ἤδη δὲ νυκτὸς οὔσης βαθείας ἧκον εἰς τὸ τοῦ Σύλλα στρατόπεδον παρὰ τοῦ Κράσσου δεῖπνον αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς στρατιώταις μετιόντες· ὡς γὰρ ἐνίκησε τοὺς πολεμίους, εἰς Ἄντεμναν καταδιώξαντες ἐκεῖ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν. ταῦτʼ οὖν πυθόμενος ὁ Σύλλας, καὶ ὅτι τῶν πολεμίων οἱ πλεῖστοι διολώλασιν, ἧκεν εἰς Ἄντεμναν ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ τρισχιλίων ἐπικηρυκευσαμένων πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑπέσχετο δώσειν τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, εἰ κακόν τι τοὺς ἄλλους ἐργασάμενοι πολεμίους ἔλθοιεν πρὸς αὐτόν.
But when the night was now far advanced, messengers came to the camp of Sulla from Crassus, to fetch supper for him and his soldiers; for after conquering the enemy, he had pursued them into Antemnae, and was encamped before that city. When, therefore, Sulla learned this, and also that the greater part of the enemy had been destroyed, he came to Antemnae at break of day. There three thousand of the inhabitants sent a deputation to him to sue for mercy, and He promised them safety if they would do some mischief to the rest of his enemies before coming to him.
οἱ δὲ πιστεύσαντες ἐπέθεντο τοῖς λοιποῖς, καὶ πολλοὶ κατεκόπησαν ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς περιγενομένους εἰς ἑξακισχιλίους ἀθροίσας παρὰ τὸν ἱππόδρομον, ἐκάλει τὴν σύγκλητον εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἐνυοῦς ἱερόν. ἅμα δʼ αὐτός τε λέγειν ἐνήρχετο καὶ κατέκοπτον οἱ τεταγμένοι τοὺς ἑξακισχιλίους.
So they, trusting to his promise, attacked the rest of the people in the city, and many were slain by one another’s hands. However, the survivors of both parties alike, to the number of six thousand, were collected by Sulla in the circus at Rome, and then the senate was summoned by him to meet in the temple of Bellona, and at one and the same moment he himself began to speak in the senate, and those assigned to the task began to cut to pieces the six thousand in the circus.
κραυγῆς δέ, ὡς εἰκός, ἐν χωρίῳ μικρῷ τοσούτων σφαττομένων φερομένης καὶ τῶν συγκλητικῶν ἐκπλαγέντων, ὥσπερ ἐτύγχανε λέγων ἀτρέπτῳ καὶ καθεστηκότι τῷ προσώπῳ προσέχειν ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς τῷ λόγῳ, τὰ δʼ ἔξω γινόμενα μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν νουθετεῖσθαι γὰρ αὐτοῦ κελεύσαντος ἐνίους τῶν πονηρῶν.
The shrieks of such a multitude, who were being massacred in a narrow space, filled the air, of course, and the senators were dumbfounded; but Sulla, with the calm and unmoved countenance with which he had begun to speak, ordered them to listen to his words and not concern themselves with what was going on outside, for it was only that some criminals were being admonished, by his orders.
τοῦτο καὶ τῷ βραδυτάτῳ Ῥωμαίων νοῆσαι παρέστησεν ὡς ἀλλαγὴ τὸ χρῆμα τυραννίδος, οὐκ ἀπαλλαγὴ γέγονε. Μάριος μὲν οὖν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς χαλεπὸς ὢν ἐπέτεινεν, οὐ μετέβαλε τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ τὴν φύσιν Σύλλας δὲ μετρίως τὰ πρῶτα καὶ πολιτικῶς ὁμιλήσας τῇ τύχῃ καὶ δόξαν ἀριστοκρατικοῦ καὶ δημωφελοῦς ἡγεμόνος παρασχών,
This gave even the dullest Roman to understand that, in the matter of tyranny, there had been an exchange, but not a deliverance. Marius the elder, at any rate, had been naturally harsh at the outset, and power had intensified, not altered, his disposition; but Sulla had used his good fortune moderately, at first, and like a statesman, and had led men to expect in him a leader who was attached to the aristocracy, and at the same time helpful to the common people.
ἔτι δὲ καὶ φιλόγελως ἐκ νέου γενόμενος καὶ πρὸς οἶκτον ὑγρός, ὥστε ῥᾳδίως ἐπιδακρύειν, εἰκότως προσετρίψατο ταῖς μεγάλαις ἐξουσίαις διαβολὴν ὡς τὰ ἤθη μένειν οὐκ ἐώσαις ἐπὶ τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τρόπων, ἀλλʼ ἔμπληκτα καὶ χαῦνα καὶ ἀπάνθρωπα ποιούσαις. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν εἴτε κίνησίς ἐστι καὶ μεταβολὴ φύσεως ὑπὸ τύχης, εἴτε μᾶλλον ὑποκειμένης ἀποκάλυψις ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ κακίας, ἑτέρα τις ἂν διορίσειε πραγματεία.
