---
title: "On the Fortune of the Romans · De fortuna Romanorum"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "Frank Cole Babbitt"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. Frank Cole Babbitt, On the Fortune of the Romans · De fortuna Romanorum. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/"
---

# On the Fortune of the Romans · De fortuna Romanorum

*Plutarch, tr. Frank Cole Babbitt*

Did Rome grow great by virtue or by luck? A declamation that gives Fortune the larger share.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg086, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Frank Cole Babbitt, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg086.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Sections 2–8](https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/1.md)
2. [Sections 9–13](https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/2.md)

## 1. Sections 2–8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/1/#p-N

[¶0] Plutarch’s essay on the Fortune of the Romans, like the following essays, is very plainly an epideictic oration. Where and when it was delivered, or whether it was ever delivered at all, we have no means of ascertaining. Hartman feels very sure that it was delivered to a Roman audience in the early days of Plutarch’s sojourn at Rome, and was intended to commend the speaker to other Romans besides his personal friends there. The thesis that Fortune was responsible for the great Roman empire would hardly be pleasing to Romans, but Plutarch is careful to point out that the high character of many individual Romans also contributed to the Roman success. In fact the essay might well bear the double title of Fortune or Virtues, as does the essay on Alexander. Plutarch was thoroughly familiar with the interpretations of Roman history then fashionable, and in this essay he gives a colourful sketch of as much as will serve his purpose. Much that is here may also be found elsewhere in Plutarch’s writings. The essay comes to a somewhat abrupt conclusion, and many have thought it unfinished; the same is true of the essays immediately following. One may wonder whether a time limit was set for these orations, as in the courts at Athens where the time allowed was measured by the water-clock or clepsydra. We may note, however, that these orations are of quite unequal length. The text is fairly good, and the majority of the ms. mistakes have been corrected by the various editors and commentators. The essay is No. 175 in Lamprias’s list of Plutarch’s works. Virtue and Fortune, who have often engaged in many great contests, are now engaging each other in the present contest, which is the greatest of all; for in this they are striving for a decision regarding the hegemony of Rome, to determine whose work it is and which of them created such a mighty power. For to her who is victorious this will be no slight testimonial, but rather a defence against accusation. For Virtue is accused of being a fair thing, but unprofitable; Fortune of being a thing inconstant, but good. Virtue’s labours, they say, are fruitless. Fortune’s gifts untrustworthy. Who, then, will not declare, when Rome shall have been added to the achievements of one of the contestants, either that Virtue is a most profitable thing if she has done such good to good men, or that Good Fortune is a thing most steadfast if she has already preserved for so long a time that which she has bestowed? The poet Ion in his prose works observes that Fortune is a thing very dissimilar to Wisdom, and yet she becomes the creator of things very similar: they both bring increase and added honours to men, they lead them on to high repute, to power, to dominion. What need to be tedious by enumerating the many examples? Even Nature herself, who creates and produces all things for us, some think to be Fortune, others Wisdom. Wherefore our present discourse does, in a measure, bestow a fair and enviable dignity upon Rome, if we raise the question over her, even as we do over earth and sea, heaven and stars, whether she has come to her present state by Fortune or by Forethought.

> Greek: αἱ πολλοὺς πολλάκις ἠγωνισμέναι καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας Ἀρετὴ καὶ Τύχη πρὸς ἀλλήλοις μέγιστον ἀγωνίζονται τὸν παρόντα, περὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας διαδικαζόμεναι ποτέρας γέγονεν ἔργον καὶ ποτέρα τὴν τηλικαύτην δύναμιν γεγέννηκεν. οὐ γὰρ μικρὸν ἔσται τῇ περιγενομένῃ τοῦτο μαρτύριον, μᾶλλον δʼ ἀπολόγημα πρὸς κατηγορίαν. κατηγορεῖται δʼ Ἀρετὴ μὲν ὡς καλὸν μὲν ἀνωφελὲς δέ, Τύχη δʼ ὡς ἀβέβαιον μὲν ἀγαθὸν δέ· καὶ τὴν μὲν ἄκαρπα πονεῖν λέγουσι, τὴν δʼ ἄπιστα δωρεῖσθαι. τίς οὖν οὐχὶ λέξει, τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τῆς Ῥώμης προστεθείσης, ἢ λυσιτελέστατον Ἀρετήν, εἰ τηλικαῦτα τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς δέδρακεν ἀγαθά· ἢ βεβαιότατον εὐτυχίαν, χρόνον ἤδη τοσοῦτον ἃ δέδωκε τηροῦσαν; Ἴων μὲν οὖν ὁ ποιητὴς ἐν τοῖς δίχα μέτρου καὶ καταλογάδην αὐτῷ γεγραμμένοις φησὶν ἀνομοιότατον πρᾶγμα τῇ σοφίᾳ τὴν τύχην οὖσαν ὁμοιοτάτων πραγμάτων γίγνεσθαι δημιουργόν· αὔξουσιν ἀμφότεραι πόλεις, κοσμοῦσιν ἄνδρας, εἰς δόξαν ἀνάγουσιν εἰς δύναμιν εἰς ἡγεμονίαν. τί δεῖ τὰ πολλὰ μηκύνειν ἐξαριθμούμενον; αὐτὴν τὴν τὰ πάντα γεννῶσαν ἡμῖν καὶ φέρουσαν φύσιν οἱ μὲν τύχην εἶναι νομίζουσιν, οἱ δὲ σοφίαν. διὸ καλόν τι τῇ Ῥώμῃ καὶ ζηλωτὸν ὁ ἐνεστὼς λόγος ἀξίωμα περιτίθησιν, εἰ διαποροῦμεν περὶ αὐτῆς, ὡς ὑπὲρ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης καὶ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἄστρων, πότερον κατὰ τύχην συνέστηκεν ἢ κατὰ πρόνοιαν.

[¶1] 2. I believe myself to be right in suspecting that, even if Fortune and Virtue are engaged in a direct and continual strife and discord with each other, yet, at least for such a welding together of dominion and power, it is likely that they suspended hostilities and joined forces; and by joining forces they co-operated in completing this most beautiful of human works. Even as Plato asserts that the entire universe arose from fire and earth as the first and necessary elements, that it might become visible and tangible, earth contributing to it weight and stability, and fire contributing colour, form, and movement; but the medial elements, water and air, by softening and quenching the dissimilarity of both extremes, united them and brought about the composite nature of Matter through them; in this way, then, in my opinion, did Time lay the foundation for the Roman State and, With the help of God, so combine and join together Fortune and Virtue that, by taking the peculiar qualities of each, he might construct for all mankind a Hearth, in truth both holy and beneficent, a steadfast cable, a principle abiding for ever, “an anchorage from the swell and drift,” as Democritus says, amid the shifting conditions of human affairs. For even as the physicists assert that the world was in ancient days not a world nor were the atoms willing to coalesce and mix together and bestow a universal form upon Nature, but, since the atoms, which were yet small and were being borne hither and thither, kept eluding and escaping incorporation and entanglement, and the larger, close-compacted atoms were already engaging in terrific struggles and confusion among themselves, there was pitching and tossing, and all things were full of destruction and drift and wreckage until such time as the earth, by acquiring magnitude from the union of the wandering atoms, somehow came to be permanently abiding herself, and provided a permanent abode in herself and round about herself for the other elements; even so, while the mightiest powers and dominions among men were being driven about as Fortune willed, and were continuing to collide one with another because no one held the supreme power, but all wished to hold it, the continuous movement, drift, and change of all peoples remained without remedy, until such time as Rome acquired strength and growth, and had attached to herself not only the nations and peoples within her own borders, but also royal dominions of foreign peoples beyond the seas, and thus the affairs of this vast empire gained stability and security, since the supreme government, which never knew reverse, was brought within an orderly and single cycle of peace; for though Virtue in every form was inborn in those who contrived these things, yet great Good Fortune was also joined therewith, as it will be possible to demonstrate as the discourse proceeds.

> Greek: 2. ἐγὼ δέ, ὅτι μέν, εἰ καὶ πάνυ πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἀεὶ πολεμοῦσι καὶ διαφέρονται Τύχη καὶ Ἀρετή, πρός γε τηλικαύτην σύμπηξιν ἀρχῆς καὶ δυνάμεως εἰκός ἐστιν αὐτὰς σπεισαμένας συνελθεῖν καὶ συνελθούσας ἐπιτελειῶσαι καὶ συναπεργάσασθαι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἔργων τὸ κάλλιστον, ὀρθῶς ὑπονοεῖν οἴομαι. καὶ νομίζω, καθάπερ Πλάτων φησὶν ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ γῆς ὡς ἀναγκαίων τε καὶ πρώτων γεγονέναι τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον, ἵνʼ ὁρατός τε γένηται καὶ ἁπτός, γῆς μὲν τὸ ἐμβριθὲς καὶ στάσιμον αὐτῷ συμβαλομένης, πυρὸς δὲ χρῶμα καὶ μορφὴν καὶ κίνησιν· αἱ δʼ ἐν μέσῳ φύσεις, ὕδωρ καὶ ἀήρ, μαλάξασαι καὶ σβέσασαι τὴν ἑκατέρου τῶν ἄκρων ἀνομοιότητα συνήγαγον καὶ ἀνεμίξαντο τὴν ὕλην διʼ αὐτῶν· οὕτως ἄρα καὶ ὁ τὴν Ῥώμην ὑποβαλόμενος χρόνος μετὰ θεοῦ τύχην καὶ ἀρετὴν ἐκέρασε καὶ συνέζευξεν, ἵνʼ ἑκατέρας λαβὼν τὸ οἰκεῖον ἀπεργάσηται πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἑστίαν ἱερὰν ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ ἀνησιδώραν καὶ πεῖσμα μόνιμον καὶ στοιχεῖον ἀίδιον, ὑποφερομένοις τοῖς πράγμασιν ἀγκυρηβόλιον σάλου καὶ πλάνης ὥς φησι Δημόκριτος. ὡς γὰρ οἱ φυσικοὶ τὸν κόσμον λέγουσιν οὐκ εἶναι κόσμον οὐδʼ ἐθέλειν τὰ σώματα συνελθόντα καὶ συμμιγέντα κοινὸν ἐκ πάντων εἶδος τῇ φύσει παρασχεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν ἔτι μικρῶν καὶ σποράδην φερομένων διολισθανόντων καὶ ὑποφευγόντων τὰς ἐναπολήψεις καὶ περιπλοκάς, τῶν δʼ ἁδροτέρων καὶ συνεστηκότων ἤδη δεινοὺς ἀγῶνας πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ διαταραχὰς λαμβανόντων, κλύδωνα καὶ βρασμὸν εἶναι καὶ φθόρου καὶ πλάνης καὶ ναυαγίων μεστὰ πάντα, πρίν γε τὴν γῆν μέγεθος λαβοῦσαν ἐκ τῶν συνισταμένων καὶ φερομένων ἱδρυθῆναί πως αὐτὴν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἵδρυσιν ἐν αὑτῇ καὶ περὶ αὑτὴν παρασχεῖν· οὕτω τῶν μεγίστων ἐν ἀνθρώποις δυνάμεων καὶ ἡγεμονιῶν κατὰ τύχας ἐλαυνομένων καὶ συμφερομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ μηδένα κρατεῖν βούλεσθαι δὲ πάντας, ἀμήχανος ἦν ἡ φορὰ καὶ πλάνη καὶ μεταβολὴ πᾶσα πάντων, μέχρι οὗ τῆς Ῥώμης ἰσχὺν καὶ αὔξησιν λαβούσης καὶ ἀναδησαμένης τοῦτο μὲν ἔθνη καὶ δήμους ἐν αὑτῇ, τοῦτο δʼ ἀλλοφύλους καὶ διαποντίους βασιλέων ἡγεμονίας, ἕδραν ἔσχε τὰ μέγιστα καὶ ἀσφάλειαν, εἰς κόσμον εἰρήνης καὶ ἕνα κύκλον τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἄπταιστον περιφερομένης, πάσης μὲν ἀρετῆς ἐγγενομένης τοῖς ταῦτα μηχανησαμένοις, πολλῆς δὲ καὶ τύχης συνελθούσης, ὡς ἐνέσται τοῦ λόγου προϊόντος ἐνδείξασθαι.

