§4.2.87neque ideo tamen non id saepius facere oportebit, ut rerum ordinem sequamur.
Nor, however, will it follow from this that we should not do that more frequently, namely, follow the order of events.
quaedam vero etiam turpiter convertuntur, ut si peperisse narres, deinde concepisse; apertum testamentum, deinde signatum; in quibus si id, quod posterius est, dixeris, de priore tacere optimum; palam est enim praecessisse.
But some things are even shamefully reversed, as if you should narrate that a woman has given birth, and then that she conceived; or that a will was opened, and then that it was sealed; in which cases, if you have spoken of that which is later, it is best to be silent about the prior; for it is obvious that it preceded.
§4.2.88sunt quaedam et falsae expositiones, quarum in foro duplex genus est: alterum, quod instrumentis adiuvatur, ut P. Clodius fiducia testium, qua nocte incestum Romae commiserat, Interamnae se fuisse dicebat; alterum, quod est tuendum dicentis ingenio.
There are also certain false expositions, of which there are two kinds in the forum: one which is supported by evidence, as Publius Clodius, relying on witnesses, used to say that he had been at Interamna on the night when he had committed incest at Rome; the other, which must be maintained by the ingenuity of the speaker.
id interim ad solam verecundiam pertinet, unde etiam mihi videtur dici color, interim ad quaestionem.
This sometimes pertains only to saving face (from which indeed the word "color" seems to me to be derived), and sometimes to the question itself.
§4.2.89sed utrumcunque erit, prima sit curarum, ut id quod fingemus fieri possit; deinde, ut et personae et loco et tempori congruat et credibilem rationem et ordinem habeat; si continget, etiam verae alicui rei cohaereat aut argumento, quod sit in causa, confirmetur.
But whichever of the two it is, let the first of our cares be that what we invent be possible; next, that it be consistent with the person, place, and time, and have a credible explanation and order; and, if possible, that it also cohere with some true thing or be confirmed by an argument that is in the case.
nam quae tota extra rem petita sunt, mentiendi licentiam produnt.
For things that are sought entirely outside the case betray a license for lying.
§4.2.90curandum praecipue, (quod fingentibus frequenter excidit) ne qua inter se pugnent; quaedam enim partibus blandiuntur, sed in summam non consentiunt; praeterea, ne iis, quae vera esse constabit, adversa sint; in schola etiam, ne color extra themata quaeratur.
Care must especially be taken (which frequently escapes those who invent) lest any points should clash with each other; for some things are pleasing in their parts, but do not agree in the whole; furthermore, lest they be contrary to those things which are established as true; and even in the school, lest a color be sought outside the themes.
§4.2.91utrobique autem orator meminisse debebit actione tota, quid finxerit, quoniam solent excidere quae falsa sunt, §4.2.92verumque est illud, quod vulgo dicitur, mendacem memorem esse oportere.
In both cases, however, the orator must remember throughout the whole pleading what he has invented, since things which are false are accustomed to escape the memory, and that saying which is commonly repeated is true, that a liar ought to have a good memory.
sciamus autem, si de nostro facto quaeratur, unum nobis aliquid esse dicendum; si de alieno, mittere in plura suspiciones licere.
But let us know that, if the question is about our own deed, some single story must be told by us; if about another's, it is permitted to cast suspicions in many directions.
est tamen quibusdam scholasticis controversiis, in quibus ponitur aliquem non respondere quod interrogator, libertas omnia enumerandi, quae responderi potuissent.
There is, however, in certain school controversies, in which it is posited that someone does not answer what the questioner asks, a freedom to enumerate all the things that could have been answered.
§4.2.93fingenda vero meminerimus ea, quae non cadant in testem.
But let us remember that those things must be invented which do not fall under the power of a witness.
sunt autem haec, quae a nostro dicuntur animo, cuius ipsi tantum conscii sumus; item quod a defunctis, nec hoc enim est qui neget; itemque ab eo cui idem expediet, is enim non negabit; ab adversario quoque, quia non est habiturus in negando fidem.
Now these are: things which are said to come from our own mind, of which we alone are conscious; likewise, what comes from the dead, for there is no one to deny this; and likewise from one to whom the same thing will be expedient, for he will not deny it; and also from the opponent, because he will not command belief in denying it.
§4.2.94somniorum et superstitionum colores ipsa iam facilitate auctoritatem perdiderunt.
Colors drawn from dreams and superstitions have already lost authority by their very ease.
non est autem satis in narratione uti coloribus, nisi per totam actionem consentiant, cum praesertim quorundam probatio sola sit in adseveratione et perseverantia; §4.2.95ut ille parasitus, qui ter abdicatum a divite iuvenem et absolutum tanquam suum filium asserit, habebit quidem colorem, quo dicat et paupertatem sibi causam exponendi fuisse et ideo a se parasiti personam esse susceptam, quia in illa domo filium haberet; et ideo illum ter innocentem abdicatum, quia filius abdicantis non esset.
But it is not sufficient to use colors in the statement of facts, unless they are consistent throughout the whole pleading, especially since the proof of some speakers lies solely in assertion and perseverance; as that parasite who claims as his own son a young man three times disinherited by a rich man and acquitted, will indeed have a color to say both that poverty was his reason for exposing the child, and that the character of a parasite was assumed by him for this reason, because he had a son in that house, and that the youth was three times disinherited, though innocent, because he was not the son of the disinheriting father.
§4.2.96nisi tamen in omnibus verbis et amorem patrium atque hunc quidem ardentissimum ostenderit et odium divitis et metum pro invene, quem periculose mansurum in illa domo, in qua tam invisus sit, sciat, suspicione subiecti petitoris non carebit.
Yet unless in all his words he shows both fatherly love, and that indeed most ardent, and hatred of the rich man, and fear for the youth, who he knows will remain perilously in that house where he is so hated, he will not be free from the suspicion of being a suborned claimant.
§4.2.97evenit aliquando in scholasticis controversiis, quod in foro an possit accidere dubito, ut eodem colore utraque pars utatur, deinde eum pro se quaeque defendat, ut in ilia controversia: §4.2.98uxor marito dixit, appellatam se de stupro a privigno et sibi constitutum tempus et locum; eadem contra filius detulit de noverca, edito tantum alio tempore ac loco;
It happens sometimes in school controversies—though I doubt whether it can occur in the forum—that both parties use the same color, and then each defends it for themselves, as in that controversy: A wife told her husband that she had been solicited for adultery by her stepson, and that a time and place had been appointed for her; the son, on the other hand, brought the same charge against his stepmother, only naming a different time and place.
pater in eo, quem uxor praedixerat, filium invenit, in eo, quem filius, uxorem;
The father found his son in the place which his wife had foretold, and his wife in that which his son had foretold.
illam repudiavit, qua tacente filium abdicat.
He divorced her, and, while she remained silent, he disinherits his son.
nihil dici potest pro iuvene, quod non idem sit pro noverca.
Nothing can be said for the youth which cannot also be said for the stepmother.