If there is any one, O judges, who thinks Caius Rabirius to be blamed for
having entrusted his securely founded and well-established fortunes to the
power and caprice of a sovereign, he may back his opinion by a reference not
only to mine, but also to the feelings of the man himself who did so. For
there is no one who is more grieved at the line of conduct which he then
adopted than he is himself. Although we are very much in the habit of
judging of the wisdom of a plan by the result, and of saying
that the man whose designs have succeeded has shown a great deal of
foresight, and that he who has failed has shown none at all. If the king had
had any honesty, nothing would have been considered more sagacious than the
conduct of Postumus; but because the king deceived him he is said to have
acted as madly as possible; so that it appears now that nothing is a proof
of a man being wise, unless he can foresee the future.