[65]
Why, when a motion was brought forward concerning the status of a citizen, (I do not
say what sort of citizen,) and the confiscation of his property; when it was
enacted by the sacred laws and by the laws of the Twelve Tables that it was
not lawful to decree a privilegium against any
one nor to make any motion affecting a man's rights as a
citizen;—why, I say, was the voice of the consuls never heard? Why
was the rule established that year,—as far as those two pests of
this empire could effect its establishment,—that any citizen might
lawfully be driven out of the city by name by the mob of artisans in a state
of excitement, and by the contrivance of a tribune of the people?
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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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