Sallust - Speech of Macer - 3.48 = 3.

34
[34] {48.M} Si, Quirites, parum existumaretis quid inter ius a maioribus
relictum uobis et hoc a Sulla paratum seruitium interesset, multis mihi
disserundum fuit, docendique quas ob iniurias et quotiens a patribus armata
plebes secessisset utique uindices parauisset omnis iuris sui tribunos plebis. 2
Nunc hortari modo relicuom est et ire primum uia qua capessundam arbitror
libertatem. 3 Neque me praeterit quantas opes nobilitatis solus, inpotens, inani
specie magistratus, pellere dominatione incipiam, quantoque tutius factio
noxiorum agat quam soli innocentes. 4 Sed praeter spem bonam ex uobis, quae
metum uicit, statui certaminis aduorsa pro libertate potiora esse forti uiro quam
omnino non certauisse.
If, fellow citizens, you do not at all understand what difference there is between
the laws left to us by our ancestors and that slavery which was conceived by
Sulla, I should have had to speak at length, and to inform you on account of what
wrongs and how often the people when armed seceded from the senators and
how they acquired tribunes of the people as defenders of all of their rights. Now
there is only to encourage you and to go first on the road by which I think
freedom is to be recovered. And I am not unaware of how great is the power of
the nobility, whom I alone, powerless, with the empty appearance of a
magistracy, begin to drive from their tyranny, and I know how much more
securely a faction of evildoers survives than innocent men alone. But except the
great hope inspired by you, which conquers my fear, I have decided that defeat
in a battle for liberty is better for a brave man that not to strive altogether.

5 Quamquam omnes alii, creati pro iure uostro, uim cunctam et imperia sua
gratia aut spe aut praemiis in nos conuortere, meliusque habent mercede
delinquere quam gratis recte facere. 6 Itaque omnes concessere iam in
paucorum dominationem, qui per militare nomen, aerarium, exercitus, regna,
prouincias occupauere et arcem habent ex spoliis uostris; cum interim, more
pecorum, uos, multitudo, singulis habendos fruendosque praebetis, exuti
omnibus quae maiores reliquere, nisi quia uobismet ipsi per suffragia, ut
praesides olim, nunc dominos destinatis. 7 Itaque concessere illuc omnes; at
mox, si uostra receperitis, ad uos plerique : raris enim animus est ad ea quae
placent defendunda; ceteri ualidiorum sunt.
Yet all others, elected to defend your rights, turn all force and their power against
you, through their own obligations, through hope or by briberies, and they
consider it better to do wrong for hire than to do right for free. And so all of
them now agree to the domination of a few men, who have taken under pretext
of war, the treasury, the army, kingdoms, provinces and have a stronghold from
your spoils; when in the meantime you, like cattle, yield yourselves, a multitude,
to single men to be possessed and enjoyed, stripped of everything which our
ancestors left, except that because you yourselves chose through voting, as once
your defenders, now your masters. And so all men have submitted to that side;
but soon, if you regain what is yours, the majority with return to you; for few
have courage to defend what they resolve; others belong to the stronger.

8 An dubium habetis num officere quid uobis uno animo pergentibus possit, quos
languidos socordisque pertimuere? Nisi forte C. Cotta, ex factione media consul,
aliter quam metu iura quaedam tribunis plebis restituit. Et quamquam L. Sicinius,
primus de potestate tribunicia loqui ausus, mussantibus uobis circumuentus erat,

