[35]
It is a defect in my language, O Romans, when I call this power a kingly power. For in
truth, it is something much more considerable; for there never was any kingly power that, if
it was not defined by some express law, was not at least understood to be subject to certain
limitations. But this power is absolutely unbounded; it is one within which all kingly
powers, and your own imperial authority, which is of such wide extent, and all other powers,
whether freely exercised by your permission, or existing only by your tacit countenance, are,
by express permission of the law, comprehended.
The first thing which is given to them is, a liberty of selling everything concerning the
sale of which resolutions of the senate were passed in the consulship of Marcus Tullius and
Cnaeus Cornelius or afterwards.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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