[21]
But even suppose
those documents were not tampered with in their own city, still what authority or what credit
can they now have here? The law orders them to be brought to the praetor within three days,
and to be sealed up with the seals of the judges; they are scarcely brought within thirty
days. In order that the writings may not be easily tampered with, therefore the law orders
that after they have been sealed up they shall be kept in a public office; but these are
sealed up after they have been tampered with. What difference, then, does it make, whether
they are brought to the judges so long after the proper time, or whether they are not brought
at all?
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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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