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42For example, when Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, whose forefathers had added greatly to the power of the republic in the Punic and other wars, began to assert the freedom of the commons and expose the crimes of the oligarchs, the nobility, who were guilty, were therefore panic stricken. They accordingly opposed the acts of the Gracchi, now through the allies and the Latin cities and again through the knights, whom the hope of an alliance with the senate had estranged from the commons. And first Tiberius, then a few years later Gaius, who had followed in his brother’s footsteps, were slain with the sword, although one was a tribune and the other a commissioner for founding colonies; and with them fell Marcus Fulvius Flaccus. 2It must be admitted that the Gracchi were so eager for victory that they had not shown a sufficiently moderate spirit; 3but a good man would prefer to be defeated rather than to triumph over injustice by establishing a bad precedent.
4The nobles then abused their victory to gratify their passions; they put many men out of the way by the sword or by banishment, and thus rendered themselves for the future rather dreaded than powerful. It is this spirit which has commonly ruined great nations, when one party desires to triumph over another by any and every means and to avenge itself on the vanquished with excessive cruelty. 5But if I should attempt to speak of the strife of parties and of the general character of the state in detail or according to the importance of the theme, time would fail me sooner than material. Therefore I return to my subject.
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