(This is what I remember to have said at the time, and the god bore witness to the truth of my words—would that he had not!—when he forsook your suburb which for so long he had protected, and again during that time of storm and stress775 when he turned in the wrong direction the minds of those who were then in power and forced their hands. But I acted foolishly in making myself odious to you. For I ought to have remained silent as, I think, did many of those who came here with me, and I ought not to have been meddlesome or found fault. But I poured down all these reproaches on your heads to no purpose, owing to my headlong temper and a ridiculous desire to flatter,—for it is surely not to be believed that out of goodwill towards you I spoke those words to you then; but I was, I think, hunting after a reputation for piety towards the gods and for sincere good-will towards you, which is, I think, the most absurd form of flattery. Therefore you treat me justly when you defend yourselves against those criticisms of mine and choose a different place for making your defence. For I abused you under the god's statue near his altar and the footprints of the holy image, in the presence of few witnesses; but you abused me in the market-place, in the presence of the whole populace, and with the help of citizens who were capable of composing such pleasant witticisms as yours. For you must be well aware that all of you, those who uttered the sayings about me and those who listened to them, are equally responsible; and he who listened with pleasure to those slanders, since he had an equal share of the pleasure, though he took less trouble than the speaker, must share the blame.)

Εἴρηται οὖν ὑμῖν δι᾽ ὅλης καὶ ἠκρόαται τῆς πόλεως ὁπόσα εἰς τουτονὶ πέπαικται τὸν φαῦλον πώγωνα καὶ τὸν οὐδὲν ἐπιδείξαντα ὑμῖν καλὸν οὐδὲ ἐπιδείξοντα τρόπον. οὐ γὰρ ἐπιδείξει βίον ὑμῖν, ὁποῖον ὑμεῖς ἀεὶ μὲν ζῆτε, ποθεῖτε δὲ ὁρᾶν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄρχουσιν. ὑπὲρ μὲν δὴ τῶν βλασφημιῶν, ἃς ἰδίᾳ [C] τε καὶ δημοσίᾳ κατεχέατέ μου παίζοντες ἐν τοῖς ἀναπαίστοις, ἐμαυτοῦ προσκατηγορήσας [pg 494] ὑμῖν ἐπιτρέπω χρῆσθαι μετὰ μείζονος αὐτῷ παρρησίας, ὡς οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ διὰ τοῦτο πώποτε δεινὸν ἐργάσομαι σφάττων ἢ τύπτων ἢ δῶν ἦ ἀποκλείων ἢ κολάζων. πῶς γάρ; ὅς, ἐπείπερ ὑμῖν ἐμαυτὸν ἐπιδείξας μετὰ τῶν φίλων σωφρονοῦντα, φαυλότατον ἐδεῖν ὑμῖν καὶ ἀηδέστατον, οὐδὲν [D] ἐπέδειξα καλὸν θέαμα, μεταστῆναι τῆς πόλεως776 ἔγνωκα καὶ ὑποχωρῆσαι, πεπεισμένος μὲν οὐδαμῶς, ὅτι πάντως ἐκείνοις ἀρέσω, πρὸς οὓς πορεύομαι, κρίνων δ᾽ αἱρετώτερον, εἰ διαμάρτοιμι τοῦ δόξαι γοῦν ἐκείνοις καλὸς κἀγαθός, ἐν μέρει μεταδοῦναι πᾶσι τῆς ἀηδίας τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ καὶ μὴ τὴν εὐδαίμονα ταύτην ἀποκναῖσαι πόλιν ὥσπερ ὑπὸ δυσωδίας τῆς ἐμῆς μετριότητος καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐπιτηδείων τῆς σωφροσύνης.

(Throughout the whole city, then, you both uttered and listened to all the jests that were made about this miserable beard of mine, and about one who has never displayed to you nor ever will display any charm of manner. For he will never display among you the sort of life that you always live and desire to see also among those who govern you. Next with respect to the slanders which both in private and publicly you have poured down on my head, when you ridiculed me in anapaestic verse, since I too have accused myself I permit you to employ that method with even greater frankness; for I shall never on that account do you any harm, by slaying or beating or fettering or imprisoning you or punishing you in any way. Why indeed should I? For now that in showing you myself, in company with my friends, behaving with sobriety,—a most sorry and unpleasing sight to you—I have failed to show you any beautiful spectacle, I have decided to leave this city and to retire from it; not indeed because I am convinced that I shall be in all respects pleasing to those to whom I am going, but because I judge it more desirable, in case I should fail at least to seem to them an honourable and good man, to give all men in turn a share of my unpleasantness,777 and not to annoy this happy city with the evil odour, as it were, of my moderation and the sobriety of my friends.)

