τά ματαία

Month: November 2012

  • Chronicles From the City Founding of Livius Titus, Book I

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    Chapter 59

    Brutus, since those men were taken up with their mourning, holding before himself the blade, dripping with gore, drawn out from Lucretia’s wound says, “By this blood most chaste, prior to the royal injustice, I swear, and you the gods I make witnesses, that I shall pursue hence L. Tarquinius Superbus with his criminal wife and all his branches of his children with iron, with fire, wherever I am able, and I shall not allow those nor anyone else to rule at Rome.” He then handed over the blade to Collatinus, and then Lucretius and Valerius, stunned by the wonder of this thing, whence this new nature in the breast of Brutus. As he had instructed, they swore. And all, turned from mourning to anger, now took Brutus as leader, calling on them to storm the throne.

    The body of Lucretia was taken from the house and borne away to the forum, and men gathered due to the wonder of the matter, as happens, the novelty and also the outrage. Each for himself bewailed the royal crime and violence. The grief of her father stirred them, but so did Brutus, castigating tears and useless lamentation, and promoting what for men, what for Romans is decorous, taking up arms against those who dare hostilities. Each most ferocious of the youth was there with arms as a volunteer ; and the remaining youth followed. Thence, leaving the father behind as guardian of Collatia, and posting guards at the gates, so that no-one would announce this movement to the royals, the remaining armed men set out for Rome, Brutus at the lead. When it got there, wherever the armed multitude advanced, it left panic and uproar ; again when they see the leading men of the state going before it, whatever it is, they reckon it is scarcely happenstance. And the atrocious affair made no less stir of the spirits at Rome than it had made at Collatia ; therefore it was run into the forum from all places of the city. It got there at the same time that a herald summoned the people to the tribune of the Celeres, in that magistracy, by chance, Brutus had held. There, an oratory was held that was by no means of heart and nature which had been pretended to that day, concerning the violence and lust of Sex. Tarquinius, concerning the unspeakable defilement of Lucretia and her miserable death, concerning the bereavement of Tricipitinus, for whom the reason for the death of the girl was more miserable and outrageous than the death itself. He added the arrogance of the king himself and the miseries and the labours of the plebs in the ditches and sent underground to drain the sewers ; that the Roman men, conquerors of all the peoples around, had been made into workers and stone-cutters instead of warriors. The disgraceful slaughter of Ser. Tullius was called to mind and the daughter conveyed in a heinous carriage over body of her father, and the avenging gods of parents were invoked. With these deeds called to mind and others more atrocious, I believe, which the present outrage of the matters suggests—by no means easy for writers to relate—he drove the incensed multitude to abrogate the imperium of the king and order that L. Tarquinius with his spouse and children be made exiles. He himself, once the junior men who gave their names of their own accord were collected and armed, set out for Ardean, to the camp, to whip up the army there against the king : He relinquished command in the city to Lucretio, a prefect of the city instituted by the king beforehand. During this tumult, Tullia fled from her home with curses on her wherever she went and invocations by men and women of the avenging furies of parents.

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  • Chronicles From the City Founding of Livius Titus, Book I

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    Chapter 57

    The siege of Ardea ; and a contest of womanly virtue.

    The Rutuli held Ardea, a tribe, as in that region and in that time, very powerful with riches ; and those very riches were the cause of war, because the Roman king was zealous not only to enrich himself, impoverished by the magnificence of public works, but also to soothe the spirits of the people with spoils, for in addition to his arrogance otherwise, they were also hostile because they were indignant that they were held for so long in offices of workmen and in such servitude for work from the king. The thing was attempted, if Ardea could be taken by the first assault ; when it proceeded too little, he began to press the enemies with siege and siege-works. In these stationary positions, as happens during war more long than bitter, furloughs were quite liberal, moreso for the leading men than for the soldiers; even the royal youth whiled their leisure with banquets and carousal among themselves. By chance while drinking with Sex. Tarquinium, when Collatinus and Tarquinius, son of Egerius, were eating, mention arose about their wives. Each praised his own in marvelous ways ; and so with the contest ablaze, Collatinus denied that there was any need for words ; that in just a few hours it they could see just how much his Lucretia surpassed the others. “For, if there is any vigour of youth in us, why not mount our horses and go see the present nature of our ladies? Let this be the decisive test for each, what meets his eyes when the advent of her husband is not imagined.” They had grown hot with wine ; All cried, “Go! Fare well!” ; They flew to Rome at full gallop. There they arrived with the first deepening shadows, they hastened thence for Collatia, where Lucretia by no means like the royal daughter-in-laws, whom they saw whiling their time in banquets and luxury with her friends, but rather, although late at night, they found her sitting at the center of the house amidst her handmaidens working by lamplight, devoted to spinning. The praise for the contest of womanly virtues went to Lucretia. Her husband and the Tarquins arriving, they were kindly received ; the victorious husband courteously entertains the royal youths. There, a wicked lust to debauch Lucretia by force takes hold of Sex. Tarquinius ; both her form and her proven chastity incites him. And then indeed they return to the camp from their nocturnal juvenile sport.

    Chapter 58

    The foul deed of Sextus Tarquinius.

    After a few days passed, Sex. Tarquinius, unbeknownst to Collatinus, came with a single companion to Collatia. There, received kindly by those ignorant of his intent, after he was conducted to a guest room following a meal, ardent with love, after everything seemed sufficiently safe and all around were sleeping, with his sword drawn he came to the slumbering Lucretia, and with his left hand pressed against the breast of the woman, he said, “Quiet, Lucretia! I am Sex. Tarquinius ; there is iron in my hand ; you will die if you utter a word.” When the woman, alarmed from sleep, saw no help, nigh imminent death, then Tarquinius confessed love, begged, mingled threats with entreaties, to turn in any way the womanly mind. When she seemed obdurate, and would not even yield to fear of death he adds dishonour to fear : once dead, he says, he will place a naked slave, his throat slit, so she would be said to have been killed for sordid adultery. With this terror he had conquered her obdurate chastity as if his lust were a victor <by force>, and Tarquinius, exultant at the womanly virtue assaulted, departed thence, Lucretia, grieved by an evil so great, sent the same message to Rome for her father and to Ardea for her husband, that they come with a single, loyal friend, that there was need for deed and for prompt action ; they encountered the atrocious affair. Sp. Lucretius came with P. Valerius son of Volesus, and Collatinus with L. Iunius Brutus, with whom by chance he had met when returning to Rome due to the message from his wife. They found Lucretia sitting in her bedroom grieving. With the arrival of her kin, tears welled up, and when her husband asked, “Are you not well?” she says, “Not in the least. For what is well when a woman’s chastity is lost? The tracks of a foreign man, Collatinus, are in your bed ; the rest of my body is much violated, my spirit innocent ; death will be my witness. But give your right hands and your oath that there will be scarce impunity for the adulterer. It is Sex. Tarquinius who, trading hostility for the hospitality of the prior night, armed with force pestilential to me and to him, if you are men, he stole away joy from here.” All give their oath in turn ; they console the affliction of her spirit by turning away the offence from the compelled to the author of the trespass : the mind sins, not the body, where intent had been absent blame was absent. “You,” she says, “have seen what is owed to him ; I, although I absolve myself of blame, am not liberated from punishment ; nor afterward shall any unchaste woman live by the example of Lucretia.” A blade, which she had hidden beneath her garment, this she plunges into her heart, and she slipped forward into the wound, dying, and fell. Her husband and father lament.

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  • Thucydides’ History, Book 6

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    I’m a bad student, and I missed the class for Chapters 41 and 42.

    Chapter 43

    After this, the Athenians, with a great deal of preparation, having already set out from Corcyra were crossing over against Sicily, with thirty and four and a hundred triremes in all, and two Rhodian fifty-oared ships (of these, a hundred were Atticans, of which sixty were swift-ships, the others troop-transport ships, and the rest the naval power of Chios and the other allies), a hundred and five-thousand hoplites in all (and of the Athenians five-hundred and a thousand were from their rolls, seven-hundred were bonded ship-board soldiers of the ships, and others the allies who joined in the expedition, some of them subjects, but of Argives, five-hundred and of Mantineans and mercenaries, fifty and two-hundred), eighty and four-hundred archers in all (and of these, the eighty were Cretans), and seven-hundred slingers from Rhodes, and twenty and a hundred lightly-armed Megaran fugitives, and one cavalry transport ship bringing thirty knights.

