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Excerpt from Civil Wars: Book I Unjustly and ed to the Volsci and waged war upon his country. But this is the only instance one could find in which the early party struggles led to war, and even in this isolated case it was brought about by a deserter. And swords were never brought into the assemblies nor was any blood shed in civil strife, till the time of Tib. Gracchus; but when he was tribune and was bringing in laws, not only was he himself killed in a riot, but a number also of his followers, who were crowded together at the Capitol, * were destroyed in the precincts of the temple. And after this outrage the civil disturbances] were continuous, the two parties standing always in open opposition to each other, and often wearing dag gers, and the murder in the temples or the assemblies or the streets, of prominent men, whether tribunes or praetors or consuls, or candidates for these offices, or otherwise distinguished, became a matter of regular occurrence, while violent tumults kept following one another in quick succession, and law and justice were regarded with an equally shameful contempt. And the] evil assumed vast proportions, till open revolts against the state took place, and great and powerful armies were led against their country by men who had been exiled or condemned, or who were quarrelling with one another about some ofi'ice or command. Now when things had arrived at this point there were in many cases actual monarchies, and the leaders of the opposing parties assumed absolute power, some refusing any more to disband the armies which had been entrusted to them by the people, others even levying mercenaries on their own account, without the consent of the state, to serve against one another. As often too as either side seized on the city, the opposite party became engaged in a struggle which was nominally against their opponents, but in reality against their native land; for they used. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds o