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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §6.1.1-6.1.4

Women's Choice of Residence and the Saturn Temple Dedication

Passage 407 of 962 · Greek

Summary

During the consulship of Aulus Sempronius Atratinus and Marcus Minucius, Roman and Latin married women were permitted to choose their residence, which served as a favorable omen for Rome. The period also saw the dedication of the temple of Saturn under domestic and foreign peace.

§6.1.1οἱ δʼ ἐν τῷ κατόπιν ἐνιαυτῷ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν παραλαβόντες, Αὖλος Σεμπρώνιος Ἀτρατῖνος καὶ Μάρκος Μηνύκιος, ἐπὶ τῆς ἑβδομηκοστῆς καὶ πρώτης ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Τισικράτης Κροτωνιάτης ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησιν Ἱππάρχου, ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν οὔτε πολεμικὸν οὔτε πολιτικὸν ἱστορίας ἄξιον ἐπὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀρχῆς ἔπραξαν·
Those who received the consular office in the following year, Aulus Sempronius Atratinus and Marcus Minucius, in the seventy-first Olympiad (when Tisicrates of Croton won the stadion race, and Hipparchus was archon at Athens), performed no other deed worthy of history, either military or political, during their own magistracy.
αἵ τε γὰρ πρὸς Λατίνους ἀνοχαὶ πολλὴν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν πολέμων παρέσχον εἰρήνην ἥ τε τῆς ἀναπράξεως τῶν δανείων κώλυσις, ἣν ἐψηφίσατο ἡ βουλή, τέως ἂν ὁ προσδοκώμενος πόλεμος εἰς ἀσφαλὲς ἔλθῃ τέλος, ἔπαυσε τοὺς ἐντὸς τείχους νεωτερισμούς, οὓς ἐποιοῦντο οἱ πένητες ἀφεῖσθαι τῶν χρεῶν ἀξιοῦντες δημοσίᾳ·
For the truce with the Latins provided them with great peace from foreign wars, and the suspension of the collection of debts, which the senate had decreed until the expected war should come to a safe end, stopped the revolutionary movements within the walls, which the poor were making in their demand to be publicly released from their debts.
§6.1.2δόγμα δὲ βουλῆς ἐκύρωσαν ἐπιεικέστατον, Λατίνοις ἀνδράσιν εἴ τινες ἔτυχον ἐκ τοῦ Ῥωμαίων ἔθνους συνοικοῦσαι γυναῖκες ἢ Ῥωμαίοις Λατῖναι, ἑαυτῶν εἶναι κυρίας, ἐάν τε μένειν θέλωσι παρὰ τοῖς γεγαμηκόσιν ἐάν τε εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἀναστρέφειν· τῶν δʼ ἐκγόνων τὰ μὲν ἄρρενα παρὰ τοῖς πατράσι μένειν, τὰς δὲ θηλείας καὶ ἔτι ἀγάμους ταῖς μητράσιν ἕπεσθαι·
They ratified a most equitable decree of the senate, that if any women from the Roman nation happened to be living with Latin men, or Latin women with Romans, they should be mistresses of themselves, whether they wished to remain with their husbands or to return to their own countries; and of their offspring, the males should remain with their fathers, and the females who were still unmarried should follow their mothers.
ἐτύγχανον δὲ πολλαὶ πάνυ γυναῖκες εἰς τὰς ἀλλήλων πόλεις ἐκδεδομέναι καὶ διὰ τὸ συγγενὲς καὶ διὰ φιλίαν, οἳ τυχοῦσαι τῆς ἐκ τοῦ ψηφίσματος ἀδείας ἐδήλωσαν ὅσην εἶχον ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς ἐν Ῥώμῃ διαίτης.
Now, very many women happened to have been given in marriage into one another's cities both because of kinship and friendship, and they, having obtained the safety granted by the decree, showed how great a desire they had for the way of life in Rome.
§6.1.3αἵ τε γὰρ ἐν ταῖς Λατίνων πόλεσι Ῥωμαῖαι μικροῦ δεῖν πᾶσαι καταλιποῦσαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ὡς τοὺς πατέρας ἀνέστρεψαν, αἵ τε Ῥωμαίοις ἐκδεδομέναι Λατίνων πλὴν δυεῖν, αἱ λοιπαὶ τῶν πατρίδων ὑπεριδοῦσαι παρὰ τοῖς γεγαμηκόσιν ἔμειναν· οἰωνὸς εὐτυχὴς τῆς μελλούσης πόλεως ἐπικρατήσειν τῷ πολέμῳ.
For almost all the Roman women in the Latin cities left their husbands and returned to their fathers, while of the Latin women who had been married to Romans, all the rest, except two, stayed with their husbands, disregarding their native lands—a happy omen that the city was destined to prevail in the war.
§6.1.4ἐπὶ τούτων φασὶ τῶν ὑπάτων τὸν νεὼν καθιερωθῆναι τῷ Κρόνῳ κατὰ τὴν ἄνοδον τὴν εἰς τὸ Καπετώλιον φέρουσαν ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ δημοτελεῖς ἀναδειχθῆναι τῷ θεῷ καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἑορτάς τε καὶ θυσίας.
In the consulship of these men, they say that the temple of Saturn was dedicated at the ascent leading from the forum to the Capitol, and that public festivals and sacrifices were appointed for the god every year.
τὰ δὲ πρὸ τούτων βωμὸν αὐτόθι καθιδρύσθαι λέγουσι ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους κατεσκευασμένον, ἐφʼ οὗ τὰς ἐμπύρους ἀπαρχὰς ἔθυον Ἑλληνικοῖς ἔθεσιν οἱ τὰ ἱερὰ παρʼ ἐκείνου παραλαβόντες·
But before these times, they say that an altar had been dedicated there, constructed by Hercules, upon which those who had received the sacred rites from him offered burnt first-fruits according to Greek customs.
τὴν δʼ ἀρχὴν τῆς ἱδρύσεως τοῦ ναοῦ τινὲς μὲν ἱστοροῦσι λαβεῖν Τῖτον Λάρκιον τὸν ὑπατεύσαντα τῷ πρόσθεν ἐνιαυτῷ, οἱ δὲ καὶ βασιλέα Ταρκύνιον τὸν ἐκπεσόντα τῆς ἀρχῆς· τὴν δὲ καθιέρωσιν τοῦ ναοῦ λαβεῖν Πόστομον Κομίνιον κατὰ ψήφισμα βουλῆς.
Some, indeed, record that Titus Lartius, who had been consul the preceding year, undertook the beginning of the building of the temple, while others say it was King Tarquin, the one expelled from power; and that Postumus Cominius undertook the dedication of the temple according to a decree of the senate.
τούτοις μὲν δὴ τοῖς ὑπάτοις εἰρήνης ὥσπερ ἔφην βαθείας ἐξεγένετο ἀπολαῦσαι.
To these consuls, therefore, it was possible, as I said, to enjoy a profound peace.