    Chapter 44

    Thus did the first preparation for the war sail through. At hand leading these were thirty merchantmen bearing corn, and they bore millers and stone-masons and carpenters and as many tools as for building walls, a hundred ships, which by necessity sailed together with the merchantmen ; and many, both other ships and merchantmen voluntarily followed with the army for the sake of mercantile interest ; all of which then sailed together from Corcyra across the Ionian bay. And the entire preparation having made land, made for the Iapygian promontory and for Tarentum, and howsoever each found their way, they sailed alongside Italy, where the cities welcomed them neither at the agora nor at the town, but for water and anchorage, but Tarentum and Lokros not even these, until they arrived at Rhegion, the promontory of Italy. And there they now mustered, again outside of the city, as they were not welcomed within, and they constructed an encampment at a temple of Artemis, where there was also an agora for them, and once they hauled up the ships they were at rest. And they made conference with the Rhegians, expecting them to help Leontinoi, being Chalcideans for Chalcideans ; but they said they were not with the others, but rather that they would do whatever also seemed good to the other Italians. Concerning affairs in Sicily, they were examining which way they would be best brought to bear ; and all the while they were waiting for the ships sent ahead from Egesta, since wished to see about the wealth, whether it was what the messengers said in Athens.

    Chapter 45

    To the Syracusians, in this way, from many sources but especially from scouts, it was clearly announced that in Rhegion there were ships, and thus they made preparations against them in all expectation and no longer disbelieved. And they were sending ’round to the Sikels, guards from there to some, and to others ambassadors, and they brought in guards for the forts in the countryside, and they also inspected the matters in the city by close examination of the weapons and the horses, whether they were in good condition and everything else as swiftly as possible for war and whatever was not at hand, they were set up.

    Chapter 46

    The three ships from Egesta that had been sent ahead came to the Athenians at Rhegion, announcing among other things that the wealth they maintained was there, was not, and thirty talents alone were revealed. The generals fell immediately into despondancy, both because this had been a hindrance for them from the start and because the Rhegians were not willing to campaign with them, whom they first began to persuade and had been the most likely, being kinsmen of the Leontinoi and having always been at hand for themselves. But the situation with the Egestaioi was as Nikias expected, whereas by the other two it was most unreckoned. The Egestaioi there had contrived a thing with cunning at that time when the first ambassadors of the Athenians came to them to inspect the wealth. Leading them to the temple of Aphrodite in Eryx, they showed them the votive offerings, pans and carafes and censers and other fixtures, no small amount, which, since they were mostly silver, furnished from a small display a much greater spectacle of quantity of wealth [than there actually was] ; and lodging their guests from the triremes in private homes, having collected all the cups from Egesta itself, whether silver or gold, and also borrowing from nearby cities, both those of Hellenes and of the Phoenicians, they brought them in for the feasts, as if each home were thus. With everyone, for the most part, using these cups and  much on display everywhere, this produced great astonishment in the Athenians from the triremes, and when they arrived at Athens they spread the report that they saw a great deal of wealth. And those same men who had been deceived and had persuaded others, when the word came around that there was no wealth in Egesta, they received a lot of blame from the soldiers ; and the generals made plans for the present situation.

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  • Chronicles From the City Founding of Livius Titus, Book I

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    Chapter 54

    Sextus Tarquinius treacherously hands over Gabii to his father.

