[92] "Perhaps you did not understand these matters particularly, but saw only his bravery in war. Yet you may easily learn about them now by observing only the part that concerns yourselves. You, of the common people, when you go to the wars, obey your generals as masters in everything. But in time of peace you resume the mastery over us. The Senate deliberates first, in order that you may not make a slip, but you decide for yourselves; you give your votes by tribes, or by centuries; you choose the consuls, the tribunes, the prætors. In the comitia you pass judgment on the weightiest questions, and you decide rewards and punishments when we have deserved rewards or punishments at your hands. This balance of powers, O citizens, has raised the empire to the summit of fortune and conferred honors upon those worthy of them, and the men thus honored have returned thanks to you. By virtue of this power you made Scipio consul when you bore testimony to his deeds in Africa, and you elected whom you pleased each year as tribunes, to oppose us in your interest if necessary. But why should I repeat so many things that you already know?
The Civil Wars. Appian. Horace White. London. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 1899.
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