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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [4] But they were troubled by a suspicion, not unmixed with fear, that an unreasoning mob, now buoyed up with the hope that they had completely crushed their foes, might take their disappointment with uncontrolled anger and as a result put Marcius to death with their own hands as a traitor without even granting him a hearing. However, they determined to submit even to this or to any other danger still more formidable which they might incur in honourably keeping faith.

  [5] αἱ μὲν γυναῖκες εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀπῄεσαν, ὁ δὲ Μάρκιος ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ τὰς αἰτίας ἀποδοὺς τοῖς παροῦσι, δι᾽ ἃς ἔμελλε λύειν τὸν πόλεμον, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν δεηθεὶς συγγνῶναί τ᾽ αὐτῷ καί, ἐπειδὰν οἴκαδε ἀφίκωνται, μεμνημένους ὧν ἔπαθον εὖ τοῦ μηθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνήκεστον παθεῖν συναγωνιστὰς γενέσθαι, καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ καὶ ἐπαγωγὰ διαλεχθεὶς παρασκευάζεσθαι ἐκέλευσεν ὡς τῇ ἐπιούσῃ νυκτὶ ἀναστρατοπεδεύσοντας.

  [5] When it was now near sunset, they embraced one another and left the tent, after which the women returned to the city. Then Marcius in an assembly of the troops laid before those present the reasons why he intended to put an end to the war; and after earnestly beseeching the soldiers both to forgive him and, when they returned home, to remember the benefits they had received from him and to strive with him to prevent his suffering any irreparable injury at the hands of the other citizens, and after saying many other things calculated to win their support, he ordered them to make ready to break camp the following night.

  [1] Ῥωμαῖοι δ᾽ ὡς ἔμαθον, ὅτι λέλυται σφῶν ὁ κίνδυνος: ἔφθασε γὰρ τῶν γυναικῶν τὴν παρουσίαν προλαβοῦσα ἡ φήμη: σὺν πολλῇ χαρᾷ καταλιπόντες τὴν πόλιν ἔθεον ἔξω καὶ ὑπήντων ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἀσπασμοὺς καὶ παιᾶνας καὶ πάνθ᾽ ὅσα ἐκ μεγάλων κινδύνων εἰς ἀδόκητον εὐτυχίαν ἄνθρωποι καταστάντες πράττουσί τε καὶ λέγουσιν ὑπὸ χαρᾶς, τὰ μὲν ἀθρόοι,

  [55.1] When the Romans heard that their peril was over — for the report of it was brought before the arrival of the women — they left the city with great joy, and running out to meet them, embraced them, sang songs of triumph, and now all together and now one by one showed all the signs of joy which men who emerge out of great dangers into unexpected good fortune exhibit in both their words and actions.

  [2] τὰ δε καθ᾽ ἕνα ἕκαστον ἀποδεικνύμενοι. ἐκείνην μὲν οὖν τὴν νύκτα ἐν θαλείαις τε καὶ εὐπαθείαις διετέλεσαν, τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ συναχθεῖσα ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων ἡ βουλὴ περὶ μὲν τοῦ Μαρκίου γνώμην ἀπεδείξαντο εἰς ἑτέρους ἀναβάλλεσθαι καιροὺς ἐπιτηδειοτέρους τὰς δοθησομένας αὐτῷ τιμάς: ταῖς δὲ γυναιξὶν ἔπαινόν τ᾽ ἀποδεδόσθαι τῆς προθυμίας παλαιᾷ δημοσίᾳ γραφῇ [p. 208] μνήμην οἴσοντα ἐκ τῶν ἐπιγινομένων αἰώνιον, καὶ γέρας, ὅ τι ἂν αὐταῖς λαβούσαις ἥδιστόν τε καὶ τιμιώτατον ἔσεσθαι μέλλῃ: καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἐπεκύρωσε ταῦτα.

  [2] That night, then, they passed in festivities and merry-making. The next day the senate, having been assembled by the consuls, resolved, in the case of Marcius, to postpone to a more suitable occasion such honours as were to be given to him, but as for the women, that not only praise should be bestowed upon them for their zeal, the same to be expressed by a public decree which should gain for them eternal remembrance on the part of future generations, but also a gift of honour, whatever to those receiving it would be most pleasing and most highly prized; and the people ratified this resolution.

