Phalaris (1-2)

Men of Delphi, we have been sent by our ruler Phalaris to bring your god this bull, and to say to you what should be said about Phalaris himself and about his gift. That is why we are here, then; and what he told us to tell you is this: ‘For my part, men of Delphi, to have all the Greeks think me the sort of man I am, and not the sort that rumour, coming from those who hate and envy me, has made me out to the ears of strangers, would please me better than anything else in the world ; above all, to have you think me what I am, as you are priests and associates of Apollo, and (one might almost say) live in his house and under his roof-tree. I feel that if I clear myself before you and convince you that there was no reason to think me cruel, I shall have cleared myself through you before the rest of the Greeks. And I call your god. himself to witness what I am about to say. Of

‘I was not one of the common people in Acragas, but was as well-born, as delicately brought up and as thoroughly educated as anyone. Never at any time did I fail to display public spirit toward the city, and discretion and moderation toward my fellow-citizens ; and no one ever charged me with a single violent, tude, insolent, or overbearing action in the early period of my life. But when I saw that the men of the opposite party were plotting against me and trying in every way to get rid of me—our city was split into factions at the time—I found only one means of escape and safety, in which lay also the salvation of the city: it was to put myself at the head of the state, curb those men and check their plotting, and force the city to be reasonable. As there were not a few who commended this plan, men of sense and patriotism who understood my purpose and the necessity of the coup, I made use of their assistance and easily succeeded.

‘From that time on the others made no more trouble, but gave obedience ; I ruled, and the city was free from party strife. Executions, banishments and confiscations I did not employ even against the former conspirators, although a man must bring

I was already planning to resign my office and lay down my authority, thinking only how one might stop with safety ; for being governor and managing everything began to seem to me unpleasant in itself and, when attended by jealousy, a burden to the flesh. I was still seeking, however, to ensure that the city would never again stand in need of such ministrations. But while I in my simplicity was engaged in all this, the others were already combining against me, planning the manner of their plot and uprising, organizing bands of conspirators, collecting arms, raising money, asking the aid of men in neighbouring towns, and sending embassies

‘At this point I ask you, men of Delphi, to imagine yourselves now as alarmed as I was then, and to give me your advice as to what I should have done when I had almost been taken off my guard - and was trying to save myself from the situation. Transport yourselves, then, in fancy to my city of Acragas for a while; see their preparations, hear their threats, and tell me what to do. Use them with humanity? Spare them and put up with them when I am on the point of meeting my death the very next moment—nay, proffer my naked throat, and see my nearest and dearest slain before my eyes? Would not that be sheer imbecility, and should not I, with high and manly resolution and the anger natural to a man of sense who has been wronged, bring those men to book and provide for my own future security as best I may in the situation? That is the advice that I know you would have given me.

‘Well, what did I do then? I summoned the men implicated, gave them a hearing, brought in the evidence, and clearly convicted them on each count;

‘Peoples in general, without trying to find out what sort of man the head of the state is, whether just or unjust, simply hate the very name of tyranny, and even if the tyrant is an Aeacus, a Minos or a Rhadamanthus they make every effort to put him out of the way just the same, for they fix their eyes on the bad tyrants and include the good in equal hatred by reason of the common title. Yet I hear that among you Greeks there have been many

‘You will observe that legislators lay most - stress on the punitive class of measures, naturally because no others are of any use if unattended by fear and the expectation of punishment. With us tyrants this is all the more necessary because we govern by force and live among men who ‘not only hate us but plot against us, in an environment where even the bugaboos we set up do not help us. Our case is like the story of the Hydra: the more heads we lop, the more occasions for punishing grow up under our eyes. We must needs make the best of it and lop each new growth—yes, and sear it, too, like Iolaus,[*] if we are to hold the upper hand; for when a man has once been forced into a situation ot this sort, he must adapt himself to his réle or lose his life by being merciful to his neighbours. In general, do you suppose that any man is so barbarous and savage as to take pleasure in flogging, in hearing groans and in seeing men slaughtered, if he has not some good reason for punishing? How many times have I not shed tears while others were being flogged? How many times have I not been forced to lament and bewail my lot in undergoing greater and more protracted punishment than they? When a man is kindly by nature and harsh by necessity, it is much harder for him to punish than to be punished.

