[22]
For I have only to question the witness as to each
circumstance once, and that, too, briefly, and often indeed I have not to question him at all;
lest I should seem to be giving an angry man an opportunity of making a speech, or to be
attributing an undue weight to a covetous man. You can revolve the same matter over and over
again in your minds, you can give a long consideration to the evidence of one witness; and, if
we have shown an unwillingness to examine any witness, you are bound to consider what has been
our reason for keeping silence. Wherefore; if you think that to believe the witnesses
implicitly is enjoined to a judge, either by the law or by his duty, there is no reason at all
why one man should be thought a better or a wiser judge than another. For judgment formed by
the mere ears is single and simple enough; it is a power given promiscuously to all in common,
whether they are fools or wise men.
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