VELLEIUS PATERCULUS
LIBER PRIOR
1.1 *** tempestate2 distractus a duce suo Nestore Metapontum condidit. Teucer, non receptus a patre Telamone ob segnitiam non vindicatae fratris iniuriae, Cyprum adpulsus cognominem3 patriae suae Salamina constituit. Pyrrhus, Achillis filius, Epirum occupavit, Phidippus Ephyram in Thesprotia. 2at rex regum Agamemnon, tempestate in Cretam insulam reiectus, tres ibi urbes statuit, duas a patriae nomine, unam a victoriae memoria, Mycenas, Tegeam, Pergamum. idem mox scelere patruelis fratris Aegisthi, hereditarium exercentis in eum odium, et facinore uxoris oppressus occiditur. 3regni potitur Aegisthus per annos septem. hunc Orestes matremque socia consiliorum omnium sorore Electra, virilis animi femina, obtruncat. factum eius a diis comprobatum spatio vitae et felicitate imperii apparuit: quippe vixit annis XC, regnavit LXX. quin4 se etiam a Pyrrho, Achillis filio, virtute vindicavit:
BOOK 1.1
BOOK ONE
1. <Epeus,> separated from his leader, Nestor, by a storm, founded Metapontum. Teucer, not welcomed back by his father Telamon because of his negligence in failing to avenge the wrong done to his brother,1 sailed to Cyprus and established Salamis, named after his fatherland. Epirus was occupied by Pyrrhus, Achilles’ son, and Ephyra in Thesprotia by Phidippus. Agamemnon, king of kings, cast ashore on the island of Crete by a storm, set up three cities there, two named after his fatherland, one in memory of his victory (respectively Mycenae, Tegea, and Pergamus); subsequently, succumbing both to the crime of his cousin, Aegisthus, who was indulging an hereditary hatred of him, and to the wickedness of his wife, he was slain. Aegisthus took charge of the kingdom for seven years, but Orestes, whose sister Electra was his ally in all his plans, a woman with a man’s spirit, butchered him and their mother. That his deed was approved by the gods was apparent from the length of his life and the happiness of his rule: he lived ninety years and reigned for seventy. Moreover he also took valiant vengeance on Pyrrhus, Achilles’