Introduction To Oration II (continued 2)

Τοσαῦτα ὑπὲρ τῶν βασιλέως ἔργων ἐν βραχεῖ διεληλύθαμεν, οὔτε κολακείᾳ προστιθέντες καὶ αὔξειν ἐπιχειροῦντες τυχὸν οὐδενὸς διαφέροντα τῶν ἄλλων, οὔτε πόρρωθεν ἕλκοντες καὶ βιαζόμενοι τῶν ἔργων τὰς ὁμοιότητας, καθάπερ οἱ τοὺς [pg 200] μύθους ἐξηγούμενοι τῶν ποιητῶν καὶ ἀναλύοντες ἐς λόγους πιθανοὺς καὶ ἐνδεχομένους τὰ πλάσματα ἐκ μικρᾶς πάνυ τῆς ὑπονοίας ὁρμώμενοι [75] καὶ ἀμυδρὰς λίαν παραλαβόντες τὰς ἀρχὰς πειρῶνται ξυμπείθειν, ὡς δὴ ταῦτα γε αὐτὰ ἐκείνων ἐθελόντων λέγειν. ἐνταῦθα δὲ εἴ τις ἐξέλοι τῶν Ὁμήρου μόνον τὰ τῶν ἡρώων ὀνόματα, ἐνθείη δὲ τὸ βασιλέως καὶ ἐναρμόσειεν, οὐ μᾶλλον εἰς ἐκείνους ἢ τοῦτον πεποιῆσθαι δόξει τὰ350 τῆς Ἰλιάδος ἔπη.

(I have given this brief account of the Emperor's achievements, not adding anything in flattery and trying to exaggerate things that are perhaps of no special importance, nor dragging in what is far-fetched and unduly pressing points of resemblance with those achievements, like those who interpret the myths of the poets and analyse them into plausible versions which allow them to introduce fictions of their own, though they start out from very slight analogies, and having recourse to a very shadowy basis, try to convince us that this is the very thing that the poets intended to say. But in this case if anyone should take out of Homer's poems merely the names of the heroes, and insert and fit in the Emperor's, the epic of the Iliad would be seen to have been composed quite as much in his honour as in theirs.)

Ἀλλ᾽ ὅπως μὴ τὰ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἔργων μόνον ἀκούοντες τὰ τῶν κατορθωμάτων τῶν351 ἐς τὸν πόλεμον ἔλαττον [B] ἔχειν ὑπολαμβάνητε βασιλέα περὶ τὰ σεμνότερα καὶ ὧν ἄξιον μείζονα ποιεῖσθαι λόγον, δημηγοριῶν φημι καὶ ξυμβουλιῶν, καὶ ὁπόσα γνώμη μετὰ νοῦ καὶ φρονήσεως κατευθύνει, ἀθρεῖτε ἐν Ὀδυσσεῖ καὶ Νέστορι τοῖς ἐπαινουμένοις κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν, καὶ ἤν τι μεῖον ἐν βασιλεῖ καταμανθάνητε, τοῖς ἐπαινέταις τοῦτο λογίζεσθε, πλέον δὲ ἔχοντα δικαίως ἂν352 αὐτὸν μᾶλλον ἀποδεχοίμεθα. οὐκοῦν ὁ μέν, ὁπηνίκα χαλεπαίνειν καὶ στασιάζειν ἤρχοντο περὶ τῆς αἰχμαλώτου κόρης, λέγειν ἐπιχειρῶν οὕτω δή τι πείθει τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τὸν τῆς Θέτιδος, [C] ὥστε ὁ μὲν ἀκόσμος διέλυσε τὸν ξύλλογον, ὁ δὲ οὐδὲ περιμείνας ἀφοσιώσασθαι τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ἔτι δὲ αὐτὰ δρῶν καὶ ἀφορῶν ἐς τὴν θεωρίδα, στέλλει τοὺς κήρυκας ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀχιλλέως σκηνὴν, ὥσπερ οἶμαι δεδιὼς μὴ τῆς ὀργῆς ἐπιλαθόμενος καὶ [pg 202] ἀπαλλαγεὶς τοῦ πάθους μεταγνοίη καὶ ἀποφύγοι τὴν ἁμαρτάδα· ὁ δὲ ἐκ τῆς Ἰθάκης ῥήτωρ πολύτροπος πείθειν ἐπιχειρῶν πρὸς διαλλαγὰς Ἀχιλλέα καὶ δῶρα πολλὰ διδούς, [D] μυρία δὲ ἐπαγγελλόμενος, οὕτω τὸν νεανίσκον παρώξυνεν, ὥστε πρότερον οὐ353 βουλευσάμενον τὸν ἀπόπλουν νῦν354 παρασκευάζεσθαι. ἔστι δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ θαυμαστὰ τῆς συνέσεως δείγματα αἵ τε ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον παρακλήσεις καὶ ἡ τειχοποιία τοῦ Νέστορος, πρεσβυτικὸν λίαν καὶ ἄτολμον ἐπινόημα. οὔκουν οὐδὲ ὄφελος ἦν πολὺ τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς τοῦ μηχανήματος· [76] ἀλλὰ ἡττῶντον τῶν Τρώων τὸ τεῖχος ἐπιτελέσαντες, καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. τότε μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὶ τῶν νεῶν ᾤοντο προβεβλῆσθαι καθάπερ ἔρυμα γενναῖον· ἐπεὶ δὲ ᾔσθοντο σφῶν355 προκείμενον καὶ ἀποικοδομούμενον356 τεῖχος τάφρῳ βαθείᾳ καὶ πασσάλοις ὀξέσι διηλούμενον,357 κατερρᾳθύμουν καὶ ὑφίεντο τῆς ἀλκῆς τῷ τειχίσματι πεποιθότες. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γὰρ εἴ τις ἐκείνοις μέμφοιτο καὶ ἐπιδεικνύοι διαμαρτάνοντας, οὗτός ἐστι βασιλέως ἀξιόχρεως ἐπαινέτης· ὅστις δὲ οἶμαι τῶν ἔργων ἀξίως μνησθείη, [B] οὐ μάτην οὐδὲ αὐτομάτως οὐδὲ ἀλόγῳ φορᾷ γενομένων, προβουλευθέντων δὲ ὀρθῶς καὶ διοικηθέντων, οὗτος ἀρκούντως ἐπαινεῖ τὴν βασιλέως ἀγχίνοιαν.

(But that you may not think, if you hear only about his achievements and successes in war, that the Emperor is less well endowed for pursuits that are loftier and rightly considered of more importance, I mean public speaking and deliberations and all those affairs in which judgment combined with intelligence and prudence take the helm, consider the case of Odysseus and Nestor, who are so highly praised in the poem; and if you find that the Emperor is inferior to them in any respect, put that down to his panegyrists, but we should rather in fairness concede that he is far superior. Nestor, for instance, when they began to disagree and quarrel about the captive damsel,358 tried to address them, and he did persuade the king and the son of Thetis, but only to this extent that Achilles broke up the assembly in disorder, while Agamemnon did not even wait to complete his expiation to the god, but while he was still performing the rite and the sacred ship was in view, he sent heralds to the tent of Achilles, just as though, it seems to me, he were afraid that he would forget his anger, and, once free from that passion, would repent and avoid his error. Again, the far-travelled orator from Ithaca, when he tried to persuade Achilles to make peace, and offered him many gifts and promised him countless others, so provoked the young warrior that, though he had not before planned to sail home, he now began to make preparations.359 Then there are those wonderful proofs of their intelligence, their exhortations to battle and Nestor's building of the wall, a cowardly notion and worthy indeed of an old man. Nor in truth did the Achaeans benefit much from that device. For it was after they had finished the wall that they were worsted by the Trojans, and naturally enough. For before that, they thought that they were themselves protecting the ships, like a noble bulwark. But when they realised that a wall lay in front of them, built with a deep moat and set at intervals with sharp stakes, they grew careless and slackened their valour, because they trusted to the fortification. Yet it is not anyone who blames them and shows that they were in the wrong who is therefore a fit and proper person to praise the Emperor. But he who, in a worthy manner, recounts the Emperor's deeds, which were done not idly or automatically, or from an irrational impulse, but were skilfully planned beforehand and carried through, he alone praises adequately the Emperor's keen intelligence.)

Τὸ δὲ ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστῃ συνόδῳ τὰς δημηγορίας ἐκλέγειν τὰς360 ἐς τὰ στρατόπεδα καὶ δήμους καὶ [pg 204] βουλευτήρια μακροτέρας δεῖται τῆς ξυγγραφῆς. ἑνὸς δὲ ἴσως ἐπακούειν οὐ χαλεπόν. καί μοι πάλιν ἐννοήσατε τὸν Λαέρτου, ὁπότε ὡρμημένους ἐκπλεῖν τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐπέχει τῆς ὁρμῆς [C] καὶ ἐς τὸν πόλεμον μετατίθησι τὴν προθυμίαν, καὶ361 βασιλέως τὸν ἐν Ἰλλυριοῖς ξύλλογον, ἵνα δὴ πρεσβύτης ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ μειρακίων παιδικὰ φρονεῖν ἀναπειθόμενος ὁμολογιῶν ἐπελανθάνετο καὶ πίστεων, καὶ τῷ μὲν σωτῆρι καὶ εὐεργέτῃ δυσμενὴς ἦν, σπονδὰς δὲ ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς ὃν ἦν ἄσπονδος καὶ ἀκήρυκτος βασιλεῖ πόλεμος, στρατόν τε ἤγειρε καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς [D] ὁρίοις ἀπήντα τῆς χώρας, κωλῦσαι τοῦ πρόσω χωρεῖν ἐπιθυμῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐς ταὐτὸν ἦλθον ἀμφοτέρω τὼ στρατεύματε καὶ ἐχρῆν ἐπὶ τῶν ὁπλιτῶν ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, βῆμά τε ὑψηλὸν ᾔρετο καὶ αὐτὸ περιέσχεν ὁπλιτῶν δῆμος καὶ ἀκοντιστῶν καὶ τοξοτῶν ἱππεῖς τε ἐνσκευασάμενοι τοὺς ἵππους καὶ τὰ σημεῖα τῶν τάξεων· ἀνῄει τε ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸ βασιλεὺς μετὰ τοῦ τέως ξυνάρχοντος οὔτε αἰχμὴν φέρων οὔτε ἀσπίδα [77] καὶ κράνος, ἀλλὰ ἐσθῆτα τὴν συνήθη. καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτῷ τις τῶν δορυφόρων εἵπετο, μόνος δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος εἱστήκει πεποιθὼς τῷ λόγῳ σεμνῶς ἡρμοσμένῳ. ἐργάτης γάρ ἐστι καὶ τούτων ἀγαθός, οὐκ ἀποσμιλεύων οὐδὲ ἀπονυχίζων τὰ ῥήματα οὐδὲ ἀποτορνεύων τὰς περιόδους καθάπερ [pg 206] οἱ κομψοὶ ῥήτορες, σεμνὸς δὲ ἅμα καὶ καθαρὸς καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι ξὺν καιρῷ χρώμενος, ὥστε ἐνδύεσθαι ταῖς ψυχαῖς [B] οὐ τῶν παιδείας καὶ ξυνέσεως μεταποιουμένων μόνον, ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ξυνιέναι πολλοὺς καὶ ἐπαïειν τῶν ῥημάτων. οὐκοῦν ᾕρει μυριάδας ὁπλιτῶν συχνὰς καὶ χιλιάδας ἱππέων εἴκοσι καὶ ἔθνη μαχιμώτατα362 καὶ χώραν πάμφορον, οὐ βίᾳ ἕλκων οὐδὲ αἰχμαλώτους ἄγων, ἑκόντας δὲ αὐτῷ πειθομένους καὶ τὸ ἐπιταττόμενον ποιεῖν ἐθέλοντας. ταύτην ἐγὼ τὴν νίκην κρίνω τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐκείνης363 μακρῷ σεμνοτέραν· ἡ μέν γε ἦν ἄδακρυς μόνοις364 τοῖς κρατοῦσιν, [C] ἡ δὲ οὐδὲ τοῖς κρατηθεῖσιν ἤνεγκε δάκρυα, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος κατῆλθεν ὁ τῆς βασιλείας ὑποκριτὴς δικασάμενος καὶ ὥσπερ ὄφλημα βασιλεῖ πατρῷον ἀποδοὺς τὴν ἁλουργίδα· τἆλλα δὲ αὐτῷ δίδωσι βασιλεὺς ἄφθονα μᾶλλον ἢ Κῦρόν φασι παρασχεῖν τῷ πάππῳ, ζῆν τε ἐποίησε καὶ διαιτᾶσθαι καθάπερ Ὅμηρος ἀξιοῖ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τοὺς ἀφηλικεστέρους,

(But to report to you those speeches which he made at every public gathering to the armies and the common people and the councils, demands too long a narrative, though it is perhaps not too much to ask you to hear about one of these. Pray then think once more of the son of Laertes when the Greeks were rushing to set sail and he checked the rush and diverted their zeal back to the war,365 and then of the Emperor's assembly in Illyria, when that old man,366 persuaded by mere youths to think childish thoughts, forgot his treaties and obligations and proved to be the enemy of his preserver and benefactor, and came to terms with one against whom the Emperor was waging a war that allowed no truce nor herald of a truce,367 and who was not only getting an army together, but came to meet the Emperor on the border of the country, because he was anxious to hinder him from advancing further. And when those two armies met, and it was necessary to hold an assembly in the presence of the hoplites, a high platform was set up and it was surrounded by a crowd of hoplites, javelin-men and archers and cavalry equipped with their horses and the standards of the divisions. Then the Emperor, accompanied by him who for the moment was his colleague, mounted the platform, carrying no sword or shield or helmet, but wearing his usual dress. And not even one of his bodyguard followed him, but there he stood alone on the platform, trusting to that speech which was so impressively appropriate. For of speeches too he is a good craftsman, though he does not plane down and polish his phrases nor elaborate his periods like the ingenious rhetoricians, but is at once dignified and simple, and uses the right words on every occasion, so that they sink into the souls not only of those who claim to be cultured and intelligent, but many unlearned persons too understand and give hearing to his words. And so he won over many tens of thousands of hoplites and twenty thousand cavalry and most warlike nations, and at the same time a country that is extremely fertile, not seizing it by force, or carrying off captives, but by winning over men who obeyed him of their own free will and were eager to carry out his orders. This victory I judge to be far more splendid than that for which Sparta is famous.368 For that was “tearless” for the victors only, but the Emperor's did not cause even the defeated to shed tears, but he who was masquerading as Emperor came down from the platform when he had pleaded his cause, and handed over to the Emperor the imperial purple369 as though it were an ancestral debt. And all else the Emperor gave him in abundance, more than they say Cyrus gave to his grandfather, and arranged that he should live and be maintained in the manner that Homer recommends for men who are past their prime:—)

Τοιούτῳ γὰρ ἔοικεν, ἐπεὶ λούσαιτο φάγοι τε,

Εὐδέμεναι μαλακῶς· [D] ἣ γὰρ δίκη ἐστὶ γερόντων.

