Velleius Paterculus: HISTORIAE ROMANAE

[1] [Epeus] tempestate distractus a duce suo Nestore Metapontum condidit. Teucer, non receptus a patre Telamone ob segnitiam non vindicatae fratris iniuriae, Cyprum adpulsus cognominem patriae suae Salamina constituit: Pyrrhus, Achillis filius, Epirum occupavit, Phidippus Ephyram in Thesprotia.

[1] Epeus, driven by a tempest away from his leader Nestor, founded Metapontum. Teucer, not received by his father Telamon on account of sloth in failing to avenge his brother’s wrong, having been cast upon Cyprus, established the cognomen of his homeland, Salamis: Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, seized Epirus; Phidippus settled Ephyra in Thesprotia.

2 At rex regum Agamemnon, tempestate in Cretam insulam reiectus, tres ibi urbes statuit, duas a patriae nomine, unam a victoriae memoria, Mycenas, Tegeam, Pergamum. Idem mox scelere patruelis fratris Aegisthi, hereditarium exercentis in eum odium, et facinore uxoris oppressus occiditur.

2 But Agamemnon, king of kings, driven by a storm upon the island of Crete, there founded three cities, two named from his fatherland, one from the memory of a victory: Mycenae, Tegea, Pergamum. He himself shortly after is killed, overwhelmed by the crime of his cousin Aegisthus, who bore an hereditary hatred against him, and by the wicked deed of his wife.

3 Regni potitur Aegisthus per annos septem. Hunc Orestes matremque, socia consiliorum omnium sorore Electra, virilis animi femina, obtruncat. Factum eius a diis comprobatum spatio vitae et felicitate imperii apparuit; quippe vixit annis nonaginta, regnavit septuaginta.

3 Aegisthus held the kingdom for 7 years. Orestes slew him and his mother, Electra, the sister who was partner in all the counsels, a woman of manly spirit. His deed appeared approved by the gods in the span of his life and the felicity of his rule; for he lived 90 years and reigned 70.

Quin se etiam a Pyrrho Achillis filio virtute vindicavit; nam quod pactae eius Menelai atque Helenae filiae Hermiones nuptias occupaverat, Delphis eum interfecit.

Moreover he even avenged himself by valour upon Pyrrhus, son of Achilles; for because he had seized the marriage of Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen, promised to him, he was slain at Delphi.

4 Per haec tempora Lydus et Tyrrhenus fratres cum regnarent in Lydia, sterilitate frugum compulsi sortiti sunt, uter cum parte multitudinis patria decederet. Sors Tyrrhenum contigit. Pervectus in Italiam et loco et incolis et mari nobile ac perpetuum a se nomen dedit.

4 At this time the brothers Lydus and Tyrrhenus, when they reigned in Lydia, driven by barrenness of the crops cast lots to determine which of them should depart the fatherland with a portion of the multitude. The lot fell to Tyrrhenus. Having sailed to Italy he gave a name, noble and perpetual from himself, both to the place and to its inhabitants and to the sea.

Post Orestis interitum filii eius Penthilus et Tisamenus regnavere triennio.

After the death of Orestes his sons Penthilus and Tisamenus reigned for three years.

[2] Tum fere anno octogesimo post Troiam captam, centesimo et vicesimo quam Hercules ad deos excesserat, Pelopis progenies, quae omni hoc tempore pulsis Heraclidis Peloponnesi imperium obtinuerat, ab Herculis progenie expellitur. Duces recuperandi impeii fuere Temenus, Cresphontes, Aristodemus, quorum abavus fuerat. Eodem fere tempore Athenae sub regibus esse desierunt, quarum ultimus rex fuit Codrus, Melanthi filius, vir non praetereundus.

[2] Then, about the eightieth year after Troy was captured, and the one hundred and twentieth after Hercules had passed away to the gods, the progeny of Pelops, who during all that time, with the Heraclids driven out, had held the rule of the Peloponnese, were expelled by the progeny of Hercules. The leaders in recovering the realm were Temenus, Cresphontes, Aristodemus, whose great‑grandfather had been Hercules. At nearly the same time Athens ceased to be governed by kings, the last of whom was Codrus, son of Melanthus, a man not to be overlooked.

Quippe cum Lacedaemonii gravi bello Atticos premerent respondissetque Pythius, quorum dux ab hoste esset occisus, eos futuros superiores, deposita veste regia pastoralem cultum induit, immixtusque castris hostium, de industria rixam ciens, imprudenter interemptus est.

For when the Lacedaemonians pressed the Athenians with a severe war, and Pythius had answered — whose leader had been killed by the enemy — that they would be superior, having laid aside the royal robe he donned the pastoral garb, and, mingled among the enemy camps, deliberately provoking a quarrel, he was imprudently slain.

2 Codrum cum morte aeterna gloria, Atheniensis secuta victoria est. Quis eum non miretur, qui iis artibus mortem quaesierit, quibus ab ignavis vita quaeri solet? Huius filius Medon primus archon Athenis fuit.

2 With his death Codrus received eternal glory; victory followed the Athenian. Who does not marvel at him who sought death by those arts by which life is wont to be sought by cowards? His son Medon was the first archon at Athens.

Ab hoc posten apud Atticos dicti Medontidae, sed hic insequentesque archontes usque ad Charopem, dum viverent, eum honorem usurpabant, Peloponnesii digredientes finibus Atticis Megara, mediam Corintho Athenisque urbem, condidere.

From him thereafter the Atticans were called Medontidae; and he and the archons who followed him as far as Charopem, while they lived, assumed that honor. The Peloponnesians, departing from the Attic borders, founded Megara, a city midway between Corinth and Athens.

3 Ea tempestate et Tyria classis, plurimum pollens mari, in ultimo Hispaniae tractu, in extremo nostri orbis termino, in insula circumfusa Oceano, perexiguo a continenti divisa freto, Gadis condidit. Ab iisdem post paucos annos in Africa Utica condita est. Exclusi ab Heraclidis Orestis liberi iactatique cum variis casibus tum saevitia maris quinto decimo anno sedem cepere circa Lesbum insulam.

3 At that time the Tyrian fleet, very powerful on the sea, founded Gades in the remotest tract of Hispania, at the extreme boundary of our world, on an island surrounded by the Ocean, divided from the mainland by a very narrow strait. From the same people, a few years later, Utica was founded in Africa. Driven out by the Heraclids, the descendants of Heracles, and tossed about with various mishaps and by the savagery of the sea, in the fifteenth year they took up a settlement around the island of Lesbos.

[3] Tum Graecia maximis concussa est motibus. Achaei ex Laconica pulsi eas occupavere sedes, quas nunc obtinent; Pelasgi Athenas commigravere, acerque belli iuvenis nomine Thessalus, natione Thesprotius, cum magna civium manu eam regionem armis occupavit, quae nunc ab eius nomine Thessalia appellatur, ante Myrmidonum vocitata civitas.

