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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §4.58.1-4.58.4

Tarquin's Bloodless Capture of Gabii and Treaty

Passage 302 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Tarquin enters Gabii without bloodshed through conspirators, treats the citizens with unexpected clemency, signs an alliance granting equal citizenship, and appoints Sextus as king, concluding the war.

§4.58.1ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐπράττετο, θορύβου κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ὄντος ὡς ἐπὶ τοσούτῳ κακῷ μαθὼν τὰ γινόμενα διὰ γραμμάτων ὁ Ταρκύνιος παρῆν ἄγων τὴν δύναμιν καὶ περὶ μέσον νυκτὸς ἀγχοῦ τῆς πόλεως γενόμενος ἀνοιχθεισῶν τῶν πυλῶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦτο παρεσκευασμένων εἰσελθὼν δίχα πόνου κύριος ἐγεγόνει τῆς πόλεως.
While these things were being done, and there was a tumult in the city because of so great a calamity, Tarquin, having learned what was happening through letters, arrived leading his army; and having come near the city about midnight, when the gates were opened by those who had been prepared for this purpose, he entered without trouble and became master of the city.
§4.58.2ὡς δʼ ἐγνώσθη τὸ πάθος ἁπάντων κατοδυρομένων ἑαυτοὺς οἵα πείσονται, σφαγάς τε καὶ ἀνδραποδισμοὺς καὶ πάντα ὅσα καταλαμβάνει δεινὰ τοὺς ὑπὸ τυράννων ἁλόντας προσδοκώντων, εἰ δὲ τὰ κράτιστα πράξειαν, δουλείας τε καὶ χρημάτων ἀφαιρέσεις καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις κατεψηφικότων, οὐδὲν ὁ Ταρκύνιος ὧν προσεδόκων τε καὶ ἐδεδοίκεσαν καίτοι πικρὸς ὀργὴν καὶ περὶ τὰς τιμωρίας τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀπαραίτητος ὢν ἔδρασεν.
But when the calamity became known, and all were lamenting themselves for what they were about to suffer, expecting massacres, enslavements, and all the terrible things that befall those captured by tyrants, and, even if they should fare best, anticipating for themselves slavery, confiscation of property, and the like, Tarquin did none of the things they expected and feared, although he was fierce in his anger and implacable in the punishment of his enemies.
§4.58.3οὔτε γὰρ ἀπέκτεινεν οὐδένα Γαβίων οὔτʼ ἐξήλασε τῆς πόλεως οὔτʼ εἰς ἀτιμίαν ἢ χρημάτων ἀφαίρεσιν ἐζημίωσε, συγκαλέσας δʼ εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὸ πλῆθος καὶ βασιλικὸν ἐκ τυραννικοῦ τρόπου μεταλαβὼν τήν τε πόλιν αὐτοῖς ἔφη τὴν ἰδίαν ἀποδιδόναι καὶ τὰς οὐσίας, ἃς ἔχουσι, συγχωρεῖν καὶ σὺν τούτοις τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἰσοπολιτείαν ἅπασι χαρίζεσθαι, οὐ διʼ εὔνοιαν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Γαβίους, ἀλλʼ ἵνα τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν ἐγκρατέστερον κατέχῃ ταῦτα πράττων·
For he neither put to death any of the Gabians, nor banished them from the city, nor punished them with disfranchisement or confiscation of property; but having called the multitude to an assembly and having changed his manner from that of a tyrant to that of a king, he said that he restored to them their own city and permitted them to keep the property they possessed, and in addition to these things, he granted to all the equal citizenship of the Romans.
κρατίστην ἡγούμενος ἔσεσθαι φυλακὴν ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν παίδων τὴν ἐκ τῶν παρʼ ἐλπίδας σεσωσμένων καὶ τὰ ἴδια πάντα κεκομισμένων πίστιν.
This he did, not out of goodwill toward the Gabians, but that by so doing he might hold the Roman supremacy more securely; for he believed that the loyalty of those who had been saved contrary to expectation and had recovered all their own possessions would be the strongest guard for himself and his children.
§4.58.4καὶ ἵνα μηδὲν αὐτοῖς ἔτι δεῖμα περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ὑπάρχῃ χρόνου μηδʼ ἐνδοιάζωσιν, εἰ βέβαια ταῦτα σφίσι διαμενεῖ, γράψας ἐφʼ οἷς ἔσονται δικαίοις φίλοι, τὰ περὶ τούτων ὅρκια συνετέλεσεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παραχρῆμα καὶ διωμόσατο κατὰ τῶν σφαγίων.
And in order that they might no longer have any fear concerning the future, nor doubt whether these things would remain secure for them, having written down the terms on which they were to be friends, he concluded the oaths concerning these things in the assembly immediately and swore by the victims.
τούτων ἐστὶ τῶν ὁρκίων μνημεῖον ἐν Ῥώμῃ κείμενον ἐν ἱερῷ Διὸς Πιστίου, ὃν Ῥωμαῖοι Σάγκον καλοῦσιν, ἀσπὶς ξυλίνη βύρσῃ βοείᾳ περίτονος τοῦ σφαγιασθέντος ἐπὶ τῶν ὁρκίων τότε βοός, γράμμασιν ἀρχαϊκοῖς ἐπιγεγραμμένη τὰς γενομένας αὐτοῖς ὁμολογίας.
Of these oaths there is a memorial preserved at Rome in the temple of Dius Fidius, whom the Romans call Sancus—a wooden shield covered with the hide of the ox that was sacrificed at the time of the oaths, on which the agreement made with them is inscribed in archaic letters.
ταῦτα πράξας καὶ βασιλέα τῶν Γαβίων τὸν υἱὸν Σέξτον ἀποδείξας ἀπῆγε τὴν δύναμιν.
Having done these things and having appointed his son Sextus king of the Gabians, he led away his army.
ὁ μὲν δὴ πρὸς Γαβίους πόλεμος τοιούτου τέλους ἔτυχεν.
Thus the war against the Gabians came to such an end.

