§9.47.1διεξελθὼν δὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ δήμου λόγον, ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὸν Ἄππιον· ἔπειτα σὺ τολμᾷς, εἶπε, λοιδορεῖσθαι τούτοις, διʼ οὓς μεγάλη μὲν ἐκ μικρᾶς, ἐπιφανὴς δʼ ἐξ ἀδόξου γέγονεν ἡ πόλις;
And having gone through his speech on behalf of the plebs, turning to Appius: "Then do you dare," he said, "to abuse these people, through whom the city has become great from being small, and illustrious from being obscure?
καὶ στασιαστὰς ἑτέρους ἀποκαλεῖς καὶ φυγαδικήν τινα τύχην ὀνειδίζεις, ὥσπερ οὐχ ἁπάντων ἔτι τούτων μεμνημένων τὸ καθʼ ὑμᾶς, ὅτι στασιάσαντες οἱ σοὶ πρόγονοι πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τέλει καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν πατρίδα καταλιπόντες ἐνθάδʼ ἱδρύθησαν ἱκέται;
And do you call others factionalists, and reproach them with some fugitive fortune, as if all of these men did not still remember your own case, namely that your ancestors, having rebelled against the authorities and abandoned their own homeland, settled here as suppliants?
εἰ μὴ ἄρα ὑμεῖς μὲν ἐκλιπόντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν πατρίδα πόθῳ τῆς ἐλευθερίας καλὸν ἔργον ἐπράττετε, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τὰ §9.47.2ὅμοια ὑμῖν δεδρακότες οὐ καλόν.
Unless, of course, while you, by abandoning your own fatherland out of a desire for freedom, performed a noble deed, the Romans, having done the same things as you, did not perform a noble one.
τολμᾷς δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν δημάρχων ἐξουσίαν ὡς ἐπὶ κακῷ παρεληλυθυῖαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν λοιδορεῖν, καὶ πείθεις τουτουσὶ καταλῦσαι τὴν τῶν πενήτων ἐπικουρίαν τὴν ἱερὰν καὶ ἀκίνητον καὶ μεγάλαις ἠσφαλισμένην ἐκ θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἀνάγκαις, ὦ μισοδημότατε καὶ τυραννικώτατε;
And do you dare also to abuse the authority of the tribunes, as having entered into the city for evil, and do you persuade these men to destroy the assistance of the poor, which is sacred and inviolable, and secured by great constraints from both gods and men, O most people-hating and most tyrannical of men?
καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτʼ ἄρα ἐδυνήθης μαθεῖν, ὅτι τῇ τε βουλῇ καὶ τῇ σεαυτοῦ ἀρχῇ ταῦτα λέγων λοιδορῇ;
And were you not even able to learn this, that by saying these things, you are abusing both the senate and your own office?
καὶ γὰρ ἡ βουλὴ διαναστᾶσα πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς, ὧν οὐκέτι τὰς ὑπερηφανίας καὶ τὰς ὕβρεις ὑποφέρειν ἠξίου, τὸ τῶν ὑπάτων ἀρχεῖον κατεστήσατο, καὶ πρὶν ἐκείνους ἐξελάσαι τῆς πόλεως ἑτέρους ἐποίησε τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας κυρίους.
For indeed the senate, having risen up against the kings, whose arrogance and insolence it no longer deemed worthy to endure, established the office of the consuls, and before expelling them from the city, made others masters of the royal power.
§9.47.3ὥσθʼ ἃ περὶ τῆς δημαρχίας λέγεις, ὡς ἐπὶ κακῷ παρεληλυθυίας, ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ διχοστασίας ἔλαβε, ταῦτα καὶ κατὰ τῆς ὑπατείας λέγεις.
So that what you say about the tribunate, as having come in for evil because it took its beginning from dissension, these things you say also against the consulship.
οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκείνην ἄλλη τις εἰσήγαγε πρόφασις, ἀλλʼ ἡ §9.47.4πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῶν πατρικίων στάσις.
For indeed no other cause introduced that office, but the rebellion of the patricians against the kings.
ἀλλὰ τί ταῦτά σοι διαλέγομαι, ὡς χρηστῷ καὶ μετρίῳ πολίτῃ, ὃν ἅπαντες ἴσασιν οὗτοι σκαιὸν ὄντα διὰ γένος καὶ πικρὸν καὶ μισόδημον καὶ τὸ θηριῶδες ὑπὸ φύσεως οὐδέποτʼ ἐξημερῶσαι δυνάμενον, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁμόσε χωρῶ σοι τὰ ἔργα ἐπίπροσθεν ποιησάμενος τῶν λόγων, καὶ δείκνυμι, ὅσην ἰσχὺν ὁ δῆμος ἔχων λέληθέ σε, ὃν οὐκ ᾐσχύνθης ἀνέστιον καὶ ῥυπαρὸν καλῶν, καὶ ὅσον ἥδε ἡ ἀρχὴ δυναμένη, ἥν δε ὁ νόμος ἐκτρέπεσθαι καὶ εἴκειν ἀναγκάζει;
But why do I discuss these things with you, as if with an honest and moderate citizen, whom all these men know to be perverse because of his birth, and bitter, and a hater of the people, and never able by nature to tame his beastly character? Instead, why do I not come to close quarters with you, placing deeds before words, and show how great a power the people possess without your noticing—whom you were not ashamed to call homeless and filthy—and how much power this office has, which the law forces [you] to turn aside from and yield to?
παρεὶς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἅπασαν εἰρωνείαν ἔργου ἕξομαι.
And laying aside all irony myself, I will hold to action."