[365] Ἡμῶν γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀγρὸν οὐδὲ κῆπον ἐπρίατο παρ᾽ ὑμῖν οὐδὲ οἰκίαν ᾠκοδόμησεν οὐδ᾽ ἔγημε παρ᾽ ὑμῶν οὐδ᾽ ἐξέδωκεν εἰς ὑμᾶς οὐδὲ ἠράσθημεν τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν καλῶν, οὐδ᾽ ἐζηλώσαμεν Ἀσσύριον πλοῦτον οὐδ᾽ ἐνειμάμεθα τὰς προστασίας οὐδὲ παραδυναστεύειν ἡμῖν ἠνεσχόμεθά τινας τῶν ἐν τέλει οὐδ᾽ ἐπείσαμεν τὸν δῆμον εἰς παρασκευὰς δείπνων ἢ θεάτρων, ὃν οὕτως ἐποιήσαμεν τρυφᾶν, ὥστε ἄγων σχολὴν [B] ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνδείας τοὺς ἀναπαίστους εἰς τοὺς αἰτίους αὑτῷ τῆς εὐθηνίας ξυνέθηκεν, οὐδ᾽ ἐπεγράψαμεν χρυσίον οὐδὲ ᾐτήσαμεν ἀργύριον οὐδὲ ηὐξήσαμεν φόρους· ἀλλὰ [pg 496] πρὸς τοῖς ἐλλείμμασιν ἀνεῖται πᾶσι τῶν εἰθισμένων εἰσφορῶν τὸ πέμπτον. οὐκ οἶμαι δ᾽ ἐξαρκεῖν τὸ σωφρονεῖν ἐμέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ778 μέτριον ἔχω ναὶ μὰ Δία καὶ θεούς, ὡς ἐμαυτὸν πείθω, τὸν εἰσαγγελέα, καλῶς ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐπιτιμηθέντα, διότι γέρων ὢν καὶ φαλακρὸς ἠρέμα τὰ πρόσω διὰ δυστροπίαν [C] αἰσχύνεται κομᾶν ἐξόπισθεν, ὥσπερ Ὅμηρος ἐποίησε τοὺς Ἄβαντας, οὐδὲν δ᾽ ἐκείνου φαυλοτέρους ἄνδρας οἴκοι παρ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ δύο καὶ τρεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τέτταρας, εἰ βούλεσθε δὲ νυνὶ καὶ πέμπτον.

(For not one of us has bought a field or garden in your city or built a house or married or given in marriage among you, or fallen in love with any of your handsome youths, or coveted the wealth of Assyria, or awarded court patronage;779 nor have we allowed any of those in office to exercise influence over us, or induced the populace to get up banquets or theatrical shows; nay rather we have procured for them such luxurious ease that, since they have respite from want, they have had leisure to compose their anapaests against the very author of their well-being. Again, I have not levied gold money or demanded silver money or increased the tribute; but in addition to the arrears, one-fifth of the regular taxes has been in all cases remitted. Moreover I do not think it enough that I myself practise self-restraint, but I have also an usher who, by Zeus and the other gods, is moderate indeed, as I believe, though he has been finely scolded by you, because, being an old man and slightly bald in front, in his perversity he is too modest to wear his hair long behind, as Homer made the Abantes wear theirs.780 And I have with me at my court two or three men also who are not at all inferior to him, nay four or even five now, if you please.)

