Ὕπὲρ τίνος οὖν πρὸς θεῶν ἀχαριστούμεθα; ὅτι τρέφομεν ὑμᾶς οἴκοθεν, [D] ὃ μέχρι σήμερον ὑπῆρξεν οὐδεμιᾷ πόλει, καὶ τρέφομεν οὕτω λαμπρῶς; ὅτι τὸν κατάλογον ὑμῶν ηὐξήσαμεν; ὅτι κλέπτοντας ἑλόντες οὐκ ἐπεξήλθομεν; ἑνὸς ἢ δύο βούλεσθε ὑμᾶς ὑπομνήσω, μή τις ὑπολάβῃ σχῆμα καὶ ῥητορείαν εἶναι καὶ προσποίησιν τὸ πρᾶγμα; γῆς κλήρους οἶμαι τρισχιλίους ἔφατε ἀσπόρους εἶναι καὶ ᾐτήσασθε λαβεῖν, λαβόντες δ᾽ ἐνείμασθε πάντες οἱ μὴ δεόμενοι. τοῦτο ἐξετασθὲν ἀνεφάνη σαφῶς. ἀφελόμενος δ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐγὼ τῶν ἐχόντον οὐ δικαίως, καὶ πολυπραγμονήσας οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν, ὧν ἔσχον ἀτελεῖς, [371] οὓς μάλιστα ἐχρῆν ὑποτελεῖς εἶναι, ταῖς βαρυτάταις ἔνειμα λειτουργίαις αὐτοὺς τῆς πόλεως. καὶ νῦν ἀτελεῖς ἔχουσιν οἱ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ὑμῖν ἐνιαυτὸν ἱπποτροφοῦντες γῆς κλήρους ἐγγὺς τρισχιλίους, ἐπινοίᾳ μὲν καὶ οἰκονομίᾳ τοῦ θείου τοὐμοῦ καὶ ὁμωνύμου, χάριτι δ᾽ ἐμῇ, ὃς δὴ τοὺς πανούργους καὶ κλέπτας οὕτω κολάζων εἰκότως ὑμῖν φαίνομαι τὸν κόσμον ἀνατρέπειν. [B] εὖ γὰρ ἴστε ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους ἡ πρᾳότης αὔξει καὶ τρέφει τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κακίαν. (Why, I repeat, in Heaven’s name, am I treated with ingratitude? Is it because I feed you from my own purse, a thing which before this day has never happened to any city, and moreover feed you so generously? Is it because I increased the register of Senators? Or because, when I caught you in the act of stealing, I did not proceed against you? Let me, if you please, remind you of one or two instances, so that no one may think that what I say is a pretext or mere rhetoric or a false claim. You said, I think, that three thousand lots of land were uncultivated, and you asked to have them; and when you had got them you all divided them among you though you did not need them. This matter was investigated and brought to light beyond doubt. Then I took the lots away from those who held them unjustly, and made no inquiries about the lands which they had before acquired, and for which they paid no taxes, though they ought most certainly to have been taxed, and I appointed these men to the most expensive public services in the city. And even now they who breed horses for you every year hold nearly three thousand lots of land exempt from taxation. This is due in the first place to the judgment and management of my uncle and namesake(792) but also to my own kindness; and since this is the way in which I punish rascals and thieves, I naturally seem to you to be turning the world upside down. For you know very well that clemency towards men of this sort increases and fosters wickedness among mankind.) Ὁ λόγος οὖν μοι καὶ ἐνταῦθα περιίσταται πάλιν εἰς ὅπερ βούλομαι. πάντων γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ τῶν κακῶν αἴτιος γίγνομαι εἰς ἀχάριστα καταθέμενος ἤθη τὰς χάριτας. ἀνοίας οὖν ἐστι τῆς ἐμῆς τοῦτο καὶ οὐ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐλευθερίας. ἐγὼ μὲν δὴ τὰ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἶναι πειράσομαι τοῦ λοιποῦ συνετώτερος· ὑμῖν [C] δὲ οἱ θεοὶ τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς εὐνοίας καὶ τιμῆς, ἣν ἐτιμήσατε δημοσίᾳ, τὰς ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδοῖεν.