Orosius: HISTORIARUM ADVERSUM PAGANOS LIBRI VII

Et superiore iam libro contestatus sum et nunc necessarie repeto secundum praeceptum tuum de anteactis conflictationibus saeculi: nec omnia nec per omnia posse quae gesta et sicut gesta sunt explicari, quoniam magna atque innumera copiosissime et a plurimis scripta sunt, scriptores autem etsi non easdem causas, easdem tamen res habuere propositas, quippe cum illi bella, nos bellorum miserias euoluamus. ² praeterea ex hac ipsa de qua queror abundantia angustia oritur mihi et concludit me sollicitudo nodosior. si enim aliqua studio breuitatis omitto, putabuntur aut mihi nunc defuisse aut in illo tunc tempore non fuisse; si uero significare cuncta nec exprimere studens conpendiosa breuitate succingo, obscura faciam et ita apud plerosque erunt dicta, ut nec dicta uideantur: ³ maxime cum e contrario nos uim rerum, non imaginem commendare curemus; breuitas autem atque obscuritas, immo ut est semper obscura breuitas, etsi cognoscendi imaginem praefert, aufert tamen intellegendi uigorem.

And already in the previous book I have testified, and now I necessarily repeat according to your precept concerning the past conflictations of the age: that neither all things nor in all respects can the things that were done be explained just as they were done, since great and innumerable matters have been written most copiously and by very many; and the writers, although not the same causes, yet had the same things proposed—since they unroll wars, while we unroll the miseries of wars. ² moreover, from this very abundance about which I complain, a straitness arises for me, and a more knotted solicitude encloses me. for if I omit some things out of a zeal for brevity, they will be thought either to have been lacking to me now or not to have existed then at that time; but if, striving to signify everything and not to express it, I gird it with compendious brevity, I will make things obscure, and thus among the majority the sayings will be such that they will not even seem to have been said: ³ especially since, on the contrary, we are careful to commend the force of the things, not the image; but brevity and obscurity—nay, as brevity is always obscure—although it offers the image of knowing, nevertheless it takes away the vigor of understanding.

sed ego cum utrumque uitandum sciam, utrumque faciam ut quocumque modo alterutra temperentur, si nec multa praetermissa nec multum constricta uideantur.

but I, since I know that both are to be avoided, will do both, so that, in whatever way either may be tempered, things may seem neither much omitted nor much constricted.

[1] Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXIIII, quem annum sicut grauissimum propter ignotam sibi captiuitatem Roma persensit ita magnificum propter insolitam pacem Graecia habuit, eo siquidem tempore, quo Galli Romam captam incensamque tenuerunt ac uendiderunt, Artaxerxes rex Persarum discedere ab armis et quiescere in pace uniuersam Graeciam per legatos praecepit, denuntians contradictorem pacis bello inpetendum.² quem ita iubentem potuissent utique Graeci tam constanter contemnere, quam fortiter saepe uicerunt, nisi porrectam undecumque occasionem, quam auide desiderauerant, tam libenter hausissent - ³ ostenderunt enim, quam aegre et misere illa eatenus gesserint, quae tam facile indigna etiam condicione posuerunt: nam quid tam indignum liberis et fortibus uiris, quam longe remoti, saepe uicti, adhuc hostis et deinde minitantis imperio arma deponere pacique seruire? - si non in ipso tantum adnuntiatae pacis sono per corda cunctorum aegra belli tabuisset intentio et post diuturnas laborum uigilias oscitantes ac stupefactos quies inopina laxasset, priusquam ipsam quietem uoluntas pacta conponeret.

[1] In the year from the founding of the city 364, which year Rome felt as most grievous because of a captivity unknown to herself, while Greece held it as magnificent because of an unusual peace, at that very time when the Gauls held Rome captured and burned and sold her, Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, through envoys commanded all Greece to depart from arms and to rest in peace, denouncing that whoever contradicted the peace was to be attacked with war.² Him so ordering the Greeks could surely have despised as steadfastly as they have often bravely conquered, had they not so gladly drunk in the occasion, extended from every side, which they had greedily desired— ³ for they showed how grudgingly and miserably they had hitherto carried on those things which they so easily laid down even on an unworthy condition: for what is so unworthy for free and brave men as, with the enemy far away, often beaten, yet still threatening, to lay down arms at his command and to serve peace?— if it had not been that in the mere sound of the announced peace the sick intention for war had melted through the hearts of all, and, after the long vigils of labors, unexpected rest had loosened them, yawning and stupefied, before their will could compose compacts for the rest itself.

⁴ unde autem tanta fatigatio omnium per totam Graeciam populorum corda corporaque oppresserit, quae efferos animos ignoto adquiescere otio tam facile persuasit, quam breuissime ostendam.

⁴ whence, however, such great fatigue of all the peoples throughout all Greece has oppressed hearts and bodies, a fatigue which so easily persuaded savage spirits to acquiesce in unfamiliar leisure, I will show as briefly as possible.

⁵ Lacedaemonii, utpote homines et Graeci homines, quo plura habebant, eo ampliora cupientes, postquam Atheniensium potiti sunt, uniuersam Asiam spe dominationis hauserunt. ⁶ itaque toto orienti bellum mouentes Hircyliden ducem in hanc militiam legunt. qui cum sibi aduersus duos potentissimos Artaxerxis Persarum regis praefectos Farnabazum et Tissafernen pugnandum uideret, prouiso ad tempus consilio, ut pondus geminae congressionis eluderet, unum denuntiato bello adpetit, alterum pacta pace suspendit.

⁵ The Lacedaemonians, as men—and Greek men at that—the more they had, the greater things they desired; after they gained possession of the Athenians, they drank in the whole of Asia with a hope of domination. ⁶ and so, moving war against the whole Orient, they choose Hircylides as leader for this campaign. He, when he saw that he must fight against two most powerful prefects of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes, with a plan provided for the time, so as to elude the weight of a double engagement, assailed one with war declared, and the other he suspended by a peace pacted.

⁷ Farnabazus Tissafernen apud Artaxerxen, communem tunc regem, defert ut proditorem, praesertim qui cum hoste belli tempore de foederis condicione pepigisset; hortaturque regem, ut in locum eius Cononem Atheniensem uirum, qui tunc forte apud Cyprum exulabat, ducem nauali bello constituat. acceptis igitur quingentis argenti talentis Conon per Farnabazum euocatur classique praeficitur. ⁸ quibus conpertis Lacedaemonii et ipsi auxilia naualis belli a rege Aegypti Hercynione per legatos petunt, a quo centum instructas triremes et sescenta milia modium frumenti acceperunt; a sociis etiam undique magna contraxere subsidia.

⁷ Pharnabazus reports Tissaphernes to Artaxerxes, then their common king, as a traitor, especially since he had bargained with the enemy, in time of war, about the condition of a foedus; and he urges the king to appoint in his place Conon the Athenian, a man who then by chance was in exile near Cyprus, as commander in the naval war. Therefore, with 500 talents of silver received, Conon is summoned through Pharnabazus and is put in charge of the fleet. ⁸ When these things were discovered, the Lacedaemonians also themselves ask, through envoys, for aids for the naval war from the king of Egypt, Hercynion, from whom they received 100 equipped triremes and 600 thousand modii of grain; from their allies also they drew together great reinforcements from every side.

⁹ cui militiae consensu omnium Agesilaum ducem decreuerunt, uirum pede claudum, sed qui in difficillimo rerum statu mallent sibi regem claudicare quam regnum. raro umquam ita pares omni industria duces in unum coiere bellum, qui acerbissimis inuicem proeliis fatigati et multo sanguine obliti uelut inuicti ab alterutro recesserunt. ¹⁰ igitur Conon accepto iterum per se ipsum a Rege Magno stipendio reuersus ad classem inuadit hostiles agros, turres castella ceteraque praesidia expugnat et ueluti effusa tempestas quacumque incubuit cuncta prosternit.

⁹ for which military service, by the consent of all, they decreed Agesilaus as leader, a man lame in the foot, but such that, in the most difficult state of affairs, they preferred that their king limp rather than their kingdom. Rarely ever did leaders so equal in every resource come together into one war, who, wearied by the most bitter battles against each other and besmeared with much blood, withdrew from one another as if unconquered. ¹⁰ therefore Conon, having again received on his own account stipend from the Great King and returned to the fleet, invades the enemy fields, storms towers, forts, and the other garrisons, and like an outpoured tempest, wherever it brooded, he lays all things low.

¹¹ Lacedaemonii uero domesticis malis circumuenti externis inhiare desistunt abiciuntque spem dominationis inminente periculo seruitutis; Agesilaum, quem cum exercitu in Asiam miserant, ad subsidium patriae reuocant. ¹² interea Pisander, dux apud Spartam per Agesilaum regem relictus, maximam munitissimamque tunc classem instruxerat, motus aemulatione uirtutis Agesilai, ut, illo pedestrem expeditionem agitante, ipse quoque nauali discursu oram maritimam peruagaretur. ¹³ Conon uero suscepto negotio duplicem curam inpendebat debens sociis sollicitudinem, patriae fidem, ut huic exhiberet naturam, illis praeberet industriam: in hoc propensior ciuibus, quod quieti libertatique eorum alieni sanguinis discrimen inpenderet et pugnaret aduersus insolentissimos hostes periculo regis, praemio patriae.

¹¹ The Lacedaemonians, however, hemmed in by domestic evils, cease to gape after externals and cast away the hope of domination, with the danger of servitude imminent; they recall Agesilaus, whom they had sent with an army into Asia, for the aid of the fatherland. ¹² Meanwhile Pisander, a leader at Sparta left by King Agesilaus, had equipped at that time the greatest and most strongly armed fleet, moved by emulation of Agesilaus’s valor, so that, while he was conducting a land expedition, Pisander likewise by a naval excursion might range the maritime shore. ¹³ Conon, however, having undertaken the business, expended a double care, owing to the allies solicitude, to the fatherland fidelity, so that to the latter he might exhibit his native disposition, to the former he might furnish industry: more inclined in this toward his fellow-citizens, in that he would stake the peril of alien blood for their quiet and liberty, and would fight against the most insolent enemies with the danger the king’s, the reward the fatherland’s.

¹⁴ conserunt itaque nauale certamen Persae Conone, Spartani Pisandro duce; milites remiges ipsique ductores uno pariter in mutuam caedem ardore rapiuntur. ¹⁵ magnitudinem atque atrocitatem belli istius inclinatus ex hoc semper in posterum Lacedaemoniorum status prodit: namque ex illo fluere ac sublapsa retro referri Spartanorum spes uisa, donec adsurgendo aegre ac misere recidendo confecta et potestate careret et nomine.

¹⁴ thus the Persians with Conon, the Spartans with Pisander as leader, join a naval contest; the soldiers, the rowers, and the leaders themselves are swept with one ardor alike into mutual slaughter. ¹⁵ the magnitude and atrocity of that war is betrayed by this: that from this point the status of the Lacedaemonians, inclined, was ever after declining; for from that time the hope of the Spartans seemed to flow away and, having slipped down, to be borne backward, until, by rising with difficulty and by wretched relapsing, worn out, it lacked both power and name.

¹⁶ Atheniensibus uero haec eadem pugna initium recuperandae potentiae sicut Lacedaemoniis amittendae fuit. primi igitur Thebani, auxilio Atheniensium fulti, superiore clade saucios ac trepidos adgrediuntur, multa animati fiducia propter uirtutem atque industriam Epaminondae ducis sui, cum quo sibi facile obtinere posse imperium totius Graeciae uidebantur. ¹⁷ fit itaque terrestre proelium, Thebanis minimo negotio uincentibus.

¹⁶ For the Athenians, moreover, this same battle was the beginning of recovering their potency, just as for the Lacedaemonians it was of losing it. Therefore the Thebans first, supported by the aid of the Athenians, attack those wounded and alarmed by the earlier disaster, greatly heartened by much confidence because of the virtue and industry of their leader Epaminondas, with whom they seemed to themselves easily to be able to obtain the dominion of all Greece. ¹⁷ And so a land battle is joined, the Thebans winning with the least trouble.

uincitur enim etiam hoc conflictu Lysander et occiditur; Pausanias quoque dux alter Lacedaemoniorum insimulatus proditionis in exilium truditur; ¹⁸ Thebani autem uictoria potiti, collecta uniuersi exercitus manu, Spartam contendunt, putantes se uacuam praesidio ciuitatem nullo intraturos negotio, cuius iam omnes paene copias cum ipso rege delessent atque ab omnibus sociis destitutos uiderent. ¹⁹ Lacedaemonii periculo ciuitatis inpulsi habito inexercitati militis qualicumque dilectu obuiam hosti procedunt. sed uictis semel aduersum uictores obsistendi nec uirtus nec animus erat.

for even in this conflict Lysander is defeated and is slain; Pausanias too, the other leader of the Lacedaemonians, accused of treason, is driven into exile; ¹⁸ but the Thebans, having gained the victory, with the force of the entire army gathered, make for Sparta, thinking they would enter a city void of garrison with no trouble, since they had already destroyed almost all its forces along with the king himself and saw them deserted by all allies. ¹⁹ The Lacedaemonians, impelled by the peril of the state, with a levy held of unexercised soldiery of whatever sort, go forth to meet the enemy. But for those once defeated there was neither valor nor spirit for withstanding against victors.

²⁰ cum igitur caedes tantum unius paene partis ageretur, repente rex Agesilaus arcessitus ex Asia inprouisus bello superuenit; Thebanos iam successu duplicis uictoriae laetiores segnioresque adgreditur nec difficile superat, maxime cum adhuc apud ipsum paene integrae uires haberentur. ipse tamen Agesilaus grauiter uulneratur. ²¹ at uero Athenienses cum conperissent insperata Lacedaemonios uictoria subleuatos, pristinae seruitutis, de qua tunc respirare uix coeperant, trepidi metu exercitum contrahunt eumque Boeotiis in auxilium adiungunt, commissum Iphicrati duci, qui adulescens admodum, uixdum annos uiginti natus, infirmitatem aetatis maturitate animi muniebat.

²⁰ therefore, as the slaughter was being inflicted almost upon a single side, suddenly King Agesilaus, summoned from Asia, supervened upon the war unexpectedly; he attacks the Thebans, now more joyous and more sluggish from the success of a double victory, and overcomes them without difficulty, especially since on his side the forces were still held almost intact. Agesilaus himself, however, is gravely wounded. ²¹ but indeed the Athenians, when they learned that the Lacedaemonians had been uplifted by an unhoped-for victory, panic-stricken with fear of their former servitude, from which they had then scarcely begun to draw breath, muster an army and join it to the Boeotians for assistance, entrusting it to the general Iphicrates, who, very much a youth, scarcely twenty years old, was fortifying the weakness of his age by maturity of mind.

²² Conon quoque, uir quidem Atheniensis, dux autem Persici exercitus, audito Agesilai reditu ad populandos Lacedaemoniorum agros reuertitur. ita Spartani, strepitu circumsonantium undique hostium clausi atque exterriti, ultima propemodum desperatione tabuerunt. ²³ sed Conon postquam uasta hostilis soli populatione satiatus est, Athenas pergit, in maximo gaudio ciuium ipse tristis, quippe cum uideret urbem populo quondam cultuque ornatissimam, nunc miserabili ruinarum ac desolationis squalore confectam.

²² Conon too, indeed a man of Athens but commander of the Persian army, on hearing of Agesilaus’s return, turns back to lay waste the fields of the Lacedaemonians. Thus the Spartans, shut in and terrified by the din of enemies resounding on every side, all but melted away in almost ultimate desperation. ²³ But Conon, after he was sated with a sweeping devastation of the enemy’s soil, proceeds to Athens—he himself sad amid the greatest joy of the citizens—since he saw the city, once most adorned with populace and culture, now worn down by the miserable squalor of ruins and desolation.

²⁴ itaque magnum pietatis miserationisque monumentum in reparatione eius operatus est. namque eam a Lacedaemoniis exinanitam Lacedaemoniorum praedis repleuit, Persis incendentibus concrematam Persis aedificantibus reformauit. ²⁵ interea Artaxerxes rex Persarum, sicut principio dictum est, uniuersis Graeciae populis per legatos, ut ab armis discederent et paci adquiescerent, imperauit: non quia misericorditer fessis consuleret, sed ne se in Aegypto bellis occupato aliqua in regnum suum temptaretur inruptio.

²⁴ therefore he wrought a great monument of piety and commiseration in its restoration. For he refilled it, emptied by the Lacedaemonians, with Lacedaemonian spoils; consumed by burning with the Persians setting it ablaze, he reformed it with the Persians building. ²⁵ meanwhile Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, as was said at the beginning, commanded all the peoples of Greece through legates to withdraw from arms and to acquiesce in peace: not because he was mercifully providing for the weary, but lest, while he himself was occupied with wars in Egypt, some irruption into his kingdom be attempted.

[2] Cunctis igitur Graecis optatissima quiete resolutis domesticoque otio torpentibus Lacedaemonii, inquieti magis quam strenui et furore potius quam uirtute intolerabiles, post bella deposita temptant furta bellorum.² nam speculati absentiam Arcadum castellum eorum repentina inruptione perfringunt. Arcades uero exciti iniuria, iuncto sibi Thebanorum auxilio amissa furto bello repetunt.

[2] Therefore, with all the Greeks relaxed in most longed-for quiet and sluggish in domestic leisure, the Lacedaemonians—more restless than strenuous and intolerable by frenzy rather than by virtue—after the wars were laid aside, attempt thefts of war.² For, having spied out the absence of the Arcadians, they break open their fort by a sudden irruption. But the Arcadians, roused by the injury, with the aid of the Thebans joined to themselves, seek again by war the things lost by theft.