  [3] ταῖς δὲ γυναιξὶ βουλευσαμέναις εἰσῆλθεν ἐπιφθόνου μὲν δωρεᾶς μηδεμιᾶς δεῖσθαι, ἀξιοῦν δ᾽ ἐπιτρέψαι σφίσι τὴν βουλὴν ἐπὶ τύχης γυναικῶν ἱδρύσασθαι ἱερόν, ἐν ᾧ τὰς περὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐποιήσαντο λιτὰς χωρίῳ, θυσίας τε καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἔτος αὐτῇ συνιούσας ἐπιτελεῖν ἐν ᾗ τὸν πόλεμον ἔλυσαν ἡμέρᾳ. ἡ μέντοι βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἀπὸ τῶν κοινῶν ἐψηφίσαντο χρημάτων τέμενός τ᾽ ὠνηθὲν καθιερωθῆναι τῇ θεῷ, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ νεὼν καὶ βωμόν, ὡς ἂν οἱ ἱερομνήμονες ἐξηγῶνται, συντελεσθῆναι, θυσίας τε προσάγεσθαι δημοτελεῖς καταρχομένης τῶν ἱερῶν γυναικός, ἣν ἂν ἀποδείξωσιν αὐταὶ λειτουργὸν τῶν ἱερῶν.

  [3] It occurred to the women after some deliberation to ask for no invidious gift, but to request of the senate permission to found a temple to Fortuna Muliebris on the spot where they had interceded for their country, and to assemble and perform annual sacrifices to her on the day on which they had put an end to the war. However, the senate and people decreed that from the public funds a precinct should be purchased and consecrated to the goddess, and a temple and alter erected upon it, in such manner as the pontiffs should direct, and that sacrifices should be performed at the public expense, the initial ceremonies to be conducted by a woman, whichever one the women themselves should choose to officiate at the rites.

  [4] ταῦτα τῆς βουλῆς ψηφισαμένης ἱέρεια μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν γυναικῶν ἀπεδείχθη τότε πρῶτον ἡ τὴν γνώμην αὐταῖς εἰσηγησαμένη περὶ τῆς πρεσβείας Οὐαλερία καὶ τὴν μητέρα τοῦ Μαρκίου πείσασα συλλαβέσθαι σφίσι τῆς ἐξόδου. θυσίαν δὲ πρώτην αἱ γυναῖκες ἔθυσαν ὑπὲρ τοῦ δήμου καταρχομένης τῶν ἱερῶν τῆς Οὐαλερίας ἐπὶ τοῦ κατασκευασθέντος ἐν τῷ τεμένει βωμοῦ, πρὶν ἢ τὸν νεὼν καὶ τὸ ξόανον ἀνασταθῆναι, μηνὶ Δεκεμβρίῳ τοῦ κατόπιν ἐνιαυτοῦ, τῇ νέᾳ σελήνῃ, ἣν Ἕλληνες μὲν νουμηνίαν, Ῥωμαῖοι [p. 209] δὲ καλάνδας καλοῦσιν: αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ λύσασα τὸν πόλεμον ἡμέρα. ἐνιαυτῷ δ᾽ ὕστερον ἑτέρῳ μετὰ τὴν πρώτην θυσίαν ὁ κατασκευασθεὶς ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων χρημάτων νεὼς συνετελέσθη τε καὶ καθιερώθη Κοιντιλίου μηνὸς ἑβδόμῃ μάλιστα κατὰ σελήνην:

  [4] The senate having passed this decree, the woman then chosen by the others to be priestess for the first time was Valeria, who had proposed to them the embassy and had persuaded the mother of Marcius to join the others in going out of the city. The first sacrifice was performed on behalf of the people by the women, Valeria beginning the rites, upon the altar raised in the sacred precinct, before the temple and the statue were erected, in the month of December of the following year, on the day of the new moon, which the Greeks call noumênia and the Romans calends; for this was the day which had put an end to the war.

  [5] αὕτη δὲ κατὰ Ῥωμαίους ἐστὶν ὁ προηγουμένη τῶν Κοιντιλίων νωνῶν ἡμέρα. ὁ δὲ καθιερώσας αὐτὸν ἦν Πρόκλος Οὑεργίνιος ἅτερος τῶν ὑπάτων.

  [5] The year after the f
irst sacrifice the temple built at public expense was finished and dedicated about the seventh army of the month Quintilis, reckoning by the course of the moon; this, according to the Romans’ calendar, is the day before the nones of Quintilis. The man who dedicated the temple was Proculus Verginius, one of the consuls.

