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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [58.1] While these things were going on and all the city was in an uproar, as was natural in consequence of so great a calamity, Tarquinius, having been informed by letter of all that was passing, marched thither with his army, approached the city about the middle of the night, and then, when the gates had been opened by those appointed for the purpose, entered with his forces and made himself master of the city without any trouble. [2] When this disaster became known, all the citizens bewailed the fate awaiting them; for they expected slaughter, enslavement and all the horrors that usually befall those captured by tyrants, and, as the best that could happen to them, had already condemned themselves to slavery, the loss of their property and like calamities. However, Tarquinius did none of the things that they were expecting and dreading even though he was harsh of temper and inexorable in punishing his enemies. [3] For he neither put any of the Gabini to death, nor banished any from the city, nor punished any of them with disfranchisement or the loss of their property; but calling an assembly of the people and changing to the part of a king from that of a tyrant, he told them that he not only restored their own city to them and allowed them to keep the property they possessed, but in addition granted to all of them the rights of Roman citizens. It was not, however, out of goodwill to the Gabini that he adopted this course, but in order to establish more securely his mastery over the Romans. For he believed that the strongest safeguard both for himself and for his family would be the loyalty of those who, contrary to their expectation, had been preserved and had recovered all their possessions. [4] And, in order that they might no longer have any fear regarding the future or any doubt of the permanence of his concessions, he ordered the terms upon which they were to be friends to be set down in writing, and then ratified the treaty immediately in the assembly and took an oath over the victims to observe it. There is a memorial of this treaty at Rome in the temple of Jupiter Fidius, whom the Romans call Sancus; it is a wooden shield covered with the hide of the ox that was sacrificed at the time they confirmed the treaty by their oaths, and upon it are inscribed in ancient characters the terms of the treaty. After Tarquinius had thus settled matters and appointed his son Sextus king of the gabini, he led his army home. Such was the outcome of the war with the Gabini.

  [59.1] After this achievement Tarquinius gave the people a respite from military expeditions and wars, and being desirous of performing the vows made by his grandfather, devoted himself to the building of the sanctuaries. For the elder Tarquinius, while he was engaged in an action during his last war with the Sabines, had made a vow to build temples to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva if he should gain the victory; and he had finished off the peak on which he proposed to erect the temples to these gods by means of retaining walls and high banks of earth, as I mentioned in the preceding Book; but he did not live long enough to complete the building of the temples. Tarquinius, therefore, proposing to erect this structure with the tenth part of the spoils taken at Suessa, set all the artisans at the work. [2] It was at this time, they say, that a wonderful prodigy appeared under ground; for when they were digging the foundations and the excavation had been carried down to a great depth, there was found the head of a man newly slain with the face like that of a living man and the blood which flowed from the severed head warm and fresh. [3] Tarquinius, seeing this prodigy, ordered the workmen to leave off digging, and assembling the native soothsayers, inquired of them what the prodigy meant. And when they could give no explanation but conceded to the Tyrrhenians the mastery of this science, he inquired of them who was the ablest soothsayer among the Tyrrhenians, and when he had found out, sent the most distinguished of the citizens to him as ambassadors.

  [60.1] When these men came to the house of the soothsayer they met by chance a youth who was just coming out, and informing him that they were ambassadors sent from Rome who wanted to speak with the soothsayer, they asked him to announce them to him. The youth replied: “The man you wish to speak with is my father. He is busy at present, but in a short time you may be admitted to him. [2] And while you are waiting for him, acquaint me with the reason of your coming. For if, through inexperience, you are in danger of committing an error in phrasing your question, when you have been informed by me you will be able to avoid any mistake; for the correct for of question is not the least important part of the art of divination.” The ambassadors resolved to follow his advice and related the prodigy to him. And when the youth had heard it, after a short pause he said: “Hear me, Romans. My father will interpret this prodigy to you and will tell you no untruth, since it is not right for a soothsayer to speak falsely; but, in order that you may be guilty of no error or falsehood in what you say or in the answers you give to his questions (for it is of importance to you to know these things beforehand), be instructed by me. [3] After you have related the prodigy to him he will tell you that he does not fully understand what you say and will circumscribe with his staff some piece of ground or other; then he will say to you: ‘This is the Tarpeian Hill, and this is part of it that faces the east, this the part that faces the west, this point is north and the opposite is south.’ [4] These parts he will point out to you with his staff and then ask you in which of these parts the head was found. What answer, therefore, do I advise you to make? Do not admit that the prodigy was found in any of these places he shall inquire about when he points them out with his staff, but say that it appeared among you at Rome on the Tarpeian Hill. If you stick to these answers and do not allow yourselves to be misled by him, he, well knowing that fate cannot be changed, will interpret to you without concealment what the prodigy means.”

