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I.9‑44.2

This webpage reproduces a section of
The Roman Antiquities

of
Dionysius of Halicarnassus

published in Vol. I
of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1937

The text is in the public domain.

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I.72‑90

(Vol. I) Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Roman Antiquities

 p143  (Book I, continued)

3 In the second generation after the departure of Hercules, and about the fifty-fifth year, according to the Romans' own account, the king of the Aborigines was Latinus, who passed for the son of Faunus, but was actually the son of Hercules; he was now in the thirty-fifth year of his reign.

45 1 At that time the Trojans who had fled with Aeneas from Troy after its capture landed at Laurentum, which is on the coast of the Aborigines facing the Tyrrhenian sea, not far from the mouth of the Tiber. And having received from the Aborigines some land for their habitation and everything else they desired, they built a town on a hill not far from the sea and called it Lavinium. 2 Soon after this they changed their ancient name and, together with the Aborigines, were called Latins, after the king of that country. And leaving Lavinium, they joined with the inhabitants of those parts in building a larger  p145 city, surrounded by a wall, which they called Alba; and setting out thence, they built many other cities, the cities of the so‑called Prisci Latini, of which the greatest part were inhabited even to my day. 3 Then, sixteen generations after the taking of Troy,​117 sending out a colony to Pallantium and Saturnia, where the Peloponnesians and the Arcadians had made their first settlement and where there were still left some remains of the ancient race, they settled these places and surrounded Pallantium with a wall, so that it then first received the form of a city. This settlement they called Rome, after Romulus, who was the leader of the colony and the seventeenth in descent from Aeneas. 4 But also concerning the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, since some historians have been ignorant of it and others have related it in a different manner, I wish to give more than a cursory account, having compared the histories of those writers, both Greek and Roman, who are the best accredited. The stories concerning him are as follows:

46 1 When Troy had been taken by the Achaeans, either by the stratagem of the wooden horse, as Homer represents, or by the treachery of the  p147 Antenoridae,​118 or by some other means, the greatest part of the Trojans and of their allies then in the city were surprised and slain in their beds; for it seems that this calamity came upon them in the night, when they were not upon their guard. But Aeneas and his Trojan forces which he had brought from the cities of Dardanus and Ophrynium to the assistance of the people of Ilium, and as many others as had early notice of the calamity, while the Greeks were taking the lower town, fled together to the stronghold of Pergamus,​119 and occupied the citadel, which was fortified with its own wall; here were deposited the holy things of the Trojans inherited from their fathers and their great wealth in valuables, as was to be expected in a stronghold, and here also the flower of their army was stationed. 2 Here they awaited and repulsed the enemy who were endeavouring to gain a foothold on the acropolis, and by making secret sallies they were able, through their familiarity with the narrow streets, to rescue the multitude which was seeking to escape at the taking of the city; and thus a larger number escaped than were taken prisoner. But with respect to the future he reasoned very properly that it would be impossible to  p149 save a city the greater part of which was already in possession of the enemy, and he therefore decided to abandon the wall, bare of defenders, to the enemy 3 and to save the inhabitants themselves as well as the holy objects inherited from their fathers and all the valuables he could carry away. Having thus resolved, he first sent out from the city the women and children together with the aged and all others whose condition required much time to make their escape, with orders to take the roads leading to Mount Ida, while the Achaeans, intent on capturing the citadel, were giving no thought to the pursuit of the multitude who were escaping from the city. Of the army, he assigned one part to escort the inhabitants who were departing, in order that their flight might be as safe and free from hardships as the circumstances would permit; and they were ordered to take possession of the strongest parts of Mount Ida. With the rest of the troops, who were the most valiant, he remained upon the wall of the citadel and, by keeping the enemy occupied in assaulting it, he rendered less difficult the flight of those who had gone on ahead. 4 But when Neoptolemus and his men gained a foothold on part of the acropolis and all the Achaeans rallied to their support, Aeneas abandoned the place; and opening the gates, he marched away with the rest of the fugitives in good order, carrying with him in the best chariots his father and the gods of his country, together with his wife and children and whatever else, either person or thing, was most precious.

47 1 In the meantime the Achaeans had taken the city by storm, and being intent on plunder,  p151 gave those who fled abundant opportunity of making their escape. Aeneas and his band overtook their people while still on the road, and being united now in one body, they seized the strongest parts of Mount Ida. 2 Here they were joined not only by the inhabitants of Dardanus, who, upon seeing a great and unusual fire rising from Ilium, had in the night left their city undefended, — all except the men with Elymus and Aegestus, who had got ready some ships and had departed even earlier, — but also by the whole populace of Ophrynium and by those of the other Trojan cities who clung to their liberty; and in a very short time this force of the Trojans became a very large one. 3 Accordingly, the fugitives who had escaped with Aeneas from the taking of the city and were tarrying on Mount Ida were in hopes of returning home soon, when the enemy should have sailed away; but the Achaeans, having reduced to slavery the people who were left in the city and in the places near by and having demolished the forts, were preparing to subdue those also who were in the mountains. 4 When, however, the Trojans sent heralds to treat for peace and begged them not to reduce them to the necessity of making war, the Achaeans held an assembly and made peace with them upon the following terms: Aeneas and his people were to depart from the Troad with all the valuables they had saved in their flight within a certain fixed time, after first delivering up the forts to the Achaeans; and the Achaeans were to allow them a safe-conduct by land and sea throughout all their dominions when they departed in pursuance of these terms. 5 Aeneas, having accepted these  p153 conditions, which he looked upon as the best possible in the circumstances, sent away Ascanius, his eldest son, with some of the allies, chiefly Phrygians, to the country of Dascylitis,​120 as it is called, in which lies the Ascanian lake, since he had been invited by the inhabitants to reign over them. But Ascanius did not tarry there for any great length of time; for when Scamandrius and the other descendants of Hector​121 who had been permitted by Neoptolemus to return home from Greece, came to him, he went to Troy, in order to restore them to their ancestral kingdom. 6 Regarding Ascanius, then, this is all that is told. As for Aeneas, after his fleet was ready, he embarked with the rest of his sons and his father, taking with him the images of the gods, and crossing the Hellespont, sailed to the nearest peninsula, which lies in front of Europe and is called Pallenê.​122 This country  p155 was occupied by a Thracian people called Crusaeans, who were allies of the Trojans and had assisted them during the war with greater zeal than any of the others.

48 1 This, then, is the most credible account concerning the flight of Aeneas and is the one which Hellanicus, among the ancient historians, adopts in his Troica.​123 There are different accounts given of the same events by some others, which I look upon as less probable than this. But let every reader judge as he thinks proper. 2 Sophocles, the tragic poet, in his drama Laocoön represents Aeneas, just before the taking of the city, as removing his household to Mount Ida in obedience to the orders of his father Anchises, who recalled the injunctions of Aphroditê and from the omens that had lately happened in the case of Laocoön's family conjectured the approaching destruction of the city. His iambics, which are spoken by a messenger, are as follows:

"Now at the gates arrives the goddess' son,

Aeneas, his sire upon his shoulders borne

Aloft, while down that back by thunderbolt

Of Zeus once smit the linen mantle streams;​124

Surrounding them the crowd of household slaves.

 p157 There follows a multitude beyond belief

Who long to join this Phrygian colony."​125

3 But Menecrates of Xanthus​126 says that Aeneas betrayed the city to the Achaeans out of hatred for Alexander and that because of this service he was permitted by them to save his household. His account, which begins with the funeral of Achilles, runs on this wise: "The Achaeans were oppressed with grief and felt that the army had had its head lopped off. However, they celebrated his funeral feast and made war with all their might till Ilium was taken by the aid of Aeneas, who delivered it up to them. For Aeneas, being scorned by Alexander and excluded from his prerogatives, overthrew Priam; and having accomplished this, he became one of the Achaeans." 4 Others say that he chanced to be tarrying at that time at the station where the Trojan ships lay; and others that he had been sent with a force into Phrygia by Priam upon some military expedition. Some give a more fabulous account of his departure. But let the case stand according to each man's convictions.

