Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 3
Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D., Ed.

59. A great fear had come over the patricians, and the bearing of the tribunes was now just what that of the decemvirs had been, when Marcus Duillius, a tribune of the plebs, placed a salutary check upon their excessive power. [2] “Our own liberty,” he declared, “and the exaction of penalties from our enemies have gone far enough; I shall therefore this year allow no one to be arraigned or thrown into gaol. [3] For on the one hand it is not good to rake up old offences, already blotted out of memory, now that recent crimes have been expiated by the punishment of the decemvirs; and on the other hand we have a guarantee that no wrong will be attempted that could call for the intervention of tribunician authority, in view of the unceasing care both consuls take to protect your liberty.” [4] It was this moderation on the tribune's part which first relieved the patricians of their fear. It also increased their dislike of the consuls, since the latter had been so wholly devoted to the plebs that the safety and independence of the patricians had been dearer to a plebeian magistracy than to their own, and their opponents had grown sated [p. 201]with punishing them before the consuls evinced any¹ intention of opposing their licence. [5] And there were many who said that the senate had shown a want of resolution in having voted for the measures proposed by the consuls; and indeed there was no doubt that in the troubled state of public affairs they had yielded to the times.