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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §4.44.1-4.44.3

Tarquinius Forcing the Plebeians into Public Works

Passage 288 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Tarquin the Proud selected faithful plebeians for military duties and forced the rest into harsh public labor, such as completing the drainages and the circus left by his grandfather. Seeing the plebeians' servitude, the patricians rejoiced and forgot their own grievances.

§4.44.1καὶ οὐκ ἀπέχρη ταῦτα μόνον εἰς τοὺς δημοτικοὺς αὐτῷ παρανομεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐπιλέξας ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους, ὅσον ἦν πιστὸν ἑαυτῷ καὶ εἰς τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας ἐπιτήδειον, τὸ λοιπὸν ἠνάγκασεν ἐργάζεσθαι τὰς κατὰ πόλιν ἐργασίας, μέγιστον οἰόμενος εἶναι κίνδυνον τοῖς μονάρχοις, ὅταν οἱ πονηρότατοι τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ ἀπορώτατοι σχολὴν ἄγωσι, καὶ ἅμα προθυμίαν ἔχων ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρχῆς τὰ καταλειφθέντα ἡμίεργα ὑπὸ τοῦ πάππου τελειῶσαι, τὰς μὲν ἐξαγωγίμους τῶν ὑδάτων τάφρους, ἃς ἐκεῖνος ὀρύττειν ἤρξατο, μέχρι τοῦ ποταμοῦ καταγαγεῖν, τὸν δʼ ἀμφιθέατρον ἱππόδρομον οὐδὲν ἔξω κρηπίδων ἔχοντα παστάσιν ὑποστέγοις περιλαβεῖν·
And it was not sufficient for him only to commit these illegalities against the plebeians, but having selected from the multitude as many as were faithful to him and fit for military services, he forced the rest to work on the labors in the city, thinking that it is the greatest danger to monarchs whenever the most wicked and poorest of the citizens enjoy leisure, and at the same time having a desire to finish, during his own reign, the half-completed works left by his grandfather: namely, on the one hand, to bring down to the river the trenches for carrying off the waters, which that man had begun to dig, and on the other hand, to surround with roofed porticos the amphitheater-like racecourse, which had nothing outside its foundations.
§4.44.2ταῦτα δὴ πάντες οἱ πένητες εἰργάζοντο σῖτα παρʼ αὐτοῦ μέτρια λαμβάνοντες· οἱ μὲν λατομοῦντες, οἱ δʼ ὑλοτομοῦντες, οἱ δὲ τὰς κομιζούσας ταῦθʼ ἁμάξας ἄγοντες, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων αὐτοὶ τὰ ἄχθη φέροντες· μεταλλεύοντές τε τὰς ὑπονόμους σήραγγας ἕτεροι καὶ πλάττοντες τὰς ἐν αὐταῖς καμάρας καὶ τὰς παστάδας ἐγείροντες, καὶ τοῖς ταῦτα πράττουσι χειροτέχναις ὑπηρετοῦντες χαλκοτύποι τε καὶ τέκτονες καὶ λιθουργοὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν ἔργων ἀφεστῶτες ἐπὶ ταῖς δημοσίαις κατείχοντο χρείαις.
All the poor, indeed, worked on these tasks, receiving moderate food from him; some quarrying stone, others cutting timber, some driving the wagons conveying these, and others carrying the burdens themselves on their shoulders; while others excavated the underground passages, fashioned the vaults in them, and erected the porticos; and assisting the craftsmen doing these things, coppersmiths, carpenters, and stonemasons, being withdrawn from private works, were kept for public services.
§4.44.3περὶ ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἔργα τριβόμενος ὁ λεὼς οὐδεμίαν ἀνάπαυσιν ἐλάμβανεν· ὥσθʼ οἱ πατρίκιοι τὰ τούτων κακὰ καὶ τὰς λατρείας ὁρῶντες ἔχαιρόν τʼ ἐν μέρει καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἐπελανθάνοντο ἀλγεινῶν· κωλύειν μὲν γὰρ οὐδέτεροι τὰ γινόμενα ἐπεχείρουν.
The people, being worn out by these works, received no respite; so that the patricians, seeing their evils and servitudes, both rejoiced on their part and forgot their own pains; for neither side attempted to prevent what was happening.

Notes

  1. §4.44.1αὐτῷ — The dative pronoun dependent on the impersonal verb `ἀπέχρη` ('it was sufficient for him'), which simultaneously functions as the logical subject of the following infinitive `παρανομεῖν`.
  2. §4.44.1καταγαγεῖν — The two infinitives `καταγαγεῖν` and `περιλαβεῖν` function as explanatory or appositional to the preceding phrase `τὰ καταλειφθέντα ἡμίεργα ... τελειῶσαι` ('to finish the half-completed works'), specifying the concrete nature of these works.
  3. §4.44.2οἱ μὲν λατομοῦντες — These nominative participles stand in partitive apposition (schēma kath' holon kai meros) to the subject of the main clause, `πάντες οἱ πένητες` ('all the poor'), subdividing the whole subject into groups to describe their respective activities.
  4. §4.44.3τῶν ἰδίων ἐπελανθάνοντο ἀλγεινῶν — The verb `ἐπιλανθάνομαι` ('forget') governs the genitive case, which explains why the noun phrase `τῶν ἰδίων ... ἀλγεινῶν` is in the genitive.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §4.44.1-4.44.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.44.1-4.44.3

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