and in some way prepared for him. That which was thus prepared he
exaggerated as the case might seem to require. It has to be understood
of Cicero that he possessed great art and, no doubt, great audacity
in such exaggeration; in regard to which we should certainly not bear
very heavily upon him now, unless we are prepared to bear more heavily
upon those who do the same thing in our own enlightened days. But
Cicero, even as a young man, knew his business much too well to put
forward statements which could be disproved. The accusation came
first; then the speech in defence; after that the evidence, which was
offered only on the side of the accuser, and which was subject to
cross-examination. Cicero would have no opportunity of producing
evidence. He was thus exempted from the necessity of proving his
statements, but was subject to have them all disproved. I think we may
take it for granted that the property of the murdered man was divided
as he tells us.

If that was so, why should any accusation have been made? Our Sextus
seems to have been too much crushed by the dangers of his position to
have attempted to get back any part of his father's wealth. He had
betaken himself to the protection of a certain noble lady, one
Metella, whose family had been his father's friends, and by her and
her friends the defence was no doubt managed. "You have my farms," he
is made to say by his advocate; "I live on the charity of another. I
abandon everything because I am placid by nature, and because it must
be so. My house, which is closed to me, is open to you: I endure it.
You have possessed yourself of my whole establishment; I have not one
single slave. I suffer all this, and feel that I must suffer it. What
do you want more? Why do you persecute me further? In what do you
think that I shall hurt you? How do I interfere with you? In what do I
oppose you? Is it your wish to kill a man for the sake of plunder? You