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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §5.42.1-5.42.4

Failure of the Sabine Night Attack and Loss of Camp

Passage 371 of 962 · Greek

Summary

The Sabines execute their night attack, but the prepared Romans ambush them between the ditches and palisades, resulting in a decisive defeat. The Sabines suffer heavy casualties, and their camp is captured on the same day.

§5.42.1οὔπω μέσαι νύκτες ἦσαν, καὶ ὁ τῶν Σαβίνων ἡγεμὼν ἀναστήσας τοῦ στρατοῦ τὸ κράτιστον μέρος ἦγεν ἐπὶ τὸν χάρακα σιωπᾶν ἅπασι παραγγείλας καὶ μὴ ποιεῖν ψόφον τῶν ὅπλων, ἵνα μὴ γνοῖεν ἥκοντας αὐτοὺς οἱ πολέμιοι, πρὶν ἐπὶ τῷ ἐρύματι γένωνται.
It was not yet midnight, when the leader of the Sabines, having roused the best part of his army, led them against the camp, commanding all to keep silence and make no noise with their weapons, so that the enemy might not know of their coming before they reached the rampart.
ὡς δὲ πλησίον ἐγένοντο τοῦ χάρακος οἱ πρῶτοι πορευόμενοι καὶ οὔτε φέγγη λαμπτήρων ἑώρων οὔτε φωνὰς φυλάκων κατήκουον, πολλὴν μωρίαν τῶν Ῥωμαίων καταγνόντες ὡς ἀφεικότων ἐρήμους τὰς φυλακὰς καὶ ἐντὸς χάρακος καθευδόντων, ἐνεπίμπλασαν ὕλης τὰς τάφρους κατὰ πολλὰ μέρη καὶ διέβαινον οὐδενὸς σφίσιν ἐμποδὼν γινομένου.
When those who marched at the head came near the camp and saw neither the light of torches nor heard the voices of guards, imagining that the Romans in their great folly had left the outposts abandoned and were sleeping inside the camp, they filled the ditches with brushwood in many places and crossed over, with no one to oppose them.
§5.42.2παρεκάθηντο δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν τάφρων καὶ τῶν περισταυρωμάτων οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι κατὰ σπείρας ἀφανεῖς διὰ τὸ σκότος, καὶ τοὺς διαβαίνοντας αὐτῶν, ὅτε γένοιντο ἐν χερσίν, ἐφόνευον.
But the Romans were sitting between the ditches and the palisades, in cohorts invisible because of the darkness, and as the enemy crossed, they slew them as soon as they came to close quarters.
μέχρι μὲν οὖν τινος ἐλάνθανε τοὺς ὑστέρους προσιόντας ὁ τῶν προηγουμένων ὄλεθρος·
Thus for a time the destruction of those in front remained unknown to those who were approaching behind.
ἐπεὶ δὲ φῶς ἐγένετο σελήνης ἀνισχούσης οἱ πλησιάζοντες τῇ τάφρῳ σωρούς θʼ ὁρῶντες οἰκείων νεκρῶν παρʼ αὐτῇ καὶ στίφη πολεμίων καρτερὰ ὁμόσε χωροῦντα, ῥίψαντες τὰ §5.42.3ὅπλα τρέπονται πρὸς φυγήν.
But when the light of the rising moon appeared, those who came near the ditch, seeing the heaps of their own dead beside it and strong bodies of the enemy advancing against them, threw away their weapons and turned to flight.
οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι μέγα ἀναβοήσαντες· ἦν δὲ τοῦτο σύνθημα τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἑτέρας παρεμβολῆς· ἐκτρέχουσιν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἅπαντες ἀθρόοι.
The Romans, raising a great shout—which was the signal to those in the other camp—sallied out all together in a body against them.
καὶ ὁ Λουκρήτιος ὡς ἤκουσε τῆς κραυγῆς τοὺς ἱππεῖς προαποστείλας διερευνησομένους, μή τις ἐγκάθηται πολεμίων λόχος, ὀλίγον ὕστερον ἠκολούθει τοὺς ἀκμαιοτάτους τῶν πεζῶν ἐπαγόμενος.
And Lucretius, on hearing the shout, having sent the horsemen ahead to reconnoitre whether any ambush of the enemy was lying in wait, followed shortly after with the most active of the infantry.
§5.42.4καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον οἵ θʼ ἱππεῖς τοῖς ἐκ τῆς Φιδήνης λοχῶσι περιτυχόντες τρέπουσιν εἰς φυγὴν καὶ οἱ πεζοὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν παρεμβολὴν σφῶν ἀφικομένους κτείνοντες ἐδίωκον οὔτε ὅπλα οὔτε κόσμον σώζοντας.
And at the same time, the horsemen, falling in with those who were in ambush from Fidenae, put them to flight, and the infantry, slaying those who had reached their camp, pursued them as they fled, preserving neither their arms nor their order.
ἐν ταύταις ταῖς μάχαις Σαβίνων τε καὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἀπέθανον μὲν ἀμφὶ τοὺς μυρίους καὶ τρισχιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους, αἰχμάλωτοι δʼ ἐλήφθησαν τετρακισχίλιοι καὶ διακόσιοι· καὶ ὁ μὲν χάραξ αὐθημερὸν ἑάλω.
In these battles there died of the Sabines and their allies about thirteen thousand five hundred, and four thousand two hundred were taken prisoners; and the camp was captured on the same day.

Notes

  1. 941οὔπω μέσαι νύκτες ἦσαν, καὶ ὁ τῶν Σαβίνων ἡγεμὼν... — The coordination of οὔπω... ἦσαν ('it was not yet midnight') followed by the coordinating conjunction καί represents a temporal relation akin to the Latin 'cum inversum' ('when suddenly'), marking a dramatic development in the narrative.
  2. p.v.2p.200πολλὴν μωρίαν τῶν Ῥωμαίων καταγνόντες ὡς ἀφεικότων ἐρήμους τὰς φυλακὰς — The participle καταγνόντες (from καταγιγνώσκω, 'to charge, look down upon') takes a genitive of the person (τῶν Ῥωμαίων) and an accusative of the charge (πολλὴν μωρίαν). The subsequent ὡς with genitive absolute (ἀφεικότων...) expresses the subjective reason or belief of the subjects (the Sabines).
  3. 942μέχρι μὲν οὖν τινος ἐλάνθανε τοὺς ὑστέρους προσιόντας ὁ τῶν προηγουμένων ὄλεθρος — The subject of the verb ἐλάνθανε (from λανθάνω) is the noun phrase ὁ τῶν προηγουμένων ὄλεθρος ('the destruction of those in front'), which is hidden from the accusative object τοὺς ὑστέρους ('those behind') and its modifying participle προσιόντας ('approaching').
  4. 942διερευνησομένους, μή τις ἐγκάθηται πολεμίων λόχος — The future participle διερευνησομένους expresses purpose ('in order to reconnoitre'). The following μή clause (with the present subjunctive ἐγκάθηται) functions as an object of apprehension or indirect question, expressing 'whether some ambush of the enemy might be lying in wait.'

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §5.42.1-5.42.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.42.1-5.42.4

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