    Thenceforth, he was invited to public counsels. Then, when he said that he agreed with the long-standing Gabii concerning other matters, for whom these things were more familiar, he was himself repeatedly a promoter of war and he assumed special knowledge in this for himself, because he was acquainted with the strengths of both of the peoples, and he knew with certainty that the citizens hated the royal arrogance, which not even his children could bear . Thus, once he gradually incited the leading men of the Gabii to renew the war, after he himself with the most ready of the youth also went on expeditions for plundering and—because everything was said and done and marshalled for deceiving—he had nourished a hollow trust, he was appointed leader at the end of the war. Then when, with the multitude ignorant of what was done, there occurred a few bouts between the Romans and the Gabii, in most of which the Gabii interest was superior, the highest and the lowest of the Gabii enthusiastically believed that Sex. Tarquinius was a leader sent to them as a gift of the gods. Among the soldiers, by dutifully performing the dangers and the labors equally, by generously and lavishly bestowing the spoils he was in so much affection that Tarquinius the father was no more powerful in Rome than the son was in Gabi. And then when it seemed that he had gathered enough strength to try everything, he sent one of his own men to his father to question Rome, what he wished him to do, when indeed the gods had provided such that he alone had all the power in public sphere at Gabi. To this announcement, since—I believe—he seemed of dubious loyalty, he gave no voiced response ; the king, as if deliberating, crossed over to the garden of his house with the messenger of his son following him ; walking in there it is said that he struck off the heads of the highest poppies with his staff. The messenger, wearied by the interrogation and expectation of an answer, returned to Gabi, although the matter was unfinished ; he reported what he had himself said and what he saw ; whether by anger or hatred or by his innate inborn arrogance, he had uttered no word. But it was evident to Sextus what his parent wanted and what he instructed by that silent riddle, he destroyed some of the foremost men of the state by accusing them among the people, and others were themselves exposed by their own unpopularity. Many he killed openly, some certain men for whom an incrimination would have been less plausible, secretly. It was open to those who were willing to be made fugitives or put into exile, and the goods of the absent and of the destroyed equally were given to distribution. There were lavish bestowals from this and spoils ; and by the sweetness of private gain the sense public evils was diminished, until, with Gabi bereft of all counsel and aid, the state was handed over in hand to the Roman king without any fight.

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  • Thucydides’ History, Book 6

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    Chapter 40

    But surely, whether having learned better or having changed your mind, increase the common concern to everyone of the city, believing in this way that the good among you have an equal or better share share [the very thing the majority of the city do], and that if you wish it otherwise, you risk deprivation of the whole ; and these announcements, since they are for those who perceive this and do not yield, leave off from them. For the city here, even if the Athenians do come, will mount a defence against them worthy of her, and we have generals who will investigate these things ; and if indeed there is not any truth in these things—just as I believe there is not—she will not, as according to your announcements, by panicking and taking you as her leaders, cast herself into slavery of her own volition, but herself by herself, having investigated the arguments from you as if they have the power of deeds will judge them, and the present freedom will not be stripped away on the basis of hearsay, and from this in the deed, by taking precautions and not yielding, will attempt to preserve it.

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  • Thucydides’ History Book 2: The Funeral Oration

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    Chapter 46

    “As for words, I have spoken them according to custom as much as is fitting, and as for deeds, these men now buried have been adorned all this, and also that wherein the city shall rear their children henceforth at public expense until they are of age, having added this beneficial crown for these men here and for those who survived these contests ; for the greatest victory-prizes of virtue are laid by those for whom also the best men govern. And you who have lamented your sorrows for whom belongs to each, may now depart.” This is how the burial happened in that winter, and when it had passed, the first year of the war was over.

    Thus ends the funeral oration. 

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  • Chronicles From the City Founding of Livius Titus, Book I

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    Chapter 53

    War with the Volscians. Sextus Tarquinius, feigning to be a deserter, presents himself at Gabii.

    Nor, although the king was unjust in peace, was he yet a crooked leader of war ; moreover he could equal better kings in this art, except that his degeneracy in other respects would also eclipse that of the more decorous. He first stirred a war with the Volsci (which would last) for more than two-hundred years after his own age, and he took Suessa Pometia from them by force. There once he had made forty talents of silver by selling the spoils piecemeal, he conceived in his mind for the temple of Jupiter such grandeur, which would be worthy of the king of the gods and men, of the Roman imperium, and even of the majesty of that very place ; he set aside the captive money for the edifice of that temple.

    Thereafter he engaged in a war more tedious than his hope, in which he rose by force against Gabii, a neighbouring city, to no profit. When hope of blockading the city had been taken away from him as he besieged it, he finally advanced not so much by Roman skill as by fraud and deception. For when he pretended as if the war were set aside and that he was zealous for the foundations of the temple laid and other urban works, his son Sextus, who was the least of three, fled over to Gabii, according to plan, complaining bitterly about his father’s cruelty against him ; that now he had turned his pride from those of others to his own and that he wearied also the the large number of his children, such that what solitude he had made in the senate-house, he made also in his home, so that he would not leave behind either offspring nor an heir to the throne. That indeed amidst the spears and swords of his father, although he had slipped out, he believed nowhere safe for him except among the enemies of L. Tarquinius. For, let them not be mistaken, that war which he pretended had been set aside, when provided the opportunity, he intended to attack them off their guard. But if there was no place among them for supplicants, he would travel through all Latium, and from there he would seek the Volsci and the Aequi and the Hernici, until he got through to them, who would know (how) to protect children from the cruel and unusual punishments of a father. Perhaps he even might even find something of ardour for war and arms against the most arrogant king and most ferocious people. When, if they paid him no attention, he seemed about to depart onward, incensed with rage, he was kindly welcomed by the Gabinians : they forbid him to be amazed if, as with his citizens, as with his allies, he was at last such toward his children ; he would, in the end, show no mercy to himself if all else failed him. The advent1 of Sextus was, in truth, pleasing to them, and they soon believed it would be such that, by his aid, the war would be transferred from the gates of Gabii under the Roman fortifications.

