LIVY: "AB URBE CONDITA (THE HISTORY OF ROME)": BOOK 1: ROME UNDER THE KINGS.

LIVY: "AB URBE CONDITA (THE HISTORY OF ROME)": BOOK 1: ROME UNDER THE KINGS.

Introduction:

Livy (full name Titus Livius) was born in 59 B.C. and died in 17 A.D., and as such he was one of the foremost literary figures of the Augustan or Golden Age of Latin literature (40 B.C.-14 A.D.). But, whereas this age is renowned for the many famous poets which it produced - Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Propertius and Tibullus - Livy was almost its only prose writer of note. He was born in Patavia (Padua), but came to Rome in 30 B.C., where he seems to have remained for the rest of his long life. During this time he wrote the history of Rome from its legendary beginnings to the death of Augustus' step-son Drusus in 9 B.C. His works were published at intervals and comprised 142 books, of which only 35 books have survived. These include Books I-X, which cover the period from Rome's foundation in 753 B.C. down to the end of the Fourth Century B.C., and books XXI-XLV which cover the period of the Second Punic, or Hannibalic, War (218-201) and then continue Rome's history until the victorious end of the the Third Macedonian War in 168 B.C.  

As with other famous historians of Antiquity, Livy did not write scientific history, that is history which seeks to pursue the truth with impartial objectivity, and as a historian he has many weaknesses. He makes errors of chronology, for which he had little excuse in view of the wealth of state records available to him, and he confuses his sources. Although for his ten books on the Second Punic War (Books XXI-XXX), Livy relies heavily on the more objective Second Century B.C. Greek historian Polybius, he also makes use of much less reliable anecdotes from later Latin annalists, such as Valerius Antias, and Coelius Antipater. But, while his reliablility as a historian depends almost entirely upon the source he is following at each particular moment, he often fails to record whom he is following, and indeed he moves from one source to another without making this clear. Furthermore, his descriptions of battle scenes, despite the dramatic intensity which he evokes, are often hopelessly confused. But Livy's weaknesses as a historian are more than compensated for by his exceptional artistic skills as a writer and moralist. His purpose was both to entertain and to educate. As a Latin stylist, the  quality of his writing is almost unsurpassed, and he has been followed as an exemplar, both by Romans, and later by Europeans in general, as a Latin source in schools and universities. He brings history alive, almost in the way that a historical novelist of today might do. Indeed, there is a romantic quality to his writings, and he sees history as a conflict of personalities - for instance in the case of Book XXX, between Scipio and Hannibal. Particularly remarkable are the rhetorical quality of the speeches which he puts into the mouths of the principal protagonists in his writings. Rhetoric was the basis of Greek and Roman education, and Livy's gifts here were astonishing. In their introduction to their text of Book XXX (see Sabidius' translation on this blog dated 26th November 2011), H.E. Butler and H.H. Scullard provide this ringing endorsement of Livy's qualities as a writer: "For he has every gift as a narrator. Other historians both ancient and modern have had a wider outlook, a more philosophical temperament, and a more scrupulously scientific intelligence. For richness and warmth of colour, for sheer eloquence and vividness of presentation, he has never been surpassed."

Apart from his ability to hold his readers spell-bound by the quality of his dramatic reconstructions, there is, however, a serious moral purpose behind his writings. He had a passionate belief in the qualities of the people of Rome, which he saw as the reason behind its phenomenal rise to imperial status. However, having lived his formative years during the chaotic period of the Civil Wars, he was also aware of how seriously the Romans of that time had departed from the much celebrated 'mos maiorum' (the customs of our ancestors), which, in his view, had underpinned the previous prosperity of the Roman people, and, indeed, had allowed them to triumph eventually in the war against Hannibal, despite their earlier overwhelming setbacks. He was strongly attached to the person of the Emperor Augustus, and fully supported his 'back to basics' programme of restoring ancient values. In his writings, therefore, he sought to embue in young Romans a strong sense of moral rectitude, and to inspire them with patriotic fervour by offering them stirring accounts of the Roman heroes of the past. In the preface to his first book, Livy writes as follows about Rome: "... no state was ever greater, none more righteous or richer in good examples; none ever where avarice and luxury came into the social order so late, or where humble means and thrift were so highly esteemed and so long held in honour. Of late, riches have brought in avarice, and excessive pleasures have created the wantonness and licence to the point of ruin for oneself and destruction for the commonwealth." Livy's purposes, therefore, were moral and patriotic, and, when one takes this into account together with his artistic and stylistic skills as a writer, one can see why his writings provided such a rich seam for the Roman educationalist, and for others subsequently. While much of what Livy writes is now open to question from a strictly historical viewpoint, to the Romans of his own time and in succeeding centuries, his histories were a treasured acquisition and provided a canonical record of the past. 

As his text for this translation, Sabidius has relied mainly upon that provided, together with a translation, by Dr. Benjamin Oliver Foster, Harvard University Press and published by William Heineman, London (1919). However, Sabidius considers that the best previous translation of Livy's Book 1 is that of D. Spillan, of Covent Garden, London, published by Henry G. Bohn, and printed by John Child and son (1857). While Spillan's translation is a relatively literal one, it well demonstrates how one can provide attractive and readily readable translations of Latin prose without significant grammatical alterations and omissions. These works, and a plethora of others relating to Livy's works, are available to readers on the Perseus website, presented by Tufts University. Readers are also referred the to the translation of Livy's "Early History of Rome", by Aubrey de Selincourt, published by Penguin in 1960. While this provides a relatively free translation, de Selincourt's introduction is a 'must' for devotees of Roman history and literature.

Preface. 

(1) (Whether) I am likely to accomplish (anything) worthy of the labour, if I record the history of the Roman people from the origin of the city, I really do not know, nor, (2) if I did know, would I dare to say (so), since I perceive, as I (do), that the practice is both an old and a common (one), while new writers always believe that they can produce something more authentic in relation to the facts, or that they will surpass the rude (style) of the ancients in the art of writing. (But) however that may be, (3) yet it will be pleasing (to me) to have taken account myself, and to the best of my ability, of the history of the deeds undertaken by the foremost people in the world; and, if, in the midst of so great a crowd of historians, my reputation should (remain) in obscurity, I should console myself by the renown and the magnitude of those who shall eclipse my name. (4) Moreover, my subject also involves immense labour, seeing that it can be traced back beyond seven hundred years, and that, starting from slender beginnings, it has become distinguished to such an extent that it now suffers from its own greatness; and to the majority of readers (it is) without doubt (the case) that its earliest origins, and (the period) next to these origins, will offer no pleasure at all, (for they will be) hastening to (reach) these modern (times) of ours, in which the strength of a people that has been powerful for so long is wearing itself out; (5) I, on the contrary, shall seek in this an additional reward for my toil, in that I may divert my (attention) from the sight of the troubles which our own age has witnessed for so many years, at least while I am retracing in my mind all those old (records), free from every care, which might still cause the mind of a writer some anxiety, even if (it could) not divert him from the truth.  

(6) Those (traditions) which are handed down (from the time) before the city was founded or established, (and) are embellished with poetic legends rather than with genuine records of things that happened, it is my intention neither to affirm nor to refute. (7) The licence is given to antiquity to make the origins of cities more august by intermingling human (actions) with divine (ones); and, if it should be permitted to any people to consecrate their origins and to relate (them) to divine sources, such is the glory of the Roman people in war that, when they especially profess Mars (as) their own father, and (the father) of their founder (i.e. Romulus), the other human races may submit to this, just as they submit to their sovereignty. (8) But these (legends) and those similar to them, however they have been thought of or valued, I for my part, shall not regard them with any great distinction; (9) in my (view) every (man) should apply his own mind closely to these (questions), what lives (did they lead), what customs did they have, through what men and by what measures both at home and abroad was their empire both established and enlarged; then, let him note, (how,) with the gradual collapse of discipline, morals first gave way, as it were, next how they sank more and more, and then began to fall headlong, until we arrived at our present times (i.e. in the time of Augustus after the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.), in which we can endure neither our vices nor their remedies. 

(10) The thing that is especially wholesome and fruitful in the study of history is this, that you look upon instances of every type placed upon an illustrious monument (i.e. they are recorded in a work of history); from these you may choose for yourself and for your state what to imitate, from these (you may choose) what, being shameful in its inception and shameful in its outcome, you should avoid. (11) For the rest, either love of the task I have set myself deceives me, or no state was ever greater or more virtuous or richer in good examples and (there was) never a community into which avarice and luxury made their entrance so late, nor (one) where such great honour was (paid) to poverty and frugality. So that the less wealth (there was), the less was the desire (for it); (12) recently, riches have brought in avarice, and an abundance of pleasures (has introduced) through debauchery and lust a longing for the ruin and destruction of everything.    

But let criticisms, which are likely to be unwelcome, even when they should perhaps be necessary, be absent at least from the beginning of the undertaking of so great a work; (13) if we (historians) should have the same custom as poets, we would rather prefer to begin with good omens and prayers and entreaties to the gods and goddesses, so that they might grant a favourable outcome to the great task we have undertaken.   

Chapter 1. The wanderings of Aeneas.

(1) Now, first of all, it is sufficiently agreed by everyone that, when Troy was captured, while there was great cruelty (shown) towards all the other Trojans, in the case of two (of them), Aeneas and Antenor, the Achaeans (i.e. the Greeks) withheld every right of war, due to a long-standing claim of hospitality and because they had always been advocates of peace and of Helen being given back; (2) then, after experiencing various vicissitudes, Antenor, together with a company of the Eneti, who has been expelled from Paphlagonia in a rebellion, and were looking for a place to settle and a leader, for their king, Pylaemenes, had been lost at Troy (viz. 'Iliad' V. l. 576), came to the innermost bay of the Adriatic sea, (3) and, having driven out the Euganei, who were living between the sea and the Alps, the Eneti and the Trojans took possession of those lands. And the place, to which they first came, is called Troy. And then the name was (extended) to the Trojan district; the people as a whole (are) called Venetians. (4) Aeneas, exiled from his home by a similar misfortune, but, being guided by the fates to the foundations of greater matters, came first to Macedonia, (and) from there, in his quest for a place to settle (he was) carried to Sicily, and, (taken) from Sicily by his fleet, he made for the territory of Laurentum. This place also has the name of Troy. (5) Landing there, the Trojans, as (being men who) in the course of their almost immeasurable wanderings had nothing left (to them) except their weapons and their ships, when they were driving booty from the fields, King Latinus and the Aborigines, who then occupied those districts, come rushing down in arms from their city and their fields, in order to repel the force of these strangers. (6) From this point there is a two-fold tradition: some say that Latinus, having been defeated, made peace with Aeneas, then a marriage-alliance; (7) others (say) that, when the battle-lines had been drawn up and they were standing in position, (but) before the trumpets could sound, Latinus advanced between the front-lines and called the leader of the strangers to a conference; then, when he had inquired (of him) what manner of men they were, from where (they had come), or through what misfortune they had left their home, and in quest of what they had landed in Laurentine territory, (8) when he had learned that these people were Trojans (and) that their leader (was) Aeneas, son of Anchises and Venus, that their native-land had been burned down, (and) that (as) fugitives from their home, they were seeking a dwelling-place and a site where they might build a city, being filled with wonder both at the nobility of this race and also at the spirit of this man, prepared (as he was) for both war or peace, he gave (him) his right-hand and pledged his faith in their future friendship. (9) Then, a treaty between the leaders (is) struck, and a greeting occurred between the armies; Aeneas enjoyed the hospitality of the household of Latinus; there, Latinus, in the presence of his household gods, added a domestic treaty to the public (one) by giving his daughter (i.e. Lavinia) to Aeneas in marriage. (10) This event undoubtedly confirms the Trojans in the hope that their wanderings have at last come to an end. (11) They found a town; Aeneas calls (it) Lavinium after the name of his wife. In a short time too a male issue came from the new marriage, to whom his parents gave the name Ascanius. 

Chapter 2. Aeneas establishes the power of the Latins. 

(1) Then, the Aborigines and the Trojans made war at the same time. Turnus, the king of the Rutuli, to whom Lavinia had been engaged to marry before the coming of Aeneas had occurred, being angry that  a stranger (had been) preferred to him, made war on Aeneas and Latinus together. (2) Neither side came away from that conflict happy; the Rutuli (were) defeated; the victorious Aborigines and Trojans lost their leader Latinus. (3) Then, Turnus, and the Rutuli, desperate at (the turn of) events, flee for refuge to the flourishing power of the Etruscans and their king Mezentius, who (was) ruling from Caere, at that time a wealthy town; right from the beginning, (he was) already not all happy at the birth of the new city (i.e. Lavinium), and as he then thought that Trojan power was increasing much too (rapidly) than was altogether safe for its neighbours, he joined his forces not unwillingly in alliance with the Rutuli. (4) In order to win over the minds of the Aborigines to meet the terror of so great a war, Aeneas called each nation Latins, (so that) they should not only be under the same law, but also (under the same) name (viz. Virgil: "Aeneid" xii. l.735) (5) Nor after that were the Aborigines (in any way) behind the Trojans in their zeal and loyalty towards King Aeneas. Now relying on the minds of the two peoples who were daily coalescing more (and more), Aeneas, although Etruria was so great in its power that it filled with the fame of its name not only the land but also the sea throughout the whole length of Italy from the Alps to the Sicilian Strait (i.e. the Straits of Messina), though he could have averted the war by means of fortifications yet he led his forces out into the field of battle. (6) Then the battle (went) in favour of the Latins, but for Aeneas it was also the last of his mortal acts. Whatever it is right and lawful for him to be called, he lies buried on the banks of the river Numicus; they call (him) the local Jupiter.   

Chapter 3. The earliest kings.

(1) Aeneas' son, Ascanius, was not yet old enough for power; but in his case that power remained unimpaired until he reached the age of manhood; in the meantime the Latin state and the kingdom of his grandfather and father stood ready for the boy, in the care of a woman - (for) so strong was the character of Lavinia. (2) I shall not argue - for who could confirm for certain (the answer to) such an old question? - whether he was Ascanius or (one) older than he, born to his mother Creusa, while Ilium (was still) unharmed, and the companion of his father in his flight from there, the same (as) that Iulus, whom the Julian house proclaim formally (as) the source of their name. (3) This Ascanius, wherever and of whatever mother (he was) born - at least it is agreed he was born to Aeneas - left the now flourishing and wealthy city of Lavinium with its abundant population, as matters then were, to his mother or step-mother, and built himself another new (one) at the foot of Mount Alba, which from the situation of the city being extended on the ridge of a hill, (was) called Alba Longa. (4) Between Lavinium being founded and Alba Longa being set up as its colony almost thirty years elapsed. Yet its power had grown so great, especially when the Etruscans had been defeated, that, not even on the death of Aeneas, nor then during the regency of a woman and the first beginnings of the rule of a boy, did either Mezentius and his Etruscans or any other of their neighbours dare to take up arms. (5) Peace had been agreed on the following terms, that the river Albula, which (men) now call the Tiber, should be the boundary between the Etruscans and the Latins. (6) Silvius reigns next, the son of Ascanius, born by some mishap in the woods. He begets Aeneas Silvius; then he (begets) Latinus Silvius. (7) By him several colonies were settled, (and they were) called Ancient Latins. (8) Thereafter, the surname Silvius was retained by all who ruled at Alba. From Latinus came Alba, from Alba Atys, from Atys Capys, from Capys Capetus, from Capetus Tiberinus, who (was) drowned in crossing the river Albula, and gave the stream the name (that was) known to posterity. (9) Then, Agrippa, the son of Tiberinus, reigns, (and) after Agrippa Romulus Silvius, having received the power from his father. When he (was) struck by lightning, the kingdom passed in succession to Aventinus. Buried on that hill which is now a part of the city of Rome, he gave his name to the hill. (10) Proca rules next. He begets Numitor and Amulius; to Numitor, who was the eldest by birth, he bequeaths the ancient kingdom of the Silvian family. 

Yet force prevailed more than a father's wishes or respect for seniority; having driven out his brother, Amulius rules (in his stead). (11) He adds crime to crime: he murders his brother's male issue; through the guise of (bringing) honour to his brother's daughter, Rhea Silvia, when he appoints her a Vestal (Virgin), he deprives (her) through her perpetual virginity of any hope of giving birth.  

Chapter 4. The birth and upbringing of Romulus.

(1) But, in my opinion, the origin of so great a city, and the beginning of the greatest empire next in power to (that) of the gods, was due to the fates. When the Vestal, having been forcibly raped, gave birth to twins (i.e. Romulus and Remus), (2) she declares Mars (to be) the father of her illegitimate offspring, either since she thought that this was the case. or because (she felt) that a god was a more honourable source of her offence. (3) But neither gods nor men protect her or her offspring from the cruelty of the king: the priestess is shackled and is put into prison; the boys he orders to be committed to running water. (4) By some divine intervention, the Tiber had overflowed its banks in stagnant pools, nor could any part of the actual course of the river be accessed, though the languid water gave hope to the bearers that the infants could be submerged (within it). (5) so, as if to discharge the king's command, they expose the boys in the nearest flood-pool, where the fig-tree Ruminalis now stands - they say it used to be called Romularis. (6) In those days there was a vast wilderness in this countryside. The story goes that, when the water had left on dry ground the floating trough, in which the boys had been clearly exposed, a thirsty she-wolf, (coming down) from the mountains which are round about, turned her course towards the crying of the boys; (they say) that she lowered her teats to the infants and offered (them) with such gentleness that the master of the king's flock found her licking the boys with her tongue - they say his name was Faustulus. (7) (They were taken) by him to his hut and given to his wife Larentia to rear. There are (those) who may think that Larentia was called a she-wolf among the shepherds because she was free with her body (i.e. she was a common whore); from this there was given the chance of a wonderful story. (8) Thus born and reared, when they first came of age, without being in any way sluggish in the farm-yard or in controlling the flocks, they began to roam the glades of the forest in search of game. (19) Having gained strength of body and mind in this way, they now not only faced wild beasts, but they made attacks on robbers (who were) laden with booty, and divided up what they took (from them) among the shepherds, and they shared business matters and jokes with them, while their band of young men grew larger on a daily basis.  

Chapter 5. The emergence of Romulus, and the assassination of Amulius.

(1) They say that the festival of the Lupercalia was already then (being celebrated) on the Palatine hill, and that the hill (was) called Pallantium from Pallanteum, a city of Arcadia, and then the Palatine. (2) There, Evander, an Arcadian from that stock that had held that region many years before, had established this religious rite (which he had) brought from Arcadia where naked youths might run around playfully and impudently in honour of Lycaean Pan, whom the Romans afterwards called Inuus. (3) When these young men were occupied with this festival, since the rite had become well-known, the robbers, due to anger at the loss of their plunder, laid an ambush (for them), (and,) although Romulus defended himself with vigour, they took Remus prisoner and handed (him) over (as) a captive to king Amulius, making accusations of their own (against him). (4) They gave as their main charge that attacks had been made by them on the lands of Numitor; then that, when they had gathered together a band of young men, they plundered (them) in a hostile manner. So, Remus was delivered up to Numitor for punishment. (5) Now, right from the start, Faustulus had entertained the suspicion that royal offspring were being brought up in his house; for he was aware both that infants had been exposed by order of the king, and that the time when he himself had taken them up coincided with that very (event); but he had been unwilling to disclose the matter prematurely unless the opportunity or the necessity (to do so arose). (6) Necessity came first; so, driven by fear, he revealed the circumstances to Romulus. It happened too to Numitor, since he had Remus in his custody and he had heard that the brothers were twins, that, when considering their age and their far from servile nature, the memory of his grandchildren came into his mind; and, after making inquiries, he came to the same conclusion, so he was not far away from acknowledging Remus. So, a plot is hatched against the king from all sides. (7) Romulus (is) not accompanied by his band of young men - for he was not equal to open violence - but, having commanded the shepherds to come to the palace by one way or another at a fixed time, he makes a charge at the king, and Remus comes to his assistance with another band provided by the house of Numitor. So he (i.e. Romulus) slays the king.  

Chapter 6. After Numitor is restored to the throne of Alba, Romulus and Remus found a new settlement.  

(1) At the beginning of the disturbance, Numitor, after declaring that an enemy had invaded the city and (was) attacking the palace, drew off the young men to provide the citadel of Alba with a garrison and arms, and, when he saw the young men advancing to congratulate him, the killing having been accomplished, he summoned an assembly at once, (and) disclosed his brother's crimes against himself, the origin of his grandsons, how they had been born, and reared, and recognised, and then the tyrant's death and that he (was) responsible for it. (2) When the young (princes had) marched with their column through the midst of the assembly, and had saluted their grandfather (as) king, a shout of consent came from the whole population and brought about the ratification of his title and authority as king.   

(3) The state having thus been conceded to Numitor, an urge seized Romulus and Remus to found a city in the region where they had been exposed and brought up. And in fact the population of the Albans and Latins was excessive; the shepherds had also been added to this, so that all might easily share in the hope that Alba would be small (and) Lavinium small, compared to the city that should be built. (4) Then, desire for sovereignty, the curse of their grandfather, interrupted these considerations, and, as a result, a shameful dispute arose from a mild enough beginning. Since they were twins, and respect for age could not create any difference (between them), (it was agreed) that the gods who had those places under their protection should choose by auguries (i.e. omens from the flight of birds) who should give a name to the new city and who should rule (it) in sovereignty when it was built. Romulus took the Palatine and Remus the Aventine as the places for their inaugural observations.  

Chapter 7. The death of Remus; and the legend of Hercules and Cacus. 

(1) It is said that an augury came first to Remus, six vultures (it was), and that augury had already been announced, when twice that number displayed themselves to Romulus; their followers saluted each one of them (as) king: they (both) claimed the kingdom, the former (i.e. Remus) due to the precedence in time, the latter (i.e. Romulus) due to the number of birds. (2) Then, they meet in altercation, and from a contest of angry (feelings) they turn to bloodshed; there Remus fell, struck down in the crowd. A more common story is that Remus, in mockery of his brother, leapt over his newly(-built) walls; for this reason (he was) killed by an irate Romulus, (who,) after sharply rebuking (him) with words, also added (this threat): "This, then, (is what will happen to) whoever else who will jump over my walls." (viz. Ovid:  "Fasti" iv. l.843) (3) Thus Romulus acquired power alone, the city, when built (i.e. in 1 A.U.C., or 753 B.C.) (was) called after the name of its founder (i.e. Rome). 

In the first place, he fortified the Palatine, on which he himself had been reared. He offers sacrifices to other gods according to Alban usage, but a Greek (ritual) in the case of Hercules, as they had been instituted by Evander. (4) They say that Hercules, having killed Geryon, drove his oxen, wonderful in appearance (as they were), into this neighbourhood, and, on a grassy spot close to the river Tiber, which he had crossed by swimming, driving the cattle before him, so that he might refresh the oxen with rest and pleasant pasturage, he laid himself down, tired from the journey. (5) When sleep had overcome him there, heavy (as he was) with food and wine, a neighbouring shepherd of that place, named Cacus, presuming on his strength (and) taken by the beauty of the oxen, when he wanted to purloin that booty, (but,) because, if he had forced the cattle into his cave by driving (them), their tracks would have led their owner to the place in his search, he dragged whichever of the oxen were exceptional in their beauty backwards into the cave by their tails. (6) When Hercules (was) aroused from sleep at first light and went over the herd with his eyes and perceived that some of their number were missing, he proceeds to the nearest cave, to see if by chance their footprints might lead there. But when he saw that they were all turned away (from it) and were not leading in any other direction, confused and uncertain in his mind, he began to  drive his cattle away from that unsafe spot. (7) Then, when they were being driven off, some of the oxen began to low, as usually happens, at the loss of (those) left behind, and a sound (was) returned from the cave of the oxen shut up (inside it), (so) it caused Hercules to turn round. When he came to the cave, (and) Cacus tried to prevent him (entering it) by force, (he was) struck by a club, and died, while calling upon the support of the shepherds in vain. 

(8) At that time Evander, a fugitive from the Peloponnese, controlled that region more through his personal influence more than his sovereign power; (he was) a man revered for his marvellous knowledge of letters (n.b. he was said to have invented the Roman alphabet), something new among men unacquainted with the arts, (and he was) more highly respected on account of the supposed divinity of his mother Carmenta, whom those nations had admired (as) a prophetess before the coming of the Sibyl into Italy. (9) Now this Evander (was) alarmed by the crowd of shepherds hastily bustling around the stranger and openly accusing (him) of murder, (and,) when he learned about the deed and the reason for the deed and noted that the bearing and figure of the man (was) so much larger than those of a mortal, he inquired who the man was. (10) When he learned of his name, of his father, and of his place of birth, he exclaimed: "Hail, Hercules, son of Jupiter, my mother, that truthful interpreter of the gods, prophesied to me that you should augment the number of heavenly beings, and that an altar would be dedicated to you here, which the nation (that would) one day (be) the most powerful on the earth shall call the greatest (i.e. the Ara Maxima), and honour in accordance with your rite." (11) Hercules gave (him) his right-hand and said that he accepted the omen, and that he would fulfil (the predictions of) the fates by building and dedicating an altar. (12) Then (and) there, they took a choice heifer from the herd, and made their first sacrifice to Hercules, (and) the Potitii and the Pinarii, who were then the most distinguished to inhabit this region, were invited to the service and the feast. (13) And so by chance it turned out that the Potitii were present at the (appointed) time, and the entrails were served up to them, but the Pinarii came to the remainder of the feast after the entrails had been eaten. For this reason the practice persisted,as long as the Pinarian family endured, that they should not be fed with the entrails of these religious rites. (14) The Potitii, instructed by Evander, were priests of this cult for many generations, until, having delegated the sacred religious function of their family to public slaves,  the whole house died out. (15) This, then, (was) the only (one) of all the foreign sacred observances that Romulus adopted, even then (being) a promoter of immortality obtained by merit, (something) to which his own destiny was leading him.    