49 1 What happened after his departure creates still greater difficulty for most historians. For some, after they have brought him as far as Thrace, say he died there; of this number are Cephalon of Gergis​127 and Hegesippus,​128 who wrote concerning  p159 Pallenê, both of them ancient and reputable men. Others make him leave Thrace and take him to Arcadia, and say that he lived in the Arcadian Orchomenus, in a place which, though situated inland, yet by reason of marshes and a river, is called Nesos or "Island";​129 and they add that the town called Capyae​130 was built by Aeneas and the Trojans and took its name from Capys the Troan. 2 This is the account given by various other writers and by Ariaethus, the author of Arcadica.​131 And there are some who have the story that he came, indeed, to Arcadia and yet that his death did not occur there, but in Italy; this is stated by many others and especially by Agathyllus of Arcadia, the poet, who writes thus in an elegy:

"Then to Arcadia came and in Nesos left his two daughters,

Fruit of his love for Anthemonê fair and for lovely Codonê;

Thence made haste to Hesperia's land and begat there male offspring,

Romulus named."

3 The arrival of Aeneas and the Trojans in Italy is attested by all the Romans and evidences of it are to be seen in the ceremonies observed by them both  p161 in their sacrifices and festivals, as well as in the Sibyl's utterances, in the Pythian oracles, and in many other things, which none ought to disdain as invented for the sake of embellishment. Among the Greeks, also, many distinct monuments remain to this day on the coasts where they landed and among the people with whom they tarried when detained by unfavourable weather. In mentioning these, though they are numerous, I shall be as brief as possible.​132 4 They first went to Thrace and landed on the peninsula called Pallenê. It was inhabited, as I have said,​133 by barbarians called Crusaeans, who offered them a safe refuge. There they stayed the winter season and built a temple to Aphroditê on one of the promontories, and also a city called Aeneia,  p163 where they left all those who from fatigue were unable to continue the voyage and all who chose to remain there as in a country they were henceforth to look upon as their own. This city existed down to that period of the Macedonian rule which came into being under the successors of Alexander, but it was destroyed in the reign of Cassander, when Thessalonica was being founded; and the inhabitants of Aeneia with many others removed to the newly-built city.134

50 1 Setting sail from Pallenê, the Trojans came to Delos, of which Anius was king. Here there were many evidences of the presence of Aeneas and the Trojans as long as the island was inhabited and flourished. Then, coming to Cythera, another island, lying off the Peloponnesus, they built a temple there to Aphroditê. 2 And while they were on their voyage from Cythera and not far from the Peloponnesus, one of Aeneas' companions, named Cinaethus, died and they buried him upon one of the promontories, which is now called Cinaethion after him. And having renewed their kinship with the Arcadians, concerning which I shall speak in a later chapter,​135 and having stayed a short time in those parts, they left some of their number there and came to Zacynthus. 3 The Zacynthians, also, received them in a friendly manner on account of their kinship; for Dardanus, the son of Zeus and Electra, the daughter of Atlas, had, as they say, by Bateia two sons, Zacynthus and Erichthonius of whom the  p165 latter was the ancestor of Aeneas, and Zacynthus was the first settler of the island. In memory, therefore, of this kinship and by reason of the kindness of the inhabitants they stayed there some time, being also detained by unfavourable weather; and they offered to Aphroditê at the temple they had built to her a sacrifice which the entire population of Zacynthus performs to this day, and instituted games for young men, consisting among other events of a foot-race in which the one who comes first to the temple gains the prize. This is called the course of Aeneas and Aphroditê, and wooden statues of both are erected there. 4 From there, after a voyage through the open sea, they landed at Leucas, which was still in the possession of the Acarnanians. Here again they built a temple to Aphroditê, which stands to‑day on the little island between Dioryctus​136 and the city; it is called the temple of Aphroditê Aeneias.​137 And departing thence, they sailed to Actium and anchored off the promontory of the Ambracian Gulf; and from there they came to the city of Ambracia, which was then ruled by Ambrax, the son of Dexamenus, the son of Heracles. Monuments of their coming are left in both places: at Actium, the temple of Aphroditê Aeneias, and near to it that of the Great Gods, both of which existed  p167 even to my time; and in Ambracia, a temple of the same goddess and a hero-shrine of Aeneas near the little theatre. In this shrine there was a small archaic statue of wood, said to be of Aeneas, that was honoured with sacrifices by the priestesses they called amphipoloi or "handmaidens."

51 1 From Ambracia Anchises, sailing with the fleet along the coast, came to Buthrotum,​a a seaport of Epirus. But Aeneas with the most vigorous men of his army made a march of two days and came to Dodona, in order to consult the oracle; and there they found the Trojans who had come thither with Helenus. Then, after receiving responses concerning their colony and after dedicating to the god various Trojan offerings, including bronze mixing bowls, — some of which are still in existence and by their inscriptions, which are very ancient, show by whom they were given, — they rejoined the fleet after a march of about four days. The presence of the Trojans at Buthrotum is proved by a hill called Troy, where they encamped at that time. 2 From Buthrotum they sailed along the coast and came to a place which was then called the Harbour of Anchises but now has a less significant name;​138 there also they built a temple to Aphroditê, and then crossed the Ionian Gulf, having for guides on the voyage Patron the Thyrian​139 and his men, who  p169 accompanied them of their own accord.​140 The greater part of these, after the army had arrived safely in Italy, returned home; but Patron with some of his friends, being prevailed on by Aeneas to join the colony, stayed with the expedition. These, according to some, settled at Aluntium in Sicily. In memory of this service the Romans in the course of time bestowed Leucas and Anactorium, which they had taken from the Corinthians, upon the Acarnanians;​141 when the latter desired to restore the Oeniadae to their old home,​142 they gave them leave to do so, and also to enjoy the produce of the Echinades jointly with the Aetolians.​143 3 As for Aeneas and his companions, they did not all go ashore at the same place in Italy, but most of the ships came to anchor at the Promontory of Iapygia, which was then called the Salentine Promontory, and the others at a place named after Minerva,​144 where Aeneas himself chanced to set foot first in Italy. This place is a promontory that offers a harbour in the summer, which from that time has been called the Harbour of Venus.​145 After this they sailed along  p171 the coast until they reached the strait, having Italy on the right hand, and left in these places also some traces of their arrival, among others a bronze patera in the temple of Juno, on which there is an ancient inscription showing the name of Aeneas as the one who dedicated it to the goddess.

52 1 When they were off Sicily, whether they had any design of landing there or were forced from their course by tempests, which are common around this sea, they landed in that part of the island which is called Drepana. Here they found the Trojans who with Elymus and Aegestus had left Troy before them and who, being favoured by both fortune and the wind, and at the same time being not overburdened with baggage, had made a quick passage to Sicily and were settled near the river Crimisus in the country of the Sicanians. For the latter had bestowed the land upon them out of friendship because of their kinship to Aegestus, who had been born and reared in Sicily owing to the following circumstance. 2 One of his ancestors, a distinguished man of Trojan birth, became at odds with Laomedon and the king seized him on some charge or other and put him to death, together with all his male children, lest he should suffer some mischief at their hands. But thinking it unseemly to put the man's daughters to death, as they were still maidens, and at the same time unsafe to permit them to live among the Trojans, he delivered them to some merchants, with orders to carry them as far away as possible. 3 They were accompanied on the voyage by a youth of distinguished family, who was in love with one of them; and he married the girl when she arrived in  p173 Sicily. And during their stay among the Sicels they had a son, named Aegestus, who learned the manners and language of the inhabitants; but after the death of his parents, Priam being then king of Troy, he obtained leave to return home. And having assisted Priam in the war against the Achaeans, he then, when the city was about to be taken, sailed back again to Sicily, being accompanied in his flight by Elymus with the three ships which Achilles had had with him when he plundered the Trojan cities and had lost when they struck on some hidden rocks.​146 4 Aeneas, meeting with the men just named, showed them great kindness and built cities for them, Aegesta​147 and Elyma,​148 and even left some part of his army in these towns. It is my own surmise that he did this by deliberate choice, to the end that those who were worn out by hardships or otherwise irked by the sea might enjoy rest and a safe retreat. But some writers say that the loss of part of his fleet, which was set on fire by some of the women, who were dissatisfied with their wandering, obliged him to leave behind the people who belonged to the burned ships and for that reason could sail no longer with their companions.

 p175  53 There are many proofs of the coming of Aeneas and the Trojans to Sicily, but the most notable are the altar of Aphroditê Aeneias erected on the summit of Elymus and a temple erected to Aeneas in Aegesta; the former was built by Aeneas himself in his mother's honour, but the temple was an offering made by those of the expedition who remained behind to the memory of their deliverer. The Trojans with Elymus and Aegestus, then, remained in these parts and continued to be called Elymians; for Elymus was the first in dignity, as being of the royal family, and from him they all took their name. 2 But Aeneas and his companions, leaving Sicily, crossed the Tyrrhenian sea and first came to anchor in Italy in the harbour of Palinurus, which is said to have got this name from one of the pilots of Aeneas who died there. After that they put in at an island which they called Leucosia, from a woman cousin of Aeneas who died at that place. 3 From there they came into a deep and excellent harbour of the Opicans, and when here also one of their number died, a prominent man named Misenus, they called the harbour after him. Then, putting in by chance at the island of Prochyta and at the promontory of Caieta, they named these places in the same manner, desiring that they should serve as memorials of women who died there, one of whom is said to have been a cousin of Aeneas and the other his nurse. At last they arrived at  p177 Laurentum in Italy, where, coming to the end of their wandering, they made an entrenched camp, and the place where they encamped has from that time been called Troy. It is distant from the sea about four stades.