(“For it is fitting that such a one, when he has bathed and fed, should sleep soft, for that is the manner of the aged.”370)

τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐμὸν ἡδέως ἂν τοὺς ῥηθέντας λόγους διεξῆλθον, καὶ οὐκ ἄν με ὄκνος καταλάβοι οὕτω καλῶν ἁπτόμενον λόγων· αἰδὼς δὲ οἶμαι κατείργει καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει μετατιθέναι καὶ ἐξερμηνεύειν ἐς ὑμᾶς τοὺς λόγους. ἀδικοίην γὰρ ἂν διαφθείρων [pg 208] καὶ ἐλεγχόμενος αἰσχυνοίμην, εἴ τις ἄρα τὸ βασιλέως ἀναγνοὺς ξύγγραμμα ἢ τότε ἀκούσας ἀπομνημονεύοι καὶ ἀπαιτοίη οὐ τὰ νοήματα μόνον, [78] ὅσαις δὲ ἀρεταῖς ἐκεῖνα κοσμεῖται κατὰ τὴν πάτριον φωνὴν ξυγκείμενα. τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἦν Ὁμήρῳ τὸ δέος πολλαῖς μὲν ὕστερον γενεαῖς τοὺς λόγους διηγουμένῳ, λιπόντων δὲ ἐκείνων οὐδὲν ὑπόμνημα τῶν ἐς τοὺς ξυλλόγους ῥηθέντων, καὶ σαφῶς οἶμαι πιστεύοντι, ὅτι ἄμεινον371 τἀκείνων αὐτὸς ἐξαγγελεῖ καὶ διηγήσεται. τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον μιμεῖσθαι καταγέλαστον καὶ οὐκ ἄξιον ἐλευθέρας ψυχῆς καὶ γενναίας. [B] τὰ μὲν δὴ θαυμαστὰ τῶν ἔργων καὶ ὁπόσων ὁ πολὺς ὅμιλος θεατῆς τε ἐγένετο καὶ διασώζει τὴν μνήμην ξὺν εὐφημίᾳ, ἅτε ἐς τὸ372 τέλος ἀφορῶν καὶ τῶν εὖ ἢ κακῶς ἀποβάντων κριτὴς καθεστὼς καὶ ἐπαινέτης οὐ μάλα ἀστεῖος, ἀκηκόατε πολλάκις τῶν μακαρίων σοφιστῶν καὶ τοῦ ποιητικοῦ γένους πρὸς αὐτῶν τῶν μουσῶν ἐπιπνεομένου, ὥστε ὑμᾶς τούτων ἕνεκα καὶ διωχλήκαμεν, μακροτέρους τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ποιούμενοι λόγους· [C] καὶ γάρ ἐστε λίαν αὐτῶν ἤδη διακορεῖς καὶ ὑμῶν ἐστι τὰ ὦτα πλήρη, καὶ οὐ μή ποτε ἐπιλίπωσιν οἱ τούτων ποιηταί, πολέμους ὑμνοῦντες καὶ νίκας ἀνακηρύττοντες λαμπρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ κατὰ τοὺς Ὀλυμπίασι κήρυκας· παρέσχεσθε γὰρ ὑμεῖς τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων ἀφθονίαν, ἀσμένως ἐπακούοντες. καὶ οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν. εἰσὶ γὰρ αἱ τούτων ὑπολήψεις ἀγαθῶν [pg 210] πέρι καὶ φαύλων ταῖς ὑμετέραις ξυγγενεῖς, [D] καὶ ἀπαγγέλλουσι πρὸς ὑμᾶς τὰ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν διανοήματα, ἃ373 ὥσπερ ἐσθῆτι ποικίλῃ374 τοῖς ὀνόμασι σκιαγραφήσαντες καὶ διαπλάσαντες ἡδίστοις ῥυθμοῖς καὶ σχήμασιν ὡς δή τι καινὸν εὑρόντες εἰς ὑμᾶς φέρουσιν· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἄσμενοι παραδέχεσθε, καὶ ἐκείνους τε οἴεσθε ὀρθῶς ἐπαινεῖν, τούτοις τε ἀποδίδοσθαι τὸ προσῆκόν φατε. τὸ δὲ ἐστι μὲν ἴσως ἀληθές, τυχὸν δὲ καὶ ἄλλως ἔχει, ἀγνοούμενον πρὸς ὑμῶν ὅπῃ ποτὲ ἂν ὀρθῶς γίγνοιτο.

(Now for my part I should have been glad to repeat to you the words that the Emperor used, and no fear would overtake me when handling words so noble. But modesty restrains me and does not permit me to change or interpret his words to you. For it would be wrong of me to tamper with them, and I should blush to have my ignorance exposed, if someone who had read the Emperor's composition or heard it at the time should remember it by heart, and demand from me not only the ideas in it but all the excellences with which they are adorned, though they are composed in the language of our ancestors.375 Now this at any rate Homer had not to fear when, many generations later, he reported his speeches, since his speakers left no record of what they said in their assemblies, and I think he was clearly confident that he was able to relate and report what they said in a better style. But to make an inferior copy is absurd and unworthy of a generous and noble soul. Now as to the marvellous portion of his achievements and those of which the great multitude was spectator and hence preserves their memory and commends them, since it looks to the result and is there to judge whether they turn out well or ill, and eulogises them in language that is certainly not elegant,—as to all this I say you have often heard from the ingenious sophists, and from the race of poets inspired by the Muses themselves, so that, as far as these are concerned, I must have wearied you by speaking about them at too great length. For you are already surfeited with them, your ears are filled with them, and there will always be a supply of composers of such discourses to sing of battles and proclaim victories with a loud clear voice, after the manner of the heralds at the Olympic games. For you yourselves, since you delight to listen to them, have produced an abundance of these men. And no wonder. For their conceptions of what is good and bad are akin to your own, and they do but report to you your own opinions and depict them in fine phrases, like a dress of many colours, and cast them into the mould of agreeable rhythms and forms, and bring them forth for you as though they had invented something new. And you welcome them eagerly, and think that this is the correct way to eulogise, and you say that these deeds have received their due. And this is perhaps true but it may well be otherwise, since you do not really know what the correct way should be.)

[79] Ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἐνενόησα Σωκράτη· ἴστε δὲ ὑμεῖς ἀκοῇ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὸ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ κλέος τῆς σοφίας παρὰ τῆς Πυθίας ἐκβοηθέν· οὐ ταῦτα ἐπαινοῦντα376 οὐδὲ εὐδαίμονας καὶ μακαρίους ὁμολογοῦντα τοὺς πολλὴν κεκτημένους χώραν, πλεῖστα δ᾽ ἔθνη καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς πολλοὺς μὲν Ἑλλήνων, πλείους δὲ ἔτι καὶ μείζους βαρβάρων καὶ τὸν Ἄθω διορύττειν δυναμένους καὶ σχεδίᾳ τὰς ἠπείρους, ἐπειδὰν ἐθέλωσι διαβαίνειν, συνάπτοντας καὶ ἔθνη καταστρεφομένους [B] καὶ αἱροῦντας νήσους καὶ σαγηνεύοντας καὶ λιβανωτοῦ χίλια τάλαντα καταθύοτας. οὔτε οὖν Ξέρξην ἐκεῖνος ἐπῄνει ποτὲ οὔτε ἄλλον τινὰ Περσῶν ἢ Λυδῶν ἢ Μακεδόνων βασιλέα, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ Ἑλλήνων στρατηγόν, πλὴν σφόδρα ὀλίγων, ὁπόσους ἠπίστατο χαίροντας ἀρετῇ καὶ ἀσπαζομένους ἀνδρείαν μετὰ σωφροσύνης καὶ φρόνησιν μετὰ δικαιοσύνης στέργοντας. [pg 212] ὅσους δὲ ἀγχίνους ἢ δεινοὺς ἢ στρατηγικοὺς ἢ κομψοὺς καὶ τῷ πλήθει πιθανοὺς ἑώρα, σμίκρ᾽ ἄττα μόρια κατανειμαμένους ἀρετῆς, [C] οὐδὲ τούτους ἐς ἅπαν ἐπῄνει. ἕπεται δὲ αὐτοῦ τῇ κρίσει σοφῶν ἀνδρῶν δῆμος ἀρετὴν θεραπεύοντες, τὰ κλεινὰ δὲ οἶμαι ταῦτα καὶ θαυμαστὰ οἱ μὲν ὀλίγου τινός, οἱ δὲ οὐδενὸς ἄξια λέγοντες.

(For I have observed that Socrates the Athenian—you know the man by hearsay and that his reputation for wisdom was proclaimed aloud by the Pythian oracle377—I say I have observed that he did not praise that sort of thing, nor would he admit378 that they are happy and fortunate who are masters of a great territory and many nations, with many Greeks too among them, and still more numerous and powerful barbarians, such men as are able to cut a canal through Athos and join continents379 by a bridge of boats whenever they please, and who subdue nations and reduce islands by sweeping the inhabitants into a net,380 and make offerings of a thousand talents' worth of frankincense.381 Therefore he never praised Xerxes or any other king of Persia or Lydia or Macedonia, and not even a Greek general, save only a very few, whomsoever he knew to delight in virtue and to cherish courage with temperance and to love wisdom with justice. But those whom he saw to be cunning, or merely clever, or generals and nothing more, or ingenious, or able, though each one could lay claim to only one small fraction of virtue, to impose on the masses, these too he would not praise without reserve. And his judgment is followed by a host of wise men who reverence virtue, but as for all those wonders and marvels that I have described, some say of them that they are worth little, others that they are worth nothing.)

Εἰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ὑμῖν ταύτῃ πῃ ξυνδοκεῖ, δέος οὐ φαῦλόν με ἔχει περὶ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν λόγων καὶ ἐμαυτοῦ, μή ποτε ἄρα τοὺς μὲν παιδιὰν382 ἀποφήνητε, σοφιστὴν δὲ ἐμὲ γελοῖον καὶ ἀμαθῆ, μεταποιούμενον τέχνης, [D] ἧς σφόδρα ἀπείρως ἔχειν ὁμολογῶ, ὥς γ᾽ ἐμοὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὁμολογητέον ἐστὶ τοὺς ἀληθεῖς ἐπαίνους διεξιόντι καὶ ὧν ἀκούειν ἄξιον ὑμῖν οἴεσθε, εἰ καὶ ἀγροικότεροι καὶ ἐλάττους μακρῷ τῶν ῥηθέντων τοῖς πολλοῖς φαίνοιντο. εἰ δέ, ὅπερ ἔμπροσθεν ἔφην, ἀποδέχεσθε τοὺς ἐκείνων ποιητάς, ἐμοὶ μὲν ἀνεῖται τὸ δέος εὖ μάλα. οὐ γὰρ πάντα ὑμῖν ἄτοπος φανοῦμαι, ἀλλὰ πολλῶν μὲν οἶμαι φαυλότερος, κατ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν δὲ ἐξεταζόμενος οὐ παντάπασιν [80] ἀπόβλητος οὐδὲ ἀτόποις ἐπιχειρῶν. ὑμῖν δὲ ἴσως οὐ ῥᾴδιον σοφοῖς καὶ θείοις ἀπιστεῖν ἀνδράσιν, οἳ δὴ λέγουσι πολλὰ μὲν ἕκαστος ἰδίᾳ, τὸ κεφάλαιον δέ ἐστι τῶν λόγων ἀρετῆς ἔπαινος. ταύτην δὲ τῇ ψυχῇ φασιν ἐμφύεσθαι καὶ αὐτὴν ἀποφαίνειν εὐδαίμονα καὶ βασιλικὴν καὶ ναὶ μὰ Δία πολιτικὴν καὶ στρατηγικὴν [pg 214] καὶ μεγαλόφρονα καὶ πλουσίαν γε ἀληθῶς οὐ τὸ Κολοφώνιον ἔχουσαν χρυσίον.

(Now if you also are of their opinion, I feel no inconsiderable alarm for what I said earlier, and for myself, lest possibly you should declare that my words are mere childishness, and that I am an absurd and ignorant sophist and make pretensions to an art in which I confess that I have no skill, as indeed I must confess to you when I recite eulogies that are really deserved, and such as you think it worth while to listen to, even though they should seem to most of you somewhat uncouth and far inferior to what has been already uttered. But if, as I said before, you accept the authors of those other eulogies, then my fear is altogether allayed. For then I shall not seem wholly out of place, but though, as I admit, inferior to many others, yet judged by my own standard, not wholly unprofitable nor attempting what is out of place. And indeed it is probably not easy for you to disbelieve wise and inspired men who have much to say, each in his own manner, though the sum and substance of all their speeches is the praise of virtue. And virtue they say is implanted in the soul and makes it happy and kingly, yes, by Zeus, and statesmanlike and gifted with true generalship, and generous and truly wealthy, not because it possesses the Colophonian383 treasures of gold,)

[B] Οὐδ᾽ ὅσα λάϊνος οὐδὸς ἀφήτορος ἐντὸς ἐέργε

(“Nor all that the stone threshold of the Far-Darter contained within,”384)

τὸ πρὶν ἐπ᾽ εἰρήνης, ὅτε ἦν ὀρθὰ τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πράγματα, οὐδὲ ἐσθῆτα πολυτελῆ καὶ ψήφους Ἰνδικὰς καὶ γῆς πλέθρων μυριάδας πάνυ πολλάς, ἀλλ᾽ ὃ πάντων ἅμα τούτων καὶ κρεῖττον καὶ θεοφιλέστερον, ὃ καὶ ἐν ναυαγίαις ἔνεστι διασώσασθαι καὶ ἐν ἀγορᾷ καὶ ἐν δήμῳ καὶ ἐν οἰκίᾳ καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἐρημίας, [C] ἐν λῃσταῖς μέσοις καὶ ἀπὸ τυράννων βιαίων.

“in the old days, in times of peace,”385 when the fortunes of Greece had not yet fallen; nay nor costly clothing and precious stones from India and many tens of thousands of acres of land, but that which is superior to all these things together and more pleasing to the gods; which can keep us safe even in shipwreck, in the market-place, in the crowd, in the house, in the desert, in the midst of robbers, and from the violence of tyrants.