‘For my part, if I may speak freely, in case I were offered the choice between inflicting unjust punishment and being put to death myself, you may be very certain that without delay I should choose to die rather than to punish the innocent. But if someone should say: ‘ Phalaris, choose between meeting an unjust death and inflicting just punishment on conspirators, I should choose the latter ; for—-once more I call upon you for advice, men of Delphi—is it better to be put to death unjustly, or to pardon conspirators unjustly? Nobody, surely, is such a simpleton as not to prefer to live rather than to pardon his enemies and die. But how many men who made attempts on me and were clearly convicted of it have I not pardoned in spite of everything? So it was with Acanthus, whom you see before you, and Timocrates and his brother Leogoras, for I remembered my old-time friendship with them.

‘When you wish to know my side, ask the strangers who visit Acragas how I am with them, and whether I treat visitors kindly. Why, I even have watchmen at the ports, and agents to enquire who people are and where they come from, so that I may speed them on their way with fitting honours. Some (and they are the wisest of the Greeks) come to see me of their own free will instead of shunning my society. For instance, just the other day the wise man Pythagoras came to us; he had heard a different’ story about me, but when he had seen what I was like he went away praising me for my justice and pitying me. for my necessary severity. Then do you think that a man who is kind to

‘So much for what I had to say to you in my own behalf: it is true and just and, I flatter myself, merits praise rather than hatred. As for my gift, it is time you heard where and how I got this bull. I did not order it of the sculptor myself—I hope I may never be so insane as to want such things !—but there was a man in our town called Perilaus, a good metal-worker but a bad man, Completely missing my point of view, this fellow thought to do me a favour by inventing a new punishment, imagining that I wanted to punish people in any and every way. So he made the bull and came to me with it, a very beautiful thing to look at and a very close copy of nature ; motion and voice were all it needed to make it seem actually alive. At the sight of it I cried out at once: “The thing is good enough for Apollo; we must send the bull to the god!” But Perilaus at my elbow said: “What if you knew the trick of it and the purpose it serves?” . With that he opened the bull’s back and said: “If you wish to punish anyone, make him get into this contrivance and lock him up; then attach these flutes to the nose of the bull and have a fire lighted underneath. The man will groan and shriek in the grip of unremitting pain, and his voice will make you the sweetest possible music on the flutes, piping dolefully and lowing piteously ; so that while he is punished you are entertained by having flutes played to you.”

When I heard this I was disgusted with the wicked ingenuity of the fellow and hated the idea of the

‘You will do what is right, men of Delphi, if you offer sacrifice in my behalf with my ambassadors, and if you set the bull up in a fair place in the temple-close, that all may know how I deal with bad men and how I requite their extravagant inclinations toward wickedness. Indeed, this affair of itself is enough to show my character: Perilaus was punished, the bull was dedicated without being kept to pipe when others were punished and without having played any other tune than the bellowings of its

This, men of Delphi, is the message from Phalaris, all of it true and everything just as‘ it took place. You would be justified in believing our testimony, as we know the facts and have never yet had the reputation of being untruthful. But if it is necessary to resort to entreaty on behalf of a man who has been wrongly thought wicked and has been compelled to punish people against his will, then we, the people of Acragas, Greeks of Dorian stock, beseech you to grant him access to the sanctuary, for he wishes to be your friend and is moved to confer many benefits on each and all of yon, both public and private. Take the bull then; dedicate it, and pray for Acragas and for Phalaris himself. Do not send us away unsuccessful or insult him or deprive the god of an offering at once most beautiful and most fitting.

