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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.47.1-1.47.6

Treaty with the Achaeans and Departure of Aeneas

Passage 47 of 962 · Greek

Summary

The Trojan survivors gather in Mount Ida, where the Achaeans offer a peace treaty requiring their departure. Aeneas sends his eldest son Ascanius to Dascylitis and departs with his remaining family and sacred items to the Pallene peninsula.

§1.47.1ἐν δὲ τούτῳ κατὰ κράτος εἰλήφεσαν Ἀχαιοὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ περὶ τὰς ἁρπαγὰς ἐσπουδακότες πολλὴν ἄδειαν σώζεσθαι τοῖς φεύγουσι παρῆκαν.
Meanwhile, the Achaeans had taken the city by storm, and having busied themselves about the pillaging, they allowed great safety for those who fled to save themselves.
οἱ δὲ ἀμφὶ τὸν Αἰνείαν ἔτι καθʼ ὁδὸν εὑρόντες τοὺς σφετέρους καὶ καθʼ ἓν ἅπαντες γενόμενοι τὰ ὀχυρώτατα καταλαμβάνονται τῆς Ἴδης.
But Aeneas and his followers, having found their own people still on the road, and having all united into one body, occupied the strongest parts of Mount Ida.
§1.47.2ἦλθον δʼ ὡς αὐτοὺς οἵ τʼ ἐν Δαρδάνῳ τότε οἰκοῦντες, ὡς εἶδον φλόγα πολλὴν παρὰ τὰ εἰωθότα φερομένην ἐξ Ἰλίου, νύκτωρ καταλιπόντες τὴν πόλιν ἔρημον, χωρὶς ἢ ὅσοι σὺν Ἐλύμῳ καὶ Αἰγέστῳ ναυτικόν τι συνεσκευασμένοι ἔτυχον προεξεληλυθότες τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἐξ Ὀφρυνίου πόλεως ὁ δῆμος ἅπας καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων Τρωικῶν πόλεων τῆς ἐλευθερίας οἱ περιεχόμενοι· δύναμίς τε αὕτη διʼ ἐλαχίστου χρόνου μεγίστη τῶν Τρωικῶν ἐγένετο.
And there came to them also those who were then dwelling in Dardanus, who, when they saw a great flame being carried up from Ilium contrary to custom, left their city empty by night—except for those who happened to have departed beforehand from the city with Elymus and Aegestus, having prepared a certain naval force—and also the entire populace from the city of Ophrynium, and those from the other Trojan cities who clung to their freedom; and this force in a very short time became the greatest of the Trojan forces.
§1.47.3οἱ μὲν οὖν σὺν Αἰνείᾳ διασωθέντες ἐκ τῆς καταλήψεως ἐν τούτοις ὑπομένοντες τοῖς χωρίοις οὐ διὰ μακροῦ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ σφέτερα κατελεύσεσθαι ἤλπιζον τῶν πολεμίων ἀποπλευσάντων, Ἀχαιοὶ δὲ ἀνδραποδισάμενοι τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ σύνεγγυς χωρία καὶ φρούρια δῃώσαντες παρεσκευάζοντο μὲν ὡς καὶ
Now those who had been saved with Aeneas from the capture, remaining in these places, hoped that before long they would return again to their own lands after the enemy had sailed away; but the Achaeans, having enslaved the city and ravaged the nearby places and strongholds, were preparing also to subdue those in the mountains.
§1.47.4τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι χειρωσόμενοι. πεμψάντων δὲ κήρυκας αὐτῶν περὶ διαλύσεων καὶ δεομένων μὴ σφᾶς εἰς ἀνάγκην καταστῆσαι πολέμου, συνελθόντες εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἐπὶ τοῖς2δε ποιοῦνται πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὰς διαλύσεις· Αἰνείαν μὲν καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ χρήματα φέροντας ὅσα διεσώσαντο κατὰ τὴν φυγὴν ἐν ὡρισμένοις τισὶ χρόνοις ἐκ τῆς Τρωάδος ἀπελθεῖν, παραδόντας Ἀχαιοῖς τὰ φρούρια· Ἀχαιοὺς δὲ παρασχεῖν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἐξ ἁπάσης ὅσης ἐκράτουν γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἀπιοῦσι κατὰ τὰς ὁμολογίας.
