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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §3.54.1-3.54.3

Submission of the Latin Cities and Tarquinius' Triumph

Passage 225 of 962 · Greek

Summary

King Tarquinius forced the Latin cities into submission, granted them peace on very moderate terms, and celebrated a triumph.

§3.54.1ταῦτα διαπραξάμενος ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις τῶν Λατίνων ἦγε τὴν δύναμιν, ὡς μάχῃ τὰς μὴ προσχωρούσας αὐτῷ παραστησόμενος· οὐ μὴν ἐδέησέ γε αὐτῷ τειχομαχίας.
Having accomplished these things, he led his army against the cities of the Latins, intending to reduce by force those that did not submit to him; however, there was indeed no need for him to conduct any siege.
ἅπαντες γὰρ εἰς ἱκεσίας καὶ δεήσεις ἐτράποντο καὶ πρέσβεις ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ πέμψαντες καταλύσασθαι τὸν πόλεμον ἠξίουν ἐφʼ οἷς αὐτὸς ἠβούλετο καὶ τὰς πόλεις παρέδοσαν.
For everyone turned to supplications and prayers, and sending ambassadors from their common league, they begged to end the war on whatever terms he himself wished, and surrendered their cities.
§3.54.2γενόμενος δὲ τῶν πόλεων κατὰ τάσδε τὰς ὁμολογίας ὁ βασιλεὺς κύριος ἐπιεικέστατα πάσαις προσηνέχθη καὶ μετριώτατα.
Having become master of the cities according to these agreements, the king behaved most leniently and moderately toward them all.
οὔτε γὰρ ἀπέκτεινεν οὔτε φεύγειν ἠνάγκασεν οὔτε χρήμασιν ἐζημίωσε Λατίνων οὐδένα γῆν τε αὐτοῖς καρποῦσθαι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐπέτρεψε καὶ πολιτεύμασι χρήσασθαι τοῖς πατρίοις ἐφῆκεν, ἀποδοῦναι δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευσε Ῥωμαίοις τούς τε αὐτομόλους καὶ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἄνευ λύτρων θεράποντάς τε ἀποκαταστῆσαι τοῖς δεσπόταις ὅσων ἐγένοντο κατὰ τὰς προνομὰς κύριοι καὶ χρήματα ὅσα τοὺς γεωργοὺς ἀφείλοντο διαλῦσαι καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο κατέβλαψαν ἢ διέφθειραν ἐν ταῖς εἰσβολαῖς ἐπανορθῶσαι.
For he neither put to death, nor forced into exile, nor punished with fines any of the Latins, but permitted them to enjoy their own land and allowed them to use their ancestral constitutions; but he ordered them to restore to the Romans the deserters and the prisoners of war without ransom, to return to their masters all the servants of whom they had become masters during the raids, to pay for all the property they had taken from the farmers, and to repair whatever other damage they had caused or destroyed during their incursions.
§3.54.3ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντας εἶναι φίλους Ῥωμαίων καὶ συμμάχους ἅπαντα πράττοντας ὅσα ἂν ἐκεῖνοι κελεύωσιν.
And having done these things, they were to be friends and allies of the Romans, performing everything that they might order.
ὁ μὲν δὴ πρὸς Λατίνους συστὰς Ῥωμαίοις πόλεμος εἰς τοῦτο τὸ τέλος κατέσκηψε, καὶ βασιλεὺς Ταρκύνιος τὸν ἐπινίκιον ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου τούτου κατήγαγε θρίαμβον.
Thus indeed the war that had arisen for the Romans against the Latins came to this end, and King Tarquinius celebrated his triumphal procession for his victory in this war.

Notes

  1. 556οὐ μὴν ἐδέησέ γε αὐτῷ τειχομαχίας — A construction where the impersonal verb δεῖ (here in the aorist ἐδέησε) takes a dative of the person (αὐτῷ) and a genitive of the thing needed (τειχομαχίας), meaning 'there is need of something for someone'. This differs from the more common 'δεῖ + accusative + infinitive' construction.
  2. p.v.1p.374ὅσων ἐγένοντο κατὰ τὰς προνομὰς κύριοι — The relative pronoun ὅσων is attracted into the genitive case, which is governed by the adjective κύριοι within the relative clause, instead of being in the accusative (ὅσους) to agree with its antecedent noun θεράποντας.
  3. p.v.1p.374ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντας εἶναι φίλους Ῥωμαίων — The accusative plural participle ποιήσαντας functions as the subject of the infinitive εἶναι, dependent on the main governing verb ἐκέλευσε (he ordered) from the previous sentence. It is in the accusative plural to agree with the subject of the infinitive, referring to the Latins (αὐτούς).

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §3.54.1-3.54.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.54.1-3.54.3

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