[32]
Quinctius departs much embarrassed; and no wonder, when so miserable a choice was
offered him, and one so unjust, that he must either himself convict himself of a capital
offence if he gave security, 1 or open the cause himself in
a capital trial if he gave a bond. As in the one case there was no reason why he should
pass an unfavourable sentence on himself (for sentence passed by oneself is the hardest
sentence of all), but in the other case there was hope of coming before such a man as a
judge, as would show him the more favour the more without interest he was, he preferred
to give a bond. He did so. He had you, O Caius Aquillius, for the judge; he pleaded
according to his bond; in what I have now mid consists the sum and the whole of the
present trial.
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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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