[10,13] Ταῦτα τὰ βουλεύματα ἦν αὐτῶν, ὦ βουλή, καὶ τὸν μεταξὺ χρόνον ὃν ἑωρᾶτε συνεδρεύοντας αὐτούς, οὗτος ὁ δόλος ὑπ´ αὐτῶν ὑφαίνετο ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀρίστοις ὑμῶν, καὶ τοῦτο τὸ δίκτυον κατὰ τῶν εὐγενεστάτων ἱππέων ἐπλέκετο. καὶ ὅτι ἀληθῆ ταῦτ´ ἐστί, βραχέος μοι πάνυ δεῖ λόγου. φέρε γὰρ εἴπατε μοι, Οὐεργίνιε, οἱ τὰ δεινὰ πεισόμενοι, παρὰ τίνων ἐδέξασθε τὰ γράμματα ξένων; τῶν ποῦ κατοικούντων, ἢ πόθεν ὑμᾶς εἰδότων, ἢ πῶς τἀνθάδε συνεδρευόμενα ἐπισταμένων; τί ἀναβάλλεσθε καὶ μετὰ ταῦτ´ ἐρεῖν αὐτοὺς ὑπισχνεῖσθε, ἀλλ´ οὐ πάλαι λέγετε; τίς δ´ ὁ τὰ γράμματα κομίσας ὑμῖν ἀνήρ ἐστι; τί οὐ κατάγετε αὐτὸν εἰς μέσον, ἵν´ ἀπ´ ἐκείνου πρῶτον ἀρξώμεθα ζητεῖν, εἴτε ἀληθῆ ταῦτ´ ἐστίν, εἴτε ὡς ἐγώ φημι πλάσματα ὑμέτερα; αἱ δὲ δὴ συνᾴδουσαι τοῖς ξενικοῖς γράμμασι μηνύσεις παρὰ τῶν ἐνθάδε τίνες τ´ εἰσὶ καὶ ὑπὸ τίνων γενόμεναι; τί κρύπτετε τὰς πίστεις, ἀλλ´ οὐκ εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἄγετε; ἀλλ´ οἶμαι τῶν μήτε γενομένων μήτε ἐσομένων ἀδύνατον εὑρεθῆναι πίστιν. ταῦτ´ ἐστίν, ὦ βουλή, μηνύματα οὐ κατὰ τούτων συνωμοσίας, ἀλλὰ καθ´ ὑμῶν δόλου καὶ πονηρᾶς γνώμης, ᾗ κέχρηνται κρύψαντες οὗτοι· τὰ γὰρ πράγματα αὐτὰ βοᾷ. αἴτιοι δ´ ὑμεῖς οἱ τὰ πρῶτα ἐπιτρέψαντες αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ ἀνόητον τῆς ἀρχῆς μεγάλῃ καθοπλίσαντες ἐξουσίᾳ, ὅτε Κοίντιον Καίσωνα τῷ παρελθόντι ἐνιαυτῷ κρίνειν ἐπ´ αἰτίαις ψευδέσιν εἰάσατε, καὶ τοσοῦτον φύλακα τῆς ἀριστοκρατίας ἀναρπαζόμενον ὑπ´ αὐτῶν περιείδετε. τοιγαροῦν οὐκέτι μετριάζουσιν οὐδὲ καθ´ ἕνα τῶν εὐγενῶν περικόπτουσιν, ἀλλ´ ἀθρόους ἤδη περιβαλόντες τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἐλαύνουσιν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως· καὶ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις κακοῖς οὐδ´ ἀντειπεῖν αὐτοῖς ἀξιοῦσιν οὐθένα ὑμῶν, ἀλλ´ εἰς ὑποψίας καὶ διαβολὰς ἄγοντες ὡς κοινωνοῦντα τῶν ἀπορρήτων δεδίττονται καὶ μισόδημον εὐθὺς εἶναί φασι, καὶ προλέγουσιν ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὸν δῆμον ὑφέξοντα τῶν ἐνθάδε ῥηθέντων δίκας. ἀλλ´ ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων ἕτερος ἔσται καιρὸς ἐπιτηδειότερος τοῖς λόγοις, νυνὶ δὲ συντεμῶ τὸν λόγον καὶ παύσομαι τὰ πλείω διατεινόμενος· φυλάττεσθαι ὑμῖν παραινῶ τούσδε τοὺς ἄνδρας ὡς συνταράττοντας τὴν πόλιν καὶ μεγάλων ἐκφέροντας ἀρχὰς κακῶν καὶ οὐκ ἐνθάδε μὲν ταῦτα λέγω, πρὸς δὲ τὸν δῆμον ἀποκρύψομαι, ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖ παρρησίᾳ δικαίᾳ χρήσομαι, διδάσκων ὡς οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς ἐπικρέμαται δεινόν, ὅτι μὴ κακοὶ καὶ δόλιοι προστάται πολεμίων ἔργα ἐν προσποιήματι φίλων διαπραττόμενοι. Ταῦτ´ εἰπόντος τοῦ ὑπάτου κραυγή τε καὶ πολὺς ἔπαινος ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἐγένετο, καὶ οὐδὲ λόγου τοῖς δημάρχοις ἔτι μεταδόντες διέλυσαν τὸν σύλλογον. ἔπειθ´ ὁ μὲν Οὐεργίνιος ἐκκλησίαν συναγαγὼν κατηγόρει τῆς τε βουλῆς καὶ τῶν ὑπάτων, ὁ δὲ Κλαύδιος ἀπελογεῖτο τοὺς αὐτοὺς λόγους διεξιών, οὓς εἶπεν ἐπὶ τῆς βουλῆς. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπιεικέστεροι τῶν δημοτικῶν κενὸν ὑπώπτευον εἶναι τὸν φόβον, οἱ δ´ εὐηθέστεροι πιστεύοντες ταῖς φήμαις ἀληθῆ· ὅσοι δὲ κακοήθεις ἦσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ μεταβολῆς ἀεὶ δεόμενοι, τοῦ μὲν ἐξετάζειν τἀληθὲς ἢ ψεῦδος οὐκ εἶχον πρόνοιαν, ἀφορμὴν δὲ διχοστασίας ἐζήτουν καὶ θορύβου.

