[51]
I come now to Lysanias, of the same
city,—your own especial witness, Decianus,—a man whom you,
as you had known him at Temnos when a youth, since he had pleased you when naked, wished to be
always naked. You took him from Temnos to Apollonia. You lent money to him while quite a
youth, at great interest, having taken good security for the loan. You say that the securities
have been forfeited to you, and to this day you detain them and keep them in your possession.
And you have compelled this man to come forward to give evidence as a witness by the hope of
recovering his paternal estate. And as he has not yet given his evidence, I am waiting to see
what it is that he will state. For I know the sort of men that they are,—I know
their habits, I know their licentious ways. Therefore, although I am certain what he is
prepared to state, still I will not argue against it before he has stated it; for if I do, he
will alter it all and invent something else. Let him, then, keep what he has prepared; and I
will keep myself fresh for whatever statements he makes.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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