[23]
For first of all consider for a
moment how many and how grievous were the evils which that man inflicted on
Apollonius; and then calculate them and estimate them by money. You will find that
they were all so continued in the case of this one wealthy man, as by their example
to cause a fear of similar suffering and danger to all others. In the first place,
there was a sudden accusation of a capital and detestable crime; judge what you
think this worth, and how many have bought themselves off from such charges. In the
next place, there is an accusation without an accuser, a sentence without any bench
of judges, a condemnation without any defence having been made. Estimate the money
to be got by all these transactions, and then suppose that Apollonius alone was an
actual victim to these atrocities, but that all the rest, as many as they were,
delivered themselves from these sufferings by money. Lastly, there were darkness,
chains, imprisonment, punishment within the prison, seclusion from the sight of his
parents and of his children, a denial of the free air and common light of heaven;
but these things, which a man might freely give his life to escape, I am unable to
estimate by the standard of money.
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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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