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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.19.1-1.19.3

The Sacred Lake of Cotylia and the Oracle of Dodona

Passage 19 of 962 · Greek

Summary

The Pelasgians cross the mountains into the land of the Umbrians, and, pursued by enemies, retreat to the sacred lake near Cotylia in the territory of the Aborigines. There, observing a floating island, they realize the fulfillment of the oracle given at Dodona, which is then quoted.

§1.19.1οἱ δὲ διὰ τῆς μεσογείου τραπόμενοι, τὴν ὀρεινὴν τῆς Ἰταλίας ὑπερβαλόντες, εἰς τὴν Ὀμβρικῶν ἀφικνοῦνται χώραν τῶν ὁμορούντων Ἀβοριγῖσι.
But those who turned through the inland country, having crossed the mountainous region of Italy, arrived in the country of the Umbrians, who border on the Aborigines.
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα χωρία τῆς Ἰταλίας ᾤκουν Ὀμβρικοί, καὶ ἦν τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος ἐν τοῖς πάνυ μέγα τε καὶ ἀρχαῖον.
The Umbrians also inhabited many other places of Italy, and this nation was especially great and ancient.
τὸ μὲν οὖν κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἐκράτουν οἱ Πελασγοὶ τῶν χωρίων ἔνθα τὸ πρῶτον ἱδρύσαντο καὶ πολισμάτια τῶν Ὀμβρικῶν κατελάβοντό τινα· συνελθόντος δʼ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς μεγάλου στρατοῦ δείσαντες τῶν πολεμίων τὸ πλῆθος εἰς τὴν Ἀβοριγίνων ἀπιόντες τρέπονται.
At first, then, the Pelasgians ruled over the places where they first settled and seized some small towns of the Umbrians; but when a great army gathered against them, fearing the multitude of the enemy, they turned away and departed into the territory of the Aborigines.
§1.19.2καὶ οἱ μὲν Ἀβοριγῖνες ἅτε πολεμίοις ἐδικαίουν αὐτοῖς προσφέρεσθαι καὶ συνῄεσαν ἐκ τῶν ἔγγιστα χωρίων διὰ τάχους ὡς ἐξαναστήσοντες αὐτούς.
And the Aborigines indeed deemed it right to treat them as enemies, and assembled quickly from the nearest districts in order to expel them.
οἱ δὲ Πελασγοί ʽτυγχάνουσι γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ κατὰ δαίμονα περὶ Κοτυλίαν πόλιν Ἀβοριγίνων αὐλισάμενοι πλησίον τῆς ἱερᾶς λίμνησʼ ὡς δὲ τήν τε νησῖδα τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ περιδινουμένην κατέμαθον καὶ παρὰ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων, οὓς ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν ἔλαβον, ἤκουσαν τὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ὄνομα τέλος ἔχειν σφίσι τὸ θεοπρόπιον ὑπέλαβον.
But the Pelasgians (for they happened at this time by divine chance to have encamped near Cotylia, a city of the Aborigines, close to the sacred lake), when they observed the little island floating around in it and heard from the captives whom they had taken from the fields the name of the inhabitants, supposed that their oracle was fulfilled.
§1.19.3ὁ γὰρ ἐν Δωδώνῃ γενόμενος αὐτοῖς χρησμός, ὅν φησι Λεύκιος Μάλλιος ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἄσημος αὐτὸς ἰδεῖν ἐπί τινος τῶν ἐν τῷ τεμένει τοῦ Διὸς κειμένων τριπόδων γράμμασιν ἀρχαίοις ἐγκεχαραγμένον, ὡδὶ εἶχε· "στείχετε μαιόμενοι Σικελῶν Σατόρνιον αἶαν ἠδʼ Ἀβοριγινέων Κοτύλην, οὗ νᾶσος ὀχεῖται· οἷς ἀναμιχθέντες δεκάτην ἐκπέμψατε Φοίβῳ καὶ κεφαλὰς Κρονίδῃ καὶ τῷ πατρὶ πέμπετε φῶτα. "
For the oracle given to them at Dodona (which Lucius Mallius, a man of no small note, says he himself saw engraved in ancient letters upon one of the tripods standing in the precinct of Zeus) was as follows: "Go in search of the Saturnian land of the Sicels, and Cotyle of the Aborigines, where an island floats; and having mingled with them, send a tithe to Phoebus, and send heads to the son of Cronus, and human lives to the father."

Notes

  1. §1.19.1ἐν τοῖς πάνυ — An idiomatic expression meaning "especially" or "extremely." It originally represents "among those who are very..." with a superlative adjective omitted, functioning as an intensive adverbial phrase.
  2. §1.19.2τυγχάνουσι ... αὐλισάμενοι — The verb τυγχάνω constructed with the participle αὐλισάμενοι forms a periphrastic syntax expressing a coincidental action: "they happened to have encamped."
  3. §1.19.3φῶτα — This word carries a famous ambiguity between the accusative plural of φώς ("man" or "human life") and that of the neuter noun φῶς ("light"). The Pelasgians originally interpreted it as requiring human sacrifice, but Hercules later reinterpreted it as "lights" (candles), which supposedly gave rise to the Roman custom of offering candles during the Saturnalia.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.19.1-1.19.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.19.1-1.19.3

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