power to the tribunes of the people. Now, he
urged, they had become formidable because every demand they made had
been agreed to, and nothing done against their wishes; they contemned
the authority of the consuls, and lived in defiance of the constitution,
governed only by their own seditious ringleaders, to whom they gave the
title of tribunes. For the Senate to sit and decree largesses of corn to
the populace, as is done in the most democratic States in Greece, would
merely be to pay them for their disobedience, to the common ruin of all
classes. "They cannot," he went on to say, "consider this largess of
corn to be a reward for the campaign in which they have refused to
serve, or for the secession by which they betrayed their country, or the
scandals which they have been so willing to believe against the Senate.
As they cannot be said to deserve this bounty, they will imagine that it
has been bestowed upon them by you because you fear them, and wish to
pay your court to them. In this case there will be no bounds to their
insubordination, and they never will cease from riots and disorders. To
give it them is clearly an insane proceeding; nay, we ought rather, if
we are wise, to take away from them this privilege of the tribuneship,
which is a distinct subversion of the consulate, and a cause of
dissension in the city, which now is no longer one, as before, but is
rent asunder in such a manner that there is no prospect of our ever
being reunited, and ceasing to be divided into two hostile factions."

XVII. With much talk to this effect Marcius excited the young men, with
whom he was influential, and nearly all the richer classes, who loudly
declared that he was the only man in the State who was insensible both
to force and to flattery. Some of the elders, however, opposed him,
foreseeing what would be the result of his policy. Indeed, no good
resulted from it. The tribunes of the people, as soon as they heard that
Marcius had carried his point, rushed down into the forum and called
loudly upon the people to assemble and stand by them. A disorderly
assembly took place, and on a report being made of Marcius's speech, the
fury of the people was so great that it was proposed to break into the
senate house; but the tribunes turned all the blame upon Marcius alone,
and sent for him to come and speak in his own defence. As this demand
was insolently refused, the tribunes themselves, together with the
aediles, went to bring hi