[47]
This is a trial in which you will be
deciding about the defendant, the Roman people about you;—by the example
of what happens to this man it will be determined whether, when senators are the
judges, a very guilty and a very rich man can be condemned. Moreover, he is a
criminal of such a sort, that there is absolutely nothing whatever in him except the
greatest crimes, and excessive riches; so that if he be acquitted, no other opinion
can be formed of the matter except that which is the most discreditable possible.
Such numerous and enormous vices as his will not be considered to have been canceled
by influence, by family connection, by some things which may have been done well, or
even by the minor vices of flattery and subservience.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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