[21]
The same Rullus will cast lots between the tribes. He,
happy man, will pick out the tribes which he prefers. Those decemvirs whom the nine tribes
selected by this same Rullus may choose to appoint, we shall have, as I shall presently show,
for our absolute masters in everything. And they, that they may appear to be grateful men,
and to be mindful of kindness, will confess that they are indebted to the leading men of
these nine tribes. But as for the other six-and-twenty tribes, there will be nothing which
they will not think that they have a right to refuse them. Who are they, then, whom he means
to have elected tribunes? In the first place, himself. How can that be lawful? For there are
old laws, and those too not laws made by consuls, if you think that that makes any
difference, but made by tribunes, very pleasing and agreeable to you and to your ancestors.
There is the Licinian law, and the second Aebutian law; which excepts not only the man who
has caused a law to be passed concerning any commission or power, but also all his colleagues
and all his connections, and incapacitates them from being appointed to any power or
commission so established.
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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