Oration I (continued 2)

(Who could find suitable words to describe all that was done there? They hurled fire down on to the shields, and many of the hoplites fell half-burned, while others who fled from the flames could not escape the danger from the missiles. But some while still swimming were wounded in the back and sank to the bottom, while others who jumped from the siege-engines were hit before they touched the water, and so found not safety indeed but an easier death. As for those who knew not how to swim, and perished more obscurely than those just mentioned, who would attempt to name or number them? Time would fail me did I desire to recount all this in detail. It is enough that you should hear the sum of the matter. On that day the sun beheld a battle the like of which no man had ever known before. These events exposed the historic boastings of the Medes as only empty conceit. Till then men had hardly believed that Xerxes could have had so huge an armament, seeing that for all its size its fate was so shameful and ignominious; but these events made the fact clearer to us than things long familiar and obvious. Xerxes tried to sail and to march by fighting against the laws of nature, and, as he thought, overcame the nature of the sea and of the dry land, but he proved to be no match for the wisdom and endurance of a Greek whose soldiers had not been bred in the school of luxury, nor learned to be slaves, but knew how to obey and to use their energies like free-born men. That man,123 however, though he had no such vast armament as Xerxes, was even more insensate, and outdid the Aloadae in his infatuation, as if almost he had conceived the idea of overwhelming the city with the mountain124 that was hard by. Then he turned the currents of rivers against its walls and undermined them, but even when the city had lost its walls he could not succeed in taking it, so that he had not even that triumph to boast of, as Xerxes had when he set fire to Athens. So, after spending four months, he retreated with an army that had lost many thousands, and he who had always seemed to be irresistible was glad to keep the peace, and to use as a bulwark for his own safety the fact that you had no time to spare and that our own affairs were in confusion.)

Ταῦτα καταλιπὼν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας τρόπαια καὶ [pg 074] νίκας, [29] ἐπὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην ἀκμῆτας ἦγες τὸ στράτευμα, τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἐμπλῆσαι τροπαίων ἐγνωκώς. ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀρκεῖ125 τὰ πρόσθεν ῥηθέντα, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἔτι περὶ σοῦ λέγειν εἶχον σεμνότερον, πρὸς τὸ πάντων ἀποφῆναι σε τῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῆς αὐτῆς σοι μετασχόντων τύχης συνέσει καὶ ῥώμῃ κρατοῦντα. τὸ γὰρ ἀπαθῶς ὤσασθαι μεὲ τὴν Περσῶν δύναμιν, οὐ πόλιν οὐδὲ φρούριον, ἀλλ᾽ [B] οὐδὲ στρατιώτην τῶν ἐκ καταλόγου προέμενον, πολιορκίᾳ δὲ τέλος ἐπιθεῖναι λαμπρὸν καὶ οἷον οὔπω πρόσθεν ἠκούσαμεν, τίνι χρὴ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν παραβαλεῖν ἔργων; περιβόητος γέγονεν ἡ Καρχηδονίων ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς τόλμα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐτελεύτησεν εἰς συμφοράς· λαμπρὰ τὰ περὶ τὴν Πλαταιέων πολιορκίαν γενόμενα, ἐχρήσαντο δὲ οἱ δείλαιοι γνωριμώτερον τοῖς δυστυχήμασι. τί χρὴ Μεσσήνης καὶ Πύλου μεμνῆσθαι, οὔτε ἀγωνισαμένων καρτερῶς οὔτε ἁλόντων ξὺν βίᾳ; [C] Συρακούσιοι δὲ τὸν σοφὸν ἐκεῖνον ἀντιτάξαντες ταῖς παρασκευαῖς τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως καὶ τῷ καλῷ κἀγαθῷ στρατηγῷ τί πλέον ὤναντο; οὐχ ἑάλωσαν μὲν τῶν ἄλλων αἴσχιον, ἐσώζοντο δὲ καλὸν ὑπόμνημα τῆς τῶν ἑλόντων πρᾳότητος; Ἀλλ᾽ εἰ πάσας ἐξαριθμεῖσθαι τὰς πόλεις βουλοίμην, αἳ πρὸς τὰς ὑποδεεστέρας οὐ κατήρκεσαν παρασκευάς, πόσας οἴει μοι βίβλους ἀρκέσειν; τῆς Ῥώμης δὲ ἴσως ἄξιον μνησθῆναι πάλαι ποτὲ χρησαμένης τύχῃ τοιαύτῃ, [D] Γαλατῶν οἶμαι καὶ Κελτῶν ἐς ταύτὸ [pg 076] πνευσάντων καὶ φερομένων ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν καθάπερ χειμάρρους ἐξαίφνης. κατέλαβον μὲν γὰρ τὸν λόφον ἐκεῖνον, οὗ τὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἀφίδρυται βρέτας; γέρροις δὲ καί τισι τοιούτοις οἱονεὶ τείχει φραξάμενοι, πολυπραγμονούντων οὐδὲν προσιέναι τῶν πολεμίων βίᾳ τολμώντων, ἐκράτησαν.

(Such were the trophies and victories that you left behind you in Asia, and you led your troops to Europe in perfect condition, determined to fill the whole world with the monuments of your victories. Even if I had nothing more wonderful to relate about you, what I have said is enough to demonstrate that in good sense and energy you surpass all those in the past whose fortune was the same as yours. Indeed to have repulsed the whole strength of Persia and remain unscathed, not to have lost so much as a soldier from the ranks, much less a town or fort, and finally to have brought the siege to so brilliant and unprecedented a conclusion,—what achievement I ask in the past could one compare with this? The Carthaginians were famous for their daring in the face of danger, but they ended in disaster. The siege of Plataea shed lustre on its citizens, but all that their valour could do for those unhappy men was to make their misfortunes more widely known. What need to quote Messene or Pylos, since there the defeated did not make a brave defence nor was a vigorous assault necessary to subdue them? As for the Syracusans, they had their famous man of science126 to aid them against the armaments of Rome and our illustrious general,127 but what did he avail them in the end? Did they not fall more ignominiously than the rest, and were only spared to be a glorious monument of their conqueror's clemency? But if I wished to reckon up all the states that could not withstand armaments inferior to their own, how many volumes do you think would suffice? Rome, however, I ought perhaps to mention, because long ago she had just such a fortune, I mean when the Galatians and Celts128 conspired together, and without warning poured down on the city like a winter torrent.129 The citizens occupied the famous hill130 on which stands the statue of Jupiter. There they intrenched themselves with wicker barricades and such like defences, as though with a wall, while the enemy offered no hindrance nor ventured to approach to attack at close quarters, and so they won the day.)

[30] Ταύτῃ παραβαλεῖν ἄξιον τῇ πολιορκίᾳ τὴν ἔναγχος τῷ τέλει τῆς τύχης, ἐπεὶ τοῖς γε ἔργοις οὐδεμιᾷ τῶν ὅσαι πάλαι γεγόνασι. τίς γὰρ ἔγνω κυκλουμένην μὲν ὕδασι πόλιν,131 λόφοις δὲ ἔξωθεν καθάπερ δικτύοις περιβληθεῖσαν, καὶ ποταμὸν ἐπαφιέμενον οἱονεὶ μηχάνημα, συνεχῶς ῥέοντα καὶ προσρηγνύμενον τοῖς τείχεσι, τάς τε ὑπὲρ τῶν ὑδάτων μάχας καὶ ὅσαι περὶ τῷ τείχει κατενεχθέντι γεγόνασιν;132 ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν, ὅπερ ἔφην, ἀπόχρη καὶ ταῦτα· τὰ λειπόμενα δέ ἐστι μακρῷ σεμνότερα. [B] καὶ τυχὸν οὐδαμῶς εὔλογον ἅπαξ ἑλόμενον ἁπάντων ἐς δύναμιν μνησθῆναι τῶν σοι πραχθέντων, ἀκμαζουσῶν ἔτι τῶν πράξεων, ἁφεῖναι τὴν διήγησιν. ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἔτι τοῖς ἔργοις προσκαθήμενος, ὧν μικρῷ πρόσθεν ἐμνήσθην, περὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην διῴκησας, πρεσβείας πέμπων καὶ ἀναλίσκων χρήματα καὶ στρατόπεδα τὰ προσκαθήμενα τοῖς Σκύθαις ἐν Παιονίᾳ ἐκπέμπων, τοῦ μὴ κρατηθῆναι τὸν πρεσβύτην ὑπὸ [pg 078] τοῦ τυράννου προνοῶν, πῶς ἄν τις ἐν βραχεῖ λόγῳ [C] παραστῆσαι δύναιτο καὶ πάνυ σπουδάζων;

(It is with this siege that the recent one may well be compared, at least in the issue of its fortunes; for the actual occurrences could not be paralleled in all history. For who ever heard of surrounding a city with water, and from without throwing hills about it like nets, then hurling at it, like a siege-engine, a river that flowed in a steady stream and broke against its walls, or of fighting like that which took place in the water and about the wall where it had fallen in? For my purpose, this is, as I said, evidence enough. But what remains to tell is far more awe-inspiring. And perhaps, since I have undertaken to record, as far as possible, all that you accomplished, it is not fair to break off my narrative at the point where you were at the very height of your activity. For even while you were occupied by the interests I have just described, you arranged your affairs in Europe, despatching embassies, spending money, and sending out the legions that were garrisoning Paeonia against the Scythians, all of which was with the intention of preventing that feeble old man133 from being overpowered by the usurper.134 But how could one, with the best will in the world, present all this in a short speech?)

Ἐπει δέ, ἤδη σου πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ὡρμημένου, οὐκ οἶδα παρ᾽ ὅτου δαιμόνων ἐξαιρεθεὶς τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὰς φρένας ὁ τέως πιστὸς μενεῖν φύλαξ ἐπαγγελλόμενος καὶ χρήμασι καὶ στρατοπέδοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ὑπὸ σοῦ περισωζόμενος εἰρήνην ὡμολόγησε τῷ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀνοσιωτάτῳ καὶ πολεμίῳ κοινῇ μὲν ἁπάντων, ὁπόσοις εἰρήνης μέλει καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν ἐκ παντὸς στέργουσιν, [D] ἰδίᾳ δὲ σοὶ καὶ πλέον τῶν ἄλλων· οὔτε ἔδεισας τῆς παρασκευῆς τὸ μέγεθος οὔτε ἀπίστων ἀνδρῶν ξυμμαχίαν πλέον ἔχειν135 ὑπέλαβες τῆς ἔμφρονος γνώμης. ἐγκαλῶν δέ, ὡς εἰκός, τῷ μὲν ἀπιστίαν, τῷ δὲ πρὸς ταύτῃ πράξεων ἀναγῶν καὶ παρανόμων τολμήματα, τὸν μὲν εἰς δίκην καὶ κρίσιν ἐπὶ τῶν στρατοπέδων προυκάλεις, τοῦ δὲ κριτὴν ὑπελάμβανες εἶναι τὸν πόλεμον. ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον ὁ καλὸς καὶ συνετὸς ἀπήντα πρεσβύτης, [31] εὐχερέστερον παιδαρίου τινὸς μετατιθέμενος τὰ δόξαντα καὶ ὧν εὖ πάθοι δεόμενος μετὰ τὴν χρείαν ἐπιλήσμων· παρῆν δὲ ἄγων ὁπλιτῶν φάλαγγας καὶ τάξεις ἱππέων, ὡς, εἰ μὴ πείθοι, βιασόμενος σε136 ὀπίσω πάλιν ἀπιέναι τὴν αὐτὴν ἄπρακτον· οὐδὲν ἐκπλαγείς, ὅτι τὸν σύμμαχον καὶ στρατηγὸν μενεῖν ἐπαγγελλόμενον πολέμιον εἶδες ἐξ ἴσης ἄρχειν ἐθέλοντα, καίτοι τῷ πλήθει τῶν στρατευμάτων [pg 080] ἐλαττούμενος, ἐπεὶ μὴ πάντες εἵποντο, [B] πρὸς πλήθει κρατοῦντα διαγωνίζεσθαι τολμηρὸν μὲν ἴσως, σφαλερὸν δὲ πάντως137 ὑπολαβὼν καὶ κρατήσαντι τῇ μάχῃ διὰ τὸν ἐφεδρεύοντα τοῖς καιροῖς καὶ τοῖς πράγμασιν ἄγριον τύραννον, ἐβουλεύσω καλῶς μόνον εἶναι σὸν ἐθέλων τὸ κατόρθωμα, καὶ παρῄεις ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα μετὰ τοῦ τέως συνάρχοντος· συνῄει δὲ ὁπλίτης δῆμος στίλβων τοῖς ὅπλοις, τὰ ξίφη γυμνὰ καὶ τὰ δόρατα προτείνοντες, [C] δειλῷ μὲν φρικῶδες καὶ δεινὸν θέαμα, εὐψύχῳ δὲ καὶ θαρραλέῳ καὶ οἷος αὐτὸς γέγονας ὄφελος γενναῖον. οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον ἤρξω τῶν λόγων, σιγὴ μὲν ἐπέσχε, πρὸς τὴν ἀκοὴν ὡρμημένων πάντων, τὸ στράτευμα· δάκρυα δὲ προυχεῖτο πολλοῖς, καὶ ἐς τὸν οὐρανὸν τὰς χεῖρας ὤρεγον, σιγῇ καὶ ταῦτα δρῶντες, ὡς μήτις αἴσθηται. τὴν εὔνοιαν δὲ οἱ μὲν ἐνεδείκνυντο καὶ138 διὰ τῆς ὄψεως, πάντες δὲ τῷ σφόδρα ὡρμῆσθαι τῶν λόγων ἀκούειν. [D] ἀκμαζούσης δὲ τῆς δημηγορίας συνενθουσιῶντες τῷ λόγῳ πάντες ἐπεκρότουν, εἶτα αὖθις ἀκούειν ἐπιθυμοῦντες ἡσύχαζον. τέλος δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν λόγων ἀναπειθόμενοι σὲ139 μόνον ἐκάλουν βασιλέα, μόνον ἄρχειν ἠξίουν ἁπάντων, ἡγεῖσθαι σφῶν ἐκέλευον ἐπὶ τὸν πολέμιον, ἀκολουθήσειν ὡμολόγουν, ἀπολαμβάνειν ἠξίουν τῆς ἀρχῆς τὰ γνωρίσματα. σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ τὴν χεῖρα προσάγειν ᾤου δεῖν οὐδὲ ἀφελέσθαι ξὺν βίᾳ· ὁ δὲ ἄκων μὲν καὶ μόλις, εἴξας δὲ ὅμως ὀψέ ποτε, φασί, τῇ [pg 082] Θετταλικῇ πειθανάνκῃ, [32] προσῆγέ σοι περιελόμενος τὴν ἁλουργίδα. οἷός τις ἐνταῦθα γέγονας τοσούτων μὲν ἐθνῶν καὶ στρατοπέδων καὶ χρημάτων ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ γεγονὼς κύριος, τὸν πολέμιον δέ, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῖς ἔργοις, ἀλλα τῇ γνώμῃ φανέντα, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφελόμενος καὶ τοῦ σώματος κρατήσας;

