6.13. 13. Of the Spirit of the Roman Senate.
Under the consulate of Acilius Glabrio and Piso, the Asilian law
[38]
was made to prevent the intriguing for places. Dio says
[39]
that the senate engaged the consuls to propose it, by reason that C. Cornelius,
the tribune, had resolved to cause more severe punishments to be
established against this crime; to which the people seemed greatly
inclined. The senate rightly judged that immoderate punishments would
strike, indeed, a terror into people's minds, but must have also this
effect, that there would be nobody afterwards to accuse or condemn;
whereas, by proposing moderate penalties, there would be always judges
and accusers.
Footnotes
[38]
The guilty were condemned to a fine; they could not be admitted
into the rank of senators, nor nominated to any public office. — Dio, Book
xxxvi., 21.
