Book 6
3.90
Juba misrepresented another man's opinion, when he replied to one who complained of being bespattered by his horse, What, do you think I am a Centaur? The point of the jest, such as it is, is that Juba disclaims forming part of his horse. The reference is to Juba, historian and king of Mauretania, captured by Julius Caesar and restored by Augustus. Gaius Cassius misrepresented his own, when he said to a soldier whom he saw hurrying into battle without his sword, Shew yourself a handy man with your fists, comrade. So too did Galba, when served with some fish that had been partially eaten the day before and had been placed on the table with the uneaten sides turned uppermost: We must lose no time, he said, for there are people under the table at work on the other side. Lastly there is the jibe that Cicero made against Curius, which I have already cited; §73. for it was clearly impossible that he should be still unborn at a time when he was already declaiming.
3.91
There is also a form of misrepresentation which has its basis in irony, of which a saying of Gaius Caesar will provide an example. A witness asserted that the accused attempted to wound him in the thighs, and although it would have been easy to ask him why he attacked that portion of his body above all others, he merely remarked, What else could he have done, when you had a helmet and breastplate?