Ὁ δέ μοι θεῖος καὶ ὁμώνυμος οὐ δικαιότατα μὲν ὑμῶν προύστη, μέχρις ἐπέτρεπον οἱ θεοὶ ξυνεῖναι ἡμῖν αὐτὸν καὶ ξυμπράττειν; οὐ προμηθέστατα δὲ πάσαις ἐπεξῆλθε ταῖς οἰκονομίαις τῆς πόλεως; ἡμῖν μὲν οὖν ἐδόκει ταῦτα καλά, πρᾳότης ἀρχόντων μετὰ σωφροσύνης, [D] ᾠόμεθά τε ὑμῖν ἱκανῶς διὰ τούτων καλοὶ φανεῖσθαι τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὑμᾶς ἥ τε βαθύτης ἀπαρέσκει τοῦ γενείου καὶ τὸ ἀτημέλητον τῶν τριχῶν καὶ τὸ μὴ παραβάλλειν τοῖς θεάτροις καὶ τὸ ἀξιοῦν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εἶναι σεμνοὺς καὶ πρὸ τούτων ἁπάντων ἡ περὶ τὰς κρίσεις ἡμῶν ἀσχολία καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀγορᾶς εἴργειν τὴν πλεονεξίαν, [366] ἑκόντες ὑμῖν ἐξιστάμεθα τῆς πόλεως. οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι ῥᾴδιον ἐν γήρᾳ μεταθεμένῳ διαφυγεῖν τὸν λεγόμενον ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἰκτῖνος μῦθον. λέγεται γάρ τοι τὸν ἰκτῖνα φωνὴν ἔχοντα παραπλησίαν τοῖς ἄλλοις ὄρνισιν ἐπιθέσθαι τῷ χρεμετίζειν, ὥσπερ οἱ γενναῖοι τῶν ἵππων, εἶτα τοῦ [pg 498] μὲν ἐπιλαθόμενον, τὸ δὲ οὐ δυνηθέντα ἑλεῖν ἱκανῶς ἀμφοῖν στέρεσθαι καὶ φαυλοτέραν τῶν ἄλλων ὀρνίθων εἶναι τὴν φωνήν. [B] ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς εὐλαβοῦμαι παθεῖν, ἀγροικίας τε ἅμα καὶ δεξιότητος ἁμαρτεῖν. ἤδη γάρ, ὡς καὶ ὑμεῖς αὐτοὶ συνορᾶτε, πλησίον ἐσμὲν ἐθελόντων θεῶν,

(And as for my uncle and namesake,781 did he not govern you most justly, so long as the gods allowed him to remain with me and to assist me in my work? Did he not with the utmost foresight administer all the business of the city? For my part I thought these were admirable things, I mean mildness and moderation in those who govern, and I supposed that by practising these I should appear admirable in your eyes. But since the length of my beard is displeasing to you, and my unkempt locks, and the fact that I do not put in an appearance at the theatres and that I require men to be reverent in the temples; and since more than all these things my constant attendance at trials displeases you and the fact that I try to banish greed of gain from the market-place, I willingly go away and leave your city to you. For when a man changes his habits in his old age it is not easy, I think, for him to escape the fate that is described in the legend about the kite. The story goes that the kite once had a note like that of other birds, but it aimed at neighing like a high-spirited horse; then since it forgot its former note and could not quite attain to the other sound, it was deprived of both, and hence the note it now utters is less musical than that of any other bird. This then is the fate that I am trying to avoid, I mean failing to be either really boorish or really accomplished. For already, as you can see for yourselves, I am, since Heaven so wills, near the age)

ὁ Τήιος ἔφη ποιητής.

(as the poet of Teos said.782)

Εἶεν. ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀχαριστίας, πρὸς θεῶν καὶ Διὸς ἀγοραίου καὶ πολιούχου, ὑπόσχετε λόγον. ἠδίκησθέ τι παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ κοινῇ πώποτε ἢ καὶ783 ἰδίᾳ, [C] καὶ δίκην ὑπὲρ τούτου λαβεῖν οὐ δυνάμενοι φανερῶς διὰ τῶν ἀναπαίστων ἡμᾶς, ὥσπερ οἱ κωμῳδοὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ἕλκουσι καὶ περιφέρουσιν, οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς ἐπιτρίβετε λοιδοροῦντες; ἢ τοῦ μὲν ποιεῖν τι χαλεπὸν εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀπεσχόμην, τοῦ λέγειν δὲ ὑμᾶς κακῶς οὐκ ἀπεσχόμην, ἵνα με καὶ ὑμεῖς διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἰόντες ἀμύνησθε; τίς οὖν ὑμῖν ἐστιν αἰτία τοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς προσκρούσματος καὶ τῆς ἀπεχθείας; ἐγὼ γὰρ εὖ οἶδα δεινὸν [D] οὐδένα ὑμῶν οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἀνήκεστον ἐργασάμενος οὔτε ἰδίᾳ τοὺς ἄνδρας οὔτε κοινῇ τὴν πόλιν, οὐδ᾽ εἰπὼν οὐδὲν φλαῦρον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπαινέσας, ὡς ἔδοξέ μοι προσήκειν, καὶ μεταδοὺς χρηστοῦ τινος, ὅσον εἰκὸς ἦν τὸν ἐπιθυμοῦντα μετὰ τοῦ δυνατοῦ πολλοὺς εὖ ποιεῖν ἀνθρώπους. ἀδύνατον δ᾽ εὖ ἴστε καὶ τοῖς εἰσφέρουσι [pg 500] συγχωρεῖν ἅπαντα [367] καὶ διδόναι πάντα τοῖς εἰωθόσι λαμβάνειν. ὅταν οὖν φανῶ μηδὲν ἐλαττώσας τῶν δημοσίων συντάξεων, ὅσας εἴωθεν ἡ βασιλικὴ νέμειν δαπάνη, ὑμῖν δ᾽ ἀνεὶς τῶν εἰσφορῶν οὐκ ὀλίγα, ἆρ᾽ οὐκ αἰνύγματι τὸ πρᾶγμα ἔοικεν;

