[5]
For as to the attack made upon him,
that as a young man he was not well thought of by his fellow-citizens of the
same municipal town, I say that the people of Puteoli never paid greater honours to
any one when he was among them than they did to Marcus Caelius while he was
absent; for though he was absent they elected him a member of their most
honourable body; and they conferred those distinctions on him without his
asking for them, which they have refused to numbers when they solicited
them; and they have, moreover, now sent their most chosen men, and men of
our order, and Roman knights, with a deputation to attend this trial, and to
bear most honourable and authoritative testimony in his favour.
I seem to myself now to have laid the foundations of my defence; and they are the firmest possible, if they rest on the judgment of his own relations and fellow-citizens. For his life could not be sufficiently recommended to you to meet with your approbation, if it displeased not only his parent, who is so excellent a man, but also so illustrious and dignified a municipality.
