[105]
Do you think that the Gracchi, or that
Saturninus, or that any one of those ancient men who were considered devoted
to the interests of the people, had ever any hired fellows in their
assemblies? No one of those men ever stooped to such a course. For the mere
liberality of their proposed laws, and the hope of the advantage which was
held out to them, excited the multitude sufficiently without any bribery.
Therefore, in those times, those men who set up for friends of the people,
were hindered in their plans by wise and honourable men, but they were great
men in the opinion of the populace, and received every sort of honour from
them. They were applauded in the theatre; they gained whatever they sought
for by their suffrages; men loved their names, their language, their
countenances, their very gait. But those who opposed this class of men were
accounted wise and great men; they had great influence in the senate, great
influence among all good men; but they were unpopular with the
multitude; their inclinations were frequently thwarted by the suffrages of
the populace; and if any one of them at any time received any applause in
the theatre, he began to be afraid that he had done something wrong; but at
the same time, if there was anything of more than ordinary importance under
discussion, then that same populace was chiefly influenced by the authority
of those men.
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