Ὅλως γὰρ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐκείνου κρεῖττον, ὃ βιασάμενον καθέξει καὶ ἀφαιρήσεται τὸν ἔχοντα ἅπαξ. ἔστι γὰρ ἀτεχνῶς ψυχῇ τὸ κτῆμα τοῦτο τοιοῦτον, ὁποῖον οἶμαι τὸ φῶς ἡλίῳ. καὶ γὰρ δὴ τοῦδε νεὼς μὲν καὶ ἀναθήματα πολλοὶ πολλάκις ὑφελόμενοι καὶ διαφθείραντες ᾤχοντο, δόντες μὲν ἄλλοι τὴν δίκην, ἄλλοι δὲ ὠλιγωρηθέντες ὡς οὐκ ἄξιοι κολάσεως εἰς ἐπανόρθωσιν φερούσης· τὸ φῶς δὲ οὐδεὶς αὐτὸν ἀφαιρεῖται, οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς συνόδοις [D] ἡ σελήνη τὸν κύκλον ὑποτρέχουσα, οὐδὲ εἰς αὑτὴν δεχομένη τὴν ἀκτῖνα καὶ ἡμῖν πολλάκις, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ λεγόμενον, ἐκ μεσημβρίας νύκτα δεικνῦσα. ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ αὐτὸς αὑτὸν ἀφαιρεῖται φωτὸς τὴν σελήνην ἐξ ἐναντίας ἱσταμένην περιλάμπρων καὶ μεταδιδοὺς αὐτῇ τῆς αὑτοῦ φύσεως οὐδὲ τὸν μέγαν καὶ θαυμαστὸν τουτονὶ κόσμον ἐμπλήσας αὐγῆς καὶ ἡμέρας. οὔκουν [pg 216] οὐδὲ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς ἀρετῆς μεταδιδοὺς ἄλλῳ τῷ μεταδοθέντι μεῖον ἔχων ἐφάνη ποτέ· [81] οὕτω θεῖόν ἐστι κτῆμα καὶ πάγκαλον, καὶ οὐ ψευδὴς ὁ λόγος τοῦ Ἀθηναίου ξένου, ὅστις ποτὲ ἄρα ἦν ἐκεῖνος ὁ θεῖος ἀνήρ· πᾶς γὰρ ὅ τε ὑπὸ γῆς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς χρυσὸς ἀρετῆς οὐκ ἀντάξιος. θαρροῦντες οὖν ἤδη πλούσιον καλῶμεν τὸν ταύτην ἔχοντα, οἶμαι δὲ ἐγὼ καὶ εὐγενῆ καὶ βασιλέα μόνον τῶν ἁπάντων, εἴ τῳ ξυνδοκεῖ. κρείττων μὲν εὐγένεια φαυλότητος γένους, [B] κρείττων δὲ ἀρετὴ διαθέσεως οὐ πάντη σπουδαίας. καὶ μή τις οἰέσθω τὸν λόγον δύσεριν καὶ βίαιον εἰς τὴν συνήθειαν ἀφορῶν τῶν ὀνομάτων· φασὶ γὰρ οἱ πολλοὶ τοὺς ἐκ πάλαι πλουσίων εὐγενεῖς. καίτοι πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον μάγειρον μὲν ἢ σκυτέα καὶ ναὶ μὰ Δία κεραμέα τινὰ χρήματα ἐκ τῆς τέχνης ἢ καὶ ἄλλοθέν ποθεν ἀθροίσαντα μὴ δοκεῖν εὐγενῆ μηδὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἐπονομάζεσθαι τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα, εἰ δὲ ὁ τούτου παῖς διαδεξάμενος τὸν κλῆρον εἰς τοὺς ἐκγόνους διαπορθμεύσειε, [C] τούτους δὲ ἤδη μέγα φρονεῖν καὶ τοῖς Πελοπίδαις ἢ τοῖς Ἡρακλείδαις ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐγενείας ἁμιλλᾶσθαι; ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ὅστις προγόνων ἀγαθῶν ἔφυ, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν τοῦ βίου ῥοπὴν κατηνέχθη, δικαίως ἂν μεταποιοῖτο τῆς πρὸς ἐκείνους ξυγγενείας, εἰ386 μηδὲ ἐς τοὺς Πελοπίδας ἐξῆν ἐγγράφεσθαι τοὺς μὴ φέροντας ἐπὶ τὸν ὤμον τοῦ γένους τὰ γνωρίσματα. λόγχη δὲ λέγεται περὶ τὴν Βοιωτίαν τοῖς Σπαρτοῖς ἐντυπωθῆναι παρὰ τῆς τεκούσης [pg 218] καὶ θρεψαμένης αὐτοὺς βώλου, [D] καὶ τὸ ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ πολὺ διασωθῆναι τοῦτο τῷ γένει σύμβολον. ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ψυχῶν οὐδὲν οἰόμεθα δεῖν ἐγκεχαράχθαι τοιοῦτον, ὃ τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῖν ἀκριβῶς κατερεῖ καὶ ἀπελέγξει τὸν τόκον γνήσιον; ὑπάρχειν δὲ φασι καὶ Κελτοῖς ποταμὸν ἀδέκαστον κριτὴν τῶν ἐκγόνων·387 καὶ οὐ πείθουσιν αὐτὸν οὔτε αἱ μητέρες ὀδυρόμεναι συγκαλύπτειν αὐταῖς [82] καὶ ἀποκρύπτειν τὴν ἁμαρτάδα οὔτε οἱ πατέρες ὑπὲρ τῶν γαμετῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκγόνων388 ἐπὶ τῇ κρίσει δειμαίνοντες, ἀτρεκὴς δὲ ἐστι καὶ ἀψευδὴς κριτής. ἡμᾶς δὲ δεκάζει μέν πλοῦτος, δεκάζει δὲ ἰσχὺς καὶ ὥρα σώματος καὶ δυναστεία προγόνων ἔξωθεν ἐπισκιάζουσα, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει διορᾶν οὐδὲ ἀποβλέπειν ἐς τὴν ψυχὴν, ᾗπερ δὴ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων διαφέροντες εἰκότως ἂν κατ᾽ αὐτὸ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐγενείας ποιοίμεθα κρίσιν. καί μοι δοκοῦσιν εὐστοχίᾳ φύσεως [B] οἱ πάλαι θαυμαστῇ χρώμενοι, καὶ οὐκ ἐπίκτητον ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς ἔχοντες τὸ φρονεῖν, οὔτι πλαστῶς, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτοφυῶς φιλοσοφοῦντες, τοῦτο κατανοῆσαι, καὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τοῦ Διὸς ἀνειπεῖν ἔκγονον389 καὶ τὼ τῆς Λήδας ιἱέε, Μίνω τε οἶμαι τὸν νομοθέτην καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυν τὸν Κνώσιον τῆς αὐτῆς ἀξιῶσαι φήμης· καὶ ἄλλους δὲ ἄλλων ἐκγόνους ἀνεκήρυττον πολλοὺς διαφέροντας τῶν φύσει πατέρων. ἔβλεπον γὰρ ἐς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτὴν καὶ τὰς πράξεις, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐς πλοῦτον βαθὺν [pg 220] καὶ χρόνῳ πολιόν, οὐδὲ δυναστείαν ἐκ πάππων τινῶν καὶ ἐπιπάππων ἐς αὐτοὺς ἥκουσαν· [C] καίτοι γε ὑπῆρχέ τισιν οὐ παντάπασιν ἀδόξων γενέσθαι πατέρων· ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν ἧς ἐτίμων τε καὶ ἐθεράπευον ἀρετῆς αὐτῶν ἐνομίζοντο τῶν θεῶν παῖδες. δῆλον δὲ ἐνθένδε· ἄλλων γὰρ οὐδὲ εἰδότες τοὺς φύσει γονέας ἐς τὸ δαιμόνιον ἀνῆπτον τὴν φήμην, τῇ περὶ αὐτοὺς ἀρετῇ χαριζόμενοι. καὶ οὐ πειστέον τοῖς λέγουσιν, ὡς ἄρα ἐκεῖνοι ὑπ᾽ ἀμαθίας ἐξαπατώμενοι ταῦτα τῶν θεῶν κατεψεύδοντο. εἰ γὰρ δὴ [D] καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἰκὸς ἦν ἐξαπατηθῆναι θεῶν ἢ δαιμόνων, σχήματα περιτιθέντας ἀνθρώπινα καὶ μορφὰς τοιαύτας, ἀφανῆ μὲν αἰσθήσει καὶ ἀνέφικτον κεκτημένων αὐτῶν φύσιν, νῷ δὲ ἀκριβεῖ διὰ ξυγγένειαν μόλις προσπίπτουσαν· οὔτι γε καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμφανῶν θεῶν τοῦτο παθεῖν εὔλογον ἐκείνους, Ἡλίου μὲν ἐπιφημίζοντας Αἰήτην υἱέα, Ἑωσφόρου δὲ ἕτερον, καὶ ἄλλους ἄλλων. ὅπερ δὲ ἔφην, [83] χρὴ περὶ αὐτῶν πειθομένους ἡμᾶς ταύτην ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐγενείας ἐξέτασιν· καὶ ὅτῳ μὲν ἂν ὦσιν ἀγαθοὶ πατέρες καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκείνοις ἐμφερής, τοῦτον ὀνομάζειν θαρρούντως εὐγενῆ· ὅτῳ δὲ τὰ μὲν τῶν πατέρων ὑπῆρξεν ἀρετῆς ἐνδεᾶ, αὐτὸς δὲ μετεποιήθη τούτου τοῦ κτήματος, τούτου δὲ νομιστέον πατέρα τὸν Δία καὶ φυτουργόν, καὶ οὐδὲν μεῖον αὐτῷ δοτέον ἐκείνων, οἳ γεγονότες πατέρων ἀγαθῶν τοὺς σφῶν τοκέας ἐζήλωσαν· [B] ὅστις δὲ ἐξ ἀγαθῶν γέγονε μοχθηρός, [pg 222] τοῦτον τοῖς νόθοις ἐγγράφειν ἄξιον· τοὺς δὲ ἐκ μοχθηρῶν φῦντας καὶ προσομοίους τοῖς αὑτῶν τοκεῦσιν οὔποτε εὐγενεῖς φατέον, οὐδὲ εἰ πλουτοῖεν ταλάντοις μυρίοις, οὐδὲ εἰ ἀπαριθμοῖντο προγόνους δυνάστας ἢ ναὶ μὰ Δία τυράννους εἴκοσιν, οὐδὲ εἰ νίκας Ὀλυμπιακὰς ἢ Πυθικὰς ἢ τῶν πολεμικῶν ἀγώνων, [C] αἳ δὴ τῷ παντὶ ἐκείνων εἰσὶ λαμπρότεραι, ἀνελομένους ἔχοιεν δείκνυσθαι πλείους ἢ Καῖσαρ ὁ πρῶτος, ὀρύγματά τε390 τὰ Ἀσσύρια καὶ τὰ Βαβυλωνίων τείχη πυραμίδας τε ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς τὰς Αἰγυπτίων, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα πλούτου καὶ χρημάτων καὶ τρυφῆς γέγονε σημεῖα καὶ διανοίας ὑπὸ φιλοτιμίας ἀναφλεγομένης καὶ ἀπορουμένης391 ἐς ὅ,τι τῷ πλούτῳ χρήσεται, εἶτα ἐς τοῦτο τὰς τῶν χρημάτων εὐπορίας καταβαλλομένης. εὖ γὰρ δὴ ἴστε, ὡς οὔτε πλοῦτος ἀρχαῖος ἢ νεωστί ποθεν ἐπιρρέων Βασιλέα ποιεῖ οὔτε [D] ἁλουργὲς ἱμάτιον οὔτε τιάρα καὶ σκῆπτρον καὶ διάδημα καὶ θρόνος ἀρχαῖος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ὁπλῖται πολλοῖ καὶ ἱππεῖς μυρίοι, οὐδὲ εἰ πάντες ἄνθρωποι βασιλέα σφῶν τοῦτον ὁμολογοῖεν συνελθόντες, ὅτι μηδὲ ἀρετὴν οὗτοι χαρίζονται, ἀλλὰ δυναστείαν μὲν οὐ μάλα εὐτυχῆ τῷ λαβόντι, πολὺ δὲ πλέον τοῖς παρασχομένοις. δεξάμενος γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτος αἴρεται μετέωρος ἐπίπαν, οὐδὲν διαφέρων τοῦ περὶ τὸν Φαέθοντα μύθου καὶ πάθους. καὶ οὐδὲν ἑτέρων δεῖ παραδειγμάτων πρὸς πίστιν τῷ λόγῳ, [84] τοῦ βίου παντὸς ἀναπεπλησμένου τοιούτων παθημάτων καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς λόγων. ὑμῖν δὲ εἰ θαυμαστὸν δοκεῖ τὸ μὴ [pg 224] δικαίως μεταποιεῖσθαι τῆς καλῆς ταύτης καὶ θεοφιλοῦς ἐπωνυμίας τοὺς πολλῆς μὲν γῆς καὶ ἐθνῶν ἀπείρων ἄρχοντας, γνώμῃ δὲ αὐτεξουσίῳ δίχα νοῦ καὶ φρονήσεως καὶ τῶν ταύτῃ ξυνεπομένων ἀρετῶν τὰ προστυχόντα κρίνοντας· ἴστε οὐδὲ ἐλευθέρους ὄντας, [B] οὐ μόνον εἰ τὰ παρόντα οὐδενός σφισιν ἐμποδὼν ὄντος ἔχοιεν καὶ ἐμφοροῖντο τῆς ἐξουσίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰ τῶν ἐπιστρατευόντων κρατοῖεν καὶ ἐπιόντες ἀνυπόστατοί τινες καὶ392 ἄμαχοι φαίνοιντο. εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖ τις ὑμῶν τῷ λόγῳ τῷδε, μάλα ἐμφανῶν μαρτύρων οὐκ ἀπορήσομεν, Ἑλλήνων ὁμοῦ καὶ βαρβάρων, οἳ μάχας πολλὰς καὶ ἰσχυρὰς λίαν μαχεσάμενοι καὶ νενικηκότες ἔθνη μὲν ἐκτῶντο καὶ [C] αὑτοῖς φόρους ἀπάγειν κατηνάνκαζον, ἐδούλευον δὲ αἴσχιον ἐκείνων ἡδονῇ καὶ τρυφῇ καὶ ἀκολασίᾳ καὶ ὕβρει καὶ ἀδικίᾳ. τούτους δὲ οὐδὲ ἰσχυροὺς ἂν φαίη νοῦν ἔχων ἀνήρ, εἰ καὶ ἐπιφαίνοιτο καὶ ἐπιλάμποι μέγεθος τοῖς ἔργοις. μόνος γάρ ἐστι τοιοῦτος ὁ μετὰ ἀρετῆς ἀνδρεῖος καὶ μεγαλόφρων· ὅστις δὲ ἥττων μὲν ἡδονῶν, ἀκράτωρ δὲ ὀργῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν παντοιῶν, καὶ ὑπὸ σμικρῶν ἀπαγορεύειν ἀναγκαζόμενος, οὗτος δὲ [D] οὐδὲ ἰσχυρὸς οὐδὲ ἀνδρεῖος ἀνθρωπίνην ἰσχύν· ἐπιτρεπτέον δὲ ἴσως αὐτῷ κατὰ τοὺς ταύρους ἢ τοὺς λέοντας ἢ τὰς παρδάλεις τῇ ῥώμῃ γάνυσθαι, εἰ μὴ καὶ ταύτην ἀποβαλὼν καθάπερ οἱ κηφῆνες ἀλλοτρίοις ἐφέστηκε πόνοις, αὐτὸς ὢν μαλθακὸς αἰχμητὴς καὶ δειλὸς καὶ ἀκόλαστος. τοιοῦτος δὲ ὢν οὐ μόνον ἀληθοῦς ἐνδεὴς πλούτου καθέστηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ πολυτιμήτου καὶ σεμνοῦ καὶ ἀγαπητοῦ, ἐξ οὗ παντοδαπαὶ [pg 226] κρεμάμεναι ψυχαὶ πράγματα ἔχουσι μυρία καὶ πόνους, [85] τοῦ καθ᾽ ἡμέραν κέρδους ἕνεκα πλεῖν τε ὑπομένουσαι καὶ καπηλεύειν καὶ λῃστεύειν καὶ ἀναρπάζειν τὰς τυραννίδας. ζῶσι γὰρ ἀεὶ μὲν κτώμενοι, ἀεὶ δὲ ἐνδεεῖς, οὔτι τῶν ἀναγαίων φημὶ σιτίων καὶ ποτῶν καὶ ἐσθημάτων· ὥρισται γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτος πλοῦτος εὖ μάλα παρὰ τῆς φύσεως, καὺ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦυ στέρεσθαι οὔτε τοὺς ὄρνιθας οὔτε τοὺς ἰχθῦς393 οὔτε τὰ θηρία, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπων τοὺς σώφρονας· [B] ὅσους δὲ ἐνοχλεῖ χρημάτων ἀπιθυμία καὶ ἔρως δυστυχής, τούτους δὲ ἀνάγκη πεινῆν διὰ βίου καὶ ἀθλιώτερον ἀπαλλάττειν μακρῷ τῶν τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς ἐνδεομένων. τούτοις μὲν γὰρ ἀποπλήσασι τὴν γαστέρα πολλὴ γέγονεν εἰρήνη καὶ ἀνοκωχὴ τῆς ἀλγηδόνος, ἐκείνοις δὲ οὔτε ἡμέρα πέφηνεν ἀκερδὴς ἡδεῖα, οὔτε εὐφρόνη τὸν λυσιμελῆ καὶ λυσιμέριμνον ὕπνον ἐπάγουσα παῦλαν ἐνεποίησε τῆς ἐμμανοῦς λύττης, [C] στροβεῖ δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ στρέφει τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκλογιζομένων καὶ ἀπαριθμουμένων τὰ χρήματα· καὶ οὐκ ἐξαιρεῖται τοὺς ἄνδρας τῆς ἐπιθυμίας καὶ τῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ ταλαιπωρίας394 οὐδὲ ὁ Ταντάλου καὶ Μίδου πλοῦτος περιγενόμενος οὐδὲ ἡ μεγίστη καὶ χαλεπωτάτη δαιμόνων τυραννὶς προσγενομένη. ἢ γὰρ οὐκ ἀκηκόατε Δαρεῖον τὸν Περσῶν μονάρχην,395 οὐ παντάπασι μοχθηρὸν ἄνθρωπον, δυσέρωτα δὲ αἰσχρῶς εἰς χρήματα καὶ νεκρῶν θήκας ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας διορύττειν396 καὶ πολυτελεῖς [D] ἐπιτάττειν [pg 228] φόρουσ; ὅθεν αὐτῷ τὸ κλεινὸν ὄνομα γέγονε κατὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους·397 ἐκάλουν γὰρ αὐτὸν Περσῶν οἱ γνώριμοι ὅτιπερ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν Σάραμβον.