  [1] εἴη δ᾽ ἂν ἁρμόττον ἱστορίας σχήματι καὶ ἐπανορθώσεως ἕνεκα τῶν οἰομένων μήτ᾽ ἐπὶ ταῖς τιμαῖς ταῖς παρ᾽ ἀνθρώπων χαίρειν τοὺς θεοὺς μήτ᾽ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἀνοσίοις καὶ ἀδίκοις πράξεσιν ἀγανακτεῖν, τὸ δηλῶσαι τὴν γενομένην ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς θεοῦ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ καὶ δίς, ὡς αἱ τῶν ἱεροφαντῶν περιέχουσι γραφαί, ἵνα τοῖς μὲν εὐλαβεστέροις περὶ τὸ συνέχειν, ἃς παρὰ τῶν προγόνων δόξας ὑπὲρ τοῦ δαιμονίου παρέλαβον, ἀμεταμέλητος ἡ τοιαύτη προαίρεσις καὶ βεβαία διαμένῃ, τοῖς δ᾽ ὑπερορῶσι τῶν πατρίων ἐθισμῶν καὶ μηθενὸς ποιοῦσι τὸ δαιμόνιον τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων λογισμῶν κύριον μάλιστα μὲν ἀναθέσθαι ταύτην τὴν δόξαν, εἰ δ᾽ ἀνιάτως ἔχουσιν ἔτι μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς ἀπεχθάνεσθαι καὶ κακοδαιμονεστέροις εἶναι.

  [56.1] It would be in harmony with a formal history and in the interest of correcting those who think that the gods are neither pleased with the honours they receive from men nor displeased with impious and unjust actions, to make known the epiphany of the goddess at that time, not once, but twice, as it is recorded in the books of the pontiffs, to the end that by those who are more scrupulous about preserving the opinions concerning the god which they have received from their ancestors such belief may be maintained firm and undisturbed by misgivings, and that those who, despising the customs of their forefathers, hold that the gods have no power over man’s reason, may, preferably, retract their opinion, or, if they are incurable, that the may become still more odious to the gods and more wretched.

  [2] ἱστορεῖται τοίνυν, ὅτι τῆς βουλῆς ψηφισαμένης ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου πάσας ἐπιχορηγηθῆναι τὰς εἰς τὸν νεών τε καὶ τὸ ξόανον δαπάνας, ἕτερον δ᾽ ἄγαλμα κατασκευασαμένων τῶν γυναικῶν ἀφ᾽ ὧν αὐταὶ συνήνεγκαν [p. 210] χρημάτων, ἀνατεθέντων τ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀμφοτέρων ἅμα ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῆς ἀνιερώσεως ἡμέρᾳ, θάτερον τῶν ἀφιδρυμάτων, ὃ κατεσκευάσανθ᾽ αἱ γυναῖκες, ἐφθέγξατο πολλῶν παρουσῶν γλώττῃ Λατίνῃ φωνὴν εὐσύνετόν τε καὶ γεγωνόν: ἧς ἐστι φωνῆς ἐξερμηνευόμενος ὁ νοῦς εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα διάλεκτον τοιόσδε: ὁσίῳ

  [2] It is related, then, that when the senate had ordered that the whole expense both of the temple and of the statue should be defrayed from the public treasury, and the women had caused another statue to be made with the money they themselves had contributed, and both statues had been set up together on the first day of the dedication of the temple, one of them, the one which the women had provided, uttered some words in Latin in a voice both distinct and loud, when many were present. The meaning of the words when translated is as follows: “You have conformed to the holy law of the city, matrons, in dedicating me.”

  [3] πόλεως νόμῳ γυναῖκες γαμεταὶ δεδώκατέ με. οἷα δὲ φιλεῖ γίνεσθαι περὶ τὰς παραδόξους φωνάς τε καὶ ὄψεις, πολλὴ ταῖς παρούσαις ἐνέπιπτεν ἀπιστία, μή ποτ᾽ οὐ τὸ ξόανον εἴη τὸ φθεγξάμενον, ἀνθρωπίνη δέ τις φωνή: μάλιστα δ᾽ ὅσαι πρὸς ἄλλῳ τινὶ τὸν νοῦν ἔχουσαι τηνικαῦτα ἔτυχον, οὐκ ἰδοῦσαι τὸ φθεγγόμενον, ὅ τι ποτ᾽ ἦν, ταύτην εἶχον τὴν πρὸς τὰς ἰδούσας ἀπιστίαν. ἔπειτ᾽ αὖθις πληθύοντος τοῦ νεὼ καὶ σιωπῆς πλείστης κατὰ δαίμονα γενομένης ἐν μείζονι φωνῇ ταὐτὸ ξόανον ἐφθέγξατο τὴν αὐτὴν λέξιν, ὥστε μηδὲν ἔτι εἶναι τὸ ἀμφίλογον. ἡ μὲν οὖν βουλὴ ὡς.

