Texte grec :
| [6,24] Ἀππίου δ´ ἦν γνώμη τοῦ κορυφαιοτάτου
τῶν προεστηκότων τῆς ἀριστοκρατίας αὐστηρὰ καὶ αὐθάδης
μηδὲν ἐνδιδόναι τῷ δήμῳ μαλακόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ
τῶν συναλλαγμάτων τὰς ἀναπράξεις ἐπιτρέπειν τοῖς
δεδανεικόσιν, ἐφ´ οἷς συνέβαλον δικαίοις ποιεῖσθαι,
καὶ τὰ δικαστήρια καθίζειν, καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ πόλει μένοντα τῶν
ὑπάτων κατὰ τοὺς πατρίους ἐθισμοὺς καὶ
τὰς τιμωρίας, ἃς κατὰ τῶν ἐκλιπόντων οἱ περὶ αὐτῶν νόμοι
δεδώκασιν, ἀναπράττεσθαι, εἴκειν δὲ τοῖς
δημοτικοῖς μηδὲν ὅ τι μὴ δίκαιον μηδὲ δύναμιν αὐτοῖς
συγκατασκευάζειν πονηράν. Καὶ γὰρ νῦν, ἔφη, πέρα
τοῦ μετρίου τρυφῶσι τελῶν ἀφειμένοι, ὧν ἐτέλουν τοῖς
βασιλεῦσι πρότερον, καὶ τῶν εἰς τὸ σῶμα τιμωριῶν,
αἷς ἐκολάζοντο ὑπ´ αὐτῶν, ὁπότε μὴ ταχέως ὑπηρετήσειάν τι
τῶν ἐπιταττομένων, ἐλεύθεροι γεγονότες. ἐὰν
δέ τι παρακινεῖν ἢ νεωτερίζειν προενεχθέντες ἐπιβάλωνται,
κατείργωμεν αὐτοὺς τῷ σωφρονοῦντι μέρει τῆς
πόλεως καὶ ὑγιαίνοντι πλείονι τοῦ νοσοῦντος φανησομένῳ.
ὑπάρχει μέν γ´ ἡμῖν οὐ μικρὰ ἰσχὺς πρὸς
τὰ πράγματα καὶ ἡ τῶν πατρικίων νεότης ἕτοιμος τὰ
κελευόμενα ποιεῖν· μέγιστον δὲ πάντων ὅπλον καὶ
δυσκαταγώνιστον, ᾧ χρώμενοι ῥᾳδίως ἐπικρατήσομεν
τῶν δημοτικῶν, τὸ τῆς βουλῆς κράτος, ᾧ δεδιττόμεθα
αὐτοὺς μετὰ τῶν νόμων ἱστάμενοι. ἐὰν δ´
ὑποκατακλινώμεθα αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀξιώσεως, πρῶτον αἰσχύνην
ὀφλήσομεν, εἰ παρὸν ἐν ἀριστοκρατίᾳ πολιτεύεσθαι
δήμῳ τὰ κοινὰ ἐπιτρέψομεν· ἔπειτα δ´ εἰς κίνδυνον
οὐ τὸν ἐλάχιστον ἥξομεν, εἴ τις ἐκθεραπεύσας αὐτὸν
ἐξουσίαν κρείττονα τῶν νόμων κατασκευάσαιτο τυραννικὸς
ἀνήρ, τὴν ἐλευθερίαν αὖθις ἀφαιρεθῆναι. Τοιαῦτα
διαφερομένων τῶν ὑπάτων κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς καὶ
ὁπότε συναχθείη συνέδριον καὶ συλλαμβανόντων πολλῶν
ἑκατέρῳ, ἡ μὲν βουλὴ φιλονεικίας καὶ θορύβους
καὶ λόγους ἀκόσμους, οἷς ἀλλήλους προὐπηλάκιζον,
ἀκούσασα, σωτήριον δὲ βούλευμα οὐδὲν καθισταμένη, διελύετο.
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Traduction française :
| [6,24] But the opinion of Appius, the chief man among the leaders of the aristocracy,
was harsh and arrogant. He advised that they should show no leniency toward the
people in anything, but should even allow the money-lenders to enforce payment of
the obligations upon the terms agreed upon, and should cause the courts of justice to
sit, and that the consul who remained in the city should, in accordance with ancestral
custom and usage, exact the punishments ordained by law against those who
declined military service, and that they ought to yield to the people in nothing that
was not just nor aid them in establishing a pernicious power. "Why, even now," he
said, "they are pampered beyond all measure in consequence of having been relieved
of the taxes they formerly paid to the kings and freed from the corporal punishments
they received from them when they did not yield prompt obedience to any of their
commands. But if they go further and attempt any disturbance or uprising, let us
restrain them with the aid of the sober and sound element (p313) among the citizens,
who will be found more numerous than the disaffected. We have on hand for the
task no slight strength in the patrician youth who are ready to obey our commands;
but the great weapon of all, and one difficult to be resisted, with which we shall
subdue the plebeians, is the power of the senate; with this let us overawe them, taking
our stand on the side of the laws. But if we yield to their demand, in the first place, we
shall incur disgrace by entrusting the government to the people when we have it in
our power to live under an aristocracy; and secondly, we shall run no little danger of
being deprived of our liberty again, in case some man inclined toward tyranny should
win them over and acquire a power superior to the laws." The consuls disputing in
this manner, both by themselves alone and whenever the senate was assembled, and
many siding with each, that body, after listening to their altercations and clamour
and the unseemly speeches with which they abused one another, would adjourn
without coming to any salutary decision.
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