Laudator Temporis Acti

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 10.41.1-2 (tr. Earnest Cary):

[1] After that the tribunes and the consuls appeared and the herald bade anyone who so desired to speak against the law. But though many good men came forward, the words of none of them could be heard by reason of the tumult and disorderly behaviour of the assembly. For some cheered and encouraged the speakers, while others were for throwing them out or for shouting them down; but neither the applause of the supporters nor the clamour of the opponents prevailed.

[2] When the consuls were incensed at this and protested that the populace had begun the violence by refusing to tolerate a word, the tribunes attempted to justify them by saying that, inasmuch as the plebeians kept hearing the same arguments for now the fifth year, they were doing nothing remarkable if they did not care to put up with stale and trite objections.

[1] μετὰ ταῦτα οἵ τε δήμαρχοι καὶ οἱ ὕπατοι παρῆσαν καὶ λέγειν ὁ κῆρυξ ἐκέλευσε τὸν βουλόμενον τοῦ νόμου κατηγορεῖν. πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν παριόντων οὐθενὸς ἐξάκουστος ἦν ὁ λόγος ὑπὸ τοῦ θορύβου τε καὶ τῆς ἀκοσμίας τῶν ἐκκλησιαζόντων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐπεκέλευόν τε καὶ ἐπεθάρρυνον τοὺς λέγοντας, οἱ δ᾽ ἐξέβαλλόν τε καὶ κατεβόων. ἐκράτει δὲ οὔτε ὁ τῶν συλλαμβανόντων ἔπαινος οὔτε ὁ τῶν ἀντιπραττόντων θόρυβος.

[2] ἀγανακτούντων δὲ τῶν ὑπάτων καὶ μαρτυρομένων ὅτι τῆς βίας ὁ δῆμος ἄρχει λόγον οὐκ ἀξιῶν ὑπομένειν, ἀπελογοῦντο οἱ δήμαρχοι πρὸς ταῦτα ὅτι ἤδη πέμπτον ἔτος τῶν αὐτῶν ἀκούοντες λόγων οὐθὲν ποιοῦσι θαυμαστόν εἰ μὴ ἀξιοῦσιν ὑπομένειν ἑώλους καὶ κατημαξευμένας ἀντιλογίας.

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