[6]
And, therefore, O
judges, I beg this of you before I begin to speak of the cause itself; in the first place, as
is most reasonable, that you will bring no prejudice into court with you. In truth, we shall
lose not only the authority, but even the name of judges, unless we judge from the facts which
appear in the actual trials, and if we bring into court with us minds already made up on the
subject at home. In the second place, I beg of you, if you have already adopted any opinion in
your minds, that if reason shall eradicate it,—if my speech shall shake
it,—if, in short, truth shall wrest it from you, you will not resist, but will
dismiss it from your minds, if not willingly, at all events, impartially. I beg you, also,
when I am speaking to each particular point, and effacing any impression my adversary may have
made, not silently to let your thoughts dwell on the contrary statement to mine, but to wait
to the end, and allow me to maintain the order of my arguments which I propose to myself; and
when I have summed up, then to consider in your minds whether I have passed over anything.
This text is part of:
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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