[11]
As for corn, some of the countries which
usually supply it had not got it; some had sent it into other countries, I
imagine because of the great variety of sellers; and some were keeping it
back, shut up in their stores, in order suddenly to send it, so that the
supply might be more acceptable if they seemed to come to our aid when we
were in a state of actual famine. The matter was not one of uncertain
opinions, it was a case of actually existing danger, present to our eyes; it
was not one which we were looking forward to in conjecture, but one which we
were actually beholding by present experience. For when the scarcity was
getting more severe, so that it was actually want and famine that was
dreaded, and not mere dearness of price, there was a rush towards the Temple
of Concord, when the consul Metellus summoned the senate to meet in that
place. And if that was the genuine effect of the grief of men suffering
under famine, certainly the consuls had good reason to undertake the affair,
certainly the senate had good reason to adopt some determination or other.
But if the scarcity was the pretext, and if you in reality were the exciter
and kindler of sedition, ought we not all to have striven to take away all
shadow of pretext for your madness?
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