Page:Dio's Roman History, tr. Cary - Volume 1.djvu/163

Rh -cially in a position of any influence, — all their power was being dissipated and torn to shreds; for none of their resolutions was valid in case even one of them opposed it. They had originally received their office for no other purpose than to resist such as were oppressing anybody, and thus he who tried to prevent any measure from being carried into effect was sure to prove stronger than those who supported it.

especially in a position of influence, to attain harmony. No sooner did others, planning to shatter their influence, go to intriguing, in order that dissension might make them weaker, than the tribunes actually attached themselves some to the one party and some to the other. If even one of them opposed a measure, he rendered the decisions of the rest null and void. Now at first they did not enter the senate-house, but sat at the entrance and watched proceedings, and in case anything failed to please them, they would then and there oppose it. Next they were invited inside. Later, however, the ex-tribunes became members of the senate, and finally some of the senators even sought to be tribunes — unless one chanced to be a patrician. Patricians the people would not accept; for after choosing the tribunes to defend them against the patricians, and advancing them to so great power, they feared that a patrician might turn this power to contrary purposes and use it against them. But if a man abjured the rank given him by birth and changed his status to that of a common citizen, they received him gladly. And a