(No sooner had you set out for the seat of war, than this very man, who had all along protested that he would loyally continue to guard your interests, though you had reinforced him with money, troops, and everything of the sort, was driven to folly and madness by I know not what evil spirit, and came to terms with the most execrable of mankind, the common enemy of all who care for peace and cherish harmony above all things, and more particularly your enemy for personal reasons. But you were undismayed by the magnitude of his preparations, nor would you admit that a conspiracy of traitors could overreach your own wise purpose. One140 of the pair you justly accused of treason, the other141 of infamous crimes besides, and deeds of lawless violence, and you summoned the former to trial and judgment before the legions, the latter you decided to leave to the arbitrament of war. Then he met you face to face, that honourable and prudent old man, who used to change his opinions more easily than any child, and, though he had begged for them, forgot all your favours as soon as the need had passed. He arrived with his phalanxes of hoplites and squadrons of cavalry, intending to compel, if he could not persuade you, to take no action and return the way you came. When, then, you saw this man, who had protested that he would continue to be your ally and general, playing an enemy's part and claiming an equal share of your empire, you were not at all dismayed, though his troops outnumbered yours. For you had not brought your whole force with you since you decided that to fight it out with such odds against you might be courageous but was in every way hazardous, even if you won the battle, because of that other savage usurper142 who was lying in wait for a favourable opportunity143 when you should be in difficulties. You therefore made a wise resolve in preferring to achieve success single-handed, and you mounted the platform with him who for the moment was your colleague in empire. He was escorted by a whole host of hoplites with glittering weapons,144 presenting drawn swords and spears, a sight to make a coward shake with fear, though it inspired and supported one so brave and gallant as yourself. Now when first you began to speak, silence fell on the whole army and every man strained his ears to hear. Many shed tears and raised their hands to heaven, though even this they did in silence, so as to be unobserved. Some again showed their affection in their faces, but all showed it by their intense eagerness to hear your words. When your speech reached its climax, they were carried away by enthusiasm and burst into applause, then eager to miss no word they became quiet again. Finally, won by your arguments, they hailed you as their only Emperor, demanded that you alone should rule the whole empire, and bade you lead them against your adversary, promising to follow you and begging you to take back the imperial insignia. You, however, thought it beneath you to stretch out your hand for them or to take them by force. Then against his will and with reluctance, but yielding at last to what is called Thessalian persuasion,145 he took off the purple robe and offered it to you. What a heroic figure yours was then, when, in a single day, you became master of all those races, those legions, all that wealth, when you stripped of his power and took prisoner one who, if not in fact yet in intention, had shown that he was your enemy!)

Ἆρ᾽ οὐ τούτῳ μὲν ἄμεινον καὶ δικαιότερον προσηνέχθης ἢ Κῦρος τῷ πάππῳ, τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὰς τιμὰς διεφύλαξας οὐδὲν οὐδενὸς ἀφελόμενος, προσθεὶς δὲ οἶμαι δωρεὰς πολλοῖς; [B] τίς δέ σ᾽146 εἶδεν ἢ πρὸ τοῦ κρατῆσαι σκυθρωπὸν λίαν ἢ μετὰ τοῦθ᾽ ὑπερηδόμενον; καίτοι πῶς147 ἄξιον ἐπαινεῖν ἐστί σε δημηγόρον ἅμα καὶ στρατηγὸν ἢ βασιλέα χρηστὸν καὶ γενναῖον ὁπλίτην προσαγορεύοντας; ὃς πάλαι μὲν ἀπορραγὲν τὸ στρατηγεῖον148 ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος ἐς ταὐτὸν πάλιν ἐπαναγαγεῖν ἠξίωσας σχῆμα, μιμούμενος οἶμαι Ὀδυσσέα καὶ Νέστορα καὶ τοὺς ἐξελόντας Καρχηδόνα Ῥωμαίων στρατηγοὺς, [C] οἳ φοβερωτέρους αὑτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος τοῖς ἀδικοῦσιν ἢ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως ἀεὶ κατέστησαν. Δημοσθένους δὲ καὶ ὅστις τοῦτον ἐζήλωκε τὴν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἰσχὺν αἰδούμενος, τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς δημηγορίας οὔποτ᾽ ἂν ἀξιώσαιμι τῷ149 σῷ παραβαλεῖν τἀκείνων θέατρα. οὐ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὁπλίταις ἐδημηγόρουν οὐδὲ ὑπέρ τοσούτων κινδυνεόοντες, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ χρημάτων ἢ [pg 084] τιμῆς ἢ δόξης, ἢ φίλοις συνερεῖν ἐπαγγειλάμενοι, ἀπῄεσαν οἶμαι πολλάκις ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος, [D] τοῦ δήμου θορυβήσαντος, ὠχροὶ καὶ τρέμοντες, ὥσπερ οἱ δειλοὶ τῶν πολεμίων ἐν ὄψει στρατηγοὶ παραταττόμενοι. καὶ οὐδεὶς ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοι τοσοῦτον ἔργον ἑτέρῳ πραχθὲν πώποτε καὶ τοσούτων ἐθνῶν κτῆσιν ἐκ δικαστηρίου, ἄλλως τε καὶ πρὸς ἄνδρα τῆς δίκης οὔσης οὐχ, ὡς οἱ πολλοί φασιν, [33] εὐκαταφρόνητον, ἁλλὰ πολλαῖς μὲν στρατείαις γνώριμον, πρεσβύτην δὲ ἤδη καὶ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου δοκοῦντα προσειληφέναι καὶ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἐκείνων ἄρχειν λαχόντα πολὺν ἤδη χρόνον. τίς οὖν ἡ ῥώμη γέγονε τῶν λόγων; τίς δὲ ἡ πειθὼ τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐπικαθημένη, ἡ150 παντοδαπῶν ἀνθρώπων συνειλεγμένων τὸ κέντρον ἐγκαταλιπεῖν151 ἰσχύσασα ταῖς ψυχαῖς, καὶ νίκην παρασχεῖν τῷ [B] μεγέθει μὲν ἐνάμιλλον ταῖς ἐκ τῶν ὅπλων περιγινομέαις, εὐαγῆ δὲ καὶ καθαράν, ὥσπερ ἱερέως ἐς θεοῦ ποιτῶντος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ βασιλέως ἐς πόλεμον, ἔργον γενομένην; καίτοι γε μὴν ταὺτης εἰκόνα τῆς πράξεως μακρῷ λειπομένην καὶ Πέρσαι θρυλοῦσι, τοὺς Δαρείου παῖδας τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτήσαντος ὑπὲρ τῆς άρχῆς διαφερομένους δίκῃ τὰ καθ᾽ αὑτοὺς καὶ οὐ τῇ τῶν ὅπλων ἐπιτρέψαι κρίσει. σοὶ δὲ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς οὔτε ἐν τοῖς λόγοις οὄτε ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις ἀγὼν γέγονεν οὐδὲ εἷς· [C] ἕχαιρες [pg 086] δὲ οἶμαι τῷ κοινὴν πρὸς ἐκείνους εἶναί σοι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ μόνος ἁπάντων γενέσθαι κύριος· πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἀσεβὲς μὲν ἢ παράνομον οὐδὲν εἰργασμένον, ἄπιστον δὲ τῇ γνώμῃ φανέντα ἐν152 ἐλέγχοις, οἳ τὴν ἀπιστίαν ἐκείνου δείξουσι.

(Did you not behave more nobly and more generously to him than Cyrus did to his own grandfather? For you deprived your enemy's followers of nothing, but protected their privileges and, I understand, gave many of them presents besides. Who saw you despondent before your triumph or unduly elated after it? Orator, general, virtuous emperor, distinguished soldier, though men give you all these titles, how can any praise of ours be adequate? Long had the orator's platform been wholly disconnected from the general's functions153; and it was reserved for you to combine them once more in your person, in this surely following the example of Odysseus and Nestor and the Roman generals who sacked Carthage; for these men were always even more formidable to wrong-doers whom they attacked from the platform than to the enemy in the field of battle. Indeed I pay all the homage due to the forcible eloquence of Demosthenes and his imitators, but when I consider the conditions of your harangue I can never admit that there is any comparison between your theatre and theirs. For they never had to address an audience of hoplites nor had they such great interests at stake, but only money, or honour, or reputation, or friends whom they had undertaken to assist, yet when the citizens clamoured in dissent, they often, I believe, left the platform pale and trembling, like generals who prove to be cowards when they have to face the enemy in battle-line. Indeed from all history it would be impossible to cite an achievement as great as yours when you acquired control of all those races by judicial pleading alone; and moreover you had to make out your case against a man not by any means to be despised, as many people think, but one who had won distinction in many campaigns, who was full of years, who had the reputation of experience gained in a long career, and had for a considerable period been in command of the legions there present. What overwhelming eloquence that must have been! How truly did “persuasion sit on your lips”154 and had the power to “leave a sting” in the souls of that motley crowd of men, and to win you a victory that in importance rivals any that were ever achieved by force of arms, only that yours was stainless and unalloyed, and was more like the act of a priest going to the temple of his god than of an emperor going to war. It is true indeed that the Persians have a similar instance to quote, but it falls far short of what you did, I mean that on their father's death the sons of Darius quarrelled about the succession to the throne and appealed to justice rather than to arms to arbitrate their case. But between you and your brothers there never arose any dispute, either in word or deed, nay not one, for it was in fact more agreeable to you to share the responsibility with them than to be the sole ruler of the world. But your quarrel was with one who, though his actions had not so far been impious or criminal, was shown to have a treasonable purpose, and you brought proofs to make that treason manifest.)

Ταύτην ἐκδέχεται στρατεία λαμπρὰ τὴν δημηγορίαν καὶ πόλεμος ἱερός, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἱεροῦ χωρίου, ὁποῖον τὸν Φωκικὸν ἀκούομεν συστῆναι155 κατὰ τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν, [D] ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῶν νόμων καὶ τῆς πολιτείας καὶ φόνου πολιτῶν μυρίων, ὧν τοὺς μὲν ἀνῃρήκει, τοὺς δὲ ἐμέλλησε, τοὺς δὲ ἐπεχείρησε συλλαβεῖν, ὥσπερ οἶμαι δεδιὼς μή τις αὐτὸν πολίτην μοχθηρόν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχὶ βάρβαρον ὑπολάβῃ φύσει. τὰ γὰρ εἰς τὴν σὴν οἰκίαν ἀδικήματα οὐδενὸς ὄντα τῶν κοινῇ τολμηθέντων αὐτῷ φαυλότερα καὶ ἐλάττονος ἀξιοῦν ᾤου δεῖν φροντίδος· οὕτω σοι τὰ κοινὰ πρὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἔδοξε καὶ δοκεῖ τίμια.

