Texte grec :
| [6,44] Εἰ μὲν οὖν ὁ δῆμος εὖ προπαθὼν ἐξέλιπε
τὰς δι´ ἐμοῦ τῇ βουλῇ γενομένας ὑποσχέσεις, ἐκεῖνά
μοι ἀπολογητέα ἦν, ὅτι ἐψεύσασθε ὑμεῖς, ἐν ἐμοὶ δ´
οὐδὲν κακούργημα ἦν· ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς
ὁμολογηθέντα οὐ γέγονεν ὑμῖν ἐπιτελῆ, πρὸς τὸν δῆμον
ὁ λόγος ἤδη ἀναγκαῖος γίγνεταί μοι, ὅτι οὐκ ἐμοὶ
συνδοκοῦντα πεπόνθατε, ἀλλ´ ὁμοίως πεφενακίσμεθα
καὶ παραλελογίσμεθα ἀμφότεροι, καὶ μᾶλλον ὑμῶν ἐγώ,
ὅς γε οὐχ ἃ κοινῇ ἠπάτημαι μετὰ πάντων μόνον ἀδικοῦμαι,
ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα ἰδίᾳ κακῶς ἀκήκοα, ὡς δὴ τά τε
παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἁλόντα οὐ μετὰ κοινῆς γνώμης
τοῦ συνεδρίου τοῖς ἀπόροις ὑμῶν βουλόμενος ἰδίαν
ὠφέλειαν περιποιήσασθαι παρασχὼν καὶ τὰς τῶν πολιτῶν
οὐσίας δημεύειν ἀξιῶν ἐκείνης γε κωλυούσης καὶ
μὴ παρανομεῖν, στρατιάς τ´ ἐναντιουμένων τῶν βουλευτῶν
ἀφεικώς, δέον ὑπὸ ταῖς ἀγραυλίαις καὶ πλάναις
ἐν τῇ πολεμίᾳ κατέχειν ὑμᾶς. ὠνείδισται δέ μοι
καὶ ἡ τῶν κληρούχων εἰς Οὐολούσκους ἐκπομπή, ὅτι
γῆν πολλὴν καὶ ἀγαθὴν οὐ τοῖς πατρικίοις οὐδὲ τοῖς
ἱππεῦσιν ἐχαρισάμην, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀπόροις ὑμῶν διένειμα·
καὶ ὃ μάλιστά μοι τὴν πλείστην ἀγανάκτησιν παρέσχεν,
ὅτι πλείους ἢ τετρακόσιοι ἄνδρες ἐκ τοῦ δήμου τοῖς
ἱππεῦσι προσκατελέγησαν ἐπὶ τῆς στρατολογίας βίων
εὐπορήσαντες. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀκμάζοντί μοι τὸ σῶμα
ταῦτα προσέπεσε, δῆλον ἂν ἔργῳ ἐποίησα τοῖς ἐχθροῖς,
οἷον ὄντα με ἄνδρα προὐπηλάκισαν· ἐπειδὴ δ´ ὑπὲρ
ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη γέγονα καὶ οὐ δυνατὸς ἔτι ἀμύνειν
ἑαυτῷ εἰμι ὁρῶ τε, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν ἔτι ὑπ´ ἐμοῦ παύσαιτο
ἡ στάσις ὑμῶν, ἀποτίθεμαι τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς
βουλομένοις τὸ σῶμα ἐμαυτοῦ ποιῶ, εἴ τι οἴονται ὑπ´
ἐμοῦ ἐξηπατῆσθαι, χρήσασθαί μοι ὅτι ἂν δικαιῶσι.
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Traduction française :
| [6,44] (p369) "If, now, the people, after being treated well, had failed to keep the promises
made by me to the senate in their name, my defence to that body must have been that
you had violated your word, but that there was no deceit on my part. But since it is
the promises made to you by the senate that have not been fulfilled, I am now under
the necessity of stating to the people that the treatment you have met with does not
have my approval, but that both of us alike have been cheated and misled, and I more
than you, inasmuch as I am wronged, not alone in being deceived in common with
you all, but am also hurt in my own reputation. For I am accused of having turned
over to the poor among you, without the consent of the senate, the spoils taken from
the enemy, in the desire to gain a private advantage for myself, and of demanding
that the property of the citizens be confiscated, though the senate forbade me to act in
violation of the laws, and of having disbanded the armies in spite of the opposition of
the senators, when I ought to have kept you in the enemy's country occupied in
sleeping in the open and in endless marching. I am also reproached in the matter of
sending the colonists into the territory of the Volscians, on the ground that I did not
bestow a large and fertile country upon the patricians or even upon the knights, but
allotted it to the poor among you. But the thing in particular which has occasioned
the greatest indignation against me is that, in raising the army, more than four
hundred well-to-do plebeians were added to the knights. If, now, I had been thus
treated when I was in the vigour of my youth, I should have made it clear to my
enemies by my deeds what kind of man they had (p371) abused; but as I am now above
seventy years old and no longer capable of defending myself, and since I perceive that
your discord can no longer be allayed by me, I am laying down my office and putting
myself in the hands of any who may desire it in the belief that they have been
deceived by me in any respect, to be treated in such manner as they shall think fit."
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