History of Rome

​Therefore, voices of those reproaching the multitude were openly heard, on the ground that it always raised its defenders to a precarious height by its favor, and then, at the very crisis of danger, deserted them:

​that in this way Spurius Cassius, who was calling the plebs to the lands, in this way Spurius Maelius, who was repelling famine from the mouths of the citizens at his own expense, had been crushed; and in this way M. Manlius, who was dragging out a part of the state, sunken and buried under interest, into liberty and light, had been betrayed to his enemies. The plebs fattened popular men, only that they might be slaughtered.

​Was this to be endured, that a man of consular rank did not answer at the beck of the dictator? Let them pretend that he had lied before, and therefore had nothing to answer then; to what slave was bonds ever the punishment for a lie?

​Did the memory of that night not present itself, which had been almost the last and eternal one for the Roman name? Did the sight of the army of Gauls climbing up the Tarpeian rock not appear? Did the image of M. Manlius himself not appear, just as they had seen him in arms, covered with sweat and blood, when Jupiter himself had been almost rescued from the hands of the enemy? Was the gratitude to the savior of his country paid with half a pound of spelt?

​And would they suffer him, whom they had made almost celestial, and certainly equal to Capitoline Jupiter by his cognomen, to remain bound in prison and, in darkness, to drag out an existence subject to the will of the executioner? Was there indeed so much help for all in one man, and was there no aid for one man among so many?

​Now, not even by night did the crowd disperse from that place, and they threatened to break open the prison, when, that which they were about to rescue being conceded, Manlius was released from his chains by a decree of the senate. By which deed, the sedition was not ended, but a leader was given to the sedition.

​During those same days, to the Latins and Hernicians, and at the same time to the colonists from Circeii and Velitrae, who were clearing themselves of the charge of the Volscian war and requesting their captives in order to punish them by their own laws, harsh answers were returned—harsher to the colonists, because they, being Roman citizens, had entered into wicked counsels for attacking their country.

​Therefore, it was not only denied concerning the captives, but, though they had nevertheless refrained from this toward the allies, they were denounced in the words of the senate to depart quickly from the city, out of the face and eyes of the Roman people, lest the right of embassy, devised for a foreigner and not a citizen, should fail to protect them.