(Enough of that. But now, in the name of Zeus, God of the Market-place and Guardian of the City, render me account of your ingratitude. Were you ever wronged by me in any way, either all in common or as individuals, and is it because you were unable to avenge yourselves openly that you now assail me with abuse in your market-places in anapaestic verse, just as comedians drag Heracles and Dionysus on the stage and make a public show of them?784 Or can you say that, though I refrained from any harsh conduct towards you, I did not refrain from speaking ill of you, so that you, in your turn, are defending yourselves by the same methods? What, I ask, is the reason of your antagonism and your hatred of me? For I am very sure that I had done no terrible or incurable injury to any one of you, either separately, as individuals, or to your city as a whole; nor had I uttered any disparaging word, but I had even praised you, as I thought I was bound to do, and had bestowed on you certain advantages, as was natural for one who desires, as far as he can, to benefit many men. But it is impossible, as you know well, both to remit all their taxes to the taxpayers and to give everything to those who are accustomed to receive gifts. Therefore when it is seen that I have diminished none of the public subscriptions which the imperial purse is accustomed to contribute, but have remitted not a few of your taxes, does not this business seem like a riddle?)

Ἀλλ᾽ ὁπόσα μὲν κοινῇ πρὸς πάντας πεποίηται τοὺς ἀρχομένους ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ, πρέποι ἂν σιωπᾶν, ἵνα μὴ δοκοίην ὥσπερ [B] ἐξεπίτηδες αὐτοπρόσωπος ἐπαίνους ᾄδειν ἐμαυτοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα ἐπαγγειλάμενος πολλὰς καὶ ἀσελγεστάτας ὕβρεις καταχέαι· τὰ δὲ ἰδίᾳ μοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς πεποιημένα προπετῶς μὲν καὶ ἀνοήτως, ἥκιστα δὲ ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν ἄξια ἀχαριστεῖσθαι, πρέποι ἂν οἶμαι προφέρειν ὥσπερ τινὰ ἐμὰ ὀνείδη τοσούτῳ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν χαλεπώτερα, τοῦ τε αὐχμοῦ τοῦ περὶ τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ τῆς ἀναφροδισίας, ὅσῳ καὶ ἀληθέστερα ὄντα τῇ ψυχῇ μάλιστα προσήκει. [C] καὶ δὴ πρότερον ἐπῄνουν ὑμᾶς ὡς ἐνεδέχετό μοι φιλοτίμως οὐκ ἀναμείνας τὴν πεῖραν οὐδ᾽ ὅπως ἕξομεν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐνθυμηθείς, ἀλλὰ νομίσας ὑμᾶς μὲν Ἑλλήνων παῖδας, ἐμαυτὸν δέ, εἰ καὶ γένος ἐστί μοι Θρᾴκιον, Ἕλληνα τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ὑπελάμβανον, ὅτι μάλιστα ἀλλήλους ἀγαπήσομεν. ἓν μὲν δὴ τοῦτο ἔστω μοι τῆς προπετείας ὄνειδος. ἔπειτα πρεσβευσαμένοις ὑμῖν παρ᾽ ἐμὲ καὶ ἀφικομένοις ὑστέροις οὐ τῶν ἄλλων μόνον, [D] ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀλεξανδρέων [pg 502] τῶν ἐπ᾽ Αἰγύπτῳ, πολὺ μὲν ἀνῆκα χρυσύον, πολὺ δ᾽ ἀργύριον, φόρους δὲ παμπληθεῖς ἰδίᾳ παρὰ τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις, ἔπειτα τοῦ βουλευτηρίου τὸν κατάλογον διακοσίοις βουλευταῖς ἀνεπλήρωσα φεισάμενος οὐδενός. ἐσκόπουν γὰρ ὅπως ἡ πόλις ὑμῶν ἔσται μείζων καὶ δυνατωτέρα.

