Kitap 34
31
But however that may be, the title of 'tyrant' and the arbitrary acts of a tyrant, such as summoning slaves to freedom and settling the poverty-stricken masses on the land, are alleged against me. As to the title I can make this reply, whatever my character is I am the same man with whom you yourself, T. Quinctius, entered into alliance. Then, I remember, you called me 'king,' now I see that you have dubbed me 'tyrant.' Now, if I had altered the designation of my rule, I should have to defend my inconsistency; as you are altering it, you must justify yours. As to my augmenting the civil population by freeing the slaves and dividing up the land amongst the poor and needy, I can defend myself against this charge also by pleading the time at which I did it. Whatever these measures were I had carried them out when you contracted alliance with me and accepted my assistance in the war with Philip. But even supposing that I had carried them out to-day, I do not ask how I could have injured you or disturbed the amity between us, I content myself with asserting that I have acted in accordance with our ancestral laws and customs. Do not weigh what is done in Lacedaemon by your own institutions. There is no necessity for going into details. You select your cavalry as you do your infantry, according to their assessment; you will have a few preeminent for their wealth and the mass of the population subject to them. Our legislator would not have the government in the hands of a small class such as you designate your senate, nor would he allow any one order to be preponderant in the State; he believed that an equality of rank and fortune was necessary in order that there might be a large number of men to bear arms for their country. I have spoken at greater length, I confess, than is usual with my countrymen. It could have been put very briefly-I have done nothing since I formed a league of amity with you which should make you regret it."
