[104]
Wherefore, if, without entering on the merits of the case for a moment, I may speak of the
man; you have a man before you of eminent modesty, of tried virtue, of well-proved loyalty,
known both in good and bad fortune to the most honourable men of all Etruria by many proofs of
virtue and humanity. If we must find fault with the opposite side, you have a man before you,
to say no more, who admits that he collected armed men together. If, without reference to the
individuals, you inquire into the case; as this is a trial about violence,—as he who
is accused admits that he committed violence with the aid of armed men, as he endeavours to
defend himself by the letter of the law, not by the justice of his cause, as you see that even
the letter of the law is against him, and that the authority of the wisest men is on our side;
that the question before the court is not whether Caecina was in possession or not, and yet
that it can be proved that he was in possession; that still less is it the question whether
the farm belonged to Aulus Caecina or net, and yet that I myself have proved that it did
belong to him;—as all this is the case, decide what the interests of the republic
with reference to armed men, what his own confession of violence, what our decision with
respect to justice, and what the terms of the interdict respecting right, admonish you to
decide.
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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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