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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [3] δικάζειν τοῖς ὄχλοις, ἐν τούτῳ καθίσαι. καὶ ὁ Μάρκιος ἀσμένως τὸ ῥηθὲν ἐδέξατο ὡς δὴ περιουσίᾳ τε πολλῇ τῶν δικαίων πρὸς τὴν ἔντευξιν αὐτῆς χρησόμενος καὶ ἐν καλῷ ποιούμενος τοῖς ὄχλοις τὴν ἀπόκρισιν. ἐλθὼν δ᾽ ἐπὶ τὸ στρατηγικὸν βῆμα πρῶτον μὲν ἐκέλευσε τοῖς ὑπηρέταις καθελεῖν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τὸν δίφρον καὶ θεῖναι χαμαί, μητρὸς ὑψηλότερον οὐκ οἰόμενος δεῖν τόπον ἔχειν, οὐδ᾽ ἐξουσίᾳ χρῆσθαι κατ᾽ ἐκείνης οὐδεμιᾷ: ἔπειτα παρακαθισάμενος τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῶν θ᾽ ἡγεμόνων καὶ λοχαγῶν, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐάσας παρεῖναι τὸν βουλόμενον, ἐκέλευσε τὴν μητέρα λέγειν.

  [3] Marcius willingly agreed to her proposal, thinking, naturally, that he should have a great abundance of just arguments to use in combating his mother’s intercession and that he should be giving his answer where it was convenient for the troops to hear. When he came to the general’s tribunal, he first ordered the lictors to remove the seat that stood there and to place it on the ground, since he thought he ought not to occupy a higher position than his mother or use against her any official authority. Then, causing the most prominent of the commanders and captains to sit by him and permitting any others to be present who wished, he bade his mother speak.

  [1] καὶ ἡ Οὐετουρία παραστησαμένη τήν τε: γυναῖκα τοῦ Μαρκίου καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ τὰς ἐπιφανεστάτας τῶν ἐν Ῥώμῃ γυναικῶν πρῶτον μὲν ἔκλαιεν εἰς τὴν γῆν ὁρῶσα μέχρι πολλοῦ, καὶ πολὺν ἐκίνησεν ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἔλεον. ἔπειτ᾽ ἀναλαβοῦσα αὑτὴν ἔλεξεν:

  [46.1] Thereupon Veturia, having placed the wife of Marcius with his children and the most prominent of the Roman matrons near her, first wept, fixing her eyes on the ground for a long time, and roused great compassion in all who were present. Then, recovering herself, she said:

  [2] αἱ γυναῖκες, ὦ Μάρκιε τέκνον, τὰς ὕβρεις ἐνθυμούμεναι καὶ τὰς ἄλλας συμφορὰς τὰς συμβησομένας [p. 193] αὐταῖς, ἐὰν ἡ πόλις ἡμῶν ὑπὸ τοῖς πολεμίοις γένηται, πᾶσαν ἄλλην ἀπογνοῦσαι βοήθειαν, ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν αὐτῶν ἀξιοῦσι διαλύσασθαι τὸν πόλεμον αὐθάδεις καὶ σκληρὰς ἔδωκας ἀποκρίσεις, ἄγουσαι τὰ τέκνα καὶ τοῖς πενθίμοις τούτοις ἠμφιεσμέναι τρύχεσι κατέφυγον ἐπ᾽ ἐμέ, τὴν σὴν μητέρα, καὶ Οὐολουμνίαν, τὴν σὴν γυναῖκα, δεόμεναι, μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτὰς τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις κακῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ παθούσας: οὐθὲν μὲν οὔτε μεῖζον οὔτ᾽ ἔλαττον εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐξαμαρτοῦσαι, πολλὴν δὲ καί, ὅτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦμεν, εὔνοιαν ἔτι παρασχόμεναι, καί, ὅτ᾽ ἐπταίσαμεν, συμπάθειαν.

  [2] “These women, Marcius, my son, mindful of the outrages and other calamities which will come upon them if our city falls into the power of the enemy, and despairing of all other assistance, since you gave haughty and harsh answers to their husbands when they asked you to end the war, took their children, and clad in these rent garments of mourning, turned for refuge to me, your mother, and to Volumnia, your wife, begging us not to permit them to suffer the greatest of all human evils at your hands, as they have never done us any injury, great or slight, but showed much affection for us while we were still prosperous, and compassion when we met with adversity.

