[5,65] Ἐξαριθμησάμενος δὲ πολλὰ καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν παραδείγματα πόλεων τελευταίαν παρέσχετο τὴν Ἀθηναίων πόλιν μεγίστου τότε τυγχάνουσαν ὀνόματος ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ, οὐ πρὸ πολλῶν χρόνων, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν ἄφεσιν χρεῶν ψηφισαμένην τοῖς ἀπόροις Σόλωνος καθηγησαμένου, καὶ οὐθένα τῇ πόλει τοῦ πολιτεύματος τούτου ἐπιτιμᾶν οὐδὲ τὸν εἰσηγησάμενον αὐτὸ δημοκόπον καὶ πονηρὸν ἀποκαλεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς πεισθεῖσι πολλὴν φρόνησιν ἅπαντας μαρτυρεῖν, καὶ τῷ πείσαντι μεγάλην σοφίαν. Ῥωμαίοις δ´, οἷς οὐ περὶ μικρῶν τὸν κίνδυνον εἶναι διαφορῶν, ἀλλ´ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ παραδοθῆναι πάλιν ὠμῷ καὶ παντὸς χείρονι θηρίου τυράννῳ, τίς τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων ἐπιτιμήσειεν ἄν, ἐὰν τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ ταύτῃ συμμάχους ἀντὶ πολεμίων τοὺς πένητας κατασκευάσωνται τῇ πόλει γενέσθαι; διεξελθὼν δὲ τὰ ξενικὰ παραδείγματα τελευταῖον τὸν ἐκ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἔργων προσελάμβανε λόγον ὑπομιμνήσκων τὰς ἔναγχος κατασχούσας αὐτοὺς ἀνάγκας, ὅτε κρατουμένης σφῶν τῆς χώρας ὑπὸ Τυρρηνῶν τειχήρεις γενόμενοι καὶ εἰς πολλὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων καταστάντες ἀπορίαν οὐκ ἔσχον ἀνθρώπων μεμηνότων καὶ θανατώντων ἀνοήτους λογισμούς, ἀλλ´ εἴξαντες τοῖς κατέχουσι καιροῖς καὶ τὴν ἀνάγκην διδάσκαλον τῶν συμφερόντων λαβόντες, ὅμηρα τε δοῦναι βασιλεῖ Πορσίνᾳ τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους παῖδας ὑπέμειναν, οὔπω πρότερον τοῦτο ὑπομείναντες, καὶ μέρει τῆς χώρας ζημιωθῆναι, τῶν Ἑπτὰ πάγων Τυρρηνοῖς ἀποστάντες, καὶ δικαστῇ χρήσασθαι τῷ πολεμίῳ, περὶ ὧν αὐτοῖς ὁ τύραννος ἐνεκάλει, διδόντες καὶ ἀγορὰν καὶ ὅπλα καὶ τἆλλα, ὅσων ἐδέοντο Τυρρηνοὶ παρασχεῖν ἐπὶ τῇ καταλύσει τοῦ πολέμου. τούτοις δὴ τοῖς παραδείγμασι χρησάμενος οὐ τῆς αὐτῆς φρονήσεως ἔργον ἀπέφαινεν εἶναι τοῖς μὲν πολεμίοις περὶ μηθενὸς ὧν ἠξίωσαν ἀντειπεῖν, τοῖς δ´ ἑαυτῶν πολίταις περὶ μικροῦ πολεμεῖν διαφόρου, οἳ πολέμους μὲν ἠγωνίσαντο καλοὺς καὶ πολλοὺς περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας, ὅτε κατεῖχον οἱ βασιλεῖς τὰ κοινά, μεγάλην δὲ προθυμίαν εἰς τὸ συνελευθερῶσαι τὴν πόλιν ἀπὸ τῶν τυράννων παρέσχοντο, ἔτι δὲ πλείονα παρέξεσθαι σπουδὴν ἔμελλον εἰς τὰ λοιπὰ ἔργα παρακληθέντες, βίων μὲν σπανίζοντες, τὰ δὲ σώματα καὶ τὰς ψυχάς, ἃ μόνα περιῆν αὐτοῖς, ἀφειδῶς εἰς τοὺς περὶ αὐτῆς κινδύνους ἐπιδιδόντες. ἔφη δὲ τελευτῶν ὡς εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἐπεχείρουν ἐκεῖνοι τοιοῦτον ὑπ´ αἰσχύνης κρατούμενοι λέγειν, μηδὲ ἀπαγγέλλειν, τοὺς πατρικίους ἐχρῆν λογισμὸν τὸν προσήκοντα περὶ αὐτῶν λαβόντας, ὧν ᾔδεσαν δεομένους καὶ κοινῇ καὶ καθ´ ἕνα ἕκαστον, ταῦτ´ ἐξ ἑτοίμου χαρίζεσθαι, ἐνθυμουμένους, ὅτι πρᾶγμα ὑπερήφανον ποιοῦσιν αἰτοῦντες μὲν παρ´ ἐκείνων τὰ σώματα, μὴ χαριζόμενοι δ´ αὐτοῖς τὰ χρήματα, καὶ λέγοντες μὲν πρὸς ἅπαντας, ὅτι τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας ἕνεκα πολεμοῦσι, τῶν δὲ συγκατακτησαμένων αὐτὴν ἀφαιρούμενοι, οὐ πονηρίαν ἔχοντες αὐτοῖς ὀνειδίζειν, ἀλλ´ ἀπορίαν, ἣν οἰκτείρεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ μισεῖσθαι προσῆκε.

