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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [4] He added that after awaking he had disregarded the vision, looking upon it as one of the deceitful dreams that are so common. Later, he said, the same vision of the god, appearing to him again in his sleep, was angry and displeased with him for not having reported to the senate the orders he had received, and threatened him that, if he did not do so promptly, he should learn by the experience of some great calamity not to neglect supernatural injunctions. After seeing this second dream also he had formed the same opinion of it, and at the same time had felt ashamed, being a farmer who did his own work and old, to report to the senate dreams full of foreboding and terrors, for fear of being laughed at.

  [5] ὀλίγαις δ᾽ ὕστερον ἡμέραις τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ νέον ὄντα καὶ καλὸν οὔτε ὑπὸ νόσων οὔτε ὑπ᾽ ἄλλης τινὸς αἰτίας φανερᾶς ἀναρπασθέντα αἰφνιδίως ἀποθανεῖν: καὶ αὖθις τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ὄψιν φανεῖσαν ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις δηλοῦν, ὅτι τῆς ὑπεροψίας καὶ τῆς καταφρονήσεως τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων τὴν μὲν ἤδη δέδωκε δίκην τὸν υἱὸν ἀφαιρεθείς,

  [5] But a few days later, he said, his son, who was young and handsome, had been suddenly snatched away by death without any sickness or any other obvious cause. And once more the vision of the god had appeared to him in his sleep and declared that he had already been punished in part for his contempt and neglect of the god’s words by the loss of his son, and should soon suffer the rest of his punishment.

  [6] τὰς δ᾽ ὀλίγον ὕστερον δώσει. ταῦτα δ᾽ ἀκούσας ἔφη καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν δέξασθαι τὸν λόγον, εἰ μέλλοι θάνατος αὐτῷ ἐλεύσεσθαι παρημεληκότι τοῦ βίου: τὸν δὲ θεὸν οὐ ταύτην αὐτῷ προσθεῖναι τὴν τιμωρίαν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς ἅπαντα τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος ἀφορήτους καὶ δεινὰς ἐμβαλεῖν ἀλγηδόνας, ὥστε μηδὲν ἄρθρον ἄνευ κατατάσεως τῆς ἐσχάτης δύνασθαι κινεῖν. τότε δὴ τοῖς φίλοις [p. 109] κοινωσάμενος τὰ συμβεβηκότα καὶ κελευσθεὶς ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὴν βουλήν. διεξιὼν δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ μικρὸν ἐδόκει τῶν ἀλγηδόνων ἀπαλλάττεσθαι: καὶ ἐπειδὴ πάντα διεξῆλθεν ἀναστὰς ἐκ τοῦ κλινιδίου καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἀναβοήσας ἀπῄει τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ποσὶ διὰ τῆς πόλεως οἴκαδε ὑγιής.

  [6] When he heard this, he said, he had received the threats with pleasure, in the hope that death would come to him, weary of life as he was; but the god did not inflict this punishment upon him, but sent such intolerable and cruel pains into all his limbs that he could not move a joint without the greatest effort. Then at last he had informed his friends of what had happened, and by their advice had now come to the senate. While he was giving this account his pains seemed to leave him by degrees; and after he had related everything, he rose from the litter, and having invoked the god, went home on foot through the city in perfect health.

  [1] ἡ δὲ βουλὴ δέους ἀνάπλεως ἐγένετο, καὶ ἀχανὴς ἦν ἕκαστος οὐκ ἔχων συμβαλεῖν, ὅ τι τὸ δηλούμενον ἦν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ τίς ποτε ὁ τῆς πομπῆς ὀρχηστὴς προηγούμενος οὐ καλὸς αὐτῷ ἐφάνη. ἔπειτα λέγει τις ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀναμνησθεὶς τὸ γενόμενον, καὶ πάντες ἐμαρτύρησαν. ἦν δὲ τοιόνδε: ἀνὴρ Ῥωμαῖος οὐκ ἀφανὴς θεράποντα ἴδιον ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ θανάτου παραδοὺς τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις ἄγειν, ἵνα δὴ περιφανὴς ἡ τιμωρία τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γένηται, δι᾽ ἀγορᾶς αὐτὸν ἐκέλευσε μαστιγούμενον ἕλκειν καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος ἦν τῆς πόλεως τόπος ἐπιφανὴς ἡγούμενον τῆς πομπῆς, ἣν ἔστελλε τῷ θεῷ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ἡ πόλις.

