[11]
And that you may the more easily do this, I will endeavour to make you understand how
this matter has been managed and carried out. Caius Quinctius was the brother of this
Publius Quinctius; in other respects a sufficiently prudent and attentive head of a
family, but in one matter a little less wise, inasmuch as he formed a partnership with
Sextus Naevius, a respectable man, but one who had not been brought up so as to be
acquainted with the rights of partnership, or with the duties of a head of an
established family. 1
Not that he was wanting in abilities; for Sextus Naevius as a buffoon was never
considered without wit, nor as a crier was he reckoned unmannerly. What followed? As
nature had given him nothing better than a voice, and his father had left him nothing
besides his freedom, he made gain of his voice, and used his freedom for the object of
being loquacious with impunity.
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1 The office of praeco was so little reputable that before Cicero's death a law was passed to prevent all persons who had been praecones from becoming decuriones in the municipia. Under the emperors, however it became very profitable.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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