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And yet concerning those laws which were proposed, we have, at all events, the
power of complaining; but concerning those which are actually passed we have not
even had that privilege. For they, without any proposal of them to the people,
were passed before they were framed. Men ask, what is the reason why I, or why
any one of you, O conscript fathers, should be afraid of bad laws while we have
virtuous tribunes of the people? We have men ready to interpose their veto;
ready to defend the republic with the sanctions of religion. We ought to be
strangers to fear. What do you mean by interposing the veto? says he; what are
all these sanctions of religion which you are talking about? Those, forsooth, on
which the safety of the republic depends. We are neglecting those things, and
thinking them too old-fashioned and foolish. The forum will be surrounded, every
entrance of it will be blocked up; armed men will be placed in garrison, as it
were, at many points.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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