[¶2] 3. And now, methinks, from my lofty look-out, as it were, from whence I survey the matter in hand, I can descry Fortune and Virtue advancing to be judged and tried one against the other. The gait of Virtue is unhurried, her gaze unwavering; yet the flush of ambition lends to her countenance some intimation regarding the contest. She follows far behind Fortune, who makes great haste, and in a throng conducting her and guarding her person are “Heroes slain in the conflict, wearing their blood-stained armour,” men befouled with wounds in front, dripping blood with sweat commingled, trampling upon battered spoils. Is it your desire that we inquire what men are these? They declare themselves to be the Fabricii, the Camilli, the Decii, the Cincinnati, the Fabii Maximi, the Claudii Marcelli, and the Scipios. I see also Gaius Marius showing anger at Fortune, and yonder Mucius Scaevola is exhibiting his burning hand and crying, “Do you graciously attribute this also to Fortune?” And Marcus Horatius, the hero of the battle by the Tiber, weighed down by Etruscan shafts and showing his limping limb, cries aloud from the deep whirl of the waters, “Then am I also maimed by Fortune’s will?” Of such character is Virtue’s choir that advances to the lists, “Sturdy contender in arms, baleful to all that oppose.”

> Greek: 3. νυνὶ δέ μοι δοκῶ τοῦ προβλήματος ὥσπερ ἀπὸ σκοπῆς καθορᾶν ἐπὶ τὴν σύγκρισιν καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τήν τε Τύχην καὶ τὴν Ἀρετὴν βαδιζούσας. ἀλλὰ τῆς μὲν Ἀρετῆς πρᾶόν τε τὸ βάδισμα καὶ τὸ βλέμμα καθεστηκός, ἐπανθεῖ δέ τι καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ πρὸς τὴν ἅμιλλαν ἐρύθημα τῆς φιλοτιμίας. καὶ πολὺ μὲν ὑστερεῖ σπευδούσης τῆς Τύχης, ἄγουσι δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ δορυφοροῦσι κατὰ πλῆθος ἄνδρες ἀρηίφατοι βεβροτωμένα τεύχεʼ ἔχοντες, ἐναντίων τραυμάτων ἀνάπλεῳ, αἷμα συμμεμιγμένον ἱδρῶτι σταλάζοντες, ἡμικλάστοις ἐπιβεβηκότες λαφύροις. βούλεσθε δὲ πυθώμεθα, τίνες ποτʼ εἰσὶν οὗτοι; Φαβρίκιοί φασιν εἶναι καὶ Κάμιλλοι καὶ Μούκιοι καὶ Κικιννᾶτοι καὶ Μάξιμοι Φάβιοι καὶ Κλαύδιοι Μάρκελλοι καὶ Σκιπίωνες. ὁρῶ δὲ καὶ Γάιον Μάριον ὀργιζόμενον τῇ Τύχῃ, καὶ Μούκιος ἐκεῖ Σκευόλας τὴν φλεγομένην χεῖρα δείκνυσι βοῶν μὴ καὶ ταύτην τῇ Τύχῃ χαρίζῃ; καὶ Μάρκος Ὡράτιος ἀριστεὺς παραποτάμιος Τυρρηνικοῖς βέλεσι βαρυνόμενος καὶ σκάζοντα μηρὸν παρέχων, ἐκ βαθείας ὑποφθέγγεται δίνης οὐκοῦν κἀγὼ κατὰ τύχην πεπήρωμαι; τοιοῦτος ὁ τῆς Ἀρετῆς χορὸς πρόσεισιν ἐπὶ τὴν σύγκρισιν, βριθὺς ὁπλιτοπάλας δάιος ἀντιπάλοις.

[¶3] 4. But swift is the pace of Fortune, bold is her spirit, and most vaunting her hopes; she outstrips Virtue and is close at hand. She does not raise herself in the air on light pinions, nor advance “poised on tip-toe above a globe,” in a precarious and hesitant posture, and then depart from sight. But even as the Spartans say that Aphroditê, as she crossed the Eurotas, put aside her mirrors and ornaments and her magic girdle, and took a spear and shield, adorning herself to please Lycurgus, even so Fortune, when she had deserted the Persians and Assyrians, had flitted lightly over Macedonia, and had quickly shaken off Alexander, made her way through Egypt and Syria, conveying kingships here and there; and turning about, she would often exalt the Carthaginians. But when she was approaching the Palatine and crossing the Tiber, it appears that she took off her wings, stepped out of her sandals, and abandoned her untrustworthy and unstable globe. Thus did she enter Rome, as with intent to abide, and in such guise is she present to-day, as though ready to meet her trial. “For stubborn is she not,” as Pindar says, “Nor is the rudder double that she plies;” but rather is she
The sister of Good Order and Persuasion, and
The daughter of Foresight,
as Alcman describes her lineage. And she holds that celebrated Horn of Plenty in her hand, filled not with fruits of everlasting bloom, but as many as are the products of the whole earth and of all the seas, rivers, mines, and harbours, these does she pour forth in unstinted abundance. Not a few splendid and distinguished men are seen in her company: Numa Pompilius from the Sabine country and Priscus from Tarquinii, whom as adventitious and foreign kings she set upon the throne of Romulus; and Aemilius Paulus, leading back his army without a wound from Perseus and the Macedonians, triumphing for a tearless victory, magnifies Fortune. There magnifies her also the aged Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, borne to his grave by four sons of consular rank, Quintus Baliaricus, Lucius Diadematus, Marcus Metellus, Gaius Caprarius, and by two sons-in-law of consular rank, and by grandsons made distinguished by illustrious deeds and offices. Aemilius Scaurus, a novus homo, was raised by her from a humble station and a humbler family to be enrolled as the first man of the Senate, Cornelius Sulla she took up and elevated from the embraces of his mistress, Nicopolis, and designated him for a monarchy and dictatorship which ranked far above the Cimbrian triumphs and the seven consulships of Marius. Sulla used openly to declare himself, together with his exploits, to be the adopted child of Fortune, loudly asserting in the words of Sophocles’ Oedipus, “And Fortune’s son I hold myself to be.” In the Latin tongue he was called Felix, but for the Greeks he wrote his name thus: Lucius Cornelius Sulla Epaphroditus. And the trophies at my home in Chaeroneia and those of the Mithridatic Wars are thus inscribed, quite appropriately; for not “Night,” as Menander has it, but Fortune has the “greater share in Aphroditê.”.

> Greek: 4. τῆς δὲ Τύχης ὀξὺ μὲν τὸ κίνημα καὶ θρασὺ τὸ φρόνημα καὶ μεγάλαυχον ἡ ἐλπίς, φθάνουσα δὲ τὴν Ἀρετὴν ἐγγύς ἐστιν, οὐ πτεροῖς ἐλαφρίζουσα κούφοις ἑαυτὴν οὐδʼ ἀκρώνυχον ὑπὲρ σφαίρας τινὸς ἴχνος καθεῖσα περισφαλὴς καὶ ἀμφίβολος πρόσεισιν, εἶτʼ ἄπεισιν ἀηδής· ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται τὴν Ἀφροδίτην λέγουσι διαβαίνουσαν τὸν Εὐρώταν τὰ μὲν ἔσοπτρα καὶ τοὺς χλιδῶνας καὶ τὸν κεστὸν ἀποθέσθαι, δόρυ δὲ καὶ ἀσπίδα λαβεῖν κοσμουμένην τῷ Λυκούργῳ· οὕτως ἡ Τύχη καταλιποῦσα Πέρσας καὶ Ἀσσυρίους Μακεδονίαν μὲν ἐλαφρὰ διέπτη καὶ ἀπεσείσατο ταχέως Ἀλέξανδρον, καὶ διʼ Αἰγύπτου καὶ Συρίας περιφέρουσα βασιλείας διώδευσε, καὶ Καρχηδονίους στρεφομένη πολλάκις ἐβάστασε· τῷ δὲ Παλατίῳ προσερχομένη καὶ διαβαίνουσα τὸν Θύμβριν ὡς ἔοικεν ἔθηκε τὰς πτέρυγας, ἐξέβη τῶν πεδίλων, ἀπέλιπε τὴν ἄπιστον καὶ παλίμβολον σφαῖραν. οὕτως εἰσῆλθεν εἰς Ῥώμην ὡς μενοῦσα καὶ τοιαύτη πάρεστιν ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν δίκην. οὐ μὲν γὰρ ἀπειθὴς κατὰ Πίνδαρον οὐδὲ δίδυμον στρέφουσα πηδάλιον ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εὐνομίας καὶ Πειθοῦς ἀδελφὰ καὶ Προμαθείας θυγάτηρ ὡς γενεαλογεῖ Ἀλκμάν. τὸ δʼ ὑμνούμενον ἐκεῖνο τοῦ πλούτου κέρας ἔχει διὰ χειρός, οὐκ ὀπώρας ἀεὶ θαλλούσης μεστόν, ἀλλʼ ὅσα φέρει πᾶσα γῆ πᾶσα δὲ θάλαττα καὶ ποταμοὶ καὶ μέταλλα καὶ λιμένες, ἄφθονα καὶ ῥύδην ἐπιχεαμένη. λαμπροὶ δὲ καὶ διαπρεπεῖς ἄνδρες οὐκ ὀλίγοι μετʼ αὐτῆς ὁρῶνται, Πομπίλιος Νομᾶς ἐκ Σαβίνων καὶ Πρῖσκος ἐκ Ταρκυνίων, οὓς ἐπήλυδας βασιλεῖς καὶ ξένους ἐνιδρύσατο τοῖς Ῥωμύλου θρόνοις· καὶ Παῦλος Αἰμίλιος ἀπὸ Περσέως καὶ Μακεδόνων ἄτρωτον στρατὸν ἄγων καὶ νίκην ἄδακρυν θριαμβεύων μεγαλύνει τὴν Τύχην· μεγαλύνει δὲ καὶ Καικίλιος Μέτελλος ὁ Μακεδονικὸς γέρων, ὑπὸ τεσσάρων παίδων ὑπατικῶν ἐκκομιζόμενος, Κοΐντου Βαλεαρικοῦ καὶ Λευκίου Διαδημάτα καὶ Μάρκου Μετέλλου καὶ Γαΐου Καπραρίου, καὶ δυεῖν γαμβρῶν ὑπατικῶν καὶ θυγατριδῶν κοσμουμένων ἐπιφανέσιν ἀριστείαις καὶ πολιτείαις. Αἰμίλιος δὲ Σκαῦρος ἐκ ταπεινοῦ βίου καὶ ταπεινοτέρου γένους καινὸς ἄνθρωπος ἀρθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῆς, προγράφεται τοῦ μεγάλου συνεδρίου. Κορνήλιον δὲ Σύλλαν ἐκ τῶν Νικοπόλεως τῆς ἑταίρας ἀναλαβοῦσα καὶ βαστάσασα κόλπων, ὑψηλότερον τῶν Κιμβρικῶν Μαρίου θριάμβων καὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ ὑπατειῶν ἐπιτίθησι μοναρχίαις καὶ δικτατωρίαις. ἄντικρυς οὗτος τῇ Τύχῃ μετὰ τῶν πράξεων ἑαυτὸν εἰσεποίει, βοῶν κατὰ τὸν Οἰδίποδα τὸν Σοφοκλέους ἐγὼ δʼ ἐμαυτὸν παῖδα τῆς Τύχης νέμω. καὶ Ῥωμαϊστὶ μὲν Φήλιξ ὠνομάζετο, τοῖς δʼ Ἕλλησιν οὕτως ἔγραφε Λούκιος Κορνήλιος Σύλλας Ἐπαφρόδιτος. καὶ τὰ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ τρόπαια κατὰ τῶν Μιθριδατικῶν οὕτως ἐπιγέγραπται, καὶ εἰκότως· πλεῖστον γὰρ Ἀφροδίτης οὐ νύξ κατὰ Μένανδρον, ἀλλὰ τύχη μετέσχηκεν.

