Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79)

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [42] “Bear with me now while I explain to you in a few words how these demands of the people will also be advantageous to the commonwealth. For, come now, if anyone should ask you what you regard as the greatest of the evils that befall states and the cause of the swiftest destruction, would you not say it is discord? I, at least, think you would. [2] For who is there among you so stupid, so perverse, and immoderate a hater of equality as not to know that if the people are allowed to render judgment in causes in which the law gives them the authority, we shall live in harmony, whereas, if you decide to the contrary and deprive us of our liberty — for you will be depriving us of liberty if you deprive us of justice and law — you will drive us again into sedition and civil war? For if justice and law are banished from a state, sedition and war are wont to enter there. [3] Now in the case of those who have had no experience of civil calamities, it is no wonder if, because of inexperience of those evils, they neither grieve over the misfortunes that are past nor take early precautions to prevent others in the future; but for those who, when exposed as you were, to the gravest perils, thought themselves happy to be rid of them by making such a settlement of the evils as the situation demanded, what specious or reasonable excuse is left them if they meet again with the same misfortunes? [4] Who would not consider you guilty of great folly and madness when he calls to mind that although just a short time ago, in order to appease a sedition of the plebeians, you submitted to many things against your will, some of which were neither very honourable, perhaps, nor very advantageous, yet now, when you are not destined to be injured in either your fortunes or your reputation or, for that matter, in any of your public interests whatever, you are going to goad all plebeians into war again, to oblige the bitterest foes of democracy? No, not if you are wise. [5] But I should like to ask you what motive induced you at the time to consent to our return upon the terms we desired. Did you foresee in the light of reason what was best, or did you yield to necessity? For if you thought those concessions to be of the greatest advantage to the commonwealth, why do you not adhere to them at present also? And if they were necessary and unavoidable, why are you disgruntled now that they have been made? Possibly you ought not to have granted them in the first place, if you could have avoided it, but once having granted them, you ought no longer to find fault with what is done.

  [43.1] “For my part, senators, I think you used the best judgment in regard to the accommodation . . . to which you are obliged to yield . . . to observe faithfully the terms agreed upon. For you gave us the gods as sureties for the performance of the terms by invoking many grievous curses upon those who should violate the compact, both upon them and upon their posterity forever. But I do not know that it is necessary the weary you by saying any more in order to convince you, who are all well acquainted with the facts, that our demands are only what is just and advantageous, and that you are under every necessity of carrying them out, if you are mindful of your oaths. [2] Learn now, fathers, that it is a point of no small importance to us not to relinquish this contest, either yielding to force or deluded by trickery, but that we entered upon it because of the greatest necessity, having suffered outrageous treatment, and worse than outrageous, at the hands of this man. Or rather recall these facts from your own knowledge; for I shall say nothing that is not known to all of you. And at the same time use your own judgment in passing upon what I am saying, reflecting how, if any of us had attempted in an assembly of the people to say or do such things against your class as Marcius dared to utter here, you would have felt towards him.

  [44.1] “For Marcius here was the first man among you who endeavoured to dissolve our unalterable compact of unity with the senate, secured by bonds all but adamantine, a compact which it is unlawful for either you, who swore to its observance, or your posterity to dissolve as long as this city shall be inhabited. And this he did before the compact was in its fourth year, nor was it in silence, nor after he had slunk into some secret hole, that he worked for its abrogation, but he openly expressed the opinion in this very place, in the presence of you all, that you ought no longer to allow us the tribunician power, but ought to abolish the first and only safeguard of our liberty, relying on which we entered into the accommodation. [2] Nor did this bluffing stop here, but giving to the liberty of the poor the name of insolence, and to equality that of tyranny, he advised you to deprive us of them. Call to mind, fathers, the most wicked of all the measures he then urged, when he declared it to be a fine opportunity for you to remember again all your resentment against the plebeians for their former offences, and advised that now, while they were distressed for want of money and had already for a long time lacked the necessaries of life, you should crush their whole class by firmly holding the market to the same scarcity of provisions. [3] For we should not hold out for any length of time, he said, while paying a high price for little corn, poor men that we are, but some of us would leave the city and go elsewhere, while those who remained would perish by the most miserable of all deaths. But he was so senseless and infatuated in giving you this advice as not to be able to see even this — that, to say nothing of the other evils he was inflicting by asking the senate to dissolve its compact, such a multitude of poor men, when deprived of the necessaries of life, would be compelled to attack the authors of their calamity, no longer regarding any one as a friend. [4] Consequently, if you had been so mad as to adopt his advice, it must have ended in one of these two ways, for there would have been no middle course: either the whole plebeian multitude would have perished, or even the patrician class would not have survived. For we should not have allowed ourselves to be banished or put to death in so slavish a manner, but, having called upon the gods and lesser divinities to be witnesses to our sufferings, be assured we should have filled the fora and the streets with many dead bodies, and after offering up a great bowl of the blood of our fellow-citizens, we should then have accepted our destined fate. Of such impious deeds, fathers, did he make himself the proponent, and such things did he think fit to demand in his harangue.

