Kitap 29
37
After C. C. Nero had made the usual affidavit that he had acted in accordance with the laws, he went up to the treasury and amongst the names of those whom he left disfranchised he placed that of his colleague. He was followed by M. Livius who took still more dramatic action. With the exception of the Maecian tribe, who had neither condemned him nor afterwards, in spite of his condemnation, made him either consul or censor, Livius reduced to the status of aerarii the whole of the remaining tribes of the Roman people on the ground that they had condemned an innocent man, and afterwards had made him consul and censor. He argued that they must admit that either they were acting wrongfully as judges in the first instance, or afterwards as electors. Amongst the thirty-four tribes, C. C. Nero, he said, would be disfranchised, and if there were any precedent for disfranchising the same man twice he would have inserted his name specially. This rivalry between the censors in affixing a stigma on each other was deplorable, but the sharp lesson administered to the people for their inconstancy was just what a censor ought to have given and befitted the seriousness of the times. As the censors had fallen into disfavour one of the tribunes of the plebs, Cnaeus Baebius, thought it a good opportunity for advancing himself at their expense, and appointed a day for their impeachment. The project was defeated by the unanimous vote of the senate, who were determined that the censorship should not for the future be at the mercy of popular caprice.
