[84]
“You brought,” says he, “you levied, you got
together a band of men.” What was he going to do with them? To
besiege the senate? to expel citizens who had not been condemned? to plunder
men's property? to set fire to buildings? to plunder private houses? to him
the temples of the immortal gods? to expel the tribunes of the people from
the rostra by force of arms? to sell whatever
provinces he pleased to whomsoever he pleased? to give men the title of
king? to restore to free cities, by means of our lieutenants and
ambassadors, men who had been condemned for capital offences? to blockade
the chief man of the state in his house with armed bands? It was to effect
all these objects, I suppose, which could never possibly be attained unless
the republic were overwhelmed by armed men, that Publius Sestius got
together his multitude of men, and his troops, as you call them. But the
pear was not yet ripe. The circumstances of the case did not as yet invite
good men to have recourse to such means for their protection. We were
defeated not indeed by that body alone, but still not entirely without its
agency. You were all mourning in silence.
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