(After your harangue there followed a brilliant campaign and a war truly sacred, though it was not on behalf of sacred territory, like the Phocian war, which we are told was waged156 in the days of our ancestors, but was to avenge the laws and the constitution and the slaughter of countless citizens, some of whom the usurper157 had put to death, while others he was just about to kill or was trying to arrest. It was really as though he was afraid that otherwise he might be considered, for all his vices, a Roman citizen instead of a genuine barbarian. As for his crimes against your house, though they were quite as flagrant as his outrages against the state, you thought it became you to devote less attention to them. So true it is, that, then as now, you rated the common weal higher than your private interests.)

[34] Πότερον οὖν χρὴ τῶν ἀδικημάτων ἁπάντων μεμνῆσθαι ὧν εἴς τε158 τὸ κοινὸν καὶ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ἔδρασε, κτείνας μὲν τὸν αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ δεσπίτην· ἁνδράποδον γὰρ ἦν τῶν ἐκείνου προγόνων, τῆς ἁπὸ Γερμανῶν λείας λείψανον δυστυχὲς περισωζόμενον· ἄρχειν δὲ ἡμῶν ἐπιχειρῶν, ᾧ μηδὲ ἐλευθέρῳ προσῆκον ἦν νομισθῆναι μὴ τοῦτο παρ᾽ [pg 088] ὑμῶν λαβόντι· καὶ ὡς159 τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ στρατοπέδου ξυνδῶν καὶ ἀποκτιννὺς καὶ δουλεύων αἰσχρῶς τῷ πλήθει καὶ κολακεύων τὴν εὐταξίαν διέφθειρε· καὶ ὡς τοὺς καλοὺς ἐκείνους ἐτίθει νόμους, [B] τὴν ἡμίσειαν εἰσφέρειν, θάνατον ἀπειλῶν τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσι, μηνυτὰς δὲ εἶναι τὸν βουλόμενον τῶν οἰκετῶν· καὶ ὅπως ἠνάγκαζε τοὺς οὐδὲν δεομένους τὰ βασιλικὰ κτήματα πρίασθαι; ἐπιλείψει με τἀκείνου διηγούμενον ὁ χρόνος ἀδικήματα καὶ τῆς τυραννίδος τῆς καταλαβούσης τὸ μέγεθος. ἀλλὰ τῆς παρασκευῆς τῆς ἐς τὸν πόλεμον, ἣν κατέβαλε μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους, [C] ἐχρήσατο δὲ ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς, τὴν ἰσχὺν τίς ἂν160 ἀξίως παραστήσειε; Κελτοὶ καὶ Γαλάται, ἔθνη καὶ τοῖς πάλαι φανέντα δυσανταγώνιστα, πολλάκις μὲν ἐπιρρεύσαντα καθάπερ χειμάρρους ἀνυπόστατος Ἰταλοῖς καὶ Ἰλλυριοῖς, ἤδη δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἁψάμενα τῷ κρατεῖν τοῖς ἐνόπλοις ἀγῶσιν, ἄκοντες161 ἡμῖν ὑπήκουσαν, ἔς τε162 τοὺς καταλόγους τῶν στρατευμάτων ἐγγράφονται καὶ τέλη παρέχονται λαμπρὰ παρὰ τῶν σῶν προγόνων καὶ πατρὸς κατειλεγμένα· εἰρήνης δὲ μακρᾶς καὶ τῶν ἐκ ταύτης ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύοντες, [D] ἐπιδούσης αὐτοῖς τῆς χώρας πρὸς πλοῦτον καὶ εὐανδρίαν, καὶ ἀδελφοῖς τοῖς σοῖς στρατιώτας καταλέξαι πολλοὺς παρέσχοντο, τέλος δὲ τῷ τυράννῳ βίᾳ καὶ οὐ γνώμῃ πανδημεὶ συνεστρατεύοντο. ἠκολούθουν δὲ αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ ξυγγενὲς ξύμμαχοι προθυμότατοι Φράγγοι καὶ [pg 090] Σάξονες, τῶν ὑπὲρ τὸν Ῥῆνον καὶ περὶ163 τὴν ἑσπερίαν θάλατταν ἐθνῶν τὰ μαχιμώτατα. καὶ [35] πόλις πᾶσα καὶ φρούριον πρόσοικον Ῥήνῳ τῶν ἐνοικούντων φυλάκων ἐξερημωθέντα προδέδοτο μὲν ἀφύλακτα πάντα τοῖς βαρβάροις, ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς δὲ ἐξεπέμπετο παρεσκευασμένον λαμπρῶς τὸ στράτευμα· πᾶσα δὲ ἐῴκει πόλις Γαλατικὴ στρατοπέδῳ παρασκευαζομένῳ πρὸς πόλεμον· καὶ πάντα ἦν ὅπλων καὶ παρασκευῆς ἱππέων καὶ πεζῶν καὶ τοξοτῶν καὶ ἀκοντιστῶν πλήρη. συρρέοντων [B] δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἁπανταχόθεν τῶν ἐκείνου ξυμμάχων καὶ τοῖς ἐνταῦθα πάλαι κατειλεγμένοις στρατιώταις ἐς ταὐτὸν ἐλθόντων, οὐδεὶς οὕτως ἐφάνη τολμηρός, ὃς οὐκ ἔδεισεν οὐδὲ ἐξεπλάγη τὸν ἐπιόντα χειμῶνα. σκηπτὸς ἐδόκει πᾶσιν ὁ φερόμενος ἀπὸ τῶν Ἄλπεων, σκηπτὸς ἀφόρητος ἔργῳ καὶ ἄρρητος λόγῳ. τοῦτον ἔδεισαν Ἰλλυριοὶ καὶ Παίονες καὶ Θρᾷκες καὶ Σκύθαι, τοῦτον οἱ τὴν Ἀσίαν οἰκοῦντες ἄνθρωποι ἐφ᾽ αὑτοὺς ὡρμῆσθαι πάντως ὑπέλαβον, τούτῳ [C] πολεμέσειν ἤδη περὶ τῆς αὑτῶν καὶ Πέρσαι παρεσκευάζοντο. ὁ δὲ μικρὰ μὲν ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι τὰ παρόντα καὶ πόνον οὐ πολὺν τῆς σῆς συνέσεως καὶ ῥώμης κρατῆσαι, τοὺς Ἰνδῶν δὲ ἐσκόπει πλούτους καὶ Περσῶν τὴν πολυτέλειαν· τοσοῦτον164 αὐτῷ περιῆν ἀνοίας καὶ θράσους ἐκ μικροῦ παντελῶς περὶ τοὺς κατασκόπους πλεονεκτέματος, οὓς ἀφυλάκτους ὅλῃ τῇ στρατιᾷ λοχήσας ἔκτεινεν. οὕτω τὸ πράττειν εὖ παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἀρχὴ πολλάκις γέγονε τοῖς ἀνοήτοις μειζόνων συμφορῶν. [pg 092] [D] ἀρθεὶς γὰρ ὁ δείλαιος ὑπὸ τῆς εὐτυχίας ταύτης μετέωρος κατέλιπε μὲν τὰ προκείμενα τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐρυμνὰ χωρία, ἐς Νωρικοὺς δὲ καὶ Παίονας ἀφυλάκτως ᾔει, δεῖν αὑτῷ τάχους, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὅπλων οὐδὲ ἀνδρείας οἰόμενος.

(I need not mention all the usurper's offences against the community and against individuals. He assassinated his own master. For he had actually been the slave of the murdered emperor's ancestors, a miserable remnant saved from the spoils of Germany. And then he aimed at ruling over us, he who had not even the right to call himself free, had you not granted him the privilege. Those in command of the legions he imprisoned and put to death, while to the common soldiers he behaved with such abject servility and deference that he ruined their discipline. Then he enacted those fine laws of his, a property tax of fifty per cent., and threatened the disobedient with death, while any slave who pleased might inform against his master. Then he compelled those who did not want it to purchase the imperial property. But time would fail me were I to tell of all his crimes and of the vast proportions that his tyranny had assumed. As for the armament which he had collected to use against the barbarians but actually employed against us, who could give you an adequate report of its strength? There were Celts and Galatians165 who had seemed invincible even to our ancestors, and who had so often like a winter torrent that sweeps all before it,166 poured down on the Italians and Illyrians, and, following up their repeated victories on the field of battle, had even invaded Asia, and then became our subjects because they had no choice. They had been enrolled in the ranks of our armies and furnished levies that won a brilliant reputation, being enlisted by your ancestors, and, later, by your father. Then, since they enjoyed the blessings of long-continued peace, and their country increased in wealth and population, they furnished your brothers with considerable levies, and finally, by compulsion, not choice, they all in a body took part in the usurper's campaign. The most enthusiastic of his followers were, in virtue of their ties of kinship, the Franks and Saxons, the most warlike of the tribes who live beyond the Rhine and on the shores of the western sea. And since every city and every fortified place on the banks of the Rhine was shorn of its garrison, that whole region was left with no defence against the barbarians, and all that splendidly organised army was despatched against us. Every town in Galatia167 was like a camp preparing for war. Nothing was to be seen but weapons of war and forces of cavalry, infantry, archers, and javelin men. When these allies of the usurper began to pour into Italy from all quarters and there joined the troops who had been enrolled long before, there was no one so bold as not to feel terror and dismay at the tempest that threatened.168 It seemed to all as though a thunderbolt had fallen from the Alps, a bolt that no action could avert, no words describe. It struck terror into the Illyrians, the Paeonians, the Thracians, the Scythians; the dwellers in Asia believed it was directed entirely against themselves, and even the Persians began to get ready to oppose it in their country's defence. But the usurper thought his task was easy, and that he would have little difficulty in baffling your wisdom and energy, and already fixed his covetous gaze on the wealth of India and the magnificence of Persia. To such an excess of folly and rashness had he come, and after a success wholly insignificant, I mean the affair of the scouts whom, while they were unprotected by the main army, he ambushed and cut in pieces. So true it is that when fools meet with undeserved success169 they often find it is but the prelude to greater misfortunes. And so, elated by this stroke of luck, he left the fortified posts that protected the Italian frontier, and marched towards the Norici and the Paeonians, taking no precautions, because he thought that speed would serve him better than force of arms or courage.)

Ὃ δὴ καταμαθὼν ἐπανῆγες ἀπὸ τῶν δυσχωριῶν τὸ στράτευμα, εἵπετο δὲ ἐκεῖνος, διώκειν, οὐχὶ δὲ καταστρατηγεῖσθαι νομίσας, ἕως εἰς τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν ἄμφω κατέστητε. τῶν πεδίων δὲ τῶν πρὸ τῆς Μύρσης ὀφθέντων, [36] ἐτάττοντο μὲν ἐπὶ κέρως170 ἱππεῖς ἑκατέρου πεζοί τε ἐν μέσῳ· ἔχων δὲ αὐτός, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸν ποταμὸν ἐν δεξιᾷ, τῷ λαιῷ τοὺς πολεμίους ὑπερβαλλόμενος ἐτρέψω μὲν εὐθέως καὶ διέλυσας τὴν φάλαγγα οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν συγκειμένην ὀρθῶς, ἅτε ἀνδρὸς ἀπείρου πολέμων καὶ στρατηγίας αὐτὴν κοσμήσαντος. ὁ δὲ τέως διώκειν ὑπολαμβάνων, οὐδὲ ἐς χεῖρας ἀφικόμενος, [B] ἔφευγε καρτερῶς ἐκπλαγεὶς τὸν κτύπον τῶν ὅπλων, οὐδὲ τὸν ἐνυάλιον παιᾶνα τῶν στρατοπέδων ἐπαλαλαζόντων ἀδεῶς ἀκούων. διαλυθείσης δὲ οἱ στρατιῶται τῆς τάξεως συνιστάμενοι κατὰ λόχους πάλιν τὸν ἀγῶνα συνέβαλον, αἰσχυνόμενοι μὲν ὀφθῆναι φεύγοντες καὶ τὸ τέως ἄπιστον ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις ἐφ᾽ αὑτῶν δεῖξαι συμβαῖνον, στρατιώτην Κελτόν, στρατιώτην ἐκ Γαλατίας τὰ νῶτα τοῖς πολεμίοις δείξαντα. [C] οἱ βάρβαροι δὲ τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἀπεγνωκότες, εἰ πταίσειαν, ἢ κρατεῖν ἢ θνήσκειν δράσαντές τι δεινὸν τοὺς πολεμίους ἠξίουν. τοῖς μὲν οὖν ξὺν τῷ τυράννῳ τοσοῦτον περιῆν [pg 094] θράσους171 πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ καὶ τοῦ χωρεῖν ὁμόσε πολλὴ προθυμία.

