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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §12.26.1-12.26.4

Completion of the Twelve Tables and General Peace

Passage 120 of 723 · Greek

Summary

Diodorus describes the completion of the Twelve Tables in Rome and the widespread peace that prevailed throughout the Mediterranean world during that time.

§12.26.1ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Διφίλου Ῥωμαῖοι κατέστησαν ὑπάτους Μάρκον Ὁράτιον καὶ Λεύκιον Οὐαλέριον Τούρπινον.
When Diphilus was archon in Athens, the Romans appointed Marcus Horatius and Lucius Valerius Turpinus as consuls.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων, ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ τῆς νομοθεσίας διὰ τὴν στάσιν ἀσυντελέστου γενομένης, οἱ ὕπατοι συνετέλεσαν αὐτήν· τῶν γὰρ καλουμένων δώδεκα πινάκων οἱ μὲν δέκα συνετελέσθησαν, τοὺς δʼ ὑπολειπομένους δύο ἀνέγραψαν οἱ ὕπατοι.
Under their administration, since the legislation in Rome had been left incomplete because of the civil discord, the consuls completed it; for of the so-called Twelve Tables, ten had been completed, and the consuls wrote down the remaining two.
καὶ τελεσθείσης τῆς ὑποκειμένης νομοθεσίας, ταύτην εἰς δώδεκα χαλκοῦς πίνακας χαράξαντες οἱ ὕπατοι προσήλωσαν τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου τότε κειμένοις ἐμβόλοις.
And when the proposed legislation was finished, the consuls, having engraved it on twelve bronze tablets, nailed them to the rostra which then stood in front of the senate-house.
ἡ δὲ γραφεῖσα νομοθεσία, βραχέως καὶ ἀπερίττως συγκειμένη, διέμεινε θαυμαζομένη μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν.
This written legislation, being composed briefly and without superfluity, remained admired down to our own times.
§12.26.2τούτων δὲ πραττομένων τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐθνῶν ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ ὑπῆρχε, πάντων σχεδὸν εἰρήνην ἀγόντων.
While these things were being done, most of the nations of the inhabited world were at peace, almost all of them enjoying peace.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ Πέρσαι διττὰς συνθήκας εἶχον πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, τὰς μὲν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους καὶ τοὺς συμμάχους αὐτῶν, ἐν αἷς ἦσαν αἱ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδες πόλεις αὐτόνομοι, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ὕστερον ἐγράφησαν, ἐν αἷς τοὐναντίον ἦν γεγραμμένον ὑπηκόους εἶναι τοῖς Πέρσαις τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις.
For the Persians had two treaties with the Greeks: one with the Athenians and their allies, in which the Greek cities of Asia were to be autonomous, and the other was written later with the Lacedaemonians, in which, on the contrary, it was written that the Greek cities of Asia were subject to the Persians.
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὑπῆρχεν εἰρήνη, συντεθειμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων σπονδὰς τριακονταετεῖς.
In like manner, there was peace also among the Greeks themselves, since the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians had concluded a thirty-year truce.
§12.26.3ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν εἰρηνικὴν εἶχε κατάστασιν, Καρχηδονίων μὲν πεποιημένων συνθήκας πρὸς Γέλωνα, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν πόλεων Ἑλληνίδων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Συρακοσίοις συγκεχωρηκυιῶν, καὶ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν τὴν γενομένην περὶ τὸν Ἱμέραν ποταμὸν συλλελυμένων πρὸς τοὺς Συρακοσίους.
In like manner, the affairs of Sicily also were in a peaceful state, since the Carthaginians had made a treaty with Gelon, and the Greek cities of Sicily themselves had conceded the hegemony to the Syracusans, and the Akragantinians, after their defeat near the Himera river, had made peace with the Syracusans.
§12.26.4ἡσύχαζε δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἔθνη καὶ Κελτικήν, ἔτι δʼ Ἰβηρίαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην σχεδὸν ἅπασαν οἰκουμένην.
The nations of Italy and Celtic land, as well as Iberia and almost all the rest of the inhabited world, were also at peace.
διόπερ πολεμικὴ μὲν καὶ ἀξία μνήμης πρᾶξις οὐδεμία συνετελέσθη κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους, εἰρήνη δὲ μία συνετελέσθη, καὶ πανηγύρεις καὶ ἀγῶνες καὶ θεῶν θυσίαι καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν ἀνήκοντα παρὰ πᾶσιν ἐπεπόλαζεν.
Therefore, no warlike action worthy of mention was performed in these times, but a single peace was established, and festivals, games, sacrifices to the gods, and everything else that pertains to prosperity abounded among all people.

Notes

  1. §12.26.1τῆς νομοθεσίας... ἀσυντελέστου γενομένης — Genitive absolute construction. Working together with the causal prepositional phrase 'διὰ τὴν στάσιν' (because of the discord), it explains the background circumstance or reason that led the consuls to take over and complete the legislation.
  2. §12.26.1τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου τότε κειμένοις ἐμβόλοις — The noun 'ἐμβόλοις' (literally 'beaks' or 'ramming-prow', used here as the Greek translation for the Roman forum's rostra) is modified by an attributive word group inserted between the article 'τοῖς' and the noun, consisting of the prepositional phrase 'πρὸ τοῦ βουλευτηρίου', the adverb 'τότε', and the participle 'κειμένοις'.
  3. §12.26.2συντεθειμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων σπονδὰς — Genitive absolute construction where the middle perfect participle 'συντεθειμένων' takes its logical subjects in the genitive ('τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων') and also retains its direct object in the accusative ('σπονδὰς').
  4. §12.26.3Καρχηδονίων μὲν πεποιημένων... αὐτῶν δὲ... συγκεχωρηκυιῶν, καὶ τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων... συλλελυμένων — A series of three genitive absolute constructions coordinated by 'μέν... δέ... καί...' to explain the factors or background circumstances that brought about the peaceful state (ειρηνικήν κατάστασιν) of Sicily. The perfect tense of all three participles indicates that these completed historical events formed the basis of the current peace.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §12.26.1-12.26.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:12.26.1-12.26.4

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