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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [8.1] After he had finished speaking, an outcry arose from those who were present and many rushed to take vengeance out of hand; but they were prevented both by the consuls and also by the majority of the tribunes, who were unwilling to introduce a pernicious custom into the commonwealth. Indeed, the most honourable element among the plebeians too was unwilling to deprive of a defence those who were in jeopardy of their lives.

  [2] τότε μὲν οὖν ἐπέσχε τὴν τῶν θρασυτέρων ὁρμὴν ἡ τοῦ δικαίου πρόνοια, καὶ ἀναβολὴν ἔλαβεν ἡ δίκη, οὐ μικρᾶς ἐμπεσούσης φιλοτιμίας καὶ ζητήσεως ὑπὲρ τοῦ σώματος, εἴτ᾽ ἐν δεσμοῖς αὐτὸ δεῖ φυλάττεσθαι τέως, εἴτ᾽ ἐγγυητὰς δοῦναι τῆς ἀφίξεως, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἠξίου: καὶ ἡ βουλὴ συνελθοῦσα ἐψηφίσατο χρήμασι διεγγυηθὲν ἐλεύθερον εἶναι τὸ σῶμα μέχρι δίκης.

  [2] Upon this occasion, therefore, a regard for justice restrained the impulse of the bolder spirits, and the trial was put off; though no small contest and questioning arose concerning the defendant’s person, whether he should be kept in chains in the meantime or should give sureties for his appearance, as his father required. The senate, assembling, ordered that if bail were offered his person should be free till the trial.

  [3] τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ συναγαγόντες οἱ δήμαρχοι τὸ πλῆθος, ἐκλιπόντος τοῦ μειρακίου τὴν δίκην, ἐκύρωσαν τὴν κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ ψῆφον καὶ τοὺς ἐγγυητὰς δέκα ὄντας ἐπράξαντο τὰ περὶ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἀποκαταστάσεως ὁμολογηθέντα χρήματα.

  [3] The next day the tribunes assembled the populace and, the youth not appearing for trial, they caused a vote to be passed for his condemnation and compelled his sureties, ten in number, to pay over the sums agreed upon in case of their failure to produce his person.

  [4] Καίσων μὲν οὖν τοιαύτῃ περιπεσὼν ἐπιβουλῇ, κατασκευασαμένων ἅπαντα τῶν δημάρχων καὶ Οὐολουσκίου ψευδῆ μαρτυρήσαντος, ὡς ἐγένετο φανερὸν σὺν χρόνῳ, φεύγων εἰς Τυρρηνίαν ᾤχετο: ὁ δὲ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ τὰ πλεῖστα τῆς οὐσίας ἀπεμπολήσας καὶ τὰ ὁμολογηθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγγυητῶν χρήματα ἀποδοὺς ἑαυτῷ χωρίον ἓν μικρὸν ὑπολειπόμενος πέραν τοῦ Τεβέριος ποταμοῦ, [p. 14] ἐν ᾧ ταπεινή τις ἦν καλύβη, γεωργῶν αὐτόθι μετὰ δούλων ὀλίγων ἐπίπονον καὶ ταλαίπωρον ἔζη βίον ὑπὸ λύπης τε καὶ πενίας, οὔτε πόλιν ὁρῶν οὔτε φίλους ἀσπαζόμενος οὔθ᾽ ἑορτάζων οὔτ᾽ ἄλλης εὐφροσύνης οὐδεμιᾶς ἑαυτῷ μεταδιδούς.

  [4] Caeso, accordingly, having fallen a victim to a plot of this sort — for the tribunes had contrived the whole business and Volscius had borne false witness, as became clear later — went into exile in Tyrrhenia. His father sold the greater part of his estate and repaid the sureties the sums agreed upon, leaving nothing for himself but one small farm lying on the other side of the river Tiber, on which there was an humble cottage; and there, cultivating the farm with the help of a few slaves, he led a laborious and miserable life because of his grief and poverty, neither visiting the city nor greeting his friends nor taking part in the festivals nor allowing himself any other pleasure.

