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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.57.1-1.57.4

Founding of the City and Parley with Latinus

Passage 57 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Aeneas consecrates the sow and her young to the gods and begins constructing his town. King Latinus marches to oppose the Trojans, but dreams advise both sides to avoid battle and meet for a conference.

§1.57.1Αἰνείας δὲ τῆς μὲν ὑὸς τὸν τόκον ἅμα τῇ γειναμένῃ τοῖς πατρῴοις ἁγίζει θεοῖς ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ τῷδʼ, οὗ νῦν ἐστιν ἡ καλιάς, καὶ αὐτὴν οἱ Λαουινιάται τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄβατον φυλάττοντες ἱερὰν νομίζουσι·
Aeneas consecrated the offspring of the sow, together with the mother that had brought them forth, to his ancestral gods in this very place, where the hut now stands, which the inhabitants of Lavinium keep sacred, forbidding others to enter it.
τοῖς δὲ Τρωσὶ μεταστρατοπεδεῦσαι κελεύσας ἐπὶ τὸν λόφον ἱδρύεται τὰ ἕδη τῶν θεῶν ἐν τῷ κρατίστῳ καὶ αὐτίκα περὶ τὴν κατασκευὴν τοῦ πολίσματος ἁπάσῃ προθυμίᾳ ὥρμητο ἐλάμβανέ τε καταθέων ἐκ τῶν πέριξ χωρίων ὁπόσα εἰς τὸν πολισμὸν αὐτῷ ἦν χρήσιμα καὶ μάλιστα ἔμελλε λυπηρὰ τοῖς ἀφαιρεθεῖσι φανήσεσθαι, σίδηρον καὶ ξύλα καὶ τὰς γεωργικὰς παρασκευάς.
Then, having ordered the Trojans to shift their camp to the hill, he established the shrines of the gods in the best position, and immediately applied himself with all diligence to the construction of the town. He also took by overrunning the surrounding territories whatever was useful to him for building the town, and what was likely to appear most grievous to those from whom it was taken—namely, iron, timber, and agricultural implements.
§1.57.2Λατίνῳ δὲ, ὃς ἦν τότε βασιλεύς, πολεμοῦντι πρὸς ἔθνος ὅμορον τοὺς καλουμένους Ῥοτόλους καὶ δυσημεροῦντι κατὰ τὰς μάχας ἀγγέλλεται τὰ γινόμενα ἐπὶ τὸ φοβερώτατον, ὡς ἀνάστατος αὐτοῦ γίνεται πᾶσα ἡ παράλιος ὑπερορίῳ στρατιᾷ, καὶ εἰ μὴ σὺν τάχει κωλύσει τὰ δρώμενα χρυσὸς αὐτῷ φανήσεται ὁ πρὸς τοὺς ἀστυγείτονας ἀγών.
To Latinus, who was then king and was at war with a neighboring nation called the Rutulians, and was experiencing bad fortune in the battles, the events were reported in the most terrifying manner: that his entire coastal region was being laid waste by a foreign army, and that unless he should quickly put a stop to these proceedings, his struggle against his neighbors would seem like gold to him.
ἀκούσαντι δὲ τῷ ἀνδρὶ δέος εἰσέρχεται καὶ αὐτίκα τοῦ παρόντος πολέμου μεθέμενος ἐπὶ τοὺς Τρῶας ἐλαύνει πολλῇ στρατιᾷ.
When the man heard this, fear entered into him, and immediately, suspending the present war, he marched against the Trojans with a large army.
§1.57.3ὁρῶν δὲ αὐτοὺς ὡπλισμένους τε ὡς Ἕλληνας καὶ ἐν τάξει εὐκόσμῳ ἀκαταπλήκτως τὸ δεινὸν ὑπομένοντας, τῆς μὲν αὐτίκα παρακινδυνεύσεως, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἐξ ἐφόδου αὐτοὺς ἔτι χειρωσάμενος, ἣν ἔσχε διάνοιαν οἴκοθεν ὁρμώμενος, ἀποτρέπεται·
But seeing them armed like Greeks and standing in orderly array, facing the danger without fear, he abandoned his immediate purpose of risking a battle, which he had formed when starting from home, since he thought he could no longer master them by a sudden assault.
στρατοπεδευσάμενος δʼ ἐπὶ λόφου τινὸς τὸ πρῶτον ἀναλαβεῖν ᾤετο δεῖν τὴν δύναμιν ἐκ τοῦ παρόντος κόπου, ὃς πολὺς ἐκ μακρᾶς ὁδοῦ καὶ συντόνου διώξεως αὐτοῖς ἐγένετο.
Having encamped on a certain hill, he thought he ought first to let his army recover from their present fatigue, which had been great for them owing to a long march and rapid pursuit.
§1.57.4αὐλισάμενος δὲ διὰ νυκτὸς αὐτόθι γνώμην ἐποιεῖτο ἀρχομένης ἕω συμφέρεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις.
Having quartered there during the night, he formed the resolution to engage the enemy at the break of dawn.
ἐγνωκότι δὲ αὐτῷ ταῦτα λέγει τις ἐπιστὰς καθʼ ὕπνον ἐπιχώριος δαίμων δέχεσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας τῇ χώρᾳ συνοίκους· ἥκειν γὰρ αὐτοὺς μέγα ὠφέλημα Λατίνῳ καὶ κοινὸν Ἀβοριγίνων ἀγαθόν·
While he was thus minded, a local deity, appearing to him in his sleep, told him to receive the Greeks into his land as co-dwellers; for their coming was a great benefit to Latinus and a common good for the Aborigines.
Αἰνείᾳ τε οἱ πατρῷοι θεοὶ τῆς αὐτῆς νυκτὸς φανέντες παρακελεύονται πείθειν Λατῖνον ἑκόντα παρασχεῖν σφίσι τὴν οἴκησιν ἐν ᾧ βούλονται χωρίῳ, καὶ χρήσασθαι δυνάμει Ἑλληνικῇ συμμάχῳ μᾶλλον ἢ διαφόρῳ·
To Aeneas, too, his ancestral gods appeared on the same night and exhorted him to persuade Latinus to grant them of his own free will a settlement in whatever place they wished, and to use the Greek force as an ally rather than an enemy.
ἀμφοτέρους δὲ τὸ ὄναρ ἐκώλυεν ἄρχειν μάχης.
The dream prevented both from beginning the battle.
ὡς δὲ ἡμέρα τε ἐγένετο, καὶ διεκοσμήθησαν εἰς μάχην αἱ δυνάμεις, κήρυκες ἧκον ὡς τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἑκατέρωθεν τὸ αὐτὸ ἀξιοῦντες, συνελθεῖν ἀλλήλοις εἰς λόγους· καὶ ἐγένετο τοῦτο.
When day came and the forces were drawn up for battle, heralds came to the leaders from both sides, requesting the same thing, namely, to meet each other for a conference; and this was done.

