Cornelius Nepos
100-24 BCE
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era/Golden Age of Latin Literature)
CORNELI NEPOTIS REGES
[1] Hi fere fuerunt Graecae gentis duces,
[Only scarcely were there leaders of the Greek nation,]
qui memoria digni videantur,
[who might seem to be worthy of memory,]
praeter REGES.
[except for the kings.]
Namque eos attingere noluimus,
[For which reason, I didn't wish to touch upon them,]
quod omnium res gestae separatim sunt relatae.
[because the accomplishments of them all have been related by an individual basis.]
Neque tamen hi admodum sunt multi.
[Nevertheless, these men are quite numerous.]
2 Lacedaemonius autem Agesilaus nomine, non potestate fuit rex, sicut ceteri Spartani.
[And yet, Agesilaus the Spartan was king in title, but not in his position of power, like the rest of the Spartans.]
Ex iis vero, qui dominatum imperio tenuerunt, excellentissimi fuerunt,
[Out of these, indeed, those men who held hegemony over governance, were those who excelled most of all,]
ut nos iudicamus,
[as I would judge it,]
Persarum Cyrus et Darius, Hystaspi filius;
[Cyrus and Darius, son of Hystapos, both kings of Persia;]
quorum uterque privatus virtute regnum est adeptus.
[either of whom gained rule through the qualifications.]
Prior horum apud Massagetas in proelio cecidit;
[First of these men fell in battle in Massagetae;]
Darius senectute diem obiit supremum.
[Darius died in the very last extent of his old age.]
3 Tres sunt praeterea eiusdem generis: Xerxes et duo Artaxerxae,
[There are three more kings from this same stock: Xerxes and two Artaxerxes,]
Macrochir cognomine et Mnemon.
[one nicknamed Macrochir, or "Long Hand", and the other Mnemon.]
Xerxi maxime est illustre,
[Xerxes was by far the most illustrious,]
quod maximis post hominum memoriam exercitibus terra marique bellum intulit Graeciae.
[for the fact that he brought war to Greece, by land and sea, in the accompaniment of the greatest armies of human history.]
4 At Macrochir praecipuam habet laudem amplissimae pulcherrimaeque corporis formae,
[But Macrochir takes the foremost fame of having the strongest and most handsome figure of all,]
quam incredibili ornavit virtute belli:
[one which he adorned with with his unbelievable courage in battle:]
namque illo Perses nemo manu fuit fortior.
[For which matter, no man from Persian was stronger physically than him.]
Mnemon autem iustitiae fama floruit.
[Nevertheless, Mnemon gained his reputation from his justice.]
Nam cum matris suae scelere amisisset uxorem,
[You see, even when he divorced his wife, after a wicked scheme by his own mother,]
tantum indulsit dolori,
[he was stricken with such grief,]
ut eum pietas vinceret.
[that his familial duty prevailed over him.]
5 Ex his duo eodem nomine morbo naturae debitum reddiderunt;
[These two, both sharing the same name, succumbed to illness.]
tertius ab Artabano praefecto ferro interemptus est.
[The third was killed by Artabanus after being assassinated by the sword.]
[2] Ex Macedonum autem gente duo multo ceteros antecesserunt rerum gestarum gloria:
[On the other hand, two men from the race of Macedonians excelled the rest by virtue of their accomplishments:]
Philippus, Amyntae filius, et Alexander Magnus.
[Philip, son of Aymnta, and Alexander the Great.]
Horum alter Babylone morbo consumptus est:
[The latter of these men died from an illness in Babylon.]
Philippus Aegiis a Pausania, cum spectatum ludos iret, iuxta theatrum occisus est.
[Philip was assassinated near a theater in Aegiae by Pausanias, while was on his way to see public games,]
2 Unus Epirotes, Pyrrhus, qui cum populo Romano bellavit.
[There was a one king from Epirus named Pyrrhus, who waged war with the Roman people.]
Is cum Argos oppidum oppugnaret in Peloponneso,
[While he was besieging the city of Argos in the Peloponnesos, ]
lapide ictus interiit.
