[8,73] Ὡς δ´ οὐδὲν ἐγίνετο πέρας, δείσαντες οἱ πατρίκιοι, μὴ ψήφων θ´ ἁρπαγαὶ καὶ χειρῶν ἐπιβολαὶ γένωνται καὶ ἄλλα, ὅσα φιλεῖ βίαια συμβαίνειν ἐν ταῖς στασιαζούσαις ἐκκλησίαις εἰσφερομένου τοῦ νόμου, συνῆλθον εἰς τὸ συνέδριον ὡς ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ἅπαξ βουλευσόμενοι. Ἄππιος μὲν οὖν πρῶτος ἐρωτηθεὶς γνώμην οὐκ εἴα συγχωρεῖν τῷ δήμῳ τὴν διανομὴν διδάσκων, ὡς χαλεπὸς ἔσται καὶ ἀλυσιτελὴς σύνοικος ὄχλος ἀργὸς ἐθισθεὶς τὰ δημόσια λιχνεύειν, καὶ οὐθὲν ἐάσει ποτὲ τῶν κοινῶν οὔτε κτημάτων οὔτε χρημάτων ἔτι κοινὸν μένειν· αἰσχύνης τ´ ἄξιον πρᾶγμα εἶναι λέγων, εἰ Κασσίου κατηγοροῦντες ὡς πονηρὰ καὶ ἀσύμφορα πολιτευομένου καὶ τὸν δῆμον διαφθείροντος, ἔπειτ´ αὐτοὶ κοινῇ γνώμῃ ταῦτ´ ἐπικυρώσουσιν ὡς δίκαια καὶ συμφέροντα· ἐνθυμεῖσθαί τ´ αὐτοὺς ἀξιῶν, ὡς οὐδ´ ἡ χάρις ἡ παρὰ τῶν πενήτων, εἰ τὰ κοινὰ διανείμαιντο τοῖς συγχωρήσασι καὶ ἐπιψηφισαμένοις, ὑπάρξει, ἀλλ´ ἑνὶ τῷ προθέντι τὴν γνώμην Κασσίῳ καὶ δόξαντι ἠναγκακέναι τὴν βουλὴν ἄκουσαν ἐπικυρῶσαι. προειπὼν δὴ ταῦτα καὶ παραπλήσια τούτοις ἕτερα τελευτῶν τάδε συνεβούλευσεν· ἄνδρας ἐκ τῶν ἐντιμοτάτων βουλευτῶν ἑλέσθαι δέκα, οἵτινες ἐπελθόντες τὴν δημοσίαν γῆν ἀφοριοῦσι, καὶ εἴ τινα ἐξ αὐτῆς κλέπτοντες ἢ βιαζόμενοί τινες ἰδιῶται κατανέμουσιν ἢ ἐπεργάζονται διαγνόντες ἀποδώσουσι τῷ δημοσίῳ. τὴν δ´ ὁρισθεῖσαν ὑπ´ ἐκείνων γῆν διαιρεθεῖσαν εἰς κλήρους ὅσους δή τινας καὶ στήλαις εὐκόσμοις διαγραφεῖσαν τὴν μὲν ἀπεμποληθῆναι παρῄνει καὶ μάλιστα περὶ ἧς ἀμφίλογόν τι πρὸς ἰδιώτας ἦν, ὥστε τοῖς ὠνησαμένοις μὴ εἶναι πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιποιησομένους ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν κρίσεις, τὴν δὲ πενταετῆ μισθοῦν χρόνον· τὸ δὲ προσιὸν ἐκ τῶν μισθώσεων ἀργύριον εἰς τοὺς ὀψωνιασμοὺς τῶν στρατευομένων ἀναλοῦσθαι καὶ εἰς τὰς μισθώσεις ὧν οἱ πόλεμοι χορηγιῶν δέονται· Νῦν μὲν γάρ, ἔφησεν, ὁ φθόνος τῶν πενήτων ὁ πρὸς τοὺς πλουσίους, ὅσοι σφετερισάμενοι τὰ κοινὰ διακατέχουσι, δίκαιός ἐστι· καὶ οὐθὲν θαυμαστόν, εἰ τὰ κοινὰ πάντας διανείμασθαι μᾶλλον ἀξιοῦσιν, ἢ τοὺς ἀναιδεστάτους τε καὶ ὀλίγους κατέχειν· ἐὰν δ´ ἀφισταμένους αὐτῆς ὁρῶσι τοὺς νῦν καρπουμένους καὶ τὰ κοινὰ ὄντως κοινὰ γινόμενα, παύσονται φθονοῦντες ἡμῖν, τήν τ´ ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς κατ´ ἄνδρα διανομῆς τῶν ἀγρῶν ἐπανήσουσι μαθόντες, ὅτι λυσιτελεστέρα τῆς μικρᾶς ἑκάστῳ μερίδος ἡ κοινὴ μετὰ πάντων ἔσται κτῆσις. διδάσκωμεν γὰρ αὐτούς, ἔλεγεν, ὅσον τὸ διάφορον, καὶ ὡς εἷς μὲν ἕκαστος τῶν πενήτων γῄδιον οὐ μέγα λαβὼν καὶ εἰ τύχοι γείτονας ὀχληροὺς ἔχων οὔτ´ αὐτὸς ἱκανὸς ἔσται τοῦτο γεωργεῖν δι´ ἀπορίαν, οὔτε τὸν μισθωσόμενον ὅτι μὴ τὸν γείτονα εὑρήσει· εἰ δὲ μεγάλοι κλῆροι ποικίλας τε καὶ ἀξιολόγους ἔχοντες γεωργοῖς ἐργασίας ὑπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ μισθοῖντο, πολλὰς οἴσουσι προσόδους· καὶ ὅτι κρεῖττον αὐτοῖς ἐστιν, ὅταν ἐξίωσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολέμους ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου ταμιείου τὸν ἐπισιτισμόν τε καὶ ὀψωνιασμὸν λαμβάνειν, ἢ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων οἴκων εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖον ἕκαστον εἰσφέρειν τεθλιμμένων ἔστιν ὅτε τῶν βίων καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν τῷ συμπορίζειν τὸ ἀργύριον ἐπιβαρησομένων.