[10,13] "These were their plans, senators, and during the time you saw them holding sessions this plot was being spun by them against the best of your members and this net was being woven against the noblest of the knights. To prove that this is true requires very few words on my part. For come, tell me, Verginius and you others who are to suffer these dreadful evils, who are the foreign friends from whom you received the letters? Where do they live? How did they become acquainted with you? Or by what means do they know what is being discussed here? Who do you defer naming these man and keep promising to do it later on, instead of having named them long since? And who is the man who brought the letters to you? Why do you not bring him before us, that we may begin first of all with him to pursue the inquiry whether these reports are true or, as I maintain, your own fictions? And the informations that come from persons here, which you say agree with the foreign letters, what are they and by whom given? Why do you conceal the proofs and not ring them to light? But I suspect it is impossible to find proof of such things as neither have happened nor will happen. These are indications, senators, not of a conspiracy against the tribunes here, but of treachery and an evil purpose against you (p207) which these men have been secretly cherishing. For the facts themselves cry aloud. But you senators are to blame for this, since you made the first concessions to them and armed their senseless magistracy with great power when you permitted Caeso Quintius to be tried by them last year on false charges and permitted so great a defender of the aristocracy to be destroyed by them. For this reason they no longer show any moderation nor do they lop off the men of birth one by one, but are already rounding up the good men en masse and expelling them from the city. And, in addition to all the other evils, they demand that no one of you even speak in opposition to them, but by exposing him to suspicions and accusations as an accomplice in those secret plots they try to terrify him and promptly call him an enemy of the populace and cite him to appear before their assembly to stand trial for what he has said here. But another occasion will be more suitable for discussing this matter. For the present I will curtail my remarks and will cease running on at greater length, merely advising you to guard against these men as disturbers of the commonwealth and as publishing the germs of great evils. And not here alone do I say these things, while intending to conceal them from the populace; on the contrary, I shall there also employ a frankness that is merited, showing them that no mischief hangs over their heads unless it be wicked and deceitful leaders who under the guise of friendship are doing the deeds of enemies." When the consul had thus spoken, there was shouting and much applause by all present; and without (p209) even permitting the tribunes to reply, they dismissed the session. Then Verginius, calling an assembly of the populace, inveighed against both the senate and the consuls, and Claudius defended them, repeating the same things he had said in the senate. The more fair-minded among the plebeians suspected that their fear was unwarranted, while the more simple-minded, giving credence to the reports, thought it real; but all among them who were ill-disposed and were forever craving a change did not have the foresight to examine into the truth or falsehood of the reports, but sought an occasion for sedition and tumult.