Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79)
Page 648
[3] The first lictor who approached him he struck squarely in the face with his fists, and being a young man and vigorous, he knocked him down; and the next one likewise. When the consuls in their anger ordered all their attendants to approach him at the same time, the plebeians who were present thought it an outrageous thing. And immediately gathering together in a body and shouting the cry used to incite one another’s resentment, they snatched the young man away and repulsed the lictors with blows, and at last made a rush against the consuls; and if those magistrates had not left the Forum and fled, the mob would have done some irreparable mischief.
[4] ἀνήκεστον ἄν τι κακὸν ἐξειργάσαντο. ἐκ δὲ τούτου διειστήκει πᾶσα ἡ πόλις, καὶ οἱ τέως ἡσυχάζοντες δήμαρχοι τότ᾽ ἠγριοῦντο καὶ τῶν ὑπάτων κατηγόρουν. περιειστήκει τε ἡ περὶ τῆς κληρουχίας στάσις εἰς ἕτερον μείζονα διὰ τὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κόσμου τῆς πολιτείας ἀγῶνα. οἱ μέν γε πατρίκιοι τοῖς ὑπάτοις ὡς καταλυομένης αὐτῶν τῆς ἐξουσίας συναγανακτοῦντες τὸν ἐπιβαλεῖν χεῖρας τοῖς ὑπηρέταις τολμήσαντα κατὰ
[4] As a result of this incident the whole city was divided, and those tribunes who till then had remained quiet grew wild with rage and inveighed against the consuls. Thus the dissensions over the land-allotment had turned into another quarrel of greater consequence because of the contest concerning the form of government. On the one hand the patricians, believing that the power of the consuls was being destroyed, shared their indignation and demanded that the man who had dared to lay hands on their attendants should be hurled down from the precipice.
[5] κρημνοῦ βαλεῖν ἠξίουν. οἱ δὲ δημοτικοὶ συστρέψαντες αὑτοὺς κατεβόων τε καὶ παρεκελεύοντο μὴ προδιδόναι [p. 344] σφῶν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τὴν βουλὴν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἄγειν καὶ τῶν ὑπάτων κατηγορεῖν καὶ δίκης τινὸς παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἠξίουν τυχεῖν, ὅτι τὸν ἐπικαλεσάμενον τὴν ἐκ τῶν δημάρχων βοήθειαν, καὶ ἐν τῷ δήμῳ κρίσιν ὑπέχειν, εἴ τι πλημμελεῖ, βουλόμενον, οὐδετέρου τυχεῖν εἴασαν τῶν δικαίων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἀνδραπόδου μοίρᾳ τὸν ἐλεύθερον καὶ πολίτην ἔθεντο παίειν ἐπικελευόμενοι.
[5] On the other hand the plebeians, assembling together, raised a loud clamour and exhorted one another not to betray their liberty, but to carry the matter before the senate, to accuse the consuls and to endeavour to ought to be some justice from them because they had refused to permit a man who had invoked the assistance of the tribunes and asked to be tried before the populace, in case he were guilty of any wrongdoing, to obtain either of these rights, but had treated him like a slave, though he was free born and a citizen, when they ordered him to be beaten.
[6] ἀντιτεταγμένων δὴ τούτων καὶ οὐδετέρων εἶξαι βουλομένων τοῖς ἑτέροις, ἅπας ὁ λοιπὸς τῆς ὑπατείας ἐκείνης ἐδαπανήθη χρόνος, οὔτε πολεμικαῖς πράξεσι κοσμηθεὶς καλαῖς οὔτε πολιτικαῖς λόγου ἀξίαις.
[6] The two parties being thus arrayed against one another and neither being willing to yield to the other, all the remaining time of this consulship was consumed without being marked either by any glorious exploits in war or by achievements at home worthy of mention.
[1] ἐπιστάντων δὲ τῶν ἀρχαιρεσίων ὕπατοι μὲν ἀπεδείχθησαν Λεύκιος Πινάριος καὶ Πόπλιος Φούριος. ἐν ἀρχῇ δὲ τοῦ ἔτους εὐθὺς ὀττείας τινὸς ἡ πόλις ἐπληρώθη καὶ φόβου δαιμονίου τεράτων τε καὶ σημείων πολλῶν γινομένων. καὶ οἵ τε μάντεις ἅπαντες καὶ οἱ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐξηγηταὶ χόλου δαιμόνων μηνύματα εἶναι τὰ γινόμενα ἀπέφαινον, ἱερῶν τινων οὐχ ὁσίως οὐδὲ καθαρῶς ἐπιτελουμένων.
