[174]
Wherefore, from this place I warn you also, O Hortensius, if
there is any room for giving a warning, to take care again and again, and to
consider what you are doing, and whither you are proceeding; what man it is whom you
are defending, and by what means you are doing so. Nor in this manner do I seek at
all to limit you, so as to prevent your contending against me with all your genius,
and all your ability in speaking. As to other things, if you think that you can
secretly manage, out of court, some of the things which belong to this judicial
trial; if you think that you can effect anything by artifice, by cunning, by
influence, by your own popularity, by that man's wealth; then I am strongly of
opinion you had better abandon that idea. And I warn you rather to put down, I warn
you not to suffer to proceed any further the attempts which have already been
commenced by that man, but which have been thoroughly detected by, and are
thoroughly known to me. It will be at a great risk to yourself that any error is
committed in this trial; at a greater risk than you think.
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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