Volume 1

The Roman antiquities of Dionysius Halicarnassensis / translated into English; with notes and dissertations. By Edward Spelman.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Date:: 1758

Credit: The Roman antiquities of Dionysius Halicarnassensis / translated into English; with notes and dissertations. By Edward Spelman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

120/532 (page 54)

$cattle, and of women. For they were either abortive, or died at their birth; fome, by their death, deftroying even thole that bore them: And, if any efcaped the danger or their de¬ livery, they were either lame, or imperfedl; or, being hurt by fome other accident, were not lie to be reared. The reft of the people, alfo, particularly thofe, in the vigor of their age, were affli&ed with various diftempers, and uncommon deaths. Upon their confulting the oracle what god, or ge¬ nius they had offended, to be thus afflicted, and, by what means, they might hope for relief, the god anfwered that, having obtained what they defired, they had negle&ed to give what they had promifed, but that the moft valuable things were ftill due from them: For the Pelalgi, in a time of 71 general fcarcity, had made a vow to offer up to Jupiter, this general account of thofe misfor¬ tunes has given an air of ridicule to his tranflation of the whole paffage : But, in order to Shew this in a proper light, I muft tranferibe the period, which, immediately, precedes this. Les fources, fays he, etoient prefque epuifees, on mime entiremmt a fee par les chaleurs exeeffives. And, then, adds, Les femmes n etoient pas plus heureufes dans leurs accou-hements. Now,it is plain, by the common rules of grammar, that this laft fentence muft relate to That, which, imme¬ diately, precedes it •, becaufe plus is a comparative-, and muft relate to lome- thing; and there is nothing but the preceding fentence, to which it can relate. The laft fentence, therefore, muft mean nothing, or it muft mean this: Les femmes dans leurs accouche- w h G»x. ments etoient prefque epuifees, ou merne entirement d fee par les chaleurs exeef- fives. 7l' Hxiluv ^pyj^aluv. This ufe of the word %(>y]uoilot ought to convince the translators that it does not always fignify money though, I oblerve, that it is, generally, rendered fo. Nay, what is ftill more extraordinary, even w Ariftotle’s definition of (by which he Shews that, inftead of Signi¬ fying money, it fignifies every thing, of which the value is mealured by money) is, however, rendered in the fame manner by the Latin translator, whoever he is. The words of Ari- ftotle are j Je Asyo/uev zravlocy ctrav Yi vo^is-pcth p.{IgeJcct. Thus translated; Pecunias autem appellamus omnia, quorum aefimationem metitur nummus. B. iv. c. i. Apollo?$