Cornelius Nepos
100-24 BCE
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era/Golden Age of Latin Literature)
CORNELI NEPOTIS DATAMES
[1] DATAMES, patre Camisare, natione Care, matre Scythissa natus,
[Datamas was Carian by nationality, though his mother was Scythian and his father, Camisarian,]
primum militum in numero fuit apud Artaxerxen eorum,
[he was the leading military man among the number of those men under the service of Artaxerxes,]
qui regiam tuebantur.
[that is, those men who watched over the safety of his kingdom.]
Pater eius Camisares,
[Camisares was his father,]
quod et manu fortis et bello strenuus
[and because this man was strong-armed and energetic in battle]
et regi multis locis fidelis erat repertus,
[and he was discovered to be loyal to the king on various occasions,]
habuit provinciam partem Ciliciae iuxta Cappadociam,
[he was allowed to govern the region of Cilicia that bordered Cappadocia,]
quam incolunt Leucosyri.
[that is, the region occupied by the Leucosyri <white Syrians>.]
2 Datames, militare munus fungens,
[Datames performed his military duty,]
primum, qualis esset, aperuit in bello,
[and in the very beginning he should what kind of soldier he was in the war]
quod rex adversus Cadusios gessit.
[that is, the one that the king waged against the Cadusians.]
Namque hic multis milibus regiorum interfectis magni fuit eius opera.
[By this token, when many thousands of the royal family's men were killed, this was a testament of this man.]
Quo factum est,
[So it was done,]
cum in eo bello cecidisset Camisares,
[when after he had felled the Camisarians in this battle,]
ut paterna ei traderetur provincia.
[that his father's former province was surrendered over to him.]
[2] Pari se virtute postea praebuit,
[Afterwards, he shined through with the same extent of worth,]
cum Autophrodates iussu regis bello persequeretur eos,
[when, by the king's order, he pursued the Autophrodates in battle,]
qui defecerant.
[who had previously defected from him.]
Namque huius opera hostes, cum castra iam intrassent,
profligati sunt
[On that matter, the enemies, since they had happened upon their camps, crashed into his defenses,]
exercitusque reliquus conservatus regis est.
[and he saved the remainder of the king's military forces there.]
Qua ex re maioribus rebus praeesse coepit.
[And from then on, he began to excel in greater affairs.]
2 Erat eo tempore Thuys, dynastes Paphlagoniae antiquo genere,
[At that time, there was a man named Thuys, who was a dynast from an ancient family of Paphlagonia,]
ortus a Pylaemene illo,
[that took its very origins from that famous Pylaemenes,]
quem Homerus Troico bello a Patroclo interfectum ait.
[whom Homer says was killed by Patroclus in the Trojan War.]
3 Is regi dicto audiens non erat.
[This man was not obedient to the king's commands.]
Quam ob causam bello eum persequi constituit
[For this reason, he decided to pursue him in battle,]
eique rei praefecit Datamen,
[and to bring Datames to his side,]
propinquum Paphlagonis:
[since he was a native of Paphlagonia:]
namque ex fratre et sorore erant nati.
[by the same token, they were brothers from a marriage between a brother and a sister.]
Quam ob causam Datames primum experiri voluit,
[For that reason, Datames, in the beginning, wanted to test]
ut sine armis propinquum ad officium reduceret.
[whether he could convince his kinsman to restore his former duty, without the use of arms.]
Ad quem cum venisset sine praesidio,
[And since he had come to this man with no bodyguard,]
quod ab amico nullas vereretur insidias, paene interiit:
[given that he did not fear any plots from a friend, he was almost assassinated:]
nam Thuys eum clam interficere voluit.
[you see, Thuys secretly planned to kill him.]