[3] Then Greece was shaken by very great upheavals. The Achaeans, driven from Laconia, occupied those seats which they now hold; the Pelasgi migrated to Athens; and a keen youth of war named Thessalus, a Thesprotian by birth, with a great band of citizens seized by arms that region, which is now called Thessalia from his name, formerly a city called of the Myrmidons.

2 Quo nomine mirari convenit eos, qui Iliaca componentes tempora de ea regione ut Thessalia commemorant. Quod cum alii faciant, tragici frequentissime faciunt, quibus minime id concedendum est; nihil enim ex persona poetae, sed omnia sub eorum, qui illo tempore vixerunt, disserunt. Quod si quis a Thessalo Herculis filio eos appellatos Thessalos dicet, reddenda erit ei ratio, cur numquarn ante hunc insequentem Thessalum ea gens id nominis usurpaverit.

2 By which name it is fitting to marvel at those who, composing the Iliac times, refer to that region as Thessaly. Which, although others do it, tragedians do very frequently, to whom least of all should this be conceded; for they relate nothing from the person of the poet, but everything about those who lived in that time. But if anyone will say that they were called Thessali from Thessalus, son of Hercules, a reason must be rendered to him why that people never before this subsequent Thessalus made use of that name.

3 Paulo ante Aletes, sextus ab Hercule, Hippotis filius, Corinthum, quae antea fuerat Ephyre, claustra Peloponnesi continentem, in Isthmo condidit. Neque est quod miremur ab Homero nominari Corinthum; nam ex persona poetae et hanc urbem et quasdam Ionum colonias iis nominibus appellat, quibus vocabantur aetate eius, multo post Ilium captum conditae.

3 A little earlier Aletes, sixth from Hercules, son of Hippotis, founded Corinth on the Isthmus — Corinth which formerly was Ephyre, the barrier enclosing the Peloponnese. Nor is there cause to marvel that Homer names Corinth; for from the persona of the poet he calls both this city and certain colonies of the Ionians by the names by which they were called in his age, cities founded long after Troy was captured.

[4] Athenienses in Euboea Chalcida et Eretriam colonis occupavere, Lacedaemonii in Asia Magnesiam. Nec multo post Chalcidenses orti, ut praediximus, Atticis Hippocle et Megasthene ducibus Cumas in Italia condiderunt. Huius classis corsum esse directum alii columbae antecedeatis volatu ferunt, alii nocturno aeris sono, qualis Cerealibus sacris cieri solet.

[4] The Athenians occupied Chalcis and Eretria in Euboea with colonists, the Lacedaemonians Magnesia in Asia. Not long after, the Chalcidians arising, as we have said, under Attic leaders Hippocles and Megasthenes they founded Cumae in Italy. Of this fleet some report that its course was made direct by doves going before in flight, others by a nocturnal sound of the air, such as is wont to be raised at the Cerealian rites.

2 Pars horum civium magno post intervallo Neapolim condidit. Utriusque urbis eximia semper in Romanos fides facit eas nobilitate atque amoenitate sua dignissimas. Sed illis diligentior ritus patrii mansit custodia, Cumanos Osca mutavit vicinia.

2 A portion of these citizens founded Neapolis after a great interval. The eminent fidelity of each city toward the Romans has always made them most deserving by their nobility and by their charm. But for them a more diligent observance of the ancestral rite remained in custody; neighborhood changed the Cumaeans into Oscans.

Vires autem veteres earum urbium hodieque magnitudo ostentat moenium.

But the ancient strength of those cities is still shown today by the magnitude of their ramparts.

3 Subsequenti tempore magna vis Graecae iuventutis, abundantia virium, sedes quaeritans in Asiam se effudit. Nam et Iones, duce Ione, profecti Athenis nobilissimam partem regionis maritimae occupavere, quae hodieque appellatur Ionia, urbesque constituere Ephesum, Miletum, Colophona, Prienen, Lebedum, , Clazomenas, Phocaeam, multasque in Aegaeo atque Icario occupavere Myuntem, Erythram insulas, Samum, Chium, Andrum, Tenum, Parum, Delum aliasque ignobiles.

3 At a later time a great force of Greek youth, an abundance of strength, poured itself forth into Asia seeking settlements. For the Ionians also, with Ion as leader, setting out from Athens occupied the most noble part of the maritime region, which even today is called Ionia, and founded the cities Ephesus, Miletus, Colophon, Priene, Lebedum, , Clazomenae, Phocaea, and occupied many places in the Aegean and Icario — Myunte, the Erythraean islands, Samos, Chios, Andros, Tenos, Paros, Delos, and other lesser-known ones.

4 Et mox Aeolii eadem profecti Graecia longissimisque acti erroribus non mlnus inlustres obtinuerunt locos clarasque urbes condiderunt, Smymam, Cymen, Larissam, Myrinam Mytilenenque et alias urbes, quae sunt in Lesbo insula.

4 And soon the same Aeolian Greece, having set out and driven by very long wanderings, no less illustrious, occupied places and founded renowned cities, Smyrna, Cymē, Larissa, Myrina, Mytilene, and other towns which are on the island of Lesbos.

[5] Clarissimum deinde Homeri inluxit ingenium, sine exemplo maximum, qui magnitudine operis et fulgore carminum solus appellari poeta meruit;

[5] Then the most illustrious genius of Homer shone forth, the greatest without precedent, who by the magnitude of his work and the splendor of his poems alone deserved to be called poet;

2 in quo hoc masimum est, quod neque ante illum, quem ipse imitaretur, neque post illum, qui eum imitari posset, inventus est. Neque quemquam alium, cuius operis primus auctor fuerit, in eo perfectissimum praeter Homerum et Archilochum reperiemus.

2 in which the greatest thing is this, that neither before him, whom he himself imitated, nor after him, who could imitate him, was one found. Nor shall we find any other, of whom he was the first author of a work, more perfect in that art than Homer and Archilochus.

3 Hic longius a temporibus belli, quod composuit, Troici, quam quidam rentur, abfuit; nam ferme ante annos nongentos quinquaginta floruit, intra mille natus est. Quo nomine non est mirandum, quod saepe illud usurpat "OIOI NYN BROTOI EISIN"; hoc enim ut hominum, ita saeculorum notatur differentia. Quem si quis caecum genitum putat, omnibus sensibus orbus est.

3 He was farther from the times of the Trojan war, which he composed, than some reckon; for he flourished almost nine hundred and fifty years earlier, he was born within a thousand. By which name it is not to be wondered at that that phrase is often used, "OIOI NYN BROTOI EISIN"; for this, as the difference of men, so marks the difference of ages. If anyone thinks him born blind, he is bereft of all senses.

[6] Insequenti tempore imperium Asiaticum ab Assyriis, qui id obtinuerant annis mille septuaginta, translatum est ad Medos, abhinc annos ferme octingentos septuaginta.

[6] At a later time the Asiatic empire was transferred from the Assyrians, who had held it for 1,070 years, to the Medes, about 870 years thereafter.

