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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §3.13.1-3.13.3

Crushing of Ore and Merciless Exploitation of Laborers

Passage 174 of 406 · Greek

Summary

The passage describes the miserable conditions under which all prisoners, including young boys, women, and the elderly, are forced into the grueling task of crushing gold ore and are overworked to death without any mercy or rest.

§3.13.1οἱ δὲ ἄνηβοι παῖδες εἰσδυόμενοι διὰ τῶν ὑπονόμων εἰς τὰ κεκοιλωμένα τῆς πέτρας ἀναβάλλουσιν ἐπιπόνως τὴν ῥιπτουμένην κατὰ μικρὸν πέτραν καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐκτὸς τοῦ στομίου τόπον εἰς ὕπαιθρον ἀποκομίζουσιν.
And the boys under puberty, creeping through the shafts into the hollowed-out parts of the rock, laboriously gather up the rock that is thrown down piece by piece and carry it out into the open air to the place outside the mouth of the mine.
οἱ δʼ ὑπὲρ ἔτη τριάκοντα παρὰ τούτων λαμβάνοντες ὡρισμένον μέτρον τοῦ λατομήματος ἐν ὅλμοις λιθίνοις τύπτουσι σιδηροῖς ὑπέροις, ἄχρι ἂν ὀρόβου τὸ μέγεθος κατεργάσωνται.
And those who are over thirty years of age, receiving from them a fixed measure of the quarried stone, pound it in stone mortars with iron pestles until they have worked it down to the size of a vetch.
§3.13.2παρὰ δὲ τούτων τὸν ὀροβίτην λίθον αἱ γυναῖκες καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκδέχονται, καὶ μύλων ἑξῆς πλειόνων ὄντων ἐπὶ τούτους ἐπιβάλλουσι, καὶ παραστάντες ἀνὰ τρεῖς ἢ δύο πρὸς τὴν κώπην ἀλήθουσιν, ἕως ἂν εἰς σεμιδάλεως τρόπον τὸ δοθὲν μέτρον κατεργάσωνται.
And from these, the women and the older men receive the stone ground to the size of a vetch, and cast it upon millstones, of which there are many in a row, and standing by twos or threes at the handle, they grind it until they have worked down the given measure to the consistency of the finest flour.
προσούσης δʼ ἅπασιν ἀθεραπευσίας σώματος καὶ τῆς τὴν αἰδῶ περιστελλούσης ἐσθῆτος μὴ προσούσης, οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἰδὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐλεήσειε τοὺς ἀκληροῦντας διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ταλαιπωρίας.
And since there is present in all of them a lack of care for their bodies, and since they lack clothing to cover their shame, there is no one who, upon seeing them, would not pity these unfortunate people because of the excess of their misery.
§3.13.3οὐ γὰρ τυγχάνει συγγνώμης οὐδʼ ἀνέσεως ἁπλῶς οὐκ ἄρρωστος, οὐ πεπηρωμένος, οὐ γεγηρακώς, οὐ γυναικὸς ἀσθένεια, πάντες δὲ πληγαῖς ἀναγκάζονται προσκαρτερεῖν τοῖς ἔργοις, μέχρι ἂν κακουχούμενοι τελευτήσωσιν ἐν ταῖς ἀνάγκαις.
For absolutely no mercy or respite is granted to the sick, the maimed, the aged, or to the weakness of women, but all are compelled by blows to persist in their labors until, worn out by hardships, they die in their distress.
διόπερ οἱ δυστυχεῖς φοβερώτερον ἀεὶ τὸ μέλλον τοῦ παρόντος ἡγοῦνται διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς τιμωρίας, ποθεινότερον δὲ τοῦ ζῆν τὸν θάνατον προσδέχονται.
Therefore, the unfortunate, because of the excess of their punishment, always regard the future as more fearful than the present, and welcome death as more desirable than life.

Notes

  1. 3.13.1ἀναβάλλουσιν — The verb ἀναβάλλω (usually meaning "to throw up" or "to postpone") is here used in the sense of "to pick up" or "to scoop up," referring to the boys gathering the rock fragments that had been thrown down to the floor of the shafts (καταβάλλουσιν εἰς ἔδαφος) in the preceding section (3.12.6).
  2. 3.13.2μύλων ἑξῆς πλειόνων ὄντων — A genitive absolute construction, explaining the accompanying circumstance or physical setting where many millstones are arranged in a row.
  3. 3.13.2οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἰδὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐλεήσειε — The construction οὐκ ἔστιν ὅς ("there is no one who") is combined with the double negative οὐκ ἂν ἐλεήσειε ("would not pity," potential optative with ἂν) to express a strong conviction ("there is no one who, upon seeing them, would not pity"). The participle ἰδών functions conditionally ("if one were to see").
  4. 3.13.3οὐ γὰρ τυγχάνει συγγνώμης ... οὐκ ἄρρωστος — The negative conjunction οὐ γάρ followed by individual negatives (οὐκ ἄρρωστος, οὐ πεπηρωμένος, etc.) serves to emphasize the negation rather than cancel it out. The verb τυγχάνει is in the third-person singular, agreeing individually with each of the listed subjects (which ends with the abstract noun γυναικὸς ἀσθένεια, "the weakness of a woman").

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §3.13.1-3.13.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc5:3.13.1-3.13.3

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