[6,81] Ὁ μὲν δὴ Βροῦτος τοιούτους εἰπὼν λόγους ἐπαύσατο· τοῖς δὲ παροῦσιν, ὅσα τε περὶ τῶν δικαίων εἶπεν, ἀληθῆ εἶναι ἐδόκει καὶ ὅσα τῆς ὑπεροψίας τοῦ συνεδρίου κατηγόρησε, μάλιστα δ´ ἐν οἷς τὸ ἀσφαλὲς τῶν ὁμολογιῶν δόλου μεστὸν ἀπεδείκνυε καὶ ἀπάτης. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰς ὕβρεις τελευτῶν διῆλθεν, ἃς ἦσαν ὑβρισμένοι ὑπὸ τῶν δανειστῶν, καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἕκαστον ἀνέμνησε κακῶν, οὐδεὶς ἦν στερρὸς οὕτω τὴν διάνοιαν, ὃς οὐκ ἐξεχεῖτο τοῖς δάκρυσι καὶ ἀνεκλαίετο τὰς κοινὰς συμφοράς· καὶ τοῦτ´ οὐκ αὐτοῖς μόνοις συνέβαινε παθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς ἥκουσιν. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ πρέσβεις τὰ δάκρυα κατέχειν ἴσχυον ἐνθυμούμενοι τὰς ἐκ τοῦ διοικισμοῦ τῆς πόλεως ἀτυχίας, καὶ πολὺς ἦν χρόνος ἐν ᾧ κατηφεῖς καὶ δεδακρυμένοι καὶ τί χρὴ λέγειν ἀποροῦντες εἱστήκεσαν. ἐπειδὴ δ´ ὅ τε πολὺς θρῆνος ἐπαύσατο καὶ σιωπὴ κατέσχε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, παρῆλθεν ἀπολογησόμενος πρὸς ταῦτα, ὅσπερ ἐδόκει τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν ἡλικίᾳ τε προὔχειν καὶ ἀξιώσει, Τῖτος Λάρκιος, ὃς δὶς ἀποδειχθεὶς ὕπατος δυναστείᾳ τῇ καλουμένῃ δικτατορίᾳ κράτιστα πάντων ἀνθρώπων χρησάμενος ἱερὰν καὶ σεβασμοῦ μεστὴν ἐποίησε νομισθῆναι τὴν ἐπίφθονον ἀρχήν. ἐπιβαλλόμενος δὲ περὶ τοῦ δικαίου ποιεῖσθαι λόγους, καὶ τὰ μὲν τοῖς δανειστικοῖς ἐγκαλῶν ὡς ὠμὰ καὶ ἀπάνθρωπα διαπεπραγμένοις, τὰ δὲ τῶν πενήτων καθαπτόμενος ὡς οὐ δικαίως ἀξιούντων βίᾳ μᾶλλον ἀφεῖσθαι τῶν ὀφειλημάτων ἢ χάριτι, καὶ ὡς τὴν βουλὴν οὐκ ὀρθῶς δι´ ὀργῆς ἐχόντων ἐπὶ τῷ μηθενὸς τῶν μετρίων παρ´ αὐτῆς τυγχάνειν, μᾶλλον ἢ οὐχὶ τοὺς αἰτίους· πειρώμενός τ´ ἀποφαίνειν βραχὺ μὲν ὑπάρχον τοῦ δήμου τὸ μὴ κατὰ γνώμην ἀδικοῦν, ὑπὸ δὲ μήκους ἀπορίας ἠναγκασμένον αἰτεῖσθαι τὴν ἄφεσιν, τὸ δὲ πλεῖον ἀκολασίᾳ καὶ ὕβρει καὶ τῷ καθ´ ἡδονὰς ζῆν ἐφεικὸς καὶ δι´ ἁρπαγῆς ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ὑπηρετεῖν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις παρεσκευασμένον, διακρίνεσθαί τε οἰόμενος δεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐλεεινῶν τὰ πονηρὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν φιλανθρωπίας δεομένων τὰ μίσους ἄξια, καὶ τοιούτους τινὰς ἄλλους καθιστάμενος λόγους ἀληθεῖς μέν, οὐχ ἅπασι δὲ τοῖς ἀκούουσι κεχαρισμένους, οὐκ ἔπειθεν, ἀλλὰ θροῦς ἦν ἐφ´ ἑκάστῳ πολὺς καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀγανακτήσεις ὡς ἐξαιμάττοντος τὰς λύπας, τῶν δ´ ἐξομολογήσεις ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν ἀληθῶν ἀποκρυπτομένου· ἔλαττον δὲ πολλῷ τοῦτ´ ἦν θατέρου τὸ μέρος, ὥστ´ ἠφανίζοντο τῷ πολλῷ καὶ περιῆν ἡ τοῦ ἀγανακτοῦντος βοή.

[6,81] (p95) With these words Brutus ended his speech. All who were present regarded as true everything he said about principles of justice, as also the charges he made respecting the arrogance of the senate, but particularly what he said to show that the assurance offered for the performance of the agreement was full of fraud and deceit. But when at the last he described the abuses which the people had suffered at the hands of the money-lenders, and put every man in mind of his own misfortunes, no one was so stout of heart as not to be melted away by tears and to bewail their common calamities. And not only the people were affected in this manner, but likewise those who had come from the senate; for even the envoys could not restrain their tears when they considered the misfortunes that had arisen from the breaking up of the city, and for a long time they stood with eyes downcast and full of tears, and at a loss what to say. But after this great lamentation had ceased and silence fell upon the assembly, there came forward to answer these accusations a man who seemed to excel the rest of the citizens in both age and rank. This was Titus Larcius, who had twice been chosen consul and had of all men made the best use of the power called the dictatorship, causing that invidious magistracy to be looked upon as sacred and worthy of all respect. He, undertaking to speak to the point of justice, now censured the money-lenders for having (p97) acted with cruelty and inhumanity, and now reproached the poor for unjustly demanding to be relieved of their debts through violence rather than as a favour, and told them they were in the wrong to direct their anger against the senate for their failure to obtain any reasonable concession from that body, instead of against those who were really to blame, He also endeavoured to show that, while there was a small part of the people whose offence was involuntary and who were forced by their extreme poverty to demand the remission of their debts, yet the greater part of them were abandoned to licence and insolence and a life of pleasure, and were prepared to gratify their desires by robbing others; and he thought a difference ought to be made between the unfortunate and the depraved, and between those who needed kindness and those who deserved hatred. And though he advanced other arguments of this kind, which, while true enough, were not pleasing to all his hearers, he could not persuade them; but everything he said was received with a great murmur, some being indignant at his opening their griefs afresh, and others owning that he concealed no part of the truth; but the latter group was much smaller than the other, so that it was drowned out by numbers, and the clamour of the indignant group prevailed.