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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.31.1-1.31.4

Arrival of Evander and Founding of Pallantium

Passage 31 of 962 · Greek

Summary

A new Arcadian expedition led by Evander arrives in Italy, receives land from King Faunus, and establishes the village of Pallantium (later Palatium). Evander's prophetic mother, Carmenta, is also introduced.

§1.31.1μετὰ δὲ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον στόλος ἄλλος Ἑλληνικὸς εἰς ταῦτα τὰ χωρία τῆς Ἰταλίας κατάγεται, ἑξηκοστῷ μάλιστα ἔτει πρότερον τῶν Τρωικῶν, ὡς αὐτοὶ Ῥωμαῖοι λέγουσιν, ἐκ Παλλαντίου πόλεως Ἀρκαδικῆς ἀναστάς.
Not long afterwards, another Greek expedition landed in these parts of Italy, about sixty years before the Trojan war, as the Romans themselves say, having set out from the Arcadian city of Pallantium.
ἡγεῖτο δὲ τῆς ἀποικίας Εὔανδρος Ἑρμοῦ λεγόμενος καὶ νύμφης τινὸς Ἀρκάσιν ἐπιχωρίας, ἣν οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες Θέμιν εἶναι λέγουσι καὶ θεοφόρητον ἀποφαίνουσιν, οἱ δὲ τὰς Ῥωμαϊκὰς συγγράψαντες ἀρχαιολογίας τῇ πατρίῳ γλώσσῃ Καρμέντην ὀνομάζουσιν·
And the colony was led by Evander, said to be the son of Hermes and of a certain nymph local to the Arcadians, whom the Greeks say is Themis and declare to be inspired by a god, but those who wrote the Roman antiquities call her Carmenta in their native tongue.
εἴη δʼ ἂν Ἑλλάδι φωνῇ Θεσπιῳδὸς τῇ νύμφῃ τοὔνομα· τὰς μὲν γὰρ ᾠδὰς καλοῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι κάρμινα, τὴν δὲ γυναῖκα ταύτην ὁμολογοῦσι δαιμονίῳ πνεύματι κατάσχετον γενομένην τὰ μέλλοντα συμβαίνειν τῷ πλήθει διʼ ᾠδῆς προλέγειν.
In the Greek tongue, the name of the nymph would be Thespiodos; for the Romans call songs "carmina", and they agree that this woman, having become possessed by a divine spirit, foretold the future events to the multitude through song.
§1.31.2ὁ δὲ στόλος οὗτος οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῆς γνώμης ἐπέμφθη, ἀλλὰ στασιάσαντος τοῦ δήμου τὸ ἐλαττωθὲν μέρος ἑκούσιον ὑπεξῆλθεν.
And this expedition was not sent by a public decision, but when the people fell into faction, the defeated part went into voluntary exile.
ἐτύγχανε δὲ τότε τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν Ἀβοριγίνων παρειληφὼς Φαῦνος, Ἄρεος ὥς φασιν ἀπόγονος, ἀνὴρ μετὰ τοῦ δραστηρίου καὶ συνετὸς, καὶ αὐτὸν ὡς τῶν ἐπιχωρίων τινὰ Ῥωμαῖοι δαιμόνων θυσίαις καὶ ᾠδαῖς γεραίρουσιν.
At that time, Faunus, said to be a descendant of Ares, happened to have succeeded to the kingdom of the Aborigines; he was a man wise as well as active, and the Romans honor him as one of their local divinities with sacrifices and songs.
οὗτος ὁ ἀνὴρ δεξάμενος κατὰ πολλὴν φιλότητα τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ὀλίγους ὄντας, δίδωσιν αὐτοῖς τῆς αὑτοῦ χώρας ὁπόσην ἐβούλοντο.
This man, having received the Arcadians, who were few, with great friendliness, gave them as much of his own land as they wished.
§1.31.3οἱ δὲ Ἀρκάδες, ὡς ἡ Θέμις αὐτοῖς ἐπιθειάζουσα ἔφραζεν, αἱροῦνται λόφον ὀλίγον ἀπέχοντα τοῦ Τεβέριος, ὅς ἐστι νῦν ἐν μέσῳ μάλιστα τῆς Ῥωμαίων πόλεως, καὶ κατασκευάζονται πρὸς αὐτῷ κώμην βραχεῖαν, δυσὶ ναυτικοῖς πληρώμασιν ἐν οἷς ἀπανέστησαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀποχρῶσαν, ἣν ἔμελλε τὸ πεπρωμένον σὺν χρόνῳ θήσειν ὅσην οὔθʼ Ἑλλάδα πόλιν οὔτε βάρβαρον κατά τε οἰκήσεως μέγεθος καὶ κατὰ δυναστείας ἀξίωσιν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἅπασαν εὐτυχίαν, χρόνον τε ὁπόσον ἂν ὁ θνητος αἰὼν ἀντέχῃ §1.31.4πόλεων μάλιστα πασῶν μνημονευθησομένην.
And the Arcadians, as Themis inspired by a god pointed out to them, chose a hill at a short distance from the Tiber, which is now especially in the middle of the city of the Romans, and constructed near it a small village, sufficient for the two ship crews in which they had departed from Greece, which fate was destined in time to make so great as no city, whether Greek or barbarian, [could equal], both in the size of its habitation, the dignity of its empire, and all other prosperity, and for as long a time as mortal age may endure, to be remembered most of all cities.
ὄνομα δὲ τῷ πολίσματι τούτῳ τίθενται Παλλάντιον ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ σφῶν μητροπόλεως· νῦν μέντοι Παλάτιον ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων λέγεται συγχέαντος τοῦ χρόνου τὴν ἀκρίβειαν καὶ παρέχει πολλοῖς ἀτόπων ἐτυμολογιῶν ἀφορμάς·
And they gave to this small town the name Pallantium, after their mother city in Arcadia; now, however, it is called Palatium by the Romans, time having confounded the accuracy, and it affords to many the occasion for absurd etymologies.

Notes

  1. 1.31.1εἴη δʼ ἂν ... τοὔνομα — The optative εἴη with the particle ἄν expresses potentiality in the present or future ("would be"). The dative τῇ νύμφῃ is a dative of possession ("the name for the nymph would be...").
  2. 1.31.3ἣν ἔμελλε τὸ πεπρωμένον σὺν χρόνῳ θήσειν ... μνημονευθησομένην — This is a relative clause modifying the antecedent κώμην ("small village"). The infinitive θήσειν ("to make") functions as the complement of ἔμελλε ("was destined to"), and the future passive participle μνημονευθησομένην ("to be remembered") agrees with the relative pronoun ἣν as an object complement, forming the structure: "which fate was destined in time to make... to be remembered most of all cities."
  3. 1.31.4συγχέαντος τοῦ χρόνου — This is a genitive absolute construction with the noun τοῦ χρόνου ("time") as its subject and the aorist active participle συγχέαντος, expressing cause ("since time has confounded the accuracy").

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.31.1-1.31.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.31.1-1.31.4

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