§7.12.1ἐπὶ τοῦτον δὴ τὸν Ἀριστόδημον ἔτος ὁμοῦ τι τεσσαρεσκαιδέκατον ἤδη τυραννοῦντα Κύμης οἱ σὺν Ταρκυνίῳ φυγάδες καθιστάμενοι τὴν κατὰ τῆς πατρίδος ἐβούλοντο συντελέσασθαι δίκην.
Before this Aristodemus, who had already been ruling Cyme as tyrant for nearly fourteen years, the exiles with Tarquin, instituting a suit, wished to exact punishment against their homeland.
οἱ δὲ πρέσβεις τῶν Ῥωμαίων τέως μὲν ἀντέλεγον, ὡς οὔτʼ ἐπὶ τοῦτον ἥκοντες τὸν ἀγῶνα οὔτʼ ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντες, ἣν οὐκ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς ἡ βουλὴ περὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀπολογήσασθαι.
The Roman ambassadors, however, for a time spoke against this, on the ground that they had neither come for this contest nor possessed the authority, which the senate had not granted them, to make a defense concerning their city.
§7.12.2ὡς δʼ οὐθὲν ἐπέραινον, ἀλλʼ ἐγκεκλικότα τὸν τύραννον ἑώρων ἐπὶ θάτερα μέρη διὰ τὰς σπουδὰς καὶ τὰς παρακλήσεις τῶν φυγάδων, αἰτησάμενοι χρόνον εἰς ἀπολογίαν, καὶ διεγγυήσαντες τὰ σώματα χρημάτων ἐν τῷ διὰ μέσου τῆς δίκης οὐθενὸς ἔτι φυλάττοντος αὐτοὺς ἀποδράντες ᾤχοντο.
But when they made no progress, and saw that the tyrant was leaning to the other side because of the eagerness and entreaties of the exiles, having requested time for their defense, and having given security for their persons by money, they fled and went away in the interval of the trial when no one was guarding them any longer.
θεράποντας δʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ὑποζύγια καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ σιτωνίᾳ κομισθέντα χρήματα ὁ τύραννος κατέσχε.
And the tyrant seized their servants, their pack-animals, and the money they had brought for the purchase of grain.
§7.12.3ταύταις μὲν οὖν ταῖς πρεσβείαις τοιαῦτα παθούσαις ἀπράκτοις ἀναστρέψαι συνέβη, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ πόλεων οἱ πεμφθέντες κέγχρους τε καὶ ζέας συνωνησάμενοι ταῖς ποταμηγοῖς σκάφαις κατεκόμισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν.
Thus, while it fell to the lot of this embassy to return unsuccessful after suffering such treatment, those who had been sent to the cities of Etruria, having purchased millet and spelt, brought them down to the city in river-boats.
αὕτη βραχύν τινα χρόνον ἡ ἀγορὰ Ῥωμαίους διέθρεψεν· ἔπειτʼ ἐξαναλωθεῖσα εἰς τὰς αὐτὰς ἀπορίας κατέστησεν αὐτούς.
This supply of food sustained the Romans for a short time; then, being exhausted, it reduced them to the same difficulties.
ἦν δʼ οὐθὲν εἶδος ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς, ὃ οὐκ ἐπείραζον ἔτι, συνέβαινέ τʼ οὐκ ὀλίγοις αὐτῶν, τὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν σπάνιν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀτοπίαν τῆς οὐκ εἰωθυίας ἐδωδῆς, τοῖς μὲν ἀρρώστων διακεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα, τοῖς δὲ παρημελημένοις διὰ πενίαν καὶ παντάπασιν ἀδυνάτως·
There was no kind of necessary food that they did not try, and it happened to not a few of them, partly because of the scarcity, and partly because of the strangeness of the unaccustomed food, that their bodies were in a diseased state, and some, neglected because of poverty, were entirely helpless.
§7.12.4ὡς δὲ τοῦτʼ ἔγνωσαν οἱ νεωστὶ κεκρατημένοι τῷ πολέμῳ Οὐολοῦσκοι, πρεσβειῶν ἀπορρήτοις διαποστολαῖς ἐνῆγον ἀλλήλους εἰς τὸν κατʼ αὐτῶν πόλεμον, ὡς ἀδυνάτων ἐσομένων, εἴ τις αὐτοῖς ἐπίθοιτο κεκακωμένοις πολέμῳ τε καὶ λιμῷ ἀντέχειν.
When the Volscians, who had recently been conquered in the war, learned of this, they urged one another by secret embassies to make war against them, thinking that they would be unable to resist if anyone should attack them while they were afflicted by both war and famine.
θεῶν δέ τις εὔνοια, οἷς φροντὶς ἦν μὴ περιιδεῖν ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς Ῥωμαίους γενομένους, ἐκφανέστατα καὶ τότε τὴν ἑαυτῆς δύναμιν ἀπεδείξατο.
But the goodwill of one of the gods, whose care it was not to allow the Romans to fall under the power of their enemies, most clearly manifested its power then too.
τοσοῦτος γάρ τις ἄφνω εἰς τὰς πόλεις τῶν Οὐολούσκων φθόρος λοιμικὸς ἐνέσκηψεν, ὅσος ἐν οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ τόπῳ μνημονεύεται γενόμενος οὔθʼ Ἑλλάδος οὔτε βαρβάρου γῆς, πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν καὶ τύχην καὶ φύσιν ἐρρωμένων τε καὶ ἀσθενῶν σωμάτων ὁμοίως διεργαξόμενος.
For so great a pestilential destruction suddenly fell upon the cities of the Volscians as is not remembered to have occurred in any other place, whether of Greece or of barbarian land, destroying equally every age, fortune, and constitution of both strong and weak bodies.
ἐδήλωσε δὲ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς συμφορᾶς πόλις ἐπιφανὴς τῶν Οὐολούσκων, Οὐέλιτραι ὄνομα αὐτῇ, μεγάλη τε καὶ πολυάνθρωπος οὖσα τέως, ἧς ὁ λοιμὸς μίαν ὑπελείπετο μοῖραν ἐκ τῶν δέκα, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ὑπολαβὼν ἀπήνεγκε.
The magnitude of the disaster was shown by Velitrae, an illustrious city of the Volscians, which had previously been large and populous; of this city, the plague left only one part out of ten, and swept away the others.
§7.12.5τελευτῶντες δʼ οὖν ὅσοι περιῆσαν ἐκ τῆς συμφορᾶς πρεσβευσάμενοι Ῥωμαίοις ἔφρασαν τὴν ἐρημίαν καὶ παρέδοσαν τὴν πόλιν.
In the end, therefore, all who survived the disaster sent ambassadors to the Romans, declared their desolation, and surrendered their city.
ἔτυχον δὲ καὶ πρότερον ἐποίκους ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης εἰληφότες, ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ τὸ δεύτερον κληρούχους παρʼ αὐτῶν ᾔτουν.
And they happened to have previously received colonists from Rome, for which reason they now asked for colonists from them a second time.