4 It was necessary for me to relate these things and to make this digression, since some historians affirm that Aeneas did not even come into Italy with the Trojans, and some that it was another Aeneas, not the son of Anchises and Aphroditê, while yet others say that it was Ascanius, Aeneas' son, and others name still other persons. And there are those who claim that Aeneas, the son of Aphroditê after he had settled his company in Italy, returned home, reigned over Troy, and dying, left his kingdom to Ascanius, his son, whose posterity possessed it for a long time. According to my conjecture these writers are deceived by mistaking the sense of Homer's verses. 5 For in the Iliad he represents Poseidon as foretelling the future splendour of Aeneas and his posterity on this wise:

"On great Aeneas shall devolve the reign,

And sons succeeding sons the lasting line sustain."​149

Thus, as they supposed that Homer knew these men reigned in Phrygia, they invented the return of Aeneas, as if it were not possible for them to reign over Trojans while living in Italy. But it was not impossible for Aeneas to reign over the Trojans he had taken with him, even though they were settled  p179 in another country. However, other reasons also might be given for this error.

54 1 But if it creates a difficulty for any that tombs of Aeneas are both said to exist, and are actually shown, in many places, whereas it is impossible for the same person to be buried in more than one place, let them consider that this difficulty arises in the case of many other men, too, particularly men who have had remarkable fortunes and led wandering lives; and let them know that, though only one place received their bodies, yet their monuments were erected among many peoples through the gratitude of those who had received some benefits from them, particularly if any of their race still survived or if any city had been built by them or if their residence among any people had been long and distinguished by great humanity — just such things, in fact, as we know are related of this hero. 2 For he preserved Ilium from utter destruction at the time of its capture and sent away weight Trojan allies safe to Bebrycia,​150 he left his son Ascanius as king in Phrygia, built a city named after himself in Pallenê, married off his daughters in Arcadia, left part of his army in Sicily, and during his residence in many other places had the reputation of conducting himself with great humanity; thus he gained the voluntary affection of those people and accordingly after he left this mortal life he was honoured with hero-shrines and monuments erected to him in many places. 3 What reasons, pray, could anyone assign for  p181 his monuments in Italy if he never reigned in these parts or resided in them or if he was entirely unknown to the inhabitants? But this point shall be again discussed, according as my narrative shall from time to time require it to be made clear.

55 1 The failure of the Trojan fleet to sail any farther into Europe was due to the oracles which reached their fulfilment in those parts and to the divine power which revealed its will in many ways. For while their fleet lay at anchor off Laurentum and they had set up their tents near the shore, in the first place, when the men were oppressed with thirst and there was no water in the place (what I say I had from the inhabitants), springs of the sweetest water were seen rising out of the earth spontaneously, of which all the army drank and the place was flooded as the stream ran down to the sea from the springs. 2 To‑day, however, the springs are no longer so full as to overflow, but there is just a little water collected in a hollow place, and the inhabitants say it is sacred to the Sun; and near it two altars are pointed out, one facing to the east, the other to the west, both of them Trojan structures, upon which, the story goes, Aeneas offered up his first sacrifice to the god as a thank-offering for the water. 3 After that, while they were taking their repast upon the ground, many of them strewed parsley under their food to serve as a table; but others say that they thus used wheaten cakes, in order to keep their victuals clean. When all the  p183 victuals that were laid before them were consumed, first one of them ate of the parsley, or cakes, that were placed underneath, and then another. Thereupon one of Aeneas' sons, as the story goes, or some other of his messmates, happened to exclaim, "Look you, at last we have eaten even the table." As soon as they heard this, they all cried out with joy that the first part of the oracle was now fulfilled. 4 For a certain oracle had been delivered to them, as some say, in Dodona,​151 but, according to others, in Erythrae, a place​152 on Mount Ida, where lived a Sibyl of that country, a prophetic nymph, who ordered them to sail westward till they came to a place where they should eat their tables; and that, when they found this had happened, they should follow a four-footed beast as their guide, and wherever the animal grew wearied, there they should build a city. 5 Calling to mind, then, this prophecy, some at the command of Aeneas brought the images of the gods out of the ship to the place appointed by him, others prepared  p185 pedestals and altars for them, and the women with shouts and dancing accompanied the images. And Aeneas with his companions, when a sacrifice had been made ready, stood round the altar with the customary garlands on their heads.

56 1 While these were offering up their prayers, the sow which was the destined victim, being big with young and near her time, shook herself free as the priests were performing the initial rites, and fleeing from those who held her, ran back into the country. And Aeneas, understanding that this, then, was the four-footed beast the oracle intended as their guide, followed the sow with a few of his people at a small distance, fearing lest, disturbed by her pursuers, she might be frightened from the course fate had appointed for her. 2 And the sow, after going about twenty-four stades from the sea, ran up a hill and there, spent with weariness, she lay down. But Aeneas, — for the oracles seemed now to be fulfilled, — observing that the place was not only in a poor part of the land, but also at a distance from the sea, and that even the latter did not afford a safe anchorage, found himself in great perplexity whether they ought in obedience to the oracle to settle there, where they would lead a life of perpetual misery without enjoying any advantage, or ought to go farther in search of better land. 3 While he was pondering thus and blaming the gods, on a sudden, they say, a voice came to him from the wood, — though the speaker was not to be see, — commanding him to stay there and battled a city immediately, and not, by giving way to the difficulty occasioned by his present opinion, just  p187 because he would be establishing his abode in a barren country, to reject his future good fortune, that was indeed all but actually present. 4 For it was fated that, beginning with this sorry and, at first, small habitation, he should in the course of time acquire a spacious and fertile country, and that his children and posterity should possess a vast empire which should be prolonger for many ages. For the present, therefore, this settlement should be a refuge for the Trojans, but, after as many years as the sow should bring forth young ones, another city, large and flourishing, should be built by his posterity. It is said that Aeneas, hearing this and looking upon the voice as something divine, did as the god commanded. 5 But others say that while he was dismayed and had neglected himself in his grief, to such a degree that he neither came into the camp nor took any food, but spent that night just as he was, a great and wonderful vision of a dream appeared to him in the likeness of one of his country's gods and gave him the advice just before mentioned. Which of these accounts is the true one the gods only know.​153 The next day, it is said, the sow brought forth thirty young ones, and just that many years later, in accordance with the oracle, another city was built by the Trojans, concerning which I shall speak in the proper place.154

 p189  57 Aeneas sacrificed the sow with her young to his household gods in the place where now stands the chapel, which the Lavinians looking as sacred and preserve inaccessible to all but themselves. Then, having ordered the Trojans to remove their camp to the hill, he placed the images of the gods in the best part of it and immediately addressed himself to the building of the town with the greatest zeal. And making descents into the country round about, he took from there such things as were of use to him in building and the loss of which was likely to be the most grievous to the owners, such as iron, timber and agricultural implements. 2 But Latinus, the king of the country at that time, who was at war with a neighbouring people called the Rutulians and had fought some battles with ill success, received an account of what had passed in the most alarming form, to the effect that all his coast was being laid waste by a foreign army and that, if he did not immediately put a stop to their depredations, the war with his neighbours would seem to him a joy​155 in comparison. Latinus was struck with fear at this news, and immediately abandoning the war in which he was then engaged, he marched against the Trojans with a great army. 3 But  p191 seeing them armed like Greeks, drawn up in good order and resolutely awaiting the conflict, he gave up the idea of hazarding an immediate engagement, since he saw no probability now of defeating them at the first onset, as he had expected when he set out from home against them. And encamping on a hill, he thought he ought first to let his troops recover from their present fatigue, which from the length of the march and the eagerness of the pursuit was very great; 4 and passing the night there, he was resolving to engage the enemy at break of day. But when he had reached this decision, a certain divinity of the place appeared to him in his sleep and bade him receive the Greeks into his land to dwell with his own subjects, adding that their coming was a great advantage to him and a benefit to all the Aborigines alike. And the same night Aeneas' household gods appeared to him and admonished him to persuade Latinus to grant them of his own accord a settlement in the part of the country they desired and to treat the Greek forces rather as allies than as enemies. Thus the dream hindered both of them from beginning an engagement. And as soon as it was day and the armies were drawn up in order of battle, heralds came to each of the commanders from the other with the same request, that they should meet for a parley; and so it came to pass.

