8
This and a lot more of the sort could be said by a prosecutor like you in a case with such scope and countless opportunities for criticism. But now I am wondering to what defence I should turn. Is it best to play the coward, turn my back, and admit my wrong-doing, taking refuge in the universal defence, Fortune, Fate, Destiny? Shall I ask pardon from my critics, who know that we have no control and are driven by a mightier power, especially one of those just mentioned? Shall I say we do not wish it, but have no responsibility at all for what we say or do? Surely this is a very vulgar excuse, and, my good friend, you would not let me use any such defence or call in Homer as an advocate and chant his: “No man, say I, ever escaped Fate.” Homer, Il. vi, 488. and again, “Spun the thread at his birth, the day his mother bore him.” Homer, Il. xx, 128.
9
But if I abandoned this argument as quite unconvincing and said this that I was not hooked by money or any such expectation when I formed the present association, but that I admired my patron’s intelligence and courage and elevation of thought and wished to share the fortunes of such a man, I fear that besides the accusation being brought against me I may be accused of flattery, and find myself knocking out a nail with a nail, as they say, and a small one with a big one at that, since flattery is considered the most servile—and therefore the worst—of all the vices.
