siege of Ardea the children of Tarquin were one day dining with Brutus
and Collatinus, since these two were of their own age and relatives;
and they fell into a discussion and finally into a dispute about the
virtue of their wives,--each one giving the preference to his own
spouse. And, as all the women happened to be absent from the camp,
they decided straightaway that night, before they could be announced,
to take horse and ride away to all of them simultaneously. This they
did, and found all engaged in a carousal except Lucretia, wife of
Collatinus, whom they discovered at work on wool. This fact about her
becoming noised abroad led Sextus to desire to outrage her. Perchance
he even felt some love for her, since she was of surpassing beauty;
still it was rather her reputation than her body that he desired to
ruin. He watched for an opportunity when Collatinus was among the
Rutuli, hurried to Collatia, and coming by night to her house as that
of a kinswoman obtained both food and lodging. At first he tried to
persuade her to grant her favors to him, but as he could not succeed
he attempted force. When he found he could make no progress by this
means either, he devised a plan by which in the most unexpected way he
compelled her to submit voluntarily to be debauched. To his
declaration that he would cut her throat she paid no attention, and
his statement that he would make away with one of the servants she
listened to in contempt. When, however, he threatened to lay the body
of the servant beside her and spread the report that he had found them
sleeping together and killed them he was no longer to be resisted: and
she, fearing it might be believed that this had so happened, chose to
yield to him and die after giving an account of the affair rather than
lose her good name in perishing at once. For this reason she did not
refuse to commit adultery, but afterward she made ready a dagger
beneath the pillow and sent for her husband and her father. As soon as
they had come she shed many tears, then spoke with a sigh: "Father, I
utter your name because I have disgraced it less than my husband's.
It is no honorable deed I have done this last night, but Sextus forced
me, threatening to kill me and a slave together and pretend he had
found me sleeping with the man. This threat compelled me to sin, to
prevent you from believing that such a thing had taken place. And I,
because I am a woman, will treat my case as becomes me: but do you, if
you are men and care for your wives and for your children, avenge me,
free yourselves, and show the tyrants what manner of creatures you are
and what manner of woman they have outraged." Having spoken to this
effect she did not wait for any reply but immediately drawing the
dagger from its hiding place stabbed herself. (Valesius, p. 574.)
9. Dio, Second Book: "And he [Footnote: Van Herweiden's reading is the
one adopted in this doubtful passage.] went outside of Roman territory
making frequent trials of neighboring peoples." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 164,
25.)
1. ¶All crowds of people judge measures according to the men who
direct them, and of whatever sort they ascertain the men to be, they
believe that the measures are of the same sort. (Mai, p. 140.)
[Frag. XI]
2. Every one prefers the untried to the well known, attaching great
hope to the uncertain in comparison with what has already gained his
hatred. (Ib.)
3. All changes are very dangerous, and especially do those in
governments work the greatest and most numerous evils to both
individuals and state. Sensible men, therefore, decide to remain under
the same forms continually, even if they be not very good, rather than
by changing to have now one, now another, and be continually
wandering. (Ib.)
4. Dio, 2nd Book: "When he had learned this he accordingly both came
to them the following day [lacuna]" (Bekker, Anecd., p. 178, 20.)
5. In 3rd Book of Dio: "Whose father also ruled you blamelessly."
(Ib., p. 120, 24.)
6. Dio's 3rd Book: "Of the fact that he loves you, you could get no
greater proof than his eagerness to live in your midst and his action
in having his possessions long since brought here." (Ib., p. 139, 26,
and p. 164, 28.)
7. Dio's 3rd Book: "How would it pay any one to do this?" (Ib, p.
155,14.)
8. Dio's 3rd Book: "As Romulus also enjoined upon us." (Ib., p. 139,
29.)
9. ¶Every person comes to possess wishes and desires according to his
fortune and whatever his circumstances be, of like nature are also the
opinions he acquires. (Mai, p. 141.)
10. ¶The business of kingship, more than any other, demands not merely
virtue, but also great understanding and intelligence, and it is not
possible without these qualities for the man who takes hold of it to
show moderation. Many, for example, as if raised unexpectedly to some
great height, have not endured their elevation, but startled from
their senses have fallen and made failures of themselves and have
shattered all the interests of their subjects. (Mai, ib.)