(The moment that you learned this, you led your army out of the narrow and dangerous passes, and he followed in pursuit, as he thought, unaware that he was being outgeneralled, until you both reached open country. When the plains before Myrsa172 were in sight, the cavalry of both armies were drawn up on the wings, while the infantry formed the centre. Then your Majesty kept the river on your right, and, outflanking the enemy with your left, you at once turned and broke his phalanx, which indeed had from the first the wrong formation, since it had been drawn up by one who knew nothing of war or strategy. Then he who so far had thought he was the pursuer did not even join battle, but took to headlong flight, dismayed by the clash of weapons; he could not even listen without trembling when the legions shouted their battle-song. His ranks had been thrown into disorder, but the soldiers formed into companies and renewed the battle. For they disdained to be seen in flight, and to give an example in their own persons of what had hitherto been inconceivable to all men, I mean a Celtic or Galatian173 soldier turning his back to the enemy. The barbarians too, who, if defeated, could not hope to make good their retreat, were resolved either to conquer, or not to perish till they had severely punished their opponents. Just see the extraordinary daring of the usurper's troops in the face of dangers and their great eagerness to come to close quarters!)

Οἱ δὲ τῶν ὅλων κρατήσαντες, αἰδούμενοι μὲν ἀλλήλους καὶ τὸν βασιλέα, παροξυνόμενοι δὲ ὐπὸ τῶν πάλαι κατορθωμάτων καὶ τῶν ἐν χερσὶ λαμπρῶν καὶ τέως ἀπίστων ἔργων, τέλος [D] ἄξιον τοῖς προϋπηργμένοις ἐπιθεῖναι φιλοτιμούμενοι πάντα ὑπέμενον ἡδέως πόνον καὶ κίνδυνον. ὥσπερ οὖν ἄρτι τῆς παρατάξεως ἀρχομένης, συνιόντες πάλιν ἔργα τόλμης ἀπεδείκνυντο καὶ θυμοῦ γενναῖα, οἱ μὲν ὠθούμενοι περὶ τοῖς ξίφεσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ λαμβανόμενοι τῶν ἀσπίδων, καὶ τῶν ἱππέων ὁπόσους ἵπποι τρωθέντες ἀπεσείοντο πρὸς τοὺς ὁπλίτας μετεσκευάζοντο. ταῦτα ἔδρων οἱ ξὺν τῷ τυράννῳ τοῖς πεζοῖς ἐπιβρέσαντες· καὶ ἦν ὁ πόλεμος ἐξ ἴσης, ἕως οἱ θωρακοφόροι καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τῶν ἱππέων πλῆθος, [37] οἱ μὲν ἐκ τόξων βάλλοντες, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐπελαύνοντες τοὺς ἵππους, πολλοὺς μὲν ἔκτεινον, ἐδίωκον δὲ ἅπαντας καρτερῶς, τινὰς μὲν πρὸς τὸ πεδίον ὡρμηκότας φεύγειν, ὧν ἡ νὺξ ὀλίγους ἀπέσωσε μόλις, τὸ λοιπὸν δὲ ἐς τὸν ποταμὸν κατηνέχθη, καθάπερ βοῶν ἢ βοσκημάτων ἀγέλη συνελαυνόμενοι. τοσαῦτα ἐκεῖνο τὸ στράτευμα τῆς τοῦ τυράννου δειλίας, οὐδὲν ἐκεῖνον ὀνῆσαν ἐκ τῆς [B] ἀνδρείας τῆς αὑτοῦ, μάτην ἀπέλαυσε.

(Our men, on the other hand, had so far carried all before them and were anxious to retain the good opinion of their comrades and of the Emperor, and were moreover stimulated by their successes in the past and by the almost incredible brilliance of their exploits in this very engagement, and, ambitious as they were to end the day as gloriously as they had begun it, cheerfully encountered toil and danger. So they charged again as though the battle had only just begun, and gave a wonderful display of daring and heroism. For some hurled themselves full on the enemy's swords, or seized the enemy's shields, others, when their horses were wounded and the riders thrown, at once transformed themselves into hoplites. The usurper's army meanwhile did the same and pressed our infantry hard. Neither side gained the advantage, till the cuirassiers by their archery, aided by the remaining force of cavalry, who spurred on their horses to the charge, had begun to inflict great loss on the enemy, and by main force to drive the whole army before them. Some directed their flight to the plain, and of these a few were saved just in time by the approach of night. The rest were flung into the river, crowded together like a herd of oxen or brute beasts. Thus did the usurper's army reap the fruits of his cowardice, while their valour availed him nothing.)

Τρόπαιον δὲ ἀνέστησας ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ τοῦ πατρῴου λαμπρότερον. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς τέως ἀμάχους [pg 096] δοκοῦντας ἄγων ἐκράτει γέροντος δυστυχοῦς· σὺ δὲ ἡβῶσαν καὶ ἀκμάζουσαν οὐ τοῖς κακοῖς μόνον οἷς ἔδρα, τῇ νεότητι δὲ πλέον, τὴν τυραννίδα παρεστήσω, τοῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ παρασκευασθεῖσι στρατοπέδοις παραταξάμενος. τίς γὰρ εἰπεῖν ἔχει τῶν πρόσθεν αὐτοκρατόρων ἱππικὴν δύναμιν καὶ σκευὴν τῶν [C] ὅπλων τοιαύτην ἐπινοήσαντα καὶ μιμησάμενον; ᾗ πρῶτος αὐτὸς ἐγγυμνασάμενος διδάσκαλος ἐγένου τοῖς ἄλλοις ὅπλων χρήσεως ἀμάχου. ὑπὲρ ἧς εἰπεῖν τολμήσαντες πολλοὶ τῆς ἀξίας διήμαρτον, ὥσθ᾽ ὅσοι τῶν λόγων ἀκούσαντες ὕστερον ἰδεῖν ηὐτύχησαν τὰς ἀκοὰς σαφῶς ἀπιστοτέρας ἔγνωσαν εἶναι τῶν ὀμμάτων. ἄπειρον γὰρ ἦγες174 ἱππέων πλῆθος, καθάπερ ἀνδριάντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἵππων ὀχουμένους, οἷς συνήρμοστο τὰ μέλη κατὰ μίμησιν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως· [D] ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν ἄκρων καρπῶν ἐς τοὺς ἀγκῶνας, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς ὤμους, καὶ ὁ θώραξ ἐκ175 τμημάτων κατὰ τὸ στέρνον καὶ τὰ νῶτα συναρμοζόμενος, τὸ κράνος αὐτῷ προσώπῳ σιδηροῦν ἐπικείμενον ἀνδριάντος λαμπροῦ καὶ στίλβοντος παρέχει τὴν ὄψιν, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ κνῆμαι καὶ μηροὶ μηδὲ ἄκροι πόδες τῆς σκευῆς ταύτης ἔρημοι λείπονται. συναρμοζομένων δὲ αὐτῶν τοῖς θώραξι διά τινων ἐκ κρίκου λεπτοῦ πεποιημένων οἱονεὶ ὑφασμάτων οὐδὲν ἂν ὀφθείη τοῦ σώματος γυμνὸν μέρος, ἅτε καὶ τῶν χειρῶν [38] τοῖς ὑφάσμασι τούτοις σκεπομένων πρὸς τὸ καὶ καμπτομένοις ἐπακολουθεῖν τοῖς δακτύλοις. ταῦτα [pg 098] ὁ λόγος παραστῆσαι μὲν σαφῶς ἐπιθυμεῖ, ἀπολειπόμενος δὲ θεατὰς τῶν ὅπλων τοὺς μαθεῖν τι πλέον ἐθέλοντας, οὐχὶ δὲ ἀκροατὰς τῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν διηγήσεως ἀξιοῖ γενέσθαι.

(The trophy that you set up for that victory was far more brilliant than your father's. He led an army that had always proved itself invincible, and with it conquered a miserable old man.176 But the tyranny that you suppressed was flourishing and had reached its height, partly through the crimes that had been committed, but still more because so many of the youth were on that side, and you took the field against it with legions that had been trained by yourself. What emperor can one cite in the past who first planned and then reproduced so admirable a type of cavalry, and such accoutrements? First you trained yourself to wear them, and then you taught others how to use such weapons so that none could withstand them. This is a subject on which many have ventured to speak, but they have failed to do it justice, so much so that those who heard their description, and later had the good fortune to see for themselves, decided that their eyes must accept what their ears had refused to credit. Your cavalry was almost unlimited in numbers and they all sat their horses like statues, while their limbs were fitted with armour that followed closely the outline of the human form. It covers the arms from wrist to elbow and thence to the shoulder, while a coat of mail protects the shoulders, back and breast. The head and face are covered by a metal mask which makes its wearer look like a glittering statue, for not even the thighs and legs and the very ends of the feet lack this armour. It is attached to the cuirass by fine chain-armour like a web, so that no part of the body is visible and uncovered, for this woven covering protects the hands as well, and is so flexible that the wearers can bend even their fingers.177 All this I desire to represent in words as vividly as I can, but it is beyond my powers, and I can only ask those who wish to know more about this armour to see it with their own eyes, and not merely to listen to my description.)

Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπειδὴ τὸν πρῶτον πόλεμον διεληλύθαμεν, ληγούσης ἤδη τῆς ὀπώρας, [B] ἆρ᾽ ἐνταῦθα τὴν διήγησιν πάλιν ἀφήσομεν; ἢ πάντως τὸ τέλος ἁποδοῦναι τῶν ἔργων τοῖς ποθοῦσιν178 ἄξιον; ἐπέλαβε μὲν ὁ χειμὼν καὶ παρέσχε διαφυγεῖν τῆν τιμωρίαν τὸν τύραννον. κηρύγματα δὲ ἦν λαμπρὰ καὶ βασιλικῆς ἄξια μεγαλοψυχίας· ἄδεια δὲ πᾶσιν ἐδίδοτο τοῖς ταξαμένοις μετὰ τοῦ τυράννου, πλὴν εἴ τις ἀνοσίων ἐκείνῳ φόνων ἐκοινώνει· ἀπελάμβανον τὰς οἰκίας ἅπαντες καὶ τὰ χρήματα καὶ πατρίδας οἱ μηδὲ ὄψεσθαί τι τῶν φιλτάτων αὐτοῖς ἐλπίζοντες. [C] ὑπεδέχου τὸ ναυτικὸν ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐπανερχόμενον, πολλοὺς ἐκεῖθεν πολίτας κατάγον φεύγοντας οἶμαι τὴν τῶν τυράννων ὠμότητα. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ καιρὸς ἐκάλει στρατεύεσθαι, πάλιν ἐφειστήκεις δεινὸς τῷ τυράννῳ. ὁ δὲ προυβάλλετο τὰς Ἰταλῶν δυσχωρίας, καὶ τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῖς ἐκεῖ καθάπερ θηρίον ἐναποκρύψας τὰς δυνάμεις αὐτὸς οὐδὲ ὑπαίθριος ἐτόλμα στρατεύειν. [D] ἀναλαβὼν δὲ ἁὑτὸν εἰς τὴν πλησίον πόλιν τρυφῶσαν καὶ πολυτελῆ, ἐν πανηγύρεσι καὶ τρυφαῖς ἔτριβε τὸν χρόνον, ἀρκέσειν μὲν αὑτῷ πρὸς σοτηρίαν τῶν ὀρῶν τὴν δυσχωρίαν μόνον οἰόμενος. ἀκόλαστος δὲ ὢν φύσει κερδαίνειν ᾤετο τὸ χαρίζεσθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ἐν τοσούτοις κακοῖς, [pg 100] δῆλός τε ἦν λίαν πεπιστευκὼς ἀσφαλῶς αὐτῷ τὰ παρόντα ἔχειν, ἀποτειχιζομένης ἐν κύκλῳ τῆς Ἰταλίας τοῖς ὄρεσι, [39] πλὴν ὅσον ἐξ ἡμισείας ἡ θάλασσα τεναγώδης οὖσα καὶ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίων ἕλεσιν ἐμφερὴς ἄβατον καὶ νηίτῃ στρατῷ πολεμίων ἀνδρῶν καθίστησιν. ἀλλ᾽ ἔοικεν οὐδὲ ἓν ᾑ φύσις πρὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀρετὴν καὶ σωφροσύνην τοῖς ἀκολάστοις καὶ δειλοῖς ἔρυμα μηχανήσασθαι, πάντα ὑποχωρεῖν φρονήσει μετὰ ἀνδρείας ἐπιούσῃ παρασκευάζουσα· πάλαι τε ἡμῖν ἐξηῦρε τὰς τέχνας, [B] δι᾽ ὧν εἰς εὐπορίαν τῶν τέως δοξάντων ἀπόρων κατέστημεν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἔργων τὸ πολλοῖς ἀδύνατον εἶναι φαινόμενον179 ἐπιτελούμενον πρὸς ἀνδρὸς σώφρονος. ὃ δὴ καὶ τότε τοῖς ἔργοις, ὦ βασιλεῦ, δείξας εἰκότως ἂν ἀποδέχοιο τοὺς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ λόγους.