  [69.1] Upon this the senators were filled with fear and everyone was speechless with astonishment, being at a loss to guess what the god’s message meant, and who was the leader of the dance in the procession who appeared unacceptable to him. At least one of them, recalling the incident, related it to the rest and all of them confirmed it by their testimony. It was this. A Roman citizen of no obscure station, having ordered one of his slaves to be put to death, delivered him to his fellow-slaves to be led away, and in order that his punishment might be witnessed by all, directed them to drag him through the Forum and every other conspicuous part of the city as they whipped him, and that he should go ahead of the procession which the Romans were at that time conducting in honour of the god.

  [2] οἱ δ᾽ ἄγοντες τὸν θεράποντα ἐπὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν τὰς χεῖρας ἀποτείναντες ἀμφοτέρας καὶ ξύλῳ προσδήσαντες παρὰ τὰ στέρνα τε καὶ τοὺς ὤμους καὶ μέχρι τῶν καρπῶν διήκοντι παρηκολούθουν ξαίνοντες μάστιξι γυμνὸν ὄντα. ὁ δ᾽ ἐν τοιᾷδε ἀνάγκῃ κρατούμενος ἐβόα τε φωνὰς δυσφήμους, ἃς ἡ ἀλγηδὼν ἐβούλετο, καὶ κινήσεις διὰ τὴν αἰκίαν ἀσχήμονας ἐκινεῖτο. τοῦτον δὴ πάντες ἐνόμισαν [p. 110] εἶναι τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μηνυόμενον ὀρχηστὴν οὐ καλόν.

  [2] The men ordered to lead the slave to his punishment, having stretched out both his arms and fastened them to a piece of wood which extended across his breast and shoulders as far as his wrists, followed him, tearing his naked body with whips. The culprit, overcome by such cruelty, not only uttered ill-omened cries, forced from him by the pain, but also made indecent movements under the blows. This man, accordingly, they all thought to be the unacceptable dancer signified by the god.

  [1] ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ τοῦτο γέγονα τῆς ἱστορίας τὸ μέρος, οὐκ οἴομαι δεῖν τὰ περὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐπιτελούμενα ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν παρελθεῖν, οὐχ ἵνα μοι χαριεστέρα γένηται προσθήκας λαβοῦσα θεατρικὰς καὶ λόγους ἀνθηροτέρους ἡ διήγησις, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα τῶν ἀναγκαίων τι πιστώσηται πραγμάτων, ὅτι τὰ συνοικίσαντα ἔθνη τὴν Ῥωμαίων πόλιν Ἑλληνικὰ ἦν ἐκ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἀποικισθέντα τόπων, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὥσπερ ἔνιοι νομίζουσι βάρβαρα καὶ ἀνέστια:

  [70.1] Since I have come to this part of my history, I believe I ought not to omit mention of the rites performed by the Romans on the occasion of this festival. I do this, not in order to render my narration more agreeable by dramatic embellishments and flowery descriptions, but to win credence for an essential matter of history, namely, that the peoples which joined in founding the city of Rome were Greek colonies sent out from the most famous places, and not, as some believe, barbarians and vagabonds.

  [2] ὑπεσχόμην γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ τέλει τῆς πρώτης γραφῆς, ἣν περὶ τοῦ γένους αὐτῶν συνταξάμενος ἐξέδωκα, μυρίοις βεβαιώσειν τεκμηρίοις τὴν πρόθεσιν, ἔθη καὶ νόμιμα καὶ ἐπιτηδεύματα παλαιὰ παρεχόμενος αὐτῶν, ἃ μέχρι τοῦ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ φυλάττουσι χρόνου, οἷα παρὰ τῶν προγόνων ἐδέξαντο: οὐχ ἡγούμενος �
�ποχρῆν τοῖς ἀναγράφουσι τὰς ἀρχαίας καὶ τοπικὰς ἱστορίας, ὡς παρὰ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων αὐτὰς παρέλαβον, ἀξιοπίστως διελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μαρτυριῶν οἰόμενος αὐταῖς δεῖν πολλῶν καὶ δυσαντιλέκτων, εἰ μέλλουσι πισταὶ

  [2] For I promised at the end of the first Book, which I composed and published concerning their origin, that I would demonstrate this thesis by countless proofs, by citing time-honoured customs, laws and institutions which they preserve down to my time just as they received them from their ancestors. For I believe that it is not enough that those who write the early histories of particular lands should relate them in a trustworthy manner as they have received them from the inhabitants of the country, but that these accounts require also for their support numerous and indisputable testimonies, if they are to appear credible.