11. With regard to the future form a judgment from what they have
done, but do not be deceived by what they as suppliants falsely
pretend. Unholy deeds proceed in every case from a man's real purpose,
but any one may concoct creditable phrases. Hence judge from what a
man has done, not from what he says he will do. (Mai, ib.)
12. 3rd Book of Dio: "It is done not merely by the actual men who rule
them, but also by those who share the power with those rulers."
(Bekker, Anecd. p.130, 23, and p.164, 32.)
In the preceding fragment we have, apparently, some comment of Dio
himself on the change in the Roman government (from monarchy to
republic) together with scraps of two speeches,--namely, that of the
envoys of Tarquinius to the Roman people, and that of Brutus in reply.
[Frag. XII]
1. ¶Valerius, the colleague of Brutus, although he had proved himself
the most democratic of men came near being murdered in short order by
the multitude: they suspected him, in fact, of being eager to become
sole sovereign. They would have slain him, indeed, had he not quickly
anticipated their action by courting their favor. He entered the
assembly and bent the rods which he had formerly used straight, and
took away the surrounding axes that were bound in with them. After he
had in this way assumed an attitude of humility, he kept a sad
countenance for some time and shed tears: and when he at last managed
to utter a sound, he spoke in a low fearful voice with a suggestion of
a quaver. [The general subject is speechmaking.] (Mai, p. 141.)
2. On account of whom (plur.) also [Collatinus] was enraged.
Consequently Brutus so incited the populace against him that they came
near slaying him on the spot. They did not quite do this, however, but
compelled him to resign without delay. They chose as colleague to the
consul in his place Publius Valerius, who had the additional title of
Poplicola. This appellation translated into Greek signifies "friend of
the people" or "most democratic." (Zonaras, 7, 12. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_
XIV.)
[Frag. XIII]
¶The temple of Jupiter was dedicated by Horatius, as determined by
lot, although Valerius made the declaration that his son was dead, and
arranged to have this news brought to him during the very performance
of his sacred office, with the purpose that Horatius under the blow of
the misfortune and because in general it was impious for any one in
grief to fulfill the duties of priest, should yield to him the
dedication of the structure. The other did not refuse credence to the
report--for it was noised abroad by many trustworthy persons--yet he
did not surrender his ministry: on the contrary, after bidding some
men to leave unburied the body of his son, as if it were a stranger's,
in order that he might seem unconcerned regarding the rites due to it,
he then performed all the necessary ceremonies. (Valesius, p.577.)
[Frag. XIV]
1. (Tarquinius continued to supplicate Klara Porsina.) (Zonaras, 7,
12. Cp. Tzetz. Hist. 6, 201. Plutarch, Poplic. 16, has "Lara
Porsina.")
2. Dio in 4th Book: "But they overran the Roman territory and harried
everything up to the wall." (Bekker, Anecd. p.152, 3 and 1.) 3.
Larta Porsenna, an Etruscan, or, perhaps, Klara Porsenna, was
proceeding against Rome with a great army. But Mucius, a noble Roman
soldier, after equipping himself in arms and dress of Etruscans then
started to spy upon them, wishing to kill Porsenna. Beside the latter
at that time was sitting his secretary, who in the Etruscan tongue was
called Clusinus; and Mucius, doubtful which might be the king, killed
Clusinus instead of the king. The man was arrested, and when Porsenna
asked him: "Why in the world did you do this thing? What injury had
you received from him?" the other cried out: "I happen to be not
Etruscan but Roman; and three hundred others of like mind with me who
are now hunting thee to slay thee." This he had spoken falsely; and,
with his right hand thrust into the fire, he gazed on Porsenna as
though another were suffering: and when the prince enquired: "Why do
you look fixedly upon us?" he said: "Reflecting how I erred in failing
to slay thee and in thy stead killed one whom I thought Porsenna." And
when Porsenna exclaimed: "You shall now become my friend!" Mucius
rejoined: "If thou becom'st a Roman." Porsenna admiring the man for
his uprightness becomes a friend to the Romans and checks the tide of
battle. (Tzetzes, Chiliades, VI, 201-223.)
(Cp. Scholia on John Tzetzes's Letters in Cramer's Anecd. Oxon., vol.
