§11.11.1πῶς οὖν ἐπανορθώσετε ταῦτα καὶ παύσεσθε δι’ αἰτίας παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις ὄντες;
How, then, will you correct these matters and cease being blamed among the citizens?
τοῦτο γὰρ ἔσθʼ ὑπόλοιπον εἰπεῖν.
For this is what remains to be said.
εἰ προβούλευμα τοῦ συνεδρίου ποιήσαντες ἀποδοίητε τῷ δήμῳ διαγνῶναι, πότερον αὐτῷ δοκεῖ πάλιν ὑπάτους τʼ ἀποδεικνύναι καὶ δημάρχους καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς τὰς πατρίους, ἢ μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς πολιτείας.
If, after making a preliminary decree of the senate, you should refer it to the people to decide, whether it seems best to them to appoint consuls and tribunes and the other ancestral offices again, or to remain under the same constitution.
§11.11.2ἐάν τε γὰρ ἀγαπῶσι Ῥωμαῖοι πάντες ὀλιγαρχούμενοι καὶ μένειν ὑμᾶς ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐξουσίας ψηφίσωνται, κατὰ νόμον ἕξετε καὶ οὐ βίᾳ τὴν ἀρχήν· ἐάν τε ὑπάτους πάλιν αἱρεῖσθαι βουληθῶσι καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς ὡς πρότερον, ἀποθήσεσθε νόμῳ τὴν ἐξουσίαν καὶ οὐ δόξετε ἀκόντων ἄρχειν τῶν ἴσων· τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ τυραννικόν, τὸ δὲ παρʼ ἑκόντων τὰς ἀρχὰς λαμβάνειν ἀριστοκρατικόν.
For if all Romans are content to be under an oligarchy and vote for you to remain in the same power, you will hold your rule in accordance with law and not by force; and if they wish to choose consuls again and the other offices as before, you will lay down your power according to law and you will not seem to rule over equals against their will; for the former is tyrannical, but to receive offices from willing subjects is aristocratic.
§11.11.3τοῦ δὲ πολιτεύματος τούτου πρῶτον οἴομαι δεῖν ἄρξαι σὲ καὶ παῦσαι τὴν ὑπὸ σοῦ κατασταθεῖσαν ὀλιγαρχίαν, Ἄππιε, λυσιτελῆ γέ ποθʼ ἡμῖν γενομένην, νῦν δʼ ἐπαχθῆ.
And I think that you, Appius, ought to be the first to begin this constitutional act and to put an end to the oligarchy established by you, which was once indeed advantageous to us, but is now burdensome.
ἃ δʼ ἐκ τοῦ πεισθῆναί μοι καὶ ἀποθέσθαι τὴν ἐπίφθονον ἐξουσίαν ταύτην κερδανεῖς, ἄκουσον.
Hear what you will gain from being persuaded by me and laying down this invidious power.
§11.11.4ἐὰν μὲν ὅλον ὑμῶν τὸ ἀρχεῖον ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς γένηται προαιρέσεως, διὰ σὲ πάντες ὑπολήψονται τὸν ἄρξαντα καὶ τούτους γεγενῆσθαι χρηστούς· ἐὰν δʼ οὗτοι φιλοχωρῶσιν ἐπὶ τῇ παρανόμῳ δυναστείᾳ, σοὶ μὲν ἅπαντες εἴσονται τὴν χάριν, ὅτι μόνος ἐβουλήθης δίκαια ποιεῖν, τοὺς δὲ μὴ θέλοντας σὺν αἰσχύνῃ καὶ μεγάλῃ βλάβῃ παύσουσι τῆς ἀρχῆς.
If indeed the whole of your college of magistrates should come to the same determination, everyone will suppose that it was because of you, who took the initiative, that these too became virtuous; but if these men cling to their unlawful power, everyone will be grateful to you, because you alone wished to do what is just, and they will remove from office those who are unwilling, with shame and great harm.
§11.11.5ὁμολογίας δὲ καὶ πίστεις ἀπορρήτους εἴ τινας ἀλλήλοις δεδώκατε θεοὺς ἐγγυητὰς ποιησάμενοι — τάχα γάρ τι καὶ τοιοῦτον ὑμῖν πέπρακται — φυλαττομένας ἀνοσίους εἶναι νόμιζε ὡς κατὰ πολιτῶν καὶ πατρίδος, καταλυομένας δʼ εὐσεβεῖς.
And if you have given any secret pacts and pledges to one another, making gods your guarantors — for perhaps some such thing has indeed been done by you — consider that, if kept, they are unholy as being against citizens and fatherland, but if dissolved, they are pious.
θεοὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ καλαῖς καὶ δικαίαις παραλαμβάνεσθαι φιλοῦσιν ὁμολογίαις, οὐκ ἐπʼ αἰσχραῖς καὶ ἀδίκοις.
For the gods love to be invoked as witnesses for honorable and just agreements, not for shameful and unjust ones.