On a Corrupt Oligarchy

Caius Memmius (140s BC – 100 BC), commonly nicknamed Mordax, "Biting" was a Roman politician and orator.

Elected tribune of the plebs in 111 BC, he was instrumental in relaunching the Jugurthine War after Jugurtha’s surrender. During his tribunate, he accused the consul Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, the senator Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and other aristocrats of accepting bribes from King Jugurtha.

In 100 BC, Memmius was a candidate for the consulship, but was slain in a riot on the election day, stirred up by his rival the praetor Caius Servilius Glaucia. It has been speculated that, primarily due to Cicero describing him as consul designatus, Memmius was actually elected Consul in the disrupted elections of 99 BC, and was killed by Glaucia after his successful candidature was announced in the Roman Forum.

Sallust refers to Memmius as «a man fiercely hostile to the power of the nobles» and states that he gave speeches whipping up the plebs, urging them not to accept the behaviour of the nobles.

We propose today to our readers, in the translation by John Selby Watson, the famous Memmius’ oration On a Corrupt Oligarchy, delivered around 110 BC to an assembly of the people in Rome.