§1.79.1μέχρι μὲν δὴ τούτων οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν συγγραφέων τὰ αὐτὰ ἢ μικρὸν παραλλάττοντες οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ μυθωδέστερον, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἐοικὸς μᾶλλον ἀποφαίνουσι, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἑξῆς διαφέρονται.
Up to this point, most of the historians deliver the same accounts, varying slightly, some leaning towards the more mythical and others towards what is more like the truth, but they disagree concerning the subsequent events.
§1.79.2οἱ μὲν γὰρ εὐθὺς ἀναιρεθῆναι λέγουσι τὴν κόρην, οἱ δʼ ἐν εἱρκτῇ φυλαττομένην ἀδήλῳ διατελέσαι δόξαν τῷ δήμῳ παρασχοῦσαν ἀφανοῦς θανάτου.
For some say that the girl was immediately put to death, while others say that she spent her life kept in an undisclosed prison, giving the people the impression of an invisible death.
ἐπικλασθῆναι δὲ Ἀμόλιον εἰς τοῦτο ἱκετευούσης τῆς θυγατρὸς χαρίσασθαι τὴν ἀνεψιὰν αὐτῇ· ἦσαν δὲ σύντροφοί τε καὶ ἡλικίαν ἔχουσαι τὴν αὐτὴν ἀσπαζόμεναί τε ἀλλήλας ὡς ἀδελφάς.
But they say Amulius was moved to pity in this matter by the entreaties of his daughter, who begged him to grant her cousin's life to her; and they had been brought up together, being of the same age and loving each other like sisters.
χαριζόμενον οὖν ταύτῃ Ἀμόλιον, μόνη δʼ ἦν αὐτῷ θυγάτηρ, θανάτου μὲν ἀπολῦσαι τὴν Ἰλίαν, φυλάττειν δὲ καθείρξαντα ἐν ἀφανεῖ· λυθῆναι δὲ αὐτὴν ἀνὰ χρόνον Ἀμολίου τελευτήσαντος.
Amulius therefore, gratifying her (and she was his only daughter), released Ilia from death, but kept her shut up in an undisclosed place under guard; and she was set free in course of time when Amulius died.
§1.79.3περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἰλίας οὕτω διαλλάττουσιν αἱ τῶν παλαιῶν γραφαί, λόγον δʼ ἔχουσιν ὡς ἀληθεῖς ἑκάτεραι.
Thus the writings of the ancients differ concerning Ilia, but both accounts have a plausible reason.
διὰ τοῦτο κἀγὼ μνήμην ἀμφοτέρων ἐποιησάμην, ὁποτέρᾳ δὲ χρὴ πιστεύειν αὐτός τις εἴσεται τῶν ἀναγνωσομένων.
For this reason I too have made mention of both, and each of the readers will know for himself which one he ought to believe.
§1.79.4περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἰλίας γενομένων Κόιντος μὲν Φάβιος ὁ Πίκτωρ λεγόμενος, ᾧ Λεύκιός τε Κίγκιος καὶ Κάτων Πόρκιος καὶ Πείσων Καλπούρνιος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων συγγραφέων οἱ πλείους ἠκολούθησαν, γέγραφε· ὡς κελεύσαντος Ἀμολίου τὰ βρέφη λαβόντες ἐν σκάφῃ κείμενα τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τινες ἔφερον ἐμβαλοῦντες εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν ἀπέχοντα τῆς πόλεως ἀμφὶ τοὺς ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι σταδίους.
Concerning the children born of Ilia, Quintus Fabius, called Pictor, whom Lucius Cincius, Porcius Cato, Calpurnius Piso, and most of the other historians followed, has written: that when Amulius ordered it, some of the servants took the infants lying in a trough and carried them to cast them into the river, which was about one hundred and twenty stades away from the city.
§1.79.5ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐγγὺς ἐγένοντο καὶ εἶδον ἔξω τοῦ γνησίου ῥείθρου τὸν Τέβεριν ὑπὸ χειμώνων συνεχῶν ἐκτετραμμένον εἰς τὰ πεδία, καταβάντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Παλλαντίου τῆς κορυφῆς ἐπὶ τὸ προσεχέστατον ὕδωρ, (οὐ γὰρ ἔτι προσωτέρω χωρεῖν οἷοίτε ἦσαν) ἔνθα πρῶτον ἡ τοῦ ποταμοῦ πλήμη τῆς ὑπωρείας ἥπτετο, τίθενται τὴν σκάφην ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος.
And when they came near and saw the Tiber, swollen by continuous storms, diverted out of its natural bed into the plains, they went down from the summit of the Palatine to the nearest water (for they were no longer able to go further), and placed the trough upon the water where the flood of the river first touched the foot of the hill.
ἡ δὲ μέχρι μέν τινος ἐνήχετο, ἔπειτα τοῦ ῥείθρου κατὰ μικρὸν ὑποχωροῦντος ἐκ τῶν περὶ ἔσχατα λίθου προσπταίσει περιτραπεῖσα ἐκβάλλει τὰ βρέφη.
