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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §7.25.1-7.25.4

Division in the Senate and Tribunes' Outcry over Marcius' Speech

Passage 527 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Following Marcius' speech, the opinions of the senators split, with the youth and the wealthy praising him while the moderates opposed him. When the tribunes violently protested, Marcius responded with even greater arrogance and threats.

§7.25.1τοιαῦτʼ εἰπόντος τοῦ Μαρκίου διέστησαν αἱ γνῶμαι τῶν συνέδρων, καὶ θόρυβος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐγίνετο πολύς.
When Marcius had spoken thus, the opinions of the senators were divided, and a great tumult arose among them.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐναντίοι τοῖς δημοτικοῖς καὶ τὰς διαλλαγὰς παρὰ γνώμην ὑπομείναντες, ἐν οἷς ἥ τε νεότης ὀλίγου δεῖν πᾶσα ἦν καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων οἱ πλουσιώτατοί τε καὶ φιλοτιμότατοι, βαρέως φέροντες οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ ταῖς περὶ τὰ συμβόλαια βλάβαις, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τῇ περὶ τὰς τιμὰς ἐλαττώσει ἐπῄνουν τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς γενναῖον καὶ φιλόπολιν καὶ τὰ κράτιστα τῷ κοινῷ §7.25.2λέγοντα·
For those who from the beginning had been opposed to the populace and had submitted to the reconciliation against their will—among whom were almost all the youth and the wealthiest and most ambitious of the elders—bearing it hard, some on account of the losses regarding contracts, and others on account of the reduction in prices, praised the man as noble and patriotic and as speaking the best things for the public interest.
οἱ δὲ δημοτικὰς ἔχοντες τὰς προαιρέσεις τῶν τρόπων καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον οὐ πέρα τοῦ δέοντος ἐκτετιμηκότες τῆς τʼ εἰρήνης οὐδὲν ἀναγκαιότερον ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἤχθοντο τοῖς λεγομένοις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν γνώμην οὐ προσίεντο·
But those who had popular inclinations in their character, and did not value wealth beyond what was necessary, and conceived nothing to be more indispensable than peace, were displeased with his words and did not accept his opinion.
ἠξίουν τε μὴ τοῖς βιαίοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς εὐγνώμοσι περιεῖναι τῶν ταπεινοτέρων, μηδʼ ἀπρεπές, ἀλλʼ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγεῖσθαι τὸ ἐπιεικές, ἄλλως τε καὶ πρὸς τοὺς συμπολιτευομένους ἐπʼ εὐνοίᾳ γινόμενον·
They demanded that they should prevail over their inferiors not by violence but by reasonable means, and that they should consider moderation not as unseemly but as necessary, especially when it was exercised with goodwill toward their fellow citizens.
μανίαν τʼ ἀπέφαινον αὐτοῦ τὴν συμβουλήν, οὐ παρρησίαν οὐδὲ ἐλευθερίαν.
And they declared his advice to be madness, not frankness or liberty.
βραχὺ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο τὸ μέρος καὶ ἀσθενὲς ὂν περιεωθεῖτο ὑπὸ τοῦ βιαιοτέρου.
This party, however, being small and weak, was overwhelmed by the more violent one.
§7.25.3ταῦτα δʼ ὁρῶντες οἱ δήμαρχοι· παρῆσαν γὰρ τῷ συνεδρίῳ παρακληθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπάτων· ἐβόων τε καὶ ἤσπαιρον καὶ τὸν Μάρκιον λυμεῶνα καὶ ὄλεθρον τῆς πόλεως ἀπεκάλουν πονηροὺς διεξιόντα κατὰ τοῦ δήμου λόγους, καὶ εἰ μὴ κωλύσειαν αὐτὸν οἱ πατρίκιοι πόλεμον ἐμφύλιον εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσάγοντα θανάτῳ ζημιώσαντες ἢ φυγῇ, αὐτοὶ ποιήσειν τοῦτʼ ἔλεγον.
But the tribunes, seeing this—for they were present in the senate, having been invited by the consuls—shouted aloud and raged, calling Marcius a pest and a ruin of the state for delivering wicked speeches against the people; and they declared that if the patricians did not prevent him from introducing a civil war into the city by punishing him with death or banishment, they themselves would do so.
§7.25.4θορύβου δʼ ἔτι πλείονος ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις τῶν δημάρχων γενομένου, καὶ μάλιστʼ ἐκ τῶν νεωτέρων τὰς ἀπειλὰς δυσανασχετούντων ἐπαρθεὶς τούτοις ὁ Μάρκιος αὐθαδέστερον ἤδη καθήπτετο τῶν δημαρχων καὶ θρασύτερον· εἰ μὴ παύσεσθε μέντοι, λέγων, ταράττοντες τὴν πόλιν ὑμεῖς καὶ ἐκδημαγωγοῦντες τοὺς ἀπόρους, οὐκέτι λόγῳ διοίσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ἀλλʼ ἔργῳ.
Since a still greater tumult arose at the words of the tribunes, and especially because the younger men were indignant at their threats, Marcius, elated by this, now attacked the tribunes more arrogantly and boldly, saying, "But if you do not stop disturbing the state and demagoguing the poor, I shall no longer contend with you in words, but in deeds."

Notes

  1. 7.25.2λέγοντα — This participle directly completes the syntax of ἐπῄνουν τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς ... ("praised the man as ..."), agreeing with τὸν ἄνδρα, and taking the phrase τὰ κράτιστα τῷ κοινῷ ("the best things for the public interest") from the end of the previous section (§7.25.1) as its object. Though separated by the section division, it is syntactically connected with the main verb ἐπῄνουν.
  2. 7.25.2περιεῖναι τῶν ταπεινοτέρων — The verb περίειμι ("to excel," "to prevail over") governs the genitive of comparison τῶν ταπεινοτέρων ("their inferiors"). It is accompanied by the datives of means τοῖς βιαίοις ("by violence") and τοῖς εὐγνώμοσι ("by reasonable means").
  3. 7.25.3εἰ μὴ κωλύσειαν — A conditional clause in indirect discourse introduced by the historical main verb ἔλεγον ("they said"). The future conditional in direct discourse ("if you do not prevent," originally ἐὰν μὴ κωλύσητε or εἰ μὴ κωλύσετε) has been changed into the optative (optative of indirect discourse) due to the past tense of the main verb.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §7.25.1-7.25.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.25.1-7.25.4

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