(For there is nothing at all superior to it, nothing that can constrain and control it, or take it from him who has once possessed it. Indeed it seems to me that this possession bears the same relation to the soul as its light to the sun. For often men have stolen the votive offerings of the Sun and destroyed his temples and gone their way, and some have been punished, and others let alone as not worthy of the punishment that leads to amendment. But his light no one ever takes from the sun, not even the moon when in their conjunctions she oversteps his disc, or when she takes his rays to herself, and often, as the saying is, turns midday into night.398 Nor is he deprived of his light when he illumines the moon in her station opposite to himself and shares with her his own nature, nor when he fills with light and day this great and wonderful universe. Just so no good man who imparts his goodness to another was ever thought to have less virtue by as much as he had bestowed. So divine and excellent is that possession, and most true is the saying of the Athenian stranger, whoever that inspired man may have been: “All the gold beneath the earth and above ground is too little to give in exchange for virtue.”399 Let us therefore now boldly call its possessor wealthy, yes and I should say well-born also, and the only king among them all,400 if anyone agree to this. For as noble birth is better than a lowly pedigree, so virtue is better than a character not in all respects admirable. And let no one say that this statement is contentious and too strong, judging by the ordinary use of words. For the multitude are wont to say that the sons of those who have long been rich are well-born. And yet is it not extraordinary that a cook or cobbler, yes, by Zeus, or some potter who has got money together by his craft, or by some other means, is not considered well-born nor is given that title by the many, whereas if this man's son inherit his estate and hand it on to his sons, they begin to give themselves airs and compete on the score of noble birth with the Pelopids and the Heraclids? Nay, even a man who is born of noble ancestors, but himself sinks down in the opposite scale of life, could not justly claim kinship with those ancestors, seeing that no one could be enrolled among the Pelopids who had not on his shoulder the birth-mark401 of that family. And in Boeotia it was said that there was the impression of a spear on the Sown-men402 from the clod of earth that bore and reared them, and that hence the race long preserved that distinguishing mark. And can we suppose that on men's souls no mark of that sort is engraved, which shall tell us accurately who their fathers were and vindicate their birth as legitimate? They say that the Celts also have a river403 which is an incorruptible judge of offspring, and neither can the mothers persuade that river by their laments to hide and conceal their fault for them, nor the fathers who are afraid for their wives and sons in this trial, but it is an arbiter that never swerves or gives a false verdict. But we are corrupted by riches, by physical strength in its prime, by powerful ancestors, an influence from without that overshadows and does not permit us to see clearly or discern the soul; for we are unlike all other living things in this, that by the soul and by nothing else, we should with reason make our decision about noble birth. And it seems to me that the ancients, employing a wondrous sagacity of nature, since their wisdom was not like ours a thing acquired, but they were philosophers by nature, not manufactured,404 perceived the truth of this, and so they called Heracles the son of Zeus, and Leda's two sons also, and Minos the law-giver, and Rhadamanthus of Cnossus they deemed worthy of the same distinction. And many others they proclaimed to be the children of other gods, because they so surpassed their mortal parents. For they looked at the soul alone and their actual deeds, and not at wealth piled high and hoary with age, nor at the power that had come down to them from some grandfather or great-grandfather. And yet some of them were the sons of fathers not wholly inglorious. But because of the superabundance in them of that virtue which men honoured and cherished, they were held to be the sons of the gods themselves. This is clear from the following fact. In the case of certain others, though they did not know those who were by nature their sires, they ascribed that title to a divinity, to recompense the virtue of those men. And we ought not to say that they were deceived, and that in ignorance they told lies about the gods. For even if in the case of other gods or deities it was natural that they should be so deceived, when they clothed them in human forms and human shapes, though those deities possess a nature not to be perceived or attained by the senses, but barely recognisable by means of pure intelligence, by reason of their kinship with it; nevertheless in the case of the visible gods it is not probable that they were deceived, for instance, when they entitled Aeetes “son of Helios” and another405 “son of the Dawn,” and so on with others. But, as I said, we must in these cases believe them, and make our enquiry about noble birth accordingly. And when a man has virtuous parents and himself resembles them, we may with confidence call him nobly born. But when, though his parents lack virtue, he himself can claim to possess it, we must suppose that the father who begat him is Zeus, and we must not pay less respect to him than to those who are the sons of virtuous fathers and emulate their parents. But when a bad man comes of good parents, we ought to enrol him among the bastards, while as for those who come of a bad stock and resemble their parents, never must we call them well-born, not even though their wealth amounts to ten thousand talents, not though they reckon among their ancestors twenty rulers, or, by Zeus, twenty tyrants, not though they can prove that the victories they won at Olympia or Pytho or in the encounters of war—which are in every way more brilliant than victories in the games—were more than the first Caesar's, or can point to excavations in Assyria406 or to the walls of Babylon and the Egyptian pyramids besides, and to all else that is a proof of wealth and great possessions and luxury and a soul that is inflamed by ambition and, being at a loss how to use money, lavishes on things of that sort all those abundant supplies of wealth. For you are well aware that it is not wealth, either ancestral or newly acquired and pouring in from some source or other, that makes a king, nor his purple cloak nor his tiara and sceptre and diadem and ancestral throne, nay nor numerous hoplites and ten thousand cavalry; not though all men should gather together and acknowledge him for their king, because virtue they cannot bestow on him, but only power, ill-omened indeed for him that receives it, but still more for those that bestow it. For once he has received such power, a man of that sort is altogether raised aloft in the clouds, and in nowise differs from the legend of Phaethon and his fate. And there is no need of other instances to make us believe this saying, for the whole of life is full of such disasters and tales about them. And if it seems surprising to you that the title of king, so honourable, so favoured by the gods, cannot justly be claimed by men who, though they rule over a vast territory and nations without number, nevertheless settle questions that arise by an autocratic decision, without intelligence or wisdom or the virtues that go with wisdom, believe me they are not even free men; I do not mean if they merely possess what they have with none to hinder them and have their fill of power, but even though they conquer all who make war against them, and, when they lead an invading army, appear invincible and irresistible. And if any of you doubt this statement, I have no lack of notable witnesses, Greek and barbarian, who fought and won many mighty battles, and became the masters of whole nations and compelled them to pay tribute, and yet were themselves slaves in a still more shameful degree of pleasure, money and wantonness, insolence and injustice. And no man of sense would call them even powerful, not though greatness should shine upon and illumine all that they achieved. For he alone is strong whose virtue aids him to be brave and magnanimous. But he who is the slave of pleasure and cannot control his temper and appetites of all sorts, but is compelled to succumb to trivial things, is neither brave himself nor strong with a man's strength, though we may perhaps allow him to exult like a bull or lion or leopard407 in his brute force, if indeed he do not lose even this and, like a drone, merely superintend the labours of others, himself a “feeble warrior,”408 and cowardly and dissolute. And if that be his character, he is lacking not only in true riches, but in that wealth also which men so highly honour and reverence and desire, on which hang the souls of men of all sorts, so that they undergo countless toils and labours for the sake of daily gain, and endure to sail the sea and to trade and rob and grasp at tyrannies. For they live ever acquiring but ever in want, though I do not say of necessary food and drink and clothes; for the limit of this sort of property has been clearly defined by nature and none can be deprived of it, neither birds nor fish nor wild beasts, much less prudent men. But those who are tortured by the desire and fatal passion for money must suffer a lifelong hunger,409 and depart from life more miserably than those who lack daily food. For these, once they have filled their bellies, enjoy perfect peace and respite from their torment, but for those others no day is sweet that does not bring them gain, nor does night with her gift of sleep that relaxes the limbs and frees men from care410 bring for them any remission of their raging madness, but distracts and agitates their souls as they reckon and count up their money. And not even the wealth of Tantalus and Midas, should they possess it, frees those men from their desire and their hard toil therewith, nay nor “Tyranny the greatest and sternest of the gods,”411 should they become possessed of this also. For have you not heard that Darius, the ruler of Persia, a man not wholly base, but insatiably and shamefully covetous of money, dug up in his greed even the tombs of the dead412 and exacted the most costly tribute? And hence he acquired the title413 that is famous among all mankind. For the notables of Persia called him by the name that the Athenians gave to Sarambos.414)

Ἀλλ᾽ ἔοικε γὰρ ὁ λόγος, ὥσπερ ὁδοῦ τινος κατάντους ἐπιλαβόμενος, ἀφειδῶς ἐμφορεῖσθαι τῆς καταρρήσεως καὶ πέρα τοῦ δέοντος κολάζειν τῶν ἀνδρῶν τοὺς τρόπους, ὥστε οὐκ ἐπιτρεπτέον αὐτῷ περαιτέρω φοιτᾶν. [86] ἀπαιτητέον δὲ εἰς δύναμιν τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα καὶ βασιλικὸν καὶ μεγαλόφρονα. ἔστι δὲ πρῶτον μὲν εὐσεβὴς καὶ οὐκ ὀλίγωρος θεραπείας θεῶν, εἶτα ἐς τοὺς τοκέας ζῶντάς τε οἶμαι καὶ τελευτήσαντας ὅσιος καὶ ἐπιμελής, ἀδελφοῖς τε εὔνους, καὶ ὁμογνίους θεοὺς αἰδούμενος, ἱκέταις καὶ ξένοις πρᾷος καὶ μείλιχος, τοῖς μὲν ἀγαθοῖς τῶν πολιτῶν ἀρέσκειν ἐθέλων, τῶν πολλῶν δὲ ἐπιμελόμενος ἐν δίκῃ καὶ ἐπ᾽ ὠφελείᾳ· ἀγαπᾷ δὲ πλοῦτον, [B] οὔτι τὸν χρυσῷ καὶ ἀργύρῳ βριθόμενον, φίλων δὲ ἀληθοῦς εὐνοίας καὶ ἀκολακεύτου θεραπείας μεστόν· ἀνδρεῖος μὲν φύσει καὶ μεγαλοπρεπής, πολέμῳ δὲ ἥκιστα χαίρων καὶ στάσιν ἐμφύλιον ἀπεχθαίρων, τούς γε μὴν ἔκ τινος τύχης ἐπιφυομένους ἢ διὰ τὴν σφῶν αὐτῶν μοχθηρίαν ἀνδρείως ὑφιστάμενος καὶ ἀμυνόμενος ἐγκρατῶς, τέλος τε ἐπάγων τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἀφιστάμενος, πρὶν ἂν ἐξέλῃ [C] τῶν πολεμίων τὴν δύναμιν καὶ ὑποχείριον αὑτῷ ποιήσηται. κρατήσας δὲ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων [pg 230] ἔπαυσε τὸ ξίφος φόνων, μίασμα κρίνων τὸν οὐκ ἀμυνόμενον ἔτι κτείνειν καὶ ἀναιρεῖν. φιλόπονος δὲ ὢν φύσει καὶ μεγαλόψυχος κοινωνεῖ μὲν ἅπασι τῶν πόνων, καὶ ἔχειν ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸ πλέον ἀξιοῖ, μεταδίδωσι δὲ ἐκείνοις τῶν κινδύνων τὰ ἔπαθλα, χαίρων καὶ γεγηθὼς οὔτι τῷ πλέον ἔχειν τῶν ἄλλων χρυσίον καὶ ἀργύριον καὶ ἐπαύλεις κόσμῳ πολυτελεῖ κατεσκευασμένας, [D] ἀλλὰ τῷ πολλοὺς μὲν εὖ ποιεῖν δύνασθαι, χαρίζεσθαι δὲ ἅπασιν ὅτου ἂν τύχωσιν ἐνδεεῖς ὄντες· τούτων αὑτὸν ὅ γε ἀληθινὸς ἀξιοῖ βασιλεύς. φιλόπολις415 δὲ ὢν καὶ φιλοστρατιώτης τῶν μὲν καθάπερ νομεὺς ποιμνίων ἐπιμελεῖται, προνοῶν ὅπως ἂν αὐτῷ θάλλῃ καὶ εὐθηνῆται τὰ θρέμματα δαψιλοῦς καὶ ἀταράχου τῆς νομῆς ἐμπιμπλάμενα, τοὺς δὲ ἐφορᾷ καὶ συνέχει, πρὸς ἀνδρείαν καὶ ῥώμην καὶ πρᾳότητα γυμνάζων καθάπερ σκύλακας εὐφυεῖς [87] καὶ γενναίους τῆς ποίμνης φύλακας, ἔργων τε αὑτῷ κοινωνοὺς καὶ ἐπικούρους τῷ πλήθει νομίζων, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχὶ ἁρπακτῆρας τινας οὐδὲ λυμεῶνας τῶν ποιμνίων καθάπερ οἱ λύκοι καὶ κυνῶν οἱ φαυλότατοι, οἳ416 τῆς αὑτῶν φύσεως καὶ τροφῆς ἐπιλαθόμενοι ἀντὶ σωτήρων καὶ προαγωνιστῶν ἀνεφάνησαν αὐτοὶ δηλήμονες· οὐδὲ μὴν ὑπνηλοὺς ἀνέξεται εἶναι καὶ ἀργοὺς καὶ ἀπολέμους, ὅπως ἂν μὴ φυλάκων ἑτέρων οἱ φρουροὶ δέωνται, [B] ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ἀπειθεῖς τοῖς417 ἄρχουσιν, εἰδὼς ὅτι τοῦτο μάλιστα πάντων, ἔστι δὲ ὅπου καὶ μόνον ἀπόχρη σωτήριον ἐπιτήδευμα [pg 232] πρὸς πόλεμον· πόνων δὲ ἁπάντων ἀδεεῖς418 καὶ ἀτεράμονας, οὔτι ῥᾳθύμους ἐργάσεται, ἐπιστάμενος ὅτι μὴ μέγα ὄφελος φύλακος τὸν πόνον φεύγοντος καὶ οὐ δυναμένου καρτερεῖν οὐδὲ ἀντέχειν πρὸς κάματον. ταῦτα δὲ οὐ παραινῶν μόνον οὐδὲ ἐπαινῶν τοῦς ἀγαθοὺς προθύμως καὶ χαριζόμενος ἢ κολάζων ἐγκρατῶς [C] καὶ ἀπαραιτήτως ξυμπείθει καὶ βιάζεται, ἀλλὰ πολὺ πρότερον αὑτὸν τοιοῦτον ἐπιδεικνύων, ἀπεχόμενος μὲν ἡδονῆς ἁπάσης, χρημάτων δὲ οὐδὲν οὔτε σμικρὸν οὔτε μεῖζον ἐπιθυμῶν καὶ ἀφαιρούμενος τῶν ὑπηκόων, ὕπνῳ τε εἴκων ὀλίγα καὶ τὴν ἀργίαν ἀποστρεφόμενος, ἀληθῶς γὰρ οὐδεὶς οὐδενὸς εἰς οὐδὲν ἄξιος καθεύδων ἀνὴρ ἢ καὶ ἐγρηγορὼς τοῖς καθεύδουσιν ἐμφερής. πειθομένους δὲ αὐτοὺς ἕξει καλῶς αὑτῷ τε οἲμαι καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν, [D] εἰ τοῖς ἀρίστοις πειθόμενος νόμοις καὶ τοῖς ὀρθοῖς ξυνεπόμενος διατάγμασι δῆλος εἴη, καὶ ὅλως τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀποδοὺς τῷ φύσει βασιλικῷ καὶ ἡγεμονικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς μορίῳ, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τῷ θυμοειδεῖ καὶ ἀκολάστῳ. καὶ καρτερεῖν δὲ καὶ ὑπομένειν τόν τε ἐπὶ στρατιᾶς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις κάματον ὁπόσα τε κατὰ τὴν εἰρήνην ἐξηυρέθη γυμνάσια μελέτης ἕνεκα τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ὀθνείους ἀγῶνας, πῶς ἄν τις μάλιστα πείσας εἴη,419 ἢ δῆλον ὡς αὐτὸς ὁρώμενος καρτερὸς καὶ ἀδαμάντινος; [88] ἔστι γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἥδιστον θέαμα στρατιώτῃ πονουμένῳ σώφρων αὐτοκράτωρ, συνεφαπτόμενος ἔργων καὶ προθυμούμενος [pg 234] καὶ παρακαλῶν καὶ ἐν τοῖς δοκοῦσι φοβεροῖς φαιδρὸς καὶ ἀδεὴς καὶ ὅπου λίαν θαρροῦσι σεμνὸς καὶ ἐμβριθής. πέφυκε γὰρ ἐξομοιοῦσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἄρχοντα τὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων εὐλαβείας πέρι καὶ θράσους. προνοητέον δὲ αὐτῷ τῶν εἰρημένων οὐ μεῖον ὅπως ἄφθονον τὴν τροφὴν ἔχωσι καὶ οὐδενὸς τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐνδέωνται. [B] πολλάκις γὰρ οἱ πιστότατοι τῶν ποιμνίων φρουροὶ καὶ φύλακες ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνδείας ἀναγκαζόμενοι ἄγριοι τέ εἰσι τοῖς νομεῦσι καὶ αὐτοὺς πόρρωθεν ἰδόντες περιυλακτοῦσι καὶ οὐδὲ τῶν προβάτων ἀπέσχοντο.