  [61.1] Having received these instructions, the ambassadors, as soon as the old man was at leisure and a servant came out to fetch them, went in and related the prodigy to the soothsayer. He, craftily endeavouring to mislead them, drew circular lines upon the ground and then other straight lines, and asked them with reference to each place in turn whether the head had been found there; but the ambassadors, not at all disturbed in mind, stuck to the one answer suggested to them by the soothsayer’s son, always naming Rome and the Tarpeian Hill, and asked the interpreter not to appropriate the omen to himself, but to answer in the most sincere and just manner. [2] The soothsayer, accordingly, finding it impossible for him either to impose upon the men or to appropriate the omen, said to them: “Romans, tell your fellow citizens it is ordained by fate that the place in which you found the head shall be the head of all Italy.” Since that time the place is called the Capitoline Hill from the head that was found there; for the Romans call heads capita. [3] Tarquinius, having heard these things from the ambassadors, set the artisans to work and built the greater part of the temple, though he was not able to complete the whole work, being driven from power too soon; but the Roman people brought it to completion in the third consulship. It stood upon a high base and was eight hundred feet in circuit, each side measuring close to two hundred feet; indeed, one would find the excess of the length over the width to be but slight, in fact not a full fifteen feet. [4] For the temple that was built in the time of our fathers after the burning of this one was erected upon the same foundations, and differed from the ancient structure in nothing but the costliness of the materials, having three rows of columns on the front, facing the south, and a single row on each side. The temple consists of three parallel shrines, separated by party walls; the middle shrine is dedicated to Jupiter, while on one side stands that of Juno and on the other that of Minerva, all three being under one pediment and one roof.

  [62.1] It is said that during the reign of Tarquinius another very wonderful piece of good luck also came to the Roman state, conferred upon it by the favour of some god or other divinity; and this good fortune was not of short duration, but throughout the whole existence of the country it has often saved it from great calamities. [2] A certain woman who was not a native of the country came to the tyrant wishing to sell him nine books filled with Sibylline oracles; but when Tarquinius refused to purchase the books at the price she asked, she
went away and burned three of them. And not long afterwards, bringing the remaining six books, she offered to sell them for the same price. But when they thought her a fool and mocked at her for asking the same price for the smaller number of books that she had been unable to get for even the larger number, she again went away and burned half of those that were left; then, bringing the remaining books, she asked the same amount of money for these. [3] Tarquinius, wondering at the woman’s purpose, sent for the augurs and acquainting them with the matter, asked them what he should do. These, knowing by certain signs that he had rejected a god-sent blessing, and declaring it to be a great misfortune that he had not purchased all the books, directed him to pay the woman all the money she asked and to get the oracles that were left. [4] The woman, after delivering the books and bidding him take great care of them, disappeared from among men. Tarquinius chose two men of distinction from among the citizens and appointing two public slaves to assist them, entrusted to them the guarding of the books; and when one of these men, named Marcus Atilius, seemed to have been faithless to his trust and was informed upon by one of the public slaves, he ordered him to be sewed up in a leather bag and thrown into the sea as a parricide. [5] Since the expulsion of the kings, the commonwealth, taking upon itself the guarding of these oracles, entrusts the care of them to persons of the greatest distinction, who hold this office for life, being exempt from military service and from all civil employments, and it assigns public slaves to assist them, in whose absence the others are not permitted to inspect the oracles. In short, there is no possession of the Romans, sacred or profane, which they guard so carefully as they do the Sibylline oracles. They consult them, by order of the senate, when the state is in the grip of party strife or some great misfortune has happened to them in war, or some important prodigies and apparitions have been seen which are difficult of interpretation, as has often happened. These oracles till the time of the Marsian War, as it was called, were kept underground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in a stone chest under the guard of ten men. [6] But when the temple was burned after the close of the one hundred and seventy-third Olympiad, either purposely, as some think, or by accident, these oracles together with all the offerings consecrated to the god were destroyed by the fire. Those which are now extant have been scraped together from many places, some from the cities of Italy, others from Erythrae in Asia (whither three envoys were sent by vote of the senate to copy them), and others were brought from other cities, transcribed by private persons. Some of these are found to be interpolations among the genuine Sibylline oracles, being recognized as such by means of the so-called acrostics. In all this I am following the account given by Terentius Varro in his work on religion.

