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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [3] When word was brought to the Fabii that if they went over the neighbouring hills they would in a very short time find the plain covered with cattle of all sorts with a guard insufficient to defend them, they went out of the fortress, leaving an adequate garrison there. And covering the distance speedily in their eagerness, they appeared before the guards of the cattle in battle array. These did not await their attack, but fled, and the Fabii, thinking themselves now quite secure, set about seizing the herdsmen and rounding up the cattle.

  [4] ἐν δὲ τούτῳ οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ ἐκ τῆς ἐνέδρας ἀναστάντες κατὰ πολλὰ χωρία προσπίπτουσιν αὐτοῖς πανταχόθεν. καὶ οἱ μὲν πλείους τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐσκεδασμένοι καὶ ἀλλήλοις ἀμύνειν οὐχ οἷοί τ᾽ ὄντες, ἐνταῦθ᾽ ἀπόλλυνται. ὅσοι δ᾽ αὐτῶν συνεστηκότες ἦσαν προθυμούμενοί τι καταλαβέσθαι χωρίον ἀσφαλὲς καὶ πρὸς τὰ ὄρη σπεύδοντες εἰς ἕτερον ἐμπίπτουσι λόχον ἐν ὕλαις καὶ νάπαις ὑποκαθήμενον. καὶ γίνεται αὐτῶν μάχη καρτερὰ καὶ φόνος ἐξ ἑκατέρων πολύς. ἀπεώσαντο δ᾽ οὖν καὶ τούτους ὅμως, καὶ πληρώσαντες τὴν φάραγγα νεκρῶν ἀνέδραμον ἐπὶ λόφον οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἁλῶναι: ἐν ᾧ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν νύκτα ἄποροι τῶν ἀναγκαίων ηὐλίσαντο. [p. 310]

  [4] Thereupon the Tyrrhenians, rising up from ambush in many places, fell upon them from all sides. The greater part of the Romans, being scattered and unable to assist one another, were killed upon the spot; but those who were in a body, being eager to reach a secure position and hastening toward the hills, fell into another ambuscade that lay concealed in the woods and glens. Here a sharp battle took place between them and there was great slaughter on both sides. But nevertheless they repulsed even these foes, and after filling the ravine with dead bodies, they ran up to the top of a hill that was not easy to take, and there passed the following night in want of the necessary provisions.

  [1] τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ μαθόντες τὴν κατασχοῦσαν τοὺς σφετέρους τύχην οἱ κατέχοντες τὸ φρούριον, καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὲν πλεῖον ἀπόλωλε τῆς στρατιᾶς μέρος ἐν ταῖς ἁρπαγαῖς, τὸ δὲ κράτιστον ἐν ὄρει πολιορκεῖται κατακεκλεισμένον ἐρήμῳ, καὶ εἰ μὴ ταχεῖά τις αὐτοῖς ἥξει βοήθεια, σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων φθάσουσιν ἐξαιρεθέντες, ἐξῄεσαν κατὰ σπουδὴν ὀλίγους πάνυ καταλιπόντες ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ φύλακας. καὶ αὐτοὺς οἱ Τυρρηνοί, πρὶν ἢ συμμῖξαι τοῖς ἑτέροις ἐπικαταδραμόντες ἐκ τῶν χωρίων κυκλοῦνταί τε, καὶ πολλὰ γενναῖα ἔργα ἀποδειξαμένους διαφθείρουσιν ἅπαντας σὺν χρόνῳ.

  [21.1] The next day those who were holding the fortress, upon being informed of the disaster that had befallen their companions — namely, that the greater part of the army had been destroyed in their pursuit of plunder and the bravest of them were shut up and besieged on a lonely mountain, and that if some aid seems reach them promptly they would soon be destroyed for want of provisions — set out in haste, leaving very few in the fortress to guard it. These troops, before they could join their companions, were surrounded by the Tyrrhenians, who rushed down upon them from their strongholds; and though they displayed many feats of valour, they were in time all destroyed.

