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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §7.11.1-7.11.4

Slaying of Aristodemus's Kin and Restoration of the Polity

Passage 513 of 962 · Greek

Summary

To overthrow Aristodemus, the young exiles disguise themselves as day-laborers to infiltrate the city, open the gates to their comrades, and massacre the tyrant's family during a public festival. After purging his collaborators, they convene a public assembly to restore their ancestral constitution.

§7.11.1οἱ δʼ ἀποστάται τε καὶ φυγάδες ἐν τῷ περὶ τὸν Ἄορνον ὄρει πλησίον ὄντι τῆς πόλεως λοχῶντες, ὡς ἔμαθον ἐξεληλυθυῖαν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τὴν τοῦ τυράννου στρατιὰν συνθήμασι μηνυθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τῶν σκοπῶν, πέμπουσιν ἐξ αὐτῶν περὶ ἑξήκοντα μάλιστα τοὺς εὐτολμοτάτους διφθέρας ἔχοντας καὶ φακέλλους φρυγάνων κομίζοντας.
Meanwhile, the insurgents and exiles, who were lying in ambush around Mount Aornus near the city, when they learned that the tyrant's army had gone out of the city, having been informed by their scouts through signals, sent about sixty of their most courageous men, wearing leather garments and carrying bundles of brushwood.
§7.11.2οὗτοι περὶ λύχνων ἁφὰς ἄλλοι κατʼ ἄλλας πύλας ὡς χερνῆται παρεισπεσόντες ἔλαθον·
These men, slipping in through different gates about the time of the lighting of lamps, disguised as day-laborers, entered unnoticed.
ὡς δʼ ἔνδον ἐγένοντο τοῦ τείχους ἐξελκύσαντες ἐκ τῶν φακέλλων ἃ κατέκρυπτον ξίφη, καὶ συνελθόντες εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν ἅπαντες τόπον ἔπειτʼ ἐκεῖθεν ὁρμήσαντες ἀθρόοι πρὸς τὰς ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄορνον φερούσας πύλας τούς τε φύλακας αὐτῶν ἀποκτείνουσι κοιμωμένους καὶ τοὺς σφετέρους ἅπαντας ἤδη τοῦ τείχους πλησίον ὄντας ἀναπεπταμέναις ταῖς πύλαις ὑποδέχονται, καὶ τοῦτο πράξαντες ἔλαθον.
When they were inside the wall, having drawn the swords they had concealed from their bundles, and having all assembled in the same place, they then rushed in a body from there to the gates leading to Mount Aornus, and having killed their guards while they were asleep, they received all their own men, who were already near the wall, through the gates opened wide; and they accomplished this without being discovered.
§7.11.3ἔτυχε γὰρ ἐκείνῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ἑορτή τις οὖσα δημοτελής, καὶ διʼ αὐτὴν ἅπας ὁ κατὰ πόλιν ὄχλος ἐν πότοις ὢν καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις εὐπαθείαις.
For it happened that on that night there was a public festival, and because of this, all the crowd in the city was engaged in drinking and other pleasures.
τοῦτο παρέσχεν αὐτοῖς κατὰ πολλὴν ἄδειαν ἁπάσας διελθεῖν τὰς ἐπὶ τὴν τυραννικὴν οἰκίαν φερούσας ὁδούς· καὶ οὐδὲ παρὰ ταῖς θύραις πολλήν τινα καὶ ἐγρηγορυῖαν εὗρον φυλακήν, ἀλλὰ κἀνταῦθα τοὺς μὲν ἤδη καθεύδοντας, τοὺς δὲ μεθύοντας ἀποσφάξαντες δίχα πόνου καὶ κατὰ πλῆθος εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ὠσάμενοι, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἅπαντας οὔτε τῶν σωμάτων ἔτι κρατοῦντας οὔτε τῶν φρενῶν διὰ τὸν οἶνον προβάτων δίκην κατέσφαξαν·
This afforded them great security to pass through all the streets leading to the tyrant's palace; and not even at the gates did they find any large or vigilant guard, but having slaughtered those who were already asleep and those who were drunk there also without difficulty, and having rushed in great numbers into the house, they butchered like sheep all the others, who on account of the wine were no longer masters of either their bodies or their minds.
τὸν δʼ Ἀριστόδημον καὶ τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην συγγένειαν συλλαβόντες ἄχρι πολλῆς νυκτὸς αἰκιζόμενοί τε καὶ στρεβλοῦντες καὶ πᾶσιν ὡς εἰπεῖν λυμαινόμενοι κακοῖς ἀπέκτειναν.
But having seized Aristodemus, his children, and his other relatives, they tortured and racked them until late in the night, and having abused them with every possible cruelty, so to speak, they put them to death.
§7.11.4ἀνελόντες δὲ τὴν τυραννικὴν οἰκίαν πρόρριζον, ὡς μήτε παιδία μήτε γυναῖκας μήτε συγγένειαν μηθενὸς αὐτῶν καταλιπεῖν καὶ διʼ ὅλης νυκτὸς ἅπαντας ἐξερευνησάμενοι τοὺς συνεργοὺς τῆς τυραννίδος ἡμέρας γενομένης προῆλθον εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν.
And having utterly destroyed the tyrant's house root and branch, so as to leave behind neither children nor wives nor any relative of theirs, and having searched out all the accomplices of the tyranny throughout the whole night, when day came they went out into the forum.
ἔπειτα συγκαλέσαντες τὸν δῆμον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἀποτίθενται τὰ ὅπλα καὶ τὴν πάτριον καθίστανται πολιτείαν.
Then, having called the people together to an assembly, they laid down their arms and established their ancestral constitution.

Notes

  1. ¦p.v.3p.18¦ἐξεληλυθυῖαν ... τὴν ... στρατιὰν — A participle in agreement with the accusative noun, functioning as the object of the verb `ἔμαθον` (indirect discourse), meaning 'when they learned that the army had gone out.'
  2. §7.11.2παρεισπεσόντες ἔλαθον — An idiomatic construction where the verb `λανθάνω` with a participle means 'to do something unnoticed.' The phrase `τούτο πράξαντες ἔλαθον` at the end of the section is the same construction.
  3. §7.11.3ἔτυχε ... οὖσα — The verb `τυγχάνω` with the participle `οὖσα` meaning 'it happened to be.' In the following clause `καὶ διʼ αὐτὴν...`, either the omission of the copula `ἦν` or the continuation of the construction (`ἔτυχε ... ὤν`) is understood.
  4. §7.11.4ὡς μήτε ... καταλιπεῖν — The conjunction `ὡς` with the infinitive `καταλιπεῖν` expressing actual and intended consequence ('so as not to leave behind').

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §7.11.1-7.11.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.11.1-7.11.4

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