[7,50] Τί οὖν ἐποίησεν ὁ χρηστὸς ἡμῖν δῆμος, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ταύτην αὐτῷ συνεχωρήσατε τὴν ἀρχήν; οὐκ ἐταμιεύσατο τὴν τοσαύτην χάριν οὐδ´ ἔλαβεν αἰσχυνομένως αὐτὴν καὶ σωφρόνως, ἀλλ´ ὡς δεδοικόσι τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ κατεπτηχόσιν ἡμῖν - - - ἔπειτα ἱερὰν καὶ ἄσυλον ἔφη δεῖν ἀποδειχθῆναι τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅρκοις ἐμπεδωθεῖσαν, κρείττω τιμὴν αἰτούμενος ἧς δεδώκατε ὑμεῖς τοῖς ὑπάτοις. ὑπεμείνατε καὶ τοῦτο καὶ στάντες ἐπὶ τῶν τομίων κατ´ ἐξωλείας ἑαυτῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἀπογόνων ὠμόσατε. τί οὖν ἐποίησε καὶ τούτου τυχών; ἀντὶ τοῦ χάριτας ὑμῖν εἰδέναι καὶ σώζειν τὸν πάτριον κόσμον τῆς πολιτείας, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν πλεονεξιῶν καὶ ταύταις ταῖς παρανομίαις ἀφορμαῖς τῶν ὕστερον χρησάμενος νόμους τ´ ἀπροβουλεύτους εἰσφέρει, καὶ τούτους ἐπιψηφίζει δίχα τῆς ὑμετέρας γνώμης, καὶ οἷς ἂν ὑμεῖς ἐκφέρητε δόγμασιν οὐ προσέχει τὸν νοῦν, καὶ τῶν ὑπάτων ὡς οὐκ ὀρθῶς τὴν πόλιν ἐπιτροπευόντων κατηγόρει, καὶ τοῖς ἐκβαίνουσι παρὰ τὰς ὑμετέρας συνθήκας· πολλὰ δ´ ἐστίν, ὧν οὐ δύναται στοχάσασθαι λογισμὸς ἀνθρώπινος· οὐ τὴν τύχην, ὥσπερ ἐχρῆν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπιγράφει διάνοιαν, ἐπιβουλεύεσθαί θ´ ὑφ´ ὑμῶν σκηπτόμενος καὶ δεδιέναι, μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀφέλησθε ἢ τῆς πατρίδος ἐκβάλητε, αὐτὸς ἐφ´ ὑμῖν ταῦτα μηχανώμενος διατελεῖ, καὶ τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ὃ δεδοικέναι φησίν, οὐκ ἄλλῳ τινὶ φυλαττόμενος δῆλός ἐστιν, ἢ τῷ δρᾶσαι φθάσας. ἐδήλωσε δὲ τοῦτο πολλάκις μὲν καὶ πρότερον καὶ ἐπὶ πολλῶν ὧν ἐξείργομαι μεμνῆσθαι κατὰ τὸ παρόν, μάλιστα δὲ Μάρκιον τουτονὶ τὸν φιλόπολιν ἄνδρα, οὔτε προγόνων ἀφανῶν ὄντα οὔτ´ αὐτὸν ἀρετῇ λειπόμενον οὐθενὸς ἡμῶν, αἰτιασάμενος ἐπιβουλεύειν αὐτῷ καὶ πονηρὰς ἐνθάδε γνώμας λέγειν, ἄκριτον ἐπεχείρησεν ἀποκτεῖναι. καὶ εἰ μὴ δεινὸν ἡγησάμενοι τὸ πρᾶγμα οἵ θ´ ὕπατοι καὶ ὑμῶν οἱ τὰ κρείττω φρονοῦντες συνεστράφητε καὶ τὴν παρανομίαν ἐπέσχετε αὐτῶν, ἐν μιᾷ τῇ τότε ἡμέρᾳ πάντ´ ἂν ἀφῃρέθητε, ὅσα οἱ πατέρες θ´ ὑμῖν σὺν πολλοῖς κτησάμενοι πόνοις κατέλιπον καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἐλάττους ἀγῶνας ἐκείνων ὑποστάντες ἔχετε, τὸ ἀξίωμα, τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, τὴν ἐλευθερίαν· οἱ δὲ γενναιότεροι καὶ οὐκ ἀγαπήσαντες αὐτὸ τὸ ζῆν, εἰ μὴ μετὰ τούτων ἐμέλλετε τῶν ἀγαθῶν βιώσεσθαι, τὰς ψυχὰς ἂν πρότερον ἢ ταῦτ´ ἀφῃρέθητε, οἱ μὲν εὐθύς, οἱ δ´ οὐκ εἰς μακράν. τί γὰρ ἂν τὸ κωλῦσον ἦν οὕτως αἰσχρῶς καὶ κακῶς Μαρκίου τοῦδε ἀναρπασθέντος ὥσπερ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ κἀμὲ μετὰ τοῦτον ἀπολωλέναι διασπασθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, καὶ πάντας, ὅσοι πώποτ´ ἠναντιώθησαν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἔμελλον ἐναντιώσεσθαι ταῖς παρανόμοις ἐπιθυμίαις τοῦ δήμου; οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἠρκέσθη τοὺς δύο μόνους ἡμᾶς ἐκποδὼν ποιησάμενος, οὐδὲ μέχρι δεῦρ´ ἐλθὼν ἀπέστη τῆς παρανομίας, εἰ δεῖ τὰ μέλλοντα τεκμαίρεσθαι τοῖς γεγονόσιν, ἀλλ´ ἀφ´ ἡμῶν ἀρξάμενος ἅπαν τὸ ἀντίπαλον καὶ μὴ εἶκον ὥσπερ χειμάρρους πολὺς ἐμπεσὼν παρέσυρεν ἂν καὶ κατήνεγκεν, οὔτ´ εὐγενείας φειδόμενος οὔτ´ ἀρετῆς οὔθ´ ἡλικίας.

