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[81] namely a feigned confession, which likewise may show no small wit. Thus Afer, when pleading against a freedman of Claudius Caesar and when another freedman called out from the opposite side of the court, “You are always speaking against Caesar's freedmen,” replied, “Yes, but I make precious little headway.” A similar trick is not to deny a charge, though it is obviously false and affords good opportunity for an excellent reply. For example, when Philippus said to Catulus, “Why do you bark so?” the latter replied,1 “I see a thief.”

1 cp. Cic. de Or. II. liv. 220.

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