[7.1] Having thus given the reason for my choice of subject, I wish now to say something concerning the sources I used while preparing for my task. For it is possible that those who have already read Hieronymus, Timaeus, Polybius, or any of the other historians whom I just now mentioned as having slurred over their work, since they will not have found in those authors many things mentioned by me, will suspect me of inventing them and will demand to know how I came by the knowledge of these particulars. Lest anyone, therefore, should entertain such an opinion of me, it is best that I should state in advance what narratives and records I have used as sources. [2] I arrived in Italy at the very time that Augustus Caesar put an end to the civil war, in the middle of the one hundred and eighty-seventh Olympiad. and having from that time to this present day, a period of twenty-two years, lived at Rome, learned the language of the Romans and acquainted myself with their writings, I have devoted myself during all that time to matters bearing upon my subject. [3] Some information I received orally from men of the greatest learning, with whom I associated; and the rest I gathered from histories written by the approved Roman authors — Porcius Cato, Fabius Maximus, Valerius Antias, Licinius Macer, the aelii, Gellii and Calpurnii, and many others of note; with these works, which are like the Greek annalistic accounts, as a basis, I set about the writing of my history. [4] So much, then, concerning myself. But it yet remains for me to say something also concerning the history itself — to what periods I limit it, what subjects I describe, and what form I give to the work.
[8.1] I begin my history, then, with the most ancient legends, which the historians before me have omitted as a subject difficult to be cleared up with diligent study; [2] and I bring the narrative down to the beginning of the First Punic War, which fell in the third year of the one hundred and twenty-eighth Olympiad. I relate all the foreign wars that the city waged during that period and all the internal seditions with which she was agitated, showing from what causes they sprang and by what methods and by what arguments they were brought to an end. I give an account also of all the forms of government Rome used, both during the monarchy and after its overthrow, and show what was the character of each. I describe the best customs and the most remarkable laws; and, in short, I show the whole life of the ancient Romans. [3] As to the form I give this work, it does not resemble that which the authors who make wars alone their subject have given to their histories, nor that which others who treat of the several forms of government by themselves have adopted, nor is it like the annalistic accounts which the authors of Atthides have published (for these are monotonous and soon grow tedious to the reader), but it is a combination of every kind, forensic, speculative and narrative, to the intent that it may afford satisfaction both to those who occupy themselves with political debates and to those who are devoted to philosophical speculations, as well as to any who may desire mere undisturbed entertainment in their reading of history. [4] Such things, therefore, will be the subjects of my history and such will be its form. I, the author, am Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the son of Alexander. And at this point I begin.
[9.1] This city, mistress of the whole earth and sea, which the Romans now inhabit, is said to have had as its earliest occupants the barbarian Sicels, a native race. As to the condition of the place before their time, whether it was occupied by others or uninhabited, none can certainly say. But some time later the Aborigines gained possession of it, having taken it from the occupants after a long war. [2] These people had previously lived on the mountains in unwalled villages and scattered groups; but when the Pelasgians, with whom some other Greeks had united, assisted them in the war against their neighbours, they drove the Sicels out of this place, walled in many towns, and contrived to subjugate all the country that lies between the two rivers, the Liris and the Tiber. These rivers spring from the foot of the Apennine mountains, the range by which all Italy is divided into two parts throughout its length, and at points about eight hundred stades from one another discharge themselves into the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Tiber to the north, near the city of Ostia, and the Liris to the south, as it flows by Minturnae, both these cities being Roman colonies. [3] And these people remained in this same place of abode, both never afterwards driven out by any others; but, although they continued to be one and the same people, their name was twice changed. Till the time of the Trojan war they preserved their ancient name of Aborigines; but under Latinus, their king, who reigned at the time of that war, they began to be called Latins, [4] and when Romulus founded the city named after himself sixteen generations after the taking of Troy, they took the name which they now bear. And in the course of time they contrived to raise themselves from the smallest nation to the greatest and from the most obscure to the most illustrious, not only by their humane reception of those who sought a home among them, but also by sharing the rights of citizenship with all who had been conquered by them in war after a brave resistance, by permitting all the slaves, too, who were manumitted among them to become citizens, and by disdaining no condition of men from whom the commonwealth might reap an advantage, but above everything else by their form of government, which they fashioned out of their many experiences, always extracting something useful from every occasion.
