quae . . . pateretur: ยง 535, e (320, e); B. 283, 2; G. 633; 11.592 (517); H.-B. 523. consensu, modifying gesta: the acts referred to are those of Cicero's consulship, which Clodius had practically annulled (resciderat) by procuring his banishment. domum incenderat: this was in B.C. 57. capere, contain. incidebantur: he felt so sure of his power that he was having the laws engraved (on bronze tablets, according to the custom) even before their passage. nos . . . addicerent, which should bind us over to our own slaves (i.e. freedmen). The suffrage of the freedmen was a standing subject of controversy in Roman politics. They voted in the four city tribes (see note on sect. 25, p. 181, l. 26), but many efforts were made to get them into the rustic tribes; and Clodus had promised, as praetor, to bring forward a law with this object.
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Select Orations of. Cicero. Allen and Greenough's Edition. Revised by J. B. Greenough and G. L. Kittredge, with a special vocabulary by J. B. Greenough.
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