[10,35] Ἐπεὶ δὲ κἀκεῖθεν ἀπηλάθησαν οἱ δήμαρχοι
βοήθειαν οὐδεμίαν εὑρόμενοι, ἐσκόπουν αὖθις ὅ τι
χρὴ ποιεῖν εἰς τὸν δῆμον ἀφικόμενοι. ἐνίοις μὲν οὖν
ἐδόκει καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ταραχωδεστάτοις ἀπιέναι πάλιν
ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τοὺς δημοτικοὺς τὰ ὅπλα ἀναλαμβάνοντας εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ὄρος, ἔνθα καὶ
τὸ πρῶτον ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο, καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἐκεῖθεν ὁρμωμένους
ποιεῖν πρὸς τοὺς πατρικίους, ἐπειδὴ τὰς συνθήκας
ἔλυσαν ἐκεῖνοι τὰς γενομένας αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὸν δῆμον,
καταλύοντες τὴν δημαρχικὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ.
τοῖς δὲ πλείοσιν ἐδόκει μὴ παραχωρεῖν τῆς πόλεως
μηδὲ κοινὰ πάντων ἐγκλήματα ποιεῖν, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἰδίᾳ
τινὲς εἰς τοὺς δημάρχους παρενόμησαν, ἐὰν τὰ συγκεχωρημένα τοῖς νόμοις
λαμβάνωσιν, οἳ κελεύουσιν ἢ
ποινὴν τίνειν ἢ τεθνάναι τοὺς ὑβρίσαντας τὰ τῶν
δημάρχων σώματα. τοῖς δὲ χαριεστέροις οὐδέτερον
τούτων ἐφαίνετο καλῶς ἔχειν, οὔτε τὴν πόλιν ἐκλιπεῖν
οὔτε φόνον ἄκριτον ἐπιτελεῖν, καὶ ταῦτα ὑπάτων, οἷς
ἡ μεγίστη ὑπέκειτο ἀρχή, ἀλλ´ εἰς τοὺς συναγωνιζομένους
αὐτοῖς μεταφέρειν τὴν ὀργήν, καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν
νόμων τιμωρίας παρ´ ἐκείνων λαμβάνειν. εἰ μὲν οὖν
ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν θυμῷ φερόμενοι δρᾶσαί τι οἱ δήμαρχοι
κατὰ τῶν ὑπάτων ἢ τῆς βουλῆς προήχθησαν,
οὐθὲν ἂν ἦν τὸ κωλῦσον αὐτὴν ὑφ´ αὑτῆς ἀπολωλέναι
τὴν πόλιν· οὕτως ἕτοιμοι πάντες ἦσαν ἐπὶ τὰ ὅπλα
καὶ τὸν κατ´ ἀλλήλων πόλεμον. νῦν δ´ ἀναβαλόμενοι
τὰ πράγματα καὶ δόντες ἑαυτοῖς χρόνον εἰς ἀμείνω
λογισμὸν αὐτοί τε μετριώτεροι ἐγένοντο καὶ τὰς τῶν
πολλῶν ὀργὰς ἐπράυναν. ἔπειτα ταῖς ἑξῆς ἡμέραις
τὴν τρίτην ἀπ´ ἐκείνης ἐσομένην ἀγορὰν προειπόντες,
ἐν ᾗ τὸν δῆμον συνάξουσι καὶ ζημίαν ἐπιβαλοῦσι τοῖς
ὑπάτοις ἀργυρικήν, διέλυσαν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ
πλησίον ἦν ὁ χρόνος, ἀπέστησαν καὶ ταύτης τῆς ἐπιβολῆς τῇ δεήσει τῶν
πρεσβυτάτων τε καὶ ἐντιμοτάτων
τὴν χάριν ἀνατιθέναι λέγοντες. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα συναγαγόντες τὸν δῆμον ἔλεγον, ὅτι
τὰς μὲν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς
ὕβρεις ἀφείκασι χαρισάμενοι πολλοῖς καὶ ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσι δεομένοις, οἷς οὐκ ἦν
ὅσιον ἀντιλέγειν, ὧν δὲ
ὁ δῆμος ἠδικεῖτο κωλυταί τε καὶ τιμωροὶ ἔσεσθαι.
προθήσειν γὰρ αὖθις τόν τε περὶ τῆς κληρουχίας
νόμον ἔτη τριάκοντα παρειλκυσμένον καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς
ἰσονομίας, ὃν οἱ πρὸ αὐτῶν δήμαρχοι προθέντες οὐκ
ἐπεψήφισαν.
| [10,35] When the tribunes were repulsed there also, failing to get any help, they went
again to the popular assembly and considered what they ought to do. Some,
particularly the most turbulent, thought the plebeians should take arms and again
withdraw from the city to the Sacred Mount, where they had encamped on the first
occasion, and from there make war against the patricians, since these had violated
the compact they had made with the populace by openly overthrowing the tribunician
power. But the majority thought they ought not to leave the city nor to bring
charges against all the patricians as a body for the lawless acts committed by some
particular persons against the tribunes, provided they could obtain the relief offered
by the laws, which ordain that those who have insulted the persons of the tribunes
may be put to death with impunity. The more intelligent did not regard either course
as fitting, either to leave the city or to put persons to death without a trial, and
particularly consuls, who held the chief magistracy, but they advised them to transfer
their resentment to those who were assisting the consuls and to exact from these the
punishment ordained by the laws. Now if the tribunes had been carried away by
their passion that day to do anything (p287) against the consuls or the senate, nothing
would have prevented the commonwealth from being destroyed by its own hands, so
ready were all to rush to arms and engage in civil war. But as it was, by deferring
matters and giving themselves time for better reasoning, they not only themselves
grew more moderate, but also appeased the resentment of the multitude. Then,
during the following days, they announced the third market-day from that one as
the day when they would assemble the populace and impose a monetary fine upon
the consuls; after which they dismissed the assembly. But when the time drew near,
they refrained from imposing even this fine, alleging that they granted the favour at
the intercession of men who were the oldest and most honoured. After that they
assembled the populace and told them that they had pardoned the insults to
themselves, doing this at the request of many worthy men whom it was not right to
refuse, but that as for the wrongs done to the populace, they would both avenge them
and prevent their recurrence. For they would again propose not only the law
concerning the allotment of land, the enactment of which had been postponed for
thirty years, but also the one concerning an equality of laws, which their predecessors
had proposed but had not put to vote.
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