Chapter 8. Romulus appoints the twelve lictors.

(1) When his religious duties had been duly performed and he had called the masses to a meeting, he gave them (a code of) laws, since they could join together into one body of people through nothing other than laws; (2) so he reckoned that these would be respected by this rustic class of men (only) if he made himself revered by emblems of authority, and he made himself (look) more august by a different (kind of) dress, and especially by the appointment of twelve lictors. (3) Some think he chose this number from the number of birds that had predicted his kingship by their augury; (but) I am not unready to share the opinion of those to whom it seems good that both the attendants, and their class, and even their very number, (were) derived from the neighbouring Etruscans, from whom the curule chair and the purple-bordered toga were taken, and that the Etruscans had adopted such a number, because, when their king was elected jointly by the twelve states, each one of these states gave one lictor each. 

(4) Meanwhile, the city was growing, by its seeking to include one place after another within its fortifications, since they built their fortifications more in the hope of their future population rather than with regard to the (number) of people which there then was. (5) Then, lest the great size of the city should be to no avail, for the sake of increasing the population by the ancient plan of those founding cities, who by gathering about themselves an obscure and humble mass of people, used to pretend that their offspring (had) sprung from the earth, (at) a place which (is) now enclosed between two groves for (those) descending (the hill) (i.e. the Capitoline), he opened a sanctuary. (6) There fled a whole mob from the neighbouring peoples, without distinction (of rank), (whether) they were free or in bondage, (but) eager for new arrangements, and this was the first (step on the way) to the beginning of the greatness of his strength. When he was now not unhappy with his strength, he develops a plan to (direct) that strength. (7) He creates a hundred senators, either because that was an adequate number, or because there were only a hundred (men) who could be created 'patres' (i.e. 'fathers'). In any case, they (were) called 'patres' in virtue of their rank, and their descendants (were called) patricians.  

Chapter 9. The rape of the Sabine women.

(1) The position of Rome was now so strong that she was equal in war with any other state; but, due to a shortage of women, her greatness was likely to last for the life of (one) man (only) (i.e. one generation), since they had no hope of domestic offspring and no rights of intermarriage with their neighbours. (2) Then, on the advice of the senate, Romulus sent envoys around the neighbouring peoples to solicit an alliance and the right of intermarriage with the new state. (3) (They argued on his behalf) that cities, like other (things) too, arise from the lowliest (beginning); thereafter, (those,) which their own merit and the gods assist, achieve great power and a great name for themselves; (4) that he knew full well that the gods had been present at the origin of Rome and that merit was not lacking; therefore, their men should not be reluctant to mingle their blood and their stock with their fellow-men. 

(5) Nowhere did their embassy meet with a friendly hearing; so they both spurned and, at the same time, feared, both for themselves and for their descendants, that great bulk (which was) growing up in their midst. On being dismissed, they were frequently asked (whether) they had opened some asylum for women, for this exactly would be a level match (for them). (6) The young Roman manhood suffered this with great anger, and without doubt the situation began to point towards violence. To afford a fitting time and place for this, Romulus, concealing the resentment in his mind, deliberately arranged games in honour of the equestrian Neptune; he calls them the 'Consualia'. (7) He then orders that the spectacle be proclaimed to their neighbours, and they then celebrated (it) with as much equipment as they were aware of and could (produce), so they might make it famous and (its return) eagerly awaited. (8) Large numbers of people assembled (for the games), in their eagerness also to see the new city, especially those who (lived) nearest, the Caeninses, the Crustumini, (and) the Antemnates; (9) now, the whole population of the Sabines came with their children and their wives. (They were) hospitably entertained in every house, (and,) when they had looked at its site and its walls, and the city (so) crowded with houses, they marvelled that the Roman state had grown up in so short a time. (10) When the time came for the show, and their minds together with their eyes were given up to it, then began the attack as agreed, and, at a given signal, the Roman young men ran out to carry off the maidens. (11) In most cases (they were) seized, (by the men). in whose (path) each one chanced to fall: some of exceptional beauty had been marked out for the chief senators, and were carried off to their homes by men of plebeian (origin), to whom the task had been awarded;  (12) they say that one (who was) distinguished far beyond the others in the beauty of her appearance (was) seized by the gang of a certain Thalassius, and being repeatedly asked to whom they were taking her, they kept shouting that no one should touch (her), (for) she was being taken to Thalassius; from this (was) that wedding cry (i.e. "Thalassio!") created. (13) The show was disturbed through panic, and the virgins' parents fled in sorrow, accusing (their hosts) of the crime of violating hospitality, and invoking the gods, to whose festival and games they had come, having been deceived by means of their religious duty and good faith. (14) (Those who had been) seized had no better hope concerning their (plight) or no less indignation. But Romulus, himself, went among (them) and explained (that it was) the pride of their fathers, who had denied their neighbours the right of intermarriage, (that had) caused this (deed); still, they should be (joined) in marriage, (and) in sharing all their husbands' possessions and civil privileges, and (that thing, compared) with which, nothing can be dearer to the human race, their children; (15) but they should mitigate their anger and give their hearts (to those) to whom fortune had given their persons. From injury (a sense of) affection has often arisen a little later, and they would find their husbands kinder for this (reason), that every man would endeavour on his own behalf to be kind, when he fulfilled his duty (as a husband), and make up for the loss of her parents and her homeland also. (16) Added to these arguments were the blandishments of their husbands, who excused their action on the basis of desire and love, which pleas are the most effective way to (move) the heart of a woman. 

Chapter 10. Rome's first wars.

(1) The feelings of the abducted (maidens) had been greatly appeased by now; but the parents of those who had been seized then sought to arouse their communities (to action). Nor did they confine their resentment only to their home towns, but they flocked from all sides to Titus Tatius, the king of the Sabines, and embassies came to him, because the name of Tatius was the greatest in these parts. (2) The Caeninenses, Crustumini, and the Antemnates were (people) to whom a considerable amount of this injury extended. To them Tatius and the Sabines seemed to be moving (too) slowly: so these three peoples prepare for war among themselves on a joint basis. (3) Not even the Crustumini and the Antemnates bestir themselves quickly enough to suit the ardour and the rage of the Caeninenses; so the nation of Caenina makes an attack on Roman territory by itself. (4) But, while they were ravaging far and wide, Romulus came to meet (them) with his army, and in a slight engagement he teaches (them) that anger without strength is to no avail. He defeats and routs their army, and pursues (it) as it fled; he kills and despoils (the body of) their king (i.e. Acron in 752 B.C.); the enemy's general having been slain, he takes their city at the first assault. (5) Having led his victorious army back from there, since (he was) a man highly distinguished by his deeds and no less a displayer of his deeds, he hung the spoils of his enemy's commander upon a frame suitably fashioned for that (purpose), and, bearing (it himself), he ascended the Capitol, and there, when he had deposited them at an oak-tree sacred to the shepherds together with an offering, at the same time he marked out the boundaries of a temple to Jupiter and bestowed a title on the god. (6) "Jupiter Feretrius," he said, "I, the victorious king Romulus, bring you these royal arms, and (to you) I dedicate a temple within these regions, which I have now marked out in my mind (as) the seat for the spoils of honour (i.e. literally, the 'rich spoils') which my successors shall bear, when they have killed the kings and leaders of the enemy." (7) This was the origin of that temple, which was the first of all (the temples) in Rome to be consecrated. Thereafter, it so pleased the gods that the declaration of the founder of the temple, in which he announced that his successors should bring spoils to it, should not be invalid, but that the glory of that offering should not be shared with a vulgar mob. During so many years and so many wars since that time, the spoils of honour have only twice been offered (i.e. by Aulus Cornelius Cossus for slaying Lars Tolumnius, King of Veii in 437 B.C; and by Marcus Claudius Marcellus for slaying Viridomarus, king of the Gauls in 222 B.C.); so rare has been the good fortune of (attaining) that distinction. 

Chapter 11. War with the Sabines breaks out. 

(1) While the Romans are engaged in these (things) there, the army of the Antemnates, on account of the opportunity (accorded by) their absence, makes a hostile incursion into the territory of the Romans. But a Roman legion, marched out hastily against them, surprised (them) as they were straggling in the fields. (2) So, the enemy (were) routed at the first charge and battle-cry; their town (was) taken; and, as he was rejoicing at his two-fold victory, his wife Hersilia, beset by the entreaties of the captured (women), begs Romulus to grant their parents a pardon, and receive (them) into their community; so, (she said,) the state could increase in strength through harmony. (3) (Her request was) readily obtained. Then, he set out against the Crustumini, who were making war (on him). There, there was even less of a struggle, because they had been disheartened by the others' disasters. Colonies (were) sent to both (places); (4) more (were) found to give in their names for Crustuminum, on account of the fertility of its soil. And, from there, there was a large scale migration to Rome, mainly by the parents of the captured (women).  

(5) The last war (was) raised by the Sabines, and this was by far the most serious (one); for, (in their case,) nothing was done through anger or greed, nor did they make a show of war before they (actually) started (one). (6) Deceit was also added to their strategy. Spurius Tarpeius was in command of the Roman citadel. Tatius bribes his virgin daughter with gold to admit armed (men) into the citadel; she happened to have gone outside the walls at that time to  fetch water for some religious sacrifices (n.b. as a vestal virgin she had to  draw water from the spring of the Camenae outside the walls). (7) Once they had been admitted, they killed (her), buried, (as she was,) by their armour, either so that the citadel might seem rather to have been taken by storm, or for the purpose of establishing a precedent that good faith should never be (shown) to a traitor. (8) The story is added that the Sabines commonly wore golden bracelets of great weight on their left arm, and bejewelled rings, great in appearance, (and) that she had bargained (with them) for what they had on their left hands; (but) there they heaped up their shields on her instead of golden gifts. (9) There are (those) who say that, in pursuance of the compact to deliver up what was on their left hands, she actually did demand their shields, and that, (by) seeming to act with treachery, she was slain by the reward of her own (choosing).   

Chapter 12. The Stayer of Flight.

(1) But the Sabines were in possession of the citadel, and then on the next day, since the Roman army, drawn up (in battle order), had filled the ground which lay between the Palatine and the Capitoline hills, they did not descend on to the plain, until the Romans, their minds fired with resentment and with the desire of recapturing their citadel, advanced up the slope (against them). (2) On both sides champions led the fighting, Mettius Curtius from the Sabines, and Hostius Hostilius from the Romans. At the beginning of the battle, the latter sustained the Roman cause, (despite being) on unfavourable ground, by his courage and daring. (3) When Hostius fell, the Roman battle-line at once gives way and retreated to the old gate of the Palatine. Romulus, carried along himself in the crowd of (those who were) fleeing, raises his weapons to the sky, (4) and says, "Jupiter, instructed by your birds, I laid the first foundations of this city here on the Palatine (hill). The Sabines now have possession of the citadel, purchased by their evil action; from there they are advancing hither, fully armed, having surpassed the middle of the valley; (5) But you, father of gods and men, keep the enemy away from this spot at least, dispel the terror of the Romans, (and) put a stop to their shameful flight! (6) I vow (to build) a temple to you, as Jupiter Stator (i.e. the Stayer), which shall be a monument to posterity that this city was saved by your personal assistance." (7) Having offered up this prayer, as though he felt that his prayers (had been) heard, he cries out, "On this spot, Romans, Jupiter the Best and Greatest, commands you to stop and renew the fighting." The Romans halted, as if commanded by a voice from heaven: Romulus himself flies to the front ranks. 

(8) Mettius Curtius, the leader of the Sabines, had rushed down from the citadel, and had driven the Romans headlong over all of the space which is now occupied by the whole of the Forum. He was not now far from the gate of the Palatine (and was) shouting: "We have conquered our faithless hosts, cowardly enemies (that they are); now they know how great is the difference between raping virgin (girls) and fighting with men." (9) On him, as he was thus boasting, Romulus makes an attack with a band of the most courageous youths. It so happened that Mettius was then fighting on horseback; for that (reason) he was repulsed the more easily. When he was driven back, the Romans pursue (him); and the rest of the Roman army, inspired by the daring of their king, rout the Sabines. (10) Mettius, his horse taking fright from the noise of their pursuers, flung himself into a swamp; this situation had even diverted the attention of the Sabines (away from the battle) due to the danger to so great a man. And with his own (people) beckoning and calling (him), he even (acquires) additional courage due to the favour of so many (friends), and he escapes (from the marsh): the Romans and the Sabines renew the battle in the valley between the two hills. But the fortune of Rome was in the ascendancy.   

Chapter 13. Due to the intervention of the abducted women, peace and unity between Rome and the Sabines is achieved. 

At this point, the Sabine women, from whose wrong the war had originated, with dishevelled hair and rent clothing, their female timidity overcome by such dreadful scenes, dared to throw themselves between the flying weapons, and, by making a rush from the side, to part the incensed antagonists, (2) and to assuage their fury, imploring their fathers on the one side and their husbands on the other not to contaminate themselves with the impious blood of their fathers-in-law and their sons-in-law, nor to stain with parricide their offspring (and) progeny, the one their grandchildren, the other their children. (3) "If you are displeased by the relationship between you, if (you are dissatisfied) with our marriage, turn your anger upon us; we are the cause of the war, we (are the cause) of the wounds and the murders of our husbands and our parents; it would be better for us to perish, than to live without both of you, widowed and orphaned." (4) The situation affects both the rank and file and their leaders; silence, and a sudden hush, occurs;at this, the leaders cone forward, for the purpose of making a treaty; not only do they make peace, but (they form) one state out of two. (5) They share sovereignty; they transfer all power to Rome. So, (the size of) the city (was) doubled, but, so that some (compliment) could be given to the Sabines, they were called Quirites from Cures (n.b. in fact, the derivation of 'Quirites' is more likely to come from 'curia', ward - see below). (As) a memorial of this battle, they call (the place) where the horse, having emerged from the deep marsh, first set Curtius on shallow (ground), the Curtian Lake. 

(6) The happy peace, (following) suddenly from such a distressing war, made the Sabine (women) dearer to their husbands and their parents, and, above all, to Romulus himself. (7) So, when he divided the people into thirty 'curiae' (i.e. wards; a 'curia' was a political unit of people with certain religious rites in common), he assigned their names to these wards. Since, without doubt, the number of their women was considerably greater than that, it is not recorded (whether those) who gave their names to the wards were selected on account of their age, or their husbands' rank, or by lot. (8) At the same time, three centuries of knights were enrolled: the Ramnenses (were) named after Romulus, (and) the Titienses after Titus Tatius; the reason for the name Luceres, and its origin, is uncertain (n.b. actually the derivation of all three names is obscure, but it is likely that they represent a Roman, a Sabine, and an Etruscan element within the population of Rome). From then on, the kingdom was (held) not only jointly, but also in harmony, by two kings.  

Chapter 14. The death of Titus Tatius is followed by war with the town of Fidenae.

(1) After some years, relatives of King Tatius beat the ambassadors of the Laurentines, and, when the Laurentines commenced proceedings in accordance with the law of nations, the influence of his (kinsmen) and their pleas had more weight with Tatius than was proper. (2) He, therefore, turned upon himself the punishment due to them; for, when a tumult arose at Lavinium (i.e. a town closely associated with Laurentum), when he had gone there for (the purpose of) a religious sacrifice, he is murdered. (3) They say that Romulus bore this event with less distress than was proper, either because the sharing of the throne (was) unsafe, or because he believed that he had not been unjustly killed. So, indeed, he declined from (going) to war; but, so that the ill-treatment of the ambassadors and the murder of the king might be expiated, the treaty between the cities of Rome and Lavinium was renewed. 

(4) And with them, indeed, peace was unexpected; (but) another war arose much nearer (home) and almost at their very gates. The Fidenates, thinking that a neighbouring power was growing in strength too near to themselves, resolve to make war before it had become so great in strength as it appeared it would be. An armed (body of) young men having been sent in, (all) of the land which lies between the city and Fidenae is ravaged. (5) Then, turning to the left, because the Tiber was blocking (them) on the right, they (continue to) plunder, to the great consternation of the peasantry; and a sudden rush from the fields into the city served as the news (of this). (6) Romulus (is) aroused - for a war so near (to home) could not permit any delay - (and) he leads out his army, and pitches his camp a mile from Fidenae. (7) Having left a small garrison there, he marched out with all his forces, and commanded a party of soldiers to lie in ambush in a place hidden by thick bushes planted all around; he set out with the greater part of (his foot soldiers) and all of the cavalry in a disorderly and threatening manner of fighting, (and,) by riding up near to their very gates, he aroused the enemy, the thing that he was trying (to do). The same (sort of) fighting by the cavalry likewise made the cause of flight, which was a pretence, (seem) less surprising. (8) And, when, with the cavalry in seeming confusion between a decision to fight or to fly, the infantry also retreated, the enemy suddenly rushed out from the crowded gates and hurled themselves at the Roman battle-line and, in their eagerness to press on and pursue (them), they are drawn to the place of ambush. (9) At this, the Romans suddenly arose and attacked the enemy's army in the flank; the advancing standards of those who had been left on guard adds to the panic; distressed by terrors from so many quarters, the Fidenates turn their backs almost before Romulus and (those) who were with him could wheel their horses around by the reins; (10) (those,) who a little before had been pursuing (those who were) pretending (to fly), (now) rushed back to the town in much greater disorder, since their flight (was) genuine. They did not, however, escape the enemy; (11) the Romans stuck to their backs, and burst into (the city) like (they were but) a single column, before the doors of the gates could be closed against (them).   

Chapter 15. War with Veii. 

(1) The minds of the Veientes, having been excited by the contagion of the war with the Fidenates, on account of their (tie of) consanguinity - for the Fidenates were Etruscans also - , and because the proximity of the place, if Roman arms should prove to be hostile to all of their neighbours, urged (them) on, they made an incursion into Roman territories, more for the purpose of plundering than in the manner of regular warfare. (2) And so, without pitching a camp, and without awaiting the (approach of) the enemy's army, they returned to Veii, carrying the booty (which had been) seized from the fields. The Roman (army), on the other hand, after it did not find the enemy on their lands, and having prepared for, and having decided upon, a decisive struggle, crossed the Tiber. (3) When the Veientes heard that they were pitching camp, and would be advancing on their city, they went out to meet (them), in order that they should decide (the matter) in (open) battle, rather than be shut up and fight from their houses and walls. (4) Here, with his power not being assisted by any stratagem but merely by the strength of his veteran army, the king of Rome was victorious, but, having pursued his routed foes to their walls, he refrained (from attacking) their city, strong (as it was) behind its walls, and fortified by its situation; on his return, he ravages their lands, more from a desire for revenge than for booty. (5) And the Veientes, subdued by this disaster, no less than by their defeat in battle, send envoys to Rome to sue for peace. Having been fined a part of their land, a truce (was) granted (to them) for a hundred years.   

(6) These (are) the main transactions that occurred during the reign of Romulus (i.e. 1-37 A.U.C. or 753-717 B.C.), none of which were thought (to be) incompatible with the belief in his divine origin and deification after his death, neither his courage in recovering his ancestral kingdom, nor his plan to found a city, nor to strengthen (it) by war and peaceful (measures). (7) For, through the strength actually given (to it) by him, it became so powerful that for forty years afterwards it enjoyed a sound peace. (8) Yet, he was dearer to the common people than to the senators, and far beyond (all) others he was most popular in the minds of his soldiers; and he kept three hundred armed (men) for the purpose of a bodyguard, not only in war, but also in peace, and these he called 'Celeres' (i.e. the Swift Ones).

Chapter 16. The disappearance, and apparent deification, of Romulus. 

(1) Having achieved these immortal works, when he was holding a public assembly for the purpose of reviewing the army on the plain by the Capraean marsh, a storm, having arisen with loud claps of thunder, enveloped the king in a cloud so thick that it removed the sight of him from the assembly (n.b. this is reputed to have happened in 38 A.U.C. or 716 B.C.); (2) the panic was, at length, allayed, when calm and clear daylight returned after such a turbulent day, (but,) when the Roman young men saw (that) the royal chair (was) empty, although they readily believed the senators, who had been standing next to him, that he had been taken aloft by the storm, yet, struck with the dread, as it were, of orphanage, they maintained a sorrowful silence for quite some time. (3) Then, the initiative having been taken by a few, they all decide to hail Romulus (as) a god, the son of a god, king and parent of the city of Rome; they implore his favour with prayers, (and) that he would always be graciously willing to protect his own progeny. (4) I believe that, even then, there were some who secretly made it known that the king had been torn to pieces at the hands of the senators; for this rumour also spread, but (remained) very obscure; (for) their admiration of the man and their current consternation gave credit to the alternative story. (5) And also by the contrivance of one man, addditional credit is said (to have come) to this account. For. while the community was (still) troubled at the loss of their king, and (was feeling) hostile to the senators,  Proculus Julius, a person of weight, they say, however great the matter (might be), comes forward (to speak) to the assembly. (6) "Quirites (i.e. Roman citizens)," he says, "Romulus, the father of this city, suddenly descending from heaven, himself came to meet me this day at daybreak. While I stood there, full of awe and reverence, beseeching him in my prayers that it might be acceptable to look upon his face, (7) he said: 'Go tell the Romans, that the gods so wish (it) that my Rome should become the capital of the world; then let them cultivate and be skilled in the arts of war, and let them hand down to posterity that no power shall be able to withstand Roman arms.' Having said this, he went up aloft," he said. (8) (It is) surprising how much credit was (given) to that man on making this announcement, and how (the grief), felt by the common people and the army (at) the loss of Romulus, was assuaged by belief in his immortality. 

Chapter 17. Disputes as to Romulus' successor.

(1) Meanwhile rivalry and desire for the throne was disturbing the minds of the senators. (This rivalry) had not yet come down to individuals, because no one was particularly eminent among the new people; those descended from the Sabines wanted a king to be elected from their own body, lest, because no one from their side had ruled since the death of Tatius, they might lose their equal share of power in the partnership; (3) the elderly Romans rejected (the notion of) a foreign king. Amid their different views, however, they all wished that there should be a king, as they had not yet experienced the sweetness of liberty. (4) Fear then came upon the senators, lest, with the state (being) without a ruler, the army (being) without a leader, (and) with the minds of many of the surrounding states being disaffected, some external force might attack (them). It was, therefore, their wish that there should be some head, but no one was inclined to give way to another. (5) So, the hundred senators share the government among themselves, ten decuries having been formed, and with one (man) being selected from each decury to preside over the affairs of state. Ten (men) were in charge; one (man) was accompanied by the emblems of authority and the lictors; (6) their power was limited to the extent of five days; and the interval between kings lasted for a year. In the circumstances, it (was) called an interregnum, a term which survives even now. (7) Then, the common people (begin) to grumble that their (degree of) servitude (has been) increased, and that a hundred masters (had been) given (to them) instead of one; and they seemed willing to bear no authority but a king, and (one) elected by themselves. (8) When the senators realised that such (ideas) were being mooted, thinking that it would be well to offer of their own accord (something) which they were about to lose, by conceding supreme power to the people, they win their favour in such a way that they give (them) no more authority than they (themselves) retain. (9) For they decreed that, when the people had appointed a king, it would be so ratified, if the senators became its ratifiers. The same authority is exercised even to this day in the passing of laws and (the election of) magistrates; before the people go in to vote, the senators become its ratifiers while the result of the elections is (still) uncertain. (10) Then, the interrex, having called an assembly of the people, said, "Do you, Quirites, elect a king; may it prove beneficial, auspicious, and fortunate; so it has seemed good to the senators. If you elect (someone) worthy to be counted as a successor to Romulus, then the senators will become your ratifiers." (11) This was so gratifying to the common people, that, lest they should be outdone in generosity, they merely assented to it, and required that the senate should decree who should be king in Rome. 

Chapter 18. Numa Pompilius is elected King.

(1) At that time, the justice and piety of Numa Pompilius was renowned. He lived in the Sabine (town of) Cures, a man deeply versed in every law, divine and human. (2) (Men) falsely profess Pythagoras of Samos (to have been) the source of his learning, because no one else stands out, and it is agreed that, when Servius Tullius (i.e. the sixth king of Rome, who ruled 578-534 B.C.) was ruling in Rome more than a hundred years afterwards, he held assemblies of young men, (who were) eager to excel in their studies, on the extreme edge of Italy around Metapontum, and Heraclea, and Croton (n.b. Pythagoras settled in Croton in about 530 B.C.). (3) From these (distant) places, even if he had lived at the same time, how (could) his fame have reached the Sabines? Or by what exchange of language could he have aroused anyone to a desire for learning? Or under whose protection could a single (man) have made his way through so many nations differing in speech and character? (4) So, I am of the opinion that his mind had been more tempered with the virtues of his own disposition, and that he had been moulded not so much by the skills of foreigners as by the severe and sombre discipline of the Sabines, of which no other was purer in kind at that time. 

