On the Agrarian Law (M. Tullius Cicero)

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	On the Agrarian Law Author: M. Tullius Cicero	Translator: C. D. Yonge
43	neque enim , Quirites , illud vobis iucundum aut populare debet videri , largitio aliqua promulgata , quae verbis ostentari potest , re vera fieri nisi exhausto aerario nullo pacto potest ; neque vero illa popularia sunt existimanda , iudiciorum perturbationes , rerum iudicatarum infirmationes , restitutio damnatorum , qui civitatum adflictarum perditis iam rebus extremi exitiorum solent esse exitus ; nec , si qui agros populo Romano pollicentur , si aliud quiddam obscure moliuntur , aliud spe ac specie simulationis ostentant , populares existimandi sunt .	And, O Romans, a promised liberality which, however you may be encouraged by words to expect it, cannot be performed by any possible means without exhausting the treasury, ought not to appear to you an agreeable measure, or one calculated to promote your real interests. Nor are the disturbances of the courts of justice, and the reversals of judicial decisions, and the restoration of convicted persons to be considered as measures advantageous to the people; for they are rather the preludes to the total ruin of cities whose affairs are already in a falling and almost desperate state. Nor, if any men promise lands to the Roman people, or if they hold out to you, under false pretences, hopes of such things, while in secret they are keeping entirely different objects in view, are they to be thought devoted to the true interests of the people.
44	nam vere dicam , Quirites , genus ipsum legis agrariae vituperare non possum . venit enim mihi in mentem duos clarissimos , ingeniosissimos , amantissimos plebei Romanae viros , ti . et C . Gracchos , plebem in agris publicis constituisse , qui agri a privatis antea possidebantur . non sum autem ego is consul qui , ut plerique , nefas esse arbitrer Gracchos laudare , quorum consiliis , sapientia , legibus multas esse video rei publicae partis constitutas .	For I will speak the truth, O Romans; I cannot find fault with the general principle of an agrarian law, for it occurs to my mind that two most illustrious men, two most able men, two men most thoroughly attached to the Roman people, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, established the people on public domains which had previously been occupied by private individuals. Nor am I a consul of such opinions as to think it wrong, as most men do, to praise the Gracchi; by whose counsels, and wisdom, and laws, I see that many parts of the republic have been greatly strengthened.
45	itaque , ut initio mihi designato consuli nuntiabatur legem agrariam tribunos plebis designatos conscribere , cupiebam quid cogitarent cognoscere ; etenim arbitrabar , quoniam eodem anno gerendi nobis essent magistratus , esse aliquam oportere inter nos rei publicae bene administrandae societatem .	Therefore, when at the very beginning, I, being the consul elect, was informed that the tribunes elect of the people were drawing up an agrarian law, I wished to ascertain what their plans were. In truth, I thought that, since we were both to act as magistrates in the same year, it was right that there should be some union between us, for the purpose of governing the republic wisely and successfully.
46	Cum familiariter me in eorum sermonem insinuarem ac darem , celabar , excludebar , et , cum ostenderem , si lex utilis plebi Romanae mihi videretur , auctorem me atque adiutorem futurum , tamen aspernabantur hanc liberalitatem meam ; negabant me adduci posse ut ullam largitionem probarem . finem feci offerendi mei ne forte mea sedulitas aut insidiosa aut impudens videretur . interea non desistebant clam inter se convenire , privatos quosdam adhibere , ad suos coetus occultos noctem adiungere et solitudinem . quibus rebus quanto in metu fuerimus , ex vestra sollicitudine in qua illis temporibus fuistis facile adsequi coniectura poteritis .	When I wished to join them familiarly in conversation, I was shut out; their projects were concealed from me: and when I assured them that, if the law appeared to me to be advantageous to the Roman people, I would assist them in it and promote it, still they rejected this liberality of mine with scorn, and said that I could not possibly be induced to approve of any liberal measures. I ceased to offer myself to them, lest perchance my importunity should seem to them treacherous or impudent. In the meantime they did not cease to have secret meetings among themselves, to invite some private individuals to them, and to choose night and darkness for their clandestine deliberations. And what great alarm this conduct of theirs caused us, you may easily divine by your own conjectures founded on the anxiety which you yourselves experienced at that time.
