Halicarnassus The Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Illustrated

Roman Antiquities, On Literary Composition and others
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-0-88001-127-3
Verlag: Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 1981 Seiten

Dionysius of Halicarnassus taught rhetoric in Rome while studying the Latin language, collecting material for a history of Rome, and writing. His Roman Antiquities began to appear in 7 BCE. Dionysius states that his objects in writing history were to please lovers of noble deeds and to repay the benefits he had enjoyed in Rome. Dionysius studied the best available literary sources (mainly annalistic and other historians) and possibly some public documents. His work and that of Livy are our only continuous and detailed independent narratives of early Roman history. Dionysius was author also of essays on literature covering rhetoric, Greek oratory, Thucydides, and how to imitate the best models in literature. Contents: ROMAN ANTIQUITIES ON LITERARY COMPOSITION: (Including Terms of Rhetoric, Grammar, Prosody, Music, Phonetics, and Literary Criticism) ILLUSTRATIONS OF WORD-ORDER IN GREEK AND MODERN LANGUAGES GREEK PRONUNCIATION: SCHEME OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION THE THREE LITERARY LETTERS

Dionysius of Halicarnassus taught rhetoric in Rome while studying the Latin language, collecting material for a history of Rome, and writing.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Halicarnassus, Dionysius Of

Weitere Mitwirkende

Cary, Earnest

Roberts, W. Rhys

Leseproben

BOOK II

[1.1] The city of Rome is situated in the western part of Italy near the river Tiber, which empties into the Tyrrhenian sea about midway along the coast; from the sea the city is distant one hundred and twenty stades. Its first known occupants were certain barbarians, natives of the country, called Sicels, who also occupied many other parts of Italy and of whom not a few distinct memorials are left even to our times; among other things there are even some names of places said to be Sicel names, which show that this people formerly dwelt in the land. [2] They were driven out by the Aborigines, who occupied the place in their turn; these were descendants of the Oenotrians who inhabited the seacoast from Tarentum to Posidonia. They were a band of holy youths consecrated to the gods according to their local custom and sent out by their parents, it is said, to inhabit the country which Heaven should give them. The Oenotrians were an Arcadian tribe who had of their own accord left the country then called Lycaonia and now Arcadia, in search of a better land, under the leadership of Oenotrus, the son of Lycaon, from whom the nation received its name. [3] While the Aborigines occupied this region the first who joined with them in their settlement were the Pelasgians, a wandering people who came from the country then called Haemonia and now Thessaly, where they had lived for some time. After the Pelasgians came the Arcadians from the city of Pallantium, who had chosen as leader of their colony Evander, the son of Hermes and the nymph Themis. These built a town beside one of the seven hills that stands near the middle of Rome, calling the place Pallantium, from their mother-city in Arcadia. [4] Not long afterwards, when Hercules came into Italy on his return home with his army from Erytheia, a certain part of his force, consisting of Greeks, remained behind be settled near Pallantium, beside another of the hills that are now inclosed within the city. This was then called by the inhabitants Saturnian hill, but is now called the Capitoline hill by the Romans. The greater part of these men were Epeans who had abandoned their city in Elis after their country had been laid waste by Hercules.

[2.1] In the sixteenth generation after the Trojan war the Albans united both these places into one settlement, surrounding them with a wall and a ditch. For until then there were only folds for cattle and sheep and quarters of the other herdsmen, as the land round about yielded plenty of grass, not only for winter but also for summer pasture, by reason of the rivers that refresh and water it. [2] The Albans were a mixed nation composed of Pelasgians, of Arcadians, of the Epeans who came from Elis, and, last of all, of the Trojans who came into Italy with Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphroditê, after the taking of Troy. It is probable that a barbarian element also from among the neighbouring peoples or a remnant of the ancient inhabitants of the place was mixed with the Greek. But all these people, having lost their tribal designations, came to be called by one common name, Latins, after Latinus, who had been king of this country. [3] The walled city, then, was built by these tribes in the four hundred and thirty-second year after the taking of Troy, and in the seventh Olympiad. The leaders of the colony were twin brothers of the royal family, Romulus being the name of one and Remus of the other. On the mother’s side they were descended from Aeneas and were Dardanidae; it is hard to say with certainty who their father was, but the Romans believe them to have been the sons of Mars. [4] However, they did not both continue to be leaders of the colony, since they quarrelled over the command; but after one of them had been slain in the battle that ensued, Romulus, who survived, became the founder of the city and called it after his own name. The great numbers of which the colony had originally consisted when sent out with him were now reduced to a few, the survivors amounting to three thousand foot and three hundred horse.

