An Unfamiliar State of Affairs

November 13, 2020November 8, 2020 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Tacitus, Histories 4.24

“Clear hatred and open insurrection are repelled. Fraud and treason are hidden and for this reason unavoidable. Civilis stands in front and forms a battleline. Hordeonius orders whatever helps the enemy from his bedroom and little bed. The whole army of the bravest men are ruled by the will of a single old man. Let’s have the traitor killed and liberate our fortune and virtue from this evil sign.”

Aperta odia armaque palam depelli: fraudem et dolum obscura eoque inevitabilia. Civilem stare contra, struere aciem: Hordeonium e cubiculo et lectulo iubere quidquid hosti conducat. Tot armatas fortissimorum virorum manus unius senis valetudine regi: quin potius interfecto traditore fortunam virtutemque suam malo omine exolverent.

Four Years of Presidential Memories: An Unfamiliar State of Affairs

October 21, 2020September 7, 2020 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Tacitus, Histories 4.24

A Proper Kind of Madness

December 4, 2019December 3, 2019 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Diodoros, Excerpta de virtutibus et vitiis 305.19–27 [=BNJ 87 F 108]

“There was another rebellion of fugitive slaves and a resistance of some renown. For a certain Cleon, a Cilician from the area near Tauros, was accustomed since childhood to a life of robbery. When he became a shepherd in Sicily, there was no end to his attacks on travelers and his constant murders. Once he heard of Eunous’ success and the achievement of his rebellion, he created his own revolt and convinced many nearby to join his madness. They took over the city of Akragas and all of the land nearby.”

(2.43) Ὅτι καὶ ἄλλη τις ἐγένετο ἀπόστασις δραπετῶν καὶ σύστημα ἀξιόλογον. Κλέων γάρ τις Κίλιξ ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ταῦρον τόπων συνήθης ὢν ἐκ παίδων τῶι ληιστρικῶι βίωι καὶ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν νομεὺς γεγονὼς ἱπποφορβίων οὐ διέλιπεν ὁδοιδοκῶν καὶ παντοδαποὺς φόνους ἐπιτελούμενος ὃς πυθόμενος τὴν κατὰ τὸν Εὐνουν προκοπὴν καὶ τὰς <τῶν> μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ δραπετῶν εὐημερίας ἀποστάτης ἐγένετο καί τινας τῶν πλησίον οἰκετῶν πείσας συναπονοήσασθαι κατέτρεχε τὴν πόλιν τῶν ᾽Ακραγαντίνων καὶ τὴν πλησιόχωρον πᾶσαν.