  [5] τοῖς μέντοι δημάρχοις πολὺ τὸ παράλογον ἐγένετο τῆς ἐλπίδος. οὐ γὰρ ὅπως ἐπαύσατο ἡ τῶν νέων φιλοτιμία σωφρονισθεῖσα τῇ Καίσωνος συμφορᾷ, πολὺ δὲ χαλεπωτέρα καὶ πλείων ἐγένετο ἔργοις τε καὶ λόγοις καταγωνιζομένη τὸν νόμον: ὥστ᾽ οὐθὲν ἔτι αὐτοῖς ἐξεγένετο διαπράξασθαι δαπανηθέντος εἰς ταῦτα τοῦ χρόνου τῆς ἀρχῆς. ὁ μέντοι δῆμος εἰς τὸν ἐπιόντα πάλιν ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρχοντας ἀπέδειξεν αὐτούς.

  [5] The tribunes, however, were greatly disappointed in their expectations; for the contentiousness of the young men, far from being chastened by the unhappy fate of Caeso, grew much more vexatious and excessive as they fought the law with both actions and words. The result was that the tribunes were unable to accomplish anything more, the whole time of their magistracy being taken up with these contests. The populace, however, chose them again as their magistrates for the following year.

  [1] Ποπλίου δὲ Οὐαλερίου Ποπλικόλα καὶ Γαΐου Κλαυδίου Σαβίνου τὴν ὑπατικὴν ἐξουσίαν παραλαβόντων κίνδυνος ὅσος οὔπω τὴν Ῥώμην κατέσχεν ἐξ ἀλλοεθνοῦς πολέμου, ὃν παρήγαγεν ἐντὸς τείχους ἡ πολιτικὴ στάσις, ὡς οἵ τε Σιβύλλειοι χρησμοὶ προὔλεγον καὶ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ δαιμονίου φανέντα προεθέσπισε τῷ παρελθόντι ἐνιαυτῷ. διηγήσομαι δὲ τήν τε αἰτίαν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς ὁ πόλεμος εἰσῆλθε, καὶ τὰ πραχθέντα τοῖς ὑπάτοις κατὰ τὸν τότε ἀγῶνα.

  [9.1] When Publius Valerius Publicola and Gaius Claudius Sabinus had assumed the consular power, a danger greater than ever before came upon Rome from a foreign war; and it was brought upon her by the civil dissension inside the walls, as both the Sibylline oracles and the portents sent by Heaven had foretold the year before. I shall relate not only the cause from which the war arose, but also the action taken by the consuls during that contest.

  [2] οἱ παρειληφότες τὸ δεύτερον τὴν δημαρχίαν ἐπὶ τῇ ἐλπίδι τοῦ κυρώσειν τὸν νόμον, ὁρῶντες τῶν τε ὑπάτων τὸν ἕτερον, Γάιον Κλαύδιον, ἔμφυτον τὸ πρὸς τοὺς δημοτικοὺς ἔχοντα μῖσος διὰ προγόνων καὶ παρεσκευασμένον ἁπάσῃ μηχανῇ κωλύειν τὰ γινόμενα, τῶν τε νέων τοὺς πλεῖστον δυναμένους εἰς ἀπόνοιαν φανερὰν προεληλυθότας, οὓς οὐκ ἐνῆν τῷ βιαίῳ καταγωνίσασθαι, μάλιστα δὲ τοῦ [p. 15] δήμου τὸ πλεῖον ὑποκατακλινόμενον ταῖς θεραπείαις τῶν πατρικίων καὶ προθυμίαν οὐκέτι περὶ τοῦ νόμου τὴν αὐτὴν παρεχόμενον, ἰταμωτέραν ὁδὸν ἔγνωσαν ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα πορεύεσθαι, δι᾽ ἧς καταπλήξονται μὲν τὸν δῆμον, ἀναβαλοῦσι δὲ τὸν ὕπατον.

