[10,51] Ἃ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου πέπονθα, ὦ βουλή, καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀδικῶν, ἀλλὰ τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς εὐνοίας ἕνεκα, φορτικὸς ἂν εἴην {ἔγωγε} ἐν εἰδόσιν {ὑμῖν} ἀκριβῶς λέγων· μνήμην δὲ αὐτῶν ποιοῦμαι τοῦ ἀναγκαίου ἕνεκεν, ἵν´ εἰδῆτε, ὅτι οὐ κολακείᾳ τοῦ δημοτικοῦ ἐπιτρέψας ἐχθροῦ μοι ὄντος, ἀλλ´ ἀπὸ τοῦ βελτίστου τὰ συμφέροντα ἐρῶ. θαυμάσῃ δὲ μηθείς, εἰ πρότερόν τε πολλάκις καὶ ἡνίκα ὕπατος ἦν τῆς ἑτέρας προαιρέσεως γενόμενος νῦν ἐξαίφνης μεταβέβλημαι· μηδὲ ὑπολάβητε δυεῖν θάτερον ἢ τότε βεβουλεῦσθαί με κακῶς ἢ νῦν ἀνατίθεσθαι τὰ δόξαντα οὐκ ὀρθῶς. ἐγὼ γάρ, ὦ βουλή, ὅσον μὲν χρόνον τὰ ὑμέτερα ἰσχυρὰ ἡγούμην, ὥσπερ ἐχρῆν ἀριστοκρατίαν αὔξων περιεφρόνουν τὸ δημοτικόν, ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῖς ἐμαυτοῦ σωφρονισθεὶς κακοῖς μετὰ μεγάλων μισθῶν ἔμαθον, ὅτι ἔλαττον ὑμῶν ἐστι τοῦ βουλομένου τὸ δυνάμενον, καὶ πολλοὺς ἤδη τὸν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἀγῶνα αἰρομένους περιείδετε ἀναρπασθέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις εἴξαντες, οὐκέθ´ ὅμοια ἔγνωκα. ἐβουλόμην δ´ ἂν μάλιστα μήτ´ ἐμαυτῷ συμβῆναι μήτε τῷ συνάρχοντί μου ταῦτα, ἐφ´ οἷς ἅπαντες ἡμῖν συμπαθεῖτε. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ μὲν καθ´ ἡμᾶς τέλος ἔχει, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ἔξεστιν ἐπανορθώσασθαι καὶ τοῦ μὴ παθεῖν ταὐτὰ ἑτέρους προϊδέσθαι, καὶ κοινῇ καὶ καθ´ ἕνα ἕκαστον ἰδίᾳ τὰ παρόντα εὖ τίθεσθαι παρακαλῶ. κράτιστα γὰρ οἰκεῖται πόλις ἡ πρὸς τὰ πράγματα μεθαρμοττομένη, καὶ συμβούλων ἄριστος ὁ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἔχθραν ἢ χάριν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ κοινῇ συμφέρον ἀποδεικνύμενος γνώμην· βουλεύονταί τ´ ἄριστα περὶ τῶν μελλόντων οἱ παραδείγματα ποιούμενοι τὰ γεγονότα τῶν ἐσομένων. ὑμῖν δ´, ὦ βουλή, ὁσάκις ἐνέστη τις ἀμφισβήτησις καὶ φιλονεικία πρὸς τὸν δῆμον, ἀεί τι μειονεκτεῖν ἐξεγένετο τὸ μὲν ἀκούειν κακῶς, τὸ δ´ εἰς ἀνδρῶν ἐπιφανῶν θανάτους τε καὶ ὕβρεις καὶ ἐκβολὰς ζημιωθῆναι. καίτοι τί γένοιτ´ ἂν ἀτύχημα πόλει μεῖζον ἢ τοὺς κρατίστους τῶν ἀνδρῶν περικόπτεσθαι καὶ ταῦτα οὐ σὺν δίκῃ; ὧν ὑμῖν φείδεσθαι παραινῶ καὶ μήτε τοὺς νῦν ἄρχοντας προβαλόντας εἰς κίνδυνον πρόδηλον, ἔπειτα ἐγκαταλιπόντας ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς μετανοεῖν, μήτε τῶν ἄλλων τινά, οὗ τι καὶ μικρὸν ὄφελος τῷ κοινῷ. κεφάλαιον δ´ ἐστὶν ὧν ὑμῖν παραινῶ, πρέσβεις ἑλέσθαι τοὺς μὲν εἰς τὰς Ἑλληνίδας πόλεις τὰς ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ, τοὺς δ´ εἰς Ἀθήνας· οἵτινες αἰτησάμενοι παρὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοὺς κρατίστους νόμους καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἁρμόττοντας βίοις οἴσουσι δεῦρο. ἀφικομένων δ´ αὐτῶν τοὺς τότε ὑπάτους προθεῖναι τῇ βουλῇ σκοπεῖν, τίνας ἑλέσθαι δεήσει νομοθέτας καὶ ἥντινα ἕξοντας ἀρχὴν καὶ χρόνον ὅσον καὶ τἆλλα, ὅπως ἂν αὐτῇ φαίνηται συνοίσειν, στασιάζειν δὲ μηκέτι πρὸς τὸ δημοτικὸν μηδ´ ἄλλας ἐπ´ ἄλλαις ἀναιρεῖσθαι συμφορὰς ἄλλως τε καὶ περὶ νόμων φιλονεικοῦντας, οἳ κἂν εἰ μηθὲν ἄλλο τήν γέ τοι δόξαν τῆς ἀξιώσεως ἔχουσιν εὐπρεπῆ.

