who had been led to punishment by the order of his master and had gone ahead of the procession, they concluded that this slave was the unacceptable leader of the dancers mentioned by the god, as I have related. And inquiring after the master who had used his slave so cruelly, they imposed a suitable penalty upon him, and ordered another procession to be performed in honour of the god and other games to be exhibited at double the expense of the former.
These were the events of this consulship.
BOOK VIII
[1] οἱ δὲ μετὰ τούτους ἀποδειχθέντες ὕπατοι κατὰ τὴν ἑβδομηκοστὴν καὶ τρίτην ὀλυμπιάδα, καθ᾽ ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Ἀστύλος Κροτωνιάτης ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησιν Ἀγχίσου, Γάιος Ἰούλιος Ἰοῦλος καὶ Πόπλιος Πινάριος Ῥοῦφος, ἄνδρες ἥκιστα πολεμικοὶ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα τῆς ἀρχῆς ταύτης παρὰ τοῦ δήμου τυχόντες, εἰς πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἠναγκάσθησαν κινδύνους καταστῆναι πολέμου καταρραγέντος ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀρχῆς, δι᾽ ὧν ἡ πόλις ὀλίγου ἐδέησεν ἐκ βάθρων ἀναιρεθῆναι.
[1.1] The consuls who were chosen after these were Gaius Julius Iulus and Publius Pinarius Rufus, who entered upon their magistracy in the seventy-third Olympia
d (the one in which Astylus of Croton won the foot-race), when Anchises was archon at Athens. These magistrates, who were not in the least warlike men and for that reason chiefly had obtained the consulship from the people, were involved against their will in many great dangers, a war having broken out as a result of their rule which came near destroying the commonwealth from its foundations.
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 602