§7.24.1καιρὸς δʼ ὁ παρὼν οἷος οὐχ ἕτερος, εἴπερ γʼ ἄρχεσθαι μέλλετε σωφρονεῖν, ἐν ᾧ κεκάκωται αὐτῶν τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος ὑπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὐκ ἂν ἔτι δύναιτο πολὺν ἀντισχεῖν χρόνον ὑπʼ ἀχρηματίας, εἰ σπανίους τε καὶ τιμίας ἔχοι τὰς ἀγοράς· ἀναγκασθήσονται δʼ οἱ μὲν κάκιστοι καὶ οὐδέποτε τῇ ἀριστοκρατίᾳ χαίροντες ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν, οἱ δʼ ἐπιεικέστεροι πολιτεύεσθαι κοσμίως μηθὲν ἔτι ἐνοχλοῦντες ὑμῖν.
The present opportunity is such as no other, if indeed you are going to begin to be wise, in which the greatest part of them has been afflicted by the famine, and the rest would no longer be able to hold out for a long time owing to lack of resources, if you should keep the markets scarce and dear; and the worst of them, who never rejoice in the aristocracy, will be forced to leave the city, while the more moderate will behave orderly in public life, annoying you no longer.
§7.24.2τάς τʼ οὖν ἀγορὰς διὰ φυλακῆς ἔχετε, καὶ τῆς τιμῆς τῶν ὠνίων μηθὲν ἀνίετε, ἀλλʼ ὅσου πλείστου ποτὲ ἦν τὰ ὤνια, τοσούτου καὶ νῦν αὐτὰ πωλεῖν ψηφίσασθε δικαίας ἀφορμὰς ἔχοντες καὶ προφάσεις εὐλόγους τήν τʼ ἀχάριστον τοῦ δήμου καταβοήν, ὡς ὐφʼ ἡμῶν κατασκευασθείσης τῆς σιτοδείας, ἣ διὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τὴν ἐκείνων ἐγένετο καὶ τὴν καταφθοράν, ἣν ἐποιήσαντο, τῆς γῆς, ἄγοντες αὐτὴν καὶ φέροντες ὥσπερ πολεμίαν, καὶ τὰς ἐξαιρεθείσας ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου δαπάνας εἰς τοὺς ἀποσταλέντας ἐπὶ τὴν σιτωνίαν ἄνδρας, καὶ ἄλλα πολλά τινʼ, ἃ ἠδίκησθε ὑπʼ αὐτῶν· ἵνα καὶ γνῶμεν ἤδη, τί ποτʼ ἐστὶν ἐκεῖνο τὸ δεινόν, ὃ διαθήσουσιν ἡμᾶς, ἂν μὴ ποιῶμεν ἅπαντα τῷ δήμῳ τὰ καθʼ ἡδονάς, ὡς οἱ δημαγωγοὶ αὐτῶν δεδιττόμενοι ἔλεγον.
Therefore, keep the markets under guard, and abate nothing of the price of the provisions, but vote to sell them now at as high a price as they ever were, having just grounds and reasonable pretexts: namely, the ungrateful clamor of the people, as if the scarcity of grain had been engineered by us—which in fact occurred because of their secession and the devastation of the land which they committed, pillaging it like an enemy country—and the expenses paid out of the treasury for the men sent out for the purchase of grain, and many other injuries you have suffered at their hands; so that we may at last know what that terrible thing is which they will do to us, if we do not do everything for the people according to their pleasure, as their demagogues, trying to frighten us, said.
§7.24.3εἰ δʼ ἀφήσετε καὶ τοῦτον ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν τὸν καιρόν, πολλάκις εὔξεσθε τοιούτου τυχεῖν ἑτέρου· καὶ εἰ γνοίη τοῦθʼ ὁ δῆμος, ὅτι βουληθέντες καταλύειν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἰσχὺν ἀπετράπεσθε, πολὺ μᾶλλον ὑμῖν βαρὺς ἐγκείσεται, πολέμιον μὲν τὸ βουλόμενον ὑμῶν ἡγούμενος, δειλὸν δὲ τὸ μὴ δυνάμενον.
But if you let this opportunity also slip from your hands, you will often pray to meet with another such; and if the people should realize this, that having wished to destroy their power you turned back, they will bear down upon you much more heavily, regarding the willing part of you as hostile, and the unable part as cowardly.