58 1 And first Latinus complained of the sudden war which they had made upon his subjects without any previous declaration and demanded that Aeneas tell him who he was and what he meant by plundering the country without any provocation, since he  p193 could not be ignorant that every one who is attacked in war defends himself against the aggressor; and he complained that when Aeneas might have obtained amicably and with the consent of the inhabitants whatever he could reasonably desire, he had chosen to take it by force, contrary to the universal sense of justice and with greater dishonour than credit to himself. 2 After he had spoken thus Aeneas answered: "We are natives of Troy, not the least famous city among the Greeks; but since this has been captured and taken from us by the Achaeans after a ten-years' war, we have been wanderers, roving about for want both of a city and a country where we may henceforth live, and are come hither in obedience to the commands of the gods; and this land alone, as the oracles tell us, is left for us as the haven of our wandering. We are indeed taking from the country the things we need, with greater regard to our unfortunate situation than to propriety, — a course which until recently we by no means wished to pursue. 3 But we will make compensation for them with many good services in return, offering you our bodies and our minds, well disciplined against dangers, to employ as you think proper in keeping your country free from the ravages of enemies and in heartily assisting you to conquer their lands. We humbly entreat you not to resent what we have done, realizing, as you must, that we did it, not out of wantonness, but constrained by  p195 necessity; and everything that is involuntary deserves forgiveness.​156 4 And you ought not to take any hostile resolution concerning us as we stretch forth our hands to you; but if you do so, we will first beg the gods and divinities who possess this land to forgive us even for what we do under the constraint of necessity and will then endeavour to defend ourselves against you who are the aggressors in the war; for this will not be the first nor the greatest war that we have experienced." 5 When Latinus heard this he answered him: "Nay, but I cherish a kindly feeling towards the whole Greek race and am greatly grieved by the inevitable calamities of mankind. And I should be very solicitous for your safety if it were clear to me that you have come here in search of a habitation and that, contented with a suitable share of the land and enjoying in a spirit of friendship what shall be given you, you will not endeavour to deprive me of the sovereignty by force; and if the assurances you give me are real, I desire to give and receive pledges which will preserve our compact inviolate."

59 1 Aeneas having accepted this proposal, a treaty was made between the two nations and confirmed by oaths to this effect: the Aborigines were to grant to the Trojans as much land as they desired, that is, the space of about forty stades in every direction from the hill; the Trojans, on their part,  p197 were to assist the Aborigines in the war they were then engaged in and also to join them with their forces upon every other occasion when summoned; and, mutually, both nations were to aid each other to the utmost of their power, both with their arms and with their counsel. 2 After they had concluded this treaty and had given pledges by handing over children as hostages, they marched with joint forces against the cities of the Rutulians; and having soon subdued all opposition there, they came to the town of the Trojans, which was still but half-finished, and all working with a common zeal, they fortified the town with a wall. 3 This town Aeneas called Lavinium, after the daughter of Latinus, according to the Romans' own account; for her name, they say, was Lavinia. But according to some of the Greek mythographers he named it after the daughter of Anius, the king of the Delians, who was also called Lavinia; for as she was the first to die of illness at the time of the building of the city and was buried in the place where she died, the city was made her memorial. 4 She is said to have embarked with the Trojans after having been given by her father to Aeneas at his desire as a prophetess and a wise woman. While Lavinium was building, the following omens are said to have appeared to the Trojans. When a fire broke out spontaneously in the forest, a wolf, they say, brought some dry wood in his mouth and threw it upon the fire, and an eagle, flying thither, fanned the flame with the  p199 motion of his wings. But working in opposition to these, a fox, after wetting his tail in the river, endeavoured to beat out the flames; and now those that were kindling it would prevail, and now the fox that was trying to put it out. But at last the two former got the upper hand, and the other went away, unable to do anything further. 5 Aeneas, on observing this, said that the colony would become illustrious and an object of wonder and would gain the greatest renown, but that as it increased it would be envied by its neighbours and prove grievous to them; nevertheless, it would overcome its adversaries, the good fortune that it had received from Heaven being more powerful than the envy of men that would oppose it. These very clear indications are said to have been given of what was to happen to the city; of which there are monuments now standing in the forum of the Lavinians, in the form of bronze images of the animals, which have been preserved for a very long time.

60 1 After the Trojans' city was built all were extremely desirous of enjoying the mutual benefit of their new alliance. And their kings setting the example, united the excellence of the two races, the native and the foreign, by ties of marriage, Latinus giving his daughter Lavinia to Aeneas. 2 Thereupon the rest also conceived the same desire as their kings; and combining in a very brief time their customs, laws and religious ceremonies, forming ties through intermarriages and becoming mingled together in the wars they jointly waged,  p201 and all calling themselves by the common name of Latins, after the king of the Aborigines, they adhered so firmly to their pact that no lapse of time has yet severed them from one another.

3 The nations, therefore, which came together and shared in a common life and from which the Roman people derived their origin before the city they now inhabit was built, are these: first, the Aborigines, who drove the Sicels out of these parts and were originally Greeks from the Peloponnesus, the same who with Oenotrus removed from the country now called Arcadia, according to my opinion; then, the Pelasgians, who came from Haemonia, as it was then called, but now Thessaly; third, those who came into Italy with Evander from the city of Pallantium; after them the Epeans and Pheneats, who were part of the Peloponnesian army commanded by Hercules, with whom a Trojan element also was commingled; and, last of all, the Trojans who had escaped with Aeneas from Ilium, Dardanus and the other Trojan cities.

61 1 That the Trojans, too, were a nation as truly Greek as any and formerly came from the Peloponnesus has long been asserted by some authors and shall be briefly related by me also. The account concerning them is as follows. Atlas was the first king of the country now called Arcadia, and he lived near the mountain called Thaumasius.​157 He had seven daughters, who are said to be numbered  p203 now among the constellations under the name of the Pleiades; Zeus married one of these, Electra, and had by her two sons, Iasus and Dardanus.​b 2 Iasus remained unmarried, but Dardanus married Chrysê, the daughter of Pallas, by whom he had two sons, Idaeus and Deimas; and these, succeeding Atlas in the kingdom, reign for some time in Arcadia. Afterwards, a great deluge occurring throughout Arcadia, the plains were overflowed and for a long time could not be tilled; and the inhabitants, living upon the mountains and eking out a sorry livelihood, decided that the land remaining would not be sufficient for the support of them all, and so divided themselves into two groups, one of which remained in Arcadia, after making Deimas, the son of Dardanus, their king, while the other left the Peloponnesus on board a large fleet. 3 And sailing along the coast of Europe, they came to a gulf called Melas and chanced to land on a certain island of Thrace, as to which I am unable to say whether it was previously inhabited or not. They called the island Samothrace, a name compounded of the name of a man and the name of a place. For it belongs to Thrace and its first settler was Samon, the son of Hermes and a nymph of Cyllenê, named Rhenê. 4 Here they remained but a short time, since the life proved to be no easy one for them, forced to contend, as they were, with both a poor soil and a boisterous sea; but leaving some few of their people in the island, the greater part of them removed once more and went to Asia under Dardanus  p205 as leader of their colony (for Iasus had died in the island, being struck with a thunderbolt for desiring to have intercourse with Demeter), and disembarking in the strait now called the Hellespont, they settled in the region which was afterwards called Phrygia. Idaeus, the son of Dardanus, with part of the company occupied the mountains which are now called after him the Idaean mountains, and there built a temple to the Mother of the Gods and instituted mysteries and ceremonies which are observed to this day throughout all Phrygia. And Dardanus built a city named after himself in the region now called the Troad; the land was given to him by Teucer, the king, after whom the country was anciently called Teucris. 5 Many authors, and particularly Phanodemus, who wrote about the ancient lore of Attica,​158 say that Teucer had come into Asia from Attica, where he had been chief of the deme called Xypetê, and of this tale they offer many proofs. They add that, having possessed himself of a large and fertile country with but a small native population, he was glad to see Dardanus and the Greeks who came with him, both because he hoped for their assistance in his wars against the barbarians and because he desired that the land should not remain unoccupied.

 p207  62 But the subject requires that I relate also how Aeneas was descended: this, too, I shall do briefly. Dardanus, after the death of Chrysê, the daughter of Pallas, by whom he had his first sons, married Bateia, the daughter of Teucer, and by her had Erichthonius, who is said to have been the most fortunate of all men, since he inherited both the kingdom of his father and that of his maternal grandfather. 2 Of Erichthonius and Callirrhoê, the daughter of Scamander,​c was born Tros, from whom the nation has received its name; of Tros and Acallaris, the daughter of Eumedes, Assaracus; of Assaracus and Clytodora, the daughter of Laomedon, Capys; of Capys and a Naiad nymph, Hieromnemê, Anchises; of Anchises and Aphroditê, Aeneas. Thus I have shown that the Trojan race, too, was originally Greek.

