THE ROMAN ANTIQUITIES OF DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS VOL.I

610 Pages·1937·26.948 MB·English

by  DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED BY JAMESLOEB, LL.D.
EDITED BY
tT. E. PAGE, C.TT., LTTT.D.
tE CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d.
L.A. POST, l.h.d, E. H. WARMINGTON,
M.A., F.R.HIST.SOC.
THE ROMAN ANTIQUITIES
OF
DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS
I

THE ROMAN ANTIQUITIES
OF
DIONYSIUS OF HALICAR^ASSUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
EARNEST GARY, PhD.
ON THE BASIS OF THE VERSION OF
EDWARD SPELIMAN
SEVEN VOLUMES
12s
I
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHTJSETTS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
MCMLX
cop.2
FRierpsrtinPtreidnted .. 11993487,1960
PrintedinGreatBritainbyThe UniversityPress,Aberdeen
CONTENTS
......
PAOI
...«••.
Introduction vii
Book I. 2
..»**.
Book II 312
Index 543

INTRODUCTION
Life of Dionysius
The few facts known about the life of Dionysius
are virtually all given us by the author himself. At
the close of the preface to the Romnn Antiquities
(chap. 8) he announces himself as Dionysius, the
son of Alexander, and a native of Halicarnassus.
He also informs us (chap. 7) that he had come to
Italy at the time when Augustus Caesar put an end
to the civil war in the middle ofthe 187th Olvmpiad
(late in 30 B.C. or in 29), and that he had spent the
following twenty-two years in acquainting himself
with the language and the literature ofthe Romans,
in gathering his materials, and in writing his History.
The preface is dated (chap. 3) in the consulship of
Nero and Piso (7 B.C.), and the first part, at least, of
the work must have been published at that time.
It is generally assumed that the entire History
appeared then ; but in Book VII. (70, 2) Dionvsius
refers to Book I. as having been already published.
This leaves it an open question in how many instal-
ments and at what intervals he issued the work.
We do not know the exact date of his birth but
;
two casual statements in the History enable us to
fix it within certain limits. He cites the disastrous
vii
INTRODUCTION
campaign of Crassus against the Parthians as an
event ofhis own lifetime (ii. 6, 4) ; and in describing
the erection ofthe original Capitol he states that the
new edifice, ' built in the days of our fathers,' stood
on the same foundations as the old (iv. 61, 4). The
first of these passages shows that he was born at
least as early as 53, and perhaps as early as 54 or
55, since the reference may very well be to the whole
Parthian expedition. The second allusion is more
indefinite. The new Capitol, begun by Sulla shortly
after the burning of the old structure in 83, was
formally dedicated by Catulus in 69 nevertheless,
;
as late as the beginning of 62 Caesar, in bringing
charges of embezzlement against Catulus, claimed
that many parts of the tcin; !o were still but half-
finished and accordingly wished to have Pompey
entrusted with the completion of the work.^ We
do not know how much justification there was for
Caesar's action, though it is evident that it was
primarily a political move ; in any case, he was
unsuccessful, and Catulus' name remained on the
pediment of the temple. Whether Dionysius knew
of Caesar's charges or attached any importance to
them we can only conjecture. Egger,^ taking these
charges seriously, argued that Dionysius must have
been born after 63 yet it is just as natural to
;
believe that the historian dated the temple by the
official dedication. The two passages, then, give as
extreme limits for the date of Dionysius' birth 69
and 53, with some possibility of the narrower limits
of 62 and 55. Modern scholars have generally
1Dio Cassius, xxxvii. 44 ; cf. xliii. 14, 6.
2Max. Egger, Denyad' Halicamasse, p. 3.
viii
—
INTRODUCTION
assumed a date between 60 and 55, from the feeling
that Dionysius must have been a fairly young man
when he came to Rome and undertook to master a
new language and literature. The only other refer-
ence in an ancient author to the time when Dionysius
lived is even more indefinite than those just quoted.
Strabo {ca. 63 B.C. ca. 21 a.d.), in speaking of
Halicarnassus, names, as authors who claimed that
city as their birthplace, Herodotus, Heracleitus the
poet, and, ' in our time,' Dionysius the historian
(xiv. 2, 16).
Halicarnassus had declined greatly in importance
after the time of Maussolus, and finally suffered
grievously at the hands of the pirates not far from
the time when Dionysius was born. It was given
a new lease of life by Quintus Cicero while he was
serving as governor ofAsia (61-58), ifwe may believe
the enthusiastic tribute paid him by his brother.^
Such was the city in which Dionysius apparently
spent his youth and early manhood. Whether he
composed any of his rhetorical treatises while still
residing there is uncertain ; but it is generally held
that they were all written at Rome.
In Rome Dionysius was a teacher of rhetoiic,
probably giving private lessons in one of his
;
treatises addressed to a pupil he refers to ' our
daily exercises.' ^ From these shorter w^orks which
took the form ofletters addressed to friends, patrons
ac ^pCaiecneero,deasderfQausi^nt,mfrqafuii.bui.s1,u8na:murlboensicaoempnloubrielsisdsiirmuatma,s
alteram Cariae, Samum et Halicarnassum, per te esse
recrealas.
^On the Arrangement oj Words, chap. 20.
INTRODUCTION
or pupils, we learn the names of a number of his
friends and associates but unfortunately they are,
;
with one or two exceptions, otherwise unknown to
us. Aelius Tubero may have been the historian
and jurist who was consul in 11 B.C., the same
historian who is praised in the Antiquities (i. 80, 1).
Melitius Rufus, a pupil, and his father, whom
Dionysius calls a most valued friend, were evidently
Romans. Cn. Pompcius Geminus may well have
been a Greek, in spite of his name ; Ammaeus also
was probably a Greek, and so almost certainly were
Demetrius and Zeno. Caecilius of Calacte, who is
styled a dear friend, was a rhetorician and historian
ofwhom a good deal is known In the introduction
to the History (chap. 7) Dionysius states that he
gained some of his information orally from most
learned men (Romans by implication) with whom he
came in contact. It would be interesting indeed to
know the names of some of these men and how
intimately he associated with them but, with the
;
possible exception of Aelius Tubero, he nowhere
names a contemporary Roman author, although he
pays tribute to the many e—xcellent works that were
being produced in his da—y, histories, speeches and
philosophical treatises, by both Romans and
Greeks.^ From the circumstance that he gives
particular credit to the ruling classes of Rome for
the recent purification of literary taste, Roberts
suggests that he may have been ' influenced more
directly ... by the Roman men of affairs with
whom (or with whose sons) his vocation brought him
On Iht AncierU Orators, chap. 3.