§34.32.1ad haec imperator Romanus: “amicitia et societas nobis nulla tecum, sed cum Pelope, §34.32.2rege Lacedaemoniorum iusto ac legitimo, facta est, cuius ius tyranni quoque, qui postea per vim tenuerunt Lacedaemone imperium, quia nos bella nunc Punica, nunc Gallica, nunc alia ex aliis occupaverant, usurparunt, sicut tu quoque hoc Macedonico bello fecisti. §34.32.3nam quid minus conveniret quam eos, qui pro libertate Graeciae adversus Philippum gereremus bellum, cum tyranno instituere amicitiam? et tyranno qui umquam fuit saevissimo et violentissimo in suos?
To this the Roman general replied: "We have no friendship and alliance with you, but rather with Pelops, the just and lawful king of the Lacedaemonians, whose right the tyrants also, who afterwards held power at Lacedaemon by force, usurped, because now Punic wars, now Gallic, now others after others had occupied us, just as you also have done in this Macedonian war. For what could be less fitting than that we, who were waging war against Philip for the liberty of Greece, should establish friendship with a tyrant?
§34.32.4nobis vero, etiam si Argos nec cepisses per fraudem nec teneres, liberantibus omnem Graeciam Lacedaemon quoque vindicanda in antiquam libertatem erat atque in leges suas, quarum modo tamquam aemulus Lycurgi mentionem fecisti. §34.32.5an, ut ab Iaso et Bargyliis praesidia Philippi deducantur, curae erit nobis; Argos et Lacedaemonem, duas clarissimas urbes, lumina quondam Graeciae, sub pedibus tuis relinquemus, quae titulum nobis liberatae Graeciae servientes deforment? §34.32.6at enim cum Philippo Argivi senserunt.
And with a tyrant who was ever the most cruel and violent toward his own people? Indeed, for us, even if you had neither seized Argos by fraud nor were holding it, since we are liberating all Greece, Lacedaemon also had to be vindicated into its ancient liberty and into its own laws, of which you just now made mention as if you were a rival of Lycurgus. Or will it be a care to us that the garrisons of Philip be withdrawn from Iasus and Bargyliae, but shall we leave Argos and Lacedaemon, two most famous cities, once the lights of Greece, under your feet, so that by being in servitude they may disfigure our title of a liberated Greece? But indeed, you say, the Argives sided with Philip.
remittimus hoc tibi, ne nostram vicem irascaris.
We remit this to you, lest you should be angry on our account.
satis compertum habemus duorum aut summum trium in ea re, non civitatis culpam esse, §34.32.7tam hercule, quam in te tuoque praesidio accersendo accipiendoque in arcem nihil est publico consilio actum. §34.32.8Thessalos et Phocensis et Locrensis consensu omnium scimus partium Philippi fuisse; tamen cum cetera liberavimus Graecia; quid tandem censes in Argivis, qui insontes publici consilii sint, facturos? §34.32.9servorum ad libertatem vocatorum et egentibus hominibus agri divisi crimina tibi obici dicebas, non quidem nec ipsa mediocria; sed quid ista sunt prae iis, quae a te tuisque cotidie alia super alia facinora eduntur? §34.32.10exhibe liberam contionem vel Argis vel Lacedaemone, si audire iuvat vera dominationis impotentissimae crimina. §34.32.11ut alia omnia vetustiora omittam, quam caedem Argis Pythagoras iste, gener tuus, paene in oculis meis edidit? quam tu ipse, cum iam prope in finibus Lacedaemoniorum essem? §34.32.12age dum, quos in contione comprehensos omnibus audientibus civibus tuis te in custodia habiturum esse pronuntiasti, §34.32.13iube vinctos produci; miseri parentes, quos falso lugent, vivere sciant.
We have it sufficiently ascertained that the fault in that matter belongs to two or at most three, and not to the state, just as indeed, in summoning you and your garrison and admitting you into the citadel, nothing was done by public counsel. We know that the Thessalians, Phocians, and Locrians by the consent of all belonged to Philip's faction; yet we liberated them along with the rest of Greece; what, pray, do you think we will do in the case of the Argives, who are innocent of the public counsel? You said that charges of slaves called to liberty and of land divided among needy men were being objected to you, which are indeed not moderate themselves; but what are those things compared to those other deeds which are committed by you and yours daily, one after another? Hold a free assembly either at Argos or Lacedaemon, if it is pleasing to hear the true charges against a most impotent domination. To omit all other older matters, what slaughter did that Pythagoras of yours, your son-in-law, commit at Argos, almost before my eyes? What did you yourself commit, when I was already near the borders of the Lacedaemonians? Come now, those whom you arrested in the assembly and pronounced in the hearing of all your citizens that you would hold in custody, order them to be produced in chains; let their wretched parents, whom they falsely mourn, know that they are alive.
at enim, ut iam ita sint haec, quid ad vos, Romani? hoc tu dicas liberantibus Graeciam? hoc iis, qui, ut liberare possent, mare traiecerunt, §34.32.14terra marique gesserunt bellum? vos tamen, inquis, vestramque amicitiam ac societatem proprie non violavi. quotiens vis te id arguam fecisse? sed nolo pluribus; §34.32.15summam rem complectar.
But indeed, even though these things be so, what is that to you, Romans? Would you say this to the liberators of Greece? This to those who, so that they might liberate it, crossed the sea and waged war by land and sea? Yet you say, 'I have not specifically violated you and your friendship and alliance.' How many times do you wish me to prove that you have done so? But I do not wish to go on in more words; I will embrace the main point.
quibus igitur rebus amicitia violatur? nempe his maxime duabus, si socios meos pro hostibus habeas, si cum hostibus te coniungas. §34.32.16utrumque a te factum est; nam et Messenen, uno atque eodem iure foederis quo et Lacedaemonem in amicitiam nostram acceptam, socius ipse sociam nobis urbem vi atque armis cepisti et cum Philippo, §34.32.17hoste nostro, §34.32.18non societatem solum sed, si diis placet, adfinitatem etiam per Philoclen, praefectum eius, pepigisti et ut bellum adversus nos gerens mare circa Maleum infestum navibus piraticis fecisti et plures prope cives Romanos quam Philippus cepisti atque occidisti, §34.32.19tutiorque Macedoniae ora quam promunturium Maleae commeatus ad exercitus nostros portantibus navibus fuit. §34.32.20proinde parce, sis, fidem ac iura societatis iactare et omissa populari oratione tamquam tyrannus et hostis loquere. ”
By what things, then, is friendship violated? Surely by these two especially: if you hold my allies as enemies, and if you join yourself with enemies. Both have been done by you; for both Messene, accepted into our friendship under one and the exact same treaty right as Lacedaemon, you yourself, an ally, seized by force of arms, a city allied to us, and with Philip, our enemy, you covenanted not only an alliance but, if it please the gods, even an affinity through Philocles, his prefect, and how, waging war against us, you made the sea around Maleum infested with pirate ships, and captured and killed almost more Roman citizens than Philip did, and the coast of Macedonia was safer than the promontory of Malea for ships carrying provisions to our armies. Therefore, cease, if you please, to boast of the faith and rights of alliance, and, omitting popular speech, speak as a tyrant and an enemy."