ken to destroy and lacerate the Roman commons;
that, drained as they had been for so many years by taxes, they had
nothing left but wasted and naked lands. That the enemy had burned
their houses, and the state had taken away their slaves, who were the
cultivators of their lands, at one time by purchasing them at a low
rate for soldiers, at another by commanding a supply of rowers. If any
one had any silver or brass it was taken away from him, for the
payment of rowers or for annual taxes. That no force could compel and
no command oblige them to give what they had not got. That they might
sell their goods and then vent their cruelty on their persons, which
were all that remained to them. That they had nothing even left from
which they could be redeemed." These complaints were uttered not in
secret, but publicly in the forum, and before the eyes of the consuls
themselves, by an immense crowd which surrounded them; nor could the
consuls appease them now by coercing nor by soothing them. Upon this
they said that three days should be allowed them to consider of the
matter; which interval the consuls employed in examining and planning.
The following day they assembled the senate to consider of raising a
supply of rowers; and after arguing at great length that the people's
refusal was fair, they brought their discourse to this point, that
whether it were just or unjust, this burden must be borne by private
individuals. For from what source could they procure rowers, when
there was no money in the treasury? and how, without fleets, could
Sicily be kept in subjection, or Philip be prevented from entering
Italy, or the shores of Italy be protected?

36. In this perplexing state of affairs, when all deliberation was at
a stand, and a kind of torpor had seized on men's minds, Laevinus, the
consul, observed, that "as the magistrates were more honoured than the
senators, and the senators than the people, so also ought they to be
the first in taking upon themselves every thing that was burdensome
and arduous. If you would enjoin any duty on an inferior, and would
first submit yourself and those belonging to you to the obligation,
you will find everybody else more ready to obey; nor is an expense
thought heavy, when the people see every one of their principal men
taking upon himself more than his proportion of it. Are we then
desirous that the Roman people should have and equip a fleet? that
private individuals should without repugnanc