[147]
What is the power by which those judges, invested with such dignity, are
separated from you? And you too, O judges, how is it that out of such a multitude of citizens,
you with your small numbers decide on the fortunes of man? By what right is it that Attius
said whatever he chose? Why have I had an opportunity of speaking at such length? What is the
meaning of all these secretaries and lictors, and all the rest of those whom I see assisting
at this investigation? I think that all these things take place according to law, and that the
whole of this trial is conducted and governed (as I said before) by the mind, as it were, of
the law. What, then, shall we say? Is this the only investigation that is so conducted? What
became of the question of classing Marcus Plaetorius and Caius Flaminius as assassins? What
became of the charge of peculation brought against Caius Orchinius? or of my oration, when
prosecuting a charge of embezzlement? or of the speech of Caius Aquillius, before whom a case
of bribery is at this moment being tried? or of all the other investigations that are
habitually taking place? Survey all the different parts of the republic; you will see that
everything takes place under the general dominion, and according to the special enactment of
the laws.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
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.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.