  [3] ἔχομεν γὰρ αὐταῖς μαρτυρεῖν, ἐξ οὗ σὺ ἀπῆρας ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος, ἡμεῖς δ᾽ ἔρημοι καὶ τὸ μηθὲν ἔτι οὖσαι κατελειπόμεθα, συνεχῶς τε παραγινομέναις πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ παραμυθουμέναις τὰς συμφορὰς ἡμῶν καὶ συναλγούσαις. τούτων δὴ λαμβάνουσαι μνήμην ἐγώ τε καὶ ἡ σὴ γυνὴ ἡ συνοικουροῦσα μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὰς ἱκεσίας αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀπεστράφημεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπεμείναμεν, ὡς ἠξίουν ἡμᾶς ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ τὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ποιήσασθαι δεήσεις.

  [3] For we can bear them witness that since you withdrew from your country and we were left desolate and no longer of any account, they constantly visited us, alleviated our misfortunes, and condoled with us. So, remembering all this, neither I nor your wife, who lives with me, rejected their entreaties, but brought ourselves to come to you, as they asked, and to make our supplications in behalf of our country.”

  [1] ἔτι δ᾽ αὐτῆς λεγούσης ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Μάρκιος εἶπεν: ἀδυνάτων δεομένη, μῆτερ, ἐλήλυθας ἀξιοῦσα προδοῦναί με τοῖς ἐκβαλοῦσι τοὺς ὑποδεξαμένους, καὶ τοῖς ἅπαντά με ἀφελομένοις τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ τοὺς χαρισαμένους τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθῶν: οἷς ἐγὼ τὴν ἀρχὴν τήνδε παραλαμβάνων θεούς [p. 194] τε καὶ δαίμονας ἐγγυητὰς ἔδωκα, μήτε προδώσειν τὸ κοινὸν αὐτῶν μήτε προκαταλύσεσθαι τὸν πόλεμον, ἐὰν μὴ Οὐολούσκοις ἅπασι δοκῇ.

  [47.1] While she was yet speaking Marcius interrupted her and said: “You have come demanding the impossible, mother, when you ask me to betray those who have cast me out those who have received me, and to those who have deprived me of all my possessions those who have conferred on me the greatest of human blessings — men to whom, when I accepted this command, I gave the gods and other divinities as sureties that I would neither betray their state nor end the war unless all the Volscians agreed to do so.

  [2] θεούς τε δὴ σεβόμενος, οὓς ὤμοσα, καὶ ἀνθρώπους αἰδούμενος, οἷς τὰς πίστεις ἔδωκα, πολεμήσω Ῥωμαίοις ἄχρι τέλους. ἐὰν δ᾽ ἀποδιδῶσι τὴν χώραν Οὐολούσκοις, ἣν κατέχουσιν αὐτῶν βίᾳ, καὶ φίλους αὐτοὺς ποιήσωνται πάντων αὐτοῖς μεταδιδόντες τῶν ἴσων ὥσπερ Λατίνοις, διαλύσομαι τὸν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πόλεμον: ἄλλως δ᾽ οὔ.

  [2] Both out of reverence, then, for the gods by whom I swore and out of respect for the men to whom I gave my pledges I shall continue to make war upon the Romans to the last. But if they will restore to the Volscians the lands of theirs which they hold by force, and will make them their friends, giving them an equal share in all privileges as they have to the Latins, I will put an end to the war against them, otherwise not.

  [3] ὑμεῖς μὲν οὖν, ὦ γυναῖκες, ἄπιτε καὶ λέγετε τοῖς ἀνδράσι ταῦτα καὶ πείθετε αὐτοὺς μὴ φιλοχωρεῖν τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις ἀδίκως, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγαπᾶν, ἐὰν τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἔχειν τις αὐτοὺς ἐᾷ, μηδ᾽ ὅτι πολέμῳ λαβόντες ἔχουσι τὰ Οὐολούσκων, περιμένειν, ἕως πολέμῳ πάλιν αὐτὰ ὑπὸ τούτων ἀφαιρεθῶσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἀποχρήσει τοῖς κρατοῦσι τὰ ἑαυτῶν μόνον ἀπολαβεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ �
�ῶν κρατηθέντων ἴδια ἀξιώσουσιν ἔχειν. ἐὰν δὲ περιεχόμενοι τῶν μηθὲν ὐτοῖς προσηκόντων πᾶν ὁτιοῦν πάσχειν ὑπομένωσι φυλάττοντες τὸ αὔθαδες, ἐκείνους αἰτιάσεσθε τῶν καταληψομένων κακῶν, οὐ Μάρκιον οὐδὲ Οὐολούσκους οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων οὐδένα.

  [3] As for you women, then, depart and carry this word to your husbands; and persuade them to cease their unjust fondness for possessions of others and to be content if they are permitted to keep what is their own, and not, just because they now hold the possessions of the Volscians which they took in war, to wait till they are in turn deprived of them in war by the Volscians. For the conquerors will not be satisfied with merely recovering their own possessions, but will think themselves entitled also to those that belong to the conquered. And if, by clinging to what is not theirs at all, the Romans persist in their arrogance and are willing to suffer anything whatever, you will impute to them, rather than to Marcius, the Volscians or anyone else, the blame for the miseries that shall befall them.

