[128]
But because buildings were consecrated,—I do
not mean the licenses of private persons, but those which are called sacred
buildings,—and because lands were consecrated, not in
such a way that any one who chose might consecrate our farms, but that a
general might consecrate lands taken from the enemy; and because altars were
erected, which carried with them a degree of sanctity to the place in which
they were consecrated; he forbade all these things to be done unless the
people ordered them. And if your interpretation of these edicts be that they
were framed with reference to our houses and lands, I make no objection. But
I ask, what law was passed that you should consecrate my house? where this
power was given to you? and by what right you did it? And I am not now
arguing about religion, but about the property of all of us; nor about the
sacerdotal law, but about the common law.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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