Furthermore, from his youth up he had been of a merry temper, and easily moved to tears of pity. Naturally, therefore, his conduct fixed a stigma upon offices of great power, which were thought to work a change in men’s previous characters, and render them capricious, vain, and cruel. However, whether this is a change and reversal of nature, brought about by fortune, or rather a revelation, when a man is in authority, of underlying baseness, were matter for determination in some other treatise.
τοῦ δὲ Σύλλα πρὸς τὸ σφάττειν τραπομένου καὶ φόνων οὔτε ἀριθμὸν οὔτε ὅρον ἐχόντων ἐμπιπλάντος τὴν πόλιν, ἀναιρουμένων πολλῶν καὶ κατʼ ἰδίας ἔχθρας, οἷς οὐδὲν ἦν πρᾶγμα πρὸς Σύλλαν, ἐφιέντος αὐτοῦ καὶ χαριζομένου τοῖς περὶ αὐτόν, ἐτόλμησε τῶν νέων εἷς, Γάϊος Μέτελλος, ἐν τῇ συγκλήτῳ τοῦ Σύλλα πυθέσθαι τί πέρας ἔσται τῶν κακῶν, καὶ ποῖ προελθόντος αὐτοῦ δεῖ πεπαῦσθαι τὰ γινόμενα προσδοκᾶν.
Sulla now busied himself with slaughter, and murders without number or limit filled the city. Many, too, were killed to gratify private hatreds, although they had no relations with Sulla, but he gave his consent in order to gratify his adherents. At last one of the younger men, Caius Metellus, made bold to ask Sulla in the senate what end there was to be of these evils, and how far he would proceed before they might expect such doings to cease.
παραιτούμεθα γάρ, εἶπεν, οὐχ οὓς σὺ ἔγνωκας ἀναιρεῖν τῆς τιμωρίας, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀμφιβολίας οὓς ἔγνωκας σώζειν. ἀποκριναμένου δὲ τοῦ Σύλλα μηδέπω γινώσκειν οὓς ἀφίησιν, ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Μέτελλος, οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, δήλωσον οὓς μέλλεις κολάζειν. καὶ ὁ Σύλλας ἔφη τοῦτο ποιήσειν.
We do not ask thee, he said, to free from punishment those whom thou hast determined to slay, but to free from suspense those whom thou hast determined to save. And when Sulla answered that he did not yet know whom he would spare, Well, then, said Metellus in reply, let us know whom thou intendest to punish. This Sulla said he would do.
ἔνιοι δὲ οὐ τὸν Μέτελλον, ἀλλὰ Φουφίδιόν τινα τῶν πρὸς χάριν ὁμιλούντων τῷ Σύλλᾳ τὸ τελευταῖον εἰπεῖν λέγουσιν. ὁ δʼ οὖν Σύλλας εὐθὺς ὀγδοήκοντα προέγραψεν, οὐδενὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει κοινωσάμενος. ἀγανακτούντων δὲ πάντων, μίαν ἡμέραν διαλιπὼν ἄλλους προέγραψεν εἴκοσι καὶ διακοσίους, εἶτα τρίτῃ πάλιν οὐκ ἐλάττους.
Some, however, say that it was not Metellus, but Fufidius, one of Sulla’s fawning creatures, who made this last speech to him. Be that as it may, Sulla at once proscribed eighty persons, without communicating with any magistrate; and in spite of the general indignation, after a single day’s interval, he proscribed two hundred and twenty others, and then on the third day, as many more.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις δημηγορῶν εἶπεν ὅσους μεμνημένος τυγχάνοι προγράφειν, τοὺς δὲ νῦν διαλανθάνοντας αὖθις προγράψειν. προέγραψε δὲ τῷ μὲν ὑποδεξαμένῳ καὶ διασώσαντι τὸν προγεγραμμένον, ζημίαν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ὁρίζων θάνατον, οὐκ ἀδελφόν, οὐχ υἱόν, οὐ γονεῖς ὑπεξελόμενος, τῷ δὲ ἀποκτείναντι γέρας δύο τάλαντα τῆς ἀνδροφονίας, κἂν δοῦλος δεσπότην κἂν πατέρα υἱὸς ἀνέλῃ. ὃ δὲ πάντων ἀδικώτατον ἔδοξε, τῶν γὰρ προγεγραμμένων ἠτίμωσε καὶ υἱοὺς καὶ υἱωνούς, καὶ τὰ χρήματα πάντων ἐδήμευσε.
Referring to these measures in a public harangue, he said that he was proscribing as many as he could remember, and those who now escaped his memory, he would proscribe at a future time. He also proscribed any one who harboured and saved a proscribed person, making death the punishment for such humanity, without exception of brother, son, or parents, but offering any one who slew a proscribed person two talents as a reward for his murderous deed, even though a slave should slay his master, or a son his father. And what seemed the greatest injustice of all, he took away all civil rights from the sons and grandsons of those who had been proscribed, and confiscated the property of all.