³ in eo proelio Archidamus dux Lacedaemoniorum uulneratus cum iam caedi suos ut uictos uideret, occisorum corpora per praeconem ad sepulturam poposcit: quod signum uictoriae traditae inter Graecos haberi solet. ⁴ Thebani autem hac confessione contenti, dato parcendi signo, finem dedere certamini. ⁵ paucis deinde interuenientibus indutiarum diebus, Lacedaemoniis ad alia bella conuersis, Thebani cum Epaminonda duce de inuadenda Lacedaemona quasi secura et destituta cepere fiduciam.

³ in that battle Archidamus, leader of the Lacedaemonians, wounded, when he already saw his men being cut down as though conquered, demanded through a herald the bodies of the slain for burial: which is accustomed among the Greeks to be held as a sign of victory having been handed over. ⁴ The Thebans, however, content with this confession, having given the signal to spare, put an end to the contest. ⁵ Then, with a few days of truce intervening, as the Lacedaemonians turned to other wars, the Thebans, with Epaminondas as leader, took confidence about invading Lacedaemon as if it were secure and forsaken.

taciti intempesta nocte Lacedaemonam ueniunt; sed non ita incautam uel indefensam, sicut rebantur, offendunt: ⁶ armati enim senes cum reliqua turba inbellis aetatis, praecognito aduentu hostium, in ipsis se portarum angustiis obiecerunt et aduersus quindecim milia militum uix centum confecti aeuo homines proruperunt. his itaque tantam belli molem sustinentibus iuuentus superueniens congredi aduersus Thebanos aperto certamine incunctanter decreuit. ⁷ commisso proelio cum Lacedaemonii uincerentur, repente Epaminondas dux Thebanorum incautius dimicans uulneratur.

silent in the dead of night they come to Lacedaemon; but they do not find it so incautious or undefended as they supposed: ⁶ for armed old men, together with the remaining crowd of an unwarlike age, the advent of the enemy having been foreknown, threw themselves into the very narrow straits of the gates and burst forth against fifteen thousand soldiers, scarcely a hundred men worn by age. With these, therefore, sustaining so great a mass of war, the youth, supervening, decided unhesitatingly to engage against the Thebans in open combat. ⁷ the battle having been joined, when the Lacedaemonians were being overcome, suddenly Epaminondas, leader of the Thebans, fighting too incautiously, is wounded.

quare dum his ex dolore metus, illis ex gaudio stupor nascitur, veluti ex consensu tacito utrimque discessum est. ⁸ Epaminondas autem grauiter saucius cum de uictoria suorum conperisset scutumque exosculatus esset, remota manu, qua uulnus occluserat, egressum sanguinis ac mortis patefecit introitum: cuius mortem sic Thebanorum perditio subsecuta est, ut non perdidisse ducem sed ipsi cum eo tunc perisse uiderentur.

wherefore, while in these fear is born from pain, in those stupor from joy arises, as if by tacit consensus there was a withdrawal on both sides. ⁸ But Epaminondas, gravely wounded, when he had learned of the victory of his own and had kissed his shield, having removed the hand with which he had occluded the wound, laid open the egress of blood and the entrance of death: whose death the perdition of the Thebans thus followed, so that they seemed not to have lost a leader, but that they themselves then had perished with him.

⁹ Contexui indigestae historiae inextricabilem cratem atque incertos bellorum orbes huc et illuc lymphatico furore gestorum uerbis e uestigio secutus inplicui, quoniam tanto, ut uideo, inordinatius scripsi, quanto magis ordinem custodiui. ¹⁰ improba dominandi Lacedaemoniorum cupiditas quantis populis, qualibus urbibus, quibus prouinciis cuiusmodi odiorum motus, quantas causas certaminum suscitarit, quis uel numero uel ordine uel ratione disponat? cum ipsi quoque non plus adflicti bellis quam bellorum confusione referantur: ¹¹ siquidem tracto per aliquot aetates hoc continuo bello Athenienses Lacedaemonii Arcades Boeotii Thebani, postremo Graecia Asia Persis atque Aegyptos cum Libya insulisque maximis nauales simul pedestresque conflictus indiscretis egere discursibus.

⁹ I have woven an inextricable lattice of an undigested history and, following on the instant in words, have entangled the uncertain orbs of wars carried on here and there with lymphatic fury, since, as I see, I have written the more inordinately the more I kept to order. ¹⁰ Who could dispose, whether by number or by order or by reason, how many peoples, what sorts of cities, which provinces, what movements of hatreds, how great causes of contests the wicked cupidity of ruling of the Lacedaemonians has stirred up? since they themselves are reported to have been no more afflicted by the wars than by the confusion of the wars: ¹¹ for indeed, with this continuous war drawn out through several ages, the Athenians, Lacedaemonians, Arcadians, Boeotians, Thebans—finally Greece, Asia, the Persians, and Egypt with Libya and the greatest islands—have carried on both naval and land conflicts with indiscriminate sallies.

referre caesa hominum milia non possem, etiam si bella numerarem.

I could not recount the thousands of men cut down, even if I were to enumerate the wars.

¹² At nunc increpet haec tempora atque illa conlaudet quicumque nescit hosce omnes istarum urbium prouinciarumque populos ita nunc in solis ludis ac theatris consenescere, sicuti tunc in castris maxime proeliisque tabuisse. ¹³ florentissima illa et totius tunc imperium orientis adfectans Lacedaemoniorum ciuitas uix centum habere potuit senes; ita incessabilibus circumuenta malis inmaturas misere expendebat aetates: ¹⁴ et queruntur nunc homines, quorum refertae pueris et senibus ciuitates secura iuuenum peregrinatione ditantur pacificisque exercitiis stipendia domesticae uoluptatis adquirunt nisi forte - ut adsolent humanae mutabilitati omnia sordere praesentia - nouitates rerum actu audituque prurientibus ipsa etiam uita fastidio est.

¹² But now let him rebuke these times and praise those, whoever does not know that all these peoples of those cities and provinces are thus now growing old in mere games and theaters, just as then they wasted away in camps and most of all in battles. ¹³ That most flourishing city of the Lacedaemonians, then aspiring to the dominion of the whole East, could scarcely have a hundred old men; so, surrounded by incessant evils, it miserably was paying out unripe ages. ¹⁴ And now people complain, whose cities, crammed with boys and old men, are enriched by the safe peregrination of the youths, and by pacific exercises they acquire stipends for domestic pleasure—unless perhaps, as is the custom that to human mutability all things present grow sordid, for those itching for novelties of things in deed and in hearing, life itself is even a weariness.

[3] Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXXVI saeuissimo terrae motu Achaia uniuersa concussa est et duae tunc ciuitates, id est Ebora et Helice, abruptis locorum hiatibus deuoratae.

[3] In the year 376 from the founding of the city, by a most savage earthquake the whole of Achaia was shaken, and two cities then, that is, Ebora and Helice, were devoured, with the chasms of the ground broken open.

² At ego nunc e contrario poteram similia in diebus nostris apud Constantinopolim, aeque modo principem gentium, praedicta et facta sed non perfecta narrare, cum post terribilem denuntiationem conscientiamque mali sui praesciam subter commota funditus terra tremeret et desuper fusa caelitus flamma penderet, donec orationibus Arcadii principis et populi Christiani praesentem perditionem Deus exoratus auerteret, ³ probans se solum esse et conseruatorem humilium et punitorem malorum. sed haec ut commemorata sint magis quam explicita uerecundiae concesserim ut et qui scit recolat et qui nescit inquirat.

² But I now, on the contrary, could relate similar things in our own days at Constantinople, now equally the prince of the nations, things foretold and done but not perfected: when, after a terrible denunciation and a conscience prescient of its own evil, the earth, stirred beneath, trembled to its very foundations, and from above a flame poured from heaven hung suspended, until by the prayers of Arcadius the prince and of the Christian people God, being entreated, turned away the present perdition, ³ proving himself alone both the conservator of the humble and the punisher of the wicked. But I would grant that these be mentioned rather than fully unfolded, out of modesty, so that he who knows may recollect, and he who does not know may inquire.

⁴ Interea Romani, qui per septuaginta annos ab urbe Vulscorum, praeterea Faliscorum Aequorum et Sutrinorum subacti et adtriti adsiduis bellis conficiebantur, tandem in supra scriptis diebus Camillo duce easdem cepere ciuitates et rediuiuo finem dedere certamini. ⁵ Praenestinos etiam eodem tempore, qui usque ad portam Romae bellando et caedendo peruenerant, ad flumen Haliam T. Quintio pugnante uicerunt.

⁴ Meanwhile the Romans, who for seventy years by the city of the Volsci, and moreover by the Falisci, the Aequi, and the Sutrians, having been subjugated and worn down, were being exhausted by continual wars, at length in the aforesaid days, with Camillus as leader, captured those same cities and gave an end to the revived contest. ⁵ The Praenestines also at the same time, who by warring and slaughtering had come as far as the gate of Rome, they defeated at the river Halia, with T. Quinctius fighting.

[4] Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXXXIIII L. Genucio et Q. Seruilio consulibus ingens uniuersam Romam pestilentia corripuit:² non ut adsolet plus minusue solito temporum turbata temperies, hoc est aut intempestiua siccitas hiemis aut repentinus calor ueris aut incongruus umor aestatis uel autumni diuitis indigesta inlecebra, insuper etiam exspirata de Calabris saltibus aura corrumpens, repentinos acutarum infirmitatum adferre transcursus; ³ sed grauis diuturnaque in nullo dispar sexu, in nulla aetate dissimilis generali cunctos per biennium iugiter tabe confecit, ut etiam quos non egit in mortem, turpi macie exinanitos adflictosque dimiserit. ⁴ conquererentur hoc, ut arbitror, loco obtrectatores temporis Christiani, si forte silentio praeterierim, quibus tunc caerimoniis Romani placauerint deos et sedauerint morbos. ⁵ cum pestilentia in dies crudesceret, auctores suasere pontifices, ut ludi scaenici diis expetentibus ederentur.

[4] In the year from the founding of the city 384, with L. Genucius and Q. Servilius as consuls, a huge pestilence seized the whole of Rome:² not, as is wont, the tempering of the seasons disturbed more or less than usual, that is, either the untimely dryness of winter or the sudden heat of spring or the incongruous moisture of summer, or the undigested enticement of a rich autumn, moreover even a breeze exhaled from the Calabrian forest-ranges, corrupting, to bring sudden rushes of acute infirmities; ³ but a heavy and long-lasting one, showing no difference in any sex, unlike in no age, generally consumed all with a continual wasting for two years, so that even those whom it did not drive into death it dismissed emptied by shameful leanness and afflicted. ⁴ Detractors of the Christian age would complain at this point, as I suppose, if perchance I should pass over in silence by what ceremonies the Romans then placated the gods and calmed the diseases. ⁵ As the pestilence grew more cruel by the day, the pontiffs, as authorities, advised that scenic games be put on, the gods demanding them.

ita pro depellenda temporali peste corporum arcessitus est perpetuus morbus animorum. ⁶ uber nunc quidem mihi iste doloris atque increpationis locus est, sed, in quo iam reuerentia tua studium sapientiae et ueritatis exercuit, mihi super eo audere fas non est. commonuisse me satis sit et ex qualibet intentione lectorem ad illius lectionis plenitudinem remisisse.

thus, for the driving away of the temporal plague of bodies, a perpetual disease of souls was summoned. ⁶ indeed, to me now this is a rich occasion for grief and reproach; but, in which your reverence has already exercised zeal for wisdom and truth, it is not lawful for me to dare further upon it. let it suffice that I have given a reminder and, from whatever intention, have sent the reader back to the fullness of that reading.

[5] Sequitur hanc miseram luem miserioremque eius expiationem proximo anno satis triste prodigium. repente siquidem medio urbis terra dissiluit, uastoque praeruptu hiantia subito inferna patuerunt.² manebat diu ad spectaculum terroremque cunctorum patenti uoragine inpudens specus nefariamque uiui hominis sepulturam diis interpretibus expetebat.

[5] There follows upon this miserable plague, and an even more miserable expiation of it, in the next year a sufficiently sad prodigy. suddenly, indeed, in the middle of the city the earth split asunder, and with a vast steep rupture the gaping infernal regions suddenly lay open.² For a long time there remained, for the spectacle and terror of all, with the chasm lying open, a shameless cavern, and it was demanding, with the gods as interpreters, the nefarious burial alive of a man.

³ satisfecit inprobis faucibus praecipitio sui M. Curtius, uir eques armatus, iniecitque crudeli terrae inopimam satietatem, cui parum esset, quod ex tanta pestilentia mortuos per sepulchra susciperet, nisi etiam uiuos scissa sorberet.

³M. Curtius, a man, an armed horseman, satisfied the impious jaws by the headlong plunge of himself, and cast into the cruel earth an unlooked-for satiety— for which it would be too little that, from so great a pestilence, it received the dead through sepulchers, unless, split open, it also gulped down the living.

[6] Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXXXVIII iterum terribilis Gallorum inundatio iuxta Anienem fluuium ad quartum ab urbe lapidem consedit, facile sine dubio pondere multitudinis et alacritate uirtutis perturbatam occupatura ciuitatem, nisi otio et lentitudine torpuisset.² ubi atrocissimam pugnam Manlius Torquatus singulariter inchoauit, T. Quintius dictator cruentissima congressione confecit. fugati ex hoc proelio plurimi Galli, instauratis iterum copiis in bellum ruentes a C. Sulpicio dictatore superati sunt.

[6] In the year 388 from the founding of the City a terrible inundation of the Gauls settled near the river Anio at the fourth milestone from the city, without doubt easily, by the weight of their multitude and the alacrity of their valor, about to seize a city thrown into turmoil, had it not grown torpid with ease and sluggishness.² There Manlius Torquatus singly began a most atrocious battle, and the dictator T. Quintius finished it with a most blood-soaked engagement. Routed from this battle, many Gauls, after their forces had been restored again and as they rushed into war, were overcome by the dictator C. Sulpicius.

³ post paululum quoque Tuscorum pugna sub C. Marcio consecuta est: ubi conici datur quantum hominum caesum sit, quando octo milia sunt capta Tuscorum.

³ Shortly thereafter, too, a battle of the Tuscans followed under Gaius Marcius: where one is allowed to conjecture how many men were cut down, since 8,000 Tuscans were captured.

⁴ Tertio autem in isdem diebus Galli se in praedam per maritima loca subiectosque campos ab Albanis montibus diffuderunt; aduersum quos, nouo militum dilectu habito conscriptisque legionibus decem, LX milia Romanorum, negatis sibi Latinorum auxiliis, processerunt. ⁵ confecit hanc pugnam M. Valerius, auxiliante coruo alite, unde postea Coruinus est dictus. occiso enim prouocatore Gallo, hostes territi sparsimque fugientes grauiter trucidati sunt.

⁴ Thirdly, moreover, in the same days the Gauls spread themselves out for plunder through the maritime places and the fields lying beneath the Alban mountains; against them, a new levy of soldiers having been held and ten legions enrolled, 60 thousand Romans, with the Latin auxiliaries denied to them, advanced. ⁵M. Valerius brought this battle to a close, a raven bird aiding, whence afterward he was called Corvinus. For, the Gallic challenger having been slain, the enemies, terrified and fleeing in scattered fashion, were grievously slaughtered.

[7] Numerandum etiam inter mala censeo primum illud ictum cum Carthaginiensibus foedus, quod isdem temporibus fuit; praesertim ex quo tam grauia orta aunt mala, ut exim coepisse uideantur.² anno siquidem ab urbe condita CCCCII legati a Carthagine Romam missi sunt foedusque pepigerunt. ³ quem ingressum Carthaginiensium in Italiam malorum grandinem secuturam continuarumque miseriarum tenebras iuges historiarum fides locorumque infamia et abominatio dierum, quibus ea gesta sunt, protestantur.

[7] I reckon to be numbered among the evils also that first treaty struck with the Carthaginians, which was in those same times; especially since from it such grave evils arose that from then they seem to have begun.² indeed, in the year from the founding of the City 402, legates were sent from Carthage to Rome and they concluded a treaty. ³ that entry of the Carthaginians into Italy was to be followed by a hailstorm of evils and the continual darkness of unbroken miseries—this the credibility of the histories, the infamy of the places, and the abomination of the days on which these things were done, bear witness.

⁴ Tunc etiam nox usque ad plurimam diei partem tendi uisa est et saxea de nubibus grando descendens ueris terram lapidibus uerberauit.

⁴ Then also the night seemed to extend into the greater part of the day, and stony hail descending from the clouds battered the earth with true stones.

⁵ Quibus diebus etiam Alexander Magnus, uere ille gurges miseriarum atque atrocissimus turbo totius orientis, est natus.

⁵ On those days also Alexander the Great, truly that whirlpool of miseries and the most atrocious whirlwind of the whole Orient, was born.

⁶ Tunc etiam Ochus, qui et Artaxerxes, post transactum in Aegypto maximum diuturnumque bellum plurimos Iudaeorum in transmigrationem egit atque in Hyrcania ad Caspium mare habitare praecepit: ⁷ quos ibi usque in hodiernum diem amplissimis generis sui incrementis consistere atque exim quandoque erupturos opinio est. ⁸ cuius etiam belli tempestate transcurrens et Sidonam opulentissimam Phoenicis prouinciae urbem deleuit et Aegyptum, quamuis prius uictus, tunc tamen subactam comminutamque ferro Persarum subiecit imperio.

⁶ Then also Ochus, also called Artaxerxes, after the completion in Egypt of the greatest and most long-lasting war, drove very many of the Jews into transmigration and commanded them to dwell in Hyrcania by the Caspian Sea: ⁷ the opinion is that they have remained settled there even to the present day with the most ample increments of their lineage, and moreover that they will someday burst forth. ⁸ in the tempest of which war, as he was coursing through, he destroyed Sidon as well, the most opulent city of the province of Phoenicia, and Egypt—although previously defeated, then however, once it was subjugated and shattered by the sword—he subjected to the empire of the Persians.

[8] Iam hinc statim a Romanis aduersum Samnitas, gentem opibus armisque ualidam, pro Campanis et Sedicinis bella suscepta sunt. Samniticum bellum ancipiti statu gestum Pyrrhus uel maximus Romani nominis hostis excepit; Pyrrhi bellum mox Punicum consecutum est:² et quamuis numquam post mortem Numae a bellorum cladibus fuisse cessatum patentes semper Iani portae indicent, ex eo tamen ueluti per meridiem toto inpressus caelo malorum feruor incanduit. ³ porro autem, inchoato semel bello Punico utrum aliquando bella caedes ruinae atque omnia infandarum mortium genera nisi Caesare Augusto imperante cessauerint, inquirat inueniat prodat quisquis infamanda Christiana tempora putat.

[8] Already from here at once by the Romans against the Samnites, a nation strong in resources and arms, wars were undertaken on behalf of the Campanians and the Sedicinians. The Samnite war, waged with a doubtful standing, Pyrrhus—perhaps the greatest enemy of the Roman name—took up; Pyrrhus’s war was soon followed by the Punic:² and although the ever-open gates of Janus indicate that never after the death of Numa was there a cessation from the disasters of wars, yet from that time the fever-heat of evils, as if pressed through the whole sky at high noon, glowed incandescent. ³ furthermore, once the Punic war had been begun, let whoever thinks the Christian times are to be defamed inquire, find, and publish whether at any time wars, slaughters, ruins, and all kinds of unspeakable deaths ceased, except when Caesar Augustus was ruling.

⁴ absque illo tamen inter bella Punica unius anni ueluti auis praeteruolantis excursu Romani propter clausas Iani portas inter febres morbosque reipublicae ad hoc breuissimo pacis signo uelut tenuissimo aquae gelidae haustu inlecti sunt, ut in peius recalescentes multo grauius uehementiusque adflictarentur.

⁴ apart from that, however, amid the Punic wars, in the course of a single year—as of a bird flying past—the Romans, because the gates of Janus were closed, amid the fevers and diseases of the republic, were enticed by this very brief sign of peace, as by a most slender draught of cold water, with the result that, warming up again for the worse, they were afflicted much more gravely and more vehemently.

⁵ At uero, si indubitatissime constat sub Augusto primum Caesare post Parthicam pacem uniuersum terrarum orbem positis armis abolitisque discordiis generali pace et noua quiete conpositum Romanis paruisse legibus, Romana iura quam propria arma maluisse spretisque ducibus suis iudices elegisse Romanos, ⁶ postremo omnibus gentibus, cunctis prouinciis, innumeris ciuitatibus, infinitis populis, totis terris unam fuisse uoluntatem libero honestoque studio inseruire paci atque in commune consulere - quod prius ne una quidem ciuitas unusue populus ciuium uel, quod maius est, una domus fratrum iugiter habere potuisset -; ⁷ quodsi etiam, cum imperante Caesare ista prouenerint, in ipso imperio Caesaris inluxisse ortum in hoc mundo Domini nostri Iesu Christi liquidissima probatione manifestum est: ⁸ inuiti licet illi, quos in blasphemiam urguebat inuidia, cognoscere faterique cogentur, pacem istam totius mundi et tranquillissimam serenitatem non magnitudine Caesaris sed potestate filii Dei, qui in diebus Caesaris apparuit, exstitisse nec unius urbis imperatori sed creatori orbis uniuersi orbem ipsum generali cognitione paruisse, qui, sicut sol oriens diem luce perfundit, ita adueniens misericorditer extenta mundum pace uestierit. quod plenius, cum ad id ipso perficiente Domino uentum fuerit, proferetur.

⁵ But indeed, if it is most indubitably established that under Augustus, the first Caesar, after the Parthian peace, the whole orb of lands, with arms laid down and discords abolished, composed in a general peace and new quiet, obeyed Roman laws, preferred Roman rights to their own arms, and, their own leaders spurned, chose Roman judges, ⁶ finally that all nations, all provinces, innumerable cities, infinite peoples, whole lands had one will, by free and honorable zeal, to be subservient to peace and to consult for the common good — which previously not even one city nor one people of citizens, or, what is greater, one house of brothers, could have continually had -; ⁷ and if also, since these things came to pass with Caesar reigning, it is manifest by most limpid proof that in the very empire of Caesar there shone forth in this world the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ: ⁸ even if unwilling, those whom envy drove into blasphemy will be forced to know and to confess that that peace of the whole world and most tranquil serenity existed not by the magnitude of Caesar but by the power of the Son of God, who in the days of Caesar appeared, and that not the emperor of one city but the creator of the whole world the orb itself obeyed with general acknowledgment, who, just as the sun at its rising bathes the day with light, so, coming mercifully, has clothed the world with peace outstretched. Which more fully will be brought forward when we shall have come to that, the Lord himself bringing it to completion.

[9] Igitur anno ab urbe condita CCCCVIIII Romani bellum Latinis rebellantibus intulerunt Manlio Torquato et Decio Mure consulibus. in quo bello unus consul interfectus est, alter exstitit parricida.² Manlius enim Torquatus filium suum, iuuenem, uictorem, interfectoremque Maecii Tusculani, nobilis equitis et tum praecipue prouocantis atque insultantis hostis, occidit.

[9] Therefore, in the year 409 from the founding of the city, the Romans brought war upon the Latins rebelling, with Manlius Torquatus and Decius Mus being consuls. in which war one consul was slain, the other proved a parricide.² For Manlius Torquatus killed his own son, a youth, a victor, and the slayer of Maecius of Tusculum, a noble horseman and at that time especially a challenging and insulting enemy.

³ alius uero consul cum iterato conflictu illud cornu, cui praeerat, caedi atque adfligi uideret, in confertissimos hostes sponte prolapsus occubuit. ⁴ Manlius quamuis uictor occursum tamen nobilium iuuenum Romanorum, qui legitime exhiberi solet, triumphans parricida non meruit.

³ But the other consul, when in an iterated conflict he saw that wing, which he was commanding, being cut down and afflicted, of his own accord, having plunged into the most crowded enemies, fell. ⁴ Manlius, although victor, yet as a triumphing parricide did not merit the ceremonial meeting of the noble Roman youths, which is wont to be exhibited legitimately.

⁵ Anno autem post hunc subsequente Minucia uirgo Vestalis ob admissum incestum damnata est uiuaque obruta in campo, qui nunc sceleratus uocatur.

⁵ But in the year following this, the Vestal virgin Minucia, condemned for the commission of incest, was buried alive in the field which is now called the Accursed.

[10] At uero paruo exim tempore interiecto horresco referre quod gestum est. nam Claudio Marcello et Valerio Flacco consulibus incredibili rabie et amore scelerum Romanae matronae exarserunt.² erat utique foedus ille ac pestilens annus inflictaeque iam undique cateruatim strages egerebantur et adhuc tamen penes omnes de corrupto aere simplex credulitas erat, cum, exsistente quadam ancilla indice et conuincente, primum multae matronae ut biberent quae coxerant uenena compulsae, deinde, simul atque hausere, consumptae sunt.

[10] But indeed, after a short interval of time interposed, I shudder to recount what was done. For, with Claudius Marcellus and Valerius Flaccus as consuls, the Roman matrons blazed up with incredible rabidity and a love of crimes.² That year was, to be sure, foul and pestilential, and slaughters already on all sides in massed bands were being perpetrated; and yet, among all there was still a simple credulity about corrupted air, when, a certain maidservant coming forward as informer and proving it, at first many matrons were compelled to drink the poisons which they had boiled up, then, as soon as they had drained them, they were consumed.

³ tanta autem multitudo fuit matronarum in his facinoribus consciarum, ut trecentae septuaginta damnatae ex illis simul fuisse referantur.

³ but so great was the multitude of matrons privy to these crimes that 370 of them are reported to have been condemned together.

[11] Anno ab urbe condita CCCCXXII Alexander rex Epirotarum, Alexandri illius Magni auunculus, traiectis in Italiam copiis cum bellum aduersus Romanos pararet et circa finitimas Romae urbes firmare uires exercitus sui auxiliaque uel sibi adquirere uel hostibus subtrahere studens bellis exerceretur, a Samnitibus, qui Lucanae genti suffragabantur, maximo bello in Lucania uictus atque occisus est.

[11] In the year from the founding of the City 422, Alexander, king of the Epirotes, the maternal uncle of that Alexander the Great, with his forces carried across into Italy, when he was preparing war against the Romans and, around the cities neighboring Rome, striving to firm up the strength of his army and either to acquire auxiliaries for himself or to subtract them from the enemy, being busied with wars, was by the Samnites, who were supporting the Lucanian people, in a very great war in Lucania defeated and slain.

² Sed, quoniam aliquantum Romanas clades recensendo progressus sum, uel Alexandri istius mentione commonitus, de Philippo Macedonum rege, qui Olympiadem huius Alexandri Epirotae sororem uxorem habuit, ex qua Alexandrum Magnum genuit, paucissimis annis retro repetitis magna paruis in quantum potero colligam.

² But, since by recounting the Roman disasters I have advanced somewhat, or, reminded by the mention of that Alexander, about Philip, king of the Macedonians, who had as wife Olympias, sister of this Alexander the Epirote, from whom he begot Alexander the Great, with very few years rolled back I will gather great matters in brief as far as I can.

[12] Anno ab urbe condita CCCC Philippus Amyntae filius, Alexandri pater, regnum Macedonum adeptus XXV annis tenuit, quibus hos omnes acerbitatum aceruos cunctasque malorum moles struxit.² hic primum ab Alexandro fratre obses Thebanis datus, per triennium apud Epaminondam strenuissimum imperatorem et summum philosophum eruditus est. ³ ipso autem Alexandro scelere Eurydices matris occiso, quamuis ea iam commisso adulterio et altero primum filio interfecto filiaque uiduata generi nuptias mariti morte pepigisset, conpulsus a populo regnum, quod paruo occisi fratris filio tuebatur, suscepit.

[12] In the year 400 from the founding of the City, Philip, son of Amyntas, father of Alexander, having obtained the kingdom of the Macedonians, held it for 25 years, in which he piled up all these heaps of bitterness and all the masses of evils.² He, first, having been given as a hostage to the Thebans by his brother Alexander, for three years was educated under Epaminondas, a most strenuous commander and a supreme philosopher. ³ But Alexander himself, slain by the crime of his mother Eurydice—although she, adultery already having been committed, and the other, the first-born son, having been killed, and her daughter widowed, had bargained the marriage of her son-in-law by the death of her husband—Philip, compelled by the people, undertook the kingship, which he was safeguarding for the small son of his slain brother.

⁴ qui cum foris concursu exsurgentium undique hostium, domi autem deprehensarum saepe insidiarum metu fatigaretur, primum bellum cum Atheniensibus gessit. ⁵ quibus uictis arma ad Illyrios transtulit multisque milibus hostium trucidatis Larissam urbem nobilissimam cepit. ⁶ inde Thessaliam non magis amore uictoriae quam ambitione habendorum equitum Thessalorum, quorum robur ut exercitui suo admisceret, inuasit.

⁴ who, since he was wearied by the rush of enemies rising up on every side abroad, and at home by fear of plots often detected, first waged war with the Athenians. ⁵ These having been conquered, he transferred his arms to the Illyrians, and, with many thousands of enemies butchered, he seized Larissa, a most noble city. ⁶ Thence he invaded Thessaly not so much from love of victory as from ambition of possessing the Thessalian horsemen, in order that he might intermingle their might with his army.

⁷ ita Thessalis ex inprouiso praeoccupatis atque in potestatem redactis, iungendo equitum peditumque fortissimas turmas et copias inuictissimum fecit exercitum. ⁸ igitur uictis Atheniensibus subiectisque Thessalis Olympiadem Arubae regis Molossorum sororem duxit uxorem. qui Aruba cum per hoc, quod societatem Macedonum adfinitate regis paciscebatur, imperium suum se dilataturum putaret, per hoc deceptus amisit priuatusque in exilio consenuit.

⁷ thus, with the Thessalians seized by surprise and brought into his power, by joining the strongest squadrons of horse and foot and the forces, he made the army most invincible. ⁸ therefore, the Athenians defeated and the Thessalians subjected, he took to wife Olympias, sister of Aruba, king of the Molossians. But Aruba, since by this—namely, that he was contracting the alliance of the Macedonians by affinity with the king—he supposed he would dilate his empire, by this was deceived and lost it, and, reduced to a private man, grew old in exile.

⁹ deinde Philippus, cum Mothonam urbem oppugnaret, ictu sagittae oculum perdidit. ipsam uero urbem mox expugnauit et cepit.

⁹ Then Philip, when he was besieging the city of Mothone, lost an eye by the stroke of an arrow. But the city itself he soon stormed and took.

¹⁰ Exim Graeciam prope totam consiliis praeuentam uiribus domuit. quippe Graeciae ciuitates dum imperare singulae cupiunt, imperium omnes perdiderunt et dum in mutuum exitium sine modo ruunt, omnibus perire quod singulae amitterent oppressae demum seruientesque senserunt. ¹¹ quarum dum insanas conuersationes Philippus ueluti e specula obseruat auxiliumque semper inferioribus suggerendo contentiones, bellorum fomites, callidus doli artifex fouet, uictos sibi pariter uictoresque subiecit.

¹⁰ Then he subdued almost all Greece—preempted by counsels, overpowered by forces. For the city-states of Greece, while each desired to rule, all lost dominion; and while they rushed without measure into mutual destruction, once crushed and enslaved at last, they realized that by what the individual ones were losing, all were perishing. ¹¹ While Philip, as if from a watchtower, observed their insane dealings and, by always supplying help to the inferior party, as a crafty artisan of guile fostered contentions—the kindling of wars—he subjected to himself the conquered and the conquerors alike.

¹² huic autem ad obtinendam totius Graeciae dominationem immoderata Thebanorum dominatio facultatem dedit, qui uictos Lacedaemonios ac Phocenses, caedibus etiam rapinisque confectos, cum insuper in communi Graeciae concilio tanta pecuniae multa onerauissent, quantam illi soluere nullo modo possent, ad arma confugere coegerunt. ¹³ itaque Phocenses Philomelo duce et auxiliis Lacedaemoniorum Atheniensiumque fulti commissa pugna fugatisque hostibus Thebanorum castra ceperunt. sequenti proelio inter inmensas utriusque populi strages Philomelus occisus est; in cuius locum Phocenses Oenomaum ducem creauerunt.

¹² however, to this man, for obtaining the domination of all Greece, the immoderate domination of the Thebans gave the opportunity; who, the Lacedaemonians and the Phocians having been defeated, and even worn out by slaughters and rapines, when moreover in the common council of Greece they had burdened them with so great a monetary fine as they could in no way pay, forced them to take refuge in arms. ¹³ therefore the Phocians, with Philomelus as leader and supported by the aid of the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians, the battle having been joined and the enemies put to flight, seized the camp of the Thebans. In the following battle, amid immense slaughters of both peoples, Philomelus was slain; in whose place the Phocians created Oenomaus as leader.

¹⁴ Porro autem Thebani et Thessali omisso dilectu ciuium Philippum Macedoniae regem, quem hostem prius repellere laborabant, ultro sibi ducem expetiuerunt. commisso proelio et Phocensibus paene ad internecionem caesis uictoria ad Philippum concessit. ¹⁵ sed Athenienses audito belli euentu, ne Philippus transiret in Graeciam, angustias Thermopylarum pari ratione sicut aduentantibus antea Persis occupauere.

¹⁴ Moreover, the Thebans and the Thessalians, with the levy of citizens set aside, of their own accord sought Philip, king of Macedonia—whom before they had been striving to repel as an enemy—as their leader. With battle joined, and the Phocians cut down almost to extermination, the victory passed to Philip. ¹⁵ But the Athenians, on hearing the outcome of the war, so that Philip might not cross into Greece, occupied the narrows of Thermopylae by the same method as when the Persians had earlier been approaching.

¹⁶ Igitur Philippus ubi exclusum se ab ingressu Graeciae praestructis Thermopylis uidet, paratum in hostes bellum uertit in socios: nam ciuitates, quarum paulo ante dux fuerat, ad gratulandum ac suscipiendum patentes hostiliter inuadit, crudeliter diripit, ¹⁷ omnique societatis conscientia penitus abolita coniuges liberosque omnium sub corona uendidit, templa quoque uniuersa subuertit spoliauitque, nec tamen umquam per XXV annos quasi iratis dis uictus est. ¹⁸ post haec in Cappadociam transiit ibique bellum pari perfidia gessit, captos per dolum finitimos reges interfecit totamque Cappadociam imperio Macedoniae subdidit. ¹⁹ inde post caedes incendia depraedationesque in sociis urbibus gestas parricidia in fratres conuertit, quos patri ex nouerca genitos cum coheredes regni uereretur, interficere adgressus est.

¹⁶ Therefore Philip, when he sees himself shut out from the ingress of Greece by Thermopylae fortified beforehand, turns the war prepared against enemies upon allies: for the cities, of which a little before he had been leader, lying open for congratulating and receiving him, he invades in hostile fashion and cruelly plunders; ¹⁷ and with every consciousness of alliance utterly abolished, he sold the wives and children of all at auction, and he also overthrew and despoiled all the temples, nor yet ever for 25 years was he defeated, as if the gods were wroth. ¹⁸ After these things he crossed into Cappadocia and there waged war with equal perfidy, killed neighboring kings captured by deceit, and subjected all Cappadocia to the dominion of Macedonia. ¹⁹ Then, after slaughters, burnings, and depredations carried out in allied cities, he turned parricides against his brothers, whom—born to his father from a stepmother—since he feared as coheirs of the kingdom, he set about to kill.