2 Quippe Sardanapalum eorum regem mollitiis fluentem et nimium felicem malo suo, tertio et tricensimo loco ab Nino et Semiramide, qui Babylona condiderant, natum, ita ut semper successor regni paterni foret filius, Arbaces Medus imperio vitaque privavit.

2 Indeed Sardanapalus, their king, luxuriating in softness and excessively fortunate in his wickedness, born thirty-third in descent from Ninus and Semiramis, who had founded Babylon, so that he was always the successor of his father's kingdom, Arbaces the Mede deprived of rule and of life.

3 Ea aetate clarissimus Grai nominis Lycurgus Lacedaemonius, vir generis regii, fuit severissimarum iustissimarumque legum auctor et disciplinae convenientissimae viris, cuius quam diu Sparta diligens fuit, excelsissime floruit.

3 In that age the most renowned Lycurgus of Greek name, a Lacedaemonian, a man of royal stock, was the author of very severe and most just laws and a man most fitting for the discipline of men; he flourished most eminently so long as Sparta was diligent.

4 Hoc tractu temporum ante annos quinque et sexaginta quam urbs Romana conderetur, ab Elissa Tyria, quam quidam Dido autumant, Carthago conditur.

4 In this tract of time, sixty‑five years before the Roman city was founded, Carthage was founded by Elissa of Tyre, whom some affirm to be Dido.

5 Circa quod tempus Caranus, vir generis regii, undecimus ab Hercule, profectus Argis regnum Macedoniae occupavit; a quo Magnus Alexander, cum fuerit septimus decimus, iure materni generis Achille auctore, paterni Hercule gloriatus est.

5 About that time Caranus, a man of the royal line, the eleventh from Hercules, having set out from Argos seized the kingdom of Macedonia; from whom Alexander the Great, when he was the seventeenth, by right of his maternal stock with Achilles as progenitor, boasted of his paternal [descent] from Hercules.

6 Aemilius Sura de annis populi Romani: "Assyrii principes omnium gentium rerum potiti sunt, deinde Medi, postea Persae, deinde Macedones; exinde duobus regibus Philippo et Antiocho, qui a Macedonibus oriundi erant, haud multo post Carthaginem subactam devictis summa imperii ad populum Romanum pervenit. Inter hoc tempus et initium regis Nini Assyriorum, qui princeps rerum potitus est, intersunt anni MDCCCCXCV."

6 Aemilius Sura on the years of the Roman people: "The Assyrian princes became masters of affairs of all the nations, then the Medes, afterwards the Persians, then the Macedonians; thence, under two kings Philip and Antiochus, who were sprung from the Macedonians, not long after Carthage had been overcome and subdued, the highest dominion, the conquered peoples having been routed, passed to the Roman people. Between that time and the beginning of Ninus, king of the Assyrians, who first became prince of affairs, there intervene 1,995 years."

[7] Huius temporis aequalis Hesiodus fuit, circa centum et viginti annos distinctus ab Homeri aetate, vir perelegantis ingenii et mollissima dulcedine carminum memorabilis, otii quietisque cupidissimus, ut tempore tanto viro, ita operis auctoritate proximus. Qui vitavit, ne in id quod Homerus incideret, patriamque et parentes testatus est, sed patriam, quia multatus ab ea erat, contumeliosissime.

[7] A contemporary of this time was Hesiod, separated from the age of Homer by about one hundred and twenty years, a man of very elegant genius and memorable for the gentlest sweetness of his songs, most eager for leisure and quiet; thus in time near to so great a man, and next in the authority of his work. He vowed that he would avoid falling into what Homer had fallen into, and he called his fatherland and parents to witness; but he spoke of his fatherland most contumeliously, because he had been mulcted by it.

2 Dum in externis moror, incidi in rem domesticam maximique erroris et multum discrepantem auctorum opinionibus: nam quidam huius temporis tractu aiunt a Tuscis Capuam Nolamque conditam ante annos fere octingentos et triginta. Quibus equidem adsenserim: sed M. Cato quantum differt!

2 While I delay among foreign matters, I fell upon a domestic question of the greatest uncertainty and much at variance with the opinions of authors: for some, in the course of this period, say that Capua and Nola were founded by the Tuscans about eight hundred and thirty years earlier. To which I would indeed assent; but how greatly M. Cato differs!

3 Qui dicat Capuam ab eisdem Tuscis conditam ac subinde Nolam; stetisse autem Capuam, antequam a Romanis caperetur, annis circiter ducentis et sexaginta.

3 Who says that Capua was founded by those same Tuscans and thereafter Nola; and that Capua had stood, before it was taken by the Romans, for about two hundred and sixty years.

4 Quod si ita est, cum sint a Capua capta anni ducenti et quadraginta, ut condita est, anni sunt fere quingenti. Ego, pace diligentiae Catonis dixerim, vix crediderim tam mature tantam urbem crevisse, floruisse, concidisse, resurrexisse.

4 But if this is so, since they were taken from Capua two hundred and forty years after it was founded, the span is almost five hundred years. I, with due deference to the diligence of Cato, would scarcely have believed that so great a city so soon had grown, flourished, fallen, and risen again.

[8] Clarissimum deinde omnium ludicrum certamen et ad excitandam corporis animique virtutem efficacissimum Olympiorum initium habuit, auctorem Iphitum Elium. Is eos ludos mercatumque instituit ante annos, quam tu, M. Vinici, consulatum inires, DCCCXXIII.

[8] Then the most renowned contest of all and the origin of the Olympian games, most efficacious for rousing the virtue of body and soul, had as its author Iphitus the Elean. He instituted those games and the market 823 years before you, M. Vinicius, entered the consulship.

2 Hoc sacrum eodem loco instituisse fertur abhinc annos ferme mille ducentos quinquaginta Atreus, cum Pelopi patri funebres ludos faceret, quo quidem in ludicro omnisque generis certaminum Hercules victor extitit.

2 This sacred rite is said to have been instituted in the same place about one thousand two hundred and fifty years ago by Atreus, when he was holding funerary games for Pelops his father, in which spectacle—and in contests of every kind—Hercules proved victorious.

3 Tum Athenis perpetui archontes esse desierunt, cum fuisset ultimus Alcmaeon, coeperuntque in denos annos creari. Quae consuetudo in annos septuaginta mansit ac deinde annuis commissa est magistratibus res publica. Ex iis, qui denis annis praefuerunt, primus fuit Charops, ultimus Eryxias, ex annuis primus Creon.

3 Then at Athens they ceased to be perpetual archons, Alcmaeon having been the last, and they began to be created for ten years. That custom remained for seventy years and then the commonwealth was committed to annual magistrates. Of those who presided for ten years, the first was Charops, the last Eryxias; of the annual [archons] the first was Creon.

4 Sexta olympiade post duo et viginti annos quam prima constituta fuerat, Romulus, Martis filius, ultus iniurias avi, Romam urbem Parilibus in Palatio condidit. A quo tempore ad vos consules anni sunt septingenti octoginta unus; id actum post Troiam captam annis quadringentis triginta septem.

