Consolation to Helvia, His Mother Chapter 7

A caelestibus agedum te ad humana converte ; videbis gentes populosque universos mutasse sedem. Quid sibi volunt in mediis barbarorum regionibus Graecae urbes ? quid inter Indos Persasque Macedonicus sermo ? Scythia et totus ille ferarum indomitarumque gentium tractus civitates Achaiae Ponticis impositas litoribus ostentat ; non perpetuae hiemis saevitia, non hominum ingenia ad similitudinem caeli sui horrentia transferentibus domos suas obstiterunt. Atheniensis in Asia turba est ; Miletus quinque et septuaginta urbium populum in diversa effudit ; totum Italiae latus, quod infero mari adluitur, maior Graecia fuit. Tuscos Asia sibi vindicat; Tyrii Africam incolunt, Hispaniam Poeni; Graeci se in Galbam immiserunt, in Graeciam Galli; Pyre- naeus Germanorum transitus non inhibuit - per invia, per incognita versavit se humana levitas. Liberos coniugesque et graves senio parentes traxerunt. Alii longo errore iactati non iudicio elegerunt locum, sed lassitudine proximum occupaverunt, alii armis sibi ius in ahena terra fecerunt ; quasdam gentes, cum ignota peterent, mare hausit, quaedam ibi consederunt, ubi illas rerum omnium inopia deposuit. Nec omnibus eadem causa relinquendi quaerendique patriam fuit. Alios excidia urbium suarum hostilibus armis elapsos in aliena spoliatos suis expulerunt ; alios domestica seditio summovit ; alios nimia superfluentis populi frequentia ad exonerandas vires emisit; alios pestilentia aut frequentes terrarum hiatus aut aliqua intoleranda infelicis soli vitia eiecerunt; quosdam fertilis orae et in maius laudatae fama corrupit. Alios alia causa excivit domibus suis ; illud utique manifestum est, nihil eodem loco mansisse, quo genitum est. Adsiduus generis humani discursus est ; cotidie aliquid in tam magno orbe mutatur. Nova urbium fundamenta iaciuntur, nova gentium nomina extinctis prioribus aut in accessionem validioris conversis oriuntur. Omnes autem istae populorum transportationes quid aliud quam publica exilia sunt ? Quid te tam longo circumitu traho ? Quid interest enumerare Antenorem Patavi conditorem et Euandrum in ripa Tiberis regna Arcadum conlocantem ? Quid Diomeden aliosque, quos Troianum bellum victos simul victoresque per alienas terras dissipavit ? Romanum imperium nempe auctorem exulem respicit, quem profugum capta patria, exiguas reliquias trahentem necessitas et victoris metus longinqua quaerentem in Italiam detulit. Hic deinde populus quot colonias in omnem provinciam misit! Ubicumque vicit Romanus, habitat. Ad hanc commutationem locorum libentes nomina dabant et relictis aris suis trans maria sequebatur colonos senex. Res quidem non desiderat plurium enumerationem; unum tamen adiciam, quod in oculos se ingerit. Haec ipsa insula saepe iam cultores mutavit. Ut antiquiora, quae vetustas obduxit, transeam, Phocide relicta Graii, qui nunc Massiliam incolunt, prius in hac insula consederunt, ex qua quid eos fugaverit, incertum est, utrum caeli gravitas an praepotentis Italiae conspectus an natura importuosi maris; nam in causa non fuisse feritatem accolarum eo apparet, quod maxime tunc trucibus et inconditis Galliae populis se inter- posuerunt. Transierunt deinde Ligures in eam, transierunt et Hispani, quod ex similitudine ritus apparet; eadem enim tegmenta capitum idemque genus calciamenti quod Cantabris est, et verba quaedam ; nam totus sermo conversatione Graecorum Ligurumque a patrio descivit. Deductae deinde sunt duae civium Romanorum coloniae, altera a Mario, altera a Sulla ; totiens huius aridi et spinosi saxi mutatus est populus ! Vix denique invenies ullam terram, quam etiamnunc indigenae colant; permixta omnia et insiticia sunt. Alius alii successit ; hic concupivit, quod illi fastidio fuit; ille unde expulerat, eiectus est. Ita fato placuit, nullius rei eodem semper loco stare fortunam.

