[39]
For, as any one said anything contrary to his inclination, immediately he was
summoned before the court on some charge relative to the returns made of his lands.
Through fear of which action a great quantity of corn was extorted from many, and
vast sums were collected; not that it was really difficult to male a correct return
of a man's acres, or even to make an extravagantly liberal one, (for what danger
could there be in doing that?) but still it opened a pretext for demanding a trial
because the cultivator had not made his return in the terms of the edict. And you
must feel sure what sort of trial that would be while that man was praetor, if you
recollect what sort of a train and retinue he had about him. What is it, then, which
I wish you to understand, O judges, from the iniquity of these new edicts? That any
injury has been done to our allies? That you see. That the authority of his
predecessors has been overruled by him? He will not dare to deny it.
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