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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [4] τοῦτ᾽ αὐτῷ μέγαν ἤνεγκε φθόνον, καὶ τοῦ μὴ λαβεῖν παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς κατωρθωμένοις χάριτας αἴτιον ἐγένετο. ἐνέστησαν γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸν θρίαμβον αἰτουμένῳ τὴν αὐθάδειαν αἰτιώμενοι τῶν συνθηκῶν, ὅτι οὐ μετὰ κοινῆς γνώμης αὐτὰς ἔπραξεν. ἵνα δὲ μὴ πρὸς ὕβριν ἢ πρὸς ὀργὴν λάβῃ τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἐπὶ Οὐολούσκους αὐτὸν ἐψηφίσαντο τὴν δύναμιν ἀπάγειν ἐπικουρίας τοῦ συνάρχοντος ἕνεκα, εἰ δύναιτο κατορθώσας τὸν ἐκεῖ πόλεμον — ἦν γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ πολὺ τὸ ἀνδρεῖον — ἀφανίσαι τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς προτέροις ἁμαρτήμασιν ὀργάς. ὁ δ᾽ ἀνὴρ ἀγανακτῶν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀτιμίᾳ πολλὴν ἐποιήσατο τῆς βουλῆς [p. 305] ἐν τῷ δήμῳ κατηγορίαν, ὡς ἀχθομένης ἐπὶ τῷ λελύσθαι τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Τυρρηνοὺς πόλεμον. ἔφη δὲ τοῦτ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς καὶ ὑπεροψίας τῶν πενήτων ποιεῖν, ἵνα μὴ τῶν ὑπερορίων ἀπαλλαγέντες πολέμων ἀπαιτῶσι τὰς περὶ τῆς κληρουχίας ὑποσχέσεις,

  [4] This action brought upon him great odium and was the reason for his not receiving from the senate the rewards due for his success; for when he requested the customary triumph, they opposed it, censuring his arbitrary behaviour in the matter of the treaty, in that he had concluded it without their concurrence. But lest he should take this action as an insult and evidence of their anger, they ordered him to march with his army against the Volscians in order to bear aid to his colleague, on the chance that if he succeeded in the war there — for he was a man of great bravery — he might blot out the resentment for his former errors. But Aemilius, angry at this slight upon his honour, inveighed violently against the senate in the popular assembly, accusing them of being displeased that the war against the Tyrrhenians was ended, He declared that they were doing this with treacherous intent and through contempt of the poor, lest these, when freed from foreign wars, should demand the performance of the promises concerning the allotment of land with which they had been cajoled by them for so many years already.

  [5] πολλοστὸν ἔτος ἤδη φενακιζόμενοι πρὸς αὐτῶν. ταῦτα καὶ πολλὰ τούτοις ὅμοια εἰπὼν καὶ δι᾽ ὀργῆς ἀκράτου τῶν πατρικίων ὀνείδη κατασκεδάσας, τήν τε συστρατευσαμένην αὐτῷ δύναμιν ἀπέλυσε τῶν σημείων καὶ τὴν μετὰ Φουρίου τοῦ ἀνθυπάτου διατρίβουσαν ἐν Αἰκανοῖς μεταπεμψάμενος ἀφῆκεν ἐπὶ τὰ σφέτερα: ἐξ ὧν πολλὴν πάλιν ἐποίησεν ἐξουσίαν τοῖς δημάρχοις κατηγορεῖν τῶν βουλευτῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις καὶ διιστάναι τοὺς πένητας ἀπὸ τῶν εὐπόρων.

  [5] After he had in his ungovernable resentment poured forth these and many similar reproaches against the patricians, he not only dismissed from the standards the army that had served under him, but also sent for the forces that were tarrying in the country of the Aequians under Furius the proconsul and dismissed them to their homes. Thereby he once more gave the tribunes a considerable warrant for accusing the senators in the meetings of the assembly and sowing dissension between the poor and the rich.

  [1] μετὰ δὲ τούτους παραλαμβάνουσι τὴν ὑπατείαν Γάιος Ὁράτιος καὶ Τῖτος Μενήνιος ἐπὶ τῆς ἑβδομηκοστῆς καὶ ἕκτης ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Σκάμανδρος Μιτυληναῖος ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι Φαίδωνος. τούτοις κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς μὲν ὁ πολιτικὸς θόρυβος ἐμποδὼν ἐγένετο πράττειν τὰ κοινὰ ἠρεθισμένου τοῦ δήμου καὶ οὐδὲν ἐῶντος ἕτερον ἐπιτελεῖσθαι τῶν κοινῶν, ἕως ἂν μερίσηται τὴν δημοσίαν γῆν, χρόνῳ δ᾽ ὕστερον εἶξε τὰ παρακινοῦντα καὶ ταραττόμενα τῇ ἀνάγκῃ συγχωρήσαντα καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς στρατείας ἑκούσια ἦλθε.

