---
title: "Against Flaccus"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 11 of 15
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg030-yonge-ogl/11/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, Against Flaccus, section 11. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg030-yonge-ogl/11/"
---

# Against Flaccus

*Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge*

## 11. Section 130

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg030-yonge-ogl/11/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg030-yonge-ogl/11/#p-N

[¶0] And then again when he seemed to have come off victorious, saying that he was insulted and injured in his property (for he was compelled to become a gymnasiarch), either by being economical and illiberal in his expenses, pretending that he had not sufficient wealth for such unlimited expenditure, or perhaps really not having enough; but before he came to the trial, making a parade of being very rich, but when he did come to the proof then appearing not to be a man of exceeding wealth, having acquired nearly all the riches which he had by unjust actions.

### Section 131

[¶2] For standing by the rulers when they gave judgment, he took notes of all that took place on the trial as if he were a clerk; and then he designedly passed over or omitted such and such points, and interpolated other things which were not said. And at times, too, he made alterations, changing and altering, and perverting matters, and turning things up-side down, aiming to get money by every syllable, or, I might rather say, by every letter, like a hunter after musty records,

### Section 132

[¶4] whom the whole people with one accord did often with great felicity and propriety of expression call a pen-murderer, as slaying numbers of persons by the things which he wrote, and rendering the living more miserable than even the dead, as, though they might have got the victory and been in comfort, they were subjected to miserable defeat and poverty, their enemies having bought victory, and triumph, and wealth, of a man who sold and made his market of the properties of others.

### Section 133

[¶6] For it was impossible for rulers who had the charge of so vast a country entrusted to them, when affairs of every sort, both private and public, were coming in upon them fresh every day, to remember everything which they had heard, especially as they had not only to fill the part of judges, but also to take accounts of all the revenues and taxes, the investigation into which occupied the greater portion of the year.

### Section 134

[¶8] And the man to whom it was entrusted to take charge of that most important of all deposits, namely, justice, and of those most holy sentiments which had been delivered and urged before them, caused forgetfulness to the judges, registering those who ought to have had sentence in their favour as defeated, and those who ought to have been defeated as victorious, after the receipt of his accursed pay, or, to speak more properly, wages of iniquity.

### Section 135

[¶10] Such, then, was the character of Lampo, who was now one of the accusers of Flaccus. And Isidorus was in no respect inferior to him in wickedness, being a man of the populace, a low demagogue, one who had continually studied to throw everything into disorder and confusion, an enemy to all peace and stability, very clever at exciting seditions and tumults which had no existence before, and at inflaming and exaggerating such as were already excited, taking care always to keep about him a disorderly and promiscuous mob of all the refuse of the people, ready for every kind of atrocity, which he had divided into regular sections as so many companies of soldiers.

### Section 136

[¶12] There are a vast number of parties in the city whose association is founded in no one good principle, but who are united by wine, and drunkenness, and revelry, and the offspring of those indulgencies, insolence; and their meetings are called synods and couches by the natives.

### Section 137

[¶14] In all these parties or the greater number of them Isidorus is said to have borne the bell, the leader of the feast, the chief of the supper, the disturber of the city. Then, whenever it was determined to do some mischief, at one signal they all went forth in a body, and did and said whatever they were told.

### Section 138

[¶16] And on one occasion, being indignant with Flaccus because, after he had appeared originally to be a person of some weight with him, he afterwards was no longer courted in an equal degree, having hired a gang of fellows from the training schools and men accustomed to vociferate loudly, who sell their outcries as if in regular market to those who are inclined to buy them, he ordered them all to assemble at the gymnasium;

### Section 139

[¶18] and they, having filled it, began to heap accusations on Flaccus without any particular grounds, inventing all kinds of monstrous accusations and all sorts of falsehoods in ridiculous language, stringing long sentences together, so that not only was Flaccus himself alarmed but all the others who were there at this unexpected attack, and especially, as it may be conjectured, from the idea that there must certainly have been some one behind the scenes whom they were studying to gratify, since they themselves had suffered no evil, and since they were well aware that the rest of the city had not been ill-treated by him.

### Section 140

[¶20] Then, after they had deliberated awhile, they determined to apprehend certain persons of them and to inquire into the cause of this indiscriminate and sudden rage and madness. And the men who were arrested, without being put to the torture, confessed the truth and added proofs to their words by what had been done, detailing the pay which had been agreed to be given to them, both that which had been already given and that which, in accordance with his promises, was subsequently to be paid, and the men who were appointed to distribute it as the leaders of the sedition, and the place where it was to break out, and the time when the giving of the bribes was to take place.

### Section 141

[¶22] And when every one, as was very natural, was indignant at this, and when the city was mightily offended, that the folly of some individuals should attach to it so as to dim its reputation, Flaccus determined to send for some of the most honourable men of the people, and, on the next day to bring forward before them those who had distributed the bribes, that he might investigate the truth about Isidorus, and also that he might make a defence of his own system of government, and prove that he had been unjustly calumniated; and when they heard the proclamation there came not only the magistrates but also the whole city, except that portion which was about to be convicted of having been the agents of corruption or the corrupted. And they who had been employed in this honourable service, being raised up on the platform,

### Section 142

[¶24] that they might be elevated and conspicuous and be recognised by all men, accused Isidorus as having been the cause of all the tumults and of the accusations which had been brought against Flaccus, and as having given money and bribes to no small number of them by himself. "Since else," said they, "where could we have got such great abundance?