20% 
number of Romans, who has a domeltic- 
altar? Who, at this hour, poffeffes the 
burial-place of his fathers? They live, 
they fight, they die, to maintain you and 
yours in fuperfluities that fatiate ; m lux- 
uries that ficken ; and the Roman people 
are ftyled Conquerors of the Globe, in 
which they have not -a fingle foot of 
ground, except that which they ftand on in 
the day of battle. 
<¢ I with to revive thofe regulations, 
which may, at one firoke, deftroy indi- 
gence and ambition—on the one part, the 
power of corrupting, on the other, the in- 
Clination to be corrupted. I withto crufh 
the heads of that monfrous ariftocracy, 
which, fooner or later, will conduct-us to 
monarchical defpotifm. It is an equalized 
difribution of lands which raifes a nation 
to power, and gives frength to its armies. 
Every individtial has then an intereft in 
the defence of his country. The ayarice 
of fome, and the profufion of others, have 
qasde our country the property of a few. 
Our foldiers are therefore few. , Our citi- 
zens are few. The flaves, and artificers of 
luxury to the new proprietors occupy the 
whole: a cowardly and abjeét population, 
corrupted by a luxurious city, corrupted 
by the arts they profefs; without any 
country; with little to keep, and little to 
loie.; I do not wifh to make the poor 
rich, but to ftrengthen the republic by an 
Increafe of ufeful members. I with not 
an equality, but an equability of proper- 
ty, that the laws fhould not complot 
with the wealthy againft the weak, but 
fhould tend, in an oppofte direétion, to 
counterbalance inordinate wealth, to pro- 
mote the circulation of happinefs through 
the whole community; to put a ftaff into 
the hand of indigence, which may fupport 
it under the burthen. If preperty be in 
itfelf power, why add to it the power of 
government? A republic for the rich! 
A country for the edile, the quzftor, the 
knights, the fenators, the confuls! Li- 
berty for the civil mercenary! for as fuch 
T account thefe fingering artifts, and thefe 
hireling labourers of the land. ‘The milk 
ef our commen mother 1s bitter in their 
mouths. We are become aliens in our 
own country. He who has not a portion 
of land can fcarcely be faid to have acoun- 
try. Sweet is the poffeffion of the leat 
fpot of cultivable ground. | Sweet to fay : 
There is a fixed fortune for my family. I 
planted thofe trees; I trained-up thofe 
vines. There, in that hallowed fpot is 
the burial- place of my fathers; there fhall 
J one day repofe by their fide. He it is, 
the cultivator of his own ground, who is 
. 
Fhe Diamonds of Cornelia, 
[Nov. 1; 
tyed to his country by the heart-ftrings, 
whe is always willing as able to defend it, 
and whoalone can maintain you allin pecu- 
niary opulence, by the fuperfluity. of his 
folid and fubftantialwealth. Thofe mife- 
rable artifans, thofe heart-brokei hire- 
lings, are men, and as fuch I pity them 3; 
‘their fate I deplore; but Romans I can- 
not call them, Their morals are to 
fellthemfelves to the higheft bidder. Their 
health is poifoned by confinement, or ex 
ceflive and irregular labour. Their hap~ 
pinefs is precarious and fortuitous. ‘Their 
touch contaminates, and their fuffrage is 
infamy. — 
<¢ T demand the enforcement of the Lici- 
nian- law, limiting to five hundred acres 
the proprietor of the conquered lands. EI 
demand this for \the fake of the rich as - 
well as the poor ; for the honour, fiability 
and true intereft of the republic; and 
(why fhould I conceal it?) four my own 
glory. O&avius, my colleague and triend, 
you are a wealthy man. You are a pro- 
prietor of thefe lands, and you therefore 
refift my purpofe. Will you accept of my 
perfonal fortune (would it were on this ac- 
count larger) as a eompenfation for what 
you may lofe by the execution of the law ? 
Believe me, you travel by a clandeftine 
road to power, I with to travel the high 
road with my equals. Virtue is the 
firength, as well as glory, of manhood. 
It is the conquering and uncongzerable. 
genius of the Roman Republic.” —_ 
The faétion of the rich behaved like 
the wife of Vefpillo. Calumny began to 
diftil her poifon (for fuch is the lot of thofe 
who dare be fingularly good). ‘Tis en- 
vy of Scipio;” faid one; **°*Tis his mo- 
ther’s ambition,’ faid another. 
a difturber of the public peace,” faid Na- 
fica. ‘* He is feditious (whifpered Cice- 
ro); for he has rebelled from the party of 
the fenate.”—Cicero, that fine genius ! 
that common foul! always agitated about 
himfelf, and who would fave the republic, 
that he might boaft of the aétion. ‘* Let 
us affaffinate his charaéter!’’ faid thofe of 
high diftinftion. ‘* Let us affaffinate him- 
felf !** cried their hirelings. He carried a 
dagger under his robe, but the fhining point 
was expdled to view, and feemed to fay—. 
Let me die in honourable defence, not by 
the treachery of an affaffin. ‘ 
He perfevered in the caufe of patriotifm 
with unabating ardour. He got a law 
pafled for leffening the number of years 
_ that foldiers were obliged to ferve ; ano- 
ther law for eftablifhing the laft appeal to 
the peopie ; another iaw for dividing the 
judicial power between the knights and the 
. fenate, 
, 
; 
He is. 
- 
