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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §7.9.1-7.9.5

Aristodemus's Oppression of Youth and Final Ruin

Passage 511 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Aristodemus banished the male descendants of the slain citizens to the countryside to work as slaves, and established an effeminate system of education for the youth remaining in the city to prevent rebellion, before eventually meeting his ruin.

§7.9.1γενεὰν δὲ τῶν πεφονευμένων τὴν ἄρρενα κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἐν οὐθενὶ λόγῳ ποιησάμενος, ὕστερον εἴτʼ ἐκ θεοπροπίου τινὸς εἴτε καὶ κατὰ τὸν εἰκότα λογισμὸν οὐ μικρὸν αὐτῷ δέος ὑποτρέφεσθαι νομίσας ἐπεχείρησε §7.9.2μὲν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ πᾶσαν ἀπολέσαι·
Although at first he made no account of the male offspring of the slain, later, whether because of some oracle or also from reasonable calculation, thinking that no small fear was being nurtured for him, he attempted to destroy them all in a single day.
δεήσει δὲ πολλῇ χρησαμένων ἁπάντων, παρʼ οἷς ἔτυχον αἵ τε μητέρες αὐτῶν οὖσαι καὶ οἱ παῖδες τρεφόμενοι, χαρίσασθαι βουλόμενος αὐτοῖς καὶ ταύτην τὴν δωρεὰν θανάτου μὲν ἀπολύει παρὰ γνώμην, φυλακὴν δὲ ποιούμενος αὐτῶν, μή τι συστάντες μετʼ ἀλλήλων βουλεύσωσι κατὰ τῆς τυραννίδος, ἀπιέναι πάντας ἐκέλευσεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἄλλον ἄλλῃ καὶ δίαιταν ἔχειν ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς μηθενὸς τῶν προσηκόντων ἐλευθέροις παισὶ μήτʼ ἐπιτηδεύματος μήτε μαθήματος μεταλαμβάνοντας, ἀλλὰ ποιμαίνοντάς τε καὶ τἆλλα τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἀγροὺς ἔργα πράττοντας, θάνατον ἀπειλήσας, εἴ τις ἐξ αὐτῶν εὑρεθείη §7.9.3παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν πόλιν.
But since all those with whom their mothers happened to be and the children were being brought up made great entreaty, wishing to grant them also this favor, he released them from death against his own judgment; but keeping a guard over them lest they should combine with one another and plot against the tyranny, he ordered them all to depart from the city, one to one place and another to another, and to lead their lives in the country, participating in no pursuit or study suitable for free-born children, but feeding flocks and performing the other tasks in the fields, having threatened them with death if any of them should be found having entered the city.
οἱ δὲ καταλιπόντες τὰς πατρῴας ἑστίας ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς ὥσπερ δοῦλοι διετρέφοντο τοῖς ἀποκτείνασι τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν λατρεύοντες.
And they, leaving their ancestral hearths, were supported in the country like slaves, serving those who had killed their fathers.
ἵνα δὲ μηδὲ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν ἐν μηθενὶ γένηται μήτε γενναῖον μήτʼ ἀνδρῶδες φρόνημα, πᾶσαν ἐκθηλῦναι ταῖς ἀγωγαῖς τὴν ἐπιτρεφομένην νεότητα τῆς πόλεως ἐπεβάλετο ἀνελὼν μὲν τὰ γυμνάσια καὶ τὰς ἐνοπλίους μελἔτας, ἀλλάξας δὲ τὴν δίαιταν, ᾗ πρότερον οἱ παῖδες ἐχρῶντο.
And in order that no noble or manly spirit should arise in any of the other citizens, he undertook to effeminate all the youth of the city who were being brought up, by means of their education, having abolished the gymnasia and military exercises, and having changed the mode of life which the boys had formerly used.
§7.9.4κομᾶν τε γὰρ τοὺς ἄρρενας ὥσπερ τὰς παρθένους ἐκέλευσεν ἐξανθιζομένους καὶ βοστρυχιζομένους καὶ κεκρυφάλοις τὰς πλοκαμίδας ἀναδοῦντας ἐνδύεσθαί τε ποικίλους καὶ ποδήρεις χιτωνίσκους, καὶ χλανιδίοις ἀμπέχεσθαι λεπτοῖς καὶ μαλακοῖς, καὶ δίαιταν ἔχειν ὑπὸ σκιαῖς·
For he ordered the males to let their hair grow long like girls, dyeing it yellow, curling it, and binding their tresses with hairnets, and to wear variegated tunics reaching to their feet, and to wrap themselves in thin and soft cloaks, and to lead their lives in the shade.
ἠκολούθουν τʼ αὐτοῖς εἰς τὰ διδασκαλεῖα τῶν ὀρχηστῶν καὶ αὐλητῶν καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων τούτοις μουσοκολάκων παραπορευόμεναι παιδαγωγοὶ γυναῖκες σκιάδεια καὶ ῥιπίδας κομίζουσαι, καὶ ἔλουον αὐτοὺς αὗται κτένας εἰς τὰ βαλανεῖα φέρουσαι καὶ μύρων ἀλαβάστρους καὶ κάτοπτρα.
And female pedagogues accompanied them to the schools of dancers, flute-players, and similar flatterers of the Muses, carrying parasols and fans; and these women used to bathe them, carrying to the baths combs, alabaster flasks of perfumes, and mirrors.
§7.9.5τοιαύτῃ διαφθείρων ἀγωγῇ τοὺς παῖδας, ἕως ἐκπληρώσωσιν εἰκοστὸν ἔτος, τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦδε χρόνον εἰς ἄνδρας εἴα τελεῖν.
Corrupting the boys with such an education until they should complete their twentieth year, only after this time did he permit them to be reckoned among men.
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα Κυμαίοις ἐνυβρίσας καὶ λωβησάμενος καὶ οὔτʼ ἀσελγείας οὔτʼ ὠμότητος οὐδεμιᾶς ἀποσχόμενος, ὅτʼ ἀσφαλῶς κατέχειν ὑπελάμβανε τὴν τυραννίδα, γηραιὸς ὢν ἤδη δίκας ἔτισεν οὐ μεμπτὰς θεοῖς τε καὶ ἀνθρώποις πρόρριζος ἀπολόμενος.
Having committed many other outrages and injuries against the Cumaeans, and having refrained from no wantonness or cruelty, when he supposed that he held the tyranny securely, being already an old man, he paid a penalty not to be complained of to both gods and men, perishing root and branch.

