[34,10] πάλιν τοίνυν ἕτερον πρᾶγμα συμβὰν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τρόπον τινὰ ὅμοιον τούτῳ γέγονεν. οἱ γὰρ Αἰγαῖοι φιλοτιμίαν ἀνόητον ἐπανελόμενοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, τὸ περὶ τὰς ἀπογραφὰς ἐξαμαρτάνοντες, αὐτοὶ μὲν ἔπταισαν, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν καθ´ ὑμῶν φθόνον καὶ τοιαύτην τινὰ ἡσυχῇ διαβολὴν εἰργάσαντο πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ὡς (11) ἐπαχθῆ καὶ βαρεῖαν ταῖς ἄλλαις. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐκ τοῦ πρότερον χρόνου. τὰ δὲ νῦν οἵ γε Μαλλῶται διαφέρονται πρὸς ὑμᾶς, αὐτοὶ μὲν ἅπαντα ἀδικοῦντες καὶ θρασυνόμενοι, τῷ δὲ ἀσθενεῖς εἶναι καὶ πολὺ ἥττους {ἀεὶ} μᾶλλον τὴν τῶν ἀδικουμένων τάξιν ἀεὶ λαμβάνοντες. οὐ γὰρ ἃ ποιοῦσιν ἔνιοι σκοποῦσιν, ἀλλὰ τίνες ὄντες, οὐδὲ τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ἢ βιαζομένους ἐθέλουσιν ἐξετάζειν πολλάκις, ἀλλ´ οὓς εἰκὸς βιάζεσθαι τῷ δύνασθαι πλέον. εἰ γοῦν ὑφ´ ὑμῶν ἐπράχθη τι τοιοῦτον οἷον ὑπ´ ἐκείνων νῦν γέγονε, πορθεῖν ἂν ἐδοκεῖτε τὰς πόλεις καὶ ἀποστάσεως ἄρχειν καὶ πολέμου, καὶ στρατοπέδου (12) δεῖν ἐφ´ ὑμᾶς. οὐκοῦν δεινὰ πάσχομεν, ἐρεῖ τις, εἰ τούτοις μὲν ἐξέσται ποιεῖν ὅ,τι ἂν ἐθέλωσι καὶ τοῦτο ἀπολαύσουσι τῆς ἐρημίας τῆς ἑαυτῶν, ἡμεῖς δὲ κινδυνεύσομεν, ἐὰν μόνον κινηθῶμεν. ἔστω δεινὸν καὶ ἄδικον. ἀλλ´ οὐκ, εἴ τι μὴ δίκαιον πέφυκε γίγνεσθαι, δεῖ πρὸς τοῦτο φιλονικοῦντας αὑτοὺς περιβάλλειν ἀτόπῳ τινί, μᾶλλον δὲ προορᾶν καὶ φυλάττεσθαι. τὸ γὰρ συμβαῖνον ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῷ περὶ τοὺς ἀθλητάς, ὅταν ἐλάττων πρὸς πολὺ μείζω (13) μάχηται. τῷ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔξεστι παρὰ τὸν νόμον, ἀλλὰ κἂν ἄκων ἁμάρτῃ τι, μαστιγοῦται· τὸν δ´ οὐδεὶς ὁρᾷ πάνθ´ ἃ δύναται ποιοῦντα. τοιγαροῦν κἀκεῖ σωφρονοῦντος ἀνδρός ἐστι καὶ ταῖς ἀληθείαις κρείττονος τῇ δυνάμει περιεῖναι, τὰς δὲ πλεονεξίας ταύτας ἐᾶν, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἂν ἔχητε νοῦν, τοῖς δικαίοις περιέσεσθε καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς πόλεως τῶν φθονούντων, πρὸς ὀργὴν δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἀγανακτοῦντες δράσετε. καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων αὖθις, ὥσπερ οἶμαι καὶ προεθέμην. (14) νῦν δὲ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπέξειμι δι´ ἃ πλείονος σκέψεως {ἧς} φημι δεῖσθαι τὸν ἐνεστῶτα καιρόν. ἡ μέν γε τῶν Μαλλωτῶν ἀπέχθεια καὶ στάσις ἧττον ὀφείλει λυπεῖν ὑμᾶς. τὸ δὲ Σολεῖς τούτους καὶ Ἀδανεῖς καί τινας ἴσως ἄλλους ὁμοίως ἔχειν καὶ μηδὲν ἐπιεικέστερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ βαρύνεσθαι καὶ βλασφημεῖν καὶ μᾶλλον ἑτέρων ὑπακούειν ἐθέλειν, ὑποψίαν ποιεῖ τοῦ μηδὲ τοὺς Αἰγαίους τάχα μηδὲ τοὺς Μαλλώτας παντάπασιν ἀδίκως ἄχθεσθαι, μηδὲ τοὺς μὲν φθόνῳ, τοὺς δὲ πλεονεκτεῖν βουλομένους ἠλλοτριῶσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ἀλλ´ ἴσως εἶναί τι τοιοῦτον περὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ ὑβρίζειν πως καὶ ἐνοχλεῖν τοὺς ἐλάττονας.

[34,10] To continue then, another happening in which you were concerned has, in a measure, turned out like that just mentioned. For the people of Aegae, having resumed a foolish quarrel with you, being at fault in the matter of the registers, did indeed fail in that enterprise, but they made the dislike against you still greater, and they stealthily developed a prejudice against your city as being obnoxious and oppressive toward the other cities. And these instances, it is true, are drawn from times gone by ; but at this present moment the people of Mallus certainly are at odds with you and, although wholly in the wrong themselves and guilty of insolence, yet because of their weakness and their great inferiority as compared with you, they always assume the air of being the injured party. For it is not what men do that some persons consider but who they are ; nor is it the wrong-doers or those who actually resort to force whom they often wish to criticize, but rather those who may be expected to resort to force because they have the greater power. At any rate, if anything had been dope by you such as has been done by Mallus in the present instance, people would think that you were sacking their cities and starting a revolution and war, and that an army must take the field against you. (12) "Well, it is a shame, then," someone will say, "if they are to be at liberty to do whatever they please and to derive that advantage from their very helplessness, while we are to be in danger if we make a single move." Granted that it is a shame and unfair, still, if some unfairness is the natural consequence, you should not through obstinacy on that point cause yourselves to be involved in an absurd situation, but should rather look to the future and be on your guard. For what is happening to you resembles what happens in the case of athletes when a smaller man contends against one much larger. For the larger man is not allowed to do anything contrary to the rules, but even if unwittingly he is guilty of a foul, he gets the lash ; whereas nobody observes the smaller, though he does anything within his power. Accordingly not only in athletics is it the part of a man of discretion and one who is really the better man to win by his strength and overlook these unfair advantages, but also in your case, if you are sensible, you will by justice and by the greatness of your city overcome those who bear you malice, and you will do nothing in anger or vexation. And on that subject more later, as indeed, methinks, I promised in the beginning. (14) But at the moment I shall treat the other items that still remain, giving to them that fuller consideration which I daim is required by the present crisis. At any rate the hatred and rebellion of Mallus ought to disturb you less than it does. But the fact that your neighbours in Soli and in Adana and possibly some others, are in a similar frame of mind and are not a whit more reasonable, but chafe under your domination and speak iIl of you and prefer to be subjeet to others than yourselves—all this creates the suspicion that possibly the people of Aegae and of Mallus also are not wholly unwarranted in their vexation, and that their estrangement has not been due in the one instance to envy and in the other to a determination to get unfair advantage, but that possibly there is an element of truth in what they say about your city, namely, that it does somehow bully and annoy peoples who are weaker.