  [2] μετ᾽ οὐ πολὺ δὲ καὶ οἱ τὸν λόφον καταλαβόμενοι λιμῷ τε καὶ δίψῃ πιεζόμενοι ὁμόσε χωρεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἔγνωσαν: καὶ συμπεσόντες ὀλίγοι πρὸς πολλοὺς ἕωθεν ἀρξάμενοι μέχρι νυκτὸς ἐμάχοντο: καὶ τοσοῦτον ἐποίησαν τῶν πολεμίων φόνον, ὥστε τοὺς σωροὺς τῶν νεκρῶν ἐμποδὼν αὐτοῖς εἶναι τῆς μάχης πολλαχῇ κεχυμένους. οἱ δὲ Τυρρηνοὶ πλεῖον ἢ τὸ τρίτον τῆς στρατιᾶς μέρος ἀπολωλεκότες καὶ περὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ δείσαντες, μικρὸν ἀνασχόντες τὰ ὅπλα διὰ τῶν ἀνακλητικῶν ἐπεκηρυκεύοντο πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας, ἄδειαν αὐτοῖς ὑπισχνούμενοι καὶ δίοδον, ἐὰν τὰ ὅπλα ἀποθῶνται καὶ τὸ φρούριον ἐκλίπωσιν.

  [2] Not long afterwards those also who had seized the hill, being oppressed by both hunger and thirst, resolved to charge the enemy; and engaging, a few against many, they continued fighting from morning till night, and made so great a slaughter of the enemy that the heaps of dead bodies piled up in many places were a hindrance to them in fighting. Indeed, the Tyrrhenians had lost above a third part of their army, and fearing for the rest, they now gave the signal for a retreat and stopped fighting for a short time; and sending heralds to the men, they offered them their lives and a safe-conduct if they would lay down their arms and evacuate the fortress.

  [3] οὐ προσδεξαμένων δὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τὰς προκλήσεις, ἀλλὰ τὸν εὐγενῆ θάνατον αἱρουμένων ἐπῄεσαν αὐτοῖς αὖθις ἐκ διαδοχῆς, συστάδην μὲν καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς οὐκέτι μαχόμενοι, πρόσωθεν δὲ βάλλοντες ἀθρόοι λόγχαις καὶ χερμάσι, καὶ ἦν νιφετῷ παραπλήσιος [p. 311] ἡ πληθὺς τῶν βελῶν. οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι συστρεφόμενοι κατὰ λόχους προσέτρεχον αὐτοῖς οὐχ ὑφισταμένοις καὶ πολλὰς πληγὰς λαμβάνοντες ὑπὸ τῶν πέριξ ὑπέμενον.

  [3] When the others refused their offer and chose the death befitting men of noble birth, the Tyrrhenians renewed the struggle, attacking them in relays, though no longer fighting at close quarters in hand-to-hand combat, but standing in a body and hurling javelins and stones at them from a distance; and the multitude of missiles was like a snow-storm. The Romans, massing by companies, rushed upon their foes, who did not stand their ground, and though they received many wounds from those surrounding them, they stood firm.

  [4] ὡς δὲ τά τε ξίφη πολλοῖς ἄχρηστα ἦν τὰ μὲν ἀπεστομωμένα τὰς ἀκμάς, τὰ δὲ κατεαγότα, καὶ τῶν ἀσπίδων τὰ πέριξ ἴτυος ἐχόμενα διετέθρυπτο, ἔξαιμοί τε οἱ πλείους καὶ καταβελεῖς καὶ παράλυτοι τὰ μέλη διὰ πλῆθος τραυμάτων ἦσαν, καταφρονήσαντες αὐτῶν οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ χωροῦσιν ὁμόσε: καὶ οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι προσπίπτοντες ὥσπερ θηρία δόρατά τ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπιλαμβανόμενοι κατέκλων, καὶ ξίφη δραττόμενοι κατὰ τὰς ἀκμὰς ἀπέσπων, καὶ περικυλίοντες εἰς τὴν γῆν τὰ σώματα συνεφύροντο θυμῷ τὸ πλεῖον ἢ δυνάμει διαγωνιζόμενοι.