63 1 Concerning the time when Lavinium was built there are various reports, but to me the most probable seems to be that which places it in the second year after the departure of the Trojans from Troy.​159 For Ilium was taken at the end of the spring, seventeen days before the summer solstice, and the eighth from the end of the month Thargelion,​160 according to the calendar of the Athenians; and  p209 there still remained twenty days after the solstice to complete that year. During the thirty-seven days that followed the taking of the city I imagine the Achaeans were employed in regulating the affairs of the city, in receiving embassies from those who had withdrawn themselves, and in concluding a treaty with them. 2 In the following year, which was the first after the taking of the city, the Trojans set sail about the autumnal equinox, crossed the Hellespont, and landing in Thrace, passed the winter season there, during which they received the fugitives who kept flocking to them and made the necessary preparations for their voyage. And leaving Thrace in the beginning of spring, they sailed as far as Sicily; when they had landed there that year came to an end, and they passed the second winter in assisting the Elymians to found their cities in Sicily. 3 But as soon as conditions were favourable for navigation they set sail from the island, and crossing the Tyrrhenian sea, arrived at last at Laurentum on the coast of the Aborigines in the middle of the summer. And having received the ground from them, they founded Lavinium, thus bringing to an end the second year from the taking of Troy. With regard to these matters, then, I have thus shown my opinion.

64 1 But​161 when Aeneas had sufficiently adorned the city with temples and other public buildings, of which the greatest part remained even to my day,  p211 the next year, which was the third after his departure from Troy, he reigned over the Trojans only. But in the fourth year, Latinus having died, he succeeded to his kingdom also, not only in consideration of his relation­ship to him by marriage, Lavinia being the heiress after the death of Latinus, but also because of his being commander in the war against the neighbouring tribes. 2 For the Rutulians had again revolted from Latinus, choosing for their leader one of the deserters, named Tyrrhenus,​162 who was a nephew of Amata,​163 the wife of Latinus. This man, blaming Latinus in the matter of Lavinia's marriage, because he had ignored his kinsmen and allied his family with outsiders, and being goaded on by Amata and encouraged by others, had gone over to the Rutulians with the forces he commanded. 3 War arose out of these complaints and in a sharp battle that ensued Latinus, Tyrrhenus and many others were slain; nevertheless, Aeneas and his people gained the victory. Thereupon Aeneas succeeded to the kingdom of his father-in‑law; but when he had reigned three years after the death of Latinus, in the fourth he lost his life in battle. 4 For the Rutulians marched out in full force from their cities against  p213 him, and with them Mezentius, king of the Tyrrhenians, who thought his own country in danger; for he was troubled at seeing the Greek power already making rapid headway. A severe battle took place not far from Lavinium and many were slain on both sides, but when night came on the armies separated; and when the body of Aeneas was nowhere to be seen, some concluded that it had been translated to the gods and others that it had perished in the river beside which the battle was fought. 5 And the Latins built a hero-shrine to him with this inscription: "To the father and god of this place,​164 who presides over the waters of the river Numicius." But there are some who say the shrine was erected by Aeneas in honour of Anchises, who died in the year before this war. It is a small mound, round which have been set out in regular rows trees that are well worth seeing.

65 1 Aeneas having departed this life about the seventh year after the taking of Troy, Euryleon, who in the flight had been renamed Ascanius, succeeded to the rule over the Latins. At this time the Trojans were undergoing a siege; the forces of the enemy were increasing daily, and the Latins were unable to assist those who were shut up in Lavinium. 2 Ascanius and his men, therefore, first invited the enemy to a friendly and reasonable accommodation, but when no heed was paid to them, they were forced to allow their enemies to put an end to the war upon their own terms. When,  p215 however, the gate of the Tyrrhenians, among other intolerable conditions that he imposed upon them, as upon a people already become his slaves, commanded them to bring to the Tyrrhenians every year all the wine the country of the Latins produced, they looked upon this as a thing beyond all endurance, and following the advice of Ascanius, voted that the fruit of the vine should be sacred to Jupiter. Then, exhorting one another to prove their zeal and valour and praying the gods to assist them in their dangerous enterprise, they fixed upon a moonless night and sallied out of the city. 3 And they immediately attacked that part of the enemy's rampart which lay nearest to the city and which, being designed as an advanced post to cover the rest of their forces, had been constructed in a strong position and was defended by the choicest youth of the Tyrrhenians, under the command of Lausus, the son of Mezentius; and their attack being unforeseen, they easily made themselves masters of the stronghold. While they were employed in taking this post, those of the enemy who were encamped on the plains, seeing an unusual light and hearing the cries of the men who were perishing, left the level country and were fleeing to the mountains. 4 During this time there was great confusion and tumult, as was but natural with an army moving at night; for they expected the enemy would every moment fall upon them while they were withdrawing in disorder and with ranks broken. The Latins, after they had taken the fort by storm and learned that the rest of the army was in disorder, pressed after them, killing and pursuing. And not  p217 only did none of the enemy attempt to turn and resist, but it was not even possible for them to know in what evil plight they were, and in their confusion and helplessness some were falling over precipices and perishing, while others were becoming entangled in blind ravines and were being taken prisoner; but most of them, failing to recognize their comrades in the dark, treated them as enemies, and the greatest part of their loss was due to their slaying of one another. 5 Mezentius with a few of his men seized a hill, but when he learned of the fate of his son and of the numbers he had lost and discovered the nature of the place in which he had shut himself up, realizing that he was packing in everything needful, he sent heralds to Lavinium to treat for peace. And since Ascanius advised the Latins to husband their good fortune, Mezentius obtained permission to retire under a truce with the forces he had left; and from that time, laying aside all his enmity with the Latins, he was their consulate friend.

66 1 In the thirtieth year​165 after the founding of Lavinium Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, in pursuance of the oracle given to his father, built another city and transferred both the inhabitants of Lavinium and the other Latins who were desirous of a better habitation to this newly-built city, which he called Alba. Alba means in the Greek tongue Leukê or "White"; but for the sake of clearness it is distinguished from another city of the same name by the addition of an epithet descriptive of its shape,  p219 and its name is now, as it were, a compound, made up of the two terms, Alba Longa, that is Leukê Makra or "Long White (town)." 2 This city is now uninhabited, since in the time of Tullus Hostilius, king of the Romans, Alba seemed to be contending with her colony for the sovereignty and hence was destroyed; but Rome, though she razed her mother-city to the ground, nevertheless welcomed its citizens into her midst. But these events belong to a later time. To return to its founding, Alba was built near a mountain and a lake, occupying the space between the two, which served the city in place of walls and rendered it difficult to be taken. For the mountain is extremely strong and high and the lake is deep and large; and its waters are received by the plain when the sluices are opened, the inhabitants having it in their power to husband the supply as much as they wish. 3 Lying below the city are plains marvellous to behold and rich in producing wines and fruits of all sorts in no degree inferior to the rest of Italy, and particularly what they call the Alban wine, which is sweet and excellent and, with the exception of the Falernian, certainly superior to all others.

