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your soul inclining toward this, what need is there even to deliberate about it? But if, in fact, no such thing has been decided by you, but wishing to do things both advantageous and just for yourself and for your other subjects, you have considered recalling the emperor again and entrusting the rule of the Romans to him, you must not act so simply and thoughtlessly as if doing something of no worth; but first, having considered it many times and having tested it accurately, thus to proceed to the action, lest something unexpected happening later—and many such things could happen—should provide a pretext for others, and especially for ourselves, to condemn our own lack of counsel and inaction.” When these things were said thus, the emperor was persuaded and praised them as being well said, and he permitted deliberation about it. But the Grand Domestic said that he first wished to learn the reasons by which he might have been led to this. And if they should seem to him to have reason and be strong enough to persuade, what need is there to labor further, deliberating in vain? For nothing prevents the doing of what seems good. But if they should not appear to be such, then he in turn would set forth the reasons for which he himself did not consider the action advantageous. And if his arguments appear to have grasped what is right and just, he should be persuaded and desist from doing what is not right; but if they are wanting or not able to persuade and the battle becomes a close contest, then he should concede the victory to him, just as the story makes the Athenians do, when Athena adds her vote. And since there are three things that might especially be able to lead you to regret what has happened—namely, that it seems to have been done unjustly, that it was not advantageous for the state of affairs, and third, that some of the necessary things are being neglected because an emperor is not presiding over affairs—let us examine each of them. And first, all would agree with me that it was done most justly. For previously you yourself did not begin a war, but were forced by the affairs 1.418 themselves. And then indeed unwillingly, you nevertheless withdrew, fleeing the danger from the emperor; and later, defending yourself out of necessity and with God's help, when affairs came under your control—although it was possible for you to hold the entire empire and to do so justly because he had started the war (for no law prevents the victors from possessing the property of their enemies as prizes of valor)—no sooner did he mention peace than you, doing what was just, gave back the rule. So that both from the things of which you were formerly deprived though doing no wrong, and from the fact that later, when you were victorious over your adversaries, you did not deprive them of their just rights, in both cases justice will remain with you. And that it was also advantageous for the state of affairs, I think will not even require proof. For who does not know, unless he lives completely outside of affairs, that war against one's own people is a ruin and destruction for those who engage in it, just as peace and concord are the very opposite, a benefit and an improvement for the common good? But indeed that we are neglecting none of the necessary things because he is not leading the state, I will try to demonstrate. For since there are two tasks that befit emperors—that of being occupied with military matters, defending against attacking enemies and providing a secure habitation for their subjects, and if need be, campaigning against those who attacked before, and that of being occupied with justice and laws in times of peace and setting domestic affairs in good order— 1.419 in neither of these would he appear to have an advantage over us; or rather, while in the one you are in no way inferior to an emperor, in the other it has fallen to you to be superior by far. For since the rest of the administration of affairs is conducted no less properly than before, in wars and campaigns you are far superior, being present yourself at everything and using better generals than he did, as has become clear from the deeds themselves, since he for the most part stayed at home before, just as he does now.” And while the grand domestic still wished to continue his speech and to demonstrate through many arguments that it was not advantageous for the state of affairs to restore to power again the

