Nicolas Cabasilas' Discourse against the ἅρχοντες, edited by I. Ševčenko in 1957 in the Dumbarton Oaks Papers, from Paris. gr. 1213, keeps raising questions and hypotheses. Who are these ἅρχοντες whom he accuses of committing illegalities? Under what circumstances did he write it? We propose here a full translation of the Greek text edited by Ševčenko, to which we have added some variants appearing in the critical apparatus established by Ševčenko in 1960 from Paris.gr. 1276 (identified as a draft of the discourse). This first full translation into a modern language will, we hope, allow researchers to unravel some of the mysteries of a text that appears fundamental to understand many legal, economic and social issues of the fourteenth century.