[57]
Will he here again venture to make mention to me of the panegyric of the
Mamertines? for who is there of you, O judges, who is not aware how many weapons
that furnishes against him? In the first place, as in courts of justice it is more
respectable for a man who cannot produce ten witnesses to speak to his character, to
produce none at all, than not to complete the number made as it were legitimate by
usage; so there are a great many cities in Sicily over which you were governor for three years; almost all the
rest accuse you; a few insignificant ones, kept back by fear, say nothing; one
speaks in your favour. What does all this show except that you are aware how
advantageous genuine evidence to a person's character is; but that, nevertheless,
your administration of the province was such that you are forced of necessity to do
without that advantage?
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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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