  [3] φανήσεσθαι. ἐν αἷς πρῶτα καὶ κυριώτατα πάντων εἶναι πείθομαι τὰ γινόμενα καθ᾽ ἑκάστην πόλιν περὶ θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων πατρίους σεβασμούς. ταῦτα γὰρ ἐπὶ μήκιστον χρόνον διὰ φυλακῆς ἔχει Ἑλλάς τε καὶ βάρβαρος χώρα, καὶ οὐθὲν ἀξιοῖ καινοτομεῖν εἰς αὐτὰ ὑπὸ

  [3] Among such testimonies I am convinced that the first and the most valid of all are the ceremonies connected with the established worship of the gods and other divinities which are performed in the various states. These both the Greeks and barbarian world have preserved for the greatest length of time and have never thought fit to make any innovation or intrenchment, being restrained from doing so by their fear of the divine anger.

  [4] δείματος κρατουμένη μηνιμάτων δαιμονίων. μάλιστα δὲ τοῦτο πεπόνθασιν οἱ βάρβαροι διὰ πολλὰς αἰτίας, [p. 111] ἃς οὐ καιρὸς ἐν τῷ παρόντι λέγειν, καὶ χρόνος οὐθεὶς μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος ἀπομαθεῖν ἢ παρανομῆσαί τι περὶ τοὺς ὀργιασμοὺς τῶν θεῶν ἔπεισεν οὔτ᾽ Αἰγυπτίους οὔτε Λίβυας οὔτε Κελτοὺς οὔτε Σκύθας οὔτ᾽ Ἰνδοὺς οὔτ᾽ ἄλλο βάρβαρον ἔθνος οὐδὲν ἁπλῶς: εἰ μή τινες ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρων ἐξουσίᾳ ποτὲ γενόμενοι τὰ τῶν κρατησάντων ἠναγκάσθησαν ἐπιτηδεύματα μεταλαβεῖν. τῇ δὲ Ῥωμαίων πόλει τοιαύτης οὐδέποτε πειραθῆναι συνέβη τύχης, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὴ τὰ δίκαια τάττει διὰ παντὸς ἑτέροις.

  [4] This has been the experience of the barbarians in particular, for many reasons which this is not the proper occasion for mentioning; and no lapse of time has thus far induced either the Egyptians, the Libyans, the Gauls, the Scythians, the Indians, or any other barbarian nation whatever to forget or transgress anything relating to the rites of their gods, unless some of them have been subdued by a foreign power and compelled to exchange their own institutions for those of their conquerors. Now it has not been the fate of the Roman commonwealth ever to experience such a misfortune, but she herself always gives laws to others.

  [5] εἰ δὴ βάρβαρον αὐτῶν τὸ γένος ἦν, τοσούτου ἂν ἐδέησαν αὐτοὶ τὰ πατρῷα ἱερὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ἐθισμοὺς ἀπομαθεῖν, δι᾽ οὓς εἰς τοσαύτην προῆλθον εὐδαιμονίαν, ὥστε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν, ὧν ἦρχον, ἐν καλῷ κατέστησαν τοὺς θεοὺς τοῖς σφετέροις τιμᾶν νομίμοις: καὶ οὐθὲν ἂν ἐκώλυσεν ἅπαν ἐκβεβαρβαρῶσθαι τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἑβδόμην ἤδη κρατούμενον ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν γενεάν, εἴπερ ἦσαν βάρβαροι.

  [5] If, therefore, the Romans had been originally barbarians, they would have been so far from forgetting their ancestral rites and the established customs of their country, by which they had attained to so great prosperity, that they would even have made it to the interest of all their subjects as well to honour the gods according to the customary Roman ceremonies; and nothing could have hindered the whole Greek world, which is now subject to the Romans for already the seventh generation, from being barbarized if the Romans had indeed been barbarians.

  [1] ἕτερος μὲν οὖν ἀποχρῆν ἂν ὑπέλαβε καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ νῦν πραττόμενα ἐν τῇ πόλει μηνύματα οὐ μικρὰ τῶν παλαιῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ὑπολαβεῖν: ἐγὼ δ᾽, ἵνα μή τις ἀσθενῆ τὴν πίστιν εἶναι ταύτην ὑπολάβῃ εἴτε κατ᾽ ἐκείνην τὴν ἀπίθανον ὑπόληψιν, ὅτι παντὸς τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ κρατήσαντες ἀσμένως ἂν τὰ κρείττω μετέμαθον ἔθη τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ὑπεριδόντες, ἐξ ἐκείνου [p. 112] ποιήσομαι τοῦ χρόνου τὴν τέκμαρσιν, ὅτ᾽ οὔπω τὴν τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἶχον ἡγεμονίαν οὐδὲ ἄλλην διαπόντιον οὐδεμίαν ἀρχήν, Κοίντῳ Φαβίῳ βεβαιωτῇ χρώμενος καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς ἔτι δεόμενος πίστεως ἑτέρας: παλαιότατος γὰρ ἁνὴρ τῶν τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ συνταξαμένων, καὶ πίστιν οὐκ ἐξ ὧν ἤκουσε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ὧν αὐτὸς ἔγνω παρεχόμενος.

