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

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  [50.1] “What, then, did this fine populace of ours do after you had granted them this magistracy also? They did not make a prudent use of so great a benefit nor did they receive it with respect and modesty, but, just as if we were in fear and consternation because of their strength . . . then they said this magistracy ought to be declared sacred and inviolable and should be secured by oaths, thus demanding for it a greater honour than you yourselves have conferred upon the consuls. To this also you submitted, and standing over the parts of the sacrificial victims, you invoked utter destruction upon both yourselves and your posterity if you should violate your oath.

  [2] τί οὖν ἐποίησε καὶ τούτου τυχών; ἀντὶ τοῦ χάριτας ὑμῖν εἰδέναι καὶ σώζειν τὸν πάτριον κόσμον τῆς πολιτείας, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν πλεονεξιῶν καὶ ταύταις ταῖς παρανομίαις ἀφορμαῖς τῶν [p. 75] ὕστερον χρησάμενος νόμους τ᾽ ἀπροβουλεύτους εἰσφέρει, καὶ τούτους ἐπιψηφίζει δίχα τῆς ὑμετέρας γνώμης, καὶ οἷς ἂν ὑμεῖς ἐκφέρητε δόγμασιν οὐ προσέχει τὸν νοῦν, καὶ τῶν ὑπάτων ὡς οὐκ ὀρθῶς τὴν πόλιν ἐπιτροπευόντων κατηγόρει, καὶ τοῖς ἐκβαίνουσι παρὰ τὰς ὑμετέρας συνθήκας: πολλὰ δ᾽ ἐστίν, ὧν οὐ δύναται στοχάσασθαι λογισμὸς ἀνθρώπινος: οὐ τὴν τύχην, ὥσπερ ἐχρῆν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπιγράφει διάνοιαν, ἐπιβουλεύεσθαί θ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν σκηπτόμενος καὶ δεδιέναι, μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀφέλησθε ἢ τῆς πατρίδος ἐκβάλητε, αὐτὸς ἐφ᾽ ὑμῖν ταῦτα μηχανώμενος διατελεῖ, καὶ τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ὃ δεδοικέναι φησίν, οὐκ ἄλλῳ τινὶ φυλαττόμενος δῆλός ἐστιν, ἢ τῷ δρᾶσαι φθάσας.

  [2] What, then, did they do when they had obtained this also? Instead of being grateful to you and maintaining our ancestral form of government, they began from these ill-gotten advantages, and making these illegal acts the steps to future encroachments, they not only introduce laws without a preliminary decree of the senate, but enact them without your concurrence; they pay no regard to the decrees you publish; they accuse the consuls of maladministration of the state; and if anything happens contrary to your agreement with them — and there are many things which human reason cannot accurately foresee — they attribute it, not to chance, as they should, but to deliberate intention on your part; and while they pretend that designs are being formed against them by you and that they are afraid you may either deprive them of their liberty or expel them from their country, they themselves are continually forming these very designs against you, and plainly show that their only method of guarding against the mischief they claim to fear consists in being the first to inflict it.

  [3] ἐδήλωσε δὲ τοῦτο πολλάκις μὲν καὶ πρότερον καὶ ἐπὶ πολλῶν ὧν ἐξείργομαι μεμνῆσθαι κατὰ τὸ παρόν, μάλιστα δὲ Μάρκιον τουτονὶ τὸν φιλόπολιν ἄνδρα, οὔτε προγόνων ἀφανῶν ὄντα οὔτ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀρετῇ λειπόμενον οὐθενὸς ἡμῶν, αἰτιασάμενος ἐπιβουλεύειν αὐτῷ καὶ πονηρὰς ἐνθάδε γνώμας λέγειν, ἄκριτον ἐπεχείρησεν ἀποκτεῖναι.

  [3] This they have often made apparent even before now, upon many occasions which I am prevented from mentioning at present, but particularly by their treatment of Marcius here, a lover of his country and a man who is neither of obscure birth nor inferior himself to any of us in valour, whom they accused of forming designs against them and of going evil advice in this place, and attempted to put to death without a trial.

