§9.1Ταρκύνιον δὲ τὴν ἐκ προδοσίας ἀπογνόντα τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀνάληψιν ἐδέξαντο Τυρρηνοὶ προθύμως καὶ μεγάλῃ δυνάμει κατῆγον.
But Tarquin, despairing of the recovery of his power through treachery, was eagerly received by the Tyrrhenians, who led him back with a great force.
ἀντεξῆγον δὲ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους οἱ ὕπατοι, καὶ παρέταξαν ἐν χωρίοις ἱεροῖς, ὧν τὸ μὲν Ἄρσιον ἄλσος, τὸ δὲ Αἰσούειον λειμῶνα προσαγορεύουσιν.
The consuls led the Romans out to meet them, and drew them up in sacred places, one of which they call the Arsian grove, and the other the Aesuvian meadow.
ἀρχομένων δὲ αὑτῶν συνάγειν εἰς χεῖρας Ἄρρων ὁ Ταρκυνίου παῖς καὶ Βροῦτος ὁ Ῥωμαίων ὕπατος οὐ κατὰ τύχην ἀλλήλοις περιπεσόντες, ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ ἔχθους καὶ ὀργῆς, §9.2ὁ μὲν ὡς ἐπὶ τύραννον καὶ πολέμιον τῆς πατρίδος, ὁ δὲ τῆς φυγῆς ἀμυνόμενος, ὥρμησαν ὁμόσε τοῖς ἵπποις.
And as they were beginning to join battle, Arruns, the son of Tarquin, and Brutus, the Roman consul, falling in with each other not by chance, but out of hatred and anger, the one as against a tyrant and enemy of his country, the other seeking vengeance for his exile, rushed at each other with their horses.
θυμῷ δὲ μᾶλλον ἢ λογισμῷ προσμίξαντες ἠφείδησαν αὑτῶν καὶ συναπέθανον ἀλλήλοις.
Joining battle with passion rather than with reason, they spared not themselves and died together by each other's hands.
οὕτω δὲ δεινοῦ γενομένου τοῦ προάγωνος οὐκ ἔσχεν ὁ ἀγὼν τέλος ἐπιεικέστερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δράσαντες ἴσα καὶ παθόντες οἱ στρατοὶ διεκρίθησαν ὑπὸ χειμῶνος.
And since this preliminary combat was so terrible, the battle itself did not have a gentler end, but both armies, having done and suffered equal damage, were separated by a storm.
§9.3ἦν οὖν ἐν ἀπόροις ὁ Οὐαλλέριος, οὐκ εἰδὼς τὸ τῆς μάχης πέρας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς στρατιώτας ὁρῶν τοῖς μὲν αὑτῶν νεκροῖς ἀθυμοῦντας, ἐπαιρομένους δὲ τοῖς τῶν πολεμίων οὕτως ἄκριτος ἦν καὶ παράλληλος ὑπὸ πλήθους ὁ φόνος, οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἑκατέροις ἐγγύθεν ὁρώμενα τὰ οἰκεῖα μᾶλλον ἐβεβαίου τὴν ἧτταν ἢ τὴν νίκην εἰκαζόμενα τὰ τῶν πολεμίων.
Valerius therefore was in great difficulties, not knowing the outcome of the battle, but seeing his soldiers disheartened by their own dead and encouraged by those of the enemy; so undecided was the slaughter and equal on both sides because of the great numbers, yet for each side, their own losses, being seen close at hand, rather confirmed their defeat, while those of the enemy, being guessed at, suggested victory.
