τὴν δὲ Ῥώμην ἥ τε τῶν πατρικίων δυσμένεια πρὸς τὸν δῆμον, οὐχ ἥκιστα τὴν τοῦ Μαρκίου καταδίκην αἰτίαν ἐχόντων, ἐτάραττε, καὶ πολλὰ δαιμόνια μάντεις καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ ἰδιῶται προσήγγελλον ἄξια φροντίδος. ἓν δὲ λέγεται τοιοῦτό τι γενέσθαι. Τίτος ἦν Λατῖνος, ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἄγαν ἐπιφανής, ἀπράγμων δὲ καὶ μέτριος ἄλλως καὶ καθαρὸς δεισιδαιμονίας, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἀλαζονείας.
But at Rome, owing to the hatred of the people by the patricians, who were especially embittered by the condemnation of Marcius, there were great commotions, and many signs from heaven were reported by seers, priests, and private persons, which could not be ignored. One of these is said to have been as follows. There was one Titus Latinus, a man of no great prominence, but of quiet and modest life in general, and free from superstitious fears, as he was also, and yet more, from vain pretensions.
οὗτος ὄναρ εἶδεν ὡς τοῦ Διὸς εἰς ὄψιν ἥκοντος αὐτῷ καὶ κελεύοντος εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὴν σύγκλητον ὅτι κακὸν τὸν ὀρχηστὴν ἔστειλαν αὐτῷ πρὸ τῆς πομπῆς καὶ ἀτερπέστατον. ἰδὼν δὲ τὴν ὄψιν ἔλεγε μὴ πάνυ φροντίσαι τὸ πρῶτον ὡς δὲ καὶ δεύτερον ἰδὼν καὶ τρίτον ἠμέλησε, παιδός τε χρηστοῦ θάνατον ἐπιδεῖν καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἄφνω παρεθέντος ἀκρατὴς γενέσθαι.
This man dreamed that Jupiter appeared to him, and bade him tell the senate that the dancer, whom they had appointed to head his procession, was a bad one, and gave him the greatest displeasure. After having this vision, Titus said, he gave it no thought at all at first, but after he had seen it a second and a third time, and still neglected it, he had suffered the loss of an excellent son by death, and had himself become suddenly palsied.
ταῦτα δʼ ἐν κλινιδίῳ φοράδην κομισθεὶς εἰς τὴν σύγκλητον ἀπήγγειλεν. ἀπαγγείλας δʼ, ὥς φασιν, εὐθὺς ᾔσθετο ῥωννύμενον αὑτοῦ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἀναστὰς ἀπῄει διʼ αὑτοῦ βαδίζων, θαυμάσαντες οὖν οἱ βουλευταὶ πολλὴν ἐποιήσαντο τοῦ πράγματος ζήτησιν.
ἦν δὲ τοιοῦτον· οἰκέτην τις αὑτοῦ παραδοὺς οἰκέταις ἑτέροις ἐκέλευσεν ἐξάγειν διʼ ἀγορᾶς μαστιγοῦντας, εἶτʼ ἀποκτεῖναι.
This story he told after having been brought into the senate on a litter, and no sooner had he told it, they say, than he at at once felt the strength return to his body, and rose up, and went away, walking without aid. In amazement, then, the senators made a careful investigation of the matter. Now, what had happened was this. A certain man had handed over one of his slaves to other slaves, with orders to scourge him through the forum, and then put him to death.
ταῦτα πράττουσιν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον αἰκιζομένοις, στροφάς τε παντοδαπὰς ὑπʼ ὀδύνης στρεφόμενον καὶ κινήσεις ἄλλας ἀτερπεῖς τῷ περιπαθεῖν κινούμενον, ἡ πομπὴ κατὰ τύχην ἠκολουθήκει. καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν ἐδυσχέραινον τῶν παρόντων, οὔτε ὄψιν ἱλαρὰν ὁρῶντες οὔτε κινήσεις πρεπούσας, οὐδεὶς δʼ ἐπεξῆλθεν, ἀλλὰ λοιδορίαι μόνον ἐγένοντο καὶ κατάραι τῷ πικρῶς οὕτως κολάζοντι. καὶ γὰρ ἐχρῶντο πολλῇ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκέτας ἐπιεικείᾳ τότε, διὰ αὐτουργίαν καὶ τὸ κοινωνεῖν διαίτης ἡμερώτερον ἔχοντες πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ συνηθέστερον.
While they were executing this commission and tormenting the poor wretch, whose pain and suffering made him writhe and twist himself horribly, the sacred procession in honour of Jupiter chanced to come up behind. Many of those who took part in it were, indeed, scandalized at the joyless sight and the unseemly contortions of the victim, but no one made any protest; they merely heaped abuse and curses on the head of the master who was inflicting such a cruel punishment. For in those days the Romans treated their slaves with great kindness, because they worked and even ate with them themselves, and were therefore more familiar and gentle with them.
