seemed to do this even according to their custom.' _Adeo_ in this
sense is always preceded by a demonstrative pronoun. See Zumpt,
S 281.
[189] _Boni_. In the political signification of this word, the ideas of
quiet conduct, aversion to innovations, and acquiescence in the
actual state of things, are combined with solid wealth. The reason
of this is easily perceptible; for he who possesses property, dreads
every change, and supports the existing state of things. A still
more decided political meaning is implied in the term _optimates_,
which denotes the party in the state which we now call Conservative,
but at Rome it implied at the same time the idea of 'faction,' and of
a tendency to occasional violence.
[190] 'Poverty (that is, poor people) maintains itself, or continues in
all disturbances without suffering any loss;' for he who has nothing,
cannot sustain any loss.
[191] _Ea vero_, 'this in particular. _Vero_ indicates the transition to
that circumstance, which in the present case is of the greatest
importance. Compare Zumpt, S 348, note.
[192] _Sentina_ properly signifies the sediment which, in a vessel filled
with water, sinks to the bottom. Hence 'the residue,' or the place
where all that is bad or impure is collected.
[193] The largesses in money and provisions with which the state
supported the needy population of the capital, and by which private
persons, anxious to gain partisans, catered numbers of clients,
attracted to Rome many people from the country: the city plebs was
thus constantly increasing.
[194] 'They were as much concerned about the good of the state as about
their own good'--that is, just as little.
[195] Connect _quorum_ with _parentes_ and the following words, _bona_
and _jus_. Sulla had excluded the sons of those whom he proscribed