47	ineunt tandem magistratus tribuni plebis ; contio exspectatur P . Rulli , quod et princeps erat agrariae legis et truculentius se gerebat quam ceteri . iam designatus alio voltu , alio vocis sono , alio incessu esse meditabatur , vestitu obsoletiore , corpore inculto et horrido , capillatior quam ante barbaque maiore , ut oculis et aspectu denuntiare omnibus vim tribuniciam et minitari rei publicae videretur . legem hominis contionemque exspectabam ; lex initio nulla proponitur , contionem in pridie Idus advocari iubet . summa cum exspectatione concurritur . explicat orationem sane longam et verbis valde bonis . Vnum erat quod mihi vitiosum videbatur , quod tanta ex frequentia inveniri nemo potuit qui intellegere posset quid diceret . hoc ille utrum insidiarum causa fecerit , an hoc genere eloquentiae delectetur nescio . tametsi , qui acutiores in contione steterant , de lege agraria nescio quid voluisse eum dicere suspicabantur . aliquando tandem me designato lex in publicum proponitur . concurrunt iussu meo plures uno tempore librarii , descriptam legem ad me adferunt .	At last the tribunes of the people enter on their office. The assembly to be convened by Publius Rullus was anxiously looked for, both because he was the chief mover of the agrarian law, and because he behaved with more violence than his colleagues. From the moment that he was elected tribune, he put on another expression of countenance, another tone of voice, a different gait; he went about in an old-fashioned dress, without any regard to neatness in his person, with longer hair and a more abundant beard than before; so that he seemed by his eyes and by his whole aspect to be threatening every one with the power of the tribunes, and to be meditating evil to the republic. I was waiting in expectation of his law and of the assembly. At first no law at all is proposed. He orders an assembly to be summoned as his first measure. Men flock to it with the most eager expectation. He makes a long enough speech, expressed in very good language. There was one thing which seemed to me bad, and that was, that out of all the crowd there present, not one man could be found who was able to understand what he meant. Whether he did this with any insidious design, or whether that is the sort of eloquence in which he takes pleasure, I do not know. Still, if there was any one in the assembly cleverer than another, he suspected that he was intending to say something or other about an agrarian law. At last, after I had been elected consul, the law is proposed publicly. By my order several clerks meet at one time, and bring me an accurate copy of the law.
48	omni hoc ratione vobis confirmare possum , Quirites , hoc animo me ad legendam legem cognoscendamque venisse ut , si eam vobis accommodatam atque utilem esse intellegerem , auctor eius atque adiutor essem . non enim natura neque discidio neque odio penitus insito bellum nescio quod habet susceptum consulatus cum tribunatu , quia persaepe seditiosis atque improbis tribunis plebis boni et fortes consules obstiterunt , et quia vis tribunicia non numquam libidini restitit consulari . non potestatum dissimilitudo , sed animorum disiunctio dissensionem facit .	I assure you with the most real sincerity, O Romans, that I applied myself to the reading and understanding of this law with these feelings, that if I had thought it well adapted to your interests, and advantageous to them, I would have been a chief mover in and promoter of it. For the consulship has not, either by nature, or by any inherent difference of object, or by any instinctive hatred, any enmity against the tribuneship, though good and fearless consuls have often opposed seditious and worthless tribunes of the people, and though the power of the tribunes has sometimes opposed the capricious licentiousness of the consuls. It is not the dissimilarity of their powers, but the disunion of their minds, that creates dissension between them.
49	itaque hoc animo legem sumpsi in manus ut eam cuperem esse aptam vestris commodis et eius modi quam consul re , non oratione popularis et honeste et libenter posset defendere . atque ego a primo capite legis usque ad extremum reperio , Quirites , nihil aliud cogitatum , nihil aliud susceptum , nihil aliud actum nisi uti x reges aerari , vectigalium , provinciarum omnium , totius rei publicae , regnorum , liberorum populorum , orbis denique terrarum domini constituerentur legis agrariae simulatione atque nomine . sic confirmo , Quirites , hac lege agraria pulchra atque populari dari vobis nihil , condonari certis hominibus omnia , ostentari populo Romano agros , eripi etiam libertatem , privatorum pecunias augeri , publicas exhauriri , denique , quod est indignissimum , per tribunum plebis , quem maiores praesidem libertatis custodemque esse voluerunt , reges in civitate constitui .	Therefore, I applied myself to the consideration of the law with these feelings, that I wished to find it calculated to promote your interests, and such an one as a consul who was really, not in word only, devoted to the people; might honestly and cheerfully advocate. And from the first clause of the proposed law to the last, O Romans, I find nothing else thought of, nothing else intended, nothing else aimed at, but to appoint ten kings of the treasury, of the revenues, of all the provinces, of the whole of the republic, of the kingdoms allied with us, of the free nations confederate with us—ten lords of the whole world, under the pretence and name of an agrarian law.
