§33τῷ γὰρ ἀργοῦντι καὶ σχολάζοντι τῆς πόλεως ὄχλῳ — πλῆθος δ’ ἐστὶν ἐπιτετηδευκὸς γλωσσαλγίαν καὶ ἐνευκαιροῦν διαβολαῖς καὶ βλασφημίαις — ἐπιτρέπει κακηγορεῖν τὸν βασιλέα εἴτε ἀρξάμενος δι’ ἑαυτοῦ τῶν λοιδοριῶν εἴτε προτρεψάμενος καὶ ἐναγαγὼν αὐτὸς διὰ τῶν ὑπηρετεῖν τὰ τοιαῦτα εἰωθότων.
For he permitted the idle and leisure-seeking crowd of the city—a multitude that has practiced word-shedding and wastes its leisure in slanders and blasphemies—to speak ill of the king, whether having himself begun the abuse, or having himself urged them on and incited them through those who were accustomed to serve such purposes.
§34οἱ δ’ ἀφορμῆς λαβόμενοι διημέρευον ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ χλευάζοντες τὸν βασιλέα καὶ σκώμματα συνείροντες· πῇ δὲ καὶ ποιηταῖς μίμων καὶ γελοίων διδασκάλοις χρώμενοι τὴν ἐν τοῖς αἰσχροῖς εὐφυΐαν ἐπεδείκνυντο, βραδεῖς μὲν ὄντες τὰ καλὰ παιδεύεσθαι, τὰ δ’ ἐναντία μανθάνειν ὀξύτατοι καὶ προχειρότατοι.
And they, taking this as an opportunity, spent their days in the gymnasium mocking the king and stringing together jests; and at times also employing comic poets and teachers of farce, they displayed their cleverness in shameful matters, being slow indeed to be educated in good things, but extremely sharp and ready to learn the opposite.
§35διὰ τί γὰρ οὐκ ἠγανάκτησεν, οὐκ ἀπήγαγεν, οὐκ ἐπέπληξε τῆς αὐθάδους βλασφημίας;
For why did he not become indignant, why did he not lead them away, why did he not rebuke the insolent blasphemy?
εἰ δὲ μὴ βασιλεὺς ἦν, ἀλλά τις τῶν ἐκ τῆς Καίσαρος οἰκίας, οὐκ ὤφειλε προνομίαν τινὰ καὶ τιμὴν ἔχειν;
Even if he was not a king, but one of those from the house of Caesar, ought he not to have had some privilege and honor?
ἀλλὰ ταῦτ’ εἰσὶ πίστεις ἐναργεῖς τοῦ συναίτιον γεγενῆσθαι τῶν βλασφημιῶν Φλάκκον· ὁ γὰρ ἐπιπλήττειν ἢ τὸ πανύστατον ἐπέχειν ἂν δυνηθεὶς εἰ μὴ κεκώλυκε, δῆλος ἦν ἐφιεὶς καὶ ἐπιτρέπων αὐτός.
But these are clear proofs that Flaccus became an accomplice in the blasphemies; for he who, having been able to rebuke or at the very least to restrain, did not prevent, was clearly himself permitting and allowing it.
πρὸς ὅ τι δ’ ἂν ὄχλος ἀσύντακτος ἀφορμὴν λάβῃ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, οὐχ ἵσταται, μέτεισι δ’ ἀφ’ ἑτέρων εἰς ἕτερα προσεπεξεργαζόμενος ἀεί τι νεώτερον.
And whatever opportunity an undisciplined crowd takes for wrongdoing, it does not stop, but goes from one thing to another, always working out something newer.
§36Ἦν τις μεμηνὼς ὄνομα Καραβᾶς οὐ τὴν ἀγρίαν καὶ θηριώδη μανίαν — ἄσκηπτος γὰρ αὕτη γε καὶ τοῖς ἔχουσι καὶ τοῖς πλησιάζουσιν —, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀνειμένην καὶ μαλακωτέραν.
There was a certain madman named Carabas, not with the fierce and beastly madness—for this indeed is sudden and uncontrollable both for those who have it and for those who approach them—but with the relaxed and gentler kind.
οὗτος διημέρευε καὶ διενυκτέρευε γυμνὸς ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς οὔτε θάλπος οὔτε κρυμὸν ἐκτρεπόμενος, ἄθυρμα νηπίων καὶ μειρακίων σχολαζόντων.
This man spent his days and nights naked in the streets, avoiding neither heat nor cold, a plaything of infants and idle youths.
§37συνελάσαντες τὸν ἄθλιον ἄχρι τοῦ γυμνασίου καὶ στήσαντες μετέωρον, ἵνα καθορῷτο πρὸς πάντων, βύβλον μὲν εὐρύναντες ἀντὶ διαδήματος ἐπιτιθέασιν αὐτοῦ τῇ κεφαλῇ, χαμαιστρώτῳ δὲ τὸ ἄλλο σῶμα περιβάλλουσιν ἀντὶ χλαμύδος, ἀντὶ δὲ σκήπτρου βραχύ τι παπύρου τμῆμα τῆς ἐγχωρίου καθ’ ὁδὸν ἐρριμμένον ἰδών τις ἀναδίδωσιν.