4 In the sixth Olympiad, twenty-two years after the first had been established, Romulus, son of Mars, having avenged the injuries of his grandfather, founded the city Rome at the Parilia on the Palatine. From that time to you, consuls, the years are 781; that was done 437 years after Troy was taken.

5 Id gessit Romulus adiutus legionibus Latini avi sui: libenter enim iis, qui ita prodiderunt, accesserim, cum aliter firmare urbem novam tam vicinis Veientibus aliisque Etruscis ac Sabinis cum imbelli et pastorali manu vix potuerit, quamquam eam asylo facto inter duos lucos auxit.

5 Romulus achieved this aided by the legions of his Latin grandfather: for I willingly joined those who thus betrayed, since otherwise he could scarcely have fortified the new city against the nearby Veientes and other Etruscans and Sabines with an unwarlike, pastoral band, although he enlarged it by making it an asylum between two groves.

6 Hic centum homines electos appellatosque patres instar habuit consilii publici. Hanc originem nomen patriciorum habet. Raptus virginum Sabinarum . . . * * *.

6 Here he had a body of one hundred men, chosen and called fathers, as it were a public council. From this origin the name patricians has its derivation. The Rape of the Sabine maidens . . . * * *.

hic magna pars libri perdita est

here a great part of the book has been lost

[9] * * * . . . quam timuerat hostis, expetit. Nam biennio adeo varia fortuna cum consulibus conflixerat, ut plerumque superior fuerit magnamque partem Graeciae in societatem suam perduceret.

[9] * * * . . . which the enemy had feared, he sought. For in a two‑year period fortune had so variously clashed with the consuls that he was generally superior and led a great part of Greece into his societas, into his alliance.

2 Quin Rhodii quoque, fidelissimi antea Romanis, tum dubia fide speculati fortunam proniores regis partibus fuisse visi sunt; et rex Eumenes in eo bello medius fuit animo, neque fratris initiis neque suae respondit consuetudini.

2 Indeed the Rhodians also, hitherto most faithful to the Romans, then, having watched with wavering loyalty, seemed to have been more inclined in fortune to the king’s party; and King Eumenes in that war was of a divided mind, following neither his brother’s initiatives nor his own customary practice.

3 Tum senatus populusque Romanus L. Aemilium Paulum, qui et praetor et consul triumphaverat, virum in tantum laudandum, in quantum intellegi virtus potest, consulem creavit, filium eius Pauli, qui ad Cannas quam tergiversanter perniciosam rei publicae pugnam inierat, tam fortiter in ea mortem obierat.

3 Then the Senate and People of Rome made Lucius Aemilius Paullus — who had triumphed both as praetor and as consul, a man to be praised to that extent to which virtue can be comprehended — consul; his son Paullus, who at Cannae had with much hesitation entered the ruinous battle for the republic, had there met death so bravely.

4 Is Persam ingenti proelio apud urbem nomine Pydnam in Macedonia fusum fugatumque castris exuit deletisque eius copiis destitutum omni spe coegit e Macedonia profugere, quam ille linquens in insulam Samothraciam perfugit templique se religioni supplicem credidit.

4 He, in a great battle near the city called Pydna in Macedonia, routed and put Perseus to flight, stripped him of his camps and, his forces destroyed and deprived of all hope, forced him to flee from Macedonia; leaving it he took refuge on the island Samothrace and committed himself as a suppliant to the temple’s religion.

5 Ad eum Cn. Octavius praetor, qui classi praeerat, pervenit et ratione magis quam vi persuasit, ut se Romanorum fidei committeret. Ita Paulus maximum nobilissimumque regem in triumpho duxit. Quo anno et Octavii praetoris navalis et Anicii regem Illyriorum Gentium ante currum agentis triumphi fuere celebres.

5 To him came Cn. Octavius, praetor, who commanded the fleet, and persuaded him more by reason than by force, that he commit himself to the fidelity of the Romans. Thus Paulus led the greatest and most noble king in his triumph. In that year the naval praetor Octavius and Anicius, the king of the Illyrian peoples, were also celebrated for being driven before the chariot of the triumph.

6 Quam sit adsidua eminentis fortunae comes invidia altissimisque adhaereat, etiam hoc colligi potest, quod cum Anicii Octaviique triumphum nemo interpellaret, fuere, qui Pauli impedire obniterentur. Cuius tantum priores excessit vel magnitudine regis Persei vel specie simulacrorum vel modo pecuniae, ut bis miliens centiens sestertium aerario intulerit is, et omnium ante actorum comparationem amplitudine vicerit.

6 That envy is the constant attendant of eminent fortune and clings to the highest places can be gathered also from this, that although no one interrupted the triumph of the Anicii and Octavii, there were those who strove to hinder Paulus. His predecessors surpassed him only either in the greatness of King Perseus, or in the splendour of their images, or in the manner of their money, so that he brought into the treasury two hundred thousand sesterces, and in the grandeur of the comparison of deeds surpassed all who had gone before.

[10] Per idem tempus, cum Antiochus Epiphanes, qui Athenis Olympieum inchoavit, tum rex Syriae, Ptolemaeum puerum Alexandriae obsideret, missus est ad eum legatus M. Popilius Laenas, qui iuberet incepto desistere.

[10] At the same time, when Antiochus Epiphanes — who began the Olympieum at Athens — then king of Syria, was besieging the boy Ptolemy at Alexandria, a legate, M. Popilius Laenas, was sent to him to command that he desist from the undertaking.

2 Mandataque exposuit et regem deliberaturum se dicentem, circumcripsit virgula iussitque prius responsum reddere, quam egrederetur finito harenae circulo. Sic cogitationem regiam Romana disiecit constantia oboeditumque imperio.

2 He set forth the mandates, and when the king said that he would deliberate, he hemmed him in with a little rod and ordered him to give his answer before he should depart, the circle of sand having been completed. Thus Roman firmness scattered the kingly deliberation and rendered it obedient to the command.

3 Lucio autem Paulo Macedonicae victoriae compoti quattuor filii fuere; ex iis duos natu maiores, unum P. Scipioni P. Africani filio, nihil ex paterna maiestate praeter speciem nominis vigoremque eloquentiae retinenti, in adoptionem dederat, alterum Fabio Maximo. Duos minores natu praetextatos. quo tempore victoriam adeptus est, habuit.

3 Lucius Paulus, however, after the Macedonian victory, had four sons by his wife; of these the two eldest by birth he had given in adoption — one to P. Scipio, son of P. Africanus, retaining nothing of paternal majesty except the semblance of the name and the vigour of his eloquence — the other to Fabius Maximus. The two younger were praetextati, whom he had at the time he obtained the victory.

4 Is cum in contione extra urbem more maiorum ante triumphi diem ordinem actorum suorum commemoraret, deos immortalis precatus est, ut, si quis eorum invideret operibus ac fortunae suae, in ipsum potius saevirent quam in rem publicam.