50	quae cum , Quirites , exposuero , si falsa vobis videbuntur esse , sequar auctoritatem vestram , mutabo meam sententiam ; sin insidias fieri libertati vestrae simulatione largitionis intellegetis , nolitote dubitare plurimo sudore et sanguine maiorum vestrorum partam vobisque traditam libertatem nullo vestro labore consule adiutore defendere .	I do assert to you, O Romans, that by this beautiful agrarian law, by this law calculated solely for the good of the people, nothing whatever is given to you, everything is sacrificed to a few particular men; that lands are displayed before the eyes of the Roman people, liberty is taken away from them; that the fortunes of some private individuals are increased, the public wealth is exhausted; and lastly, which is the most scandalous thing of all, that by means of a tribune of the people, whom our ancestors designed to be the protector and guardian of liberty, kings are being established in the city. And when I have shown to you all the grounds for this statement, if they appear to you to be erroneous, I will yield to your authority, I will abandon my own opinion, but if you become aware that plots are laid against your liberty, under a pretence of liberality, then do not hesitate, now that you have a consul to assist you, to defend that liberty which was earned by the sweat and blood of your ancestors, and handed down to you, without any trouble on your part.
51	primum caput est legis agrariae quo , ut illi putant , temptamini leviter quo animo libertatis vestrae deminutionem ferre possitis . iubet enim tribunum plebis qui eam legem tulerit creare xviros per tribus xvii , ut , quem viiii tribus fecerint , is xvir sit .	The first clause in this agrarian law is one by which, as they think, you are a little proved, to see with what feelings you can bear a diminution of your liberty. For it orders “the tribune of the people who has passed this law to create ten decemvirs by the votes of seventeen tribes, so that whomsoever a majority consisting of nine tribes elects, shall be a decemvir.”
52	hic quaero quam ob causam initium rerum ac legum suarum hinc duxerit ut populus Romanus suffragio privaretur . totiens legibus agrariis curatores constituti sunt iiiviri , vviri , xviri ; quaero a populari tribuno plebis ecquando nisi per xxxv tribus creati sint . etenim cum omnis potestates , imperia , curationes ab universo populo Romano proficisci convenit , tum eas profecto maxime quae constituuntur ad populi fructum aliquem et commodum , in quo et universi deligant quem populo Romano maxime consulturum putent , et unus quisque studio et suffragio suo viam sibi ad beneficium impetrandum munire possit . hoc tribuno plebis potissimum venit in mentem , populum Romanum universum privare suffragiis , paucas tribus non certa condicione iuris , sed sortis beneficio fortuito ad usurpandam libertatem vocare .	On this I ask, on what account the framer of this law has commenced his law and his measures in such a manner, as to deprive the Roman people of its right of voting? As often as agrarian laws have been passed, commissioners, and triumvirs, and quinquevirs, and decemvirs have been appointed. I ask this tribune of the people, who is so attached to the people, whether they were ever created except by the whole thirty-five tribes? In truth, as it is proper for every power, and every command, and every charge which is committed to any one, to proceed from the entire Roman people, so especially ought those to do so, which are established for any use and advantage of the Roman people; as that is a case in which they all together choose the man who they think will most study the advantage of the Roman people, and in which also each individual among them by his own zeal and his own vote assists to make a road by which he may obtain some individual benefit for himself. This is the tribune to whom it has occurred above all others to deprive the Roman people of their suffrages, and to invite a few tribes not by any fixed condition of law, but by the kindness of lots drawn, and by chance, to usurp the liberties belonging to all.
53	' item ,' inquit , ' eodemqve modo ,' capite altero , ' vt comitiis pontificis maximi .' ne hoc quidem vidit , maiores nostros tam fuisse popularis ut , quem per populum creari fas non erat propter religionem sacrorum , in eo tamen propter amplitudinem sacerdoti voluerint populo supplicari . atque hoc idem de ceteris sacerdotiis Cn . Domitius , tribunus plebis , vir clarissimus , tulit , quod populus per religionem sacerdotia mandare non poterat , ut minor pars populi vocaretur ; ab ea parte qui esset factus , is a conlegio cooptaretur .	“Also in the same manner,” it says in the second clause, “as in the comitia for the election of a Pontifex Maximus.” He did not perceive even this, that our ancestors did really study the good of the people so much, that, though it was not lawful for that office to be conferred by the people, on account of the religious ceremonies then used, still, they chose, in order to do additional honour to the priesthood, that the sanction of the people should be asked for it. And Cnaeus Domitius, a tribune of the people, and a most eminent man, passed the same law with respect to the other priesthoods; enacting, because the people, on account of the requirements of religion, could not confer the priesthoods, that a small half of the people should be invited; and that whoever was selected by that half should be chosen into their body by the sacred college.
