§14.6.1ὅτι οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι μεγαλοπρεπεῖς.
That the Romans are magnanimous.
τῶν γὰρ ἄλλων ὀλίγου δεῖν πάντων ἔν τε τοῖς κοινοῖς τῶν πόλεων πράγμασι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις βίοις πρὸς τὰ τελευταῖα τῶν συμβαινόντων τὰς διανοίας μεθαρμοττομένων καὶ πολλάκις ἔχθρας τε μεγάλας διὰ τὰς τυχούσας φιλανθρωπίας καταλυομένων καὶ φιλίας πολυχρονίους διὰ μικρὰ καὶ φαῦλα προσκρούματα διαιρούντων ἐκεῖνοι τοὐναντίον ἐπὶ τῶν φίλων ᾤοντο χρῆναι ποιεῖν, ταῖς τε παλαιαῖς εὐεργεσίαις χαρίζεσθαι τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς προσφάτοις ἐγκλήμασιν ὀργάς.
For while almost all other people, both in the public affairs of their cities and in their private lives, adjust their minds to the latest events, often dissolving great enmities because of casual acts of kindness and breaking off long-standing friendships over small and trivial clashes, those men, on the contrary, thought they ought to act in the opposite way toward their friends, namely, to forgive the anger over recent offenses in favor of ancient benefits.
§14.6.2θαυμαστὸν μὲν δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν ἀνδρῶν· λέγω δὲ τὸ μηδενὶ μνησικακῆσαι τῶν Τυσκλάνων, ἀλλὰ πάντας ἀφεῖναι τοὺς ἐξαμαρτόντας ἀζημίους·
This indeed was also a wonderful thing about these men; I mean their not bearing a grudge against any of the Tusculans, but letting all those who had offended go unpunished.
πολλῷ δʼ ἔτι τούτου θαυμασιώτερον, ὃ μετὰ τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἐγκλημάτων αὐτοῖς ἐχαρίσαντο.
But far more wonderful than this was what they granted to them after the pardon of their offenses.
σκοπούμενοι γάρ, ὡς μηδὲν ἔτι τοιοῦτον ἐν τῇ πόλει γενήσεται μηδʼ ἀφορμὴν νεωτερισμοῦ λήψονταί τινες, οὔτε φρουρὰν εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν αὐτῶν ᾤοντο δεῖν εἰσάγειν, οὔτε παρὰ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἀνδρῶν ὅμηρα λαμβάνειν, οὔτε ὅπλα τοὺς ἔχοντας ἀφελέσθαι, οὔτʼ ἄλλο σημεῖον οὐδὲν ἀπιστουμένης φιλίας ποιῆσαι·
For, taking care that nothing of the sort should happen again in the city and that no one should find an opportunity for rebellion, they did not think they ought to introduce a garrison into their citadel, nor to take hostages from their most illustrious men, nor to deprive those who possessed them of their weapons, nor to show any other sign of distrusted friendship.
§14.6.3μίαν δὲ πρᾶξιν οἰόμενοι συνέχειν ἅπαντας τοὺς κατὰ συγγένειαν ἢ φιλίαν προσήκοντας ἀλλήλοις τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἰσομοιρίαν, πολιτείαν ἔγνωσαν τοῖς κρατηθεῖσι χαρίσασθαι, πάντων μεταδόντες ὧν τοῖς φύσει Ῥωμαίοις μετῆν, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν διάνοιαν λαβόντες τοῖς ἀξιοῦσι τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἄρχειν οὔτʼ Ἀθηναίοις οὔτε Λακεδαιμονίοις·
On the other hand, believing that the only practice that holds together all who are related to one another by kinship or friendship is the equal sharing of goods, they decided to grant citizenship to those who had been conquered, sharing with them everything that belonged to natural-born Romans, not adopting the same mind as those who claimed to rule Greece, namely the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians.
§14.6.4τί γὰρ δεῖ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων λέγειν;
For what need is there to speak of the other Greeks?
Ἀθηναῖοι μέν γε Σαμίους ἀποίκους ἑαυτῶν ὄντας, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ Μεσσηνίους ἀδελφῶν οὐδὲν διαφέροντας, ἐπειδὴ προσέκρουσαν αὐτοῖς τι, διαλυσάμενοι τὴν συγγένειαν οὕτως ὠμῶς διεχειρίσαντο καὶ θηριωδῶς, ἐπειδὴ τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν ὑποχειρίους ἔλαβον, ὥστε μηδὲ τοῖς ἀγριωτάτοις τῶν βαρβάρων ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εἰς τὰ ὁμόφυλα παρανομίας παραλιπεῖν.
The Athenians, indeed, treated the Samians, who were their own colonists, and the Lacedaemonians treated the Messenians, who differed in no way from brothers, when they clashed with them in some way, dissolving their kinship, so cruelly and brutally when they got their cities into their power, that they left no room even for the wildest of the barbarians to surpass them in lawlessness toward their own kin.
§14.6.5μυρία τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἄν τις ἔχοι ταῖς πόλεσι ταύταις ἡμαρτημένα, ἃ παρίημι, ἐπεὶ καὶ τούτων μεμνημένος ἄχθομαι·
One could tell of countless such offenses committed by these cities, which I pass over, since remembering these things also pains me.
τὸ γὰρ Ἑλληνικὸν οὐκ ὀνόματι διαφέρειν τοῦ βαρβάρου ἠξίουν οὐδὲ διαλέκτου χάριν, ἀλλὰ συνέσει καὶ χρηστῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων προαιρέσει, μάλιστα δὲ τῷ μηδὲν τῶν ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν εἰς ἀλλήλους παρανομεῖν.
For they held that being Greek should not differ from being barbarian in name or for the sake of dialect, but in intelligence and the choice of good practices, and most of all in committing no lawlessness against one another that goes beyond human nature.
ὅσοις μὲν οὖν ταῦτα ἐπὶ πλεῖον ὑπῆρξεν ἐν τῇ φύσει, τούτους οἶμαι δεῖν λέγειν Ἕλληνας, ὅσοις δὲ τἀναντία βαρβάρους.
Therefore, those in whose nature these qualities existed to a higher degree, I think we ought to call Greeks, and those who possess the opposite, barbarians.
§14.6.6καὶ τὰς μὲν ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ φιλανθρώπους διανοίας τε καὶ πράξεις αὐτῶν Ἑλληνικὰς εἶναι λογίζομαι, τὰς δʼ ὠμὰς καὶ θηριώδεις, ἄλλως τε κἂν περὶ συγγενεῖς τε καὶ φίλους γίνωνται, βαρβαρικάς.
And I reckon their equitable and humane thoughts and actions to be Greek, but those that are cruel and brutal, especially if they are directed against kinsmen and friends, to be barbarian.
Τυσκλανοὶ μὲν δὴ πρὸς τῷ μηδὲν ἀφαιρεθῆναι τῶν σφετέρων ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τὰ τῶν κεκρατηκότων ἀγαθὰ προσλαβόντες ἀπῄεσαν.
So the Tusculans, in addition to losing nothing of their own when their city was taken, went away having also acquired the goods of their conquerors.