Suppliant Women - V:420

THESEUS

You're off to a bad start stranger. A slur, I take it,

when you talk of "monarch" here. Our city's free.

There's no one person rules it. The city itself

is its own ruler, with all taking part in annual

rotation, so that no rich man gets to hog

more than his share. The poor have a say as well.

THEBAN HERALD

Aha! That gives me a leg up in the game.

Now take the city I come from: one man,

and I mean one man is in charge, not just some mob.

No rabble-rouser full of hot-air can twist,

for private gain, our policy every which way,

charming, no doubt, at the moment, making friends,

though there's hell to pay as a consequence. Smear tactics

conceal the scandals and your crook goes free.

Besides, unless the speaker level with them,

how can your people know enough to manage?

Weighing things soberly gives a better perspective

than snap decisions. For example, your poor father --

just assuming he's not a lunkhead -- has no time,

with all of that heavy lifting, to think politics.

It's nauseating for the abler citizens when some no-goodnick scrabbles his way to the top

by his gift of gab -- to the top! a former nobody!