[9,46] Ἄππιος μὲν δὴ ταῦτ´ εἶπεν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν δημάρχων ὁ πρεσβύτατος καὶ πλείστου ἀξιώματος τυγχάνων, Γάιος Λαιτώριος, ἀνὴρ ἔν τε τοῖς πολέμοις ἐγνωσμένος εἶναι ψυχὴν οὐ κακὸς καὶ τὰ πολιτικὰ πράττειν οὐκ ἀδύνατος, ἀνίσταται πρὸς ταῦτ´ ἀπολογησόμενος· καὶ διῆλθεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ δήμου λόγον πολὺν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνωθεν ἀρξάμενος· ὡς πολλὰς μὲν καὶ χαλεπὰς στρατείας οἱ βλασφημούμενοι πρὸς αὐτοῦ πένητες ἐστρατεύσαντο, οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τῶν βασιλέων, ὅτε τὴν ἀνάγκην ἄν τις ᾐτιάσατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ἐκβολὴν ἐλευθερίαν κτώμενοι τῇ πατρίδι καὶ ἡγεμονίαν· ἀμοιβὴν δ´ οὐδεμίαν ἐκομίσαντο παρὰ τῶν πατρικίων, οὐδ´ ἀπήλαυσαν οὐδενὸς τῶν κοινῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλ´ ὡς πολέμῳ ἁλόντες ἀφῃρέθησαν ὑπ´ αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἣν ἀνασώσασθαι βουλόμενοι καταλιπεῖν ἠναγκάσθησαν τὴν πατρίδα πόθῳ γῆς ἑτέρας, ἐν ᾗ τὸ μὴ ὑβρίζεσθαι αὐτοῖς ἐλευθέροις οὖσιν ὑπάρξει· καὶ οὔτε βιασάμενοι τὴν βουλὴν οὔτε πολέμῳ προσαναγκάσαντες εὕροντο τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ σφέτερα κάθοδον, ἀξιούσῃ δὲ καὶ δεομένῃ τὰ ἐκλειφθέντα ἀπολαβεῖν εἴξαντες {ἔδωκαν}. τούς θ´ ὅρκους διεξῄει καὶ τὰς συνθήκας τὰς ἐπὶ τῇ καθόδῳ γενομένας ἀνεκαλεῖτο· ἐν αἷς ἦν ἀμνηστία μὲν πρῶτον ἁπάντων, ἔπειτ´ ἐξουσία τοῖς πένησιν ἀρχὰς ἀποδεικνύναι, τιμωροὺς μὲν ἐσομένας σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, τοῖς δὲ κατισχύειν βουλομένοις ἀντιπάλους. διεξελθὼν δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς νόμους ἐπεδείκνυτο, οὓς ὁ δῆμος ἐπεκύρωσεν οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ, τόν τε περὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων τῆς μεταγωγῆς, ὡς ἔδωκεν ἡ βουλὴ τῷ δήμῳ τὴν ἐξουσίαν κρίνειν οὓς ἂν αὐτοῖς δόξειε τῶν πατρικίων, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς ψηφοφορίας, ὃς οὐκ ἔτι τὴν λοχῖτιν ἐκκλησίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν κουριᾶτιν ἐποίει τῶν ψήφων κυρίαν.

[9,46] Thus Appius spoke; and, on the side of the tribunes, the oldest and most highly respected, Gaius Laetorius, a man acknowledged to be of no mean courage in warfare and not without ability in public affairs, rose up to answer him; and he delivered a long speech in behalf of the populace, beginning with the earliest times. He showed that the poor whom Appius maligned had made many hard campaigns not only under their kings, when one might say their action was due to compulsion, but also after the expulsion of the kings, when they were acquiring liberty and supremacy for the fatherland.But they had received no recompense from the patricians nor enjoyed any of the public advantages, but, like captives taken in war, had been deprived by them even of their liberty, to recover which they had been compelled to leave their country in their yearning for another land in which they might live as free men without being insulted. And they had obtained their return to their possessions neither by offering violence to the senate nor by resorting to the compulsion of war, but by yielding to it when it asked and implored (p77) them to receive back their abandoned possessions.He mentioned the oaths and appealed to the terms of the compact which had been made to induce them to return, among which there was, first, a general amnesty, and then for the poor the power of choosing magistrates who should assist them and oppose those who would do violence to them.After recounting these matters, he cited the laws which the people had not long before ratified, both the one concerning the transfer of the courts, by which the senate had granted to the people the power to try any of the patricians they should think fit, and also the one concerning the manner of their voting, which no longer made the centuriate assembly, but rather the tribal assembly, responsible for the voting.65