54	videte quid intersit inter Cn . Domitium , tribunum plebis , hominem nobilissimum , et P . Rullum qui temptavit , ut opinor , patientiam vestram , cum se nobilem esse diceret . Domitius , quod per caerimonias populi fieri non poterat , ratione adsecutus est , ut id , quoad posset , quoad fas esset , quoad liceret , populi ad partis daret ; hic , quod populi semper proprium fuit , quod nemo imminuit , nemo mutavit quin ei qui populo agros essent adsignaturi ante acciperent a populo beneficium quam darent , id totum eripere vobis atque e manibus extorquere conatus est . ille , quod dari populo nullo modo poterat , tamen quodam modo dedit ; hic , quod adimi nullo pacto potest , tamen quadam ratione eripere conatur .	See now how great a difference there is between Cnaeus Domitius, a tribune of the people, a man of the highest rank, and Publius Rullus, who tried your patience, as I imagine, when he said that he was a noble. Domitius contrived a way by which, as far as he was able, as far as was consistent with the laws of men and of gods, he might confer on a portion of the people what could not be done by any regular proceeding on the part of the entire people. But this man, when there was a thing which had always belonged to the people, which no one had ever impaired, and which no one had ever altered,—the principle, namely, that those who were to assign lands to the people, should receive a kindness from the Roman people before they conferred one on it; that this man has endeavoured entirely to take away from you, and to wrest out of your hands. The one contrived somehow or other to give that which could not really be given formally to the people; the other endeavours somehow or other to take away from them by manoeuvre, what could not possibly be taken from them by direct power.
55	quaeret quispiam in tanta iniuria tantaque impudentia quid spectarit . non defuit consilium ; fides erga plebem Romanam , Quirites , aequitas in vos libertatemque vestram vehementer defuit . iubet enim comitia xviris habere creandis eum qui legem tulerit . hoc dicam planius : iubet Rullus , homo non cupidus neque appetens , habere comitia Rullum . nondum reprehendo ; video fecisse alios ; illud quod nemo fecit , de minore parte populi , quo pertineat videte . habebit comitia , volet eos renuntiare quibus regia potestas hac lege quaeritur ; universo populo neque ipse committit neque illi horum consiliorum auctores committi recte putant posse .	Some one will ask what was his purpose in such injustice and such impudence. He was not without an object. But good faith towards the Roman people, just feelings towards you and your liberty, he was utterly without. For he orders the man who has passed the law to hold the comitia for the creation of the decemvirs. I will state the case more plainly. Rullus, as a man far from being covetous or ambitious, orders Rullus to hold the comitia. I do not find fault yet. I see that others have done the same thing. Now see what is the object of this, which no one else ever did, with respect to the smaller half of the people. He will hold the comitia; he wishes to have the appointment of those officers for whom kingly power is sought to be procured by this law. He himself will not entrust it to the entire people, nor do those who were the original instigators of these designs think it ought to be entrusted to them.
56	sortietur tribus idem Rullus . homo felix educet quas volet tribus . quos viiii tribus xviros fecerint ab eodem Rullo eductae , hos omnium rerum , ut iam ostendam , dominos habebimus . atque hi , ut grati ac memores benefici esse videantur , aliquid se viiii tribuum notis hominibus debere confitebuntur , reliquis vero vi et xx tribubus nihil erit quod non putent posse suo iure se denegare . quos tandem igitur xviros fieri volt ? se primum . qui licet ? leges enim sunt veteres neque eae consulares , si quid interesse hoc arbitramini , sed tribuniciae vobis maioribusque vestris vehementer gratae atque iucundae ; Licinia est lex et altera Aebutia , quae non modo eum qui tulerit de aliqua curatione ac potestate sed etiam conlegas eius , cognatos , adfinis excipit , ne eis ea potestas curatiove mandetur .	The same Rullus will cast lots between the tribes. He, happy man, will pick out the tribes which he prefers. Those decemvirs whom the nine tribes selected by this same Rullus may choose to appoint, we shall have, as I shall presently show, for our absolute masters in everything. And they, that they may appear to be grateful men, and to be mindful of kindness, will confess that they are indebted to the leading men of these nine tribes. But as for the other six-and-twenty tribes, there will be nothing which they will not think that they have a right to refuse them. Who are they, then, whom he means to have elected tribunes? In the first place, himself. How can that be lawful? For there are old laws, and those too not laws made by consuls, if you think that that makes any difference, but made by tribunes, very pleasing and agreeable to you and to your ancestors. There is the Licinian law, and the second Aebutian law; which excepts not only the man who has caused a law to be passed concerning any commission or power, but also all his colleagues and all his connections, and incapacitates them from being appointed to any power or commission so established.