Notes

  1. 1331γενεὰν δὲ τῶν πεφονευμένων τὴν ἄρρενα ... ἐπεχείρησε ... ἀπολέσαι — The accusative phrase at the beginning, `γενεὰν δὲ τῶν πεφονευμένων τὴν ἄρρενα`, is the direct object of the infinitive `ἀπολέσαι` in the next section (§7.9.2), which depends on the main verb `ἐπεχείρησε` at the end of §7.9.1. The insertion of long participial clauses (`ποιησάμενος`, `νομίσας`) and other phrases creates a highly extended hyperbaton.
  2. 7.9.2ἔτυχον αἵ τε μητέρες αὐτῶν οὖσαι καὶ οἱ παῖδες τρεφόμενοι — The verb `τυγχάνω` (here in the imperfect `ἔτυχον`) is used with nominative participles (`οὖσαι`, `τρεφόμενοι`) to express a coincidental or actual state ('happened to be', 'actually were').
  3. p.v.3p.15εἰ τις ἐξ αὐτῶν εὑρεθείη ... παρελθών — The optative `εὑρεθείη` in the conditional clause with `εἰ` represents a future-less-vivid condition shifted into the past (oblique optative) due to the main verb being in a past tense (`ἐκέλευσεν`). Additionally, the passive verb `εὑρίσκω` ('to be found') takes the nominative participle `παρελθών` to mean 'found to have entered' or 'found entering'.
  4. 1333εἰς ἄνδρας εἴα τελεῖν — When the verb `τελέω` is followed by the preposition `εἰς`, it means 'to be reckoned or registered among (a class or group)'. Here it means 'he permitted them to be registered among men' (i.e., to be recognized socially as adult men).

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §7.9.1-7.9.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.9.1-7.9.5

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