  [63.1] Besides these achievements of Tarquinius both in peace and in war, he founded two colonies. One of them, called Signia, was not planned, but was due to chance, the soldiers having established their winter quarters in the place and built their camp in such a manner as not to differ in any respect from a city. But it was with deliberate purpose that he settled Circeii, because the place was advantageously situated in relation both to the Pomptine plain, which is the largest of all the plains in the Latin country, and to the sea that is contiguous to it. For it is a fairly high rock in the nature of a peninsula, situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea; and tradition has it that Circe, the daughter of the Sun, lived there. He assigned both these colonies to two of his sons as their founders, giving Circeii to Arruns and Signia to Titus; and being now no longer in any fear concerning his power, he was both driven from power and exiled because of the outrageous deed of Sextus, his eldest son, who ruined a married woman. Of this calamity that was to overtake his house, Heaven had forewarned him by numerous omens, and particularly by this final one: [2] Two eagles, coming in the spring to the garden near the palace, made their aerie on the top of a tall palm tree. While these eagles had their young as yet unfledged, a flock of vultures, flying to the aerie, destroyed it and killed the young birds; and when the eagles returned from their feeding, the vultures, tearing them and striking them with the flat of their wings, drove them from the palm tree. [3] Tarquinius, seeing these omens, took all possible precautions to avert his destiny but proved unable to conquer fate; for when the patricians set themselves against him and the people were of the same mind, he was driven from power. Who the authors of this insurrection were and by what means they came into control of affairs, I shall endeavour to relate briefly.

  [64.1] Tarquinius was then laying siege to Ardea, alleging as his reason that it was receiving the Roman fugitives and assisting them in their endeavours to return home. The truth was, however, that he had designs against this city on account of its wealth, since it was the most flourishing of all the cities in Italy. But as the Ardeates bravely defended themselves and the siege was proving a lengthy one, both the Romans who were in the camp, being fatigued by the length of the war, and those at Rome, who had become exhausted by the war taxes, were ready to revolt if any occasion offered for making a beginning. [2] At this time Sextus, the eldest son of Tarquinius, being sent by his father to a city called Collatia to perform certain military services, lodged at the house of his kinsman, Lucius Tarquinius, surnamed Collatinus. [3] This man is said by Fabius to have been the son of Egerius, who, as I have shown earlier, was the nephew of Tarquinius the first Roman king of that name, and having been appointed governor of Collatia, was not only himself called Collatinus from his living there, but also left the same surname to his posterity. But, for my part, I am persuaded that he too was a grandson of Egerius, inasmuch as he was of the same age as the sons of Tarquinius, as Fabius and the other historians have recorded; for the chronology confirms me in this opinion. [4] Now it happened that Collatinus was then at the camp, but his wife, who was a Roman woman, the daughter of Lucretius, a man of distinction, entertained him, as a kinsman of her husband, with great cordiality and friendliness. This matron, who excelled all the Roman women in beauty as well as in virtue, Sextus tried to seduce; he had already long entertained this desire, whenever he visited his kinsman, and he thought he now had a favourable opportunity. [5] Going, therefore, to bed after supper, he waited a great part of the night, and then, when he thought all were asleep, he got up and came to the room where he knew Lucretia slept, and without being discovered by her slaves, who lay asleep at the door, he went into the room sword in hand.

