[6,77] Ἔναγχος δὲ δὴ τοῦ χρόνου· τουτὶ γὰρ ἔτι προσθεὶς τῷ περὶ τοῦ δικαίου λόγῳ παύσομαι· ὅθ´ ὑμῖν Αἰκανοί τε καὶ Σαβῖνοι καὶ Οὐολοῦσκοι μιᾷ γνώμῃ χρησάμενοι αὐτοί τ´ ἐπανίσταντο καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους παρεκάλουν, οὐκ ἐφ´ ἡμᾶς ἠναγκάσθητε καταφυγεῖν τοὺς ταπεινοὺς καὶ φαύλους οἱ σεμνοὶ καὶ βαρεῖς, πάντα ὑπισχνούμενοι ὑπὲρ τῆς τότε σωτηρίας; καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἐξαπατᾶν ἡμᾶς αὖθις δοκῆτε, ὃ πολλάκις ἐποιήσατε, προκάλυμμα τῆς ἀπάτης Μάνιον Οὐαλέριον τουτονὶ τὸν φιλοδημότατον ἄνδρα εὕρεσθε· ᾧ πιστεύσαντες ἡμεῖς ὡς οὐκ ἂν ὑπὸ δικτάτορός τε καὶ ταῦτα χρηστοῦ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἀνδρὸς φενακισθησόμενοι συνηράμεθα ὑμῖν καὶ τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἐνικῶμεν οὐ μικροὺς οὐδ´ ὀλίγους οὐδ´ ἀφανεῖς ἀγῶνας ὑπομείναντες. θᾶττον δ´ ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἁπάντων ἐλπίδα τέλος εἰληφότος τὸ κάλλιστον τοῦ πολέμου τοσοῦτον ἀπέσχετε τοῦ χαίρειν καὶ πολλὴν εἰδέναι τῷ δήμῳ χάριν, ὥστε κατέχειν ἡμᾶς ἔτι ἠξιοῦτε ἄκοντας ὑπὸ ταῖς σημαίαις ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις, ἵνα παρέλθητε τὰς ὑποσχέσεις ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς διέγνωτε. οὐχ ὑπομένοντος δὲ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὸν φενακισμὸν οὐδὲ τὴν αἰσχύνην τοῦ ἔργου, ἀλλ´ εἰσενέγκαντος εἰς τὴν πόλιν τὰ σημεῖα καὶ διαφέντος ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα τὰς δυνάμεις, πρόφασιν ποιησάμενοι ταύτην τοῦ μὴ τὰ δίκαια ποιεῖν τοῦτον ὑβρίσατε, τῶν δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁμολογιῶν οὐδεμίαν ἐφυλάξατε, ἀλλ´ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τρία τὰ μέγιστα παρηνομήσατε, τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς βουλῆς καταλύσαντες καὶ τὴν πίστιν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διαφθείραντες καὶ τοῖς εὐεργέταις ἀνόνητον ποιήσαντες τὴν χάριν τῶν πόνων. ταῦτα δὴ καὶ ἄλλα πρὸς τούτοις ὅμοια πολλὰ ἔχοντες λέγειν πρὸς ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀξιοῦμεν, ὦ πατρίκιοι, πρὸς ἱκεσίας καὶ δεήσεις ὑμῶν τραπέσθαι, οὐδ´ ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ δεινὰ δεδρακότες ἐπ´ ἀδείᾳ καὶ ἀμνηστίᾳ κάθοδον λαμβάνειν. οὐ μὴν ἀκριβολογεῖσθαί γε περὶ τούτων ἐν τῷ παρόντι οἰόμεθα χρῆναι, ἐπειδὴ περὶ ὁμονοίας διαλεξόμενοι συνεληλύθαμεν, ἀλλ´ ἀμελείᾳ καὶ λήθῃ παραδόντες αὐτὰ φέρομεν.

[6,77] "And just recently (for I shall add this one more instance to that part of my discourse which relates to justice before I make an end), when the Aequians, the Sabines, and the Volscians with one accord not only rose against you themselves, but invited others to do likewise, were not you, the proud and stern, obliged to fly to us, the mean and despised, and to promise everything in order to secure your safety at that time? And that you might not seem to be intending to deceive us again, as you had often done before, you made use of Manius Valerius here, the greatest friend of the people, as a cover for your deceit; confiding in whom and believing ourselves in no danger of being imposed upon by a dictator, and least of all by a man who had treated us well, we assisted you in this war also, and having fought not a few battles, and those neither inconsiderable nor obscure, we overcame your enemies. But, once the war was ended in a most glorious manner and sooner than anyone had expected, you were so far from rejoicing and feeling yourselves under great obligation to the people, that you thought fit to keep us still in arms and under our standards against our will, that you might violate your promises as you had determined from (p85) the beginning. Then, when Servilius would not submit to the deceit nor to the dishonour of your action, but brought the standards into the city and sent the forces to their homes, you, making this an excuse for not doing us justice, insulted him and kept not a single one of your promises to us, but at one and the same time committed three most lawless acts, in that you destroyed the prestige of the senate, you ruined the credit of Servilius, and you deprived your benefactors of the recompense that was due to their labours. Since, therefore, patricians, we have these and many other things of the like nature to allege against you, we do not think fit to have recourse to supplicating and entreating you, nor, like men guilty of heinous crimes, to secure our return by accepting impunity and amnesty. However, we do not feel that we ought to enter into a minute discussion of these grievances at present, since we are met to treat of an agreement, but leaving them to indifference and oblivion, we simply put up with them.