[57]
He was afraid, I suppose, lest they should give
information against him; lest they should be unable to bear pain; lest they
should be compelled by tortures to confess that Publius Clodius was slain in
the Appian road by the slaves of Milo.
What need is there of any torturer? What do you want to know? whether he was
slain? He was slain. Whether he was slain lawfully or unlawfully? That is
beyond the province of the torturer. For the rack can only inquire into the
fact; it is the bench of judges that must decide on the law.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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