Now, in the first place, shall decemvirs give a decision about the inheritance of the Roman
 people, when you require centumvirs to judge in the case of private inheritances? In the next
 place, who is to plead the cause of the Roman people? Where is the cause to be tried? Who are
 those decemvirs whom we think likely to adjudge the kingdom of Alexandria to Ptolemy for nothing? But, if Alexandria was the object, why did not they at this time
 proceed by the same course which they adopted in the consulship of Lucius Cotta and Lucius
 Torquatus? Why did they not proceed openly, as they did before? Why did they not act as they
 did when they before sought that country, in a straightforward and open manner? Did they, who,
 when they had a fair wind, could not hold their course straight on to the kingdom they coveted,
 think that they could reach Alexandria amid
 foul mists and darkness? This sentence and the succeeding one are
 considered very corrupt, and there is a great variety of readings proposed; for qui Etesiis some read quietis iis ;
 for directo , decreto .
 Unaque is quite unintelligible. Just revolve these things in your minds. . . . . Foreign nations can scarcely
 endure our lieutenants, though they are men of but slight authority, when they go on free
 lieutenancies, on account of some private business. For the name of power is a hard one to
 bear, and is dreaded even in ever so inconsiderable a person; because, when they have once left
 Rome they conduct their proceedings not in their own
 name, but in yours. What do you suppose will happen, when those decemvirs wander all over the
 world with their supreme power, and their faces , and their
 chosen band of surveyors? What do you suppose will be the feelings, what the alarm, what the
 actual danger of those unhappy nations?