[10,51] "I should be wearisome to you, senators, if I related what I have suffered at the hands of the populace and showed that it is not because of any wrongdoing on my part but because of my attachment to you, when you yourselves know the facts so well. I am forced, however, to mention these matters in order that you may know that in what I am going to say I am not condescending to flattery of the populace, which is hostile to me, but stating from the best of motives what is to the advantage of the commonwealth. (p337) Let no one wonder, if I, who was of a different opinion both earlier upon many occasions and when I was consul, have now suddenly changed; and do not imagine either that my sentiments were then ill grounded or that I am now altering them without good reason. For as long as I thought your party strong, senators, I exalted the aristocracy, as was my duty, and despised the plebeians; but having been chastised by my own misfortunes and having learned at great cost that your power is less than your will and that, yielding to necessity, you have already permitted many who undertook the struggle in your behalf to be snatched away to destruction by the populace, I no longer entertain the same sentiments. I could have wished that, if possible, those misfortunes for which you all show your sympathy with us had not happened either to myself or to my colleague; but since our misadventure is over and you have it in your power to correct what lies in the future and to see to it that others do not suffer the same misfortunes, I urge you, both all in common and each one by himself, to make good use of the present situation. For that state is best governed which adapts itself to circumstances, and that man is the best counsellor who expresses his opinion without regard to personal enmity or favour but with a view to the public advantage; and those persons deliberate best concerning the future who take past events as examples of those that are to come. As for you, senators, it has happened that whenever a dispute or contention has arisen with the populace you have always come off at a disadvantage, sometimes having evil spoken of (p339) you and sometimes being punished by the death, the abuse and the banishment of illustrious men. And yet what greater misfortune could happen to a state than to have its best men lopped off, and that undeservedly? I advise you to spare these men and not to have to repent of first exposing to manifest danger and then deserting in the moment of peril either the present magistrates or anyone else who is of the slightest value to the commonwealth. The substance of my advice is that you choose ambassadors and send some of them to the Greek cities in Italy and others to Athens, to ask the Greeks for their best laws and such as are most suited to our ways of life, and then to bring these laws here. And when they return, that the consuls then in office shall propose for the consideration of the senate what men to choose as lawgivers, what magistracy they shall hold and for how long a time, and to determine everything else in such a manner as they shall think expedient; and that you contend no longer with the plebeians nor add calamities to your calamities, particularly by quarrelling over laws which, if nothing else, have at least a respectable reputation for dignity."