but a kind of lethargy has laid hold upon you, because of which neither glory nor disgrace moves you. You have given up everything in exchange for your present slothfulness, thinking that you have ample freedom because your backs are spared, and because you are allowed to go hither and thither by the grace of your rich masters. Yet even these privileges are denied to the country people, who are cut down in the quarrels of the great, and sent to the provinces as gifts to the magistrates. Thus they fight and conquer for the benefit of a few, but whatever happens, the commons are treated as vanquished; and this will be more so every day, so long as your oppressors make greater efforts to retain their mastery than you do to regain your freedom.