(But it seems that my argument, as though it had reached some steep descent, is glutting itself with unsparing abuse, and is chastising the manners of these men beyond what is fitting, so that I must not allow it to travel further. But now I must demand from it an account, as far as is possible, of the man who is good and kingly and great-souled. In the first place, then, he is devout and does not neglect the worship of the gods, and secondly he is pious and ministers to his parents, both when they are alive and after their death, and he is friendly to his brothers, and reverences the gods who protect the family, while to suppliants and strangers he is mild and gentle; and he is anxious to gratify good citizens, and governs the masses with justice and for their benefit. And wealth he loves, but not that which is heavy with gold and silver, but that which is full of the true good-will of his friends,420 and service without flattery. Though by nature he is brave and gallant, he takes no pleasure in war, and detests civil discord, though when men do attack him, whether from some chance, or by reason of their own wickedness, he resists them bravely and defends himself with energy, and carries through his enterprises to the end, not desisting till he has destroyed the power of the foe and made it subject to himself. But after he has conquered by force of arms, he makes his sword cease from slaughter, because he thinks that for one who is no longer defending himself to go on killing and laying waste is to incur pollution. And being by nature fond of work, and great of soul, he shares in the labours of all; and claims the lion's share of those labours, then divides with the others the rewards for the risks which he has run, and is glad and rejoices, not because he has more gold and silver treasure than other men, and palaces adorned with costly furniture, but because he is able to do good to many, and to bestow on all men whatever they may chance to lack. This is what he who is truly a king claims for himself. And since he loves both the city and the soldiers,421 he cares for the citizens as a shepherd for his flock, planning how their young may flourish and thrive, eating their full of abundant and undisturbed pasture; and his soldiers he oversees and keeps together, training them in courage, strength and mercy, like well-bred dogs, noble guardians of the flock,422 regarding them both as the partners of his exploits and the protectors of the masses, and not as spoilers and pillagers of the flock, like wolves and mongrel dogs which, forgetting their own nature and nurture, turn out to be marauders instead of preservers and defenders. Yet on the other hand, he will not suffer them to be sluggish, slothful and unwarlike, lest the guardians should themselves need others to watch them, nor disobedient to their officers, because he knows that obedience above all else, and sometimes alone, is the saving discipline in war. And he will train them to be hardy and not afraid of any labour, and never indolent, for he knows that there is not much use in a guardian who shirks his task and cannot hold out or endure fatigue. And not only by exhorting, or by his readiness to praise the deserving or by rewarding and punishing severely and inexorably, does he win them over to this and coerce them; but far rather does he show that he is himself what he would have them be, since he refrains from all pleasure, and as for money desires it not at all, much or little, nor robs his subjects of it; and since he abhors indolence he allows little time for sleep, For in truth no one who is asleep is good for anything,423 nor if, when awake he resembles those who are asleep. And he will, I think, succeed in keeping them wonderfully obedient to himself and to their officers, since he himself will be seen to obey the wisest laws and to live in accordance with right precepts, and in short to be under the guidance of that part of the soul which is naturally kingly and worthy to take the lead, and not of the emotional or undisciplined part. For how could one better persuade men to endure and undergo fatigue, not only in a campaign and under arms, but also in all those exercises that have been invented in times of peace to give men practice for conflicts abroad, than by being clearly seen to be oneself strong as adamant? For in truth the most agreeable sight for a soldier, when he is fighting hard, is a prudent commander who takes an active part in the work in hand, himself zealous while exhorting his men, who is cheerful and calm in what seems to be a dangerous situation, but on occasion stern and severe whenever they are over confident. For in the matter of caution or boldness the subordinate naturally imitates his leader. And he must plan as well, no less than for what I have mentioned, that they may have abundant provisions and run short of none of the necessaries of life. For often the most loyal guardians and protectors of the flock are driven by want to become fierce towards the shepherds, and when they see them from afar they bark at them and do not even spare the sheep.424)

Τοιοῦτος μὲν ἐπὶ στρατοπέδων ὁ γενναῖος, πόλει δὲ σωτὴρ καὶ κηδεμών, οὔτι τοὺς ἔξωθεν μόνον ἀπείργων κινδύνους οὐδὲ ἀντιταττόμενος ἢ καὶ ἐπιστρατεύων βαρβάροις γείτοσι· στάσιν δὲ ἐξαιρῶν καὶ ἔθη [C] μοχθηρὰ καὶ τρυφὴν καὶ ἀκολασίαν τῶν μεγίστων κακῶν παρέξει ῥᾳστώνην. ὕβριν δὲ ἐξείργων καὶ παρανομίαν καὶ ἀδικίαν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν ἀμέτρου κτήσεως τὰς425 ἐκ τούτων ἀναφυομένας στάσεις καὶ ἔριδας εἰς οὐδὲν χρηστὸν τελευτώσας οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνέξεται φῶναι, γενομένας δὲ ὡς ἔνι τάχιστα ἀφανιεῖ426 καὶ ἐξελάσει τῆς αὑτοῦ πόλεως. λήσεται δὲ αὐτὸν οὐδεὶς ὑπερβὰς τὸν νόμον καὶ βιασάμενος, οὐ427 μᾶλλον ἢ τῶν πολεμίων τις τὸν χάρακα. [D] φύλαξ δὲ ὢν ἀγαθὸς τῶν νόμων, ἀμείνων ἔσται δημιουργός, εἴ ποτε καιρὸς καὶ τύχη καλοίη· καὶ οὐδεμία μηχανὴ πείθει τὸν τοιοῦτον ψευδῆ καὶ κίβδηλον καὶ νόθον [pg 236] τοῖς κειμένοις ἐπεισάγειν νόμον, οὐ μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς αὑτοῦ παισὶ δούλειον καὶ ἀγεννὲς ἐπεισαγαγεῖν428 σπέρμα. δίκης δὲ αὐτῷ μέλει καὶ θέμιδος, καὶ οὔτε γονεῖς οὔτε ξυγγενεῖς καὶ φίλοι πείθουσι καταχαρίσασθαί [89] σφιν καὶ προδοῦναι τὸ ἔνδικον. ὑπολαμβάνει γὰρ ἁπάντων εἶναι τὴν πατρίδα κοινὴν ἑστίαν καὶ μητέρα, πρεσβυτέραν μὲν καὶ σεμνοτέραν τῶν429 πατέρων, φιλτέραν δὲ ἀδελφῶν καὶ ξένων καὶ φίλων· ἧς ἀποσυλῆσαι τὸν νόμον καὶ βιάσασθαι μεῖζον ἀσέβημα κρίνει τῆς περὶ τὰ χρήματα τῶν θεῶν παρανομίας. ἔστι γὰρ ὁ νόμος ἔκγονος430 τῆς δίκης, ἱερὸν ἀνάθημα καὶ θεῖον ἀληθῶς τοῦ μεγίστου θεοῦ, ὃν οὐδαμῶς ὅ γε ἔμφρων ἀνὴρ περὶ σμικροῦ ποιήσεται οὐδὲ ἀτιμάσει· [B] ἀλλὰ ἐν δίκῃ πάντα δρῶν τοὺς μὲν ἀγαθοὺς τιμήσει προθύμως, τοὺς μοχθηροὺς δὲ ἐς δύναμιν ἰᾶσθαι καθάπερ ἰατρὸς ἀγαθὸς προθυμήσεται.

(Such then is the good king at the head of his legions, but to his city he is a saviour and protector, not only when he is warding off dangers from without or repelling barbarian neighbours or invading them; but also by putting down civil discord, vicious morals, luxury and profligacy, he will procure relief from the greatest evils. And by excluding insolence, lawlessness, injustice and greed for boundless wealth, he will not permit the feuds that arise from these causes and the dissensions that end in disaster to show even the first sign of growth, and if they do arise he will abolish them as quickly as possible and expel them from his city. And no one who transgresses and violates the law will escape his notice, no more than would an enemy in the act of scaling his defences. But though he is a good guardian of the laws, he will be still better at framing them, if ever occasion and chance call on him to do so. And no device can persuade one of his character to add to the statutes a false and spurious and bastard law, any more than he would introduce among his own sons a servile and vulgar strain. For he cares for justice and the right, and neither parents nor kinsfolk nor friends can persuade him to do them a favour and betray the cause of justice. For he looks upon his fatherland as the common hearth and mother of all, older and more reverend than his parents, and more precious than brothers or friends or comrades; and to defraud or do violence to her laws he regards as a greater impiety than sacrilegious robbery of the money that belongs to the gods. For law is the child of justice, the sacred and truly divine adjunct of the most mighty god, and never will the man who is wise make light of it or set it at naught. But since all that he does will have justice in view, he will be eager to honour the good, and the vicious he will, like a good physician, make every effort to cure.)

Διττῶν δὲ ὄντων τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, καὶ τῶν μὲν ὑποφαινόντων ἐλπίδας ἀμείνους καὶ οὐ πάντη τὴν θεραπείαν ἀπεστραμμένων, τῶν δὲ ἀνίατα πλημμελούντων· τούτοις δὲ οἱ νόμοι θάνατον λύσιν τῶν κακῶν ἐπενόησαν, οὐκ εἰς τὴν ἐκείνων μᾶλλον, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἄλλων ὠφέλειαν· [C] διττὰς δ᾽ ἀνάγκη τὰς κρίσεις γίγνεσθαι. οὐκοῦν τῶν μὲν ἰασίμων αὑτῷ προσήκειν ὑπολήψεται τήν τε ἐπίγνωσιν καὶ τὴν θεραπείαν, ἀφέξεται δὲ τῶν ἄλλων μάλα ἐρρωμένως, καὶ οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἑκὼν ἅψαιτο κρίσεως, ἐφ᾽ ᾗ θάνατος ἡ ζημία παρὰ τῶν νόμων τοῖς ὠφληκόσι τὴν δίκην [pg 238] προηγόρευται.431 νομοθετῶν δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν τοιούτων ὕβριν μὲν καὶ χαλεπότητα καὶ πικρίαν τῶν τιμωριῶν ἀφαιρήσει, ἀποκληρώσει δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀνδρῶν σωφρόνων καὶ [D] διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου βάσανον οὐ φαύλην τῆς αὑτῶν ἀρετῆς παρασχομένων δικαστήριον,432 οἳ μηδὲν αὐθαδῶς μηδὲ ὁρμῇ τινι παντελῶς ἀλόγῳ χρώμενοι, ἐν ἡμέρας μορίῳ σμικρῷ βουλευσάμενοι, τυχὸν δὲ οὐδὲ βουλῇ δόντες, ὑπὲρ ἀνδρὸς πολίτου τὴν μέλαιναν οἴσουσι ψῆφον. αὐτῷ δὲ οὔτε ἐν τῇ χειρὶ ξίφος εἰς πολίτου, κἂν ἀδικῇ τὰ ἔσχατα, φόνον οὔτε ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ κέντρον ὑπεῖναι χρή, ὅπου καὶ τὴν τῶν μελιττῶν ὁρῶμεν βασιλεύουσαν καθαρὰν [90] ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως πλήκτρου γενομένην. ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ εἰς μελίττας βλεπτέον, εἰς αὐτὸν δὲ οἶμαι τῶν θεῶν τὸν βασιλέα οὗπερ εἶναι χρὴ τὸν ἀληθῶς ἄρχοντα προφήτην καὶ ὑπηρέτην. οὐκοῦν ὅσα μὲν ἀγαθὰ γέγονε παντελῶς τῆς ἐναντίας ἄμικτα φύσεως καὶ ἐπ᾽ ὠφελείᾳ κοινῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου, τούτων δὲ αὐτὸς ἦν τε καὶ ἔστι δημιουργός· τὰ κακὰ δὲ οὔτ᾽ ἐγέννησεν οὔτ᾽ ἐπέταξεν εἶναι, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὰ μὲν ἐφυγάδευσεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, [B] περὶ δὲ τὴν γῆν στρεφόμενα καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἀποικίαν σταλεῖσαν τῶν ψυχῶν διαλαβόμενα κρίνειν ἐπέταξε καὶ διακαθαίρειν τοῖς αὑτοῦ παισὶ καὶ ἐγγόνοις. τούτων δὲ οἱ μέν εἰσι σωτῆρες καὶ ἐπίκουροι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, ἄλλοι δὲ ἀπαραίτητοι κριταί, τῶν ἀδικημάτων ὀξεῖαν καὶ δεινὴν ἐπάγοντες δίκην ζῶσί τε ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἀπολυθεῖσι τῶν σωμάτων, [pg 240] οἱ δὲ ὥσπερ δήμιοι [C] τιμωροί τινες καὶ ἀποπληρωταὶ τῶν δικασθέντων, ἕτερον τῶν φαύλων καὶ ἀνοήτων δαιμόνων τὸ φῦλον· ἃ δὴ μιμητέον τῷ γενναίῳ καὶ θεοφιλεῖ, καὶ μεταδοτέον πολλοῖς μὲν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀρετῆς433 διὰ φιλίας ἐς ταύτην τὴν κοινωνίαν προσληφθεῖσιν.434 ἀρχὰς δὲ ἐπιτρεπτέον οἰκείας ἑκάστου τῇ φύσει καὶ προαιρέσει, τῷ μὲν ἀνδρώδει καὶ τολμηρῷ καὶ μεγαλοθύμῳ μετὰ ξυνέσεως στρατιωτικάς, ἵν᾽ εἰς δέον ἔχῃ τῷ θυμῷ χρῆσθαι καὶ τῇ ῥώμῃ, τῷ δικαίῳ δὲ καὶ πρᾴῳ καὶ [D] φιλανθρώπῳ καὶ πρὸς οἶκτον εὐχερῶς ἐπικλωμένῳ τῶν πολιτικῶν τὰς ἀμφὶ τὰ συναλλάγματα, βοηθείας τοῖς ἀσθενεστέροις καὶ ἁπλουστέροις μηχανώμενον καὶ πένησι πρὸς τοὺς ἰσχυροὺς καὶ ἀπατεῶνας καὶ πανούργους καὶ ἐπαιρομένους τοῖς χρήμασιν ἐς τὸ βιάζεσθαι καὶ ὑπερορᾶν τῆς δίκης, τῷ δὲ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν κεκραμένῳ μείζονα ἐν435 τῇ πόλει τιμὴν καὶ δύναμιν περιθετέον, καὶ αὐτῷ τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων κρίσεις, [91] οἷς ἕπεται τιμωρία καὶ κόλασις ἔνδικος ἐπ᾽ ὠφελείᾳ τῶν ἀδικουμένων ἐπιτρέπων436 ὀρθῶς ἂν καὶ ἐμφρόνως λογίζοιτο. κρίνας γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀδεκάστως ἅμα τοῖς συνέδροις παραδώσει τῷ δημίῳ τὰ γνωσθέντα ἐπιτελεῖν, οὔτε διὰ θυμοῦ μέγεθος οὔτε διὰ μαλακίαν ψυχῆς ἁμαρτάνων τοῦ φύσει διακαίου. κινδυνεύει δὲ ὁ κράτιστος ἐν πόλει τοιοῦτός τις εἶναι, [B] τὰ μὲν ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ἔχων ἀγαθά, τὰς δὲ οἷον κῆρας ἐκ τοῦ πλεονάζοντος [pg 242] ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένων ἐκφεύγων. ἐφορῶν δὲ αὐτὸς ἅπαντα καὶ κατευθύνων καὶ ἄρχων ἀρχόντων τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν μεγίστων ἔργων καὶ διοικήσεων τεταγμένους καὶ αὐτῷ τῆς ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων βουλῆς κοινωνοῦντας ἀγαθούς τε εἶναι καὶ ὅ,τι μάλιστα αὑτοῦ παραπλησίους εὔξεται γενέσθαι. αἱρήσεται δὲ οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ ὡς ἔτυχεν, οὐδ᾽ ἐθελήσει φαυλότερος εἶναι κριτὴς τῶν λιθογνωμόνων [C] καὶ τῶν βασανιζόντων τὸ χρυσίον ἢ τὴν πορφύραν. τούτοις γὰρ οὐ μία ὁδὸς ἐπὶ τὴν ἐξέτασιν ἀπόχρη, ἀλλὰ συνιέντες οἶμαι τῶν πανουργεῖν ἐθελόντων ποικίλην καὶ πολύτροπον τὴν μοχθηρίαν καὶ τὰ ἐπιτεχνήματα εἰς δύναμιν ἅπασιν ἀντετάξαντο, καὶ ἀντέστησαν ἐλέγχους τοὺς ἐκ τῆς τέχνης. ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς περὶ τῆς κακίας ὑπολαμβάνων, ὡς ἐστὶ ποικίλη καὶ ἀπατηλὴ καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι χαλεπώτατον τῶν ἐκείνης ἔργων, [D] ὅτι δὴ ψεύδεται πολλάκις ἀρετὴν ὑποδυομένη καὶ ἐξαπατᾷ τοὺς οὐ δυναμένους ὀξύτερον ὁρᾶν ἢ καὶ ἀποκάμνοντας τῷ μήκει τοῦ χρόνου πρὸς τὴν ἐξέτασιν, τὸ παθεῖν τι τοιοῦτον ὀρθῶς φυλάξεται. ἑλόμενος δὲ ἅπαξ καὶ περὶ αὑτὸν τοὺς ἀρίστους ἔχων τούτοις ἐπιτρέψει τὴν τῶν ἐλασσόνων ἀρχόντων αἵρεσιν.