[8,73] There being no end of these contests, the patricians, fearing that when the law came to be proposed there would be stealing of votes, recourse to violence, and all the other forcible means that are wont to be employed in factious assemblies, met in (p221) the senate-house to deliberate concerning all these matters once and for all. Appius, upon being asked his opinion first, refused to grant the distribution of land to the people, pointing out that an idle multitude accustomed to devour the public stores would prove troublesome and unprofitable fellow citizens and would never allow any of the common possessions, whether property or money, to continue to be held in common. He did note that it would be a shameful thing if the senators, who had been accusing Cassius of introducing mischievous and disadvantageous measures and of corrupting the populace, should then themselves by common consent ratify these measures as just and advantageous. He asked them also to bear in mind that even the gratitude of the poor, if they should divide up among themselves the public possessions, would not be shown to those who gave their consent and sanction to this law, but to Cassius alone, who had proposed it and was believed to have compelled the senators to ratify it against their will. After saying this and other things to the same purport, he ended by giving them this advice — to choose ten46 of the most distinguished senators to go over the public land and fix its bounds, and if they found that any private persons were by fraud or force grazing or tilling any part of it, to take cognizance of this abuse and restore the land to the state. And he further advised that when the land thus delimited by them had been divided into allotments, of whatever number, and marked off by pillars duly inscribed, one part of it should be sold, particularly the part about which there was any dispute with private persons, so (p223) that the purchasers might be involved in litigation over it with any who should lay claim to it, and the other part should be let for five years; and that the money coming in from these rents should be used for the payment of the troops and the purchase of the supplies needed for the wars. "For, as things now stand," he said, "the envy of the poor against the rich who have appropriated and continue to occupy the public possessions is justified, and it is not at all to be wondered at if they demand that the public property should be divided among all the citizens rather than held by a few, and those the most shameless. Whereas, if they see the persons who are now enjoying them give them up and the public possessions become really public, they will cease to envy us and will give up their eagerness for the distribution of our fields to individuals, once they have learnt that joint ownership by all the citizens will be of greater advantage to them than the small portion that would be allotted to each. Let us show them, in fact," he said, "what a great difficult it makes, and that if each one of the poor receives a small plot of ground and happens to have troublesome neighbours, he neither will be able to cultivate it himself, by reason of his poverty, nor will he find anyone to lease it of him but that neighbour, whereas if large allotments offering varied and worthwhile tasks for the husbandmen are let out by the state, they will bring in large revenues; and that it is better for them, when they set out for the wars, to receive both their provisions and their pay from the public treasury than to pay in their individual contributions (p225) each time to the treasury out of their private estates, when, as sometimes happens, their means of livelihood are scanty and will be still further cramped by providing this money."