ON A CORRUPT OLIGARCHY[1]
(ABOUT 110 B.C.)
Born in — B.C., died in 100; Tribune of the Plebs in 111; vigorously opposed the oligarchical party during the war with Jugurtha, and by exposing corruption, opened the way to command of the army by Marius; while a candidate for Consul in 100, slain by a mob armed with bludgeons.
Were not my zeal for the good of the state, my fellow citizens, superior to every other feeling, there are many considerations which would deter me from appearing in your cause; I allude to the power of the opposite party, your own tameness of spirit, the absence of all justice, and, above all, the fact that integrity is attended with more danger than honor. Indeed, it grieves me to relate, how, during the last fifteen years, you have been a sport to the arrogance of an oligarchy; how dishonorably, and how utterly unavenged, your defenders have perished; and how your spirit has become degenerate by sloth and indolence; for not even now, when your enemies are in your power, will you rouse yourselves to action, but continue still to stand in awe of those to whom you should be a terror.
Yet, notwithstanding this state of things, I feel prompted to make an attack on the power of
- ↑ Delivered to an assembly of the people in Rome. Reported by Sallust. Translated by John S. Watson.
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