§17.1ἐπικειμένου δὲ Πορσίνα τῇ πόλει καί λιμὸς ἥπτετο τῶν Ῥωμαίων, καί Τυρρηνῶν ἕτερος στρατὸς αὐτὸς καθʼ αὑτὸν εἰς τὴν χώραν ἐνέβαλε.
While Porsena was pressing hard upon the city, famine also seized the Romans, and another army of the Tuscans invaded their territory on its own account.
Ποπλικόλας δὲ τὸ τρίτον ὑπατεύων Πορσίνᾳ μὲν ἀτρεμῶν καί φυλάττων τὴν πόλιν ᾤετο δεῖν ἀντέχειν, τοῖς δὲ Τυρρηνοῖς ἐπεξῆλθε καί συμβαλὼν ἐτρέψατο καί πεντακισχιλίους αὐτῶν ἀνεῖλε.
But Poplicola, being consul for the third time, thought he ought to hold out, remaining quiet toward Porsena and guarding the city, but he marched out against the other Tuscans, and joining battle, put them to flight and slew five thousand of them.
τὸ δὲ περὶ Μούκιον εἴρηται μὲν ὑπὸ πολλῶν καὶ διαφόρως, λεκτέον δὲ ᾗ μάλιστα πιστεύεται καί ἡμῖν.
The story of Mucius has been told by many and in different ways, but we must relate it as it is most commonly believed.
§17.2ἦν ἀνὴρ εἰς πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν ἀγαθός, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἄριστος· ἐπιβουλεύων δὲ τὸν Πορσίναν ἀνελεῖν παρεισῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον Τυρρηνίδα φορῶν ἐσθῆτα καί φωνῇ χρώμενος ὁμοία περιελθὼν δὲ τὸ βῆμα τοῦ βασιλέως καθεζομένου, καί σαφῶς μὲν αὑτὸν οὐκ εἰδώς, ἐρέσθαι δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ δεδιώς, ἐν ᾠήθη μάλιστα τῶν συγκαθεζομένων ἐκεῖνον εἶναι σπασάμενος τὸ ξίφος ἀπέκτεινεν.
He was a man excellent in every virtue, and best in matters of war; and plotting to kill Porsena, he secretly entered the camp, wearing Tuscan dress and using a similar language. Having gone around the tribunal where the king was sitting, and not knowing him clearly, but fearing to ask about him, he drew his sword and killed the one whom of those sitting there he most thought to be him.
§17.3ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὲ συλληφθεὶς ἀνεκρίνετο· καί τινος ἐσχαρίδος πῦρ ἐχούσης μέλλοντι τῷ Πορσίνᾳ θύειν κεκομισμένης, ὑπερσχὼν τὴν δεξιὰν χεῖρα καιομένης τῆς σαρκὸς εἱστήκει πρὸς τὸν Πορσίναν ἀποβλέπων ἰταμῷ καί ἀτρέπτῳ τῷ προσώπῳ, μέχρι οὗ θαυμάσας ἀφῆκεν αὑτὸν καί τὸ ξίφος ἀποδιδοὺς ὤρεξεν ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος· ὁ δὲ τὴν εὐώνυμον προτείνας ἐδέξατο.
Having been arrested for this, he was interrogated; and when a brazier containing fire was brought for Porsena who was about to sacrifice, he stretched out his right hand over it, and while the flesh was burning, he stood looking at Porsena with a bold and unwavering face, until, admiring him, the king released him and handed back his sword, reaching it from the tribunal; and he, reaching out his left hand, received it.
καί διὰ τοῦτό φασιν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι τὸν Σκαιόλαν ἐπίκλησιν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ Λαιόν.
For this reason they say he received the surname of Scaevola, which means Left-handed.
§17.4ἔφη δὲ τὸν φόβον τοῦ Πορσίνα νενικηκὼς ἡττᾶσθαι τῆς ἀρετῆς, καί χάριτι μηνύειν ἃ πρὸς ἀνάγκην οὐκ ἂν ἐξηγόρευσε.
And he said that, having conquered his fear of Porsena, he was vanquished by his virtue, and that out of gratitude he would reveal what he would not have disclosed under compulsion.
τριακόσιοι γὰρ Ῥωμαίων,
ἔφη,
τὴν αὐτὴν ἐμοὶ γνώμην ἔχοντες ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ σου πλανῶνται καιρὸν ἐπιτηροῦντες· ἐγὼ δὲ κλήρῳ λαχὼν καί προεπιχειρήσας οὐκ ἄχθομαι τῇ τύχῃ, διαμαρτὼν ἀνδρὸς ἀγαθοῦ καί φίλου μᾶλλον ἢ πολεμίου §17.5Ῥωμαίοις εἶναι πρέποντος
ταῦθʼ ὁ Πορσίνας ἀκούσας ἐπίστευσε καί πρὸς τὰς διαλύσεις ἥδιον ἔσχεν, οὐ τοσοῦτό, μοι δοκεῖ, φόβῳ τῶν τριακοσίων, ὅσον ἀγασθεὶς καί θαυμάσας τὸ φρόνημα, καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων.
"For three hundred Romans," he said, "holding the same purpose as myself, are wandering about in your camp watching for an opportunity; and I, having drawn the lot and made the attempt first, do not complain of my fortune, though I missed a good man who is more fitting to be a friend than an enemy" "to the Romans." When Porsena heard this, he believed it and became more favorably disposed toward a treaty, not so much, it seems to me, out of fear of the three hundred, as because he admired and wondered at the spirit and the virtue of the Romans.
τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα Μούκιον ὁμοῦ τι πάντων καὶ Σκαιόλαν καλούντων Ἀθηνόδωρος ὁ Σάνδωνος ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ὀκταουίαν τὴν Καίσαρος ἀδελφὴν καὶ Ὀψίγονον ὠνομάσθαι φησίν.
This man, whom almost everyone calls Mucius and Scaevola, Athenodorus the son of Sandon, in his work addressed to Octavia, the sister of Caesar, says was also named Opsigonus.