[131]
The proposed
measure was one full of justice, wisdom, and dignity. For the censor, to
whose power (though you have abolished that) our ancestors chose to commit
the decision respecting the dignity of each member of the senate, wished the
statue of Concord to be in the senate-house, and wished also to dedicate the
senate-house to that goddess. It was a noble intention, and one worthy of
all praise. For he thought that by that measure he was enjoining that
opinions should be delivered without party spirit or dissension, if he bound
the place itself and the temple of public counsel by the religions reverence
due to the goddess Concord. You, when you were keeping down the enslaved and
oppressed city by the sword, by fear, by edicts, by privileges, by bands of
abandoned men constantly present, and by the fear of the army which was
absent and by threats of bringing it up, and by the assistance of the
consuls, and by your nefarious agreement with them, erected a statue of
Liberty in a mocking and shameless spirit, rather than with even any
pretence to religion. He was dedicating a thing in the senate-house, which
he was able to dedicate without any inconvenience to any one. You have
erected an image not of public Liberty, but of licentiousness, on what I may
call the blood and bones of that citizen who of all others has
deserved best of the republic.
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