[178]
Therefore, when this cause was first commenced, that law had not
been proposed; when Verres, alarmed at your impartiality, had given many indications
that he was not likely to make any reply at all, still no mention was made of that
law; when he seemed to pick up a little courage and to fortify himself with some
little hope, immediately this law was proposed. And as your dignity is exceedingly
inconsistent with this law, so his false hopes and preeminent impudence are strongly
in favour of it. In this case, if anything blameworthy be done by any of you, either
the Roman people itself will judge that man whom it has already pronounced unworthy
of any trial at all; or else those men will judge, who, because of the unpopularity
of the existing tribunals, will be appointed as new judges by a new law made
respecting the old judges.
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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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