[2] For this reason alone those who excel others in prudence — the fruit of a long life and many lessons from experience — think that they ought, before beginning any enterprise whatever, first to consider its possible outcome — not only the one which they desire for themselves, but also the one which will be contrary to their judgement. And this is particularly true of commanders in wars, the more so because the affairs of which they have charge are of greater importance and because everybody imputes to them the responsibility for both victories and defeats. Then, if they find that no loss inheres in failure, or few and small losses, they set about their undertakings, but if the losses might be many and serious, they abandon them.
[3] ἀφίστανται. τοῦτο δὴ καὶ σὺ ποίησον καὶ σκόπει πρὸ τῶν ἔργων, ἐὰν σφαλῇς κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον καὶ μὴ πάντα ὑπάρξῃ, τί συμβήσεταί σοι παθεῖν. δι᾽ αἰτίας μὲν ἔσῃ παρὰ τοῖς ὑποδεξαμένοις, μέμψῃ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς σεαυτόν, ὡς μείζοσιν ἐπιχειρήσας πράγμασιν ἢ δυνατοῖς: στρατιᾶς δ᾽ ἡμετέρας πάλιν ἐκεῖσε ἀφικομένης καὶ φθειρούσης τὴν ἐκείνων γῆν: οὐ γὰρ ἀνεξόμεθα μὴ ἀντιτιμωρούμενοι τοὺς ἄρξαντας ἡμᾶς κακῶς ποιεῖν: δυεῖν οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις θατέρου, ἢ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἐκείνων, οἷς αἴτιος ἔσῃ συμφορῶν μεγάλων, αἰσχρῶς ἀναιρεθῆναι, ἢ πρὸς ἡμῶν, οὓς ἀποκτενῶν τε καὶ
[3] Do you too, then, follow their example, and before you resort to action, consider what it will be your fate to suffer if you fail in this war and all conditions do not favour you. You will be reproached by those who have received you and you will also blame yourself for having undertaken greater things than are possible; and when our army in turn marches into their territory and lays it waste — for we shall never submit to such injuries without avenging ourselves on our aggressors — you will not be able to avoid one of these two fates: you will be put to death in a shameful manner either by those very men, in whose eyes you will be to blame the great misfortunes, or by us, whom you came to slay and to enslave.
[4] δουλωσόμενος ἦλθες. τάχα δ᾽ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι, πρὶν ἐν τῷ παθεῖν τι κακὸν γενέσθαι, διαλύσεις ποιεῖσθαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιχειροῦντες ἔκδοτον ἀξιώσειαν ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ σε παραδιδόναι: ὃ πολλοὶ βάρβαροί τε καὶ Ἕλληνες εἰς τοιαύτας καταστάντες τύχας ἠναγκάσθησαν ὑπομεῖναι. ἆρά γε μικρὰ καὶ οὐκ ἄξια λόγου ταῦτ᾽ εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ καὶ δέον αὐτῶν ὑπεριδεῖν ἢ κακῶν συμπάντων τὰ ἔσχατα παθεῖν; [p. 164]
[4] But perhaps those others, before they become involved in any misfortune, may, in the attempt to effect an accommodation with us, think fit to deliver up to us to be punished — a course to which many, both barbarians and Greeks, have been obliged to submit when reduced to such extremities. Do you look upon these as small matters unworthy of your consideration and believe that you ought to overlook them, or rather as the worst evils of all to suffer?
[1] φέρε, ἐὰν δὲ δὴ κατορθώσῃς, τί τὸ θαυμαστὸν ἔσται σοι καὶ περιμάχητον ἀγαθόν, ἢ τίνας ἐξοίσῃ δόξας; καὶ γὰρ τοῦτ᾽ ἐξέτασον. πρῶτον μὲν τῶν φιλτάτων τε καὶ ἀναγκαιοτάτων ὑπάρξει σοι στερέσθαι σωμάτων, μητρὸς ἀθλίας, ᾗ γενέσεως καὶ τροφῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ἔσχεν ἐπὶ σοὶ πόνων οὐ καλὰς ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδίδως: ἔπειτα γαμετῆς σώφρονος, ἣ διὰ τὸν σὸν πόθον ἐν ἐρημίᾳ καὶ χηρείᾳ κάθηται πᾶσαν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα τὰς σὰς φυγὰς ὀδυρομένη: πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τέκνων δυεῖν, οὓς ἐχρῆν ἀγαθῶν προγόνων ὄντας ἀπογόνους καρποῦσθαι τὰς ἐκείνων τιμὰς εὐδοξοῦντας ἐν εὐτυχούσῃ τῇ πατρίδι.
