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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §6.79.1-6.79.3

Sicinius's Rejection of Peace and Call for Emigration

Passage 485 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Sicinius points out the misery of civil war, rejects reconciliation with the patricians, and strongly urges the plebeians to leave the city in search of freedom and virtue, escaping their physical and economic servitude.

§6.79.1πολέμου δὲ πολιτικοῦ ὡς ἅπαντες ἴσασι κάκιον χρῆμα οὐδέν, ἐν ᾧ τὰ μὲν κρατηθέντα ἀτυχεῖ, τὰ δὲ κρατήσαντα ἀδικεῖ, καὶ περίεστι τοῖς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν φιλτάτων ἀπόλλυσθαι, τοῖς δὲ τὰ φίλτατα διολέσαι.
For of civil war, as all men know, there is no worse thing, in which the conquered suffer misfortune and the conquerors commit injustice, and it falls to the lot of some to be destroyed by their dearest ones, and of others to destroy their dearest ones.
ἐπὶ τοιαύταις δὴ τύχαις καὶ συμφοραῖς οὐκ εὐκταίας μήτε ὑμεῖς, ὦ πατρίκιοι, καλεῖτε ἡμᾶς, μήτε ἡμεῖς αὐτοῖς ὑπακούωμεν, ὦ δημόται, ἀλλʼ, ὡς διῄρηκεν ἡμᾶς ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων ἡ τύχη, στέργωμεν.
To such undesirable fortunes and calamities, then, do you not, patricians, call us, nor let us, plebeians, obey them; but, as fortune has divided us from one another, let us be content.
ἐχέτωσαν μὲν οὖν οὗτοι τὴν πόλιν ὅλην καὶ καρπούσθωσαν ἡμῶν δίχα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων ἀπολαυέτωσαν μόνοι, τοὺς ταπεινοὺς καὶ ἀδόξους δημότας ἐκβαλόντες ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος· ἀπαλλαττώμεθα δʼ ἡμεῖς, ὅποι ποτʼ ἂν ἡμᾶς ὁ δαίμων ἄγῃ τόπον ἀλλότριον ἐκλιπεῖν νομίσαντες, οὐ πόλιν ἰδίαν.
Let these men, therefore, hold the whole city and reap its fruits without us, and let them alone enjoy all other good things, having cast out the humble and inglorious plebeians from their fatherland; but let us depart, to whatever place the deity may lead us, considering that we are leaving a foreign land, not our own city.
§6.79.2οὔτε γὰρ ἡμῶν τινι ἐνθάδε ὑπολείπεται κλῆρος γῆς οὔτε πατρῷον ἐφέστιον οὔτε ἱερὰ κοινὰ οὔτε ἀξίωμα ὡς ἐν πατρίδι, ὧν περιεχόμενοι φιλοχωροῖμεν ἂν καὶ παρὰ γνώμην, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἡ τοῖς σώμασι μετὰ πολλῶν πόνων ἐλευθερία·
For neither does there remain to any of us here a portion of land, nor an ancestral hearth, nor common sacred rites, nor dignity as in a fatherland, clinging to which we might love this place even against our will; no, not even the freedom of our bodies with many labors.
ἐπεὶ τὰ μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ πόλεμοι διέφθειραν, τὰ δʼ ἡ τῶν καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίων σπάνις ἐξανήλωσε, τὰ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπερηφάνων δανειστῶν τούτων ἀφῃρέθημεν· οἷς τελευτῶντες ἠναγκαζόμεθα τοὺς ἑαυτῶν κλήρους οἱ δείλαιοι γεωργεῖν, σκάπτοντες φυτεύοντες ἀροῦντες ποίμνια νέμοντες ὁμόδουλοι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν δορικτήτοις ἀνδραπόδοις ὄντες, οἱ μὲν ἁλύσει δεθέντες, οἱ δὲ πέδαις, οἱ δʼ ὥσπερ τὰ χαλεπώτατα τῶν θηρίων κλοιοῖς καὶ μύδροις.
For some of these things the many wars destroyed, others the scarcity of daily necessities consumed, and others we were deprived of by these arrogant creditors; to whom at last we, wretched ones, were forced to cultivate our own portions of land, digging, planting, plowing, and tending flocks, being fellow-slaves with our own captives taken in war, some bound with a chain, others with fetters, and others, like the fiercest of wild beasts, with wooden collars and heavy irons.
§6.79.3αἰκίας δὲ δὴ καὶ προπηλακισμοὺς καὶ μάστιγας καὶ πόνους ἐκ νυκτὸς εἰς νύκτα καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην ὠμότητα καὶ ὕβριν καὶ ὑπερηφανίαν, ἣν ὑπεμείναμεν, ἐῶ.
But as for the outrages, insults, scourgings, and labors from night to night, and all other cruelty, insolence, and arrogance which we endured, I pass them over.
τοσούτων οὖν καὶ τηλικούτων ἀπηλλαγμένοι κακῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος, ὅση σπουδὴ καὶ δύναμις ἑκάστῳ πάρεστι φεύγωμεν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἄσμενοι τύχην καὶ θεὸν οἵπερ ἡμᾶς σώζουσιν ἡγεμόνας τῆς ὁδοῦ ποιησάμενοι, πατρίδα νομίζοντες τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ πλοῦτον τὴν ἀρετήν.
Since, therefore, we have been delivered from so many and such great evils by the deity, let us flee from them gladly with all the speed and power that each of us possesses, making fortune and the god who preserve us the guides of our journey, considering freedom to be our fatherland and virtue our wealth.
πᾶσα γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὑποδέξεται γῆ κοινωνούς, τὰ μὲν ἀλύπους ἐσομένους τοῖς ὑποδεξαμένοις, τὰ δʼ ὠφελίμους.
For every land will receive us as associates, where we shall be on the one hand harmless to those who receive us, and on the other hand useful.

