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[2]
while Appius raised these quibbles, but found no one to support him,
behold , Quirites,
said Sempronius, "the descendant of that Appius, who having been elected decemvir for one year, himself declared his own election for a second year, and in the third, although a private citizen, with neither his own nor another's warrant of election, retained the fasces and authority, and relinquished not his hold on the magistracy until he was overwhelmed by his ill —gotten, ill —administered, and ill —continued powers.
1
it was this same family, Quirites, under compulsion of whose violence and abuse you banished yourselves from your native City and occupied the Sacred Mount
2
; the same against which
[5] offices.
8
it is a name that is far more hostile to your liberty than that of the Tarquinii.
so , Appius Claudius!
though it is now a hundred years since Mamercus Aemilius was dictator, and in that time we have had all these censors, high —born and valiant men, has never one of them inspected the Twelve
[6] Tables?
has none of them known that the law was that which the people had last enacted?
nay , all of them knew it; and they obeyed the Aemilian law in preference to that ancient ordinance which governed the first elections of censors, precisely because it was the latest which the people had enacted, and
[7] because in a conflict of two laws the old is ever superseded by the new.
[8] "
or will this be your contention, Appius, that the people is not bound by the Aemilian law?
or that the people is bound, but that you alone are exempt?
The Aemilian law bound those violent censors Gaius Furius and Marcus Geganius, who showed what mischief that magistracy could accomplish in the state, when, in their rage at the abridgment of their powers, they reduced Mamercus Aemilius, the foremost man of his time in war and peace, to the lowest class of
[9] citizens; it bound all the censors who succeeded them, for the period of a hundred years; it binds Gaius Plautius, your colleague, who was given the office under the same auspices and with the same rights as
[10] yourself.
or did the people not make Plautius censor as one who had been elected with the fullest rights?
are you the sole exception in whose case this holds, as a unique and peculiar
[12] interrex?
whom would you be so rash as to make dictator for the purpose of driving the nail or celebrating games?
how dull and lumpish must those men seem to Appius, who after accomplishing great feats resigned the post of dictator within twenty days, or laid down the reins of office because of a flaw in their
[13] election!
why should I cite antiquity?
recently , within these ten years,
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Gaius Maenius the dictator, for conducting an inquisition with more severity than was safe for certain great men, was accused by his ill —wishers of being tainted with that very felony which he was searching out, and abdicated the dictatorship, that he might face the charge as a private
[14] citizen.
far be it from me to require such self —denial of you!
fall not away from the most imperious and proud of families; quit not your magistracy one day, one hour, sooner than you must; only see that you overstep not the appointed
[15] limit.
is it enough to add a day, or a month, to his censorship?
three years,' quoth he, and six months beyond the time permitted by the Aemilian law will I administer the censorship, and administer it alone.'
surely this begins to look like
[16] monarchy!
"
or will you substitute a colleague for the other, though even in a dead man's place such substitution is forbidden by
[17] religion?
you are not satisfied forsooth with having in your scrupulous exercise of a censor's powers diverted the service of our most ancient cult, the only one inaugurated by the god
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himself in whose honour it is observed, from the priesthood of the most exalted nobles to the ministry of
[18] slaves; it was not enough that a family more ancient than the beginnings of this City, and sanctified by the entertainment of the immortal gods, should through you and your censorship be within a year uprooted and
[19] destroyed; no, you must needs involve the entire state in such heinous guilt
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as even to name is an omen that fills my mind with
[20] dread.
The city was captured in that lustrum when, on the death of his colleague Gaius Julius, Lucius Papirius Cursor, to avoid having to vacate his office, caused Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis to be substituted in the room of the dead man.
and how much more moderate, Appius, was his ambition than
[21] yours!
The censorship of Lucius Papirius was neither a sole one nor one prolonged beyond the legally established term; yet he found none to follow his example; all succeeding censors have abdicated on the death of a colleague.
but you neither the expiration of your time restrains nor the fact that your colleague has resigned, nor the law, nor a sense of decency: you reckon worth in terms of pride, of recklessness, of contempt for gods and
[22] men.
for my own part, Appius Claudius, when I think of the dignity of that office you have held and the reverence attaching to it, I could wish that I might spare you not only personal violence but even an ungentle
[23]
word; but your stubbornness and pride have compelled me to say what I have so far said, and unless you obey the Aemilian law, I shall order you to
[24]
[25]
having uttered these and similar remonstrances, he ordered the censor to be arrested and carried off to prison.
six tribunes approved the action of their colleague: three protected Appius on his appeal, and, greatly to the indignation of all classes, he continued as sole censor.
Ab urbe condita. Titus Livius (Livy). Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor). Medford, MA. .
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.