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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §13.58.1-13.58.3

Suffering of Selinuntine Captives and Refuge at Acragas

Passage 237 of 723 · Greek

Summary

Depicts the Greek allies of the Carthaginians pitying the tragic fate of the captive Selinuntines, especially the women who mourn for their living children and envy the dead. Meanwhile, those who escaped captivity find a warm refuge and public support in Acragas.

§13.58.1θεωροῦντες δὲ τὴν τοῦ βίου μεταβολὴν οἱ τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις Ἕλληνες συμμαχοῦντες ἠλέουν τὴν τῶν ἀκληρούντων τύχην.
The Greeks who were allied with the Carthaginians, beholding this reverse of fortune, pitied the lot of the unfortunate.
αἱ μὲν γυναῖκες ἐστερημέναι τῆς συνήθους τρυφῆς ἐν πολεμίων ὕβρει διενυκτέρευον, ὑπομένουσαι δεινὰς ταλαιπωρίας· ὧν ἔνιαι θυγατέρας ἐπιγάμους ὁρᾶν ἠναγκάζοντο πασχούσας οὐκ οἰκεῖα τῆς ἡλικίας.
The women, deprived of their accustomed luxury, spent the night in the insolent abuse of their enemies, enduring terrible sufferings; some of them were forced to see their daughters of marriageable age suffering treatment unbecoming to their years.
§13.58.2ἡ γὰρ βαρβάρων ὠμότης οὔτε παίδων ἐλευθέρων οὔτε παρθένων φειδομένη δεινὰς τοῖς ἠτυχηκόσι παρίστα συμφοράς.
For the cruelty of the barbarians, sparing neither free children nor maidens, brought terrible calamities upon the unfortunate.
διόπερ αἱ γυναῖκες ἀναλογιζόμεναι μὲν τὴν ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ μέλλουσαν αὑταῖς ἔσεσθαι δουλείαν, θεωροῦσαι δʼ αὑτὰς ἅμα τοῖς τέκνοις ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ καὶ προπηλακισμῷ δεσποτῶν ἀναγκαζομένας ὑπακούειν, τούτους δʼ ὁρῶσαι ἀσύνετον μὲν τὴν φωνήν, θηριώδη δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἔχοντας, τὰ μὲν ζῶντα τῶν τέκνων ἐπένθουν, καὶ καθʼ ἕκαστον τῶν εἰς ταῦτα παρανομημάτων οἱονεὶ νυγμοὺς εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν λαμβάνουσαι περιπαθεῖς ἐγίνοντο καὶ πολλὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν τύχην κατωδύροντο· τοὺς δὲ πατέρας, ἔτι δὲ ἀδελφούς, οἳ διαγωνιζόμενοι περὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἐτετελευτήκεισαν, ἐμακάριζον, οὐθὲν ἀνάξιον ἑωρακότας τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς.
Therefore the women, reflecting on the slavery that was to be theirs in Libya, and seeing themselves together with their children forced to obey masters in dishonor and abuse, and beholding that these masters possessed an unintelligible speech and a beastly character, wept for those of their children who were living, and receiving as it were stings in their souls at each of the lawless acts committed against them, they became overwhelmed with emotion and wailed much over their own fortune; but their fathers, and also their brothers, who had died fighting for their country, they counted happy, since they had seen nothing unworthy of their own virtue.
§13.58.3οἱ δὲ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν διαφυγόντες Σελινούντιοι, τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες ἑξακόσιοι πρὸς τοῖς δισχιλίοις, διεσώθησαν εἰς Ἀκράγαντα καὶ πάντων ἔτυχον τῶν φιλανθρώπων· οἱ γὰρ Ἀκραγαντῖνοι σιτομετρήσαντες αὐτοῖς δημοσίᾳ διέδωκαν κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας, παρακελευσάμενοι τοῖς ἰδιώταις καὶ αὐτοῖς προθύμοις οὖσι χορηγεῖν τὰ πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἅπαντα.
But the Selinuntines who had escaped captivity, being two thousand six hundred in number, saved themselves to Acragas and met with every kind of humanity; for the Acragantines, having measured out grain at public expense, distributed it among the households, and urged the private citizens, who were themselves also eager to do so, to supply them with all the necessaries of life.

Notes

  1. 13.58.1ὧν ἔνιαι θυγατέρας ἐπιγάμους ὁρᾶν ἠναγκάζοντο πασχούσας — The genitive relative pronoun ὧν refers back to αἱ γυναῖκες in the preceding sentence, with ἔνιαι functioning as the subject of the clause. ὁρᾶν is the complementary infinitive of ἠναγκάζοντο. θυγατέρας ἐπιγάμους is the accusative subject of the participle πασχούσας which functions as the object predicate of the verb of seeing ὁρᾶν ('forced to see their daughters suffering').
  2. 13.58.2διόπερ αἱ γυναῖκες ἀναλογιζόμεναι μὲν ... θεωροῦσαι δʼ ... τούτους δʼ ὁρῶσαι ... ἐπένθουν — Three participial phrases, ἀναλογιζόμεναι μὲν..., θεωροῦσαι δʼ..., and τούτους δʼ ὁρῶσαι..., are coordinated and modify the subject αἱ γυναῖκες. In this long sentence structure, the subject and the main verb ἐπένθουν are widely separated by these intervening clauses.
  3. 13.58.3παρακελευσάμενοι τοῖς ἰδιώταις καὶ αὐτοῖς προθύμοις οὖσι χορηγεῖν — The participle παρακελευσάμενοι governs the dative τοῖς ἰδιώταις and takes the infinitive χορηγεῖν. The phrase καὶ αὐτοῖς προθύμοις οὖσι is a dative participial construction agreeing with τοῖς ἰδιώταις, expressing that the private citizens themselves were also eager or willing.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §13.58.1-13.58.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:13.58.1-13.58.3

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