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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §3.45.1-3.45.3

Building of the Wooden Bridge and Death of Ancus

Passage 216 of 962 · Greek

Summary

This passage describes King Ancus Marcius' fortification of the Janiculum hill, the construction of the wooden bridge over the Tiber, and his death after twenty-four years of reign, leaving behind two sons.

§3.45.1ἐτείχισε δὲ καὶ τὸ καλούμενον Ἰανίκολον ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ἐπέκεινα τοῦ Τεβέριος ποταμοῦ κείμενον καὶ φρουρὰν ἱκανὴν ἐν αὐτῷ κατέστησεν ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκα τῶν διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ πλεόντων· ἐλῄστευον γὰρ οἱ Τυρρηνοὶ τοὺς ἐμπόρους ἅπασαν κατέχοντες τὴν ἐπέκεινα τοῦ ποταμοῦ χώραν·
He also fortified the high hill called Janiculum, situated on the other side of the Tiber River, and established a sufficient garrison on it for the safety of those sailing through the river; for the Tyrrhenians used to plunder the merchants, since they occupied all the land on the other side of the river.
§3.45.2καὶ τὴν ξυλίνην γέφυραν, ἣν ἄνευ χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου δεδέσθαι θέμις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν διακρατουμένην τῶν ξυλίνων, ἐκεῖνος ἐπιθεῖναι τῷ Τεβέρει λέγεται, ἣν ἄχρι τοῦ παρόντος διαφυλάττουσιν ἱερὰν εἶναι νομίζοντες.
And he is said to have thrown over the Tiber the wooden bridge, which it is a religious law to keep bound together without brass or iron, held together by the timbers themselves; this bridge they preserve to the present day, regarding it as sacred.
εἰ δέ τι πονήσειεν αὐτῆς μέρος οἱ ἱεροφάνται θεραπεύουσι θυσίας τινὰς ἐπιτελοῦντες ἅμα τῇ κατασκευῇ §3.45.3πατρίους.
If any part of it should decay, the pontiffs repair it, performing at the same time as the reconstruction certain ancestral sacrifices.
ταῦτα διαπραξάμενος ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρχῆς ὁ βασιλεὺς οὗτος ἱστορίας ἄξια καὶ τὴν Ῥώμην οὐκ ὀλίγῳ κρείττονα παραδοὺς τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἧς αὐτὸς παρέλαβεν, ἔτη τέτταρα πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι τὴν βασιλείαν κατασχὼν ἀποθνήσκει δύο καταλιπὼν υἱούς, τὸν μὲν ἔτι παῖδα τὴν ἡλικίαν, τὸν δὲ πρεσβύτερον ἀρτίως γενειῶντα.
This king, having accomplished these deeds worthy of history during his own reign, and having handed over Rome to his successors not a little better than he himself had received it, died after holding the kingdom for twenty-four years, leaving two sons, the one still a child in age, and the older one just beginning to grow a beard.

Notes

  1. 3.45.2ἣν ἄνευ χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου δεδέσθαι θέμις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν διακρατουμένην τῶν ξυλίνων — The relative pronoun ἣν refers to 'the wooden bridge' and is modified by the participle διακρατουμένην (feminine accusative singular). The infinitive δεδέσθαι (perfect passive) is the complement of the impersonal expression θέμις [ἐστί] (it is a law/lawful). The prepositional phrase ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ... τῶν ξυλίνων (by the timbers themselves) modifies the passive participle διακρατουμένην.
  2. 3.45.2εἰ δέ τι πονήσειεν αὐτῆς μέρος — The conditional clause with εἰ + optative (πονήσειεν, third-person singular aorist active) combined with the present indicative in the main clause (θεραπεύουσι) expresses a general, iterative condition ('if any part of it should ever decay'). The verb πονέω is used intransitively here, meaning 'to suffer damage' or 'to decay'.
  3. 3.45.3πατρίους — An adjective (feminine accusative plural) modifying θυσίας τινὰς at the end of the previous section (§3.45.2). Note that the syntactic dependency spans across the section boundary between §3.45.2 and §3.45.3, meaning 'performing certain ancestral sacrifices.'

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §3.45.1-3.45.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.45.1-3.45.3

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