§19.17.1ἐπέμψαμέν σε, ὦ Φαβρίκιε, πρεσβευτὴν σὺν ἑτέροις δυσὶν ὑπατικοῖς ἀνδράσι πρὸς βασιλέα Πύρρον ὑπὲρ αἰχμαλώτων λύσεως διαλεξόμενον· ἥκεις ἀπὸ τῆς πρεσβείας τοὺς μὲν αἰχμαλώτους οὐκ ἄγων οὐδὲ ἄλλο τῇ πόλει φέρων ἀγαθὸν οὐθέν, αὐτὸς δὲ βασιλικὰς δωρεὰς εἰληφὼς μόνος τῶν συναποσταλέντων σοι πρέσβεων, καὶ ἣν ὁ δῆμος ἀπεψηφίσατο ποιήσασθαι εἰρήνην, ταύτην ποιήσας μόνος, ἐπʼ οὐθενὶ §19.17.2τῆς πόλεως ἀγαθῷ· πόθεν γάρ;
"We sent you, Fabricius, as an ambassador with two other consular men to King Pyrrhus to negotiate for the ransom of the prisoners; you have returned from the embassy neither bringing back the prisoners nor bringing any other benefit to the city, but you yourself alone of the ambassadors sent with you have received royal gifts, and having made by yourself alone that peace which the people voted against making, and that for no good of the city; for how could it be?
ἀλλʼ ἵνα προδῷς αὐτὴν τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ διὰ σοῦ μὲν ἐκεῖνος ἅπασαν Ἰταλίαν ὑφʼ αὑτῷ ποιήσηται, διʼ ἐκείνου δὲ σὺ τῆς πατρίδος ἀφέλῃ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν.
But it was in order that you might betray it to the king, and that through you he might bring all Italy under his subjection, and through him you might rob your country of its liberty.
τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν, ὃ διώκουσιν ἅπαντες οἱ μὴ τὴν ἀληθινήν, ἀλλὰ τὴν προσποιητὸν ἐπιτηδεύσαντες ἀρετήν, ὅταν εἰς ὄγκον καὶ μέγεθος πραγμάτων προέλθωσιν.
For this is what all those pursue who have practiced not true, but pretended virtue, whenever they advance to grandeur and magnitude of affairs.
§19.17.3εἰ δὲ δὴ μὴ τὸ πρεσβύτερον ἔχων ἀξίωμα, μηδὲ παρὰ τῶν πολεμίων τῆς πατρίδος, μηδʼ ἐπὶ προδοσίᾳ καὶ τυραννίδι τῶν σεαυτοῦ πολιτῶν ἐδωροδόκεις, ἀλλʼ ἰδιώτης ὢν καὶ παρʼ ἀνδρὸς συμμάχου καὶ ἐπʼ οὐδενὶ κακῷ τῆς πόλεως, ἆρʼ οὐ διʼ ἐκεῖνα τῆς μεγάλης ἄξιος εἶ ζημίας, ὅτι διαφθείρεις μὲν τοὺς νέους πλούτου καὶ τρυφῆς καὶ πολυτελείας βασιλικῆς ζῆλον εἰς τοὺς βίους εἰσάγων, οἷς πολλῆς δεῖ σωφροσύνης, εἰ μέλλει σωθήσεσθαι τὰ κοινά· §19.17.4καταισχύνεις δὲ τοὺς σεαυτοῦ προγόνους, ὧν οὐθεὶς ἐξέβη τοὺς πατρίους ἐθισμοὺς οὐδʼ ἠλλάξατο πλοῦτον αἰσχρὸν ἀντὶ πενίας καλῆς, ἀλλʼ ἅπαντες ἐπʼ αὐτῆς ἔμειναν τῆς μικρᾶς οὐσίας, ἣν σὺ §19.17.5παραλαβὼν ἐλάττονα ἢ κατὰ σεαυτὸν ἡγήσω· διαφθείρεις δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῶν προτέρων ἐπιτηδευμάτων γενομένην σοι δόξαν, ὡς ἐγκρατὴς καὶ σώφρων καὶ πάσης αἰσχρᾶς ἐπιθυμίας κρείττων;
But if, indeed, you were accepting bribes not while holding the superior dignity, nor from the enemies of your country, nor for the betrayal and tyranny over your own citizens, but being a private citizen and from an allied man and for no harm to the city, are you not still worthy of great punishment for these reasons: because, on the one hand, you corrupt the young by introducing into their lives a zeal for wealth, luxury, and royal extravagance, who stand in need of much temperance if the public welfare is to be preserved; and, on the other hand, you disgrace your own ancestors, of whom no one departed from the ancestral customs nor exchanged honorable poverty for shameful wealth, but all remained in that same small estate, which you, having inherited it, considered to be too small for you; and you destroy the reputation you gained from your former conduct as being self-controlled, temperate, and superior to every shameful desire?
ἔπειτα χαιρήσεις κακὸς ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ γενόμενος, ὅτʼ ἔδει σε, καὶ εἰ πρότερον πονηρὸς ἦσθα, πεπαῦσθαι;
Will you then escape with impunity, having become bad from being good, when you ought, even if you had been wicked before, to have ceased?
ἢ τῶν καλῶν τινος ἔτι μεθέξεις τῶν ὀφειλομένων τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἄπει μάλιστα μὲν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, εἰ δὲ μή γʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς;
Or will you still share in any of the honorable things due to the good, and not rather depart, preferably from the city, or if not that, at least from the forum?"