§16ἀλλʼ εἰ καὶ φόνον ζητεῖς, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἐνδεῖ, οὐδὲ ἀναίμακτός εἰμι, ἀλλʼ εἴργασμαι μεγάλην καὶ γενναίαν σφαγὴν νεανίσκου ἀκμάζοντος καὶ πᾶσι φοβεροῦ, διʼ ὃν ἀνεπιβούλευτος κἀκεῖνος ἦν, ᾧ μόνῳ ἐθάρρει, ὃς ἀντὶ πολλῶν ἤρκει δορυφόρων.
But if you also demand a murder, not even this is lacking, nor am I bloodless; on the contrary, I have wrought a great and noble slaughter of a youth in his prime and terrifying to all, because of whom that other man was safe from plots, in whom alone he trusted, who was sufficient instead of many bodyguards.
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐκ ἄξιος, ὦ οὗτος, δωρεᾶς, ἀλλὰ ἄτιμος ἐπὶ τηλικούτοις γένωμαι;
Am I then not worthy, my good sir, of a reward, but should I be deprived of honor for such great deeds?
τί γάρ, εἰ δορυφόρον ἕνα, τί δʼ εἰ ὑπηρέτην τινὰ τοῦ τυράννου ἀπέκτεινα, τί δʼ εἰ οἰκέτην τίμιον, οὐ μέγα ἂν ἔδοξεν καὶ τοῦτο, ἀνελθόντα ἐν μέσῃ τῇ ἀκροπόλει, ἐν μέσοις τοῖς ὅπλοις φόνον τινὸς ἐργάσασθαι τῶν τοῦ τυράννου φίλων;
For what if I had slain one bodyguard, what if some servant of the tyrant, what if a valued domestic slave—would not even this have seemed a great thing, to have gone up into the midst of the citadel, and in the midst of weapons to have wrought the murder of one of the tyrant's friends?
νῦν δὲ καὶ τὸν πεφονευμένον αὐτὸν ἰδέ. υἱὸς ἦν τυράννου, μᾶλλον δὲ τύραννος χαλεπώτερος καὶ δεσπότης ἀπαραίτητος καὶ κολαστὴς ὠμότερος καὶ ὑβριστὴς βιαιότερος, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, κληρονόμος τῶν ὅλων καὶ διάδοχος καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ παρατεῖναι τὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας συμφορᾶς δυνάμενος.
But now, look also at the one who was slain himself: he was the son of a tyrant, or rather a more severe tyrant and an inexorable master and a more cruel punisher and a more violent abuser; and, greatest of all, the heir of everything and the successor, and one capable of prolonging the state of our calamity for a long time.
§17βούλει τοῦτο μόνον πεπρᾶχθαί μοι, ζῆν δὲ ἔτι τὸν τύραννον διαπεφευγότα;
Do you wish this alone to have been done by me, and the tyrant still to be alive, having escaped?
γέρας δὴ ἐπὶ τούτοις αἰτῶ.
It is for these deeds, indeed, that I demand a prize.
τί φατέ;
What do you say?
οὐ δώσετε;
Will you not grant it?
οὐχὶ κἀκεῖνον ὑφεωρᾶσθε·
Did you not also look upon him with suspicion?
οὐ δεσπότης;
Was he not a master?
οὐ βαρύς;
Was he not oppressive?
οὐκ ἀφόρητος ἦν;
Was he not unbearable?
νῦν δὲ καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον αὐτὸ ἐννοήσατε·
But now, consider also the main point itself.
ὃ γὰρ οὗτος ἀπαιτεῖ παρʼ ἐμοῦ, τοῦτο ὡς ἐνῆν ἄριστα διεπραξάμην, καὶ τὸν τύραννον ἀπέκτεινα ἑτέρῳ φόνῳ, οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ πληγῇ μιᾷ, ὅπερ εὐκταιότατον ἦν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τηλικούτοις ἀδικήμασιν, ἀλλὰ λύπῃ προβασανίσας πολλῇ καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς δείξας τὰ φίλτατα οἰκτρῶς προκείμενα, υἱὸν ἐν ἡλικίᾳ, εἰ καὶ πονηρόν, ἀλλʼ οὖν καὶ ἀκμάζοντα καὶ ὅμοιον τῷ πατρί, αἵματος καὶ λύθρου ἐμπεπλησμένον.
