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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [2] But the men who had the best interests of the commonwealth at heart were in great distress and consternation, imagining that they should never again have any share in the government. These split into many groups, those of less noble dispositions feeling obliged to yield all to the victors and join the oligarchical bands, and such as were less timorous abandoning their concern for the public interests in exchange for a carefree life; but those who had great nobility of character employed themselves in organizing bands of their own and planning together for their mutual defence and for a change in the form of government.

  [3] τούτων δὲ τῶν ἑταιριῶν ἡγεμόνες ἦσαν οἱ πρῶτοι τολμήσαντες ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ περὶ καταλύσεως τῆς δεκαδαρχίας εἰπεῖν, Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος καὶ Μάρκος Ὁράτιος, φραξάμενοί τε τὰς οἰκίας ὅπλοις καὶ φυλακὴν θεραπόντων καὶ πελατῶν καρτερὰν περὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἔχοντες, ὡς μήτ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ βιαίου παθεῖν μηθὲν μήτ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ δολίου.

  [3] The leaders of these groups were the men who had first dared to speak in the senate in favour of abolishing the decemvirate, namely Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius; and they had surrounded their houses with armed men and had about their persons a strong guard of their servants and clients, so as to suffer no harm from either violence or treachery.

  [4] ὅσοις δ᾽ οὔτε θεραπεύειν τὴν τῶν κρατούντων ἐξουσίαν βουλομένοις ἦν οὔτε μηδενὸς ἐπιστρέφεσθαι τῶν κοινῶν οὐδ᾽ ἐν ἀπράκτῳ ζῆν ἡσυχίᾳ καλὸν ἐδόκει, πολεμεῖν τ᾽ ἀνὰ κράτος οὐ ῥᾴδιον, ἐπεὶ καθαιρεθῆναι δυναστείαν τηλικαύτην ἀνόητον ἐφαίνετο εἶναι, κατέλιπον τὴν πόλιν. ἡγεμὼν δὲ τούτων ἀνὴρ ἦν ἐπιφανὴς Γάιος Κλαύδιος, ὁ τοῦ κορυφαιοτάτου [p. 149] τῆς δεκαδαρχίας Ἀππίου θεῖος, ἐμπεδῶν τὰς ὑποσχέσεις, ἃς ἐπὶ τῆς βουλῆς ἐποιήσατο πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν, ὅτ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀποθέσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀξιῶν οὐκ ἔπεισεν. ἠκολούθει δ᾽ αὐτῷ πολὺς μὲν ἑταίρων ὄχλος,

  [4] Those persons, again, who were unwilling either to court the power of the victors or to pay no attention to any of the business of the commonwealth and to lead a quiet, carefree life, and to whom the carrying on of open warfare, since it was not easy for so great a power to be overthrown, seemed to be senseless, quitted the city. At the head of these was a distinguished man, Gaius Claudius, uncle to Appius, the chief of the decemvirate, who by this step fulfilled the promises he had made to his nephew in the senate when he advised but failed to persuade him to resign his power.

  [5] πολὺς δὲ πελατῶν. τούτου δ᾽ ἀρξαμένου καὶ τὸ ἄλλο πολιτικὸν πλῆθος οὐκέτι λάθρα καὶ κατ᾽ ὀλίγους, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ καὶ ἀθρόον ἐξέλιπε τὴν πατρίδα, τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας ἐπαγόμενον. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἄππιον ἀγανακτοῦντες τοῖς γινομένοις ἐπεβάλοντο μὲν κωλύειν πύλας τ᾽ ἀποκλείσαντες καὶ ἀνθρώπους τινὰς συναρπάσαντες, ἔπειτα — δέος γὰρ εἰσῆλθεν αὐτοῖς, μὴ πρὸς ἀλκὴν οἱ κωλυόμενοι τράπωνται, καὶ λογισμὸς ὀρθὸς ὡς κρεῖττον εἴη σφίσιν ἐκποδῶν εἶναι τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἢ μένοντας ἐνοχλεῖν — ἀνοίξαντες τὰς πύλας ἀφῆκαν τοὺς θέλοντας ἀπιέναι, οἰκίας δ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ κλήρους καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ὑπελείπετο ἀδύνατα ὄντα ἐν φυγαῖς φέρεσθαι λειποστρατίαν ἐπενεγκόντες ἐδήμευσαν τῷ λόγῳ, τὸ δ᾽ ἀληθὲς τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἑταίροις ὡσανεὶ παρὰ

  [5] He was followed by a large crowd of his friends and likewise of his clients. Following his lead, the multitude also of citizens that were left, no longer privately or in small groups, but openly and in a body, abandoned their country, taking with them their wives and their children. Appius and his colleagues, being vexed at this, endeavoured at first to stop them by closing the gates and arresting some of the people. But afterwards, becoming afraid lest those they were attempting to stop should turn and defend themselves, and rightly judging it to be better for themselves that their enemies should be out of the way than that they should remain and make trouble, they opened the gates and permitted all who so wished to depart; after the houses and estates, however, and all the other things that they left behind because they could not carry them away in their flight, the decemvirs nominally confiscated these to the treasury, bringing against their owners a charge of desertion, but in reality they bestowed these possessions on their own followers, pretending that the latter had purchased them from the public.

