[4]
And when he says this, he does not perceive that the man who laid it open took care that all
men should see that which had previously been hidden. Wherefore that conspiracy, if it was
laid open by me, is now as evident in all its particulars to Hortensius as it is to me. And
when you see that he, a man of such rank, and authority, and virtue, and wisdom,
has not hesitated to defend this innocent Publius Sulla, I ask why the access to the cause
which was open to Hortensius, ought to be closed against me? I ask this also,—if you
think that I, who defend him, am to he blamed, what do you think of those excellent men and
most illustrious citizens, by whose zeal and dignified presence you perceive that this trial
is attended, by whom the cause of my client is honoured, by whom his innocence is upheld? For
that is not the only method of defending a man's cause which consists in speaking for him. All
who countenance him with their presence, who show anxiety in his behalf, who desire his
safety, all, as far as their opportunities allow or their authority extends, are defending
him.
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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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