§9.4ἐπελθούσης δὲ νυκτὸς οἵαν εἰκὸς οὕτω μεμαχημένοις, καὶ γενομένων ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ τῶν στρατοπέδων, λέγουσι σεισθῆναι τὸ ἄλσος, ἐκ δʼ αὐτοῦ φωνὴν ἐκπεσεῖν μεγάλην φράζουσαν ὡς ἑνὶ πλείους ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τεθνήκασι Τυρρηνῶν ἢ Ῥωμαίων, ἦν δʼ ἄρα θεῖόν τι τὸ φθεγξάμενον εὐθύς τε γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῖς μὲν ἀλαλάξαι παρέστη μέγα καὶ θαρρσαλέον, οἱ δὲ Τυρρηνοὶ περίφοβοι γενόμενοι καὶ συνταραχθέντες ἐξέπεσον ἐκ τοῦ στρατοπέδου καὶ διεσπάρησαν οἱ πλεῖστοι·
But when night came on, such as was natural for those who had fought in this way, and the camps had fallen into silence, they say that the grove was shaken, and from it came a great voice declaring that the Tyrrhenians had lost one more man in the battle than the Romans. And it was indeed something divine that spoke; for immediately on account of it, the one side was inspired to raise a great and courageous shout, while the Tyrrhenians, seized with fear and thrown into confusion, fled from their camp, and the majority of them dispersed.
§9.5τοὺς δὲ καταλειφθέντας ὀλίγῳ πεντακισχιλίων ἐλάσσους ἐπελθόντες εἷλον οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι, καὶ τἆλλα διήρπασαν.
The Romans fell upon those who were left, who were a little less than five thousand, and took them, and plundered the rest.
οἱ δὲ νεκροὶ διαριθμηθέντες εὑρέθησαν τριακόσιοι μὲν ἐπὶ χιλίοις καὶ μυρίοις οἱ τῶν πολεμίων, οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαίων παρʼ ἕνα τοσοῦτοι.
And when the dead were numbered, those of the enemy were found to be eleven thousand three hundred, and those of the Romans as many except for one.
ταύτην τὴν μάχην λέγουσι γενέσθαι πρὸ μιᾶς καλανδῶν Μαρτίων, ἐθριάμβευσε δʼ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς Οὐαλλέριος εἰσελάσας τεθρίππῳ πρῶτος ὑπάτων.
This battle is said to have taken place on the day before the Calends of March, and Valerius celebrated a triumph for it, being the first of the consuls to drive in with a chariot of four horses.
§9.6καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα σεμνὴν καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῆ παρέσχεν ὄψιν, οὐκ ἐπίφθονον οὐδʼ ἀνιάσασαν, ὡς ἔνιοι λέγουσι, τοὺς ὁρῶντας· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔσχε ζῆλον τοσοῦτον οὐδὲ φιλοτιμίαν εἰς ἔτη πάμπολλα διαμένουσαν.
And the spectacle presented a solemn and magnificent sight, not causing envy or pain, as some say, to those who saw it; for otherwise it would not have enjoyed such emulation and ambition remaining for very many years.
ἀπεδέξαντο δὲ τοῦ Οὐαλλερίου καὶ τὰς εἰς τὸν συνάρχοντα τιμάς, αἷς ἐκκομιζόμενον καὶ θαπτόμενον ἐκόσμησε· §9.7καὶ λόγον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ διεξῆλθεν ἐπιτάφιον, ὃς οὕτως ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἠγαπήθη καὶ τοσαύτην ἔσχε χάριν ὥστε πᾶσι τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ὑπάρχειν ἐξ ἐκείνου τελευτήσασιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρίστων ἐγκωμιάζεσθαι.
And they also accepted the honors Valerius paid to his colleague, whom he adorned at his burial and funeral; and he delivered a funeral oration over him, which was so beloved by the Romans and met with such favor that from that time it became a custom for all good and great men who died to be praised by the best citizens.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἐπιταφίων ἐκεῖνος γενέσθαι πρεσβύτερος, εἴγε μὴ καὶ τοῦτο Σόλωνός ἐστιν, ὡς Ἀναξιμένης ὁ ῥήτωρ ἱστόρηκεν.
And this is said to have been older than even the Greek funeral orations, unless indeed this custom also belongs to Solon, as the rhetorician Anaximenes has recorded.