[170]
For I knew that the honest men among you—and it is to those that I shall address myself—do not remain fixed in opinions which they have formed unjustly, but are in quest of the truth and are ready to be convinced by those who plead a just cause; and I believed that I should have abundant grounds to show that philosophy has been unjustly slandered, and that it deserves much more to be held in favor than in contempt; and I am still of the same opinion.