[¶4] 5. Might one, then, after proffering this as a suitable introduction, bring on the Romans once more as witnesses in behalf, of Fortune, on the ground that they assigned more to Fortune than to Virtue? At least, it was only recently and after many years that Scipio Numantinus built a shrine of Virtue in Rome; later Marcellus built what is called the Temple of Virtue and Honour; and Aemilius Scaurus, who lived in the time of the Cimbrian Wars, built the shrine of Mens (Mind) so-called, which might be considered a Temple of Reason. For at this time rhetoric, sophistry, and argumentation had already found their way into the City; and people were beginning to magnify such pursuits. But even to this day they have no shrine of Wisdom or Prudence or Magnanimity or Constancy or Moderation. But of Fortune there are splendid and ancient shrines, all but coeval with the first foundations of the City. For the first to build a temple of Fortune was Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa and king fourth in line from Romulus. He, perchance, it was who added the title of Fortis to Fortuna; for in Fortune Manly Fortitude shares most largely in the winning of victory. They erected a temple of Fortuna Muliebris before the time of Camillus, when, through the offices of their women, they had turned back Marcius Coriolano, who was leading the Volsci against the City. For a delegation of women, together with his mother and his wife, went to the hero and besought him and gained their request that he spare the City and lead away the foreign army. It is said that at this time, when the statue of Fortune was consecrated, it spoke and said, “Women of the city, you have dedicated me by the holy law of Rome.” And it is a fact that Furius Camillus likewise, when he had quenched the Gallic conflagration and had removed Rome from the balance and scales when her price was being weighed in gold, founded no shrine of Good Counsel or of Valour, but a shrine of Report and Rumour by New Street, where, as they assert, before the war there carne to Marcus Caedicius, as he was walking by night, a voice which told him to expect in a short time a Gallic war. The Fortune whose temple is by the river they call Fortis, that is, strong or valiant or manly, as having the power to conquer everything. And her temple they have built in the Gardens bequeathed by Caesar to the People, since they believed that he also reached his most exalted position through good fortune, as he himself has testified.

> Greek: 5. ἆρʼ οὖν ταύτην τις ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος οἰκείαν ὑπὲρ τῆς Τύχης ἐπάγοιτο μάρτυρας αὐτοὺς Ῥωμαίους, ὡς, τῇ Τύχῃ πλέον ἢ τῇ Ἀρετῇ νέμοντας; Ἀρετῆς μέν γε παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὀψὲ καὶ μετὰ πολλοὺς χρόνους ἱερὸν ἱδρύσατο Σκιπίων ὁ Νομαντῖνος, εἶτα Μάρκελλος τὸ Οὐιρτοῦτίς τε καὶ Ὀνῶρις προσαγορευόμενον· καὶ τὸ τῆς Μέντις καλουμένης (Γνώμης ἂν νομίζοιτο) Σκαῦρος Αἰμίλιος, περὶ τὰ Κιμβρικὰ τοῖς χρόνοις γεγονώς· ἤδη τότε λόγων καὶ σοφισμάτων καὶ στωμυλίας παρεισρυείσης εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἤρχοντο σεμνύνειν τὰ τοιαῦτα. σοφίας δὲ μέχρι καὶ νῦν ἱερὸν οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ σωφροσύνης ἢ καρτερίας ἢ μεγαλοψυχίας ἢ ἐγκρατείας· ἀλλὰ τά γε τῆς Τύχης ἱερὰ λαμπρὰ καὶ παλαιά, καὶ ὁμοῦ τι τοῖς πρώτοις καταμεμιγμένα τῆς πόλεως θεμελίοις γέγονε. πρῶτος μὲν γὰρ ἱδρύσατο Τύχης ἱερὸν Μάρκιος Ἄγκος, ὁ Νομᾶ θυγατριδοῦς καὶ τέταρτος ἀπὸ Ῥωμύλου βασιλεὺς γενόμενος· καὶ τάχα που τῇ τύχῃ τὴν ἀνδρείαν παρωνόμασεν, ᾗ πλεῖστον εἰς τὸ νικᾶν τύχης μέτεστι. τὸ δὲ τῆς γυναικείας Τύχης κατεσκευάσαντο, ὅτε Μάρκιον Κοριολᾶνον ἐπάγοντα τῇ πόλει Οὐολούσκους ἀπετρέψαντο διὰ τῶν γυναικῶν. πρεσβευσάμεναι γὰρ αὗται πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς γυναικός, ἐξελιπάρησαν καὶ κατειργάσαντο φείσασθαι τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὴν στρατιὰν τῶν βαρβάρων ἀπαγαγεῖν. τότε λέγεται τὸ ἄγαλμα τῆς Τύχης ἅμα τῷ καθιερωθῆναι φωνὴν ἀφεῖναι καὶ εἰπεῖν ὁσίως με πόλεως νόμῳ, γυναῖκες ἀσταί, καθιδρύσασθε καὶ μὴν καὶ Φούριος Κάμιλλος, ὅτε τὸ Κελτικὸν ἔσβεσε πῦρ, καὶ τὴν Ῥώμην ἀντίρροπον χρυσῷ κεκλιμένην ἀπὸ τοῦ ζυγοῦ καὶ τῆς πλάστιγγος καθεῖλεν, οὔτʼ εὐβουλίας οὔτʼ ἀνδρείας, ἀλλὰ Φήμης ἱδρύσατο καὶ Κληδόνος ἕδη παρὰ τὴν Καινὴν ὁδόν, ὅπου φασὶ πρὸ τοῦ πολέμου Μάρκῳ Καιδικίῳ βαδίζοντι νύκτωρ φωνὴν γενέσθαι κελεύουσαν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ Γαλατικὸν πόλεμον προσδέχεσθαι. τὴν δὲ πρὸς τῷ ποταμῷ Τύχην φόρτιν καλοῦσιν ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἰσχυρὰν ἢ ἀριστευτικὴν ἢ ἀνδρείαν, ὡς τὸ νικητικὸν ἁπάντων κράτος ἔχουσαν. καὶ τόν γε ναὸν αὐτῆς ἐν τοῖς ὑπὸ Καίσαρος τῷ δήμῳ καταλειφθεῖσι κήποις ᾠκοδόμησαν, ἡγούμενοι κἀκεῖνον εὐτυχίᾳ γενέσθαι μέγιστον, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐμαρτύρησε.

[¶5] 6. Yet I should hesitate to say of Gaius Caesar that he was raised to his most exalted position by good fortune, if he’ had not himself testified to this. For when on the fourth day of January he put out from Brundisium in pursuit of Pompey, though it was the time of the winter solstice, yet he crossed the sea in safety; for Fortune postponed the season. But when he found that Pompey had a compact and numerous army on land and a large fleet on the sea, and was well entrenched with all his forces, while he himself had a force many times smaller, and since his army with Antony and Sabinus was slow in coming, he had the courage to go on board a small boat and put out to sea in the guise of a servant, unrecognized by the captain and the pilot. But there was a violent commotion where heavy surge froni without encountered the current of the river, and Caesar, seeing the pilot changing his course, removed the cloak from his head and, revealing himself, said, “Go on, good sir, be brave and fear nothing! But entrust your sails to Fortune and receive her breeze, confident because you bear Caesar and Caesar’s Fortune.” Thus firmly was he convinced that Fortune accompanied him on his voyages, his travels, his campaigns, his commands; Fortune’s task it was to enjoin calm upon the sea, summer weather upon the winter-time, speed upon the slowest of men, courage upon the most dispirited, and (more unbelievable than these) to enjoin flight upon Pompey, and upon Ptolemy the murder of his guest, that Pompey should fall and Caesar should escape the stain of his blood.

> Greek: 6. περὶ δὲ Γαΐου Καίσαρος ᾐδέσθην ἂν εἰπεῖν, ὡς ὑπʼ εὐτυχίας ἤρθη μέγιστος, εἰ μὴ τοῦτʼ αὐτὸς ἐμαρτύρησεν. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἀπὸ Βρεντεσίου Πομπήιον διώκων ἀνήρθη πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας νοννῶν Ἰανουαρίων, χειμῶνος ἐν τροπαῖς ὄντος, τὸ μὲν πέλαγος ἀσφαλῶς διεπέρασε, τῆς Τύχης τὸν καιρὸν ὑπερθεμένης· εὑρὼν δὲ τὸν Πομπήιον ἄθρουν καὶ πολὺν μὲν ἐν γῇ πολὺν δʼ ἐν θαλάσσῃ μετὰ πασῶν ἅμα τῶν δυνάμεων καθεζόμενον αὐτὸς ὀλιγοστὸς ὤν, τῆς μετʼ Ἀντωνίου καὶ Σαβίνου στρατιᾶς αὐτῷ βραδυνούσης, ἐτόλμησεν εἰς ἀκάτιον μικρὸν ἐμβὰς καὶ λαθὼν τόν τε ναύκληρον καὶ τὸν κυβερνήτην ὥς τινος θεράπων ἀναχθῆναι. σκληρᾶς δὲ πρὸς τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ ποταμοῦ γενομένης ἀντιμεταβάσεως καὶ κλύδωνος ἰσχυροῦ, μεταβαλλόμενον ὁρῶν τὸν κυβερνήτην ἀφεῖλεν ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸ ἱμάτιον, καὶ ἀναδείξας ἑαυτὸν ἴθι ἔφη γενναῖε, τόλμα καὶ δέδιθι μηδέν, ἀλλʼ ἐπιδίδου τῇ Τύχῃ τὰ ἱστία καὶ δέχου τὸ πνεῦμα, πιστεύων ὅτι Καίσαρα φέρεις καὶ τὴν Καίσαρος Τύχην οὕτως ἐπέπειστο τὴν Τύχην αὐτῷ συμπλεῖν, συναποδημεῖν, συστρατεύεσθαι, συστρατηγεῖν· ᾗ ἔργον ἦν γαλήνην μὲν ἐπιτάξαι θαλάσσῃ, θέρος δὲ χειμῶνι, τάχος δὲ τοῖς βραδυτάτοις, ἀλκὴν δὲ τοῖς ἀθυμοτάτοις· τὸ δὲ τούτων ἀπιστότερον, φυγὴν Πομπηίῳ καὶ Πτολεμαίῳ ξενοκτονίαν, ἵνα καὶ Πομπήιος πέσῃ καὶ Καῖσαρ μὴ μιανθῇ.

[¶6] 7. What then? Caesar’s son, who was the first to be styled Augustus, and who ruled for fifty-four years, when he was sending forth his grandson to war, did he not pray to the gods to bestow upon the young man the courage of Scipio, the popularity of Pompey, and his own Fortune, thus recording Fortune as the creator of himself, quite as though he were inscribing the artist’s name on a great monument? For it was Fortune that imposed him upon Cicero, Lepidus, Pansa, Hirtius, and Mark Antony, and by their displays of valour, their deeds, victories, fleets, wars, armies, raised him on high to be the first of Roman citizens; and she cast down these men, through whom he had mounted, and left him to rule alone. It was, in fact, for him that Cicero governed the State, that Lepidus commanded armies, that Pansa conquered, that Hirtius fell, that Antony played the wanton. For I reckon even Cleopatra as a part of Caesar’s Fortune, on whom, as on a reef, even so great a commander as Antony was wrecked and crushed that Caesar might rule alone. The tale is told of Caesar and Antony that, when there was much familiarity and intimacy between them, they often devoted their leisure to a game of ball or dice or even to fights of pet birds, such as quails or cocks; and Antony always retired from the field defeated. It is further related that one of his friends, who prided himself on his knowledge of divination, was often wont to speak freely to him and admonish him, “Sir, what business have you with this youth? Avoid him! Your repute is greater, you are older, you govern more men, you have fought in wars, you excel in experience; but your Guardian Spirit fears this man’s Spirit. Your Fortune is mighty by herself, but abases herself before his. Unless you keep far away from him, your Fortune will depart and go over to him!”