4 When he, in an assembly outside the city according to the custom of the ancestors, before the day of the triumph was recounting the order of his deeds, he prayed to the immortal gods that, if any of them envied his works and fortune, they would rage against him himself rather than against the republic.

5 Quae vox veluti oraculo emissa magna parte eum spoliavit sanguinis sui; nam alterum ex suis, quos in familia retinuerat, liberis ante paucos triumphi, alterum post pauciores amisit dies.

5 That voice, as if uttered by an oracle, deprived him of a great part of his blood; for he lost one of his own, whom he had retained in his familia, to his children a few days before the triumph, and the other he lost to death a few days after.

6 Aspera circa haec tempora censura Fulvii Flacci et Postumii Albini fuit: quippe Fulvii censoris frater, et quidem consors, Cn. Fulvius senatu motus est ab iis censoribus.

6 Around these times the censorship of Fulvius Flaccus and Postumius Albinus was harsh: for Gnaeus Fulvius, brother and indeed consort of the censor Fulvius, was removed from the senate by those censors.

[11] Post victum captumque Persen, qui quadriennio post in libera custodia Albae decessit, Pseudophilippus a mendacio simulatae originis appellatus, qui se Philippum regiaeque stirpis ferebat, cum esset ultimae, armis occupata Macedonia, adsumptis regni insignibus brevi temeritatis poenas dedit;

[11] After the defeat and capture of Perses, who four years later died in the free custody of Alba, Pseudophilippus — so called from the mendacity of a simulated origin, who professed himself Philip and of royal stock — when Macedonia, the last remnant, was taken by arms, having assumed the insignia of the kingdom soon paid the penalties of his temerity;

2 quippe Q. Metellus praetor, cui ex virtute Macedonici nomen inditum erat, praeclara victoria ipsum gentemque superavit, et immani etiam Achaeos rebellare incipientis fudit acie.

2 for Q. Metellus, praetor, to whom by virtue the name Macedonicus had been bestowed, by a most splendid victory overcame him and his nation, and routed with a vast battle-line even the Achaeans beginning to rebel.

3 Hic est Metellus Macedonicus, qui porticus, quae fuerunt circumdatae duabus aedibus sine inscriptione positis, quae nunc Octaviae porticibus ambiuntur, fecerat, quique hanc turmam statuarum equestrium, quae frontem aedium spectant, hodieque maximum ornamenturn eius loci, ex Macedonia detulit.

3 This is Metellus Macedonicus, who had built the porticoes which were flanked by two houses placed without inscription, which are now surrounded by the porticoes of Octavia, and who brought from Macedonia this array of equestrian statues, which face the front of the buildings, and even today the greatest ornament of that place.

4 Cuius turmae hanc causam referunt, Magnum Alexandrum impetrasse a Lysippo, singulari talium auctore operum, ut eorum equitum, qui ex ipsius turma apud Granicum flumen ceciderant, expressa similitudine figurarum faceret statuas et ipsius quoque iis interponeret.

4 Of whose troop they relate this: that Alexander the Great obtained from Lysippos, a singular author of such works, that he should make statues of those horsemen who had fallen from his own troop at the river Granicus, in an exact likeness of their forms, and should also place himself among them.

5 Metellus idem primus omnium Romae aedem ex marmore in iis ipsis monumentis molitus huius vel magnificentiae vel luxuriae princeps fuit. Vix ullius gentis aetatis ordinis hominem inveneris, cuius felicitatem fortunae Metelli compares.

5 Metellus likewise was the first of all at Rome to strive for a temple of marble among those very monuments, and he was the leader of this either magnificence or luxury. Vilely you will find scarcely any man of any gens, age, or order whose felicity of fortune is comparable to Metellus'.

6 Nam praeter excellentis triumphos honoresque amplissimos et principale in re publica fastigium extentumque vitae spatium et acris innocentisque pro re publica cum inimicis contentiones quattuor filios sustulit, omnis adultae aetatis vidit, omnis reliquit superstites et honoratissimos.

6 For besides distinguished triumphs and very great honors and the principal pinnacle in the republic and an extended span of life, and keen and blameless contests for the republic with enemies, he reared four sons; he saw each of them come to adult age, and he left them all surviving and most honourable.

7 Mortui eius lectum pro rostris sustulerunt quattuor filii, unus consularis et censorius, alter consularis, tertius consul, quartus candidatus consulatus, quem honorem adeptus est. Hoc est nimirum magis feliciter de vita migrare quam mori.

7 His four sons carried his bier from before the rostra, one consular and censorial, another consular, the third a consul, the fourth a candidate for the consulship, which honor he obtained. This is manifestly to depart life more happily than to die.

[12] Universa deinde instincta in bellum Achaia, cuius pars magna, ut praediximus, eiusdem Metelli Macedonici virtute armisque fracta erat, maxime Corinthiis in arma cum gravibus etiam in Romanos contumeliis instigantibus, destinatus ei bello gerendo consul L. Mummius.

[12] Then the whole of Achaia, roused to war, — a large part of which, as we have said, had been broken by the valour and arms of that same Metellus the Macedonian — and with the Corinthians especially inciting to arms by insults even grievous against the Romans, — L. Mummius was appointed consul to conduct the war against it.

2 Et sub idem tempus, magis quia volebant Romani, quidquid de Carthaginiensibus diceretur credere quam quia credenda adferebantur, statuit senatus Carthaginem exscindere.

2 And at about the same time, rather because the Romans wished to believe whatever was said of the Carthaginians than because the things reported deserved belief, the senate resolved to destroy Carthage.

3 Ita eodem tempore P. Scipio Aemilianus, vir avitis P. Africani paternisque L. Pauli virtutibus simillimus omnibus belli ac togae dotibus ingeniique ac studiorum eminentissimus saeculi sui, qui nihil in vita nisi laudandum aut fecit aut dixit ac sensit, quem Paulo genitum, adoptatum a Scipione Africani filio diximus, aedilitatem petens consul creatus est.

3 Thus at the same time Publius Scipio Aemilianus, a man most similar in the ancestral virtues of P. Africanus and the paternal virtues of L. Paulus, outstanding above all in the gifts of war and of the toga and most eminent of his age in talent and studies, who in life did, said, and felt nothing except what is to be praised, whom we said was born to Paulus and adopted by the son of Scipio Africanus, was made consul while seeking the aedileship.

4 Is bellum Carthagini iam ante biennium a prioribus consulibus inlatum maiore vi intulit (cum ante in Hispania murali corona, in Africa obsidionali donatus esset, in Hispania vero etiam ex provocatione, ipse modicus virium, inmanis magnitudinis hostem interemisset)

4 He waged that war against Carthage, already brought two years before by the previous consuls, with greater force (since formerly in Hispania he had been awarded the mural crown, in Africa the siege‑crown, and in Hispania moreover by an appeal he, a man of modest strength, had slain an enemy of vast magnitude)

5 eamque urbem magis invidia imperii quam ullius eius temporis noxiae invisam Romano nomini funditu sustulit fecit suae virtutis monimentum, quod fuerat avi eius clementiae. Carthago diruta est, cum stetisset anni sexcentis septuaginta duobus (DCLXXII), abhinc annos centum septuaginta tris (CLXXIII) Cn. Cornelio Lentulo L. Mummio consulibus.

