,

towards the palace, Hormisdas stood in the midst and began these words. 4.4.1 "Men, spectators, but would that you had not become for me the authors of royal misfortunes; for in that case you would not have had allotted to you a king who is at once an orator and a prisoner. Men, now indeed arrogant enemies, but formerly subjects and obedient with fear. 4.4.2 Men, spectators, but would that you had not come forth today as ministers and witnesses of such great evils. If my tears would permit, 4.4.3 I will utter a voice that will again produce tears; for I see you exulting in your wrongdoings and clapping your hands, and gnashing your teeth, and with your faces at once sneering and mocking, unrestrained in laughter, unbearable in your insults, and if I am not mistaken, making the venerable law of kingship 4.4.4 a subject for games. For there is present for you, set forth in your midst, he who a short while ago was worshipped like a god, a captive being struck by the many, he who was draped in purple robes now clothed in rotten rags, he who was adorned with fragments of gold and pearl now with an iron-wrought rope 4.4.5 both afflicted and mistreated, he whose hair was well-arranged and scented with perfumes now most shamefully treated harshly and made savage in his appearance by the filth and the dust and by the discharge from his eyes and by the tangle of his locks, he who was flattered by countless kinds of foods now without food and almost lacking 4.4.6 even common bread, he who dwelled in gold-roofed chambers and lolled on golden couches and luxuriated in bright garments of goat-hair and rolled in magnificent coverlets now confined in a prison and thrown to the ground, 4.4.7 not even wearing the remnants of humble garments. And I see also the glory of our forefathers being insulted today by what you have done, acting impiously towards us, whom it was right to be honored with the honors of the immortals, from the godlike 4.4.8 bodyguard that was brought daily concerning their descendants. But since the law of nature has been overturned among you and the laws of power have been disregarded and the order of monarchy has been trampled upon and the decrees of justice have vanished and retribution for one's life has disappeared, I shall not forget my royal virtue, but with goodwill for the constitution of our race I shall recount the things that will be advantageous for the Persian state. 4.4. Men, satraps, and all who have gathered around this royal place, enroll common principles against tyranny, not allowing in the future a kingship extraordinary and most powerful, ancient and 4.4.10 most fearsome to the men who inhabit the world, to be abused. But if not, you will destroy a great empire and overturn the foundation of many trophies and cast down the summit of greatest glory and shatter an invincible monarchy, and thereupon you Persians will be deprived of your prosperity, your authority having been taken away, the laws concerning the kingship having been disregarded 4.4.11 on account of the tyrant. For of disorder sedition is the natural outcome, and the disorderly is anarchic, and anarchy is a cause of dissolution, taking its origin from tyranny; this, bringing forth polyarchy, disposes ill the things previously well-established, and by the irregularity of its power and by the discord of its sedition, having dissolved the unity and vigor of the rule, has compelled the lovers of tyranny 4.4.12 to suffer or to do all things. For the vessel of kingship, being steered by many rudders, some small onslaught of a reef has sunk, the steering being pulled apart by the contrary efforts of the many, one person at one time, another at another, hastening to steer the boat 4.4.13 towards his own purpose. Therefore, if you do not winnow away the tyrants, you will enslave the kingship, and you will be a plaything for the nations, having been allotted vulnerability by the discord of your way of life. 4.4.14 Bahram is still at hand, he is still putting on airs with his weapons, he still clings to his insolence, having campaigned with the sword against Persia. Let him die as food for wild beasts

