[9]
Will you then listen to others as witnesses on those points, respecting which you yourselves
ought rather to bear witness to others? And what witnesses are they? In the first place, I
will say that they are Greeks, (that is the case of them all.) Not that I, for my own part,
would be more inclined than others to refuse credit to that nation; for if ever there was any
one of our countrymen not averse to that race of men, and proving himself so by zeal and
good-will, I think that I am that man, and that I was so even more when I had more leisure;
but there are in that body many virtuous, many learned, many modest men, and they have not
been brought hither to this trial. There are also many impudent, illiterate, worthless
persons, and those I see here, impelled by various motives. But I say this of the whole race
of Greeks; I allow them learning, I allow them a knowledge of many arts; I do not deny them
wit in conversation, acuteness of talents, and fluency in speaking; even if they claim praise
for other sorts of ability, I will not make any objection; but a scrupulous regard to truth in
giving their evidence is not a virtue that that nation has ever cultivated; they are utterly
ignorant what is the meaning of that quality, they know nothing of its authority or of its
weight.
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