Notes

  1. 6.79.1ἐπὶ τοιαύταις δὴ τύχαις καὶ συμφοραῖς οὐκ εὐκταίας — The feminine accusative plural form οὐκ εὐκταίας of the adjective εὐκταῖος modifies the dative nouns τύχαις καὶ συμφοραῖς, presenting a case of grammatical solecism or attraction. Alternatively, it can be interpreted predicatively with the accusative pronoun ἡμᾶς as 'as ones who are not to be prayed for' in this situation.
  2. 6.79.2ὧν περιεχόμενοι φιλοχωροῖμεν ἂν καὶ παρὰ γνώμην — The antecedent of the relative pronoun ὧν consists of the preceding nouns (land, hearth, rites, dignity). The participle περιεχόμενοι ('clinging to') governs the genitive and functions circumstantially to express condition ('if we were to cling to them'), modifying the potential optative with ἄν (φιλοχωροῖμεν ἂν).
  3. 6.79.2ὁμόδουλοι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν δορικτήτοις ἀνδραπόδοις ὄντες — The adjective ὁμόδουλοι ('fellow-slaves') governs the dative, hence τοῖς... ἀνδραπόδοις. This highlights a tragic reversal where the plebeians became equal in servitude to the very captives they had captured in war (δορικτήτοις).
  4. 6.79.3τὰ μὲν ἀλύπους ἐσομένους τοῖς ὑποδεξαμένοις, τὰ δʼ ὠφελίμους — The adverbial accusatives τὰ μὲν... τὰ δʼ mean 'partly... partly' or 'on the one hand... on the other hand.' The accusative participle ἐσομένους modifies the preceding pronoun ἡμᾶς. Both adjectives ἀλύπους ('harmless') and ὠφελίμους ('useful') govern the dative phrase τοῖς ὑποδεξαμένοις ('those who receive us').

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §6.79.1-6.79.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.79.1-6.79.3

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