[190]
More covetous, magistrates
succeeded; who, in their avarice, devised not only a plan for their own gain, but
also a way of escape, and a plea for their defence. They adopted a custom of always
requiring corn to be delivered at the most remote and inconvenient places, in order
that, through the difficulty of carriage, the cultivators might be more easily
brought to the valuation which they wished. In a case of this kind it is easier to
form one's opinion, than to make out a case for blame; because we can think the man
who does this avaricious, but we cannot easily make out a charge against him;
because it appears that we must grant this to our magistrates, that they may have
power to receive the corn in any place they choose; therefore this is what many
perhaps have done, not, however, so many out that those whom we recollect, or whom
we have heard of as the most upright magistrates, have declined to do it.
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