[7,50] "What, then, did this fine populace of ours do after you had granted them this magistracy also? They did not make a prudent use of so great a benefit nor did they receive it with respect and modesty, but, just as if we were in fear and consternation because of their strength - - - then they said this magistracy ought to be declared sacred and inviolable and should be secured by oaths, thus demanding for it a greater honour than you yourselves have conferred upon the consuls. To this also you submitted, and standing over the parts of the sacrificial victims, you invoked utter destruction upon both yourselves and your posterity if you should violate your oath. What, then, did they do when they had obtained this also? Instead of being grateful to you and maintaining our ancestral form of government, they began from these ill- gotten advantages, and making these illegal acts the steps to future encroachments, they not only introduce laws without a preliminary decree of the senate, but enact them without your concurrence; they pay no regard to the decrees you publish; they accuse the consuls of maladministration of the state; and if (p287) anything happens contrary to your agreement with them — and there are many things which human reason cannot accurately foresee — they attribute it, not to chance, as they should, but to deliberate intention on your part; and while they pretend that designs are being formed against them by you and that they are afraid you may either deprive them of their liberty or expel them from their country, they themselves are continually forming these very designs against you, and plainly show that their only method of guarding against the mischief they claim to fear consists in being the first to inflict it. This they have often made apparent even before now, upon many occasions which I am prevented from mentioning at present, but particularly by their treatment of Marcius here, a lover of his country and a man who is neither of obscure birth nor inferior himself to any of us in valour, whom they accused of forming designs against them and of going evil advice in this place, and attempted to put to death without a trial. And if the consuls and the more sagacious among you had not become indignant at this action and joined together to restrain their illegal attempts, you would have been deprived in that one day of everything that your ancestors acquired with many labours and left to you, and of everything that you yourselves possess after undergoing on fewer struggles than they — of your prestige, your supremacy, and your liberty; while those of you who had more spirit and would not have been contented with life alone unless you were to live in the enjoyment of those blessings, would, either then or soon after, have chosen to lose your lives rather than lose these privileges. For if once Marcius had been (p289) made away with in some shameful and dastardly a manner, like one all alone in a wilderness, what could have hindered me also, after him, and all of you who had ever opposed or were likely to oppose thereafter the unlawful attempts of the populace, from perishing by being torn in pieces by our enemies? For they would not have been satisfied with getting only the two of us out of the way, nor would they, after going thus far, have desisted from their lawless course, if we are to judge the future from the past; but having begun with us, they would have rushed down like a torrent in flood upon all who opposed them and did not submit to them, and would have swept them away and borne them off, sparing neither birth, merit nor age.