οὗτος μέντοι πρῶτος ἐξουσίᾳ δικτάτορος ἐν ὑπατείᾳ χρησάμενος καὶ κατακτείνας ἀκρίτους ἐπὶ τρισχιλίοις πολίταις Γάιον Γράγχον καὶ Φούλβιον Φλάκκον, ὧν ὁ μὲν ἦν ὑπατικὸς καὶ θριαμβικός, ὁ δὲ τῆς καθʼ αὑτὸν ἡλικίας ἀρετῇ καὶ δόξῃ πεπρωτευκώς, οὐκ ἀπέσχετο κλοπῆς, ἀλλὰ πεμφθεὶς ὡς Ἰουγούρθαν τὸν Νομάδα πρεσβευτής διεφθάρη χρήμασιν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ· καὶ δίκην ὀφλὼν αἰσχίστην δωροδοκίας ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ κατεγήρασε μισούμενος καὶ προπηλακιζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου,
And yet this Opimius, who was the first consul to exercise the power of a dictator, and put to death without trial, besides three thousand other citizens, Caius Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus, of whom one had been consul and had celebrated a triumph, while the other was the foremost man of his generation in virtue and reputation—this Opimius could not keep his hands from fraud, but when he was sent as ambassador to Jugurtha the Numidian was bribed by him, and after being convicted most shamefully of corruption, he spent his old age in infamy, hated and abused by the people,
παρʼ αὐτὰ μὲν τὰ πραχθέντα ταπεινοῦ γενομένου καὶ συσταλέντος, ὀλίγῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἐκφήναντος ὅσον εἶχεν ἱμέρου καὶ πόθου τῶν Γράγχων. εἰκόνας τε γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀναδείξαντες ἐν φανερῷ προὐτίθεντο, καὶ τοὺς τόπους ἐν οἷς ἐφονεύθησαν ἀφιερώσαντες ἀπήρχοντο μὲν ὧν ὧραι φέρουσι πάντων, ἔθυον δὲ καὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν πολλοὶ καὶ προσέπιπτον, ὥσπερ θεῶν ἱεροῖς ἐπιφοιτῶντες.
a people which was humble and cowed at the time when the Gracchi fell, but soon afterwards showed how much it missed them and longed for them. For it had statues of the brothers made and set up in a conspicuous place, consecrated the places where they were slain, and brought thither offerings of all the first-fruits of the seasons, nay, more, many sacrificed and fell down before their statues every day, as though they were visiting the shrines of gods.
καὶ μέντοι καὶ ἡ Κορνηλία λέγεται τά τε ἄλλα τῆς συμφορᾶς εὐγενῶς καὶ μεγαλοψύχως ἐνεγκεῖν, καὶ περὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐν οἷς ἀνῃρέθησαν εἰπεῖν ὡς ἀξίους οἱ νεκροὶ τάφους ἔχουσιν, αὕτη δὲ περὶ τοὺς καλουμένους Μισηνοὺς διέτριβεν, οὐδὲν μεταλλάξασα τῆς συνήθους διαίτης.
And further, Cornelia is reported to have borne all her misfortunes in a noble and magnanimous spirit, and to have said of the sacred places where her sons had been slain that they were tombs worthy of the dead which occupied them. She resided on the promontory called Misenum, and made no change in her customary way of living.
ἦν δὲ πολύφιλος καὶ διὰ φιλοξενίαν εὐτράπεζος, ἀεὶ μὲν Ἑλλήνων καὶ φιλολόγων περὶ αὐτὴν ὄντων, ἁπάντων δὲ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ δεχομένων παρʼ αὐτῆς δῶρα καὶ πεμπόντων, ἡδίστη μὲν οὖν ἦν αὕτη τοῖς ἀφικνουμένοις καὶ συνοῦσι διηγουμένη τὸν τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀφρικανοῦ βίον καὶ δίαιταν, θαυμασιωτάτη δὲ τῶν παίδων ἀπενθὴς καὶ ἀδάκρυτος μνημονεύουσα, καὶ πάθη καὶ πράξεις αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ ἀρχαίων τινῶν, ἐξηγουμένη τοῖς πυνθανομένοις.
She had many friends, and kept a good table that she might show hospitality, for she always had Greeks and other literary men about her, and all the reigning kings interchanged gifts with her. She was indeed very agreeable to her visitors and associates when she discoursed to them about the life and habits of her father Africanus, bust most admirable when she spoke of her sons without grief or tears, and narrated their achievements and their fate to all enquirers as if she were speaking of men of the early days of Rome.
ὅθεν ἔδοξεν ἐνίοις ἔκνους ὑπὸ γήρως ἢ μεγέθους κακῶν γεγονέναι καὶ τῶν ἀτυχημάτων ἀναίσθητος, αὐτοῖς ὡς ἀληθῶἀναισθήτοις οὖσιν ὅσον ἐξ εὐφυΐας καὶ τοῦ γεγονέναι καὶ τετράφθαι καλῶς ὄφελός ἐστι πρὸς ἀλυπίαν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ ὅτι τῆς ἀρετῆς ἡ τύχη φυλαττομένης μὲν τὰ κακὰ πολλάκις περίεστιν, ἐν δὲ τῷ πταῖσαι τὸ φέρειν εὐλογίστως οὐ παραιρεῖται.
Some were therefore led to think that old age or the greatness of her sorrows had impaired her mind and made her insensible to her misfortunes, whereas, really, such persons themselves were insensible how much help in the banishment of grief mankind derives from a noble nature and from honourable birth and rearing, as well as of the fact that while Fortune often prevails over virtue when it endeavours to ward off evils, she cannot rob virtue of the power to endure those evils with calm assurance.
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