Book 6
41.1
“Their aim is not to sue for honours but to extort them from you, and they will get the greatest favours from you without showing the gratitude due even for the smallest. They prefer seeking posts of honour by trusting to accident rather than by personal merit.
41.2
There is many a man, too proud to submit his merits and claims to inspection and examination, who would think it quite fair that he alone among his competitors should be quite certain of attaining a post of honour, who would withdraw himself from your judgment and transfer your free votes into compulsory and servile ones.
41.3
Not to mention Licinius and Sextius, whose years of uninterrupted power you number up as though they were kings in the Capitol kings in the Capitol —Referring probably to the statues of the kings which were set up on pedestals in the Capitol, but at a later date than Livy is dealing with here., who is there in the State to-day in such humble circumstances as not to find the path to the consulship made easier by the opportunities offered in that measure for him than it is for us and our children? Even when you sometimes wish to elect us you will not have the power; those people you will be compelled to elect, even if you do not wish to do so.” “Enough has been said about the indignity of the