tamen prius illi inuidiam metuere quam uos iniuriae pertaesum est. Quod ego
nequeo satis mirari, Quirites; nam spem frustra fuisse intellexistis. 9 Sulla
mortuo, qui scelestum imposuerat seruitium, finem mali credebatis : ortus est
longe saeuior Catulus. 10 Tumultus intercessit Bruto et Mamerco consulibus. Dein
C. Curio ad exitium usque insontis tribuni dominatus est. 11 Lucullus superiore
anno quantis animis ierit in L Quintium uidistis. Quantae denique nunc mihi
turbae concitantur! Quae profecto in cassum agebantur, si prius quam uos
seruiundi finem, illi dominationis facturi erant; praesertim cum his ciuilibus armis
dicta alia, sed certatum utrimque de dominatione in uobis sit. 12 Itaque cetera
ex licentia aut odio aut auaritia in tempus arsere; permansit una res modo, quae
utrimque quaesita est et erepta in posterum, uis tribunicia, telum a maioribus
libertati paratum. 13 Quod ego uos moneo quaesoque ut animaduortatis, neu
nomina rerum ad ignauiam mutantes, otium pro seruitio appelletis. Quo iam ipso
frui, si uera et honesta flagitium superauerit, non est condicio : fuisset, si omnino
quiessetis. Nunc animum aduortere et, nisi uiceritis, quoniam omnis iniuria
grauitate tutior est, artius habebunt.
And surely you dont doubt something will be able to resist you advancing with a
united spirit, whom they have feared even when weak and indifferent? Unless
perchance Gaius cotta, consul from the heart of that faction, through something
other than fear restored some rights of the tribunes of the people. And although
Lucius sicinius, who first dared to speak about tribunician power, was cut off
while you murmured, nevertheless before those men feared your hatred before
you resented the wrongs done to you. I cannot admire that enough, fellow
citizens; for you realised that your hopes had been invain. On Sullas death, who
had imposed a wicked slavery, you believed it would be the end of evil. Catulus
arose, far more savage. There was an outbreak in the consulship of brutus and
mamercus. Then Gaius Curius held dominion to the extent of the death of an
innocent tribune (sicinius). You saw with what great spirit Lucullus the next year
came against Lucius Quintus. What great disturbances are now at last roused
against me! Assuredly these things were committed in vain, if before it was their
intention to put an end to their dominion before you did to your slavery;
especially in these civil conflicts there were other motives, but the contest on
both sides was about domination if you. And so other disputes burned as the
result of licence, hate, and avarice for a time; only one thing remained, which
was sought on both sides, and has been taken away for the future, the might of
the tribunes, a weapon prepared by our ancestors for freedom. This I warn you
and beseech you to take notice, do not change the names if things for laziness,
and give it the title of peace in place of servitude. if wickedness overcomes truth
and goodness, there is no agreement that you enjoy this very peace; it would
have been so, if you had been wholly inactive. Now they pay attention, and
unless you are victorious, since every wrong is safer in its seriousness, they will
hold you more tightly.
14 "Quid censes igitur?" aliquis uostrum subiecerit. Primum omnium,
omittendum morem hunc quem agitis, impigrae linguae, animi ignaui, non ultra
contionis locum memores libertatis; 15 deinde - ne uos ad uirilia illa uocem, quo
tribunos plebei, modo patricium magistratum, libera ab auctoribus patriciis
suffragia maiores uostri parauere - cum uis omnis, Quirites, in uobis sit et quae
iussa nunc pro aliis toleratis, pro uobis agere aut non agere certe possitis, Iouem
aut alium quem deum consultorem expectatis? 16 Magna illa consulum imperia
et patrum decreta uos exsequendo rata efficitis, Quirites; ultroque licentiam in
uos auctum atque adiutum properatis.
So what do you advise, someone of you will say. First of all, one must shed this
habit which you practise, men of energetic tongues, but weak hearts, not mindful

of liberty beyond the place of assembly; then - not that I invoke you to those
manly deeds, by which your ancestors gained the tribunes of the people, a
magistracy once patrician, through a vote free from the interference of patricians
since all might, fellow citizens, rests in you, and the orders which you now
submit for others, you certainly able to do or not do for yourselves, are you
waiting for Jupiter or some other god as a consultant? That great power of the
consuls and those powerful decrees of the senators, ratify them yourselves by
carrying them out; and you hasten of your own acorn to increase and strengthen
their licence over you.

17 Neque ego uos ultum iniurias hortor, magis uti requiem cupiatis; neque
discordias, ut illi criminantur, sed earum finem uolens iure gentium res repeto;
et, si pertinaciter retinebunt, non arma neque secessionem, tantummodo ne
amplius sanguinem uostrum praebeatis censebo. 18 Gerant habeantquc suo
modo imperia, quaerant triumphos, Mithridatem, Sertorium et reliquias exulum
persequantur cum imaginibus suis; absit periculum et labos quibus nulla pars
fructus est. 19 Nisi forte repentina ista frumentaria lege munia uostra pensantur;
qua tamen quinis modiis libertatem omnium aestumauere, qui profecto non
amplius possunt alimentis carceris. Namque ut illis exiguitate mors prohibetur,
senescunt uires, sic neque absoluit cura familiari tam parua res, et ignaui
cuiusque tenuissumas spes frustratur.