> Greek: 7. τί δέ; ὁ τούτου μὲν υἱός, πρῶτος δʼ ἀναγορευθεὶς Σεβαστός, ἄρξας δὲ τέσσαρα καὶ πεντήκοντα ἔτη, οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐκπέμπων τὸν θυγατριδοῦν ἐπὶ στρατείαν εὔξατο τοῖς θεοῖς ἀνδρείαν μὲν αὐτῷ δοῦναι τὴν Σκιπίωνος, εὔνοιαν δὲ τὴν Πομπηίου, Τύχην δὲ τὴν αὑτοῦ; καθάπερ ἔργῳ μεγάλῳ δημιουργὸν ἐπιγράψας ἑαυτῷ τὴν Τύχην, ἥτις αὐτὸν ἐπιθεῖσα Κικέρωνι καὶ Λεπίδῳ καὶ Πάσσᾳ καὶ Ἱρτίῳ καὶ Μάρκῳ Ἀντωνίῳ, ταῖς ἐκείνων ἀριστείαις καὶ χερσὶ καὶ νίκαις καὶ στόλοις καὶ πολέμοις καὶ στρατοπέδοις γενόμενον πρῶτον εἰς ὕψος ἄρασα καὶ καταβαλοῦσα τούτους, διʼ ὧν ἀνέβη, μόνον κατέλιπεν. ἐκείνῳ γὰρ ἐπολιτεύετο Κικέρων καὶ Λέπιδος ἐστρατήγει καὶ Πάσσας ἐνίκα καὶ Ἵρτιος ἔπιπτε καὶ Ἀντώνιος ὕβριζεν. ἐγὼ γὰρ καὶ Κλεοπάτραν αὐτὴν τύχην Καίσαρος τίθημι, περὶ ἣν ὡς ἕρμα κατέδυ καὶ συνετρίβη τηλικοῦτος αὐτοκράτωρ, ἵνʼ ᾖ μόνος Καῖσαρ. λέγεται δέ, πολλῆς οἰκειότητος αὐτοῖς καὶ συνηθείας ὑπαρχούσης, πολλάκις σχολαζόντων εἰς παιδιὰν σφαίρας ἢ κύβων ἢ νὴ Δία θρεμμάτων ἁμίλλης, οἷον ὀρτύγων, ἀλεκτρυόνων, ἀεὶ νικώμενον Ἀντώνιον ἀπαλλάττεσθαι· καί τινα τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ μαντείᾳ σεμνυνόμενον πολλάκις παρρησιάζεσθαι καὶ νουθετεῖν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, τί σοι πρᾶγμα πρὸς τοῦτον ἔστι τὸν νεανίσκον; φεῦγʼ αὐτόν· ἐνδοξότερος εἶ, πρεσβύτερος εἶ, ἄρχεις πλειόνων, ἐνήθληκας πολέμοις, ἐμπειρίᾳ διαφέρεις· ἀλλʼ ὁ σὸς δαίμων τὸν τούτου φοβεῖται· καὶ ἡ τύχη σου καθʼ ἑαυτήν ἐστι μεγάλη κολακεύει δὲ τὴν τούτου· ἐὰν μὴ μακρὰν ᾖς, οἰχήσεται μεταβᾶσα πρὸς αὐτόν.

[¶7] 8. But enough! For such important testimonies from her witnesses has Fortune to support her. But we must also introduce the testimony of the very events of history, taking as the beginning of our account the beginning of Rome. To begin with, who would not at once declare touching the birth, the preservation, the nurture, the development of Romulus, that Fortune laid the foundations, and that Virtue finished the building? In the first place, then, it appears that the circumstances surrounding the origin and the birth of the very founders and builders of Rome were of a marvellous good fortune. For their mother is said to have consorted with a god; and even as they relate that Heracles was conceived during a long night (for the day was retarded in contrariety to nature, and the sun delayed), so regarding the generation and conception of Romulus they record that the sun was eclipsed and carne into exact conjunction with the moon at the time when Mars, a god, consorted with the mortal Silvia. And this same thing, they say, happened to Romulus also at the very time of his translation from this life; for they relate that he disappeared during an eclipse of the sun on the Capratine Nones, on which day, even to the present time, they hold high festival. Later, when the children were born and the despot gave orders to do away with them, by the decree of Fortune no barbarous or savage servant but a compassionate and humane man received them, with the result that he did not kill them; but there was a margin of the river, bordering upon a green meadow, shaded round about with lowly shrubs; and here the servant deposited the infants near a certain wild fig-tree, to which people later gave the name Ruminalis. Then a she-wolf, that had newly whelped, with her dugs distended and overflowing with milk because her young had perished, being herself in great need of relief, circled around the infants and then gave them suck, thus ridding herself of the pain caused by the milk as if it had been a second birth-pang. And a bird sacred to Mars, which they call the woodpecker, visited them and, perching near on tiptoe, would, with its claw, open the mouth of each child in turn and place therein a morsel, sharing with them a portion of its own food. Wherefore they named this wild fig-tree Ruminalis, from the teat (ruma) which the wolf offered to the children as she crouched beside the tree. And for a long time the people who dwelt near this place preserved the custom of never exposing any of the new-born infants, but they acknowledged and reared them all, in honour of Romulus’s experience and the similarity of the childrens’ case with his. And, in truth, the fact that they were not discovered while they were being reared and educated in Gabii, and that it was unknown that they were the sons of Silvia and the grandchildren of king Numitor surely appears to have been a furtive and shrewd device of Fortune, so that they might not, because of their lineage, be put to death before performing their tasks, but that they might in their very successes be discovered, by bringing to notice their noble qualities as tokens by which to recognize their high birth. At this point there occurs to me the remark of a great and prudent general, Themistocles, which was made to certain of the generals who came into favour at Athens after him and felt that they deserved to be rated above him. He said that the Day-After contended with the Feast-Day, saying that the Feast-Day was full of wearying tasks and labours, but on the Day-After men enjoyed in quiet all things that had been made ready. Then the Feast-Day said, “What you say is true; but if I had not been, where would you be?” “And so,” said Themistocles, “if I had not been at the time of the Persian Wars, what benefit would now come from you?” And this, methinks, is what Fortune says to the Virtue of Romulus: “Brilliant and mighty are your deeds, and in very truth you have proved yourself to be divine in blood and birth. But do you observe how far you fall behind me? For if, at the time of his birth, I had not accompanied him in a helpful and humane guise, but had deserted and abandoned the infants, how could you have come into being and whence had you derived such lustre? If on that occasion there had not come to them a female beast swollen with the abundance and the burden of her milk, and in need of some creature to be fed rather than of something to yield her sustenance, but if instead there had come some utterly savage and ravening creature, would not even now these fair palaces and temples, theatres, promenades, fora, and public buildings be herdsmen’s huts and folds of shepherds who paid homage to some man of Alba or Etruria or Latium as their lord?” The beginning, as every one knows, is of supreme importance in everything, and particularly in the founding and building of a city; and this Fortune provided, since she had preserved and protected the founder. For Virtue made Romulus great, but Fortune watched over him until be became great.

> Greek: 8. ἀλλὰ γὰρ αἱ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν μαρτύρων πίστεις τοσαῦται τῇ Τύχῃ πάρεισι. δεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν εἰσάγειν, ἀρχὴν τοῦ λόγου τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς πόλεως λαβόντας. εὐθὺς γοῦν τίς οὐκ ἂν εἴποι πρὸς τὴν Ῥωμύλου γένεσιν καὶ σωτηρίαν καὶ τροφὴν καὶ αὔξησιν τὴν μὲν Τύχην ὑποβολὰς κατατεθεῖσθαι τὴν δʼ Ἀρετὴν ἐξῳκοδομηκέναι; πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τὸ περὶ τὴν γένεσιν καὶ τὴν τέκνωσιν αὐτῶν τῶν ἱδρυσαμένων καὶ κτισάντων τὴν πόλιν εὐτυχίας ἔοικε θαυμαστῆς γενέσθαι. θεῷ γὰρ ἡ τεκοῦσα μιχθῆναι λέγεται, καὶ καθάπερ τὸν Ἡρακλέα σπαρῆναί φασιν ἐν μακρᾷ νυκτί, τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπισχεθείσης παρὰ φύσιν καὶ τοῦ ἡλίου βραδύναντος· οὕτω περὶ τὴν Ῥωμύλου σπορὰν καὶ καταβολὴν τὸν ἥλιον ἐκλιπεῖν ἱστοροῦσι, ποιησάμενον ἀτρεκῆ σύνοδον πρὸς σελήνην, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἄρης θεὸς ὢν τῇ Σιλβίᾳ θνητῇ συνῆλθε. τοῦτο δὲ συντυχεῖν τῷ Ῥωμύλῳ καὶ περὶ τὴν μετάστασιν αὐτὴν τοῦ βίου· λέγουσι γὰρ ἐκλείποντος τοῦ ἡλίου ἠφανίσθαι, νόνναις καπρατίναις, ἣν ἄχρι νῦν ἡμέραν ἐπιφανῶς ἑορτάζουσιν. ἔπειτα γεννηθέντας αὐτούς, τοῦ τυράννου ζητοῦντος ἀνελεῖν, παρέλαβε κατὰ τύχην οὐ βάρβαρος οὐδʼ ἄγριος ὑπηρέτης, ἐλεήμων δέ τις καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, ὥστε μὴ κτεῖναι· ἀλλὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τις ἦν ὄχθη χλοερῷ λειμῶνι προσβλύζουσα καὶ περισκιαζομένη χθαμαλοῖς δένδρεσιν· ἐνταῦθα κατέθηκε τὰ βρέφη πλησίον ἐρινεοῦ τινος, ὃν ῥουμινᾶλιν ὠνόμαζον. εἶτα λύκαινα μὲν νεοτόκος σπαργῶσα καὶ πλημμυροῦσα τοὺς μαστοὺς γάλακτι, τῶν σκύμνων ἀπολωλότων, αὐτὴ χρῄζουσα κουφισμοῦ, περιέστειξε τὰ βρέφη καὶ θηλὴν ἐπέσχεν, ὥσπερ ὠδῖνα δευτέραν ἀποτιθεμένη τὴν τοῦ γάλακτος. ἱερὸς δʼ ὄρνις Ἄρεος, ὃν δρυοκολάπτην καλοῦσιν, ἐπιφοιτῶν καὶ προσκαθίζων ἀκρώνυχος, ἐν μέρει τῶν νηπίων ἑκατέρου στόμα τῇ χηλῇ διοίγων, ἐνετίθει ψώμισμα, τῆς αὑτοῦ τροφῆς ἀπομερίζων. τὸν μὲν οὖν ἐρινεὸν ῥουμινᾶλιν ὠνόμασαν ἀπὸ τῆς θηλῆς, ἣν ἡ λύκαινα παρʼ αὐτὸν ὀκλάσασα τοῖς βρέφεσι παρέσχε· μέχρι δὲ πολλοῦ διεφύλαττον οἱ περὶ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον κατοικοῦντες μηδὲν ἐκτιθέναι τῶν γεννωμένων, ἀλλʼ ἀναιρεῖσθαι πάντα καὶ τρέφειν, τὸ Ῥωμύλου πάθος καὶ τὴν ὁμοιότητα τιμῶντες. καὶ μὴν τό τε λαθεῖν αὐτοὺς τρεφομένους καὶ παιδευομένους ἐν Γαβίοις καὶ ἀγνοηθῆναι Σιλβίας ὄντας υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατριδοῦς Νομίτορος τοῦ βασιλέως παντάπασι Τύχης κλέμμα καὶ σόφισμα φαίνεται γεγενημένον, ὅπως μὴ ἀπόλωνται πρὸ τῶν ἔργων διὰ τὸ γένος, ἀλλʼ ἐν αὐτοῖς φανῶσι τοῖς κατορθώμασι, γνώρισμα τῆς εὐγενείας τὴν ἀρετὴν παρέχοντες. ἐνταῦθά μοι μεγάλου καὶ φρονίμου στρατηγοῦ λόγος ἔπεισι Θεμιστοκλέους, ῥηθεὶς πρός τινας τῶν ὕστερον εὐημερούντων Ἀθήνησι στρατηγῶν καὶ προτιμᾶσθαι τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους ἀξιούντων. ἔφη γὰρ τὴν ὑστεραίαν ἐρίσαι πρὸς τὴν ἑορτὴν λέγουσαν ὡς ἐκείνη μέν ἐστι κοπώδης καὶ ἄσχολος, ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῶν παρεσκευασμένων ἀπολαύουσι μεθʼ ἡσυχίας τὴν οὖν ἑορτὴν εἰπεῖν ἀληθῆ λέγεις, ἀλλʼ ἐμοῦ μὴ γενομένης, ποῦ ἂν σὺ ἦσθα; κἀμοῦ τοίνυν ἔφη μὴ γενομένου περὶ τὰ Μηδικά, τίς ἂν ὑμῶν ἦν νῦν ὄνησις; τοῦτό μοι δοκεῖ πρὸς τὴν Ῥωμύλου Ἀρετὴν ἡ Τύχη λέγειν λαμπρὰ μὲν τὰ σὰ ἔργα καὶ μεγάλα καὶ θεῖον ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐξέφηνας αἷμα καὶ γένος οὖσαν σεαυτὴν ἀλλʼ ὁρᾷς πόσον ὑστερεῖς μου; εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ τότε μὴ παρηκολούθησα χρηστὴ καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, ἀλλʼ ἀπέλιπον καὶ προηκάμην τὰ νήπια, σὺ πῶς ἂν ἐγένου καὶ πόθεν ἐξέλαμψας; εἰ τότε μὴ θῆλυ θηρίον ἐπῆλθε φλεγμαῖνον ὑπὸ πλήθους καὶ φορᾶς γάλακτος καὶ τραφησομένου δεόμενον μᾶλλον ἢ θρέψοντος, ἀλλʼ ἀνήμερόν τι τελέως καὶ λιμῶττον, οὐκ ἂν ἔτι νῦν τὰ καλὰ ταῦτα βασίλεια καὶ ναοὶ καὶ θέατρα καὶ περίπατοι καὶ ἀγορὰ καὶ ἀρχεῖα βοτηρικαὶ καλύβαι καὶ σταθμοὶ νομέων ἦσαν, Ἀλβανὸν ἢ Τυρρηνὸν ἢ Λατῖνον ἄνδρα δεσπότην προσκυνούντων ἀρχὴ μὲν δὴ μέγιστον ἐν παντί, μάλιστα δʼ ἐν ἱδρύσει καὶ κτίσει πόλεως· ταύτην δʼ ἡ Τύχη παρέσχε, σῴσασα καὶ φυλάξασα τὸν κτίστην· ἡ μὲν γὰρ Ἀρετὴ μέγαν ἐποίησε Ῥωμύλον, ἡ Τύχη δʼ ἄχρι τοῦ γενέσθαι μέγαν ἐτήρησε, καὶ μὴν τήν γε Νομᾶ βασιλείαν πολυχρονιωτάτην γενομένην ὁμολογουμένως εὐτυχία διεκυβέρνησε θαυμαστή.