(5) When they heard the name of Numa, the Roman senators, although they thought it likely that power would incline towards the Sabines if a king were taken from them, yet no one ventured to prefer himself, or any one else from his own faction, or, in short, any other of the senators or citizens, to that man, (and) they all voted unanimously that the kingdom should be offered to Numa Pompilius. (6) Having been  sent for, just as Romulus, when the city was being founded, obtained the kingdom by an augury, he commanded that the gods should also be consulted concerning himself. Then, having been conducted into the citadel by an augur, in whose honour this priesthood then became a public and permanent (one), he was made to sit down on a stone facing south. (7) The augur took the seat on his left, with his head covered, holding in his right-hand a crooked staff without a knot, which they called a 'lituus' (i.e. an augural sceptre). Then, when he had taken a view of the city and the countryside, and he had prayed to the gods, he marked out the regions from east to west: those parts facing south he defined as those on the right, and those facing north as those on the left. (8) Opposite (him) he fixed a sign in his mind, as far as the sight of an eye could reach; then, transferring his 'lituus' to his left-hand and placing his right-hand on Numa's head, he prayed as follows: (9) "Father Jupiter, if it is right that this Numa, whose head I am holding, should be king of Rome, (I beseech) that you should reveal sure signs of this to us within the limits which I have marked." (10) These (signs) having been sent, Numa was declared king, and came down from the augural platform.  

Chapter 19. Numa's religious reforms.

(1) So, having acquired the throne, he prepares to found afresh, on the basis of laws and morals, that city which was recently established by force of arms. (2) When he saw that (men) could not be accustomed to these (things) during wars, since their minds were being brutalised by military service, thinking that a fierce people could be softened by the disuse of arms, he built (the temple of) Janus at the foot of the Argiletum (i.e. the Aventine) (as) an indication of peace and war, to signify, (when it was) open, that the state was under arms (i.e. at war), (and when it was) shut, that all the surrounding peoples (had been) pacified. (3) Twice then since the reign of Numa has (this temple) been shut, once, in the consulship of Titus Manlius (Torquatus) (i.e. in 235 B.C.), after the first Punic war (had been) completed, (and) a second time after the war of Actium, when peace had been established by the emperor Caesar Augustus on land and sea (i.e. in 29 B.C.). (4) It was shut after he had united the dispositions of all the neighbouring states around (them) in alliance and by treaties, (all) anxieties concerning dangers from abroad having been removed, (but,) lest their minds, which fear of enemies and military discipline had restrained, should luxuriate in idleness, he considered, first of all, that fear of the gods should be instilled into (them), a principle of the greatest efficacy with regard to a multitude (so) ignorant and (so) uncivilised as in those times. (5) But, as it could not sink into their minds without some miracle being invented, he pretends that he is having nightly meetings with the goddess Egeria; and that, on her advice, he has instituted the sacred rites which would be most acceptable to the gods, (and) has appointed their own priests to each one of the gods. 

(6) Then, first of all, he divides the year into twelve months, in accordance with the course of the moon; because the moon does not complete thirty days in each month, and twelve days are wanting to a full year, which is measured by the revolutions of the sun, by the insertion of intercalary months, he so arranged it that every twentieth year, the lengths of all the (intermediate) years having been completed, the days should correspond to the same position of the sun from which they had started. (7) Likewise, he made (some) days profane and (others) sacred, because on some it was going to be expedient that no (business) was transacted with the people. 

Chapter 20. The appointment of priests. 

(1) Next, he turned his attention to the appointment of priests, though he performed a great many sacred rites himself, especially those which now belong to the Flamen Dialis (i.e. the Priest of Jupiter, the literal meaning of 'flamen' is 'kindler', the supervisor of ceremonies concerning burnt sacrifices). (2) But, because he supposed that in a warlike community there would be more kings like Romulus than Numa, and that they would go to wars themselves, he appointed a priest on a permanent basis (as) the Flamen of Jupiter, lest the sacred (duties) of the royal office should be neglected, and he furnished him with a special robe and a royal curule chair. To him he added two other Flamines, one for Mars, (and) another for Quirinus (i.e. Romulus); (3) he also chose virgins for Vesta, a priesthood originating at Alba, (and (so) not alien to to the stock of the founder (i.e. Romulus). So that there might be priestesses in permanent attendance at the temple, he assigned them a stipend from the public (treasury), and, through their virginity and other rituals, he made (them) venerable and holy. (4) He also selected the twelve Salii (i.e. Leaping Priests) for Mars Gradivus, and gave (them) the distinction of an embroidered tunic, and over the tunic a brazen covering for the breast, and he commanded (them) to carry the celestial shields, which are called 'ancilia' (n.b. the original 'ancile' was a shield reputed to have fallen from heaven; to reduce the chance of it being stolen, eleven others were made exactly like it), and to proceed through the city singing songs together with leaping and solemn dancing. (5) Then, from the (body of) the senators he chose Numa Marcius, son of Marcus, as pontiff (i.e. the 'Pontifex Maximus', the high priest), and assigned to him the sacred rites, all noted down and written up in detail, (specifying) with what victims, on what days, (and) at what temples the sacred rites were to be conducted, and from what source the money for these expenses was to be paid out. (6) He also placed all other religious (matters), public and private, under the decrees of the pontiff, so that there might be (someone,) to whom (one of) the common people could come to consult, lest some confusion in divine law might be caused by neglecting the ceremonies of his own country and by the adoption of foreign (ones); (7) (he also ordained) that the same pontiff should teach (the people) not only ceremonies concerning the gods above, but also the formalities of funerals and appeasing the shades of the dead, and what prodigies, dispatched by lightning or by some other visible sign, were to be taken in hand and averted. To elicit such (knowledge) from the divine mind, he dedicated an altar on the Aventine to Jupiter Elicius, and consulted the god through auguries as to which (prodigies) should receive attention. 

Chapter 21. The cultivation of religion during the reign of Numa.

(1) The whole population having been diverted from armed violence to thinking about and attending to these (matters), their minds had been occupied by doing something, and the constant watchfulness of the gods that had settled on (them), since it seemed that the heavenly powers were concerned about human affairs, had imbued the hearts of all with such piety, that faith and the swearing of oaths (now) governed the state rather than submission to the laws and fear of punishment. (2) And, while men were shaping themselves in relation to the character of the king as a unique example, then also the neighbouring peoples, who had previously seen (it) not (as) a city set in their midst, (but as an armed) camp (placed there) for the purpose of disturbing the peace of everyone, were (now) induced to show (it) such respect, that they thought (it would be) a sacrilege to violate a state (so) wholly committed to the worship of the gods. (3) There was a grove, in the midst of which a spring of constantly (running) water flowed from a dark cavern. As Numa very often went there himself without witnesses, as if to a meeting with the goddess, he consecrated the grove to the Camenae (i.e. the Muses), because their meetings with his wife Egeria were (held) there, (4) and he instituted a religious festival to Faith alone. He commanded that the Flamines should be conveyed to her temple by a pair (of horses) in a hooded chariot, and that they should perform the divine service with their hands wrapped up as far as their fingers, signifying that Faith ought to be protected, and that her seat should be sacred even in (men's) right-hand (clasps). (5) He dedicated many other sacred rites and places for the rites to be performed, which the priests call 'Argei' (i.e.  approx. 24 sacred places distributed across Rome's four regions, and there was a procession across these shrines on 17th March each year; on the Ides of May, i.e. the 15th, the same number of rush puppets, or human effigies, were thrown into the Tiber by the Vestal Virgins from the Pons Supplicium as tokens of earlier human sacrifices). But the greatest of all his achievements was the maintenance of peace during the whole of his reign (i.e. 39-82 A.U.C. or 715-672 B.C.), no less than (the maintenance) of his kingdom. (6) So, two kings in succession, each in a different way, the former by war and the latter by peace, enlarged the state. Romulus reigned for thirty-seven years, Numa for forty-three. The state was both strong and in tune with the arts both of war and of peace.     

Chapter 22. The new king, Tullus Hostilius, constructs a quarrel with Alba. 

(1) On Numa's death, the people appointed as king Tullus Hostilius, the grandson of that Hostilius, who had been (involved) in that famous battle with the Sabines at the foot of the citadel, and the senators had become ratifiers (of the decision). (2) He (was) not only unlike the previous king, but was even more warlike than Romulus (had been). Both his (young) age and his vigour, and also his grandfather's glorious (reputation), stimulated his thinking. So, thinking that the state was becoming senile through inactivity, he looked everywhere for a pretext to stir up a war. (3) By chance, it happened that some Roman peasants had driven plundered (cattle) from Alban territory, and that some Alban (peasants had driven plundered cattle) from Roman (territory) in turn. (4) At that time Gaius Cluilius was governing Alba. From both sides envoys (were) sent at almost the same time to (demand) that these things should be restored. Tullus had told his (envoys) to do nothing (else) until (the order had been) carried out; he well knew that the Alban would refuse; so, war could be justly declared. (5) Action (was) taken in a more leisurely fashion by the Albans; having been hospitably received by Tullus with charm and kindness, they courteously frequent the king's banquet. In the meantime, the Romans had earlier sought redress, and, when the Alban (leader) had refused (it), they had declared war (to take effect) in thirty days' (time). (6) This they report to Tullus. Then, Tullus gives their envoys the opportunity of saying what they have come to demand. They, unaware of everything (that has happened), spent some time apologising: (they said) that they were reluctant that they should say anything which was unpleasing to Tullus, but they were compelled by their orders; they had come to demand restitution; if (these things) were not restored, (then they were) commanded to declare war. (7) To this Tullus replied: "Go tell your king that the king of the Romans takes the gods to witness which of the two nations first derisively dismissed the envoys that were demanding restitution, that on it all the calamities of this war may befall."

Chapter 23. Tullus Hostilius and the war with Alba. 

(1) The Albans reported these (words) at home. Then, war was prepared for on both sides with the utmost vigour; very similar (it was) to a civil war, quite like (one) between parents and children, as both (were) offspring of the Trojans, since Lavinium (came) from Troy, Alba from Lavinium, (and) the Romans were descended from the stock of the Alban kings. (2) But the outcome of the war made the struggle less grievous (than it might have been), because it was fought without a (full-scale) battle, and the houses of only one city were demolished and the two peoples were fused into one. (3) The Albans first made an attack on Roman territory with a large army. They pitched camp no (more than) five miles from the city, and surrounded (it) with a trench; for some centuries it was called the Cluilian trench from the name of their general, until the name, together also with the thing (itself), fell into abeyance, due to its great age. (4) In this camp, Cluilius, the Alban king, dies; the Albans appoint Mettius Fufetius dictator. 

In the meantime, Tullus, especially emboldened by the death of their king, and asserting that the power of the gods would seek punishment of the whole Alban name, starting from their very head, on account of the impious war, passed the enemy's camp at night and proceeded into Alban territory with a hostile army. This situation drew Mettius from his standing camp (i.e. his entrenchments). (5) He leads (his men) as close as he can to the enemy. From there, he commands an envoy, that he has sent on ahead, to tell Tullus that there was the need for a conference before there should be an engagement; if he were to meet with him, he was confident that he would bring forward proposals that would be of no less significance to the Roman state than to the Alban. (6) Without rejecting (this suggestion), Tullus, nevertheless, draws up (his men) in order of battle, in case (the proposal) should prove (to be) abortive. On the other side, the Albans also form up. When both sides were standing ready for battle, their leaders advanced with a few of their chiefs into their midst. There, the Alban begins (to speak as follows): (7) "That injuries and the non-restoration of properties, which were demanded according to treaty, I believe I heard our king Cluilius (say) were the cause of this war, and I do not doubt that you, Tullus, would say the same (thing); but, if the truth should be told, rather than (what it is) plausible to say, (it is) the desire for dominion (that) is inciting two kindred and neighbouring peoples to (go to) war. (8) Nor do I judge (whether it has been done) rightly or wrongly; that was the consideration of him who undertook this war; the Albans have appointed me (as) the general to conduct the war. This (is) the warning (which) I wish (to give) you, Tullus. How powerful is the Etruscan state that surrounds us, and you in particular, as you are nearer to it, you know this better (than us). They are very powerful by land, (and) especially (so) by sea. (9) Now be mindful, that, when you give the signal for battle, these two armies will be in their sight, so that, (when we are) tired and exhausted, they may attack (us), victor and vanquished at the same time. And so, if the gods love us, since (we are) not content with the assurance of liberty, (and) we are incurring the dubious risk of power or servitude, let us adopt some method, whereby it may be determined which (state) shall rule the other, without any great suffering and without much blood (being lost) on the part of either nation."   

(10) This proposal was not displeasing to Tullus, although he was the more inclined to violence due to the nature of his disposition and his hope of victory. With both sides considering (what to do), a plan is adopted, for which Fortune, herself, supplied the means. 

Chapter 24. It is agreed that a combat between the Horatii and Curiatii will determine the outcome of the war.

(1) At that time, it so happened that there were triplet brothers in the two armies, no different in age or strength, It is generally agreed that they were the Horatii and the Curiatii, and nothing else in antiquity is better known; yet, with regard to such a famous circumstance, a doubt remains concerning their names, (and) to which nation the Horatii, (and) to which (nation) the Curiatii, belonged, but I find (there are) more (people) who call the Horatii Romans; my opinion is inclined to follow them. (2) The kings confer with the triplets that they should contend with their swords, each on behalf of their own native-country. No (objection) is made; the time and the place are agreed. (3) Before they begin to fight, an agreement was struck between the Romans and the Albans on these terms, that the state whose champions should be victorious in this contest should hold sway over the other nation with complete accord. (4) Other treaties are made on different terms, but all of them in the same way. On this occasion we are told that they did as follows, nor is there a record of any more ancient compact. So, the fetial (priest) (n.b. the 'fetiales' were a priestly college, whose functions were to represent the Roman state in declaring war, making peace, and entering into treaties) asked King Tullus: "Do you command (me), (O) King, to make a treaty with the spokesman of the deputation of the Alban nation?" When the king (so) ordered (him), he said, "I demand of you, (O) King, some tufts of grass!" (5) The King replied: "Take a tuft that is pure!" The fetial brought a pure blade of grass from the citadel. Then he asked the King this: "(O) King, do you appoint me the royal delegate of the Roman people, the Quirites, and (these as) my vessels and companions!" The King responded: "In so far as it can be done without detriment to me and the Roman people, I do." (6) The fetial was Marcus Valerius; he made Spurius Fusius the officiating priest, touching his head and his hair with that vervain (i.e. sacred herbage). The officiating priest (arranged) for the oath to be sworn (and) ratified, that is, that the sacred oath should be made sacred; and he goes through it in many words, but, although it was expressed in a lengthy formula, there is no need to repeat (it here). (7) Then, after its terms had been recited, he says, "Hear, (O) Jupiter, hear (you) spokesman of the Alban people, (and) hear, you people of Alba; as those (terms) have been openly recited, from first to last, from those tablets or that wax without any wicked deception, and especially as they have been most correctly understood here today, the Roman people will not be the first to forsake those terms. (8) If it should be the first to forsake (them), by public agreement or by wicked deceit, then on that day, (O) Jupiter, do you so strike the Roman people, as I shall strike this pig here today; and do you strike (them) the more strongly as you are the more able and (the more) powerful." (9) When he had said this, he struck the pig with a flint-stone (knife). Likewise, the Albans pronounced their own utterances and swore their own oath by means of their dictator and their priests. 

Chapter 25. The Horatii and the Curiatii fight it out. 

(1) The treaty having been concluded, the triplets took up their arms, as had been agreed. While their (followers) exhorted both parties (to remember) that their country's gods, their country, and their parents, and all of their fellow-citizens who were at home or in the army, were looking closely at their weapons and the hands that were (wielding) them, they, being eager for battle, and (with their ears) full of encouraging voices, proceed into the middle (ground) between the two battle-lines. (2) On both sides, the two armies had sat down in front of their camps, free from immediate danger rather than from anxiety; for sovereign power was at stake, dependent, (as it was,) on the valour and the fortune of so few. Accordingly, therefore, (while) alert and in suspense, they direct their attention to a sight (that is) far from pleasing. (3) The signal is given, and, (on each side) three young men charge forward with hostile weapons like a battle-line, bearing the courage of mighty armies. Neither on one side, nor on the other, is their own danger kept in mind, but (rather) the dominion and servitude of the public, and the fortune of their native-land, which would then be as they had established (it). (4) As soon as their arms clashed and their flashing swords glittered at the first encounter, a great horror stunned their onlookers, and with hope inclined to neither side, their voice and spirit grew numb. (5) Then, after they had engaged in close combat, when not only the movement of their bodies and the two-fold brandishing of swords and shields, but also wounds and blood, were to be seen, two of the Romans fell lifeless, one on top of the other, and the three Albans (were) wounded. (6) When the Alban army raised shouts of joy at their fall, hope had now totally deserted the Roman levies, but not yet their anxiety, alarmed, (as they were,) at the plight of the single (warrior), whom the three Curiatii had surrounded. (7) By chance, he was unhurt, so that, (though) alone (he was) no match for (them) all together, yet (he was) ready to fight against (each one of them) on an individual basis. Therefore, in order to separate their attack, he takes to flight, assuming that they would follow (him) as (fast) as the wounded body of each one would allow. (8) He had now fled some considerable distance from the place where the battle had been fought, when, looking back, he perceived that they were following (him) with great intervals between (them); (and) that one was not far away from him. (9) He came back at him with great force, and, while the Alban army shouts out to the (other) Curiatii to bring help to their brother, the victorious Horatius, having slain his enemy, was aiming at a second attack. The Romans, then, encourage their champion with a shout, such as is usually (given) by those who are cheering on account of (something) unexpected; and he hastens to bring the battle to an end. (10) So, before the other (one), who was not far away, could come up, he finishes off the second Curiatius; (11) and now the combat (was) on equal terms, as one was left (on each side), but they were not equal in hope and strength. The one, his body untouched by a weapon, and (flushed) with a double victory. brought his eagerness to fight to a third encounter; the other, dragging his body along, faint from his wound, and exhausted with running, and (with) the slaughter of his brothers before his (eyes), is exposed to defeat by his victorious foe. (12) Nor was that a battle. As he exults, the Roman cries, "Two (victims) I have given to the shades of my brothers; the third I shall give to the cause of this war, that a Roman may rule over Alba." As he was scarcely able to hold up his shield, he stuck his sword in his throat from above. (then), he strips (him) as he lay. (13) The Romans receive Horatius with rejoicing and thanksgiving, (and) with all the more joy because this success had (followed) their fear (so) closely. Then, (their attention) is turned to the burial of their (dead), (but) with by no means equal feelings, since one (was) blessed with power, (and) the other (was) subjected to foreign sway. (14) Their tombs are visible, at the place where each (man) fell, the two Roman (graves) at a single spot nearer to Alba, (and) the three Alban (ones) turned towards Rome, but some distance (from one another) in their locations, and just as they had fought.    

Chapter 26. Horatius murders his sister. 

(1) Before they departed from there, when Mettius, in accordance with the treaty that had been agreed, asked what orders he had to give, Tullus orders (him) to keep his young men in arms, (saying) that he would make use of their services, if there should be a war with the Veientes. So then the armies were led back to their homes. (2) Horatius went first, bearing his triple spoils before him; his maiden sister, who had been engaged to marry one of the Curiatii met (him) outside the Capene gate; and, when she recognised the military cloak of her betrothed, which she herself had made, on the top of her brother's shoulders, she let loose her hair and tearfully called on her betrothed by name. (3) His sister's lamentations amidst his victory and such great public rejoicing, stirs the young man's mind to fury. And so, drawing his sword he stabs the girl, at the same time chiding her with these words: (4) "Go hence, to (join) your betrothed with your untimely love," he cries, "forgetful, (as you are,) of your dead brothers (and of the one who is still) living, (and) forgetful of your country. (5) So fares every Roman (woman) who shall mourn an enemy." 

This deed seemed shocking to the senators and to the people, but his recent service stood in the way of action (being taken against him). Nevertheless, he was taken to the king for trial. The king, lest he himself should be held responsible for the sentence, and, secondly, for carrying the sentence out, summoned an assembly of the people, and said: "In accordance with the law, I appoint duumvirs to indict Horatius for treason." (6) The law contained this dreadful formula: 'Let the duumvirs find him guilty of treason; if he should lodge an appeal from the (decision of) the duumvirs, let the appeal be heard; if their (decision) prevails, let his head be veiled; let him be hung with a rope from a barren tree; let him be scourged either inside the pomerium (i.e. the sacred boundary line of the City of Rome), or outside the pomerium.' (7) Under this law duumvirs (were) appointed. They did not consider that, under this law, they could acquit (anyone), not even an innocent (man), (and,) when they had found (him) guilty, then one of them said: "Publius Horatius, I find you guilty of treason. "Go, lictor, bind his hands!" (8) The lictor had approached (him) and was about to fix the rope. Then, Horatius, at the urging of Tullus, a merciful interpretor of the law, cries, "I appeal." Accordingly, the hearing of the appeal is (submitted) to the people. (9) Men were particularly influenced during that trial by Publius Horatius, the father, asserting that he considered that his daughter had been justly slain; if it had been otherwise, he would have brought punishment upon his son, by (exerting) his paternal authority. Then, he begged that they they should not make him destitute of children whom a little earlier they had beheld with such splendid offspring.  (10) While making these (remarks), the old man embraced the young man, (and,) pointing to the spoils of the Curiatii, set up at that place, which is now called the 'Horatian spears', he said: "That (man) whom you saw just now decorated with spoils and exulting in victory, can you, Quirites, bear to see him bound beneath a gallows, amid scourgings and tortures? Why even the eyes of the Albans could scarcely endure so hideous a sight! (11) Go, lictor, bind those hands, which being armed a little earlier, secured sovereignty for the Roman people! Go, veil the head of the liberator of this city!  Hang (him) from that barren tree! Scourge (him) either within the pomerium, (so it is) only within those spears and spoils of the enemy, or outside the pomerium, (so it is) only among the graves of the Curiatii! For whither can you take this young man, where his own glories will not redeem him from so foul a punishment?" (12) The people could not withstand the tears of the father, and the resolution of his (son), ready, (as he was,) to (meet) every peril, and they acquitted (him) more through admiration of his courage than due to the justice of his cause. And so, that such a flagrant murder might yet be atoned for by some propitiatory sacrifice, the father was ordered to make amends for his son at the public expense. (13) After offering certain expiatory sacrifices, which were then handed down to the Horatian family, he placed a beam across the street, and sent the young man under it with his head covered, as if under a yoke. This remains even to this day, always being repaired at the public expense; they call (it) the 'Sister's Beam'. (14) A tomb for Horatia was built of hewn stone at the place where she had fallen, (after she had been) stabbed.  

Chapter 27. The machinations of Mettius.

(1) The peace with Alba did not last for long. The resentment of the people because he had entrusted the fortunes of the state to those three soldiers had corrupted the weak mind of the dictator, and, since honourable measures had not turned out well, he began to regain the confidence of the people by devious (means). (2) Accordingly, just as previously during (a time of) war he had sought peace, so during (a time of) peace (he sought) war, because he perceived that his own state had more courage than strength, he roused other tribes to wage war openly and in accordance with a declaration, (and) he reserved a treacherous (role) for his own (people) under the guise of fellowship. (3) The people of Fidenae, (which was) a Roman colony, were induced to (go to) war and to (take up) arms by an agreement of the Albans to go over (to them), and the Veientes (were) adopted as associates in the plot. (4) When Fidenae had openly revolted, Tullus summoned Mettius and his army from Alba, and led (his forces) against the foe. When he crossed the Anio, he pitched his camp at the confluence (of the rivers). The Veientine army had crossed the Tiber between that spot and Fidenae. (5) These (men) formed the right wing in the line of battle, near to the river: the Fidenates take up their position on the left (wing) nearer to the mountains. Tullus turns his own (men) to face the foe, (and) he stations the Albans against the legion of the Fidenates. The Alban (i.e. Mettius) had no more courage than fidelity. So, daring neither to hold his ground, nor to desert openly, he gradually slopes off  to the mountains; (6) then, when he thought he had gone in far enough, he brings up his entire army, and irresolute in mind, he deploys his ranks in order to waste time. His intention was to direct his forces to the side to which fortune should give success. (7) At first, it was incredible to the Romans that had been standing next (to them) to perceive that their flanks had been exposed by the withdrawal of their allies; than a cavalryman gallops up on his horse and announces to the king that the Albans are retiring. In this critical situation, Tullus vows (to appoint) twelve Salian (priests) (i.e. the 'Jumping Priests, devoted to Mars Gradivus), and (to build) shrines to Pallor and Panic. (8) Rebuking the horseman in a loud voice, so that the enemy might hear (him), he commands (him) to return to the field of battle: (he says) there is no need for alarm; that by his order the Alban army was being led round to attack the unprotected rear of the Fidenates; he also orders the cavalry to raise their spears aloft. (9) This action hides the sight of the retreating Alban army from a large part of the Roman foot-soldiers; (those) who had seen (it) believed what had been heard (said) by the king, (and) they fight the more fiercely (because of it). Fear is (now) transferred to the enemy, and a large section of the Fidenates had also heard (what had been) said in that loud voice, (and,) as Romans had been attached to them (as) colonists, they understood (words) in Latin. (10) And so, lest they should be shut off from their town by a sudden descent of the Albans from the hills, they turn to flight. Tullus presses on, and, having routed the wing of the Fidenates, he turns back with more fury on the Veientine army, (now) shaken by the panic of the others. They failed to withstand his attack, but the river, (which was) situated behind (them), checked (them) from an extravagant flight. (11) When their flight had led (them) to it, some basely threw down their arms and rushed blindly into the water, others (were) caught on the banks, while they hesitate between a decision to flee or to fight on. No other previous Roman battle was more bloody (than this one).       