  [2] The men who had assumed tribuneship for the second time in the hope of securing the ratification of the law, observing that one of the consuls, Gaius Claudius, had an inborn hatred of the plebeians, inherited from his ancestors, and was prepared to defeat the plans afoot by every possible means, that the most influential of the youths had reached the point of open desperation, with no possibility of their being subdued by forcible means, and above all, that most of the populace were yielding to the blandishments of the patricians and no longer exhibiting the same zeal for the law, resolved to take a bolder course toward their goal, by which they expected to dumbfound the populace and unseat the consul.

  [3] πρῶτον μὲν κατεσκεύασαν φήμας λέγεσθαι κατὰ τὴν πόλιν παντοδαπάς: ἔπειτ᾽ ἐξ ἑωθινοῦ καθεζόμενοι δι᾽ ὅλης ἡμέρας συν�
�δρευον ἐν τῷ φανερῷ, μεταδιδόντες οὐθενὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν οὔτε βουλεύματος οὔτε λόγου. ἐπεὶ δὲ καιρὸς ἐπιτήδειος ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς εἶναι πράττειν τὰ βεβουλευμένα, πλασάμενοι γράμματα καὶ ταῦτα παρασκευάσαντες ἀναδοθῆναι σφίσιν ὑπ᾽ ἀνδρὸς ἀγνῶτος καθημένοις ἐν ἀγορᾷ, ὡς διῆλθον αὐτά, παίοντες τὰ μέτωπα καὶ

  [3] First, then, they caused all manner of rumours to be spread throughout the city; afterwards they sat in council publicly throughout the whole day from early morning without admitting any outsiders to their counsels and discussions. Then, when it seemed to them to be the proper time for putting their plans into execution, they forged letters and contrived to have these delivered to them by an unknown person as they sat in the Forum; and as soon as they had perused them, they sprang up, beating their foreheads and assuming downcast countenances.

  [4] κατηφεῖς τὰς ὄψεις ποιήσαντες ἀνίστανται. πολλοῦ δὲ συνδραμόντος ὄχλου καὶ μέγα τι κακὸν ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐνεῖναι γεγραμμένον μαντευομένου σιωπὴν προκηρύξαντες εἶπον: ἐν ἐσχάτοις ἐστὶν ὑμῖν κινδύνοις, ὦ πολῖται, τὸ δημοτικόν: καὶ εἰ μὴ θεῶν τις εὔνοια προείδετο τῶν ἄδικα πάσχειν μελλόντων, εἰς δεινὰς ἂν ἅπαντες ἤλθομεν συμφοράς. αἰτούμεθα δὲ ὑμᾶς βραχὺν ἐπισχεῖν χρόνον, ἕως τῇ βουλῇ δηλώσωμεν τὰ προσαγγελθέντα καὶ μετὰ κοινῆς γνώμης πράξωμεν τὰ

  [4] And when a large crowd had flocked together and was conjecturing that some dreadful intelligence was contained in the letters, they ordered the heralds to proclaim silence and then said: “Your plebeians are in the gravest peril, citizens; and if some benevolence of the gods had not provided for those who were on the point of suffering injustice, we should all have fallen into dire calamities. We ask you to have a little patience till we acquaint the senate with the information we have received and after consulting with them take the necessary measures.”

  [5] δέοντα. ταῦτ᾽ εἰπόντες ᾤχοντο πρὸς τοὺς ὑπάτους. ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ ἡ βουλὴ συνήγετο χρόνῳ, πολλοὶ καὶ παντοδαποὶ λόγοι κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐγίνοντο, τῶν μὲν ἐκ [p. 16] παρασκευῆς ἃ παρηγγέλλετο αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν δημάρχων κατὰ συστροφὰς λαλούντων, τῶν δέ, ἃ μάλιστα ἐδεδοίκεσαν μὴ γένηται, ταῦτα ὡς ἀπηγγελμένα τοῖς δημάρχοις λεγόντων.