  [45.1] “Nor did Marcius merely undertake to utter words that would divide the city, yet refrain from acting in accordance with his words, but actually keeping about him a body of men ready for any service, he refuses to appear before our magistrates when summoned, and showers blows upon our assistants when at our command they endeavour to bring him away, and at last does not even refrain from offering violence to our own persons. [2] The consequence is that, as far as in him lies, we bear the specious name of an ‘inviolable’ magistracy, a term given in mockery, but discharge not one of the functions assigned to that magistracy. For how shall we give relief to others who complain that they are injured, when we ourselves have no security? When, therefore, we, the poor, have been thus insulted by one man who, though not yet a tyrant, is nevertheless aiming at tyranny; when we have already suffered many indignities, and came near suffering others, had not the majority of you, fathers, prevented it, have we not good reason to resent this and to feel that we ought to obtain some assistance as well as your sympathy in our resentment, when we summon him to a fair and legal trial, in which the whole populace, divided into their tribes, will give their votes under oath after all who desire to speak have been heard? [3] Go thither, Marcius, and say in your defence before all the citizens in a body what you are intending to say here — either that with the best intention you gave the soundest advice to these senators and that your advice, if followed, would have been advantageous to the commonwealth, or that it is not right that those who deliver their opinions in this place should have to give an account of their words, or that it was not with premeditation or treacherous purpose, but in a momentary yielding to passion that you were led to give this abominable advice, or whatever other defence you can offer. [4] Descend from that overbearing and tyrannical haughtiness to a more democratic behaviour, wretched man, and make yourself at last like other men. Assume the humble and piteous demeanour of one who has erred and is asking pardon, such a demeanour as your
plight requires. Seek to save yourself, not by offering violence to those you have injured, but by courting their favour. [5] As an example of moderation, the practice of which would make you free from all reproach on the part of your fellow-citizens, take the actions of these worthy men. Though they are so many in number as you yourself see here present, and have displayed so many virtues both in war and in peace that I could not easily enumerate them in a very long time, yet they, the venerable and great, passed no cruel or haughty sentence against us, the common and humble folk, but even took the lead themselves in making overtures and offered us a reconciliation when Fortune had divided us from one another, and they agreed to make the compact upon the conditions we desired, rather than upon those they thought would be best for themselves; and finally, when the difficulties recently arose over the distribution of corn, for which we blamed them, they took great pains to remove these grounds of offence.

  [46.1] “I omit all the rest. But in your own behalf, and to deprecate the punishment due to your madness, what intercessions did they not employ with all the plebeians both collectively and individually? Then, if it was seemly, Marcius, for the consuls and the senate, who have the oversight of so great a commonwealth, to submit to the judgment of the populace concerning any charges brought against them, is it not seemly also for you to do likewise? [2] And though these men all argued it as no disgrace to entreat the plebeians to acquit you, do you think this same course disgraceful for yourself? And is this not enough for you, sir, but, just as if you had performed some fine action, do you go about preening yourself and indulging in boastful talk, refusing to abate anything of your pride? [3] I say nothing, you see, of your also reviling, accusing, and threatening the people. And do you not resent his arrogance, fathers, in setting a greater value upon himself alone than even all of you set upon yourselves? And yet, even if you were all willing to vote to engaged in war for his sake, he ought to be satisfied with this proof of your goodwill and zeal and not to accept a private favour at the expense of the public injury, but to consent to make his defence, standing trial and, if need be, suffering any punishment. [4] For such would be the behaviour of a good citizen who practises what is honourable in his actions, not merely in his words. But as for the violent deeds in which this man now indulges, of what kind of life do they give evidence? Of what kind of principles is it an indication to violate oaths, to break solemn pledges, to nullify covenants, to make war upon the people, to abuse the persons of magistrates, and to refuse to make oneself accountable for any of these actions, but submitting to no trial, offering no defence, courting no man, fearing no man, and disdaining equally with any one of this great multitude of citizens, to strut about with impunity? [5] Are not these the indications of a tyrannical disposition? I, at any rate, think so. And yet, encouraging and applauding this man are some of your own number, in whose minds is implanted an implacable hatred against the plebeians, and they cannot see that the growth of this evil threatens the humbler portion of the citizens no more than it does the more exalted portion, but imagine that when their adversary is enslaved their own situation will be secure. [6] But this is not so in reality, misguided men. If you will learn from the example afforded by Marcius and from history, and will be admonished by precedents both foreign and native, you will know that tyranny fostered against the people is fostered against the whole commonwealth, and that, though it begins at present with us, yet after it has gained strength it will not spare you either.”