And I do not urge you to avenge your wrongs, rather that you desire quietl nor do
I seek discord, as they charge, but wishing to put an end to them, I seek
restitution under the law of nations; and, if they stubbornly persist, I will advise
neither war nor secession, but merely that you do not offer any more of your
blood for the. Let them hold and administer their powers in their own way, let
them seek triumphs, let them pursue Mithridates, Sertorius, and what is left of
the exiles with their ancestral portraits; let those who have no share in the profit
share no danger and toil. Unless perchance your services have been
recompensed by that hastily enacted grain law; by this however, they have
valued all your freedom at 5 modii per man, which actually cannot be more than
a prison allowance. For as death is averted from them through this scantiness,
their strength wanes, so this small amount relieves you of no household care,
and so idle men are frustrated in their most fragile hopes.
20 Quae tamen quamuis ampla, quoniam seruiti pretium ostentaretur, cuius
torpedinis erat decipi et uostrarum rerum ultro iniuriae gratiam debere?
Cauendus dolus est. 21 Namque alio modo neque ualent in uniuorsos neque
conabuntur. Itaque simul conparant delenimenta et differunt uos in aduentum
Cn. Pompei, quem ipsum, ubi pertimuere, sublatum in ceruices suas, mox
dempto metu lacerant. 22 Neque eos pudet, uindices uti se ferunt libertatis, tot
uiros sine uno aut remittere iniuriam non audere, aut ius non posse defendere.
23 Mihi quidem satis spectatum est Pompeium, tantae gloriae adulescentem,
malle principem uolentibus uobis esse quam illis dominationis socium,
auctoremque in primis fore tribuniciae potestatis. 24 Verum, Quirites, antea
singuli ciues in pluribus, non in uno cuncti praesidia habebatis, neque mortalium
quisquam dare aut eripere talia unus poterat.
However, even if this was an ample allowance, since it is offered as the price of
servitude, of what sluggishness is it to be deceived and moreover to owe favour
for the injustice of your property? One must beware of trickery. For by no means
can they prevail against all people, nor will they try. And so at the same time

they are preparing soothing enticements and they put you off in the coming of
Gnaeus Pompey, the very man whom they bore on their necks, when they feared
him, and soon will mangle with their fear removed. And it does not shame them,
as they say they are the defenders of liberty, that as many men as they are,
without one man they neither dare to right a wrong, nor could they defend a
right. For my part it seems well enough that Pompey, a young man of such great
renown, prefers to be the leader of those of you who are willing, than of the allies
of such a tyranny, and that he will be among the first to restore power to the
tribunes. Truly, fellow citizens, before, each citizen of you among many had
protection not everyone in one man, and nor was any one mortal man able to
give or take away such (protection?)

25 Itaque uerborum satis dictum est; neque enim ignorantia res claudit. 26
Verum occupauit nescio quae uos torpedo, qua non gloria mouemini neque
flagitio, cunctaque praesenti ignauia mutauistis, abunde libertatem rati, [scilicet]
quia tergis abstinetur et huc ire licet atque illuc, munera ditium dominorum. 27
Atque haec eadem non sunt agrestibus, sed caeduntur inter potentium
inimicitias donoque dantur in prouincias magistratibus. 28 Ita pugnatur et
uincitur paucis; plebes, quodcumque accidit, pro uictis est et in dies magis erit, si
quidem maiore cura dominationem illi retinuerint quam uos repetiueritis
libertatem.

And so there has been enough speaking of words; for ignorance has not closed
the matter. But some kind of numbness has taken possession, by which you are
moved by neither glory nor disgrace, and you have exchanged everything for
your present idleness, thinking that you have ample freedom, (doubtless)
because it is kept from your backs and are allowed to go here and there, the
kindnesses of rich masters. But these same privileges country people do not
have, but they are slaughtered amid the disputs of the powerful and are given in
provinces as gifts to magistrates. So the battle is fought and won by a few; the
common people, whatever happens, are like vanquished, and it will be more so
every day, if those men keep their mastery with greater concern than you seek
your freedom.