» Historical past repeats as a result of human nature by no means modifications. «

In 63 BC, Julius Caesar delivered a speech to the Roman Senate the place they needed to defend him from corrupt senators like Cicero. This alleged conspiracy was led by the patrician Catiline, whom Cicero got down to prosecute as a result of he was of the opposition. The allegation was that he meant to overthrow the Roman authorities. Cicero did his finest to disclaim Catiline each proper a Roman would have in a authorized constitutional sense. Cicero whipped up the mob, demanding their execution in opposition to the regulation. When the Roman Senate convened, Cicero stood up and requested what must be executed to them, and his co-conspirators shouted out loss of life.

The historian Sallust recorded the incident and tells us that Gaius Julius Caesar stood up and defined that Roman regulation forbids the execution of Roman residents even for heinous crimes. He argued that executing the conspirators would thus require the creation of a radical and harmful precedent in and of itself that will actually overthrow the authorized basis of the federal government. Caesar argued:

» No matter befalls these prisoners will probably be nicely deserved; however you, Fathers of the Senate, are known as upon to contemplate how your motion will have an effect on different criminals. All unhealthy precedents have originated in instances which have been good; however when the management of the federal government falls into the fingers of males who’re incompetent or unhealthy, your new precedent is transferred from those that nicely deserve and advantage such punishment to the undeserving and innocent. «