²⁰ cum autem unum ex his occidisset, duo in Olynthum confugerunt: quam mox Philippus hostiliter adgressus urbem antiquissimam et florentissimam, caedibus ac sanguine repletam opibus hominibusque uacuauit, abstractos etiam fratres supplicio et neci dedit. ²¹ dein cum, excidio sociorum et parricidio fratrum elatus, licere sibi omnia quae cogitauisset putaret, auraria loca in Thessalia et argenti metalla in Thracia inuasit ac, ne quod ius uel fas inuiolatum praetermitteret, praeoccupato mari et classe dispersa piraticam quoque exercere instituit. ²² praeterea, cum eum fratres duo Thraciae reges de regni terminis ambigentes iudicem ex consensu praeoptauissent, Philippus more ingenii sui ad iudicium tamquam ad bellum cum instructo exercitu ingressus inscios iuuenes uita regnoque priuauit.

²⁰ but when he had killed one of these, two fled into Olynthus: which city Philip soon after, having attacked in hostile fashion, most ancient and most flourishing, he emptied of resources and men, filled with slaughters and blood, and he even, the brothers having been dragged away, gave them over to punishment and death. ²¹ then, borne up by the destruction of allies and the parricide of brothers, when he thought that everything he had conceived was permissible to him, he invaded the gold-bearing places in Thessaly and the silver mines in Thrace, and, lest he should omit any human or divine law inviolate, with the sea preoccupied and a fleet dispersed he even set about to exercise piracy. ²² moreover, when two brothers, kings of Thrace, disputing about the boundaries of the realm, had by common consent preferred him as judge, Philip, in the manner of his nature, entered upon the judgment as if to war with a drawn-up army, and deprived the unsuspecting youths of life and of their kingdom.

²³ Athenienses uero, qui prius Philippi ingressum Thermopylarum munitione reppulerant, ultro pacem eius expetentes fraudulentissimum hostem de neglecta introitus custodia commonuerunt. ²⁴ ceterae etiam Graeciae ciuitates ut intentius ciuilibus bellis uacarent, sub specie pacis et foederis sponte se externae dominationi subiecerunt, ²⁵ maxime cum Thessali Boeotiique poscerent Philippum, ut professum se aduersum Phocenses ducem exhiberet susceptumque bellum gereret, contra Phocenses adhibitis secum Atheniensibus et Lacedaemoniis uel differri bellum uel auferri et pretio et precibus laborarent. ²⁶ Philippus tacite utrisque diuersa promisit, Phocensibus pacem et ueniam se daturum sacramento confirmans, Thessalis uero adfuturum se mox cum exercitu spondet, bellum tamen ab utrisque parari uetat.

²³ The Athenians indeed, who earlier had repelled Philip’s entry by the fortification of Thermopylae, of their own accord seeking his peace, warned the most fraudulent enemy about the neglected guard of the entrance. ²⁴ The other cities of Greece also, so that they might be more intent upon civil wars, under the appearance of peace and of a treaty, voluntarily subjected themselves to external domination, ²⁵ especially since the Thessalians and Boeotians were demanding Philip, that he would exhibit himself as a professed leader against the Phocians and conduct the undertaken war, while on the contrary the Phocians, with the Athenians and Lacedaemonians brought in to their side, strove that the war either be deferred or removed both by price and by prayers. ²⁶ Philip silently promised different things to each, confirming by oath that he would give peace and pardon to the Phocians, but to the Thessalians he pledged that he would soon be present with an army; nevertheless he forbade that war be prepared by either side.

²⁷ igitur Philippus instructis copiis angustias Thermopylarum securus ingreditur easque occupatas dispositis praesidiis emunit. ²⁸ tunc primum se non Phocenses soli, sed omnis Graecia captam esse persensit: siquidem primos Phocenses Philippus rupta fide calcatoque sacramento infandae dilacerationi dedit, inde omnium urbes finesque populatus cruenta praesentia effecit, ut etiam absens timeretur. ²⁹ ubi uero in regnum redit, more pastorum, qui pecora sua nunc per aestiuos nunc per hibernos saltus circumducunt, populos et urbes, ut illi replenda uel relinquenda quaeque loca uidebantur, ad libidinem suam transfert.

²⁷ therefore Philip, with his forces drawn up, securely enters the narrows of Thermopylae and, having occupied them, fortifies them with garrisons set in place. ²⁸ then for the first time not the Phocians alone, but all Greece perceived itself to have been captured: since Philip, the Phocians first—faith broken and oath trampled—gave over to unspeakable rending; then, having ravaged the cities and frontiers of all, by his bloody presence he brought it about that even when absent he was feared. ²⁹ when indeed he returns to the kingdom, in the manner of shepherds, who lead their flocks now through summer, now through winter pastures, he transfers peoples and cities, as the places seemed to him to be ones to be refilled or to be left, according to his own pleasure.

³⁰ miseranda ubique facies et atrocissimum miseriarum genus obuersabatur, perpeti excidium sine inruptione, sine bello captiuitatem, sine crimine exilium, sine uictore dominatum. ³¹ premit miseros inter iniuriarum stimulos superfusus pauor ipsaque dissimulatione dolor crescit hoc altius demissus quo minus profiteri licet timentium, ne ipsae quoque lacrimae pro contumacia accipiantur. ³² alios populos, auulsos a sedibus suis, finibus hostium opponit; alios in extremis regni terminis statuit; quosdam aemulatione uirium, ne possint quod posse creduntur, in supplemento exhaustarum urbium diuidit.

³⁰ pitiable was the visage everywhere, and the most atrocious kind of miseries was obtruding itself: to endure ruin without irruption, captivity without war, exile without crime, domination without a victor. ³¹ An overspread fear presses the wretched amid the goads of injuries, and by the very dissimulation the grief grows, sunk the deeper in proportion as it is less permitted for the fearful to profess it, lest even the tears themselves be taken for contumacy. ³² He sets some peoples, torn from their seats, opposite the confines of the enemy; others he stations at the farthest borders of the realm; certain, out of emulation-jealousy of their strength, lest they be able to do what they are believed able, he parcels out into the replenishment of exhausted cities.

³³ ita gloriosissimum illud quondam florentis Graeciae corpus in multas laceratasque particulas exstincta primum libertate concidit.

³³ thus that most glorious body of once-flourishing Greece, liberty first extinguished, collapsed into many lacerated parts.

[13] Sed haec cum per aliquantas Graeciae ciuitates exercuisset et tamen omnes metu premeret, coniciens ex praeda paucorum opes omnium, ad perficiendam aequalem in uniuersis uastationem utili emolumento necessariam maritimam urbem ratus, Byzantium, nobilem ciuitatem, aptissimam iudicauit, ut receptaculum sibi terra marique fieret, eamque obsistentem ilico obsidione cinxit.² haec autem Byzantium quondam a Pausania rege Spartanorum condita, post autem a Constantino Christiano principe in maius aucta et Constantinopolis dicta, gloriosissimi nunc imperii sedes et totius caput orientis est. ³ Philippus uero post longam et inritam obsidionem, ut pecuniam quam obsidendo exhauserat praedando repararet, piraticam adgressus est.

[13] But when he had exercised these things through several cities of Greece and yet pressed all under fear, inferring from the booty of a few the wealth of all, he judged a maritime city to be necessary, with useful profit, for completing an equal devastation upon the whole; he deemed Byzantium, a noble city, most apt, so that it might become for him a receptacle by land and sea, and he straightway encircled it, as it resisted, with a siege.² this, however—Byzantium, once founded by Pausanias, king of the Spartans, but afterwards by Constantine, a Christian prince, enlarged to a greater degree and called Constantinople—is now the seat of the most glorious empire and the head of the whole East. ³ But Philip, after a long and fruitless siege, in order to repair by plundering the money which he had exhausted by besieging, set about piracy.

captas itaque CLXX naues mercibus confertas distraxit et anhelanti inopiae parua recreatione subuenit. ⁴ inde propter agendam praedam et curandam obsidionem diuisit exercitum. ipse autem cum fortissimis profectus multas Cherronesi urbes cepit profligatisque populis opes abstulit.

accordingly, having seized 170 ships stuffed with merchandise, he sold them off and brought a small relief to panting want. ⁴ thence, for prosecuting the plunder and for tending to the siege, he divided the army. he himself, however, having set out with the bravest, took many cities of the Chersonese and, the peoples routed, carried off their wealth.

ad Scythiam quoque cum Alexandro filio praedandi intentione pertransit. ⁵ Scythis tunc Atheas regnabat: qui cum Histrianorum bello premeretur, auxilium a Philippo per Apollonienses petiit, sed continuo Histrianorum rege mortuo et belli metu et auxiliorum necessitate liberatus pactionem foederis cum Philippo habitam dissoluit. ⁶ Philippus dimissa obsidione Byzantii Scythicum bellum totis uiribus adgreditur, commissoque proelio cum Scythae et numero et uirtute praestarent, Philippi fraude uincuntur.

he also passes through to Scythia with his son Alexander with the intention of plundering. ⁵ At that time Atheas was reigning over the Scythians: and when he was pressed by a war of the Histrians, he sought help from Philip through the Apollonians; but immediately, with the king of the Histrians dead, freed both from fear of war and from the need of aids, he dissolved the pact of alliance that had been made with Philip. ⁶ Philip, the siege of Byzantium dismissed, undertakes the Scythian war with all his forces, and when battle was joined, although the Scythians excelled both in number and in valor, they are overcome by Philip’s deceit.

⁷ in ea pugna XX milia puerorum ac feminarum Scythicae gentis capta, pecorum magna copia abducta, auri atque argenti nihil repertum: nam et ea res primo fidem inopiae Scythicae dedit. uiginti milia nobilium equarum sufficiendo generi in Macedoniam missa.

⁷ in that battle 20 thousand boys and women of the Scythian nation were captured, a great abundance of herds was driven off, nothing of gold or silver was found: for even this fact first gave credence to the poverty of the Scythians. Twenty thousand noble mares, for supplying the breed, were sent into Macedonia.

⁸ Sed reuertenti Philippo Triballi bello obuiant: in quo ita Philippus in femore uulneratus est, ut per corpus eius equus interficeretur. cum omnes occisum putarent, in fugam uersi praedam amiserunt. aliquantula deinde mora dum conualescit a uulnere in pace conquieuit; ⁹ statim uero ut conualuit Atheniensibus bellum intulit: qui in tanto discrimine positi Lacedaemonios quondam hostes tunc socios adsciscunt totiusque Graeciae ciuitates legationibus fatigant, ut communem hostem communibus uiribus petant.

⁸ But to Philip as he was returning the Triballi meet him with war: in which Philip was so wounded in the thigh that, through his body, his horse was killed. When all thought him slain, turned to flight, they lost the booty. Then, with a slight delay while he convalesced from the wound, he rested in peace; ⁹ but immediately, as soon as he had recovered, he brought war upon the Athenians: who, placed in so great a crisis, co-opt the Lacedaemonians—once enemies, then allies—and wear out the cities of all Greece with legations, that they might assail the common enemy with common forces.

itaque aliquantae urbes Atheniensibus sese coniunxere, quasdam uero ad Philippum belli metus traxit. ¹⁰ proelio commisso cum Athenienses longe maiore numero militum praestarent, adsiduis tamen bellis indurata Macedonum uirtute uincuntur. ¹¹ quam pugnam longe omnibus bellis anterioribus atrociorem fuisse ipse rerum exitus docuit: nam hic dies apud uniuersam Graeciam adquisitae dominationis gloriam et uetustissimae libertatis statum finiuit.

And so a considerable number of cities joined themselves to the Athenians, but the fear of war drew some to Philip. ¹⁰ When battle was joined, although the Athenians were by far superior in the number of soldiers, nevertheless they are conquered by the valor of the Macedonians hardened by assiduous wars. ¹¹ The outcome of affairs itself taught that this battle had been by far more atrocious than all the earlier wars: for this day, among all Greece, ended both the glory of acquired domination and the state of most ancient liberty.

[14] Postea Philippus cruentissimam uictoriam in Thebanos et Lacedaemonios exercuit: siquidem principes ciuitatum alios securi percussit, alios in exilium egit, omnes bonis priuauit.² pulsos dudum a ciuibus in patriam restituit: ex quibus trecentos exules iudices rectoresque praefecit, qui ut antiquum dolorem noua potestate curarent, pressos infeliciter populos in spem libertatis respirare non sinerent. ³ praeterea magno dilectu militum in subsidium regiae dispositionis ex tota Graecia habito, ducenta milia peditum et quindecim milia equitum absque exercitu Macedonum et infinita gentium barbaria Persicae expeditioni in Asiam missurus instruxit.

[14] Afterwards Philip exercised a most blood-bloody victory upon the Thebans and the Lacedaemonians: indeed he struck some chiefs of the cities with the axe, drove others into exile, deprived all of their goods.² Those who had long before been driven out by their fellow citizens he restored to the fatherland: of these he set three hundred exiles over them as judges and rectors, who, that they might cure their ancient pain by new power, did not allow the peoples, unhappily oppressed, to breathe back into the hope of liberty. ³ Moreover, a great levy of soldiers having been held from all Greece in support of the royal disposition, he equipped two hundred thousand foot-soldiers and fifteen thousand horsemen—apart from the army of the Macedonians and the limitless barbarian multitude of nations—intending to send them into Asia for the Persian expedition.

⁴ tres duces, hoc est Parmenionem Amyntam et Attalum, praemittendos in Persas legit. et dum suprascriptae copiae de Graecia congregantur, Alexandri - qui erat Olympiadis uxoris suae frater et post a Sabinis in Lucania prostratus est -, quem Epiri regem ob mercedem stupri in eum perpetrati constituerat, nuptias in copulando ei filiam suam Cleopatram celebrare decreuit. ⁵ qui cum pridie quam occideretur interrogatus fuisset, quis finis homini magis esset optandus, respondisse fertur, eum esse optimum, qui uiro forti post uirtutum suarum glorias in pace regnanti sine conflictatione corporis et dedecore animi subitus et celer inopinato ferro potuisset accidere: quod ipsi mox obtigit.

⁴ he chose that three commanders, that is Parmenion, Amyntas, and Attalus, be sent ahead into Persia. And while the above-written forces are being congregated from Greece, of Alexander - who was the brother of Olympias, his wife, and afterward was laid low by the Sabines in Lucania -, whom he had established king of Epirus as compensation for the outrage (stuprum) perpetrated against him, he resolved to celebrate nuptials by coupling to him his daughter Cleopatra. ⁵ who, when on the day before he was slain he had been asked what end for a man was rather to be desired, is reported to have answered: that the best was this, which, to a brave man, after the glories of his virtues, while reigning in peace, without conflictation of the body and without disgrace of the mind, sudden and swift by unexpected steel, could befall; which soon befell him.

⁶ nec ab iratis dis, quos parui semper penderat quorumque aras templa et simulacra subuerterat, quin electissimam ut ipsi uidebatur mortem adipisceretur, potuit inpediri. ⁷ nam die nuptiarum cum ad ludos magnifice apparatos inter duos Alexandros filium generumque contenderet, a Pausania nobili Macedonum adulescente in angustiis sine custodibus circumuentus occisus est.

⁶ nor could he be impeded by the angry gods, whom he had always esteemed as of little account and whose altars, temples, and simulacra he had overthrown, from attaining, as it seemed to himself, a most select death. ⁷ for on the day of the wedding, when he was contending at the games magnificently prepared between the two Alexanders, his son and his son-in-law, he was, by Pausanias, a noble Macedonian youth, surrounded in a narrow passage without guards and slain.

⁸ Adserant nunc multisque haec uocibus efferant quasi uirorum fortium laudes et facta felicia, quibus amarissimae aliorum calamitates in dulces fabulas cedunt, si tamen numquam ipsi iniurias, quibus aliquando uexantur, relatu tristiore deplorant. ⁹ si uero de propriis querimoniis tantum alios audientes adfici uolunt, quantum ipsi perpetiendo senserunt, prius ipsi non praesentibus praeterita sed gestis gesta conparent et utraque ex auditu uelut alienorum arbitri iudicent. ¹⁰ per uiginti et quinque annos incendia ciuitatum, excidia bellorum, subiectiones prouinciarum, caedes hominum, opum rapinas, praedas pecorum, mortuorum uenditiones captiuitatesque uiuorum unius regis fraus ferocia et dominatus agitauit.

⁸ Let them assert now and with many voices exalt these things as if praises of brave men and felicitous deeds, by which the most bitter calamities of others yield into sweet fables—provided that they themselves never lament, with a sadder telling, the injuries by which at some time they are vexed. ⁹ But if indeed they wish others, merely by listening to their own querimonies, to be affected as much as they themselves have felt by enduring them, first let they themselves compare not past things with present, but deeds with deeds, and judge both from report as arbiters, as it were, of others. ¹⁰ For twenty-five years the conflagrations of cities, the destructions of wars, the subjections of provinces, the slaughters of men, the rapines of wealth, the bootyings of cattle, the sales of the dead and the captivities of the living were set in motion by the fraud, ferocity, and domination of one king.

[15] sufficerent ista ad exemplum miseriarum insinuata memoriae nostrae gesta per Philippum, etiamsi Alexander ei non successisset in regnum. cuius bella immo sub cuius bellis mundi mala ordine sequentia suspendo paulisper, ut in hoc loco pro conuenientia temporum Romana subiciam.

[15] these things—the deeds carried out through Philip, insinuated into our memory as an exemplar of miseries—would suffice, even if Alexander had not succeeded him to the kingdom. Whose wars—nay rather, under whose wars—the evils of the world, following in order, I suspend for a little while, so that in this place, for the convenience of the times, I may subjoin the Roman affairs.