## 2. Sections 9–13

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-fortune-of-the-romans/2/#p-N

[¶0] 9. And in truth, it is generally agreed that a marvellous good Fortune guided the reign of Numa which endured for so many years. For the tale that a certain Egeria, a dryad and a wise divinity, consorted in love with the man, and helped him in instituting and shaping the government of his State, is perhaps somewhat fabulous. For other mortals who are said to have attained divine marriages and to have been beloved of goddesses, men like Peleus and Anchises, Orion and Emathion, by no means lived through their lives in a satisfactory, or even painless, manner. On the contrary, it appears likely that Numa had Good Fortune as his true wife, counsellor, and colleague; and she took the city in charge when it was being carried hither and yon amid the enmity and fierceness of bordering tribes and neighbours, as in the midst of turbulent billows of a troubled sea and was inflamed by countless struggles and dissensions; and she calmed those opposing passions and jealousies as though they had been but gusts of wind. Even as they relate that the sea, when it has received the brood of halcyons in the stormy season, keeps them safe and assists in their nurture, even such a calm in the affairs of Rome, free from war or pestilence or danger or terror, Fortune caused to overspread and surround the city, and thus afforded the opportunity to a newly settled and sorely shaken people to take root and to establish their city on a firm foundation where it might grow in quiet, securely and unhindered. It is as with a merchantman or a trireme, which is constructed by blows and with great violence, and is buffeted by hammers and nails, bolts and saws and axes, and, when it is completed, it must remain at rest and grow firm for a suitable period of time until its bonds hold tight and its fastenings have acquired affinity; but if it be launched while its joinings are still damp and slippery, these will all be loosened when they are racked by the waves, and will admit the sea. Even so the first ruler and artificer of Rome, in organizing the city from rustics and shepherds, as though building up from a stout keel, took upon himself no few labours, nor of slight moment were the wars and dangers that he withstood in warding off, of necessity, those who opposed the creation and foundation of Rome. But he who was the second to take over the State gained time by good fortune to consolidate and make assured the enlargement of Rome; for much peace did he secure for her and much quiet. But if at that time a Porsenna had pressed hard upon the city and had erected an Etruscan stockade and a camp beside the new walls which were still moist and unstable, or if from the Marsi had come some rebellious chief filled with warlike frenzy, or some Lucanian, incited by envy and love of strife, a man contentious and warlike, as later was Mutilus or the bold Silo b or Sulla’s last antagonist, Telesinus, arming all Italy at one preconcerted signal, as it were - if one of these had sounded his trumpets round about Numa, the lover of wisdom, while he was sacrificing and praying, the early beginnings of the City would not have been able to hold out against such a mighty surge and billow, nor would they ever have increased to such a goodly and numerous people. But as it is, it seems likely that the peace of Numa’s reign was a provision to equip them for their subsequent wars, and that the people, like an athlete, having, during a period of forty-three years following the contests of Romulus’s time, trained themselves in quiet and made their strength staunch enough to cope in battle with those who later arrayed themselves against them. For they relate that no famine nor pestilence nor failure of crops nor any unseasonable occurrence in either summer or winter vexed Rome during that time, as if it were not wise human counsel, but divine Fortune that was Rome’s guardian during those crucial days. Therefore at that time the double door of Janus’s temple was shut, which the Romans call the Portal of War; for it is open when there is war, but closedwhen peace has beenmade. But after Numa died it was opened, since the war with the Albans had broken out. Then countless other wars followed in continuous succession until again, after four hundred and eighty years, it was closed in the peace following the Punic War, when Gaius Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls. After this year it was again opened and the wars continued until Caesar’s victory at Actium. Then the arms of Rome were idle for a time, but not for long; for the tumults caused by the Cantabri and Gaul, breaking forth at the sanie time with the Germans, disturbed the peace. These facts are added to the record as proofs of Numa’s good fortune.

> Greek: 9. τὸ μὲν γὰρ Ἐγερίαν τινά, νυμφῶν μίαν δρυάδων, δαίμονα σοφὴν ἔρωτι τἀνδρὸς ἐν συνουσίᾳ γενομένην, παραπαιδαγωγεῖν καὶ συσχηματίζειν τὴν πολιτείαν, ἴσως μυθωδέστερόν ἐστι. καὶ γὰρ ἄλλοι λεχθέντες ἅψασθαι γάμων θείων καὶ θεοῖς ἐράσμιοι γενέσθαι, Πηλεῖς καὶ Ἀγχῖσαι καὶ Ὠρίωνες καὶ Ἠμαθίωνες, οὐ πάντως ἀγαπητῶς οὐδʼ ἀλύπως διεβίωσαν. ἀλλὰ Νομᾶς ἔοικε τὴν ἀγαθὴν Τύχην ἔχειν ὡς ἀληθῶς σύνοικον καὶ σύνεδρον καὶ συνάρχουσαν ἣ καθάπερ ἐν κλύδωνι θολερῷ καὶ τεταραγμένῳ πελάγει τῇ τῶν προσοίκων καὶ γειτόνων ἔχθρᾳ καὶ χαλεπότητι, τὴν πόλιν φερομένην καὶ φλεγμαίνουσαν ὑπὸ μυρίων πόνων καὶ διχοστασιῶν παραλαβοῦσα τοὺς μὲν ἀντιτεταγμένους θυμοὺς καὶ φθόνους ὥσπερ πνεύματα κατέσβεσεν· οἷα δέ φασι τὰς ἀλκυόνων λοχείας παραδεξαμένην τὴν θάλατταν ἐν χειμῶνι σῴζειν καὶ συνεκτιθηνεῖσθαι, τοιαύτην ἀναχεαμένη καὶ περιστήσασα γαλήνην πραγμάτων ἀπόλεμον καὶ ἄνοσον καὶ ἀκίνδυνον καὶ ἄφοβον, νεοσταθεῖ δήμῳ καὶ κραδαινομένῳ παρέσχε ῥιζῶσαι καὶ καταστῆσαι τὴν πόλιν, αὐξανομένην ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ βεβαίως καὶ ἀνεμποδίστως. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁλκὰς ἢ τριήρης ναυπηγεῖται μὲν ὑπὸ πληγῶν καὶ βίας πολλῆς, σφύραις καὶ ἥλοις ἀρασσομένη καὶ γομφώμασι καὶ πρίοσι καὶ πελέκεσι, γενομένην δὲ στῆναι δεῖ καὶ παγῆναι σύμμετρον χρόνον, ἕως οἵ τε δεσμοὶ κάτοχοι γένωνται καὶ συνήθειαν οἱ γόμφοι λάβωσιν· ἐὰν δὲ ὑγροῖς ἔτι καὶ περιολισθάνουσι τοῖς ἁρμοῖς κατασπασθῇ, πάντα χαλάσει διατιναχθέντα καὶ δέξεται τὴν θάλατταν· οὕτω τὴν Ῥώμην ὁ μὲν πρῶτος ἄρχων καὶ δημιουργὸς ἐξ ἀγρίων καὶ βοτήρων ὥσπερ ἐκ δρυόχων κραταιῶν συνιστάμενος, οὐκ ὀλίγους πόνους ἔσχεν οὐδὲ μικροῖς ἀντήρεισε πολέμοις καὶ κινδύνοις ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀμυνόμενος τοὺς ἀνθισταμένους πρὸς τὴν γένεσιν καὶ ἵδρυσιν αὐτῆς· ὁ δὲ δεύτερος παραλαβὼν χρόνον παρέσχε πῆξαι καὶ βεβαιῶσαι τὴν αὔξησιν τῇ εὐτυχίᾳ, ἐπιλαβόμενος πολλῆς μὲν εἰρήνης πολλῆς δʼ ἡσυχίας. εἰ δὲ τότε Πορσίνας τις ἐπέβρισε Τυρρηνικὸν χάρακα καὶ στρατόπεδον παραστήσας τείχεσιν ὑγροῖς ἔτι καὶ κραδαινομένοις ἤ τις ἐκ Μαρσῶν ἀποστὰς ἀρειμάνιος δυνάστης ἢ Λευκανὸς ὑπὸ φθόνου καὶ φιλονεικίας, ἀνὴρ δύσερις καὶ πολεμοποιός, οἷος ὕστερον Μουτίλος ἢ Σίλων ὁ θρασὺς ἢ τὸ ἔσχατον Σύλλα πάλαισμα Τελεσῖνος, ὡς ἀφʼ ἑνὸς συνθήματος ὅλην ἐξοπλίζων τὴν Ἰταλίαν, τὸν φιλόσοφον Νομᾶν περιεσάλπιζε θύοντα καὶ προσευχόμενον, οὐκ ἂν ἀντέσχον αἱ πρῶται τῆς πόλεως ἀρχαὶ πρὸς σάλον καὶ κλύδωνα τοσοῦτον οὐδʼ εἰς εὐανδρίαν καὶ πλῆθος ἐπέδωκαν· νῦν δʼ ἔοικε τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ὕστερον πολέμους παρασκευῆς ἑφόδιον Ῥωμαίοις ἡ τότʼ εἰρήνη γενέσθαι, καὶ καθάπερ ἀθλητὴς ὁ δῆμος ἐκ τῶν κατὰ Ῥωμύλον ἀγώνων ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ χρόνον ἐτῶν τριῶν καὶ τετταράκοντα σωμασκήσας τὴν δύναμιν ἀξιόμαχον καταστῆσαι τοῖς ὕστερον ἀντιταττομένοις. οὐδὲ γὰρ λιμὸν οὐδὲ λοιμὸν οὐδʼ ἀφορίαν γῆς οὐδʼ ἀωρίαν τινὸς θέρους ἢ χειμῶνος ἐν τῷ τότε χρόνῳ παραλυπῆσαι τὴν Ῥώμην λέγουσιν, ὡς οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνης εὐβουλίας ἀλλὰ θείας Τύχης ἐπιτροπευούσης τῶν καιρῶν ἐκείνων. ἐκλείσθη δʼ οὖν τότε καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἰανοῦ δίπυλον, ὃ πολέμου πύλην καλοῦσιν· ἀνέῳγε μὲν γάρ, ὅταν ᾖ πόλεμος, κλείεται δʼ εἰρήνης γενομένης. Νομᾶ δʼ ἀποθανόντος ἀνεῴχθη, τοῦ πρὸς Ἀλβανοὺς πολέμου συρραγέντος. εἶτα μυρίων ἄλλων συνεχῶς ὑπολαμβανόντων, πάλιν διʼ ἐτῶν ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ τετρακοσίων ἐκλείσθη μετὰ τὸν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πόλεμον εἰρήνης γενομένης, Γαΐου Ἀτιλίου καὶ Τίτου Μαλλίου ὑπάτων. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν αὖθις ἀνεῴχθη καὶ διέμειναν οἱ πόλεμοι μέχρι τῆς ἐν Ἀκτίῳ νίκης Καίσαρος· τότε δʼ ἤργησε τὰ Ῥωμαίων ὅπλα χρόνον οὐ πολύν· αἱ γὰρ ἀπὸ Καντάβρων ταραχαὶ καὶ Γαλατίαι συρραγεῖσαι Γερμανοῖς, συνετάραξαν τὴν εἰρήνην. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εὐτυχίας τῆς Νομᾶ προσιστόρηται μαρτύρια.