  [71.1] Anyone else might have assumed that the ceremonies now practised in the city were enough even by themselves to afford no slight indication of the ancient observances. But for my part, lest anyone should hold this to be weak evidence, according to that improbable assumption that after the Romans had conquered the whole Greek world they would gladly have scorned their own customs and adopted the better ones in their stead, I shall adduce my evidence from the time when they did not as yet possess the supremacy over Greece or dominion over any other country beyond the sea; and I shall cite Quintus Fabius as my authority, without requiring any further confirmation. For he is the most ancient of all the Roman historians and offers proof of what he asserts, not only from the information of others, but also from his own knowledge.

  [2] ταύτην δὴ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐψηφίσατο μὲν ἡ βουλὴ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἄγειν, ὡς καὶ πρότερον ἔφην, κατὰ τὰς γενομένας εὐχὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ δικτάτορος Αὔλου Ποστομίου, ὅτ᾽ ἔμελλεν ἀγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τὰς ἀποστάσας Λατίνων πόλεις κατάγειν ἐπιχειρούσας Ταρκύνιον ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν: ἀναλοῦσθαι δ᾽ ἔταξε καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν εἴς τε τὰς θυσίας καὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἀργυρίου πεντακοσίας μνᾶς: καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Φοινικικοῦ πολέμου ταῦτ᾽ ἐδαπάνων εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν.

  [2] This festival, therefore, the Roman senate ordered to be celebrated, as I said before, pursuant to the vow made by the dictator Aulus Postumius when he was upon the point of giving battle to the Latins, who had revolted from the Romans and were endeavouring to restore Tarquinius to power; and they ordered five hundred minae of silver to be expended every year upon the sacrifices and the games, a sum the Romans laid out on the festival till the time of the Punic War.

  [3] ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα ἐγίνετο νόμοις Ἑλληνικοῖς κατὰ τε πανηγυρισμοὺς καὶ ξένων ὑποδοχὰς καὶ ἐκεχειρίας, ἃ πολὺ ἂν
ἔργον εἴη λέγειν, τὰ δὲ περὶ πομπήν τε καὶ θυσίαν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἀγῶνας: ἀπόχρη γὰρ ἐκ τούτων καὶ τὰ μὴ λεχθέντα ἐξετάζειν: τοιάδε.

  [3] During these holidays not only were many other observances carried out according to the customs of the Greeks, in connection with the general assemblies, the reception of strangers, and the cessation of hostilities, which it would be a big task to describe, but also those relating to the procession, the sacrifice, and the games — these are sufficient to give an idea of those I do not mention — which were as follows:

  [1] πρὶν ἄρξασθαι τῶν ἀγώνων, πομπὴν ἔστελλον τοῖς θεοῖς οἱ τὴν μεγίστην ἔχοντες ἐξουσίαν, ἀπὸ τοῦ Καπιτωλίου τε καὶ δι᾽ ἀγορᾶς ἄγοντες ἐπὶ τὸν μέγαν ἱππόδρομον. ἡγοῦντο δὲ τῆς πομπῆς πρῶτον [p. 113] μὲν οἱ παῖδες αὐτῶν οἱ πρόσηβοί τε καὶ τοῦ πομπεύειν ἔχοντες ἡλικίαν, ἱππεῖς μέν, ὧν οἱ πατέρες τιμήματα ἱππέων εἶχον, πεζοὶ δ᾽ οἱ μέλλοντες ἐν τοῖς πεζοῖς στρατεύεσθαι: οἱ μὲν κατ᾽ ἴλας τε καὶ κατὰ λόχους, οἱ δὲ κατὰ συμμορίας τε καὶ τάξεις ὡς εἰς διδασκαλεῖον πορευόμενοι: ἵνα φανερὰ γίνοιτο τοῖς ξένοις ἡ μέλλουσα ἀνδροῦσθαι τῆς πόλεως ἀκμὴ πλῆθός τε καὶ