² Anno ab urbe condita CCCCXXVI Caudinas furculas satis celebres et famosas insignis Romanorum fecit infamia. nam cum superiore bello uiginti milia Samnitum Fabio magistro equitum pugnam conserente cecidissent, circumspectiore cura Samnites ac magis instructo apparatu apud Caudinas furculas consederunt; ³ ubi cum Veturium et Postumium consules omnesque copias Romanorum angustiis locorum armisque clausissent, Pontius dux eorum in tantum abusus est uictoriae securitate, ut Herennium patrem consulendum putaret, utrum occideret clausos an parceret subiugatis : ut uiuos tamen dedecori reseruaret, elegit. ⁴ Romanos enim antea saepissime uinci et occidi, numquam autem capi aut ad deditionem cogi potuisse constabat.

² In the year from the founding of the City 426, the Caudine Forks were made quite celebrated and famous by the notable infamy of the Romans. For since in the previous war twenty thousand Samnites had fallen, as Fabius, Master of Horse, engaged in battle, the Samnites, with more circumspect care and with a more well-prepared apparatus, took up position at the Caudine Forks; ³ where, when they had shut in the consuls Veturius and Postumius and all the forces of the Romans by the narrowness of the places and by arms, Pontius, their leader, so far abused the security of victory that he thought his father Herennius must be consulted, whether he should kill those shut in or spare the subjugated : that he might, however, reserve them alive for disgrace, he chose. ⁴ For it was established that the Romans previously had very often been conquered and slain, but never could be captured or compelled to surrender.

⁵ itaque Samnites uictoria potiti uniuersum exercitum Romanum turpiter captum armis etiam uestimentisque nudatum, tantum singulis uilioribus operimentis ob uerecunda corporum tegenda concessis, sub iugum missum seruitioque subiectum, longum agere pompae ordinem praeceperunt. ⁶ sescentis autem equitibus Romanis in obsidatum receptis oneratos ignominia, ceteris rebus uacuos consules remiserunt.

⁵ therefore the Samnites, having obtained the victory, ordered the whole Roman army, shamefully captured, stripped even of arms and garments, only the cheaper coverings granted to individuals for covering the modest parts of their bodies, to be sent under the yoke and subjected to servitude, to march in a long procession. ⁶ moreover, with six hundred Roman horsemen taken as hostages, they sent back the consuls, laden with ignominy, bereft of everything else.

⁷ Quid de exaggeranda huius foedissimi foederis macula uerbis laborem, qui tacere maluissem ? hodie enim Romani aut omnino non essent aut Samnio dominante seruirent, si fidem foederis, quam sibi seruari a subiectis uolunt, ipsi subiecti Samnitibus seruauissent.

⁷ Why should I labor with words about exaggerating the stain of this most foul treaty, I who would have preferred to be silent ? For today the Romans would either not exist at all or, with Samnium dominating, would serve, if they themselves, subjected to the Samnites, had kept the faith of the treaty which they want to be kept for themselves by subjects.

⁸ Posteriore anno infringunt Romani firmatam cum Samnitibus pactionem eosque in bellum cogunt, quod Papirio consule insistente commissum magnas strages utriusque populi dedit. ⁹ cum hinc ira recentis infamiae, inde gloria proximae uictoriae pugnantes instimularet, tandem Romani pertinaciter moriendo uicerunt; nec caedi pariter uel caedere destiterunt, nisi postquam uictis Samnitibus et capto duci eorum iugum reposuerunt. ¹⁰ idem deinde Papirius Satricum expulso inde Samnitico praesidio expugnauit et cepit.

⁸ In the following year the Romans broke the ratified pact with the Samnites and drove them into war, which, with the consul Papirius pressing, when the battle was joined dealt great slaughters to both peoples. ⁹ as on the one side the wrath of recent infamy, on the other the glory of the nearest victory, was instigating the fighters, at last the Romans, by dying pertinaciously, conquered; nor did they alike cease either to be slaughtered or to slaughter, until, after the Samnites were defeated and their leader captured, they reimposed the yoke. ¹⁰ The same Papirius then, the Samnite garrison expelled from there, stormed and took Satricum.

hic autem Papirius adeo tunc apud Romanos bellicosissimus ac strenuissimus habebatur, ut cum Alexander Magnus disponere diceretur ab oriente descendens obtinere uiribus Africam atque inde in Italiam transuehi, Romani inter ceteros duces tunc in republica sua optimos hunc praecipuum fore qui Alexandri impetum sustinere posset meditarentur.

but this Papirius was then held among the Romans as so most warlike and most strenuous, that, when Alexander the Great was said to be disposing, descending from the East, to obtain Africa by forces and from there to be conveyed into Italy, the Romans were meditating that, among the other best generals then in their republic, this man would be principal who could sustain Alexander’s impetus.

[16] Igitur Alexander anno ab urbe condita CCCCXXVI patri Philippo successit in regnum: qui primam experientiam animi et uirtutis suae conpressis celeriter Graecorum motibus dedit, quibus auctor, ut ab imperio Macedonum deficerent, Demosthenes orator auro Persarum corruptus exstiterat.² itaque Atheniensibus bellum deprecantibus remisit, quos insuper etiam multae metu soluit; Thebanos cum diruta ciuitate deleuit, reliquos sub corona uendidit; ceteras urbes Achaiae et Thessaliae uectigales fecit; Illyrios quoque et Thracas translato mox abhinc bello domuit. ³ inde profecturus ad Persicum bellum omnes cognatos ac proximos suos interfecit.

[16] Therefore Alexander, in the year 426 from the founding of the City, succeeded his father Philip to the kingdom: he gave the first experience of his spirit and his virtue by quickly compressing the uprisings of the Greeks, of which Demosthenes the orator, corrupted by the gold of the Persians, had stood forth as the instigator.² Accordingly, to the Athenians beseeching that war be averted he remitted it, and, moreover, he also released them from fear of a fine; he annihilated the Thebans, their city having been razed, and sold the rest under the garland; he made the other cities of Achaea and Thessaly tributary; he also subdued the Illyrians and the Thracians, the war having been transferred thence shortly thereafter. ³ Then, about to set out for the Persian war, he killed all his kinsmen and nearest relatives.

in exercitu eius fuere peditum XXXII milia, equitum IIII milia quingenti, naues CLXXX. hac tam parua manu uniuersum terrarum orbem utrum admirabilius sit quia uicerit an quia adgredi ausus fuerit incertum est. ⁴ primo eius cum Dario rege congressu sescenta milia Persarum in acie fuere, quae non minus arte Alexandri superata quam uirtute Macedonum terga uerterunt.

In his army there were 32 thousand infantry, 4,500 cavalry, 180 ships. With so small a band, as regards the entire orb of the lands, it is uncertain whether it is more admirable that he conquered it or that he dared to attempt it. ⁴ In his first encounter with King Darius, 600 thousand Persians were in battle line, who, overcome no less by the art of Alexander than by the virtue of the Macedonians, turned their backs.

magna igitur caedes Persarum fuit. in exercitu Alexandri CXX equites et nouem tantum pedites defuere. ⁵ deinde Gordien Phrygiae ciuitatem, quae nunc Sardis uocitatur, obsessam oppugnatamque cepit ac direptioni dedit.

Therefore there was a great slaughter of the Persians. In Alexander’s army 120 horsemen and only nine foot-soldiers were missing. ⁵ Then he took Gordium, a city of Phrygia, which is now commonly called Sardis, after it had been besieged and assaulted, and he gave it over to plunder.

inde nuntiato sibi Darii cum magnis copiis aduentu, timens angustias quibus inerat locorum, Taurum montem mira celeritate transcendit et quingentis stadiis sub una die cursu transmissis, Tarsum uenit, ibique cum sudans in Cydnum praefrigidum amnem descendisset, obriguit contractuque neruorum proximus morti fuit. ⁶ interea Darius cum CCC milibus peditum et C milibus equitum in aciem procedit. mouebat haec multitudo hostium etiam Alexandrum maxime respectu paucitatis suae, quamuis iam pridem DC milibus hostium eadem paucitate superatis non solum non timere pugnam sed etiam uictoriam sperare didicisset.

thence, upon the report to him of Darius’s arrival with great forces, fearing the straits of the places in which he was, he crossed Mount Taurus with wondrous celerity, and, having covered 500 stadia at a run within one day, came to Tarsus; and there, when, sweating, he had gone down into the ice-cold river Cydnus, he grew rigid and, by a contraction of the sinews, was very near to death. ⁶ meanwhile Darius, with 300 thousand infantry and 100 thousand cavalry, advanced into battle array. this multitude of enemies disquieted Alexander too, especially with respect to the paucity of his own forces, although long since, with 600 thousand of the enemy overcome by the same paucity, he had learned not only not to fear battle but even to hope for victory.

⁷ itaque cum intra iactum teli uterque constitisset exercitus et intentos ad signum belli populos discurrentes principes uariis incitamentis acuerent, ingentibus utrimque animis pugna committitur: ⁸ in qua ambo reges et Alexander et Darius uulnerantur, ac tam diu certamen anceps fuit, quoad fugeret Darius; exinde caedes Persarum secuta est. ⁹ ibi tum peditum LXXX milia, equitum X milia caesa, capta autem XL milia fuere. ex Macedonibus uero cecidere pedites CXXX, equites CL. in castris Persarum multum auri ceterarumque opum repertum.

⁷ and so, when each army had taken position within a cast of a missile, and the leaders, running about, were sharpening the peoples intent on the signal of war with various incitements, with huge spirits on both sides the battle is joined: ⁸ in which both kings, Alexander and Darius, are wounded, and the contest was so long indecisive until Darius fled; thereafter a slaughter of the Persians followed. ⁹ there then 80 thousand of infantry and 10 thousand of cavalry were cut down, while 40 thousand were captured. of the Macedonians indeed 130 foot-soldiers fell, and 150 horsemen. in the Persian camp much gold and other kinds of wealth were found.

inter captiuos castrorum mater et uxor eademque soror et filiae duae Darii fuere; ¹⁰ quarum redemptionem Darius cum etiam oblata regni dimidia parte non inpetrauisset, tertio cunctis Persarum uiribus sociorumque auxiliis contractis, bellum instaurat. ¹¹ sed dum haec Darius agit, Alexander Parmenionem ad inuadendam Persicam classem cum copiis mittit, ipse in Syriam proficiscitur, ibi ex multis sibi regibus cum infulis ultro occurrentibus alios allegit, alios mutauit, alios perdidit, Tyrum urbem antiquissimam et florentissimam, fiducia Carthaginiensium sibi cognatorum obsistentem, oppressit et cepit. ¹² exim Ciliciam Rhodum atque Aegyptum pertinaci furore peruadit.

among the captives of the camp were Darius’s mother and his wife—likewise his sister—and his two daughters; ¹⁰ for whose redemption Darius, though he had not obtained it even with half the kingdom offered, for the 3rd time, with all the forces of the Persians and with the auxiliaries of allies gathered, renews the war. ¹¹ but while Darius does these things, Alexander sends Parmenion with troops to invade the Persian fleet; he himself sets out into Syria, where, from the many kings who of their own accord met him with fillets, he chose some, changed others, and destroyed others; Tyre, a most ancient and most flourishing city, resisting in confidence of the Carthaginians, his cognates, he crushed and captured. ¹² thereafter he overran Cilicia, Rhodes, and Egypt with pertinacious fury.

inde ad templum Iouis Hammonis pergit, ut mendacio ad tempus conposito ignominiam sibi patris incerti et infamiam adulterae matris aboleret. ¹³ nam arcessitum ad se fani ipsius antistitem ex occulto monuit, quid sibi tamquam consulenti responderi uelit, sicut historici eorum dicunt. ita certus Alexander fuit nobisque prodidit, dis ipsis mutis et surdis uel in potestate esse antistitis quid uelit fingere uel in uoluntate consulentis quid malit audire.

thence he proceeds to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, in order that, by a lie contrived for the time, he might abolish for himself the ignominy of an uncertain father and the infamy of an adulterous mother. ¹³ for he secretly instructed the priest of that very fane, who had been summoned to him, what he wished to be answered to him as though consulting, as their historians say. thus Alexander was assured and disclosed to us that the gods themselves, mute and deaf, are either in the power of the priest to feign what he wishes or in the will of the consulter to hear what he prefers.

¹⁴ reuertens ab Hammone ad tertium Persicum bellum Alexandriam in Aegypto condidit.

¹⁴ returning from Hammon to the third Persian war, he founded Alexandria in Egypt.

[17] Darius uero spe pacis amissa CCCC milia peditum et C milia equitum Alexandro ab Aegypto reuertenti apud Tarsum bello opponit.² nec pugnae mora; omnes caeca rabie in ferrum ruunt: Macedones totiens a se uictis hostibus animosi, Persae nisi uincant mori praeoptantes. ³ raro in ullo proelio tantum sanguinis fusum est.

[17] But Darius, with the hope of peace lost, sets in opposition to Alexander returning from Egypt, at Tarsus, 400 thousand infantry and 100 thousand cavalry for war.² Nor was there delay to the fight; all rush upon the steel with blind rabidity: the Macedonians high-spirited from having so often vanquished their enemies, the Persians preferring to die unless they conquer. ³ Seldom in any battle has so much blood been shed.

sed Darius cum uinci suos uideret mori in bello paratus persuasu suorum fugere conpulsus est. ⁴ hoc proelio Asiae uires et regna ceciderunt totusque oriens in potestatem Macedonici cessit imperii atque ita attrita est in hoc bello Persarum omnis fiducia ut post hoc nullus rebellare ausus sit patienterque Persae post imperium tot annorum iugum seruitutis acceperint. ⁵ Alexander XXXIIII continuis diebus castrorum praedam percensuit; Persepolim caput Persici regni famosissimam confertissimamque opibus totius orbis inuasit; ⁶ Darium uero cum a propinquis suis uinctum conpedibus aureis teneri conperisset persequi statuit.

but Darius, when he saw his men being conquered, prepared to die in war, was compelled by the persuasion of his own to flee. ⁴ In this battle the forces and kingdoms of Asia fell, and the whole Orient yielded into the power of the Macedonian empire; and thus was all confidence of the Persians worn down in this war, that after this no one dared to rebel, and the Persians, after a dominion of so many years, accepted the yoke of servitude patiently. ⁵ Alexander for 34 continuous days counted the booty of the camp; he invaded Persepolis, the head of the Persian realm, most famous and most packed with the riches of the whole world; ⁶ but when he learned that Darius was being held by his relatives, bound in golden fetters, he resolved to pursue him.

itaque iusso ut subsequeretur exercitu ipse cum sex milibus equitum profectus inuenit in itinere solum relictum multis confossum uulneribus et extrema uitae per uulnera efflantem. ⁷ hunc mortuum inani misericordia referri in sepulchra maiorum sepelirique praecepit; cuius non dicam matrem uel uxorem sed etiam paruulas filias crudeli captiuitate retinebat.

and so, with the army ordered to follow, he himself, having set out with 6,000 cavalry, found on the journey the man left alone, pierced with many wounds and breathing out the last of life through his wounds. ⁷ this man, dead, he ordered, in vain mercy, to be carried back to the sepulchers of his ancestors and to be buried; whose—I will not say mother or wife—but even very small daughters he was holding in cruel captivity.

⁸ In tanta malorum multitudine difficillima dictis fides: tribus proeliis totidemque annis quinquiens deciens centena milia peditum equitumque consumpta. et haec quidem ex eo regno illisque populis unde iam ante per annos non multo plures deciens nouiens centena milia profligata referuntur: ⁹ quamquam extra has clades per eosdem tres annos et Asiae ciuitates plurimae oppressae sint et Syria tota uastata, Tyrus excisa, Cilicia exinanita, Cappadocia subacta, Aegyptus addicta sit, Rhodus quoque insula ultro ad seruitutem tremefacta successerit plurimaeque subiectae Tauro prouinciae atque ipse mons Taurus diu detrectatum iugum domitus et uictus acceperit.

⁸ In so great a multitude of evils, faith in words is most difficult: in three battles and in just as many years, 1,500,000 infantry and cavalry were consumed. And these indeed from that kingdom and those peoples whence already before, over not many more years, 1,900,000 are reported to have been prostrated: ⁹ although, besides these disasters, through those same three years both very many cities of Asia were oppressed and all Syria laid waste, Tyre cut down, Cilicia emptied out, Cappadocia subjugated, Egypt consigned, Rhodes also the island, trembling, of its own accord came over to servitude, and very many provinces subject to Taurus, and the mountain Taurus itself, having long refused the yoke, accepted it, tamed and conquered.

[18] Et ne forte tunc quisquam opinetur uel Orientem solum Alexandri uiribus subactum uel Italiam tantummodo Romana inquietudine fatigatam: tunc etiam bellum Hagidis Spartanorum regis in Graecia, Alexandri regis Epiri in Lucania, Zopyrionis praefecti in Scythia gerebatur.² quorum Hagidis Lacedaemonius excitata et rebellante secum uniuersa Graecia cum Antipatri fortissimis copiis congressus inter magnas utrorumque strages et ipse procubuit. ³ Alexander autem in Italia adfectans occidentis imperium aemulans Alexandrum Magnum, post numerosa et grauia bella ibidem gesta a Bruttiis Lucanisque superatus est corpusque eius ad sepulturam uenditum.

[18] And lest perhaps at that time anyone suppose either that the Orient alone was subdued by Alexander’s forces or that Italy only was wearied by Roman inquietude: then also the war of Agis, king of the Spartans, in Greece, of Alexander, king of Epirus, in Lucania, and of Zopyrion the prefect, in Scythia, was being waged.² Of these, Agis the Lacedaemonian, with all Greece stirred up and rebelling with him, having engaged Antipater with very strong forces, fell himself amid great slaughters of both sides. ³ Alexander, however, in Italy, aiming at the empire of the Occident, emulating Alexander the Great, after numerous and weighty wars waged there, was overcome by the Bruttii and the Lucanians, and his body was sold for burial.