[¶1] 10. And even the kings who succeeded Numa honoured Fortune as the head and foster-parent of Rome and, as Pindar has it, truly the “Prop of the State.” And Servius Tullius, the man who of all the kings most increased the power of his people, and introduced a well-regulated government and imposed order upon both the holding of elections and military procedure, and became the first censor and overseer of the lives and decorum of the citizens, and held the highest repute for courage and wisdom, of his own initiative attached himself to Fortune and bound his sovereignty fast to her, with the result that it was even thought that Fortune consorted with him, descending into his chamber through a certain window which they now call the Porta Fenestella. He, accordingly, built on the Capitoline a temple of Fortune which is now called the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia (which one might translate as “First-Born”) and the Temple of Fortuna Obsequens, which some think means “obedient” and others “gracious.” However, I prefer to abandon the Latin nomenclature, and shall endeavour to enumerate in Greek the different functions of the shrines of Fortune. There is, in fact, a shrine of Private Fortune on the Palatine, and the shrine of the Fowler’s Fortune which, even though it be a ridiculous name, yet gives reason for reflexion on metaphorical grounds, as if she attracted far-away objects and held them fast when they come into contact with her. Beside the Mossy Spring, as it is called, there is even yet a temple of Virgin Fortune; and on the Esquiline a shrine of Regardful Fortune. In the Angiportus Longus there is an altar of Fortune of Good Hope; and there is also beside the altar of Venus of the Basket a shrine of the Men’s Fortune. And there are countless other honours and appellations of Fortune, the greater part of which Servius instituted; for he knew that “Fortune is of great moment, or rather, she is everything in human affairs,” and particularly since he himself, through good fortune, had been promoted from the family of a captive enemy to the kingship. For, when the town of Corniculum was taken by the Romans, a captive maiden Ocrisia, whose fortune could not obscure either her beauty or her character, was given to be a slave to Tanaquil, the wife of king Tarquin; and a certain dependent, one of those whom the Romans call clientes, had her to wife; from these parents Servius was born. Others deny this, but assert that Ocrisia was a maiden who took the first-fruits and the libations on all occasions from the royal table and brought them to the hearth; and once on a time when she chanced, as usual, to be casting the offerings upon the fire, suddenly, as the flames died down, the member of a man rose up out of the hearth; and this the girl, greatly frightened, told to Tanaquil only. Now Tanaquil was an intelligent and understanding woman, and she decked the maiden in garments such as become a bride, and shut her up in the room with the apparition, for she judged it to be of a divine nature. Some declare that this love was manifested by the Lar of the house, others that it was by Vulcan. At any rate, it resulted in the birth of Servius, and, while he was still a child, his head shone with a radiance very like the gleam of lightning. But Antias and his school say not so, but relate that when Servius’s wife Gegania lay dying, in the presence of his mother he fell into a sleep from dejection and grief; and as he slept, his face was seen by the women to be surrounded by the gleam of fire. This was a token of his birth from fire and an excellent sign pointing to his unexpected accession to the kingship, which he gained after the death of Tarquin, by the zealous assistance of Tanaquil. Inasmuch as he of all kings is thought to have been naturally the least suited to monarchy and the least desirous of it, he who was minded to resign the kingship, but was prevented from doing so; for it appears that Tanaquil on her death-bed made him swear that he would remain in power and would ever set before him the ancestral Roman form of government. Thus to Fortune wholly belongs the kingship of Servius, which he received contrary to his expectations and retained against his will.

> Greek: 10. τὴν δὲ Τύχην καὶ οἱ μετʼ ἐκεῖνον ἐθαύμασαν βασιλεῖς ὡς πρωτόπολιν καὶ τιθηνὸν καὶ φερέπολιν τῆς Ῥώμης ἀληθῶς κατὰ Πίνδαρον. Σέρβιος δὲ Τύλλιος, ἀνὴρ τῶν βασιλέων μάλιστα καὶ τὴν δύναμιν αὐξήσας τοῦ δήμου καὶ τὸ πολίτευμα κοσμήσας καὶ τάξιν μὲν ἐπιθεὶς ταῖς ψηφοφορίαις, τάξιν δὲ ταῖς στρατείαις, τιμητὴς δὲ πρῶτος καὶ βίων ἐπίσκοπος καὶ σωφροσύνης γενόμενος καὶ δοκῶν ἀνδρειότατος εἶναι καὶ φρονιμώτατος, αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὴν Τύχην ἀνῆπτε καὶ ἀνεδεῖτο τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἐξ ἐκείνης· ὥστε καὶ συνεῖναι δοκεῖν αὐτῷ τὴν Τύχην διά τινος θυρίδος καταβαίνουσαν εἰς τὸ δωμάτιον, ὃ νῦν Φενεστέλλαν πύλην καλοῦσιν. ἱδρύσατο δʼ οὖν Τύχης ἱερὸν ἐν μὲν Καπετωλίῳ τὸ τῆς Πριμιγενείας λεγομένης, ὃ πρωτογόνου τις ἂν ἑρμηνεύσειε καὶ τὸ τῆς Ὀψεκουέντις, ἣν οἱ μὲν πειθήνιον οἱ δὲ μειλίχιον εἶναι νομίζουσι. μᾶλλον δὲ τὰς Ῥωμαϊκὰς ἐάσας ὀνομασίας Ἑλληνιστὶ τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν ἱδρυμάτων πειράσομαι καταριθμήσασθαι. καὶ γὰρ ἰδίας Τύχης ἱερόν ἐστιν ἐν Παλατίῳ, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἰξευτρίας, εἰ καὶ γελοῖον, ἀλλʼ ἔχον ἐκ μεταφορᾶς ἀναθεώρησιν, οἷον ἑλκούσης τὰ πόρρω καὶ κρατούσης συμπροσισχόμενα. παρὰ δὲ τὴν Μουσκῶσαν καλουμένην κρήνην ἔτι Παρθένου Τύχης ἱερόν ἐστι καὶ ἐν Αἰσκυλίαις ἐπιστρεφομένης· ἐν δὲ τῷ μακρῷ στενωπῷ Τύχης βωμὸς εὐέλπιδος· ἔστι δὲ καὶ παρὰ τὸν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἐπιταλαρίου βωμὸν ἄρρενος Τύχης ἕδος. ἄλλαι τε μυρίαι Τύχης τιμαὶ καὶ ἐπικλήσεις, ὧν τὰς πλείστας Σερούιος κατέστησεν, εἰδὼς ὅτι μεγάλη ῥοπὴ μᾶλλον δʼ ὅλον ἡ Τύχη παρὰ πάντʼ ἐστὶ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγματα, καὶ μάλιστά γʼ αὐτοῦ διʼ εὐτυχίαν ἐξ αἰχμαλώτου καὶ πολεμίου γένους εἰς βασιλείαν προαχθέντος. τοῦ γὰρ Κορνικλάνων ἄστεος ἁλόντος ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων, Ὀκρησία παρθένος αἰχμάλωτος, ἧς οὐδὲ τὴν ὄψιν οὐδὲ τὸν τρόπον ἠμαύρωσεν ἡ τύχη, δοθεῖσα Τανακυλλίδι τῇ Ταρκυνίου γυναικὶ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐδούλευσε· καὶ πελάτης τις εἶχεν αὐτήν, οὓς κλιέντης Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσιν· ἐκ τούτων ἐγεγόνει Σερούιος. οἱ δʼ οὔ φασιν, ἀλλὰ παρθένον τὴν Ὀκρησίαν ἀπάργματα καὶ λοιβὴν ἑκάστοτε λαμβάνουσαν ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλικῆς τραπέζης ἐπὶ τὴν ἑστίαν κομίζειν καί ποτε τυχεῖν μὲν αὐτήν, ὥσπερ εἰώθει, τῷ πυρὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ἐπιβάλλουσαν, αἰφνίδιον δὲ τῆς φλογὸς μαρανθείσης μόριον ἀνδρὸς ἀνατεῖναι γόνιμον ἐκ τῆς ἑστίας, καὶ τοῦτο τὴν κόρην τῇ Τανακυλλίδι φράσαι μόνῃ περίφοβον γενομένην. τὴν δὲ συνετὴν οὖσαν καὶ φρενήρη κοσμῆσαί τε τὴν κόρην ὅσα νύμφαις πρέπει καὶ συγκαθεῖρξαι τῷ φάσματι, θεῖον ἡγουμένην. οἱ μὲν ἥρωος οἰκουροῦ λέγουσιν, οἱ δʼ Ἡφαίστου τὸν ἔρωτα τοῦτον γενέσθαι. τίκτεται δʼ οὖν Σερούιος, καὶ βρέφους ὄντος ἡ κεφαλὴ σέλας ἀστραπῇ παραπλήσιον ἀπήστραψεν. οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀντίαν οὐχ οὕτω λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ τυχεῖν μὲν τῷ Σερουίῳ τὴν γυναῖκα Γεγανίαν θνήσκουσαν, αὐτὸν δὲ τῆς μητρὸς παρούσης εἰς ὕπνον ἐκ δυσθυμίας καὶ λύπης ἀποκλιθῆναι· καὶ καθεύδοντος αὐτοῦ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ὀφθῆναι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πυρὶ περιλαμπόμενον· ὅπερ ἦν μαρτύριον αὐτῷ τῆς ἐκ πυρὸς γενέσεως, σημεῖον δὲ χρηστὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπροσδόκητον ἡγεμονίαν, ἧς ἔτυχε μετὰ τὴν Ταρκυνίου τελευτήν,. Τανακυλλίδος σπουδασάσης. ἐπεὶ πάντων γε τῶν βασιλέων πρὸς μοναρχίαν οὗτος ἀφυέστατος δοκεῖ γενέσθαι καὶ ἀπροθυμότατος, ὅς γε τὴν βασιλείαν ἀποθέσθαι διανοηθεὶς ἐκωλύθη· τελευτῶσα γὰρ ὡς ἔοικεν ἐξώρκωσε τοῦτον ἐμμεῖναι τῇ ἀρχῇ καὶ μὴ προέσθαι τὴν πάτριον Ῥωμαίων πολιτείαν. οὕτως ἡ Σερουίου βασιλεία παντάπασι τῆς Τύχης, ἣν ἔλαβέ τε μὴ προσδοκήσας καὶ μὴ βουλόμενος διεφύλαξεν.

[¶2] 11. That we may not, however, appear to be retreating and withdrawing from illuminating and perspicuous testimonials into the dim past, as into a place of darkness, let us now leave the kings and transfer our discourse to the most notable deeds and the most celebrated wars. And in these wars, who would not acknowledge that much daring and courage was needed and also, as Timotheüs has it, “Shame, the helpmate of warring Valour?” Yet the smooth flow of events and the impelling swiftness of Rome’s progress to so high a pinnacle of power and expansion demonstrates to all who reason aright that the progress of Rome’s sovereignty was not brought about by the handiwork and urging of human beings, but was speeded on its way by divine escort and the fair wind of Fortune. Trophy upon trophy arises, triumph meets triumph, and the first blood, while still warm on their arms, is overtaken and washed away by a second flood. They count their victories, not by the multitude of corpses and spoils, but by captive kingdoms, by nations enslaved, by islands and continents added to their mighty realm. In one battle Philip lost Macedonia, with one stroke Antiochus was forced to withdraw from Asia, by one defeat the Carthaginians lost Africa. One man in the swift onset of one campaign added to the Roman dominion Armenia, Pontus, the Euxine, Syria, Arabia, the Albanians, the Iberians, and all the territory to the Caucasus and the Hyrcanians; thrice did the Ocean which encircles the inhabited world see him victorious, for in Africa he drove back the Numidians to the strands of the southern sea; even as far as the Atlantic Ocean, he subdued Iberia, which had joined in the distemper of Sertorius; the kings of the Albanians were pursued until he brought them to a halt near the Caspian Sea. All these successes he won through enjoying the Fortune of the Roman commonwealth; then he was overthrown by his own fate. But the great Guardian Spirit of Rome sent a favouring breeze, not for one day, nor at its height for a brief time only, like the Macedonian, nor but a land breeze, like the Spartan, nor but a sea breeze, like the Athenian, nor late to rise, like the Persian, nor quick to cease, like the Carthaginian; but this Spirit, from its first creation, grew in maturity, in might, and in polity together with the City, and remained constant to it on land and on sea, in war and in peace, against foreigners, against Greeks. This it was that dissipated and exhausted in the confines of Italy, like a mountain torrent, Hannibal the Carthaginian, since no fresh aid flowed to him from home because of jealousy and political enmities. This it was that separated and kept apart by great intervals of space and time the armies of the Cimbri and of the Teutons, that Marius might avail to fight each of them in turn, and that three hundred thousand men of irresistible and invincible arms might not simultaneously invade and overwhelm Italy. Through the agency of this Spirit Antiochus was fully occupied while war was being waged against Philip, and Philip had been vanquished and was falling when Antiochus was making his venture; the Sarmatian and Bastarnian wars restrained Mithridates during the time when the Marsian war was blazing up against Rome; suspicion and jealousy kept Tigranes from Mithridates while Mithridates was brilliantly successful, but he joined himself to Mithridates only to perish with him in defeat.