For what this man demands from me, I accomplished this in the best possible way, and I slew the tyrant by another's murder, not simply nor with a single blow—which would have been most desirable for him after such great crimes—but having first tortured him with great grief and having shown before his eyes his dearest things wretchedly laid out: a son in the flower of his age, even if wicked, yet still in his prime and like his father, filled with blood and gore.
ταῦτʼ ἔστι πατέρων τὰ τραύματα, ταῦτα ξίφη δικαίων τυραννοκτόνων, οὗτος θάνατος ἄξιος ὠμῶν τυράννων, αὕτη τιμωρία πρέπουσα τοσούτοις ἀδικήμασιν·
These are the wounds of fathers, these are the swords of just tyrannicides, this is a death worthy of cruel tyrants, this is a punishment fitting for so many misdeeds.
τὸ δʼ εὐθὺς ἀποθανεῖν, τὸ δʼ ἀγνοῆσαι, τὸ δὲ μηδὲν τοιοῦτο θέαμα ἰδεῖν, οὐδὲν ἔχει τυραννικῆς κολάσεως ἄξιον.
But to die immediately, to be ignorant of it, and to see no such sight, has nothing worthy of tyrannical punishment.
§18οὐ γὰρ ἠγνόουν, ὦ οὗτος, οὐκ ἠγνόουν, οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδείς, ὅσην ἐκεῖνος εὔνοιαν πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν εἶχεν καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἠξίωσεν ἐπιβιῶναι οὐδʼ ὀλίγον αὐτῷ χρόνον.
For I was not ignorant, my good sir, I was not ignorant, nor was anyone else, of how great affection he had toward his son, and that he would not have deigned to survive him for even a short time.
πάντες μὲν γὰρ πατέρες ἴσως πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας τοιοῦτοι, ὁ δὲ καὶ περιττότερόν τι τῶν ἄλλων εἶχεν, εἰκότως, ὁρῶν μόνον ἐκεῖνον κηδεμόνα καὶ φύλακα τῆς τυραννίδος καὶ μόνον προκινδυνεύοντα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τῇ ἀρχῇ παρεχόμενον.
For perhaps all fathers are like this toward their children, but he had something even more excessive than the others—and naturally so, seeing that he alone was the protector and guardian of the tyranny, and the only one who faced danger on behalf of his father, and who provided safety to the rule.
ὥστε εἰ καὶ μὴ διὰ τὴν εὔνοιαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν εὐθὺς ἠπιστάμην τεθνηξόμενον αὐτὸν καὶ λογιούμενον ὡς οὐδὲν ἔτι τοῦ ζῆν ὄφελος τῆς ἐκ τοῦ παιδὸς ἀσφαλείας καθῃρημένης.
Consequently, even if not on account of affection, yet on account of despair, I knew immediately that he would die and would calculate that there was no longer any use in living, now that the safety derived from his son had been overthrown.
ἅπαντα τοίνυν αὐτῷ ἀθρόα περιέστησα, τὴν φύσιν, τὴν λύπην, τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν, τὸν φόβον, τὰς ἐπὶ τῶν μελλόντων. . .
Therefore, I brought all things upon him at once: nature, grief, despair, fear, those [apprehensions] about the future...
ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐχρησάμην τοῖς συμμάχοις καὶ πρὸς τὴν τελευταίαν ἐκείνην σκέψιν κατηνάγκασα.
I used [these] allies against him and compelled him to that final resolution.
ἀπέθανεν ὑμῖν ἄτεκνος, λελυπημένος, ὀδυρόμενος, δακρύων, πεπενθηκὼς πένθος ὀλιγοχρόνιον μέν, ἀλλʼ ἱκανὸν πατρί, καὶ τὸ δεινότατον, αὐτὸς ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ, ὅσπερ θανάτων οἴκτιστος καὶ πολλῷ χαλεπώτερος ἢ εἰ ὑπʼ ἄλλου γίγνοιτο.
He died for you childless, grieving, lamenting, weeping, having mourned a short-lived mourning indeed, yet sufficient for a father, and, most terrible of all, himself by his own hand, which is the most pitiable of deaths and much more difficult than if it had been done by another.