(However, it becomes me to be silent about all that I have done for all my subjects in common, lest it should seem that I am purposely as it were singing my praises with my own lips, and that too after announcing that I should pour down on my own head many most opprobrious insults. But as for my actions with respect to you as individuals, which, though the manner of them was rash and foolish, nevertheless did not by any means deserve to be repaid by you with ingratitude, it would, I think, be becoming for me to bring them forward as reproaches against myself; and these reproaches ought to be more severe than those I uttered before, I mean those that related to my unkempt appearance and my lack of charm, inasmuch as they are more genuine since they have especial reference to the soul. I mean that before I came here I used to praise you in the strongest possible terms, without waiting to have actual experience of you, nor did I consider how we should feel towards one another; nay, since I thought that you were sons of Greeks, and I myself, though my family is Thracian, am a Greek in my habits, I supposed that we should regard one another with the greatest possible affection. This example of my rashness must therefore be counted as one reproach against me. Next, after you had sent an embassy to me—and it arrived not only later than all the other embassies, but even later than that of the Alexandrians who dwell in Egypt,—I remitted large sums of gold and of silver also, and all the tribute money for you separately apart from the other cities; and moreover I increased the register of your Senate by two hundred members and spared no man;785 for I was planning to make your city greater and more powerful.)

Δέδωκα οὖν ὑμῖν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιτροπευσάντων τοὺς θησαυροὺς τοὺς ἐμοὺς [368] καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐργασαμένων τὸ νόμισμα τοὺς πλουσιωτάτους ἑλομένοις ἔχειν· ὑμεῖς δ᾽ ἐκείνων μεν οὐ τοὺς δυναμένους εἵλεσθε, λαβόμενοι δὲ τῆς ἀφορμῆς εἰργάσασθε παραπλήσια πόλει μὲν οὐδαμῶς εὐνομουμένῃ, πρέποντα δ᾽ ὑμῶν ἄλλως τῷ τρόπῳ. βούλεσθε ἑνὸς ὑμᾶς ὑπομνήσω; βουλευτὴν ὀνομάσαντες, πρὶν προσγραφῆναι τῷ καταλόγῳ, μετεώρου τῆς δίκης οὔσης, ὑπεβάλετε λειτουργίᾳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἄλλον ἀπ᾽ ἀγορᾶς [B] εἱλκύσατε πένητα καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἁπανταχοῦ μὲν ἀπολελειμμένων, παρ᾽ ὑμῖν δὲ διὰ περιττὴν φρόνησιν ἀμειβομένων πρὸς χρυσίον συρφετῶν εὐποροῦντα μετρίας οὐσίας εἵλεσθε κοινωνόν. πολλὰ τοιαῦτα περὶ τὰς ὀνομασίας κακουργούντων ὑμῶν, ἐπειδὴ μὴ πρὸς ἅπαντα συνεχωρήσαμεν, ὧν τε εὖ εἰργασάμεθα τὴν χάριν ἀπεστερήθημεν, καὶ ὧν ἀπεσχόμεθα ξὺν δίκῃ παρ᾽ ὑμῶν δυσχεραινόμεθα.

(I therefore gave you the opportunity to elect and to have in your Senate the richest men among those who administer my own revenues and have charge of coining the currency. You however did not elect the capable men among these, but you seized the opportunity to act like a city by no means well-ordered, though quite in keeping with your character. Would you like me to remind you of a single instance? You nominated a Senator, and then before his name had been placed on the register, and the scrutiny of his character was still pending, you thrust this person into the public service. Then you dragged in another from the market-place, a man who was poor and who belonged to a class which in every other city is counted as the very dregs, but who among you, since of your excessive wisdom you exchange rubbish for gold, enjoys a moderate fortune; and this man you elected as your colleague. Many such offences did you commit with regard to the nominations, and then when I did not consent to everything, not only was I deprived of the thanks due for all the good I had done, but also I have incurred your dislike on account of all that I in justice refrained from.)