  [4] But when the swords of many had become useless, some having their edges blunted and others being broken, and the borders of their shields next the rims were hacked in pieces, and the men themselves were for the most part bled white and overwhelmed by missiles and their limbs paralysed by reason of the multitude of their wounds, the Tyrrhenians scorned them and came to close quarters. Then the Romans, rushing at them like wild beasts, seized their spears and broke them, grasped their swords by the edges and wrenched them out of their ha
nds, and twisting the bodies of their antagonists, fell with them to the ground, locked in close embrace, fighting with greater rage than strength.

  [5] ὥστ᾽ οὐκέτι συνῄεσαν αὐτοῖς εἰς χεῖρας οἱ πολέμιοι, τό τε καρτερικὸν ἐκπληττόμενοι τῶν ἀνδρῶν, καὶ τὴν ἀπόνοιαν, ἣν προσειλήφεσαν, κατὰ τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν τοῦ ζῆν δεδιότες: ἀλλ᾽ ἀποστάντες αὖθις ἔβαλλον ἀθρόοι καὶ ξύλοις καὶ λίθοις καὶ ὅτῳ ἄλλῳ ἐντύχοιεν, καὶ τελευτῶντες ἐγκατέχωσαν αὐτοὺς τῷ πλήθει τῶν βελῶν. διαφθείραντες δὲ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἔθεον ἐπὶ τὸ φρούριον, ἔχοντες τὰς τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων κεφαλάς,

  [5] Hence the enemy, astonished at their endurance and terrified at the madness that had seized them in their despair of life, no longer ventured to come to grips with them, but retiring again, stood in a body and hurled at them sticks, stones, and anything else they could lay their hands on, and at last buried them under the multitude of missiles. After destroying these men they ran to the fortress, carrying with them the heads of the most prominent, expecting to take the men there prisoners at their first onset.

  [6] ὡς ἐξ ἐφόδου τοὺς ἐκεῖ παραληψόμενοι. οὐ μὴν ἐχώρησέ γ᾽ αὐτοῖς κατ᾽ ἐλπίδα τὸ ἔργον: οἱ γὰρ καταλειφθέντες ἐν αὐτῷ ζηλώσαντες τὸ εὐγενὲς τοῦ θανάτου τῶν θ᾽ ἑταίρων καὶ τῶν συγγενῶν ἐξῆλθον ὀλίγοι παντάπασιν ὄντες, καὶ πολὺν ἀγωνισάμενοι χρόνον τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τοῖς ἑτέροις ἅπαντες διεφθάρησαν: [p. 312] τὸ δὲ χωρίον ἔρημον οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ παρέλαβον. ἐμοὶ μὲν δὴ ὁ λόγος οὗτος πιστότερος ἐφαίνετο πολὺ τοῦ προτέρου: φέρονται δ᾽ ἐν γραφαῖς Ῥωμαίων ἀξιοχρέοις ἀμφότεροι.

  [6] However, the attempt did not turn out according to their hopes; for the men who had been left there, emulating the noble death of their comrades and kinsmen, came out of the fortress, though very few in number, and after fighting for a considerable time were all destroyed in the same manner as the others; and the place was empty of men when the Tyrrhenians took it. To me now this account appears much more credible than the former; but both of them are to be found in Roman writings of good authority.

  [1] τὸ δὲ συναπτόμενον τούτοις ὑπό τινων οὔτ᾽ ἀληθὲς ὂν οὔτε πιθανόν, ἐκ παρακούσματος δέ τινος πεπλασμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους, ἄξιον μὴ παραλιπεῖν ἀνεξέταστον. λέγουσι γὰρ δή τινες, τῶν ἓξ καὶ τριακοσίων Φαβίων ἀπολομένων ὅτι ἓν μόνον ἐλείφθη τοῦ γένους παιδίον, πρᾶγμα οὐ μόνον ἀπίθανον, ἀλλὰ καὶ

