[39]
Oppianicus, while lying concealed in his own house, is dragged out by Manilius; Avilius the
informer is produced on the other side to face him. Why need you inquire what followed? Most
of you are acquainted with Manilius; he had never from the time he was a child, had any
thoughts of honour, or of the pursuit of virtue, or even of the advantage of a good character;
but from having been a wanton and profligate buffoon, he had, in the dissensions of the state,
arrived through the suffrages of the people at that office, to the seat of which he had often
been conducted by the reproaches of the bystanders. Accordingly he arranges the business with
Oppianicus; he receives a bribe from him; he abandons the cause after it was commended, and
when it was fully proved. And in this trial of Oppianicus the crime committed on Asinius was
proved by many witnesses, and also by the information of Avilius; in which, it was notorious
that Oppianicus's name was mentioned first among the agents; and yet you say that he was an
unfortunate and an innocent man, convicted by a corrupt tribunal.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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