Why, Gaul, do you rage so often, bristling with wild tumult; why does religion weep, tearing her holy hair? Why does the people wage war on the king, and the king, in turn, on the people? Why does the earth blush with undeserving blood? Why does brother wound brother? Why has the citizen sharpened cruel swords against his very own entrails? Whence steals this new ferocity into men's souls? What so great lust is this to stain hands with kinsmen's blood? Assuredly, just as the horse once set free from Spanish stables roams over meadows, plains, and ridges, or just as a boat drifts to her doom on hidden rocks when there is no master [magister] on the high poop; so too, while you loose the reins of the laws on the people, and release the bonds of the laws on the king, you rush headlong to utter ruin.

Yet but check the people and the king with accustomed curbs, and ancient honour will be restored forthwith. If you impose laws on the former, the latter will keep them; and, Gaul, you shall lift up your head joyfully. Only do not refuse to open your ears to the warnings which pious Brutus sings with his divine mouth. First let radiant peace be consolidated, let harmony arise, to be conjoined [consocianda] with you in a sacred covenant [foedus].