When the Esquiliae is almost taken by the enemy, and when the Volscian foe is scaling your rampart, there is no one to dislodge him: against us ye are men, against us ye take up arms.
68.

"Come, when ye have blockaded the senate-house here, and have made the forum the seat of war, and filled the prison with the leading men of the state, march forth through the Esquiline gate, with that same determined spirit; or if ye do not even venture thus far, behold from your walls the lands laid waste with fire and sword, booty driven off, the houses set on fire in every direction and smoking.

But (I may be told) it is the public weal that is in a worse condition through these results: the land is burned, the city is besieged, all the glory of the war is centred in the enemy.

What in the name of heaven?
in what state is your own private interest?
just now his own private losses were announced to each of you from the lands.

What, pray, is there at home, whence you may recruit them?
Will the tribunes restore and compensate you for what ye have lost?
Of sound and words they will heap on you as much as ye please, and of charges against the leading men, and laws one upon another, and of public meetings.