Notes

  1. 1.57.1τῆς μὲν ὑὸς τὸν τόκον ἅμα τῇ γειναμένῃ — The noun τὸν τόκον means 'the offspring' or 'the litter', which, combined with ἅμα τῇ γειναμένῃ ('together with the mother that bore them'), indicates that both the thirty piglets mentioned in the previous section and the mother sow were consecrated.
  2. 1.57.1καὶ αὐτὴν — The pronoun αὐτήν refers back to the feminine noun ἡ καλιάς ('the hut') in the relative clause. It indicates that the inhabitants kept the hut itself as a sacred object and forbade access to others.
  3. 1.57.2χρυσὸς αὐτῷ φανήσεται ὁ πρὸς τοὺς ἀστυγείτονας ἀγών — An ironic proverbial expression: 'the struggle against his neighbors would seem like gold to him'. It implies that, compared to the terrifying new threat of the Trojan invasion, his current difficult war against the neighboring Rutulians would seem extremely easy, minor, or even desirable.
  4. 1.57.3ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἐξ ἐφόδου αὐτοὺς ἔτι χειρωσάμενος — The construction of ὡς with ἂν and the participle (aorist active participle χειρωσάμενος) expresses a subjective expectation of potentiality or impossibility: 'thinking that he would no longer be able to master them by a sudden assault'.
  5. 1.57.4ἐγνωκότι δὲ αὐτῷ ταῦτα — The dative of the perfect participle ἐγνωκότι with the pronoun αὐτῷ functions as a dative of interest or reference ('when he had made this decision...'), setting the stage for the subsequent event of the dream's appearance.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.57.1-1.57.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.57.1-1.57.4

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