[29]
You see that the praetors in these last years have interposed between me and Marcus Claudius
with the insertion of this clause,—“From which, O Marcus Tullius, Marcus
Claudius, or his household, or his agent, was driven by violence.” find what follows
is according to the formula in the terms in which the praetor's interdict ran, and in which
the securities were drawn up. If I were to defend myself before a judge in this
way,—to confess that I had driven men out by violence— to deny that there
was malice in it,—who would listen to me? No one, I suppose; because, if I drove out
Marcus Claudius by violence, I drove him out by malice; for malice is a necessary ingredient
in violence; and it is sufficient for Claudius to prove either point,—either that he
was driven out with violence by me myself, or that I contrived a plan to have him driven out
with violence.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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