3.56
The power of the tribunes
and the liberties of the plebs were now on a secure
basis. The next step was taken by the tribunes, who
thought the time had come when they might safely
proceed against individuals. They selected Verginius
to take up the first prosecution, which was that of
Appius. When the day had been fixed, and Appius had
come down to the Forum with a bodyguard of young
patricians, the sight of him and his satellites
reminded all present of the power he had used so
vilely. Verginius began: "Oratory was invented for
doubtful cases. I will not, therefore, waste time by
a long indictment before you of the man from whose
cruelty you have vindicated yourselves by force of
arms, nor will I allow him to add to his other
crimes an impudent defence. So I will pass over,
Appius Claudius, all the wicked and impious things
that you had the audacity to do, one after another,
for the last two years. One charge only will I bring
against you, that contrary to law you have adjudged
a free person to be a slave, and unless you name an
umpire before whom you can prove your innocence, I
shall order you to be taken to prison." Appius had
nothing to hope for in the protection of the
tribunes or the verdict of the people. Nevertheless
he called upon the tribunes, and when none
intervened to stay proceedings and he was seized by
the apparitor, he said, "I appeal." This single
word, the protection of liberty, uttered by those
lips which had so lately judicially deprived a
person of her freedom, produced a general silence.
Then the people remarked to one another that there
were gods after all who did not neglect the affairs
of men; arrogance and cruelty were visited by
punishments which, though lingering, were not light;
that man was appealing who had taken away the power
of appeal; that man was imploring the protection of
the people who had trampled underfoot all their
rights; he was losing his own liberty and being
carried off to prison who had sentenced a free
person to slavery. Amidst the murmur of the Assembly
the voice of Appius himself was heard imploring "the
protection of the Roman people."
He began by enumerating the services of his
ancestors to the State, both at home and in the
field; his own unfortunate devotion to the plebs,
which had led him to resign his consulship in order
to enact equal laws for all, giving thereby the
greatest offence to the patricians; his laws which
were still in force, though their author was being
carried to prison. As to his own personal conduct
and his good and evil deeds, however, he would bring
them to the test when he had the opportunity of
pleading his cause. For the present he claimed the
common right of a Roman citizen to be allowed to
plead on the appointed day and submit himself to the
judgment of the Roman people. He was not so
apprehensive of the general feeling against him as
to abandon all hope in the impartiality and sympathy
of his fellow-citizens. If he was to be taken to
prison before his case was heard, he would once more
appeal to the tribunes, and warn them not to copy
the example of those whom they hated. If they
admitted that they were bound by the same agreement
to abolish the right of appeal which they accused
the decemvirs of having formed, then he would appeal
to the people and invoke the laws which both consuls
and tribunes had enacted that very year to protect
that right. For if before the case is heard and
judgment given there is no power of appeal, who
would appeal ? What plebeian, even the humblest,
would find protection in the laws, if Appius
Claudius could not? His case would show whether it
was tyranny or freedom that was conferred by the new
laws, and whether the right of challenge and appeal
against the injustice of magistrates was only
displayed in empty words or was actually granted.