§6.1.32sed non ideo probaverim, quod factum et lego et ipse aliquando vidi, depictam ira tabula sipariove imaginem rei, cuius atrocitate iudex erat commovendus.
But I should not on that account approve what I read has been done, and what I myself have sometimes seen, namely, the representation of the event painted on a tablet or on a curtain, by the atrocity of which the judge was to be moved.
quae enim est actoris infantia, qui mutam illam effigiem magis quam orationem pro se putet locuturam?
For what is the speechlessness of an advocate who thinks that a dumb image will speak for him more than his own speech?
§6.1.33at sordes et squalorem et propinquorum quoque similem habitum scio profuisse, et magnum ad salutem momentum preces attulisse.
But I know that rags and squalor, and a similar dress on the part of the relations, have been of service, and that entreaties have brought a great momentum towards safety.
quare et obsecratio illa iudicum per carissima pignora, utique si et reo sint liberi, coniux, parentes, utilis erit; §6.1.34et deorum etiam invocatio velut ex bona conscientia profecta videri solet; stratum denique iacere et genua complecti, nisi si tamen persona nos et anteacta vita et rei condicio prohibebit; quaedam enim tam fortiter tuenda quam facta sunt.
Therefore, that supplication of the judges by their dearest pledges, especially if there are children, a wife, or parents of the accused, will be useful; and even the invocation of the gods is accustomed to seem to proceed from a good conscience; finally, to lie prostrate and embrace the knees, unless indeed the person, past life, and condition of the accused prohibit it; for some things must be defended as boldly as they were done.
verum sic habenda est auctoritatis ratio, ne sit invisa securitas.
But the consideration of authority must be maintained in such a way that confidence is not hated.
§6.1.35fuit quondam inter haec omnia potentissimum, quo L. Murenam Cicero accusantibus clarissimis viris eripuisse praecipue videtur, persuasitque nihil esse ad praesentem rerum statum utilius quam pridie Kalendas Ianuarias ingredi consulatum.
There was once among all these things a most powerful method, by which Cicero especially seems to have rescued Lucius Murena from his highly distinguished accusers, and persuaded them that nothing was more useful to the present state of affairs than for him to enter upon his consulship on the day before the Kalends of January.
quod genus nostris temporibus totum paene sublatum est, cum omnia curae tutelaeque unius innixa periclitari nullo iudicii exitu possint.
This kind of argument is almost entirely abolished in our times, since all things, resting on the care and protection of one person, cannot be endangered by any outcome of a trial.
§6.1.36de accusatoribus et reis sum locutus, quia ira periculis maxime versatur adfectus.
I have spoken of accusers and accused, because emotion is chiefly employed in dangers.
sed privatae quoque causae utrumque habent perorationis genus, et illud quod est ex enumeratione probationum, et hoc quod ex lacrimis, si aut statu periclitari aut opinione litigator videtur.
But private cases also have both kinds of peroration, both that which consists of the enumeration of proofs, and this which consists of tears, if the litigant seems to be endangered either in his status or in his reputation.
nam ira parvis quidem litibus has tragoedias movere tale est, quasi si personam Herculis et coturnos aptare infantibus velis.
For to raise these tragedies in small disputes is like wanting to fit the mask of Hercules and his buskins on infants.
§6.1.37ne illud quidem indignum est admonitione, ingens ira epilogis meo iudicio verti discrimen, quomodo se dicenti, qui excitatur, accommodet.
Nor indeed is that unworthy of admonition, that in my judgment a great difference turns in perorations on how he who is brought forward accommodates himself to the speaker.
nam et imperitia et rusticitas et rigor et deformitas adferunt interim frigus, diligenterque sunt haec actori providenda.
For ignorance, rusticity, stiffness, and deformity sometimes bring coldness, and these things must be carefully provided against by the advocate.
§6.1.38equidem repugnantes eos patrono et nihil vultu commotos et intempestive renidentes et facto aliquo vel ipso vultu risum etiam moventes saepe vidi; praecipue vero cum aliqua velut scenice fiunt, alio cadunt.
Indeed, I have often seen them resisting the advocate, showing no emotion in their countenance, laughing out of season, and even exciting laughter by some act or by their very face; especially indeed when some things are done as if theatrically, they turn out otherwise.
§6.1.39transtulit aliquando patronus puellam, quae soror esse adversarii dicebatur (nam de hoc lis erat), ira adversa subsellia, tanquam ira gremio fratris relicturus, at is a nobis praemonitus discesserat.
Sometimes an advocate brought a girl, who was said to be the sister of the adversary (for the dispute was about this), to the opposite benches, as if he were about to leave her in the lap of her brother, but he, having been forewarned by us, had departed.
tum ille, alioqui vir facundus, inopinatae rei casu obmutuit et infantem suam frigidissime reportavit.
Then he, otherwise an eloquent man, was struck dumb by the accident of the unexpected event and carried back his girl in a most cold manner.
§6.1.40alius imaginem mariti pro rea proferre magni putavit, et ea saepius risum fecit.
Another thought it a great thing to produce the image of her husband on behalf of a female defendant, and by that he very often excited laughter.
nam et ii, quorum officium erat ut traderent eam, ignari, qui esset epilogus, quotiens respexisset patronus, offerebant palam, et prolata novissime deformitate ipsa (nam senis cadaveri cera erat infusa) praeteritam quoque orationis gratiam perdidit.
For both those whose duty it was to hand it over, being ignorant of what a peroration was, offered it openly as often as the advocate looked back, and when it was produced at last in its very deformity (for wax had been poured into the corpse of the old man), it lost even the past grace of the speech.
§6.1.41nec ignotum, quid Glyconi, cui Spiridion fuit cognomen, accident.
Nor is it unknown what happened to Glycon, whose surname was Spiridion.
huic puer, quem is productum quid fleret interrogabat, a paedagogo se vellicari respondit.
To him a boy, whom he had brought forward and asked why he was weeping, replied that he was being pinched by his pedagogue.
sed nihil illa circa Caepasios Ciceronis fabula efficacius ad pericula epilogorum.
But nothing is more effective regarding the dangers of perorations than that story of Cicero about the Caepasii.
§6.1.42omnia tamen haec tolerabilia iis, quibus actionem mutare facile est; at, qui a stilo non recedunt, aut conticescunt ad hos casus aut frequentissime falsa dicunt.
All these things, however, are tolerable to those to whom it is easy to change their speech; but those who do not depart from their pen either fall silent at these occurrences or most frequently say what is false.
inde est enim, tendit ad genua vestra supplices manus, et haeret ira complexu liberorum miser, et revocat ecce me, etiamsi nihil horum is, de quo dicitur, faciat.
For thence comes, "he stretches forth suppliant hands to your knees," and "the wretched man clings in the embrace of his children," and "lo, he recalls me," even if he of whom it is said does none of these things.
§6.1.43ex scholis haec vitia, ira quibus omnia libere fingimus et impune, quia pro facto est quidquid voluimus; non admittit hoc idem veritas, egregieque Cassius dicenti adolescentulo: quid me torvo vultu intueris, Severe? non mehercule, inquit, faciebam, sed si sic scripsisti, ecce! et quam potuit truculentissime eum aspexit.
These faults are from the schools, in which we feign all things freely and with impunity, because whatever we have wished stands for a fact; reality does not admit this same thing, and Cassius did excellently to a youth who said to him, "Why do you look at me with a grim countenance, Severus?" "By Hercules, I was not doing so," he said, "but if you have written so, behold!" and he looked at him as fiercely as he could.