Say now, if you dare, that Roscius begged of you to appoint his own intimate friend
 arbitrator. He did not beg you to. Say that he made a covenant in order to procure his
 acquittal. He made no covenant. Ask why then he was acquitted? Because he was a man of
 the most perfect innocence and integrity. For what happened? You came of your own accord
 to the house of Roscius; you apologised to him; you begged him to announce to the judge
 that you had acted hastily, and to pardon you; you said that you would not appear
 against him; you said loudly that he owed you nothing on account of the partnership. He
 gave notice to the judge; he was acquitted. And still do you dare to mention dishonesty
 and theft? He persists in his impudence. I did all this, says he, for he had made a
 covenant with me. Yes, I suppose to procure his acquittal. What reason had he to fear
 that he would be condemned? Oh, the matter was
 evident, the theft was undeniable. A theft of what? He begins, in a manner to create
 great expectations, to relate his partnership with the old actor. 
 
 Panurgus, says he, was a slave of Fannius. He had an equal share in him with Roscius.
 Here in the first place Saturius began to complain bitterly that Roscius had had a in
 him given to him for nothing, when he had become the property of Fannius by purchase.
 That liberal man, forsooth, that extravagant man, that man overflowing with kindness,
 made a present of his share to Roscius? No doubt of it. Since he rested on this point for a while, it is necessary for me also to dwell a
 little on it. You say, O Saturius, that Panurgus was the private property of Fannius.
 But I say that the whole of him belonged to Roscius, for how much of him belonged to
 Fannius? His body. How much to Roscius? His education. His person was of no value; his
 skill was valuable. As far as he belonged to Fannius, he was not worth fifty thousand
 sesterces ; as far as he belonged to Roscius, he was worth
 more than a hundred thousand. For no one looked at him because of his person; but people
 estimated him by his skill as a comic actor. For those limbs could not earn by
 themselves more than twelve sesterces ; owing to the
 education which was given him by Roscius, he let himself out for not less than a hundred
 thousand. Oh, tricky and scandalous partnership, when
 the one brings what is worth fifty thousand sesterces into
 the partnership, the other what is worth a hundred thousand; unless you are indignant at
 this, that you took the fifty thousand out of your strong box, and Roscius got his
 hundred thousand out of his learning and skill. For what was it that Panurgus brought
 with him on the stage? What was the expectation formed of him why was there such zeal
 for him, such partiality to him? Because he was the pupil of Roscius. They who loved the
 one, favoured the other; they who admired the one, approved of the other; lastly, all
 who had heard the name of the one, thought the other well-trained and accomplished. And
 this is the way with the common people; they estimate few things by the real truth, many
 things by prejudice. Very few observed what he knew,
 but every one asked where he had been taught; they thought that nothing poor or had
 could be produced by him. If he had come from Statilius, even if he had surpassed
 Roscius in skill, no one would have been able to see it. For just as no one supposes
 that a good son can be born to a worthless father, so no one would suppose that a good
 Comedian could be formed by a very bad actor; but because he came from Roscius, he
 appeared to know more than he really did know. 
 And this lately did actually happen in the case of Eros the comedian, for he, after he
 was driven off the stage, not merely by hisses, but even by reproaches, took refuge, as
 at an altar, in the house, and instruction, and patronage, and name of Roscius.
 Therefore, in a very short time he who had not been even one of the lowest class of
 actors, came to be reckoned among the very first comedians.