[10.1] There are some who affirm that the Aborigines, from whom the Romans are originally descended, were natives of Italy, a stock which came into being spontaneously (I call Italy all that peninsula which is bounded by the Ionian Gulf and the Tyrrhenian Sea and, thirdly, by the Alps on the landward side); and these authors say that they were first called Aborigines because they were the founders of the families of their descendants, or, as we should call them, genearchai or prôtogonoi. [2] Others claim that certain vagabonds without house or home, coming together out of many places, met one another there by chance and took up their abode in the fastnesses, living by robbery and grazing their herds. And these writers change their name, also, to one more suitable to their condition, calling them Aberrigenes, to show that they were wanderers; indeed, according to these, the race of the Aborigines would seem to be no different from those the ancients called Leleges; for this is the name they generally gave to the homeless and mixed peoples who had no fixed abode which they could call their country. [3] Still others have a story to the effect that they were colonists sent out by those Ligurians who are neighbours of the Umbrians. For the Ligurians inhabit not only many parts of Italy but some parts of Gaul as well, but which of these lands is their native country is not known, since nothing certain is said of them further.
[11.1] But the most learned of the Roman historians, among whom is Porcius Cato, who compiled with the greatest care the “origins” of the Italian cities, Gaius Sempronius and a great many others, say that they were Greeks, part of those who once dwelt in Achaia, and that they migrated many generations before the Trojan war. But they do not go on to indicate either the Greek tribe to which they belonged or the city from which they removed, or the date or the leader of the colony, or as the result of what turns of fortune they left their mother country; and although they are following a Greek legend, they have cited no Greek historian as their authority. It is uncertain, therefore, what the truth of the matter is. But if what they say is true, the Aborigines can be a colony of no other people but of those who are now called Arcadians; [2] for these were the first of all the Greeks to cross the Ionian Gulf, under the leadership of Oenotrus, the son of Lycaon, and to settle in Italy. This Oenotrus was the fifth from Aezeius and Phoroneus, who were the first kings in the Peloponnesus. For Niobê was the daughter of Phoroneus, and Pelasgus was the son of Niobê and Zeus, it is said; Lycaon was the son of Aezeius and Deïanira was the daughter of Lycaon; Deïanira and Pelasgus were the parents of another Lycaon, whose son Oenotrus was born seventeen generations before the Trojan expedition. This, then, was the time when the Greeks sent the colony into Italy. [3] Oenotrus left Greece because he was dissatisfied with his portion of his father’s land; for, as Lycaon had twenty-two sons, it was necessary to divide Arcadia into as
many shares. For this reason Oenotrus left the Peloponnesus, prepared a fleet, and crossed the Ionian Gulf with Peucetius, one of his brothers. They were accompanied by many of their own people — for this nation is said to have been very populous in early times — and by as many other Greeks as had less land than was sufficient for them. [4] Peucetius landed his people above the Iapygian Promontory, which was the first part of Italy they made, and settled there; and from him the inhabitants of this region were called Peucetians. But Oenotrus with the greater part of the expedition came into the other sea that washes the western regions along the coast of Italy; it was then called the Ausonian Sea, from the Ausonians who dwelt beside it, but after the Tyrrhenians became masters at sea its name was changed to that which it now bears.
[12.1] And finding there much land suitable for pasturage and much for tillage, but for the most part unoccupied, and even that which was inhabited not thickly populated, he cleared some of it of the barbarians and built small towns contiguous to one another on the mountains, which was the customary manner of habitation in use among the ancients. And all the land he occupied, which was very extensive, was called Oenotria, and all the people under his command Oenotrians, which was the third name they had borne. For in the reign of Aezeius they were called Aezeians, when Lycaon succeeded to the rule, Lycaonians, and after Oenotrus led them into Italy they were for a while called Oenotrians. [2] What I say is supported by the testimony of Sophocles, the tragic poet, in his drama entitled Triptolemus; for he there represents Demeter as informing Triptolemus how large a tract of land he would have to travel over while sowing it with the seeds she had given him. For, after first referring to the eastern part of Italy, which reaches from the Iapygian Promontory to the Sicilian Strait, and then touching upon Sicily on the opposite side, she returns again to the western part of Italy and enumerates the most important nations that inhabit this coast, beginning with the settlement of the Oenotrians. But it is enough to quote merely the iambics in which he says:
“And after this, — first, then, upon the right,
Oenotria wide-outstretched and Tyrrhene Gulf,
And next the Ligurian land shall welcome thee.”