[he died from the blow of a slinger.]
Unus item Siculus, Dionysius prior.
[Likewise, there was a Sicilian king, Dionysius the Elder.]
Nam et manu fortis et belli peritus fuit et,
[By his account, he was physically capable, and experienced in battle,]
id quod in tyranno non facile reperitur,
[which is something that you won't easily find of a tyrant ruler,]
minime libidinosus, non luxuriosus,
[he was in no way prone to indulging himself, nor used to luxurious living,]
non avarus, nullius denique rei cupidus
[he was not greedy, and most of all, he was desirous of nothing]
nisi singularis perpetuique imperii ob eamque rem crudelis.
[except for his unshared and perpetual power, for whose sake, he was cruel.]
Nam dum id studuit munire,
[You see, so long as he focused his attention on securing this,]
nullius pepercit vitae,
[he spared nobody's life,]
quem eius insidiatorem putaret.
[this is, whomever he suspected to be a traitor against him.]
3 Hic cum virtute tyrannidem sibi peperisset,
[At this point, in accompaniment with his qualifications, he had secured a tyranny for himself,]
magna retinuit felicitate.
[he stayed in power with a great deal of good fortune.]
Maior enim annos LX natus decessit florente regno
[You see, he ended his flowering reign, after living 60 years,]
neque in tam multis annis cuiusquam ex sua stirpe funus vidit,
[nor, in such a long number of years, did he witness the death of any one of his descendants,]
cum ex tribus uxoribus liberos procreasset
[even though he had fathered children from three separate wives,]
multique ei nati essent nepotes.
[and there were a great deal of grandchildren born to him.]
[3] Fuerunt praeterea magni reges ex amicis Alexandri Magni,
[Besides that, there were great kings among the Alexander the Great's companions,]
qui post obitum eius imperia ceperunt,
[who took his imperial functions after his death,]
in his Antigonus et huius filius Demetrius, Lysimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemaeus.
[among these being Antigonus and his son Demetrius, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy.]
2 Ex his Antigonus in proelio, cum adversus Seleucum et Lysimachum dimicaret,
occisus est.
[From these men, Antigonus was killed in battle, when he tried to vie against Seleucus and Lysimachus,]
Pari leto affectus est Lysimachus ab Seleuco;
[and Lysimachus was killed in a similar case by Seleucus;]
namque societate dissoluta bellum inter se gesserunt.
[by which account, when their association dissolved, they waged war amongst themselves.]
3 At Demetrius, cum filiam suam Seleuco in matrimonium dedisset
[Demetrius, on the other hand, since he had given his own daughter in matrimony to Seleucus,]
neque eo magis fida inter eos amicitia manere potuisset,
[nor could their alliance be any more secure between them,]
captus bello in custodia socer generi periit a morbo.
[until the son-in-law, captured in battle by his father-in-law, died from an illness.]
4 Neque ita multo post Seleucus a Ptolemaeo Cerauno dolo interfectus est,
[Nor was it much longer after that when Seleucus was killed by a scheme on the part of Ptolemy Ceraunus,]
quem ille a patre expulsum Alexandrea, alienarum opum indigentem receperat.
[whom the latter had previously welcomed in Alexandria, when the formed was exiled by his father and was in need of another's resources.]
Ipse autem Ptolemaeus, cum vivus filio regnum tradidisset,
[But Ptolemy himself, when he had passed his kingdom down to his son while he was still alive,]
ab illo eodem vita privatus dicitur.
[is said to have been robbed of his life from that very same man.]
5 De quibus quoniam satis dictum putamus,
[Since I think enough has been said about these men,]
non incommodum videtur non praeterire Hamilcarem et Hannibalem,
[it doesn't seem like a bad point to pass through the lives of Hamilcar, and Hannibal,]
quos et animi magnitudine et calliditate omnes in Africa natos praestitisse constat.
[whom we have established had excelled all of the people born in Africa with the greatness and ambition of their mind.]
