[10,38] Ἐπεὶ φέρε πρὸς Διός, εἴ τι τούτων ἐγὼ ψεύδομαι, δειξάτω τις ὑμῖν τῶν σεμνῶν τούτων παρελθών, τίνας ἐπιφανεῖς καὶ καλὰς πράξεις προεχόμενος ἐμοῦ πλέον ἔχειν ἀξιοῖ· πότερον ἔτη πλείω στρατευσάμενος ἢ μάχας πλείους ἀγωνισάμενος ἢ τραύματα πλείω λαβὼν ἢ στεφάνοις καὶ φαλάροις καὶ σκύλοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπινικίοις κόσμοις ὑπερβαλόμενος, δι´ ὃν ἀσθενέστεροι μὲν οἱ πολέμιοι γεγόνασιν ἐπιφανεστέρα δὲ καὶ μείζων ἡ πατρίς; μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ δέκατον ἐπιδειξάτω μέρος, ὧν ὑμῖν ὑπέδειξα ἐγώ. ἀλλὰ τούτων γ´ οἱ πλείους οὐδ´ ἂν πολλοστὴν ἔχοιεν προενέγκασθαι μοῖραν τῶν ἐμῶν· ἔνιοι δὲ οὐδ´ ἂν τῷ φαυλοτάτῳ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ δήμου φανεῖεν τὰ ἴσα κακοπαθήσαντες. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἡ λαμπρότης, ἀλλ´ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, οὐδὲ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τὸ δυνάμενον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τῶν φίλων· οὐδ´ ἡγοῦνται κοινὴν οἰκεῖν πόλιν, σφῶν δ´ αὐτῶν ἰδίαν, ὥσπερ οὐ συνελευθερωθέντες ἀπὸ τῆς τυραννίδος ὑφ´ ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ κληρονομίαν παρὰ τῶν τυράννων παραλαβόντες ἡμᾶς· οἵ γε - τὰ μὲν ἄλλα, ὅσα ὑβρίζοντες ἡμᾶς μικρὰ καὶ μείζω διατελοῦσιν, ὡς ἅπαντες ἐπίστασθε, σιωπῶ, - ἀλλ´ εἰς τοῦτο προεληλύθασιν ὑπερηφανίας, ὥστ´ οὐδὲ φωνὴν ἀξιοῦσί τινα ἡμῶν ἀφιέναι περὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἐλευθέραν οὐδὲ διᾶραι τὸ στόμα, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν εἰπόντα περὶ τῆς κληρουχίας Σπόριον Κάσσιον, τρισὶ μὲν ὑπατείαις κεκοσμημένον, δυσὶ δὲ θριάμβοις λαμπροτάτοις, τοσαύτην δὲ δεινότητα περί τε τὰς στρατηγικὰς πράξεις καὶ περὶ τὰ πολιτικὰ βουλεύματα ἀποδειξάμενον, ὅσην οὐδεὶς τῶν τότε γενομένων, τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα αἰτιασάμενοι τυραννίδι ἐπιχειρεῖν καὶ ψευδέσι καταγωνισάμενοι μαρτυρίαις δι´ οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἀλλ´ ὅτι φιλόπολις ἦν καὶ φιλόδημος, ὤσαντες ἀπὸ τοῦ κρημνοῦ διέφθειραν. Γναῖον δὲ Γενύκιον δήμαρχον ὄντα ἡμέτερον, ἐπεὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πολίτευμα μετὰ τὸ ἔτος ἑνδέκατον ἀνενεοῦτο, καὶ τοὺς ὑπατεύσαντας ἐν τῷ πρότερον ἐνιαυτῷ κατέστησεν ὑπὸ δίκην ἀμελήσαντας τῶν ψηφισμάτων τῆς βουλῆς, ἃ περὶ τῶν γεωμόρων ἐψηφίσατο, ἐπεὶ φανερῶς οὐχ οἷοί τ´ ἦσαν ἀνελεῖν, μιᾷ πρότερον ἡμέρᾳ τῆς δίκης ἀφανῶς ἀνήρπασαν. τοιγάρτοι πολὺς ἐνέπεσε τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα φόβος, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἔτι τὸ κινδύνευμα τοῦτο ὑπέδυ, ἀλλὰ τριακοστὸν ἔτος τοῦτο ἀνεχόμεθα ὥσπερ ἐν τυραννίδι τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἀπολωλεκότες.

[10,38] (p297) "Come now, if aught of what I have said is false, in Heaven's name let one of these grand men come forward and show what illustrious and noble achievements he relies on to claim a larger share of the land than I. Has he served more years, fought more battles, received more wounds, or excelled me in the number of crowns, decorations, spoils, and the other ornaments of victory — in fact, shown himself a man by whom our enemies have been weakened and our country rendered more illustrious and powerful? Nay, let him show the tenth part of what I have cited to you. But of these men the majority could not produce even the smallest fraction of my exploits; and some would be found not to have undergone as many hardships as the meanest plebeian. For their brilliancy does not lie in arms, but in words, nor is their power exerted against their enemies, but against their friends; and they do not regard the commonwealth in which they dwell as belonging to all alike, but as their own private property — as if they had not been aided by us in gaining their freedom from tyranny, but had received us as an inheritance from the tyrants. I say nothing of the other insults, small and great, which they continue to heap upon us, as you all know; 3 but they have gone so far in their arrogance that they forbid any one of us even to utter a free word in behalf of our country or even to open our mouths. Nay, they accused Spurius Cassius, who first proposed the allotment of land, a man who had been honoured with three consulships and two most brilliant triumphs and had shown greater ability in both military undertakings and political counsels than anyone of that age (p299)— this man, I say, they accused of aiming at tyranny and defeated him by means of false testimony, for no other reason than because he was a lover of his country and a lover of the people, and they destroyed him by shoving him over the cliff. And again, when Gnaeus Genucius, one of our tribunes, revived this same measure after the lapse of eleven years and summoned the consuls of the preceding year to trial for having neglected to carry out the decree which the senate had passed respecting the appointment of the commissioners to divide the land, since they could not destroy him openly, they made away with him secretly the day before the trial. In consequence, great fear came upon the succeeding tribunes, and not one of them would thereafter expose himself to this danger, but for now the thirtieth year we endure this treatment, as if we had lost our power under a tyranny.