[56]
Alas for the age! alas for the degeneracy of our manners!
I will not mention anything of any great antiquity; there are many of you, O judges,
who knew Lucius Piso, the father of this Lucius Piso, who was praetor. When he was
praetor in Spain, in which province he was
slain, somehow or other, while he was practicing his exercises in arms, the golden
ring which he had was broken and crushed. As he wanted to get himself another ring,
he ordered a goldsmith to be summoned into the forum before his throne of office, at
Corduba, and openly weighed him out the
gold. He ordered the man to set up his bench in the forum, and to make him a ring in
the presence of every one. Perhaps in truth some may say that he was too exact, and
to this extent any one who chooses may blame him, but no further. Still such conduct
was allowable for him, for he was the son of Lucius Piso, of that man who first made
the law about extortion and embezzlement.
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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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