  [4] καὶ εἰ μὴ δεινὸν ἡγησάμενοι τὸ πρᾶγμα οἵ θ᾽ ὕπατοι καὶ ὑμῶν οἱ τὰ κρείττω φρονοῦντες συνεστράφητε καὶ τὴν παρανομίαν ἐπέσχετε αὐτῶν, ἐν μιᾷ τῇ τότε ἡμέρᾳ πάντ᾽ ἂν ἀφῃρέθητε, ὅσα οἱ πατέρες θ᾽ ὑμῖν σὺν πολλοῖς κτησάμενοι πόνοις κατέλιπον καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἐλάττους ἀγῶνας ἐκείνων ὑποστάντες ἔχετε, τὸ ἀξίωμα, τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, τὴν ἐλευθερίαν: οἱ δὲ γενναιότεροι [p. 76] καὶ οὐκ ἀγαπήσαντες αὐτὸ τὸ ζῆν, εἰ μὴ μετὰ τούτων ἐμέλλετε τῶν ἀγαθῶν βιώσεσθαι, τὰς ψυχὰς ἂν πρότερον ἢ ταῦτ᾽ ἀφῃρέθητε, οἱ μὲν εὐθύς, οἱ δ᾽ οὐκ εἰς μακράν.

  [4] And if the consuls and the more sagacious among you had not become indignant at this action and joined together to restrain their illegal attempts, you would have been deprived in that one day of everything that your ancestors acquired with many labours and left to you, and of everything that you yourselves possess after undergoing on fewer struggles than they — of your prestige, your supremacy, and your liberty; while those of you who had more spirit and would not have been contented with life alone unless you were to live in the enjoyment of those blessings, would, either then or soon after, have chosen to lose your lives rather than lose these privileges.

  [5] τί γὰρ ἂν τὸ κωλῦσον ἦν οὕτως αἰσχρῶς καὶ κακῶς Μαρκίου τοῦδε ἀναρπασθέντος ὥσπερ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ κἀμὲ μετὰ τοῦτον ἀπολωλέναι διασπασθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, καὶ πάντας, ὅσοι πώποτ᾽ ἠναντιώθησαν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἔμελλον ἐναντιώσεσθαι ταῖς παρανόμοις ἐπιθυμίαις τοῦ δήμου; οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἠρκέσθη τοὺς δύο μόνους ἡμᾶς ἐκποδὼν ποιησάμενος, οὐδὲ μέχρι δεῦρ᾽ ἐλθὼν ἀπέστη τῆς παρανομίας, εἰ δεῖ τὰ μέλλοντα τεκμαίρεσθαι τοῖς γεγονόσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἀρξάμενος ἅπαν τὸ ἀντίπαλον καὶ μὴ εἶκον ὥσπερ χειμάρρους πολὺς ἐμπεσὼν παρέσυρεν ἂν καὶ κατήνεγκεν, οὔτ᾽ εὐγενείας φειδόμενος οὔτ᾽ ἀρετῆς οὔθ᾽ ἡλικίας.

  [5] For if once Marcius had been made away with in some shameful and dastardly a manner, like one all alone in a wilderness, what could have hindered me also, after him, and all of you who had ever opposed or were likely to oppose thereafter the unlawful attempts of the populace, from perishing by being torn in pieces by our enemies? For they would not have been satisfied with getting only the two of us out of the way, nor would they, after going thus far, have desisted from their lawless course, if we are to judge the future from the past; but having begun with us, they would have rushed down like a torrent in flood upon all who opposed them and did not submit to them, and would have swept them away and borne them off, sparing neither birth, merit nor age.

  [1] ταύτας ὑμῖν ὁ δῆμος, ὦ βουλή, τὰς καλὰς ἀμοιβὰς ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἔπαθεν ἀγαθῶν πολλῶν ὄντων καὶ μεγάλων τὰς μὲν ἀπέδωκεν ἤδη, τὰς δ᾽ ἀποδώσειν ἔμελλεν, εἰ μὴ τὸ κωλῦσον παρ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἐγένετο. ἄγε δὴ νῦν κἀκεῖνα ἐνθυμήθητε πάλιν, ἃ μετὰ τοῦτο τὸ γενναῖον καὶ σῶφρον ὑμῶν ἔργον ἔδρασεν, ἵνα γνῶτε,

  [51.1] “These, senators, are the fine returns which the populace have either already made to you, or would have made, if it had not lain i
n your power to prevent them, for the many great benefits they have received from you. Now consider those things that they did after this magnanimous and prudent action on your part, in order that you may learn how you ought to deal with them.