Chapter 28. Mettius's dire punishment. 

(1) The Alban army, (that had) looked on at the fight, (was) taken down on to the plains. Mettius congratulates Tullus on defeating the enemy; in reply, Tullus addresses Mettius in a courteous manner. He instructs the Albans to join their camp to the Roman camp, he prepares a lustral sacrifice (i.e. a sacrifice of purification offered on behalf of the whole army to the war god, Mars) for the next day. (2) When dawn came, everything having been prepared in accordance with custom, he orders each army to be called to an assembly. Beginning at the outskirts (of their camp), the heralds summon the Albans. They, drawn by the novelty of the occasion, stand close to the Roman king, so that they might hear (him) haranguing (them). (3) A Roman legion, under arms as agreed, surrounds (them); the instruction had been given to the centurions to follow their orders without delay. (4) Then, Tullius begins (to speak) as follows: "Romans, if ever before at any other (time) in any war there was some (reason) for you to give thanks, firstly to the immortal gods, and then to that valour of your own, it was yesterday's battle. For the struggle was no more with our enemies than (it was) with the treachery and the perfidy of our allies, a struggle which is greater and more dangerous. (5) For, so that no false opinion should influence you, the Albans went up into the mountains without any order from me, nor was that my command (that you heard) but a ruse and and the pretence of a command, so that you might not be aware that you were being deserted and have your minds distracted from the conflict, and so that the enemy, thinking that they were being beset from the rear, might in their terror be put to flight. (6) Nor does the blame, that I am accusing (them) of, lie with all of the Albans: they followed their general. as you too would have done, if I had wanted to lead my army off somewhere else from here. Yonder Mettius is the conductor of this march, the same Mettius (is) the instigator of this war, (and) this Mettius (is) the violator of the treaty between Romans and Albans. Someone else may now dare (to perform) such (deeds) as this, unless I now deliver up, in relation to him, a conspicuous warning to (all) mankind."    

Armed centurions stand around Mettius; the king goes on (speaking) further, as he had begun: "It is my intention - and may this bring prosperity, good fortune and happiness to the Roman people, to myself, and to you, men of Alba! - to transfer all the people of Alba to Rome, to grant citizenship to your people, to enrol your nobles among our senators, (and) to form one city (and) one commonwealth. As the Alban state was once divided from one into two peoples, may it now return into one."

At this, the Alban youth, unarmed, (and) surrounded by armed (men), yet, among their different wishes, constrained by a common fear, kept their silence. (9) Then Tullus said: "Mettius Fufetius, if you yourself were capable of learning to keep your faith and (to observe) treaties, I might have applied this discipline to you (while you were still) alive; but now, since your disposition is incurable, do you at least teach the human race by your punishment to consider those things (as) sacred which have been violated by you. So, as a little while ago you kept your mind wavering between the interests of Fidenae and of Rome, so now you shall give your body to be torn apart in different directions." (10) Accordingly, two teams of four horses were brought up, and he stretches Mettius on to their chariots and binds (him) fast; then, the horses (were) driven on different courses, carrying off on each chariot (fragments of) the body, where the limbs had stuck to their fastenings. (11) Everyone averted their eyes from such a dreadful sight. That punishment was the first and the last among the Romans (that was) insufficiently mindful of the nature of the law of humanity; in other (cases) we may boast that milder punishments (than ours) have found favour with no other nations.       

Chapter 29. The depopulation and destruction of the city of Alba. 

(1) During these (events), the cavalry had been sent out to Alba to transport the whole population to Rome. Then the legions were told to demolish the city. (2) When they entered the gates, there was not indeed that tumult or panic, such as there usually is in the capture of cities, when, after the gates have been broken open, or the walls have been overthrown by a ram, or the citadel taken by assault, the shouts of the  enemy and the rush of armed (men) through the city embroil everything with fire and sword; (3) but gloomy silence and speechless sorrow so absorbed the minds of everyone, that, with their judgment failing (them), through fear, (as to) what they should leave behind, (and) what they should take with them, now they stood at their doorways, making inquiries one of another, (and) now they were wandering at random about their houses, destined, (as they were,) to be looking (at them) for the very last time. (4) But, as soon as the shouts of the horsemen commanding (them) to leave urged (them) on, then the crashing sound of the dwellings which were being demolished was heard in the remotest parts of the city, and the dust rising in distant places had filled every (quarter) as if covered over by a cloud, then hastily taking up whatever each of them could, while they went forth leaving behind (them) their guardian deities, their household gods, and the homes in which they had been born and brought up, a continuing column of migrants filled the ways, (5) and the sight of others renewed their tears, and piteous cries were also heard,  , especially (those) of women, when they passed by their revered temples, now frequented by armed (men), and they left their gods as if (they were) captives. (6) After the Albans had evacuated the city, the Roman (army) levels to the ground all buildings, public and private, indiscriminately, and one hour consigns to  destruction and ruins the work of four hundred years, during which Alba had stood; but the temples of the gods - for so it had been decreed by the king - were spared.  

Chapter 30. The union of two peoples is followed by war with the Sabines; the battle of Mantrap Wood. 

(1) Meanwhile, Rome grows from the ruins of Alba. The number of citizens is doubled; the Caelian Hill is added to the city, and, in order that it might be more thickly settled, Tullus chose it (as) the site of his  palace and resided there from then onwards. (2) The chief (men) of the Albans, he enrols among the senators, so that this part of the commonwealth might grow too - (these were) the Julii, the Servilii, the Quinctii, the Geganii, the Curiatii (and) the Cloeliae; he built (as) a consecrated place for the order (which had been) enlarged by him, a meeting place which was called the (Curia) Hostilia right up to the time of our fathers. (3) And, so that some strength might be added to every order from these new people, he selected ten squadrons of knights (i.e. 300 horsemen, as each squadron was composed of 30 men) from among the Albans, and, from the same source, he made up the numbers of the old legions, and enlisted new (ones).    

(4) In his reliance on these forces, Tullus declares war on the Sabines, a nation at that time second (only) to the Etruscans in their great wealth and strength in arms. (5) On both sides injuries had occurred, and satisfaction had been demanded in vain. Tullus complained that some Roman merchants (had been) seized in a crowded market near the shrine of Feronia, (and) the Sabines that some of their own (men) had earlier fled for sanctuary to a sacred grove and (had been) detained in Rome. These were assigned (as) the causes of the war. (6) The Sabines, in no way forgetting that a part of their own forces (had been) settled in Rome by Tatius, and that the Roman state had also recently been enlarged by the addition of the people of Alba, began to look about for outside help themselves. (7) Etruria was nearby, (and) the nearest of the Etruscans (were) the Veientes. From there they drew some volunteers, their minds being stirred to revolt by the very great anger left over from the wars, and, among certain vagrants from the poverty-stricken people, (the prospect of) pay was powerful. (But) they were assisted by no public help, and among the Veientes - for it is less surprising in the case of the others - fidelity to the truce negotiated with Romulus was strong. (8) While they were preparing for war on both sides with the utmost vigour, and success seemed to depend on which one of them took to arms first, Tullus surprises (his enemy) by  crossing into Sabine territory. (9) There was a fierce battle at Mantrap Wood, where due to the particular strength of their infantry, as well as their recently augmented cavalry, the Roman army proved to be the most strong. (10) The ranks of the Sabines were thrown into disorder by a sudden attack of the cavalry; nor, in their case, could the fighting be maintained, or a retreat undertaken, without great slaughter.  

Chapter 31. The last years, and the death, of Tullus. 

(1) After the Sabines had been defeated, when the sovereignty of Tullus and the whole of the Roman state was in (a position of) great glory and great power, it was reported to the king and the senators that it had rained with stones on the Alban Mount. (2) As this could scarcely be believed, men were sent to look into this prodigy, (and) a shower of pebbles fell from the sky in their sight, just like when the winds drive hail stones on to the ground. (3) They also thought they heard a loud voice from the grove on the summit of the mountain (demanding) that the Albans should perform sacrifices in accordance with the rites of their country, (sacrifices) which they had consigned to oblivion, as if their gods had also been abandoned together with their native-land, and they had either adopted the sacred rites of the Romans, or, as happens, enraged at their misfortune, they had abandoned the worship of the gods. (4) A nine-day religious festival was publicly celebrated also on account of the same prodigy, either (in obedience) to the heavenly voice sent from the Alban Mount, or on the advice of the soothsayers; the religious practice certainly continued, that, whenever the same prodigy was reported, festivals were held for nine days.  

(5) Not so long afterwards they were afflicted by the plague. When an aversion to military service arose from this, still no respite from arms was granted by the warlike king, who considered that the bodies of young men were more healthy (when) abroad than at home, until he himself was engulfed by the lingering disease. (6) Then, those fierce spirits of his, together with his body, became so broken that (he,) who had previously thought (that) nothing (was) less regal than to devote one's mind to religious practices, suddenly developed an addiction to every (kind of) superstition, great and small, and also filled (the minds of) the people with religious (scruples). (7) Now men in general were seeking (a return to) the state of affairs which had existed under King Numa, (and) they believed that the only relief left for their sickly bodies (was) if peace and forgiveness could be procured from the gods. (8) They say that the king himself, reflecting on the commentaries of Numa, after he had found in them that certain sacrifices of a secret and solemn (nature) had been offered to Jupiter Elicius (i.e. he could be called down by incantations), hid himself away in order to perform these sacrifices; but that ceremony was improperly undertaken or administered, (for) not only was no divine manifestation offered to him, but he was struck by a thunderbolt, occasioned by the wrath of Jupiter, aroused by his faulty religious observance. Tullus had reigned with great glory in war for thirty-two years (i.e. 82-114 A.U.C. or 672-640 B.C.).

Chapter 32. The election of Ancus Martius as king of Rome; and war was declared with the Latins. 

(1) On the death of Tullus, the government reverted to the senators, as had already been established from the beginning, and they had nominated an 'interrex'. An assembly being held by him, the people elected Ancus Marcius (as) king; the senators ratified (the appointment). Ancus Marcius was a grandson of King Numa Pompilius, having been born to his daughter. (2) As he begins to rule, (he is) mindful of his grandfather's glory, and that, while being excellent in all other things, he was not successful enough in one respect, with religion being neglected, or religious observances being improperly conducted, and, considering that it was by far the most important (thing) to perform public sacrifices as had been established by Numa, he orders the pontiff to copy all of them from the King's commentaries on to a white table and display them publicly. From this the hope (was) created, both among the citizens eager for peace and among the neighbouring states that the king would adopt the character and the traditions of his grandfather. (3) So, when the Latins, with whom a treaty had been struck by Tullus, when he was king, plucked up their courage, and, when they had made an incursion into Roman territory, and the Romans had sought restitution, they sent back an insolent response, supposing that the Roman king would spend his time inactively between sanctuaries and altars. (4) The mentality of Ancus was of the middling kind, mindful both of Numa and of Romulus, and, apart from believing that peace had been more important in the reign of his grandfather, with regard to the people (being) both new and uncivilised, (he) also (believed) that the peace which had befallen the former (i.e. Numa) would (in his case) be no easy (thing to achieve) without injury; his patience was being tried, and, having been tried, it was despised, and that the times were more suited to a king Tullus than to a Numa. (5) But, in order that ceremonies relating to war might be produced by him, since Numa had instituted religious rites in (times of) peace, and in order that wars might not only be waged but also declared by some religious rite, he copied the law from an ancient tribe, the Aequicolae, which the fetial priests now possess, by which satisfaction is demanded.      

(6) When the envoy comes to the frontiers of those (people) from whom satisfaction is sought, his head having been covered with a hat - the cap is (made) of wool - , he says "Hear, (O) Jupiter, hear, (you) territories" - he gives the name of whichever people they belong to; - "Let righteousness hear. I am the public messenger of the Roman people; I come (as) an envoy in justice and piety, and may there be trust in my words." (7) Then, he calls Jupiter to witness: "If I unjustly and impiously demand that those men and those things are surrendered to me, then may I never be a partaker of the fruits of my native-land." (8) He recites these (words) when he crosses the boundaries, and to whichever man he should meet first, and when he enters the (city) gates, and when he comes to the market-place, with (only) a few words being changed in the form and the wording of the oath. (9) If (those) whom he demands are not delivered up within the passage of thirty-three days - for such is the usual number - , he declares war in the following words: "Hear, (O) Jupiter, and you, Juno, and Quirinus and all (you) heavenly gods, and you, the terrestrial (gods) and you, the infernal (ones), hear! I call you to witness that that nation" - he names whichever one it is - "is unjust and does not make just payments. But concerning these matters, we shall consult the elders in our native-country as to the means by which we may obtain our rights." Then, the messenger returns to Rome in order to consult. The King used to consult the senators immediately, almost in the following words: (11) "Concerning such matters, disputes and causes, the officiating priest of the Roman people has conferred with the officiating priest of the Ancient Latins and with the Ancient Latin people, (as to) those (things) which have neither been delivered, nor paid nor fulfilled, things which ought to have been delivered, paid or fulfilled, speak! (and) he says to the (man) whose opinion he used to ask for first, "What do you think?" (12) Then he replied: "I think that (these things) should be sought by a clean and pious war, and so I consent and vote (for it)." Then, the others were asked in order; and, when the majority of those who were present were of the same opinion, war was agreed upon. It was customary for the fetial priest to carry to the borders of the other (nation) a spear (which was) iron-shod, or hardened in the fire and dipped in blood, and, in the presence of no less than three adult (men), to say: (13) "For, inasmuch as the tribes of the Ancient Latins and the people of the Ancient Latins have acted against (the interests of) the Roman people of the Quirites, (and) have done (them) wrong, (and) inasmuch as the Roman people of the Quirites has ordered that there should be war with the Ancient Latins, and the senate (and) the Roman people of the Quirites have resolved, agreed (and) voted that war should be made on the Ancient Latins, for this reason I and the Roman people declare, and make, war on the tribes of the Ancient Latins and the people of the Ancient Latins." When he had said this, he would hurl his spear into their territory. (14) In this way, then, (was) satisfaction demanded and war (was) declared, and posterity has accepted this custom. 

Chapter 33. During the war with the Latins, the River Tiber is bridged. 

(1) Having entrusted the care of sacred (matters) to the flamines and other priests, Ancus enrolled a fresh army and set out (with it), and he took Politorium, a city of the Latins, by storm, and, following the custom of former kings, who had increased (the size of) the Roman state by receiving their enemies into citizenship, he transported the whole of its population to Rome, (2) and, since the quarter of the original Romans (was) around the Palatine, (and) the Sabines had occupied the Capitol and the citadel, (and) the Albans the Caelian Hill, the Aventine (was) assigned to the newcoming multitude. And so, not long afterwards, Tellenae and Ficana having been captured, new citizens (were) added in the same way. (3) Then, Politorium (was) returned to war again, because the Ancient Latins had occupied (it when it was) empty; and the reason for the city being demolished by the Romans was this, so that it should not always be a (place of) refuge for the enemy. (4) At last, the whole Latin war was concentrated on Medullia, and for sometime (the outcome of) the fighting there was uncertain, and the battle was fought with victory shifting (from side to side); for the city was both secure in its fortifications and (was) sustained by a strong garrison, and the Latin army, having pitched its camp on the open (plain), had joined battle with the Romans at close quarters on several occasions. (5) Finally, Ancus, relying on all his forces, was victorious in a battle for the first time; from there, he returned to Rome, the master of enormous booty, (and) then, many thousands of Latins having been admitted to citizenship, an abode was granted to them near the (Altar of) Murcia, so that the Aventine might be connected to the Palatine. (6) The Janiculum (was) added as well, not for want of room, but lest at any time it might become a stronghold for an enemy. It was resolved that it should not only be fortified, but also that it should be joined to the city, on account of ease of travel, by a bridge of piles (i.e. the Pons Sublicius), then built over the Tiber for the first time. (7) The Quirites' Ditch, no small protection from access (to the city) from more level grounds, is also the work of King Ancus. 

(8) The state was enhanced by this huge increase (in its size), (and,) seeing that, amid such a multitude of people, the distinction between acting rightly or wrongly had been obscured, crimes were secretly being committed, a prison is built in the middle of the city overhanging the forum, to (bring) terror to the growing lawlessness. (9) (It was) not only the city (that) grew under this king, but also its land and territories. The Maesian forest (was) taken from the Veientes, and (Rome's) dominion (was) extended as far as the sea, and at the mouth of the Tiber the city of Ostia (was) founded, and salt-works (were) set up nearby, while, in recogntion of the things being successfully achieved in warfare, the temple of Jupiter Feretrius (was) enlarged.    

Chapter 34. Migration of the Tarquins to Rome.

(1) In the reign of Ancus, Lucumo, an energetic and wealthy man came to settle in Rome, chiefly through the desire, and in the hope, of (achieving) great honour, (something) which there was no opportunity of him acquiring at Tarquinii - for there also he was descended from a foreign stock. (2) He was the son of Demaratus, a Corinthian, who (as) a fugitive from his home (country) on account of a revolution, had happened to settle at Tarquinii, (and) there, having married a wife, he begot two sons. Their names were Lucumo and Arruns. Lucumo survived his father and (was) heir to all of his property; Arruns dies earlier than his father, leaving a pregnant wife behind (him). (3) The father does not manage to survive his son for long; as he, being unaware that his daughter-in-law was bearing an unborn child, had died without mentioning his grandson in his will, the name of Egerius (i.e. 'Needy') (was) given to the boy, who was born after his grandfather's death without any share in his property, on account of his poverty. Lucumo, on the other hand, the heir to all the property, when his wealth had already made (him) pluck up his courage, Tanaquil, whom he had married, increased (his confidence), as she had been born into the highest position, and she would not readily allow the (circumstances,) into which she had married, (to be) more humble than those into which she had been born. (5) As the Etruscans scorned Lucumo (as someone) born to a foreign exile, she could not bear the affront, and, forgetful of her inborn love towards her native-land unless she could see her husband honoured, she conceived the plan of emigrating from Tarquinii. (6) Rome seemed particularly suitable for this (purpose): among these new people, where all nobility is recent and (stems) from virtue, there would be room for a brave and active man; Tatius, the Sabine, had ruled (there), Numa had been called to the throne from Cures, and Ancus (was) born to a Sabine mother, and was (considered) noble on the basis of a single statue of Numa.  (7) She easily persuades (him) to (be) in desire of honours, and that, in his case, Tarquinii was his native-land only on the side of his mother. And so, having packed up their belongings, they move to Rome. (8) By chance, they had come to the Janiculum. There, as he sits with his wife in his carriage, an eagle swoops down gently on suspended wings and removes his cap, and, flying around the carriage with a great clatter, as if (it had been) sent from heaven for that very purpose, it puts it back on his head again in an orderly manner; then, it flew up aloft. (9) Tanaquil is said to have received this omen with joy, (being) a woman knowledgeable of heavenly prodigies, as Etruscans usually (are). And, embracing her husband, she tells (him) to expect eminent and elevated (honours): (she says) that this bird had come from that quarter of the sky and as a messenger of that god, that that prodigy had been performed on a man's highest peak, (and) that it had lifted up the ornament placed on a human head, in order to restore (it) to the same (place) by divine direction. (10) Carrying with them these hopes and thoughts, they entered the city, and, having purchased a dwelling there, they gave out his name (as) Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. (11) His being a stranger and his wealth made him conspicuous to the Romans; and he himself promoted his good fortune by his affable address, by the courtesy of his invitations, and by his winning over whomever he could by his (acts of) kindness, until a report of him was even brought to the palace. (12) And, by performing his services to the king (so) courteously and adroitly, he had, in a short time, brought his acquaintance to the status of an intimate friendship, so that he was present at his deliberations, public and private alike, (both) in war and at home, and, having been tested in every (respect), he was eventually even appointed in the king's will (as) the guardian of his children. 

Chapter 35. The election of Tarquinius Priscus; and the institution of the 'Ludi Romani'. 

(1) Ancus reigned for twenty-four years (i.e. 114-138 A.U.C., or 640-616 B.C.), and, in the arts of war and peace, his reputation (was) equal (to that) of any of the former kings. His sons were already near to the age of manhood. For this (reason), he (i.e. Tarquin) was all the more insistent that an assembly for a king to be appointed should be held as soon as possible; (2) when it had been announced, he sent the boys out of the way on a hunting expedition at about that time. And he is said (to have been) the first to have evidently sought the throne, and to have made a speech designed to win over the (hearts and) minds of the people: (3) (he said) that he was seeking nothing new, for he was not the first foreigner to have aimed at the throne of Rome  - (something) which anyone could (have found) displeasing or surprising - but the third; indeed, Tatius (had been) made king, (coming) not only from (the background of) a foreigner, but even from (that of) an enemy, and Numa (had been) unacquainted with the city, (and had been) invited voluntarily to (take) the throne, without seeking (it): (4) that he, as soon as he had become his own master, had migrated to Rome with his wife and all of his possessions; that he had spent a greater part of that time in which men are employed in civil offices in Rome than in his former native-land; (5) that he had learned Roman laws and Roman religious customs (both) at home and abroad under no objectionable master, King Ancus himself; that he had vied with everyone in obedience and in homage to the King, (and) with the King himself in his generosity towards others. (6) While he was recounting these undoubted (truths), the Roman people appointed him to be their ruler by a huge majority of votes. So the (same) ambition also followed the man, (so) admirable in (all) other (respects), when he was on the throne, that he had had when seeking it; being no less mindful of strengthening his own power than of increasing (that) of the state, he selected a hundred (men) for the senate, who were then called the 'lesser families', a party of unwavering (loyalty) to the King, through whose favour they had entered the senate-house. 

(7) The first war he waged (was) with the Latins, and then he took the town of Apiolae by storm, and,  when he brought back more booty from there than any report of the war would have (led people to believe) he exhibited games with more expense and in a better style than any previous kings (had done). (8) The place for the 'Circus', which is now called 'Maximus', was then marked out for the first time. Spaces (were) assigned to senators and knights, where they might each create seats for themselves; they were called 'benches'. (9) Their view came from props, supporting seats twelve feet in height from the ground. The show took place; horses and boxers were sent for from Etruria. Afterwards, the games continued regularly on an annual basis, (being) variously called 'Roman' and 'Great'. (10) By the same king, spaces were also distributed around the forum to individual (citizens) to build on; porticoes and shops (were) constructed.  

Chapter 36. War with the Sabines; Attus Navius and the whetstone. 

(1) He was also preparing to surround the city with a stone wall, when a Sabine war interfered with his plans. And this event was so sudden that the enemy crossed the Anio before the Roman army could go to meet (them) and stop (them). (2) And so in Rome there was a panic, and, at first, the fighting was indecisive, with heavy losses on both sides. Then, the enemy forces withdrew into their camp, and gave the Romans the opportunity to prepare for war afresh, (and with) Tarquin thinking that the cavalry was especially wanting in strength, he decided to add other centuries to the Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres, which Romulus had enrolled, and to allow them to be distinguished by his own name. (3) Since Romulus had done this through an augury, Attus Navius, a celebrated soothsayer at that time, said that nothing could be changed or (anything) new introduced, unless the birds had given their assent (to it). (4) At this, the King's anger (was) aroused, as they say, in ridicule of the science, he said: "Come now, you divine (seer), inquire of your augury whether what I am now considering in my mind can come to pass." When having tried the matter by divination, he replied that it certainly would, (the King) said, "Yes but what I was considering in my mind was this, that you should cut this whetstone open with a razor; take them and accomplish what your birds say can be done." Then, with no hesitation, he arranged to cut the whetstone in two. (5) The statue of Attus, with his head veiled, was (placed) on the spot where this occurred,  in the place of assembly, on the very steps of the senate-house on the left-hand side; they say that the whetstone was also deposited in the same place, so that it might serve as a monument of that miracle to posterity. (6) Such great honour certainly accrued to auguries and to the priesthood of augurs,  that nothing in war or at home was afterwards undertaken unless the auspices (had been) taken; assemblies of the people, armies (being) called, the most important of matters, were (all) put off, when the birds did not allow (them to proceed). (7) Nor did Tarquin then change anything concerning the centuries of knights; (but) he added twice as much to their number, so that there were one thousand eight hundred knights in the three centuries. (8) (Those) that had been added were called 'secondary', but under the same names; they now call them six centuries, because they were doubled (in number). 

Chapter 37. The Second Sabine War. 

