How ready to give evidence was Publius Septimius; how angry
 was he about some former trial, and about his steward: yet he hesitated; yet his scrupulousness
 was at times at variance with his anger. Marcus Caelius was an enemy to Flaccus, because, as
 Flaccus had thought it wrong for one publican to decide on the case of another publican, though
 the case was ever so evident he had been removed from the list of judges. And yet he restrained
 himself; and brought nothing into the court which could injure Flaccus except his own
 inclination to do so. 
 If these men had been Greeks, and if our habits and principles had not had more influence than
 indignation and hostility, they all would have said that they had been plundered, and harassed,
 and stripped of their fortunes. When a Greek witness comes forward with a desire to injure a
 man, he does not think of the words of his oath, but of what he can say to injure him. He thinks
 it a most shameful thing to be defeated, to be detected, to allow his enemy's innocence to be
 proved. That is the contest for which he prepares himself; he cares for nothing beyond.
 Therefore, it is not the best men, nor the wisest, but the most impudent and talkative men who
 are selected as witnesses. But you, even in private trials
 about the most trifling matters, carefully weigh the character of a witness; even if you know
 the person of the man, and his name and his tribe, still you think it right to inquire into his
 habits. And when a man of our citizens gives his evidence, how carefully does he restrain
 himself, how scrupulously does he regulate all his expressions, how fearful is he, and anxious
 not to say anything covetously or angrily,— not to say one word more or less than necessary! Do
 you think that those Greeks are so too? men to whom an oath is a joke, evidence a plaything,
 your opinion of them a shadow, men who place all their credit and profit and reputation, and
 triumph telling the most impudent lies. But I will not spin out what I have got to say. Indeed,
 my speech would be interminable if I were to take it into my head to unfold the faithlessness of
 the whole nation in giving evidence. But I will come nearer home; I will speak of these
 witnesses whom you have brought forward.