[C] Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἦν τῶν μικρῶν πάνυ καὶ οὔπω δυνάμενα τὴν πόλιν ἐκπολεμῶσαι· τὸ δὲ δὴ [pg 504] μέγιστον, ἐξ οὗ τὸ μέγα ἤρθη μῖσος, ἀφικομένου μου πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὁ δῆμος ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ, πνιγόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν πλουσίων, ἀφῆκε φωνὴν πρῶτον ταύτην· “Πάντα γέμει, πάντα πολλοῦ.” τῆς ἐπιούσης διελέχθην ἐγὼ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ὑμῶν ἐπιχειρῶν πείθειν, [D] ὅτι κρεῖττόν ἐστιν ὑπεριδόντας ἀδίκου κτήσεως εὖ ποιῆσαι πολίτας καὶ ξένους. οἱ δὲ ἐπαγγειλάμενοι τοῦ πράγματος ἐπιμελήσεσθαι μηνῶν ἑξῆς τριῶν ὑπεριδόντος μου καὶ περιμείναντος οὕτως ὀλιγῶρως εἶχον τοῦ πράγματος, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἂν ἤλπισεν. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἑώρων ἀληθῆ τὴν τοῦ δήμου φωνὴν καὶ τὴν ἀγορὰν οὐχ ὑπ᾽ ἐνδείας, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἀπληστίας [369] τῶν κεκτημένων στενοχωρουμένην, ἕταξα μέτριον ἑκάστου τίμημα καὶ δῆλον ἐποίησα πᾶσιν. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἦν τὰ μὲν ἄλλα παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς πολλὰ πάνυ· καὶ γὰρ ἦν οἶνος καὶ ἔλαιον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα· σίτου δ᾽ ἐνδεῶς εἶχον, ἀφορίας δεινῆς ὑπὸ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν αὐχμῶν γενομένης, ἔδοξέ μοι πέμπειν εἰς Χαλκίδα καὶ Ἱερὰν πόλιν καὶ πόλεις τὰς πέριξ, ἔνθεν εἰσήγαγον ὑμῖν μέτρων τετταράκοντα μυριάδας. ὡς δ᾽ ἀνάλωτο καὶ τοῦτο, πρότερον μὲν πεντάκις χιλίους, [B] ἑπτάκις χιλίους δ᾽ ὕστερον, εἶτα νῦν μυρίους, οὓς ἐπιχώριόν ἐστι λοιπὸν ὀνομάζειν μοδίους, ἀνάλισκον σίτου, πάντας οἴκοθεν ἔχων. ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου κομισθέντα μοι σῖτον ἔδωκα τῇ πόλει, πραττόμενος ἀργύριον οὐκ ἐπὶ δέκα μέτρων,786 ἀλλὰ πεντεκαίδεκα τοσοῦτον, [pg 506] ὅσον ἐπὶ τῶν δέκα πρότερον. εἰ δὲ τοσαῦτα μέτρα θέρους ἦν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν τοῦ νομίσματος, τί προσδοκᾶν ἔδει τηνικαῦτα, ἡνίκα, φησὶν ὁ Βοιώτιος ποιητής, [C] χαλεπὸν γενέσθαι τὸν λιμὸν ἐπὶ δώματι; ἆρ᾽ οὐ πέντε μόγις καὶ ἀγαπητῶς ἄλλως τε καὶ τηλικούτου χειμῶνος ἐπιγενομένου;

(Now these were very trivial matters and could not so far make the city hostile to me. But my greatest offence of all, and what aroused that violent hatred of yours, was the following. When I arrived among you the populace in the theatre, who were being oppressed by the rich, first of all cried aloud, “Everything plentiful; everything dear!” On the following day I had an interview with your powerful citizens and tried to persuade them that it is better to despise unjust profits and to benefit the citizens and the strangers in your city. And they promised to take charge of the matter, but though for three successive months I took no notice and waited, they neglected the matter in a way that no one would have thought possible. And when I saw that there was truth in the outcry of the populace, and that the pressure in the market was due not to any scarcity but to the insatiate greed of the rich, I appointed a fair price for everything, and made it known to all men. And since the citizens had everything else in great abundance, wine, for instance, and olive oil and all the rest, but were short of corn, because there had been a terrible failure of the crops owing to the previous droughts, I decided to send to Chalcis and Hierapolis and the cities round about, and from them I imported for you four hundred thousand measures of corn. And when this too had been used, I first expended five thousand, then later seven thousand, and now again ten thousand bushels—“modii”787 as they are called in my country—all of which was my very own property; moreover I gave to the city corn which had been brought for me from Egypt; and the price which I set on it was a silver piece, not for ten measures but for fifteen, that is to say, the same amount that had formerly been paid for ten measures. And if in summer, in your city, that same number of measures is sold for that sum, what could you reasonably have expected at the season when, as the Boeotian poet says, “It is a cruel thing for famine to be in the house.”788 Would you not have been thankful to get five measures for that sum, especially when the winter had set in so severe?)

