[133]
What is the case? A wager is offered about a matter affecting
your position as a free citizen, and your fortunes. Do you sit still and say
nothing? do not you follow up the matter? do not you persevere? do not you ask to
whom Apronius said it? who heard him? whence it arose? how it was stated to have
happened If any one had whispered in your ear, and told you that Apronius was in the
habit of saying that you were his partner, you ought to have been roused, to have
summoned Apronius, and not to have been satisfied yourself with him, till you had
satisfied the opinion of others with respect to yourself. But when in the crowded
forum, in a great concourse of people, this charge was urged, in word and presence
indeed, against Apronius, but in reality against you, could you ever have received
such a blow in silence, unless you had decided that, say what you would in so
evident a case, you would only make the matter worse?
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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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