(But there are two kinds of error, for in one type of sinner may dimly be discerned a hope of improvement, nor do they wholly reject a cure, while the vices of others are incurable. And for the latter the laws have contrived the penalty of death as a release from evil, and this not only for the benefit of the criminal, but quite as much in the interest of others. Accordingly there must needs be two kinds of trials. For when men are not incurable the king will hold it to be his duty to investigate and to cure. But with the others he will firmly refuse to interfere, and will never willingly have anything to do with a trial when death is the penalty that has been ordained by the laws for the guilty. However, in making laws for such offences, he will do away with violence and harshness and cruelty of punishment, and will elect by lot, to judge them, a court of staid and sober men who throughout their lives have admitted the most rigid scrutiny of their own virtue, men who will not rashly, or led by some wholly irrational impulse, after deliberating for only a small part of the day, or it may be without even debating, cast the black voting-tablet in the case of a fellow-citizen. But in his own hand no sword should lie ready to slay a citizen, even though he has committed the blackest crimes, nor should a sting lurk in his soul, considering that, as we see, nature has made even the queen-bee free from a sting. However it is not to bees that we must look for our analogy, but in my opinion to the king of the gods himself, whose prophet and vice-regent the genuine ruler ought to be. For wherever good exists wholly untainted by its opposite, and for the benefit of mankind in common and the whole universe, of this good God was and is the only creator. But evil he neither created nor ordered to be,437 but he banished it from heaven, and as it moves upon earth and has chosen for its abode our souls, that colony which was sent down from heaven, he has enjoined on his sons and descendants to judge and cleanse men from it. Now of these some are the friends and protectors of the human race, but others are inexorable judges who inflict on men harsh and terrible punishment for their misdeeds, both while they are alive and after they are set free from their bodies, and others again are as it were executioners and avengers who carry out the sentence, a different race of inferior and unintelligent demons. Now the king who is good and a favourite of the gods must imitate this example, and share his own excellence with many of his subjects, whom, because of his regard for them, he admits into this partnership; and he must entrust them with offices suited to the character and principles of each; military command for him who is brave and daring and high-spirited, but discreet as well, so that when he has need he may use his spirit and energy; and for him who is just and kind and humane and easily prone to pity, that office in the service of the state that relates to contracts, devising this means of protection for the weaker and more simple citizens and for the poor against the powerful, fraudulent and wicked and those who are so buoyed up by their riches that they try to violate and despise justice; but to the man who combines both these temperaments he must assign still greater honour and power in the state, and if he entrust to him the trials of offences for which are enacted just pains and penalties with a view to recompensing the injured, that would be a fair and wise measure. For a man of this sort, together with his colleagues, will give an impartial decision, and then hand over to the public official the carrying out of the verdict, nor will he through excess of anger or tender-heartedness fall short of what is essentially just. Now the ruler in our state will be somewhat like this, possessing only what is good in both those qualities, and in every quality that I mentioned earlier avoiding a fatal excess.438 And though he will in person oversee and direct and govern the whole, he will see to it that those of his officials who are in charge of the most important works and management and who share his councils for the general good, are virtuous men and as far as possible like himself. And he will choose them, not carelessly or at random, nor will he consent to be a less rigorous judge than a lapidary or one who tests gold plate or purple dye. For such men are not satisfied with one method of testing, but since they know, I suppose, that the wickedness and devices of those who are trying to cheat them are various and manifold, they try to meet all these as far as possible, and they oppose to them the tests derived from their art. So too our ruler apprehends that evil changes its face and is apt to deceive, and that the cruellest thing that it does is that it often takes men in by putting on the garb of virtue, and hoodwinks those who are not keen sighted enough, or who in course of time grow weary of the length of the investigation, and therefore he will rightly be on his guard against any such deception. But when once he has chosen them, and has about him the worthiest men, he will entrust to them the choice of the minor officials.)

Νόμων μὲν δὴ πέρι καὶ ἀρχόντων τοιάδε γινώσκει. τοῦ πλήθους δὲ τὸ μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἄστεσιν οὔτε ἀργὸν οὔτε αὔθαδες ἀνέξεται εἶναι οὔτε μὴν ἐνδεὲς τῶν ἀναγκαίων· [92] τὸ δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς τῶν γεωργῶν φῦλον ἀροῦντες καὶ φυτεύοντες τροφὴν [pg 244] ἀποίσουσι τοῖς φύλαξι καὶ ἐπικούροις σφῶν, μισθὸν καὶ ἐσθῆτα τὴν ἀναγκαίαν. οἰκοδομήματα δὲ Ἀσσύρια καὶ πολυτελεῖς καὶ δαπανηρὰς λειτουργίας χαίρειν ἐάσαντες ἐν εἰρήνῃ πολλῇ τῶν τε ἔξωθεν πολεμίων καὶ τῶν οἴκοθεν καταβιώσονται, ἀγαπῶντες μὲν τὸν αἴτιον τῶν παρόντων σφίσι καθάπερ ἀγαθὸν δαίμονα, [B] ὑμνοῦντες δὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἐπευχόμενοι, οὔτι πλαστῶς οὐδὲ ἀπὸ γλώττης, ἔνδοθεν δὲ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτῷ τὰ ἀγαθά. φθάνουσι δὲ οἱ θεοὶ τὰς εὐχάς, καὶ αὐτῷ πρότερον τὰ θεῖα δόντες οὐτὲ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἐστέρησαν. εἰ δὲ τὸ χρεὼν βιάζοιτο κακῷ τῷ περιπεσεῖν, τούτων δὴ τῶν θρυλουμένων ἀνηκέστων, χορευτήν τε αὑτῶν ἐποιήσαντο καὶ συνέστιον, [C] καὶ αὐτῷ κλέος καθ᾽ ἅπαντας ἤγειραν ἀνθρώπους. ταῦτα ἐγὼ τῶν σοφῶν ἀκούω πολλάκις, καί με ὁ λόγος ἰσχυρῶς πείθει. οὐκοῦν καὶ ἐς ὑμᾶς αὐτὸν διεξῆλθον, μακρότερα μὲν τυχὸν ἴσως τοῦ καιροῦ φθεγγόμενος, ἐλάττονα δὲ οἶμαι τῆς ὑποθέσεως· καὶ ὅτῳ γέγονε τῶν τοιούτων λόγων ἐπακούειν ἐν φροντίδι, οὗτος ὅτι μὴ ψεύδομαι σαφῶς ἐπίσταται. ἑτέρα δέ ἐστιν αἰτία τοῦ μήκους τῆς μὲν εἰρημένης ἧττον ἀναγκαία, [D] προσεχεστέρα δὲ οἶμαι τῷ παρόντι λόγῳ· τυχὸν δὲ οὐδὲ ταύτης ἀγηκόους ὑμᾶς εἶναι χρή.

(Such is his policy with regard to the laws and magistrates. As for the common people, those who live in the towns he will not allow to be idle or impudent, but neither will he permit them to be without the necessaries of life. And the farming class who live in the country, ploughing and sowing to furnish food for their protectors and guardians, will receive in return payment in money, and the clothes that they need. But as for Assyrian palaces and costly and extravagant public services, they will have nothing to do with them, and will end their lives in the utmost peace as regards enemies at home and abroad, and will adore the cause of their good fortune as though he were a kindly deity, and praise God for him when they pray, not hypocritically or with the lips only, but invoking blessings on him from the bottom of their hearts. But the gods do not wait for their prayers, and unasked they give him celestial rewards, but they do not let him lack human blessings either; and if fate should compel him to fall into any misfortune, I mean one of those incurable calamities that people are always talking about, then the gods make him their follower and associate, and exalt his fame among all mankind. All this I have often heard from the wise, and in their account of it I have the firmest faith. And so I have repeated it to you, perhaps making a longer speech than the occasion called for, but too short in my opinion for the theme. And he to whom it has been given to hear such arguments and reflect on them, knows well that I speak the truth. But there is another reason for the length of my speech, less forcible, but I think more akin to the present argument. And perhaps you ought not to miss hearing this also.)

Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ὑπομνησθῶμεν μικρὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν, ὁπότε τῆς ὑπὲρ τούτων διηγήσεως ἀπεπαυόμεθα. ἔφαμέν που χρῆναι τοὺς σπουδαίους τῶν ἀληθινῶν ἐπαίνων ἀκροατὰς οὐκ εἰς ταῦτα ὁρᾶν, ὧν ἡ τύχη καὶ τοῖς μοχθηροῖς πολλάκις [pg 246] μεταδίδωσιν, εἰς δὲ τὰς ἕξεις καὶ τὴν ἀρετήν, ἧς μόνοις μέτεστι τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ φύσει σπουδαίοις. [93] εἶτα ἐντεῦθεν ἑλόντες439 τοὺς ἑξῆς ἐπεραίνομεν λόγους, ὡς πρὸς440 κανόνα τινὰ καὶ στάθμην ἀπευθύνοντες, ᾗ τοὺς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ βασιλέων ἐπαίνους ἐναρμόττειν ἐχρῆν. καὶ ὅτῳ μὲν ἀληθὴς καὶ ἀπαράλλακτος ἁρμονία πρὸς τοῦτο γέγονε τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, ὄλβιος μὲν αὐτὸς καὶ ὄντως εὐδαίμων, εὐτυχεῖς δὲ οἱ μεταλαβάντες τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχῆς· ὅστις δὲ ἐγγὺς ἀφίκετο, τῶν [B] πλέον ἀπολειφθέντων ἀμείνων καὶ εὐτυχέστερος· οἱ δὲ ἀπολειφθέντες παντελῶς ἢ καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν τραπόμενοι δυστυχεῖς καὶ ἀνόντοι καὶ μοχθηροί, αὑτοῖς τε καὶ ἄλλοις τῶν μεγίστων αἴτιοι συμφορῶν.

(In the first place, then, let me remind you briefly of what I said before, when I broke off my discourse for the sake of this digression. What I said was that, when serious-minded people listen to sincere panegyrics, they ought not to look to those things of which fortune often grants a share even to the wicked, but to the character of the man and his virtues, which belong only to those who are good and by nature estimable; and, taking up my tale at that point, I pursued the arguments that followed, guiding myself as it were by the rule and measure to which one ought to adjust the eulogies of good men and good kings. And when one of them harmonises exactly and without variation with this model, he is himself happy and truly fortunate, and happy are those who have a share in such a government as his. And he who comes near to being like him is better and more fortunate than those who fall further short of him. But those who fail altogether to resemble him, or who follow an opposite course, are ill-fated, senseless and wicked, and cause the greatest disasters to themselves and others.)

Εἰ δὴ οὖν καὶ ὑμῖν ταῦτῃ πῃ ξυνδοκεῖ, ὥρα ἐπεξιέναι τοῖς ἔργοις, ἂ τεθαυμάκαμεν. καὶ ὅπως μή τις ὑπολάβῃ τὸν λόγον καθ᾽ αὑτὸν ἰόντα, καθάπερ ἵππον ἀνταγωνιστοῦ στερόμενον ἐν τοῖς δρόμοις, κρατεῖν καὶ ἀποφέρειν τὰ νικητήρια, πειράσομαι, πῇ ποτε διαφέρετον ἀλλήλων ὅ τε ἡμέτερος [C] καὶ ὁ τῶν σοφῶν ῥητόρων ἔπαινος, δεῖξαι. οὐκοῦν οἱ μὲν τὸ προγόνων γενέσθαι δυναστῶν καὶ βασιλέων θαυμάζουσι μάλα, ὀλβίων καὶ εὐδαιμόνων μακαρίους ὑπολαμβάνοντες τοὺς ἐκγόνους· τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις οὔτε ἐνενόησαν οὔτε ἐσκέψαντο, τίνα τρόπον διατελοῦσιν τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς441 χρώμενοι. [pg 248] καίτοι γε τοῦτο ἦν τῆς εὐτυχίας ἐκείνης τὸ κεφάλαιον καὶ σχεδὸν ἁπάντων τῶν ἐκτὸς ἀγαθῶν· εἰ μή τις καὶ πρὸς τοὔνομα δυσχεραίνει, [D] τὴν κτῆσιν ὑπὸ τῆς ἔμφρονος χρήσεως ἀγαθὴν καὶ φαύλην ὑπὸ τῆς ἐναντίας γίγνεσθαι συμβαίνειν· ὥστε οὐ μέγα, καθάπερ οἴονται, τὸ βασιλέως πλουσίου καὶ πολυχρύσου γενέσθαι, μέγα δὲ ἀληθῶς τὸ τὴν ἀρετὴν τὴν πατρῴαν ὑπερβαλλόμενον ἄμεμπτον αὑτὸν τοῖς γειναμένοις παρασχεῖν εἰς ἅπαν.

(And now if you are in any way of my opinion, it is time to proceed to those achievements that we have so admired. And lest any should think that my argument is running alone, like a horse in a race that has lost its competitor and for that reason wins and carries off the prizes, I will try to show in what way my encomium differs from that of clever rhetoricians. For they greatly admire the fact that a man is born of ancestors who had power or were kings, since they hold that the sons of the prosperous and fortunate are themselves blest. But the question that next arises they neither think of nor investigate, I mean how they employed their advantages throughout their lives. And yet, after all, this is the chief cause of that happiness, and of almost all external goods. Unless indeed someone objects to this statement that it is only by wise use of it that property becomes a good, and that it is harmful when the opposite use is made. So that it is not a great thing, as they think, to be descended from a king who was wealthy and “rich in gold,” but it is truly great, while surpassing the virtue of one's ancestors, to behave to one's parents in a manner beyond reproach in all respects.)

Βούλεσθε οὖν εἰ τοῦτο ὑπάρχει βασελεῖ καταμαθεῖν; παρέξομαι δὲ ὑμῖν ἐγὼ μαρτυρίαν πιστὴν, [94] καί με οὐχ αἱρήσετε ψευδομαρτυρίων,442 εὖ οἶδα· ὑπομνήσω γὰρ ὑμᾶς443 ὧν ἴστε· τυχὸν δὲ καὶ ἤδη τοῦ λεγομένου ξυνίετε, εἴ τε οὔπω δῆλον, αὐτίκα μάλα ξυνήσετε ἐννοήσαντες πρῶτον μὲν ὡς αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ ἠγάπα διαφερόντως, οὔτι πρᾷος ὢν λίαν τοῖς ἐκγόνοις οὐδὲ τῇ φύσει πλέον ἢ τῷ τρόπῳ διδούς, ἡττώμενος δὲ οἶμαι τῆς θεραπείας καὶ οὐκ ἔχων, [B] ὄτι μέμφοιτο, δῆλος ἦν εὔνους ὤν. καὶ αὐτοῦ σημεῖον τῆς γνώμης, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι Κωνσταντίῳ ταύτην ἐξεῖλε τὴν μοῖραν, ἣν αὑτῷ πρότερον προσήκειν ἔχειν ὑπέλαβεν, εἶθ᾽ ὅτι τελευτῶν τὸν βίον, τὸν πρεσβύτατον καὶ τὸν νεώτατον ἀφεὶς σχολὴν ἄγοντας, τοῦτον δὴ ἄσχολον ἐκάλει καὶ ἐπέτρεπε τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ξύμπαντα. γενόμενος δὲ ἐγκρατὴς ἁπάντων οὕτω [pg 250] τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς δικαίως ἅμα καὶ σωφρόνως προσηνέχθη, ὥστε οἱ μὲν οὔτε κληθέντες οὔτε ἀφικόμενοι πρὸς [C] ἀλλήλους ἐστασίαζον καὶ διεμάχοντο, τούτῳ δὲ ἐχαλέπαινον οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἐμέμφοντο. ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ στάσις τέλος εἶχεν οὐκ εὐτυχές, ἐξὸν μεταποιεῖσθαι πλειόνων, ἑκὼν ἀφῆκε, τῆς αὐτῆς ἀρετῆς ὑπολαμβάνων πολλά τε ἔθνη καὶ ὀλίγα δεῖσθαι, περικεῖσθαι δέ, οἶμαι, φροντίδας μείζονας ὅτῳ πλειόνων ἀνάνκη τημελεῖν καὶ444 κήδεσθαι. οὐ γὰρ δὴ τρυφῆς ὑπολαμβάνει τὴν βασιλείαν εἶναι παρασκευὴν οὐδέ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν χρημάτων εἰς πότους [D] καὶ ἡδονὰς οἱ καταχρώμενοι μειζόνων εὐπορίαν προσόδων ἐπινοοῦσιν, οὕτω χρῆναι τὸν βασιλέα παρασκευάζεσθαι, οὐδὲ ἀναιρεῖσθαι πόλεμον, ὅ,τι μὴ τῶν ἀρχομένων τῆς ὠφελείας ἕνεκα. οὐκοῦν ἐκείνῳ μὲν ἔχειν τὸ πλέον ξυγχωρῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ ἀρετῆς ἔλαττον ἔχων τῷ κρατίστῳ πλεονεκτεῖν ὑπέλαβε. καὶ ὅτι μὴ δέει [95] μᾶλλον τῆς ἐκείνου παρασκευῆς τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἠγάπα, τεκμήριον ὑμῖν ἐμφανὲς ἔστω ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα ξυμπεσὼν πόλεμος. ἐχρήσατο γοῦν πρὸς τὰς ἐκείνου δυνάμεις ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τοῖς ὅπλοις ὕστερον. πάλιν δὲ ἐνταῦθα ἐκεῖνοι μέν που τὸ νικᾶν τεθαυμάκασιν· ἐγὼ δὲ πολὺ πλέον τὸ ξὺν δίκῃ μὲν ἀνελέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον, διενεγκεῖν δὲ [pg 252] ἀνδρείως καὶ μάλα ἐμπείρως, ἐπιθείσης δὲ τὸ τέλος τῆς τύχης δεξιὸν χρήσασθαι τῇ νίκῃ σωφρόνως καὶ βασιλικῶς, καὶ ὅλως ἄξιον τοῦ κρατεῖν φανῆναι.

