[8]
Although
there are many things which seem to me necessary to be mentioned respecting the common dangers
to which all men are exposed by unpopularity, before I speak about the cause itself; still,
that I may not keep your expectations too long in suspense by my speech, I will come to the
charge itself, only begging you, O judges, as I am aware I must frequently do in the course of
this trial, to listen to me, as if this cause were now being this day pleaded for the first
time,—as, in fact, it is; and not as if it had already been often discussed and
proved. For on this day opportunity is given us for the first time of effacing that old
accusation; up to this time mistake and odium have had the principal influence in the whole
cause. Wherefore, while I reply with brevity and clearness to the accusation of many years
standing, I entreat you, O judges, to listen to me, as I know that you are predetermined to
do, with kindness and attention.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.