[40.1] The election of magistrates being at hand, Lucius Pinarius and Publius Furius were chosen consuls. At the very beginning of this year the city was filled with a kind of religious awe and fear of the gods owing to the occurrence of many prodigies and omens. All the augurs and the pontiffs declared that these occurrences were indications of divine anger, aroused because of some rites were not being performed in a pure and holy manner.
[2] καὶ μετ᾽ οὐ πολὺ νόσος ἐνέσκηψεν εἰς τὰς γυναῖκας ἡ καλουμένη λοιμική, καὶ θάνατος, ὅσος οὔπω πρότερον, μάλιστα δ᾽ εἰς τὰς ἐγκύμονας. ὠμοτοκοῦσαί τε γὰρ καὶ νεκρὰ τίκτουσαι συναπέθνησκον τοῖς βρέφεσι, καὶ οὔτε λιτανεῖαι πρὸς ἕδεσι καὶ βωμοῖς γινόμεναι θεῶν, οὔτε καθαρτήριοι θυσίαι περί τε πόλεως καὶ οἴκων ἰδίων ἐπιτελούμεναι παῦλαν αὐταῖς ἔφερον τῶν κακῶν.
[2] And not long afterwards the disease known as the pestilence attacked the women, particularly such as were with child, and more of them died than ever before; for as they miscarried and brought forth dead children, they died together with their infants. And neither supplications made at the statues and altars of the gods nor expiatory sacrifices performed on behalf of the state and of private households gave the women any respite from their ills.
[3] ἐν [p. 345] τοιαύτῃ δὲ συμφορᾷ τῆς πόλεως οὔσης τοῖς ἐξηγηταῖς τῶν ἱερῶν γίνεται μήνυσις ὑπὸ δούλου τινός, ὅτι μία τῶν ἱεροποιῶν παρθένων τῶν φυλαττουσῶν τὸ ἀθάνατον πῦρ Ὀρβινία τὴν παρθενίαν ἀπολώλεκε καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ θύει τὰ τῆς πόλεως οὐκ οὖσα καθαρά. κἀκεῖνοι μεταστήσαντες αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ προθέντες δίκην, ἐπειδὴ καταφανὴς ἐγένετο ἐλεγχθεῖσα, ῥάβδοις τ᾽ ἐμαστίγωσαν καὶ πομπεύσαντες διὰ τῆς πόλεως ζῶσαν κατώρυξαν.
[3] While the commonwealth was suffering from such a calamity, information was given to the pontiffs by a slave that one of the Vestal virgins who have the care of the perpetual fire, Urbinia by name, had lost her virginity and, though unchaste, was performing the public sacrifices. The pontiffs removed her from her sacred offices, brought her to trial, and after her guilt had been clearly established, they ordered her to be scourged with rods, to be carried through the city in solemn procession and then to be buried alive.
[4] τῶν δὲ διαπραξαμένων τὴν ἀνοσίαν φθορὰν ὁ μὲν ἕτερος ἑαυτὸν διεχρήσατο, τὸν δ᾽ ἕτερον οἱ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐπίσκοποι συλλαβόντες ἐν ἀγορᾷ μάστιξιν αἰκισάμενοι καθάπερ ἀνδράποδον ἀπέκτειναν. ἡ μὲν οὖν νόσος ἡ κατασκήψασα εἰς τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ ὁ πολὺς αὐτῶν φθόρος μετὰ τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον εὐθὺς ἐπαύσατο.
[4] One of the two men who had perpetrated the impious defilement killed himself; the other was seized by the pontiffs, who ordered him to be scourged in the Forum like a slave and then put to death. After this action the pestilence which had attacked women and caused so great a mortality among them promptly ceased.
