[180]
Wherefore, you have no ground to fear that I will invent anything against you. You
have cause even to be glad; for I shall pass over many things which I know to have
been done by you, because they are either too infamous, or scarcely credible. I will
only discuss this whole affair of this society. That you may now hear the truth, I
will ask, Was such a resolution passed? When I have ascertained that, I will ask,
Have the letters been removed? When that too, is proved , you will understand the
matter, even if I say nothing. If they who passed this resolution for his
sake—namely, the Roman knights—were now also judges in his case,
they would beyond all question condemn that man, concerning whom they knew that
letters which laid bare his robberies had been sent to themselves, and had been
removed by their own resolution. He, therefore, who must have been condemned by
those Roman knights who desire everything to turn out for his interest, and who have
been most kindly treated by him, can he, O judges, by any possible means or
contrivance be acquitted by you?
This text is part of:
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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