Sunday, September 23, 2012
Livy 1.1
[Iam] Now first of
all, it is generally agreed that, Troy having been captured, rage was vented
upon the rest of the Trojans; the Achivi abstained from every right of war for two —Aeneas
and Antenor — both by the law of ancient hospitality and because they were
always been the supporters of peace and of returning Helen. [Casibus] Their fortunes (lit.
events/misfortunes) then being different, Antenor came into the inmost bay of
the Adriatic Sea with a multitude of Enetes, who had been driven from
Paphlagonia by a revolution and, having lost their king Pylaemenes before Troy,
were looking for a settlement and a leader; the Euganei who used to live
between the sea and the Alps having been driven out, the Eneti and Trojans occupied
these lands. [Et] And the place
(lit. acc.) into which they first disembarked was called Troy, and thence the
name was Troy (lit. dat.) for the district; the whole nation was called Veneti.
[Aeneam] Aeneas, a fugitive from
home by a similar misfortune, but, with the Fates leading to greater beginnings
of things, came first into Macedonia, then was carried down into Sicily seeking
a settlement, from Sicily he held his fleet to the Laurentian territory. Troy is the name for this place
also. [Ibi] There the Trojans,
having disembarked, as for whom by an almost boundless wandering nothing had
survived except their arms and their ships, because they were taking plunder
from the fields, king Latinus and the local inhabitants, who then were holding
these places, gather together from the city and the fields armed to prevent the
violence of the strangers.
[Duplex] From this point there is a twofold tradition: some say that
Latinus, defeated in battle, joined peace with Aeneas and subsequently a family
alliance; others that when the battle lines, having been drawn up, had stopped
before they sounded the signals, Latinus had advanced among his front lines and
had invited the leader of the strangers to a conference; he inquired then who
were the men, whence or by what misfortune set out from their home, or seeking what
they had gone out into Laurentine territory; after he heard that the multitude
were Trojans, that their leader was Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Venus, that,
their native city (lit. fatherland) having been burnt, the fugitives from
home were seeking an abode and a place for building a city, having admired both
the nobility of the race and the hero, and their spirit prepared for either war
or peace, his right hand having been given, he sanctified a pledge of future
friendship. [Inde] Then a treaty
was struck between the leaders and greetings made between the armies; Aeneas
was entertained (lit. in hospitality) at Latinus’ home. [Ibi] There Latinus before his household
gods had joined domestic treaty to public, his daughter having been given in
marriage to Aeneas. This incident certainly
confirms for the Trojans at last the hope of the end of their wandering in a
stable and sure home. [Oppidum]
They build a town; Aeneas calls (it) Lavinium from the name of his wife. In a short time also a boy (a manly
shoot) was from the new marriage, for whom his parents said the name of
Ascanius.
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