[28.1] “Come now, if you do succeed, what wonderful, what enviable advantage will be yours, or what glory will you gain? For this also you must consider. In the first place, it will be your fate to be deprived of those who are dearest and nearest of kin to you — of an unhappy mother, to whom you are making no honourable return for your birth and rearing and for all the hardships she underwent on your account; and again, of a faithful wife, who through yearning for you sits in solitude and widowhood, lamenting every day and night your banishment; and furthermore of two sons who ought, being descendants of worthy ancestors, to benefit from their honours by being held in high esteem in a flourishing fatherland.
[2] ὧν ἁπάντων οἰκτρὰς καὶ ἀτυχεῖς ἀναγκασθήσῃ θεωρεῖν καταστροφάς, εἰ τολμήσεις προσάγειν τοῖς τείχεσι τὸν πόλεμον: οὐ γὰρ δὴ φείσονται τῶν σῶν οὐθενὸς οἱ περὶ τῶν σφετέρων κινδυνεύοντες καὶ εἰς τὰ ὅμοια κακῶς ὑπὸ σοῦ πάσχοντες, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς αἰκισμοὺς αὐτῶν δεινοὺς καὶ ὕβρεις ἀνηλεεῖς καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην ἰδέαν προπηλακισμοῦ χωρήσουσιν ὑπὸ τῶν συμφορῶν βιαζόμενοι: καὶ τούτων οὐχ οἱ δρῶντες, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ τὴν ἀνάγκην αὐτοῖς ἐπιτιθεὶς αἴτιος ἔσῃ:
[2] But you will be forced to behold the pitiable and unhappy deaths of all these if you dare to bring the war to our walls. For surely no mercy will be shown to any of your family by those who are in danger of losing their own and are treated by you with the same cruelty. On the contrary, they will proceed to inflict on them dreadful tortures, pitiless indignities and every other kind of abuse, if they are forced thereto by their calamities. And for all these things it will not be those who do them that are to blame, but you, who impose the necessity upon them.
[3] ἡδονὰς μὲν δὴ τοιαύτας καρπώσῃ κατὰ γνώμην χωρήσαντός σοι τοῦδε τοῦ ἔργου, ἔπαινον δὲ καὶ ζῆλον καὶ τιμάς, ὧν ὀρέγεσθαι χρὴ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας, σκόπει ποίας τινάς: μητροκτόνος κεκλήσῃ καὶ παιδοφόνος καὶ γυναικὸς ἀλιτήριος καὶ πατρίδος ἀλάστωρ, καὶ οὔτε θυσιῶν οὔτε σπονδῶν οὔθ᾽ ἑστίας, ὅποι ποτ᾽ [p. 165] ἂν ἀφίκῃ, κοινωνεῖν ἐθελήσει σοι τῶν εὐσεβῶν καὶ δικαίων οὐθείς, αὐτοῖς τ᾽ οὐκ ἔσῃ τίμιος, οἷς εὔνοιαν ἐνδεικνύμενος ταῦτα δρᾷς, ἀλλὰ καρπωσάμενοί τινα ἕκαστος τούτων ἐκ τῶν σῶν ἀσεβημάτων ὠφέλειαν μισήσουσι τὴν αὐθάδειαν τοῦ τρόπου.
[3] Such will be the pleasures you will reap if this enterprise of yours succeeds; but as for praise and emulation and honours, which good men ought to strive for, consider of what nature they will be. You will be called the slayer of your mother, the murderer of your children, the assassin of your wife, and the evil genius of your country; wherever you go, no man who is pious and just will be willing to let you partake with him in sacrifices or libations or in the hospitality of his home; and even by those for whom out of friendliness you perform these services you will not be held in honour, but every one of them, after reaping some advantage from your impious actions, will detest your arrogant manner.
[4]
ἐῶ γὰρ λέγειν, ὅτι χωρὶς τοῦ μίσους, ὃ παρὰ τῶν ἐπιεικεστάτων ἕξεις, καὶ φθόνος ἀπαντήσεται πολὺς ἐκ τῶν ἴσων καὶ φόβος ἐκ τῶν ἡσσόνων καὶ δι᾽ ἄμφω ταῦτ᾽ ἐπιβουλαὶ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ καὶ χαλεπά, ὅσα εἰκὸς συμπεσεῖν ἀνδρὶ ἐρήμῳ φίλων καὶ ἐν ξένῃ ὄντι γῇ. τὰς γὰρ δὴ παρὰ θεῶν τε καὶ δαιμόνων ἐπιπεμπομένας τοῖς ἀνόσια καὶ δεινὰ διαπραξαμένοις ἐρινύας ἐῶ, ὑφ᾽ ὧν αἰκιζόμενοι ψυχάς τε καὶ σώματα κακοὺς μὲν διαντλοῦσι βίους,
[4] I forbear to add that, besides the hatred which you will encounter on the part of the most fair-minded men, you will have to face much envy from your equals and fear from your inferiors and, in consequence of both the envy and the fear, plots and many other disagreeable things which are likely to befall a man destitute of friends and living in a foreign land. I say nothing, indeed, of the Furies sent by the gods and other divinities to punish those who have been guilty of impious and dreadful deeds — those Furies tormented by whom in both soul and body they drag out a miserable life while awaiting a pitiable death.
[5] οἰκτρὰς δ᾽ ὑπομένουσι τελευτάς. ταῦτ᾽ ἐνθυμηθείς, ὦ Μάρκιε, μετάγνωθι καὶ παῦσαι μνησικακῶν τῇ σεαυτοῦ πατρίδι: τύχην τε πάντων αἰτίαν ἡγησάμενος ὧν πέπονθας πρὸς ἡμῶν ἢ δέδρακας ἡμᾶς κακῶν, ἄπιθι χαίρων ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα, καὶ κόμισαι μητρός τε περιβολὰς προσηνεστάτας καὶ γυναικὸς τε φιλοφροσύνας ἡδίστας καὶ τέκνων ἀσπασμοὺς γλυκυτάτους, καὶ σεαυτὸν ἀπόδος ὀφείλημα κάλλιστον τῇ γειναμένῃ σε καὶ τηλικοῦτον ἄνδρα παιδευσαμένῃ πατρίδι.
[5] Bearing these things in mind, Marcius, repent of your purpose and give up your grudge against your country; and regarding Fortune as having been the cause of all the evils you have suffered at our hands or have inflicted on us, return with joy to your family, receive a mother’s most affectionate embraces, a wife’s sweetest welcome, and give yourself back to your country as a most honourable repayment of the debt you owe to her for having given birth and rearing to so great a man.”
[1] τοιαῦτα διεξελθόντος τοῦ Μηνυκίου μικρὸν ἐπισχὼν ὁ Μάρκιος εἶπε: σοὶ μέν, ὦ Μηνύκιε, καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἅμα τούτῳ πεμφθεῖσιν ὑπὸ τῆς βουλῆς φίλος εἰμὶ καὶ πρόθυμος, εἴ τι δύναμαι, ποιεῖν [p. 166] ἀγαθόν, ὅτι μοι καὶ πρότερον, ὅτε πολίτης ὑμέτερος ἦν καὶ τὰ κοινὰ ἔπραττον, ἐν πολλοῖς καὶ ἀναγκαίοις ἐγένεσθε καιροῖς χρήσιμοι, καὶ μετὰ τὴν φυγὴν οὐκ ἀπεστράφητέ με καταφρονήσει τῆς τότε τύχης, ὡς οὔτε φίλους εὖ ποιεῖν δυνάμενον ἔτι οὔτ᾽ ἐχθροὺς κακῶς, ἀλλὰ χρηστοὶ καὶ βέβαιοι διεμείνατε φίλοι μητρός τε τῆς ἐμῆς κηδόμενοι καὶ γυναικὸς καὶ τέκνων, καὶ τὰς συμφορὰς αὐτοῖς κουφοτέρας ποιοῦντες ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιμελείαις.
[29.1] Minucius having spoken in this manner, Marcius after a short pause replied:
“To you, Minucius, and to all others who have been sent here with him by the senate I am a friend and am ready to do you any service in my power, because not only earlier, when I was your fellow citizen and had a share in the administration of public affairs, you assisted me in many times of need, but also after my banishment you did not turn from me in contempt of my then unhappy fate, as if I were no longer able either to serve my friends or to hurt my enemies, but you continued to show yourselves good and staunch friends by taking care of my mother, my wife and my children, and alleviating their misfortune by your personal attentions.
[2] τοῖς δ᾽ ἄλλοις Ῥωμαίοις ἀπέχθομαί τ᾽ ὡς δύναμαι μάλιστα καὶ πολεμῶ καὶ οὐδέποτε μισῶν αὐτοὺς παύσομαι: οἵ με ἀντὶ πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἔργων, ἐφ᾽ οἱς τιμᾶσθαι προσῆκεν, ὡς τὰ μέγιστα ἐξημαρτηκότα περὶ τὸ κοινὸν αἰσχρῶς ἐξήλασαν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος, οὔτε μητέρα αἰδεσθέντες τὴν ἐμὴν οὔτε παιδία ἐλεήσαντες οὔτ᾽ ἄλλο πάθος ἥμερον οὐδὲν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐμαῖς λαβόντες τύχαις.
[2] But to the rest of the Romans I am as hostile as I can be and am at war with them, and I shall never cease to hate them; for they, in return for the many glorious achievements for which I deserved honour, drove me out of my country with ignominy, as being guilty of the most grievous crimes against the commonwealth, and showed neither respect for my mother, nor compassion for my children, nor any other humane field in view of my misfortunes.
