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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [32.1] “If you had done this you would, in the first place, have gained the reputation of a loyal and just man, and again, you would have reigned with me and shared in every honour; and you would have been called my benefactor, my father, my preserver, and all the other laudatory names that men bestow in recognition of noble actions, instead of depriving me for all these forty-four years of what was mine, though I was neither maimed in body nor stupid in mind. And after that have you the assurance to ask me what ill-treatment provokes me to look upon you as my enemy and for what reason I accuse you? [2] Nay, do you, answer me rather, Tullius, and declare why you think me unworthy to inherit the honours of my grandfather and what specious reason you allege for depriving me of them. Is it because you do not regard me as the legitimate offspring of his blood, but as some supposititious and illegitimate child? If so, why did you act as guardian to one who was a stranger to his blood, and why did you deliver up his estate to me as soon as I reached manhood? Or is it that you still look upon me as an orphan child and incapable of handling the business of the state — me who am not far from fifty years old? Lay aside now the dissimulation of your shameless questions and cease at last to play the rogue. [3] However, if you have any just reason to allege against what I have said, I am ready to leave the decision to these men as judges, than whom you can name none better in the city. But if you attempt to run away from this tribunal and fly for refuge, as is ever your habit, to the rabble you mislead by your cajolery, I will not permit it. For I am prepared, not only to speak in defence of my rights, but also, if this should fail to convince you, to act with force.”

  [33.1] When he had done speaking, Tullius took the floor and said: “Anything, it seems, senators, that is unexpected is to be expected by a mortal man, and nothing should be regarded as incredible, since Tarquinius here is set upon deposing me from my office, though I received him when he was an infant and, when his enemies were forming designs against his life, preserved him and brought him up, and when he came to be a man, saw fit to take him for a son-in-law and in the event of my death was intending to leave him heir to all that I possessed. [2] But now that everything has happened to me contrary to my expectation and I myself am accused of wrongdoing, I shall lament my misfortune later one, but at present I will plead my just cause against him. I took upon myself, Tarquinius, the guardianship of your brother and yourself when you were left infants, not of my own will, but compelled by the circumstances, since those who aspired to the kingship had openly assassinated your grandfather and were said to be plotting secretly against you and the rest of his kin; and all your friends acknowledged that if those men once got the power into their hands they would not leave even a seed of the race of Tarquinius. And there was no one else to care for you and guard you but a woman, the mother of your father, and she, by reason of her great age, herself stood in need of others to care for her; but you children were left in my charge alone, to be guarded in your destitute condition — though you now call me a stranger and in no degree related to you. [3] Nevertheless, when I had been put in command of such a situation, I not only punished the assassins of your grandfather and reared you boys to manhood, but, as I had no male issue, I proposed to make you the owners of what I possessed. You have now, Tarquinius, the account of my guardianship, and you will not venture to say that a word of it is false.

  [34] “But concerning the kingship, since this is the point of your accusation, learn not only by what means I obtained it, but also for what reasons I am not resigning it either to you or to anyone else. When I took upon myself the oversight of the commonwealth, finding that there were certain plots forming against me, I desired to surrender the conduct of affairs to the people; and having called them all together in assembly, I offered to resign the power to them, exchanging this envied sovereignty, the source of more pains than pleasures, for a quiet life free from danger. [2] But the Romans would not permit me to follow this preference, nor did they see fit to make anyone else master of the state, but retained me and by their votes gave me the kingship — thing which belonged to them, Tarquinius, rather than to you or your brother — [3] in the same manner as they had entrusted the government to your grandfather, who was a foreigner and in no way related to the king who preceded him; and yet King Ancus Marcius had left sons in their prime of life, not children and infants, as you and your brother were left by Tarquinius. But if it were a general law that the heirs to the estate and possessions of deceased kings should also be heirs to their kingly office, Tarquinius, your grandfather would not have succeeded to the sovereignty upon the death of Ancus, but rah the elder of the king’s sons. [4] But the Roman people did not call to power the heir of the father, but rather the person who was worthy to rule. For they held that, while property belongs to those who acquired it, the kingly office belongs to those who conferred it, and that the former, when anything happens to its owners, ought to descend to the natural heirs or the testamentary heirs, but that the latter, when the persons who received it die, should return to those who gave it. Unless, indeed, you have some claim to offer to the effect that your grandfather received the kingship upon certain express conditions, whereby he was not to be deprived of it himself and could also leave it to you, his grandsons, and that it was not in the power of the people to take it from you and confer it upon me. [5] If you have any such claim to allege, why do you not produce the contract? But you cannot do so. And if I did not obtain the office in the most justifiable manner, as you say, since I was neither chosen by the interreges nor entrusted with the government by the senate and the other legal requirements were not observed, then surely it is these men here that I am wronging and not you, and I deserve to be deprived of power by them, not by you. [6] But I am not wronging either these men nor anyone else. The length of my reign, which has now lasted forty years, bears me witness that power was both then justly given to me and is now justly vested in me; for during this time none of the Romans ever thought I reigned unjustly, nor did either the people or the senate ever endeavour to drive me from power.