5 and he razed that city to the foundations, more hateful to the Roman name from the envy of its empire than from any harm of its time, and made it a monument of his own virtue, which had been a monument of his grandfather’s clemency. Carthage was destroyed, having stood 672 years, 173 years ago, in the consulship of Cn. Cornelius Lentulus and L. Mummius.

6 Hunc finem habuit Romani imperii Carthago aemula, cum qua bellare maiores nostri coepere Claudio et Fulvio consulibus ante annos ducentos nonaginta duos (CCXCII), quam tu, M. Vinici, consulatum inires. Ita per annos centum et viginti aut bellum inter eos populos aut belli praeparatio aut infida pax fuit.

6 This end was reached by Carthage, rival of the Roman empire, with which our ancestors began to make war under the consuls Claudius and Fulvius two hundred and ninety-two years before you, M. Vinici, entered the consulship (292). Thus for one hundred and twenty years there was either war between those peoples, or the preparation for war, or a treacherous peace.

7 Neque se Roma iam terrarum orbi superato securam speravit fore, si nomen usquam stantis manere Carthagini; adeo odium certamibus ortum ultra metum durat et ne in victis quidem deponitur neque ante invisum esse desinit quam esse desiit.

7 Nor did Rome, now having subdued the world, hope to be secure if the name of Carthage were to remain standing anywhere; so great was the hatred sprung up in the contests that it endured beyond measure, and it is not even laid aside in the conquered, nor did it cease to be hated before it ceased to exist.

[13] Ante triennium quam Carthago deleretur, M Cato, perpetuus diruendae eius auctor, L Censorino M. Manilio consulibus mortem obiit. Eodem anno, quo Carthago concidit, L. Mummius Corinthum post annos nongentos quinquanginta duos (CMLII), quam ab Alete Hippotis filio erat condita, funditus eruit.

[13] Three years before Carthage was destroyed, M. Cato, the perpetual advocate for its demolition, died in the consulship of L. Censorinus and M. Manilius. In the same year in which Carthage fell, L. Mummius razed Corinth to the foundations after 952 years (CMLII), which had been founded by Aletes, son of Hippotes.

2 Uterque imperator devictae a se gentis nomine honoratus, alter Africanus, alter appellatus est Achaicus; nec quisquam ex novis hominibus prior Mummio cognomen virtute partum vindicavit.

2 Each imperator was honored with a name taken from the people he had conquered, one called Africanus, the other Achaicus; nor did any of the new men earlier win a cognomen earned by virtue than Mummius.

3 Diversi imperatoribus mores, diversa fuere studia: quippe Scipio tam elegans liberalium studiorum omnisque doctrinae et auctor et admirator fuit, ut Polybium Panaetiumque, praecellentes ingenio viros, domi militiaeque secum habuerit. Neque enim quisquam hoc Scipione elegantius intervalla negotiorum otio dispunxit semperque aut belli aut pacis serviit artibus: semper inter arma ac studia versatus aut corpus periculis aut animum disciplinis exercuit.

3 The characters of the commanders were different, their pursuits were different: for Scipio was so elegant a patron and admirer of liberal studies and of every kind of learning that he kept Polybius and Panaetius, men excelling in genius, with him at home and in campaign. For no one more elegantly divided the intervals of business with leisure than Scipio, and he always served the arts of either war or peace: ever occupied between arms and studies, he exercised his body by dangers or his mind by disciplines.

4 Mummius tam rudis fuit, ut capta Corintho cum maximorum artificum perfectas manibus tabulas ac statuas in Italiam portandas locaret, iuberet praedici conducentibus, si eas perdidissent, novas eos reddituros.

4 Mummius was so uncouth that, when Corinth was captured, he contracted for paintings and statues, finished by the hands of the greatest artisans, to be carried into Italy, and ordered the said contractors that if they lost them they should render new ones.

5 Non tamen puto dubites, Vinici, quin magis pro re publica fuerit manere adhuc rudem Corinthiorum intellectum quam in tantum ea intellegi, et quin hac prudentia illa imprudentia decori publico fuerit convenientior.

5 Yet I do not think you should doubt, Vinicius, that it was more for the res publica that the Corinthians' understanding should remain still rude than that it be understood to such an extent, and that by this prudence that very imprudence was more fitting for public decorum.

[14] Cum facilius cuiusque rei in unam contracta species quam divisa temporibus oculis animisque inhaereat, statui priorem huius voluminis posterioremque partem non inutili rerum notitia in artum contracta distinguere atque huic loco inserere, quae quoque tempore post Romam a Gallis captam deducta sit colonia iussu senatus; nam militarium et causae et auctores ex ipsarum praefulgent nomine. Huic rei per idem tempus civitates propagatas auctumque Romanum nomen communione iuris haud intempestive subtexturi videmur.

[14] Since the singular, contracted form of any thing clings more readily to the eyes and minds than when it is divided by times, I have resolved to distinguish the earlier and the later part of this volume—each contracted into a close knowledge of matters not without use—and to insert here that which also at what time the colony was founded and led down after Rome was taken by the Gauls by the order of the senate; for military causes and authors shine forth from the name of the things themselves. In the same period we seem not untimely to be subjoining an account of the cities propagated for this purpose and of the Roman name augmented by the communion of law.

2 Post septem annos quam Galli urbem ceperant, Sutrium colonia deducta est et post annum Setia novemque interiectis annis Nepe, deinde interpositis duobus et triginta Aricini in civitatem recepti.

2 After seven years from when the Gauls had taken the city, Sutrium was founded as a colony; and after one year Setia, and with nine years intervening Nepe; then, with thirty-two years intervening, the Aricini were received into the state.

3 Abhinc annos autem trecentos et sexaginta, Sp. Postumio et Vetuno Calvino consulibus, Campanis data est civitas partique Samnitium sine suffragio, et eodem anno Cales deducta colonia. Interiecto deinde triennio Fundani et Formiani in civitatem recepti, eo ipso anno, quo Alexandria condita est.

3 Three hundred and sixty years later, in the consulship of Sp. Postumius and Vetunus Calvinus, the civitas was granted to the Campanians and to part of the Samnites without the vote, and in the same year Cales was established as a colony. Then, after an interval of three years, the Fundani and the Formiani were received into the civitas, in that very year in which Alexandria was founded.

4 Insequentibusque consulibus a Sp. Postumio et Philone Publilio censoribus Acerranis data civitas. Et post triennium Tarracina deducta colonia interpositoque quadriennio Luceria ac deinde interiecto triennio Suessa Aurunca et Saticula, Interamnaque post biennium.