(Now that I have told the story of this first campaign, which was fought at the end of the autumn, shall I here break off my narrative? Or is it altogether unfair to withhold the end and issue of your achievements from those who are eager to hear? Winter overtook us and gave the usurper a chance to escape punishment. Then followed a splendid proclamation worthy of your imperial generosity. An amnesty was granted to those who had taken sides with the usurper, except when they had shared the guilt of those infamous murders. Thus they who had never hoped even to see again anything that they held dear, recovered their houses, money, and native land. Then you welcomed the fleet which arrived from Italy bringing thence many citizens who, no doubt, had fled from the usurper's savage cruelty. Then when the occasion demanded that you should take the field, you again menaced the usurper. He however took cover in the fastnesses of Italy and hid his army away there in the mountains, wild-beast fashion, and never even dared to carry on the war beneath the open heavens. But he betook himself to the neighbouring town180 which is devoted to pleasure and high living, and spent his time in public shows and sensual pleasures, believing that the impassable mountains alone would suffice for his safety. Moreover, intemperate as he was by nature, he thought it clear gain to be able to indulge his appetites at so dangerous a crisis, and he evidently placed too much confidence in the safety of his position, because the town is cut off from that part of Italy by a natural rampart of mountains, except the half that is bounded by a shoaling sea, which resembles the marshes of Egypt and makes that part of the country inaccessible even to an invading fleet. It seems however as though nature herself will not devise any safeguard for the sensual and cowardly against the temperate and brave, for when prudence and courage advance hand in hand she makes everything give way before them. Long since she revealed to us those arts through which we have attained an abundance of what was once thought to be unattainable, and in the field of individual effort we see that what seemed impossible for many working together to achieve can be accomplished by a prudent man. And since by your own actions you demonstrated this fact it is only fair, O my Emperor, that you should accept my words to that effect.)

Ἐστράτευες μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸς ὑπαίθριος, καὶ ταῦτα πλησίον παρούσης πόλεως οὐ φαύλης, τοῖς στρατευομένοις δὲ οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιτάγματος τὸ πονεῖν καὶ κινδυνεύειν, ἐξ ὧν δὲ αὐτὸς ἔδρας παρεγγυῶν· ἄτραπον μὲν ἐξηῦρες ἄγνωστον τοῖς πᾶσι, πέμψας [C] δὲ ἀξιόμαχον τῆς δυνάμεως ἁπάσης ὁπλιτῶν μοῖραν, εἶτα ἐπειδὴ σαφῶς ἔγνως αὐτοὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐφεστῶτας, αὐτὸς ἀναλαβὼν ἦγες τὸ στράτευμα, καὶ κύκλῳ περιέχων πάντων ἐκράτησας. ταῦτα ἐδρᾶτο πρὸ τῆς ἕω, ἤγγελτο δὲ πρὸ μεσημβρίας τῷ τυράννῳ ἁμίλλαις ἱππικαῖς καὶ [pg 102] πανηγύρει προσκαθημένῳ καὶ τῶν παρόντων οὐδὲν ἐλπίζοντι. [D] τίς μὲν οὖν γέγονεν ἐκ τίνος, καὶ ποταπὴν γνώμην εἶχεν ὑπὲρ τῶν παρόντων, καὶ ὅπως ἐκλιπὼν ἔφυγε τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν πᾶσαν, τοὺς φόνους καὶ τὰς πρόσθεν ἀδικίας ἐκκαθαιρόμενος, οὐ τοῦ παρόντος ἂν εἴη λόγου διηγεῖσθαι. ἔμελλε δὲ βραχείας ἀνοκωχῆς τυχὼν οὐδέν τι μεῖον τῶν ἔμπροσθεν δράσειν. οὕτως οὐδὲν πρὸς πονηρίαν ψυχῆς ἄνθρωπος ἀνόσιος181 ἐξηῦρε καθάρσιον διὰ τοῦ σώματος. ἀφικόμενος γὰρ εῖς Γαλατίαν ὁ χρηστὸς οὑτοσὶ καὶ νόμιμος [40] ἄρχων τοσοῦτον αὐτοῦ γέγονε χαλεπώτερος, ὡς, εἴ τις πρότερον αὐτὸν διαφυγὼν ἐλελήθει τιμωρίας τρόπος ὠμότατος, τοῦτον ἐξευρὼν θέαμα κεχαρισμένον αὑτῷ τὰς τῶν ἀθλίων πολιτῶν παρεῖχε συμφοράς· ἅρματος ζῶντας ἐκδήσας καὶ μεθεὶς φέρεσθαι τοῖς ἡνιόχοις ἕλκειν ἂν ἐκέλευεν, αὐτὸς ἐφεστηκὼς καὶ θεώμενος τὰ δρώμενα· καί τισι τοιούτοις ἑτέροις αὑτὸν ψυχαγωγῶν τὸν πάντα διετέλει χρόνον, ἕως [B] αὐτὸν καθάπερ Ὀλυμπιονίκης περὶ τῷ τρίτῳ παλαίσματι καταβαλὼν δίκην ἐπιθεῖναι τῶν τετολμημένων ἀξίαν κατηνάγκασας ὤσαντα διὰ τῶν στέρνων τὸ αὐτὸ ξίφος, ὃ πολλῶν πολιτῶν ἐμίανε φόνῳ. ταύτης ἐγὼ τῆς νίκης182 ἀμείνω καὶ δικαιοτέραν οὔποτε γενέσθαι φημὶ οὐδὲ ἐφ᾽ ᾗ μᾶλλον τὸ κοινὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ηὐφράνθη γένος, τοσαύτης ὠμότητος καὶ πικρίας ἀφεθὲν ὄντως ἐλεύθερον, εὐνομίᾳ δὲ ἤδη γανύμενον, ἧς τέως [pg 104] [C] ἀπολαύομεν καὶ ἀπολαύσαιμέν γε ἐπὶ πλέον, ὦ πάντα ἀγαθὴ πρόνοια.

(For you conducted the campaign under the open skies, and that though there was a city of some importance near at hand, and moreover you encouraged your men to work hard and to take risks, not merely by giving orders, but by your own personal example. You discovered a path hitherto unknown to all, and you sent forward a strong detachment of hoplites chosen from your whole army; then when you had ascertained that they had come up with the enemy, you led forward your army in person, surrounded them, and defeated his whole force. This happened before dawn, and before noon the news was brought to the usurper. He was attending a horse-race at a festival, and was expecting nothing of what took place. How his attitude changed, what was his decision about the crisis, how he abandoned the town and in fact all Italy, and fled, thus beginning to expiate his murders and all his earlier crimes, it is not for this speech to relate. Yet though the respite he gained was so brief, he proceeded to act no less wickedly than in the past. So true is it that by the sufferings of the body alone it is impossible for the wicked to cleanse their souls of evil. For when he reached Galatia,183 this ruler who was so righteous and law-abiding, so far surpassed his own former cruelty that he now bethought himself of all the ruthless and brutal modes of punishment that he had then overlooked, and derived the most exquisite pleasure from the spectacle of the sufferings of the wretched citizens. He would bind them alive to chariots and, letting the teams gallop, would order the drivers to drag them along while he stood by and gazed at their sufferings. In fact he spent his whole time in amusements of this sort, until, like an Olympic victor, you threw him in the third encounter184 and forced him to pay a fitting penalty for his infamous career, namely to thrust into his own breast that very sword which he had stained with the slaughter of so many citizens.185 Never, in my opinion, was there a punishment more suitable or more just than this, nor one that gave greater satisfaction to the whole human race, which was now really liberated from such cruelty and harshness, and at once began to exult in the good government that we enjoy to this day. Long may we continue to enjoy it, O all-merciful Providence!)

Ἐμοὶ δὲ ποθοῦντι μὲν ἐπεξελθεῖν ἅπασι τοῖς σοι πραχθεῖσιν, ἀπολειπομένῳ δὲ συγγνώμην εἰκότως, ὦ μέγιστε βασιλεῦ, παρέξεις, εἰ μήτε τῶν ἀποστόλων τῶν ἐπὶ Καρχηδόνα μνημονεύοιμι ἀπό τε Αἰγύπτου παρασκευασθέντων καὶ ἐξ186 Ἰταλίας ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν πλευσάντων, μήτε ὡς τῶν Πυρηναίων ὀρῶν ἐκράτησας ναυσὶν ἐκπέμψας ἐπ᾽ αὐτὰ στράτευμα, μήτε τῶν [D] ἔναγχός σοι πολλάκις πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους πραχθέντων, μήτ᾽ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἕτερον τῶν πάλαι γεγονὸς λέληθε τοὺς πολλούς. ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν Ἀντιόχου πόλιν ἑαυτὴν σοῦ187 ἐπώνυμον ἐπονομάζουσαν ἀκούω πολλάκις. ἔστι μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὸν κτίσαντα, πλουτεῖ δὲ ἤδη καὶ πρὸς ἅπασαν εὐπορίαν ἐπιδέδωκε διὰ σὲ λιμένας εὐόρμους τοῖς καταίρουσι παρασχόντα· τέως δὲ οὐδὲ παραπλεῖν ἀσφαλὲς οὐδὲ ἀκίνδυνον ἐδόκει· [41] οὕτως ἦν πάντα σκοπέλων τινῶν καὶ πετρῶν ὑφάλων ἀνάπλεα τῆς θαλάσσης τῆσδε πρὸς ταῖς ᾐόσι. στοὰς δὲ καὶ κρήνας καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα παρὰ τῶν ὑπάρχων διὰ σὲ γέγονεν οὐδὲ ὀνομάζειν ἄξιον. ὁπόσα δὲ τῇ πατρῴᾳ πόλει προστέθεικας, τεῖχος μὲν αὐτῇ κύκλῳ περιβαλὼν ἀρξάμενον τότε, τὰ δοκοῦντα δὲ οὐκ ἀσφαλῶς ἔχειν188 τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων εἰς ἀθάνατον ἀσφάλειαν κατατιθεῖς, τίς ἂν ἀπαριθμήσαιτο; [B] ἐπιλείψει με τούτων ἕκαστον ὁ χρόνος διηγούμενον.

(I would fain recite every single one of your achievements, but you will with reason pardon me, most mighty Emperor, if I fall short of that ambition and omit to mention the naval armament against Carthage which was equipped in Egypt and set sail from Italy to attack her, and also your conquest of the Pyrenees, against which you sent an army by sea, and your successes against the barbarians, which of late have been so frequent, and all such successes in the past as have not become a matter of common knowledge. For example, I often hear that even Antioch now calls herself by your name. Her existence she does indeed owe to her founder,189 but her present wealth and increase in every sort of abundance she owes to you, since you provided her with harbours that offer good anchorage for those who put in there. For till then it was considered a dangerous risk even to sail past Antioch; so full were all the waters of that coast, up to the very shores, of rocks and sunken reefs. I need not stop to mention the porticoes, fountains, and other things of the kind that you caused to be bestowed on Antioch by her governors. As to your benefactions to the city of your ancestors,190 you built round it a wall that was then only begun, and all buildings that seemed to be unsound you restored and made safe for all time. But how could one reckon up all these things? Time will fail me if I try to tell everything separately.)

