who is on his side or who does not desire a complete change, retaining only the victory?[1] Think you it is the soldiers, at the price of whose blood riches are won for vile slaves such as Tarula and Scirtus? Or is it those who in suing for office were thought less worthy than Fufidius, a vile wench, the dishonour of all honours? It is because of acts like these that I rest my greatest confidence in the victorious army, which has gained nothing by so many wounds and hardships save a tyrant. Unless haply they took the field to overthrow the power of the tribunes, which their forefathers had established, and to rob themselves with their own hands of their rights and their jurisdiction[2]; richly rewarded, no doubt, when, banished to swamps and woods, they find that insult and hatred are their portion, that a handful of men gain the prizes!
Why then does the tyrant walk abroad with so great a following and with such assurance? Because success is a wonderful screen for vices; but let a reverse come, and he will be despised as much as he is now feared. Or perhaps he does it to make a pretence of peace and harmony, which are the names which he has applied to his guilt and treason. Furthermore, he declares that the republic cannot be established, and war ended, unless the commons are for ever driven from their lands, the citizens cruelly plundered, and all rights and jurisdiction, once belonging to the Roman people, placed in his own hands. If this seems to you to be peace and order, show your approval of the utter demoralization and overthrow of the republic, bow to the laws which