  [2] ὅντινα χρὴ τρόπον αὐτῷ προσφέρεσθαι. ἐκεῖνος τοίνυν ὡς ἔμαθεν ὑμᾶς οὐκέτι φέροντας αὐτοῦ τὴν ὕβριν, [p. 77] ἀλλ᾽ ὁμόσε χωρεῖν παρεσκευασμένους, ἔπτηξε καὶ μικρὸν ἀναλαβὼν ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ ἐκ μέθης καὶ μανίας ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ βιάζεσθαι κατέβη, ἐπὶ τὸ δικάζεσθαι δ᾽ ἐτράπετο: καὶ προειπὼν ἡμέραν ῥητὴν εἰς αὐτὴν ἐκάλει τὸν ἄνδρα ὡς δίκην ὑφέξοντα, ἧς αὐτὸς ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι κατήγορός τε καὶ μάρτυς καὶ δικαστὴς καὶ τοῦ

  [2] Well then, as soon as they found you resolved no longer to bear their insolence but prepared to join issue with them, they were struck with terror, and recovering themselves slightly, as from a fit of drunkenness or madness, they desisted from violence and had recourse to legal action; and appointing a day, they summoned Marcius to appear then and stand his trial, at which they themselves were to be at once the accusers, the witnesses, and the judges, and the ones to determine the degree of the punishment.

  [3] μεγέθους τῆς τιμωρίας κύριος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦτ᾽ ἐνέστητε νομίσαντες οὐκ ἐπὶ δίκην, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τιμωρίαν καλεῖσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα, ὁρῶν ὡς οὐδενὸς αὐτοκράτωρ ἐστὶ πράγματος, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσ᾽ ἂν ὑμεῖς προβουλεύσητε, ταῦτ᾽ ἐπιψηφίσαι κύριος, τῆς τ᾽ αὐθαδείας, ἧς πολὺς ἔπνει τότε, ὑφεῖται νυνὶ καὶ δεησόμενος ὑμῶν ἥκει συγχωρῆσαι καὶ ταύτην αὐτῷ τὴν χάριν.

  [3] And since you opposed this also, because you thought that he was summoned, not to be tried, but to be punished, the populace, perceiving that they have absolute authority in no matter whatever, but only the power of ratifying your preliminary decrees, now abate their arrogance, which then blew so strong, and have come to beg that you will grant them this favour also.

  [4] ἐνθυμούμενοι δὴ ταῦτ᾽ αἴσθεσθε ἤδη ποτὲ καὶ μάθετε, ὅτι πάνθ᾽, ὅσα μὲν εὐηθέστερα βουλευσάμενοι μᾶλλον ἢ φρονιμώτερα ἐχαρίσασθε, αὐτῷ συμφορὰς ὑμῖν ἐνήνοχε καὶ βλάβας, ὅσα δὲ μετὰ τοῦ γενναίου στάντες τοῖς παρανόμοις αὐτοῦ καὶ βιαίοις ἠναντιώθητε, ταῦθ᾽ ὑμῖν εἰς δέον ἐκβέβηκε.

  [4] Bearing this in mind, therefore, perceive at last and learn that all the privileges you have hitherto granted them, with greater guilelessness than prudent, have brought calamities and harm upon you, but that every courageous stand you have made against their illegal and violent acts has turned out advantageously.

  [5] τί οὖν ὑμῖν ἐπισταμένοις ταῦτα παραινῶ πράττειν καὶ τίνα γνώμην ὑπὲρ τῶν παρόντων ἀποφαίνομαι; ὅσα μὲν ἐχαρίσασθε καὶ συνεχωρήσατε τῷ δήμῳ τὴν ἔχθραν διαλλαττόμενοι ὁπωσδήποτε φυλάττειν κύρια, καὶ μὴ λύειν τῶν τότε συγχωρηθέντων μηθέν, οὐχ ὡς καλῶν καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀξίων ὄντων: πόθεν γάρ; ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἀναγκαίων καὶ μηκέτι δεχομένων διόρθωσιν: ὅσα δ᾽ ἂν ἔξω τούτου βιαζόμενος καὶ παρανομῶν ἀκόντων ὑμῶν ἐπιχειρῇ λαμβάνειν μήτε συγχωρεῖν [p. 78] αὐτῷ μήτ᾽ ἐπιτρέπειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀντιπράττειν λόγοις τε καὶ ἔργοις καὶ ὁμοῦ πάντας καὶ ἕνα ἕκαστον ἰδίᾳ.

  [5] What, then, do I advise you to do, now that you understand these things, and what opinion do I express upon the present question? Just this: As regards the privileges and concessions which you made to the populace at the time of your reconciliation, however you came to grant them, I advise you to adhere to them as valid and to abrogate none of the concessions you then made, not because they are honourable and worthy of the commonwealth — how could they be? — but because they are necessary and can no longer be remedied. But as to anything beyond this which they may endeavour to extort from you against your will by violence and illegal means, I advise you not to grant or allow it, but to oppose them both by words and by deeds, not only all of you as a body, but each one individually.

