I imagine that you, O judges, are marvelling why it is that when so many most eminent
orators and most noble men are sitting still, I above all others should get up, who
neither for age, nor for ability, nor for influence, am to be compared to those who are
sitting still. For all these men whom you see present at this trial think that a man
ought to be defended against all injury contrived against him by unrivalled wickedness;
but through the sad state of the times they do not dare to defend him themselves. So it
comes to pass that they are present here because they are attending to their business,
but they are silent because they are afraid of danger.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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