> Greek: 11. ἀλλʼ ἵνα μὴ δοκῶμεν ὥσπερ εἰς τόπον ἀμαυρὸν τὸν παλαιὸν χρόνον ἐκ τῶν λαμπρῶν καὶ ἐναργῶν τεκμηρίων φεύγειν καὶ ὑποχωρεῖν, φέρε τοὺς βασιλεῖς ἐάσαντες ἐπὶ τὰς γνωριμωτάτας πράξεις καὶ τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους πολέμους τὸν λόγον μεταγάγωμεν. οἷς πολλὴν τόλμαν καὶ ἀνδρείαν αἰδῶ τε συνεργὸν ἀρετᾶς δοριμάχου ὥς φησι Τιμόθεος, τίς οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσειεν; ἡ δʼ εὔροια τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ τὸ ῥόθιον τῆς εἰς τοσαύτην δύναμιν καὶ αὔξησιν ὁρμῆς, οὐ χερσὶν ἀνθρώπων οὐδʼ ὁρμαῖς προχωροῦσαν ἡγεμονίαν, θείᾳ δὲ πομπῇ καὶ πνεύματι Τύχης ἐπιταχυνομένην, ἐπιδείκνυται τοῖς ὀρθῶς λογιζομένοις. τρόπαια τροπαίοις ἐπανίσταται καὶ θριάμβοι θριάμβοις ἀπαντῶσι, καὶ τὸ πρῶτον αἷμα τῶν ὅπλων ἔτι θερμὸν ἀποκλύζεται τῷ δευτέρῳ καταλαμβανόμενον. τὰς δὲ νίκας ἀριθμοῦσιν οὐ νεκρῶν πλήθει καὶ λαφύρων, ἀλλὰ βασιλείαις αἰχμαλώτοις καὶ δεδουλωμένοις ἔθνεσι καὶ νήσοις καὶ ἠπείροις προσοριζομέναις τῷ μεγέθει τῆς ἡγεμονίας. μιᾷ μάχῃ Φίλιππος ἀπέβαλε Μακεδονίαν, μιᾷ πληγῇ παρεχώρησεν Ἀντίοχος Ἀσίας, ἅπαξ Καρχηδόνιοι σφαλέντες ἀπώλεσαν Λιβύην. εἷς ἀνὴρ μιᾶς ὁρμῇ στρατιᾶς Ἀρμενίαν προσεκτήσατο Πόντον Εὔξεινον Συρίαν Ἀραβίαν Ἀλβανοὺς Ἴβηρας τὰ μέχρι Καυκάσου καὶ Ὑρκανῶν· καὶ τρὶς αὐτὸν ὁ περιρρέων τὴν οἰκουμένην Ὠκεανὸς εἶδε νικῶντα. Νομάδας μὲν ἐν Λιβύῃ μέχρι τῶν μεσημβρινῶν ἀνέκοψεν ἠιόνων, Ἰβηρίαν δὲ Σερτωρίῳ συννοσήσασαν ἄχρι τῆς Ἀτλαντικῆς κατεστρέψατο θαλάσσης· τοὺς δʼ Ἀλβανῶν βασιλεῖς διωκομένους περὶ τὸ Κάσπιον πέλαγος ἔστησε. ταῦτα πάντα κατώρθωσε δημοσίᾳ τύχῃ χρώμενος, εἶθʼ ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἀνετράπη μοίρας. ὁ δὲ Ῥωμαίων μέγας δαίμων οὐκ ἐφήμερος πνεύσας οὐδὲ καιρὸν ἀκμάσας βραχὺν ὡς ὁ Μακεδόνων, οὐδὲ χερσαῖος μόνον ὡς ὁ Λακώνων οὐδʼ ἐνάλιος ὡς ὁ Ἀθηναίων, οὐδʼ ὀψὲ κινηθεὶς ὡς ὁ Περσῶν, οὐδὲ ταχὺ παυσάμενος ὡς ὁ Κολοφωνίων· ἀλλʼ ἄνωθεν ἐκ πρώτων γενέσεων τῇ πόλει συνηβήσας καὶ συναυξηθεὶς καὶ συμπολιτευσάμενος, καὶ παραμείνας βέβαιος ἐν γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ καὶ πολέμοις καὶ εἰρήνῃ καὶ πρὸς βαρβάρους καὶ πρὸς Ἕλληνας. οὗτος Ἀννίβαν τὸν Καρχηδόνιον, φθόνῳ καὶ ταῖς πολιτικαῖς ἔχθραις μηδενὸς οἴκοθεν ἐπιρρέοντος, ὥσπερ χείμαρρον ἐξέχεε καὶ κατανάλωσε περὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν. οὗτος τὸ Κίμβρων καὶ τὸ Τευτόνων στράτευμα μεγάλοις διαστήμασι τόπων καὶ χρόνων ἐχώρισε καὶ διέσπασεν, ἵνʼ ἀρκέσῃ Μάριος ἑκατέροις ἀνὰ μέρος μαχόμενος, καὶ μὴ συμπεσοῦσαι τριάκοντα μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν ἀηττήτων καὶ ἀμάχων ὅπλων ὁμοῦ κατακλύσωσι τὴν Ἰταλίαν. διὰ τοῦτον Ἀντίοχος μὲν ἠσχολεῖτο, πολεμουμένου Φιλίππου, Φίλιππος δέ, κινδυνεύοντος Ἀντιόχου, προηττημένος ἔπιπτε· Μιθριδάτην δέ, τοῦ Μαρσικοῦ πολέμου τὴν Ῥώμην ἐπιφλέγοντος, οἱ Σαρματικοὶ καὶ Βασταρνικοὶ πόλεμοι κατεῖχον· Τιγράνην δὲ Μιθριδάτου λαμπροῦ μὲν ὄντος ὑπόνοια καὶ φθόνος ἐχώριζεν, ἡττωμένῳ δʼ ἀνέμιξεν ἑαυτὸν συναπολέσθαι.

[¶3] 12. And why not admit that Fortune also retrieved the city in times of the greatest disaster? When the Gauls were encamped round about the Capitol and were besieging the citadel, “Baneful the plague that she brought on the host, and the people were dying.” And as for the Gauls’ nocturnal assault, though they were noticed by none, yet Fortune and Chance brought about the discovery. Concerning this assault of the Gauls it will perhaps not be unseasonable to give some additional details, however briefly. After the great defeat of the Romans at the river Allia, some in their flight found a haven in Rome and filled the people with consternation and terror, and caused them to scatter far and wide, although a few went to the Capitol and prepared to stand a siege. Others, immediately after their defeat, gathered together at Veii and appointed as dictator Furius Camillus, whom the people in their prosperity and lofty pride had rejected and deposed because he had become involved in a suit concerning the appropriation of public property. But now, cowed and humbled after their defeat, they were for recalling him, and offered to hand over to him the supreme command, accountable to no one. Accordingly, that he might not be thought to be obtaining office because of the crisis, but in accordance with the law, and that he should not, as if he had given up all hope for the city, be elected by soldiery in a canvass of the remnants of the army, now scattered and wandering, it was necessary that the senators on the Capitolino should vote upon the matter after they had been informed of the decision of the soldiers. Now there was a certain Gaius Pontius, a brave man, who, by volunteering personally to report these resolutions to the Senate on the Capitol, took upon himself great danger. For the way led through the midst of the enemy, who encompassed the citadel with sentries and palisades. When, accordingly, he had come by night to the river, he bound broad strips of cork beneath his breast and, entrusting his body to the buoyancy of this support, committed himself to the stream. Encountering a gentle current which bore him slowly down stream, he reached the opposite bank in safety, and, climbing out of the river, advanced toward the section void of lights, inferring from the darkness and quiet that no one was there. Clinging to the precipitous cliff and entrusting himself to the support of sloping and circuitous ways and jagged surfaces of the rock which would allow a foothold or afford a clutch for his hand, he reached the top of the rock; he was received by the sentries, and made known to those within the decision of the army, and having obtained the decree of the Senate, he returned again to Camillus. The next day one of the barbarians was wandering idly about this place, when he saw in one spot prints of feet and marks of slipping, and in another the bruising and tearing off of the grass, which grew on the earth of the cliff, and marks of the zigzag dragging and pulling up of a body; and this he told to the others. They, thinking that the way was pointed out to them by their enemies, attempted to rival them; and waiting till the very dead of night, they made the ascent, unnoticed not only by the sentinels, but also by the dogs which shared guard duty and formed the outpost, but then were overcome by sleep. Rome’s Fortune, however, did not lack a voice capable of revealing and declaring such a great mischance. Sacred geese were kept near the temple of Juno for the service of the goddess. Now by nature this bird is easily disturbed and frightened by noise; and at this time, since they were neglected, because dire want oppressed the garrison, their sleep was light, and was made uncomfortable by hunger, with the result that they were at once aware of the enemy as they showed themselves above the edge of the cliif. The geese hissed at them and rushed at them impetuously, and, at the sight of arms, became even more excited, and filled the place with piercing and discordant clamour. By this the Romans were aroused, and, when they comprehended what had happened, they forced back their enemies and hurled them over the precipice. And even to this day, in memory of these events, there are borne in solemn procession a dog impaled on a stake, but a goose perched in state upon a costly coverlet in a litter. This spectacle exhibits the might of Fortune and the ease with which, whenever she busies herself and takes command, she provides from unexpected sources against all emergencies by implanting intelligence in the unreasoning and senseless, and prowess and daring in the craven. For who would not, truly, be struck with astonishment and amazement when he has come to learn and has embraced in his consideration the former dejection of the city and her present prosperity, and has looked upon the splendour of her temples, the richness of her votive offerings, the rivalry of her arts and crafts, the ambitious efforts of subject cities, the crowns of dependent kings, and all things which the earth contributes and the sea and islands, continents, rivers, trees, living creatures, plains, mountains, mines, the first-fruits of everything, vying for beauty in the aspect and grace that adorns this place? And then comes the thought: how near did all this come to not being created and to not existing at all! When all things else were overcome by fire and frightful darkness and gloom, by foreign swords and murderous rage, it was poor, irrational, and timorous creatures that contributed the beginning of deliverance; and those great heroes and commanders, the Manlii, the Servilii, the Postumii, the Papirii, the founders of future illustrious houses, whom naught separated from death, geese aroused to make defence for the god of their fathers and for their fatherland. But if it be true, as Polybius has recorded in his second book, concerning the Gauls who had at this time seized Rome, that, when news suddenly came to them that their domains at home were in danger of being lost to them at the hands of neighbouring barbarians who had invaded their land and were masters of it, they concluded a treaty of peace with Camillus and withdrew - if this be true, then there can be no contention with Fortune that she was not the cause of Rome’s preservation, by distracting the enemy, or rather, by abstracting them from Rome quite unexpectedly.