57	etenim si populo consulis , remove te a suspicione alicuius tui commodi , fac fidem te nihil nisi populi utilitatem et fructum quaerere , sine ad alios potestatem , ad te gratiam benefici tui pervenire . nam hoc quidem vix est liberi populi , vix vestrorum animorum ac magnificentiae .	In truth, if you consult the interests of the people, remove yourself from all suspicion of any advantage to yourself; allow the power to accrue to others, gratitude for the good you have done must be enough for yourself. For such conduct as this is scarcely becoming in a free people, it is scarcely consistent with your spirit and dignity.
58	quis legem tulit ? Rullus . quis maiorem partem populi suffragiis prohibuit ? Rullus . quis comitiis praefuit , quis tribus quas voluit vocavit nullo custode sortitus , quis xviros quos voluit creavit ? idem Rullus . quem principem renuntiavit ? Rullum . vix me hercule servis hoc eum suis , non modo vobis omnium gentium dominis probaturum arbitror . optimae leges igitur hac lege sine ulla exceptione tollentur ; idem lege sibi sua curationem petet , idem maiore parte populi suffragiis spoliata comitia habebit , quos volet atque in eis se ipsum renuntiabit , et videlicet conlegas suos ascriptores legis agrariae non repudiabit , a quibus ei locus primus in indice et in praescriptione legis concessus est ; ceteri fructus omnium rerum qui in spe legis huius positi sunt communi cautione atque aequa ex parte retinentur .	Who passed the law? Rullus. Who prevented the greater portion of the people from having a vote? Rullus. Who presided over the comitia? Who summoned to the election whatever tribes he pleased, having drawn the lots for them without any witness being present to see fair play? Who appointed whatever decemvirs he chose? This same Rullus. Whom did he appoint chief of the decemvirs? Rullus. I hardly believe that he could induce his own slaves to approve of this; much less you, who are the masters of all nations. Therefore, the most excellent laws will be repealed by this law without the least suspicion of the fact. He will seek for a commission for himself by virtue of his own law; he will hold comitia, though the greater portion of the people is stripped of their votes; he will appoint whomsoever he pleases, and himself among them; and forsooth he will not reject his own colleagues, the backers of this agrarian law by whom the first place in the unpopularity which may possibly arise from drawing the law, and from having his name at the head of it, has indeed been conceded to him, but the profit from the whole business, they, who in the hope of it are placed in this position, reserve to themselves in equal shares with him.
59	at videte hominis diligentiam , si aut Rullum illud cogitasse aut si Rullo potuisse in mentem venire arbitramini . viderunt ei qui haec machinabantur , si vobis ex omni populo deligendi potestas esset data , quaecumque res esset in qua fides , integritas , virtus , auctoritas quaereretur , vos eam sine dubitatione ad Cn . Pompeium principem delaturos . etenim quem unum ex cunctis delegissetis ut eum omnibus omnium gentium bellis terra et mari praeponeretis , certe in xviris faciendis sive fides haberetur sive honos , et committi huic optime et ornari hunc iustissime posse intellegebant .	But now take notice of the diligence of the man, if indeed you think that Rullus contrived this, or that it is a thing which could possibly have occurred to Rullus. Those men who first projected these measures saw, that, if you had the power of making your selection out of the whole people, whatever the matter might be in which good faith, integrity, virtue, and authority were required, you would beyond all question entrust it to Cnaeus Pompeius as the chief manager. In truth, after you had chosen one man out of all the citizens, and appointed him to conduct all your wars against all nations by land and sea, they saw plainly that it was most natural that, when you were appointing decemvirs, whether it was to be looked on as committing a trust to, or conferring an honour on a man, you would commit the business to him, and most reasonable that he should have this compliment paid him.