It floated for some time, but then, as the stream gradually receded, it struck against a stone near the edge and, having been overturned, threw out the infants.
§1.79.6τὰ μὲν δὴ κνυζούμενα κατὰ τοῦ τέλματος ἐκυλινδεῖτο, λύκαινα δέ τις ἐπιφανεῖσα νεοτόκος σπαργῶσα τοὺς μαστοὺς ὑπὸ γάλακτος ἀνεδίδου τὰς θηλὰς τοῖς στόμασιν αὐτῶν καὶ τῇ γλώττῃ τὸν πηλόν, ᾧ κατάπλεοι ἦσαν, ἀπελίχμα.
While they were rolling on the mud whimpering, a she-wolf that had recently given birth and was distended with milk appeared and offered her teats to their mouths, and licked off with her tongue the mud with which they were covered.
ἐν δὲ τούτῳ τυγχάνουσιν οἱ νομεῖς ἐξελαύνοντες τὰς ἀγέλας ἐπὶ νομήν ʽἤδη γὰρ ἐμβατὸν ἦν τὸ χωρίονʼ καί τις αὐτῶν ἰδὼν τὴν λύκαιναν ὡς ἠσπάζετο τὰ βρέφη τέως μὲν ἀχανὴς ἦν ὑπό τε θάμβους καὶ ἀπιστίας τῶν θεωρουμένων· ἔπειτʼ ἀπελθὼν καὶ συλλέξας ὅσους ἐδύνατο πλείστους τῶν ἀγχοῦ νεμόντων (οὐ γὰρ ἐπιστεύετο λέγων) ἄγει τοὖργον αὐτὸ θεασομένους.
At this moment the shepherds happened to be driving out their herds to pasture (for the place was now accessible), and one of them, seeing the wolf comforting the infants, was for a time agape with amazement and disbelief at what he saw; then, going away and gathering as many as possible of those feeding nearby (for he was not believed when he spoke), he brought them to witness the sight itself.
§1.79.7ὡς δὲ κἀκεῖνοι πλησίον ἐλθόντες ἔμαθον τὴν μὲν ὥσπερ τέκνα περιέπουσαν, τὰ δʼ ὡς μητρὸς ἐξεχόμενα, δαιμόνιόν τι χρῆμα ὁρᾶν ὑπολαβόντες ἐγγυτέρω προσῄεσαν ἀθρόοι δεδιττόμενοι βοῇ τὸ θηρίον.
When they too had come near and saw her tending them like her own offspring and them clinging to her as to a mother, they supposed they were seeing a divine event and approached closer in a body, frightening the beast with a shout.
ἡ δὲ λύκαινα οὐ μάλα ἀγριαίνουσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῇ προσόδῳ, ἀλλʼ ὡσπερὰν χειροήθης ἀποστᾶσα τῶν βρεφῶν ἠρέμα καὶ κατὰ πολλὴν ἀλογίαν τοῦ ποιμενικοῦ ὁμίλου ἀπῄει.
But the wolf, not being very wild at the approach of the men, but as if tame, withdrew quietly from the infants and went away with total disregard for the crowd of shepherds.
§1.79.8καὶ ἦν γάρ τις οὐ πολὺ ἀπέχων ἐκεῖθεν ἱερὸς χῶρος ὕλῃ βαθείᾳ συνηρεφὴς καὶ πέτρα κοίλη πηγὰς ἀνιεῖσα, ἐλέγετο δὲ Πανὸς εἶναι τὸ νάπος, καὶ βωμὸς ἦν αὐτόθι τοῦ θεοῦ·
And indeed there was not far from there a sacred place overshadowed by a deep wood and a hollow rock emitting springs; and the glen was said to belong to Pan, and there was an altar of the god there.
εἰς τοῦτο τὸ χωρίον ἐλθοῦσα ἀποκρύπτεται.
Having come to this place, she hid herself.
τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄλσος οὐκέτι διαμένει, τὸ δὲ ἄντρον, ἐξ οὗ ἡ λιβὰς ἐκδίδοται, τῷ Παλλαντίῳ προσῳκοδομημένον δείκνυται κατὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν ἱππόδρομον φέρουσαν ὁδόν, καὶ τέμενός ἐστιν αὐτοῦ πλησίον, ἔνθα εἰκὼν κεῖται τοῦ πάθους λύκαινα παιδίοις δυσὶ τοὺς μαστοὺς ἐπίσχουσα, χαλκᾶ ποιήματα παλαιᾶς ἐργασίας.
Now the grove no longer remains, but the cave from which the spring flows is shown, built into the Palatine on the road leading to the hippodrome, and there is a sacred precinct of it nearby, where a representation of the event is placed, a she-wolf offering her teats to two infants, bronze works of ancient craftsmanship.
ἦν δὲ τὸ χωρίον τῶν σὺν Εὐάνδρῳ ποτὲ οἰκισάντων αὐτὸ Ἀρκάδων ἱερὸν ὡς λέγεται.
And the place was, as it is said, a sanctuary of the Arcadians who once settled there with Evander.