  [35.1] “But — to pass over all these matters and to come to grips with your charges — if I had been depriving you of a deposit that had been left in my hands by your grandfather in trust for you and, contrary to all the established rules of justice recognized by mankind, had been retaining the kingship which was yours, you ought to have gone to those who granted the power to me and to have vented your indignation and reproaches, both against me, for continuing to hold what did not belong to me, and against them, for having conferred on me what belonged to others; for you would easily have convinced them if you had been able to urge any just claim. [2] If, however, you had no confidence in this argument and yet thought that I had no right to rule the state and that you were a more suitable person to be entrusted with its oversight, you ought to have done as follows — to have made an investigation of my mistakes and enumerated your own services and then to have challenged me to a trial for the determination of our respective merits. Neither of these things did you do; but, after all this time, as if recovered from a long fit of drunkenness, you now come to accuse me, and even now not where you should have come. [3] For it is not here that you should present these charges — do not take any offence at this statement of mine, senators, for it is not with a view of taking the decision away from you that I say this, but from the desire to expose this man’s calumnies — but you ought to have told me beforehand to call an assembly of the people and there to have accused me. However, since you have avoided doing so, I will do it for you, and having called the people together, I will appoint them judges of any crimes of which you may accuse me, and will again leave it to them to decide which of us two is the more suitable to hold the sovereignty; and whatever they shall unanimously decide I ought to do, I will do. [4] As for you, this is a sufficient answer, since it is all the same whether one urges many or few just claims against unreasonable adversaries; for mere words naturally cannot bring any argument which will persuade them to be honest.
<
br />   [36.1] “But I have been surprised, senators, that any of you wish to remove me from power and have conspired with this man against me. I should like to learn from them what injury provokes them to attack me and at what action of mine they are offended. Is it because they know that great numbers during my reign have been put to death without a trial, banished from their country, deprived of their possessions, or have met with any other misfortune which they have not merited? Or, though they can accuse most of none of these tyrannical misdeeds, are they acquainted with any outrages I have been guilty of toward married women, or insults to their maiden daughters, or any other wanton attempt upon a person of free condition? If I have been guilty of any such crime I should deserve to be deprived at the same time both of the kingship and of my life. [2] Well then, am I haughty, am I burdensome by my severity, and can no one bear the arrogance of my administration? And yet which of my predecessors constantly used his power with such moderation and kindliness, treating all the citizens as an indulgent father treats his own children? What, I did not even desire to retain all the power which you, following the traditions of your fathers, gave to me, but after establishing laws, which you all confirmed, relating to the most essential matters, I then granted to you the privilege of giving and receiving justice in accordance with these laws; and to these rules of justice which I prescribed for others I showed myself the first to yield obedience, like any private citizen. Nor did I make myself the judge of all sorts of crimes, but causes of a private nature I restored to your jurisdiction — a thing which none of the former kings ever did. [3] But it appears that it is no wrongdoing on my part that has drawn upon me the ill-will of certain persons, but it is rather the benefits I have conferred on the plebeians that grieve you unjustly — concerning which I have often given you my reasons. But there is no need for such explanations now. If you believe that Tarquinius here by taking over the government will administer affairs better than I, I shall not envy the commonwealth a better ruler; and after I have surrendered the sovereignty to the people, from whom I received it, and have become a private citizen, I shall endeavour to make it plain to all that I not only know how to rule well, but can also obey with equanimity.”

  [37.1] After this speech, which covered the conspirators with shame, Tullius dismissed the meeting and then, summoning the heralds he ordered them to go through all the streets and call the people together to an assembly. [2] And when the whole populace of the city had flocked to the Forum, he came forward to the tribunal and made a long and moving harangue, enumerating all military achievements he had performed, both during the lifetime of Tarquinius and after his death, and recounting in addition one by one all his administrative measures from which the commonwealth appeared to have reaped many great advantages. [3] And when everything he said met with great applause and all the people earnestly desired to know for what reasons he mentioned these things, at last he said that Tarquinius accused him of retaining the kingship unjustly, since it belonged to himself; for Tarquinius claimed that his grandfather at his death had left him the sovereignty together with his property, and that the people did not have it in their power to bestow on another what was not their own to give. [4] This raising a general clamour and indignation among the people, he ordered them to be silent and asked them to feel no displeasure or resentment at his words, but in case Tarquinius had any just claim to advance in support of his pretensions, to summon him and if, after learning what he had to say, they should find that he was being wronged and was the more suitable man to rule, to entrust him with the leadership of the commonwealth. As for himself, he said, he now resigned the sovereignty and restored it to those to whom it belonged and from whom he had received it. [5] After he had said this and was on the point of descending from the tribunal, there was a general outcry and many begged of him with groans not to surrender the sovereignty to anyone; and some of them even called out to stone Tarquinius. He, however, fearing summary punishment, since the crowds were already making a rush against him, fled, and his companions with him, while the entire populace with joy, applause, and many acclamations conducted Tullius as far as his house and saw him safely established there.