[3] And Antiochus of Syracuse, a very early historian, in his account of the settlement of Italy, when enumerating the most ancient inhabitants in the order in which each of them held possession of any part of it, says that the first who are reported to have inhabited that country are the Oenotrians. His words are these: “Antiochus, the son of Xenophanes, wrote this account of Italy, which comprises all that is most credible and certain out of the ancient tales; this country, which is now called Italy, was formerly possessed by the Oenotrians.” Then he relates in what manner they were governed and says that in the course of time Italus came to be their king, after whom they were named Italians; that this man was succeeded by Morges, after whom they were called Morgetes, and that Sicelus, being received as a guest by Morges and setting up a kingdom for himself, divided the nation. After which he adds these words: “Thus those who had been Oenotrians became Sicels, Morgetes and Italians.”
[13.1] Now let me also show the origin of the Oenotrian race, offering as my witness another of the early historians, Pherecydes of Athens, who was a genealogist inferior to none. He thus expresses himself concerning the kings of Arcadia: “Of Pelasgus and Deïanira was born Lycaon; this man married Cyllenê, a Naiad nymph, after whom Mount Cyllenê is named.” Then, having given an account of their children and of the places each of them inhabited, he mentions Oenotrus and Peucetius, in these words: “And Oenotrus, after whom are named the Oenotrians who live in Italy, and Peucetius, after whom are named the Peucetians who live on the Ionian Gulf.” [2] Such, then, are the accounts given by the ancient poets and writers of legends concerning the places of abode and the origin of the Oenotrians; and on their authority I assume that if the Aborigines were in reality a Greek nation, according to the opinion of Cato, Sempronius and many others, they were descendants of these Oenotrians. For I find that the Pelasgians and Cretans and the other nations that lived in Italy came thither afterwards; nor can I discover that any other expedition more ancient than this came from Greece to the western parts of Europe. [3] I am of the opinion that the Oenotrians, besides making themselves masters of many other regions in Italy, some of which they found unoccupied and others but thinly inhabited, also seized a portion of the country of the Umbrians, and that they were called Aborigines from their dwelling on the mountains (for it is characteristic of the Arcadians to be fond of the mountains), in the same manner as at Athens some are called Hyperakriori, and others Paralioi. [4] But if any are naturally slow in giving credit to accounts of ancient matters without due examination, let them be slow also in believing the Aborigines to be Ligurians, Umbrians, or any other barbarians, and let them suspend their judgment till they have heard what remains to be told and then determine which opinion out of all is the most probable.
[14.1] Of the cities first inhabited by the Aborigines few remained in my day; the greatest part of them, having been laid waste both by wars and other calamities, are abandoned. These cities were in the Reatine territory, not far from the Apennine mountains, as Terentius Varro writes in his Antiquities, the nearest being one day’s journey distant from Rome. I shall enumerate the most celebrated of them, following his account. [2] Palatium, twenty-five stades distant from Reate (a city that was still inhabited by Romans down to my time), near the Quintian Way. Tribula, about sixty stades from Reate and standing upon a low hill. Suesbula, at the same distance from Tribula, near the Ceraunian Mountains. Suna, a famous city forty stades from Suesbula; in it there is a very ancient temple of Mars. [3] Mefula, about thirty stades from Suna; its ruins and traces of its walls are pointed out. Orvinium, forty stades from Mefula, a city as famous and large as any in that region; for the foundations of its walls are still to be seen and some tombs of venerable antiquity, as well as the circuits of burying-places extending over lofty mounds; and there is also an ancient temple of Minerva built on the summit.
