[139] XL. The Latins and Italian allies--_Per homines nominis Latini, et socios Italicos._ "The right of voting was not extended to all the Latin people till A.U.C. 664, and the Italian allies did not obtain it till some years afterward." _Kritzius._ So that at this period, which was twenty years earlier, their influence could only be employed in an underhand way. Compare c.42. [140] Marcus Scaurus--See c. 15. That he was appointed on this occasion, is an evident proof of his commanding influence. [141] But the investigation, notwithstanding, was conducted, etc.--_Sed quaes tuo exercita_, etc. Scaurus, it is probable, did what he could to mitigate the violence of the proceedings. Cicero, however, says that Caius Gallus _sacerdos_, with four _consulares_, Bestia, Caius Cato, Albinus, and Opimius, were condemned and exiled by this law of Mamilius. See Brut., c. 34. [142] XLI. Took, snatched, and seized--Ducere, _trahere, rapere_. "_Ducere_ conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; _trahere_ of some degree of force; _rapere_ of open violence." _Muller_. The words chiefly refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows. [141] The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.-- Quid quod usque proximos Revellis agri terminos, et ultra Limites clientium Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos In sinu ferens deos Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos. _Hor. Od.,_ ii. 18. What can this impious av'rice stay? Their sacred landmarks torn away. You plunge into your neighbor's grounds, And overleap your client's bounds, Helpless the wife and husband flee, And in their arms, expell'd by thee, Their household gods, adored in vain, Their infants, too, a sordid train. [144] Among the nobility--_Ex nobilitate._ Cortius injudiciously omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi. [145] By means of the allies and Latins--See on, c. 40. [146] But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit, etc.--_Sed bono vinci satius est, quam malo more injuriam vincere. Bono,_ sc. _viro_. "That is, if the nobility had been truly worthy characters, they would rather have yielded to the Gracchi, than have revenged any wrong that they had received from them in an unprincipled manner." _Dietsch._ Thus this is a reflection on the nobles; in which notion of the passage Allen concurs with Dietsch. Others, as Cortius, think it a reflection on the too great violence of the Gracchi. The brevity with which Sallust had expressed himself makes it difficult to decide. Kritzius, who thinks that the remark is in praise of the Gracchi, supplies the ellipse thus: "Sane concedi debet Gracchis non satis moderatum animum fuiase; _quae res ipsis adeo interitum attulit_; sed _sic quoque egregii viri putandi sunt; nam_ bono vinci," etc. Langius and Burnouf join _bono_ with _more_, but do not differ much in their interpretations of the passage from that given by Dietsch.