Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §7.43.1-7.43.2

Decius on the Sacred Oaths and Plebeian Struggle

Passage 545 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Decius emphasizes that the reconciliation between the plebeians and patricians is guaranteed by the gods through oaths, and asserts the justice of their struggle by asking how the senate would have reacted if a plebeian had insulted the patricians as Marcius did.

§7.43.1ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ δοκεῖτε, ὦ βουλή, περὶ μὲν τὰς διαλύσεις γνώμῃ τῇ βελτίστῃ κεχρῆσθαι. . . οἷς ἀνάγκη εἴκειν. . . τοῦ βέβαια τηρεῖν τὰ συγκείμενα.

For to me, O senate, you indeed seem to have used the best judgment in the reconciliation... which things it is necessary to yield to... of keeping the agreements firm.

θεοὺς γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐγγυητὰς ἐδώκατε τῶν ὁμολογιῶν, πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ ἐπαρασάμενοι τοῖς παραβᾶσι τὰς συνθήκας αὐτοῖς τε καὶ ἐγγόνοις εἰς τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον.

For you gave us the gods as guarantors of the agreements, having called down many terrible curses upon those who violate the treaties, both upon themselves and upon their descendants for all time.

ἀλλʼ ὅτι μὲν δὴ τά τε δίκαια ἀξιοῦμεν καὶ τὰ συμφέροντα, ἃ καὶ πολλὴ ἀνάγκη ποιεῖν ὑμᾶς μεμνημένους τῶν ὅρκων, ὡς πρὸς εἰδότας ἅπαντας οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅ τι δεῖ πλείω λέγοντα ἐνοχλεῖν.

But that we indeed demand what is both just and advantageous, which things there is also a great necessity for you to do, remembering your oaths, since you all know this, I do not know why I need to trouble you by saying more.

§7.43.2ὡς δʼ οὐ μικρὰ τὰ διαφέροντα ἡμῖν ἐστι τόνδε μὴ ἐκλιπεῖν τὸν ἀγῶνα μήτε βίᾳ εἴξαντας μήτʼ ἀπάτῃ παραχθέντας, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πολλὴν ἀνάγκην εἰς αὐτὸν ἀφίγμεθα, δεινὰ καὶ πέρα δεινῶν πεπονθότες ὑπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ ἀνδρός, μάθετε, ὦ πατέρες, μᾶλλον δʼ ἀναμνήσθητε· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὅ τι οὐ πρὸς εἰδότας ὑμᾶς ἅπαντας ἐρῶ·

And how it is of no small importance to us not to abandon this struggle, neither yielding to force nor being led astray by deceit, but we have come to it under great necessity, having suffered terrible things and beyond terrible things at the hands of this man, learn, O fathers, or rather, remember; for there is nothing that I shall say which is not to you who all know it.

καὶ ἅμα γνώμῃ χρήσασθε οἰκείᾳ πρὸς τὰ λεγόμενα ἐνθυμηθέντες, εἰ ἡμῶν ἐπεχείρησέ τις ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἢ πράττειν καθʼ ὑμῶν, οἷα Μάρκιος ἐτόλμησεν ἐνθάδε εἰπεῖν, ποῖόν ποτʼ ἂν ὑμῖν παρέστη πρὸς αὐτὸν πάθος.

And at the same time, bring your own judgment to bear on what is said, considering, if any of us had attempted to say or do such things against you in the assembly of the people as Marcius dared to say here, what kind of feeling would have arisen in you towards him.

Notes

1405τοῦ βέβαια τηρεῖν — A passage containing a lacuna. The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ... τηρεῖν probably depended on a noun or preposition (such as ἕνεκα expressing purpose) in the lost portion, or functioned as a genitive of purpose.
1406ὡς δʼ οὐ μικρὰ τὰ διαφέροντα — ὡς introduces an indirect question ("how..."). τὰ διαφέροντα ἡμῖν is the neuter plural participle of the impersonal verb διαφέρει used substantively, meaning "things of importance/interest to us." The entire clause functions as the object of the main verb μάθετε ("learn").
p.v.3p.65εἰ ἡμῶν ἐπεχείρησέ τις ... ἂν ... παρέστη — A counterfactual condition referring to the past. The past indicative in the protasis (ἐπεχείρησε) combined with ἂν and the past indicative in the apodosis (ἂν ... παρέστη) expresses the hypothetical scenario: "if any of us had attempted... what kind of feeling would have arisen."

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §7.43.1-7.43.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.43.1-7.43.2

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