  [22.1] The addition to this account which has been made by certain writers, though neither true nor plausible, but invented by the multitude from some false report, does not deserve to be passed over without examination. For some report that after the three hundred and six Fabii had been slain, there was only one boy left out of the whole clan, thereby introducing a detail that is not only improbable, but even impossible;

  [2] ἀδύνατον εἰσάγοντες. οὔτε γὰρ ἀτέκνους τε καὶ ἀγάμους ἅπαντας εἶναι δυνατὸν ἦν τοὺς ἐξελθόντας εἰς τὸ φρούριον Φαβίους. ὁ γὰρ ἀρχαῖος αὐτῶν νόμος γαμεῖν τ᾽ ἠνάγκαζε τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ, καὶ τὰ γεννώμενα πάντα ἐπάναγκες τρέφειν: ὃν οὐκ ἂν δήπου κατέλυσαν οἱ Φάβιοι μόνοι πεφυλαγμένον ἄχρι τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἡλικίας ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων.

  [2] for it is not possible that all the Fabii who went out to the fortress were unmarried and childless. For not only did the ancient law of the Romans oblige all of the proper age to marry, but they were forced also to rear all their children; and surely the Fabii would not have been the only persons to violate a law which had been observed by their ancestor down to their time.

  [3] εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο θείη τις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνό γ᾽ οὐκ ἂν ἔτι συγχωρήσειε, τὸ μηδ᾽ ἀδελφοὺς αὐτῶν εἶναί τισιν ἡλικίαν ἔτι παίδων ἔχοντας. μύθοις γὰρ δὴ ταῦτά γε καὶ πλάσμασιν ἔοικε θεατρικοῖς. οἱ δὲ πατέρες αὐτῶν, ὅσοι παῖδας ἔτι ποιεῖν εἶχον ἡλικίαν, τοσαύτης κατασχούσης τὸ γένος ἐρημίας οὐκ ἂν ἑκόντες τε καὶ ἄκοντες ἑτέρους παῖδας ἐποιήσαντο, ἵνα μήτε ἱερὰ ἐκλειφθῇ πατρῷα μήτε δόξα τηλικαύτη διαφθαρῇ γένους;

  [3] But even if one were to admit this assumption, yet he would never make the further assumption that none of them had any brothers still in their childhood. Why, such institutions resemble myths and fictions of the stage! Besides, would not as many of their fathers as were still of an age to beget children, now that so great a desolation had come upon their clan, have begotten other children both willingly and unwillingly, in order that neither the sacrifices of their ancestors might be abandoned nor the great reputation of the clan be extinguished?

  [4] εἰ μὴ ἄρα οὐδὲ πατέρες αὐτῶν τισιν ἐλείποντο, ἀλλὰ πάντα εἰς ταὐτὸ συνῆλθεν [p. 313] ἐπὶ τῶν ἓξ καὶ τριακοσίων ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων τὰ ἀδύνατα: μὴ παῖδας αὐτοῖς καταλειφθῆναι νηπίους, μὴ γυναῖκας ἐγκύους, μὴ ἀδελφοὺς ἀνήβους, μὴ πατέρας ἐν ἀκμῇ. ταύτῃ μὲν δὴ τὸν λόγον ἐξετάζων οὐκ ἀληθῆ νενόμικα,

  [4] Unless, indeed, none even of their fathers were left and all the conditions which would render it impossible to perpetuate the clan combined together ink those three hundred and six men — namely, that they left behind them no infant children, no wives with child, no brothers still under age, no fathers in the prime of life.

  [5] ἐκεῖνον δ᾽ ἀληθῆ: τῶν τριῶν ἀδελφῶν, Καίσωνός τε καὶ Κοίντου καὶ Μάρκου τῶν ὑπατευσάντων τὰς συνεχεῖς ἑπτὰ ὑπατείας, ἐγκαταλειφθῆναι πείθομαι Μάρκῳ παιδίον, καὶ τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον ἐκ τοῦ Φαβίων οἴκου λοιπόν.

