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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §4.22.1-4.22.4

The First Lustrum and Citizenship for Freedmen

Passage 266 of 962 · Greek

Summary

King Servius Tullius performs a purification ceremony (Lustrum) on the Campus Martius after completing the census of 84,700 citizens, and extends equal citizenship rights to freed slaves, enrolling them in the four city tribes.

§4.22.1τότε δʼ οὖν ὁ Τύλλιος ἐπειδὴ διέταξε τὸ περὶ τὰς τιμήσεις, κελεύσας τοὺς πολίτας ἅπαντας συνελθεῖν εἰς τὸ μέγιστον τῶν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως πεδίων ἔχοντας τὰ ὅπλα καὶ τάξας τούς θʼ ἱππεῖς κατὰ τέλη καὶ τοὺς πεζοὺς ἐν φάλαγγι καὶ τοὺς ἐσταλμένους τὸν ψιλικὸν ὁπλισμὸν ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις ἑκάστους λόχοις καθαρμὸν αὐτῶν ἐποιήσατο ταύρῳ καὶ κριῷ καὶ τράγῳ.
Then, therefore, Tullius, when he had arranged the matters concerning the ratings, having ordered all the citizens to assemble in the largest of the plains before the city with their arms, and having drawn up both the cavalry by troops, and the infantry in a phalanx, and those equipped with light armor each in their own centuries, performed a purification of them with a bull, a ram, and a goat.
τὰ δʼ ἱερεῖα ταῦτα τρὶς περιαχθῆναι περὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον κελεύσας ἔθυσε τῷ κατέχοντι τὸ πεδίον Ἄρει.
And having ordered these victims to be led three times around the camp, he sacrificed them to Ares, who holds the plain.
§4.22.2τοῦτον τὸν καθαρμὸν ἕως τῶν κατʼ ἐμὲ χρόνων Ῥωμαῖοι καθαίρονται μετὰ τὴν συντέλειαν τῶν τιμήσεων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχόντων τὴν ἱερωτάτην ἀρχὴν Λοῦστρον ὀνομάζοντες.
This purification, even down to my times, the Romans purify themselves after the completion of the ratings by those who hold the most sacred office, calling it a Lustrum.
ἐγένετο δʼ ὁ σύμπας τῶν τιμησαμένων τοὺς βίους Ῥωμαίων ἀριθμός, ὡς ἐν τοῖς τιμητικοῖς φέρεται γράμμασιν, ἐπὶ μυριάσιν ὀκτὼ χιλιάδες πέντε τριακοσίων ἀποδέουσαι.
And the total number of the Romans who had their properties rated, as it is recorded in the censors' tablets, was eighty thousand and five thousand lacking three hundred.
§4.22.3ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ τῆς αὐξήσεως τοῦ πολιτικοῦ συντάγματος οὐ μικρὰν πρόνοιαν οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς πρᾶγμα συνιδών, ὃ παρέλιπον ἅπαντες οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλεῖς.
This king also took no small foresight for the increase of the civil body, having perceived a matter which all the kings before him had overlooked.
ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ξένους ὑποδεχόμενοι καὶ μεταδιδόντες τῆς ἰσοπολιτείας φύσιν τʼ ἢ τύχην αὐτῶν οὐδεμίαν ἀπαξιοῦντες, εἰς πολυανθρωπίαν προήγαγον τὴν πόλιν. §4.22.4ὁ δὲ Τύλλιος καὶ τοῖς ἐλευθερουμένοις τῶν θεραπόντων, ἐὰν μὴ θέλωσιν εἰς τὰς ἑαυτῶν πόλεις ἀπιέναι, μετέχειν τῆς ἰσοπολιτείας ἐπέτρεψε.
For those, by welcoming strangers and sharing equal citizenship, undervaluing no birth or fortune of theirs, had advanced the city to a great population; but Tullius permitted also those of the slaves who were being set free, if they did not wish to return to their own cities, to share in the equal citizenship.
κελεύσας γὰρ ἅμα τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἐλευθέροις καὶ τούτους τιμήσασθαι τὰς οὐσίας, εἰς φυλὰς κατέταξεν αὐτοὺς τὰς κατὰ πόλιν τέτταρας ὑπαρχούσας, ἐν αἷς καὶ μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων ταττόμενον διατελεῖ τὸ ἐξελευθερικὸν φῦλον, ὅσον ἂν ᾖ· καὶ πάντων ἀπέδωκε τῶν κοινῶν αὐτοῖς μετέχειν, ὧν τοῖς ἄλλοις δημοτικοῖς.
For having ordered them, together with all the other freemen, to have their properties rated, he distributed them into the four existing city tribes, in which, even down to our times, the class of freedmen continues to be arranged, however numerous it may be; and he granted them to share in all the public rights which the other plebeians shared.

Notes

  1. §4.22.1καθαρμὸν αὐτῶν ἐποιήσατο — A periphrastic construction using the middle verb ποιέομαι with the noun καθαρμός as a cognate-like accusative, meaning 'performed a purification of them.' The genitive pronoun αὐτῶν refers to the citizens and soldiers mentioned just before (τοὺς πολίτας ἅπαντας, τούς θʼ ἱππεῖς, τοὺς πεζούς).
  2. §4.22.2τοῦτον τὸν καθαρμὸν ... καθαίρονται — The verb καθαίρονται (in the middle or passive, 'purify themselves') takes τοῦτον τὸν καθαρμὸν as an internal or cognate accusative, rendering the active meaning 'they perform this purification.'
  3. §4.22.2ἐπὶ μυριάσιν ὀκτὼ χιλιάδες πέντε τριακοσίων ἀποδέουσαι — Numerical expression. To 'eighty thousand' (ἐπὶ μυριάσιν ὀκτὼ) is added 'five thousand lacking three hundred' (χιλιάδες πέντε τριακοσίων ἀποδέουσαι, i.e., 4,700), yielding a total of 84,700. The feminine plural nominative participle ἀποδέουσαι agrees with χιλιάδες and governs the genitive of measure/lack τριακοσίων.
  4. §4.22.4ταττόμενον διατελεῖ τὸ ἐξελευθερικὸν φῦλον — A periphrastic construction of διατελέω with a supplementary participle. The passive participle ταττόμενον (neuter singular nominative) agrees in gender, number, and case with the subject τὸ ἐξελευθερικὸν φῦλον (the class of freedmen) and acts as a complement to διατελεῖ, meaning 'continues to be arranged/enrolled.'

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §4.22.1-4.22.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.22.1-4.22.4

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