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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §16.6.1-16.6.2

Pulsation of Sacrificial Flesh and Causes of Earthquakes

Passage 922 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Following a fragment concerning a petition to the senate for the poor and debtors, this passage explains the mechanism of trembling in sacrificial flesh and how a similar trapping of breath causes earthquakes in Rome.

§16.6.1ἀξιῶν τὴν βουλὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀπόρων καὶ κατάχρεων.
...demanding of the senate on behalf of the poor and the debtors.
αἱ νεοσφαγεῖς τῶν θυομένων σάρκες μέχρι τούτου διατελοῦσι τρέμουσαί τε καὶ παλλόμεναι, ἕως ἂν τὸ κατεχόμενον ἐν αὐταῖς συγγενὲς πνεῦμα βιασάμενον τοὺς πόρους ἅπαν ἐξαναλωθῇ.
The newly slaughtered flesh of sacrificial victims continues to tremble and palpitate until the kindred breath contained within them, forcing its way through the pores, is entirely spent.
§16.6.2τοῦτο σεισμῶν αἴτιον γίνεται καὶ τῇ Ῥώμῃ·
This is also the cause of earthquakes in Rome.
ἅπασα γὰρ ὑπόνομος οὖσα μεγάλαις καὶ συνεχέσι τάφροις, διʼ ὧν ὀχετεύεται τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ πολλὰς ἀναπνοὰς στομάτων ἔχουσα, διὰ τούτων ἀνίησι τὸ κατακλεισθὲν πνεῦμα ἐν αὐτῇ· καὶ τοῦτο ἔστιν, ὃ κραδαίνει τε αὐτὴν καὶ σπαράττει τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, ὅταν πολὺ καὶ βίαιον ἐναποληφθὲν εἴργηται.
For, being entirely undermined by large and continuous channels through which water is drained, and having many openings for ventilation, she releases through these the breath that has been shut up within her; and it is this which shakes her and tears her surface when, being abundant and violent, it is trapped and confined.

Notes

  1. 16.6.1διατελοῦσι τρέμουσαί — The verb διατελέω takes supplementary participles (τρέμουσαι and παλλόμεναι) to express a continuous action or state ("continue to tremble and palpitate").
  2. 16.6.1ἕως ἂν ... ἐξαναλωθῇ — The conjunction ἕως with ἄν and the aorist subjunctive ἐξαναλωθῇ introduces a temporal clause indicating a future or conditional limit ("until it is entirely spent").
  3. 16.6.2ἅπασα — This is a feminine singular nominative adjective. Although Rome was introduced in the dative case (τῇ Ῥώμῃ) in the preceding sentence, it is here resumed as the subject in the nominative case, agreeing with the participles οὖσα and ἔχουσα, and serving as the subject of the main verb ἀνίησι.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §16.6.1-16.6.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:16.6.1-16.6.2

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