certainly, will doubt, that it is the object of all oratory,
that what is stated to the judge may appear to him to be true and
just; and which of the two, let me ask, will produce such a conviction
with the greater ease, the good man or the bad? A good man, doubtless,
will speak of what is true and honest with greater frequency; but even
if, from being influenced by some call of duty, he endeavors to
support what is fallacious (a case which, as I shall show, may
sometimes occur), he must still be heard with greater credit than a
bad man. But with bad men, on the other hand, dissimulation sometimes
fails, as well through their contempt for the opinion of mankind, as
through their ignorance of what is right; hence they assert without
modesty, and maintain their assertions without shame; and, in
attempting what evidently can not be accomplished, there appears in
them a repulsive obstinacy and useless perseverance; for bad men, as
well in their pleadings as in their lives, entertain dishonest
expectations; and it often happens, that even when they speak the
truth, belief is not accorded them, and the employment of advocates of
such a character is regarded as a proof of the badness of a cause.

I must, however, notice those objections to my opinion, which appear
to be clamored forth, as it were, by the general consent of the
multitude. Was not then Demosthenes, they ask, a great orator? yet we
have heard that he was not a good man. Was not Cicero a great orator?
yet many have thrown censure upon his character. To such questions how
shall I answer? Great displeasure is likely to be shown at any reply
whatever; and the ears of my audience require first to be propitiated.
The character of Demosthenes, let me say, does not appear to me
deserving of such severe reprehension, that I should believe all the
calumnies that are heaped upon him by his enemies, especially when I
read his excellent plans for the benefit of his country and the
honorable termination of his life. Nor do I see that the feeling of an
upright citizen was, in any respect, wanting to Cicero. As proofs of
his integrity, may be mentioned his consulship, in which he conducted
himself with so much honor, his honorable administration of his
province; his refusal to be one of the twenty commissioners; and,
during the civil wars, which fell with great severity on his times,
his uprightness of mind, which was never swayed, either by hope or by
fear, from adhering to th