  [3] The women who were present were very incredulous, as usually happens in the case of unusual voices and sights, believing that it was not the statue that had spoken, but some human voice; and those particularly who happened at the moment to have their mind on something else and did not see what it was that spoke, showed this incredulity toward those who had seen it. Later, on a second occasion, when the temple was full and there chanced to be a profound silence, the same statue pronounced the same words in a louder voice, so that there was no longer any doubt about it.

  [4] ταῦτ᾽ ἔμαθεν ἐψηφίσατο θυσίας ἄλλας καὶ σεβασμούς, οὓς ἂν οἱ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐξηγηταὶ παραδῶσι καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἔτος ἐπιτελεῖν. αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες ἐν ἔθει κατεστήσαντο τῇ τῆς ἱερείας χρησάμεναι γνώμῃ, τῷ ξοάνῳ τούτῳ μήτε στεφάνους ἐπιτιθέναι μήτε χεῖρας προσφέρειν γυναῖκας, ὅσαι δευτέρων ἐπειράθησαν γάμων, τὴν δὲ τιμὴν καὶ θεραπείαν αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν ἀποδεδόσθαι ταῖς νεογάμοις. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων οὔτε παρελθεῖν τὴν ἐπιχώριον ἱστορίαν καλῶς εἶχεν, οὔτε πλείονα περὶ αὐτῆς [p. 211] ποιεῖσθαι λόγον. ἐπάνειμι δ᾽, ὅθεν εἰς τοῦτον ἐξέβην τὸν λόγον.

  [4] The senate, upon hearing what had passed, ordered other sacrifices and rites to be performed every year, such as the interpreters of religious rites should direct. And the women upon the advice of their priestess established it as a custom that no women who had been married a second time should crown this statue with garlands or touch it with their hands, but that all the honour and worship paid to it should be committed to the newly-married women. But concerning these matters it was fitting that I should neither omit the native account nor dwell too long upon it. I now return to the point from which I digressed.

  [1] μετὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ χάρακος ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν γυναικῶν ὁ Μάρκιος περὶ τὸν ὄρθρον ἀναστήσας τὴν στρατιὰν ἀπῆγεν ὡς διὰ φιλίας, καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῇ Οὐολούσκων ἐγένετο, πάντα, ὅσα ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων ἔλαβε, δωρησάμενος τοῖς στρατιώταις, ἑαυτῷ δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν ὑπολιπόμενος ἀπέλυσεν ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα. ἡ μὲν οὖν κοινωνήσασα τῶν ἀγώνων αὐτῷ στρατιὰ πλούτῳ βαρεἶ ἀφικομένη τήν τ᾽ ἀνάπαυλαν οὐκ ἀηδῶς ἐδέξατο τοῦ πολέμου καὶ δι᾽ εὐνοίας εἶχε τὸν ἄνδρα, συγγνώμης τ᾽ ἄξιον ἡγεῖτο, εἰ μὴ τέλος ἐπέθηκε τῷ πολέμῳ

  [57.1] After the departure of the women from the camp Marcius roused his army about daybreak and led it away as thor a friendly country; and when he came into the territory of the Volscians, he divided among the soldiers all the booty he had taken, without reserving the least thing for himself, and then dismissed them to their homes. The army, accordingly, which had shared in the battles with him, returning loaded with riches, was not displeas
ed with the respite from war and felt well disposed toward him and thought he deserved to be forgiven for not having brought the war to a successful end out of regard for the lamentations and entreaties of his mother.

  [2] μητρὸς οἴκτους καὶ λιτὰς ἐντραπείς. ἡ δ᾽ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ὑπομείνασα νεότης φθονοῦσα μὲν τοῖς ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου γενομένοις τῶν πολλῶν ὠφελειῶν, διημαρτηκυῖα δ᾽ ὧν ἤλπισεν, εἰ καθαιρεθείη τὸ Ῥωμαίων φρόνημα τῆς πόλεως ἁλούσης, ἐτραχύνετο πρὸς τὸν ἡγεμόνα καὶ πικρὰ σφόδρα ἦν: καὶ τελευτῶσα, ἐπειδὴ τοῦ μίσους ἡγεμόνας ἔλαβε τοὺς πλεῖστον ἐν τῷ ἔθνει δυναμένους, ἐξηγριώθη τε καὶ ἔργον ἔδρασεν ἀνόσιον.

  [2] But the young men who had remained at home, envying those who had seen active service the great booty they had won, and being disappointed in their hopes of seeing the pride of the Romans humbled by the capture of their city, were incensed against the general and very bitter; and at last, when they found as leaders of their hatred the men of the greatest power in the nation, they grew wild with rage and committed an impious deed.