[7,66] Ἡ μὲν δὴ πρώτη Ῥωμαίοις ἐμπεσοῦσα μετὰ τὴν ἐκβολὴν τῶν βασιλέων στάσις ἔσχε τοιαύτας αἰτίας καὶ εἰς τοῦτο κατέσκηψε τὸ τέλος· ἐμήκυνα δὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν λόγον τοῦ μή τινα θαυμάσαι, πῶς ὑπέμειναν οἱ πατρίκιοι τηλικαύτης ἐξουσίας ποιῆσαι τὸν δῆμον κύριον, οὔτε σφαγῆς τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν γενομένης οὔτε φυγῆς, οἷον ἐν ἄλλαις πολλαῖς ἐγένετο πόλεσι. ποθεῖ γὰρ ἕκαστος ἐπὶ τοῖς παραδόξοις ἀκούσμασι τὴν αἰτίαν μαθεῖν καὶ τὸ πιστὸν ἐν ταύτῃ τίθεται μόνῃ. ἐλογιζόμην οὖν, ὅτι μοι πολλοῦ καὶ τοῦ παντὸς δεήσει πιστὸς εἶναι ὁ λόγος, εἰ τοσοῦτον ἔφην μόνον, ὅτι παρῆκαν οἱ πατρίκιοι τοῖς δημοτικοῖς τὴν ἑαυτῶν δυναστείαν, καὶ ἐξὸν αὐτοῖς ἐν ἀριστοκρατίᾳ πολιτεύεσθαι τὸν δῆμον ἐποίησαν τῶν μεγίστων κύριον, δι´ ἃς δὲ συνεχωρήθη ταῦτ´ αἰτίας παρέλιπον· διὰ τοῦτ´ ἐπεξῆλθον ἁπάσας. καὶ ἐπειδὴ οὐχ ὅπλοις ἀλλήλους βιασάμενοι καὶ προσαναγκάσαντες, ἀλλὰ λόγοις πείσαντες μεθήρμοσαν, παντὸς μάλιστ´ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμην εἶναι τοὺς λόγους αὐτῶν διεξελθεῖν, οἷς τότ´ οἱ δυναστεύσαντες ἐν ἑκατέροις ἐχρήσαντο. θαυμάσαιμι δ´ ἄν, εἴ τινες τὰς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις πράξεις ἀκριβῶς οἴονται δεῖν ἀναγράφειν, καὶ περὶ μίαν ἔστιν ὅτε μάχην πολλοὺς ἀναλίσκουσι λόγους, τόπων τε φύσεις καὶ ὁπλισμῶν ἰδιότητας καὶ τάξεων τρόπους καὶ στρατηγῶν παρακλήσεις καὶ τἆλλα διεξιόντες ὅσα τῆς νίκης αἴτια τοῖς ἑτέροις ἐγένετο· πολιτικὰς δὲ κινήσεις καὶ στάσεις ἀναγράφοντες οὐκ οἴονται δεῖν ἀπαγγέλλειν τοὺς λόγους, δι´ ὧν αἱ παράδοξοι καὶ θαυμασταὶ πράξεις ἐπετελέσθησαν. εἰ γάρ τι καὶ ἄλλο τῆς Ῥωμαίων πόλεως μέγα ἐγκώμιόν ἐστι καὶ ζηλοῦσθαι ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἄξιον κἀκεῖνο ἐγένετο κατ´ ἐμὴν δόξαν τὸ ἔργον, μᾶλλον δ´ ὑπὲρ ἅπαντα πολλὰ καὶ θαυμαστὰ ὄντα λαμπρότατον, τὸ μήτε τοὺς δημοτικοὺς καταφρονήσαντας τῶν πατρικίων ἐπιχειρῆσαι αὐτοῖς, καὶ πολὺν ἐργασαμένους τῶν κρατίστων φόνον ἅπαντα τἀκείνων παραλαβεῖν, μήτε τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἀξιώμασιν ἢ διὰ σφῶν αὐτῶν ἢ ξενικαῖς ἐπικουρίαις χρησαμένους διαφθεῖραι τὸ δημοτικὸν ἅπαν καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οἰκεῖν ἀδεῶς τὴν πόλιν· ἀλλ´ ὥσπερ ἀδελφοὺς ἀδελφοῖς ἢ παῖδας γονεῦσιν ἐν οἰκίᾳ σώφρονι περὶ τῶν ἴσων καὶ δικαίων διαλεγομένους πειθοῖ καὶ λόγῳ διαλύεσθαι τὰ νείκη, ἀνήκεστον δ´ ἢ ἀνόσιον ἔργον μηθὲν ὑπομεῖναι δρᾶσαι κατ´ ἀλλήλων· οἷα Κερκυραῖοί τε κατὰ τὴν στάσιν εἰργάσαντο καὶ Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Μιλήσιοι καὶ Σικελία πᾶσα καὶ συχναὶ ἄλλαι πόλεις. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν διὰ ταῦτα προειλόμην ἀκριβεστέραν μᾶλλον ἢ βραχυτέραν ποιήσασθαι τὴν διήγησιν· κρινέτω δ´ ἕκαστος ὡς βούλεται.

[7,66] Such were the causes and such was the outcome of the first sedition that arose among the Romans after the expulsion of the kings. I have related these at length, to the end that no one may wonder how the patricians ever consented to entrust the populace with so great power, when there had been no slaying or banishing of the best citizens, as has happened in many other states. For everyone, upon hearing of extraordinary events, desires to know the cause that produced them and considers that alone as the test of their credibility. I reflected, accordingly, that my account of this affair would gain little or no credit if I contented myself with saying that the patricians resigned their power to the plebeians and that, though they might have continued to live under an aristocracy, they put the populace in control of the most important matters, and if I left out the motives for their making these concessions; and for this reason I have related them all. And since they did not make this change in their government by using compulsion upon one another and the force of arms, but by the persuasion of words, I thought it necessary above all things to report the speeches which the heads of both parties made upon that occasion. I might express my surprise that some historians, though they think themselves obliged to give an exact account of military actions and sometimes expend a great many words over a single battle, describing the terrains, the peculiarities of armament, the ways the lines were drawn up, the exhortations of the generals, and every (p347) other circumstance that contributed to the victory of one side or the other, yet when they come to give an account of civil commotions and seditions, do not consider it necessary to report the speeches by which the extraordinary and remarkable events were brought to pass. For if there is anything about the Roman commonwealth that is worthy of great praise and deserving of imitation by all mankind, or, rather, anything that surpasses in its lustre all the many things which deserve our admiration, it is in my opinion this fact — that neither the plebeians in contempt of the patricians took up arms against them, and after murdering many of the best men, seized all their fortunes, nor, on the other hand, the men in positions of dignity either by themselves alone or with the aid of foreign troops destroyed all the plebeians and after that lived in the city free from fear, but conferring together about what was fair and just, like brothers with brothers or children with their parents in a well-governed family, they settled their controversies by persuasion and reason and never allowed themselves to commit any irreparable or wicked deeds against one another, such as the Corcyraeans committed at the time of their sedition, and also the Argives, the Milesians, and all Sicily, as well as many other states. For these reasons, therefore, I have chosen to make my narration accurate rather than brief; but let everyone judge of the matter as he thinks fit.