simul amittit.[173] Te atque senatum obtestamur, consulatis miseris
civibus, legis praesidium, quod iniquitas praetoris eripuit, restituatis;
neve nobis eam necessitudinem imponatis, ut quaeramus, quonam modo maxime
ulti sanguinem nostrum pereamus.'

[169] The adjective _expers_ here is joined in the same sentence with two
different cases; this is an unusual construction, though _expers_ may
be joined with the genit. as well as with the ablat. See Zumpt,
S 437, note 1.
[170] From what he quotes as the substance of the law, we see that he
means the lex Papiria Poetelia, which had been passed in B.C. 326,
and according to which the property of a debtor served as a security
to the creditor, while his person or his personal liberty could not
be touched.
[171] _Vestrum_; it would be more in accordance with the common usage to
say _vestri_, but the genitive of the personal pronoun also may be
used. See Zumpt, SS 424 and 431.
[172] Literally, 'the borrowed silver was repaid in copper;' that is,
instead of the ordinary silver coin, the sestertius, the value of
four copper ases, only one copper as was paid. By this means debtors
gained three-fourths of the capital they had borrowed. This reduction
of debts took place in B.C. 86, during the ascendancy of the Marian
party.
[173] _Amittit_; that is, _missam facit_, _dimittit_ or _omittit_, 'he
gives up.'

34. Ad haec Q. Marcius respondit: 'Si quid ab senatu petere vellent, ab
armis discedant, Romam supplices proficiscantur; ea mansuetudine atque
misericordia senatum populumque Romanum semper fuisse, ut nemo unquam
ab eo frustra auxilium petiverit.' At Catilina ex itinere plerisque