  [6] τοῦ δήμου πριαμένοις ἐχαρίσαντο. ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἐγκλήματα προστεθέντα τοῖς προτέροις πολλῷ δυσμενεστέρους ἐποίησε πρὸς τὴν δεκαδαρχίαν τοὺς πατρικίους καὶ τοὺς δημοτικούς. εἰ μὲν οὖν μηδὲν ἐπεξήμαρτον ἔτι πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις, δοκοῦσιν ἄν μοι πολὺν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐξουσίας διαμεῖναι χρόνον: ἡ γὰρ φυλάττουσα τὴν δυναστείαν αὐτῶν στάσις ἔτι διέμενεν ἐν τῇ πόλει, [p. 150] διὰ πολλὰς αἰτίας καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν αὐξηθεῖσα χρόνων,

  [6] These grievances, added to the former, greatly inflamed the hostility of the patricians and plebeians against the decemvirs. If, now, they had not added any fresh crime to those I have related, I think they might have retained the same power for a considerable time; for the sedition which maintained that power still continued in the city and had been increased by many causes and by the great length of time it had lasted, and because of the sedition each of the two parties rejoiced in the other’s misfortunes,

  [7] δἰ ἣν ἔχαιρον ἑκάτεροι τοῖς ἀλλήλων κακοῖς: οἱ μὲν δημοτικοὶ τὸ φρόνημα τῶν πατρικίων τεταπεινωμένον ὁρῶντες καὶ τὴν βουλὴν οὐδενὸς ἔτι τῶν κοινῶν οὖσαν κυρίαν, οἱ δὲ πατρίκιοι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀπολωλεκότα τὸν δῆμον καὶ μηδὲ τὴν ἐλαχίστην ἔχοντα ἰσχύν, ἐξ οὗ τὴν δημαρχικὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτῶν οἱ δέκα ἀφείλαντο: αὐθαδείᾳ δὲ πολλῇ πρὸς ἄμφω τὰ μέρη χρώμενοι καὶ οὔτ᾽ ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου μετριάζοντες οὔτ᾽ ἐν τῇ πόλει σωφρονοῦντες ὁμονοῆσαι πάντας ἠνάγκασαν καὶ καταλῦσαι τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτῶν, ὅπλων γενηθέντας κυρίους διὰ τὸν πόλεμον.

  [7] the plebeians in seeing the spirit of the patricians humbled and the senate no longer possessing authority over any of the business of state, and the patricians in seeing the people stripped of their liberty and without the least strength since the decemvirs had taken from them the tribunician power. But the decemvirs, by treating both parties with great arrogance and by showing and moderation in the army nor self-restraint in the city, forced the parties to unite and to abolish their magistracy as soon as the war had put arms into their hands.

  [8] τὰ δ᾽ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῶν τὰ τελευταῖ�
� καὶ δι᾽ ἃ κατελύθησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου — τοῦτον γὰρ δὴ μάλιστα προπηλακίζοντες ἐξηγρίωσαν — τοιάδε ἦν.

  [8] Their last crimes, for which they were overthrown by the people, whom they had particularly enraged by their abuses, were as follows.

  [1] ὅτε τὸ περὶ τοῦ πολέμου ψήφισμα ἐκύρωσαν, καταγράψαντες ἐν τάχει τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ τριχῇ νείμαντες δύο μὲν τάγματα κατέλιπον ἐν τῇ πόλει φυλακῆς τῶν ἐντὸς τείχους ἕνεκεν: ἡγεῖτο δὲ τῶν δύο τούτων ταγμάτων Ἄππιος Κλαύδιος ὁ προεστηκὼς τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ Σπόριος Ὄππιος. τρία δὲ ἔχοντες ἐξῆγον ἐπὶ Σαβίνους Κόιντος Φάβιος καὶ

  [23.1] After they had secured the ratification of the decree of the senate for the war, they hastily enrolled their forces and divided them into three bodies. Two legions they left in the city to keep guard over matters inside the walls; and Appius Claudius, the chief of the oligarchy, together with Spurius Oppius commanded these two. Quintus Fabius, Quintus Poetelius and Manius Rabuleius marched out with three legions against the Sabines.

