Superbus buys the Sibylline Books; Marcus Acillius executed

“Tarquinius Superbus handed the prophecies of the Sibyl down to the Romans unwillingly. For a certain prophetess, whom the Romans called the Sibyl, came to Rome bearing either three or nine books, which she gave Tarquinius the chance to purchase as explained their importance. When he paid no heed to her, she burnt either one or three of the books. When Tarquinius again dishonored her, she burnt the same portion of the remaining books. As she was about to burn the rest, the augurs compelled Tarquinius to purchase the remaining books, which he purchased for the same price which he would have paid for the full number of books. He then entrusted them to the guardianship of two senators. Because they did not entirely understand what was written, they sent to Greece and paid two men there to study and interpret the texts. The nearby inhabitants, wishing to know what was explained in the books, bought off Marcus Acillius and transcribed some of the text. Once the crime of Marcus was detected, he was put into a leather sack and thrown into the sea. Subsequently, this was the prevalent punishment used against patricides, so that neither the land, nor the water, nor the sun would be polluted by their deaths.”

Τοὺς δὲ τῆς Σιβύλλης χρησμοὺς ῾Ρωμαίοις καὶ ἄκων προσεποιήσατο. γυνὴ γάρ τις θεόμαντις, ἣν Σίβυλλαν ὠνόμαζον, ἐς τὴν ῾Ρώμην ἐλήλυθε βιβλία τρία ἢ ἐννέα φέρουσα, καὶ ταῦτα πρίασθαι τῷ Ταρκυνίῳ ἐδίδου καὶ τὴν τιμὴν τῶν βιβλίων ὡρίσατο. ἐκείνου δὲ μὴ προσεσχηκότος αὐτῇ, τὸ ἓν ἢ τὰ τρία τῶν βιβλίων κατέκαυσεν. ὡς δ’ αὖθις ὠλιγώρει αὐτῆς ὁ Ταρκύνιος, κἀκ τῶν λοιπῶν ὁμοίως διέφθειρε. μελλούσης δὲ καὶ τὰ ἔτι λοιπὰ καταφλέξειν, ἠνάγκασαν αὐτὸν οἱ οἰωνισταὶ τὰ γοῦν σωζόμενα πρίασθαι. καὶ ὠνήσατο ταῦτα ὅσου τὰ πάντα κτήσασθαι ἔμελλε, καὶ δύο βουλευταῖς ἀνδράσι φυλάσσειν παρέδωκεν. ὡς δ’ οὐ πάνυ τῶν γεγραμμένων συνίεσαν, εἰς τὴν ῾Ελλάδα στείλαντες δύο ἄνδρας ἐκεῖθεν μισθοῦ ἤγαγον τοὺς ἀναγνωσομένους ταῦτα καὶ ἑρμηνεύσοντας. οἱ δὲ περίοικοι μαθεῖν ἐθελήσαντες ὅ,τι ποτὲ τὸ διὰ τῶν βιβλίων εἴη δηλούμενον, τὸν ἕτερον τῶν φυλασσόντων αὐτὰ Μάρκον ᾿Ακίλλιον χρήμασιν ἀναπείσαντες μετεγράψαντό τινα. γνωσθέντος δὲ τοῦ ἔργου ὁ Μάρκος βύρσαις δύο συρραφείσαις ἐμβληθεὶς κατεποντώθη, ὃ ἐξ ἐκείνου μετέπειτα κατὰ τῶν πατροκτόνων ἐπεκράτησε γίνεσθαι, ἵνα μήτε ἡ γῆ μήτε τὸ ὕδωρ μήτε ὁ ἥλιος μιανθῇ αὐτοῦ θνήσκοντος.

NOTE: Zonaras returns! Earlier this fall, a technical problem (tea on laptop) combined with a moderately soul-crushing semester interrupted my momentum on the project of translating all of Zonaras’ history of Rome, but I will be returning to regular small installments. This portion, the last segment of 7.10, plunges one in medias res, so you may consider catching up on previous installments.

Tarquinius Superbus Gives ‘Security Clearance’ to His Son:

“And then Sextus thus fell upon the people of Gabii; he killed the nobles and gave their possessions to the poor. Subsequently, when some had been killed and the rest were either deceived or entrusted all things to him, he took the city with some of his Roman guards and Gabian deserters (which he had gathered together for that purpose) and gave it to his father. Superbus entrusted the management of the city to his son, while he himself proceeded to conduct various wars against other peoples.”

Καὶ ὁ Σέξτος οὖν οὕτω τοὺς Γαουίνους μετῆλθε, καὶ τοὺς μὲν κρείττους ἀπώλλυε, τῷ πλήθει δὲ τὰ σφῶν διένειμε χρήματα. καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο τῶν μὲν διαφθαρέντων ἤδη, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν ἠπατημένων καὶ πάντα πιστευόντων αὐτῷ, μετὰ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ῾Ρωμαίων καὶ τῶν αὐτομόλων, οὓς πολλοὺς διὰ τοῦτο συνήθροισε, κατέσχε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τῷ πατρὶ παραδέδωκε. καὶ ὃς ἐκείνης τῷ υἱῷ παρεχώρησεν, αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸς ἄλλα ἐπολέμησεν ἔθνη.

Philogelos 9b:

A scholar, wishing to teach his horse not to eat so much, stopped giving it food. Later, when the horse died of hunger, the scholar said, “Ah, I’ve suffered a great loss! Just when he learned not to eat, he died!”

    β: Σχολαστικὸς θέλων τὸν ἵππον αὐτοῦ διδάξαι μὴ τρώ-

γειν πολλὰ οὐ παρέβαλλεν αὐτῷ τροφάς. ἀποθανόντος δὲ τοῦ

ἵππου τῷ λιμῷ ἔλεγε· Μεγάλως ἐζημιώθην· ὅτε γὰρ καλῶς

ἔμαθε μὴ τρώγειν, τότε ἀπέθανεν.