III, p.360, 30: "Clusinus was the name of Porsenna's secretary,
according to what Dio says"; and Zonaras, 7, 12: "Drawing his sword he
killed his secretary, who was sitting beside him and was similarly
arrayed.")
4. Dio's 4th Book: "And he [Footnote: Porsenna.] presented to the maiden
[Footnote: Clælia] both arms (or so some say) and a horse." (Bekker,
Anecd. p.133, 8.)
5. After this the Tarquins endeavored on several occasions, by forming
alliances with tribes bordering on Roman dominions, to recover the
kingdom; but they were all destroyed in the battles save the sire,
who, moreover, was called Superbus (or, as a Greek would say, Proud).
Subsequently he found his way to Cyme of Opicia and there died. Thus
the careers of the Tarquins reached a conclusion. And after their
expulsion from the kingdom consuls, as has been stated, were chosen by
the Romans. One of these was Publius Valerius, who became consul four
times,--the one to whom also the name Poplicola was applied. (Zonaras
7, 12 sq. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
6. And the management of the funds they assigned to others in order
that the men holding the consular office might not possess the great
influence that would spring from their having the revenues in their
power. Now for the first time "stewards" began to be created and they
called them _quæstors_. These in the first place tried capital cases,
from which fact they have obtained this title,--on account of their
_questionings_ and on account of their search for truth as the result
of _questionings_. But later they acquired also management of the
public funds and received the additional name of Stewards ([Greek:
tamiai]). After a time the courts were delivered over to different
persons, while these officials were managers of the funds. (Zonaras 7,
13. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_, XIV.)
7. Dio's 4th Book: "And they provided them [Footnote: Probably a
reference to the quæstors.] with separate titles besides in general
making very different provision for them in the different cases."
(Bekker, Anecd. p.133, 16.)
8. Dio in 5th Book: "The lords filling them with hope on certain
points." (Ib. p.140, 10.)
9. Dio in 5th Book: "With this accordingly he honored him." (Ib.
p.175, 19.)
[Frag. XV]
¶To a large extent success consists in planning secretly, acting at the
opportune moment, following one's own counsel somewhat, and in having no
chance to fall back upon any one else, but being obliged to take upon
one's self the responsibility for the issue, however it turns out.
[Footnote: Fragment XV may perhaps be a comment on dictatorships.]
(Mai, p.142.)
[Frag. XVI]
1. They had recourse to civil strife. And the reason is plain. Those
whose money gave them influence desired to surpass their inferiors in
all respects as though they were their sovereigns, and the weaker
citizens, sure of their own equal rights, were unwilling to obey them
even in some small point. The one class, insatiate of freedom, sought
to enjoy the property of the other; and this other, uncontrolled in
its pride of place, to enjoy the fruits of the former's labors. So it
was that they sundered their former relations, wherein they were wont
harmoniously to assist each other with mutual profit, and no longer
made distinctions between foreign and native races. Indeed, both
disdained moderation, and the one class set its heart upon an extreme
of dominion, the other upon an extreme of resistance to voluntary
servitude; consequently they missed the results accomplished by their
previous allied efforts and inflicted many striking injuries, partly
in defence against each other's movements and partly by way of
anticipating them. More than all the rest of mankind they were at
variance save in the midst of particularly threatening dangers that
they incurred in the course of successive wars,--wars due chiefly to
their own dissensions; and for the sake of the respite many prominent
men on several occasions brought on these conflicts purposely. This,
then, was the beginning of their suffering more harm from each other
than from outside nations. And the complexion of their difficulties
inspires me to pronounce that it was impossible that they should be
deprived of either their power or their sway, unless they should lose
it through their own contentions. (Mai, ib.)
2. They were especially irritated that the senators were not of the
same mind after obtaining something from them as they were while
requesting it, but after making them numbers of great promises while
in the midst of danger failed to perform the slightest one of them
when safety had been secured. (Mai, p.143.)
3. So to the end that they might not fight in a compact mass, but each
division struggle separately for its own position and so become easier
to handle, they divided the army. [Footnote: Cp. Livy, II, 30.] (Ib.)