60	itaque excipitur hac lege non adulescentia , non legitimum aliquod impedimentum , non potestas , non magistratus ullus aliis negotiis ac legibus impeditus , reus denique quo minus xvir fieri possit , non excipitur ; Cn . Pompeius excipitur , ne cum P . Rullo — taceo de ceteris — xvir fieri possit . praesentem enim profiteri iubet , quod nulla alia in lege umquam fuit ne in eis quidem magistratibus quorum certus ordo est , ne , si accepta lex esset , illum sibi conlegam ascriberetis custodem ac vindicem cupiditatum .	Therefore, an exception is made by this law, mentioning not youth, nor any legal impediment, nor any command or magistracy, which might be encumbered with obstacles arising either from the business with which it was already loaded, or from the laws. There is not even an exception made in the case of any convicted person, to prevent his being made a decemvir. Cnaeus Pompeius is excepted and disabled from being elected a colleague of Publius Rullus (for I say nothing of the rest). For he has worded the law so that only those who are present can stand for the office; a clause which was never yet found in any other law, not even in the laws concerning those magistrates who are periodically elected. But this clause was inserted, in order that if the law passed you might not be able to give him a colleague who would be a guardian over him, and a check upon his covetousness.
61	hic , quoniam video vos hominis dignitate et contumelia legis esse commotos , renovabo illud quod initio dixi , regnum comparari , libertatem vestram hac lege funditus tolli .	Here, since I see that you are moved by the dignity of the man, and by the insult put upon him by this law, I will return to the assertion that I made at the beginning, that a kingly power is being erected, and your liberties entirely taken away by this law.
62	an vos aliter existimabatis ? cum ad omnia vestra pauci homines cupiditatis oculos adiecissent , non eos in primis id acturos ut ex omni custodia vestrae libertatis , ex omni potestate , curatione , patrocinio vestrorum commodorum Cn . Pompeius depelleretur ? viderunt et vident , si per imprudentiam vestram , neglegentiam meam legem incognitam acceperitis , fore uti postea cognitis insidiis , cum xviros creetis , tum vitiis omnibus et sceleribus legis Cn . Pompei praesidium opponendum putetis . et hoc parvum argumentum vobis erit , a certis hominibus dominationem potestatemque omnium rerum quaeri , cum videatis eum quem custodem vestrae libertatis fore videant expertem fieri dignitatis ?	Did you think, otherwise, that when a few men had cast the eyes of covetousness on all your possessions, they would not in the very first place take care that Cnaeus Pompeius should be removed from all power of protecting your liberty, from all power to promote, from all commission to watch over, and from all means of protecting your interests? They saw, and they see still, that if, through your own imprudence and my negligence, you adopt this law, without understanding its effect, you would afterwards, when you were creating decemvirs, think it expedient to oppose Cnaeus Pompeius as your defence against all defects and wickednesses in the law. And is this a slight argument to you, that these are men by whom dominion and power over everything is sought, when you see that he, whom they see will surely be the protector of your liberty, is the only one to whom that dignity is denied?
63	cognoscite nunc quae potestas xviris et quanta detur . primum lege curiata xviros ornat . iam hoc inauditum et plane novum , uti curiata lege magistratus detur qui nullis comitiis ante sit datus . eam legem ab eo praetore populi Romani qui sit primus factus ferri iubet . at quo modo ? Vt ei xviratum habeant quos plebs designaverit . oblitus est nullos a plebe designari . et is orbem terrarum constringit novis legibus qui , quod in secundo capite scriptum est , non meminit in tertio ? atque hic perspicuum est quid iuris a maioribus acceperitis , quid ab hoc tribuno plebis vobis relinquatur .	Now consider what a power is given to the decemvirs, and how great is its extent. In the first place be gives the decemvirs the honour of a lex curiata. But this is unheard-of and absolutely without precedent, that a magistracy should be conferred by a lex curiata on a man who has not previously received it in some comitia. He orders the law to be brought in by that praetor who is appointed first praetor. But how? In order that these men may receive the decemvirate whom the people has elected. He has forgotten that none have been elected by the common people. Here is a pretty fellow to bind the whole world with laws, who does not recollect in the third clause what is set down in the second! This, too, is quite plain; both what privileges you have received from your ancestors, and what is left to you by this tribune of the people.