[3] μαθόντες δὲ τοῦτο, εἰ μὲν αὐτοὶ δεῖσθέ του παρ᾽ ἡμῶν, λέγετε μηθὲν ὀκνοῦντες, ὡς οὐθενὸς ἀτυχήσοντες τῶν δυνατῶν, περὶ δὲ φιλίας καὶ διαλλαγῶν, ἃς ἀξιοῦτέ με ποιήσασθαι πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσι τῆς καθόδου, παύσασθε διαλεγόμενοι. πάνυ γὰρ ἀγαπητῶς δεξαίμην ἂν εἰς τοιαύτην κατελθεῖν πόλιν, ἐν ᾗ τὰ μὲν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἆθλα ἡ κακία φέρεται, τὰς δὲ τῶν κακούργων τιμωρίας οἱ μηδὲν ἡμαρτηκότες ὑπομένουσιν.
[3] Now that you have been informed of this, if you desire anything from me for yourselves, declare it without hesitation, in the assurance that you shall fail of naught that is in my power; but as regards friendship and a reconciliation, which you desire me to enter into with the populace in the hope that they will let me return, discuss it no more. Great indeed would be the satisfaction with which I should accept restoration to a city like this, in which vice receives the rewards of virtue and the innocent await the punishment of criminals!
[4] ἐπεί, φέρε, πρὸς θεῶν εἴπατέ μοι, τίνος ἀδικήματος αἰτίᾳ ταύτης ἐγὼ πεπείραμαι τῆς τύχης, ἢ ποῖον ἐπιτηδεύσας ἔργον ἀνάξιον τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ προγόνων; πρώτην ἐστρατευσάμην [p. 167] ἔξοδον κομιδῇ νέος ὤν, ὅτε πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς βίᾳ κατιόντας ἠγωνιζόμεθα. ἐκ ταύτης τῆς μάχης ἀριστείοις ἀνεδούμην ὑπὸ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ στεφάνοις πολίτην ὑπερασπίσας καὶ πολέμιον ἀποκτείνας.
[4] For come, tell me, in Heaven’s name, with what crime am I charged that I should have experienced this misfortune? Or what course have I pursued that is unworthy of my ancestors? I made my first campaign when I was very young, at the time we fought against the kings who were endeavouring to bring about their restoration by force. As a result of that battle I was crowned by the general with a wreath of valour for having saved a citizen and slain an enemy.
[5] ἔπειθ᾽ ὅσας ἄλλας ἱππικὰς καὶ πεζικὰς ἠγωνισάμην μάχας, ἐπιφανὴς ἐν ἁπάσαις ἐγενόμην καὶ τἀριστεῖα ἐξ ἁπασῶν ἔλαβον: καὶ οὔτε πόλις ἐκ τειχομαχίας ἑάλω τις, ἧς οὐκ ἐγὼ πρῶτος ἐπέβ�
�ν ἢ μόνος ἢ σὺν ὀλίγοις, οὔτε φυγὴ πολεμίων ἐκ παρατάξεως ἐγένετο, ἧς οὐκ ἐμὲ αἰτιώτατον γενέσθαι πάντες οἱ παρόντες ὡμολόγουν, οὔτ᾽ ἄλλο τῶν λαμπρῶν ἢ γενναίων ἐν πολέμοις ἔργων οὐθὲν ἄνευ τῆς ἐμῆς εἴτ᾽ εὐτολμίας εἴτ᾽ εὐτυχίας ἐπράχθη.
[5] After that, in every other action I was engaged in, whether of the horse or foot, I distinguished myself in all and from all received the rewards for valour. And there was neither any town taken by storm whose walls I was not the very first or among the first few to mount, nor any flight of the enemy from the field of battle where all who were present did not acknowledge that I had been the chief cause of it, nor any other signal or brave action performed in war without the assistance of either my valour or my good fortune.
[1] καὶ ταυτὶ μὲν ἴσως ἂν ἔχοι τις καὶ ἕτερος ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ γενναῖος ἀνήρ, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοσαῦτα, λέγειν: ἀλλὰ πόλιν ὅλην τίς δύναιτ᾽ ἂν καυχήσασθαι στρατηγὸς ἢ λοχαγὸς ἑλών, ὥσπερ ἐγὼ τὴν Κοριολανῶν, καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμέρας ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ στρατιὰν πολεμίων τρεψάμενος, ὥσπερ ἐγὼ τὴν Ἀντιατῶν ἐπίκουρον τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις ἀφικομένην;
[30.1] “These are exploits, it is true, that some other brave man also might perhaps be able to cite in his favour, even if not so many of them; but what general or captain could boast of capturing an entire city, as I captured Corioli, and also of putting to flight the enemy’s army on that very same day, as I did that of the Antiates when it came to the assistance of the besieged?
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 611