Humanitext Reader

Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §4.33.1-4.33.3

Tullius' Defense Recounting the Rearing of Tarquinius

Passage 277 of 962 · Greek

Summary

In response to Tarquinius's accusations, Tullius begins his defense before the senate, recounting how he protected and raised Tarquinius when the latter was a helpless orphan.

§4.33.1παυσαμένου δʼ αὐτοῦ παραλαβὼν τὸν λόγον ὁ Τύλλιος ἔλεξεν ὧδε· ἅπαντα μέν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἄνθρωπον ὄντα δεῖ προσδοκᾶν, ὦ βουλή, καὶ μηδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι ἄπιστον, ὅπου γε κἀμὲ Ταρκύνιος οὑτοσὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς παῦσαι πρόθυμός ἐστιν· ὃν ἐγὼ νήπιον παραλαβὼν καὶ ἐπιβουλευόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἔσωσα καὶ ἐξέθρεψα καὶ εἰς ἄνδρας ἐλθόντα κηδεστὴν ἠξίωσα λαβεῖν, καὶ εἴ τι πάθοιμι διάδοχον ἔμελλον καταλείψειν ἁπάντων τῶν ἐμῶν.
When he had ceased, Tullius, taking up the discourse, spoke as follows: "It seems, O senate, that one who is mortal must expect everything and consider nothing incredible, seeing that even this Tarquinius is eager to depose me from my rule—he whom I took when he was an infant and, when he was plotted against by his enemies, saved and brought up, and when he reached manhood, deemed worthy to take as my son-in-law, and, if anything should happen to me, intended to leave as the successor to all my possessions.
ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρὰ γνώμην ἅπαντʼ ἀπήντηκέ μοι καὶ ὥσπερ ἀδικῶν αὐτὸς ἐγκαλοῦμαι, τὴν μὲν τύχην ὕστερον ἀνακλαύσομαι, §4.33.2τὰ δὲ δίκαια νῦν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐρῶ.
But since everything has turned out contrary to my expectation and I myself am accused as though I were the wrongdoer, I shall bewail my fortune later, but now I will speak what is just to him.
ἐγὼ τὴν μὲν ἐπιτροπείαν ὑμῶν ἔλαβον, ὦ Ταρκύνιε, νηπίων καταλειφθέντων οὐχ ἑκών, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀναγκασθείς·
I undertook the guardianship of you, Tarquinius, when you were left as infants, not of my own free will, but compelled by the circumstances.
ἐπειδὴ τὸν μὲν πάππον ὑμῶν οἱ τῆς βασιλείας ἀντιποιούμενοι φανερῶς ἀπέκτειναν, ὑμῖν δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις αὐτοῦ συγγενέσιν ἐπιβουλεύειν ἐλέγοντο ἀφανῶς·
For those who laid claim to the kingship openly slew your grandfather, and were said to be plotting secretly against you and his other relatives.
καὶ πάντες τοῦθʼ οἱ προσήκοντες ὑμῖν ὡμολόγουν, ὅτι κρατήσαντες ἐκεῖνοι τῆς ἀρχῆς οὐδὲ σπέρμα τοῦ Ταρκυνιείου καταλείψουσι γένους.
And all your kinsmen agreed on this, that if those men gained the supreme power, they would not leave even a seed of the Tarquinian race.
κηδεμὼν δὲ καὶ φύλαξ οὐδεὶς ὑμῶν ἕτερος ἦν, ὅτι μὴ γυνή, πατρὸς μήτηρ, καὶ αὐτὴ διὰ γῆρας ἑτέρων δεομένη κηδεμόνων·
And there was no other guardian or protector for you except a woman, your father's mother, who herself, because of her old age, needed other protectors.
ἀλλʼ ἐν ἐμοὶ κατελείπεσθε μόνῳ φύλακι τῆς ἐρημίας, ὃν νῦν ἀλλότριον καὶ οὐδὲν προσήκοντα ἀποκαλεῖς.
Instead, you were left to me alone, as the sole protector in your desolation, whom you now call an alien and one not related to you at all.
§4.33.3τοιούτοις μέντοι πράγμασιν ἐπιστὰς ἐγὼ τούς τʼ ἀποκτείναντας τὸν πάππον ὑμῶν ἐτιμωρησάμην καὶ ὑμᾶς εἰς ἄνδρας ἤγαγον καὶ γενεᾶς ἄρρενος οὐχ ὑπαρχούσης τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ κυρίους προειλόμην ποιῆσαι.
Setting myself to such affairs, however, I punished those who had killed your grandfather, brought you to manhood, and, as there was no male offspring of my own, chose to make you masters of my possessions.
ἔχεις τὸν τῆς ἐπιτροπῆς λόγον, ὦ Ταρκύνιε, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἐπιχειρήσειας εἰπεῖν, ὡς ψεύδομαί τι τούτων.
You have the account of my guardianship, Tarquinius, and you would not attempt to say that I lie in any of these things."

Notes

  1. §4.33.1ἄνthropον ὄντα — The accusative participle phrase ἄνthropον ὄντα ("being human") functions as the subject of the accusative-and-infinitive construction dependent on the impersonal verb δεῖ, carrying a conditional or concessive nuance ("since one is human").
  2. §4.33.1εἴ τι πάθοιμι — The optative εἴ τι πάθοιμι ("if I should suffer anything") is a standard euphemism for death. It is in the optative mood because it depends on the imperfect ἔμελλον, representing a past intention in oblique discourse.
  3. §4.33.2φύλακι τῆς ἐρημίας — The genitive τῆς ἐρημίας ("of the desolation") can be interpreted either as an objective genitive modifying φύλακι ("protector of your helpless state") or as a genitive of relation indicating the circumstances under which they were left.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §4.33.1-4.33.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.33.1-4.33.3

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