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


 

course he cannot be tripped by fallacies and misled
by falsehoods: for although mere men are no doubt
easy to cheat, a god (and above all this god) cannot
be hoodwinked.
 
‘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
 

himself to take such measures in the beginning
of a reign more than at any other time. I had
marvellous hopes of getting them to listen to me
by my humanity, mildness and good-nature, and
through the impartiality of my favour. At the
outset, for instance, I came to an understanding
with my enemies and laid aside hostility, taking
most of them as counsellors and intimates. As for
the city, perceiving that it had been brought to
rack and ruin through the neglect of those, in office,
because everybody was robbing or rather plundering
the state, I restored it by building aqueducts,
adorned it with buildings and strengthened it with
walls; the revenues of the state I readily increased
through the diligence of my officials; I cared for
the young, provided for the old, and entertained
the people with shows, gifts, festivals and banquets.
Even to hear of girls wronged, boys led astray,
wives carried off, guardsmen with warrants, or .any
form of despotic threat made me throw up my hands
in horror.

 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

 

to Greece, to the Spartans and the Athenians.
What they had already resolved to do with me
if they caught me, how they had threatened to tear
me to pieces with their own hands, and what
punishments they had devised for me, they confessed in public on the rack. For the fact that
I met no such fate I have the gods to thank, who
exposed the plot: above all, Apollo, who showed me
dreams and also sent me men to interpret them
fully.

 
‘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.