ἦν δὲ μεγάλη κόλασις οἰκέτου πλημμελήσαντος, εἰ ξύλον ἁμάξης, ᾧ τὸν ῥυμὸν ὑπερείδουσιν, ἀράμενος διεξέλθοι παρὰ τὴν γειτνίασιν. γὰρ τοῦτο παθὼν καὶ ὀφθεὶς παρὰ τῶν συνοίκων καὶ γειτόνων οὐκέτι πίστιν εἶχεν. ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ φούρκιφερ· ὃ γὰρ οἱ Ἕλληνες ὑποστάτην καὶ στήριγμα, τοῦτο Ῥωμαῖοι φοῦρκαν ὀνομάζουσιν.
And it was a severe punishment for a slave who had committed a fault, if he was obliged to take the piece of wood with which they prop up the pole of a waggon, and carry it around through the neighbourhood. For he who had been seen undergoing this punishment no longer had any credit in his own or neighbouring households. And he was called furcifer; for what the Greeks call a prop, or support, is called furca by the Romans.
ὡς οὖν ὁ Λατῖνος ἀπήγγειλε τὴν ὄψιν αὐτοῖς καὶ διηπόρουν ὅστις ἦν ὁ τῆς πομπῆς τότε προηγούμενος ἀτερπὴς καὶ κακὸς ὀρχηστής, ἀνεμνήσθησαν ἔνιοι διὰ τὴν ἀτοπίαν τῆς τιμωρίας ἐκείνου τοῦ θεράποντος, ὃν μαστιγοῦντες ἐξήγαγον διʼ ἀγορᾶς, εἶτʼ ἐθανάτωσαν. συμφωνησάντων οὖν τῶν ἱερέων ὅ τε δεσπότης δίκην ἔδωκε, καὶ τῷ θεῷ τὴν πομπὴν καὶ τὰς θέας αὖθις ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπετέλουν.
When, therefore, Latinus had reported his vision to the senators, and they were at a loss to know who the unpleasant and bad dancer was who had headed the procession referred to, some of them were led, owing to the extraordinary nature of his punishment, to think of the slave who had been scourged through the forum and then put to death. Accordingly, with the concurrence of the priests, the master of the slave was punished, and the procession and spectacles in honour of the god were exhibited anew.
ἔοικεν οὖν ὁ Νομᾶς τά τʼ ἄλλα τῶν ἱερῶν σοφώτατος ἐξηγητὴς γεγονέναι, καὶ τοῦτο παγκάλως γε νομοθετῆσαι πρὸς εὐλάβειαν αὐτοῖς. ὅταν γὰρ ἄρχοντες ἢ ἱερεῖς πράττωσί τι τῶν θείων, ὁ κῆρυξ πρόεισι μεγάλῃ φωνῇ βοῶν, Ὃκ ἄγε. σημαίνει δʼ ἡ φωνή, τοῦτο πρᾶττε, προσέχειν κελεύουσα τοῖς ἱεροῖς καὶ μηδὲν ἔργον ἐμβαλεῖν μεταξὺ μηδὲ χρείαν ἀσχολίας, ὡς τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀναγκαίῳ τινὶ τρόπῳ καὶ διὰ βίας περαινόμενα.
Now it would seem that Numa, who in other respects also was a very wise director of sacred rites, had very properly sought to secure the people’s reverent attention by means of the following ordinance. When, namely, magistrates or priests perform any religious function, a herald goes before, crying with a loud voice, Hoc age. The meaning of the cry is, Mind this! and it warns the people to give heed to the sacred rites, and suffer no task or demand of business to intervene, implying that men perform most of their duties under some sort of compulsion and by constraint.
θυσίας δὲ καὶ πομπὰς καὶ θέας οὐ μόνον ἐξ αἰτίας τηλικαύτης, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ μικρὰς Ῥωμαίοις ἔθος ἐστὶν ἀναλαμβάνειν, ἵππου τε γὰρ ἑνὸς τῶν ἀγόντων τὰς καλουμένας θήσσας ἀτονήσαντος, καὶ πάλιν τοῦ ἡνιόχου τῇ ἀριστερᾷ χειρὶ τὰς ἡνίας συλλαβόντος, αὖθις ἐψηφίσαντο τὴν πομπὴν ἐπιτελεῖν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς κάτω χρόνοις μίαν θυσίαν τριακοντάκις ἐποίησαν, ἀεί τινος ἐλλείμματος ἢ προσκρούσματος γίνεσθαι δοκοῦντος. τοιαύτη μὲν εὐλάβεια πρὸς τὸ θεῖον Ῥωμαίων.
And it is customary for the Romans to renew sacrifices and processions and spectacles, not only for such a reason as the above, but also for trivial reasons. For instance, if one of the horses drawing the sacred chariots called Tensae gives out; or again, if the charioteer takes hold of the reins with his left hand, they decree that the procession be renewed. And in later ages, a single sacrifice has been performed thirty times, because again and again some failure or offence was thought to occur. Such is the reverent care of the Romans in religious matters.
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