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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.45.1-1.45.4

From Aeneas' Arrival to the Foundation of Rome

Passage 45 of 962 · Greek

Summary

The passage outlines how the Trojans under Aeneas arrived at Laurentum, founded Lavinium, united with the Aborigines to form Alba, and eventually colonized Rome under Romulus, while the author states his intention to investigate the divergent accounts of Aeneas' arrival by comparing Greek and Roman histories.

§1.45.1κατὰ δὲ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον Τρῶες οἱ σὺν Αἰνείᾳ διαφυγόντες ἐξ Ἰλίου τῆς πόλεως ἁλούσης κατέσχον εἰς Λωρεντόν, αἰγιαλὸν Ἀβοριγίνων ἐπὶ τῷ Τυρρηνικῷ πελάγει κείμενον, οὐ πρόσω τῶν ἐκβολῶν τοῦ Τεβέριος·
At this time, the Trojans who had escaped with Aeneas from Ilium after the city was taken arrived at Laurentum, a coast of the Aborigines lying on the Tyrrhenian Sea, not far from the mouth of the Tiber.
λαβόντες δὲ παρὰ τῶν Ἀβοριγίνων χωρίον εἰς οἴκησιν καὶ ὅσα ἠξίουν, πολίζονται μικρὸν ἀποσχόντες ἀπὸ θαλάττης ἐπὶ λόφῳ τινὶ Λαουΐνιον ὄνομα τῇ πόλει θέμενοι.
Having received from the Aborigines a place for settlement and all they requested, they founded a small town a short distance from the sea on a certain hill, giving the name Lavinium to the city.
§1.45.2ὀλίγῳ δʼ ὕστερον χρόνῳ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἀλλάξαντες ὀνομασίαν ἅμα τοῖς Ἀβοριγῖσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς χώρας Λατῖνοι ὠνομάσθησαν· καὶ μεταναστάντες ἐκ τοῦ Λαουϊνίου κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων μείζονα περιβάλλονται πόλιν, ἣν Ἄλβαν ἐκάλεσαν, ἐξ ἧς ὁρμώμενοι πολλὰς μὲν καὶ ἄλλας πόλεις ἔκτισαν τῶν κληθέντων Πρίσκων Λατίνων, ἐξ ὧν αἱ πλεῖσται ἔτι καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ ἦσαν οἰκούμεναι, §1.45.3γενεαῖς δʼ ὕστερον ἑκκαίδεκα μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν ἐκπέμψαντες ἀποικίαν εἰς τὸ Παλλάντιόν τε καὶ τὴν Σατορνίαν, ἔνθα Πελοποννήσιοί τε καὶ Ἀρκάδες τὴν πρώτην οἴκησιν ἐποιήσαντο καὶ ἦν ἔτι ζώπυρʼ ἄττα περιλειπόμενα τοῦ παλαιοῦ γένους, οἰκίζουσι τοὺς τόπους περιλαβόντες τείχεσι τὸ Παλλάντιον, ὥστε λαβεῖν πόλεως σχῆμα τότε πρῶτον.
A short time later, having changed their ancient name, they were called Latins together with the Aborigines after the king of the country; and migrating from Lavinium together with the natives, they surrounded themselves with a larger city, which they called Alba, setting out from which they founded many other cities of those called the Prisci Latini, of which the majority were still inhabited even in my time, and sixteen generations after the taking of Ilium, having sent out a colony to Pallantium and Saturnia, where the Peloponnesians and Arcadians had made their first settlement and where some small embers of the ancient race were still left, they inhabited these places, surrounding Pallantium with walls so that it then first took the form of a city.
τίθενται δὲ τῷ κτίσματι Ῥώμην ὄνομα ἀπὸ τοῦ στείλαντος τὴν ἀποικίαν Ῥωμύλου, ὃς ἦν ἕβδομος καὶ §1.45.4δέκατος ἀπʼ Αἰνείου γεγονώς.
And they gave to the foundation the name Rome after Romulus, who sent out the colony, and who was the seventeenth descendant of Aeneas.
βούλομαι δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς Αἰνείου παρουσίας εἰς Ἰταλίαν, ἐπεὶ τῶν συγγραφέων τοῖς μὲν ἠγνόηται, τοῖς δὲ διαπεφώνηται ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος, μὴ παρέργως διελθεῖν τάς τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τὰς Ῥωμαίων τῶν μάλιστα πιστευομένων ἱστορίας παραβαλών.
I wish also to treat not superficially of the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, since among historians the account concerning him is ignored by some and disagreed upon by others, comparing the histories of the Greeks and Romans who are most trusted.
ἔχει δὲ τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ λεγόμενα ὧδε.
What is said about him is as follows.

Notes

  1. 1.45.1Ἰλίου τῆς πόλεως ἁλούσης — Genitive absolute expressing time ("after the city of Ilium had been taken"), where the nouns `Ἰλίου` and `τῆς πόλεως` are in apposition.
  2. 1.45.2τῶν κληθέντων Πρίσκων Λατίνων — Partitive genitive or genitive of possession modifying `πόλεις`. The phrase functions like a relative clause: "(of the cities) which were called the Prisci Latini."
  3. 1.45.3ἦν ἔτι ζώπυρʼ ἄττα περιλειπόμενα — Since the subject `ζώπυρα` (embers) is a neuter plural noun, the verb `ἦν` (third-person singular) follows the standard Greek rule of neuter plural subjects taking singular verbs. `ἄττα` is the Attic dialectal form of `τινά` (some, certain).
  4. 1.45.4τῶν συγγραφέων τοῖς μὲν ἠγνόηται, τοῖς δὲ διαπεφώνηται — The dative pronouns `τοῖς μὲν... τοῖς δὲ` function as the dative of agent with the perfect passive verbs `ἠγνόηται` and `διαπεφώνηται`, restricted by the partitive genitive `τῶν συγγραφέων` ("by some of the historians... by others").

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.45.1-1.45.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.45.1-1.45.4

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