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.