Τί οὖν ὑμῶν οἱ πλούσιοι; τὸν μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγρῶν σίτον λάθρᾳ ἀπέδοντο πλείονος, ἐβάρησαν δὲ τὸ κοινὸν τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀναλώμασι· καὶ οὐχ ἡ πόλις μόνον ἐπὶ τοῦτο συρρεῖ, [D] οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν συντρέχουσιν, ὃ μόνον ἐστὶν εὑρεῖν πολὺ καὶ εὔωνον, ἄρτους ὠνούμενοι. καίτοι τίς μέμνηται παρ᾽ ὑμῖν εὐθηνουμένης τῆς πόλεως πεντεκαίδεκα μέτρα σίτου πραθέντα τοῦ χρυσοῦ; ταύτης ἕνεκεν ὑμῖν ἀπηχθόμην ἐγὼ τῆς πράξεως, ὅτι τὸν οἶνον ὑμῖν οὐκ ἐπέτρεψα καὶ τὰ λάχανα καὶ τὰς ὀπώρας ἀποδόσθαι χρυσοῦ, καὶ τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν πλουσίων ἀποκεκλεισμένον ἐν ταῖς ἀποθήκαις σῖτον ἄργυρον αὐτοῖς [370] καὶ χρυσὸν ἐξαίφνης παρ᾽ ὑμῶν γενέσθαι. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως διέθεντο καλῶς, ἐργασάμενοι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις λιμὸν ἀλοιητῆρα βρότειον, ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἔφη τοὺς ταῦτα ἐπιτηδεύοντας ἐξελέγχων. ἡ πόλις δ᾽ ἐν ἀφθονίᾳ γέγονεν ἄρτων ἕνεκα μόνον, ἄλλου δ᾽ οὐδενός.

(But what did your rich men do? They secretly sold the corn in the country for an exaggerated price, and they oppressed the community by the expenses that private persons had to incur. And the result is that not only the city but most of the country people too are flocking in to buy bread, which is the only thing to be found in abundance and cheap. And indeed who remembers fifteen measures of corn to have been sold among you for a gold piece, even when the city was in a prosperous condition? It was for this conduct that I incurred your hatred, because I did not allow people to sell you wine and vegetables and fruit for gold, or the corn which had been locked away by the rich in their granaries to be suddenly converted by you into silver and gold for their benefit. For they managed the business finely outside the city, and so procured for men “famine that grinds down mortals,”789 as the god said when he was accusing those who behave in this fashion. And the city now enjoys plenty only as regards bread, and nothing else.)

[B] Συνίην μὲν οὖν καὶ τότε ταῦτα ποιῶν ὅτι μὴ πᾶσιν ἀρέσοιμι, πλὴν ἔμελεν οὐδὲν ἐμοί· τῷ γὰρ [pg 508] ἀδικουμένῳ πλήθει βοηθεῖν ᾤμην χρῆναι καὶ τοῖς ἀφικνουμένοις ξένοις, ἐμοῦ τε ἕνεκα καὶ τῶν συνόντων ἡμῖν ἀρχόντων. ἐπεὶ δ᾽ οἶμαι συμβαίνει τοὺς μὲν ἀπιέναι, τὴν πόλιν δ᾽ εἶναι τὰ πρὸς ἐμὲ γνώμης μιᾶς· οἱ μὲν γὰρ μισοῦσιν, οἱ δ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ τραφέντες ἀχαριστοῦσιν· Ἀδραστείᾳ πάντα ἐπιτρέψας ἐς ἄλλο ἔθνος οἰχήσομαι καὶ δῆμον ἕτερον, οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς ὑπομνήσας [C] ὧν ἐνιαυτοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐννέα δίκαια δρῶντες εἰς ἀλλήλους εἰργάσασθε, φέρων μὲν ὁ δῆμος ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας τῶν δυνατῶν ξὺν βοῇ τὴν φλόγα καὶ ἀποκτιννὺς τὸν ἄρχοντα, δίκην δ᾽ αὖθις ἀποτίνων ὑπὲρ τούτων, ὧν ὀργιζόμενος δικαίως ἔπραξεν οὐκέτι μετρίως.

(Now I knew even then when I acted thus that I should not please everybody, only I cared nothing about that. For I thought it was my duty to assist the mass of the people who were being wronged, and the strangers who kept arriving in the city both on my account and on account of the high officials who were with me. But since it is now, I think, the case that the latter have departed, and the city is of one mind with respect to me—for some of you hate me and the others whom I fed are ungrateful—I leave the whole matter in the hands of Adrasteia790 and I will betake myself to some other nation and to citizens of another sort. Nor will I even remind you how you treated one another when you asserted your rights nine years ago; how the populace with loud clamour set fire to the houses of those in power, and murdered the Governor; and how later they were punished for these things because, though their anger was justified, what they did exceeded all limits.791)

