Of what did the plebeians complain?
That they were poor, exhausted by the interest which they paid to the proprietors,--_foeneratoribus;_ that the republic, administered for the benefit of the nobles, did nothing for the people; that, delivered over to the mercy of their creditors, who could sell them and their children, and having neither hearth nor home, they were refused the means of subsistence, while the rate of interest was kept at its highest point, &c.

For five centuries, the sole policy of the Senate was to evade these just complaints; and, notwithstanding the energy of the tribunes, notwithstanding the eloquence of the Gracchi, the violence of Marius, and the triumph of Caesar, this execrable policy succeeded only too well.

The Senate always temporized; the measures proposed by the tribunes might be good, but they were inopportune.

It admitted that something should be done; but first it was necessary that the people should resume the performance of their duties, because the Senate could not yield to violence, and force must be employed only by the law.

If the people--out of respect for legality--took this beautiful advice, the Senate conjured up a difficulty; the reform was postponed, and that was the end of it.