§4.31.1λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ταρκύνιος· βραχύς ἐστιν ὁ παρʼ ἐμοῦ λόγος, ὦ Τύλλιε, καὶ δίκαιος· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο προειλόμην αὐτὸν εἰς τούτους ἐκφέρειν.
Tarquinius says to him: "My speech, Tullius, is brief and just; and for this reason I chose to bring it before these men.
Ταρκύνιος ἐμὸς ὢν πάππος ἐκτήσατο τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἀγῶνας ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀράμενος·
Tarquinius, being my grandfather, acquired the rule of the Romans, having undertaken many and great struggles for it.
ἐκείνου τελευτήσαντος ἐγὼ διάδοχός εἰμι κατὰ τοὺς κοινοὺς ἁπάντων Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων νόμους· καὶ προσήκει μοι καθάπερ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς διαδεχομένοις τὰ παππῷα, μὴ μόνον τῶν χρημάτων, ἀλλὰ §4.31.2καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ κληρονομεῖν.
When he died, I am his successor according to the common laws of all Greeks and barbarians; and it is fitting for me, just as for all others who succeed to their grandfathers' estates, to inherit not only his wealth, but also his kingdom.
σὺ δὲ τὰ μὲν χρήματα τὰ καταλειφθέντα ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ παραδέδωκάς μοι, τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν ἀποστερεῖς με καὶ τοσοῦτον ἤδη κατέχεις χρόνον, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ δικαίου λαβών·
But you, while you have delivered to me the money left by him, deprive me of the kingdom and have already held it for so long a time, having taken it not by right.
οὔτε γὰρ μεσοβασιλεῖς σε ἀπέδειξαν, οὔτε ἡ βουλὴ ψῆφον ὑπὲρ σοῦ διήνεγκεν, οὔτε ἀρχαιρεσίαις νομίμοις τῆς ἐξουσίας ταύτης ἔτυχες, ὡς ὁ πάππος τε οὑμὸς καὶ πάντες οἱ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι βασιλεῖς· ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀνέστιον καὶ ἄπορον καὶ πρὸς καταδίκας ἢ χρέα τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ἀπολωλεκὸς φῦλον, ᾧ τῶν κοινῶν οὐδενὸς ἔμελε, καταμισθοδοτήσας καὶ πάντα τρόπον διαφθείρας, καὶ οὐδὲ τότε μέντοι σαυτῷ πράττειν τὴν δυναστείαν λέγων, ἀλλʼ ἡμῖν φυλάξειν σκηπτόμενος ὀρφανοῖς οὖσι καὶ νηπίοις, ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα παρῆλθες καὶ πάντων ἀκουόντων ὡμολόγεις, ὅταν ἀνδρωθῶμεν ἡμεῖς, ἐμοὶ §4.31.3παραδώσειν ὄντι πρεσβυτέρῳ τὴν ἀρχήν.
For neither did interreges appoint you, nor did the senate cast a vote in your favor, nor did you obtain this authority by lawful assembly, as did both my grandfather and all the kings who came before him; but having hired and in every way corrupted the homeless, destitute crowd which had lost its civil rights due to convictions or debts, and which cared nothing for the public interest, and indeed not even then saying that you were securing the sovereignty for yourself, but pretending that you would guard it for us who were orphans and infants, you came to power, and in the hearing of everyone you agreed that, when we grew up, you would hand over the rule to me, as the elder.
ἐχρῆν μὲν οὖν σε, εἰ τὰ δίκαια ποιεῖν ἤθελες, ὅτε μοι τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πάππου παρεδίδους, ἅμα τοῖς χρήμασι καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀποδεδωκέναι παραδείγμασι χρώμενον τοῖς τῶν καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτρόπων ἔργοις, ὅσοι βασιλικοὺς παῖδας ὀρφανοὺς πατέρων παραλαβόντες εἰς ἄνδρας ἐλθοῦσιν ὀρθῶς καὶ δικαίως τὰς πατρῴας καὶ §4.31.4προγονικὰς ἀπέδωκαν ἀρχάς·
Therefore, if you wished to do what is just, you ought, when you were handing over my grandfather's house to me, to have restored the kingdom also along with the money, following the examples of the deeds of honorable and good guardians, who, having received royal children orphaned of their fathers, properly and justly restored their paternal and ancestral rule to them when they reached manhood.
εἰ δὲ μήπω σοι φρονεῖν τὰ καθήκοντα ἐφαινόμην, ἀλλʼ ἔτι διὰ τὸ νέον τῆς ἡλικίας οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἶναι πόλιν τηλικαύτην διοικεῖν, ὅτʼ εἰς τὴν κρατίστην παρεγενόμην τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῆς φρονήσεως ἀκμὴν τριάκοντα γεγονὼς ἔτη, μετὰ τοῦ γάμου τῆς θυγατρὸς καὶ τὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐγχειρίσαι πράγματα· ταύτην γέ τοι τὴν ἡλικίαν ἔχων καὶ σὺ τόν τʼ οἶκον τὸν ἡμέτερον ἐπιτροπεύειν ἤρξω καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιμελεῖσθαι.
But if I did not yet seem to you to understand my duties, but still, because of my youth, to be unable to govern so great a city, when I had reached the prime of physical strength and wisdom, being thirty years old, you ought, along with the marriage to your daughter, to have entrusted me with the affairs of the city also; for at this very age, you too began both to manage our house and to take charge of the kingdom."