Comparison of Agis and Cleomenes and the Gracchi

For he went forth from his house unarmed and withdrew when the battle began, and in a word was seen to be more intent upon not doing any harm to others than upon not suffering harm himself. Therefore we must hold that the flight of the brothers was not a mark of cowardice, but of caution. For they were obliged either to yield to their assailants, or, in case they held their ground, to defend themselves actively against harm.

Again, the greatest of the accusations against Tiberius is that he deposed his colleague from the tribuneship and canvassed for a second tribuneship himself; and as for Caius, the murder of Antyllius was unjustly and falsely attributed to him, for it happened contrary to his wishes and much to his displeasure. But Cleomenes, not to mention again his slaughter of the ephors, set free all the slaves,