[pg 106]

Σκοπεῖν δὲ ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ἄξιον ἤδη τῶν ῥηθέντων, εἰ μετὰ ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς βελτίστης ἕξεως ἅπαντα γέγονε· τούτῳ γὰρ ἤδη καὶ τῶν λόγων ἀρχόμενος μάλιστα προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν ἠξίουν. οὐκοῦν τῷ πατρὶ μὲν εὐσεβῶς καὶ φιλανθρώπως ὅπως προσηνέχθης, ὁμονοῶν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς διετέλεσας τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον, ἀρχόμενος μὲν προθύμως, [C] συνάρχων δὲ ἐκείνοις σωφρόνως, πάλαι τε εἴρηται καὶ νῦν ἀξιούσθω μνήμης. τοῦτο δὲ ὅστις μικρᾶς ἀρετῆς ἔργον ὑπέλαβεν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Φιλίππου καὶ Κῦρον τὸν Καμβύσου σκοπῶν ἐπαινείτω. ὁ μὲν γὰρ μειράκιον ἔτι κομιδῇ νέον δῆλος ἦν τοῦ πατρὸς οὐκ ἀνεξόμενος ἄρχοντος, ὁ δὲ ἀφείλετο τὴν ἀρχὴν τὸν πάππον. καὶ ταῦτα οὐδείς ἐστιν οὕτως191 ἠλίθιος, ὅστις οὐκ οἴεταί σε,192 μηδὲν ἐκείνων μεγαλοψυχίᾳ καὶ τῇ πρὸς τὰ καλὰ φιλοτιμίᾳ λειπόμενον, οὕτως ἐγκρατῶς καὶ σωφρόνως [D] τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς προσενηνέχθαι. παρασχούσης γὰρ τῆς τύχης τὸν καιρὸν, ἐν ᾧ τῆς ἁπάντων ἡγεμονίας ἐχρῆν μεταποιηθῆναι, πρῶτος ὡρμήθης, πολλῶν ἀπαγορευόντων καὶ πρὸς τἀναντία ξυμπείθειν ἐπιχειρούντων· ῥᾷστα δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν τὸν ὲν χερσὶ πόλεμον διοικησάμενος ἐλευθεροῦν ἔγνως τῆς ἀρχῆς τὰ κατειλημμένα, [42] δικαιοτάτην μὲν καὶ οἵαν οὔπω πρόσθεν ἔλαβε πρόφασιν πόλεμος τῆς πρὸς ἐκείνους ἔχθρας [pg 108] τιθέμενος. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐμφύλιον ἄξιον προσαγορεύειν τὸν πόλεμον, οὗ βάρβαρος ἦν ἡγεμὼν ἑαυτὸν ἀναγορεύσας βασιλέα καὶ χειροτονήσας στρατηγόν. τῶν ἀδικημάτων δὲ τῶν ἐκείνου καὶ ὧν ἔδρασεν εἰς οἰκίαν τὴν σὴν οὐχ ἡδύ μοι πολλάκις μεμνῆσθαι. ἀνδρειοτέραν δὲ τ῀εσδε τῆς πράξεως τίς ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοι; ἐφ᾽ ἧς δῆλος μὲν [B] ἦν ἀποτυχόντι τῶν ἔργων ὁ193 κίνδυνος· ὑπέμενες δὲ οὐδὲν κέρδους χάριν οὐδὲ κλέος ἀείμνηστον ἀντωνούμενος, ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ ἀποθνήσκειν ἄνδρες ἀγαθοὶ πολλάκις τολμῶσιν, οἷον πρὸς ἀργύριον τὴν δόξαν τὰς ψυχὰς ἀποδιδόμενοι, οὐδὲ μὴν δι᾽ ἐπιθυμίαν ἀρχῆς μείζονος καὶ λαμπροτέρας, ὅτι μηδὲ νέῳ σοι τούτων ἐπιθυμῆσαι συνέβη, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸ τὸ καλὸν στέργων τῆς πράξεως πάντα ὑπομένειν ᾤου δεῖν πρὶν ἰδεῖν Ῥωμαίων βάρβαρον βασιλεύοντα καὶ νόμων κύριον καὶ [C] πολιτείας καθεστῶτα καὶ τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν κοινῶν εὐχὰς ποιούμενον τὸν τοσούτοις ἀσεβήμασιν ἔνοχον καὶ φόνοις. τῆς παρασκευῆς δὲ αὐτῆς ἡ λαμπρότης καὶ τῶν ἀναλωμάτων τὸ μέγεθος τίνα οὐχ ἱκανὸν ἐκπλῆξαι; καίτον Ξέρξην μὲν ἀκούω τὸν τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐξαναστήσαντα χρόνον ἐτῶν οὐκ ἐλάσσονα δέκα πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἐκεῖνον παρασκευάζεσθαι, εἶτα ἐπαγαγεῖν πρὸς ταῖς χιλίαις τριήρεσι διακοσίας ἐκ τούτων αὐτῶν οἶμαι τῶν χωρίων, [D] ἐξ ὧν αὐτὸς ἐν οὐδὲ ὅλοις μησὶ δέκα ναυπηγησάμενος ἤγειρας τὸν στόλον, πλήθει νεῶν ἐκεῖνον ὑπερβαλλόμενος· τῇ τύχῃ δὲ οὐδὲ ἄξιον συμβαλεῖν οὐδὲ τοῖς ἔργοις.

(The time has now come when it is proper to consider whether your career, so far as I have described it, is at every point in harmony with virtue and the promptings of a noble disposition. For to this, as I said at the beginning of my speech, I think it right to pay special attention. Let me therefore mention once more what I said some time ago, that to your father you were dutiful and affectionate, and that you constantly maintained friendly relations with your brothers, for your father you were ever willing to obey, and as the colleague of your brothers in the empire you always displayed moderation. And if anyone thinks this a trifling proof of merit, let him consider the case of Alexander the son of Philip, and Cyrus the son of Cambyses, and then let him applaud your conduct. For Alexander, while still a mere boy, showed clearly that he would no longer brook his father's control, while Cyrus dethroned his grandfather. Yet no one is so foolish as to suppose that, since you displayed such modesty and self-control towards your father and brothers, you were not fully equal to Alexander and Cyrus in greatness of soul and ambition for glory. For when fortune offered you the opportunity to claim as your right the empire of the world, you were the first to make the essay, though there were many who advised otherwise and tried to persuade you to the contrary course. Accordingly, when you had carried through the war that you had in hand, and that with the utmost ease and so as to ensure safety for the future, you resolved to liberate that part of the empire which had been occupied by the enemy, and the reason that you assigned for going to war was most just and such as had never before arisen, namely your detestation of those infamous men. Civil war one could not call it, for its leader was a barbarian who had proclaimed himself emperor and elected himself general. I dislike to speak too often of his evil deeds and the crimes that he committed against your house. But could anything be more heroic than your line of action? For should you fail in your undertaking the risk involved was obvious. But you faced it, and you were not bidding for gain, nay nor for undying renown, for whose sake brave men so often dare even to die, selling their lives for glory as though it were gold, nor was it from desire of wider or more brilliant empire, for not even in your youth were you ambitious of that, but it was because you were in love with the abstract beauty of such an achievement, and thought it your duty to endure anything rather than see a barbarian ruling over Roman citizens, making himself master of the laws and constitution and offering public prayers for the common weal, guilty as he was of so many impious crimes and murders. Who could fail to be dazzled by the splendour of your armament and the vast scale of your expenditure? And yet I am told that Xerxes, when he mustered all Asia against the Greeks, spent no less than ten years in preparing for that war. Then he set out with twelve hundred triremes, from the very spot, as I understand, where you gathered your fleet together, having built it in rather less than ten months, and yet you had more ships than Xerxes. But neither his fortune nor his achievements can properly be compared with yours.)

[pg 110]

Τὴν δὲ εἰς τὰ λοιπὰ δαπανήματα μεγαλοπρέπειαν μὴ πολὺ λίαν ἔργον ᾖ φράζειν, οὐδὲ ὁπόσα ταῖς πόλεσι πάλαι στερομέναις ἀπεδίδους ἀπαριθμούμενος ἐνοχλήσω τὰ νῦν. [43] πλουτοῦσι μὲν γὰρ ἅπασαι διὰ σὲ ἐπὶ τῶν194 ἔμπροσθεν ἐνδεεῖς οὖσαι καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων, ἐπιδίδωσι δὲ τῶν ἰδίων ἕκαστος οἴκων διὰ τὰς κοινὰς τῶν πόλεων εὐετηρίας. ἀλλὰ τῶν εἰς τοὺς ἰδιώτας ἄξιον δωρεῶν μεμνῆσθαι, ἐλευθέριόν σε καὶ μεγαλόδωρον βασιλέα προσαγορεύοντα, ὃς πολλοῖς μὲν στερομένοις πάλαι τῶν αὑτῶν κτημάτων, τοῦ πατρῴου κλήρου συμφορᾷ περιπεπτωκότος ἐν δίκῃ καὶ παρὰ δίκην, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον ἐγένου κύριος, [B] τοῖς μὲν καθάπερ δικαστὴς ἀγαθὸς τὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἁμαρτήματα διορθωσάμενος κυρίους εἶναι τῆς αὑτῶν οὐσίας παρέσχες, τοῖς δὲ ἐπιεικὴς κριτὴς γενόμενος ταῦτα μὲν ὧν ἀφῄρηντο πάλιν ἐχαρίσω, ἀρκεῖν οἰόμενος τὸ μῆκος τοῦ χρόνου πρὸς τιμωρίαν τοῖς παθοῦσιν· ὅσα δὲ αὐτὸς οἴκοθεν χαριζόμενος πλουσιωτέρους ἀπέθηνας πολλοὺς τῶν πάλαι δοξάντων ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν χρημάτων εὐπορίᾳ σεμνύνεσθαι, [C] τί χρὴ νῦν ὑπομιμνήσκοντα περὶ μικρὰ διατρίβειν δοκεῖν; ἄλλως τε καὶ πᾶσιν ὄντος καταφανοῦς, ὅτι μηδεὶς πώποτε πλὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φιλίππου τοσαῦτα βασιλεῦς τοῖς αὑτοῦ φίλοις διανέμων ὤφθη. ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ὁ τῶν φίλων πλοῦτος τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ῥώμης ὕποπτος ἐφάνη μᾶλλον καὶ φοβερώτερος, ἄλλοι [pg 112] δὲ τὴν τῶν ἀρχομένων εὐγένειαν ὑπιδόμενοι πάντα τρόπον τοὺς εὖ γεγονότας προπηλακίζοντες [D] ἢ καὶ ἀναιροῦντες ἄρδην τὰς οἰκίας κοινῇ μὲν ταῖς πόλεσι συμφορῶν, ἰδίᾳ δὲ αὑτοῖς ἀνοσίων ἔργων αἰτιώτατοι κατέστησαν. οὐκ ἀπέσχοντο δὲ ἤδη τινὲς τοῖς τοῦ σώματος ἀγαθοῖς, ὑγιείᾳ φημὶ καὶ κάλλει καὶ εὐεξίᾳ, βασκαίνοντες· ψυχῆς τε ἀρετὴν ἔν τινι τῶν πολιτῶν γενομένην οὐδὲ ἀκούειν ὑπέμενον, ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἀδίκημα τοῦτο, καθάπερ ἀνδροφονία καὶ κλοπὴ καὶ προδοσία, τὸ δοκεῖν ἀρετῆς μεταποιηθῆναι. [44] καὶ ταῦτα τυχὸν ἀληθῶς οὐ βασιλέων φήσει τις, πονηρῶν δὲ καὶ ἀνελευθέρων τυράννων ἔργα καὶ πράξεις. ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἤδη τὸ πάθος οὐ τῶν ἀνοήτων μόνον, ἀλλά τινων ἐπιεικῶν καὶ πρᾴων ἀνδρῶν ἁψάμενον, τὸ τοῖς φίλοις ἄχθεσθαι πλέον ἔχουσι195 καὶ πολλάκις ἐλαττοῦν ἐθέλειν καὶ τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτοὺς ἀφαιρεῖσθαι, τίς ἐπὶ σοῦ λέγειν ἐτόλμησε; τοῦτο καὶ Κῦρόν φασι τὸν Πέρσην γάμβρον ὄντα βασιλέως παρὰ τοῦ κηδεστοῦ παθεῖν ἀχθομένου τῇ παρὰ τοῦ πλήθους εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα τιμῇ, καὶ ἀγησίλαος δὲ [B] δῆλος ἦν ἀχθόμενος τιμωμένῳ παρὰ τοῖς Ἴωσι Λυσάνδρῳ.

