[52]
Lastly, when according to the resolution of the senate, and also according to the
Terentian and Cassian law, corn was to be bought in equal proportions from all the
cities of Sicily, from that light burden
also, which they shared too with all the other cities, you relieved the
Mamertines.—You will say that the Mamertines do not owe corn. How do not
owe corn? Do you mean to say they were not bound to sell us corn? For this corn was
not a contribution to be exacted, but a supply to be purchased. By your permission,
then, by your interpretation of the treaty, the Mamertines were not bound to assist
the Roman people, even by supplying their markets, and furnishing them with
provisions.
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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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