  [65.1] When he paused at the woman’s bedside and she, hearing the noise, awakened and asked who it was, he told her his name and bade her be silent and remain in the room, threatening to kill her if she attempted either to escape or to cry out. Having terrified the woman in this manner, he offered her two alternatives, bidding her choose whichever she herself preferred — death with dishonour or life with happiness. [2] “For,” he said, “if you will consent to gratify me, I will make you my wife, and with me you shall reign, for the present, over the city my father has given me, and, after his death, over the Romans, the Latins, the Tyrrhenians, and all the other nations he rules; for I know that I shall succeed to my father’s kingdom, as is right, since I am his eldest son. But why need I inform you of the many advantages which attend royalty, all of which you shall share with me, since you are well acquainted with them? [3] If, however, you endeavour to resist from a desire to preserve your virtue, I will kill you and then slay one of your slaves, and having laid both your bodies together, will state that I had caught you misbehaving with the slave and punished you to avenge the dishonour of my kinsman; so that your death will be attended with shame and reproach and your body will be deprived both of burial and every other customary rite.” [4] And as he kept urgently repeating his threats and entreaties and swearing that he was speaking the truth as to each alternative, Lucretia, fearing the ignominy of the death he threatened, was forced to yield and to allow him to accomplish his desire.

  [66.1] When it was day, Sextus, having gratified his wicked and baneful passion, returned to the camp. But Lucretia, overwhelmed with shame at what had happened, got into
her carriage in all haste, dressed in black raiment under which she had a dagger concealed, and set out for Rome, without saying a word to any person who saluted her when they met or making answer to those who wished to know what had befallen her, but continued thoughtful and downcast, with her eyes full of tears. [2] When she came to her father’s house, where some of his relations happened to be present, she threw herself at his feet and embracing his knees, wept for some time without uttering a word. And when he raised her up and asked her what had befallen her, she said: “I come to you as a suppliant, father, having endured terrible and intolerable outrage, and I beg you to avenge me and not to overlook your daughter’s having suffered worse things than death.” [3] When her father as well as all the others was struck with wonder at hearing this and he asked her to tell who had outraged her and in what manner, she said: “You will hear of my misfortunes very soon, father; but first grant me this favour I ask of you. Send for as many of your friends and kinsmen as you can, so that they may hear the report from me, the victim of terrible wrongs, rather than from others. And when you have learned to what shameful and dire straits I was reduced, consult with them in what manner you will avenge both me and yourself. But do not let the time between be long.”

  [67.1] When, in response to his hasty and urgent summons, the most prominent men had come to his house as she desired, she began at the beginning and told them all that had happened. Then, after embracing her father and addressing many entreaties both to him and to all present and praying to the gods and other divinities to grant her a speedy departure from life, she drew the dagger she was keeping concealed under her robes, and plunging it into her breast, with a single stroke pierced her heart. [2] Upon this the women beat their breasts and filled the house with their shrieks and lamentations, but her father, enfolding her body in his arms, embraced it, and calling her by name again and again, ministered to her, as though she might recover from her wound, until in his arms, gasping and breathing out her life, she expired. This dreadful scene struck the Romans who were present with so much horror and compassion that they all cried out with one voice that they would rather die a thousand deaths in defence of their liberty than suffer such outrages to be committed by the tyrants. [3] There was among them a certain man, named Publius Valerius, a descendant of one of those Sabines who came to Rome with Tatius, and a man of action and prudence. This man was sent by them to the camp both to acquaint the husband of Lucretia with what had happened and with his aid to bring about a revolt of the army from the tyrants. [4] He was no sooner outside the gates than he chanced to meet Collatinus, who was coming to the city from the camp and knew nothing of the misfortunes that had befallen his household. And with him came Lucius Junius, surnamed Brutus, which, translated into the Greek language, would be êlithios or “dullard.” Concerning this man, since the Romans say that he was the prime mover in the expulsion of the tyrants, I must say a few words before continuing my account, to explain who he was and of what descent and for what reason he got his surname, which did not at all describe him.