§11.1.74difficilior ei ratio in iudicio Cluentiano fuit, cum Scamandrum necesse haberet dicere nocentem, cuius egerat causam.
Cicero had a more difficult task in his speech for Cluentius, since he found it necessary to declare Scamander guilty, whose cause he had previously pleaded.
verum id elegantissime cum eorum, a quibus ad se perductus esset, precibus, tum etiam adolescentia sua excusat, detracturus alioqui plurimum auctoritatis sibi, in causa praesertim suspecta, si eum se esse, qui temere nocentes reos susciperet, fateretur.
But he excuses this most elegantly, both by the prayers of those by whom Scamander had been brought to him, and by his own youth; for he would otherwise have detracted very much from his own authority, especially in a suspect case, if he had confessed that he was the kind of person who rashly undertook the defense of guilty clients.
§11.1.75apud iudicem vero, qui aut erit inimicus aut propter aliquod commodum a causa, quam nos susceperimus, aversus, ut persuadendi ardua ratio, ita dicendi expeditissima.
But before a judge who will either be hostile or, because of some interest, averse to the cause which we have undertaken, as the method of persuasion is difficult, so that of speaking is most easy.
fiducia enim iustitiae eius et nostrae causae nihil nos timere simulabimus.
For because of our confidence in his justice and in our cause, we shall pretend to fear nothing.
ipse erit gloria inflandus, ut tanto clarior eius futura sit fides ac religio in pronuntiando, quanto minus vel offensae vel utilitati suae indulserit.
He himself must be puffed up with glory, so that his good faith and religious duty in pronouncing judgment may be the more illustrious, the less he has indulged either his own resentment or his own utility.
§11.1.76hoc et apud eos, a quibus appellatum erit, si forte ad eosdem remittemur; adiicienda ratio vel necessitatis alicuius, si id causa concedit, vel erroris vel suspicionis.
This is also the case before those to whom an appeal has been made, if by chance we are sent back to the same persons; there must be added the reason either of some necessity, if the cause allows it, or of error, or of suspicion.
tutissimum ergo paenitentiae confessio et satisfactio culpae, perducendusque omni modo iudex ad irae pudorem.
Therefore, the safest course is the confession of regret and the satisfaction for the fault, and the judge must be led by all means to a shame of his anger.
§11.1.77accidit etiam nonnunquam ut eadem de causa, de qua pronuntiarit, cognoscat iterum.
It also happens sometimes that a judge hears a second time a case concerning which he has already pronounced judgment.
tum illud quidem commune: apud alium nos iudicem disputaturos de illius sententia non fuisse, neque enim emendari ab alio quam ipso fas esse; ceterum ex causa, ut quaeque permittet, aut ignorata quaedam aut defuisse testes aut (quod timidissime et, si nihil aliud plane fuerit, dicendum est) patronos non suffecisse succurret.
Then indeed this common topic is available: that we would not have disputed his sentence before another judge, for it is not right that he should be corrected by any other than himself; but as far as each case permits, it will come to our aid that certain facts were unknown, or that witnesses were lacking, or (which must be said most timidly, and only if there is absolutely nothing else) that the advocates were insufficient.
§11.1.78etiam, si apud alios iudices agetur, ut in secunda adsertione aut in centumviralibus iudiciis duplicibus, parte victa decentius erit, quotiens contigerit, servare iudicum pudorem; de qua re latius probationum loco dictum est.
Also, if the case is pleaded before other judges, as in a second assertion of freedom or in double centumviral trials, it will be more decent for the defeated party, as often as it happens, to preserve the respect due to the former judges; on which subject I have spoken more fully in the section on proofs.
potest evenire, ut in aliis reprehendenda sint, quae ipsi fecerimus, ut obiicit Tubero Ligario, quod in Africa fuerit.
It may happen that we must censure in others what we ourselves have done, as Tubero objects to Ligarius that he was in Africa.
§11.1.79et ambitus quidam damnati recuperandae dignitatis gratia reos eiusdem criminis detulerunt, ut in scholis luxuriantem patrem luxuriosus ipse iuvenis accusat.
And some who have been condemned for bribery have, for the sake of recovering their dignity, prosecuted others guilty of the same crime, just as in the schools a young man who is himself luxurious accuses his luxurious father.
id quomodo decenter fieri possit, equidem non invenio, nisi aliquid reperitur, quod intersit, persona, actas, tempus, causa, locus, animus.
How this can be done decently, I for my part do not find, unless some difference is found in person, age, time, cause, place, or intention.
§11.1.80Tubero, iuvenem se patri haesisse, illum a senatu missum non ad bellum, sed ad frumentum coemendum ait, ut primum licuerit, a partibus recessisse; Ligarium et perseverasse et non pro Cn. Pompeio, inter quem et Caesarem dignitatis fuerit contentio, cum salvam uterque rem publicam vellet, sed pro iuba atque Afris inimicissimis populo Romano stetisse.
Tubero says that he, as a young man, had adhered to his father, and that his father had been sent by the senate not for war, but to buy up corn, and had withdrawn from that party as soon as it was permitted; but that Ligarius had both persevered and stood, not for Cnaeus Pompey, between whom and Caesar there was a contest for dignity when both wished the state to be safe, but for Juba and the Africans, who were most hostile to the Roman people.
§11.1.81ceterum vel facillimum est, ibi alienam culpam incusare, ubi fateris tuam. verum id iam indicis est, non actoris.
But indeed it is most easy to accuse another's fault where you confess your own; yet that is now the part of an informer, not of an advocate.
quodsi nulla contingit excusatio, sola colorem habet paenitentia.
But if no excuse happens to be available, repentance alone has any color of justification.
potest enim videri satis emendatus, qui in odium eorum, in quibus erraverat, ipse conversus est.
For he can seem sufficiently reformed who has himself turned to the hatred of those things in which he had erred.
§11.1.82sunt enim casus quidam, qui hoc natura ipsa rei non indecens faciant: ut cum pater ex meretrice natum, quod duxerit meretricem in matrimonium, abdicat; scholastica materia sed non quae in foro non possit accidere.
For there are certain cases which, by the very nature of the matter, make this not unbecoming; as when a father, born of a harlot, disinherits his son because he has married a harlot; a school theme, but not one which could not happen in the forum.
hic igitur multa non deformiter dicet: vel quod omnium sit votum parentum, ut honestiores quam sint ipsi liberos habeant, (nam et si filia nata, meretrix eam mater pudicam esse voluisset) vel quod humilior ipse fuerit, (licet enim huic ducere) vel quod non habuerit patrem qui moneret;
Here, therefore, the father will say many things without deformity: either that it is the wish of all parents to have children more respectable than themselves, (for even if a daughter had been born, a harlot mother would have wished her to be chaste,) or that he himself was of lower condition, (for it was lawful for him to marry such a woman,) or that he had no father to advise him;