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πρὸς τοῦτο ῥέπουσαν τὴν σὴν ψυχὴν, τί χρὴ καὶ βουλεύεσθαι περὶ αὐτοῦ; εἰ δ' ἄρα τοιοῦτον μὲν οὐδὲν κέκριται παρά σοι, σαυτῷ δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπηκόοις λυσιτελῆ τε ὁμοῦ καὶ δίκαια ποιεῖν ἐθέλων τὸ πάλιν ἀνακαλεῖσθαι βασιλέα καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν Ῥωμαίων ἐγχειρίζειν διεσκέψω, οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὕτω καὶ ἀπερισκέπτως ὥς τι τῶν μηδενὸς ἀξίων πράττειν χρή· ἀλλὰ πρότερον πολλὰ πολλάκις σκεψάμενον περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ διακωδωνίσαντα ἀκριβῶς, οὕτω χωρεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ πράττειν, μή πώς τι τῶν ἀδοκήτων ὕστερον συμβὰν πολλὰ δ' ἂν γένοιτο τοιαῦτα τοῖς τε ἄλλοις καὶ πρό γε αὐ 1.417 τῶν ἡμῖν ἀβουλίαν καὶ ἀπραγμοσύνην καταγινώσκειν ἑαυτῶν πρόφασιν παράσχῃ.» Τούτων οὕτως εἰρημένων, ἐπείθετο ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ ὡς καλῶς ἔχοντα ἐπῄνει, ἐπέτρεπέ τε βουλεύεσθαι περὶ αὐτοῦ. ὁ μέγας δὲ δομέστικος τὰς αἰτίας πρότερον ἔφασκε μαθεῖν ἐθέλειν, ἐξ ὧν εἰς τοῦτο ἐναχθείη. κἂν μὲν καὶ αὐτῷ λόγον ἔχουσαι δοκοῖεν καὶ πείθειν ἰσχυραὶ, τί χρὴ περαιτέρω πονεῖν εἰκῇ βουλευομένους; τὸ κωλύον γὰρ οὐδὲν τὰ καλῶς δοκοῦντα ἔχειν ποιεῖν. ἂν δ' ἄρα μὴ τοιαῦτα φαίνοιντο, πάλιν αὐτὸν ἐξ ἀντιστρόφου δι' ἃ μὴ λογίζοιτο αὐτὸς λυσιτελεῖν τὴν πρᾶξιν, προτιθέναι. κἂν μὲν τοῦ ὀρθῶς καὶ δικαίως ἔχοντος φαίνηται ἡμμένα, πείθεσθαί τε αὐτὸν καὶ ἀφίστασθαι τοῦ μὴ τὰ δέοντα ποιεῖν· ἐὰν δὲ ἐνδεῶς ἢ ὥστε δύνασθαι πείθειν ἔχωσι καὶ ἀγχώμαλος ἡ μάχη καταστῇ, τότ' αὐτὸν τῆς νίκης αὐτῷ προχωρεῖν, ὥσπερ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς προστιθεμένης ψήφου, λόγος ποιεῖν. τριῶν δὲ ὄντων ἃ ἄν σε μάλιστα δύναιτο πρὸς μεταμέλειαν τῶν γεγενημένων ἐνάγειν, τοῦ τε μὴ δικαίως δοκεῖν πεπρᾶχθαι, καὶ τοῦ μὴ τοῖς πράγμασι λυσιτελούντως, καὶ τρίτου, τοῦ τινα τῶν δεόντων γίνεσθαι ἀμελεῖσθαι διὰ τὸ μὴ βασιλέα τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐφεστάναι, σκεψώμεθα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν. καὶ πρῶτόν γε πάντες ἂν ἐμοὶ συμφαῖεν ὡς μάλιστα πέπρακται δικαίως. πρότερόν τε γὰρ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἦρξας πολέμου, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῶν πραγμά 1.418 των αὐτῶν ἐκβιασθείς. καὶ τότε μὲν ἄκων, ἀνεχώρησας δ' οὖν ὅμως, βασιλέως τὸν κίνδυνον ἀποδιδράσκων· καὶ ὕστερον ἀμυνόμενος ἀναγκαίως καὶ, τοῦ θεοῦ συναιρομένου, ἐπεὶ τὰ πράγματα γεγένηται ὑπό σοι, καίτοι γε ἐξὸν τὴν σύμπασαν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν καὶ προσεῖναι τὸ δικαίως διὰ τὸ ἐκεῖνον πολέμου ἄρξαι, οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὁ κωλύων νόμος τὰ τῶν πολεμίων τοὺς νενικηκότας ἆθλα τῆς ἀρετῆς κεκτῆσθαι, οὐκ ἔφθασε μνησθεὶς εἰρήνης, καὶ σὺ τὰ δίκαια ποιῶν ἀπεδίδους τὴν ἀρχήν. ὥστε καὶ ἐξ ὧν πρότερον ἀπεστεροῦ μηδὲν ἀδικῶν, καὶ ἐξ ὧν ὕστερον κρατῶν τῶν ἀντιπάλων οὐκ ἀπεστέρεις τῶν δικαίων, ὁμοίως σοὶ τὸ δικαίῳ εἶναι περιέσται. ὅτι δὲ καὶ τοῖς πράγμασι λυσιτελῶς, οὐδ' ἀποδείξεως δεήσεσθαι οἶμαι. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδε, τῶν ἁπάντων εἰ μὴ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔξω κατοικεῖ, τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοφύλους πόλεμον λύμην οὖσαν τοῖς χρωμένοις καὶ φθορὰν, ὥσπερ τὴν εἰρήνην καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν τοὐναντίον ἅπαν, ὠφέλειαν καὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἐπίδοσιν τῶν κοινῶν; ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτι γε οὐδὲ τῶν δεόντων οὐδὲν παραλείπομεν ἡμεῖς διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐκεῖνον τῶν πραγμάτων ἐξηγεῖσθαι, πειράσομαι ἀποδεικνύναι. δύο γὰρ ὄντων ἃ προσήκει βασιλεῦσιν ἔργων, τοῦ τε περὶ τὰ πολέμια διατρίβειν, ἀμυνόμενον μὲν τοὺς ἐπιόντας πολεμίους καὶ τὴν οἴκησιν παρέχοντα τοῖς ὑπηκόοις ἀσφαλῆ, εἰ δέ που δέοι, καὶ ἐπιστρατεύοντα τοῖς πρότερον ἐπελθοῦσι, καὶ τοῦ περὶ δίκας ἀσχολεῖσθαι καὶ θεσμοὺς ἐν τῆς εἰρήνης τοῖς καιροῖς καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα εὖ τίθεσθαι, 1.419 ἐν οὐδετέρῳ τὸ πλέον ἔχων ἡμῶν ἐκεῖνος ἂν φανείη, μᾶλλον δὲ τῷ μὲν οὐδαμῶς λείπεσθαι βασιλέως, τῷ ἑτέρῳ δέ σοι συμβέβηκε νικᾷν παραπολύ. τῆς γὰρ ἄλλης τῶν πραγμάτων διοικήσεως οὐδὲν ἔλαττον ἢ πρότερον ὡς προσῆκον γινομένης, ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις καὶ ταῖς στρατείαις πολὺ προέχεις, αὐτὸς ἐφ' ἅπασι παρὼν καὶ στρατηγοῖς χρώμενος βελτίοσιν ἢ ἐκεῖνος, ὡς ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων ἐγένετο καταφανὲς, αὐτοῦ ταπολλὰ καὶ πρότερον οἰκουροῦντος ὥσπερ νῦν.» Ἔτι δὲ τὸν λόγον βουλομένου τοῦ μεγάλου συνείρειν δομεστίκου καὶ διὰ πολλῶν ἀποδεικνύναι μὴ ὂν λυσιτελὲς πρὸς τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ἀρχὴν αὖθις ἐπανάγειν τὸν