[8]
But all this shall be discussed presently.
At present I am only arguing about the right of the people, which both can
and sometimes does pass over worthy men; and it does not follow because a
man has been passed over by the people who ought not to have been, that he
who has not been passed over is to be condemned by the judges. For if that
were the case, the judges would have that power which the senate itself
could not maintain in the times of our ancestors,—namely, that of
being correctors of the comitia: or a power
which is even more intolerable than that; for at that time a man who had
been elected did not enter upon the duties of his office if the senators had
not approved of his election; but now it is required of you to correct the
judgment of the Roman people by the banishment of the man who has been
elected by them. Therefore, although I have entered upon the cause by a door
which I did not wish to open, still I seem to hope, O Laterensis, that my
speech will be so far removed from all suspicion of being intended to give
you offence, that I may rather reprove you for bringing your own dignity
into an unreasonable contest, than attempt myself to disparage it by any
injurious expressions on my part.
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