    1. That’s for you, Stan.

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  • Thucydides’ History, Book 6

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    * This is my 100th post! *

    Chapter 35

    Such did Hermocrates say ; and the public body of Syracuse were in great strife toward each other. For some held that the Athenians were in no way coming and there was nothing he said that was true, and for others, even if they were coming, what could they do to them that they would not suffer more in turn. Still others, with great disregard, turned the whole affair to laughter. And few had faith in Hermocrates and feared that to come. Athenagoras came before them, who was a foremost man of the public body and was currently the most persuasive to the majority, and he said the following.

    Chapter 36

    “Anyone who does not wish the Athenians wish to consider poorly and by coming here be put under our hand, either he is cowardly or does not wish the city well. And those announcing these sorts of things and making you panicked, I do not marvel at their bravado but their stupidity if they do not know that they are transparent. For dreading something privately they want the city thrown into panic, so that they might hide their own fear in shadow of a common one. This now is what these messages signify ; they do not arise of their own accord, but are contrived by men, the very men who always set these things in motion. And you, if you are well-counselled, will contemplate these things and you will calculate what is likely, not from what these men are announcing, but from what clever and much experienced-men—as I judge the Athenians to be—actually do. For they are not likely to leave behind the Peloponnesians, not without somehow securely resolving the war there, to come here wittingly for another war no lesser, since I think they should be well-pleased that we do not come against them, being that we are so many cities and large ones too.”

    Chapter 37

    “And even if they should come, as these men claim, I believe that Sicily will be more capable than the Peloponnese to get through a war, inasmuch as it has been better prepared for all things. With the army, so they say, now approaching our city here, even if one twice as large should come, we are stronger than those for whom I understand do not have cavalry following them, nor are they supplied here, except some small amount from the Egestaioi. Nor would they bring hoplites equal in number to our own on their ships (for it is a great task conveying such a voyage here, even by lightly-laden ships), along with any other preparation as much as must be provided to go against a city such as this, being no small amount. Such that, according to my knowledge, it seems to me that, even if they should come as many as there are Syracusians, bringing another city just as great and should make war, dwelling on our borders, they would scarcely fail to be completely and utterly destroyed. Especially so in a war with all Sicily (for it will unite), having been settled in an encamped army out of ships and not venturing out very far from their little huts and from necessity of preparation, because of our knights. And on the whole, I believe they would not be able to prevail over the land ; I think out preparation is stronger by so much.”

    Chapter 38

    “But since, as I am saying, the Athenians also understand these things, and I know well of them that they are looking after their own. Hence the men fabricate tales of things that are not, nor have they happened. These are men whom I understand—and not for the first time but always—whether by stories such as these now and those yet more mischievous than these, or by deeds, wish to panic your mobs and rule over the city themselves. And I have feared that, by trying many things, they might even succeed ; And we are bad, until we are in the midst of suffering, at taking precautions and even having perceived, at attacking. And so accordingly, due to this, the city has seldom known peace. It has taken up a lot of civil strife and contests, not more against its enemies than against itself, and there are sometimes tyrannies and unjust dynasties. These things, I myself will attempt, if you are willing to obey, to never let any of them happen for us, by persuading the most of you, by chastising those who contrive these sorts of things, not only catching them in the act (for this is difficult to come upon), but also for what they want, but are not able (for not only must measures be taken against what the hated man would do but also against his intentions, fir indeed someone who does not take precautions will be first to suffer), and again against the few, partly by close examination, partly by guarding against these things and partly by instructing you in them ; for it seems to me that this especially will turn them away from their evil-doings. This indeed, this is what I have often questioned, what then do you want, you younger men? What, to rule now? Not legally! The law was established because of your inability and not to dishonour those who are able. Or would you not have the same rights as the majority? And how is it right that the same men are not considered worthy of the same rights?”