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br /> [1] ἡ δ᾽ ἐκ πολλοῦ χρόνου διαμένουσα ἐν τῇ πόλει στάσις, ἣν οἱ δημόται πρὸς τοὺς πατρικίους ἐστασίαζον, ἀνίστατο πάλιν. ὁ δ᾽ ἐξεγείρων αὐτὴν δήμαρχος ἦν Πόπλιος Βολέρων, ὁ τῷ πρόσθεν ἐνιαυτῷ τοῖς περὶ Αἰμίλιόν τε καὶ Ἰούλιον ὑπάτοις ἀπειθήσας, ὅτ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀντὶ λοχαγοῦ στρατιώτην κατέγραφον, οὐ δι᾽ ἄλλο τι μᾶλλον ἀποδειχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν πενήτων τοῦ δήμου προστάτης — γένος τε γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων ἦν καὶ τεθραμμένος ἐν πολλῇ ταπεινότητι καὶ ἀπορίᾳ — ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν ὑπάτων βασιλικὸν ἔχουσαν ἀξίωμα τέως πρῶτος ἔδοξεν ἰδιώτης ἀνὴρ ἀπειθείᾳ ταπεινῶσαι, καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον διὰ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις, [p. 346] ἃς ἐποιεῖτο μετιὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν κατὰ τῶν πατρικίων,
[41.1] But the sedition raised by the plebeians against the patricians, which had long continued in the city, was starting up again. The person who stirred it up was Volero Publius, one of the tribunes, the same man who the year before had disobeyed the consuls Aemilius and Julius when they would have listed him as a common soldier instead of a centurion. He was chosen by the poor as leader of the populace, not so much for any other reason — for he was not only of common birth, but had been brought up in great obscurity and want — but because he was regarded as the first person in private life who by his disobedience had humbled the consular power, which till then had been invested with the royal dignity, and still more by reason of the promises he had made, when he stood candidate for the tribunate against the patricians, to deprive them of their power.
[2] ὡς ἀφαιρησόμενος αὐτῶν τὴν ἰσχύν. ὃς ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα ἐξεγένετο αὐτῷ λωφήσαντος τοῦ δαιμονίου χόλου τὰ πολιτικὰ πράττειν, συναγαγὼν τὸν δῆμον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν νόμον εἰσφέρει περὶ τῶν δημαρχικῶν ἀρχαιρεσίων, μετάγων αὐτὰ ἐκ τῆς φρατριακῆς ψηφοφορίας, ἣν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσιν κουριᾶτιν, ἐπὶ τὴν φυλετικήν. τίς δὲ τούτων διαφορὰ τῶν ἀρχαιρεσίων, ἐγὼ σημανῶ.
[2] This man, as soon as it was possible for him to attend to public business, now that the divine anger had abated, called an assembly of the populace and proposed a law concerning the tribunician elections, transferring them from the assembly of the clans, called by the Romans the curiate assembly, to the tribal assembly. What the difference was between these assemblies I will now point out.
[3] τὰς μὲν φρατριακὰς ψηφοφορίας ἔδει προβουλευσαμένης τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τοῦ πλήθους κατὰ φράτρας τὰς ψήφους ἐπενέγκαντος, καὶ μετ᾽ ἀμφότερα ταῦτα τῶν παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου σημείων τε καὶ οἰωνῶν μηδὲν ἐναντιωθέντων, τότε κυρίας εἶναι: τὰς δὲ φυλετικὰς μήτε προβουλεύματος γενομένου μήτε τῶν ἱερέων τε καὶ οἰωνοσκόπων ἐπιθεσπισάντων, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ τελεσθείσας ὑπὸ τῶν φυλετῶν τέλος ἔχειν. καὶ ἦσαν ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν τεττάρων δημάρχων οἱ συνεισφέροντες αὐτῷ δύο δήμαρχοι τὸν νόμον: οὓς προσεταιρισάμενος ἐλαττόνων ὄντων τῶν μὴ ταὐτὰ βουλομένων περιῆν.
[3] In order that the voting in the curiate assembly might be valid it was necessary that the senate should pass a preliminary decree and that the plebeians should vote on it by curiae, and that after both these votes the heavenly signs and omens should offer no opposition; whereas, in the case of the voting of tribal assembly, neither the preliminary decree of the senate was necessary nor the sanction of the priests and augurs, but it was only necessary that it should be carried through and completed by the members of the tribes in a single day. Now of the other four tribunes there were two who joined with Volero in proposing this law; and by enlisting the co-operation of these two he carried the day, as those who were not of the same mind were in the minority.
