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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §13.3.1-13.3.2

Transfer of Juno's Statue from Veii and Its Miraculous Response

Passage 883 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Camillus vowed to transfer the statue of Juno to Rome during his campaign against Veii, and after the city's fall, the young men sent to retrieve the statue witnessed the miracle of the statue audibly consenting to the move.

§13.3.1ὁ αὐτὸς Κάμιλλος ἐπὶ τὴν Οὐιεντανῶν πόλιν στρατεύων ηὔξατο τῇ βασιλείᾳ Ἥρᾳ τῇ ἐν Οὐιεντανοῖς, ἐὰν κρατήσῃ τῆς πόλεως τό τε ξόανον αὐτῆς ἐν Ῥώμῃ καθιδρύσειν καὶ σεβασμοὺς αὐτῇ §13.3.2καταστήσεσθαι πολυτελεῖς.
The same Camillus, when marching against the city of the Veientes, vowed to Queen Juno in Veii that, if he should conquer the city, he would establish her wooden image in Rome and institute costly rites of worship for her.
ἁλούσης δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἀπέστειλε τῶν ἱππέων τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἀρουμένους ἐκ τῶν βάθρων τὸ ἕδος· ὡς δὲ παρῆλθον οἱ πεμφθέντες εἰς τὸν νεών, καί τις ἐξ αὐτῶν εἴτε μετὰ παιδιᾶς καὶ γέλωτος εἴτε οἰωνοῦ δεόμενος, εἰ βούλοιτο μετελθεῖν εἰς Ῥώμην ἡ θεός, ἤρετο, φωνῇ γεγωνῷ τὸ ξόανον ἐφθέγξατο, ὅτι βούλεται.
When the city was captured, he sent the most illustrious of the knights to remove the statue from its pedestal; and when those who had been sent entered the temple, and one of them, whether in jest and laughter or seeking an omen, asked if the goddess wished to move to Rome, the wooden image spoke in an audible voice, saying that she wished to.
τοῦτο καὶ δὶς γέγονεν· ἀπιστοῦντες γὰρ οἱ νεανίσκοι, εἰ τὸ ξόανον ἦν τὸ φθεγξάμενον, πάλιν ἤροντο τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν φωνὴν ἤκουσαν.
This happened even twice; for the young men, disbelieving whether it was the wooden image that had spoken, asked the same thing again and heard the same voice.

Notes

  1. 13.3.1ἐὰν κρατήσῃ ... καθιδρύσειν — An indirect discourse where the conditional clause has a subjunctive (ἐὰν κρατήσῃ) and the apodosis has a future infinitive (καθιδρύσειν). Depending on the main verb ηὔξατο (vowed), it represents a future conditional expectation in a vow.
  2. 13.3.2ἀρουμένους — The future middle participle masculine accusative plural of αἴρω (to lift up, remove). It agrees with the object of the main verb (τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους) and expresses the purpose of the action ('in order to remove').
  3. 13.3.2εἰ βούλοιτο — An optative following εἰ introducing an indirect question. This is an optative of oblique clause, triggered by the secondary main verb ἤρετο (asked), representing the original direct question 'βούλει;' (Do you wish?).

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §13.3.1-13.3.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:13.3.1-13.3.2

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