Texte grec :
| [7,24] Καιρὸς δ´ ὁ παρὼν οἷος οὐχ ἕτερος, εἴπερ
γ´ ἄρχεσθαι μέλλετε σωφρονεῖν, ἐν ᾧ κεκάκωται αὐτῶν
τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος ὑπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὐκ
ἂν ἔτι δύναιτο πολὺν ἀντισχεῖν χρόνον ὑπ´ ἀχρηματίας, εἰ
σπανίους τε καὶ τιμίας ἔχοι τὰς ἀγοράς·
ἀναγκασθήσονται δ´ οἱ μὲν κάκιστοι καὶ οὐδέποτε τῇ
ἀριστοκρατίᾳ χαίροντες ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν, οἱ δ´ ἐπιεικέστεροι
πολιτεύεσθαι κοσμίως μηθὲν ἔτι ἐνοχλοῦντες
ὑμῖν. τάς τ´ οὖν ἀγορὰς διὰ φυλακῆς ἔχετε, καὶ τῆς
τιμῆς τῶν ὠνίων μηθὲν ἀνίετε, ἀλλ´ ὅσου πλείστου
ποτὲ ἦν τὰ ὤνια, τοσούτου καὶ νῦν αὐτὰ πωλεῖν ψηφίσασθε
δικαίας ἀφορμὰς ἔχοντες καὶ προφάσεις εὐλόγους
τήν τ´ ἀχάριστον τοῦ δήμου καταβοήν, ὡς ὑφ´ ἡμῶν
κατασκευασθείσης τῆς σιτοδείας, ἣ διὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν
τὴν ἐκείνων ἐγένετο καὶ τὴν καταφθοράν, ἣν ἐποιήσαντο, τῆς
γῆς, ἄγοντες αὐτὴν καὶ φέροντες ὥσπερ
πολεμίαν, καὶ τὰς ἐξαιρεθείσας ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου δαπάνας εἰς
τοὺς ἀποσταλέντας ἐπὶ τὴν σιτωνίαν ἄνδρας,
καὶ ἄλλα πολλά τιν´, ἃ ἠδίκησθε ὑπ´ αὐτῶν· ἵνα καὶ
γνῶμεν ἤδη, τί ποτ´ ἐστὶν ἐκεῖνο τὸ δεινόν, ὃ διαθήσουσιν ἡμᾶς,
ἂν μὴ ποιῶμεν ἅπαντα τῷ δήμῳ τὰ
καθ´ ἡδονάς, ὡς οἱ δημαγωγοὶ αὐτῶν δεδιττόμενοι
ἔλεγον. εἰ δ´ ἀφήσετε καὶ τοῦτον ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν τὸν
καιρόν, πολλάκις εὔξεσθε τοιούτου τυχεῖν ἑτέρου· καὶ
εἰ γνοίη τοῦθ´ ὁ δῆμος, ὅτι βουληθέντες καταλύειν
αὐτοῦ τὴν ἰσχὺν ἀπετράπεσθε, πολὺ μᾶλλον ὑμῖν βαρὺς
ἐγκείσεται, πολέμιον μὲν τὸ βουλόμενον ὑμῶν ἡγούμενος, δειλὸν
δὲ τὸ μὴ δυνάμενον.
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Traduction française :
| [7,24] (p217) "The present opportunity is favourable as no other, if you really intend to
begin to act with wisdom, since the greater part of the plebeians are now reduced to
dire straits by the famine and the rest cannot hold out for want of money if they find
proves scarce and dear. The worst of them and those who were never pleased with the
aristocracy will be forced to leave the city, and the more reasonable will be compelled
to behave themselves in an orderly manner without giving you any further trouble.
Keep the provisions, therefore, under guard, and abate nothing of the price of
commodities, but pass a vote that they shall now be sold at as high a price as ever. For
this you have just grounds and plausible excuses in the ungrateful clamour of the
populace to the effect that the scarcity of corn was contrived by you, whereas it was
occasioned by their own revolt and the desolation of the country which they caused
when they pillaged it just as if it had been the territory of an enemy; and again in the
disbursements from the treasury to the men sent to purchase corn, and in many other
instances in which you have been wronged by them. By this means we shall also know
at last what that grievous treatment is which they are going to inflict upon us if we
refuse to gratify the people in everything, as their demagogues threatened in order to
frighten us. But if you let this opportunity also slip from your grasp, you will often
pray for such another. Moreover, if the people should become aware that you desired
to overthrow their power but were deterred, they will bear down much harder upon
you, looking upon your desire as a proof of enmity and upon your inability to carry it
out as evidence of cowardice."
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