Iug. 42.1Nam postquam Ti. et C. Gracchus, quōrum maiōrēs Pūnicō atque aliīs bellīs multum reī pūblicae addiderant, vindicāre plēbem in lībertātem et paucōrum scelera patefacere coepēre, nōbilitās noxia atque eō perculsa modo per sociōs ac nōmen Latīnum, interdum per equitēs Rōmānōs, quōs spēs societātis ā plēbe dīmōverat, Gracchōrum āctiōnibus obviam ierat;For after Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, whose ancestors had added much to the commonwealth in the Punic and other wars, began to claim liberty for the commons and to expose the crimes of the few, the nobility, guilty and therefore alarmed, had opposed the measures of the Gracchi, now through the allies and the Latin name, now through the Roman knights, whom the hope of partnership had drawn away from the commons; Iug. 42.1et prīmō Tiberium, Dein paucōs post annōs eadem ingredientem Gāium, tribūnum alterum, alterum triumvirum colōniīs dēdūcundīs, cum M. Fulviō Flaccō ferrō necāverat.and first Tiberius, then a few years later Gaius, who was entering on the same course, the one a tribune, the other a commissioner for founding colonies, they had put to the sword, together with Marcus Fulvius Flaccus.
Iug. 42.2Et sānē Gracchīs cupīdine victōriae haud satis moderātus animus fuit.And it is true that the Gracchi, in their desire for victory, did not have a sufficiently moderate spirit. Iug. 42.3Sed bonō vincī satius est quam malō mōre iniūriam vincere.But it is better for a good man to be beaten than to overcome a wrong by bad means. Iug. 42.4Igitur eā victōriā nōbilitās ex lubīdine suā ūsa multōs mortālīs ferrō aut fugā extīnxit plūsque in reliquom sibi timōris quam potentiae addidit.So the nobility, using that victory as it pleased, did away with many men by the sword or by exile, and for the future added to itself more fear than power. Iug. 42.4Quae rēs plērumque magnās cīvitātis pessum dedit, dum alterī alterōs vincere quōvīs modō et victōs acerbius ulcīscī volunt.This is what has usually brought great states to ruin, while each side wishes to overcome the other by any means whatever and to take harsher vengeance on the vanquished. Iug. 42.5Sed dē studiīs partium et omnis cīvitātis mōribus sī singillātim aut prō magnitūdine parem disserere, tempus quam rēs mātūrius mē dēseret.But if I were to set about discussing the strife of the parties and the character of the whole state in detail or as the greatness of the subject deserves, time would fail me sooner than material.
Iug. 42.5Quam ob rem ad inceptum redeō.Therefore I return to my undertaking.