[5,65] After he had enumerated many examples taken from many cities, he at last offered them that of the city of Athens, then in the greatest repute for wisdom, which not very long before, but in the time of their fathers, had under the guidance of Solon voted a remission of debts to the poor; and no one, he said, censured the city for this measure or called its author a flatterer of the people or a knave, but all bore witness both to the great prudence of those who were persuaded to enact it and to the great wisdom (p195) of the man who persuaded them do so. As for the Romans, whose perilous situation was due to no trivial differences, but to the danger of being delivered up again to a cruel tyrant more savage than any wild beast, what man in his senses could blame them if by this instance of humanity they should cause the poor to become joint supporters, instead of enemies, of the commonwealth? After enumerating these foreign examples he ended with a reference to their own actions, reminding them of the straits to which they had been lately reduced when, their country being in the power of the Tyrrhenians and they themselves shut up within their walls and in great want of the necessaries of life, they had not taken the foolish resolutions of madmen courting death, but yielding to the emergency that was upon them and allowing necessity to teach them their interest, had consented to deliver up to King Porsena their most prominent children as hostages, a thing to which they had never submitted before, to be deprived of part of their territory by the cession of the Seven Districts to the Tyrrhenians, to accept the enemy as the judge of the accusations brought against them by the tyrant, and to furnish provisions, arms, and everything else the Tyrrhenians required as the condition of their putting an end to the war. Having made use of these examples, he went on to show that it was not the part of the same prudence first to refuse no terms insisted on by their enemies and then to make war over a trivial difference upon their own (p197) citizens who had fought many glorious battles for Rome's supremacy while the kings held sway, and had shown great eagerness in assisting the patricians to free the state from the tyrants, and would show still greater zeal in what remained to be done, if invited to do so; for, though they lacked the means of existence, they would freely expose their persons and lives, which were all they had left, to any dangers for her sake. In conclusion he said that, even if these men from a sense of shame forbore to say or demand anything of this kind, the patricians ought to take proper account of them and to give them readily whatever they knew they needed, whether as a class or individually, bearing in mind that they, the patricians, were doing an arrogant thing in asking of them their persons while refusing them money, and in publishing to all the world that they were making war to preserve the common liberty even while they were depriving of liberty those who had assisted them in establishing it, though they could reproach them with no wrongdoing, but only with poverty, which deserved compassion rather than hated.