Pyrrhus at Tarentum and Mutiny of the Roman Garrison at Rhegium — Appian, Samnite History VIII–IX, Greek & English

§VIII

"Οτι μετὰ τὸ ναυάγιον ὁ Πύρρος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς Ἠπείρου ἐς τὸν Τάραντα κατήγετο, καὶ οἱ Ταραντῖνοι τότε μάλιστα τοὺς βασιλικοὺς ἐβαρύνοντο, ἐσοικιζομένους¹ τε παρὰ σφᾶς βίᾳ, καὶ φανερῶς ἐνυβρίζοντας ταῖς αὐτῶν γυναιξὶ καὶ παισίν. ὡς δὲ καὶ τὰ συσσίτια σφῶν ὁ Πύρρος καὶ τὰς ἄλλας συνόδους καὶ διατριβὰς ὡς οὐ πρεπούσας πολέμῳ διέλυε, γυμνάσιά τε ἔνοπλα ἔτασσεν αὐτοῖς, καὶ θάνατον τοῖς ἀμελοῦσιν ὥριζε, τότε δὴ καὶ πάμπαν ἀήθεσιν ἔργοις καὶ ἐπιτάγμασι κάμνοντες οἱ Ταραντῖνοι τῆς πόλεως ὡς ἀλλοτρίας ἐς τοὺς ἀγροὺς ἀπεδίδρασκον. καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰς θύρας ἀπέκλειε, καὶ φρουρὰς ἐφίστη. καὶ οἱ Ταραντῖνοι τῆς ἀβουλίας σφῶν ᾐσθάνοντο σαφῶς."

That after the shipwreck Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, landed at Tarentum, and the Tarentines then especially resented the king’s soldiers, who quartered themselves among them by force and openly insulted their wives and children. When Pyrrhus also dissolved their common meals and other assemblies and pastimes as unsuitable for war, and prescribed armed exercises for them, and fixed death as the penalty for those who neglected them, then indeed, suffering under works and commands to which they were entirely unaccustomed, the Tarentines fled from their city into the fields as if it belonged to others. And the king closed the gates and stationed guards. Thus the Tarentines clearly perceived their own folly.

§IX

" ὅτι ὅσοι ἐν Ῥηγίῳ Ῥωμαίων² ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ καὶ φυλακῇ τῆς πόλεως, μή τι πάθοιεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, παρέμενον, αὐτοί τε καὶ Δέκιος ὁ ἡγεμὼν αὐτῶν, τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τῶν Ῥηγίνων φθονήσαντες, καὶ φυλάξαντες αὐτοὺς εὐωχουμένους ἐν ἑορτῇ διέφθειραν, καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἀκουσίαις συνῆσαν. πρόφασιν δὲ τῆς παρανομίας ἔφερον ὅτι Ῥηγῖνοι τὴν φρουρὰν προεδίδοσαν Πύρρῳ. καὶ Δέκιος μὲν ἀντὶ φρουράρχου τύραννος ἦν, καὶ φιλίαν ἔθετο Μαμερτίνοις τοῖς ἐπὶ τοῦ πορθμοῦ τοῦ Σικελικοῦ κατῳκημένοις, οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ κἀκείνοις ἐς ἰδίους ξένους ὅμοια δεδρακόσιν. ἀλγήσαντα³ δʼ αὐτὸν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, καὶ τοῖς ἐν Ῥηγίῳ ἰατροῖς ἀπιστοῦντα, μετάπεμπτος ἀπὸ Μεσσήνης ἐθεράπευε Ῥηγῖνος ἀνήρ, μετῳκηκὼς ἐς Μεσσήνην πρὸ πολλοῦ, ὅτι Ῥηγῖνος ἦν ἀγνοούμενος.⁴ οὗτος αὐτὸν ἔπεισεν ἐπὶ ἀπαλλαγῇ συντόμῳ φαρμάκων ἀνασχέσθαι θερμῶν, καὶ χρίσας τοῖς κατακαίουσι καὶ δαπανῶσιν ἐκέλευσεν ἀνασχέσθαι τοῦ πόνου μέχρι αὐτὸς ἐπανέλθοι, καὶ λαθὼν ἔπλευσεν ἐς Μεσσήνην. ὁ δʼ ἐς πολὺ τῆς ὀδύνης ἀνασχόμενος ἀπενίψατο, καὶ εὗρε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς δεδαπανημένους. Φαβρίκιος δὲ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ διορθώσει τῶνδε πεμφθεὶς τήν τε πόλιν τοῖς ἔτι Ῥηγίνοις λοιποῖς ἀπεδίδου, καὶ τῶν φρουρῶν⁵ τοὺς αἰτίους τῆς ἀποστάσεως ἐς Ῥώμην ἔπεμψεν, οἳ μαστιγωθέντες ἐν ἀγορᾷ μέσῃ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀπεκόπησαν καὶ ἐξερρίφησαν ἄταφοι. Δέκιος δὲ φυλασσόμενος ἀμελῶς, οἷα πηρός, ἑαυτὸν διεχρήσατο."

That all the Roman soldiers who remained in Rhegium for the safety and defense of the city, lest they should suffer any harm from the enemy, together with Decius their commander, envying the wealth of the Rhegians, and watching for them while they were feasting during a festival, slaughtered them, and cohabited with their unwilling wives. And they offered as a pretext for their lawlessness that the Rhegians were betraying the garrison to Pyrrhus. And Decius, instead of being the commander of the garrison, became a tyrant, and made an alliance with the Mamertines who lived by the Sicilian strait, who not long before had committed similar deeds against their own hosts. When he suffered from a disease of the eyes and distrusted the physicians in Rhegium, a man of Rhegian origin who had been summoned from Messene treated him; this man had migrated to Messene long before, and thus it was unknown that he was a Rhegian. This man persuaded him to endure hot medicines for a speedy recovery, and having smeared him with corrosive and destructive drugs, he ordered him to endure the pain until he himself should return, and then secretly sailed away to Messene. And he, having endured the pain for a long time, washed it off, and found that his eyes were destroyed. Fabricius, having been sent by the Romans to set these things right, restored the city to the remaining Rhegians, and sent to Rome those of the guards who were responsible for the defection, who, after being scourged in the middle of the forum, were beheaded and cast out unburied. And Decius, being carelessly guarded because he was blind, killed himself.

Syntax notes5 items

VIIIἐσοικιζομένους
The verb ἐβαρύνοντο ('resented/felt burdened by') takes the accusative τοὺς βασιλικοὺς ('the king's soldiers') as its direct object, with the present participles ἐσοικιζομένους ('quartering themselves') and ἐνυβρίζοντας ('insulting') acting as supplementary participles describing their actions.
IX.1Ῥωμαίων
A partitive genitive depending on ὅσοι ('all those who'), together forming the subject of the clause: 'all those of the Romans who...'.
IX.2ἀλγήσαντα
An adverbial participle of time or cause agreeing with αὐτόν (the direct object of the main verb ἐθεράπευε). τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς is a dative of respect ('with respect to his eyes').
IX.2ὅτι Ῥηγῖνος ἦν ἀγνοούμενος
The conjunction ὅτι introduces a declarative noun clause ('that [he was a Rhegian]'), depending on ἀγνοούμενος. ἀγνοούμενος is a present passive participle used adjectivally as a predicate nominative, meaning 'since it was unknown that he was a Rhegian'.
IX.3τῶν φρουρῶν
A partitive genitive depending on the following noun phrase τοὺς αἰτίους ('the ones responsible'), meaning 'those among the guards who were responsible for the defection'.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — note 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0551.tlg004.humanitext-grc2:VIII-IX