  [47] After Decius had spoken in this manner and the rest of the tribunes had supported him by adding what they thought he had omitted, and it was now time for the senators to deliver their opinions, first the oldest and the most honoured of the ex-consuls, being called upon by the consuls in the customary order, rose up, and after them those who were inferior to them in both these respects, and last of all, the youngest senators, who made no speeches (for that was still looked upon then as disgraceful by the Romans, and no young man presumed to be wiser than an old man), but seconded the opinions delivered by the ex-consuls. [2] It was required, however, that all the senators should come forward and give their votes upon oath as in a court of justice. Then Appius Claudius, whom I mentioned before as the greatest enemy to the plebeians of all the patricians, one who could never relish the agreement made with the plebeians, opposed the passing of the preliminary decree, speaking as follows:

  [48.1] “For my part, I kept wishing and often prayed to the gods that I might be mistaken in the opinion I entertained concerning the accommodation with the populace, when I thought that the return of the fugitives would be neither honourable and just nor advantageous to us, and from first to last, whenever anything relating to this subject was proposed for our consideration, I was the first of all and finally the only one, after the rest had deserted me, who opposed it. And I also wished that you, senators, who have always hoped for the best and cheerfully granted to the populace all their demands, both just and unjust, might prove to be wiser than I. [2] But now that things have not turned out for you as I wished and prayed, but rather as I expected, and now that the benefits you conferred have ended in envy and hatred, I shall forbear to censure you for your past errors or to cause you needless pain (which is a very easy thing to do and what everyone usually does), as I perceive that it will be out of place at this time. However, I shall endeavour to suggest to you how we may correct such of the past errors are not absolutely incurable and may act with greater wisdom in the present situation. [3] And yet I am not unaware that I shall appear to some of you to be mad and to be courting death in expressing my opinion freely concerning these matters, when they consider how great danger frankness of speech matters, and reflect on the plight of Marcius, who at this moment runs the risk of losing his life for no other reason. [4] But I believe that I ought not to be more anxious for my personal safety than for the public welfare. For my body has already been given to the perils that attend your cause, senators, and devoted to the struggles in defence of the commonwealth; so that whatever Heaven pleases to ordain, I shall suffer it resolutely either with all of you or with a few, or, if necessary, even alone. But while I have life, no fear shall deter me from saying what I think.

  [49.1] “In the first place, I want you now at last to be firmly convinced of this, that your plebeian multitude is unfriendly and hostile to the established government, and that all the concessions you have through weakness made to them have not only been wasted by you, but have even exposed you to contempt, as having been granted by you through necessity rather than from goodwill or sober choice. [2] For look at it in this way: When the populace took up arms, and, seceding from you, ventured to become openly your enemies, albeit they had received no injury, but offered as an excuse their inability to discharge their debts and impunity for the offences they had committed during their secession, they would make no further demands, the greater part of you, though not all, misled by their advisers, voted — as would to Heaven they had not! — to abrogate the laws enacted in the interest of the public faith and to grant an amnesty for all the offences that had been committed at that time. [3] But the plebeians were not satisfied with obtaining this favour, which they said was the only one they had mentioned when they seceded, but straightway asked for another concession still greater and more illegal than this — that leave should be granted them to choose tribunes from their own number every year — making our superior strength their excuse for this demand, to the end, forsooth, that some aid and refuge might lie open to the poorer citizens who were wronged and oppressed, though in reality they were plotting against our form of government and desired to change it to a democracy. [4] This magistracy also those advisers of our prevailed upon us to admit into the commonwealth, though its introduction was to the public detriment and in particular would arouse hatred against the senate, and notwithstanding that I, if you recall, exclaimed against it and called both gods and men to witness that you would bring into the commonwealth endless civil war, and foretold everything that has since befalle
n you.