  [18.1] These consuls were succeeded by Gaius Horatius and Titus Menenius in the seventy-sixth Olympiad (the one at which Scamander of Mitylene won the foot-race), when Phaedo was archon at Athens. The new consuls were at first hindered from transacting the public business by the domestic disturbance, the populace being exasperated and not permitting any other public business to be carried on until they should divide up among themselves the public land; but after a time the seditious and turbulent elements yielded to necessity and came in voluntarily to be enlisted.

  [2] Τυρρηνῶν γὰρ αἱ μὴ μετασχοῦσαι τῆς εἰρήνης ἕνδεκα πόλεις [p. 306] ἀγορὰν ποιησάμεναι κοινὴν κατηγόρουν τοῦ Οὐιεντανῶν ἔθνους, ὅτι τὸν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους πόλεμον οὐ μετὰ κοινῆς γνώμης κατελύσαντο, καὶ δυεῖν θάτερον αὐτοὺς ἠξίουν πράττειν, ἢ λύειν τὰ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ὁμολογηθέντα

  [2] For the eleven cities of the Tyrrhenians which had had no part in the peace, holding a general assembly, inveighed against the Veientes for having put an end to the war with the Romans without the general consent of the nation, and demanded that they do one of two things — either break the compact they had made with the Romans, or join with the Romans in making war upon the rest of the Tyrrhenians.

  [3] ἢ πολεμεῖν σφίσι μετ᾽ ἐκείνων. οἱ δὲ Οὐιεντανοὶ τῆς μὲν εἰρήνης τὴν ἀνάγκην ᾐτιῶντο, ὅπως δ᾽ ἂν αὐτὴν καταλύσαιντο εὐπρεπῶς εἰς κοινὸν ἐτίθεσαν σκοπεῖν. ἔπειτα ὑποτίθεταί τις αὐτοῖς ἔγκλημα ποιησαμένοις τὸν ἐπιτειχισμὸν τῆς Κρεμέρας καὶ τὸ μὴ ἀπανίστασθαι τοὺς φρουροὺς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς, λόγῳ μὲν πρῶτον ἀξιοῦν αὐτοὺς ἐκλιπεῖν τὸ χωρίον, ἐὰν δὲ μὴ πείθωσι, πολιορκεῖν τὸ φρούριον, καὶ ταύτην ἀρχὴν ποιήσασθαι τοῦ πολέμου.

  [3] But the Veientes laid the blame for the peace upon necessity, and proposed that the assembly consider how they might break it with decency. Upon this someone suggested to them that they should make formal complaint of the erection of the frontier stronghold on the Cremera and of the failure of its garrison to withdraw from there, and then should first make an oral demand that they evacuate the place, and, if they refused, should lay siege to the fortress and make this action the beginning of the war.

  [4] ταῦτα συνθέμενοι ἀπηλλάττοντο ἐκ τοῦ συλλόγου: καὶ μετ᾽ οὐ πολὺ Οὐιεντανοὶ μὲν ἀποστείλαντες πρεσβείαν ὡς τοὺς Φαβίους ἀπῄτουν παρ᾽ αὐτῶν τὸ φρούριον, Τυρρηνία δὲ πᾶσα ἦν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις. ταῦτα Ῥωμαῖοι αἰσθόμενοι Φαβίων αὐτοῖς ἐπιστειλάντων ἔγνωσαν ἀμφοτέρους ἐκπορεύεσθαι τοὺς ὑπάτους ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον, τόν τ᾽ ἀπὸ Τυρρηνίας ἐπαγόμενον σφίσι καὶ τὸν ἔτι πρὸς Οὐολούσκους συνεστῶτα.

  [4] Having agreed on this course, they left the assembly; and not long afterwards the Veientes sent ambass
adors to the Fabii to demand from them the fortress, and all Tyrrhenia was in arms. The Romans, learning of these things through letters from the Fabii, resolved that both the consuls should take the field, one to command in the war that was coming upon them from Tyrrhenia and the other to prosecute the war which was still going on with the Volscians.