⁴ Zopyrion uero praefectus Ponti adunato triginta milium exercitu Scythis bellum inferre ausus et usque ad internecionem caesus funditus cum omnibus copiis suis abrasus est.

⁴ Zopyrion, indeed, prefect of Pontus, with an army of 30,000 assembled, having dared to bring war upon the Scythians, was cut down to annihilation and utterly wiped out with all his forces.

⁵ Igitur Alexander Magnus post Darii mortem Hyrcanos et Mandos subegit: ubi etiam illum adhuc bello intentum Halestris siue Minothea, excita suscipiendae ab eo subolis gratia cum trecentis mulieribus procax Amazon inuenit. ⁶ post haec Parthorum pugnam adgressus, quos diu obnitentes deleuit propemodum antequam uicit, ⁷ inde Drangas Euergetas Parimas Parapamenos Adaspios ceterosque populos qui in radice Caucasi morabantur subegit, urbe ibi Alexandria super amnem Tanaim constituta. ⁸ sed nec minor eius in suos crudelitas quam in hostem rabies fuit.

⁵ Therefore Alexander the Great, after the death of Darius, subjugated the Hyrcani and the Mandi: where also, while he was still intent on war, Halestris, or Minothea, a bold Amazon, stirred for the sake of receiving offspring from him, found him with three hundred women. ⁶ After these things, having undertaken the battle of the Parthians, whom, resisting for a long time, he almost wiped out before he conquered, ⁷ thence he subdued the Drangae, the Euergetae, the Parimae, the Parapameni, the Adaspii, and the other peoples who were dwelling at the root of the Caucasus, a city there, Alexandria, being established upon the river Tanais. ⁸ But his cruelty toward his own was no less than his rabid fury against the enemy.

docent hoc Amyntas consobrinus occisus, nouerca fratresque eius necati, Parmenio et Philotas trucidati, Attalus Eurylochus Pausanias multique Macedoniae principes exstincti, Clitus quoque annis grauis, amicitia uetus nefarie interfectus: ⁹ qui cum in conuiuio fiducia amicitiae regiae aduersus regem, sua opera patri Philippo praeponentem, memoriam patris tueretur, ab offenso frustra rege uenabulo transfossus, commune conuiuium moriens cruentauit. ¹⁰ sed Alexander, humani sanguinis inexsaturabilis siue hostium siue etiam sociorum, recentem tamen semper sitiebat cruorem. ¹¹ itaque pertinaci impetu in bella procurrens Chorasmos et Dahas indomitam gentem in deditionem accepit; Callisthenen philosophum sibique apud Aristotelen condiscipulum cum plurimis aliis principibus, cur eum deposita salutandi more ut deum non adoraret, occidit.

This is taught by Amyntas, his cousin, slain; his stepmother and his brothers killed; Parmenio and Philotas butchered; Attalus, Eurylochus, Pausanias, and many princes of Macedonia extinguished; Clitus too, heavy with years, an old friend, nefariously murdered: ⁹ who, when at a banquet, in the confidence of royal friendship, he was defending the memory of his father against the king—who was preferring his own deeds to his father Philip—was, the king taking offense, run through with a hunting-spear, and, dying, he bloodied the common banquet. ¹⁰ But Alexander, insatiable of human blood, whether of enemies or even of allies, nevertheless was always thirsting for fresh gore. ¹¹ And so, running forward into wars with a pertinacious impulse, he received the Chorasmians and the Dahae, an indomitable nation, into surrender; Callisthenes the philosopher, his fellow-pupil with Aristotle, together with very many other princes—because, the customary manner of saluting having been set aside, he would not adore him as a god—he killed.

[19] Post haec Indiam petit, ut Oceano ultimoque oriente finiret imperium; Nysam urbem adiit; Daedalos montes regnaque Cleophylis reginae expugnauit: quae cum se dedisset, concubitu regnum redemit.² peragrata perdomitaque Alexander India cum ad saxum mirae asperitatis et altitudinis, in quod multi populi confugerant, peruenisset, cognoscit Herculem ab expugnatione eiusdem saxi terrae motu prohibitum. aemulatione permotus, ut Herculis acta superaret, cum summo labore ac periculo saxo potitus omnes loci eius gentes in deditionem accepit.

[19] After these things he seeks India, so that he might bound his empire by the Ocean and the farthest Orient; he went to the city Nysa; he stormed the Daedalian mountains and the realms of Queen Cleophylis: who, when she had surrendered herself, redeemed her kingdom by intercourse.² India having been traversed and thoroughly subdued by Alexander, when he had come to a rock of wondrous roughness and height, into which many peoples had fled for refuge, he learns that Hercules had been prevented from the storming of this same rock by an earthquake. Moved by emulation, in order to surpass the acts of Hercules, having gained possession of the rock with the utmost toil and danger, he received all the peoples of that place into surrender.

³ cum Poro fortissimo Indorum rege cruentissimum bellum gessit: in quo Alexander cum ipso Poro singulariter congressus occisoque deiectus equo concursu satellitum praesentiam mortis euasit; Porus multis uulneribus confossus et captus est. ⁴ quo ob testimonium uirtutis in regnum restituto duas ibi condidit ciuitates Nicaeam et Bucefalen, quam de nomine equi sui ita uocari praecepit. inde Adrestas Catthenos Praesidas et Gangaridas caesis eorum exercitibus Macedones expugnauere.

³ he waged a most bloody war with Porus, the bravest king of the Indians: in which Alexander, having met in single combat with Porus himself and, his horse having been slain, thrown to the ground, escaped the presence of death by the charge of his bodyguards; Porus, pierced through with many wounds, was captured. ⁴ whereupon, with him restored to his kingdom as a testimony of virtue, he founded two cities there, Nicaea and Bucephala, which he ordered to be so named from the name of his horse. thence, their armies having been cut down, the Macedonians conquered the Adrestae, the Cattheni, the Praesidae, and the Gangaridae.

⁵ cum ad Cofides uentum esset, ibi contra CC milia equitum hostium pugnam conseruerunt; et cum iam aetate detriti, animo aegri, uiribus lassi difficile uicissent; castra ob memoriam plus solito magnifica condiderunt. ⁶ exim Alexander ad amnem Agesinem pergit; per hunc in Oceanum deuehitur: ibi Gesonas Sibosque, quos Hercules condidit, oppressit. hinc in Mandros et Subagras nauigat: quae gentes eum armatis LXXX milibus peditum et LX milibus equitum excipiunt.

⁵ when they had come to the Cofides, there they joined battle against 200 thousands of the enemy’s horsemen; and although already worn down by age, sick at heart, weary in strength, they won with difficulty; they established a camp, more magnificent than usual, for remembrance. ⁶ then Alexander proceeds to the river Agesines; through this he is carried down into the Ocean: there he overwhelmed the Gesones and the Siboi, whom Hercules had founded. From here he sails against the Mandri and the Subagri: which peoples receive him with 80 thousands of foot-soldiers and 60 thousands of horsemen under arms.

⁷ commisso proelio, diu anceps et cruenta pugna tandem tristem paene uictoriam Macedonibus dedit. nam fusis hostium copiis Alexander exercitum ad urbem duxit; et cum murum primus escendisset, uacuam ciuitatem ratus solus introrsum desiluit: ⁸ quem cum undique infesti hostes circumdedissent, incredibile dictu est ut eum non multitudo hostium, non uis magna telorum, non tantus lacessentium clamor terruerit, solus tot milia ceciderit ac fugarit. ⁹ at ubi se obrui a circumfusa multitudine persensit, muri obice posteriora tutatus, contrarios facilius eo usque sustinuit, donec ad periculum eius clamoremque hostium perfractis muris exercitus omnis inrumperet.

⁷ with the battle joined, a long, two-sided and bloody fight at last gave the Macedonians an almost sad victory. For with the enemy forces routed, Alexander led the army to the city; and when he had climbed the wall first, thinking the city empty, he alone leapt down inside: ⁸ and when hostile enemies had surrounded him on all sides, it is incredible to say that neither the multitude of foes, nor the great force of missiles, nor so great a clamor of assailants terrified him; alone he cut down and put to flight so many thousands. ⁹ But when he perceived himself to be overwhelmed by the surrounding multitude, guarding his rear with the barrier of the wall, he more easily sustained those opposite until, at his peril and the enemies’ clamor, with the walls broken through, the whole army burst in.

¹⁰ in eo proelio sagitta sub mamma traiectus, fixo genu eatenus pugnauit, donec eum a quo uulneratus esset occideret. ¹¹ inde conscensis nauibus cum Oceani litora peragraret, ad urbem quandam cui Ambira rex praeerat peruenit. sed in expugnatione ciuitatis magnam partem exercitus sagittis hostium ueneno inlitis amisit, ac post herba per somnium sibi ostensa et in potum sauciis data cum reliquis subueniretur, urbem expugnauit et cepit.

¹⁰ in that battle, pierced by an arrow beneath the breast, with his knee fixed he fought thus far, until he killed the one by whom he had been wounded. ¹¹ then, after boarding ships, as he was traversing the shores of the Ocean, he arrived at a certain city over which King Ambira presided. but in the storming of the city he lost a great part of the army to the enemy’s arrows smeared with poison, and after an herb shown to him in a dream was given in drink to the wounded and assistance was brought to the rest, he stormed and took the city.

[20] Post quasi circumacta meta de Oceano Indum flumen ingressus, Babylonam celeriter rediit.² ubi eum exterritarum totius orbis prouinciarum legati opperiebantur, hoc est Carthaginiensium totiusque Africae ciuitatum, sed et Hispanorum Gallorum Siciliae Sardiniaeque, plurimae praeterea partis Italiae. ³ tantus timor in summo oriente constituti ducis populos ultimi occidentis inuaserat, ut inde peregrinam toto mundo cerneres legationem, quo uix crederes peruenisse rumorem.

[20] Afterward, as if the turning-post had been rounded, entering from Ocean into the river Indus, he swiftly returned to Babylon.² where the envoys of the provinces of the whole world, struck with terror, were awaiting him—namely, of the Carthaginians and the cities of all Africa, but also of the Spaniards, the Gauls, of Sicily and Sardinia, and, moreover, of a very great part of Italy. ³ so great a fear of a leader stationed at the utmost East had seized the peoples of the farthest West, that from that quarter you would see an embassy abroad through the whole world, to places where you would scarcely believe that even rumor had reached.

⁴ Alexander uero apud Babylonam, cum adhuc sanguinem sitiens male castigata auiditate ministri insidiis uenenum potasset, interiit.

⁴ However, Alexander at Babylon, when, still thirsting for blood, with his avidity ill chastised, by the minister’s snares he had drunk poison, perished.

⁵ O dura mens hominum et cor semper inhumanum! ego ipse, qui haec pro adserenda omnium temporum alternanti calamitate percenseo, in relatu tanti mali, quo uel morte ipsa uel formidine mortis accepta totus mundus intremuit, numquid inlacrimaui oculis ? numquid corde condolui ? numquid reuoluens haec propter communem uiuendi statum maiorum miserias meas feci ? ⁶ cum tamen, si quando de me ipso refero, ut ignotos primum barbaros uiderim, ut infestos declinauerim, ut dominantibus blanditus sim, ut infideles praecauerim, ut insidiantes subterfugerim, ⁷ postremo ut persequentes in mari ac saxis spiculisque adpetentes, manibus etiam paene iam adprehendentes repentina nebula circumfusus euaserim, cunctos audientes me in lacrimas commoueri uelim et tacitus de non dolentibus doleam, reputans duritiae eorum, qui quod non sustinuere non credunt. ⁸ Hispanus et Morinus ad supplicandum Alexandro Babylonam adiit cruentumque ultro dominum, ne hostem exciperet, per Assyriam Indiamque quaesiuit, terrarum metas lustrans et utrique infeliciter notus Oceano: et tamen tam uiolentae necessitatis memoria uel obliuione defecit uel uiluit uetustate.

⁵ O hard the mind of men and a heart ever inhuman! I myself, who reckon through these things for the asserting of the alternating calamity of all times, in the recounting of so great an evil, at which, with death itself or with the fear of death incurred, the whole world trembled, did I shed tears with my eyes ? did I grieve in heart ? did I, revolving these things on account of the common condition of living, make the miseries of the ancestors my own ? ⁶ And yet, if ever I report about my own self—how I first saw unknown barbarians, how I avoided the hostile, how I flattered those in power, how I took precautions against the faithless, how I slipped away from those laying ambush, ⁷ finally how, as they were pursuing, at sea and on rocks and assailing with darts, and even with their hands now almost seizing me, being surrounded by a sudden mist I escaped—I would wish all who hear me to be moved into tears, and silently I would grieve over those who do not grieve, reckoning it as hardness in those who do not believe what they have not endured. ⁸ A Spaniard and a Morin went to Babylon to supplicate Alexander, and of their own accord sought the bloody lord, so that he might not receive an enemy, through Assyria and India, who was surveying the bounds of the lands and unhappily known to each Ocean: and yet the memory of so violent a necessity has either failed through oblivion or has grown cheap with age.

⁹ et nos perpetuae recordationi haesurum putamus, quod plurima orbis parte secura unum angulum fugax latro uiolauit? quasi uero Gotthorum et Sueborum pacem ut non dicam uersa uice Indus uel Assyrius, sed etiam uel ipse, qui hostem patitur, Hispanus orauerit. ¹⁰ at uero si illa Alexandri tempora laudanda potius propter uirtutem qua totus orbis obtentus, quam detestanda propter ruinam qua totus orbis euersus est iudicantur: inuenientur et modo plurimi, qui haec laudanda censeant, quia multa uicerunt et miserias aliorum felicitatem suam reputent.

⁹ and do we think that it will cling to perpetual remembrance, that, while a very great part of the world was secure, a fugitive bandit violated one corner? as though indeed the peace of the Goths and the Suebi had been prayed for, not to say in turned fashion by an Indian or an Assyrian, but even by the Spaniard himself who suffers the enemy. ¹⁰ but if those times of Alexander are judged rather to be laudable on account of the virtue by which the whole world was held, than detestable on account of the ruin by which the whole world was overthrown: there will be found even now very many who deem these things praiseworthy, because they conquered many things and reckon the miseries of others their own felicity.

¹¹ sed dicat quisquam: isti hostes Romaniae sunt. respondebitur: hoc et tunc toto orienti de Alexandro uidebatur, talesque et Romani aliis uisi sunt, dum bellis ignotos quietosque petiuerunt. sed illi adquirere regna, isti euertere student.

¹¹ But let someone say: these men are enemies of Romania. It will be answered: this too then seemed to the whole East about Alexander, and the Romans also appeared such to others, while by wars they sought those unknown and at peace. But those aimed to acquire kingdoms; these strive to overturn them.

separata sunt hostis excidia et iudicia uictoris. ¹² siquidem et illi prius eos bellis adflixerunt, quos postea suis legibus ordinarunt: et hi nunc hostiliter turbant quae - in quo non permiserit Deus - si edomita obtinerent, ritu suo conponere molirentur, dicendi posteris magni reges, qui nunc nobis saeuissimi hostes adiudicantur. ¹³ quolibet haec gesta talia nomine censeantur, hoc est siue dicantur miseriae siue uirtutes, utraque prioribus conparata in hoc tempore minora sunt, atque ita utraque pro nobis faciunt in conparatione Alexandri atque Persarum: si uirtus nunc uocanda est, minor est hostium; si miseria, minor est Romanorum.

The destructions of the enemy and the judgments of the victor are separate. ¹² For indeed they too first afflicted by wars those whom afterwards they ordered under their own laws; and these now, in a hostile manner, disturb those things which—may God not permit this—if they were to hold them subdued, they would endeavor to compose according to their own rite, to be called by posterity great kings, who now by us are adjudged most savage enemies. ¹³ By whatever name such deeds are assessed, that is, whether they be called miseries or virtues, both, compared with the earlier ones, are lesser in this time, and thus both work for us in the comparison with Alexander and the Persians: if it is now to be called virtue, the enemies’ is lesser; if misery, the Romans’ is lesser.

[21] Anno ab urbe condita CCCCL Fabio Maximo V Decio Mure IIII consulibus quattuor fortissimi florentissimique Italiae populi in unum agmen foedusque coierunt. namque Etrusci Umbri Samnites et Galli uno agmine conspirantes Romanos delere conati sunt.² tremefacti hoc bello Romanorum animi et labefactata fiducia est, nec ausi sunt totum sperare de uiribus: dolo diuisere hostes, tutius rati pluribus se bellis inplicare quam grauibus.

[21] In the year 450 from the founding of the City, with Fabius Maximus in his 5th and Decius Mus in his 4th consulship, four of the bravest and most flourishing peoples of Italy came together into one column and league. For the Etruscans, Umbrians, Samnites, and Gauls, conspiring in one column, tried to destroy the Romans.² the minds of the Romans were tremble-struck by this war and their confidence was undermined, nor did they dare to hope the whole from their forces: by stratagem they divided the enemies, thinking it safer to implicate themselves in more wars rather than in grave ones.

³ itaque cum, quibusdam suis ad populandos hostiles agros in Umbriam Etruriamque praemissis, Umbrorum Etruscorumque exercitum redire ad tuitionem suorum coegissent, cum Samnitibus et Gallis bellum inire properarunt. ⁴ in quo bello cum Gallorum impetu Romani premerentur Decius consul occisus est. Fabius tamen post magnam Decianae partis stragem tandem uicit.

³ and so, with certain of their own sent ahead to plunder the hostile fields in Umbria and Etruria, they compelled the army of the Umbrians and Etruscans to return for the protection of their own, and they hastened to enter war with the Samnites and Gauls. ⁴ in which war, when the Romans were pressed by the onrush of the Gauls, the consul Decius was slain. Fabius, however, after a great slaughter of Decius’s contingent, at length conquered.

