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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §20.101.1-20.101.5

Agathocles' Sacrilege and Roman Affairs

Passage 289 of 301 · Greek

Summary

This chunk describes how Agathocles plundered sacred treasures in Sicily and faced divine retribution through storm and fire, followed by the peace between Rome and the Samnites and Roman conquests in Italy.

§20.101.1ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν διευκρινηκότες μεταβιβάσομεν τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ θάτερα μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης.
Having detailed the affairs of Greece and Asia, we shall transfer our narrative to other parts of the inhabited world.
κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν Σικελίαν Ἀγαθοκλῆς, εἰρήνην ἀγόντων τῶν Λιπαραίων, ἐπιπλεύσας αὐτοῖς ἀπροσδοκήτως εἰσεπράξατο τοὺς μηδʼ ὁτιοῦν προαδικήσαντας ἀργυρίου τάλαντα πεντήκοντα.
In Sicily, while the Liparaeans were at peace, Agathocles sailed against them unexpectedly and exacted fifty talents of silver from those who had done him no prior wrong whatsoever.
§20.101.2ὅτε δὴ πολλοῖς ἔδοξε θεῖον εἶναι τὸ ῥηθησόμενον, τῆς παρανομίας τυχούσης ἐπισημασίας παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου.
And indeed at that time, what is about to be told seemed to many to be of divine intervention, since his lawlessness received a sign of warning from the deity.
ἀξιούντων γὰρ τῶν Λιπαραίων εἰς τὰ προσελλείποντα τῶν χρημάτων δοῦναι χρόνον καὶ λεγόντων μηδέποτε τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀναθήμασι κατακεχρῆσθαι, ὁ Ἀγαθοκλῆς βιασάμενος αὐτοὺς δοῦναι τὰ κατὰ τὸ πρυτανεῖον, ὧν εἶχον ἐπιγραφὴν τὰ μὲν Αἰόλου, τὰ δʼ Ἡφαίστου, λαβὼν παραχρῆμα ἐξέπλευσεν.
For although the Liparaeans begged him to grant time for the remainder of the money and declared that they had never misappropriated the sacred offerings, Agathocles forced them to give up the treasures in the prytaneum—some of which bore the inscription of Aeolus and others of Hephaestus—and, having taken them, sailed away immediately.
πνεύματος δʼ ἐπιγενομένου τῶν νεῶν ἕνδεκα συνετρίβησαν αἱ τὰ χρήματα κομίζουσαι.
But a storm coming on, eleven of the ships carrying the money were wrecked.
§20.101.3διόπερ ἔδοξε πολλοῖς ὁ μὲν λεγόμενος περὶ τοὺς τόπους ἐκείνους εἶναι κύριος τῶν ἀνέμων εὐθὺς κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον πλοῦν λαβεῖν παρʼ αὐτοῦ τιμωρίαν, ὁ δὲ Ἥφαιστος ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς, οἰκείως τῆς ἀσεβείας κολάσας τὸν τύραννον ἐν τῇ πατρίδι, συνωνύμως ἐπὶ θερμοῖς τοῖς ἄνθραξι κατακαύσας ζῶντα· τῆς γὰρ αὐτῆς προαιρέσεως ἦν καὶ δικαιοσύνης τὸ τῶν περὶ τὴν Αἴτνην σωζόντων τοὺς ἑαυτῶν γονεῖς ἀποσχέσθαι καὶ τὸ τοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας εἰς τὸ θεῖον διὰ τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως μετελθεῖν.
Therefore, it seemed to many that the one who is said to be the lord of the winds in those regions took vengeance on him immediately during his very first voyage, while Hephaestus, at the end of the tyrant's life, fittingly punished him for his impiety in his own native land, burning him alive on hot coals in a manner corresponding to his name; for it belonged to the same divine purpose and justice to spare those who saved their own parents around Etna and to pursue and punish those who committed impiety against the deity by means of his own power.
§20.101.4οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ μὲν τῆς καταστροφῆς Ἀγαθοκλέους, ὅταν πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους χρόνους ἔλθωμεν αὐτοῦ, τὸ γενόμενον βεβαιώσει τὸ νῦν εἰρημένον· ἐφεῆς δὲ ῥητέον ἡμῖν τὰ πραχθέντα κατὰ τοὺς συνεχεῖς τῆς Ἰταλίας τόπους.
Nevertheless, with regard to the destruction of Agathocles, when we come to his appropriate times, what occurred will confirm what has now been said; next, however, we must relate the events that took place in the contiguous regions of Italy.
§20.101.5Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν καὶ Σαμνῖται διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἰρήνην συνέθεντο, πολεμήσαντες ἔτη εἴκοσι δύο καὶ μῆνας ἕξ·
The Romans and the Samnites, after sending embassies to one another, concluded peace, having waged war for twenty-two years and six months.
τῶν δʼ ὑπάτων Πόπλιος Σεμπρώνιος μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν τῶν Αἰκλῶν χώραν ἐχειρώσατο τετταράκοντα πόλεις ἐν ἡμέραις ταῖς πάσαις πεντήκοντα, ἀναγκάσας δὲ πᾶν τὸ ἔθνος ὑποτάττεσθαι Ῥωμαίοις ἐπανῆλθε καὶ θρίαμβον κατήγαγεν ἐπαινούμενον.
Of the consuls, Publius Sempronius, having invaded the territory of the Aequi with an army, subdued forty cities in fifty days in all, and having forced the entire nation to submit to the Romans, returned and celebrated a praised triumph.
ὁ δὲ δῆμος ὁ Ῥωμαίων πρός τε Μαρσοὺς καὶ Παλιγνούς, ἔτι δὲ Μαρρουκίνους, συμμαχίαν ἐποιήσατο.
And the Roman people made an alliance with the Marsi and the Peligni, and furthermore with the Marrucini.

Notes

  1. §20.101.2τῆς παρανομίας τυχούσης ἐπισημασίας — Genitive absolute construction, acting virtually as a causal clause explaining why the following events seemed divine to many.
  2. §20.101.3τῆς γὰρ αὐτῆς προαιρέσεως ἦν καὶ δικαιοσύνης — A predicate genitive of characteristic or possession with the copula `ἦν`, meaning 'belonged to the same purpose and justice.' The subjects are the two following articular infinitives `τὸ ... ἀποσχέσθαι` and `τὸ ... μετελθεῖν`.
  3. §20.101.3τὸ τῶν περὶ τὴν Αἴτνην σωζόντων τοὺς ἑαυτῶν γονεῖς ἀποσχέσθαι — The infinitive `ἀποσχέσθαι` ('to hold off from' or 'to spare') takes the genitive `τῶν ... σωζόντων` as its object. It refers to the legendary miracle where the volcanic fire of Etna spared the youths who saved their parents.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §20.101.1-20.101.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc6:20.101.1-20.101.5

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