§24.7.1ὅτι κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς ἦν τις ἐν τῇ Λακεδαίμονι Χαίρων, ὃς ἐτύγχανε τῷ πρότερον ἔτει πεπρεσβευκὼς εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην, ἄνθρωπος ἀγχίνους μὲν καὶ πρακτικός, νέος δὲ καὶ ταπεινὸς καὶ δημοτικῆς ἀγωγῆς τετευχώς.
[That,] about the same time, there was a certain Chaeron in Lacedaemon, who happened to have gone on an embassy to Rome in the previous year, a man quick-witted and practical, but young, of humble origin, and having received a popular education.
§24.7.2οὗτος ὀχλαγωγῶν καὶ κινήσας ὃ μηθεὶς ἕτερος ἐθάρρει, ταχέως περιεποιήσατο φαντασίαν παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς.
By demagogy and by stirring up what no one else dared to touch, he quickly gained a high reputation among the multitude.
§24.7.3καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀφελόμενος τὴν χώραν, ἣν οἱ τύραννοι συνεχώρησαν ταῖς ὑπολειφθείσαις τῶν φυγάδων ἀδελφαῖς καὶ γυναιξὶ καὶ μητράσι καὶ τέκνοις, ταύτην διέδωκε τοῖς λεπτοῖς εἰκῇ καὶ ἀνίσως κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐξουσίαν·
And at first, having confiscated the land which the tyrants had granted to the sisters, wives, mothers, and children of the exiles who had been left behind, he distributed this among the poor at random and unequally, according to his own authority.
§24.7.4μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς κοινοῖς ὡς ἰδίοις χρώμενος ἐξεδαπάνα τὰς προσόδους, οὐ νόμου στοχαζόμενος, οὐ κοινοῦ δόγματος, οὐκ ἄρχοντος.
After this, treating public property as his own, he squandered the revenues, having no regard for law, nor for any public decree, nor for any magistrate.
§24.7.5ἐφʼ οἷς τινες ἀγανακτήσαντες ἐσπούδαζον κατασταθῆναι δοκιμαστῆρες τῶν κοινῶν κατὰ τοὺς νόμους.
Resenting this, certain persons exerted themselves to have auditors of the public accounts appointed in accordance with the laws.
§24.7.6ὁ δὲ Χαίρων θεωρῶν τὸ γινόμενον καὶ συνειδὼς αὑτῷ κακῶς κεχειρικότι τὰ τῆς πόλεως, τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν δοκιμαστήρων Ἀπολλωνίδαν καὶ μάλιστα δυνάμενον ἐρευνῆσαι τὴν πλεονεξίαν αὐτοῦ, τοῦτον ἀποπορευόμενον ἡμέρας ἐκ βαλανείου προσπέμψας τινὰς ἐξεκέντησεν.
But Chaeron, seeing what was happening and being conscious of his own maladministration of the city's affairs, sent some men and stabbed to death Apollonidas, the most prominent of the auditors and the one most capable of investigating his rapacity, as he was coming away from the bath during the day.
§24.7.7ὧν προσπεσόντων τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς, καὶ τοῦ πλήθους ἀγανακτήσαντος ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγονόσιν, ἐξ αὐτῆς ὁ στρατηγὸς ὁρμήσας καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα τόν τε Χαίρωνα παρήγαγεν εἰς κρίσιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ φόνου τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἀπολλωνίδαν καὶ κατακρίνας ἐποίησε δέσμιον,
When this news reached the Achaeans, and the multitude was indignant at what had happened, the general immediately set out and, arriving in Lacedaemon, brought Chaeron to trial for the murder of Apollonidas, and having convicted him, threw him into prison.
§24.7.8τούς τε λοιποὺς δοκιμαστῆρας παρώξυνε πρὸς τὸ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ζήτησιν τῶν δημοσίων ἀληθινήν, φροντίσαι δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ κομίσασθαι τὰς οὐσίας τοὺς τῶν φυγάδων ἀναγκαίους πάλιν, ἃς ὁ Χαίρων αὐτῶν ἀφείλετο βραχεῖ χρόνῳ πρότερον. —
He also urged the remaining auditors to make a genuine investigation of the public funds, and to see to it that the relatives of the exiles should recover their property, which Chaeron had taken from them a short time before.