§11.9.1ἀξιῶ δʼ ὑμᾶς, Ἄππιε, τοὺς προεστηκότας τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἀπὸ τῶν συμφερόντων οὐχὶ τὸ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς ἰδίᾳ λυσιτελοῦν ὀφείλοντας σκοπεῖν, ἐάν τι τῶν ἀληθῶν μετὰ παρρησίας, ἀλλὰ μὴ καθʼ ἡδονὰς τὰς ὑμετέρας λέγω, μή μοι διὰ τοῦτʼ ἀπεχθάνεσθαι ἐνθυμουμένους, ὅτι οὐκ ἐπὶ λοιδορίᾳ καὶ προπηλακισμῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς ὑμῶν ποιήσομαι τοὺς λόγους, ἀλλʼ ἵνα δείξας, ἐν οἵῳ κλύδωνι τὰ πράγματα σαλεύει τῆς πόλεως, τὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ ἐπανόρθωσιν αὐτῶν ἥτις ἔσται φράσω.
I demand of you, Appius, and of those who stand at the head of the city and who ought to look to the public interest from the standpoint of the common good and not what is privately profitable to yourselves, that, if I speak some of the truth with frankness and not to please you, you do not for this reason become hostile to me, bearing in mind that I shall not make my speeches for the sake of abusing and insulting your magistracy, but so that, having shown in what a tempest the affairs of the city are tossing, I may declare what their salvation and restoration will be.
§11.9.2ἅπασι μὲν γὰρ ἴσως, ὅσοις τῇ πατρίδι. . . δωσιν, ἀναγκαῖός ἐστιν ὁ περὶ τῶν κοινῇ συμφερόντων λόγος, μάλιστα δʼ ἐμοί.
For while speech concerning the common interest is perhaps necessary for all who [...] to their country, it is especially so for me.
πρῶτον μὲν γάρ, ὅτι γνώμης ἄρχειν ἠξίωμαι διὰ τιμήν· αἰσχύνη δὲ καὶ μωρία πολλὴ πρῶτον ἀναστάντα μὴ οὐχ ἃ δεῖ πρῶτον ἐπανορθώσασθαι λέγειν.
First, because I have been deemed worthy of the honor of beginning to state my opinion; and it would be a great shame and folly for one who is the first to stand up not to speak first of the things that need to be corrected.
ἔπειθʼ ὅτι συμβέβηκεν ὄντι θείῳ πρὸς πατρὸς Ἀππίου τοῦ προεστηκότος τῆς δεκαδαρχίας ἥδεσθαί τε πάντων μάλιστα, ὅταν εὖ τὰ κοινὰ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐπιτροπεύηται, καὶ ἀνιᾶσθαι παντὸς ὁτουδήτινος μᾶλλον, ὅταν μὴ καλῶς.
Second, because it is my lot, being the paternal uncle of Appius who is at the head of the decemvirate, to rejoice most of all when the public affairs are well administered by them, and to be grieved more than anyone else when they are not well.
§11.9.3πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὅτι ταύτην πολιτείας διαδέδεγμαι προαίρεσιν ἐκ προγόνων τὰ κοινὰ συμφέροντα πρὸ τῶν οἰκείων λυσιτελῶν αἱρεῖσθαι καὶ μηδένα κίνδυνον ἴδιον ὑπολογίζεσθαι, ἣν οὐκ ἂν προδοίην ἑκὼν εἶναι καὶ οὐκ ἂν καταισχύναιμι τὰς ἐκείνων τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀρετάς.
And besides these things, because I have inherited from my ancestors this principle of political conduct, to choose the common interests before private advantages and to take no account of any personal danger—a principle which I would not willingly betray, and I would not bring shame upon the virtues of those men.
