plebs, as was the case afterwards in the time of Marius.
[183] _Ab ignavia_ is to be taken in the sense of 'in consequence of,' or
'on account of your cowardice.' See Zumpt, S 305.
[184] 'When your political enemies (in consequence of the crime which
they have committed) are deserving of punishment, and in your hands.'
[185] _Animus subigit_. 'My feelings compel me to stand out against
the faction (of the optimates), in spite of your lukewarmness.'
[186] _Ob rem_, 'effectually,' 'with success.'
[187] 'They must ruin themselves.'
[188] 'I will grant that everything has been done with justice, which
cannot be punished without again shedding the blood of citizens;'
that is, the cruelties then committed by the optimates in crushing
Tib. and G. Gracchus may be considered as legitimate, since the
perpetrators cannot be punished without fresh executions. _Ulciscor_,
usually a deponent, is here used in a passive sense, just as the
participle _ultus_ is sometimes used in the sense of _vindicatus_.
For the same reason, the passive form _nequitur_ has been chosen;
respecting which, see Zumpt, S 216.
[189] _Parum habuere_, 'they considered it too little' (this is the
meaning of _parum_): it was not enough for them that they had
committed such disgraceful acts.
[190] _Incedere per ora hominum_, 'to walk in the eyes' or 'in the sight
of men.'
[191] 'The cruelties committed against the defenders of the plebs, serve
them as a bulwark;' that is, make them only the more audacious.
[192] About _quam maxime--tam maxime_, expressing a proportionate
increase, see Zumpt, S 725.
[193] A complicated expression--'they have transferred their fear, which
they ought to have on account of their crime, to your cowardice;'
that is, to you who are cowards, or whom they consider as cowards.