[7,28] Ἡ μὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς σιτοδείας ἀπολογία πάνυ βραχεῖά ἐστιν, ὦ δημόται, καὶ οὐκ ἄλλους τινὰς παρεξόμεθα ὧν ἂν λέγωμεν ἢ ὑμᾶς μάρτυρας. τήν τε γὰρ ἀφορίαν τῶν σιτικῶν καρπῶν ἐπίστασθε δήπου καὶ αὐτοὶ διὰ τὸν ἐκλειφθέντα σπόρον γενομένην· τήν τ´ ἄλλην καταφθορὰν τῆς χώρας οὐ παρ´ ἑτέρων ὑμᾶς δεῖ μαθεῖν, ἀφ´ ἧς αἰτίας συνέβη, καὶ ὡς τελευτῶσα ἡ πλείστη τε καὶ ἀρίστη γῆ πάντων ἐσπάνικε καρπῶν τε καὶ ἀνδραπόδων καὶ βοσκημάτων τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων διαρπαζομένη, τὰ δ´ ὑμῖν μὴ ἐπιχορηγοῦσα τοσούτοις οὖσι καὶ μηδεμίαν ἄλλην ἀποστροφὴν ἔχουσιν. ὥστ´ οὐκ ἐξ ὧν οἱ δημαγωγοὶ διαβάλλουσιν, ἀλλ´ ἐξ ὧν αὐτοὶ ἴστε, τὸν λιμὸν ἡγούμενοι γεγονέναι παύσασθε προσάπτοντες ἐπιβουλὴν ἡμετέραν τῷ πάθει καὶ δι´ ὀργῆς ἔχοντες ἡμᾶς οὐθὲν ἀδικοῦντας. αἱ δ´ ἀποστολαὶ τῶν κληρούχων ἐκ τοῦ ἀναγκαίου ἐγένοντο, κοινῇ δόξαν ὑμῖν ἅπασι διὰ φυλακῆς ἔχειν χωρία εἰς πόλεμον ἐπιτήδεια, καὶ μεγάλα ὤνησαν ἐν καιρῷ σφόδρα ἀναγκαίῳ γενόμεναι τούς τ´ ἐξιόντας καὶ τοὺς ὑπολειπομένους ὑμῶν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀφθονωτέρων εὐποροῦσιν ἐκεῖ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων· οἱ δ´ ἐνθάδε ὑπομείναντες ἧττον σπανίζουσι τῆς ἀγορᾶς· ἥ τ´ ἰσομοιρία τῆς τύχης, ἧς μετέσχομεν ὑμῖν τοῖς δημοτικοῖς οἱ πατρίκιοι κλήρῳ ποιησάμενοι τὴν ἔξοδον, οὐ ψέγεται.

[7,28] "Our defence as regards the scarcity is a very brief one, plebeians, and we shall offer no other witnesses than you yourselves to prove the truth of what we allege. For surely even you yourselves know that the land produced no crops of grain for the reason that none was sown. And as for the general ruin of the land, you have no need to be informed by others to what cause it was due and by what means at last the largest and the most fertile part of the land has come to lack all crops, slaves, and cattle — partly because it was being laid waste by the enemy and (p227) partly because it was incapable of supplying you who are so numerous and have no other resource. Believe, then, that the famine was occasioned, not by what your demagogues charge, but by what you yourselves know to be true, and cease to attribute this misfortune to plotting on our part and to be angry with us when we are guilty of no wrongdoing. As to the colonists, there was a necessity for sending them out since it was the unanimous decision of all of you to garrison places that will be of use in time of war; and sending them out when the occasion was so very urgent has proved of great advantage both to those who went out and to you who are left behind. For the colonists enjoy there a greater plenty of all the necessaries of life, and those who remain here suffer less from the scarcity of provisions; and the principle of impartiality in sharing the decrees of Fortune, to which we patricians submitted along with you plebeians when we chose the colonists by lot, is not open to censure.