  [5] Ὁράτιος μὲν οὖν ἄγων δύο τάγματα καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων τοὺς ἱκανοὺς ἐξήγαγε τὴν δύναμιν ἐπὶ Οὐολούσκους. Μενήνιος δὲ τοσαύτην στρατιὰν ἑτέραν ἄγων ἐπὶ Τυρρηνοὺς ἔμελλε ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἔξοδον. παρασκευαζομένου δ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ τρίβοντος τὸν [p. 307] χρόνον ἔφθη τὸ ἐν Κρεμέρᾳ φρούριον ἐξαιρεθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, καὶ τὸ Φαβίων γένος ἅπαν ἀπολόμενον. περὶ δὲ τῆς κατασχούσης τοὺς ἄνδρας συμφορᾶς διττὸς φέρεται λόγος, ὁ μὲν ἧττον πιθανός, ὁ δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς ἀληθείας ἁπτόμενος. θήσω δ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἀμφοτέρους, ὡς παρέλαβον.

  [5] Horatius, accordingly, marched against the Volscians with two legions and an adequate force of the allies, and Menenius was preparing to set out against the Tyrrhenians with another force of equal size; but while he was making his preparations and losing time, the fortress on the Cremera was destroyed by the enemy and the entire Fabian clan perished. Concerning the disaster that befell these men two accounts are current, one less probable and the other coming nearer to the truth. I shall give them both as I have received them.

  [1] τινὲς μὲν οὖν φασιν, ὅτι θυσίας ἐπιστάσης πατρίου, ἣν ἔδει τὸ Φαβίων ἐπιτελέσαι γένος, οἱ μὲν ἄνδρες ἐξῆλθον ὀλίγους ἐπαγόμενοι πελάτας ἐπὶ τὰ ἱερά, καὶ προῄεσαν οὔτε διερευνώμενοι τὰς ὁδοὺς οὔθ᾽ ὑπὸ σημαίαις τεταγμένοι κατὰ λόχους, ῥᾳθύμως δὲ καὶ ἀφυλάκτως ὡς ἐν εἰρήνῃ τε καὶ διὰ φιλίας γῆς πορευόμενοι.

  [19.1] Some say that when the time was at hand for a traditional sacrifice which devolved upon the Fabian clan, the men set out from the fortress, attended by a few clients, to perform the rites, and proceeded without reconnoitring the roads or marching ranged in centuries under their standards, but negligently and unguardedly as in time of peace and as if they were passing through friendly territory.

  [2] οἱ δὲ Τυρρηνοὶ προεγνωκότες αὐτῶν τὴν ἔξοδον ἐλόχησαν τῆς ὁδοῦ χωρίον μέρει τῆς στρατιᾶς, τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν δύναμιν συντεταγμένην ἔχοντες οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἠκολούθουν. ὡς δ᾽ ἐπλησίασαν οἱ Φάβιοι ταῖς ἐνέδραις, ἐξαναστάντες τοῦ λόχου οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ προσπίπτουσιν αὐτοῖς, οἱ μὲν κατὰ μέτωπον, οἱ δ᾽ ἐκ τῶν πλαγίων, καὶ μετ᾽ οὐ πολὺ ἡ τῶν ἄλλων Τυρρηνῶν δύναμις προσέβαλεν ἐκ τῶν κατόπιν: καὶ περιστάντες αὐτοῖς πανταχόθεν, οἱ μὲν σφενδόναις, οἱ δὲ τόξοις, οἱ δὲ σαυνίοις τε καὶ λόγχαις στοχαζόμενοι, τῷ πλήθει τῶν βελῶν ἅπαντας κατειργάσαντο.

  [2] The Tyrrhenians, having learned of their departure in advance, placed one part of their army in ambush at a spot along the road, and followed son after with the rest of their forces in regular formation. When the Fabii drew near the ambuscade, the Tyrrhenians who were lying in wait there rose up and fell upon them, some in front and others in flank, and a little later the rest of the Tyrrhenian force attacked them from the rear; and surrounding them on all sides and shooting at them, some with slings, some with bows, and others hurling javelins and spears, they overwhelmed them all with the multitude of their missiles.

  [3] οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἧττον ἔμοιγε πιθανὸς φαίνεται εἶναι λόγος. οὔτε γὰρ εἰκὸς ἀπὸ στρατοπέδου θυσίας ἕνεκα [p. 308] τοὺς ὑπὸ ταῖς σημαίαις τοσούτους ἄνδρας εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀναστρέφειν ἄνευ ψηφίσματος βουλῆς, δυναμένων τῶν ἱερουργιῶν καὶ δι᾽ ἑτέρων ἐπιτελεσθῆναι τῶν μετεχόντων μὲν τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους, προβεβηκότων δὲ ταῖς ἡλικίαις: οὔτ᾽ εἰ πάντες ἀπεληλύθεσαν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ μηδεμία μοῖρα τοῦ Φαβίων γένους ἐν τοῖς ἐφεστίοις ὑπελείπετο, πάντας εἰκὸς ἦν τοὺς κατέχοντας τὸ φρούριον ἐκλιπεῖν αὐτοῦ τὴν φυλακήν: ἤρκουν γὰρ ἂν καὶ τρεῖς ἢ τέτταρες ἀφικόμενοι συντελέσαι περὶ τοῦ γένους ὅλου τὰ ἱερά. διὰ μὲν δὴ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας οὐκ ἔδοξέ μοι πιστὸς εἶναι ὁ λόγος.

