‘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; and then, as they themselves no longer denied the charge, I avenged myself, angry in the main, not because they had plotted against me, but because they had not let me abide by the plan which I had made in the beginning. From that time I have continued to protect myself and to punish those of my opponents who plot against me at any time. And then men charge me with cruelty, forgetting to consider which of us s began it! Suppressing all that -went before, which caused them to be punished, they always censured the punishments in themselves and their seeming cruelty. It is as if someone among yourselves should see a temple-robber thrown over the cliff, and should not take into account what he had dared to do—how he had entered the temple at night, had pulled down the offerings, and had laid hands on the image—but should accuse you of great barbarity on the ground that you, who call yourselves Greeks and priests, countenanced the infliction of - such a punishment on a fellow-Greek hard by the temple (for they say that the cliff is not very far from the city). Why, you yourselves will laugh at any man who makes this charge against you, I am sure; and the rest of the world will praise you for your severity towards the impious.

‘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 wise tyrants who, under a name of ‘ill-repute have shown a good and kindly character; and even that brief sayings of some of them are deposited in your temple as gifts and oblations to Pythius.

‘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,The helper of Hercules in the story. 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 foreigners would treat his fellow-countrymen so harshly if he had not been exceptionally wronged?