[31]
Oh
how admirable are our laws, and with what god-like wisdom were they
established by our ancestors from the very first beginning of the Roman
name, especially the law that no one of our people can be a citizen of more
than one city, (for it is inevitable that dissimilar states must have a
great variety in their laws,) and that no one can be compelled against his
will to change his city, nor against his will to remain a citizen of any
city. For these are the firmest foundations of our liberty, that every
individual should have it in his own power to retain or abandon his
privileges.
And without any dispute, that has been the most solid foundation of our
empire, and the thing which has above all others increased the renown of the
Roman name, that that first man, the creator of this city, Romulus, taught
by the treaty which he made with the Sabines, that it was expedient to
increase the population of this city by the adoption of even enemies as
citizens. And in compliance with his authority and with the precedent which
he established, the presentation of the freedom of our city to others has
never been interrupted by our ancestors. Therefore, many tribes from
Latium, the people of
Tusculum, the people of
Lanuvium, and all other
peoples of all other races, have been received into the privileges of our
city;—as, for instance, the Sabines, the Hernici, and the Volsci;
the citizens of which cities were not compelled to change the city to which
they belonged, if they were unwilling to do so; nor if any of them had
acquired the privileges of our citizens by the kindness of the Roman people,
would the treaty made with them appear to have been violated.
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