But when they sent heralds concerning a treaty and begged them not to reduce them to the necessity of war, they came together into an assembly and made a treaty with them on these conditions: that Aeneas and those with him, carrying away all the wealth they had saved during their flight, should depart from the Troad within certain specified times, delivering up the strongholds to the Achaeans; and that the Achaeans should provide them with safety from all the land and sea that they controlled as they departed according to the agreements.
§1.47.5δεξάμενος δὲ ταῦτα Αἰνείας καὶ νομίσας ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων κράτιστα εἶναι Ἀσκάνιον μὲν τὸν πρεσβύτατον τῶν παίδων ἔχοντα τοῦ συμμαχικοῦ τινα μοῖραν, ἧς Φρύγιον ἦν τὸ πλεῖστον, εἰς τὴν Δασκυλῖτιν καλουμένην γῆν, ἔνθα ἐστὶν ἡ Ἀσκανία λίμνη, μετάπεμπτον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων γενόμενον ἐπὶ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ ἔθνους ἀποπέμπει· καὶ ᾤκησεν Ἀσκάνιος αὐτόθι χρόνον τινὰ οὐ πολύν.
Aeneas, having accepted these terms and considering them to be the best under the circumstances, sent Ascanius, the eldest of his children, with a certain portion of the allied force, of which the greater part was Phrygian, to the land called Dascylitis, where the Ascanian lake is, he having been sent for by the inhabitants to be king of the nation; and Ascanius dwelt there for a short time.
ἐλθόντων δὲ ὡς αὐτὸν Σκαμανδρίου τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑκτοριδῶν ἀφειμένων ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὑπὸ Νεοπτολέμου, κατάγων αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν πατρῴαν ἀρχὴν εἰς Τροίαν ἀφικνεῖται.
But when Scamandrius and the other sons of Hector, who had been released from Greece by Neoptolemus, came to him, he returned to Troy, restoring them to their ancestral dominion.
§1.47.6καὶ περὶ μὲν Ἀσκανίου τοσαῦτα λέγεται· τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους παῖδας Αἰνείας παραλαβὼν καὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὰ ἕδη τῶν θεῶν, ἐπειδὴ παρεσκευάσθη τὸ ναυτικὸν αὐτῷ, διαπλεῖ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἐπὶ τῆς ἔγγιστα κειμένης χερρονήσου τὸν πλοῦν ποιούμενος, ἣ πρόκειται μὲν τῆς Εὐρώπης, καλεῖται δὲ Παλλήνη.
And concerning Ascanius, indeed, so much is said; but Aeneas, taking the other children, his father, and the statues of the gods, when his fleet was prepared, sailed across the Hellespont, making his voyage to the nearest peninsula, which lies in front of Europe and is called Pallene.
ἔθνος δʼ εἶχεν αὐτὴν Θρᾴκιον σύμμαχον Κρουσαῖον καλούμενον ἁπάντων προθυμότατον τῶν συναραμένων αὐτοῖς τοῦ πολέμου.
A Thracian allied nation inhabited it, called the Crusaioi, who were the most zealous of all those who had assisted them in the war.

Notes

  1. 1.47.1σώζεσθαι — The infinitive `σώζεσθαι` (present middle) modifies the noun `ἄδειαν` (safety, liberty, opportunity), expressing the purpose or result 'to save themselves' or 'for saving themselves'.
  2. 1.47.2τῆς ἐλευθερίας — The genitive `τῆς ἐλευθερίας` is governed by the middle participle `περιεχόμενοι` (from `περιέχομαι`, meaning 'to cling to' or 'to hold fast to').
  3. 1.47.4ἐπὶ τοῖσδε — An idiomatic prepositional phrase meaning 'on the following conditions', which introduces the specific terms of the treaty expressed by the subsequent accusative-with-infinitive clauses (`Αἰνείαν ... ἀπελθεῖν` and `Ἀχαιοὺς δὲ παρασχεῖν`).
  4. 1.47.5ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων — Literally 'from those things that are possible/available'. This is an idiomatic expression meaning 'under the circumstances' or 'as the best of the available options'.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.47.1-1.47.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.47.1-1.47.6

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