[3.1] When, therefore, the ditch was finished, the rampart completed and the necessary work on the houses done, and the situation required that they should consider also what form of government they were going to have, Romulus called an assembly of the people by the advice of his grandfather, who had instructed him what to say, and told them that the city, considering that it was newly built, was sufficiently adorned both with public and private buildings; but he asked them all to bear in mind that these were not the most valuable things in cities. [2] For neither in foreign wars, he said, are deep ditches and high ramparts sufficient to give the inhabitants an undisturbed assurance of their safety, but guarantee one thing only, namely, that they shall suffer no harm through being surprised by an incursion of the enemy; nor, again, when civil commotions afflict the State, do private houses and dwellings afford anyone a safe retreat. [3] For these have been contrived by men for the enjoyment of leisure and tranquillity in their lives, and with them neither those of their neighbours who plot against them are prevented from doing mischief nor do those who are plotted against feel any confidence that they are free from danger; and no city that has gained splendour from these adornments only has ever yet become prosperous and great for a long period, nor, again, has any city from a want of magnificence either in public or in private buildings ever been hindered from becoming great and prosperous. But it is other things that preserve cities and make them great from small beginnings: [4] in foreign wars, strength in arms, which is acquired by courage and exercise; and in civil commotions, unanimity among the citizens, and this, he showed, could be most effectually achieved for the commonwealth by the prudent and just life of each citizen. [5] Those who practise warlike exercises and at the same time are masters of their passions are the greatest ornaments to their country, and these are the men who provide both the commonwealth with impregnable walls and themselves in their private lives with safe refuges; but men of bravery, justice and the other virtues are the result of the form of government when this has been established wisely, and, on the other hand, men who are cowardly, rapacious and the slaves of base passions are the product of evil institutions. [6] He added that he was informed by men who were older and had wide acquaintance with history that of many large colonies planted in fruitful regions some had been immediately destroyed by falling into seditions, and others, after holding out for a short time, had been forced to become subject to their neighbours and to exchange their more fruitful country for a worse fortune, becoming slaves instead of free men; while others, few in numbers and settling in places that were by no means desirable, had continued, in the first place, to be free themselves, and, in the second place, to command others; and neither the successes of the smaller colonies nor the misfortunes of those that were large were due to any other cause than their form of government. [7] If, therefore, there had been but one mode of life among all mankind which made cities prosperous, the choosing of it would not have been difficult for them; but, as it was, he understood there were many types of government among both the Greeks and barbarians, and out of all of them he heard three especially commended by those who had lived under them, and of these systems none was perfect, but each had some fatal defects inherent in it, so that the choice among them was difficult. He therefore asked them to deliberate at leisure and say whether they would be governed by one man or by a few, or whether they would establish laws and entrust the protection of the public interests to the whole body of the people. [8] “And whichever form of government you establish,” he said, “I am ready to comply with your desire, for I neither consider myself unworthy to command nor refuse to obey. So far as honours are concerned, I am satisfied with those you have conferred on me, first, by appointing me leader of the colony, and, again, by giving my name to the city. For of these neither a foreign war nor civil dissension nor time, that destroyer of all that is excellent, nor any other stroke of hostile fortune can deprive me; but both in life and in death these honours will be mine to enjoy for all time to come.”

[4] Such was the speech that Romulus, following the instructions of his grandfather, as I have said, made to the people. And they, having consulted together by themselves, returned this answer: “We have no need of a new form of government and we are not going to change the one which our ancestors approved of as the best and handed down to us. In this we show both a deference for the judgment of our elders, whose superior wisdom we recognize in establishing it, and our own satisfaction with our present condition. For we could not reasonably complain of this form of government, which has afforded us under our kings the greatest of human blessings — liberty and the rule over others. [2] Concerning the form of government, then, this is our decision; and to this honour we conceive none has so good a title as you yourself by reason both of your royal birth and of your merit, but above all because we have had you as the leader of our colony and recognize in you great ability and great wisdom, which we have seen displayed quite as much in your actions as in your words.” Romulus, hearing this, said it was a great satisfaction to him to be judged worthy of the kingly office by his fellow men, but that he would not accept the honour until Heaven, too, had given its sanction by favourable omens.

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