(I fear that it is beyond my powers to describe the magnificence of your outlay for other purposes, nor will I risk being tedious by staying now to count up the sums you bestowed on cities that had long been destitute. For whereas, in the time of your predecessors, they lacked the necessaries of life, they have all become rich through you, and the general prosperity of each city increases the welfare of every private household in it. But it is proper that I should mention your gifts to private persons, and give you the title of a generous and open-handed Emperor; for since there were many who long ago had lost their property, because, in some cases justly, in others unjustly, their ancestral estates had suffered loss, you had no sooner come into power, than like a just judge you set right in the latter cases the errors committed by men in the past, and restored them to the control of their property, while in the former cases you were a kindly arbiter, and granted that they should recover what they had lost, thinking that to have suffered so long was punishment enough. Then you lavished large sums from your privy purse, and increased the reputation for wealth of many who even in the past had prided themselves on their large incomes. But why should I remind you of all this and seem to waste time over trifles? Especially as it must be obvious to all that no king except Alexander the son of Philip was ever known to bestow such splendid presents on his friends. Indeed some kings have thought that the wealth of their friends gave more grounds for suspicion and alarm than did the resources of their enemies, while others were jealous of the aristocrats among their subjects, and therefore persecuted the well-born in every possible way, or even exterminated their houses, and thus were responsible for the public disasters of their cities and, in private life, for the most infamous crimes. There were some who went so far as to envy mere physical advantages, such as health or good looks, or good condition. And as for a virtuous character among their subjects, they could not bear even to hear of it, but counted it a crime like murder or theft or treason to appear to lay claim to virtue. But perhaps someone will say, and with truth, that these were the actions and practices not of genuine kings but of base and contemptible tyrants. Nay, but that other malady which has been known to attack not only those who were irrational, but some even who were just and mild, I mean the tendency to quarrel with friends who were too prosperous and to wish to humble them and deprive them of their rightful possessions, who I ask has ever dared so much as to mention such conduct in your case? Yet such, they say, was the treatment that Cyrus the Persian, the king's son-in-law, received from his kinsman,196 who could not brook the honour in which Cyrus was held by the common people, and Agesilaus also is well known to have resented the honours paid to Lysander by the Ionians.)

Τούτους οὖν197 πάντας ὑπερβαλλόμενος ἀρετῇ, τοῖς πλουτοῦσι μὲν τὸ πλουτεῖν ἀσφαλέστερον ἢ πατὴρ τοῖς αὑτοῦ παισί κατέστησας, εὐγενείας [pg 114] δὲ τῆς τῶν ὑπηκόων προνοεῖς καθάπερ ἁπάσης πόλεως οἰκιστὴς καὶ νομοθέτης· καὶ τοὶς ἐκ τῆς τύχης ἀγαθοῖς πολλὰ μὲν προστιθείς, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ ἀρχῆς χαριζόμενος, δῆλος [C] εἶ τῷ μεγέθει μὲν τὰς παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων δωρεὰς ὑπερβαλλόμενος, τῇ βεβαιότητι δὲ τῶν ἅπαξ δοθέντων τὰς παρὰ τῶν δήμων χάριτας ἁποκρυπτόμενος. τοῦτο δὲ οἶμαι καὶ μάλα εἰκότως συμβαίνει. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐφ᾽ οἷς συνίσασιν αὑτοῖς ἀπολειφθεῖσιν ἀγαθοῖς, τοῖς κεκτημένοις βασκαίνουσιν, ὅτῳ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῆς τύχης ἐστὶ λαμπρὰ καὶ οἷα οὐδενὶ τῶν ἄλλων, τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς προαιρέσεως τῶν ἐκ τῆς τύχης μακρῷ σεμνότερα, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτου δεόμενος τῷ κεκτημένῳ φθονήσειεν. [D] ὃ δὴ καὶ σαυτῷ μάλιστα πάντων ὑπάρχειν ἐγνωκὼς χαίρεις μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθοῖς, εὐφραίνει δὲ σε τὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων κατορθώματα· καὶ τιμὰς ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς τὰς μὲν ἐχαρίσω, τὰς δὲ ἤδη μέλλεις, ὑπὲρ δὲ ἐνίων βουλεύῃ· καὶ οὐκ ἀπόχρη σοι πόλεως μιᾶς οὐδὲ ἔθνους ἑνὸς οὐδὲ πολλῶν ὁμοῦ τοῖς φίλοις ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς τιμὰς διανέμειν· ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὴ καὶ βασιλείας [45] ἕλοιο κοινωνόν, ὑπὲρ ἧς τοσοῦτον ὑπομείνας πόνον τὸ τῶν τυράννων γένος ἀνῄρηκας, οὐδὲν ἄξιον τῶν σαυτοῦ κατορθωμάτων ἔργον ὑπέλαβες. καὶ ὅτι μὴ χρείᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ χαίρειν πάντα [pg 116] δωρούμενος ἐπὶ ταύτην ὥρμησας τὴν γνώμην, ἅπασιν οἶμαι γνώριμον γέγονε. τῶν μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς τυράννους ἀγώνων κοινωνὸν οὐχ εἵλου, τῆς τιμῆς δὲ τὸν οὐ μετασχόντα τῶν πόνων ἠξίωσας μεταλαβεῖν μόνον, ὅτε μηδὲν ἔτι φοβερὸν ἐδόκει. [B] καὶ τῆς μὲν οὐδὲ ἐπ᾽ ὀλίγον ἀφελὼν δῆλος εἶ, τῶν πόνων δὲ οὐδὲ ἐπὶ σμικρὸν κοινωνεῖν ἀξιοῖς. πλὴν εἴ που δέοι πρὸς ὀλίγον ἑπόμενον σοι στρατεύεσθαι. πότερον οὖν καὶ περὶ τούτων μαρτύρων τινῶν καὶ τεκμηρίων τῷ λόγῳ προσδεῖ; ἢ δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ λέγοντος, ὅτι μὴ ψευδεῖς ἐπεισάγει λόγους; ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων οὐδὲν ἔτι πλέον ἄξιον ἐνδιατρίβειν.

(All these, then, you have surpassed in merit, for you have made their wealth more secure for the rich than a father would for his own children, and you take thought that your subjects shall be well-born, as though you were the founder and law-giver of every single city. Those to whom fortune has been generous you still further enrich, and in many cases men owe all their wealth to your generosity, so that in amount your gifts clearly surpass those of other princes, while, in security of ownership of what has once been given, you cast into the shade any favours bestowed by democracies.198 And this is, I think, very natural. For when men are conscious that they lack certain advantages, they envy those who do possess them, but when a man is more brilliantly endowed by fortune than any of his fellows, and by his own initiative has won even higher dignities than fate had assigned him, he lacks nothing, and there is none whom he need envy. And since you realise that in your case this is especially true, you rejoice at the good fortune of others and take pleasure in the successes of your subjects. You have already bestowed on them certain honours, and other honours you are on the point of bestowing, and you are making plans for the benefit of yet other persons. Nor are you content to award to your friends the government of a single city or nation, or even of many such, with the honours attaching thereto. But unless you chose a colleague199 to share that empire on whose behalf you had spared no pains to exterminate the brood of usurpers, you thought that no act of yours could be worthy of your former achievements. That you reached this decision not so much because it was necessary as because you take pleasure in giving all that you have to give, is, I suppose, well known to all. For you chose no colleague to aid you in your contests with the usurpers, but you thought it right that one who had not shared in the toil should share in the honour and glory, and that only when all danger seemed to be over. And it is well known that from that honour you subtract not even a trifling part, though you do not demand that he should share the danger even in some small degree, except indeed when it was necessary for a short time that he should accompany you on your campaign. Does my account of this call for any further witnesses or proofs? Surely it is obvious that he who tells the tale would not be the one to introduce a fictitious account. But on this part of my subject I must not spend any more time.)

Σωφροσύνης δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς σῆς καὶ φρονήσεως καὶ ὅσην εὔνοιαν τοῖς ὑπηκόοις ἐνειργάσω, [C] βραχέα διελθεῖν ἴσως οὐκ ἄτοπον. τίς γάρ σ᾽200 ἀγνοεῖ τῶν ἁπάντων τοσαύτην ἐκ παίδων τῆς ἀρετῆς ταύτης ἐπιμέλειαν ἐσχηκότα, ὅσην οὐδεὶς ἄλλος τῶν ἔμπροσθεν; καὶ τῆς μὲν ἐν παισὶ σωφροσύνης μάρτυς ὁ πατὴρ γέγονεν ἀξιόχρεως, σοὶ τὰ περὶ τὴς ἀρχὴν καὶ τὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς διοικεῖν ἐπιτρέψας μόνῳ, ὄντι γε οὐδὲ πρεσβυτάτῳ τῶν ἐκείνου παίδων· τῆς δὲ ἐν ἀνδράσιν ἅπαντες αἰσθανόμεθα, [D] καθάπερ πολίτου τοῖς νόμοις ὑπακούοντος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ βασιλέως τῶν νόμων ἄρχοντος, ἀεί σου προσφερομένου τῷ πλήθει καὶ τοῖς ἐν τέλει. τίς γάρ σ᾽201 ἔγνω μεῖζον ὑπὸ τῆς εὐτυχίας φρονήσαντα; τίς δὲ ἐπαρθέντα [pg 118] τοῖς κατορθώμασι τοσούτοις202 καὶ τηλικούτοις ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ γενομένοις; ἀλλὰ τὸν Φιλίππου φασὶν Ἀλέξανδρον, ἐπειδὴ τὴν Περσῶν καθεῖλε δύναμιν, οὐ μόνον τὴν ἄλλην δίαιταν πρὸς ὄγκον μείζονα καὶ λίαν ἐπαχθῆ τοῖς πᾶσιν ὑπεροψίαν μεταβαλεῖν, [46] ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ τοῦ φύσαντος ὑπερορᾶν καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἁπάσης φύσεως. ἠξίου γὰρ υἱὸς Ἄμμωνος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ Φιλίππου νομίζεσθαι, καὶ τῶν συστρατευσαμένων ὄσοι μὴ κολακεύειν μηδὲ δουλεύειν ἠπίσταντο τῶν ἑαλωκότων πικρότερον ἐκολάζοντο. ἀλλὰ σοῦ γε τῆς εἰς τὸν πατέρα τιμῆς ἆρα ἄξιον ἐνταῦθα μεμνῆσθαι; ὃν οὐκ ἰδίᾳ μόνον σεβόμενος, ἀεὶ δὲ ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς συλλόγοις διετέλεις ἀνακηρύττων καθάπερ ἀγαθὸν ἥρωα. τῶν φίλων δέ, [B] ἀξιοῖς γὰρ αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἄχρις ὀνόματος μόνον τῆς τιμῆς, πολὺ δὲ πλέον διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων βεβαιοῖς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν τοὔνομα· ἔστιν οὖν ἄρα τις ὁ μεμφόμενος ἀτιμίαν ἢ ζημίαν ἢ βλάβην ἤ τινα μικρὰν ὑπεροψίαν ἢ μείζονα; ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἂν οὐδαμῶς εἰπεῖν ἔχοι τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν. τούτων γὰρ οἱ μὲν γηραιοὶ σφόδρα, ταῖς ἀρχαῖς εἰς τὴν εἱμαρμένην τελευτὴν τοῦ βίου παραμείναντες, τὰς ἐπιμελείας τῶν κοινῶν συναπέθεντο τοῖς σώμασι, [C] παισὶν ἢ φίλοις ἤ τισι πρὸς γένους τοὺς κλήρους παραπέμποντες· ἄλλοι δὲ πρὸς τοὺς πόνους καὶ τὰς στρατείας ἀπαγορεύοντες, ἀφέσεως ἐντίμου τυχόντες, ζῶσιν ὄλβιοι· τινὲς δὲ καὶ μετήλλαξαν, εὐδαίμονες παρὰ τοῦ πλήθους εἶναι [pg 120] κρινόμενοι. ὅλως δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ εἷς, ὃς ἐπειδὴ ταύτης ἠξιώθη τῆς τιμῆς, εἰ καὶ μοχθηρὸς ὕστερον ἐφάνη, τιμωρίας ἔτυχε μικρᾶς ἢ μείζονος· ἤρκεσε δὲ αὐτὸν ἀπηλλάχθαι μόνον καὶ μηδὲν ἐνοχλεῖν ἔτι.

