[29]
He sees that nothing can be done by the decemvirs except by a lex curiata. What was to happen afterwards, if a lex
curiata were not passed? Remark the ingenuity of the man.
“Then,” says he, “the decemvirs shall be in the same condition
as those who are appointed in the strictest accordance with the law.” If this can
be brought about, that, in this city which is far superior to all other states in its rights
of liberty, any one may be able to obtain either military command or civil authority without
the sanction of any comitia, then what is the necessity for
ordering in the third chapter that some one shall propose a lex
curiata, when in the fourth chapter you permit men to have the same rights without
a lex curiata, which they would have if they were elected by the
burghers according to the strictest form of law? Kings are being appointed, O Romans, not
decemvirs; and they are starting with such beginnings and on such foundations, that the whole
of your rights, and powers, and liberties are destroyed not only from the moment that they
begin to act, but from the moment that they are appointed.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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