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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §19.8.1-19.8.3

Meton's Feigned Drunken Warning Against Pyrrhus

Passage 935 of 962 · Greek

Summary

While the Tarentines are eager to summon Pyrrhus, a citizen named Meton appears in the theater pretending to be drunk to warn them of the loss of freedom under royal power. Although many listen to him, the instigators of the war seize him and throw him out.

§19.8.1τῶν Ταραντίνων βουλομένων ἐκ τῆς Ἠπείρου Πύρρον μετακαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν κατὰ Ῥωμαίων πόλεμον καὶ τοὺς κωλύοντας ἐξελαυνόντων Μέτων τις καὶ αὐτὸς Ταραντῖνος, ἵνα τύχοι προσοχῆς καὶ διδάξειεν αὐτούς, ὅσα μετὰ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας εἰς πόλιν ἐλευθέραν καὶ τρυφῶσαν εἰσελεύσεται, συγκαθημένου τοῦ πλήθους παρῆν εἰς τὸ θέατρον ἐστεφανωμένος ὥσπερ ἐκ συμποσίου, παιδίσκην περιειληφὼς αὐλητρίδα κωμαστικὰ μέλη προσαυλοῦσαν.
When the Tarentines wished to summon Pyrrhus from Epirus for the war against the Romans and were expelling those who tried to prevent it, a certain Meton, himself also a Tarentine, in order to gain their attention and teach them how many things would enter a free and luxurious city along with royal power, appeared at the theater crowned as if from a banquet, while the multitude was assembled, and holding a young flute-playing girl who was playing festive tunes.
§19.8.2διαλυθείσης δὲ τῆς ἁπάντων σπουδῆς εἰς γέλωτα, καὶ τῶν μὲν ᾅδειν αὐτὸν κελευόντων, τῶν δὲ ὀρχεῖσθαι περιβλέψας κύκλῳ καὶ τῇ χειρὶ διασημήνας ἡσυχίαν αὐτῷ παρασχεῖν, ἐπειδὴ κατέστειλε τὸν θόρυβον· ἄνδρες, ἔφη, πολῖται, τούτων, ὧν ἐμὲ ποιοῦντα ὁρᾶτε νῦν, οὐδὲν ὑμῖν ἐξέσται ποιεῖν, ἐὰν βασιλέα καὶ φρουρὰν εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσελθεῖν ἐάσητε. §19.8.3ὡς δὲ κινουμένους καὶ προσέχοντας εἶδε πολλοὺς καὶ κελεύοντας λέγειν, σώζων ἔτι τὸ προσποίημα τῆς κραιπάλης τὰ συμβησόμενα αὐτοῖς ἠριθμεῖτο κακά· ἔτι δὲ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος οἱ τῶν κακῶν αἴτιοι συλλαβόντες αὐτὸν κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἐξωθοῦσιν ἐκ τοῦ θεάτρου.
When the seriousness of everyone dissolved into laughter, and some ordered him to sing while others ordered him to dance, he looked around in a circle and signaled with his hand for them to grant him silence, and when he had quieted the uproar, he said: "Men of the city, of these things which you now see me doing, none will be permitted for you to do, if you allow a king and a garrison to enter the city." When he saw that many were moved and paying attention and bidding him to speak, still preserving his pretense of drunkenness, he began to enumerate the evils that would befall them; but while he was still speaking, those who were responsible for the evils seized him and threw him headlong out of the theater.

Notes

  1. 17.13ὅσα ... εἰσελεύσεται — ὅσα is a neuter plural nominative relative (or indirect interrogative) pronoun, introducing the indirect question clause dependent on διδάξειεν. In accordance with the rule of 'neuter plural subject with singular verb' in Greek, the verb εἰσελεύσεται is in the third-person singular.
  2. 14διαλυθείσης δὲ τῆς ἁπάντων σπουδῆς... τῶν μὲν ᾅδειν αὐτὸν κελευόντων, τῶν δὲ ὀρχεῖσθαι — Two different genitive absolute constructions are joined by καί. In the first part, the aorist participle διαλυθείσης agrees with σπουδῆς (expressing a completed action). In the second part, τῶν μὲν... τῶν δέ is used with the present participle κελευόντων (expressing ongoing action), where κελευόντων is omitted in the second clause (τῶν δέ) and the infinitive ὀρχεῖσθαι depends on this implied participle.
  3. 14κατὰ κεφαλῆς — The preposition κατά followed by the genitive means 'down from,' and here it forms an idiomatic expression 'headlong' or 'headfirst,' describing how he was forcibly thrown down or pushed out from the theater seats or stage.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §19.8.1-19.8.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:19.8.1-19.8.3

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