προεγράφοντο δὲ οὐκ ἐν Ῥώμῃ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν πάσῃ πόλει τῆς Ἰταλίας· καὶ φονευομένων οὔτε ναὸς ἦν καθαρὸς θεοῦ οὔτε ἑστία ξένιος οὔτε οἶκος πατρῷος, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ γυναιξὶ γαμεταῖς ἄνδρες ἐσφάττοντο καὶ παρὰ μητράσι παῖδες. ἦσαν δὲ οἱ διʼ ὀργὴν ἀπολλύμενοι καὶ διʼ ἔχθραν οὐδὲν μέρος τῶν διὰ χρήματα σφαττομένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ λέγειν ἐπῄει τοῖς κολάζουσιν ὡς τόνδε μὲν ἀνῄρηκεν οἰκία μεγάλη, τόνδε δὲ κῆπος, ἄλλον ὕδατα θερμά.
Moreover, proscriptions were made not only in Rome, but also in every city of Italy, and neither temple of God, nor hearth of hospitality, nor paternal home was free from the stain of bloodshed, but husbands were butchered in the embraces of their wedded wives, and sons in the arms of their mothers. Those who fell victims to political resentment and private hatred were as nothing compared with those who were butchered for the sake of their property, nay, even the executioners were prompted to say that his great house killed this man, his garden that man, his warm baths another.
Κόϊντος δὲ Αὐρήλιος, ἀνὴρ ἀπράγμων καὶ τοσοῦτον αὐτῷ μετεῖναι τῶν κακῶν νομίζων ὅσον ἄλλοις συναλγεῖν ἀτυχοῦσιν, εἰς ἀγορὰν ἐλθὼν ἀνεγίνωσκε τοὺς προγεγραμμένους· εὑρὼν δὲ ἑαυτόν, οἴμοι τάλας, εἶπε, διώκει με τὸ ἐν Ἀλβανῷ χωρίον. καὶ βραχὺ προελθὼν ὑπό τινος ἀπεσφάγη καταδιώξαντος.
Quintus Aurelius, a quiet and inoffensive man, who thought his only share in the general calamity was to condole with others in their misfortunes, came into the forum and read the list of the proscribed, and finding his own name there, said, Ah! woe is me! my Alban estate is prosecuting me. And he had not gone far before he was dispatched by some one who had hunted him down.
ἐν τούτῳ δὲ Μάριος μὲν ἁλισκόμενος ἑαυτὸν διέφθειρε, Σύλλας δὲ εἰς Πραινεστὸν ἐλθὼν πρῶτα μὲν ἰδίᾳ κατʼ ἄνδρα κρίνων ἐκόλαζεν, εἶτα ὡς οὐ σχολῆς οὔσης πάντας ἀθρόως εἰς ταὐτὸ συναγαγών, μυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους ὄντας, ἐκέλευσεν ἀποσφάττειν, μόνῳ τῷ ξένῳ διδοὺς ἄδειαν. ὁ δὲ εὐγενῶς πάνυ φήσας πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡς οὐδέποτε σωτηρίας χάριν εἴσεται τῷ φονεῖ τῆς πατρίδος, ἀναμιχθεὶς ἑκὼν συγκατεκόπη τοῖς πολίταις.
Meanwhile Marius the younger, at the point of being captured, slew himself; and Sulla, coming to Praeneste, at first gave each man there a separate trial before he executed him, but afterwards, since time failed him, gathered them all together in one place—there were twelve thousand of them—and gave orders to slaughter them, his host alone receiving immunity. But this man, with a noble spirit, told Sulla that he would never owe his safety to the slayer of his country, and joining his countrymen of his own accord, was cut down with them.
ἔδοξε δὲ καινότατον γενέσθαι τὸ περὶ Λεύκιον Κατιλίναν. οὗτος γὰρ οὔπω τῶν πραγμάτων κεκριμένων ἀνῃρηκὼς ἀδελφὸν ἐδεήθη τοῦ Σύλλα τότε προγράψαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὡς ζῶντα καὶ προεγράφη. τούτου δὲ τῷ Σύλλᾳ χάριν ἐκτίνων Μάρκον τινὰ Μάριον τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἐναντίας στάσεως ἀποκτείνας τὴν μὲν κεφαλὴν ἐν ἀγορᾷ καθεζομένῳ τῷ Σύλλᾳ προσήνεγκε, τῷ δὲ περιρραντηρίῳ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐγγὺς ὄντι προσελθὼν ἀπενίψατο τὰς χεῖρας.
But that which Lucius Catiline did was thought to be most monstrous of all. This man, namely, had killed his brother before the civil struggle was decided, and now asked Sulla to proscribe the man, as one still living; and he was proscribed. Then Catiline, returning this favour of Sulla’s, killed a certain Marcus Marius, one of the opposite faction, and brought his head to Sulla as he was sitting in the forum, and then going to the lustral water of Apollo which was near, washed the blood off his hands.
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