"He's a philanderer, but he's OUR philanderer"

> He may be a thief, he may be a robber of temples, he may he the very chief man in every sort of vice and criminality; but he is a gallant general and a fortunate one, and he must be preserved for the critical emergencies of the republic.

Cicero, Against Verres 2.5.4 (tr. Yonge, 1903), http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...

(strawmanning a hypothetical defence of the person he was accusing)

	▲	amiga386 a day ago \| parent [-]
		Fine words, but you know what happened, right? The second pleading against Verres which you're quoting from was never delivered. The bastard was utterly guilty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Verres#Trial_and_exile > [Verres and his defender Hortensius tried to delay the trial until a more sympathetic judge was available, but Cicero] opened his case with a short and blistering speech. He listed all of Verres crimes during his time as governor of Sicily and showed evidence that Verres had amassed 40 million sesterces in that time. The effect of the first brief speech was so overwhelming that on August 13 Hortensius abandoned the defence as hopeless, and recommended his client leave the country. The following day, Verres was found guilty and fined three million sesterces.