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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §6.94.1-6.94.3

Honors for Marcius and the Cognomen Coriolanus

Passage 500 of 962 · Greek

Summary

The next day, Postumius praises Marcius and offers him grand rewards, but Marcius accepts only a horse and a captive who was his guest-friend, earning the cognomen 'Coriolanus.' Meanwhile, the war with the Volscians ends, and in Rome, consul Cassius dedicates the temple of Demeter, Dionysus, and Core.

§6.94.1τῇ δʼ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ συγκαλέσας ὁ Πόστουμος εἰς ἐκκλησίαν τὸν στρατὸν ἔπαινον τοῦ Μαρκίου διεξῆλθε πολὺν καὶ στεφάνοις αὐτὸν ἀριστείοις ἀνέδησεν ἀμφοτέρων χαριστήρια τῶν ἀγώνων ἀποδιδούς.
On the following day, Postumius, having called the army to an assembly, delivered a great praise of Marcius and crowned him with crowns of valor, rendering him rewards for both battles.
ἐδωρήσατο δʼ αὐτὸν ἵππῳ πολεμιστῇ στρατηγικοῖς ἐπισήμοις κεκοσμημένῳ καὶ δέκα σώμασιν αἰχμαλώτοις, ἐπʼ ἐκείνῳ ποιήσας, οὕς βούλοιτο λαβεῖν, ἀργυρίῳ τε, ὅσον ἂν ἐξενέγκασθαι δύναιτο αὐτός, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἄλλης λείας πολλαῖς καὶ καλαῖς ἀπαρχαῖς.
And he presented him with a war horse adorned with consular trappings and ten captive persons, leaving it to him to take whichever ones he wished, and as much silver as he himself could carry away, and many beautiful first-fruits from the rest of the booty.
§6.94.2βοῆς δὲ γενομένης ἐξ ἁπάντων μεγάλης, ὡς ἂν ἐπαινούντων τε καὶ συνηδομένων, προσελθὼν ὁ Μάρκιος τῷ τε ὑπάτῳ χάριν εἰδέναι μεγάλην ἔφη καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἐπὶ ταῖς τιμαῖς, ὧν αὐτὸν ἠξίουν· οὐ μέντοι καταχρήσεσθαί γʼ αὐταῖς, ἀρκεσθήσεσθαι δὲ τῷ θʼ ἵππῳ τῆς λαμπρότητος τῶν σημείων ἕνεκεν καὶ ἑνὶ αἰχμαλώτῳ, ὃς ἔτυχεν αὐτῷ ξένος ὤν.
And when a great shout arose from everyone, as if they were praising and rejoicing with him, Marcius stepped forward and said that he felt great gratitude both to the consul and to all the others for the honors of which they deemed him worthy; however, he would not make full use of them, but would be satisfied with the horse for the sake of the splendor of its trappings, and with a single captive, who happened to be his guest-friend.
οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται καὶ πρότερον ἀγάμενοι τὸν ἄνδρα τῆς γενναιότητος, ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐθαύμασαν τῆς ὑπεροψίας τοῦ πλούτου καὶ ὅτι μετρίως ἤνεγκε τὴν τοσαύτην εὐτυχίαν.
And the soldiers, who even before admired the man for his nobility, wondered still more at his disdain for wealth and because he bore such great good fortune with moderation.
ἐκ τούτου Κοριολανὸς ἐπεκλήθη τοῦ ἔργου, καὶ πάντων ἐγεγόνει τῶν κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡλικίαν ἐπιφανέστατος.
From this deed he was named Coriolanus, and became the most illustrious of all those of the same age.
§6.94.3τῆς δὲ πρὸς τοὺς Ἀντιάτας μάχης τοῦτο λαβούσης τὸ τέλος αἱ λοιπαὶ τῶν Οὐολούσκων πόλεις διελύοντο τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ἔχθραν, καὶ ὅσοι τὰ ὅμοια ἐκείνοις ἐφρόνουν, οἵ τʼ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἤδη ὄντες, καὶ οἱ παρασκευαζόμενοι τὸν πόλεμον ἐπέπαυντο.
When the battle against the Antiates had taken this end, the remaining cities of the Volscians dissolved their enmity toward the Romans, and all those who shared the same feelings as they, both those who were already in arms and those who were preparing for war, ceased.
οἷς ἅπασιν ὁ Πόστουμος ἐπιεικῶς χρησάμενος, ἀνέστρεψεν ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα, καὶ διαφῆκε τὴν στρατιάν.
Postumius, having treated them all with leniency, returned to his own land and disbanded the army.
Κάσσιος δʼ ὁ ἕτερος τῶν ὑπάτων ὁ καταλειφθεὶς ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ τὸν νεὼν τῆς τε Δήμητρος καὶ Διονύσου καὶ Κόρης ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ καθιέρωσεν, ὅς ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοῖς τέρμασι τοῦ μεγίστου τῶν ἱπποδρόμων ὑπὲρ αὐτὰς ἱδρυμένος τὰς ἀφέσεις, εὐξαμένου μὲν αὐτὸν Αὔλου Ποστουμίου τοῦ δικτάτορος ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ἀναθήσειν τοῖς θεοῖς, καθʼ ὃν χρόνον ἔμελλεν ἀγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τὴν Λατίνων στρατιάν, τῆς τε βουλῆς μετὰ τὸ νίκημα τὴν κατασκευὴν αὐτοῦ ψηφισαμένης ἐκ τῶν λαφύρων ποιήσασθαι πᾶσαν, τότε δὲ τοῦ ἔργου λαβόντος τὴν συντέλειαν.
And Cassius, the other of the consuls who had been left in Rome, in the meantime dedicated the temple of Demeter, Dionysus, and Core, which is established at the end of the greatest of the hippodromes, just above the starting gates themselves, Aulus Postumius the dictator having vowed to dedicate it to the gods on behalf of the city at the time when he was about to contend against the Latin army, and the senate having voted after the victory to make its entire construction from the spoils, and the work at that time having received its completion.

Notes

  1. 6.94.1ἐδωρήσατο δʼ αὐτὸν ἵππῳ — The verb δωρέομαι (to present, gift) takes the person gifted in the accusative (αὐτόν) and the things presented in the dative (ἵππῳ, σώμασιν, ἀργυρίῳ, ἀπαρχαῖς). This is a common syntactic pattern for expressing 'to present someone with something.'
  2. 6.94.2ὧν αὐτὸν ἠξίουν — The relative pronoun ὧν would expectedly be in the accusative (ἅς) as the secondary object of the verb ἀξιόω (to deem worthy of), but it has undergone case attraction (attraction) to the genitive under the influence of its antecedent ταῖς τιμαῖς.
  3. 6.94.2ὡς ἂν ἐπαινούντων — The conjunction ὡς combined with the particle ἄν modifies the participles in the genitive absolute (ἐπαινούντων, συνηδομένων) to express a hypothetical comparison ('as if they were praising').
  4. 6.94.3εὐξαμένου μὲν αὐτὸν — Inside the relative clause ὅς ἐστιν..., three genitive absolute constructions explaining the historical background of the temple ((1) εὐξαμένου μὲν Αὔλου Ποστουμίου..., (2) τῆς τε βουλῆς ... ψηφισαμένης..., (3) τότε δὲ τοῦ ἔργου λαβόντος...) are coordinated by μέν... τε... δέ, creating a long parenthetical structure. The main verb of the main clause is καθιέρωσεν.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §6.94.1-6.94.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.94.1-6.94.3

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