(1) This part of his forces having been increased, he comes into conflict with the Sabines once more. But apart from the fact that the Roman army had grown in strength, a stratagem is also secretly deployed, (with men) being sent to set alight a great amount of firewood lying on the bank of the Anio, and throwing (it) into the river; and, when the firewood was blazing with the assistance of the wind, and when most of it was forced on to rafts and they stuck to the piles, they set the bridge on fire. (2) This occurrence also brought terror to the Sabines, and, after they were routed, the same thing hindered their flight; and many men, although they had escaped the enemy, perished in that very river; their arms being recognised in the Tiber, as they were floating down to the city, made the victory clear almost before it could be announced. (3) In this battle the prowess of the cavalry was particularly evident, having been stationed on both flanks, when the centre of their battle-line, (composed) of the infantry, was already in retreat, it is said that they charged with such force that they not only checked the Sabine forces, as they were fiercely pursuing (those) falling back, but suddenly turned (them) to flight. (4) Scattered in their course, the Sabines made for the mountains, yet few got there; the greatest part were driven into the river by the cavalry, as has been said before. (5) Tarquin, thinking that the terrified enemy should be pursued, and, having sent the booty and the prisoners to Rome, and setting fire to a huge pile of enemy spoils, proceeds to lead his army forward into Sabine territory; (6) and, although they had experienced a bad outcome, and they could not expect to achieve a better (one), yet, as the situation gave (them) no room for deliberation, the Sabines came to meet (him) with an army that had been hastily raised in this emergency; and, having then been routed again, in circumstances that were now almost desperate, they sued for peace. 

Chapter 38. The surrender of Collatia, the conquest of Latium, and developments in Rome. 

(1) Collatia, and whatever land (they had) on this side of Collatia, was taken from the Sabines; Egerius - he was the son of the King's brother - was left in Collatia with a garrison. And so I understand that the people of Collatia surrendered, and that this was the form of their surrender; (2) the King asked: "Are you the ambassadors and the spokesmen sent by the people of Collatia to surrender themselves and the people of Collatia?" "We are." "Are the people of Collatia their own masters? "They are." "Do you surrender yourselves, your city, its lands, water, boundary marks, shrines, and all appurtenances, divine and human, into my sovereignty and (that) of the Roman people?" "We do." "Then I accept (them)." (3) The war with the Sabines having been concluded, Tarquin returned to Rome triumphant. (4) Then, he made war on the Ancient Latins. At no point in that war did it come to any general engagement, (but) by bearing arms around several towns he subdued the entire Latin name. Corniculum, Old Ficulea, Cameria, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia, Nomentum - these (were) the towns captured from the Ancient Latins and (from those) who had gone over to the Latins. Peace was then made.     

(5) From that moment, he began peaceful undertakings with (even) greater enthusiasm than the great effort with which he had waged wars, so that the people should be no less active at home than they had been abroad; (6) for he both sets about surrounding the city with a stone wall (at the places) where he had not yet fortified (it), the start of which had been interrupted by the Sabine war, and the lower parts of the city around the forum and the other valleys lying between the hills, since they did not easily carry off the waters from the flat spots, he drains by means of sewers leading by a slope into the Tiber, (7) and, with a presentiment now in his mind of the splendour that the place would one day have, he occupies with its foundations the site for the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, which he had vowed during the Sabine war.       

Chapter 39. The birth and youth of Servius Tullius.

(1) At that time a prodigy occurred in the palace, wonderful in its appearance and in its outcome. It is said that as a boy, whose name was Servius Tullius, lay sleeping, his head burst into flames in the sight of many. (2) So, the king and queen were aroused by the very great noise that had then arisen at the miracle of such a remarkable phenomenon, and, when a servant brought water to extinguish (the flames), he was held back by the queen, and, when the uproar was stilled, she forbade the boy to be disturbed until he awoke of his own accord. And soon the flames departed together with his sleep. (3) Then, taking her husband aside into a secret (spot), Tanaquil said, "Do you see this boy, whom we are bringing up in such a humble style. You should know that he will be a light (to us) whenever our circumstances are uncertain, and a protector of our palace in adversity; from henceforth, let us rear with all our solicitude (this boy who has) the ability (to be) a huge ornament (to us both) publicly and privately."  (4) From this time, the boy began to be regarded as one of (their own) children, and to be instructed in the arts by which (men's) minds are encouraged to the cultivation of high rank. That easily came to pass, because it was agreeable to the gods. The young man turned out to be of a truly royal character, nor, when they looked for a son-in-law for Tarquin could any of the Roman youth be compared to him in any accomplishment, and (so) the king betrothed him to his daughter. (5) This great honour being conferred upon him, for whatever reason, prevents (us) from believing that he (was) born to a slave-woman, and that he himself had been in servitude (when he was) little. I am rather of the opinion of those who (say) that, on the capture of Corniculum, the wife of Servius Tullius, who was the chief man in that city, (being) pregnant, when her husband was slain, since she had been recognised among the rest of the women prisoners, on account of her unique rank, gained exemption from servitude from the Roman queen, and had given birth to a child in the house of Tarquinius Priscus; (6) then, intimacy between the women  (was) increased by such great kindness, and the boy, as (he had been) brought up in that house from his childhood, was (held) in love and respect; (but) the misfortune of his mother, inasmuch as she had come into enemy hands on the capture of her native (city), caused (him) to be considered as having been born to a slave-woman.

Chapter 40. The assassination of Tarquin.     

(1) At about thirty-eight years from the time when Tarquin had begun to reign (i.e. the dates of his reign were 138-176 A.U.C. or 616-578 B.C.), Servius Tullius was (held) in the very highest esteem not just by the King but by the senate and people. (2) At that time the two sons of Ancus, though they had always previously considered it most shameful that they had been deprived of their father's throne by the deceit of their guardian, (and) that a foreigner should rule Rome who was not only (not) of a neighbouring race but not even of an Italian (one), now found their indignation growing even more greatly, if the throne should not even revert to them after Tarquin, but that it should then fall precipitously into the (hands of) slaves, so that in the same state about a hundred years after Romulus, (who was) descended from a god, (and was) a god himself, had occupied the throne as long as he was on earth, that a slave, born of a slave-woman, should possess it. It would be a total disgrace, both to the Roman name, and, especially, to their own house, if, with the offspring of King Ancus vigorous and intact, the kingdom of Rome should be accessible not only to  foreigners but even to slaves. (4) So, they determine to prevent that disgrace by the sword. But resentment at the injury (done to them) aroused them more against Tarquin himself than against Servius, both because the King, if he survived, would be a more formidable avenger of murder than a private (citizen), and because, if Servius should be slain, it seemed likely that whomever else he might choose (as) his son-in-law would become his heir; for these reasons the plot is laid against the King himself. (5) The two most ferocious of the shepherds (who were) selected to (do) the deed, draw the attention of all the royal attendants to themselves, by making as much noise as they could with the rustic implements, to which each had become accustomed, in the shape of a brawl in the porch of the palace; then, when they both appealed to the King, and their clamour had reached into the interior of the palace, (they are) summoned and go before the King. (6) At first, they both cry out loudly, and vie to shout each other down; checked by the lictor and told to speak in turn, at last they stop interrupting each other; one begins (to state) his case, as (had been) agreed. (7) While the King, intent upon him, turned himself completely in his direction, the other raised up his cleaver and brought (it) down on his head, and, leaving the weapon in his wound, they both rush outside.  

Chapter 41. The accession of Servius Tullius.

(1) When (those) who were (standing) around had taken hold of the dying Tarquin, the lictors seize those fugitives. Then, (there was) an uproar, and a throng of people wondering what the matter was. During the tumult, Tanaquil orders the palace to be shut, (and) ejects the witnesses. At the same time, she diligently gets together (the things) that were needed to heal a wound, as if some hope were (still) at hand, and she also devises some other (means of) protection, in case her hope should fail (her). (2) When Servius had been hastily summoned and she had shown (him) the almost lifeless (body of) her husband, she holds out her right-hand and begs that the death of her husband should not (go) unavenged, nor should he allow his mother-in-law to be the subject of mockery. (3) "Servius," she said, "if you are a man, the kingdom is yours, not theirs, who have committed the worst of crimes by the hands of others. Raise yourself up and follow the gods as your leaders who foresaw that this head would be illustrious by having formerly shed a sacred fire around (it). Now let that heavenly flame arouse you; now you must indeed awake. We, too, reigned (as) foreigners; consider who you are, not where you were born. If your thoughts are benumbed by the sudden crisis, you should at least follow my counsels." (4) When the uproar and the force of the multitude could scarcely be withstood, Tanaquil addresses the people from the upper part of the palace through the windows facing towards New Street - for the King resided near the temple of Jupiter Stator (i.e. the 'Stayer'). (5) She bids (them) be of good cheer; that the King had been stunned by a sudden blow; the weapon had not sunk deeply into his body; he had already recovered consciousness; the blood had been wiped away, and the wound examined; everything was favourable, (and) they should be assured that they would see him before long; in the meantime, the people should listen to the instructions of Servius Tullius; he would dispense the laws and perform the other duties of the King. (6) Servius comes forth accompanied by the robe of state and the lictors, and, sitting on the King's seat, he determines some (cases) and pretends that he would consult the King concerning others. And so, for several days after Tarquin had already breathed his last, he concealed his death and strengthened his own position by the pretence of performing the duties of another. Then, at last, it became public, and loud lamentations arose in the palace. Supported by a strong guard, Servius ruled with the consent of the senate, (but) without the authorisation of the people. (7) The children of Ancus, as soon as the agents of their crime had been arrested, and it was reported that the King was alive and that the powers of Servius were so strong, had gone into exile at Suessa Pometia.   

Chapter 42. Servius consolidates his position.

(1) Now (he took steps) to strengthen his power, no more by public measures than by private (ones), and, lest there should be as much animosity towards himself among the children of Tarquin as the children of Ancus (had had towards him), he joined his two daughters in marriage to the two Tarquinian princes, Lucius and Arruns; (2) yet he does not break the force of destiny by human counsels, but envy of his sovereignty created all (kinds of) treacherous and hostile (thoughts), even among members of his household. Most opportunely for (maintaining) the tranquillity of the existing state (of affairs), a war (was) undertaken with the Veientes - for the truce had now expired - and with the other Etruscans. (3) In that war both the valour and the good fortune of Tullius shone forth, and, after routing a huge army of the enemy, he returned to Rome, undoubtedly king, whether he had put the minds of the senators to the test or (those) of the people. (4) Then, he embarks upon a work of peacetime of the utmost importance, in that, just as Numa had been the author of divine law, posterity might award Servius with the fame (of being) the founder of every distinction within the state, and of the orders, by which the grade of rank and fortune is clearly seen in each case. (5) For he arranges a census, a most useful thing for a (state) destined to be of such great power, since the the burdens of war and peace would be borne not on an individual basis, as before, but in proportion to (men's) wealth; then, he divided (the population) into classes and centuries, and on the following scale (which was) based on the census, (and was) suitable for both peace and war.  

Chapter 43. The Classes and Centuries.

(1) Out of those who had  a census rating of a hundred thousand (asses) of bronze (n.b. this was based on the value of their property, not their income), he formed eighty centuries, forty each of seniors and juniors; (2) all (of these) were called the first class; the seniors were to (be) in readiness to guard the city, the juniors to wage wars abroad. The arms required of them (were) a helmet, a round shield, greaves, (and) a breastplate, all of them (made) of bronze; these were for the protection of their body; their weapons of offence (were) a spear and a sword. (3) Added to this class were two centuries of engineers, who were to undertake their military service without arms; the duty given (to them) was to fashion the siege-engines in war. (4) The second class (was) established (from those who had) a census rating of between a hundred (thousand) and seventy-five thousand (asses), and of these, seniors and juniors, twenty centuries (were) enrolled. The arms required (of them were) an oblong shield instead of a round (one), and, except for the breastplate, everything else (was) the same. (5) He (i.e. Servius Tullius) determined that the census rating for the third class should be fifty thousand (asses); (there were) the same number of centuries, and they were formed with the same distinction of age. Nor was there any change with regard to their arms; only (the requirement for) greaves (was) taken (from them). (6) In the fourth class, the census rating (was) twenty-five thousand (asses); the same number of centuries (was) formed; (but) their arms (were) changed, no (requirement being) given (to them) except a spear and a javelin. (7) The fifth class (was) increased (in size); thirty centuries (were) formed; these carried with them slings and stones (as) missiles. Ranked with them (were) the horn-blowers and trumpeters, divided into two centuries. This class was rated at eleven (thousand) asses. A census rating less than this covered the rest of the population; (8) from them one century was formed, (which was) exempted from military service. Having thus equipped and distributed the infantry, he enrolled twelve centuries of knights (i.e. cavalrymen) from among the leading (men) of the state. (9) He also formed six other centuries from the three established by Romulus, under the same names which (they had when) they had been inaugurated (i.e. the Ramnenses, Titienses and Luceres). For the purchase of their horses, ten thousand (asses) of bronze (were) granted (to them) from the treasury, and widows (were) assigned (to them), who were to pay two thousand (asses) of bronze each year, with which they could support these horses. All these burdens were diverted from the poor on to the rich. (10) Then an additional honour was (conferred on the the latter); for the suffrage was not (now) granted indiscriminately to all (men) with the same privilege and the same right without distinction, as the other kings had observed (what had been) handed down by Romulus, but grades (were) created, so that, (while) no one was seen to be excluded from the suffrage, yet all the power was in the possession of the chief (men) of the state. (11) For the knights were called first; then, the eighty centuries of the first class; now, if they were to differ, (something) which seldom occurred, (it was) arranged that (those) of the second class were called, yet they almost never descended to such a low point that they should come to the lowest (class). (12) Nor should we be surprised that the present arrangement, which now exists, since the tribes were made up to thirty-five, and the doubling in the number of their (members) in the centuries of juniors and seniors, should not correspond to the total established by Servius Tullius. (13) For, with the city (being) divided by the regions and hills, which were (then) inhabited, he called these parts 'tribes', (a word derived) I suppose, from 'tribute'; for the method of gathering (taxes) in a manner that was fairly apportioned on the basis of his census, was introduced by the same (man); nor did these tribes relate in any way to the number and the distribution of the centuries.  

Chapter 44. The extension of the city boundaries. 

(1) The census having been completed, which he had expedited by the fear of an extensive law about those who were unregistered, with threats of imprisonment and death, he (i.e. Servius Tullius) issued a proclamation that all Roman citizens, horsemen and footmen alike, should appear at daybreak on the Field of Mars, each in his own century. (2) There, the whole army (was) drawn up, and he purified (it) by the sacrifice of a pig, a sheep and a bull; and this was called the making of the lustral sacrifice, because it happened at the conclusion of the census. Eighty thousand citizens are said to have been rated in that lustrum (i.e. in republican times the 'lustrum' was a five-year period of taxation); (Quintus) Fabius Pictor, the oldest of our historians, (viz. he lived 270-200 B.C.) adds that such was the number of those who were able to bear arms. (3) To (accommodate) such a large number, the city also seemed (to be) in need of enlargement.  He adds two hills, the Quirinal and the Viminal; after that, he then enlarges the Esquiline, and there he lives himself, so respectability should come to the place; so he extends the 'pomerium'. (4) (Those) looking only at the make-up of the word, interpret 'pomerium' to mean 'outside the wall'; but it is rather the space around the wall, which, in building cities, the Etruscans once used to consecrate by taking the auspices, up to certain limits, on both sides (of the place) where they were going to construct a wall, so that houses might not be joined to the walls on their inside parts, as they are commonly connected now, and that on the outside some space should be kept free from human habitation. (5) This space, which it was not lawful to inhabit or to till, the Romans called the pomerium, not so much because it was outside the wall, but because the wall (was) outside it; and, whenever they were enlarging the city, as far as the walls were due to be pushed outwards, so far were these consecrated limits extended. 

Chapter 45. The Romans join with the Latins in building a temple to Diana.

(1) The (power of) the state having been increased by the great size of the city, all his domestic policies had been shaped for the purposes both of war and peace, (and,) so that power should not always be acquired by (force of) arms, he endeavoured to increase his power by (force of) argument, and to add some ornament to the city. (2) Now, the temple of Diana at Ephesus was famous at that time; tradition held that it (had been) built by the states of Asia in common. Servius extolled such a consensus and a sharing of the gods in terms of wonder among the noblemen of the Latins, with whom he had diligently joined together in (arrangements of) hospitality and friendship. (3) This was an acknowledgement that Rome was the head of (both) nations, (something) about which it had so often been disputed by (force of) arms. Although it now seemed to (have been) left out of the consideration of all the Latins, on account of the matter having so often been put to the test unsuccessfully by (force of) arms, fortune seemed to present one of the Sabines (with the opportunity) of recovering their own power by a plan of his own. (4) A heifer is said to have been born among the Sabines, to a certain head of the family, wonderful (both) in its size and beauty; its horns had been hung up for many generations in the vestibule of Diana's temple as a monument to this miraculous event. This thing was regarded as the occasion of a prodigy, as (indeed) it was; (5) And soothsayers declared that power should reside in that state where one of its citizens should sacrifice this (heifer) to Diana; and this prophecy had come to (the ears of) the high priest of the temple of Diana, and the Sabine, (6) when he though that the first suitable day for (offering) the sacrifice (had come), drove the cow to Rome and led (her) to the temple of Diana and stood her before the altar. There the Roman high priest, when the great size of the victim, celebrated by fame, had moved him, and mindful of the oracle, addressed him thus: "What are you thinking of, stranger?" said he, "to make an impure sacrifice to Diana? Why do you not wash yourself beforehand in the running river? The Tiber flows along the bottom of that valley." (7) The stranger, touched by religious scruple, in that he wished that everything should be done in accordance with the ritual, so that the outcome should correspond with the prediction, descended at once to the Tiber. Meanwhile, the Roman offers the cow in sacrifice to Diana. This was wonderfully satisfying to the King and to the community.   

Chapter 46. The ambition of the Younger Tullia.

(1) Servius, although he had now occupied the throne the throne with no uncertain skill, yet as he heard that voices were sometimes being tossed about by young Tarquin, (saying) that he was ruling without the consent of the people, having first secured the goodwill of the common people by dividing (among them) on an individual basis the land (which had been) taken from the enemy, he ventured to put to the people whether they wished and required him to be their king, and he was declared king with such a high level of agreement as no one else (had ever achieved) before. (2) But this situation did not diminish Tarquin's hope of acquiring the throne; on the contrary, (it grew) all the greater, since he had realised that the distribution of land to the common people (was) against the will of the senators, and he thought that the opportunity was being given to him of arraigning Servius before the senators and of increasing his position in the senate-house, and he himself was a youth with a fiery temperament, and at home his wife Tullia was goading on his restless spirit. (3) For the Roman palace provided an example of tragic guilt, so that through their loathing of kings liberty might become more timely and the throne that should be acquired through a crime might be the last. (4)This Lucius Tarquinius - (whether) he was his son or his grandson is not clear; but along with most of the authorities I would say (he was) his son - had a brother, Arruns Tarquinius, a youth of a mild disposition. (5) To these two, as has been said before, the two Tulliae, daughters of the king, had been married, and they (were) of a very different nature. By chance, it so happened that the two violent characters were not united in matrimony, through the good fortune, I believe, of the Roman people, in order that the reign of Servius might be more protracted, and that the traditions of the state could become established. (6) The spirited Tullia was tormented that there was nothing of substance in her husband in the direction of ambition or daring; turning herself entirely towards the other Tarquin, him she admired, him she called a man and the offspring of royal blood: her sister she despised, because, having got a man (for a mate), she lacked a woman's daring. (7) Similarity of temperament soon draws them together, as usually happens: wickedness is most attached to wickedness; but the beginning of all the disturbance originated with the woman. Having become accustomed to secret conversations with another's husband, she did not refrain from any insults in language concerning her husband to his brother, or concerning her sister to her husband; and she thought it would have been better for herself (to be) unmarried and for him (to be) single than that they should be joined with (someone) unsuitable, so that another's cowardice should be the cause of their languishing away. (8) If the gods had granted her that husband of whom she was worthy, she would very soon see in her own house the crown which she could (now) see in her father's. She soon fills the young man's (mind) with her own temerity. (9) When they had made their houses vacant for fresh matrimony by almost successive deaths (i.e. the murders of Arruns Tarquinius and the elder Tullia), they (i.e. Lucius Tarquinius and the younger Tullia) are joined in marriage, with Servius rather not forbidding than approving (it).    

Chapter 47. Tarquin and Tullia plot against Servius.  

(1) Then, in truth, the old age of Tullius began to be more disturbed and his reign more unhappy. For the woman now looked from (one) crime to another crime, nor did she allow her husband to rest by night or by day, lest their past murders might be for nothing: (2) she was not in want of (a man) to whom she might be called a wife, nor (one) with whom she might endure a silent servitude; (but) she was in want of (a man) who would consider himself worthy of the throne, who remembered that he was the son of Tarquinius Priscus, (and) who would prefer to possess the throne rather than to hope for (it). (3) "If you, to whom I consider myself to be married, are such (a man), I call (you) both husband and king; but if not, (then) our situation has now been changed for the worse, because in your case crime is (associated) with cowardice. (So come), why not prepare yourself? (4) It is not necessary for you, as (it was) for your father, (coming here) from Corinth or Tarquinii to strive for a foreign throne: the gods of your household and of your country, your father's image, and the royal palace and the throne in that palace, and the name of Tarquin, create and call you king: (5) or, if you have too little spirit for this, why do you deceive the nation? Why do you allow yourself to be seen (as) a prince? Go away from here to Tarquinii or Corinth, go back down to your roots, more like your brother's than your father's." (6) By chiding (him) with these and other (words), she spurs the young man on, nor can she find rest herself, if, when Tanaquil, a foreign woman, had been able to exert herself so strongly as to have conferred two successive thrones on her husband and son-in-law, she herself could have had no influence in giving, and taking away, a kingdom. (7)  Incited by these female frenzies, Tarquin went about and solicits the senators, especially those from the 'lesser families' (i.e. those whom Tarquinius Priscus had brought into the senate and who had therefore favoured his interests); he reminds them of his father's benevolence, and asks (them) to show their gratitude for it; young men he entices by gifts; both by promising (to do) great (things) himself, and by accusations against the king, he increases (his strength) in all places. (8) At last, when it seemed that (it was) now the time for something to be done, he burst into the forum, accompanied by a column of armed (men). Then, when everyone was seized with panic, he sat on the royal chair in front of the senate-house, and ordered the fathers to be summoned to the senate-house by the herald (in attendance) on the king. (9) They assembled at once, some having been already prepared for the (occasion), some through fear. lest their not having come should prove damaging (to them), astounded (as they were) by the strangeness and amazing (nature of the event). (10) Then, Tarquin began to abuse his family origins: that a slave, and (one) born to a slave-woman, after the shameful death of his father, had occupied the throne, with no interregnum, as had occurred before, with no election having been held, nor by the vote of the people nor by the authority of the senate, (but) by a woman's gift. (11) Thus born, (and) thus created king, (he was) a patron of the very lowest class of men, to which he himself belonged, through hatred of the high status of others, and he had taken land from the leading (men of the state), and divided it up among the very meanest; (12) that he had laid all the burdens, which had formerly been shared, on the foremost (men) of the community; that he had instituted the census, in order that the good fortune of the wealthier (citizens) might become conspicuous, so as to (incite) envy, and that (it was) an available (source), from which he might bestow (largess) on the most needy, whenever he wished.    

Chapter 48. The murder of Servius Tullius.

(1) During this harangue, when Servius, aroused by the alarming news, had come on the scene at once, he said in a loud voice, "What is the meaning of this, Tarquinius? With what audacity have you dared, while I am alive, to summon the Fathers, or to sit in my chair?" When he fiercely (replied) to this, that he (as) the son of a king was occupying the throne of his father as a much fitter heir to the kingdom than a slave (could be), (and) that he had insulted his masters long enough by his elusive lawlessness, shouts arose from the partisans of each one (of them), and a rush of people into the senate-house took place, and it became clear that whoever won the day would be king. (3) Then, Tarquin, with necessity also now obliging (him) to have recourse to the very last extremity, (and with him being) much more vigorous both in age and strength, he seizes Servius around the middle, and, having lifted him out of the senate-house, he throws (him) down the steps to the ground at the bottom; then, he returns to the senate-house to assemble the senate. (4) A flight of the King's servants and companions occurred: when (the King) himself, nearly fainting, was withdrawing from them to his home without his royal retinue, (the men,) who had been sent by Tarquin to pursue the fleeing (man), killed (him). (5) It is believed, because it is not out of line with the rest of her wickedness, that this was done at the behest of Tullia. It is at least generally agreed that (she was) driven into the forum in her two-wheeled carriage, unabashed at the crowd of men, and called her husband from the senate-house and was the first to hail (him) king. (6) Told by him to withdraw from (the scene of) such great turbulence, when she was returning home and had arrived at the top of Cyprus Street, where the shrine of Diana had recently stood, and was turning her carriage to the right on to the Urbian Slope, so as to take (her) to the Esquiline Hill, the (man) who was driving the pack-horses halted in terror and pulled at the reins, and pointed out to his mistress that Servius was lying (there) murdered. (7) There, a revolting and inhuman crime is said (to have occurred), and the place is a monument (to it) - (for) they call (it) Wicked Street - for here Tullia, maddened by the ghosts of her sister and husband that were urging (her) on, is reported to have driven her carriage over her father's body, and, with herself contaminated and defiled, to have carried a portion of her father's blood and gore on her blood-stained vehicle to her own and her husband's household-gods, through whose anger a similar outcome quite soon followed such an evil beginning to his reign. 