4 And in the succeeding consuls, with Sp. Postumio and Philone Publilio as censors, the Acerrans were granted the civitas. And after three years Tarracina was established as a colony, and with four years intervening Luceria, and then, after an intervening three years, Suessa Aurunca and Saticula, and Interamna after two years.

5 Decem deinde hoc munere anni vacaverunt: tunc Sora atque Alba deductae coloniae et Carseoli post biennium.

5 Then for ten years thereafter they were free from this duty: at that time Sora and Alba were established as colonies, and Carseoli after a two-year interval.

6 At Q. Fabio quintum et Decio Mure quartum consulibus, quo anno Pyrrhus regnare coepit, Sinuessam Minturnasque missi coloni, post quadriennium Venusiam, interiectoque biennio M. Curio et Rufino Cornelio consulibus Sabinis sine suffragio data civitas: id actum ante annos ferme trecentos et viginti.

6 In the consulship of Q. Fabius the Fifth and Decius Mure the Fourth, in which year Pyrrhus began to reign, colonists were sent to Sinuessa and Minturnae; after four years to Venusia; and, with an intervening two years, in the consulship of M. Curius and Rufinus Cornelius the Sabines were granted civitas without the vote: this was done nearly 320 years earlier.

7 At Cosam et Paestum abhinc annos ferme trecentos Fabio Dorsone et Claudio Canina consulibus, interiectoque quinquennio Sempronio Sopho et Appio Caeci filio consulibus Ariminum et Beneventum coloni missi et suffragii ferendi ius Sabinis datum.

7 But to Cosa and Paestum, about three hundred years ago, in the consulship of Fabio Dorsone and Claudio Canina, and with a five‑year interval when Sempronio Sopho and Appius, son of Caecus, were consuls, colonists were sent to Ariminum and Beneventum, and the Sabines were granted the right to cast votes.

5 At initio primi belli Punici Firmum et Castrum colonis occupata, et post annum Aesernia postque septem et decem annos Aesulum et Alsium Fregenaeque post biennium proximoque anno Torquato Sempronioque consulibus Brundisium et post triennium Spoletium, quo anno Floralium ludorum factum est initium. Postque biennium deducta Valentia et sub adventum in Italiam Hannibalis Cremona atque Placentia.

5 At the beginning of the First Punic War Firmum and Castrum were occupied by colonists, and after a year Aesernia, and after seventeen years Aesulum and Alsium and Fregenae; and after two years, and in the next year in the consulship of Torquatus and Sempronius, Brundisium; and after three years Spoletium, in which year the games of the Floralia began. And after two years Valentia was founded, and at the coming of Hannibal into Italy Cremona and Placentia.

[15] Deinde neque dum Hannibal in Italia moratur, neque proximis post excessum eius annis vacavit Romanis colonias condere, cum esset in bello conquirendus potius miles quam dimittendus et post bellum vires refovendae magis quam spargendae.

[15] Moreover, neither while Hannibal lingered in Italy, nor in the years immediately after his departure did the Romans have leisure to found colonies, since in war a soldier was to be sought rather than dismissed, and after war forces were to be restored rather than scattered.

2 Cn. autem Manlio Voisone et Fulvio Nobiliore consulibus Bononia deducta colonia abhinc annos ferme ducentos septendecim, et post quadriennium Pisaurum ac Potentia interiectoque triennio Aquileia et Gravisca et post quadriennium Luca.

2 Under the consuls Gnaeus Manlius Voison and Fulvius Nobilior, Bononia was planted as a colony about 217 years ago, and after four years Pisaurum and Potentia, and, with a three-year interval interposed, Aquileia and Gravisca, and after four years Luca.

3 Eodem temporum tractu, quamquam apud quosdam ambigitur, Puteolos Salernumque et Buxentum missi coloni, Auximum autem in Picenum abhinc annos ferme centum octoginta quinque, ante triennium quam Cassius censor a Lupercali in Palatium versus theatrum facere instituit, cui in eo moliendo eximia civitatis severitas et consul Scipio restitere, quod ego inter clarissima publicae voluntatis argumenta numeraverim.

3 In the same stretch of time, although it is disputed by some, colonists were sent to Puteoli, Salernum, and Buxentum; and Auximum in Picenum about 185 years earlier, three years before Cassius the censor began to make a theatre from the Lupercal toward the Palatine, against which, in that building, the extraordinary strictness of the city and the consul Scipio opposed themselves, which I would reckon among the clearest proofs of the public will.

4 Cassio autem Longino et Sextio Calvino, qui Sallues apud aquas, quae ab eo Sextiae appellantur, devicit, consulibus Fabrateria deducta est abhinc annos ferme centum quinquaginta tris. Et post annum Scolacium Minervium, Tarentum Neptunia, Carthagoque in Africa, prima, ut praediximus, extra Italiam colonia condita est.

4 But in the consulship of Cassius Longinus and Sextius Calvinus, who defeated the Sallues at the waters which are called Sextiae from him, Fabrateria was led out as a colony about 153 years ago. And after a year Scolacium Minervium, Tarentum Neptunia, and Carthage in Africa — the first, as we have said, a colony founded outside Italy — were established.

5 De Dertona ambigitur, Narbo autem Martius in Gallia, Porcio Marcioque consulibus, abhinc annos circiter centum quadraginta sex colonia deducta est. Post duodeviginti annos in Bagiennis Eporedia, Mario sextum Valerioque Flacco consulibus. Neque facile memoriae mandaverim quae, nisi militans, post hoc tempus deducta sit.

5 It is disputed concerning Dertona; but Narbo Martius in Gaul, in the consulship of Porcius and Marcius, a colony was established about 146 years ago. After eighteen years, among the Bagienni, Eporedia, in the consulship of Marius and Sextus Valerius Flaccus. Nor would I readily commit to memory which was founded after this time, unless as a military settlement.

[16] Cum haec particula operis velut formam propositi excesserit, quamquam intellego mihi in hac tam praecipiti festinatione, quae me rotae pronive gurgitis ac verticis modo nusquam patitur consistere, paene magis necessaria praetereunda quam supervacua amplectenda, nequeo tamen temperare mihi, quin rem saepe agitatam animo meo neque ad liquidum ratione perductam signem stilo.

[16] When this small part of the work has, as it were, exceeded the shape of my design, although I understand that in this so headlong a hurry of mine — which the wheel, like a sloping whirlpool and vortex, nowhere permits to stand still — things almost more necessary should be passed over than superfluities embraced, yet I cannot restrain myself from setting down in writing a matter often turned over in my mind, though by reason not carried through to a clear conclusion.

2 Quis enim abunde mirari potest, quod eminentissima cuiusque professionis ingenia in eandem formam et in idem artati temporis congruere spatium, et quemadmodum clausa capso aliove saepto diversi generis animalia nihilo minus separata alienis in unum quodque corpus congregantur, ita cuiusque clari operis capacia ingenia in similitudine et temporum et profectuum semet ipsa ab aliis separaverunt?