[4] οἱ δ᾽ ὕπατοι καὶ ἡ βουλὴ καὶ πάντες οἱ πατρίκιοι κωλύειν ἐπεχείρουν τὸν νόμον: ἀφικόμενοί τε κατὰ πλῆθος εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν, ἐν ᾗ προεῖπον οἱ δήμαρχοι κυρώσειν τὸν νόμον ἡμέρᾳ, παντοδαποὺς διῆλθον λόγους, τῶν θ᾽ ὑπάτων καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτάτων ἐκ τῆς βουλῆς καὶ ἄλλου παντός, ὅτῳ βουλομένῳ ἦν, τὰς ἐνούσας ἐν τῷ νόμῳ διεξιόντος ἀτοπίας. ἀντιλεξάντων δὲ τῶν δημάρχων [p. 347] καὶ αὖθις τῶν ὑπάτων, καὶ μέχρι πολλοῦ τῆς ἁψιμαχίας τῶν λόγων ἐκμηκυνθείσης, ἐκείνην μὲν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν διέλυσεν εἰς νύκτα συγκλεισθεὶς ὁ χρόνος. προθέντων δὲ πάλιν τῶν δημάρχων εἰς τρίτην ἀγορὰν τὴν περὶ τοῦ νόμου διάγνωσιν, καὶ συνελθόντος ἔτι πλείονος εἰς αὐτὴν ὄχλου τὸ παραπλήσιον τῷ προτέρῳ
[4] But the consuls, the senate, and all the patricians sought to prevent the law from passing; and coming to the Forum in great numbers on the day appointed by the tribunes for ratifying the law, they delivered all kinds of speeches, the consuls, the oldest senators and everyone else who so desired enumerating the absurdities inherent in the law. When the tribunes had argued on the other side and the consuls had spoken a second time and the verbal skirmishing had lasted a long while, that assembly at least was dispersed by the closing in of night-time. The tribunes having again appointed the third market-day for the consideration of the law and an even greater throng flocking to the Forum on that day, the same thing happened as before.
[5] συνέβη γενέσθαι πάθος. τοῦτο συνιδὼν ὁ Πόπλιος ἔγνω μήτε τοῖς ὑπάτοις ἐπιτρέπειν ἔτι τοῦ νόμου κατηγορεῖν μήτε πατρικίους ἐᾶν τῇ ψηφοφορίᾳ παρεῖναι: καθ᾽ ἑταιρείας γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ κατὰ συστροφὰς ἄμα τοῖς ἑαυτῶν πελάταις οὐκ ὀλίγοις οὖσι πολλὰ μέρη τῆς ἀγορᾶς κατεῖχον, ἐπικελεύοντές τε τοῖς κατηγοροῦσι τοῦ νόμου καὶ θορυβοῦντες τοὺς ἀπολογουμένους καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ πράττοντες, ἀκοσμίας τε καὶ βίας τῆς ἐν ταῖς ψήφοις ἐχομένης μηνύματα.
[5] Publius, perceiving this, resolved neither to permit the consuls to inveigh against the law again nor to allow patricians to be present at the voting. For the patricians in their partisan bands and in groups together with their clients, who were numerous, occupied many parts of the Forum, shouting encouragement to those who inveighed against the law and noisily interrupting those who defended it, and doing many other things that were indications of the disorder and violence that there would be in the voting.
[1] ἐπέσχε δ᾽ αὐτοῦ τὰ βουλεύματα ὄντα τυραννικὰ ἑτέρα συμπεσοῦσα θεήλατος συμφορά. νόσος γὰρ ἥψατο λοιμικὴ τῆς πόλεως, γενομένη μὲν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην Ἰταλίαν, μάλιστα δὲ πλεονάσ
ασα κατὰ τὴν Ῥώμην: καὶ οὔτ᾽ ἀνθρωπίνη βοήθεια ἤρκει τοῖς κάμνουσιν οὐδεμία, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ ἴσῳ οἵ τε σὺν πολλῇ θεραπευόμενοι φροντίδι, καὶ οἷς μηδὲν ἐγίνετο τῶν δεόντων, ἀπέθνησκον: οὔτε λιτανεῖαι θεῶν καὶ θυσίαι καὶ ἐφ᾽ οὓς ἄνθρωποι τελευταίους ἐν ταῖς τοιαῖσδε ἀναγκάζονται καταφεύγειν συμφοραῖς, οἱ κατ᾽ ἄνδρα τε [p. 348] γινόμενοι καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ καθαρμοὶ τότε προσωφέλουν, διέκρινέ τε τὸ πάθος οὐχ ἡλικίαν, οὐ φύσιν, οὐ ῥώμην ἢ ἀσθένειαν σωμάτων, οὐ τέχνην οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν δοκούντων κουφίζειν τὴν νόσον, ἀλλὰ γυναιξί τ᾽ ἐνέπιπτε καὶ ἀνδράσι καὶ γηραιοῖς καὶ νέοις.
[42.1] These designs of Publius, pointing toward a tyranny, were checked by a fresh calamity sent from Heaven. For the city was visited with a pestilence, which occurred, indeed, in the rest of Italy also, but was especially prevalent in Rome. No human assistance could relieve the sick; but alike whether they were attended with great care or received none of the necessary attentions, they died all the same. No supplications to the gods nor sacrifices nor the final refuge to which men under such calamities are compelled to have recourse — private and public expiations — contributed any help at that time; and the disease made no distinction of age or sex, of strong or weak constitutions, of skill, or of any other of the agencies supposed to lighten the malady, but attacked both men and women, old and young.