(8) Servius Tullius ruled for forty-four years (i.e. 176-220 A.U.C. or 578-534 B.C.) in such a manner that emulation (of him) as king would have been difficult even for a good and moderate successor. But this also should be added to his glory, that (all) just and legitimate reigns perished together with him. (9) This authority of his (was) so mild and so moderate, yet because it was (vested) in one (person), there are some writers who say that he had it in mind to step down, if that internal family crime had not interrupted (him) as he was considering his plans for the liberation of his country.

Chapter 49. Tarquin the Proud begins his tyrannical reign. 

(1) Then, Lucius Tarquinius began to rule, (he) whose actions procured (him) the surname 'Superbus' (i.e. the Proud), because (as) a son-in-law he denied his father-in-law the rites of burial, asserting that Romulus had also died without burial, and he put to death the leading senators, whom he believed had favoured the interests of Servius; then, conscious that the acquisition of the throne through evil means by himself could be used (as) a precedent against him, he surrounded  his person with armed (men); (3) for he had no right to the throne except force, as he was ruling without the decree of the people or the confirmation of the senate. (4) To this was added (the fact) that, as he reposed no hope in the affection of his subjects, it was necessary to secure his kingdom by fear. (And,) in order to strike this into most (people), he exercised the right to hear capital cases solely by himself without advisers, and, on this basis, (5) he had the power to put to death, force into exile, (and) forfeit the property of, not only (those whom) he suspected or disliked, but (also in cases) where he could expect (to gain) nothing except plunder. (6) The number of senators having been thus reduced, he especially decided to elect no one into the senate, so that it become contemptible through its very paucity (of numbers), and so that there might be less resentment that there was nothing to be done by it. (7) For he (was) the first of the kings (to) break with the custom, handed down by his predecessors, of consulting the senate on all (matters), and he governed the state with the advice of his household officials; war, peace, treaties, alliances, (these) he contracted and dissolved by himself with whomever he pleased, without the sanction of the people or the senate. (8) The nation of the Latins he particularly wished to attach to himself, so that by foreign influence he might also be more secure among his subjects, and he formed not only ties of hospitality but also marriage connections with their leading (men). (9) To Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum - he was by far the leading (bearer) of the Latin name, if we believe tradition, descended (as he was) from Ulysses and the goddess Circe (i.e. their son Telegonus was reputed to be the founder of Tusculum) - to this Mamilius he gives his daughter in marriage, and by means of this wedding he attaches to himself many of his kinsmen and friends. 

Chapter 50. Turnus of Aricia inveighs against the tyranny of Tarquin.

(1) Tarquin already had great influence among the nobles of Latium, when he announced that they should assemble on a certain day at the grove of Ferentina: that there were (matters) of common interest that he wished to discuss (with them). (2) They gathered in large numbers at daybreak; Tarquin himself did indeed keep (his appointment on) that day, but he (only) arrived a little before sunset. Many (things) had been discussed there at the meeting throughout the day in various conversations. (3) Turnus Herdonius from Aricia had violently criticised Tarquin in his absence: it was no wonder that the surname of 'Superbus' (had been) bestowed upon (him) at Rome - for they already called him this, though secretly and in whispers, but commonly nevertheless. Could there be anything so arrogant than to trifle in this way with the whole of the Latin nation? (4) That after the chiefs had been summoned so far from their homes, the very (man) who had called it was not present. That he was evidently trying their patience, so that, if they accepted his yoke, he might stamp on the submissive (ones). For to whom was it not apparent that he was aiming at sovereignty over the Latins? (5) But, if his citizens were right to entrust (it) to him, or, if it were entrusted and not stolen by murder, (then) the Latins also ought to entrust (him with it), even if (he were) foreign-born; (6) but, if his own (subjects) are dissatisfied with him, seeing that they are being butchered one on top of another, they are going into exile and are losing their property, what hope of (anything) better can be predicted for the Latins? If they should listen to him, they should depart from there, each one to his own home, and no more respect the day of the meeting than he who fixed (it) is respecting (it). (7) When this man, factious and treasonable (by nature as he was), and who had obtained his influence at home by these qualities, was pressing these and other (points which were) going in the same direction, Tarquin interrupted (him). (8) This was the end of the speech; everyone turned away to greet Tarquin. Silence having occurred, (and with him having been) advised by (those) nearest (to him) that he should apologise because he had arrived at that time, he says that that he had been chosen as an arbitrator between a father and his son and that he was delayed by his concern that they should be reconciled with one another, and that, since that business had used up that day, he would bring up on the following day (the things) which he had intended (to raise). (9) They say that not even that (remark) brought silence from Turnus; for he said that there was no issue shorter than (one) between a father and a son, and that it could be settled in a few words: (and) that unless he should obey his father, it would be the worse (for him).        

Chapter 51. The execution of Turnus. 

(1) The man from Aricia wiithdrew from the meeting, uttering critical (comments) against the Roman king. Feeling this criticism rather more acutely than he appeared (to do), Tarquin immediately (begins to) plot the death of Turnus, so that he might inspire in the Latins the same (degree of) terror by which he had crushed the spirits of his subjects at home. (2) And, since he could not be openly put to death by means of his own authority, he bore down on the innocent (man) by exposing (him) to a false charge. Through some Aricians of the opposite faction, he bribed a servant of Turnus with gold to permit a large quantity of swords to be secretly introduced into his lodgings. (3) Since he had accomplished these (things) in a single night, Tarquin summoned the leaders of the Latins to (join) him shortly before dawn on the pretence of having received some alarming news, and said that his late arrival on the previous day had been the means of his own and their safety, as if brought about by some providence of the gods. (4) He was told that his death and (that) of the chiefs of the people was arranged by Turnus, so that he only should obtain power over the Latins. That he would have made the attempt at the meeting on the previous day; that the business was deferred because the convener of the meeting, at whom he was chiefly aiming, was absent. (5) Hence that abuse that had arisen (against him) in his absence, because by delaying, he had left his hopes in the lurch. That he had no doubt, if the truth were told, that at first light when they met in assembly he would come, provided with a band of conspirators and armed. (6) It was said that a large number of swords had been conveyed to him. (Whether) this was untrue or not could immediately be ascertained. He asked them to go with him from there to Turnus. (7) Both the daring personality of Turnus, and his speech on the previous day did make the circumstances suspicious, and so did the late arrival of Tarquin, because it seemed that the murder could have been deferred on that account. The proceed with minds inclined indeed to believing, yet ready to regard everything (as) false unless the swords were discovered. (8) When they arrive there, Turnus is aroused from sleep, and guards are placed around him, and, when his slaves, who were preparing (to use) force through affection for their master, were overpowered when the swords (which had been) concealed were drawn out from all parts of the lodgings, then indeed the situation seemed clear, and chains were cast on to Turnus; and at once a council of the Latins was called amid great excitement. (9) Such bitter resentment was aroused when the swords were placed there in their midst, that, without a hearing and by a new kind of death, (he was) thrown down on to the head of the fountain of Ferentina, and, with a hurdle being placed on top of (him) and with stones being hurled on (to it), he was drowned.   

Chapter 52. Tarquin makes a treaty with the Latins. 

(1) Then, having recalled the Latins to the meeting, and having applauded (those) who had inflicted a well-deserved punishment on Turnus for attempting a rebellion by means of manifest murder, Tarquin spoke as follows: (2) that he could indeed proceed by a long-established right, because, since all the Latins had originated from Alba, they were included in that treaty (made) by Tullus, by which the entire Alban nation, together with their colonies, came under the dominion of Rome; (3) but he rather thought it (was) in the interest of all (parties) that that treaty should be renewed, and that the Latins, as participants, should enjoy a share in the good fortune of the Roman people rather than be always awaiting or suffering the demolition of their cities or the devastation of their fields, which they endured first under Ancus and then when his father was ruling. (4) It was not difficult to persuade the Latins, although the position of the Romans in the treaty was superior; besides they saw that the heads of the Latin league stood with the King and felt (as he did), and there was a recent example of the danger to any person, if he were to oppose (the King's wishes) (i.e. the fate of Turnus). (5) So, the treaty (was) renewed, and notice (was) given to the young men of the Latins that, in accordance with the treaty, they should present themselves in arms on a certain day at the grove of Ferentina. (6) When they had assembled from all the tribes in compliance with the edict of the Roman king, in order that they should not have a general of their own, or a separate command, or their own standards, he created mixed companies from Latins and Romans, so as to make one out of two and two out of one; (and) over the companies thus doubled he appointed centurions. 

Chapter 53. Tarquin engages in hostilities with the neighbouring town of Gabii. 

(1) Though an unjust king in (times of) peace, he was not so despicable a leader in war; indeed, he would have equalled the preceding kings in that art, if his degeneracy in other (matters) had not prejudiced his good record here as well. (2) He (was) the first to go to war with the Volscians, (a war which was to last) for two hundred years after his time, and he took Suessa Pometia from them by force. (3) Then, when, he had realised forty talents of silver from the booty which had been sold, he conceived in his mind (the construction) of a temple to Jupiter, which in its extent would be worthy of the king of the gods and of men, and of the power of Rome, and of the majesty of the site itself. He set aside the money, which had been taken, for the building of this temple. 

(4) Soon after, a war came upon him, more lengthy than he had expected, in which, when he had tried in vain to take by storm the neighbouring city of Gabii, (and) when (all) hope of besieging the city had also been taken (from him) after he had been repulsed from its walls, he finally assailed (it) by deceit and trickery, by no means an art of the Romans. (5) For when, as though he had aside the war, he pretended that he was intent upon laying the foundations of his temple and other city works, his son Sextus, who was the youngest of three, fled, as planned, to Gabii, and complained of his father's intolerable cruelty towards him: (6) that he had now turned his lust for dominance away from others on to his own family, and that he was also unhappy at the number of his children, so that he was making the (same) desolation in his household as he had made in the senate-house, so that he should not leave behind (him) any offspring or any heir to his kingdom. (7) That, while he had indeed escaped from among the weapons and swords of his father, he did not believe that there would ever be any safety for himself except among the enemies of Lucius Tarquin. For, lest they should be led astray, the war, which it is pretended has been set aside, remained with them, and that he would attack (them when they were) off-guard as soon as the opportunity (presented itself). (8) But, if there was no place for suppliants among them, he would wander across the whole of Latium and seek out the Volsci, and then the Aequi and the Hernici, until he came to those who knew how to protect children from cruel fathers and their wicked punishments. (9) Perhaps, he would even find someone with the ardour to (declare) war and (take up) arms against a most overbearing king and a most warlike people. (10) When it appeared that, if they should show no concern, then he would go further on from there, incensed with anger, he was kindly welcomed by the people of Gabii. They told (him) not to be surprised if he finally behaved towards his children in the same way as (he had) towards his subjects and his allies; (11) that he would ultimately vent his anger on himself, if other (targets) were lacking, that his arrival was indeed a source of pleasure to them, and that they believed it would shortly come to pass that, with him helping (them), the (seat of) war would be shifted from the gates of Gabii to the walls of Rome.   

Chapter 54. Sextus at Gabii.

(1) From that time onwards, he was admitted to their public meetings. Here, although he professed that he would accept the judgment of the old inhabitants of Gabii with regard to other matters, with which they were better acquainted, he himself was a regular promoter of war, and in this he assumed a special knowledge, because he was aware of the strength of both peoples, and knew that the king's arrogance was truly hateful to his subjects, and that not even his children could bear it. (2) While he thus gradually encouraged the leaders (of the people) of Gabii to renew the war, he himself went on plundering (raids) and on expeditions, and, with all his words and actions being designed to deceive, a false (sense of) confidence (so) grew that in the end he was appointed (as) their leader in war. (3) Although the mass (of the population) were generally unaware of what was then going on, small engagements between Rome and Gabii took place, in which the forces of Gabii were generally on top, until (the people) of Gabii, from top to bottom, firmly believed that Sextus Tarquin (had been) sent (as) their leader by a gift of the gods. (4) By truly meeting the dangers and toils on the same basis as the soldiers, and by his bountiful bestowing of the booty, he was so greatly beloved that his father Tarquin was no more powerful in Rome than his son (was) in Gabii.    

(5) And so, when he saw that he had collected enough strength for all (the things) he might attempt, then he sent one of his (followers) to his father in Rome to ask what he wished him to do, since the gods had granted that at Gabii all power in the state should be conferred on him alone. (6) To this messenger there was no verbal response, because, I believe, he seemed to be of dubious good faith; the King went into the palace garden deep in thought, as it were, with his son's messenger following (him); there, as he walked along in silence, it is said that he struck off the topmost heads of the poppies with his staff. (7) Weary of asking questions and waiting for an answer, the messenger returned to Gabii, with his mission incomplete, as it were; he reported what he himself had said and what he had seen; whether from anger, or from an aversion (to him), or from a pride innate to his character, he (i.e. King Tarquin) had not uttered a single word. (8) When it became evident to Sextus from these silent intimations what his father wanted and what his instructions were, he put to death the chief (men) of the state, some by accusing (them) of crimes before the people, (and) others by taking advantage of their own unpopularity. (9) Many (were) publicly (executed), (and) some, against whom a criminal charge was likely to be less plausible, were secretly put to death. I was permitted to some to flee if they wished, or they were driven into exile, and the property of those who had left, just like (that) of those who had also been killed, was (publicly) distributed. (10) From this came hand-outs and spoils; and from the sweetness of private gain any sense of public wrongs was removed, until, deprived of (all) counsel and assistance, the state of Gabii was delivered into the hands of the Roman king without any fighting at all. 

Chapter 55. Auguries of greatness. 

(1) After he had acquired Gabii, Tarquin made peace with the nation of the Aequi, (and) renewed the treaty with the Etruscans. Then, he turned his attention to the affairs of the city; the first of these was that he should leave behind (him) the temple of Jupiter on the Tarpeian mount (as) a memorial of his reign and name; that of the two Tarquinian kings, the father had vowed (it, and) the son had completed (it). (2) And so that the site might be free from other forms of worship (and belong) wholly to Jupiter and that temple of his which was to be built on (it), he resolved to deconsecrate several shrines and chapels which (were) there, firstly (the one which had been) vowed by King Tatius at the very crisis of the battle against Romulus, (and which) had been consecrated and inaugurated thereafter. (3) At the (very) beginnings of this work being undertaken, it is said that the gods exerted their divine power to disclose the magnitude of so great an empire. For while the birds (of augury) permitted the deconsecration of all (the other) shrines, they did not agree to it in the case of the temple of Terminus (i.e. the God of Boundaries); (4) and this omen and augury that the residence of Terminus should not be moved, and that he alone of (all) the gods should not be called away from the territories consecrated to him, were so interpreted as to predict that the whole (kingdom would be) firm and steadfast. (5) When this augury of permanence had been received, another prodigy followed (it), predicting the magnitude of the empire: a human head, with its features intact, is said to have appeared to the (men who were) digging the foundations of the temple. (6) The sight (that was) seen undoubtedly foretold that it would be the citadel of the empire and the capital of the world, and so did the soothsayers interpret it, both (those) who were in the city and (those) whom they had summoned from Etruria in order to be consulted on the matter. (7) The design of the king had become more extravagant with regard to his outlay. And so the spoils of Pometia, which had been intended to take the work up to the roof, were scarcely sufficient to cover (the costs of) the foundations. (8) I am more inclined to believe Fabius (viz. Chapter 43 above), besides (the fact) that he is the more ancient (authority), that only forty talents had been set aside for it, rather than Piso (i.e. Lucius Caplurnius Piso Frugi, c.180-112 B.C. and consul in 133 B.C.) who writes that forty thousand pounds of silver were set aside for this purpose, a sum of money not to be expected from the spoils of any one city of that time, and it would not even exceed the foundation (costs) of any works of the present day. 

Chapter 56. Public works in Rome; the mission to Delphi.

(1) Intent upon the completion of the temple, he (i.e. Tarquin) summoned workmen from all parts of Etruria, and on it he employed not only public money, but also the manual labour of the people. When this labour, no small (thing) in itself, was added to their military service, the people still objected less that they were building temples for the gods with their own hands, than (they did) afterwards when they were transferred to other works, less splendid in appearance but (involving) rather more toil, (namely) erecting tiers of seats in the Circus, and excavating under ground the Cloaca Maxima (i.e. the Principal Sewer), the receptacle of all the city's filth; even today's new splendour could scarcely produce anything equal to these two works. (3) Although the people were working  on the these tasks, because he felt that the populace was a burden to the city, when it was not being employed, and he wished, by sending out settlers, to occupy the territories of his dominions more extensively, he sent colonists to Signia and Circei, to be a safeguard to the city by land and sea.       

(4) While he was carrying out these (things), a dreadful portent appeared: when a snake slipping out of a wooden column had caused terror and a rush into the palace, the heart of the King himself was not so much struck with sudden panic as it was full of worrying anxieties. (5) Accordingly, since the Etruscan soothsayers were only employed to (interpret) public prodigies, (he was so) alarmed by this domestic apparition, as it were, that he decided to send (someone) to Delphi, the most famous oracle in the world; (6) and, not venturing to entrust the responses of the oracle to anyone else, he sent two of his sons to Greece through lands unknown at that time (and even) more unknown seas. (7) Titus and Arruns (were the ones who) went. To them a companion (was) added, Lucius Junius Brutus, the son of the King's sister, Tarquinia, a young man of an entirely different character from (the one) which he had assumed in pretence. When he heard that the foremost (men) of the state, including his own brother, had been put to death by his uncle, he resolved not to leave anything in his personality that might be feared by the King, nor (anything) in his fortune that might be coveted (by him), and (thus) to be secure in contempt, where there might be too little protection in justice. (8) Therefore, he deliberately kept up the appearance of stupidity, when he allowed himself and his (property) to become a prey to the King, and he did not even refuse the nickname of 'Brutus' (i.e. Dullard), as hiding beneath the screen of his nickname, that genius, (who was to be) the liberator of the Roman people, was biding his time. (9) Then he, being led by the Tarquins to Delphi more as a laughing stock than (as) a companion, is said to have brought (with him) as an offering to Apollo a golden rod, enclosed in a staff of cornel-wood hollowed out for that (purpose) as a mysterious emblem of his character. (10) When they arrived there, and their father's instructions had been carried out, a desire came upon the minds of the young men to inquire as to which of them the kingdom of Rome would come. They say that a voice came back from the bottom of the cavern (saying); "He will have the greatest power in Rome, who (shall be) the first among you, O young men, to give a kiss to his mother." (11) So that Sextus, who had been left behind in Rome, should be unaware of the response, and (thus) deprived of power, the Tarquins give orders that the matter should be kept strictly secret; they cast lots between themselves as to which one should first give their mother a kiss. (12) Brutus, thinking that the Pythian voice meant (something) different, pretended that he had stumbled and fallen, (and) he touched the earth with his mouth, because she was of course the common mother of all mankind. (13) Then, they returned to Rome, where a war against the Rutuli was being prepared for with the greatest vigour. 

Chapter 57. The story of Lucretia.

(1) The Rutuli were in possession of Ardea, as (they were) a people of surpassing wealth in that region and at that time. And this very (fact) was the cause of the war, because the Roman king was eager both to enrich himself, impoverished, (as he was,) by the magnitude of the public works, and to mollify with booty the feelings of the common people, (2) (who,) besides his other (acts of) tyranny, were also hostile to his rule, because they were resentful that they had been kept for so long by the King in the service of craftsmen and the work of slaves. (3) An attempt was made (to see) if Ardea could first be taken by assault. When this did not succeed, the enemy began to be oppressed by siege(-works) and fortifications. (4) In these static (circumstances), as happens more in a protracted than in a sharp campaign, furloughs were readily approved, but more so in the case of men of rank than in the case of (common) soldiers; (5) indeed, the young princes sometimes spent their leisure-time together at dinners and drinking bouts. (6) As they were drinking in the quarters of Sextus Tarquin, where Collatinus Tarquin, the son of Egerius, was also dining, it happened that mention was made of their wives; each one praised his own in a remarkable manner. (7) Then, as their rivalry grew hot, Collatinus said there was no need for words, (as) in a few hours it could in fact be ascertained how far his own Lucretia excelled (all) the others. "But why, if the vigour of youth is in (us), do we not mount our horses and see the characters of our wives with our own eyes? That which shall meet their eyes on the unexpected arrival of her husband shall be the best means of observing her." They had grown hot with wine. (8) "Come on then," (they) all (cried); clapping spurs to their horses, they fly to Rome. There they arrived just as the darkness was first extending itself; (9) from there they proceeded to Collatia, where they found Lucretia not all like the King's daughters-in-law, whom they had seen whiling away their time in luxurious feasting with their equals, but sitting in the middle of her house working away at her wool late at night by lamp-light among her maids. The prize in this womanly contest is given to Lucretia. (10) Her husband, when he arrived, and the Tarquins were kindly received; her victorious spouse courteously invited the young princes (to be his guests). There, a wicked desire to defile Lucretia by force came over Sextus Tarquin; both her beauty and her proven chastity aroused (him). (11) And then they return from their nocturnal youthful frolic to the camp. 

Chapter 58. The rape of Lucretia.

(1) When a few days had passed, Sextus Tarquin, without the knowledge of Collatinus, came with a single attendant to Collatia, where he was kindly welcomed by (those) unaware of his intention; when, after dinner, he had been conducted into the guests' bedchamber, burning with passion, after (things) around (him) seemed sufficiently secure, and all (were) asleep, he came to Lucretia, as she was sleeping, with a drawn sword, and pressing down upon her womanly breast with his left hand, he said, "Be silent, Lucretia; I am Sextus Tarquin; there is a sword in my hand; you will die if you utter a sound." When, startled out of her sleep, the woman could see no help, but imminent death close at hand, then Tarquin (began) to confess his passion, to plead, to mingle threats with his prayers and (to try) to influence her female mind in all possible ways. (4) When he saw that she was resolute and was unmoved even by the fear of death, he adds the (threat of) dishonour to her fear; he says he will place a murdered naked slave by her side, so that it can be said that she was put to death in adultery with a man of base rank. (5) When, by means of this terrible (threat), victorious lust had overcome her obdurate chastity by force, as it were, and Tarquin had departed from there, exulting in the conquest of a woman's honour, Lucretia, grief-stricken by so great an outrage, sent the same message to her father in Rome and to her husband at Ardea, that they should come (to her), each with one trusty friend; (6) (and) that it was necessary to do so and (to come) quickly; Spurius Lucretius comes with Publius Valerius, the son of Volesus, (and) Collatinus with Lucius Junius Brutus, together with whom he happened to be met by his wife's messenger, as he was returning to Rome. They found Lucretia sitting in her bedroom overcome with grief. (7) On the arrival of her (relations), tears sprung up (from her eyes), and, when her husband asked, "Is everything all right?" she says, "How can it be all right, when a woman has lost her chastity? The traces of another man are on your bed, Collatinus; but the body only has been violated, the mind (is) innocent; death shall be witness (to that). But give (me) your right hand, and your word that the adulterer shall not go unpunished. (8) It is Sextus Tarquin, who (as) an enemy instead of a guest, last night armed with force took pleasure here, fatal to me and, if you are men. to himself." (9) They all give their word in succession, (and) they (seek to) comfort (her), sick at heart (as she is), by diverting the guilt from the (one who was) assaulted on to the perpetrator of the crime: (they tell her) that (it is) the mind (that) sins, not the body, and that, where intention is wanting, blame is absent. (10) "You," she says, "must determine what is due to him; though I absolve myself of sin, I do not free myself from punishment; nor hereafter shall any (woman) live with dishonour by (pleading) the example of Lucretia." (11) The knife, which she had hidden beneath her dress, this she drives into her heart, and, falling forward on to the wound, she drops down dead. (12) Her husband and her father cry out aloud together.

Chapter 59. The expulsion of the Tarquins. 

(1) While they were overcome with grief, Brutus drew the knife, dripping with blood, from Lucretia's wound, (and) holding (it) in front of him, he said, "I swear by this blood, entirely pure before this royal outrage, and you, (O) gods, I appoint as my witnesses, that I shall pursue Lucius Tarquin the Proud, together with his wicked wife and the whole brood of their children with sword, fire and whatever strength I then can (muster), nor shall I allow them or anyone else to reign at Rome." Then, he handed the knife to Collatinus, and then to Lucretius and Valerius, who were (all) astounded at this amazing turn of events, and at the source of this fresh resolve in Brutus' heart. They swore as they had been directed; and they turn from grief to fury, and follow the lead of Brutus (who was) calling for the abolition of the monarchy. (3) Lucretia's body (was) taken from her house, and they carry (it) into the forum, and men gather together, as does happen, on account of the extraordinary nature of this strange event and its enormity. (4) Everyone complains on his own behalf of the crime and violence of the royal house. Whie the father's distress moves (everyone), Brutus then upbraids (them) for their tears and unavailing complaints, and advises that as should befit men and Romans (they should) venture to take up arms against their foes. (5) Each of the most daring young men comes forward voluntarily in arms; the rest of the youth also follows. Then, part (of this body) having been left behind as a garrison and to provide guards at Collatia, lest anyone should tell the royal family of this disturbance, the rest (of them) set out for Rome in arms, with Brutus (as) their leader. 