πρὸς τὰ ἀνάκτορα, ῾Ορμίσδας ἐς μέσον ἑστὼς τῶνδε τῶν λόγων ἀπήρξατο. 4.4.1 "῎Ανδρες θεαταί, ἀλλ' εἴθε μὴ βασιλικῶν ἀτυχημάτων δημιουργοί μοι γεγόνατε· οὕτω γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἐκληρώσασθε βασιλέα δημηγόρον ἅμα καὶ δέσμιον. ἄνδρες νυνὶ μὲν γαῦροι πολέμιοι, τὸ δὲ πρότερον ὑπήκοοι καὶ μετὰ δέους πειθήνιοι. 4.4.2 ἄνδρες θεαταί, ἀλλ' εἴθε μὴ τηλικούτων κακῶν προήλθετε σήμερον ὑπηρέται καὶ μάρτυρες. εἰ συγχωρήσοι τὸ δάκρυον, 4.4.3 φωνὴν ἀφήσω προξενοῦσαν αὖθις τὸ δάκρυον· ὁρῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἐπεντρυφῶντας τοῖς ἀδικήμασι καὶ κροτοῦντας τὼ χεῖρε, τοῖς ὀδοῦσι δὲ τετριγότας, τοῖς δὲ προσώποις μυκτηριζομένους ὁμοῦ καὶ φενακίζοντας, ἐκχύτους τῷ γέλωτι, ἀσχέτους τοῖς ὀνειδίσμασιν, καὶ εἰ μὴ σφάλλομαι, παιγνίων ὑπόθεσιν ἔχοντας 4.4.4 βασιλείας νόμον αἰδέσιμον. πάρεστι γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν μέσῳ προκείμενος ὁ πρὸ μικροῦ καθάπερ θεὸς προσκυνούμενος αἰχμάλωτος ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ῥαπιζόμενος, ὁ ταῖς ἁλουργίσι περιρρεόμενος νῦν σεσηπότα ῥάκη περιβαλλόμενος, ὁ θρύψει χρυσοῦ καὶ μαργαρίτου κατακοσμούμενος νῦν σχοίνῳ σιδηροτεύκτῳ 4.4.5 ταλαιπωρούμενός τε καὶ κακουχούμενος, ὁ τὰς τρίχας εὐθετιζόμενος καὶ τοῖς μύροις καταπνεόμενος νῦν αἰσχίστως σκληραγωγούμενος καὶ τῷ ῥύπῳ καὶ τῇ κόνει τῇ τε λήμῃ τῶν ὀμμάτων καὶ τῇ συμπλοκῇ τῶν βοστρύχων κατηγριωμένος τὴν πρόσοψιν, ὁ τοῖς μυρίοις γένεσι τῶν ἐδεσμάτων κολακευόμενος νῦν ἀπόσιτος καὶ μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ τῶν τυχόντων σπανιζό4.4.6 μενος ἄρτων, ὁ τοῖς χρυσορόφοις θαλάμοις ἐνδιαιτώμενος κλίναις τε χρυσαῖς ἐμβλακευόμενος καὶ σισύραις λαμπραῖς ἐντρυφῶν καὶ ἐφεστρίσι μεγαλοπρεπέσιν ἐγκαλινδούμενος νῦν ἐν εἱρκτῇ στενοχωρούμενος καὶ πρὸς τοὔδαφος κατερριμμένος, 4.4.7 μήτε λείψανα εὐτελῶν ἀμφιασμάτων περιφερόμενος. ὁρῶ δὲ καὶ τῶν προπατόρων τὸ κλέος προπηλακιζόμενον σήμερον ἐξ ὧν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀνοσιουργοῦντες ἐδράσατε, οὓς ἐχρῆν ἀθανάτων τιμαῖς θεραπεύεσθαι ἐκ τῆς περὶ τοὺς ἀπογόνους ἰσοθέου 4.4.8 δορυφορίας προσαγομένης ὁσημέραι. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ φύσεως παρ' ὑμῖν θεσμὸς ἀνατέτραπται καὶ νόμοι κράτους ἠθέτηνται καὶ τάξις μοναρχίας καταπεπάτηται καὶ δίκης ἠφάνισται πρυτανεύματα καὶ ἀντίδοσις τῶν βεβιωμένων φροῦδος καθέστηκεν, οὐκ ἐπιλήσομαι τῆς βασιλικῆς ἀρετῆς, ἀλλ' εὐνοίᾳ τῆς τοῦ γένους συστάσεως τὰ συνοίσοντα τῇ Περσῶν πολιτείᾳ 4.4. διέξειμι. ἄνδρες σατράπαι, καὶ ὅσοι περὶ τὸν βασίλειον τουτονὶ συνηθροίσθητε χῶρον, κοινὰ κατὰ τῆς τυραννίδος στρατολογήσατε δόγματα, μὴ περιορῶντες ἐς τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπηρεάζεσθαι βασιλείαν ὑπερφυᾶ τε καὶ δυνατωτάτην, πρεσβύτιδά τε καὶ 4.4.10 φοβερωτάτην τοῖς τὴν οἰκουμένην οἰκοῦσιν ἀνθρώποις. εἰ δὲ μή, μεγάλην ἀρχὴν καταλύσητε καὶ πολλῶν τροπαίων ὑπόθεσιν ἀνατρέψητε καὶ μεγίστης δόξης ἀκρώρειαν καταβάλητε μοναρχίαν τε δυσκαταγώνιστον διαρρήξητε, κἀντεῦθεν τῆς εὐδαιμονίας στερηθήσεσθε Πέρσαι, τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀναιρεθείσης ὑμῖν, τῶν περὶ τῆς βασιλείας νόμων ἀθετηθέντων 4.4.11 διὰ τὸ τύραννον. ἀταξίας γὰρ στάσις πέφυκε πρόοδος, τὸ δ' ἄτακτον ἄναρχον, ἀναρχία δὲ λύσεως ἀφορμὴ ἐκ τυραννίδος λαβοῦσα τὴν γένεσιν· αὕτη τὴν πολυαρχίαν ὠδίνουσα τὰ προϋπηργμένα καλῶς κακῶς διατίθησιν, καὶ τῷ ἀνωμάλῳ τοῦ κράτους τῷ τε ἀσυμφώνῳ τῆς στάσεως τὸ ἑνιαῖον καὶ σύντονον τῆς ἀρχῆς διαλύσασα πάντα πάσχειν ἢ δρᾶν τοὺς 4.4.12 φιλοτυράννους ἠνάγκασεν. βασιλείας γὰρ σκάφος πολλοῖς τοῖς πηδαλίοις οἰακιζόμενον μικρά τις σπιλάδος ἐπιδρομὴ κατεβάπτισεν, περισχιζομένης τῆς κυβερνήσεως πρὸς τὰς τῶν πολλῶν ἀντιθέτους ἐπιβολάς, ἄλλοτε ἄλλου πρὸς τὸν οἰκεῖον 4.4.13 σκοπὸν ἐπειγομένου κυβερνᾶν τὸ ἀκάτιον. οὐκοῦν εἰ μὴ τοὺς τυράννους ἀπολικμήσητε, τὴν βασιλείαν δουλαγωγήσητε, καὶ παίγνιον τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἔσεσθε τῷ ἀσυμφώνῳ τῆς τοῦ βίου 4.4.14 διαγωγῆς κατακληρωσάμενοι τὸ εὐάλωτον. ἔτι Βαρὰμ ἐν ποσίν, ἔτι τοῖς ὅπλοις ἀκκίζεται, ἔτι τῆς ὕβρεως ἔχεται στρατεύσας κατὰ τῆς Περσίδος τὴν μάχαιραν. τεθνάτω παρανάλωμα θηρίων