(A few words about your temperance, your wisdom, and the affection that you inspired in your subjects, will not, I think, be out of place. For who is there among them all who does not know that from boyhood you cultivated the virtue of temperance as no one had ever done before you? That in your youth you possessed that virtue your father is a trustworthy witness, for he entrusted to you alone the management of affairs of state and all that related to your brothers, although you were not even the eldest of his sons. And that you still display it, now that you are a man, we are all well aware, since you ever behave towards the people and the magistrates like a citizen who obeys the laws, not like a king who is above the laws. For who ever saw you made arrogant by prosperity? Who ever saw you uplifted by those successes, so numerous and so splendid, and so quickly achieved? They say that Alexander, Philip's son, when he had broken the power of Persia, not only adopted a more ostentatious mode of life and an insolence of manner obnoxious to all, but went so far as to despise the father that begat him, and indeed the whole human race. For he claimed to be regarded as the son of Ammon instead of the son of Philip, and when some of those who had taken part in his campaigns could not learn to flatter him or to be servile, he punished them more harshly than the prisoners of war. But the honour that you paid to your father need I speak of in this place? Not only did you revere him in private life, but constantly, where men were gathered together in public, you sang his praises as though he were a beneficent hero-god. And as for your friends, you grant them that honour not merely in name, but by your actions you make their title sure. Can any one of them, I ask, lay to your charge the loss of any right, or any penalty or injury suffered, or any overbearing act either serious or trifling? Nay there is not one who could bring any such accusation. For your friends who were far advanced in years remained in office till the appointed end of their lives, and only laid down with life itself their control of public business, and then they handed on their possessions to their children or friends or some member of their family. Others again, when their strength failed for work or military service, received an honourable discharge, and are now spending their last days in prosperity; yet others have departed this life, and the people call them blessed. In short there is no man who having once been held worthy of the honour of your friendship, ever suffered any punishment great or small, even though later he proved to be vicious. For them all that he had to do was to depart and give no further trouble.)

[D] Ἐν δὲ τούτοις ἅπασιν ὢν καὶ γεγονὼς τοιοῦτος ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡδονῆς ἁπάσης, ᾗ πρόσεστιν ὄνειδος καὶ μικρόν, καθαρὰν τὴν ψυχὴν διεφύλαξας. μόνον δὲ οἶμαι σὲ τῶν πρόσθεν αὐτοκρατόρων, σχεδὸν δὲ πλὴν σφόδρα ὀλίγων καὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἀνδράσι μόνον παράδειγμα πρὸς σωφροσύνην παρασχεῖν κάλλιστον, καὶ γυναιξὶ δὲ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας κοινωνίας. [47] ὅσα γὰρ ἐκείναις ἀπαγορεύουσιν οἱ νόμοι τοῦ γνησίους203 φύεσθαι τοὺς παῖδας ἐπιμελόμενοι, ταῦτα ὁ λόγος ἀπαγορεύει ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις παρὰ σοί. ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων ἔχων ἔτι πλείονα λίγειν ἀφίημι.

(While this has been your character from first to last in all these relations, you always kept your soul pure of every indulgence to which the least reproach is attached. In fact I should say that you alone, of all the emperors that ever were, nay of all mankind almost, with very few exceptions, are the fairest example of modesty, not to men only but to women also in their association with men. For all that is forbidden to women by the laws that safeguard the legitimacy of offspring, your reason ever denies to your passions. But though I could say still more on this subject, I refrain.)

Τῆς φρονήσεως δὲ ἄξιον μὲν ἔπαινον διελθεῖν οὐδαμῶς εὐχερές, μικρὰ δὲ ὅμως καὶ ὑπὲρ ταύτης ῥητέον. ἔστι δὲ τὰ μὲν ἔργα τῶν λόγων οἶμαι πιστότερα. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν εἰκὸς τοσαύτην ἀρχὴν [B] καὶ δύναμιν μὴ παρὰ τῆς ἴσης διοικουμένην καὶ κρατουμένην φρονήσεως πρὸς τοσοῦτον μέγεθος ἀφικέσθαι καὶ κάλλος πράξεων· ἀγαπητὸν δὶ, εἰ καὶ τῇ τύχῃ μόνον δίχα φρονήσεως ἐπιτρεπομένη204 ἐπὶ πολὺ μένει.205 ἀνθῆσαι μὲν γὰρ τῇ τύχῃ προσσχόντα πρὸς βραχὺ ῥάδιον, διαφυλάξαι δὲ τὰ δοθέντα ἀγαθὰ δίχα φρονήσεως οὐ λίαν εὔκολον, μᾶλλον [pg 122] δὲ ἀδύνατον ἴσως. ὄλως δὲ εἰ χρὴ καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐναργὲς φράζειν τεκμήριον, πολλῶν καὶ γνωρίμων οὐκ ἀπορήσομεν. [C] τὴν γὰρ εὐβουλίαν ὑπολαμβάνομεν τῶν περὶ τὰς πράξεις ἀγαθῶν καὶ συμφερόντων ἐξευρίσκειν τὰ κράτιστα. σκοπεῖν οὖν ἄξιον ἐφ᾽ ἁπάντων ἁπλῶς, εἰ μὴ τοῦθ᾽ ἕν ἐστι τῶν σοι πραχθέντων. οὐκοῦν ὅπου μὲν ἦν ὁμονοίας χρεία, ἔχαιρες ἐλαττούμενος, ὅπου δὲ τοῖς κοινοῖς ἐχρῆν βοηθεῖν, τὸν πόλεμον ἀνείλου206 προθυμότατα. καὶ Περσῶν μὲν τὴν δύναμιν καταστρατηγήσας οὐδένα τῶν ὁπλιτῶν ἀποβαλὼν διέφθειρας, τὸν πρὸς τοὺς τυράννους δὲ πόλεμον διελὼν τοῦ μὲν ἐκράτησας ταῖς δημηγορίαις, [D] καὶ τὴν μετ᾽ ἐκείνου δύναμιν ἀκέραιον καὶ κακῶν ἀπαθῆ προσλαβὼν κατεπολέμησας μᾶλλον διὰ τῆς συνέσεως ἢ διὰ τῆς ῥώμης τὸν τοσούτων τοῖς κοινοῖς αἴτιον συμφορῶν. βούλομαι δὲ σαφέστερον περὶ τούτων εἰπὼν ἅπασι δεῖξαι, τίνι μάλιστα πιστεύσας207 τοσούτοις σαυτὸν ἐπιδοὺς πράγμασιν οὐδενὸς ὅλως διήμαρτες. [48] εὔνοιαν οἴει δεῖν παρὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων ὑπάρχειν τῷ βασιλεύοντι ἐρυμάτων ἀσφαλέστατον. ταύτην δὲ ἐπιτάττοντα μὲν καὶ κελεύοντα καθάπερ εἰσφορὰς καὶ φόρους κτήσασθαι παντελῶς ἄλογον. λείπεται δὴ λοιπόν, καθάπερ αὐτὸς ὥρμηκας, τὸ πάντας εὖ ποιεῖν καὶ μιμεῖσθαι τὴν θείαν ἐν ἀνθρώποις φύσιν· πρᾴως [pg 124] μὲν ἔχειν πρὸς ὀργήν, [B] τῶν τιμωριῶν δὲ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὰς χαλεπότητας, πταίσασι δὲ οἶμαι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐπιεικῶς καὶ εὐγνωμόνως προσφέρεσθαι. ταῦτα πράττων, ταῦτα θαυμάζων, ταῦτα τοῖς ἄλλοις προστάττων μιμεῖσθαι τὴν Ῥώμην μέν, ἔτι τοῦ τυράννου κρατοῦντος τῆς Ἰταλίας, διὰ τῆς γερουσίας εἰς Παιονίαν μετέστησας, προθύμους δὲ εἶχες τὰς πόλεις πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας.

(Your wisdom it is by no means easy to praise as it deserves, but I must say a few words about it. Your actions, however, are more convincing, I think, than my words. For it is not likely that this great and mighty empire would have attained such dimensions or achieved such splendid results, had it not been directed and governed by an intelligence to match. Indeed, when it is entrusted to luck alone, unaided by wisdom, we may be thankful if it last for any length of time. It is easy by depending on luck to flourish for a brief space, but without the aid of wisdom it is very hard, or rather I might say impossible, to preserve the blessings that have been bestowed. And, in short, if we need cite a convincing proof of this, we do not lack many notable instances. For by wise counsel we mean the ability to discover most successfully the measures that will be good and expedient when put into practice. It is therefore proper to consider in every case whether this wise counsel may not be counted as one of the things you have achieved. Certainly when there was need of harmony you gladly gave way, and when it was your duty to aid the community as a whole you declared for war with the utmost readiness. And when you had defeated the forces of Persia without losing a single hoplite, you made two separate campaigns against the usurpers, and after overcoming one of them208 by your public harangue, you added to your army his forces, which were fresh and had suffered no losses, and finally, by intelligence rather than by brute force, you completely subdued the other usurper who had inflicted so many sufferings on the community. I now desire to speak more clearly on this subject and to demonstrate to all what it was that you chiefly relied on and that secured you from failure in every one of those great enterprises to which you devoted yourself. It is your conviction that the affection of his subjects is the surest defence of an emperor. Now it is the height of absurdity to try to win that affection by giving orders, and levying it as though it were a tax or tribute. The only alternative is the policy that you have yourself pursued, I mean of doing good to all men and imitating the divine nature on earth. To show mercy even in anger, to take away their harshness from acts of vengeance, to display kindness and toleration to your fallen enemies, this was your practice, this you always commended and enjoined on others to imitate, and thus, even while the usurper still controlled Italy, you transferred Rome to Paeonia by means of the Senate and inspired the cities with zeal for undertaking public services.)

Τῶν στρατευμάτων δὲ τὴν εὔνοιαν τίς ἂν ἀξίως διηγήσαιτο; τάξις μὲν ἱππέων πρὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ Μύρσῃ παρατάξεως μεθειστήκει, [C] ἐπεὶ δὲ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἐκράτησας, πεζῶν κατάλογοι καὶ τέλη λαμπρά. ἀλλὰ τὸ μικρὸν μετὰ τὴν τοῦ τυράννου δυστυχῆ τελευτὴν ἐν Γαλατίᾳ γενόμενον κοινὴν ἁπάντων ἔδειξε στρατοπέδων τὴν εὔνοιαν, τὸν θρασυνόμενον καθάπερ ἐπ᾽ ἐρημίας καὶ τὴν γυναικείαν ἁλουργίδα περιβαλόμενον ὥσπερ τινὰ λύκον209 ἐξαίφνης διασπασαμένων. ὅστις δὲ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ γέγονας τῇ πράξει, καὶ ὅπως πρᾴως ἅπασι καὶ φιλανθρώπως τοῖς ἐκείνου γνωρίμοις προσηνέχθης, ὅσοι μηδὲν ἠλέγχοντο ἐκείνῳ συμπράξαντες, πολλῶν ἐφεστηκότων τῇ κατηγορίᾳ συκοφαντῶν, [D] καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον φιλίαν ὑποπτεύειν μόνον κελευόντων, ἐγὼ μὲν ἁπάσης ἀρετῆς τίθεμαι τοῦτο210 κεφάλαιον. καὶ γὰρ ἐπιεικῶς καὶ δικαίως φημὶ καὶ πολὺ πλέον ἐμφρόνως πεπράχθαι. ὅστις δὲ ἄλλως ἡγεῖται καὶ τῆς περὶ τοῦ πράγματος ἀληθοῦς ὑπολήψεως καὶ τῆς σῆς γνώμης διήμαρτε. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἐλεγχθέντας δίκαιον ἦν, ὡς εἰκός, [49] σώζεσθαι, [pg 126] ὑπόπτους δὲ τὰς φιλίας καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φευκτὰς οὐδαμῶς ᾤου δεῖν κατασκευάζειν, ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ὑπηκόων εὐνοίας ἐς τοῦτο μεγέθους ἀρθεὶς καὶ πράξεων. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν παῖδα τοῦ τετολμηκότος νήπιον κομιδῇ τῆς πατρῴας οὐδὲν εἴασας μετασχεῖν ζημίας. οὕτω σοι πρὸς ἐπιείκειαν ἡ πρᾶξις ῥέπουσα τελείας ἀρετῆς ὑπάρχει γνώρισμα. * * *

(As for the affection of your armies, what description could do it justice? Even before the battle at Myrsa, a division of cavalry came over to your side,211 and when you had conquered Italy bodies of infantry and distinguished legions did the same. But what happened in Galatia212 shortly after the usurper's miserable end demonstrated the universal loyalty of the garrisons to you; for when, emboldened by his isolated position, another213 dared to assume the effeminate purple, they suddenly set on him as though he were a wolf and tore him limb from limb.214 Your behaviour after that deed, your merciful and humane treatment of all those of his friends who were not convicted of having shared his crimes, and that in spite of all the sycophants who came forward with accusations and warned you to show only suspicion against friends of his, this I count as the culmination of all virtue. What is more, I maintain that your conduct was not only humane and just, but prudent in a still higher degree. He who thinks otherwise falls short of a true understanding of both the circumstances and your policy. For that those who had not been proved guilty should be protected was of course just, and you thought you ought by no means to make friendship a reason for suspicion and so cause it to be shunned, seeing that it was due to the loyal affection of your own subjects that you had attained to such power and accomplished so much. But the son of that rash usurper, who was a mere child, you did not allow to share his father's punishment. To such a degree does every act of yours incline towards clemency and is stamped with the mint-mark of perfect virtue * * * * *.)215

[pg 131]