I am neither an official representative of the people of Acragas, men of Delphi, nor a personal representative of Phalaris himself, and I have no private ground at all for good-will to him and no expectation of future friendship. But after listening to the reasonable and temperate story of the ambassadors who have come from him, I rise in the

for you to hesitate about this matter at all and to submit us the question whether we should receive the gift or send it back again—even this I, for my part, consider impious ; indeed, nothing short of extreme sacrilege, for the business is nothing else than temple-robbery, far more serious than other forms of it because it is more impious not to allow people to make gifts when they will than to steal gifts after they are made.

A man of Delphi myself and an equal participant in our public good name if we maintain it and in our disrepute if we acquire it from the present case, I beg you neither to lock the temple to worshippers nor to give the world a bad opinion of the city as one that quibbles over things sent the god, and tries givers by ballot and jury. No one would venture to give in future if he knew that the god would not accept anything not previously approved by the men of Delphi.

As a matter of fact, Apollo has already voted justly about the gift. At any rate, if he hated Phalaris or loathed his present, he could easily have sunk it in the middle of the Ionian sea, along with the ship that carried it. But, quite to the contrary,

By this it is clear that he accepts the monarch’s worship. You must cast the same vote as he, and add this bull to the other attractions of the temple: for it would be most preposterous that a’man who has sent so magnificent a present to our god should get the sentence of exclusion from the sanctuary and should be paid for his piety by being pronounced unworthy even to make an oblation.

The man who. holds the contrary opinion ranted about the tyrant’s murders and assaults and robberies and abductions as if he had just put into port from Acragas, all but saying that he had been an eye-witness; we know, however, that he has not even been as far from ‘home as the boat. We should not give such stories full credence even when told by those who profess to be the victims, for it is doubtful whether they are telling the truth. Much less should we ourselves play the accuser in matters of which we have no knowledge.

But even if something of the sort has actually taken place in Sicily, we of Delphi need not trouble ourselves about it, unless we now want to be judges instead of priests, and when we should be sacrificing and performing the other divine services and helping to dedicate whatever anyone sends us, sit and speculate whether people on the other side of the Ionian sea are ruled justly or unjustly.

Let the situation of others be as it may: we, in my opinion, must needs realize our own situation— what it was of old, what it is now, and what we can do to better it. That we live on crags and cultivate

Never in the memory of any man have we taken avote on a gift, or prevented anyone from sacrificing or giving. For this very reason, I think, the temple has prospered extraordinarily and is excessively rich in gifts. Therefore we ought not to make any innovation in the present case and break precedents by setting up the practice of censoring gifts and looking into the pedigree of things that are sent

It seems to me, men of Delphi, that you will come to the best conclusion about the present case if you should consider the number and the magnitude of the issues involved in the question—first, the god, the temple, sacrifices, gifts, old. customs, timehonoured observances and the credit of the oracle ; then the whole-city and-the interests not only of our body but of every man in Delphi; and more than all, our good or bad name in the world. I have no doubt that if you are in -your senses you will think nothing more important or more vital than these issues.

This is what we are in consultation about, then: it is not Phalaris (a single tyrant) or. this bull of bronze only, but all kings and all monarchs who now frequent the temple, and gold and silver and all other things of price that will be given the god on many occasions. The first point to be investigated should be the interest of the god. Why: should we not manage the matter of gifts as we have always done, as we did in the beginning?

What fault have we to find with the good old customs, that we should make innovations, and that we should now set up a practice that has never existed among us since the city has been inhabited, since our god has given oracles, since the tripod has had a voice and since the priestess has been inspired—the practice of trying and cross-examining givers? In consequence

But if you make yourselves examiners and inquisitors upon gifts, I doubt we shall be in want of people to examine hereafter, for nobody has the courage to put himself on the defensive, and to stand trial and risk everything as a result of spending his money lavishly. Who can endure life, if he is pronounced unworthy to make an oblation?