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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §10.25.1-10.25.4

Triumph of Cincinnatus and Resignation from Office

Passage 765 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Quinctius celebrated a splendid triumph and, refusing wealth and gifts offered by the senate and his friends, resigned from the dictatorship after only sixteen days to return to his farm. Meanwhile, the other consul Nautius returned home after defeating the Sabines.

§10.25.1παραλαβὼν δὲ ὁ Κοίντιος τὴν πόλιν τὰ μὲν ἐπιφανέστατα τῶν λαφύρων εἰς Ῥώμην ἐκέλευσε φέρειν, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα πάντα διελέσθαι κατὰ λόχους ἐπέτρεψε τοῖς τε σὺν αὐτῷ παραγενομένοις στρατιώταις καὶ τοῖς ἅμα Κοιντίῳ τῷ ταμίᾳ προαποσταλεῖσι.
Quinctius, having received the city, ordered the most conspicuous of the spoils to be carried to Rome, and permitted all the rest to be distributed by companies both to the soldiers who had arrived with him and to those who had been sent in advance with the quaestor Quinctius.
τοῖς δὲ μετὰ Μηνυκίου τοῦ ὑπάτου κατακλεισθεῖσιν ἐν τῷ χάρακι μεγάλην ἔφη δεδωκέναι δωρεὰν τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν ἐκ θανάτου ῥυσάμενος.
But to those who had been shut up in the stockade with the consul Minucius, he said that he had given a great gift in rescuing their persons from death.
§10.25.2ταῦτα πράξας καὶ τὸν Μηνύκιον ἀποθέσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀναγκάσας ἀνέστρεψεν εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην καὶ κατήγαγε λαμπρότατον ἁπάντων ἡγεμόνων θρίαμβον, ἐν ἡμέραις ἑκκαίδεκα ταῖς πάσαις, ἀφʼ ἧς παρέλαβε τὴν ἀρχήν, στρατόπεδόν τε σώσας φίλιον καὶ πολεμίων δύναμιν ἀκμάζουσαν καθελὼν πόλιν τε αὐτῶν πορθήσας καὶ φρουρὰν αὐτῆς ὑπολιπὼν τόν τε ἡγεμόνα τοῦ πολέμου καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐπιφανεῖς ἄνδρας ἁλύσει δεδεμένους ἀγαγών.
Having done these things and having forced Minucius to lay down his office, he returned to Rome and celebrated the most splendid triumph of all generals, in sixteen days in all from the day he received the office, having saved a friendly camp, destroyed a flourishing force of the enemy, plundered their city and left a garrison in it, and led away the leader of the war and the other eminent men bound in chains.
§10.25.3καὶ ὃ μάλιστα πάντων αὐτοῦ θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, ὅτι τὴν τοσαύτην ἀρχὴν εἰς ἑξάμηνον εἰληφὼς οὐκ ἐχρήσατο παντὶ τῷ νόμῳ, ἀλλὰ συναγαγὼν τὸν δῆμον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καὶ περὶ τῶν πεπραγμένων λόγον ἀποδοὺς ἐξωμόσατο τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς τε βουλῆς δεομένης γῆν τε ὅσην ἐβούλετο λαβεῖν ἐκ τῆς δορικτήτου καὶ ἀνδράποδα καὶ χρήματα ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων ἐπανορθῶσαι τὴν πενίαν πλούτῳ δικαίῳ, ὃν ἀπὸ πολεμίων κάλλιστον ἐκτήσατο τοῖς ἰδίοις πόνοις, οὐκ ἠξίωσε, φίλων τε καὶ συγγενῶν δωρεὰς προσφερόντων μεγάλας καὶ ἀντὶ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ τιθεμένων ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄνδρα εὖ ποιεῖν, ἐπαινέσας αὐτοὺς τῆς προθυμίας οὐθὲν τῶν διδομένων ἔλαβεν, ἀλλʼ ἀπῆλθε πάλιν εἰς τὸ μικρὸν ἐκεῖνο χωρίον, καὶ τὸν αὐτουργὸν αὐτοῦ ἀντὶ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ μετειλήφει βίον, μεῖζον φρονῶν ἐπὶ πενίᾳ §10.25.4ἢ ἄλλοι ἐπὶ πλούτῳ.
And what is most worthy of admiration in him of all things, is that, having received so great an office for six months, he did not make use of the whole law, but having assembled the people into an assembly and having rendered an account of his achievements, he resigned his office under oath. And though the senate begged him to take as much land as he wished from the conquered territory and to relieve his poverty with slaves and money from the spoils as a just wealth, which he had acquired in the most honorable way from the enemy by his own labors, he did not think fit to accept it; and though his friends and relatives offered great gifts and considered it above all blessings to do good to that man, having praised them for their goodwill, he took none of the things given, but went away again to that small field, and took up again his life of laboring with his own hands instead of a kingly life, taking greater pride in poverty than others did in wealth.
μετʼ οὐ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον καὶ Ναύτιος, ἅτερος τῶν ὑπάτων, νικήσας Σαβίνους ἐκ παρατάξεως καὶ τῆς χώρας αὐτῶν πολλὴν καταδραμὼν ἀπῆγεν ἐπʼ οἴκου τὰς δυνάμεις.
Not long afterward, Nautius, the other consul, having defeated the Sabines in a pitched battle and overrun much of their territory, led his forces home.

Notes

  1. 10.25.3παντὶ τῷ νόμῳ — The word νόμος (law) here refers to the law defining the six-month term of the dictatorship, and the phrase means "the full term allowed by the law." Since he resigned after only sixteen days, he did not utilize the full duration.
  2. 10.25.3ἀντὶ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ — The preposition ἀντί with the genitive here means "instead of" or "in place of," suggesting "as something equivalent to every blessing" or "valuing it above all other goods."
  3. 10.25.3καὶ ὃ μάλιστα πάντων αὐτοῦ θαυμάζειν ἄξιον — The relative pronoun ὅ (with an implied antecedent) forms a nominal clause serving as the subject, with ἐστί omitted. The syntax means "And what is most worthy of admiration in him of all things [is that...]," followed by the explanatory ὅτι clause.
  4. 10.25.3τῆς τε βουλῆς δεομένης ... οὐκ ἠξίωσε — The phrase τῆς βουλῆς δεομένης is a genitive absolute expressing concession ("although the senate begged") in relation to the main verb ἠξίωσε (whose subject is Quinctius). The verb ἠξίωσε governing the infinitives means "he did not think fit [to accept]."

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §10.25.1-10.25.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.25.1-10.25.4

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