Book 28
4.31
And when there is such a dry rot of thoughtlessness, as soon as the longed-for day of the chariot-races begins to dawn, before the sun is yet shining clearly they all hasten in crowds to the spot at top speed, as if they would outstrip the very chariots that are to take part in the contest; and torn by their conflicting hopes about the result of the race, the greater number of them in their anxiety pass sleepless nights.
4.32
If from there they come to worthless theatrical pieces, any actor is hissed off the boards who has not won the favour of the low rabble with money. And if this noisy form of demonstration is lacking, they cry in imitation of the Tauric raceReferring to the myth that the Tauri (xxii. 8, 33) sacrificed strangers at the altar of Diana. that all strangers—on whose aid they have always depended and stood uprightCf. Aurel. Vict., Caesares, 11, 13, mihi quidem . . . plane compertum urbem Romam externorum virtute . . . praecipue crevisse. —ought to be driven from the city. All this in foul and absurd terms, very different from the expressions of their interests and desires made by your commons of old, of whose many witty and happy sayings tradition tells us.Cf. xvi. 10, 13.
