§74τῆς γὰρ ἡμετέρας γερουσίας, ἣν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ εὐεργέτης Σεβαστὸς ἐπιμελησομένην τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν εἵλετο μετὰ τὴν τοῦ γενάρχου | τελευτὴν διὰ τῶν πρὸς Μάγιον Μάξιμον ἐντολῶν μέλλοντα πάλιν [[ἀπ’]π[ἀπ’]] Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ τῆς χώρας ἐπιτροπεύειν, ὀκτὼ καὶ τριάκοντα συλλαβὼν τοὺς εὑρεθέντας ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις εὐθὺς μὲν δῆσαι κελεύει, καὶ στείλας καλὴν πομπὴν διὰ μέσης ἀγορᾶς πρεσβύτας δεσμίους ἐξηγκωνισμένους, τοὺς μὲν ἱμάσι, τοὺς δὲ σιδηραῖς ἁλύσεσιν, εἰς τὸ θέατρον εἰσάγει — θέαν οἰκτίστην καὶ ἀλλοτριωτάτην τῷ καιρῷ — §75καὶ στάντας ἀντικρὺ ἐχθρῶν καθεζομένων πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν αἰσχύνης προστάττει πάντας περιδυθέντας αἰκισθῆναι μάστιξιν, αἷς ἔθος τοὺς κακούργων πονηροτάτους προπηλακίζεσθαι, ὡς ἐκ τῶν πληγῶν τοὺς μὲν φοράδην ἐκκομισθέντας αὐτίκα τελευτῆσαι, τοὺς δὲ νοσήσαντας ἐπὶ πλεῖστον χρόνον εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν σωτηρίας ἐλθεῖν.
For after arresting thirty-eight members of our senate—whom the Savior and Benefactor Augustus chose to take charge of Jewish affairs after the death of the genarch, through his instructions to Magius Maximus who was about to govern Alexandria and the country again—those who were found in their homes, he immediately ordered to be bound, and having sent a fine procession through the middle of the marketplace—elderly men as prisoners, with their hands bound behind their backs, some with leather thongs, others with iron chains—he brought them into the theatre, a most pitiable spectacle and utterly foreign to the occasion— and having made them stand opposite their seated enemies for the display of shame, he ordered them all to be stripped and scourged with whips with which it is customary for the worst of criminals to be insulted, so that from the blows some, carried out on stretchers, died immediately, while others fell ill for a very long time and came to despair of recovery.
§76ἧς ἐπιβουλῆς τὸ μέγεθος ἐξελήλεγκται μὲν καὶ δι’ ἑτέρων, οὐχ ἧττον δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦ μέλλοντος λέγεσθαι σαφέστερον ἐπιδειχθήσεται.
The magnitude of this plot has been proved through other things indeed, but will be shown even more clearly through what is about to be said.
τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γερουσίας τρεῖς ἄνδρες, Εὔοδος καὶ Τρύφων καὶ Ἄνδρων, ἐγεγένηντο ἐξούσιοι, πάνθ’ ὅσα εἶχον ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις διαρπασθέντες ἐφόδῳ μιᾷ, οὓς οὐκ ἠγνόησε ταῦτα πεπονθότας· ἐδηλώθη γὰρ αὐτῷ μεταπεμψαμένῳ πρότερον τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἄρχοντας ὅσα τῷ δοκεῖν ἐπὶ καταλλαγαῖς ταῖς πρὸς τὴν ἄλλην πόλιν.
Three men from the senate, Euodos, Tryphon, and Andron, had become destitute, having been plundered of everything they had in their houses in a single raid, and he was not ignorant that they had suffered these things; for it had been made clear to him when he had previously summoned our rulers, ostensibly for the sake of reconciliation with the rest of the city.
§77καὶ ὅμως εἰδὼς ἀκριβῶς τούτους στερομένους τῶν ἰδίων ἐν ὄψεσι τῶν ἁρπασάντων ἔτυπτεν, ἵν’ οἱ μὲν ὑπομένωσι διττὰς συμφοράς, πενίαν ὁμοῦ καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν ὕβριν, οἱ δὲ διττὴν ἡδονήν, ἀλλότριόν τε καρπούμενοι πλοῦτον καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀφαιρεθέντων ἀτιμίας εἰς κόρον ἀπολαύοντες.
And yet, knowing accurately that these men were deprived of their own property, in the sight of those who had plundered them he beat them, so that the former might undergo double misfortunes, poverty along with the outrage on their bodies, and the latter double pleasure, both enjoying wealth belonging to others and taking delight to satiety in the disgrace of those who had been deprived.
§78ἔχων τι τῶν τότε πεπραγμένων εἰπεῖν ἐπαμφοτερίζω, μὴ ἄρα εὐτελὲς εἶναι νομισθὲν ἐκλύσῃ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν τοσούτων· ἔστι δ’ εἰ καὶ μικρόν, ἀλλ’ οὐ μικρᾶς δεῖγμα κακονοίας.
Having something to say of the things done then, I hesitate, lest it should be thought trivial and weaken the greatness of such deeds; but if it is small, yet it is a demonstration of no small malice.
τῶν μαστίγων εἰσὶ διαφοραὶ διακεκριμέναι κατὰ τὴν πόλιν πρὸς τὰ τῶν τύπτεσθαι μελλόντων ἀξιώματα· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Αἰγυπτίους ἑτέραις μαστίζεσθαι συμβέβηκε καὶ πρὸς ἑτέρων, τοὺς δὲ Ἀλεξανδρέας σπάθαις καὶ ὑπὸ σπαθηφόρων Ἀλεξανδρέων.
