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5 Imaginary Conversation. from the dust and smoke issviing out of others, we were some time before we reached it. On our near approach, two old men threw themselves on the ground before us, and the elder spake thus. Our age^ O Romans^ neither will nor ought to he our protection : we are^ or rather we have been^ judges of this land ; and to the utmost of our power we have invited our countrymen to resist you^ The laws are now yours. The expectation of the people was intense and silent : we had heard some groans ; and now the last words of the old man were taken up by others, by men in agony. Yes^ O Romans ! said the elder who had accompanied him that had addrest us, the laws are yours ; and none punish more severely than you do treason and parricide. Let your horses turn this corner^ and you will see before you traitors and parricides. We entered a small square : it had been a marketplace : the roofs of the stalls were demolished, and the stones of several columns, not one of which was standing, thrown down to supply the cramps of iron and the lead that fastened them, served for the spectators, male and female, to mount on. Five men were nailed on crosses ; two others were nailed against a wall, from scarcity (as we were told) of wood. Can seven men have murdered their parents in the same year? cried I. No^ nor had any of the seven^ replied the first who had spoken. But ivhen heavy impositions were laid upon those who were backward in voluntary contributions^ these men^ among the richest in our city^ protested by the gods that they had no gold or silver left. They protested truly. And they die for this! inhuman^ insatiable^ ineworable wretch. Their books ^ added he, unmoved at my reproaches, were seized by public authority and examined. It was discovered that^ instead of employing their riches in eocternal or internal commerce^ or in manufactories^ or in agriculture^ instead of reserving it for the embellishment of the city., or the utility of the citizens^ instead of lending it on interest to the indus- frioics and the needy., they had lent it to foren kings and tyrants., some of ivhom tvere ivaging unjust wars against