  [5] Testing the story by such reasoning, I have come to the conclusion that it is not true, but that the following is the true account. Of the three brothers, Caeso, Quintus, and Marcus, who had been consuls for seven years in succession, I believe that Marcus left one young son, and that this boy was the one who is reported to have been the survivor of the Fabian house.

  [6] οὐδὲν δὲ κωλύει τῷ μηκέτι τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιφανῆ τινα καὶ λαμπρὸν ἔξω τοῦ ἑνὸς τοῦδε ἀνδρωθέντος γενέσθαι ταύτην παραστῆναι τοῖς πολλοῖς τὴν δόξαν, ὅτι μόνος ἐκεῖνος ἐκ τοῦ Φαβίων γένους ἐστὶ λοιπός: οὐχ ὡς μηδενὸς ἄλλον ὄντος, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς μηδενὸς ἐκείνοις ὁμοίου, ἀρετῇ τεκμαιρομένοις τὸ συγγενές, οὐ φύσει: καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων ταῦθ᾽ ἱκανά.

  [6] There is no reason why it should not have been because no one else of the clan became famous
and illustrious except this one son, when he had grown to manhood, that most people came to hold the belief that he was the only survivor of the Fabian clan — not, indeed, that there was no other, but that there was none like those famous three — judging kinship on the basis of merit, not of birth. But enough on this subject.

  [1] οἱ γοῦν Τυρρηνοὶ τούς τ᾽ ἄνδρας διαφθείραντες καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ Κρεμέρᾳ φρούριον παραλαβόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλλην στρατιὰν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἦγον τὰς δυνάμεις. ἔτυχε δ᾽ οὐ μακρὰν κατεστρατοπεδευκὼς ὁ ἕτερος τῶν ὑπάτων Μενήνιος οὐκ ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ χωρίῳ: καὶ ὅτε ἡ Φαβίων συγγένεια καὶ τὸ πελατικὸν αὐτῶν ἀπώλλυντο, τριάκοντά που σταδίους ἀπεῖχεν ἀφ᾽ οὗ τὸ πάθος ἐγένετο τόπου, δόξαν τ᾽ οὐκ ὀλίγοις παρέσχε, γνοὺς ἐν οἵοις κακοῖς ἦσαν οἱ Φάβιοι, μηδεμίαν [p. 314] αὐτῶν ποιήσασθαι φροντίδα τῆς τ᾽ ἀρετῆς καὶ

  [23.1] After the Tyrrhenians, then, had destroyed the Fabii and taken the fortress on the Cremera, they led their forces against the other army of the Romans. It chanced that Menenius, one of the consuls, lay encamped not far away in an insecure position; and when the Fabian clan and their clients perished, he was only some thirty stades from the place where the disaster occurred — a circumstance which gave many people reason to believe that, though aware of the dire straits of the Fabii, he had shown no concern for them because of the envy he felt of their valour and reputation.

  [2] δόξης τοῖς ἀνδράσι φθονῶν. τοιγαροῦν μετὰ ταῦθ᾽ ὑπαχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν δημάρχων εἰς δίκην ἐπὶ ταύτῃ μάλιστα τῇ αἰτίᾳ ἑάλω. σφόδρα γὰρ ἐπένθησεν ἡ Ῥωμαίων πόλις ἀνδρῶν τοσούτων καὶ τοιούτων ἀρετὰς ἀποκειραμένη, καὶ πρὸς ἅπαν τὸ δόξαν αὐτοῖς αἴτιον γεγονέναι τῆς τοιαύτης συμφορᾶς πικρῶς καὶ ἀπαραιτήτως εἶχεν: τὴν δ᾽ ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, ἐν ᾗ τὸ πάθος ἐγένετο, μέλαινάν τε καὶ ἀποφράδα τίθεται, καὶ οὐδενὸς ἂν ἔργου ἐν ταύτῃ χρηστοῦ ἄρξαιτο, τὴν τότε συμβᾶσαν αὐτῇ τύχην ὀττευομένη.