Ὕπὲρ τίνος οὖν πρὸς θεῶν ἀχαριστούμεθα; ὅτι τρέφομεν ὑμᾶς οἴκοθεν, [D] ὃ μέχρι σήμερον ὑπῆρξεν οὐδεμιᾷ πόλει, καὶ τρέφομεν οὕτω λαμπρῶς; ὅτι τὸν κατάλογον ὑμῶν ηὐξήσαμεν; ὅτι κλέπτοντας ἑλόντες οὐκ ἐπεξήλθομεν; ἑνὸς ἢ δύο βούλεσθε ὑμᾶς ὑπομνήσω, μή τις ὑπολάβῃ σχῆμα καὶ ῥητορείαν εἶναι καὶ προσποίησιν τὸ πρᾶγμα; γῆς κλήρους οἶμαι τρισχιλίους ἔφατε ἀσπόρους εἶναι καὶ ᾐτήσασθε λαβεῖν, λαβόντες [pg 510] δ᾽ ἐνείμασθε πάντες οἱ μὴ δεόμενοι. τοῦτο ἐξετασθὲν ἀνεφάνη σαφῶς. ἀφελόμενος δ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐγὼ τῶν ἐχόντον οὐ δικαίως, καὶ πολυπραγμονήσας οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν, ὧν ἔσχον ἀτελεῖς, [371] οὓς μάλιστα ἐχρῆν ὑποτελεῖς εἶναι, ταῖς βαρυτάταις ἔνειμα λειτουργίαις αὐτοὺς τῆς πόλεως. καὶ νῦν ἀτελεῖς ἔχουσιν οἱ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ὑμῖν ἐνιαυτὸν ἱπποτροφοῦντες γῆς κλήρους ἐγγὺς τρισχιλίους, ἐπινοίᾳ μὲν καὶ οἰκονομίᾳ τοῦ θείου τοὐμοῦ καὶ ὁμωνύμου, χάριτι δ᾽ ἐμῇ, ὃς δὴ τοὺς πανούργους καὶ κλέπτας οὕτω κολάζων εἰκότως ὑμῖν φαίνομαι τὸν κόσμον ἀνατρέπειν. [B] εὖ γὰρ ἴστε ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους ἡ πρᾳότης αὔξει καὶ τρέφει τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κακίαν.

(Why, I repeat, in Heaven's name, am I treated with ingratitude? Is it because I feed you from my own purse, a thing which before this day has never happened to any city, and moreover feed you so generously? Is it because I increased the register of Senators? Or because, when I caught you in the act of stealing, I did not proceed against you? Let me, if you please, remind you of one or two instances, so that no one may think that what I say is a pretext or mere rhetoric or a false claim. You said, I think, that three thousand lots of land were uncultivated, and you asked to have them; and when you had got them you all divided them among you though you did not need them. This matter was investigated and brought to light beyond doubt. Then I took the lots away from those who held them unjustly, and made no inquiries about the lands which they had before acquired, and for which they paid no taxes, though they ought most certainly to have been taxed, and I appointed these men to the most expensive public services in the city. And even now they who breed horses for you every year hold nearly three thousand lots of land exempt from taxation. This is due in the first place to the judgment and management of my uncle and namesake792 but also to my own kindness; and since this is the way in which I punish rascals and thieves, I naturally seem to you to be turning the world upside down. For you know very well that clemency towards men of this sort increases and fosters wickedness among mankind.)

Ὁ λόγος οὖν μοι καὶ ἐνταῦθα περιίσταται πάλιν εἰς ὅπερ βούλομαι. πάντων γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ τῶν κακῶν αἴτιος γίγνομαι εἰς ἀχάριστα καταθέμενος ἤθη τὰς χάριτας. ἀνοίας οὖν ἐστι τῆς ἐμῆς τοῦτο καὶ οὐ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐλευθερίας. ἐγὼ μὲν δὴ τὰ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἶναι πειράσομαι τοῦ λοιποῦ συνετώτερος· ὑμῖν [C] δὲ οἱ θεοὶ τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς εὐνοίας καὶ τιμῆς, ἣν ἐτιμήσατε δημοσίᾳ, τὰς ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδοῖεν.

(Well then, my discourse has now come round again to the point which I wished to arrive at. I mean to say that I am myself responsible for all the wrong that has been done to me, because I transformed your graciousness to ungracious ways. This therefore is the fault of my own folly and not of your licence. For the future therefore in my dealings with you I indeed shall endeavour to be more sensible: but to you, in return for your good will towards me and the honour wherewith you have publicly honoured me, may the gods duly pay the recompense!)