> Greek: 12. τί δʼ οὐχὶ καὶ περὶ τὰς μεγίστας συμφορὰς ὤρθου τὴν πόλιν ἡ Τύχη; Κελτῶν μὲν περὶ τὸ Καπετώλιον στρατοπεδευόντων καὶ πολιορκούντων τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, νοῦσον ἀνὰ στρατὸν ὦρσε κακήν, ὀλέκοντο δὲ λαοί· τὴν δὲ νυκτερινὴν ἔφοδον αὐτῶν, λεληθότων πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ἡ Τύχη καὶ ταὐτόματον ἔκπυστον ἐποίησε γενέσθαι. περὶ ἧς κἀν βραχεῖ πλείω διελθεῖν ἴσως οὐκ ἄκαιρόν ἐστι. μετὰ τὴν ἐπʼ Ἀλλίᾳ ποταμῷ Ῥωμαίων μεγάλην ἧτταν οἱ μὲν εἰς Ῥώμην κατάραντες ἀπὸ τῆς φυγῆς ταραχῆς συναναπλήσαντες τὸν δῆμον ἐξεπτόησαν καὶ διεσκέδασαν, ὀλίγων εἰς τὸ Καπετώλιον ἀνασκευασαμένων καὶ διακαρτερούντων. οἱ δʼ εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῆς τροπῆς εἰς Βηίους συναθροισθέντες ᾑροῦντο δικτάτωρα Φούριον Κάμιλλον, ὃν εὐτυχῶν μὲν καὶ ὑψαυχενῶν ὁ δῆμος ἀπεσείσατο καὶ κατέβαλε, δίκῃ περιπεσόντα δημοσίων κλοπῶν· πτήξας δὲ καὶ ταπεινωθεὶς ἀνεκαλεῖτο μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν, ἐγχειρίζων καὶ παραδιδοὺς ἀνυπεύθυνον ἡγεμονίαν. ἵνʼ οὖν μὴ καιρῷ δοκῇ νόμῳ δὲ λαμβάνειν ὁ ἀνήρ, μηδʼ ὡς ἀπεγνωκὼς τὴν πόλιν ὅπλοις ἀρχαιρεσιάζῃ τὰ τοῦ στρατοῦ σποράδος καὶ πλάνητος, ἔδει τοὺς ἐν Καπετωλίῳ βουλευτὰς ἐπιψηφίσασθαι τὴν τῶν στρατιωτῶν γνώμην μαθόντας, ἦν οὖν Γάιος Πόντιος ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός, καὶ τῶν δεδογμένων αὐτάγγελος ὑποστὰς ἔσεσθαι τοῖς ἐν Καπετωλίῳ μέγαν ἀνεδέξατο κίνδυνον· ἡ γὰρ ὁδὸς ἦν διὰ τῶν πολεμίων κύκλῳ φυλακαῖς καὶ χάραξι τὴν ἄκραν περιεχόντων. ὡς οὖν ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἦλθε νύκτωρ, φελλοὺς πλατεῖς ὑποστερνισάμενος καὶ τὸ σῶμα τῇ κουφότητι τοῦ ὀχήματος παραθέμενος ἀφῆκε τῷ ῥόῳ· τυχὼν δὲ πράου καὶ σχολαίως ὑποφέροντος ἥψατο τῆς ἀντιπέρας ὄχθης ἀσφαλῶς, καὶ ἀποβὰς ἐχώρει πρὸς τὸ τῶν φώτων διάκενον, τῷ τε σκότει καὶ τῇ σιωπῇ τὴν ἐρημίαν τεκμαιρόμενος· ἐμφὺς δὲ τῷ κρημνῷ, καὶ ταῖς δεχομέναις τὴν ἐπίβασιν καὶ παρεχούσαις ἀντίληψιν ἐγκλίσεσι καὶ περιαγωγαῖς καὶ τραχύτησι τῆς πέτρας παραδιδοὺς ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἐπερεισάμενος ἐξίκετο πρὸς τὸ ἀντιπέρας καὶ ἀναληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν προφυλάκων ἐδήλωσε τοῖς ἔσω τὰ δεδογμένα· καὶ λαβὼν τὸ ψήφισμα πάλιν ᾤχετο πρὸς τὸν Κάμιλλον. ἡμέρας δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων τις ἄλλως τὸν τόπον περιιὼν ὡς εἶδε τοῦτο μὲν ἴχνη ποδῶν ἀκρώνυχα καὶ περιολισθήσεις, τοῦτο δʼ ἀποτριβὰς καὶ περικλάσεις τῆς ἐπιβλαστανούσης τοῖς γεώδεσι πόας ὁλκούς τε σώματος πλαγίους καὶ ἀπερείσεις, ἔφραζε τοῖς ἄλλοις. οἱ δὲ δείκνυσθαι τὴν ὁδὸν αὑτοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων νομίζοντες ἐπεχείρουν ἁμιλλᾶσθαι, καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς τὸ ἐρημότατον διαφυλάξαντες ἀνέβησαν λαθόντες οὐ μόνον τοὺς φύλακας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς συνεργοὺς καὶ τοὺς προκοίτους τῆς φρουρᾶς κύνας ὕπνῳ κρατηθέντας. οὐ μὴν ἠπόρησεν ἡ τῆς Ῥώμης Τύχη φωνῆς κακὸν τοσοῦτο μηνῦσαι καὶ φράσαι δυναμένης. χῆνες ἱεροὶ περὶ τὸν νεὼν τῆς Ἥρας ἐτρέφοντο θεραπεύοντες τὴν θεόν. φύσει μὲν οὖν τὸ ζῷον εὐθορύβητόν ἐστι καὶ ψοφοδεές· τότε δέ, συντόνου περὶ τοὺς ἔνδον οὔσης ἀπορίας ἀμελουμένων αὐτῶν, λεπτὸς ἦν καὶ λιμώδης ὁ ὕπνος, ὥστʼ εὐθὺς ᾔσθοντο τῶν πολεμίων ὑπερφανέντων τῆς στεφάνης καὶ καταβοῶντες ἰταμῶς προσεφέροντο, καὶ τῇ τῶν ὅπλων ὄψει μᾶλλον ἐκταραττόμενοι κλαγγῆς διατόρου καὶ τραχείας ἐνεπεπλήκεσαν τὸν τόπον· ὑφʼ ἧς ἀναστάντες οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ συμφρονήσαντες τὸ γενόμενον ἐώσαντο καὶ κατεκρήμνισαν τοὺς πολεμίους. πομπεύει νῦν ἐπὶ τῶν τότε συμπτωμάτων κύων μὲν ἀνεσταυρωμένος, χὴν μάλα σεμνῶς ἐπὶ στρωμνῆς πολυτελοῦς καὶ φορείου καθήμενος, ἡ δʼ ὄψις ἐπιδείκνυται Τύχης ἰσχὺν καὶ πρὸς ἅπαν εὐπορίαν ἐκ τῶν παραλόγων, ὅταν τι πραγματεύηται καὶ στρατηγῇ, νοῦν μὲν ἀλόγοις καὶ ἄφροσιν ἀλκὴν δὲ καὶ θράσος δειλοῖς ἐντιθείσης, τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐκπλαγείη καὶ θαυμάσειεν, ἐμπαθὴς γενόμενος καὶ λογισμῷ τινι τὴν τότε κατήφειαν καὶ τὴν νῦν ὑπάρχουσαν εὐδαιμονίαν τῆς πόλεως περιλαβὼν καὶ ἀποβλέψας ἄνω λαμπρότητα καὶ πλοῦτον ἀναθημάτων καὶ τεχνῶν καὶ φιλοτιμίας πόλεων καὶ στεφάνους βασιλέων, καὶ ὅσα γῆ φέρει καὶ θάλαττα καὶ νῆσοι καὶ ἤπειροι καὶ ποταμοὶ καὶ δένδρα καὶ ζῷα καὶ πεδία καὶ ὄρη καὶ μέταλλα, πάντων ἀπαρχὰς ἐριζούσας εἰς κάλλος ὄψει καὶ χάριτι κοσμούσῃ τὸν τόπον, ὡς ταῦτα παρὰ μικρὸν γενέσθαι μηδʼ εἶναι; πυρὶ δὲ καὶ σκότει φοβερῷ καὶ ὄρφνῃ καὶ ξίφεσι βαρβάροις καὶ μιαιφόνοις θυμοῖς κρατουμένων πάντων, εὐτελῆ καὶ ἄλογα καὶ ἄτολμα θρέμματα σωτηρίας ἀρχὴν παρέσχε, καὶ τοὺς μεγάλους ἐκείνους ἀριστεῖς καὶ ἡγεμόνας Μαλλίους καὶ Σερουίους καὶ Ποστουμίους καὶ Παπιρίους τῶν αὖθις οἴκων γενάρχας, παρʼ οὐδὲν ἥκοντας ἀπολέσθαι, χῆνες ἀνέστησαν ὑπὲρ τοῦ πατρίου θεοῦ καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἀμύνεσθαι; εἰ δέ, ὥσπερ Πολύβιος ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ βίβλῳ περὶ τῶν τότε τὴν Ῥωμαίων πόλιν καταλαβόντων ἱστόρηκε Κελτῶν, ἀληθές ἐστιν ὅτι προσπεσούσης αὐτοῖς ἀγγελίας φθείρεσθαι τὰ οἴκοι, τῶν προσοίκων βαρβάρων ἐμβεβληκότων εἰς τὴν χώραν καὶ κρατούντων, ἀνεχώρησαν εἰρήνην θέμενοι πρὸς τὸν Κάμιλλον, οὐδʼ ἀμφισβήτησις ἔστι πρὸς τὴν Τύχην, ὡς οὐχὶ τῆς σωτηρίας αἰτία κατέστη περισπάσασα τοὺς πολεμίους, μᾶλλον δʼ ἀποσπάσασα τῆς Ῥώμης ἀπροσδοκήτως ἀλλὰ τί δεῖ περὶ ταῦτα διατρίβειν, ἃ σαφὲς οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ὡρισμένον ἔχει τῷ καὶ τὰ πράγματα διαφθαρῆναι τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ συγχυθῆναι τοὺς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὑπομνηματισμούς, ὡς Λίβιος ἱστόρηκε;

[¶4] 13. But what need is there to dwell on these matters, which offer nothing certain or definite because of the confusion of the events of Roman history and the destruction of contemporary chronicles, as Livy has recorded? Certainly the later events, plainer and clearer as they are, exhibit Fortune’s benignity; and to Fortune I ascribe also the death of Alexander, a man who by great good luck and brilliant successes, the result of his invincible daring and lofty aspirations, was sweeping swiftly through the world like a shooting star from East to West, and was already allowing the lustre of his arms to gleam upon Italy, since the destruction of Alexander the Molossian near Pandosia at the hands of the Bruttians and Lucanians served him as pretext for the campaign. But truly that love of glory which led him against all mankind embraced both an emulous desire for sovereignty and a wish to rival and to pass beyond the limits of Dionysus’s and Heracles’ expeditions. He learned that Rome’s power and courage was arrayed for the protection of Italy like a firm-set battle-line; for some account of their illustrious name and fame was often transmitted to him, as of athletes thoroughly practised in countless wars. “Not without spilling of blood could this matter, I deem, have been settled,” had the great aspirations of these two unconquered peoples with their invincible arms clashed with each other. For in numbers at this time the Romans were no fewer than an hundred and thirty thousand men; and every one of them was warlike and intrepid,
Knowing on horseback
How to do battle with men, and even, if need be, dismounted.

> Greek: 13. τὰ γὰρ ὕστερον μᾶλλον ὄντα δῆλα καὶ καταφανῆ δεικνύει τὴν τῆς Τύχης εὐμένειαν. ἐγὼ δὲ τίθεμαι καὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτήν, ἀνδρὸς εὐτυχήμασι μεγάλοις καὶ κατορθώμασι λαμπροῖς ὑπὸ θάρσους ἀμάχου καὶ φρονήματος ὥσπερ ἄστρου φερομένου καὶ διᾴττοντος ἐπὶ δυσμὰς ἐξ ἀνατολῶν καὶ βάλλοντος ἤδη τὰς τῶν ὅπλων αὐγὰς εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν, ὡς πρόφασις μὲν ἦν αὐτῷ τῆς στρατείας ὁ Μολοττὸς Ἀλέξανδρος ὑπὸ Βρεττίων καὶ Λευκανῶν περὶ Πανδοσίαν κατακεκομμένος· ὁ δʼ ἄγων αὐτὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους δόξης ἔρως καὶ ἡγεμονίας ζῆλον ἔσχε καὶ ἅμιλλαν ὑπερβαλέσθαι τὰ Διονύσου καὶ Ἡρακλέους πέρατα τῆς στρατηλασίας. τῆς δʼ Ἰταλίας ἐπυνθάνετο τὴν ἐν Ῥώμῃ δύναμιν καὶ ἀλκὴν ὥσπερ στόμωμα προτεταγμένην· ὄνομα γὰρ καὶ δόξα τούτων ἐπιφανεστάτη διεπέμπετο πρὸς αὐτὸν ὥσπερ ἀθλητῶν μυρίοις ἐγγεγυμνασμένων πολέμοις οὐ γὰρ ἀναιμωτί γε διακρινθήμεναι οἴω, συμπεσόντων ὅπλοις ἀνικήτοις φρονημάτων ἀδουλώτων. πλῆθος μὲν γὰρ ἦσαν οὗτοι τρισκαίδεκα μυριάδων οὐκ ἐλάττους, πολεμικοὶ δὲ καὶ ἀνδρώδεις ἅπαντες,
ἐπιστάμενοι μὲν ἀφʼ ἵππων
ἀνδράσι μάρνασθαι καὶ ὅθι χρὴ πεζὸν ἐόντα.