[49]
But why do I argue in this manner? Just as if Plancius had not already been
elected aedile in the former comitia. Which
comitia were begun to be held by the
consul, a man in every respect of the very highest authority, and the author
of those very laws concerning bribery. And besides, he began to hold them
very suddenly, contrary to any one's expectation; so that, even if any one
had formed the design of committing bribery, he would never have had time to
manage it. The tribes were summoned; the votes were given;
counted up, declared. Plancius was by far the highest of all on the
poll.1 There neither was nor could there be any suspicion
of bribery. Is it not the case that the one prerogative century carries such
weight with it that no one has ever gained the vote of that, but what he has
been declared consul either at that very comitia, or at all events consul for the year? And yet do you
wonder that Plancius was elected aedile when it was not a small portion of
the people, but the whole people that had declared their good-will towards
him? when it was not a portion of one tribe, but the whole comitia which were prerogative comitia in his behalf?
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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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