  [2] Κόιντος Ποιτέλιος καὶ Μάνιος Ῥαβολήιος. πέντε δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τάγματα παραλαβόντες Μάρκος τε Κορνήλιος καὶ Λεύκιος Μηνύκιος καὶ Μάρκος Σέργιος καὶ Τίτος Ἀντώνιος καὶ τελευταῖος Καίσων Δουέλλιος ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς Αἰκανοὺς πόλεμον ἀφίκοντο: συνεστρατεύετο δ᾽ [p. 151] αὐτοῖς Λατίνων τε καὶ ἄλλων συμμάχων ἐπικουρικὸν οὐκ ἔλαττον τοῦ πολιτικοῦ πλήθους. ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς ἐχώρει κατὰ νοῦν τοσαύτην μὲν οἰκείαν δύναμιν ἐπαγομένοις, τοσαύτην δὲ συμμαχίαν.

  [2] Marcus Cornelius, Lucius Minucius, Marcus Sergius, Titus Antonius, and last, Caeso Duilius, taking over the five remaining legions, arrived for the campaign against the Aequians. They were accompanied by an auxiliary force both of Latins and other allies that was as large as the citizen army. But nothing succeeded according to their plans, even though they were leading such large forces of both their own and allied troops.

  [3] οἱ γὰρ πολέμιοι καταφρονήσαντες αὐτῶν, ὅτι νεοσύλλεκτοι ἦσαν οἱ στρατευόμενοι, πλησίον ἀντεστρατοπεδεύσαντο καὶ τάς τ᾽ ἀγορὰς ἀγομένας ἀφῃροῦντο λοχῶντες τὰς ὁδοὺς καὶ ἐπὶ προνομὰς ἐξιοῦσιν ἐπετίθεντο, καὶ εἴ ποτε ἱππεῖς εἰς χεῖρας ἔλθοιεν ἱππεῦσι καὶ πεζοὶ πεζοῖς πρὸς φάλαγγα μαχόμενοι πανταχῇ πλέον ἔχοντες ἀπῄεσαν, ἐθελοκακούντων οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐν ταῖς συμπλοκαῖς καὶ οὔτε τοῖς ἡγεμόσι πειθομένων οὔτε ὁμόσε χωρεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις βουλομένων.

  [3] For their foes, despising them because their troops were new recruits, encamped over against them, and placing ambuscades in the roads, cut off the provisions that were being brought to them and attacked them when they went out for forage; and whenever cavalry clashed with cavalry, infantry with infantry, and phalanx against phalanx, the Sabines always came off superior to the Romans, not a few of whom voluntarily played the coward in their encounters and not only disobeyed their officers but refused to come to grips with the foe.

  [4] οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ Σαβίνους στρατεύσαντες ἐν τοῖς ἐλάττοσι κακοῖς σωφρονισθέντες ἑκόντες ἔγνωσαν ἐκλιπεῖν τὸν χάρακα: καὶ περὶ μέσας νύκτας ἀναστήσαντες τὸν στρατὸν ἀπῆγον ἐκ τῆς πολεμίας εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν φυγῇ παραπλησίαν ποιούμενοι τὴν ἀνάζευξιν, ἕως ἐπὶ πόλιν Κρουστομέρειαν, ἥ ἐστιν οὐ πρόσω τῆς Ῥώμης, ἀφίκοντο. οἱ δ᾽ ἐν Ἀλγιδῷ τῆς Αἰκανῶν χώρας θέμενοι τὴν παρεμβολὴν πολλὰς καὶ αὐτοὶ λαμβάνοντες ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων πληγὰς καὶ παρὰ τὰ δεινὰ μένειν ἀξιοῦντες ὡς ἐπανορθωσόμενοι τὰς ἐλαττώσεις οἴκτιστα πράγματα ἔπαθον.

  [4] Those, accordingly, who had set out against the Sabines, grown wise amid these minor misfortunes, resolved to quit their entrenchments of their own accord; and breaking camp about midnight, they led the army back from the enemy’s territory into their own, making their withdrawal not unlike a flight, till they came to the city of Crustumerium, which is not far from Rome. But those who had made their camp at Algidum in the country of the Aequians, when they too had received many blows at the hands of the enemy and still resolved to stand their ground in the midst of these dangers in hopes of retrieving their reverses, suffered a most grievous disaster.

