[77]
and did you by your own
sentence approve of the man who you thought was stripped of his character and of all his
fortunes? I had fears indeed, O Caius Aquillius, that I could not stand my ground in
this cause with a mind sufficiently fortified and resolute. I thought thus, that, as
Hortensius was going to speak against me, and as Philip was going to listen to me
carefully, I should through fear stumble in many particulars. I said to Quintus Roscius
here, whose sister is the wife of Publius Quinctius, when he asked of me, and, with the
greatest earnestness, entreated me to defend his relation, that it was very difficult
for me, not only to sum up a cause against such orators, but even to attempt to speak at
all. When he pressed it more eagerly, I said to the man very familiarly, as our
friendship justified, that a man appeared to me to have a very brazen face, who, while
he was present, could attempt to use action in speaking, but those who contended with
him himself, even though before that they seemed to have any skill or elegance, lost it,
and that I was afraid lest something of the same sort would happen to me when I was
going to speak against so great an artist.
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