[6,79] Πολέμου δὲ πολιτικοῦ ὡς ἅπαντες ἴσασι κάκιον χρῆμα οὐδέν, ἐν ᾧ τὰ μὲν κρατηθέντα ἀτυχεῖ, τὰ δὲ κρατήσαντα ἀδικεῖ, καὶ περίεστι τοῖς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν φιλτάτων ἀπόλλυσθαι, τοῖς δὲ τὰ φίλτατα διολέσαι. ἐπὶ τοιαύταις δὴ τύχαις καὶ συμφοραῖς οὐκ εὐκταίαις μήτε ὑμεῖς, ὦ πατρίκιοι, καλεῖτε ἡμᾶς, μήτε ἡμεῖς αὐτοῖς ὑπακούωμεν, ὦ δημόται, ἀλλ´, ὡς διῄρηκεν ἡμᾶς ἀπ´ ἀλλήλων ἡ τύχη, στέργωμεν. ἐχέτωσαν μὲν οὖν οὗτοι τὴν πόλιν ὅλην καὶ καρπούσθωσαν ἡμῶν δίχα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων ἀπολαυέτωσαν μόνοι, τοὺς ταπεινοὺς καὶ ἀδόξους δημότας ἐκβαλόντες ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος· ἀπαλλαττώμεθα δ´ ἡμεῖς, ὅποι ποτ´ ἂν ἡμᾶς ὁ δαίμων ἄγῃ τόπον ἀλλότριον ἐκλιπεῖν νομίσαντες, οὐ πόλιν ἰδίαν. οὔτε γὰρ ἡμῶν τινι ἐνθάδε ὑπολείπεται κλῆρος γῆς οὔτε πατρῷον ἐφέστιον οὔτε ἱερὰ κοινὰ οὔτε ἀξίωμα ὡς ἐν πατρίδι, ὧν περιεχόμενοι φιλοχωροῖμεν ἂν καὶ παρὰ γνώμην {μένειν}, ἀλλ´ οὐδ´ ἡ {μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων} τοῖς σώμασι μετὰ πολλῶν πόνων ἐλευθερία· ἐπεὶ τὰ μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ πόλεμοι διέφθειραν, τὰ δ´ ἡ τῶν καθ´ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίων σπάνις ἐξανήλωσε, τὰ δ´ ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπερηφάνων δανειστῶν τούτων ἀφῃρέθημεν· οἷς τελευτῶντες ἠναγκαζόμεθα τοὺς ἑαυτῶν κλήρους οἱ δείλαιοι γεωργεῖν, σκάπτοντες φυτεύοντες ἀροῦντες ποίμνια νέμοντες ὁμόδουλοι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν δορικτήτοις ἀνδραπόδοις ὄντες, οἱ μὲν ἁλύσει δεθέντες, οἱ δὲ πέδαις, οἱ δ´ ὥσπερ τὰ χαλεπώτατα τῶν θηρίων κλοιοῖς καὶ μύδροις. αἰκίας δὲ δὴ καὶ προπηλακισμοὺς καὶ μάστιγας καὶ πόνους ἐκ νυκτὸς εἰς νύκτα καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην ὠμότητα καὶ ὕβριν καὶ ὑπερηφανίαν, ἣν ὑπεμείναμεν, ἐῶ. τοσούτων οὖν καὶ τηλικούτων ἀπηλλαγμένοι κακῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος, ὅση σπουδὴ καὶ δύναμις ἑκάστῳ πάρεστι φεύγωμεν ἀπ´ αὐτῶν ἄσμενοι τύχην καὶ θεὸν οἵπερ ἡμᾶς σώζουσιν ἡγεμόνας τῆς ὁδοῦ ποιησάμενοι, πατρίδα νομίζοντες τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ πλοῦτον τὴν ἀρετήν. πᾶσα γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὑποδέξεται γῆ κοινωνούς, τὰ μὲν ἀλύπους ἐσομένους τοῖς ὑποδεξαμένοις, τὰ δ´ ὠφελίμους.

[6,79] "There is no greater evil, as all are aware, than civil war, in which the conquered are unfortunate and the conquerors are unjust, and it is the fate of the former to be destroyed by their dearest ones, and of the latter to destroy those who are dearest to them. To such misfortunes and to such abhorred calamities do not summon us, patricians, nor let us, plebeians, answer their summons, but let us acquiesce in the fate which has separated us. No, let them have the whole city to themselves and enjoy it without us, and let them reap alone every other advantage after they have driven the humble and obscure plebeians from the fatherland. As for us, let us depart whithersoever Heaven shall conduct us, feeling that we are leaving an alien place and not our own city. For there remains to none of us here either an allotment of land, or an ancestral hearth, or common sacrifices, or any position of dignity, such as one would possess in one's fatherland, the desire for which things might induce us to cling to this country even against our will; nay we have not even the liberty of our own persons which we (p91) have purchased with many hardships. For some of these advantages have been destroyed by the many wars, some have been consumed by the scarcity of the necessaries of daily life, and of others we have been robbed by these haughty money-lenders, for whom we poor wretches are at last obliged to till our own allotments, digging, planting, ploughing, tending flocks, and becoming fellow-slaves with our own slaves taken by us in war, some of us being bound with chains, some with fetters, and others, like the most savage of wild beasts, dragging wooden clogs and iron balls. I same nothing of the tortures and insults, the stripes, the labours from dawn till dark, and every other cruelty, violence, and insolence that we have undergone. Accordingly, now that we are freed by Heaven from so many and great evils, let us gladly fly from them with all the eagerness and ability each of us possesses, taking as the guides of our journey Fortune and the god who ever preserve us, and looking upon our liberty as our country and our valour as our wealth. For any land will receive us as partners, since we shall be no cause of offence in any case to those who receive us, and in some cases shall actually be of service.