Phalaris

1I 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 interests of religion, of our common good and, above all, of the dignity of Delphi to exhort you neither to insult a devout monarch nor to put away a gift already pledged to the god, especially as it will be for ever a memorial of three very significant things— beautiful workmanship, wicked inventiveness, and just punishment.

2for 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.

3A 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.

4As 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, he vouchsafed them a calm passage, they say, and a safe arrival at Cirrha.

5By 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.

6The 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.

7But 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.

8Let 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 rocks is something we need not wait for Homer to tell us—anyone can see it for himself.†As far as the land is concerned, we should always be cheek by jow] with starvation: the temple, the god, the oracle, the sacrificers and the worshippers—these are the grain-lands of Delphi, these are our revenue, these are the sources of our prosperity and of our subsistence. We-should speak the truth among ourselves, at any rate! “Unsown and untilled,”†as the poets say, everything is grown for us with the god for our husbandman. Not only does he vouchsafe us the good things found among the Greeks, but every product of the Phrygians, the Lydians, the Persians, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Italians and even the Hyperboreans comes to Delphi. And next to the god we are held in honour by all men, and we are prosperous and happy. Thus it was of old, thus it has been till now, and may we never cease leading this life!

9Never 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 here, to see where they come from and from whom, and what they are: we should receive them and dedicate them without officiousness, serving bothparties, the god and the worshippers.

10It 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.

11This 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?

12What 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 of that fine old custom of unrestricted -access for all, you see how many good things fill the temple: all men give, and some are more generous to the god than their means warrant.

13But 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?