[215]
The same year Antonius valued corn at three
denarii, after the harvest, in a season of exceeding
cheapness, when the cultivators would rather give the corn for nothing, and he said
that he had valued it at the same price as Sacerdos; and he spoke truly, but yet' by
the same valuation the one had relieved the cultivators, the other had ruined them.
And if it were not the case that the whole value of corn must be estimated by the
season, and the market price, not by the abundance, nor by the total amount, these
modii and a half of yours, O Hortensius, would never
have been so agreeable; in distributing which to the Roman people, for every head,
small as the quantity was, you did an action which was most agreeable to all men;
for the dearness of corn caused that, which seemed a small thing in reality, to
appear at that time a great one. If you had given such a largess to the Roman people
in a time of cheapness, your kindness would have been derided and despised.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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