  [4] σοῦ δέ, ὦ μῆτερ, ἐν μέρει πάλιν υἱὸς ὢν ἐγὼ δέομαι μή με παρακαλεῖν εἰς ἀνοσίους πράξεις καὶ ἀδίκους, μηδὲ μετὰ τῶν ἐχθίστων ἐμοί τε καὶ σεαυτῇ τεταγμένην πολεμίους ἡγεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀναγκαιοτάτους: ἀλλὰ παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ γενομένην ὥσπερ ἐστὶ δίκαιον πατρίδα τε νέμειν, [p. 195] ἣν ἐγὼ νέμω, καὶ οἶκον, ὃν ἐγὼ κέκτημαι, τιμάς τε καρποῦσθαι τὰς ἐμάς, καὶ δόξης ἀπολαύειν τῆς ἐμῆς, τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἡγουμένην φίλους τε καὶ πολεμίους οὕσπερ ἐγώ: ἀποθέσθαι τ᾽ ἤδη τὸ πένθος, ὃ διὰ τὰς ἐμὰς ὑπέμεινας, ὦ ταλαίπωρε, φυγάς, καὶ παύσασθαι τιμωρουμένην με τῷ σχήματι τούτῳ.

  [4] And of you, mother, I, who am your son, beg in my turn that you will not urge me to wicked and unjust actions, nor, ranging yourself on the side of those who are the bitterest foes both to me and to yourself, regard as enemies your nearest of kin, but that, taking your place at my side, as is right, you will make the land where I dwell your fatherland, and your home the house I have acquired, and that you will enjoy my honours and share in my glory, looking upon my friends and enemies as your own; also that you will lay aside the mourning which, unhappy woman, you have endured because of my banishment, and cease to avenge yourself upon me by this garb.

  [5] ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα, ὦ μῆτερ, ἀγαθὰ κρείττονα ἐλπίδων καὶ μείζονα εὐχῆς παρὰ θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἀπήντηται, ἡ δὲ περὶ σοῦ φροντίς, ᾗ τὰς γηροβοσκοὺς οὐκ ἀπέδωκα χάριτας, ἐντετηκυῖα τοῖς σπλάγχνοις πικρὸν ἐποίει καὶ ἀνόνητον ἁπάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸν βίον. εἰ σὲ σὺν ἐμοὶ τάξεις σεαυτὴν καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν κοινωνεῖν ἐθελήσεις ἁπάντων, οὐθενὸς ἔτι μοι δεήσει τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀγαθῶν.

  [5] For though all other blessings, mother, have been conferred on me both by the gods and men above my hopes and beyond my prayers, yet the concern I have felt for you, whose old age I have not cherished in return for all your pains, has so sunk into my inmost being as to render my life bitter and incapable of enjoying all my blessings. But if you will take your place by my side and consent to share all I possess, no longer will any of the blessings which fall to the lot of man be lacking to me.”

  [1] παυσαμένου δ᾽ αὐτοῦ μικρὸν ἡ Οὐετουρία ἐπισχοῦσα χρόνον, ἕως ὁ τῶν περιεστηκότων ἔπαινος ἐπαύσατο πολύς τε καὶ μέχρι πολλοῦ γενόμενος, λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν: ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγέ σε, ὦ Μάρκιε τέκνον, οὔτε προδότην Οὐολούσκων γενέσθαι ἀξιῶ, οἵ σε φεύγοντα ὑποδεξάμενοι τοῖς τ᾽ ἄλλοις ἐτίμησαν καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἡγεμονίαν ἐπίστευσαν, οὔτε παρὰ τὰς ὁμολογίας καὶ τοὺς ὅρκους, οὓς ἔδωκας αὐτοῖς, ὅτε τὰς δυνάμεις παρελάμβανες, ἄνευ κοινῆς γνώμης ἰδίᾳ καταλύσασθαι τὴν ἔχθραν βούλομαι: μηδ᾽ ὑπολάβῃς τὴν σεαυτοῦ μητέρα τοσαύτης ἀναπεπλῆσθαι θεοβλαβείας, ὥστε τὸν ἀγαπητὸν καὶ μόνον υἱὸν εἰς αἰσχρὰς καὶ

  [48.1] When he had ended, Veturia, after waiting a short time till the great and long-continued applause of the bystanders ceased, spoke to him as follows:

  “But I, Marcius, my son, neither ask you to become a traitor to the Volscians who received you when an exile and, among other honours, entrusted you with the command of their army, nor do I desire that, contrary to the agreements and to the sworn pledges you gave them when you took command of their forces, you should arbitrarily, without the general consent, put an end to enmity. Do not imagine that your mother has been filled with such fatuousness as to urge her dear and only son to shameful and wicked actions.

