§7.44.1τὰς γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῆς ὁμονοίας τῇ βουλῇ ἀκινήτους ὁμολογίας καὶ μόνον οὐκ ἀδαμαντίνοις δεσμοῖς ἠσφαλισμένας, ἃς οὔτε ὑμῖν τοῖς ὀμωμοκόσιν οὔτε τοῖς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐσομένοις καταλύειν θέμις, ἕως ἂν ἡ πόλις ἥδε οἰκῆται, πρῶτος ἐπεχείρησε λύειν ἐξ ὑμῶν οὑτοσὶ Μάρκιος οὔπω τέταρτον ἔτος ἐξ οὗ γεγενημένας, οὐ σιγῇ πράττων τὴν κατάλυσιν, οὐδʼ εἰς ἀφανές που καταδὺς χωρίον, ἀλλʼ ἀναφανδὸν ἐν τῷδε τῷ τόπῳ πάντων παρόντων ὑμῶν γνώμην ἀποφηνάμενος, ὡς χρὴ τὴν δημαρχικὴν ἐξουσίαν μηκέτι συγχωρεῖν ἡμῖν, ἀλλʼ ἀνελεῖν, ᾗ πρώτῃ καὶ μόνῃ τῆς ἐλευθερίας φυλακῇ §7.44.2πιστεύσαντες ἐποιησάμεθα τὰς διαλύσεις.
For the unmovable agreements made with the senate for the sake of concord, and secured by almost adamantine bonds—which it is not lawful for either you who have sworn, or those who will be born from you, to dissolve as long as this city is inhabited—this Marcius was the first among you who attempted to dissolve, not yet four years since they were made. He did not act in secret to bring about this dissolution, nor slip away into some obscure place, but openly in this very place, in the presence of you all, declaring his opinion that it is necessary no longer to concede the tribunical power to us, but to abolish it, trusting in which as the first and only safeguard of our liberty we made the reconciliation.
καὶ οὐκ ἐνταῦθʼ ἔστη τῆς ἀλαζονείας, ἀλλʼ ὕβριν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῶν πενήτων καὶ τυραννίδα τὴν ἰσηγορίαν ὀνομάζων ἀφελέσθαι παρῄνει ταύτην ὑμῖν.
And he did not stop at this point of arrogance, but calling the liberty of the poor 'insolence' and equality of speech 'tyranny', he advised you to take it away.
ὃ δὲ πάντων ἀνοσιώτατον ἦν τῶν τότε ὑπὸ τούτου ἀξιωθέντων, ἀναμνήσθητε, ὦ πατέρες, ὅτʼ ἀπέφαινε καλὸν εἶναι καιρὸν ἀπομηνμονεῦσαι πρὸς τὸ δημοτικὸν ἁπάσας τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς προτέροις ἐγκλήμασιν ὀργάς, καὶ παρῄνει νῦν, ἐν ᾧ τετρύχωταί θʼ ὑπʼ ἀχρηματίας καὶ πολὺν ἤδη χρόνον τῆς ἀναγκαίου σπανίζεται τροφῆς, ἅπαν αὐτὸ ἐπιτρῖψαι, διακατασχόντας ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀπορίας τῶν §7.44.3ἐπιτηδείων τὴν ἀγοράν.
And remember, O fathers, what was the most impious of all the demands he made at that time, when he declared that it was a favorable opportunity to make the populace feel all the anger for their former offenses, and advised that now, when they are exhausted by lack of money and have already for a long time been in want of necessary food, you should utterly destroy them all, keeping the market in the same scarcity of provisions.
οὐ γὰρ ἀνθέξειν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον ὀλίγα σιτία πολλοῦ ὠνουμένους ἀργυρίου πένητας ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν οἰχήσεσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἐκλείποντας, ὅσοι δʼ ἂν ὑπομείνωσι τῷ κακοδαιμονεστάτῳ διαφθαρήσεσθαι τῶν μόρων.
For he said that we, being poor men, would not hold out for a long time, buying a little food for a large sum of money, but some would depart and abandon the city, and those who remained would perish by the most miserable of deaths.
οὕτω δʼ ἄρα παρεφρόνει καὶ θεοβλαβὴς ἦν ταῦτα πείθων ὑμᾶς, ὥστʼ οὐδʼ ἐκεῖνο ἠδυνήθη καταμαθεῖν, χωρὶς τῶν ἄλλων ὧν προσετρίβετο τὰς τῆς βουλῆς σπονδὰς λύειν ἀξιῶν, ὅτι πένητες ἄνθρωποι τῆς ἀναγκαίου τροφῆς ἀποκλειόμενοι τοσοῦτοι τὸ πλῆθος ὄντες ὁμόσε χωρεῖν ἀναγκασθήσονται τοῖς αἰτίοις τῆς συμφορᾶς οὐθὲν ἔτι φίλιον ἡγούμενοι.
Indeed, he was so mad and infatuated by the gods in persuading you to this, that he was not even able to perceive this—apart from the other consequences he was bringing on by demanding to break the treaty of the senate—that poor men, being shut out from necessary food, and being so great in number, would be forced to come to blows with those responsible for their misfortune, no longer regarding anything as friendly.
§7.44.4ὥστʼ εἰ μανέντες ὑμεῖς ἐπεκυρώσατε τὰς γνώμας αὐτοῦ, μηθὲν ἂν γενέσθαι τὸ διὰ μέσου, ἀλλʼ ἤτοι τὸ δημοτικὸν ἀπολωλέναι πλῆθος ἅπαν, ἢ μηδὲ τὸ τῶν πατρικίων περιλελεῖφθαι γένος.
So that if you, having lost your minds, had ratified his opinions, there would have been no middle course, but either the entire plebeian multitude must have perished, or not even the race of patricians would have been left.
οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως ἀνδραποδωδῶς παρέσχομεν ἑαυτούς, οἱ μὲν ἐκπεσεῖν, οἱ δʼ ἀποθανεῖν, ἀλλὰ θεοὺς μάρτυρας ὧν ἐπάσχομεν καὶ δαίμονας ἐπικαλεσάμενοι, πολλῶν ἂν ἐξεπληρώσαμεν, εὖ ἴστε, τὰς ἀγορὰς καὶ τοὺς στενωποὺς νεκρῶν, καὶ μέγαν αἵματος κρατῆρα πολιτικοῦ στήσαντες οὕτως ἂν ἐδεξάμεθα τὴν ὀφειλομένην μοῖραν.
For we would not have submitted ourselves so slavishly, some to be cast out, others to die, but invoking the gods and daemons as witnesses of what we suffered, we would have filled with many— know it well—the markets and the narrow streets with dead, and having set up a great mixing-bowl of civil blood, we would have thus received our destined fate.
τοιούτων ὑμῖν δυσσεβημάτων εἰσηγητής, ὦ πατέρες, ἐγένετο, καὶ τοιαῦτα δημηγορεῖν ᾤετο δεῖν.
Of such impieties, O fathers, he became the proposer to you, and such speeches he thought he ought to make.