⁵ eo proelio quadraginta milia Samnitium siue Gallorum caesa, Romanorum uero septem milia ex Decii tantummodo parte qui occisus est exstincta referuntur. ⁶ fuisse autem absque Etruscis et Umbris, quos astu Romani bello auocauerunt, Gallorum et Samnitium peditum CXL milia CCCXXX, equitum uero XLVII milia Liuius refert, et carpentarios mille in armis contra aciem stetisse Romanam.

⁵ in that battle 40,000 Samnites or Gauls are reported to have been cut down, but of the Romans 7,000, with only the division of Decius—who was slain—having been extinguished. ⁶ moreover, apart from the Etruscans and Umbrians, whom the Romans by astuteness called away from the war, Livy reports there to have been 140,330 infantry of Gauls and Samnites, and 47,000 cavalry, and that 1,000 wagoners, in arms, stood against the Roman battle-line.

⁷ Sed - ut saepe dictum est semper Romanorum aut domesticam quietem extraneis bellis interpellatam aut externos prouentus morbis interioribus adgrauatos, tantum ut omnimodis ingentes animi undecumque premerentur - ⁸ hanc cruentam tristemque uictoriam pestilentia ciuitatis onerauit et triumphales pompas obuiae mortuorum exsequiae polluerunt. nec erat cui de triumpho gaudium suaderetur, cum tota ciuitas aut aegris suspiraret aut mortuis.

⁷ But—as has often been said: always either the Romans’ domestic quiet was interrupted by foreign wars, or their external successes were aggravated by internal maladies, only so that in every way their mighty spirits might be pressed from every quarter—⁸ this bloody and gloomy victory was burdened by a pestilence of the city, and the funeral processions of the dead, meeting them, polluted the triumphal pomps. Nor was there anyone to whom joy over the triumph could be recommended, since the whole city was sighing either for the sick or for the dead.

[22] Sequitur annus, quo Romani instaurato a Samnitibus bello uicti sunt atque in castra fugerunt.² postea uero Samnites nouum habitum animumque sumentes, hoc est deargentatis armis ac uestibus, paratoque animo ni uincant mori, bello sese offerunt. ³ aduersum quos Papirius consul cum exercitu missus cum a pullariis auguribus uana coniectantibus congredi prohiberetur, inridens eos tam feliciter confecit bellum quam constanter arripuit.

[22] The year follows, in which the Romans, the war having been renewed by the Samnites, were beaten and fled into their camp.² Afterwards indeed the Samnites, assuming a new appearance and spirit—that is, with arms and garments silvered, and with a mind prepared, if they do not conquer, to die—offered themselves to war. ³ Against them Papirius, the consul, sent with the army, when he was being forbidden to engage by the pullarii augurs making vain conjectures, mocking them, finished the war as successfully as he had steadfastly undertaken it.

⁴ nam in hoc proelio XII milia hostium caesa, III milia capta referuntur. sed hanc quoque istius uere laudandam uictoriam, quam uani auspices impedire non potuerunt, oborti subito corrupere morbi. ⁵ nam tanta ac tam intolerabilis pestilentia tunc corripuit ciuitatem, ut propter eam quacumque ratione sedandam libros Sibyllinos consulendos putarint horrendumque illum Epidaurium colubrum cum ipso Aesculapi lapide aduexerint: quasi uero pestilentia aut ante sedata non sit aut post orta non fuerit.

⁴ For in this battle 12 thousand of the enemy are reported to have been cut down, 3 thousand captured. But even this victory of that man, truly to be praised, which the vain auguries were not able to hinder, sudden diseases arising corrupted. ⁵ For so great and so intolerable a pestilence then seized the state, that, for the sake of calming it by whatever method, they thought the Sibylline books should be consulted, and they brought in that horrendous Epidaurian serpent together with the very stone of Aesculapius: as though, in truth, a pestilence had not been calmed before or had not arisen afterward.

⁶ Praeterea altero abhinc anno Fabius Gurges consul male aduersum Samnitas pugnauit. namque amisso exercitu uictus in urbem refugit. ⁷ itaque cum senatus de summouendo eo deliberaret, pater eius Fabius Maximus ignominiam filii deprecatus legatum se filio iturum ultro obtulit, si illi depellendae ignominiae et gerendi iterum belli facultas daretur.

⁶ Moreover, two years later Fabius Gurges, consul, fought poorly against the Samnites. For, with his army lost, defeated, he fled back into the city. ⁷ And so, when the senate was deliberating about removing him, his father, Fabius Maximus, having pleaded against his son’s ignominy, of his own accord offered to go to his son as legate, if the opportunity were granted to him for dispelling the ignominy and for waging the war again.

⁸ qua impetrata proelioque conserto cum subito pugnantem filium consulem insistente Pontio Samnitarum duce et infestis hostium telis conclusum uideret, in medium se agmen pius senex equo uectus ingessit. ⁹ quo facto commoti Romani tota ibi incubuere acie, donec ipsum Pontium ducem deleto hostili exercitu uictum oppressumque ceperunt. ¹⁰ caesa sunt in eo proelio Samnitium XX milia, capta autem IIII milia cum rege suo; tandemque Samniticum bellum, quod per quadraginta et nouem annos multa Romanorum clade trahebatur, capti ducis destitutione finitum est.

⁸ This having been obtained and battle joined, when he suddenly saw his son, the consul, fighting, with Pontius, leader of the Samnites, pressing upon him and enclosed by the hostile missiles, the dutiful old man, carried on a horse, thrust himself into the midst of the column. ⁹ By which deed the Romans, moved, pressed on there with the whole battle-line, until they took Pontius himself, the leader—defeated and overpowered—with the enemy army destroyed. ¹⁰ In that battle 20 thousand of the Samnites were cut down, and 4 thousand were captured with their king; and at length the Samnitic war, which for 49 years was being dragged out with many slaughters of the Romans, was ended by the destitution resulting from the capture of their leader.

¹¹ Anno subsequente cum Sabinis Curio consule bellum gestum est, ubi quot milia hominum interfecta, quot capta sint, ipse consul ostendit. qui cum in senatu magnitudinem adquisiti agri Sabini et multitudinem capti populi referre uellet, numerum explicare non potuit.

¹¹ In the subsequent year a war was waged with the Sabines under Curio as consul, where the consul himself showed how many thousands of men had been slain and how many captured. When he wished in the senate to report the magnitude of the Sabine land acquired and the multitude of the people taken captive, he could not explicate the number.

¹² Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXIII Dolabella et Domitio consulibus Lucani Bruttii, Samnites quoque cum Etruscis et Senonibus Gallis facta societate, cum rediuiuum contra Romanos bellum molirentur, Romani ad exorandos Gallos misere legatos. ¹³ quos cum Galli interfecissent, Caecilius praetor ob ulciscendam legatorum necem et conprimendum tumultum hostium cum exercitu missus, ab Etruscis Gallisque oppressus interiit. ¹⁴ septem praeterea tribuni militum in ea pugna occisi, multi nobiles trucidati, tredecim milia etiam militum Romanorum illo bello prostrata sunt.

¹² In the year from the founding of the City 463, with Dolabella and Domitius as consuls, the Lucanians, the Bruttians, the Samnites also, with the Etruscans and the Senonian Gauls, a league having been made, when they were exerting themselves to engineer a revived war against the Romans, the Romans sent legates to appease the Gauls. ¹³ and when the Gauls had killed them, the praetor Caecilius, for avenging the murder of the legates and for suppressing the tumult of the enemies, having been sent with an army, overwhelmed by the Etruscans and the Gauls, perished. ¹⁴ seven moreover military tribunes were killed in that battle, many nobles were butchered, thirteen thousand also of Roman soldiers in that war were laid low.

¹⁵ Ita autem quotienscumque Galli exarserunt, totis opibus suis Roma detrita est, ut sub praesenti nunc concursatione Gotthorum magis debeat meminisse Gallorum.

¹⁵ Thus, moreover, as often as the Gauls blazed up, Rome was ground down with all her resources, so that under the now‑present onrush of the Goths she ought all the more to remember the Gauls.

[23] At ego nunc reuocar, ut per haec eadem tempora, quibus Romani ista perpessi sunt, quae inter se bella gesserint Macedonum duces reuoluam, qui mortuo Alexandro diuersas sortiti prouincias mutuis se bellis consumpserunt.² quorum ego tumultuosissimum tempus ita mihi spectare uideor, quasi aliqua inmensa castra per noctem de specula montis aspectans nihil in magno campi spatio praeter innumeros focos cernam. ³ ita per totum Macedoniae regnum, hoc est per uniuersam Asiam et plurimam Europae partem Libyaeque uel maximam, horrendi subito bellorum globi conluxerunt: ⁴ qui cum ea praecipue loca, in quibus exarsere, populati sunt, reliqua omnia terrore rumoris quasi fumi caligine turbauerunt.

[23] But I now call back, that, through these same times during which the Romans endured those things, I may review what wars the leaders of the Macedonians waged among themselves, who, Alexander having died, having obtained by lot diverse provinces, consumed themselves with mutual wars.² The most tumultuous time of whom I seem to behold for myself thus, as if, looking by night from the watch-point of a mountain upon some immense camp, I should discern nothing in the great expanse of the plain except innumerable campfires. ³ So throughout the whole kingdom of Macedonia, that is, through the whole of Asia and a very great part of Europe and of Libya as well the greatest part, fearsome globes of wars suddenly shone together: ⁴ which, while they ravaged especially the places in which they flared up, threw all the rest into turmoil with the terror of rumor, as with the murk of smoke.

⁵ sed nequaquam tantorum regum ac regnorum bella excidiaque explicabo, nisi prius ipsa cum regibus regna prodidero.

⁵ but by no means shall I explicate the wars and destructions of such great kings and kingdoms, unless first I shall have set forth the kingdoms themselves along with their kings.

⁶ Igitur Alexander per duodecim annos trementem sub se orbem ferro pressit, principes uero eius quattuordecim annis dilaniauerunt et ueluti opimam praedam a magno leone prostratam auidi discerpsere catuli, seque ipsos inuicem in rixam inritatos praedae aemulatione fregerunt. ⁷ itaque prima Ptolemaeo Aegyptus et Africae Arabiaeque pars sorte prouenit. confinem huic prouinciae Syriam Laomedon Mytilenaeus, Ciliciam Philotas, Philo Illyrios accipiunt.

⁶ Therefore Alexander for 12 years pressed the trembling world beneath him with iron, but his princes for 14 years tore it to pieces, and, just as greedy whelps tore apart a fat prey laid low by a great lion, they broke even themselves, provoked into quarrel by emulation over the prey. ⁷ And so, first, Egypt and a part of Africa and of Arabia fell by lot to Ptolemy. The Syria adjoining this province Laomedon the Mytilenaean receives, Cilicia Philotas, the Illyrians Philo.

⁸ Mediae maiori Atropatus, minori socer Perdiccae praeponitur. Susiana gens Scyno, Phrygia maior Antigono Philippi filio adsignatur. ⁹ Lyciam et Pamphyliam Nearchus, Cariam Cassander, Lydiam Menander sortiuntur.

⁸ Over Greater Media Atropatus is set, over Lesser (Media) the father-in-law of Perdiccas is set. The nation of Susiana is assigned to Scynus, Greater Phrygia is assigned to Antigonus, son of Philip. ⁹ Lycia and Pamphylia Nearchus obtains by lot, Caria Cassander, Lydia Menander.

Leonnatus minorem Phrygiam accipit. ¹⁰ Thracia et regiones Pontici maris Lysimacho, Cappadocia cum Paphlagonia Eumeni data. summa castrorum Seleuco Antiochi filio cessit; stipatoribus regis satellitibusque Cassander filius Antipatri praeficitur.

Leonnatus receives Lesser Phrygia. ¹⁰ Thrace and the regions of the Pontic Sea to Lysimachus, Cappadocia with Paphlagonia were given to Eumenes. The supreme command of the camp fell to Seleucus, son of Antiochus; over the king’s bodyguards and satellites Cassander, son of Antipater, is put in charge.

¹¹ In Bactriana ulteriore et Indiae regionibus praefecti priores, qui so sub Alexandro esse coeperant, permanserunt. Seres inter duos amnes Hydaspen et Indum constitutos Taxiles habuit. ¹² in colonias in Indis conditas Python Agenoris filius mittitur.

¹¹ In farther Bactriana and in the regions of India, the former prefects, who had begun to serve under Alexander, remained. The Seres, situated between the two rivers Hydaspes and Indus, Taxiles held. ¹² To the colonies founded among the Indians, Python, son of Agenor, is sent.

Parapamenos fine Caucasi montis Oxyarches accepit. Arachossi Cedrosique Sibyrti decernuntur. ¹³ Drancheos et Areos Statanor, Bactrianos Amyntas sortitur, Sogdianos Scythaeus, Stacanor Parthos, Philippus Hyrcanios, Fratafernes Armenios, Tleptolemus Persas, Peucestes Babylonios, Archo Pelassos, Archelaus Mesopotamiam adepti sunt.

Oxyarches received Parapamene at the boundary of Mount Caucasus. The Arachosi and Cedrosi were assigned to Sibyrtius. ¹³ Statanor got the Drangaei and the Arei; Amyntas drew the Bactrians; Scythaeus the Sogdians; Stacanor the Parthians; Philippus the Hyrcanians; Fratafernes the Armenians; Tleptolemus the Persians; Peucestes the Babylonians; Archo the Pelassos; Archelaus obtained Mesopotamia.

¹⁴ Igitur causa et origo bellorum epistula Alexandri fuit regis, qua iussit omnes exules patriae libertatique restitui. potentes enim ciuitatum Graeciae timentes, ne exules recepta libertate ultionem meditarentur, a regno Macedonum defecerunt. ¹⁵ primi Athenienses, contracto triginta milium exercitu et ducentis nauibus, bellum cum Antipatro, cui Graecia sorte uenerat, gerunt, per Demosthenen quoque oratorem Sicyonam Argos et Corinthum ceterasque ciuitates sibi socias adiungunt, Antipatrum obsidione cingunt.

¹⁴ Therefore the cause and origin of the wars was a letter—an epistle—of King Alexander, in which he ordered that all exiles be restored to their fatherland and to liberty. For the powerful men of the cities of Greece, fearing lest the exiles, with liberty recovered, should meditate vengeance, defected from the realm of the Macedonians. ¹⁵ First the Athenians, having assembled an army of thirty thousand and two hundred ships, wage war with Antipater, to whom Greece had come by lot; through Demosthenes the orator as well, they join to themselves as allies Sicyon, Argos, and Corinth, and the other cities, and they surround Antipater with a siege.

¹⁶ ibi dux eorum Leosthenes telo e muris iacto perfossus occiditur. Athenienses Leonnato, qui Antipatro auxilium ferebat, occurrunt eiusque copiis conminutis ipsum interficiunt.

¹⁶ there their leader Leosthenes is killed, run through by a weapon hurled from the walls. The Athenians confront Leonnatus, who was bringing aid to Antipater, and, his forces shattered, kill him himself.

¹⁷ Perdicca uero bellum Ariarato Cappadocum regi intulit eumque uicit. in qua uictoria nihil praeter uulnera et pericula conquisiuit, nam omnes ante inruptionem urbis suae succensis domibus suis se suaque omnia concremauerunt.

¹⁷ Perdiccas, however, brought war upon Ariarathes, king of the Cappadocians, and conquered him. In which victory he acquired nothing except wounds and perils, for all, before the irruption into their city, with their own houses set ablaze, burned themselves and all their possessions to ashes.

¹⁸ Post haec bellum inter Antigonum et Perdiccam oritur, grauissime multis prouinciis et insulis ob auxilia uel negata uel praestita dilaceratis. ¹⁹ diu deliberatum, utrum in Macedoniam bellum transferretur an in Asia gereretur: nouissime ipse Perdicca Aegyptum cum ingenti exercitu petit. sic Macedonia, in duas partes discurrentibus ducibus, in sua uiscera armatur.

¹⁸ After these things, a war arises between Antigonus and Perdiccas, with many provinces and islands most grievously torn apart on account of auxiliaries either denied or furnished. ¹⁹ For a long time it was deliberated whether the war should be transferred into Macedonia or waged in Asia: at last Perdiccas himself makes for Egypt with a vast army. Thus Macedonia, with the leaders running in two directions, is armed against its own viscera.

²⁰ Ptolemaeus Aegypti uiribus et Cyrenensibus copiis instructus occurrere bello Perdiccae parat. inter haec Neoptolemus et Eumenes cruentissimo inter se proelio digladiati sunt. ²¹ uictus Neoptolemus ad Antipatrum fugit: quem ut Eumenen de insperato opprimat perurguet: quod Eumenes futurum ratus, insidiantes insidiis capit.

²⁰ Ptolemy, equipped with the strength of Egypt and the Cyrenian forces, prepares to confront Perdiccas in war. Meanwhile, Neoptolemus and Eumenes crossed swords with one another in a most sanguinary battle. ²¹ Defeated, Neoptolemus fled to Antipater; him he presses to overwhelm Eumenes unawares. But Eumenes, thinking this would be, catches the ambushers by a counter-ambush.

²² in eo bello Polypercon occiditur, Neoptolemus et Eumenes mutuis uulneribus confossi, sed Neoptolemus interiit, Eumenes uictor euasit. ²³ Perdicca cum Ptolemaeo acerbissimo bello congressus, amissis copiis ipse quoque interfectus est. Eumenes Python et Illyrius et Alceta frater Perdiccae a Macedonibus hostes pronuntiantur, bellumque aduersus eos Antigono decernitur.

²² in that war Polypercon was slain; Neoptolemus and Eumenes were run through with mutual wounds, but Neoptolemus perished, Eumenes escaped as victor. ²³ Perdicca, having engaged with Ptolemaeus in a most bitter war, with his forces lost, was himself also killed. Eumenes, Python and Illyrius, and Alceta, the brother of Perdicca, are proclaimed enemies by the Macedonians, and war against them is decreed to Antigonus.