  [3] Now this account seems to me to be the less credible. For not only is it improbable that so many serving under the standards would have returned from the camp to the city because of a sacrifice without a decree from the senate, when the rites might have been performed by others of the same clan who were advanced in years; but even if they had all gone from the city and no part of the Fabian clan was left in their homes, it is improbable that all who held the fortress would have abandoned the guarding of it, since even three or four of them would have sufficed to return to Rome and perform the rites for the whole clan. For these reasons, then, this account has not seemed to me to be credible.

  [1] ὁ δ᾽ ἕτερος, ὃν ἀληθέστερον εἶναι νομίζω περί τε τῆς ἀπωλείας τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως τοῦ φρουρίου, τοιόσδε τίς ἐστιν. ἐξιόντων ἐπὶ τὰς προνομὰς τῶν ἀνδρῶν πολλάκις καὶ διὰ τὸ κατορθοῦν ἐν ταῖς πείραις συνεχῶς προσωτέρω προχωρούντων οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ παρεσκευασμένοι στρατιὰν συχνὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔγγιστα χωρίοις λαθόντες τοὺς πολεμίους κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. ἔπειτ᾽ ἀποστέλλοντες ἐκ τῶν χωρίων ποίμνας τε καὶ βουκόλια καὶ φορβάδων ἀγέλας ἵππων ἐπὶ νομὴν τῷ λόγῳ προὐκαλοῦντο τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐπὶ ταῦτα: οἱ δ᾽ ἐξιόντες τούς τ᾽ ἀνθρώπους συνήρπαζον καὶ τὰ

  [20.1] The other account concerning the destruction of the Fabii and the capture of the fortress, which I regard as being nearer to the truth, is somewhat as follows. As the men went out frequently to forage and, encouraged by the continued success of their forays, advanced even farther, the Tyrrhenians got ready a numerous army and encamped in the near neighbourhood unperceived by the enemy. Then, sending out of their strongholds flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and drove of mares as if to pasture, they lured the garrison to these; and the men, coming out, seized the herdsmen and rounded up the cattle.

  [2] βοσκήματα περιήλαυνον. τοῦτο συνεχῶς οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ ποιοῦντες καὶ προαγόμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους ἀεὶ προσωτέρω τοῦ χάρακος, ἐπειδὴ διέφθειραν αὐτῶν τὸ προνοητικὸν τοῦ ἀσφαλοῦς ταῖς συνεχέσιν ὠφελείαις δελεάσαντες, ἐγκαθίζουσι λόχους ἐν τοῖς ἐπικαίροις τῶν [p. 309] χωρίων νύκτωρ, καὶ ἕτεροι τὰς ὑπ
ερδεξίους τῶν πεδίων καταλαμβάνονται σκοπιάς: τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ προπέμψαντες ὀλίγους τινὰς ἐνόπλους, ὡς δὴ φυλακῆς ἕνεκα τῶν νομέων, ἀφῆκαν ἐκ τῶν χωρίων πολλὰς ἀγέλας.

  [2] The Tyrrhenians kept doing this and drawing the enemy ever farther away from their camp; then, when they had destroyed in them all thought for their safety by enticing them with constant booty, they placed ambuscades at night in the most suitable positions, while others occupied the heights that commanded the plains. The next day, sending ahead a few armed men, as if to serve as a guard for the herdsmen, they drove out a large number of herds from their strongholds.

  [3] ὡς δ᾽ ἀπηγγέλη τοῖς Φαβίοις, ὅτι τοὺς πλησίον ὑπερβαλόντες λόφους ἐν ὀλίγῳ δή τινι χρόνῳ μεστὸν εὑρήσουσι τὸ πεδίον παντοίων βοτῶν, καὶ τὴν φυλάττουσαν αὐτὰ χεῖρα οὐχ ἱκανήν, ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ φρουρίου φυλακὴν τὴν ἀρκοῦσαν ἐν αὐτῷ καταλιπόντες: καὶ διανύσαντες σπουδῇ καὶ μετὰ προθυμίας τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπιφαίνονται τοῖς φύλαξι τῶν βοσκημάτων συντεταγμένοι: κἀκεῖνοι οὐ δεξάμενοι αὐτοὺς ἔφευγον. οἱ δὲ Φάβιοι, ὡς ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ δὴ ὄντες, τούς τε νομεῖς συνελάμβανον καὶ τὰ βοσκήματα περιήλαυνον.