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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §9.36.1-9.36.3

Truce with Veii under Manlius and the Census

Passage 705 of 962 · Greek

Summary

The succeeding consul Manlius besieged Veii, forcing the desperate inhabitants to agree to a forty years' truce. Manlius received a minor triumph on foot, and a census was conducted during their term of office.

§9.36.1οἱ δὲ διαδεξάμενοι τούτους ὕπατοι Αὖλος Μάλλιος καὶ Λεύκιος Φούριος, ψηφισαμένης τῆς βουλῆς τὸν ἕτερον αὐτῶν στρατιὰν ἐπὶ Οὐιεντανοὺς ἄγειν, ἐκληρώσαντο περὶ τῆς ἐξόδου, καθάπερ αὐτοῖς ἔθος ἦν.
And the consuls who succeeded them, Aulus Manlius and Lucius Furius, when the senate voted that one of them should lead an army against the Veientes, cast lots for the departure, as was their custom.
καὶ λαχὼν Μάλλιος ἐξῆγε τὰς δυνάμεις διὰ ταχέων, καὶ πλησίον τῶν πολεμίων κατεστρατοπέδευσεν.
And Manlius, having won the lot, led out his forces quickly and encamped near the enemy.
οἱ δὲ Οὐιεντανοὶ τειχήρεις γενόμενοι τέως μὲν ἀντεῖχον καὶ διεπρεσβεύοντο πρός τε τὰς ἄλλας τὰς ἐν Τυρρηνοῖς πόλεις καὶ πρὸς τοὺς νεωστὶ συμμαχήσαντας αὐτοῖς Σαβίνους, βοήθειαν ἀξιοῦντες ἀποστεῖλαι σφίσι διὰ §9.36.2ταχέων.
The Veientes, shutting themselves within their walls, for a time held out and kept sending embassies to the other cities of Etruria and to the Sabines who had recently made an alliance with them, demanding that they send assistance to them quickly.
ὡς δʼ ἁπάντων ἀπετύγχανον καὶ τὰς τροφὰς ἀπαναλώκεσαν, ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης βιασθέντες ἐξῆλθον ὡς τὸν ὕπατον, ἱκετηρίας φέροντες οἱ πρεσβύτατοί τʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τιμιώτατοι, περὶ καταλύσεως δεόμενοι τοῦ πολέμου.
But when they failed in all their attempts and had consumed their provisions, forced by necessity, the oldest and most honored of them went out to the consul, carrying suppliant branches and begging for the termination of the war.
τοῦ δὲ Μαλλίου κελεύσαντος αὐτοῖς ἀργύριόν τʼ εἰς ὀψωνιασμὸν ἐνιαυτοῦ τῇ στρατιᾷ καὶ διμήνου τροφὰς ἀποφέρειν, ὅταν δὲ ταῦτα ποιήσωσιν εἰς Ῥώμην ἀποστέλλειν τοὺς διαλεξομένους τῇ βουλῇ περὶ τῶν διαλύσεων, ἐπαινέσαντες ταῦτα καὶ διὰ ταχέων τό τʼ ὀψώνιον τῇ στρατιᾷ καὶ τὸ ἀντὶ τοῦ σίτου συγχωρηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Μαλλίου κατενέγκαντες ἀργύριον ἧκον εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην· καὶ καταστάντες ἐπὶ τὴν βουλὴν συγγνώμης ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγονόσι τυχεῖν ἠξίουν, καὶ εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἀπαλλαγῆς τοῦ πολέμου.
When Manlius ordered them to bring money for a year's pay for the army and provisions for two months, and when they had done this, to send deputies to Rome to treat with the senate concerning the peace, they accepted these terms, and having quickly brought both the pay for the army and the money agreed upon by Manlius in place of the corn, they came to Rome; and appearing before the senate, they begged to obtain pardon for what had passed and to be released from the war for the future.
§9.36.3πολλῶν δὲ λεχθέντων εἰς ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη λόγων ἐνίκησεν ἡ σπένδεσθαι παραινοῦσα τὸν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πόλεμον γνώμη, γίνονταί τʼ ἀνοχαὶ τοῦ πολέμου πρὸς αὐτοὺς τεσσαρακονταετεῖς.
And after many arguments had been delivered on both sides, the opinion advising to make peace in the war against them prevailed, and a forty years' truce of the war was made with them.
καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπῄεσαν πολλὰς τῇ πόλει τῆς εἰρήνης χάριτας εἰδότες, ὁ δὲ Μάλλιος ἀφικόμενος εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἐπὶ τῇ καταλύσει τοῦ πολέμου τὸν πεζὸν θρίαμβον αἰτησάμενος, ἔλαβεν.
And they departed, feeling great gratitude to the city for the peace; while Manlius, having arrived in the city, asked for a minor triumph on foot for the termination of the war and received it.
ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ τίμησις ἐπὶ τῆς τούτων ἀρχῆς, καὶ ἦσαν οἱ τιμησάμενοι πολῖται σφᾶς τʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ χρήματα καὶ τοὺς ἐν ἥβῃ παῖδας ὀλίγῳ πλείους τρισχιλίων τε καὶ δέκα μυριάδων.
And a census was also taken during their magistracy, and the citizens who registered themselves, their property, and their children of military age were a little more than a hundred and three thousand.

Notes

  1. 1843τοῦ δὲ Μαλλίου κελεύσαντος αὐτοῖς — Genitive absolute construction (τοῦ δὲ Μαλλίου κελεύσαντος) expressing the command of the consul prior to or attendant upon the main action. The content of the command is specified by the following infinitives (ἀποφέρειν... ἀποστέλλειν).
  2. 1843τὸ ἀντὶ τοῦ σίτου συγχωρηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Μαλλίου κατενέγκαντες ἀργύριον — A complex hyperbaton where the prepositional phrase ἀντὶ τοῦ σίτου, the passive participle συγχωρηθὲν, and the agent phrase ὑπὸ τοῦ Μαλλίου are nested between the article τὸ and its noun ἀργύριον, meaning 'the money agreed upon by Manlius in place of the corn.'
  3. 1844οἱ τιμησάμενοι πολῖται — The usage of the middle participle τιμησάμενοι. In the context of a census (τίμησις), it expresses the self-registration of the citizens ('themselves', σφᾶς τʼ αὐτοὺς). While the active voice refers to the censors conducting the assessment, the middle voice represents the citizens declaring their own status.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §9.36.1-9.36.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.36.1-9.36.3

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