Come now, turn from divine to human affairs: you will see that whole tribes and nations have changed their abodes. What is the meaning of Greek cities in the midst of barbarous districts? or of the Macedonian language existing among the Indians and the Persians? Scythia and all that region which swarms with wild and uncivilized tribes boasts nevertheless Achaean cities along the shores of the Black Sea. Neither the rigours of eternal winter, nor the character of men as savage as their climate, has prevented people migrating thither. There is a mass of Athenians in Asia Minor. Miletus has sent out into various parts of the world citizens enough to populate seventy-five cities. That whole coast of Italy which is washed by the Lower Sea is a part of what once was “Greater Greece.” Asia claims the Tuscans as her own: there are Tyrians living in Africa, Carthaginians in Spain; Greeks have pushed in among the Gauls, and Gauls among the Greeks. The Pyrenees have proved no barrier to the Germans: human caprice makes its way through pathless and unknown regions: men drag along with them their children, their wives, and their aged and worn-out parents. Some have been tossed hither and thither by long wanderings, until they have become too wearied to choose an abode, but have settled in whatever place was nearest to them: others have made themselves masters of foreign countries by force of arms: some nations while making for parts unknown have been swallowed up by the sea: some have established themselves in the place in which they were originally stranded by utter destitution. Nor have all men had the same reasons for leaving their country and for seeking for a new one: some have escaped from their cities when destroyed by hostile armies, and having lost their own lands have been thrust upon those of others: some have been cast out by domestic quarrels: some have been driven forth in consequence of an excess of population, in order to relieve the pressure at home: some have been forced to leave by pestilence, or frequent earthquakes, or some unbearable defects of a barren soil: some have been seduced by the fame of a fertile and over-praised clime. Different people have been led away from their homes by different causes; but in all cases it is clear that nothing remains in the same place in which it was born: the movement of the human race is perpetual: in this vast world some changes take place daily. The foundations of new cities are laid, new names of nations arise, while the former ones die out, or become absorbed by more powerful ones. And yet what else are all these general migrations but the banishments of whole peoples? Why should I lead you through all these details? what is the use of mentioning Antenor the founder of Padua, or Evander who established his kingdom of Arcadian settlers on the banks of the Tiber? or Diomedes and the other heroes, both victors and vanquished, whom the Trojan war scattered over lands which were not their own? It is a fact that the Roman Empire itself traces its origin back to an exile as its founder, who, fleeing from his country after its conquest, with what few relics he had saved from the wreck, had been brought to Italy by hard necessity and fear of his conqueror, which bade him seek distant lands. Since then, how many colonies has this people sent forth into every province? wherever the Roman conquers, there he dwells. These migrations always found people eager to take part in them, and veteran soldiers desert their native hearths and follow the flag of the colonists across the sea. The matter does not need illustrations by any more examples: yet I will add one more which I have before my eyes: this very island has often changed its inhabitants. Not to mention more ancient events, which have become obscure from their antiquity, the Greeks who inhabit Marseilles at the present day, when they left Phocaea, first settled here, and it is doubtful what drove them hence, whether it was the rigour of the climate, the sight of the more powerful land of Italy, or the want of harbours on the coast: for the fact of their having placed themselves in the midst of what were then the most savage and uncouth tribes of Gaul proves that they were not driven hence by the ferocity of the natives. Subsequently the Ligurians came over into this same island, and also the Spaniards, which is proved by the resemblance of their customs: for they wear the same head-coverings and the same sort of shoes as the Cantabrians, and some of their words are the same: for by association with Greeks and Ligurians they have entirely lost their native speech. Hither since then have been brought two Roman colonies, one by Marius, the other by Sulla: so often has the population of this barren and thorny rock been changed. In fine, you will scarcely find any land which is still in the hands of its original inhabitants: all peoples have become confused and intermingled: one has come after another: one has wished for what another scorned: some have been driven out of the land which they took from another. Thus fate has decreed that nothing should ever enjoy an uninterrupted course of good fortune.

Qu’est-il besoin de vous traîner par de longs circuits, de vous citer Anténor qui bâtit Padoue, Évandre qui crée sur les rives du Tibre le royaume d’Arcadie ; et Diomède et tant d’autres, vainqueurs et vaincus, que la prise de Troie dispersa sous des cieux étrangers ? L’empire romain ne reconnaît-il pas pour fondateur un exilé qui, fuyant sa patrie conquise, traînant avec lui quelques chétifs débris, chassé par la nécessité et la crainte du vainqueur, cherchait au loin un asile et le trouva en Italie ? Que de colonies plus tard ce même peuple n’envoya-t-il pas dans toutes les provinces ? Partout où il a vaincu, le Romain y habite. On s’enrôlait avec joie pour ces émigrations ; et le vieillard quittait ses autels domestiques pour se faire colon au delà des mers.