67 1 While the city was building, a most remarkable prodigy is said to have occurred. A temple with an inner sanctuary had been built for the images of the gods which Aeneas had brought with him from the Troad and set up in Lavinium, and the statues had been removed from Lavinium to this  p221 sanctuary; but during the following night, although the doors were most carefully closed and the walls of the enclosure and the roof of the temple suffered no injury, the statues changed their position and were found upon their old pedestals. 2 And after being brought back again from Lavinium with supplications and propitiatory sacrifices they returned in like manner to the same place. Upon this the people were for someone time in doubt what they should do, being unwilling either to live apart from their ancestral gods or to return again to their deserted habitation. But at last they hit upon an expedient which promised to meet satisfactorily both these difficulties. This was to let the images remain where they were and to conduct men back from Alba to Lavinium to live there and take care of them. Those who were sent to Lavinium to have charge of their rites were six hundred in number; they removed thither with their entire households, and Aegestus was appointed their chief. 3 As for these gods, the Romans call them Penates. Some who translate the name into the Greek language render it Patrôoi, others Genethlioi, some Ktêsiori, others Mychioi, and still others Herkeioi.​166 Each of these seems to be giving them their name from some one of their attributes, and it is probable that they are all expressing more or less the same idea. 4 Concerning their figure and appearance, Timaeus, the historian, makes the statement that the holy objects preserved  p223 in the sanctuary at Lavinium are iron and bronze caducei or "heralds' wands," and a Trojan earthenware vessel; this, he says, he himself learned from the inhabitants.​167 For my part, I believe that in the case of those things which it is not lawful for all to see I ought neither to hear about them from those who do see them nor to describe them; and I am indignant with every one else, too, who presumes to inquire into or to know more than what is permitted by law.

68 1 But the things which I myself know by having seen them and concerning which no scruple forbids me to write are as follows. They show you in Rome a temple​168 built not far from the Forum in the short street that leads to the Carinae; it is a small shrine, and is darkened by the height of the adjacent buildings.​d The place is called in the native speech Velia. In this temple there are images of the Trojan gods which it is lawful for all to see, with an inscription showing them to be the Penates.  p225 2 They are two seated youths holding spears, and are pieces of ancient workman­ship. We have seen many other statues also of these gods in ancient temples and in all of them are represented two youths in military garb. These it is permitted to see, and it is also permitted to hear and to write about them what Callistratus,​169 the author of the history of Samothrace, relates, and also Satyrus, who collected the ancient legends, and many others, too, among whom the poet Arctinus is the earliest we know of. 3 At any rate, the following is the account they give. Chrysê, the daughter of Pallas, when she was married to Dardanus, brought for her dowry the gifts of Athena, that is, the Palladia and the sacred symbols of the Great Gods, in whose mysteries she had been instructed. When the Arcadians, fleeing from the deluge,​170 left the Peloponnesus and established their abode in the Thracian island,​171 Dardanus built there a temple to these gods, whose particular names he kept secret from all any others, and performed the mysteries in their honour which are observed to this day by the Samothracians. 4 Then, when he was conducting the greater part of the people into Asia, he left the sacred rites and mysteries of the gods with those who remained in the island, but packed up and carried with him the Palladia and the images of the gods. And upon consulting the oracle concerning the place  p227 where he should settle, among other things that he learned he received this answer relating to the custody of the holy objects:

"In the town thou buildest worship undying found

To gods ancestral; guard them, sacrifice,

Adore with choirs. For whilst these holy things

In thy land remain, Zeus' daughter's gifts of old

Bestowed upon thy souse, secure from harm

Thy city shall abide forevermore."

69 1 Dardanus, accordingly, left the statues in the city which he founded and named after himself, but when Ilium was settled later, they were removed thither by his descendants; and the people of Ilium built a temple and a sanctuary for them upon the citadel and preserved them with all possible care, looking upon them as sent from Heaven and as pledges of the city's safety. 2 And while the lower town was being captured, Aeneas, possessing himself of the citadel, took out of the sanctuary the images of the Great Gods and the Palladium which still remained (for Odysseus and Diomed, they say, when they came into Ilium by night, had stolen the other away), and carrying them with him out of the city, brought them into Italy. 3 Arctinus, however, says that only one Palladium was given by Zeus to Dardanus and that this remained in Ilium, hidden in the sanctuary, till the city was being taken; but that from this a copy was made, differing  p229 in no respect from the original, and exposed to public view, on purpose to deceive those who might be planning to steal it, and that the Achaeans, having formed such a plan, took the copy away. 4 I say, therefore, upon the authority of the men above-mentioned, that the holy objects brought into Italy by Aeneas were the images of the Great Gods, to whom the Samothracians, of all the Greeks, pay the greatest worship, and the Palladium, famous in legend, which they say is kept by the holy virgins in the temple of Vesta, where the perpetual fire is also preserved; but concerning these matters I shall speak hereafter.​172 And there may also be other objects besides these which are kept secret from us who are not initiated. But let this suffice concerning the holy objects of the Trojans.

70 1 Upon​173 the death of the Ascanius in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, Silvius, his brother, succeeded to the rule. He was born of Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, after the death of Aeneas, and they say that he was brought up on the mountains by the herdsmen. 2 For when Ascanius took over the rule, Lavinia, becoming alarmed lest her relation­ship as step-mother might draw upon her some severity from him, and being then with child, entrusted herself to a certain Tyrrhenus,​174 who had charge of the royal herds of swine and whom she knew to have been on very intimate terms with Latinus. He, carrying  p231 her into the lonely woods as if she were an ordinary woman, and taking care that she was not seen by anyone who knew her, supported her in a house he built in the forest, which was known to but few. And when the child was born, he took it up and reared it, naming it, from the wood, Silvius, or, as one might say in Greek, Hylaios. 3 But in the course of time, finding that the Latins made great search for the woman and that the people accused Ascanius of having put her to death, he acquainted them with the whole matter and brought the woman and her son out of the forest. From this experience Silvius got his name, as I have related, and so did all his posterity. And he became king after the death of his brother, though not without a contest with one of the sons of Ascanius, — Iulus, the eldest, — who claimed the succession to his father's rule; 4 the issue was decided by vote of the people, who were influenced chiefly by this consideration, among others, that Silvius' mother was heiress to the kingdom. Upon Iulus was conferred, instead of the sovereignty, a certain sacred authority and honour preferable to the royal dignity both for security and ease of life, and this prerogative​175 was enjoyed even to my day by his posterity, who were called Julii after him. This house became the greatest and at the same time the most illustrious of any we know of, and  p233 produced the most distinguished commanders, whose virtues were so many proofs of their nobility. But concerning them I shall say what is requisite in another place.176

71 1 Silvius, after holding the sovereignty twenty-nine years, was succeeded by Aeneas, his son, who reigned thirty-one years. After him, Latinus reigned fifty-one, then Alba, thirty-nine; after Alba, Capetus reigned twenty-six, then Capys twenty-eight, and after Capys, Capetus held the rule for thirteen years. 2 Then Tiberinus reigned for a period of eight years. This king, it is said, was slain in a battle that was fought near a river, and being carried away by the stream, gave his name to the river, which had previously been called the Albula. Tiberinus' successor, Agrippa, reigned forty-one years. 3 After Agrippa, Allocius, a tyrannical creature and odious to the gods, reigned nineteen years. Contemptuous of the divine powers, he had contrived imitations of lightning and sounds resembling thunder-claps, with which he proposed to terrify people as if he were a god. But rain and lightning descended upon his house, and the lake beside which it stood rose to an unusual height, so that he was overwhelmed and destroyed with his whole household. And even now when the lake is clear in a certain part, which happens whenever the flow of water subsides and the depths  p235 are undisturbed,​177 the ruins of porticoes and other traces of a dwelling appear. 4 Aventinus, after whom was named one of the seven hills that are joined to make the city of Rome, succeeded him in the sovereignty and reigned thirty-seven years, and after him Proca twenty-three years. Then Amulius, having unjustly possessed himself of the kingdom which belonged to Numitor, his elder brother, reigned forty-two years. 5 But when Amulius had been slain by Romulus and Remus, the sons of the holy maiden, as shall presently be related, Numitor, the maternal grandfather of the youths, after his brother's death resumed the sovereignty which by law belonged to him. In the next year of Numitor's reign, which was the four hundred and thirty-second after the taking of Troy, the Albans sent out a colony, under the leader­ship of Romulus and Remus, and founded Rome, in the beginning of the first year of the seventh Olympiad, when Daïcles of Messenê was victor in the foot race, and at Athens Charops was in the first year of his ten-year term as archon.178


The Editor's Notes:

117 See chap. 74.2, and notes. We learn just below how the sixteen generations were reckoned: Romulus is declared to be seventeenth in descent from Aeneas. A comparison of the list of the Alban kings given in chaps. 70 f. shows that, strictly speaking, he was only sixteenth in descent, counting inclusively; but inasmuch as Ascanius' half-brother Silvius belonged in point of time to the following generation, he was evidently counted as third in the line of descent.