Notes

  1. 1037τέως ἂν ὁ προσδοκώμενος πόλεμος εἰς ἀσφαλὲς ἔλθῃ τέλος — The conjunction τέως with ἄν and the subjunctive (ἔλθῃ) expresses a temporal limit in the future ('until such time as'). Here τέως functions as a relative adverb meaning 'for so long as' or 'until'.
  2. p.v.2p.260ἑαυτῶν εἶναι κυρίας — An accusative with infinitive construction explaining the content of δόγμα βουλῆς, which is the object of the main verb ἐκύρωσαν. The adjective κύριος ('having power over') governs the genitive, hence the genitive reflexive pronoun ἑαυτῶν ('of themselves').
  3. 1038οἰωνὸς εὐτυχὴς τῆς μελλούσης πόλεως ἐπικρατήσειν τῷ πολέμῳ — The phrase οἰωνὸς εὐτυχὴς stands in the nominative as an appositive to the preceding sentence, summarizing and evaluating the situation. The future infinitive ἐπικρατήσειν serves as a complementary infinitive with the genitive participle μελλούσης (modifying πόλεως), expressing what the city was destined to do.
  4. 1039τούτοις μὲν δὴ τοῖς ὑπάτοις εἰρήνης ὥσπερ ἔφην βαθείας ἐξεγένετο ἀπολαῦσαι — The impersonal verb ἐξεγένετο ('it was possible') takes a dative of agent (τούτοις ... τοῖς ὑπάτοις) and an infinitive (ἀπολαῦσαι). The infinitive ἀπολαῦσαι ('to enjoy') in turn governs the genitive object (εἰρήνης ... βαθείας).

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §6.1.1-6.1.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.1.1-6.1.4

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