Laudator Temporis Acti

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 3.10.4-5 (tr. Earnest Cary):

[4] Another argument — and do not take this as said by way of censure or reproach of you Romans, but only from necessity — is the fact that the Alban race has to this day continued the same that it was under the founders of the city, and one cannot point to any race of mankind, except the Greeks and Latins, to whom we have granted citizenship; whereas you have corrupted the purity of your body politic by admitting Tyrrhenians, Sabines, and some others who were homeless, vagabonds and barbarians, and that in great numbers too, so that the true-born element among you that went out from our midst is become small, or rather a tiny fraction, in comparison with those who have been brought in and are of alien race.

[5] And if we should yield the command to you, the base-born will rule over the true-born, barbarians over Greeks, and immigrants over the native-born. For you cannot even say this much for yourself, that you have not permitted this immigrant mob to gain any control of public affairs but that you native-born citizens are yourselves the rulers and councillors of the commonwealth. Why, even for your kings you choose outsiders, and the greatest part of your senate consists of these newcomers; and to none of these conditions can you assert that you submit willingly. For what man of superior rank willingly allows himself to be ruled by an inferior? It would be great folly and baseness, therefore, on our part to accept willingly those evils which you must own you submit to through necessity.

[4] δέξασθε δὲ αὐτὸ μὴ ὡς ἐπὶ διαβολῇ καὶ ὀνειδισμῷ τῷ ὑμετέρῳ λεγόμενον, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἀναγκαίου ἕνεκα — ὅτι τὸ μὲν Ἀλβανῶν γένος οἷον ἦν ἐπὶ τῶν κτισάντων τὴν πόλιν, τοιοῦτον ἕως τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνων διαμένει, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι τις ἐπιδεῖξαι φῦλον ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲν ἔξω τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ Λατίνων, ᾧ τῆς πολιτείας μεταδεδώκαμεν· ὑμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ παρ' ἑαυτοῖς πολιτεύματος διεφθάρκατε Τυρρηνούς τε ὑποδεξάμενοι καὶ Σαβίνους καὶ ἄλλους τινὰς ἀνεστίους καὶ πλάνητας καὶ βαρβάρους πάνυ πολλούς, ὥστε ὀλίγον τὸ γνήσιον ὑμῶν ἐστιν ὅσον ἀφ' ἡμῶν ὡρμήθη, μᾶλλον δὲ πολλοστὸν τοῦ ἐπεισάκτου τε καὶ ἀλλοφύλου.

[5] εἰ δὲ ἡμεῖς παραχωρήσαιμεν ὑμῖν τῆς ἀρχῆς, τὸ νόθον ἄρξει τοῦ γνησίου καὶ τὸ βάρβαρον τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ καὶ τὸ ἐπείσακτον τοῦ αὐθιγενοῦς. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν τοῦτο ἔχοιτε εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὸν μὲν ἔπηλυν ὄχλον οὐδενὸς εἰάκατε εἶναι τῶν κοινῶν κύριον, ἄρχετε δ' αὐτοὶ τῆς πόλεως καὶ βουλεύετε οἱ αὐθιγενεῖς· ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλεῖς ἀποδείκνυτε ξένους, καὶ τῆς βουλῆς τὸ πλεῖστον ὑμῖν ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν ἐπηλύδων, ὧν οὐδὲν ἂν φήσαιτε ἑκόντες ὑπομένειν. τίς γὰρ ἑκουσίως ἄρχεται κρείττων ὑπὸ τοῦ χείρονος; πολλὴ δὴ μωρία καὶ κακότης, ἃ δι' ἀνάγκην φαίητ' ἂν ὑμεῖς ὑπομένειν, ταῦτα ἡμᾶς ἑκόντας δέχεσθαι.