Having driven the wretched man as far as the gymnasium and having set him up on high, so that he might be seen by everyone, they widened a sheet of papyrus and placed it on his head instead of a diadem, and wrapped the rest of his body in a coarse mat instead of a cloak, and instead of a scepter, someone, seeing a short piece of local papyrus reed cast on the road, handed it to him.
§38ἐπεὶ δὲ ὡς ἐν θεατρικοῖς μίμοις τὰ παράσημα τῆς βασιλείας ἀνειλήφει καὶ διεκεκόσμητο εἰς βασιλέα, νεανίαι ῥάβδους ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων φέροντες ἀντὶ λογχοφόρων ἑκατέρωθεν εἱστήκεσαν μιμούμενοι δορυφόρους.
And when, as in theatrical farces, he had assumed the insignia of royalty and had been arrayed as a king, young men carrying rods on their shoulders instead of spearmen stood on either side, imitating bodyguards.
εἶθ’ ἕτεροι προσῄεσαν, οἱ μὲν ὡς ἀσπασόμενοι, οἱ δὲ ὡς δικασόμενοι, οἱ δ’ ὡς ἐντευξόμενοι περὶ κοινῶν πραγμάτων.
Then others approached him, some as if to salute him, others as if to seek judgment, and others as if to consult him about public affairs.
§39εἶτ’ ἐκ τοῦ περιεστῶτος ἐν κύκλῳ πλήθους ἐξήχει βοή τις ἄτοπος Μάριν ἀποκαλούντων — οὕτως δέ φασι τὸν κύριον ὀνομάζεσθαι παρὰ Σύροις —· ᾔδεσαν γὰρ Ἀγρίππαν καὶ γένει Σύρον καὶ Συρίας μεγάλην ἀποτομὴν ἔχοντα, ἧς ἐβασίλευε.
Then from the crowd standing around in a circle, there rang out a strange cry of people calling him "Marin"—for thus they say the lord is named among the Syrians—; for they knew that Agrippa was both a Syrian by race and held a large portion of Syria, over which he ruled.
ταῦτα δὲ ἀκούων, μᾶλλον δὲ ὁρῶν ὁ Φλάκκος, §40δεόντως ἂν καὶ τὸν μεμηνότα συλλαβὼν καὶ καθείρξας, ἵνα μὴ παρέχῃ τοῖς κατακερτομοῦσιν ἀφορμὴν εἰς ὕβριν τῶν βελτιόνων, καὶ τοὺς ἐνσκευάσαντας τιμωρησάμενος, ὅτι γε βασιλέα καὶ φίλον Καίσαρος καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς Ῥωμαίων βουλῆς τετιμημένον στρατηγικαῖς τιμαῖς ἐτόλμησαν καὶ ἔργοις καὶ λόγοις καὶ φανερῶς καὶ πλαγίως ὑβρίζειν, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐπέπληξεν, ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ἐπισχεῖν ἠξίωσεν ἄδειαν καὶ ἐκεχειρίαν διδοὺς τοῖς ἐθελοκακοῦσι καὶ ἐθελέχθρως ἔχουσι, προσποιούμενος ἅ τε ἑώρα μὴ ὁρᾶν καὶ ὧν ἤκουε μὴ ἀκούειν.
Hearing, or rather seeing these things, Flaccus, when he ought to have arrested and imprisoned the madman, so that he might not provide to those who mock an opportunity for insulting their betters, and to have punished those who set it up, because they dared to insult, both in deed and word, both openly and obliquely, a king and friend of Caesar, who had been honored by the Roman senate with praetorian honors, not only did he not rebuke them, but did not even deign to restrain them, granting impunity and truce to those who willfully did evil and were willfully hostile, pretending not to see what he saw and not to hear what he heard.
§41ὅπερ συναισθόμενος ὁὁ ὄχλος — οὐχ ὁὁ καθεστὼς καὶ δημοτικός, ἀλλ’ ὁ πάντα θορύβου καὶ ταραχῆς εἰωθὼς ἀναπιμπλάναι διὰ φιλοπραγμοσύνην καὶ ζῆλον ἀβιώτου βίου καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἔθους ἀργίαν καὶ σχολήν, πρᾶγμα ἐπίβουλον — συρρυέντες εἰς τὸ θέατρον ἐξ ἑωθινοῦ Φλάκκον ἤδη τιμῶν ἀθλίων ἐωνημένοι, ἃς ὁ δοξομανὴς καὶ παλίμπρατος ἐλάμβανεν οὐ καθ’ αὑτοῦ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς κοινῆς ἀσφαλείας, ἀνεβόησαν ἀφ’ ἑνὸς συνθήματος εἰκόνας ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς ἀνατιθέναι, καινότατον καὶ μηδέπω πραχθὲν εἰσηγούμενοι παρανόμημα.
Perceiving this, the crowd—not the orderly and civic one, but that which is accustomed to fill everything with uproar and confusion because of meddlesomeness and a zeal for an unlivable life, and habitual idleness and leisure, a conspiratorial thing—having rushed together into the theater from early morning, having already bought wretched honors from Flaccus, the fame-mad and twice-sold man, which he received not only against himself but also against the common safety, cried out with one signal to set up images in the houses of prayer, proposing a most novel lawlessness that had never yet been done.