[4] At the distance of eighty stades from Reate, as one goes along the Curian Way past Mount Coretus, stood Corsula, a town but recently destroyed. There is also pointed out an island, called Issa, surrounded by a lake; the Aborigines are said to have lived on this island without any artificial fortification, relying on the marshy waters of the lake instead of walls. Near Issa is Maruvium, situated on an arm of the same lake and distant forty stades from what they call the Septem Aquae.
[5] Again, as one goes from Reate by the road towards the Listine district, there is Batia, thirty stades distant; then Tiora, called Matiene, at a distance of three hundred stades. In this city, they say, there was a very ancient oracle of Mars, the nature of which was similar to that of the oracle which legend says once existed at Dodona; only there a pigeon was said to prophesy, sitting on a sacred oak, whereas among the Aborigines a heaven-sent bird, which they call picus and the Greeks dryokolaptês, appearing on a pillar of wood, did the same. [6] Twenty-four stades from the afore-mentioned city stood Lista, the mother-city of the Aborigines, which at a still earlier time the Sabines had captured by a surprise attack, having set out against it from Amiternum by night. Those who survived the taking of the place, after being received by the Reatines, made many attempts to retake their former home, but being unable to do so, they consecrated the country to the gods, as if it were still their own, invoking curses against those who should enjoy the fruits of it.
[15.1] Seventy stades from Reate stood Cutilia, a famous city, beside a mountain. Not far from it there is a lake, four hundred feet in diameter, filled by everflowing natural springs and, it is said, bottomless. This lake, as having something divine about it, the inhabitants of the country look upon as sacred to Victory; and surrounding it with a palisade, so that no one may approach the water, they keep it inviolate; except that at certain times each year those whose sacred office it is go to the little island in the lake and perform the sacrifices required by custom. [2] This island
is about fifty feet in diameter and rises not more than a foot above the water; it is not fixed, and floats about in any direction, according to as the wind gently wafts it from one place to another. An herb grows on the island like the flowering rush and also certain small shrubs, a phenomenon which to those who are unacquainted with the works of Nature seems unaccountable and a marvel second to none.
[16.1] The Aborigines are said to have settled first in these places after they had driven out the Umbrians. And making excursions from there, they warred not only upon the barbarians in general but particularly upon the Sicels, their neighbours, in order to dispossess them of their lands. First, a sacred band of young men went forth, consisting of a few who were sent out by their parents to seek a livelihood, according to a custom which I know many barbarians and Greeks have followed. [2] For whenever the population of any of their cities increased to such a degree that the produce of their lands no longer sufficed for them all, or the earth, injured by unseasonable changes of the weather, brought forth her fruits in less abundance than usual, or any other occurrence of like nature, either good or bad, introduced a necessity of lessening their numbers, they would dedicate to some god or other all the men born within a certain year, and providing them with arms, would send them out of their country. If, indeed, this was done by way of thanksgiving for populousness or for victory in war, they would first offer the usual sacrifices and then send forth their colonies under happy auspices; but if, having incurred the wrath of Heaven, they were seeking deliverance from the evils that beset them, they would perform much the same ceremony, but sorrowfully and begging forgiveness of the youths they were sending away. [3] And those who departed, feeling that henceforth they would have no share in the land of their fathers but must acquire another, looked upon any land that received them in friendship or that they conquered in war as their country. And the god to whom they had been dedicated when they were sent out seemed generally to assist them and to prosper the colonies beyond all human expectation. [4] In pursuance, therefore, of this custom some of the Aborigines also at that time, as their places were growing very populous (for they would not put any of their children to death, looking on this as one of the greatest of crimes), dedicated to some god or other the offspring of a certain year and when these children were grown to be men they sent them out of their country as colonists; and they, after leaving their own land, were continually plundering the Sicels. [5] And as soon as they became masters of any places in the enemy’s country the rest of the Aborigines, also, who needed lands now attacked each of them their neighbours with greater security and built various cities, some of which are inhabited to this day — Antemnae, Tellenae, Ficulea, which is near the Corniculan mountains, as they are called, and Tibur, where a quarter of the city is even to this day called the Sicel quarter; and of all their neighbours they harassed the Sicels most. From these quarrels there arose a general war between the nations more important than any that had occurred previously in Italy, and it went on extending over a long period of time.
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 2