4. ¶The populace, as soon as Valerius the dictator became a private
citizen, began a most bitter contest, going so far even as to overturn
the government. The well-to-do classes insisted, in the case of debts,
upon the very letter of the agreement, refusing to abate one iota of
it, and so they both failed to secure its fulfillment and came to be
deprived of many other advantages; they had failed to recognize the
fact that an extreme of poverty is the heaviest of curses and that the
desperation which results from it is, especially if shared by a large
number of persons, very difficult to combat. This is why not a few
politicians voluntarily choose the course which is expedient in
preference to that which is absolutely just. Justice is often worsted
in an encounter with human nature and sometimes suffers total
extinction, whereas expediency, by parting with a mere fragment of
justice, preserves the greater portion of it intact.
Now the cause of most of the troubles that the Romans had lay in the
unyielding attitude adopted by the more powerful class toward its
inferiors. Many remedies were afforded them against delays in payment
of debts, one of which was that in case it happened that several
persons had been lending to anybody, they had authority to divide his
body piecemeal according to the proportionate amounts that he was
owing. Yet, however much this principle had been declared legal, still
it had surely never been put into practice. For how could a nation
have proceeded to such lengths of cruelty when it frequently granted
to those convicted of some crime a refuge for their preservation and
allowed such as were thrust from the cliffs of the Capitoline to live
in case they should survive the experience? (Mai, p.143. Cp. Zonaras.
7, 14.)
5. ¶Those who were owing debts took possession of a certain hill and
having placed one Gaius at their head proceeded to secure their food
from the country as from hostile territory, thereby demonstrating that
the laws were weaker than arms, and justice than their desperation.
The senators being in terror both that this party might become more
estranged and that the neighboring tribes in view of the crisis might
join in an attack upon them proposed terms to the rebels offering
everything that they hoped might please them. The seceders at first
were for brazening it out, but were brought to reason in a remarkable
way. When they kept up a series of disorderly shouts, Agrippa, one of
the envoys, begged them to hearken to a fable and having obtained
their consent spoke as follows. Once all the Members of Man began a
contention against the Belly, saying that they worked and toiled
without food or drink, being at the beck and call of the Belly in
everything, whereas it endured no labor and alone got its fill of
nourishment. And finally they voted that the Hands should no longer
convey aught to the Mouth nor the latter receive anything, to the end
that the Belly might so far as possible come to lack both food and
drink and so perish. Now when this measure was determined and put into
execution, at first the entire body began to wither away and next it
collapsed and gave out. Accordingly, the members through their own
evil state grew conscious that the Belly was the salvation of them and
restored to it its nourishment.
On hearing this the multitude comprehended that the abundance of the
prosperous also supports the condition of the poor; therefore they
showed greater mildness and accepted a reconciliation on being granted
a release from their debts and from seizures therefor. This then, was
voted by the senate. (Mai, p.144. Cp. Zonaras 7, 14.) The account of
John of Antioch, frag. 46 (Müller, fr. hist gr. IV, p.556) regarding
this secession of the plebs seems to have been taken from intact books
of Dio. (Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV, p.44, note 1; also G. Sotiriadis,
Zur Kritik des Johannes von Antiochia, Supplem. annal. philol. vol.
XVI, p.50.)
6. And it seemed to be most inconsistent with human conditions, and to
many others also, some willingly, some unwillingly [lacuna]
¶Whenever many men gathered in a compact body seek their own
advantage by violence, for the time being they have some equitable
agreement and display boldness, but later they become separated and
are punished on various pretexts. (Mai, p.146. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 15.)
7. Through the tendency, natural to most persons, to differ with their
fellows in office (it is always difficult for a number of men to
attain harmony, especially in a position of any influence)--through
this natural tendency, then, all their power was dissipated and torn
to shreds. None of their resolutions was valid in case even one of
them opposed it. They had originally received their office for no
other purpose than to resist such as were oppressing their
fellow-citizens, and thus he who tried to prevent any measure from
being carried into effect was sure to prove stronger than those who
supported it. (Mai, ib. Cp. Zonaras 7, 15.)
[Frag. XVII]
1. For it is not easy for a man either to be strong at all points or
to possess excellence in both departments,--war and peace,--at once.