  [5] Having spoken this, they went to the consuls. While the senate was assembling, many reports of all kinds circulated in the Forum, as some persons, by previous arrangement, talking in groups, retailed the stories suggested to them by the tribunes, and others named the things they most dreaded to have happen as the matters that had been reported to the tribunes.

  [6] ἔφη δ᾽ ὁ μέν τις Αἰκανοὺς καὶ Οὐολούσκους ὑποδεξαμένους Καίσωνα Κοίντιον τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου καταδικασθέντα ᾑρῆσθαι στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ πολλὰς δυνάμεις ἀγείραντα μέλλειν ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥώμην ἐλαύνειν: ὁ δέ τις ἀπὸ κοινῆς γνώμης τῶν πατρικίων τὸν ἄνδρα κατάγεσθαι ξενικαῖς δυνάμεσιν, ἵνα ἡ φυλακὴ καταλυθείῃ νῦν τε καὶ εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον τῶν δημοτικῶν: ὁ δέ τις οὐχ ἅπαντας εἶναι τοὺς πατρικίους ἔφη τοὺς ταῦτα βεβουλευμένους,

  [6] One said that the Aequians and the Volscians, having received Caeso Quintius, the man condemned by the populace, had chosen him general of both nations with absolute power, had raised numerous forces, and were upon the point of marching on Rome; another said that by the concerted plan of the patricians he was being brought back by foreign troops in order that the magistracy which was the guardian of the plebeians might be abolished now and forever; and still another said that not all the patricians had decided on this course, but only the young men.

  [7] ἀλλὰ μόνους τοὺς νέους. ἐτόλμων δέ τινες λέγειν, ὅτι καὶ ἐντὸς τῆς πόλεως ὁ ἀνὴρ εἴη κρυπτόμενος καὶ μέλλοι καταλαμβάνεσθαι τῶν τόπων τοὺς ἐπικαιροτάτους. ὅλης δὲ κραδαινομένης ἐπὶ τῇ προσδοκίᾳ τῶν δεινῶν τῆς πόλεως, καὶ πάντων ἀλλήλους ἐχόντων δι᾽ ὑποψίας καὶ φυλακῆς, οἱ μὲν ὕπατοι τὴν βουλὴν ἐκάλουν, οἱ δὲ δήμαρχοι παρελθόντες ἐδείκνυσαν τὰ προσαγγελλόμενα. ἦν δὲ ὁ τοὺς λόγους ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ποιούμενος Αὖλος Οὐεργίνιος καὶ ἔλεξε τοιάδε:

  [7] Some ventured to state that Caeso was actually inside the city, in hiding, and was about to seize the most advantageous positions. While the whole city was shaken by expectation of these calamities and all men suspected and were on their guard against one another, the consuls assembled the senate, and the tribunes, going in, acquainted them with the reports that were being received. The one who addressed them on behalf of the others was Aulus Verginius, and he spoke as follows:

  [1] ὅσον μὲν χρόνον οὐθὲν ἀκριβὲς ἡμῖν ἐφαίνετο τῶν προσαγγελλομένων δεινῶν, ἀλλὰ φῆμαι μετέωροι, καὶ τὸ βεβαιῶσον αὐτὰς οὐθὲν ἦν, ὠκνοῦμεν, ὦ βουλή, φέρειν τοὺς περὶ αὐτῶν λόγους εἰς μέσον, ταραχάς τε ὑποπτεύοντες ἔσεσθαι μεγάλας, [p. 17] οἷα εἰκὸς ἐπὶ δεινοῖς ἀκούσμασι, καὶ δι᾽ εὐλαβείας ἔχοντες, μὴ ταχύτερα δόξωμεν ὑμῖν βεβουλεῦσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ φρονιμώτερα.

  [10.1] “As long as there seemed to us to be nothing definite about the dangers that were being reported, but there were only vague rumours and nothing to confirm them, we were reluctant, senators, to lay before you the reports about them, both because we suspected there would be great disturbances, as would be likely in a time of dreadful rumours, and also because we were afraid of appearing to you to have acted with greater precipitancy than prudence.