(6) When they arrived there, the mass of armed men creates panic and confusion wherever they go; then again, when they see that the foremost (men) of the state are at the helm, they realise that, whatever it is, it is not (something) fortuitous. (7) Nor does such a terrible circumstance create less mental upset at Rome than it had done at Collatia. So, they run from all parts of the city into the forum. When they arrived there, the herald summoned the people to (attend) the 'Tribune of the Celeres', in which office, Brutus happened to be (vested). (8) There he delivered a speech, by no means in line with that mentality and character which he had assumed up to that date, about the violence and lechery of Sextus Tarquin, about the atrocious rape of Lucretia and her pitiful death, (and) about the bereavement of Tricipitinus (i.e. Lucretius), to whom the cause of his daughter's death was more shameful and deplorable than her (actual) death. (9) In addition to the arrogance of the King himself, (were) the suffering and toils of the common people in having to clean out underground ditches and sewers; that Roman men, the conquerors of all of the surrounding nations, (had) become artisans and stone-cutters instead of warriors. (10) He reminded them of the shameful murder of King Servius Tullius, and of his daughter driving over her father's body in her accursed chariot, and the gods were invoked by him (to be) the avengers of (murdered) parents. (11) By relating these, and, I suppose, (even) more atrocious (instances), which, though they can by no means be easily detailed by writers, the injustice of the situation at the present time suggested, he persuaded the multitude to strip the King of his authority, and to order that Lucius Tarquin, together with his wife and children, become exiles. (12) He himself, having selected and armed some young men, who had given their names of their own accord, sets out for the camp at Ardea to incite the army against the King: he leaves the command in the city to Lucretius, (who had) already (been) appointed prefect of the city by the King. (13) During this commotion, Tullia fled from the palace, with men and women cursing her wherever she went, and invoking on her the Furies (as avengers) of parents.         

Chapter 60. The first consuls. 

(10 The news of these events having reached the camp, when the King, alarmed by the revolution, hurried to Rome to quell the disturbances, Brutus altered his route - for he had got wind of his approach - in order to avoid meeting (him); and, at about the same time, they arrived by their different routes, Brutus at Ardea, (and) Tarquin at Rome. (2) The gates (were) closed to Tarquin, and his exile (was) proclaimed; the camp received the liberator of the city with joy, and the King's sons were expelled from it. Two of them (i.e. Titus and Arruns) followed their father, (and) they went into exile among the Etruscans at Caere. Sextus Tarquin, having gone to Gabii, as though to his own kingdom, was put to death by avengers of old animosities, which he had provoked by his murders and robberies. 

(3) Lucius Tarquin the Proud reigned for twenty-five years (i.e. the dates of his reign were 220-244 A.U.C. or 534-510 B.C.). The rule of kings at Rome, from the founding of the city to its liberation, (lasted) for two hundred and forty-four years (i.e. from 1-244 A.U.C. or 753-510 B.C.) (4) Two consuls were then elected by the centuriate assembly, (called) by the prefect of the city in accordance with the notebooks of Servius Tullius, (namely) Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.  

ADDENDUM: THE DATES OF THE REIGNS OF THE SEVEN KINGS OF ROME. 

                                      A.U.C.            B.C.

Romulus                        1-37          753-716

Numa Pompilius           39-82         715-672

Tullus Hostilius            82-114        672-640

Ancus Martius             114-138       640-616 

Tarquinius Priscus       138-176       616-578

Servius Tullius            176-220       578-534  

Tarquinius Superbus    220-244      534-510 

    

 

  

 

    

 

  

   

     

  

   

 

 

   

    

   

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

"VOX DICENTIS CLAMA"

"VOX DICENTIS CLAMA" 

This is the title of a motet composed for King's College, Cambridge in 1911 by Edward Woodall Naylor (1867-1934), who was the organist of Emmanuel College from 1898. It puts to music the famous verses 6-11 of Chapter 40 of the 'Book of Isaiah' in the 'Old Testament'. 

Latin text, taken from the 'Vulgate' of St. Jerome:

Verses 6-8:

Vox dicentis "Clama" et dixi "Quid Clamabo?"

Omnis caro foenum,

et omnis gloria eius quasi flos agri.

Vere foenum est populus.

Exsiccatum est foenum, et cecidit flos:

verbum autem, Domini nostri manet in aeternum.

Verse 9:

Super montem excelsum ascende tu, qui evangelisas Sion:

exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam, qui evangelisas Jerusalem

exalta, noli timeri.

Dic civitatibus Judae: Ecce Deus Vester.

Verse 10: 

Ecce, Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet, 

et bracchium eius dominabitur:

ecce, merces eius cem eo, 

et opus illius coram illo.

Verse 11:

Sicut pastor gregem suum pascet, 

in bracchio suo congregabit agnos,

et in sinu suo levabit.

foetas ipse portabit. 

English translation:

The voice of one saying, "Cry!" and I said "What shall I cry?"

All flesh is grass.

and all its beauty is as the flower of the field.

Surely the people is grass.

The grass has withered and the flower has fallen;

but the word of our Lord stands forever.

Get you up into a high mountain, you who tells good news to Sion:

lift up your voice in strength, you who tells good news to Jerusalem:

lift it up, fear not;

say unto the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

Behold, the Lord God shall come in might, 

and His arm shall rule:

Behold, His reward is with Him, 

and His work is before Him.

He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, 

and shall gather the lambs in His arms,

and He shall lift them into His bosom,

and carry Himself those that are with young.

P.S. Sabidius has added this above item to his repertoire at the request of Giles Panton, the beloved son of his coadjutor, Andrew Panton.

THE SHORTER HOMERIC HYMNS

Introduction:

The Homeric Hymns are a collection of thirty-three anonymous ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods, mostly dating to the seventh century B.C., shortly after the works of Homer and Hesiod had first been written down, and they are therefore among the oldest monuments of Ancient Greek literature. In antiquity they were uncritically attributed to Homer, the earliest reference to them coming from Thucydides (see Bk III. 104). Although it is now clear they were not written by Homer, they were composed in the old epic style, i.e. in dactylic hexameters, and in a dialect closely resembling that of Homer. Most of them are very short, if not fragmentary, but four of them, i.e. hymns 2-5, are more lengthy: (2) to Demeter 495 lines; (3) to Apollo 546 lines; (4) to Hermes 580 lines; and (5) to Aphrodite 293 lines. Translations of these four longer Homeric Hymns are available as items on this blog, dated as follows: Demeter: 11 June 2019; Aphrodite: 7 April 2020; Apollo: 1 August 2020; and Hermes: 12 November 2020. Translations of the other shorter Homeric Hymns (No. 1 and Nos. 6-33) are now offered below. The text for these translations is taken from "Homeric Hymns", edited by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Harvard University Press, published by William Heinemann, London (1914), and is available on the 'Perseus' website, sponsored by the Classics Department of Tufts University.  

 1) TO DIONYSUS - Εἲς Διώνυσον.

(The subject of the first, albeit fragmentary, Homeric Hymn is Dionysus (known to the Romans as Bacchus), the god of wine, vineyards, the theatre and dramatic poetry. His mother, Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, the legendary founder king of Thebes, who had been made pregnant by Zeus, was tricked by his wife Hera into asking Zeus to reveal himself in his true form. This he felt compelled to do because he had previously promised Semele to grant her whatever she requested. As a result Zeus burst into flames and this heavenly fire consumed Semele. Zeus then rescued the premature Dionysus from his mother's womb and sewed him into his thigh to complete his gestation. Thus Dionysus was born twice, once from his divine mother, and then from the thigh of his divine father. Thus the epithet 'εἰραφιῶτης' given to Dionysus (see ll. 2, 17, 20 below) appears to mean 'insewn', although other etymologies are possible.  

Hymn 1 was originally much longer, it is thought, perhaps as long as Hymns 2-5. Now, however, only two fragments survive: the first nine lines probably came at the beginning, although some words may be missing before line 1; and the last lines were probably the ending of the original hymn.)  

Ll. 1-9.  Dionysus' possible birthplaces.

... for some say that pregnant Semele bore you to thunder-loving Zeus at Draconon (i.e. a promontory on Cos, an island in the Mediterranean just off the south-west coast of the present-day Turkey) and some in woody Icarus (i.e. an island in the East Aegean Sea, to the west of Samos), and some in Naxos (i.e. a large island in the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea), (O) heaven-born Eiraphiotes (i.e. this probably means 'insewn'), and others by the deep-eddying river Alpheus (i.e. a river in the Western Peloponnese, near Olympia); and others say that you, lord, were born in Thebes (i.e. the city in Boeotia, generally regarded as Dionysus' birthplace); (they are all) lying; for the father of men and of gods (i.e. Zeus) begat you far away from mankind (and) hidden from white-armed Hera. Now there is a certain Nysa (i.e. adjacent to the mouths of the Nile), a most high mountain abounding in woods, far from Phoenicia (i.e. a region on the east coast of the Mediterranean, north of Israel), (and) near the streams of Egypt,

(some lines are missing)

Ll. 10-21.  Zeus proclaims regular festivals to Semele.

"... and they will raise many statues (to you) (i.e. Semele) in your temples. And, as these (things are) three (i.e. a reference to something in the body of the hymn, now lost), men will always sacrifice complete hecatombs (i.e. a hundred oxen) to you every three years."

The son of Cronos (i.e. Zeus) spoke, and nodded with his dark brows; and so the king's heavenly locks streamed down from his head; and he made great Olympus quake. So Zeus the counsellor spoke and nodded his head. 

Be gracious, Eiraphiotes (n.b. the meaning of this epithet of Dionysus is obscure), mad about women (i.e. groups of women, known as 'maenads' were possessed by Dionysus with religious frenzy); now we minstrels sing of you, as we begin and end (our song); nor is there any way to forget you and be mindful of sacred song. And so, hail to you, Dionysus Eiraphiotes, together with your mother Semele, whom some call Thyone. 

6) TO APHRODITE - Εἲς Ἀφροδίτην. 

(This short hymn in honour of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, (known to the Romans as Venus,) follows immediately after the long hymn of 293 lines composed in her honour. It was clearly composed for a singing contest (see ll. 19-20 below), but there are no indications of its date or of where it was written. It is possible it came from Cyprus, but the reference to Cyprus in l. 2 could be purely literary in its significance.)

I shall sing of revered Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, who has obtained as her abode the walled cities of all of Cyprus, where the moist force of the hard-blowing Western Wind bore her (i.e. from her birthplace at Cythera) in soft foam over the waves of the loud-roaring sea; and the gold-filleted Hours (i.e. the goddesses of the seasons and the keepers of the Gates of Olympus) welcomed her gladly and placed heavenly garments around (her); and on her immortal head they put a golden crown, well-wrought and beautiful; and in her pierced ear-lobes (they placed) ornaments of fine copper and precious gold; and around her tender neck and her silver-white breasts, they adorned (her) with golden necklaces, such as the gold-filleted Hours are indeed adorned with, whenever they go the lovely dances of the gods and their father's house.  

And, when they had placed every (kind of) ornament around her body, they brought (her) to the immortals; and they saw (her) and welcomed (her) and offered (her) their right-hands in greeting, and each (one of them) prayed that he might lead her to his home to be his wedded wife, (so) amazed were they at the beauty of violet-crowned Cytherea. 

Hail, you sweet-winning (goddess) with the fluttering eyes; and grant that I may gain the victory in this contest, and furnish my song with grace. But I shall remember you, and another song also. 

7) TO DIONYSUS - Εἲς Διώνυσον. 

(This is the second of three poems concerning Dionysus, the God of Wine, (known to the Romans as Bacchus,) in the collection of Homeric Hymns, and, at 59 lines, it is also by far the longest. The story of Dionysus and the pirates, which is the subject of this hymn, is a favourite theme in classical literature, as is the transformation of men, who have fallen into the sea, into dolphins. Although it has been suggested that the date of this poem is as late as the third or fourth century B.C., there is no good reason to separate it from the seventh century date of most of the collection. As to the location of its composition, both Athens, (in connection with a festival of Dionysus,) and Naxos have been suggested as possibilities.) 

Concerning Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, I shall recall how he appeared by the shore of the barren sea on a jutting headland looking like a young man in the prime of youth; his fine dark hair was bobbing up and down, and around his strong shoulders he had a purple cloak; and presently some men came forward swiftly over the wine-dark sea on their well-benched ships, Tyrsenian (n.b. the Tyrsenians were ancient Pelasgic, or non-Hellenic, inhabitants of Thrace) pirates (they were), and, when they saw (him) they beckoned to one another, and jumped out at once. Then, they seized (him) quickly, and took (him) aboard their ship, rejoicing in their hearts. For they thought he was the son of kings nurtured by Zeus, and they sought to bind (him) with grievous shackles. But the shackles did not hold him, and the bonds fell far away from his hands and feet; and he sat (there) with his dark eyes, smiling; but the helmsman saw (it) and at once understood (what it meant), and cried out to his comrades: "(You) madmen, what god is this, strong (as he is), whom you have seized and bound? Not even our well-made ship can carry him. For surely this is Zeus, or Apollo with his silver bow, or Poseidon; for (he is) not like mortal men, but (like) the gods who have their dwellings on Olympus. But come, let us set him free on the dark mainland; but do not lay hands on (him), lest he is provoked in some way, and stirs up harsh winds and a heavy storm."

So he spoke; but the captain rebuked him with words of malice: "Keep your eye on the wind, (you) fool, and haul up the ship's sails with (me), and take up the ropes all at once; furthermore, this (fellow) will be seen to by (us) men. I expect he will come to Egypt, or Cyprus, or to the Hyperboreans (i.e. the people of the extreme north), or even further afield; but, in the end, he will tell us at some time of his friends, and of all his possessions and his brothers, since fate has thrown (him) in our (path)."  

When he had spoken, he hoisted the mast and the mainsail on to the ship. Then, the wind swelled the middle of the sail, and the (crew) made fast the ropes on all sides; but soon wondrous works appeared. First of all, a sweet fragrant wine flowed babbling away through the swift black ship, and a heavenly odour arose; and amazement seized hold of all the sailors who saw (it). And immediately a grape-vine spread out in all directions across the top of the sail, and many clusters of grapes hung down (from it); and a dark ivy-plant entwined itself around the mast, blooming with flowers, and lovely fruit grew on (it); and all the thole-pins had wreaths; and then those that saw (these things) bade the helmsman bring the ship in to land; then, the (god) turned himself into a terrible lion, there in the bows of the ship, and it roared loudly, and in the middle (of the ship) he created a bear with a rough shaggy neck, such portents did he show; and it stood up, raging ravenously; and on the top deck the lion scowled fiercely; and the (crew) fled into the stern, and in their terror they stood around the helmsman, who had a sound mind; and suddenly it sprang upon the captain and seized (him), and, when they saw (this), the (sailors) all jumped overboard together into the shining sea to escape an evil fate, and they became dolphins; but he showed mercy to the helmsman and held (him) back and made him truly happy, and said these words (to him): "Take courage, good sir, you who are dear to my heart, for I am the loud-shouting Dionysus, whom my mother, Cadmus' daughter Semele, brought into this world, having joined in love-making with Zeus."

Hail, (you) child of fair-faced Semele! It is not possible for anyone who is forgetful of you to compose sweet song (viz. the similar conclusion of Hymn 1 above).  

8) TO ARES - Εἲς Ἄρεα.

(This short hymn to Ares, the God of War, (known to the Romans as Mars,) seems out of place as a Homeric Hymn, and seems more akin to the collection of Orphic Hymns of the Late Hellenistic Age.) 

(O) mighty Ares, chariot-laden, golden-helmeted, stout-hearted, shield-bearer, guardian of cities, strong of hand, untiring, mighty with a spear, bulwark of Olympus, father of Nike (i.e. Goddess of Victory), (who is) successful in war, ally of Themis (i.e. Goddess of Justice), master of the unruly, leader of the most righteous of men, bearing the staff of manliness, whirling your fiery-red orb among the constellations in the sevenfold tracks of the sky, where the blazing foals ever bear you above the third orbit of the heavens; hear (me), (you) helper of mortals, (you) dispenser of undaunted youth, (you who is) bearing from above a gentle ray of light on my life and my martial vigour, so that I can drive away bitter cowardice from my head, and crush the deceptive impulse in the thoughts of my mind; hold back too the sharp fury of my heart, which provokes me to embark upon the chilling cry of battle; but do you give (me) the courage, (O) blessed (one), to stay within the kindly laws of peace, so as to avoid the hostile din of battle and a violent death.  

9) TO ARTEMIS - Εἲς Ἄρτεμις.

(From the references to the Meles, Smyrna and Claros, this short hymn to Artemis, the virgin Goddess of Hunting, (known to the Romans as Diana,) almost certainly has its location in Ionia.)

Sing of Artemis, Muse, sister of the Far-Shooter (i.e. Apollo), a virgin delighting in arrows, bred together with Apollo, and she waters her horses in the Meles (i.e. a river in Smyrna), thick with rushes, and drives her chariot, made completely of gold, swiftly through Smyrna to Claros, rich in vines, where Apollo, with his silver bow, sits waiting for the far-shooting (maiden) who delights in arrows. And so, do you delight in my song, together with all of the goddesses; but first I begin to sing to you and of you, and, having begun with you, I shall move on to another hymn.  

10) TO APHRODITE - Εἲς Ἀφροδίτην.

(This fragmentary hymn is the third Homeric Hymn composed in honour of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, known to the Romans as Venus. Like its parallel, Hymn 6, it was the prelude to a song recited at a singing contest. Despite the mention of Cyprus on two occasions in these lines, there is no reason to think it originated there.)

I will sing of the Cyprus-born lady of Cythera, who gives her gracious gifts (i.e. beauty) to men, and always has a lovely smile on her face, and over (it) there shines a lovely bloom. Hail, goddess, ruler of well-built Salamis, and sea-girt Cyprus; grant (me) a charming song. But I shall be mindful both of you and of another song. 

11) TO ATHENA - Εἲς Ἀθηναν.

(As this fragmentary hymn does not end with the rhapsodic transitional formula, it is unlikely that it was the prelude to a recitation at Athens or anywhere else. In any case, the cult of Pallas Athena was common to many Greek cities.) 

Of Pallas Athena, guardian of cities, I begin to sing, dread (goddess), to whom, together with Ares, deeds of war, the sacking of cities, the war-cry and battles are matters of concern, and she protects the host, as it comes and goes. Hail goddess, and grant us good fortune and happiness.  

12) TO HERA - Εἲς Ἥραν.

(This fragmentary hymn to Hera, Queen of the Gods, known to the Romans as Juno, is unique among the Homeric Hymns in that, apart from No 8, which is different in other respects, it has no farewell verse or concluding address to the deity it is honouring. It may well have been the prelude to a longer poem.)

I sing of golden-throned Hera, whom Rhea bore, queen of the immortals, possessing a beauty unsurpassed, sister and wife of loud-thundering Zeus, glorious (lady), whom all the blessed (ones) throughout high Olympus revere and honour like (they do) Zeus, who delights in thunder.  

13) TO DEMETER - Εἲς Δημήτραν.

(This fragmentary hymn is addressed to Demeter, the Goddess of Agriculture, known to the Romans as Ceres, and to her daughter Persephone, known to the Romans as Proserpina, and stems from the longer poem to Demeter (see No. 2). It is obviously the prelude to a recitation. The city she is asked to save may well be Athens.)

I begin to song of the lovely-haired Demeter, the revered goddess, of herself and of her daughter, the very beautiful Persephone. Hail, goddess; save this city and guide my song.   

14) TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS - Εἲς Μητέρα Θεῶν.  

(The Mother of the Gods was widely worshipped throughout Greece from ancient times and was identified with Rhea, the mother of Zeus, and with the Asiatic Cybele.) 

Sing to me, clear-voiced Muse, daughter of great Zeus, of the Mother of all Gods and all men, to whom the noise of rattles and drums, together with the sound of flutes, was pleasing, as were the cry of wolves and fierce lions, and the echoing hills and wooded water-courses. And so hail to you in my song, and to all the goddesses as well.  

15) TO HERACLES THE LION-HEARTED - Εἲς Ἡρακλέα Λεοντόθυμον.

(While the epithet 'Lion-Hearted' is not assigned to Heracles, known to the Romans as Hercules, in any other work of classical literature, this has no particular significance. Some think this hymn may derive from Attica.) 

I will sing of Heracles, son of Zeus, the mightiest (man) upon the earth, whom Alcmena bore in that beautiful place, Thebes, after she had lain with the cloud-wrapt son of Cronos; he once used to wander over enormous (tracts of) land and sea at the bidding of king Eurystheus (i.e. the king of Tiryns who imposed the Twelve Labours upon Heracles), and he himself accomplished many violent (deeds) and endured many; but from now on he lives happily in the lovely abode of snowy Olympus, and has Hebe with her lovely ankles (as his wife). Hail, lord, son of Zeus; grant (me) virtue and happiness.

16) TO ASCLEPIUS - Εἲς Ἀσκληπιόν.

(Asclepius, known to the Romans as Aesculapius, was the God of Healing, and the son of Apollo. This fragment is clearly the prelude to a longer song.)

I begin to sing of Asclepius, son of Apollo, (and) healer of sicknesses, to whom fair Coronis, the daughter of king Phlegyas, gave birth on the Dotian plain; a source of great joy to men (he was), (and) a soother of evil pains. And so hail to you, lord; to you I pray in my song.  

17) TO THE DIOSCURI - Εἲς Διοσκούρους.

(This poem is addressed to the Dioscuri, the 'Twins' of Leda, Castor and Polydeuces, known to the Romans as Pollux. This poem is clearly an abbreviation of the longer Homeric Hymn to the Dioscuri (see No. 33), and is clearly not a prelude to a longer hymn, as there is no transitional verse. They are called the Tyndaridae, or Tyndarids, as their legal father was Tyndareus, King of Sparta. According to one version of the myth only Polydeuces was the son of Zeus, and Castor was the actual son of Tyndareus. In the same way, of their sisters, Helen was the daughter of Zeus, and Clytemnestra the daughter of Tyndareus.)   

Sing, (you) clear-voiced Muse, of the Tyndarids Castor and Polydeuces, who were born of Olympian Zeus; queenly Leda bore them beneath the heights of Taÿgetus, after she had been secretly overcome by the cloud-wrapt son of Cronos. Hail, (you) sons of Tyndareus, (you) who mount swift steeds. 

18) TO HERMES - Εἲς Ἑρμῆν.

(As in the case of the previous hymn to the Dioscuri, this short hymn is clearly an abbreviation of the longer hymn, No. 4, to Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods, known to the Romans as Mercury.  The final line is a somewhat curious addition to line 10, which is the formulaic ending to a prelude, and it may therefore be a later interpolation.) 

I sing of Cyllenian Hermes, the slayer of Argus (i.e. the hundred-eyed giant, who was guarding Io, the nymph whom Zeus had transformed into a heifer, in the sanctuary of Hera), lord of Cyllene (i.e. the mountain in Arcadia where Hermes was born), and of Arcadia, rich in sheep, the luck-bringing messenger of the immortals, whom Maia, the daughter of Atlas, brought to birth, modest (though she was); and she shunned the throng of the blessed gods, living in a shadowy cave; there the son of Cronos used to lie with the lovely-haired nymph at dead of night, when sweet sleep encompassed the white-armed Hera; and she escaped the notice both of the immortal gods and of mortal men.   

And so, hail to you, son of Zeus and Maia; having begun with you, I, (now) turn to another hymn. Hail, Hermes, giver of grace, guide and giver of good (things).  

19) TO PAN - Εἲς Πᾶνα.

(With its 49 lines, the hymn to Pan, known to the Romans as Faunus, God of the Countryside, Shepherds and Flocks, is the second longest of the shorter Homeric Hymns, and its freshness and charm make it most attractive to read. Since the god Pan does not appear in Greek art until the Fifth Century B.C. and there are references to Pan in the works of Homer or Hesiod, the date of its composition must be considerably later than most of the works in the collection of Homeric Hymns. Its place of composition may well be Arcadia,  a district of mountain people which was always the principal centre of his worship. On the other hand, it may have been composed in Athens, where Pan became a favourite after the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., when his cult was first officially organised.)   

Tell me, Muse, about the dear child of Hermes, the goat-footed, two-horned, noise-loving (one), who roams through wooded meadows, together with nymphs accustomed to the dance, who tread on the crest of some sheer cliff, calling upon Pan, the shepherd's god, long-haired (and) unkempt (as he is), who has in his possession every snowy ridge, mountain top and rocky peak. He roams hither and thither through the dense thickets; at one moment (he is) lured by gentle streams, and at another he makes his way among towering crags, and climbs up to the highest peak from which to watch the sheep. Often he courses over the high glistening mountains, and often he goes across the mountain slopes, slaying wild beasts, sharp-sighted (as he is); then, as he returns from the chase at evening only, he makes a sweet song on his playful pipes; nor could she surpass him in melody, that bird, who, when she pours forth her lament amid the leaves of the blossoming springtime, utters her honey-sweet song. At that time, the shrill-singing mountain Nymphs roam around with him nimbly on their feet, and sing beside the spring of black water; and Echo wails around the mountain top. And dancing here and there, the god then moving slowly into the midst, plies nimbly on his feet, and on his back he wears the shabby hide of a lynx, and he rejoices in his heart in high-pitched songs in the soft meadow, where crocus and fragrantly blooming hyacinth mingle in a disorderly fashion in the grass. They sing of the blessed gods and high Olympus; and I wish to tell you of such (a one) as luck-bringing Hermes, excelling (all) the others, how he is the speedy messenger of all the gods, how he came to Arcadia with its many springs, the mother of the flocks, where is his Cyllenian demesne. For there, though he was a god, he was putting out to graze shaggy-shared sheep in the service of a mortal man, for there came upon (him) the languishing desire to be joined in love-making to the lovely-haired daughter of Dryops (i.e. Dryope); and so he brought about a happy marriage. Then, she bore Hermes a dear son in her halls, and from birth he was a marvel to behold, with his goats' feet (and) his two horns, the noise-loving, sweet-laughing (child that he was); but his mother sprang up and fled, and so she left the child, for she was afraid when she saw his uncouth and well-bearded appearance. Then did luck-bringing Hermes take him and put (him) in his arms; and the god rejoiced greatly in his heart. And he went swiftly to the seats of the immortals, covering his child in the compact skins of mountain hares, and set (him) down beside Zeus and showed his son to the rest of the immortals, and then all of the immortals were glad at heart, and Bacchic Dionysus, especially, and they called him Pan, because he delighted the hearts of (them) all. And so to you, Lord, I am propitiating you with a song, but I shall be mindful both of you and of another song.  

