Note 1 — Chapter XVII

From the death of Gracchus until the first consulship of Marius, Rome was governed by a venal and profligate oligarchy, formed from a coalition of the most powerful families. Shame was unknown to this body; the offices of state were openly sold to the highest bidder, redress of grievances was to be obtained only by paying a heavier sum for vengeance than the oppressor would give for impunity: advocacy of popular rights was punished as treason, and complaints were treated as criminal acts of sedition. The young patricians, under such a system, became the scourge of the state, for nothing remained safe from their violence or their lust, when the monopoly of judicial office by their friends and relatives insured them impunity for every excess, however flagrant or disgraceful.