    Chapter 39

    “Someone will say that democracy is neither wise nor equal, and that the nobility and those who have wealth rule best. But I say, first, that public means the whole, and whereas oligarchy is only part, since the best guardians of wealth are the wealthy, and the wise make the best plans, the majority are the best to listen and judge, and that all these things equally, both according to their part and altogether, have an equal share in democracy. The oligarchy, however, gives its share of risks to the majority, and does not only claim a larger share of what is useful, but takes away and keeps all of it ; both those of you who are powerful and the young are zealous for what is impossible to possess in a great city. But even now, for those of you most foolish of all, if you do not understand that you strive after wicked things, either you are most ignorant of what I know about the Hellenes, or you are the most unjust, if you have such effrontery despite knowing.”

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  • Thucydides’ History Book 2: The Funeral Oration

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    Chapter 44

    For this very reason the parents of those now, as many as are here, I do not pity them more than I will comfort them. For they understand that they reared them in manifold misfortunes ; he is fortunate, whoever would receive their allotment of something glorious, whether it is as with these men here, an end, or as for you, grief, and in these things, both to be happy in them and to die in them, life is measured equally. But I know that it is difficult to convince you, being that you will often have reminders of these men in the successes of others, by these things you too were once exalted ; and one does not grieve should he be deprived of the good not experienced, but rather if that to which they have become accustomed is taken away. But it is necessary to be patient and have hope for other children, for those yet of age to have children ; for to the private individual those born to them afterward will be a forgetting of those no longer, and as for the city, it profits doubly, from not being bereft and in its sure-footedness ; for it is not possible to be counselled anything fair or righteous by those who do not also run the risk by exposing their own children equally. And on the other hand, as many of you as are elderly, believe that you obtained a life that was gain, for the most part, and that this part (the grief) is brief, and in the good repute of of these men, be lightened. For love of honour alone is unaging ; profiting in the unfit portion of your age does not, as some say, bring delight, but being honoured does.

    Chapter 45

    For the children, too, as many as are here of these men, or for the brothers I see a great contest (for all have been accustomed to commend those no longer with us), and you could scarcely not be similar with respect to superiority of virtue, but in a small way you may be judged worse. For toward the living, there is jealousy as toward an opponent, but anyone no longer in the way is honoured with unchallenged goodwill. And if if there is need for me to remember something of womanly virtue, as many as are now in widowhood, I shall indicate everything in a brief address. For a great reputation for you is to be none the lesser than your already present nature, and it is hers whom report would be least among the men whether it concerns virtue or blemish.

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  • Thucydides’ History Book 2: The Funeral Oration

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    Chapter 43

    These men arose fittingly to this city ; and the rest must pray to be on surer footing, and not to be any more un-daring and resolve to have heart for battles, and consider aid not in word alone, should anyone speak at length to you what you know no worse, saying as much good as there is in fending off enemies, but more by daily deed beholding the power of the city and becoming its lover and, when it is esteemed by you to be great, taking to heart that men acquired it by being bold and by knowing what they lacked and by keeping their honour intact in the deed, and even when they were thrown down in any trial, they did not therefore deem it worthy to deprive the city of their own virtue, but sent forth to her his finest share. For having given their bodies for the common good, they received individually the ageless commendation of the most distinguished burial, not more by the way in which they lie, but by the way in which for every opportunity of word and of deed, their reputation is eternally remembered. For the whole earth is a tomb of illustrious men, and not only do inscriptions on stone slabs  mark them in their homeland, but also in the far-off land, dwelling with each man is an unwritten memorial of resolve more than of deed. Vying now with these men and judging that good fortune is freedom, and that the stout-hearted man is free, do not watch the risks of war from the sidelines. For men who have fared poorly in life would not more righteously be lavish with their life, should they have yet hope of good, than those for whom a change to the contrary is risked by living, in whom there are the greatest and most vital matters (at stake), should they stumble in some way. For more grievous to the man who is courageous is the ill-treatment in being a coward [in any dealing] than the death that comes unseen amidst strength and shared hope.

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