[1607] Dion. Hal. vii. 17. 5: Δημάρχου γνώμην ἀγορεύοντος ἐν δήμῳ μηδεὶς λεγέτω μηδὲν ἐναντίον μηδὲ μεσολαβείτω τὸν λόγον. Ἐὰν δέ τις παρὰ ταῦτα ποιήσῃ, διδότω τοῖς δημάρχοις ἐγγυητὰς αἰτηθεὶς εἰς ἔκτισιν ἧς ἂν ἐπιθῶσιν αὐτῶ ζημίας. Ὁ δὲ μὴ διδοὺς ἐγγυητὴν θανάτῳ ζημιούσθω, καὶ τὰ χρήματ’ αὐτοῦ ἱερὰ ἔστω. Τῶν δ’ ἀμφισβητούντων πρὸς ταύτας τὰς ζημίας αἱ κρίσεις ἔστωσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ δήμου; cf. x. 32. 1; 42. 4. Although we may feel uncertain as to the author and the date of this plebiscite, we need not doubt its existence, especially as the principle it contains is derived from leges sacratae by Cicero (Sest. 37. 79; cf. Pliny, Ep. i. 23), and was often put into practice; Livy iii. 11. 8; xxv. 3 f.; Dion. Hal. x. 41 f.; Cic. Inv. ii. 17. 52; Val. Max. ix. 5. 2; (Aurel. Vict.) Vir. Ill. 65; cf. Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. i. 260 n. 2; ii. 289, n. 1; Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 602 f.; ii. 567. For the state, however, it had no more validity than had the original lex sacrata, of which the so-called Icilian plebiscite was an expansion.
[1608] Gell. xiii. 12. 9: “Tribuni, qui haberent summam coercendi potestatem.”
[1609] Cf. Mommsen, Röm. Forsch. i. 179; Ihne, in Rhein. Mus. xxi (1866). 174.
[1610] Mommsen, Röm. Staatsr. ii. 299, n. 1, expresses the opinion that the original form of the story represented Coriolanus as consul proposing a law for the abolition of the tribunate.
[1611] Dion. Hal. vii. 20-67, especially 59. 9 f.; 65; Livy ii. 34 ff.; Plut. Cor. 16-20; Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 605; ii. 565.
[1612] P. 56, n. 4, 270 f.
[1613] Livy iii. 11. 8 f.; Dion. Hal. x. 5 ff.
[1614] Livy iii. 13. 8; Dion. Hal. x. 8. 3.
[1615] Livy’s idea that this assembly met in the Forum (iii. 13. 8) is sufficient evidence of his point of view. Cicero’s opinion (Dom. 32. 86; cf. Sest. 30. 65) may be biassed by his personal feelings; p. 268, n. 6.
[1616] Dion. Hal. x. 41 f. Various attempts of tribunes in this period to punish retired magistrates for abuse of office are also alleged by the ancient writers; cf. p. 264.