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 Adrasteia[790] 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 namesake[792] 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.)