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80.
After the tumult quieted down, and five days passed, the rebels against the Magi held a council on the whole state of affairs, at which sentiments were uttered which to some Greeks seem incredible, but there is no doubt that they were spoken.
[2]
Otanes was for turning the government over to the Persian people: “It seems to me,” he said, “that there can no longer be a single sovereign over us, for that is not pleasant or good. You saw the insolence of Cambyses, how far it went, and you had your share of the insolence of the Magus.
[3]
How can monarchy be a fit thing, when the ruler can do what he wants with impunity? Give this power to the best man on earth, and it would stir him to unaccustomed thoughts. Insolence is created in him by the good things to hand, while from birth envy is rooted in man.
[4]
Acquiring the two he possesses complete evil; for being satiated he does many reckless things, some from insolence, some from envy. And yet an absolute ruler ought to be free of envy, having all good things; but he becomes the opposite of this towards his citizens; he envies the best who thrive and live, and is pleased by the worst of his fellows; and he is the best confidant of slander.
[5]
Of all men he is the most inconsistent; for if you admire him modestly he is angry that you do not give him excessive attention, but if one gives him excessive attention he is angry because one is a flatter. But I have yet worse to say of him than that; he upsets the ancestral ways and rapes women and kills indiscriminately.
[6]
But the rule of the multitude has in the first place the loveliest name of all, equality, and does in the second place none of the things that a monarch does. It determines offices by lot, and holds power accountable, and conducts all deliberating publicly. Therefore I give my opinion that we make an end of monarchy and exalt the multitude, for all things are possible for the majority.”
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (48 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(1):
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus, 513-862
- Cross-references to this page
(6):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.2
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.6.1
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), DEMOCRA´TIA
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), NOMOS
- Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, Moods
- J.F. Dobson, The Greek Orators, Antiphon
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(1):
- Herodotus, The Histories, Hdt. 6.43
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(40):
- LSJ, ἄφθον-ος
- LSJ, ἄκρι^τος
- LSJ, ἄπιστος
- LSJ, ἄριστος
- LSJ, ἄρχω
- LSJ, ἀέξω
- LSJ, ἀνάρμοστ-ος
- LSJ, ἀναφέρω
- LSJ, ἀνεύθυ_νος
- LSJ, ἀρχή
- LSJ, ἀτάσθα^λος
- LSJ, βούλ-ευμα
- LSJ, διαβολ-ή
- LSJ, ἔθω
- LSJ, ἐκτός
- LSJ, ἐμφύω
- LSJ, ἐνδέχομαι
- LSJ, εἰσφέρω
- LSJ, γνώμ-η
- LSJ, ἵστημι
- LSJ, ἰσονομ-ία
- LSJ, κάρτα^
- LSJ, καθίστημι
- LSJ, καταρτ-άω
- LSJ, κατατίθημι
- LSJ, κι_νέω
- LSJ, κορέννυ_μι
- LSJ, μέσος
- LSJ, μετέχω
- LSJ, νό-ημα
- LSJ, οὐ
- LSJ, οὖν
- LSJ, πάλος
- LSJ, πρᾶγμα
- LSJ, θαυμ-άζω
- LSJ, θερα^π-εύω
- LSJ, θώψ
- LSJ, τύραννος
- LSJ, ὑπεναντί-ος
- LSJ, ὑπεύθυ_νος
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