There are differences in whips, distinguished throughout the city according to the status of those who are to be beaten; for it happens that the Egyptians are scourged with other whips and by others, but the Alexandrians with rods and by rod-bearing Alexandrians.
§79τὸ ἔθος τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων διετήρησαν οἱ πρὸ Φλάκκου καὶ Φλάκκος αὐτὸς τοὺς πρώτους χρόνους.
This custom those before Flaccus preserved also towards our people, and Flaccus himself in the first periods.
ἔστι γάρ, ἔστι καὶ ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ βραχύ τι τῶν εἰς ἐπιτιμίαν εὑρεῖν καὶ ἐν ὕβρει παραφερόμενόν τι τῶν εἰς τὸ ἀνύβριστον, ὅταν τις αὐτὰς ἐφ’ ἑαυτῶν ἐᾷ τὰς φύσεις τῶν πραγμάτων ἐξετάζεσθαι, μὴ προστιθεὶς οἴκοθεν ἐπίβουλον πάθος, ὃ πάνθ’ ὅσα παραμέμικται τῆς ἐπιεικεστέρας ἰδέας ὑφαιρεῖ καὶ διοικίζει.
For there is, there is even in dishonor a small thing of those leading to honor to be found, and in outrage some element carrying over into the unoutraged, whenever one allows the natures of things themselves to be examined on their own, not adding from oneself a scheming passion, which takes away and separates all that has been mixed in of the more reasonable form.
§80πῶς οὖν οὐ παγχάλεπον, τῶν ἰδιωτῶν Ἀλεξανδρέων Ἰουδαίων ταῖς ἐλευθεριωτέραις καὶ πολιτικωτέραις μάστιξι τετυπτημένων, εἴ ποτε ἔδοξαν πληγῶν ἄξια ἐργάσασθαι, τοὺς ἄρχοντας, | τὴν γερουσίαν, οἳ καὶ γήρως καὶ τιμῆς εἰσιν ἐπώνυμοι, κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἔλαττον τῶν ὑπηκόων ἐνέγκασθαι, καθάπερ Αἰγυπτίων τοὺς ἀφανεστάτους καὶ ἐνόχους τοῖς μεγίστοις ἀδικήμασιν;
How then was it not most harsh, when the ordinary Alexandrian Jews were beaten with the more liberal and civic whips, if ever they were thought to have done things worthy of blows, that the rulers, the senate, who are named after old age and honor, should in this part bear less than their subjects, just like the lowest of Egyptians and those guilty of the greatest wrongdoings?
§81ἐῶ λέγειν ὅτι, εἰ καὶ μυρία ἦσαν ἡμαρτηκότες, ὤφειλε τὸν καιρὸν αἰδεσθεὶς τὰς τιμωρίας ὑπερθέσθαι· τοῖς γὰρ ὀρθῶς πολιτευομένοις τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ μὴ προσποιουμένοις τιμᾶν ἀλλ’ ὄντως τιμῶσι τοὺς εὐεργέτας ἔθος ἐστὶ μηδένα κολάζειν τῶν κατακρίτων, ἄχρις ἂν αἱ ἐπιφανεῖς γενέθλιοι καὶ πανηγύρεις αὗται τῶν ἐπιφανῶν Σεβαστῶν διεξέλθωσιν.
I refrain from saying that, even if they had committed ten thousand errors, he ought to have deferred the punishments out of respect for the occasion; for it is the custom for those of the rulers who govern rightly and do not pretend to honor but truly honor their benefactors, to punish none of the condemned until these illustrious birthdays and festivals of the illustrious Augusti have passed.
§82ὁ δ’ ἐν αὐταῖς παρηνόμει καὶ ἐτιμωρεῖτο τοὺς μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας, οὓς ἐνῆν αὖθις, εἴπερ ἐβούλετο, κολάζειν.
But he, during these very days, was lawless and punished those who did no wrong, whom it was possible to punish later, if indeed he wished.
ἀλλ’ ἔσπευδε καὶ κατήπειγεν ἕνεκα τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἐναντίον ὄχλον ἀρεσκείας, ταύτῃ νομίζων ἐξοικειώσασθαι μᾶλλον αὐτὸν εἰς ἅπερ διενοεῖτο.
But he hastened and was urgent for the sake of pleasing the opposing crowd, thinking by this to win them over more to what he had in mind.
§83ἤδη τινὰς οἶδα τῶν ἀνεσκολοπισμένων μελλούσης ἐνίστασθαι τοιαύτης ἐκεχειρίας καθαιρεθέντας καὶ τοῖς συγγενέσιν ἐπὶ τῷ ταφῆς ἀξιωθῆναι καὶ τυχεῖν τῶν νενομισμένων ἀποδοθέντας· ἔδει γὰρ καὶ νεκροὺς ἀπολαῦσαί τινος χρηστοῦ γενεθλιακαῖς αὐτοκράτορος καὶ ἅμα τὸ ἱεροπρεπὲς τῆς πανηγύρεως φυλαχθῆναι.
Indeed, I know some of those who had been crucified who, when such a truce was about to begin, were taken down and given back to their relatives for the sake of being deemed worthy of burial and obtaining the customary rites; for it was necessary even for the dead to enjoy some good deed on the imperial birthdays, and at the same time for the sacred character of the festival to be preserved.