  [2] οὐ μὴν ὀλιγωρίᾳ γ᾽ αὐτὰ παραδόντες ἀφήκαμεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅση δύναμις ἡμῖν ἦν ἐπιμελῆ ζήτησιν ἐποιούμεθα τῆς ἀληθείας. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ τοῦ δαιμονίου πρόνοια, ὑφ᾽ ἧς ἀεὶ σωζόμεθα κοινῇ, καλῶς ποιοῦσα τὰ κεκρυμμένα βουλεύματα καὶ τὰς ἀνοσίους ἐπιχειρήσεις τῶν θεοῖς ἐχθρῶν εἰς φῶς ἄγει, καὶ γράμματα πάρεστιν ἡμῖν, ἃ δεδέγμεθα νεωστὶ παρὰ ξένων εὔνοιαν ἡμῖν ἐνδεικνυμένων, οὓς ὕστερον ἀκούσεσθε, καὶ συντρέχει τε καὶ συνᾴδει τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἐπιστελλομένοις τὰ ἐνθένδε μηνυόμενα, καὶ τὰ πράγματα οὐκέτι μέλλησιν οὐδ᾽ ἀναβολὴν ἐν χερσὶν ὄντα ἐπιδέχεται, πρὶν εἰς τὸν δῆμον ἐξενεγκεῖν, ὑμῖν πρώτοις ὥσπερ ἐστὶ δίκαιον ἀπαγγεῖλαι διέγνωμεν αὐτά.

  [2] We did not, howeve
r, ignore or neglect these reports, but inquired with all possible diligence into the truth of them. And since the divine providence, by which our commonwealth is ever preserved, is rightly bringing to light the hidden plans and wicked attempts of those who are enemies to the gods; since we have letters, just now received from foreign friends, who thus show their goodwill to us and whose names you shall later hear; since information given here at home coincides and agrees with the reports sent in from outside; and since these matters no longer admit of delay or postponement, being at our very doors, we have decided to report them to you, as is proper, before laying them before the populace.

  [3] ἴστε δὴ συνωμοσίαν ἐπὶ τῷ δήμῳ γεγενημένην ὑπ᾽ ἀνδρῶν οὐκ ἀφανῶν, ἐν οἷς ἐνεῖναι μέν τι λέγεται μέρος οὐ πολὺ καὶ τῶν εἰς τόδε συλλεγομένων τὸ συνέδριον πρεσβυτέρων, τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον ἐκ τῶν ἔξω τῆς βουλῆς ἱππέων, οὓς οὔπω καιρὸς οἵτινές εἰσιν ὑμῖν λέγειν.

  [3] Know, then, that a conspiracy has been formed against the populace by men of prominence, among whom, it is said, there is a small number — not many — even of the older men who meet in this chamber, though the larger number are knights who are not members of the senate, whose names it is not yet the time to tell you.

  [4] μέλλουσι δ᾽ οὖν, ὡς πυνθανόμεθα, σκοταίαν φυλάξαντες νύκτα κοιμωμένοις ἡμῖν ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἡνίκα οὔτε προιδεῖν τι τῶν γινομένων οὔτε φυλάξασθαι καθ᾽ ἓν γενόμενοι δυνάμεθα: ἐπιπεσόντες δὲ ταῖς οἰκίαις τούς τε δημάρχους ἡμᾶς κατασφάττειν καὶ τῶν δημοτῶν ἄλλους τοὺς ἐναντιωθέντας ποτὲ αὐτοῖς περὶ [p. 18] ἐλευθερίας ἢ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐναντιωσομένους. ὅταν δὲ ἡμᾶς ἐκποδὼν ποιήσωνται, τότ᾽ ἤδη κατὰ πολλὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἡγοῦνται διαπράξασθαι παρ᾽ ὑμῶν τὰ λοιπὰ ἀναιρεθῆναι διὰ κοινοῦ ψηφίσματος τὰς γενομένας ὑμῖν πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ὁμολογίας.