118 The tradition that Antenor proved a traitor to his country is late, appearing first in Lycophron's Alexandra (verse 340), where the scholiast explains the cryptic words as meaning that Antenor raised a signal fire to the Greeks waiting at Tenedos and also released the Greek warriors from the wooden horse. Dictys relates (v.8) that Antenor, with the aid of his wife Theano, handed over the Palladium to Odysseus and Diomed; and Dares (41) represents Antenor and Aeneas as opening the Scaean gate to the enemy.

119 Pergamus was the citadel of Troy (Iliad IV.508; VI.512).

120 This was the region about Dascylium on the Propontis, near the Mysian Olympus. The Ascanian lake actually lay some 50 miles to the east, being just west of Nicaea.

Thayer's Note: Dascylium was rediscovered in the mid‑20c, and some of the lapidary finds were wonderful. For a good page on the place with a dozen beautiful photos of some of them, see the page at Livus.

121 Scamandrius was Hector's name for Astyanax (Il. VI.402). According to the usual tradition, he was slain upon the capture of Troy. But the early logographers represented him as surviving and being carried off to Greece by Neoptolemus. And they usually spoke also of other sons of Hector (cf. Euripides, Androm. 224). There were various accounts of their return to the neighbourhood of Troy, or eventually to Troy itself, of which we have but a few brief fragments preserved. Two of these are found in Strabo (XIII.1.52 f.; XIV.5.29).

122 This is certainly a strange way of describing Pallenê, the westernmost of the three Chalcidic peninsulas, but the description evidently goes back to Hellanicus (see chap. 48.1) or even earlier; before the Peloponnesian war this region was often regarded as part of Thrace. Furthermore, Aeneia, the town the Trojans were said to have built during their stay there (chap. 49.4), was not in Pallenê at all, but lay only a few miles south of Thessalonica, in the north-west corner of Chalcidicê. It would seem as if Pallenê were used loosely here for the whole eastern shore of the Thermaic gulf. This is not part of Thrace that Virgil had in mind as the first stopping-place of the Trojans (Aen. III.13‑68); for the tomb of Polydorus was shown at Aenus, at the mouth of the Hebrus.

123 Müller, F. H. G. i pp61 f, frg. 127. For Hellanicus see p71, n2.

124 It is not certain whether καταστάζοντα is to be taken here literally ("dripping") or figuratively ("letting drop"); the construction of the sentence is without exact parallel, but there are analogies for interpreting it to mean simply "letting his robe stream, or fall, down his back." Plutarch (De Virtute et Vitio, 2) took the participle in a literal sense ("bedewing the robe down his back") and adds the explanation that the body of Anchises gave off a foul exudation. Whether he had any evidence before him, other than this passage of Sophocles, we can only conjecture. We are told that Anchises was struck, or grazed, by lightning because he foolishly boasted of his intimacy with Aphroditê. There were various stories concerning the permanent disability suffered by him in consequence, but the early tradition represented him as lamed.

125 Nauck, T. G. F., p212, frg. 344.

126 Menecrates (fourth century?), a Lycian, wrote the history of his own country.

127 A fictitious author under whose name Hegesianax of Alexandria in the Troad published some of his own works, especially his Troica (Athenaeus ix.393d). Dionysius cites him again in chap. 72.1.

128 Hegesippus of Mecyberna in Chalcidicê probably lived in the fourth or third century.

129 The city of Orchomenus, built on a hill between two plains, one of which was often a lake, and with a deep gorge on a third side, may perhaps answer this description. Or Nesos may have been in the northern plain (to‑day a lake) near Caphyae.

130 More correctly Caphyae (Pausan. VIII.23.2).

131 A history of Arcadia. We know nothing more about Ariaethus (Araethus?) and Agathyllus than is told here.

132 In the "digression," as Dionysius calls it (chap. 53.4), which begins at this point, he gives a confident, straightforward account of the wanderings of Aeneas from Troy to Lavinium, without once naming a source or hinting at any variations in the legend. Kiessling (De Dionysi Hal. Antiquitatum auctoribus Latinis, p40) argued that he was here following Varro as his authority, as he does silently in various other places, and many scholars have accepted his conclusions; but unfortunately, for our knowledge of Varro's account, we have to depend on a few scattered quotations, found chiefly in Servius' commentary on the Aeneid. The route of Aeneas as traced by Virgil agrees so closely for the most part with that given by Dionysius as to suggest that both authors were drawing largely on the same source. The differences in their accounts can easily be explained when we bear in mind that one was a historian who prided himself on his chronological studies (chap. 74.2) and the other a poet who gave free rein to his imagination. Thus, Dionysius was bound to reject the visit of Aeneas to Carthage if, as seems probable, he accepted Timaeus' date for the founding of that city (813; see chap. 74.1). Chronological considerations may also account in part for Dionysius' silence concerning Cumae and Crete, though the Cumaean episode is evidently a late addition to the legend, perhaps due to Virgil himself; we shall see (chap. 55.4) that Dionysius connected another Sibyl, living in the neighbourhood of Mt. Ida, with the destiny of the Trojan exiles, and this is doubtless the original form of the legend. One very important difference between the stories of Dionysius and Virgil is seen in the length of time assigned to the voyage from Troy to Lavinium; the historian allows just two year, the poet seven. For brief discussions of the growth of the Aeneas legend see Glover, Vergil, chap. iv; Nettleship, Virgil, pp47‑50; Prescott, Development of Virgil's Art, pp153‑168. A detailed comparison of the accounts of Dionysius and Virgil may be found in Wörner, Die Sage von den Wanderungen des Aeneas bei Dionysios und Vergilius, and also in his article on Aineias in Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, I pp165‑78.

133 Chap. 47, end.

134 But Aeneia is mentioned by Livy (XLIV.10.7) as still in existence at a later time.

135 Chap. 61.

136 Dioryctus (literally, a place "dug through") usually means the canal which made Leucas an island. But as Oberhummer has pointed out (Akarnanien, . . . Leukas im Altertum, p10, n1) the only place for the little island here named would seem to have been in the canal; hence Dioryctus was evidently the name also of a place on the canal, probably on the Acarnanian side, at the end of the bridge mentioned by Strabo (X.2.8).

137 This cult-title of Aphroditê has been variously explained. See Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, II.638 ff., and Rossbach in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Enc.s.v. Aineias, pp1018 f. Malten, the latest to discuss the problem (Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, XXIX (1931), pp33‑59), regards this goddess as the mother of the race of the Aeneadae, and identifies her with the Mater Idaea, a variant form of the Great Mother; she is not to be confused with the Phoenician Astartê.

138 Onchesmus, opposite the northern point of Corcyra.

139 Θούριος generally means a man from Thurii in Italy. But Androtion is cited by Stephanus of Byzantium as using it for Θυριεύς, a man of Thyrium (or Thyreum) in Acarnania. Virgil (Aen. V.298) names Patron, an Acarnanian, as one of the contestants in the funeral games in honour of Anchises.

140 Kiessling, rejecting this interpretation, supplied the word "Acarnanians" and retained the MS. reading συνεπισπώμενοι, the meaning then being: "having for guides . . . smooth Acarnanians who accompanied them of their own accord, bringing along with them Patron the Thyrian and his men."

141 In 196 B.C. these two cities were apparently recognized by Rome as belonging to the Acarnanian League. The statement that the Romans had taken them from the Corinthians is utterly erroneous; the cities had been founded by the Corinthians, but had long been in the hands of the Acarnanians.

142 Or "restore Oeniadae to its old status." Oeniadae was the name of both town and people. Our only other sources for this incident (Liv. XXXVIII.11.9; Polybius XXI.32.14) merely state that in the peace terms between Rome and the Aetolians in 189 it was provided that the city and territory of Oeniadae should belong to the Acarnanians.

143 We have no further information concerning this arrangement with regard to the Echinades. Oberhummer (op. cit., p186, n4) suggests that these islands must have been divided up between the Aetolians and Acarnanians.

