[45]
These arguments ought to be quite sufficient for men who are of a just
disposition; and mere than sufficient for you, who we feel sure are men of
the greatest justice.
But, in order fully to satisfy everybody's suspicions, or malevolence, or
even cruelty, we will take this statement too. “Postumus is hiding
his money; the king's riches are concealed.” Is there any one of
all this people who would like to have all the property of Caius Rabirius
Postumus knocked down to him for one single sesterce?1
But miserable man that I am! with what great pain do I say
this,—Come, Postumus, are you the son of Caius Curius, the son, as
far as his judgment and inclination go, of Caius Rabirius, not in reality
and by nature the son of his sister? Are you the man who is so liberal to
all his relations; whose kindness has enriched many men; who has never
wasted anything; who has never spent any money on any profligacy? and all
your property, O Postumus, knocked down by me for one single sesterce? Oh
how miserable and bitter is my office as an auctioneer!
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1 Those who bought a property took it with all its liabilities.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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