[7,62] Ὡς δὲ παρέλαβεν ὁ Μάρκιος τὸν λόγον, ἀρξάμενος ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἡλικίας διῆλθεν, ὅσας ἐστρατευμένος ἦν ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως στρατείας, καὶ ὅσους εἰληφὼς ἐπινικίους παρὰ τῶν στρατηγῶν στεφάνους πολεμίων τε τοὺς ληφθέντας αἰχμαλώτους ὑπ´ αὐτοῦ καὶ πολιτῶν τοὺς διασωθέντας ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι· καὶ παρ´ ἕκαστον τῶν λεγομένων τά τ´ ἀριστεῖα ἐπεδείκνυτο καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς μάρτυρας παρείχετο καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς διασωθέντας ἐξ ὀνόματος ἐκάλει. οἱ δὲ παρῄεσαν ὀλοφυρόμενοι καὶ δεόμενοι τῶν πολιτῶν, μὴ τὸν αἴτιον σφίσι τῆς σωτηρίας ὡς πολέμιον ἀπολέσαι, μίαν τ´ ἀντὶ πολλῶν ψυχὴν αἰτούμενοι καὶ παραδιδόντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀντ´ ἐκείνου χρῆσθαι, ὅ τι βούλονται. ἦσαν δ´ οἱ πλείους αὐτῶν ἐκ τοῦ δημοτικοῦ γένους καὶ πολλὰ τῷ κοινῷ χρήσιμοι· ὧν τάς τ´ ὄψεις καὶ τὰς δεήσεις δι´ αἰσχύνης ὁ δῆμος λαμβάνων εἰς οἴκτους καὶ δάκρυα ἐτράπετο. ὡς δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα ὁ Μάρκιος περιρρηξάμενος ἐπεδείξατο τὰ στέρνα τραυμάτων μεστὰ καὶ πᾶν {τὸ} ἄλλο μέρος τοῦ σώματος ἀνάπλεων τῶν πληγῶν, καὶ ἐπύθετο, εἰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔργα εἶναι νομίζουσι σώζειν μὲν ἐκ τῶν πολέμων τοὺς πολίτας, ἀπολλύναι δὲ τοὺς σωθέντας ἐν εἰρήνῃ· καὶ εἰ τυραννίδα κατασκευαζόμενός τις τὸ δημοτικὸν ἐλαύνει μέρος ἐκ πόλεως, ὑφ´ οὗ μάλιστ´ αὔξεταί τε καὶ τρέφεται τυραννίς· ἔτι δ´ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ὅσον μὲν ἦν τοῦ δημοτικοῦ μέρους ἐπιεικὲς καὶ φιλόχρηστον ἀπολύειν ἐβόα τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ δι´ αἰσχύνης ἐλάμβανεν, εἰ καὶ δίκην ὑπεῖχε τὴν ἀρχὴν περὶ τοιαύτης αἰτίας ἀνὴρ τοσαυτάκις ὑπεριδὼν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἕνεκα τῆς ἁπάντων φυλακῆς. ὅσοι δ´ ἦσαν φύσει βάσκανοι καὶ μισόχρηστοι καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν εὐκίνητοι στάσιν, ἤχθοντο μὲν ἀπολύειν τὸν ἄνδρα μέλλοντες, οὐκ εἶχον δ´, ὅ τι ἂν ἄλλο ποιῶσι διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν εὑρίσκειν ἀφορμὴν τυραννίδος ἐπιθέσεως φαινομένην, ὑπὲρ ἧς τὰς ψήφους ἀνειλήφεσαν.

[7,62] When Marcius was given an opportunity to (p331) speak, he began from his earliest youth and enumerated all the campaigns he had made in the service of the commonwealth, the crowns he had received from the generals as rewards of victory, the foes he had taken captive and the citizens he had saved in battle; and in each instance that he mentioned he displayed his rewards, cited the generals as witnesses, and called by name upon the citizens whom he had saved. These came forward with lamentations and entreated their fellow-citizens not to destroy as an enemy the man to whom they owed their preservation, begging one life in return for many and offering themselves in his stead to be treated by them as they thought fit. The greater part of them were plebeians and men extremely useful to the commonwealth; and their countenances and their entreaties roused such a sense of shame in the people that they were moved to pity and tears. Then Marcius, rending his garments, showed his breast full of wounds and every other part of his body covered with scars, and asked them if they thought that to save one's fellow-citizens in war and to destroy in time of peace those thus saved were actions of the same kind of person, and if anyone who is endeavouring to set up a tyranny ever expels from the state the common people, by whom tyranny is chiefly abetted and nourished. While he was yet speaking, those of the plebeians who were fair-minded and lovers of the right cried out to acquit him, and were ashamed that a man who had so often scorned his own life to preserve them all was even being brought to trial in the first place upon such a (p333) charge. Those, however, who were by nature malevolent, enemies of the right, and easy to be led into any kind of sedition were sorry they were going to have to acquit him, but felt that they could not do otherwise, since they could find no evidence of his having aimed at tyranny, which was the point upon which they had been called to give their votes.