Notes

  1. 4.58.2εἰ δὲ τὰ κράτιστα πράξειαν — An optative of potential/future-less-vivid condition with a concessive nuance ('even if they should fare best' or 'in the best-case scenario'). It emphasizes that even under the most favorable circumstances imaginable, the outcome would still be disastrous (slavery or confiscation).
  2. 4.58.3βασιλικὸν ἐκ τυραννικοῦ τρόπου μεταλαβὼν — Meaning 'changing from a tyrannical to a kingly manner.' The noun τρόπου governs both adjectives (one explicitly, one implicitly), or βασιλικόν is used substantively in the accusative ('a kingly way') as the object of μεταλαβὼν ('having exchanged/adopted in turn'), contrasted with the genitive phrase ἐκ τυραννικοῦ [τρόπου].
  3. 4.58.3κρατίστην ἡγούμενος ἔσεσθαι φυλακὴν ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν παίδων τὴν ἐκ τῶν παρʼ ἐλπίδας σεσωσμένων καὶ τὰ ἴδια πάντα κεκομισμένων πίστιν — A complex accusative-and-infinitive construction dependent on the participle ἡγούμενος. The subject of the infinitive ἔσεσθαι is τὴν ... πίστιν ('the loyalty'), and its predicate is κρατίστην ... φυλακὴν ('the strongest guard'). The long attributive genitive phrase starting with ἐκ τῶν ('from those who...') splits the subject noun from its article, making the syntax difficult to parse at first glance.
  4. 4.58.4ἀσπὶς ξυλίνη βύρσῃ βοείᾳ περίτονος τοῦ σφαγιασθέντος ἐπὶ τῶν ὁρκίων τότε βοός — The nominative noun ἀσπὶς stands in apposition to the preceding μνημεῖον. The adjective περίτονος ('stretched around', 'covered') takes the dative βύρσῃ ('with hide') and is further defined by the genitive τοῦ ... βοός ('of the ox...'), indicating the source of the hide.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §4.58.1-4.58.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.58.1-4.58.4

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