(Do you wish to learn whether this is true of the Emperor? I will offer you trustworthy evidence, and I know well that you will not convict me of false witness. For I shall but remind you of what you know already. And perhaps you understand even now what I mean, but if it is not yet evident you very soon will, when you call to mind that the Emperor's father loved him more than the others, though he was by no means over-indulgent to his children, for it was character that he favoured rather than the ties of blood; but he was, I suppose, won over by the Emperor's dutiful service to him, and as he had nothing to reproach him with, he made his affection for him evident. And a proof of his feeling is, first, that he chose for Constantius that portion of the empire which he had formerly thought best suited to himself, and, secondly, that when he was at the point of death he passed over his eldest445 and youngest446 sons, though they were at leisure, and summoned Constantius, who was not at leisure, and entrusted him with the whole government. And when he had become master of the whole, he behaved to his brothers at once so justly and with such moderation, that, while they who had neither been summoned nor had come of themselves quarrelled and fought with one another, they showed no resentment against Constantius, nor ever reproached him. And when their feud reached its fatal issue447, though he might have laid claim to a greater share of empire, he renounced it of his own free will, because he thought that many nations or few called for the exercise of the same virtues, and also, perhaps, that the more a man has to look after and care for the greater are the anxieties beset him. For he does not think that the imperial power is a means of procuring luxury, nor that, as certain men who have wealth and misapply it for drink and other pleasures set their hearts on lavish and ever-increasing revenues, this ought to be an emperor's policy, nor that he ought ever to embark on a war except only for the benefit of his subjects. And so he allowed his brother448 to have the lion's share, and thought that if he himself possessed the smaller share with honour, he had the advantage in what was most worth having. And that it was not rather from fear of his brother's resources that he preferred peace, you may consider clearly proved by the war that broke out later. For he had recourse to arms later on against his brother's forces, but it was to avenge him449. And here again there are perhaps some who have admired him merely for having won the victory. But I admire far more the fact that it was with justice that he undertook the war, and that he carried it through with great courage and skill, and, when fortune gave him a favourable issue, used his victory with moderation and in imperial fashion, and showed himself entirely worthy to overcome.)

[B] Βούλεσθε οὖν καὶ τούτων ὑμῖν ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις ὀνομαστὶ καλῶμεν τοὺς μάρτυρας; καὶ ὅτι μὲν οὐδείς πω πόλεμος συνέστη πρότερον οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Τροίαν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας Μακεδόσιν, οἵπερ δὴ δοκοῦσιν ἐν δίκῃ γενέσθαι, τοσαύτην ἔχων ὑπόθεσιν, καὶ παιδί που δῆλον, τοῖς μέν γε λίαν ἀρχαίων ἀδικημάτων τιμωρίας σφόδρα νεαρᾶς450 οὔτ᾽ εἰς παῖδας οὔτε εἰς ἐγγόνους γενομένης, ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸν ἀφελόμενον καὶ ἀποστερήσαντα [C] τὴν ἀρχὴν τοὺς τῶν ἀδικησάντων ἀπογόνους· Ἀγαμέμνων δὲ ὥρμητο

(Now do you wish that, as though I were in a law-court, I should summon before you by name witnesses of this also? But it is plain even to a child that no war ever yet arose that had so good an excuse, not even of the Greeks against Troy or of the Macedonians451 against the Persians, though these wars, at any rate, are thought to have been justified, since the latter was to exact vengeance in more recent times for very ancient offences, and that not on sons or grandsons, but on him452 who had robbed and deprived of their sovereignty the descendants of those very offenders. And Agamemnon set forth)

τίσασθαι Ἑλένης ὁρμήματά τε στοναχάς τε,

(“To avenge the strivings and groans of Helen,”453)

καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς Τρῶας ἐστράτευε γυναῖκα μίαν ἐκδικεῖν ἐθέλων. τῷ δὲ ἔτι μὲν ἦν νεαρὰ τὰ ἀδικήματα, ἦρχε δὲ οὐ κατὰ Δαρεῖον οὐδὲ Πρίαμον ἀνὴρ εὐγενὴς καὶ τυχὸν δι᾽ ἀρετὴν ἢ κατὰ γένος προσηκούσης αὐτῷ τῆς βασιλείας ἀξιωθείς, ἀλλὰ ἀναιδὴς καὶ τραχὺς βάρβαρος τῶν ἑαλωκότων οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ. [D] καὶ ὅσα μὲν ἔπραξε καὶ ὅπως ἦρχεν, οὔτε ἡδύ μοι λέγειν οὔτε ἐν καιρῷ· ἐν δίκῃ δὲ ὅτι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπολέμησεν, ἀκηκόατε. τῆς δὲ ἐμπειρίας καὶ τῆς ἀνδρείας ἱκανὰ μὲν τὰ πρόσθεν ῥηθέντα σημεῖα, πιστότερα δέ, οἶμαι, τὰ ἔργα τῶν [pg 254] λόγων. τὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ γενόμενα καὶ ὅπως ξίφους μὲν οὐδὲν ἐδέησεν ἔτι, οὐδ᾽ εἴ τις ἀδικημάτων μειζόνων εἶχεν ὑποψίαν, [96] οὐδὲ εἴ τῳ πρὸς τὸν τύραννον οἰκειοτέρα γέγονε φιλία, οὐδὲ μὴν εἴ τις ἐκείνῳ χαριζόμενος φέρειν τε ἠξίου κηρύκιον καὶ ἐλοιδορεῖτο βασιλεῖ, τῆς προπετείας ἀπέτισε δίκην, ὅ,τι μὴ τἆλλα μοχθηρὸς ἦν, ἐννοήσατε δὴ πρὸς φιλίου Διός. ποταπὸν δὲ χρῆμα λοιδορία; ὡς θυμοδακὲς ἀληθῶς καὶ ἀμύττον ψυχὴν μᾶλλον ἢ σίδηρος χρῶτα; οὐκοῦν καὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα παρώξυνεν εἰς δύναμιν ἀμύνασθαι λόγῳ τε καὶ ἔργῳ· διηνέχθη γοῦν ὑπὲρ τούτου πρὸς τὸν ξενοδόκον αὐτὸς ὢν ἀλήτης καὶ ξένος, καὶ ταῦτα εἰδώς, ὅτι

(for it was because he desired to avenge one woman that he went to war with the Trojans. But the wrongs done to Constantius were still fresh, and he454 who was in power was not, like Darius or Priam, a man of royal birth who, it may be, laid claim to an empire that belonged to him by reason of his birth or his family, but a shameless and savage barbarian who not long before had been among the captives of war.455 But all that he did and how he governed is neither agreeable for me to tell nor would it be well-timed. And that the Emperor was justified in making war on him you have heard, and of his skill and courage what I said earlier is proof enough, but deeds are, I think, more convincing than words. But what happened after the victory, and how he no longer made use of the sword, not even against those who were under suspicion of serious crimes, or who had been familiar friends of the usurper, nay not even against anyone who, to curry favour with the latter, had stooped to win a tale-bearer's fee by slandering the Emperor, consider, in the name of Zeus the god of friendship, that not even these paid the penalty of their audacity, except when they were guilty of other crimes. And yet what a terrible thing is slander! How truly does it devour the heart and wound the soul as iron cannot wound the body! This it was that goaded Odysseus to defend himself by word and deed. At any rate it was for this reason that he quarrelled with his host456 when he was himself a wanderer and a guest, and though he knew that)

Ἄφρων ... καὶ οὐτιδανὸς πέλει ἀνήρ,

Ὅστις ξεινοδόκῳ ἔριδα προφέρῃσι βαρεῖαν,

(“Foolish and of nothing worth is that man who provokes a violent quarrel with his host.”457)

καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Φιλίππου καὶ Ἀχιλλέα τὸν Θέτιδος458 καὶ ἄλλους δὲ τινας οὐ φαύλος οὐδὲ ἀγεννεῖς ἀνθρώπους. [C] μόνῳ δὲ ὑπῆρχεν, οἶμαι, Σωκράτει καὶ σπανίοις τισὶν ἐκείνου ζηλωταῖς, εὐδαίμοσιν ἀληθῶς καὶ μακαρίοις γενομένοις, τὸν ἔσχατον ἀποδύσασθαι χιτῶνα τῆς φιλοτιμίας. φιλότιμον γὰρ δεινῶς τὸ πάθος, καὶ ἔοικεν ἐμφύεσθαι διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον ταῖς γενναίαις ψυχαῖς· ἄχθονται γὰρ ὡς ἐναντιωτάτῳ σφίσι λοιδορίᾳ, [D] καὶ τοὺς ἀπορρίπτοντας ἐς αὐτοὺς [pg 256] τοιαῦτα ῥήματα μισοῦσι μᾶλλον ἢ τοὺς ἐπάγοντας τὸν σίδηρον καὶ ἐπιβουλεύοντας φόνον, διαφόρους τε αὑτοῖς ὑπολαμβάνουσι φύσει καὶ οὐ νόμῳ, εἴ γε οἱ μὲν ἐπαίνου καὶ τιμῆς ἐρῶσιν, οἱ δὲ οὐ τούτων μόνον ἀφαιροῦνται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς μηχανῶνται βλασφημίας ψευδεῖς. τούτου καὶ Ἡρακλέα φασὶ καὶ ἄλλους δέ τινας ἀκράτορας τοῦ πάθους γενέσθαι. ἐγὼ δὲ οὔτε περὶ ἐκείνων τῷ λόγῳ πείθομαι, καὶ βασιλέα τεθέαμαι σφόδρα ἐγκρατῶς τὴν λοιδορίαν ἀποτρεψάμενον,459 [97] οὔτι φαυλότερον ἔργον, ὡς ἐγὼ κρίνω, τοῦ Τροίαν ἑλεῖν καὶ φάλαγγα γενναίαν τρέψασθαι. εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖ τις καὶ οὐ μέγα οἴεται οὐδὲ ἄξιον έπαίνων τοσούτων, ἐς αὑτὸν ἀφορῶν, ὅταν ἔν τινι τοιαύτῃ ξυμφορᾷ γένηται, κρινέτω, καὶ αὐτῷ οὐ σφόδρα ληρεῖν δόξομεν, ὡς ἐγὼ πείθομαι.

(And so it was with Alexander, Philip's son, and Achilles, son of Thetis, and others who were not worthless or ignoble men. But only to Socrates, I think, and a few others who emulated him, men who were truly fortunate and happy, was it given to put off the last garment that man discards—the love of glory.460 For resentment of calumny is due to the passion for glory, and for this reason it is implanted most deeply in the noblest souls. For they resent it as their deadliest foe, and those who hurl at them slanderous language they hate more than men who attack them with the sword or plot their destruction; and they regard them as differing from themselves, not merely in their acquired habits, but in their essential nature, seeing that they love praise and honour, and the slanderer not only robs them of these, but also manufactures false accusations against them. They say that even Heracles and certain other heroes were swayed by these emotions. But for my part I do not believe this account of them, and as for the Emperor I have seen him repelling calumny with great self-restraint, which in my judgment is no slighter achievement than “to take Troy”461 or rout a powerful phalanx. And if anyone does not believe me, and thinks it no great achievement nor worth all these praises, let him observe himself when a misfortune of this sort happens to him, and then let him decide; and I am convinced that he will not think that I am talking with exceeding folly.)

Τοιοῦτος δὲ ὢν καὶ γενόμενος βασιλεὺς μετὰ τὸν πόλεμον εἰκότως οὐ μόνον ἐστὶ ποθεινὸς τοῖς φίλοις καὶ ἀγαπητός, [B] πολλοῖς462 μὲν τιμῆς καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ παρρησίας μεταδιδούς, χρήματα δὲ αὐτοῖς ἄφθονα χαριζόμενος καὶ χρῆσθαι ὅπως τις βούλεται τῷ πλούτῳ ξυγχωρῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις τοιοῦτος ἐδόκει. τεκμήριον δὲ ὑμῖν ἐμφανὲς καὶ τοῦδε γιγνέσθω· ἄνδρες, τῆς γερουσίας ὅτιπερ ὄφελος, ἀξιώσει καὶ πλούτῳ καὶ ξυνέσει διαφέροντες τῶν ἄλλων, ὥσπερ ἐς λιμένα καταφεύγοντες τὴν τούτου δεξιάν, ἑστίας τε [pg 258] λιπόντες [C] καὶ οἴκους καὶ παῖδας Παιονίαν μὲν ἀντὶ τῆς Ῥώμης, τὴν μετὰ τούτου δὲ ἀντὶ τῶν φιλτάτων συνουσίαν ἠσπάσαντο, ἴλη τε τῶν ἐπιλέκτων ἱππέων ξὺν τοῖς σημείοις καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν ἄγουσα τούτῳ τοῦ κινδύνου ξυμμετέχειν μᾶλλον ἢ ἐκείνῳ τῆς εὐτυχίας ἠξίου. καὶ ταῦτα ἅπαντα ἐδρᾶτο πρὸ τῆς μάχης ἣν ἐπὶ τοῦ Δράου ταὶς ᾐόσιν ὁ πρόσθεν λόγος παρέστησεν· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ἤδη βεβαίως ἐθάρρουν, τέως δ ἐδόκει τὰ τῶν τυράννων ἐπικρατεῖν, [D] πλεονεκτήματός τινος περὶ τοὺς κατασκόπους τοὺς463 βασιλέως γενομένου, ὁ δὴ ἐκεῖνόν τε ἐποίησεν ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἄφρονα καὶ ἐξετάραττε τοὺς οὐ δυναμένους ἐφικνεῖσθαι οὐδὲ διορᾶν τὴν στρατηγίαν. ὁ δὲ ἦν ἀκατάπληκτος καὶ γεννάδας καθάπερ ἀγαθὸς νεὼς κυβερνήτης, ἐξαπίνης νεφῶν ῥαγείσης λαίλαπος, εἶτα ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ τοῦ θεοῦ σείοντος τὸν βυθὸν καὶ τὰς ᾐόνας. ἐνταῦθα γὰρ τοὺς μὲν ἀπείρους δεινὸν καὶ ἄτοπον κατέλαβε δέος, [98] ὁ δὲ ἤδη χαίρει καὶ γάνυται, γαλήνην ἀκριβῆ καὶ νηνεμίαν ἐλπίζων. λέγεται γὰρ δὴ καὶ ὁ Ποσειδῶν συνταράττων τὴν γῆν παύειν τὰ κύματα. καὶ ἡ τύχη δὲ τοὺς ἀνοήτους ἐξαπατᾷ καὶ σφάλλει περὶ τοῖς μείζοσι, μικρὰ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐπιτρέπουσα, τοῖς ἔμφροσι δὲ τὸ βεβαίως θαρσεῖν ὑπὲρ τῶν μειζόνων, ὅταν ἐν τοῖς ἐλάττοσιν αὐτοὺς διαταράττῃ, παρέχει. τοῦτο Λακεδαιμόνιοι παθόντες ἐν Πύλαις οὐκ ἀπηγόρευον οὐδὲ ἔδεισαν [B] τὸν Μῆδον ἐπιφερόμενον, [pg 260] τριακοσίους Σπαρτιατῶν καὶ τὸν βασιλέα περὶ τὰς εἰσβολὰς τῆς Ἑλλάδος προέμενοι· τοῦτο Ῥωμαῖοι πολλάκις παθόντες μείζονα κατώρθουν ὕστερον· ὁ δὴ καὶ βασιλεὺς ἐννοῶν καὶ λογιζόμενος οὐδαμῶς ἐσφάλη τῆς γνώμης.

