Brutus, or On Eminent Orators Passage 277

quin etiam memini, cum in accusatibne sua Q. Gallio crimini dedisset sibi eum venenum paravisse idque a se esse deprensum seseque chirographa testificationes indicia quaestiones manifestam rem deferre diceret deque eo crimine accurate et exquisite disputavisset, me in respondendo, cum essem argumentatus, quantum res ferebat, hoc ipsum etiam posuisse pro argumento, quod ille, cum pestem capitis sui, cum indicia mortis se comperisse manifesto et manu tenere diceret, tam solute egisset, tam leniter, tam oscitanter.

Indeed, I remember that in his prosecution of Quintus Gallius he charged that Gallius had prepared poison for him and that he had discovered it. He said that he was producing handwritten documents, testimonies, evidence, interrogations, and a manifest fact, and he argued the charge precisely and elaborately. In my reply, after arguing as much as the case allowed, I used this very point as evidence: although he claimed that he had clearly discovered and held in his own hand the instrument of his destruction and evidence of his death, he had conducted the case so loosely, so mildly, and so sleepily.

Je me souviens même que, dans son accusation contre Q. Gallius, après lui avoir imputé de lui avoir préparé du poison, il déclarait avoir découvert le fait et produire des écrits autographes, des témoignages, des indices, des interrogatoires, enfin une preuve manifeste. Après qu’il eut discuté cette accusation avec précision et raffinement, je fis valoir dans ma réponse, outre les arguments que comportait l’affaire, ce fait même comme argument : alors qu’il disait avoir manifestement découvert et tenir entre ses mains l’instrument de sa perte et les preuves de sa mort, il avait plaidé avec tant de relâchement, de douceur et de nonchalance.