§4.29.1καὶ ἐπειδὴ παρεγένετο, μεταστῆναι κελεύσασα τοὺς ἔνδον, ἵνα μόνη διαλεχθείη πρὸς μόνον, Ἆρʼ, ἔφησεν, ὦ Ταρκύνιε, μετὰ παρρησίας ἔξεστί μοι καὶ ἀκινδύνως ἅπαντα εἰπεῖν, ὅσα φρονῶ περὶ τῶν κοινῇ συμφερόντων, καὶ καθέξεις οὓς ἂν ἀκούσῃς λόγους;
And when he arrived, having ordered those inside to withdraw, so that she might speak alone with him alone, she said, "Is it permitted to me, Tarquinius, to speak with frankness and without danger all that I think concerning our common interests, and will you keep secret whatever words you hear?
ἢ σιωπᾶν ἄμεινόν ἐστί μοι καὶ μὴ φέρειν εἰς μέσον βουλὰς ἀπορρήτους; §4.29.2κελεύσαντος δὲ τοῦ Ταρκυνίου λέγειν, ὅ τι βούλεται, καὶ περὶ τοῦ καθέξειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοὺς λόγους πίστεις ἐπιθέντος διʼ ὅρκων, οὓς ἐκείνη προῃρεῖτο, οὐδὲν ἔτι αἰσχυνθεῖσα λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν· μέχρι τίνος, ὦ Ταρκύνιε, τῆς βασιλείας ἀποστερούμενος ἀνέχεσθαι διανοῇ;
Or is it better for me to keep silent and not bring secret counsels into the open?" When Tarquinius ordered her to say whatever she wished, and gave assurances through oaths which she proposed that he would keep the words within himself, she, no longer feeling any shame, said to him: "How long, Tarquinius, do you intend to endure being deprived of the kingdom?
πότερον ἐκ ταπεινῶν καὶ ἀσήμων ἔφυς προγόνων καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ οὐκ ἀξιοῖς ἐπὶ σεαυτῷ μέγα φρονεῖν;
Were you born of humble and obscure ancestors, and on this account do you not deem it worthy to think highly of yourself?
ἀλλὰ πάντες ἴσασιν, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν ἀρχαίοις ὑμῶν προγόνοις Ἕλλησιν οὖσι καὶ ἀφʼ Ἡρακλέους γεγονόσι τῆς εὐδαίμονος ἄρξαι Κορίνθου τὴν αὐτοκράτορα ὑπῆρξεν ἀρχὴν ἐπὶ πολλάς, ὡς ἀκούω, γενεάς· τῷ δὲ πάππῳ σου Ταρκυνίῳ μεταθεμένῳ τὴν οἴκησιν ἐκ Τυρρηνῶν ταύτης βασιλεῦσαι τῆς πόλεως ἐξεγένετο διʼ ἀρετήν· οὗ σὺ κληρονομεῖν οὐ μόνον τῶν χρημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ὀφείλεις πρεσβύτερος υἱωνὸς ὤν. §4.29.3ἢ σώματος οὐκ ἔτυχες ἱκανοῦ πράττειν, ὅσα βασιλεῖ προσῆκε, διʼ ἀσθένειάν τε καὶ ἀμορφίαν;
But everyone knows that to your ancient ancestors, being Greeks and descended from Heracles, it belonged to rule over prosperous Corinth with absolute authority for many, as I hear, generations; and to your grandfather Tarquinius, having transferred his home from Etruria, it was granted to rule this city because of his virtue; whose heir, not only of his property but also of his kingdom, you ought to be, being the elder grandson." Or did you not obtain a body sufficient to do whatever is fitting for a king, because of weakness and ugliness?
ἀλλὰ σοί γε καὶ ῥώμη πάρεστιν, οἵα τοῖς κράτιστα πεφυκόσι, καὶ μορφὴ τοῦ βασιλείου γένους ἀξία.
But indeed, both strength is present in you, such as is in those most excellently endowed by nature, and a form worthy of the royal race.
ἢ τούτων μὲν οὐδέτερον, ἡ δʼ ἀσθενὴς ἔτι καὶ πολὺ ἀπέχουσα τοῦ φρονεῖν τὰ προσήκοντα νεότης μεθέλκει σε, διʼ ἣν οὐκ ἀξιοῖς τὰ πολιτικὰ πράττειν, ὃς οὐ πολλοῖς ἀποδεῖς ἔτεσι πεντηκονταέτης εἶναι;
Or is it neither of these, but is it youth, still weak and far from thinking what is fitting, that holds you back, on account of which you do not deem it worthy to manage public affairs—you who are not many years short of being fifty?
κράτιστα δʼ ἄνθρωποι πεφύκασι φρονεῖν οἱ περὶ ταύτην μάλιστα γενόμενοι τὴν ἡλικίαν.
And men are naturally at their best in judgment who are especially about this age.
§4.29.4φέρε, ἀλλʼ ἡ τοῦ κατέχοντος τὰ πράγματα εὐγένεια καὶ ἡ πρὸς τοὺς κρατίστους τῶν πολιτῶν ἐπιτηδειότης, διʼ ἣν οὐκ εὐεπιχείρητός ἐστιν, ἀνέχεσθαί σε ἀναγκάζει;
Come, but is it the noble birth of the one who holds power, and his intimacy with the best of the citizens because of which he is not easy to attack, that forces you to endure?
ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτʼ ἀμφότερα κακῶς ἔχοντα αὐτῷ τυγχάνει καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτὸς αὐτά γε ἀγνοεῖς.
But both of these happen to be in a bad state for him, and you yourself are not ignorant of them.
καὶ μὴν ἥ γε τόλμα καὶ τὸ φιλοκίνδυνον ἔνεστί σου τοῖς τρόποις, ὧν μάλιστα τῷ βασιλεύειν μέλλοντι δεῖ.
Moreover, daring and love of danger are present in your character, things which are most needed by one who is going to rule.
ὑπάρχει δέ σοι καὶ πλοῦτος ἱκανὸς καὶ φίλοι πολλοὶ καὶ ἄλλαι πρὸς τὰ πράγματʼ §4.29.5ἀφορμαὶ πολλαὶ καὶ μεγάλαι.
And there belongs to you also sufficient wealth and many friends and other resources, many and great.
τί οὖν ἔτι μέλλεις καὶ τὸν αὐτόματον ἐκδέχῃ καιρόν, ὃς ἥξει σοι φέρων τὴν βασιλείαν μηδὲν εἰς τοῦτο πραγματευσαμένῳ, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Τυλλίου δήπου τελευτήν;
Why then do you still delay and wait for the opportune moment of its own accord, which will come to you bringing the kingdom, though you have done nothing to this end, after the death of Tullius, I suppose?
ὥσπερ ἀναμενούσης τῆς τύχης τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας μελλήσεις, ἢ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν τὰς καθʼ ἡλικίαν ἑκάστῳ τελευτὰς φερούσης, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐν ἀδήλῳ καὶ δυστεκμάρτῳ τέλει πάντων τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων κειμένων.
As if fortune would wait for human delays, or as if our nature brought to each their deaths according to age, and not as if all human affairs lay in an uncertain and hard-to-estimate end.
§4.29.6ἐρῶ δὴ μετὰ παρρησίας, καὶ εἴ με φήσεις θρασεῖαν, τὸ δοκοῦν αἴτιον εἶναί μοι τοῦ μηδεμιᾶς ὀρέγεσθαί σε μήτε φιλοτιμίας μήτε δόξης.
I will speak with frankness, even if you call me bold, what seems to me to be the cause of your desiring neither honor nor glory.
γυνή σοι σύνεστι μηδὲν ἐοικυῖα τοῖς σοῖς τρόποις, ἥ σε κηλοῦσα καὶ κατᾴδουσα μαλθακὸν ἀποδέδωκε, καὶ λήσεις ὑπʼ αὐτῆς γενόμενος ἐξ ἀνδρὸς τὸ μηδέν· ὥσπερ γε κἀμοὶ ψοφοδεὴς καὶ οὐδὲν ἔχων ἀνδρὸς ἀνήρ, ὅς με ταπεινὴν ποιεῖ μεγάλων οὖσαν ἀξίαν καὶ καλὴν τὸ σῶμα, μαρανθεῖσαν δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ.
A wife lives with you who is not at all like your character, who, by charming and bewitching you, has made you soft, and you will become, without realizing it, nothing from a man; just as to me indeed a husband, fearful of noise and having nothing of a man, makes me humble, though I am worthy of great things and beautiful in body, but withered by him.
§4.29.7εἰ δʼ ἐξεγένετο σοί τε λαβεῖν ἐμὲ γυναῖκα κἀμὲ σοῦ τυχεῖν ἀνδρός, οὐκ ἂν ἐν ἰδιώτῃ βίῳ τοσοῦτον διεζήσαμεν χρόνον.
And if it had been possible for you to take me as wife and for me to obtain you as husband, we would not have lived for so long a time in a private life.
τί οὖν οὐκ ἐπανορθούμεθα τὸ τῆς τύχης ἐλάττωμα ἡμεῖς μεταθέμενοι τοὺς γάμους, καὶ σὺ μὲν ἀπαλλάττεις τοῦ βίου τὴν σαυτοῦ γυναῖκα, ἐγὼ δὲ ταὐτὸ διαθήσομαι τὸν ἐμὸν ἄνδρα;
Why then do we not correct the defect of fortune by changing our marriages, and you, on the one hand, remove your own wife from life, and I, on the other hand, will do the same to my husband?
ὅταν δὲ τούτων διαχειρισθέντων συνέλθωμεν εἰς ταὐτό, ἀσφαλῶς ἤδη τὰ λοιπὰ βουλεύσομεν, ἐκποδῶν πεποιημένοι τὰ λυποῦντα ἡμᾶς.
And when, these things having been dispatched, we come together, we shall then safely deliberate on the rest, having put out of the way what troubles us.
καὶ γὰρ ἐὰν τἆλλα τις ἀδικεῖν ὀκνῇ, βασιλείας γε χάριν οὐ νέμεσις ἅπαντα τολμᾶν.
For even if one hesitates to do injustice in other things, for the sake of a kingdom it is no cause for indignation to dare all things."