Note 136 — Chapter XXVIII · THE STATE OF ROME AT THE END OF THE REPUBLIC
Reading edition
It is a marked feature of the representation of the struggle between patricians and plebeians as given by Livy and Dionysius, that the writers constantly waver in their own conception of the plebeians and their leaders,—at times even flatly contradicting themselves,—exhibiting them now as men demanding only right and justice, now as passionate and unscrupulous agitators and partisans; while in the same way the defenders of patrician rights appear now as the supporters of law and order, now as the selfish and arrogant champions of usurped privileges.