144 Castrum Minervae. The temple on this promontory was a well-known landmark.

145 Portus Veneris.

146 The incident here mentioned does not seem to be recorded by any other extant writer. The sacking of the Trojan cities was described in the lost Cypria.

147 Called Segesta by the Romans.

148 Some of the early editors proposed to read Eryx for Elyma here and for Elymus in the next chapter, but later editors have retained the readings of the MSS. Neither Elyma nor Elymus is found anywhere else as the name of a city or mountain in Sicily, though Silius Italicus (Pun. xiv.46 ff.) seems to state that both Acestes and Halymus (his names for the two Trojans) built cities named after themselves. There can be little doubt that Eryx, with the neighbouring mountain famous for its altar or temple of Aphroditê, was the place really meant; and it seems strange that Dionysius should have failed to make the identification, especially as he often gives both the earlier and later names of a place.

149 Iliad XX.307 f. (Pope's translation).

150 Bebrycia was an early name for the district about Lampsacus on the Hellespont. The incident here mentioned is otherwise unknown.

151 Varro, according to Servius' comment on the AeneidIII.256, named Dodona as the place where Aeneas received the oracle about the "tables." Virgil (Aen. III.253‑7), with a poet's licence, put the prophecy into the mouth of Celaeno, the harpy. Cf. p187, n1.

152 The text is uncertain here; see critical note. Most editors agree on erythrae, though we do not hear elsewhere of any Erythrae near Ida; conjectures as to the meaning of the following word vary from "near" to "oracle" and "cave." For the two words together Jacoby reads "red land." If Erythrae is the correct reading here, it would seem that Dionysius confused the Sibyl of Marpessus in the Troad with the famous Sibyl of Erythrae in Ionia. With this exception, the story here related may be assumed to be approximately the original form of the legend, which would naturally represent Aeneas as receiving the oracle from the local Sibyl before setting out on his voyage; later, when her fame became eclipsed by that of the Erythraean Sibyl, her rôle in the legend may have been transferred to the latter. For a recent discussion of the Sibyls see Buchholz in Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, s.v. Sibylla.

153 Virgil (Aen. VIII.42‑48) represents the river-god Tiberinus as announcing the omen of the sow and her young to Aeneas and this omen is seen the very next day (vs. 81‑85).

154 Chap. 66.

155 Literally "gold." This expression seems to have become proverbial in comparisons between a lesser and a greater evil. See critical note.

The critical note to the Greek text reads:

χρυσὸς Cobet: ὀχυρὸς AB. Cobet, in his Variae Lectiones, pp235 f., points out several passages in Greek authors where χρυσὸς has been similarly corrupted (among them Dionysius IX.25.1, where only Ba reads χρυσός, the others χρηστός). The expression first appears in Euripides, Troades 431 ff.:

δύστηνος, οὐκ οἶδ’ οἷά νιν μένει παθεῖν·
ὡς χρυσὸς αὐτῷ ταμα καὶ Φρυγῶν κακὰ
δόχει ποτ’ εἶναι.

"Wretch! — he knows not what sufferings wait for him,
Such that my woes and Phrygia's yet shall seem
As gold to them."

(Way's translation in the Loeb Classical Library.)

156 In Thucydides III.40.1, we find the expression ξύγγνωμόν δ’ ἐστὶ τὸ ἀκούσιον. But Jacoby points out that the two passages are otherwise very different in their tenor, and hence concludes that Dionysius was not imitating the older historian. He believes, rather, that the source of both was a verse of some poet, probably ξύγγνωμόν ἐστ’ ⏑– ἄπαν τἀκούσιον. The same sentiment, though not expressed in exactly the same words, is met with in Thuc. IV.98.6, Plato, Phaedrus 233C, and Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. III.1.1.

157 This mountain is mentioned by Pausanias (VIII.36.2) and by Stephanus of Byzantium. Cauconius, suggested by Jacoby, appears to be purely a conjectural name.

158 His work was an Atthis (cf. p27, n1). Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. I.367.8).

159 This would be 1181 B.C. according to Dionysius, since Eratosthenes, whose chronology he follows (chap. 74.2), placed the fall of Troy in 1183.

160 The Athenians divided their months into three periods of ten days each (nine in the last period in the shorter months), in the first two of which they counted the days forwards, as we do, while in the third they reckoned backwards from the end of the month. The eighth from the end of the month, reckoning inclusively, would be the 23rd (or 22nd). Their year seems to have begun with the new moon immediately following the summer solstice.

161 Cf. Liv. I.2. From this point onward parallel passages in livy will be thus indicated by a note attached to the initial word of a chapter or series of chapters in Dionysius.

162 It is perhaps wiser to follow the MSS. in the spelling of this name than to emend to Turnus. Granted that Τύρνος might easily have been changed to Τυρρηνός by a scribe, yet it is just as conceivable that Greek writers, seeing in Turnus nothing but a modified form of Tyrrhenus, may have preferred to use the normal form; we have already met with a Tyrrhenus as the eponymous founder of the Tyrrhenian race (chaps. 27 f.). Yet for Turnus Herdonius (IV.45.47 f.) Dionysius evidently used the spelling Τύρνος (corrupted to Τύρδος in the MSS.).

163 In the case of this name we may emend to Amata with little hesitation, since the form Amita ("paternal aunt") is not appropriate as a proper name and is unlike any Greek name.

164 Dionysius evidently uses χθόνιος here to translate the Latin term indiges. Livy (I.2.6) does not specifically cite the inscription, but says Iovem Indigetem appellant.

165 Cf. Livy I.3.3‑4. According to Dionysius' reckoning (see p206, n1), Alba was founded in 1151 B.C.

166 These Greek terms, all adjectives in form, mean the gods, respectively, (a) of the race, (b) of the family, (c) of house and property, (d) of the inner house, (e) of the front court.

167 Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. I.197.20. For Timaeus see p19, n2.

168 The aedes deum Penatium in Velia (Livy XLV.16.5; Mon. Ancyr. IV.7; Varro, de Ling. Lat. v.54). The statues really represented the Dioscuri, but had long been identified with the Penates. Servius (on Aen. III.12), citing Varro, says that on the base of the statues was the inscription MAGNIS DIIS; but there was probably more to the inscription, including PENATIBVS.

Thayer's Note: For fuller details and sources on this temple, see the article Aedes Deorum Penatium in Platner and Ashby's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome.

169 Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iv.335 f., 10. Domitius Callistratus seems to have been a Roman freedman. Satyrus is unknown, but was probably not the same as the biographer of that name. Arctinus was regarded in later times as the author of two of the poems in Epic Cycle, the Aethiopis and the Iliou Persis; but classical writers cited the poems anonymously.

170 See chap. 61.2.

171 Samothrace.

172 ii.66.

173 For chaps. 70‑71 cf. Livy I.3.6‑10.

174 The name appears as Tyrrheus or Tyrrhus in Virgil (Aen. VII.485), the only other author who mentions such an individual. Tyrrheus, like Turnus, is apparently a modified form of Tyrrhenus; cf. p211, n1.

175 The reference is probably to the office of pontifex maximus, held by both Julius Caesar and Augustus.

176 This promise is not fulfilled in the extant portions of the history.

177 Kirby F. Smith has pointed out (Am. Journ. Philol. XVI, 1895, p205) that the Alban Lake is fed entirely from the bottom by gushing springs, so that νᾶμα here has its ordinary meaning of "spring" or "running water," and σταθερός is used with particular appropriateness of the depths of this lake.

178 751 B.C. According to the common tradition the archon­ship, which was at first held for life, was in 752 limited to a ten-year term, and finally, ca. 683, to a single year. See Grote, History of Greece, Part II, chap. x (beginning); von Schoeffer in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie, s.v. Archontes, cols. 569 f.


Thayer's Notes:

a For full details — map, long historical sketch, several dozen photos — see the three pages at Livius.

b One of very many conflicting ancient tales about the Pleiades; for a comprehensive survey see Allen's Star Names, s.v. Taurus.

c The river-god of the Scamander River, one of the rivers on the plain of Troy: it thus makes perfect sense that Tros should be considered a descendant of Scamander.

d The innocent-looking phrase "darkened by the height of the adjacent buildings" is an expansion of ὑπεροχῇ σκοτεινός, literally "in high shade"; exactly how the phrase is translated — it's as ambiguous in Greek as it is in English — has a bearing on the topography of Rome and the identification of some of its ancient monuments: see P. B. Whitehead, The Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano in Rome (AJA 31:1‑18).

Page updated: 10 Jan 18