  [5] ὠσάμενοι γὰρ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς οἱ πολέμιοι καὶ τοὺς ὑποστάντας τοῦ χάρακος καταβαλόντες ἐπέβησαν τῶν ἐρυμάτων: καὶ καταλαβόμενοι τὸ στρατόπεδον ὀλίγους μέν τινας ἀμυνομένους [p. 152] ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δὲ πλείους ἐν τῷ διωγμῷ διέφθειραν. οἱ δὲ διασωθέντες ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς τραυματίαι τε οἱ πλείους καὶ τὰ ὅπλα μικροῦ δεῖν πάντες ἀπολωλεκότες εἰς πόλιν Τύσκλον ἀφικνοῦντο: σκηνὰς δ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ ὑποζύγια καὶ χρήματα καὶ θεράποντας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τοῦ πολέμου παρασκευὴν οἱ πολέμιοι διήρπασαν.

  [5] For the enemy, having thrust forward against them and cleared palisades of those who defended them, mounted the ramparts, and possessing themselves of the camp, killed some few while fighting but destroyed the greater part in the pursuit. Those who escaped from this rout, being most of them wounded and having almost all lost their arms, came to the city of Tusculum; but their tents, beasts of burden, money, slaves, and the rest of their military provisions became the prey of the enemy.

  [6] ὡς δ᾽ ἀπηγγέλη ταῦτα τοῖς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ὅσοιπερ ἦσαν ἐχθροὶ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας καὶ οἱ τέως ἀποκρυπτόμενοι τὸ μῖσος, φανεροὺς ἐποίουν αὑτοὺς τότε χαίροντες ἐπὶ ταῖς κακοπραγίαις τῶν στρατηγῶν: καὶ ἦν ἤδη καρτερὰ χεὶρ περὶ τὸν Ὁράτιόν τε καὶ τὸν Οὐαλέριον, οὓς ἔφην ἡγεμόνας εἶναι τῶν ἀριστοκρατικῶν ἑταιρειῶν.

  [6] When the news of this defeat was brought to the people in Rome, all who were enemies of the oligarchy and those who had hitherto been concealing their hatred revealed themselves now by rejoicing at the misfortunes of the generals; and there was now a strong body of men attached to both Horatius and Valerius, who, as I said, were the leaders of the aristocratical groups.

  [1] οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἄππιον τοῖς μὲν ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου συνάρχουσιν ὅπλα τε καὶ χρήματα καὶ σῖτον καὶ τἆλλα ὧν ἐδέοντο ἐπεχορήγουν τά τε δημόσια καὶ ἰδιωτικὰ ἐκ πολλῆς ὑπεροψίας λαμβάνοντες, καὶ ἀντὶ τῶν ἀπολωλότων ἀνδρῶν στρατολογήσαντες ἐξ ἁπάσης φυλῆς τοὺς ὅπλ�
� φέρειν δυναμένους ἀπέστειλαν, ὥστ᾽ ἐκπληρωθῆναι τοὺς λόχους: τῶν τε κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐπιμελῆ φυλακὴν ἐποιοῦντο φρουραῖς τοὺς ἐπικαιροτάτους καταλαμβανόμενοι τόπους, μή τι λάθωσι παρακινήσαντες οἱ μετὰ τοῦ Οὐαλερίου συνεστῶτες.

  [24.1] Appius and Spurius supplied their colleagues who were in the field with arms, money, corn and everything else they stood in need of, taking all these things with a high hand, whether public or private property; and enrolling all the men in every tribe who were able to bear arms in order to replace those who had been lost, they sent them out so that the centuries might be filled up. They also kept strict guard over matters in the city by garrisoning the most critical positions, lest the followers of Valerius should foment some disorders without their knowledge.

  [2] ἐπέσκηπτόν τε δι᾽ ἀπορρήτων τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν στρατοπέδων συνάρχουσι τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους σφίσι διαφθείρειν, [p. 153] τοὺς μὲν ἐπιφανεῖς ἀδήλως, ὧν δ᾽ ἐλάττων ὁ λόγος ἦν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ φανεροῦ, προφάσεις ἀεί τινας ἐπιφέροντας, ἵνα δικαίως δόξωσιν ἀποθανεῖν. καὶ ἐγίνετο ταῦτα: οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ προνομὰς ἀποστελλόμενοι ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν, οἱ δ᾽ ἀγορὰν παραπέμψαι κομιζομένην, οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλας τινὰς ἐπιτελέσασθαι πολεμικὰς χρείας, ἔξω γενόμενοι τοῦ χάρακος οὐδαμοῦ ἔτι ὤφθησαν.

  [2] They also gave secret instructions to their colleagues in the army to put to death all who opposed their measures, the men of distinction secretly, and those of less account even openly, always using some specious excuses to make their death seem deserved. And these things were being done. For some, being sent out by them for forage, others to convoy provisions that were being brought in, and some to perform other military tasks, when they were once out of the camp, were nowhere seen again,