  [38.1] When Tarquinius failed in this attempt also, he was dismayed that from the senate, upon which he had chiefly relied, no assistance had come to him, and remaining at home for some time, he conversed only with his friends. Afterwards, when his wife advised him no longer to play the weakling or hesitate, but to have done with words and proceed to deeds, after he should first have obtain a reconciliation with Tullius by the intercession of friends — to the end that the king, trusting him as having become his friend, might be the less upon his guard against him — believing that her advice was most excellent, he began to pretend to repent of his past behaviour and through friends besought Tullius with many entreaties to forgive him. [2] And he very easily persuaded the man, who was not only by his nature inclined to reconciliation but was also averse to waging an implacable contest with his daughter and his son-in-law; then, as soon as he saw a favourable opportunity, when the people were dispersed about the country for the gathering of the harvest, he appeared in public with his friends, all having swords under their garments, and giving the axes to some of his servants, he himself assumed the royal apparel and all the other insignia of royalty. Then, going to the Forum, he took his stand before the senate-house and ordered the herald to summon the senators thither; indeed, many of the patricians who were privy to his design and were urging him on were by prearrangement ready in the Forum. [3] And so the senators assembled. In the meantime someone went and informed Tullius, who was at home, that Tarquinius had appeared in public in royal apparel and was calling a meeting of the senate. And he, astonished at the other’s rashness, set out from his house with more haste than prudence, attended by but a few. And going into the senate-house and seeing Tarquinius seated on the throne with all the other insignia of royalty, he exclaim: [4] “Who, most wicked of men, gave you authority to assume this attire?” To which the other replied: “Your boldness and impudence, Tullius; for, though you were not even a free man, but a slave and the son of a slave mother, whom my grandfather got from among the captives, you nevertheless have dared to proclaim yourself king of the Romans.” When Tullius heard this, he was so exasperated at the reproach that, heedless of his own safety, he rushed at him with the intent of forcing him to quit the throne. [5] Tarquinius was pleased to see this, and leaping from his seat, seized and bore off the old man, who cried out and called upon his servants to assist him. When he got outside the senate-house, being a man of great vigour and in his prime, he raised him aloft and hurled him down the steps that lead from the senate-house to the comitium. [6] The old man got up from his fall with great difficulty, and seeing the whole neighbourhood crowded with the followers of Tarquinius and noting a great dearth of his own friends, he set out for home lamenting, only a few persons supporting and escorting him, and as he went he dripped much blood and his entire body was in a wretched plight from his fall.

  [39.1] What happened next, terrible to hear yet astonishing and incredible to have been done — the deeds of his impious daughter — have been handed down to us. She, having been informed that her father had one to the senate-house, and being in haste to know what would be the outcome of the affair, entered her carriage and rode to the Forum; and there, hearing what had passed and seeing Tarquinius standing upon the steps before the senate-house, she was the first person to salute him as king, which she did in a loud voice, and prayed to the gods that his seizing of the sovereignty might redound to the advantage of the Roman state. [2] And after all the rest who had assisted him in gaining the sovereignty had also saluted him as king, she took him aside and said to him: “The first steps, Tarquinius, you have taken in the manner that was fitting; but it is impossible for you to hold the kingship securely so long as Tullius survives. For by his harangues he will again stir up the populace against you if he remains alive but the least part of this day; and you know how attach
ed the whole body of the plebeians is to him. But come, even before he gets home, send some men and put him out of the way.” [3] Having said this, she again entered her carriage and departed. Tarquinius upon this occasion also approved of the advice of his most impious wife, and sent some of his servants against Tullius armed with swords; and they, swiftly covering the interval, overtook Tullius when he was already near his house and slew him. While his body lay freshly slain and quivering where it had been flung, his daughter arrived; [4] and, the street through which her carriage was obliged to pass being very narrow, the mules became fractious at the sight of the body, and the groom who was leading them, moved by the piteous spectacle, stopped short and looked at his mistress. Upon her asking what possessed him not to lead the team on, he said: “Do you not see your father lying dead, Tullia, and that there is no other way but over his body?” [5] This angered her to such a degree that she snatched up the stool from under her feet and hurled it at the groom, saying “Will you not lead on, accursed wretch, even over the body” Thereupon the groom, with lamentations caused more by the shocking deed than by the blow, led the mules forcibly over the body. This street, which before was called Orbian Street, is, from this horrid and detestable incident, called by the Romans in their own language Impious Street, that is, vicus Sceleratus.