Now that I have summed up the whole cause the affair itself and the magnitude of the
 danger, O Caius Aquillius, seem to make it necessary for Publius Quinctius to solicit
 and entreat you and your colleagues, by his old age and his desolate condition, merely
 to follow the dictates or your own nature and goodness; so that as the truth is on his
 side, his necessitous state may move you to pity rather than the influence of the other
 party to cruelty. From the self same day when we came
 before you as judges, we began to disregard all the threats of those men which before we
 were alarmed at. If cause was to contend with cause we are sure that we could easily
 prove ours to any one but as the course of life of the one was to be contested with the
 course of life of the other, we thought we had on that account even more need of you as
 our judge. For this is the very point now in question, whether the rustic and unpolished
 economy of my client can defend itself against the luxury and licentiousness of the
 other or whether, homely as it is, and stripped of all ornaments, it is to lie handed
 over naked to covetousness and wantonness. Publius
 Naevius does not compare himself with you, O Sextus Naevius, he does not vie with you in
 riches or power. He gives up to you all the arts by which you are great; he confesses
 that he does not speak elegantly; that he is not able to say pleasant things to people;
 that he does not abandon a friendship when his friend is in distress, and fly off to
 another which is in flourishing circumstances; that he does not give magnificent and
 splendid banquets; that he has not a house closed against modesty and holiness, but open
 and as it were exposed to cupidity and debauchery; on the other hand he says that duty,
 good faith, industry and a life which has been always austere and void of pleasure has
 been his choice; he knows that the opposite course is more fashionable, and that by such
 habits people have more influence. What then shall be done? They have not so much more influence, that those who, having
 abandoned the strict discipline of virtuous men, have chosen rather to follow the gains
 and extravagance of Gallonius, Gallonius was a crier also, branded
 by Horace as notorious for extravagance and luxury. Galloni praeconis erat acipensere mensa Infamis. — Hor. Sat. 2.2.47 . and
 have even spent their liven in audacity and perfidy which were no part of his character,
 should have absolute dominion over the lives and fortunes of honourable men. If he may
 be allowed to live where Sextus Naevius does not wish to, if there is room in the city
 for an honest man against the will of Naevius; if Publius Quinctius may be allowed to
 breathe in opposition to the nod and sovereign power of Naevius; if under your
 protection, he can preserve in opposition to the insolence of his enemy the ornaments
 which he has acquired by virtue, there is hope that this unfortunate and wretched man
 may at last be able to rest in peace. But if Naevius is to have power to do everything
 he chooses, and if he chooses what is unlawful, what is to be done? What God is to be
 appealed to? The faith of what man can we invoke? What complaints, what lamentations can
 be devised adequate to so great a calamity. It is a miserable thing to be despoiled of all one's fortunes; it is more miserable
 still to be so unjustly. It is a bitter thing to be circumvented by any one, more bitter
 still to be so by a relation. It is a calamitous thing to be stripped of one's goods,
 more calamitous still if accompanied by disgrace. It is an intolerable injury to be
 slain by a brave and honourable man, more intolerable still to be slain by one whose
 voice has been prostituted to the trade of a crier. It is an unworthy thing to be
 conquered by one's equal or one's superior, more unworthy still by one's inferior, by
 one lower than oneself. It is a grievous thing to be handed over with one's goods to
 another, more grievous still to be handed over to an enemy. It is a horrible thing to
 have to plead to a capital charge, more horrible still to have to speak in one's own
 defence before one's accuser speaks.