[44]
Nor, in fact, is there any other reason for which the Roman
people has with so much earnestness sought the restoration of the tribunician power:
but when it was demanding that in words, it seemed to be asking for that, but in
reality it was asking for tribunes which it could trust. And this did not escape the
notice of Quintus Catulus, a most sagacious and honourable man, who, when Cnaeus
Pompeius, a most gallant and illustrious man, made a motion about the tribunitian
power, and when he was asked his opinion, begin his speech in this manner, speaking
with the greatest authority, “that the conscript fathers presided over the
courts of justice badly and wickedly; but if in deciding judicial trials they had
been willing to satisfy the expectations of the Roman people, men would not so
greatly regret the tribunitian power?”
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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