2 For who can sufficiently marvel that the most eminent talents of every profession converge into the same form and into the same contracted span of time, and just as different kinds of animals, enclosed in a cask or other pen, are nevertheless, though distinct, gathered together into each single compartment foreign to the others, so the capacities fit for each famous work, alike in both times and advances, have of their own accord separated themselves from the rest?

3 Una neque multorum annorum spatio divisa aetas per divini spiritus viros, Aeschylum, Sophoclen Euripiden, inlustravit tragoediam; una priscam illam et veterem sub Cratino Aristophaneque et Eupolide comoediam; ac novam comicam Menander aequalesque eius aetatis magis quam operis, Philemo ac Diphilus, et invenere intra paucissimos annos neque imitandam reliquere.

3 One age, not divided by the span of many years, through men of the divine spirit illuminated tragedy—Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides; at one time that old and ancient comedy under Cratinus, Aristophanes, and Eupolis; and the new comedy, Menander, and his peers of the same age rather than of the same art, Philemon and Diphilus—and they within very few years found and left nothing worthy of imitation.

4 Philosophorum quoque ingenia Socratico ore defluentia omnium, quos pauco ante enumeravimus, quanto post Platonis Aristotelisque mortem floruere spatio?

4 And in what great span of time after the deaths of Plato and Aristotle did the talents of philosophers also — all of whom flow from the Socratic mouth, and whom we a little before enumerated — flourish?

5 Quid ante Isocratem, quid post eius auditores eorumque discipulos clarum in oratoribus fuit? Adeo quidem artatum angustiis temporum, ut nemo memoria dignus alter ab altero videri nequiverint.

5 What before Isocrates, what after him — his auditors and their disciples — was illustrious among orators? So tightly constrained by the narrowness of the times, that no one worthy of memory could be seen as distinct from another.

[17] Neque hoc in Graecis quam in Romanis evenit magis. Nam nisi aspera ac rudia repetas et inventi laudanda nomine, in Accio circaque eum Romana tragoedia est; dulcesque Latini leporis facetiae per Caecilium Terentiumgue et Afranium subpari aetate nituerunt.

[17] Nor did this occur more among the Greeks than among the Romans. For unless you go back to the harsh and rude and to those to be praised merely by the name of discovery, Roman tragedy is in Accius and about him; and the sweet Latin graces of charm and wit shone forth in Caecilius, Terence, and Afranius of nearly the same age.

2 Historicos etiam, ut Livium quoque priorum aetati adstruas, praeter Catonem et quosdam veteres et obscuros minus octoginta annis circumdatum aevum tulit, ut nec poetarum in antiquius citeriusve processit ubertas.

2 He likewise produced historians, so that you might assign Livy also to a prior age; excepting Cato and certain ancient and obscure men, he carried an era bounded by less than eighty years, so that the abundance of poets did not extend either earlier or later.

3 At oratio ac vis forensis perfectumque prosae eloquentiae decus, ut idem separetur Cato (pace P. Crassi Scipionisque et Laelii et Gracchorum et Fannii et Servii Galbae dixerim) ita universa sub principe operis sui erupit Tullio, ut delectari ante eum paucissimis, mirari vero neminem possis nisi aut ab illo visum aut qui illum viderit.

3 But the speech and force of the forum and the perfected ornament of prose eloquence — although I would separate out Cato (with due respect to P. Crassus and Scipio and Laelius and the Gracchi and Fannius and Servius Galba, I would say) — all erupted under the master of his art, Tullius, so that before him very few could give delight, and truly you could admire no one except either one seen by him or one who had seen him.

4 Hoc idem evenisse grammaticis, plastis, pictoribus, scalptoribus quisquis temporum institerit notis, reperiet, eminentiam cuiusque operis artissimis temporum claustris circumdatam.

4 The same thing will be found to have happened to grammarians, sculptors, painters, and engravers; whoever has stood in the noted ages will discover the eminence of each work circumscribed by the strictest enclosures of its times.

5 Huius ergo recedentis in suum quodque saeculum ingeniorum similitudinis congregantisque se et in studium par et in emolumentum causas cum saepe requiro, numquam reperio, quas esse veras confidam, sed fortasse veri similes, inter quas has maxime.

5 Therefore, concerning this man retiring into his own respective age and collecting together the similitudes of minds, and making himself both fit for study and for emolument, I often inquire what the causes are, but I never find those which I would trust to be true, only perhaps verisimilar ones; among which these especially.

6 Alit aemulatio ingenia, et nunc invidia, nunc adrmiratio imitationem accendit, naturaque quod summo studio petitum est, ascendit in summum difficilisque in perfecto mora est, naturaliterque quod procedere non potest, recedit.

6 Emulation nourishes ingenuities, and now envy, now admiration kindle imitation, and that which by the greatest zeal is sought from nature rises to the highest and, difficult in the perfect, is held in delay; and naturally that which cannot proceed withdraws.

8 Et ut primo ad consequendos quos priores ducimus accendimur, ita ubi aut praeteriri aut aequari eos posse desperavimus, studium cum spe senescit, et quod adsequi non potest, sequi desinit et velut occupatam relinquens materiam quaerit novam, praeteritoque eo, in quo eminere non possumus, aliquid, in quo nitamur, conquirimus, sequiturque ut frequens ac mobilis transitus maximum perfecti operis impedimentum sit.

8 And just as at first we are kindled to attain those whom we consider our predecessors, so when we despair that we can either surpass or equal them, zeal with hope ages, and that which cannot be achieved is no longer pursued, and, as it were abandoning a held material, seeks new matter; and beyond that former thing in which we cannot excel, we seek something in which we may lean, and it follows that frequent and mobile transition is the greatest impediment to a perfect work.

[18] Transit admiratio ab conditione temporum et ad urbium. Una urbs Attica pluribus omnis eloquentiae quam universa Graecia operibus usque floruit adeo ut corpora gentis illius separata sint in alias civitates, ingenia vero solis Atheniensium muris clausa existimes.

[18] Admiration shifts from the condition of the times to that of cities. One Attic city flourished with more works of every eloquence than all Greece taken together, so that the bodies of that people have been dispersed into other cities, while you would judge the minds to be shut up within the walls of the Athenians alone.

2 Neque hoc ego magis miratus sim quam neminem Argivum Thebanum Lacedaemonium oratorem aut dum vixit auctoritate aut post mortem memoria dignum existimatum.

2 Nor am I more amazed at this than that no Argive, Theban, or Lacedaemonian was deemed a worthy orator, either while alive by auctoritas or after death by memoria.

3 Quae urbes eximiae alias talium studiorum fuere steriles, nisi Thebas unum os Pindari inluminaret: nam Alcmana Lacones falso sibi vindicant.

3 Which cities eminent would have been barren of such studies, had not Thebes alone illumined the voice of Pindar: for the Laconians falsely appropriate Alcman to themselves.