20. TO HEPHAESTUS - Εἲς Ἥφαιστον.

(This hymn is dedicated to Hephaestus, known to the Romans as Vulcan, God of Fire, Forges and Handicraft. The fact that Athena is mentioned together with him at the beginning of the poem suggests that it could have been composed in Athens, as that city was the home of a common cult to these two deities, who were worshipped as patrons of all arts and crafts.)

Sing, clear-voiced Muse, of Hephaestus, renowned for his skill in handicraft, who together with bright-eyed Athene taught glorious works to men on earth, even (to men) who in former times used to dwell in caves in the mountains like wild beasts. But now, having learned their crafts through Hephaestus, renowned for his art, they easily pass a life free of anxiety in their own homes for the space of a whole year. 

But be gracious, Hephaestus, and grant me skill and happiness. 

21. TO APOLLO - Εἲς Ἀπόλλωνα. 

(For information about Apollo, please see the introduction to the translation of Homeric Hymn No. 3, on this blog, dated 1 August 2020.) 

Phoebus (i.e. the epithet that regularly precedes the name of Apollo), of you, even the swan sings in a clear voice through the flapping of his wings, as he alights on the bank beside the eddying river Peneus (i.e. the name of a river in Thessaly, mentioned in Book II of the 'Iliad', or perhaps of a river of the same name in Elis in the Peloponnese); and to you does the sweet-sounding minstrel always sing with his shrill lyre both first and last. And so, hail to you. lord, and I propitiate you with my song. 

22. TO POSEIDON - Εἲς ποσειδῶνα.

(This hymn may be a prayer for the safety of sailors at sea, rather than the prelude to a longer song, although the beginning does perhaps suggest the latter. The Helicon referred to in line 3, could be the Boeotian mountain of that name, but it is more likely to refer to Helice, a town in Achaea on the Corinthian Gulf in the northern Peloponnese, which, together with its neighbouring town, Aegae, is mentioned in Book VIII of the 'Iliad' as sacred to Poseidon, the God of the Sea, known to the Romans as Neptune.) 

I begin to sing about Poseidon, the great god, mover of the earth and the barren sea, (god of) the deep, who (also) holds Helicon and wide Aegae. A twofold office the gods allotted you, (O) Earth-shaker, to be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships. Hail, Poseidon, earth-mover, dark-haired (god), and succour the mariners, (O) blessed (one), with a kindly heart. 

23. TO THE MOST HIGH SON OF CRONOS - Εἲς Ὕπατον κρονίδην.

(The reference to Themis, the Goddess of Justice, indicates that this fragmentary hymn is addressed to Zeus, known to the Romans as Jupiter, in his capacity as God of Law and Righteousness.)

I will sing of Zeus, the chief and the greatest of the gods, the far-seeing lord, the fulfiller, who speaks words of wisdom to Themis, who sits leaning towards (him). Be gracious, (O) far-seeing son of Cronos, the noblest and the greatest. 

24. TO HESTIA -  Εἲς Ἑστίαν.

(This hymn is addressed to Hestia, daughter of Cronos and Rhea, and sister of Zeus, Goddess of the Hearth and Home, known to the Romans as Vesta. The reference to Pytho reflects Hestia's close connection to her nephew Apollo's sacred enclosure at Delphi, where sacred fire was permanently maintained by widows at her Hearth in the Prytaneum. Many think this is a fragment of a longer hymn.)

Hestia, (you) who tends the sacred house of Apollo the Far-shooter at sacred Pytho, moist olive-oil is ever dripping from your locks. Come into this house, come with one mind together with Zeus, wise in counsel, and at the same time bestow grace on my song.

25. TO THE MUSES AND APOLLO - Εἲς Μούσας Καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα.

(There is also a reference to the joint worship of Apollo and the Muses on line 450 of Homeric Hymn 4, addressed to Hermes.)

I will begin with the Muses, and Apollo and Zeus; for (it is) through the Muses and Apollo the Far-shooter (that) there are men on the earth who sing and play the lyre, but through Zeus (there are) kings; fortunate is he, whomever the Muses love; his voice flows sweetly from his mouth. Hail, children of Zeus, and honour my song; but I shall be mindful of you and of another song.

26. TO DIONYSUS - Εἲς Διόνυσον.

(This hymn was no doubt composed for some festival of Dionysus. According to Homeric Hymn 1, also dedicated to Dionysus, Nysa, the place where Dionysus was reared, was in Phoenicia.)

I begin to sing of loud-shouting Dionysus, crowned with ivy (as he is), the splendid son of Zeus and renowned Semele, whom the lovely-haired Nymphs took to their bosoms from the lord, their father, and nurtured and zealously reared in the vales of Nysa; and by the grace of his father he grew up in a sweet-smelling cavern, being reckoned among the immortals. But, when the goddesses had raised him to sing a lot, then he began to go backwards and forwards through the wooded glades, wreathed with laurel and ivy; and the Nymphs used to follow after (him), and he became their leader; and their outcry took hold of the boundless forest. 

And so, hail to you, O Dionysus, rich in grapes; and grant that we should come again to this season of rejoicing, and from this time onwards for many a year. 

27. TO ARTEMIS - Εἲς Ἄρτεμιν.   

(This hymn is somewhat longer than the earlier fragmentary hymn to Artemis (No. 9). However that hymn was probably composed in Ionia, whereas this one is more likely to relate to Delphi.) 

I sing of Artemis of the golden arrows, boisterous, revered maiden, shooter of deer, delighting in arrows, own sister of Apollo of the golden sword. Delighting in the chase over shadowy hills and windy peaks, she draws her bow and dispatches grievous shafts; the crests of the lofty mountains tremble, and the tangled woodland resounds fearfully with the cry of wild beasts, and the earth quakes, as does the sea, full of fish; but she, with a strong heart, turns about in all directions, destroying the race of wild beasts. But, when the arrow-shooting huntress was full of good cheer, and was glad at heart, she slackens her curved bow, and goes to the great house of her dear brother Phoebus Apollo, to the fertile land of Delphi, to arrange the lovely dancing of the Muses and Graces. There she hangs up her unstrung bow and her arrows, and with lovely clothing on her body, she leads the way and initiates the dances; and the (others) send forth their heavenly voice in hymns to fair-ankled Leto, how she bore children (who) stood out (as) the best of the immortals, both in counsel and in deeds.    

Hail, (you) children of Zeus and lovely-haired Leto; but I will be mindful both of you and of another song. 

28. TO ATHENA - Εἴς Ἀθήναν.

(The style of this hymn to Athena, or Athene, known to the Romans as Minerva, is so similar to the preceding one, i.e. No. 27, that it is likely it was composed by the same person. 

I begin to sing of Pallas Athena, the glorious goddess, bright-eyed, resourceful, possessor of a relentless heart, revered virgin, protector of cities, valiant, Tritogeneia (n.b. the exact meaning of this epithet is unknown), whom Zeus the counsellor himself begat from his august head, arrayed for war in shining golden armour; and awe seized all the immortals as they gazed; but she rushed forward eagerly from his immortal head before Zeus, who bears the aegis, shaking a sharp spear; great Olympus began to quiver in dread beneath the might of the bright-eyed (maiden); and the earth round about cried out fearfully; and then the sea was aroused, and stirred by dark waves; and foam suddenly burst forth; and the brilliant son of Hyperion (i.e. Helios, the Sun) checked his swift steeds for quite a time, until the maiden Pallas Athena removed the godlike armour from her shoulders; and Zeus the counsellor rejoiced. 

And so hail to you, daughter of Zeus, who bears the aegis; but I will be mindful of you and of another song too. 

29. TO HESTIA - Εἴς Ἑστίαν. 

(This is the second Homeric Hymn to Hestia, known to the Romans as Vesta, the first one, No. 24, being most fragmentary. With regard to libations or drink offerings, Hestia was only honoured in this way at the beginning of feasts, but in sacrificial feasts Hestia would have been so honoured at the end of them as well. In this hymn, Hestia is closely linked with her nephew Hermes, known to the Romans as Mercury. This is perhaps because Hestia was the goddess of the household and the hearth, and Hermes, among his many functions, the god of boundaries.)

(O) Hestia, (you) who in the lofty dwellings of all the immortal gods and (those) of the men who walk on earth, have gained an everlasting place and the highest honour, for you have a splendid and a prized gift; for without you there can be no large banquet of mortals except in a place where one begins by pouring sweet wine (i.e. a libation) to Hestia both first and last; and you, the slayer of Argus, Zeus' and Maia's son, messenger of the blessed (gods) (i.e. Hermes), (you) with your rod of gold, giver of good things, (and) being gracious, come to my aid, together with the honoured and beloved (one) (i.e. Hestia). (Come) dwell in this glorious house, knowing the dear (things) in one another's hearts. For with both of you being aware of the noble actions of earthly men, you followed their wisdom and their earthly strength. 

Hail, Daughter of Cronos, and you also, Hermes of the golden rod; but I shall be mindful both of you and of another song.     

30. TO (EARTH), THE MOTHER OF ALL - Εἲς Τῆν Μητέρα Πάντων.

(This hymn is dedicated to Gaea (i.e. Earth), known to the Romans as Rhea. Although she is called 'mother of the gods' in general in line 17, in strict Hesiodic mythology she was the mother of Cronos and the Titans.) 

I will sing of well-founded Gaea, the eldest of all beings. who feeds all (creatures) that are in the world, all (those) that walk upon land, all (creatures) that are at sea, and all (things) that fly; these she feeds from her (store of) wealth. Through you, (O) queen, (men) are happy in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you is the power to give life to mortal men and to take (it) away; happy (is) he, whom you willingly honour in your mind; he has all (things) in abundance. His food-giving land is laden (with corn), and he thrives in his fields with his cattle, and his house is filled with good things. Such (men) rule their city among fair women in an orderly manner, and much wealth and riches accompany (them); their sons exult in cheerful merriment, and their maiden (daughters) play, skipping happily in floral dances over the soft flowers of the meadow; (such are those,) whom you honour, holy Goddess, bountiful spirit.  

Hail, (O) Mother of the Gods, wife of starry Uranus, and, in return for this ode, readily grant (me) a pleasurable livelihood; but I will be mindful of you, and of another song also. 

31. TO HELIOS - Εἴς Ἥλιον.

(The concluding formula of this hymn shows that it was the prelude to a recitation. The place of composition is unknown, although the worship of Helios, known to the Romans as Sol, i.e. the Sun, was widespread across the Peloponnese and on the island of Rhodes in particular. Its timing is also unclear, but the description of Helios as a driver is not found in the works of Homer, and suggests it was written in centuries later than the Sixth or Seventh.) 

And now, (O) Muse Calliope, (i.e. the Muse of Epic Verse), the daughter of Zeus, do you begin to sing of shining Helios (i.e. the Sun), whom ox-eyed Euryphaessa bore to the son of Gaea (i.e. Earth) and starry Uranus (i.e. Heaven); for Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bore him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos (i.e. Dawn), and lovely-haired Selene (i.e. the Moon), and tireless Helios, (who is) like the immortals, and who shines upon mortals and the deathless gods, as he rides in his chariot; and he gazes piercingly with his eyes from his golden helmet; bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, (streaming) from his temples, and the shining locks of hair from his head gracefully enclose his conspicuous face; and a fair finely-worked garment gleams upon his body in a blast of winds; and his horses (run) strongly under (him). So then, when he has halted his golden-yoked chariot and horses, there he rests upon heaven's peak (i.e. at noon), until he conducts (them) wondrously again through heaven to the Ocean. 

Hail (to you), lord, and may you freely grant (me) a pleasurable life. Having started with you, I shall celebrate the race of heroic demigods endowed with speech, whose deeds the goddesses (i.e. the Muses) have revealed to mortals.

32. TO SELENE - Εἲς Σελήνην. 

(The resemblance of this to the previous hymn to Helios is so close that it is likely they were both written by the same author at about the same time. However, the description of Selene, known to the Romans as Luna. i.e. the Moon, as winged seems to involve a confusion of her with her sister Eos (Dawn), who is regularly portrayed in classical literature as having wings, whereas the Moon is never so portrayed elsewhere. Another anomaly is the appearance in line 15 of Selene's daughter, Pandia. Not only does Pandia not appear elsewhere in classical literature, but the purpose of her introduction here is quite unclear.)  

(Now O) sweet-voiced Muses, daughters of Cronos' son, Zeus, well versed in song, engage in singing of the long-winged Moon; the heavenly gleam from her immortal head encircles the earth, and great beauty arises from her glowing light; the unlit air now beams (with light) from her golden crown, and the rays beam clearly whenever divine Selene, having bathed her lovely body in (the waters) of the Ocean, donned her gleaming raiment, and, having yoked her team of shining strong-necked steeds, she eagerly drives her fair-maned horses forward in the evening at the full of the month. Now is her great orbit full, and then, as she waxes, are her beams from heaven most bright; so, she becomes a token and a sign to mortal (men). Once, the son of Cronos was joined to her in love and the (marriage) bed; and she conceived and bore a daughter, Pandia, who possessed a remarkable beauty among the immortal gods.

Hail, divine Selene, white-armed goddess, benevolent queen with lovely hair; beginning with you, I will sing of the renown of heroic demi-gods, whose deeds minstrels, the attendants of the Muses, celebrate from their lovely mouths. 

 

33. TO THE DIOSCURI - Εἲς Διοσκούρους.  

(Unlike the shorter fragmentary hymn to the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces, known to the Romans as Pollux, (see No. 17), this is the prelude to a longer poem.) 

(O) sharp-glancing Muses, tell of the Tyndarids, the sons of Zeus, the glorious children of Leda, (the one) with the beautiful ankles, both horse-taming Castor and blameless Polydeuces, whom she bore beneath the peak of great Taÿgetus, after she had joined herself in love-making with the cloud-wrapt son of Cronos, children (who are) saviours of earthly men, and of swift-faring ships, when wintry gales storm across the relentless sea; then, the (men) from the ships call upon the sons of Zeus (i.e. the Dioscuri), vowing (to sacrifice) white lambs (to them) when they climb to the top of the deck; but the strong wind and the waves of the sea put the (ship) under water; then, suddenly they are seen, darting through the air on tawny wings, and, at once, they allay the blasts of the cruel winds, and calm the waves on the surface of the gray sea; fair signs (they are) of deliverance from toil; and, when they saw (them), they were glad and they came to the end of their painful labour.   

Hail, (you) sons of Tyndareus, (you) who mount swift steeds; but I will be mindful of you and of another song also. 

CAESAR

For Latin scholars, translating extracts from Caesar's "Gallic Wars" is an evocative, if not nostalgic, experience, because for so many of us our earliest Latin textbooks featured sentences and passages taken from this famous work, albeit these were usually heavily abridged for young learners. Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.), while perhaps the greatest general and statesman in Roman history, was also one of the foremost exemplars of Latin prose in the Late Republic (i.e. 80-40 B.C.), a period about which we are astonishingly well informed, mainly through the histories of Caesar and Sallust, and the letters, recorded speeches, and philosophical works of the great Cicero. Although Cicero's writing is generally considered to provide the highest development of Latin prose, it is perhaps a little too florid and rhetorical to be ideal as a basis for the initial steps in the learning of the language. On the other hand, the clear and straightforward qualities of Caesar's prose make it suitable for this purpose, and for this reason it has often been the model around which successive generations of European students have acquired a facility in the Latin language.

Having formed the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus, Caesar became consul of Rome for the first time in 59, and, after administering a number of important reforms, he became governor of Transalpine Gaul, which in a number of epic campaigns he conquered during the years 58-51, while at the same time leading two expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54. When the Senate sought to remove his command from him before he could resume the consulship, he crossed the Rubicon in 49 and initiated the Civil War (49-45), which he won decisively. He was appointed dictator and piloted a number of significant further reforms, including the introduction of the Julian Calendar in 46. When he was appointed dictator for life in 44, he was treacherously murdered by a group of his former supporters on the Ides of March, two days before he was due to depart for a campaign against the Parthians. Civil War broke our again, but following the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. Caesar's adopted son, Octavianus (later known as Augustus) seized sole power and thus confirmed the demise of the Republic and the foundation of the Imperial system, which his adopted father had played the pivotal role in founding.   

The close relationship between Caesar and his troops was undoubtedly at the heart of his greatness as a general. Apart from his strategic and tactical genius, Caesar's ability to strike a rapport with his legionaries was remarkable. Caesar's record of almost unbroken success in Gaul from 58 to 51, and later during the Civil War from 49 to 45, testifies to his remarkable qualities as a military leader. Two tributes to him are quoted below. The first is from the introduction to "Caesar: The Conquest of Gaul", translated by S.A. Handford, Penguin Classics, 1951:  "Caesar's own contribution was that of a superb tactician and military leader. No man ever knew better how to surprise and baffle his opponents by speed of movement, or how to snatch victory out of a battle that was very nearly a defeat by throwing in reserves at just the right place and the right time. No man ever won greater respect or more affectionate loyalty from his troops. For eight years of hard fighting, hard digging, and hard living, they gave him everything he asked of them" (p. 22). The second quotation comes from "Julius Caesar, man, soldier, and tyrant", by Major-General J.F.C. Fuller, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1965: "As a leader of men Caesar stood head and shoulders above the generals of his day, and it is more as a fighting than as a thinking soldier that his generalship has been judged ... First, it must be borne in mind that normally the battles of his day were parallel engagements in which the aim was to exhaust and then to penetrate the enemy's front. They were methodical operations in which, when both sides were similarly trained and organized, success depended largely on superiority of numbers. Caesar modified these tactics by basing his campaigns, not on superiority of numbers and meticulous preparations but on celerity and audacity. By surprising his opponent he caught him off-guard, and got him so thoroughly rattled that either he refused his challenge to fight and in consequence lost his prestige, or, should he respond, was morally half-beaten before the engagement took place" (p. 321). Another cause of his success was the confidence which his men had in him. This is demonstrated in the aftermath of the defeat at Gergovia in 52, when Caesar lectures his soldiers for disobeying his orders. The implicit message of Caesar's speech was that the Roman army might not always be victorious, but that Caesar himself was invincible. This was certainly the message which Caesar wished to convey in his dispatches to Rome, and his soldiers believed it. 

Caesar was also a great orator and prose writer. The only writings of his which have survived are his war commentaries, the "De Bello Gallico" (The Gallic Wars) and the "De Bello Civili" (The Civil War). The first is comprised of seven books, each one covering a year in his Gallic campaigns and his visits to Britain, with an eighth book written by his associate Aulus Hirtius, covering the final two years (51-50); the second comprises three books written by Caesar himself, with Book III leading up to the famous battle of Pharsalus in 48, where Caesar's army, despite being seriously outnumbered, won a glorious victory over Pompey, and a further three books, traditionally attributed to Caesar, but definitely written by others. While much much of what we know of Caesar comes from these writings of his, other important sources are the biographies of Caesar written by Plutarch of Chaeronea (46-119 A.D.) in Greek, and Suetonius (69-122) in Latin, also available on this blog (see the entries dated 1st August and 29th October 2014 respectively). The "Roman Histories" of the Greek historians, Appian of Alexandria (95-165) (see the entry on this blog dated 25 August 2015), and Cassius Dio from Bithynian Nicaea (155-235) also include information relevant to Caesar's life and career.  

The quality of Caesar's writings.

Caesar's prose is, as stated above, relatively straightforward to translate. It is full of instances of the Ablative Absolute construction, which is perhaps the quintessential characteristic of the Latin language (see Sabidius' article "Ablative Absolutes" on this blog dated 20th May 2012). An Ablative Absolute is a phrase detached from the main clause of a sentence, at the heart of which is a participle, or verbal adjective, agreeing with a noun or pronoun in the ablative case (viz. an ablative of attendant circumstances), when this noun or pronoun is not the subject or object of the main verb. Because orthodox verbs in Latin lack the form of a past participle in the active voice, ablative absolutes using past participles passive are often necessary to compensate for this lack, with the grammatical sense having to be inverted into the passive voice. In translating into English, it is common to restore the active construction and thus to attach the participle to the subject or object of the main verb, something which is not possible in Latin through the lack of a past participle active. At the same time Ablative Absolutes are often used, as indeed are participles in general, as an alternative to subordinate clauses. When translating into English, it is common to replace the participle with such a subordinate clause, e.g. a temporal or concessive clause. The use of participles in general, and Ablative Absolutes in particular, facilitates that conciseness of expression and economy in the use of words which are hallmarks of the Latin language. 

Other features of Caesar's prose writing which are visible in this work are his use of the Gerund and Gerundive (for information about these constructions the reader is referred to Sabidius' article "Gerunds and Gerundives" published on this blog on 6th March 2010, and also his articles, "Nunc est Bibendum" published January 17th 2011, and "Gerunds and Gerundives: Exemplification" published 23 January 2012), and the occasional use of the impersonal passive construction. Another feature of Caesar's historical writing is his use of the third person in his narration of events. Although he is writing of events, many of which he witnessed in person, and he is the principal agent of the story, his use of the third person gives a more impersonal and impartial flavour to his account than if he had written in the first person.

Caesar's constant recourse to the use of the Ablative Absolute and Indirect Discourse can readily be explained by the nature of his writing. He classifies both the "De Bello Gallico" and the "De Bello Civili" as "Commentarii", (i.e. reports or notes), upon which a more polished work of historical writing might later be based. Ablative Ablatives allow a large amount of information to be processed with a minimum of words, and represent encapsulated statements of fact which serve as background to what is being said in the rest of the sentence or paragraph. Indirect Discourse, as used by him is a form of 'barebones reporterage', or compressed statement, in which much information, normally important to the structure of the sentence, such as person, and the distinction between the subject and object, is stripped away, because it is obvious. Such linguistic usage was highly suitable to a military context, in which dispatches to the Senate and People of Rome from the front, or communiques to subordinates, might be composed, when compressed, yet factual language would be seen as a suitable example of Roman pragmatism and practicality. While this accounts for what is otherwise particular to Caesar's style, what is so interesting is that the quality of his writing was such that it created a genre in itself. Indeed, ancient sources describe him as a leader or proponent of the puristic style of Latin writing, called the Attic style, as opposed to the more highly wrought or aphoristic style, of which Cicero was seen as the most significant exemplar. Nevertheless, Cicero, who in the tradition of classical literature would normally have seen a polished style as an essential quality of historical writing, was to say of Caesar's "Commentarii" in his "Brutus", written in 46, that, "They are like nude figures, upright and beautiful, stripped of all ornament of style as if they had removed a garment. His aim was to provide source material for others who might wish to write history, and perhaps he has gratified the insensitive, who may wish to use their curling-tongs on his work; but men of good sense he has deterred from writing." What he meant, and goes on to make clear, was that Caesar's writing was so elegant in its lucidity and simplicity that only the unwise would seek to improve on it. It is important to stress the quality of Caesar's Latin, because, although he is the first author to whom young students of Latin have traditionally been introduced, his Latin can actually be quite difficult to translate. Terseness and compression are qualities that are hallmarks of the Latin language as a whole, and in Caesar's case the impersonal military concision which one associates with his Ablative Absolutes are especially good examples of these qualities; but, as the poet Horace in his "Ars Poetica" was later to say: "Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio (I labour to be brief, and I become obscure)". There are perhaps moments when this is true of Caesar's prose as well, since he frequently omits words which he considers can be understood from an earlier sentence or are obvious from the context as a whole, but for the most part the clarity and brevity of his style is admirable. At the same time, his prose style, while often being terse and restrained, never becomes monotonous or repetitive. 

Works written by or about Caesar made available in translation by Sabidius (the dates of translation are shown in brackets):  

Caesar: "The Gallic Wars":

Book I (1 January 2011).

Book II (18 June 2012).

Book III (1 May 2012).

Book IV (6 October 2012).

Book V (31 August 2010).

Book VI (7 August 2013).

Book VII (3 February 2013).

Caesar: "The Civil War":

Book I (15 October 2020).

Book II (2 January 2021).

Book III (5 November 2013).

Plutarch: "The Life of Caesar":

(1 August 2014).

Suetonius: "The Life of Caesar":

(29 October 2014).

 

Appian: Extracts from "The Civil Wars", Book II:

(25 August 2015).