[17]
they are not
competent witnesses; but witnesses from a distance1 are very trustworthy even in regard to this. But
ancient witnesses are the most trustworthy of all, for they cannot be corrupted.
In regard to the confirmation of evidence, when a man has no witnesses, he can
say that the decision should be given in accordance with probabilities, and that
this is the meaning of the oath “according to the best of one's
judgement”; that probabilities cannot
be bribed
to deceive, and that they cannot be convicted of bearing false witness. But if a
man has witnesses and his adversary has none, he can say that probabilities
incur no responsibility, and that there would have been no need of evidence, if
an investigation according to the arguments were sufficient.
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1 Or, “witnesses wholly unconnected with the case.”
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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