²⁴ Itaque Eumenes et Antigonus conlatis aduersum se maximis copiis conflixerunt. Eumenes uictus in quoddam castellum munitissimum fugit, unde auxilia Antipatri tunc potentissimi per legatos poposcit: quo nuntio territus Antigonus ab obsidione discessit. ²⁵ sed nec sic Eumeni spes firma aut salus certa.

²⁴ And so Eumenes and Antigonus, with the greatest forces brought together against one another, clashed. Eumenes, defeated, fled into a certain very strongly fortified castle, whence he demanded auxiliaries from Antipater, then most powerful, through legates: alarmed by this message, Antigonus withdrew from the siege. ²⁵ but not even thus were Eumenes’s hope firm nor his safety sure.

quare ultimo consilio argyraspidas ob arma deargentata sic dictos, hoc est milites, qui sub Alexandro militauerant, in auxilium rogat: ²⁶ qui fastidiose ducem in disponendo bello audientes ab Antigono uicti castrisque priuati, et uxores et liberos simulque omnia, quae sub Alexandro adquisierant, perdiderunt. ²⁷ qui postea turpiter per legatos reddi sibi quae perdiderant, uictorem rogant. Antigonus autem redditurum pollicetur, si sibi uinctum Eumenen pertraherent.

Wherefore, as a last counsel, he asks the Argyraspids, thus called on account of their silvered arms, that is, the soldiers who had served under Alexander, for assistance: ²⁶ who, listening to their leader with disdain in the disposition of the war, were defeated by Antigonus and deprived of their camp, and they lost both their wives and children and likewise all the things which they had acquired under Alexander. ²⁷ who afterwards, shamefully, through envoys, beg the victor that what they had lost be restored to them. But Antigonus promises that he will restore it, if they should haul Eumenes to him bound.

²⁸ ita illi spe recuperationis inlecti, dedecorissima proditione ducem suum, cuius signa paulo ante secuti fuerant, captiui ipsi captum catenatumque duxerunt et mox cum foedissima ignominia in exercitu Antigoni dispersi sunt. ²⁹ interea Eurydice, Arridaei regis Macedonum uxor, multa sub nomine uiri nefaria gerit per Cassandrum, quem flagitiose cognitum ad summum fastigium per omnes honorum gradus prouexerat: qui ex libidine mulieris multas Graeciae ciuitates adflixit. ³⁰ tunc Olympias, mater Alexandri regis, hortante Polyperconta, cum ab Epiro in Macedoniam prosequente Aeacida rege Molossorum ueniret et ab Eurydice finibus prohiberetur, adnitentibus Macedonibus Arridaeum regem et Eurydicen iussit occidi.

²⁸ thus they, enticed by the hope of recuperation, by a most dishonorable treachery led their own leader—whose standards they had a little before followed—captured and chained, they themselves being captives; and soon, with most foul ignominy, they were dispersed into the army of Antigonus. ²⁹ meanwhile Eurydice, wife of Arrhidaeus, king of the Macedonians, under the name of her husband performs many nefarious deeds through Cassander, whom, scandalously connected with her, she had promoted to the highest pinnacle through all the grades of honors: and he, from the woman’s lust, afflicted many cities of Greece. ³⁰ then Olympias, mother of King Alexander, with Polypercon urging, when she was coming from Epirus into Macedonia, Aeacides, king of the Molossians, escorting her, and was being kept from the borders by Eurydice, with the Macedonians exerting themselves, ordered King Arrhidaeus and Eurydice to be slain.

³¹ quamquam et ipsa Olympias continuo meritas crudelitatis poenas luit: nam cum muliebri audacia multas principum caedes ageret, audito aduentu Cassandri diffisa Macedonibus cum Roxa nuru sua et nepote Hercule in urbem Pydnam concedit: ³² ubi continuo per Cassandrum capta et interfecta est. filius Alexandri Magni cum matre in arcem Amphipolitanam custodiendus est missus.

³¹ although Olympias herself at once paid the merited penalties of her cruelty: for, as with womanly audacity she was carrying out many slaughters of the princes, on hearing of the advent of Cassander, distrustful of the Macedonians, she withdrew with Roxana her daughter-in-law and her grandson Hercules into the city of Pydna: ³² where immediately she was captured and killed by Cassander. The son of Alexander the Great, with his mother, was sent into the Amphipolitan citadel to be kept under guard.

³³ Perdicca Alceta et Polyperconte ceterisque ducibus, quos commemorare longum est, diuersae partis occisis finita bella inter successores Alexandri uidebantur, ³⁴ cum Antigonus ardens cupiditate dominandi liberandum bello Herculem regis filium ab obsidione simulat. ³⁵ his cognitis Ptolemaeus et Cassander, inita cum Lysimacho et Seleuco societate bellum terra marique enixe instruunt. Antigonus in eo bello cum filio Demetrio uincitur.

³³ Perdiccas, Alcetas, and Polypercon, and the other leaders of the opposite party—whom it would be long to recount—having been slain, the wars among the successors of Alexander seemed finished, ³⁴ when Antigonus, burning with the desire of dominating, simulates the freeing by war of Hercules, the king’s son, from the siege. ³⁵ These things learned, Ptolemy and Cassander, an alliance having been entered with Lysimachus and Seleucus, strenuously prepare war by land and sea. Antigonus in that war is conquered together with his son Demetrius.

³⁶ Cassander Ptolemaeo in uictoria particeps factus cum Apolloniam rediret, incidit in Auieniatas : qui propter intolerandae multitudinis ranas et mures relicto patrio solo et antiquis habitaculis emigrantes, nouas sedes praetenta interim pace requirebant. ³⁷ sed Cassander et uirtutem et multitudinem gentis adgnoscens, ne adacti necessitate Macedoniam bello quaterent atque inuaderent, receptos in societatem in ultimis Macedoniae finibus conlocat. ³⁸ inde cum iam Hercules Alexandri filius quattuordecim esset annorum, timens ne eum omnes quasi legitimum regem praeoptarent, occidendum tacite cum matre curauit.

³⁶ Cassander, having been made a partner with Ptolemy in victory, as he was returning to Apollonia, fell in with the Auieniatae : who, on account of frogs and mice in a multitude not to be endured, leaving their ancestral soil and ancient dwellings and emigrating, were seeking new seats, a peace proffered in the meantime. ³⁷ But Cassander, recognizing both the valor and the multitude of the nation, lest, driven by necessity, they should shake and invade Macedonia with war, after receiving them into alliance, settled them in the farthest bounds of Macedonia. ³⁸ Then, when now Hercules, the son of Alexander, was fourteen years old, fearing lest all would prefer him as the legitimate king, he quietly arranged for him to be killed along with his mother.

³⁹ Ptolemaeus iterum cum Demetrio nauali proelio conflixit et cum omnem paene classem atque exercitum perdidisset, uictus in Aegyptum refugit. ⁴⁰ hac uictoria elatus Antigonus, regem cum Demetrio filio appellari iubet: quod exemplum omnes secuti regium sibi nomen dignitatemque sumpserunt. ⁴¹ igitur Ptolemaeus et Cassander ceterique alterius factionis duces cum decipi se ab Antigono singillatim uiderent, per epistulas se inuicem confirmantes coeundi in unum tempus locumque condicunt et bellum aduersus Antigonum communibus uiribus instruunt.

³⁹ Ptolemy again clashed with Demetrius in a naval battle, and when he had almost lost his entire fleet and army, vanquished he fled back into Egypt. ⁴⁰ Elated by this victory, Antigonus orders that he, together with his son Demetrius, be called king; following this example, all took to themselves the royal name and dignity. ⁴¹ Therefore Ptolemy and Cassander and the other leaders of the opposite faction, when they saw that they were being deceived by Antigonus one by one, encouraging one another by epistles, agree to assemble at one time and place, and they prepare war against Antigonus with common forces.

⁴² Cassander finitimorum bellis inplicitus Lysimachum, clarissimum inter omnes ducem, cum ingenti manu pro se sociis in auxilium misit. ⁴³ Seleucus quoque ex Asia maiore descendens nouus Antigono hostis accessit. hic siquidem Seleucus plurima per orientem inter socios regni Macedonici bella gessit.

⁴² Cassander, implicated in wars of the neighboring peoples, sent Lysimachus, the most illustrious leader among all, with an immense force as aid on behalf of himself and his allies. ⁴³ Seleucus too, descending from Greater Asia, was added as a new enemy to Antigonus. This same Seleucus indeed waged very many wars throughout the Orient among the associates of the Macedonian kingdom.

⁴⁴ principio Babylonam bello expugnauit et cepit. Bactrianos nouis motibus adsurgentes perdomuit. ⁴⁵ transitum deinde in Indiam fecit: quae post mortem Alexandri ueluti detracto excussoque a ceruicibus iugo praefectos eius occiderat Androcotto quodam ad uindicandam libertatem duce.

⁴⁴ at the outset he stormed Babylon in war and took it. He thoroughly subdued the Bactrians, who were rising up with new upheavals. ⁴⁵ Then he made a crossing into India: which, after the death of Alexander, as if the yoke had been removed and shaken off from its necks, had killed his prefects, with a certain Androcottus as leader for the vindication of liberty.

qui postea crudeliter in ciues agens, quos de externa dominatione defenderat ipse seruitio premebat. ⁴⁶ cum hoc ergo Androcotto Seleucus quamuis multa et grauia bella gessisset, nouissime firmatis regni condicionibus et pacta pace discessit.

who afterwards, dealing cruelly toward the citizens, whom he had defended from external domination, himself oppressed with servitude. ⁴⁶ with this Androcotto, therefore, although Seleucus had waged many and grave wars, at last, the conditions of the kingdom having been made firm and peace having been agreed, he departed.

⁴⁷ Adunatis itaque copiis Ptolemaei sociorumque eius, pugna committitur: cuius quanto potentior apparatus tanto ruina grauior fuit, nam in ea tunc totius paene Macedonici regni uires conciderunt. ⁴⁸ in ipso bello Antigonus occisus est; sed finis belli huius initium alterius fuit: nam cum uictoribus de praeda non conueniret, iterum in duas factiones diducuntur: Seleucus Demetrio, Ptolemaeus Lysimacho iungitur; ⁴⁹ Cassandro defuncto filius Philippus succedit. sic quasi ex integro noua Macedoniae bella nascuntur.

⁴⁷ Therefore, with the forces of Ptolemy and his allies having been assembled, a battle is joined: the more powerful the apparatus of it, by so much the heavier the ruin, for in it then the forces of almost the entire Macedonian kingdom collapsed. ⁴⁸ In the battle itself Antigonus was slain; but the end of this war was the beginning of another: for since the victors did not agree about the booty, again they are led apart into two factions: Seleucus is joined to Demetrius, Ptolemy to Lysimachus; ⁴⁹ Cassander having died, his son Philip succeeds. Thus, as if anew, new wars of Macedonia are born.

⁵⁰ Antipater Thessalonicen matrem suam, Cassandri uxorem, quamuis miserabiliter pro uita precantem, manu sua transuerberauit. ⁵¹ Alexander frater eius dum bellum aduersus fratrem ob ultionem matris instruit, a Demetrio, cuius auxilium petierat, circumuentus occiditur. ⁵² Lysimachus cum Dori regis Thracum infestissimo bello urgueretur, aduersus Demetrium pugnare non potuit.

⁵⁰ Antipater ran through with his own hand his mother Thessalonice, the wife of Cassander, although she was piteously pleading for her life. ⁵¹ Alexander, his brother, while he was preparing war against his brother to avenge his mother, was surrounded and slain by Demetrius, whose assistance he had sought. ⁵² Lysimachus, since he was being pressed by the most hostile war of Dory, king of the Thracians, could not fight against Demetrius.

⁵³ Demetrius augmento Graeciae et totius Macedoniae elatus, in Asiam transire disponit. ⁵⁴ Ptolemaeus autem et Seleucus et Lysimachus experti priore certamine, quantae uires essent concordiae, iterum societate pacta adunatisque exercitibus, bellum in Europam transferunt aduersus Demetrium. ⁵⁵ his se comitem et belli socium Pyrrhus rex Epiri iungit, sperans Demetrium Macedonia posse depelli.

⁵³ Demetrius, exalted by the augmentation of Greece and of all Macedonia, plans to cross into Asia. ⁵⁴ But Ptolemy and Seleucus and Lysimachus, having learned in the prior contest how great the forces of concord were, again, with an alliance concluded and the armies united, transfer the war into Europe against Demetrius. ⁵⁵ To these Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, joins himself as a companion and ally in war, hoping that Demetrius can be driven from Macedonia.

nec spes frustra fuit: quippe exercitu eius corrupto ipsoque in fugam acto, regnum Macedoniae Pyrrhus inuasit. ⁵⁶ deinde Lysimachus generum suum Antipatrum insidiantem sibi interfecit filiumque suum Agathoclem ultra humanum morem perosus occidit.

nor was the hope in vain: for indeed, with his army ruined and he himself driven into flight, Pyrrhus invaded the kingdom of Macedonia. ⁵⁶ then Lysimachus killed his son-in-law Antipater, who was plotting against him, and, hating beyond human custom, killed his own son Agathocles.

⁵⁷ Quibus quidem diebus Lysimachia ciuitas formidolosissimo terrae motu euersa, oppressoque populo suo crudele sepulchrum fuit. ⁵⁸ Lysimachum autem adsiduis se parricidiis cruentantem omnes socii deseruerunt et ad Seleucum deficientes, pronum iam regem aemulatione regni, ut bellum Lysimacho inferret, hortati sunt. ⁵⁹ res foedissimi spectaculi erat, duo reges, quorum Lysimachus annos natus LXXIIII, Seleucus autem LXXVII, de eripiendis alterutrum regnis concurrere, in acie stare, arma gerere.

⁵⁷ In those very days the city of Lysimachia was overturned by a most formidable earth-movement, and, with its own people crushed, was a cruel tomb. ⁵⁸ But all the allies deserted Lysimachus, who was blooding himself with continual parricides, and, defecting to Seleucus, urged the king—already prone from rivalry for the kingdom—to wage war upon Lysimachus. ⁵⁹ It was a matter of a most loathsome spectacle: two kings, of whom Lysimachus was aged 74 years, but Seleucus 77, running together to wrest each other’s realms, standing in the battle-line, bearing arms.

⁶⁰ ultimum hoc quidem bellum Alexandri commilitonum fuit, sed quod ad exemplum humanae miseriae fuerit reseruatum: ⁶¹ quippe cum orbem terrarum exstinctis iam XXXIIII Alexandri ducibus soli possiderent et angustissimos senectutis ac uitae suae terminos non aspicientes, angustos esse imperio suo totius mundi terminos arbitrabantur. ⁶² in eo bello Lysimachus, uel amissis uel interfectis prius ante hanc pugnam quindecim liberis, postremus occisus est. sic Lysimachus solutio pugnae Macedonicae fuit.

⁶⁰ this indeed was the last war of Alexander’s fellow-soldiers, but one which had been reserved as an example of human misery: ⁶¹ since, with 34 of Alexander’s leaders now extinguished, they alone possessed the world, and, not beholding the very narrow limits of their old age and of their own life, they deemed the boundaries of the whole world narrow for their empire. ⁶² in that war Lysimachus, with fifteen children either lost or slain before this battle, was slain last. thus Lysimachus was the dissolution of the Macedonian fight.

⁶³ sed ne Seleucus quidem tanta uictoria inpune laetatus est: nam neque ipse post LXXVII annos quietem naturalis mortis inuenit, sed extortam sibi infeliciter uitam uelut immatura morte finiuit: ⁶⁴ quippe insistente Ptolemaeo, cuius sororem Lysimachus in matrimonio habuerat, insidiis circumuentus occisus est.

⁶³ but not even Seleucus rejoiced with impunity in so great a victory: for neither did he himself, after 77 years, find the quiet of a natural death, but his life, unhappily wrenched from him, he finished as if by a premature death: ⁶⁴ indeed, at the insistence of Ptolemy, whose sister Lysimachus had had in marriage, he was surrounded by plots and slain.

⁶⁵ Haec sunt inter parentes filios fratres ac socios consanguinitatis societatisque commercia. tanti apud illos diuina atque humana religio pendebatur. ⁶⁶ erubescant sane de recordatione praeteritorum, qui nunc interuentu solius fidei Christianae ac medio tantum iurationis sacramento uiuere se cum hostibus nec pati hostilia sciunt; ⁶⁷ quibus indubitatissime probatur, quia non, sicut illi antea,
caesa iungebant foedera porca,
sed quia nunc inter barbaros ac Romanos creatorem et dominum suum contestantes tantam fidem adhibita in sacramentum seruant euangelia, quantam tunc nec inter parentes ac filios potuit seruare natura.

⁶⁵ These are the commerce between parents, sons, brothers, and allies, of consanguinity and of society. So greatly with them did divine and human religion weigh. ⁶⁶ Let them indeed blush at the recollection of things past, who now, by the intervention of the Christian faith alone and by the mere mediation of the sacrament of an oath, know how to live with enemies and not to suffer hostilities; ⁶⁷ for to them it is proved most indubitably that not, as they formerly
were joining treaties with a slaughtered sow,
but that now, between barbarians and Romans, calling as witness their Creator and Lord, the Gospels, employed for the sacrament, keep such faith as nature then could not keep even between parents and sons.

⁶⁸ Nunc autem finis Macedonici belli finis etiam libri fiat, praesertim cum iam abhinc Pyrrhi bella incipiant et mox Punica consequantur.

⁶⁸ Now, however, let the end of the Macedonian war be also the end of the book, especially since from this point the wars of Pyrrhus begin and soon the Punic follow.