  [2] ἀνοσίους πράξεις παρακαλεῖν. ἀλλὰ μετὰ κοινῆς γνώμης [p. 196] ἀποστῆναί σε ἀξιῶ τοῦ πολέμου, πείσαντα τοὺς Οὐολούσκους μετριάσαι περὶ τὰς διαλλαγὰς καὶ ποιήσασθαι τὴν εἰρήνην ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς ἔθνεσι καλὴν καὶ πρέπουσαν. τοῦτο δὲ γένοιτ᾽ ἄν, εἰ νῦν μὲν ἀναστήσας τὴν στρατιὰν ἀπαγάγοις ἐνιαυσίους ποιησάμενος ἀνοχάς, ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ πρέσβεις ἀποστέλλων τε καὶ δεχόμενος ἀληθῆ φιλίαν πράττοις καὶ

  [2] On the contrary, I ask you to withdraw from the war only with the general consent of the Volscians, after you have persuaded them to use moderation with regard to an accommodation and to make such a peace as shall be honourable and seemly for both nations. This may be done if you will now withdraw your forces, first making a truce for a year, and will in the meantime, by sending and receiving ambassadors, work to bring about a genuine friendship and a firm reconciliation.

  [3] διαλλαγὰς βεβαίας. καὶ εὖ ἴσθι: Ῥωμαῖοι μέν, ὅσα μήτε τὸ ἀδύνατον μήτ᾽ ἄλλη τις ἀδοξία προσπεσοῦσα κωλύσει, πάντα ὑπομενοῦσι πράττειν λόγῳ καὶ παρακλήσει πειθόμενοι, ἀναγκαζόμενοι δ᾽ , ὥσπερ σὺ νῦν ἀξιοῖς, οὐθὲν ἂν πώποτε χαρίσαιντο ὑμῖν οὔτε μεῖζον οὔτ᾽ ἔλαττον, ὡς ἐξ ἄλλων τε πολλῶν πάρεστί σοι καταμαθεῖν καὶ τὰ τελευταῖα ἐξ ὧν Λατίνοις συνεχώρησαν ἀποστᾶσιν ἀπὸ τῶν ὅπλων: Οὐολοῦσκοι δὲ πολὺ τὸ αὔθαδες ἔχουσιν, ὃ συμβαίνει τοῖς μεγάλα εὐτυχήσασιν.

  [3] And be well assured of this: the Romans, in so far as no impossible condition or any dishonour attaching to the terms prevents, will consent to perform them all if won over by persuasion and exhortation, but if compulsion is attempted, as you now think proper, they will never make any concession, great or small, to please you, as you may learn from many other instances and particularly from the concessions they recently made to the Latins after these had laid down their arms. As to the Volscians, on the other hand, their arrogance is n
ow great, as happens to all who have met with signal success;

  [4] ἐὰν δὲ διδάσκῃς αὐτούς, ὅτι πᾶσα μὲν εἰρήνη παντός ἐστι πολέμου κρείττων, σύμβασις δὲ φίλων κατὰ τὸν ἑκούσιον γινομένη τρόπον τῶν ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκης συγχωρηθέντων βεβαιοτέρα, καὶ ὅτι σωφρόνων ἐστὶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅταν μὲν εὖ πράττειν δοκῶσι, ταμιεύεσθαι τὰς τύχας, ὅταν δ᾽ εἰς ταπεινὰς καὶ φαύλας ἔλθωσι, μηθὲν ὑπομένειν ἀγεννές: καὶ τἆλλα, ὅσα εἰς ἡμερότητα καὶ ἐπιείκειαν ἐπαγωγὰ παιδεύματα εὕρηται [p. 197] λόγων, οὕς ὑμεῖς οἱ τὰ πολιτικὰ πράττοντες μάλιστ᾽ ἐπίστασθε, ἴστε ὅτι τοῦ τε αὐχήματος, ἐφ᾽ οὗ νῦν εἰσιν, ἑκόντες ὑποβήσονται καὶ ποιήσουσιν ἐξουσίαν σοι τοῦ πράττειν, ὅ τι ἂν αὐτοῖς ὑπολαμβάνῃς συνοίσειν.

  [4] but if you point out to them that ‘any peace is preferable to any war,’ that ‘a voluntary agreement between friends is more secure than concession extorted by necessity,’ and that ‘it is the part of wise men, when they seem to be prosperous, to husband their good fortune, but when their fortunes become low and paltry, to submit to nothing that is ignoble,’ and if you make use of such other instructive maxims conducive to moderation and reasonableness as have been devised, maxims with which you politicians in particular are familiar, be assured that they will voluntarily recede from their present boastfulness and give you authority to do anything you believe will be to their advantage.