§11.9.4περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς καθεστώσης πολιτείας, ὅτι πονηρῶς ἡμῖν ἔχει, καὶ δυσχεραίνουσιν ὀλίγου δεῖν πάντες αὐτῇ, μέγιστον ὑμῖν γενέσθω τεκμήριον ὃ μόνον οὐδʼ ἀγνοεῖν ἔξεστιν ὑμῖν, ὅτι φεύγουσιν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὁσημέραι καταλιπόντες τὰς πατρῴας ἑστίας οἱ χαριέστατοι τῶν δημοτικῶν, οἱ μὲν εἰς τὰς πλησιοχώρους πόλεις ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ τέκνοις μετατιθέμενοι τὰς οἰκήσεις, οἱ δʼ εἰς τοὺς πλεῖστον ἀπέχοντας τῆς πόλεως ἀγρούς· καὶ οὐδὲ τῶν πατρικίων πολλοὶ τὰς κατʼ ἄστυ ποιοῦνται διατριβὰς ὡς πρότερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων οἱ πλείους τὸν βίον ἔχουσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς.
Now concerning the established constitution, let this be the greatest proof to you that it is in a bad state for us and that almost all are displeased with it—a proof which is the only thing indeed you cannot be ignorant of—namely, that the most excellent of the plebeians are fleeing from the city daily, abandoning their ancestral hearths, some transferring their habitations to the neighboring cities along with their wives and children, and others to the fields furthest removed from the city; and not even many of the patricians make their stays in the town as before, but most of these also have their living in the countryside.
§11.9.5καὶ τί δεῖ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων λέγειν, ὅτε καὶ τῶν βουλευτῶν ὀλίγοι μέν τινες οἱ κατὰ συγγένειαν ἢ φιλίαν προσήκοντες ὑμῖν ὑπομένουσιν ἐντὸς τείχους, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι τὴν ἐρημίαν ποθεινοτέραν ἡγοῦνται τῆς πατρίδος;
And what need is there to speak of the others, when even of the senators only a few who are related to you by blood or friendship remain within the walls, while the others consider loneliness more desirable than their country?
ὅτε γοῦν ἐδέησεν ὑμῖν καλέσαι τὴν βουλήν, ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν καθʼ ἕνα καλούμενοι συνῆλθον, οἷς πάτριον ἦν ἅμα ταῖς ἀρχαῖς διὰ φυλακῆς ἔχειν τὴν πατρίδα καὶ §11.9.6μηδενὸς ἀπολείπεσθαι τῶν κοινῶν.
At any rate, when it was necessary for you to call the senate, they assembled being summoned one by one from the countryside, they for whom it was an ancestral custom, together with the magistrates, to keep guard over their country and not to be absent from any public business.
ἆρʼ οὐν τἀγαθὰ φεύγοντας ὑπολαμβάνετε ἀνθρώπους καταλιπεῖν τὰς ἑαυτῶν πατρίδας ἢ τὰ κακά;
Do you suppose, then, that men abandon their own countries to flee from good things or from evils?
ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οἴομαι τὰ κακά.
For my part, I think from evils.
καίτοι τίνος ἔλαττον οἴεσθʼ εἶναι κακὸν πόλει καὶ ταῦτα τῇ Ῥωμαίων, ᾗ πολλῶν οἰκείων δεῖ σωμάτων, εἰ μέλλει βεβαίως καθέξειν τὴν τῶν προσοίκων ἀρχήν, τὸ καταλείπεσθαι μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν δημοτικῶν, ἐρημοῦσθαι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν πατρικίων, οὔτε πολέμου κατασχόντος αὐτὴν οὔτε νόσου λοιμικῆς οὔτʼ ἄλλης θεηλάτου συμφορᾶς οὐδεμιᾶς;
And yet, what smaller evil do you think it is to a city, and especially to that of the Romans, which needs many domestic bodies if it is to hold secure the dominion over its neighbors, to be abandoned by the plebeians and to be deserted by the patricians, when neither war has taken possession of it, nor pestilence, nor any other heaven-sent calamity?