Those who are physically strong are, as a rule, weak-minded and
success that has come in unstinted measure generally does not
luxuriate equally well everywhere. This explains why after having
first been exalted by the citizens to the foremost rank he was not
much later exiled by them, and how it was that after making the city
of the Volsci a slave to his country he with their aid brought his own
land in turn into an extremity of danger. (Mai, p. 146. Cp. Zonaras
7,16.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 491 (_a.u._ 263)] 2. ¶The same man wished to be made
prætor, and upon failing to secure the office became angry at the
populace; and in his displeasure at the great influence of the tribunes
he employed greater frankness in speaking to that body than was
attempted by others whose deeds entitled them to the same rank as
himself. A severe famine occurring at the same time that a town Norba
needed colonizing, the multitude censured the powerful classes on both
these points, maintaining that they were being deprived of food and were
being purposely delivered into the hands of enemies for manifest
destruction. Whenever persons come to suspect each other, they take
amiss everything even that is done in their behalf, and yield wholly to
their belligerent instincts. Coriolanus had invariably evinced contempt
for the people, and after grain had been brought in from many sources
(most of it sent as a gift from princes in Sicily) he would not allow
them to receive allotments of it as they were petitioning. Accordingly,
the tribunes, whose functions he was especially eager to abolish,
brought him to trial before the populace on a charge of aiming at
tyranny and drove him into exile. It availed nothing that all his peers
exclaimed and expressed their consternation at the fact that tribunes
dared to pass such sentences upon _their_ order. So on being expelled he
betook himself, raging at his treatment, to the Volsci, though they had
been his bitterest foes. His valor, of which they had had a taste, and
the wrath that he cherished toward his fellow-citizens gave him reason
to expect that they would receive him gladly, since they might hope,
thanks to him, to inflict upon the Romans injuries equal to what they
had endured, or even greater. When one has suffered particular damage at
the hands of any party, one is strongly inclined to believe in the
possibility of benefit from the same party in case it is willing and
also able to confer favors. (Mai, p.147. Cp. Zonaras 7, 16.) 3. For he
was very angry that they, who were incurring danger for their own
country would not even under these conditions withdraw from the
possessions of others. When, accordingly, this news also was brought,
the men did not cease any the more from factional strife. They were,
indeed, so bitterly at variance that they could be reconciled not even
by dangers. But the women, Volumnia the wife of Coriolanus and Veturia
his mother, gathering a company of the other most eminent ladies visited
him in camp and took his children with them; and they caused him to end
the war not only without requiring the submission of the country, but
without even demanding restoration from exile. For he admitted them at
once as soon as he learned they were there, and granted them a
conversation, the course of which was as follows. While the rest wept
without speaking Veturia began: "Why are you surprised, my child? Why
are you startled? We are not deserters, but the country has sent to you,
if you should yield, your mother and wife and children, if otherwise,
your spoil; hence, if even now you still are angry, kill us first. Why
do you weep? Why turn away? Can you fail to know how we have just ceased
lamenting the affairs of state, in order that we might see you? Be
reconciled to us, then, and retain no longer your anger against your
citizens, friends, temples, tombs; do not come rushing down into the
city with hostile wrath nor take by storm your native land in which you
were born, were reared, and became Coriolanus, bearer of this great
name. Yield to me, my child, and send me not hence without result,
unless you would see me dead by own hand."
At the end of this speech she sighed aloud, and tearing open her
clothing showed her breasts, and touching her abdomen exclaimed: "See,
my child, this brought you forth, these reared you up." When she had
said this, his wife and the children and the rest of the women joined
in the lament, so that he too was cast into grief. Recovering himself
at length with difficulty he embraced his mother and at the same time
kissing her replied: "Mother, I yield to you. Yours is the victory,
and let the other men, too, bestow their gratitude for this upon you.
For I can not endure even to see them, who after receiving such great
benefits at hands have treated me in such a way. Hence I never even
enter the city. Do you keep the country instead of me, since you have
so wished it, and I will take myself out of the way of you all."
Having spoken thus he withdrew. For through fear of the multitude and
shame before his peers, in that he had made an expedition against them
at all he would not accept even the safe return offered him, but
retired among the Volsci, and there, either as the result of a plot or
from old age, died. (Mai, p.148. Zonaras, 7, 16. Cp. John Tzetzes,
Letters, 6, p.9, 16.)