(Now since this was and is the Emperor's behaviour after the war, he is naturally loved and “longed for by his friends,”464 since he has admitted many of them to honour and power and freedom of speech, and has bestowed on them as well vast sums of money, and permits them to use their wealth as they please; but even to his enemies he is the same. The following may serve as a clear proof of this. Those members of the Senate who were of any account and surpassed the rest in reputation and wealth and wisdom, fled to the shelter of his right hand as though to a harbour, and, leaving behind their hearths and homes and children, preferred Paeonia465 to Rome, and to be with him rather than with their dearest. Again, a division of the choicest of the cavalry together with their standards, and bringing their general466 with them, chose to share danger with him rather than success with the usurper. And all this took place before the battle on the banks of the Drave, which the earlier part of my speech described to you. For after that they began to feel perfect confidence, though before that it looked as though the usurper's cause was getting the upper hand, when he gained some slight advantage in the affair of the Emperor's scouts,467 which indeed made the usurper beside himself with joy and greatly agitated those who were incapable of grasping or estimating generalship. But the Emperor was unperturbed and heroic, like a good pilot when a tempest has suddenly burst from the clouds, and next moment, the god shakes the depths and the shores. Then a terrible and dreadful panic seizes on those who are inexperienced, but the pilot begins to rejoice, and is glad, because he can now hope for a perfect and windless calm. For it is said that Poseidon, when he makes the earth quake, calms the waves. And just so fortune deceives the foolish and deludes them about more important things by allowing them some small advantage, but in the wise she inspires unshaken confidence about more serious affairs even when she disconcerts them in the case of those that are less serious. This was what happened to the Lacedaemonians at Pylae,468 but they did not despair nor fear the onset of the Mede because they had lost three hundred Spartans and their king469 at the entrance into Greece. This often happened to the Romans, but they achieved more important successes later on. Wherefore, since the Emperor knew this and counted on it, he in no way wavered in his purpose.)

Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπείπερ ἅπαξ ἑκὼν ὁ λόγος ἐς τοῦτο ἀφῖκται καὶ τὴν εὔνοιαν τοῦ πλήθους καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ τῶν φυλάκων, οἵπερ δὴ ξυμφυλάττουσιν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ ἀπείργουσι τοὺς πολεμίους, διηγεῖται βούλεσθε [C] ὑμῖν ἐναργὲς εἴπω τεκμήριον χθές που ἢ καὶ πρῴην γενόμενον; ἀνὴρ τῶν ἐπιταχθέντων τοῖς ἐν Γαλατίᾳ στρατοπέδοις· ἴστε ἴσως καὶ τοὔνομα καὶ τὸν τρόπον· ὅμηρον φιλίας καὶ πίστεως ἀπέλιπεν οὐδὲν δεομένῳ βασιλεῖ τὸν παῖδα· εἶτα ἦν ἀπιστότερος τῶν λεόντων, οἷς οὐκ ἔστι, φησί, πρὸς ἄνδρας470 ὅρκια πιστά, ἁρπάζων τε ἐκ τῶν πόλεων [D] τὰ χρήματα καὶ διανέμων τοῖς ἐπιοῦσι βαρβάροις καὶ ὥσπερ λύτρα καταβαλλόμενος, ἐξὸν τῷ σιδήρῳ παρασκευάζειν καὶ οὐ τοῖς χρήμασι ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν· ὁ δὲ ἐκείνους ὑπήγετο διὰ τῶν χρημάτων εἰς εὔνοιαν· καὶ τέλος ἐκ τῆς γυναικωνίτιδος ἀνελόμενος ἁλουργὲς ἱμάτιον γελοῖος ἀληθῶς τύραννος καὶ τραγικὸς ὄντως ἀνεφάνη. ἐνταῦθα οἱ στρατιῶται χαλεπῶς μὲν εἶχον πρὸς τὴν ἀπιστίαν, θῆλυν δὲ οὐχ ὑπομένοντες ὁρᾶν ἐνδεδυκότα [99] στολὴν τὸν δείλαιον [pg 262] ἐπιθέμενοι σπαράττουσιν, οὐδὲ τὸν τῆς σελήνης κύκλον ἄρξαι σφῶν ἀνασχόμενοι. τοῦτο μὲν δὴ παρὰ τῆς τῶν φυλάκων εὐνοίας ὑπῆρξε βασιλεί τὸ γέρας, ἀρχῆς ἀμεμφοῦς καὶ δικαίας ἀμοιβὴ θαυμαστή. ὅστις δὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ γέγονε ποθεῖτε ἀκούειν· ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τοῦτο ὑμᾶς λέληθεν, ὅτι μήτε ἐς τὸν ἐκείνου παῖδα χαλεπὸς μήτε ἐς τοὺς φίλους ὕποπτος καὶ δεινὸς εἵλετο γενέσθαι, [B] ἀλλα ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα πρᾴως εἶχε καὶ εὐμενὴς πᾶσιν ἦν καίτοι πολλῶν συκοφαντεῖν ἐθελόντων καὶ διηρμένων ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐκ αἰτίους τὰ κέντρα. πολλῶν δὲ τυχὸν ἀληθῶς ἐνόχων ὄντων ταῖς περὶ αὐτῶν ὑποψίαις, ὁμοίως ἅπασιν ἦν πρᾷος τοῖς οὐκ ἐξελεγχθεῖσιν471 οὐδὲ ἀποφανθεῖσι κοινωνοῖς τῶν ἀτόπων καὶ ἐξαγίστων βουλευμάτων. τὴν δὲ ἐς τὸν τοῦ παρανομήσαντος παῖδα καὶ πατήσαντος πίστιν καὶ ὅρκια [C] φειδὼ ἆρα βασιλικὸν ἀληθῶς καὶ θεῖον φήσομεν, ἢ μᾶλλον ἀποδεξόμεθα τὸν ἀγαμέμνονα χαλεπαίνοντα καὶ πικραινόμενον τῶν Τρώων οὐ τοῖς ξυνεξελθοῦσι μόνον τῷ Πάριδι καὶ καθυβρίσασι τοῦ Μενέλεω τὴν ἑστίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς κυουμένοις ἔτι καὶ ὧν τυχὸν οὐδὲ αἱ μητέρες τότ᾽ ἐγεγόνεσαν, ὁπότε ἐκεῖνος τὰ περὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν ἐνενόει; εἰ δὴ τὸ μὲν ὠμόν τις οἴεται [D] καὶ τραχὺ καὶ ἀπάνθρωπον ἥκιστα βασιλεῖ πρέπειν, τὸ πρᾷον δὲ οἶμαι καὶ χρηστὸν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον ἁρμόττειν ἥκιστα μὲν χαίροντι τιμωρίαις, ἀχθομένωι δὲ ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν ὑπηκόων ξυμφοραῖς, ὅπως ἂν γίγνωνται, εἴτε [pg 264] κακίᾳ σφῶν καὶ ἀμαθίᾳ, εἴτε ἔξωθεν παρὰ τῆς τύχης ἐπάγοιντο, δῆλός ἐστι τούτῳ διδοὺς τὰ νικητήρια. ἐννοεῖτε γάρ, ὡς περὶ τὸν παῖδα γέγονε τοῦ φύσαντος ἀμείνων καὶ δικαιότερος, περὶ δὲ τοὺς ἐκείνου φίλους [100] πιστότερος τοῦ τὴν φιλίαν ὁμολογήσαντος. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἅπαντας προεῖτο, ὁ δὲ ἀπέσωσεν ἅπαντας. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐκεῖνος ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐγνωκὼς472 τρόπου ἅτε ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ κατανοήσας σφόδρα ἐπίστευεν, ἀσφαλῶς μέν οἱ τὰ τοῦ παιδός, βεβαίως δὲ ὁρμεῖν τὰ τῶν φίλων, συνίει μὲν ὀρθῶς, πολλάκις δὲ ἧν πανοῦργος καὶ μοχθηρὸς καὶ δυστυχής, πολέμιος ἐθέλων εἶναι τῷ τοιοίτῳ καὶ ὃν σφόδρα ἀγαθὸν καὶ διαφερόντως [B] πρᾷον ἠπίστατο μισῶν καὶ ἐπιβουλεύων καὶ ἀφαιρούμενος ὧν οὐδαμῶς ἐχρῆν. εἰ δέ, ἀνελπίστου μέν οἱ τοῦ παιδὸς τῆς σωτηρίας τυγχανούσης, χαλεπῆς δὲ καὶ ἀδυνάτου τῆς473 τῶν φίλων καὶ τῶν συγγενῶν, τὴν ἀπιστίαν ὅμως προείλετο, ὁ μὲν ἦν καὶ διὰ ταῦτα μοχθηρὸς καὶ ἀνόητος καὶ ἀγριώτερος τῶν θηρίων, ὁ δὲ ἥμερος καὶ πρᾷος καὶ μεγαλόφρων, τοῦ μὲν νηπίου κατελεήσας τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ τὸν τρόπον, [C] τοῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐξελεγχθεῖσι πρᾷως ἔχων, τοῦ δὲ ὑπεριδὼν καὶ καταφρονήσας τῶν πονηρευμάτων. ὁ γὰρ ἃ μηδὲ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τις διὰ μέγεθος ὧν αὑτῷ σύνοιδεν ἀδικημάτων ἐλπίζει ξυγχωρῶν εἰκότως ἀρετῆς ἐστι [pg 266] νικηφόρος, τὴν δίκην μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον καὶ πρᾳότερον μετατιθεῖς, σωφροσύνῃ δὲ ὑπερβαλλόμενος τοὺς τὸ μέτριον ἐπιτιθέντας ταῖς τιμωρίαις, ἀνδρείᾳ δὲ διαφέρων τῷ μηδένα [D] πολέμιον ἀξιόχρεων ὑπολαμβάνειν, φρόνησιν δὲ ἐπιδεικνύμενος τῷ συγκαταλύειν τὰς ἔχθρας καὶ οὐ παραπέμπειν εἰς τοὺς παῖδας οἐδὲ εἰς ἐγγόνους προφάσει τῆς ἀκριβοῦς δίκης καὶ τοῦ βούλεσθαι474 ἐπιεικῶς μάλα πίτυος δίκην τῶν πονηρῶν ἀφανίζειν τὰ σπέρματα. ἐκείνων γὰρ δὴ καὶ τὸ ἔργον τόδε, καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ τὴν εἰκόνα παλαιὸς ἀπέφηνε λόγος. ὁ δὲ ἀγαθὸς βασιλεὺς μιμούμενος ἀτεχνῶς τὸν θεὸν [101] οἶδε μὲν καὶ ἐκ τῶν πετρῶν ἑσμοὺς μελιττῶν ἐξιπταμένους, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ δριμυτάτου ξύλου τὸν γλυκὺν καρπὸν φυόμενον, σῦκά φημι τὰ χαρίεντα, καὶ ἐξ ἀκανθῶν τὴν σίδην καὶ ἄλλα ἐξ ἄλλων φυόμενα ἀνόμοια τοῖς γεννῶσι καὶ ἀποτίκτουσιν. οὔκουν οἴεται ταῦτα χρῆναι πρὸ τῆς ἀκμῆς διαφθείρειν, ἀλλὰ περιμένειν τὸν χρόνον καὶ ἐπιτρέπειν αὐτοῖς ἀπωσαμένοις τῶν πατέρων τὴν ἄνοιαν [B] καὶ τὴν μωρίαν ἀγαθοῖς γενέσθαι καὶ σώφροσι, ζηλωτὰς δὲ γενομένους τῶν πατρῴων ἐπιτηδευμάτων ὑφέξειν ἐν καιρῷ τὴν δίκην, οὐκ ἀλλοτρίοις ἔργοις καὶ ξυμφοραῖς παραναλωθέντας.

(But seeing that my argument has, of its own accord, once reached this point and is describing the affection that the Emperor inspires in the common people, the magistrates, and the garrisons who aid him to protect the empire and repulse its enemies, are you willing that I should relate to you a signal proof of this, which happened, one may say, yesterday or the day before? A certain man475 who had been given the command of the garrisons in Galatia—you probably know his name and character—left his son behind him as a hostage for his friendship and loyalty to the Emperor, though not at the Emperor's request. Then he proved to be more treacherous than “lions who have no faithful covenants with man,”476 as the poet says, and plundered the cities of their wealth and distributed it among the invading barbarians, paying it down as a sort of ransom, though he was well able to take measures to win security by the sword rather than by money. But he tried to win them over to friendliness by means of money. And finally he took from the women's apartments a purple dress, and showed himself truly a tyrant and tragical indeed. Then the soldiers, resenting his treachery, would not tolerate the sight of him thus dressed up in women's garb,477 and they set on the miserable wretch and tore him limb from limb,478 nor would they endure either that the crescent moon479 should rule over them. Now it was the affection of his garrison that gave the Emperor this guerdon, a wonderful recompense for his just and blameless rule. But you are eager to hear how he behaved after this. This too, however, you cannot fail to know, that he chose neither to be harsh towards that man's son480 nor suspicious and formidable to his friends, but in the highest possible degree he was merciful and kindly to them all, though many desired to bring false accusations481 and had raised their stings to strike the innocent. But though many were perhaps really involved in the crimes of which they were suspected, he was merciful to all alike, provided they had not been convicted or proved to be partners in the usurper's monstrous and abominable schemes. And shall we not declare that the forbearance shown by him towards the son of one who had broken the laws and trampled on loyalty and sworn covenants was truly royal and godlike; or shall we rather approve Agamemnon, who vented his rage and cruelty not only on those Trojans who had accompanied Paris and had outraged the hearth of Menelaus, but even on those who were yet unborn, and whose mothers even were perhaps not yet born when Paris plotted the rape? Anyone therefore who thinks that cruelty and harshness and inhumanity ill become a king, and that mercy and goodness and human kindness befit one who takes no pleasure in acts of vengeance, but grieves at the misfortunes of his subjects, however they may arise, whether from their own wickedness and ignorance or aimed at them from without by fate, will, it is evident, award to the Emperor the palm of victory. For bear in mind that he was kinder and more just to the boy than his own father, and to the usurper's friends he was more loyal than he who acknowledged the tie of friendship. For the usurper forsook them all, but the Emperor saved them all. And if the usurper, knowing all this about the Emperor's character, since he had for a long time been able to observe it, was entirely confident that his son was safely at anchor and his friends securely also, then he did indeed understand him aright, but he was many times over criminal and base and accursed for desiring to be at enmity with such a man, and for hating one whom he knew to be so excellent and so surpassingly mild, and for plotting against him and trying to rob him of what it was a shame to take from him. But if, on the other hand, his son's safety was something that he had never hoped for, and the safety of his friends and kinsfolk he had thought difficult or impossible, and he nevertheless chose to be disloyal, this is yet another proof that he was wicked and infatuated and fiercer than a wild beast, and that the Emperor was gentle and mild and magnanimous, since he took pity on the youth of the helpless child, and was merciful to those who were not proved guilty, and ignored and despised the crimes of the usurper. For he who grants what not one of his enemies expects, because the guilt that is on their conscience is so great, beyond a doubt carries off the prize for virtue: for while he tempers justice with what is nobler and more merciful, in self-restraint he surpasses those who are merely moderate in their vengeance; and in courage he excels because he thinks no enemy worthy of notice; and his wisdom he displays by suppressing enmities and by not handing them down to his sons and descendants on the pretext of strict justice, or of wishing, and very reasonably too, to blot out the seed of the wicked like the seed of a pine-tree.482 For this is the way of those trees, and in consequence an ancient tale483 gave rise to this simile. But the good Emperor, closely imitating God, knows that even from rocks swarms of bees fly forth, and that sweet fruits grow even from the bitterest wood, pleasant figs, for instance, and from thorns the pomegranate, and there are other instances where things are produced entirely unlike the parents that begat them and brought them forth. Therefore he thinks that we ought not to destroy these before they have reached maturity, but to wait for time to pass, and to trust them to cast off the folly and madness of their fathers and become good and temperate, but that, if they should turn out to emulate their fathers' practices, they will in good time suffer punishment, but they will not have been uselessly sacrificed because of the deeds and misfortunes of others.