  [6] οὐ γάρ, ἂν ἅπαξ ἁμάρτῃ τις εἴτ᾽ ἀπατηθεὶς εἴτ᾽ ἀναγκασθείς, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὅμοια δεῖ πράττειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνου μεμνημένους τἆλλα ὅπως μὴ τοιαῦτα γενήσεται σκοπεῖν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐστιν, ἃ κοινῇ πάντας ὑμᾶς οἴομαι δεῖν ἐγνωκότας εἶναι, καὶ παρεσκευάσθαι πρὸς τὰς ἀδίκους τοῦ δήμου πλεονεξίας παραινῶ.

  [6] For it is not inevitable, if a person has erred once through either deception or necessity, that he should act in like manner in everything else, but mindful of that error, he ought to consider by what means his future conduct may not resemble it. This is the resolution which I think you ought all of you unitedly to have formed, and I advise you to be prepared against the unjust encroachments of the populace.

  [1] ὡς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο, περὶ οὗ νυνὶ πρόκειται σκοπεῖν ὅμοιόν ἐστι τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐγχειρήμασιν αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἀδίκοις καὶ παρανόμοις, καὶ οὐχ, οἷον ὁ δήμαρχος ἐξαπατῶν ὑμᾶς ἐπειρᾶτο ἀποφαίνειν, δίκαιον καὶ μέτριον, μάθετε οἱ μήπω σαφῶς εἰδότες. ὁ μὲν οὖν νόμος ὁ περὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων τῶν δημοτικῶν, ᾧ Δέκιος ἐκρατύνατο μάλιστα, οὐ καθ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐγράφη τῶν πατρικίων, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἀσφαλείας τῶν κατισχυομένων δημοτικῶν, ὡς αὐτός τε δηλοῖ γραφὰς ἔχων οὐκ ἀμφιβόλους, καὶ

  [52.1] “That this matter, which is the subject of your present consideration, is also of a piece with their other unjust and illegal attempts and not, as the tribune endeavoured to prove in order to deceive you, a just and reasonable request, let those among you now learn who are not yet certain of it. Well then, the law relating to the popular courts, the law upon which Decius relied for his chief support, was not enacted against you patricians, but for the protection of such plebeians as are oppressed, as the law itself, written in unequivocal terms, plainly shows, and as all of you, being perfectly acquainted with it, always declare to be the case.

  [2] ὑμεῖς τοῦτο πάντες ἀεὶ λέγετε καλῶς ἐπιστάμενοι. μέγα δὲ τούτου σημεῖόν ἐστιν, ὃ καὶ παντὸς ἀμφισβητουμένου δικαίου κριτήριον εἶναι δοκεῖ κράτιστον, ὁ χρόνος ἐννεακαιδεκέτης ἤδη γεγονώς, ἐξ οὗ ὁ νόμος οὗτος ἐτέθη: ἐν ᾧ παντὶ Δέκιος οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι δεῖξαι δίκην οὐδεμίαν οὔτε δημοσίαν κατ᾽ οὐδενὸς τῶν πατρικίων ἐν τῷ νόμῳ δεδικασμένην, οὔτ᾽ ἰδίαν: εἰ δὲ φήσει, [p. 79]

  [2] Strong proof of this is afforded by the length of time it has been in force, which seems to be the best criterion in the case of every disp
uted principle of law; for nineteen years have now passed since this law was enacted, and during all this time Decius cannot point to a single instance of a trial, either public or private, brought against any patrician in virtue of this law. But if he shall assert that he can, let him produce it and we need no further discussion.

  [3] δειξάτω καὶ μηθὲν ἔτι δεόμεθα λόγου. αἱ δ᾽ ὁμολογίαι, καθ᾽ ἃς διελύσασθε πρὸς τοὺς δημότας αἱ νεωστὶ γενόμεναι: χρὴ γὰρ καὶ περὶ τούτων ὑμᾶς μαθεῖν, ἐπειδὴ πονηρὸς ἐξηγητὴς ὁ δήμαρχος αὐτῶν ἐγένετο: δύο ταῦτα συγχωρήματα περιέχουσιν: ἀφεῖσθαι τοὺς δημοτικοὺς τῶν χρεῶν, καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τήνδε ἀποδείκνυσθαι καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἐπικουρίας ἕνεκα τῶν κατισχυομένων καὶ κωλύσεως, ἄλλο δὲ παρὰ ταῦτ᾽ οὐδέν.

  [3] As to the agreement you recently entered into with the plebeians (for it is necessary that you should be informed about this also, since the tribune has shown himself an unscrupulous interpreter of it), it contains these two concessions — that the plebeians shall be discharged of their debts, and that these magistrates shall be elected annually for the relief of the oppressed and the prevention of injustice toward them; and except these, there is no other provision.