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27Now, this use of very biting jests against enemies or legal opponents seems to be part of the orator’s business; but his indiscriminate attacks for the sake of raising a laugh made many people hate Cicero. And I will give a few instances of this also. Marcus Aquinius, who had two sons-in-law in exile, he called Adrastus.[50] 2Again, Lucius Cotta, who held the office of censor, was very fond of wine, and Cicero, when canvassing for the consulship, was a-thirst, and as his friends stood about him while he drank, said: “You have good reason to fear that the censor will deal harshly with me—for drinking water.” And when he met Voconius escorting three very ugly daughters, he cried out:—
3Again, when Marcus Gellius, who was thought to be of servile birth, had read letters to the senate in a loud and clear voice, “Do not marvel,” said Cicero, “he too is one of those who have cried aloud for their freedom.”[52] And when Faustus, the son of the Sulla who was dictator at Rome and placarded many people for death, got into debt, squandered much of his substance, and placarded his household goods for sale, Cicero said he liked this placarding better than his father’s.“It was against the will of Phoebus that he begat children.”[51]
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Notes
[50] Adrastus, mythical king of Argos, gave his two daughters in marriage to Tydeus and Polyneices, both of whom were fugitives from their native cities.
[51] An iambic trimeter from some lost tragedy, perhaps the Oedipus of Euripides (Nauck, Trag.Graec.Frag.2, p. 911).
[52] A play upon the phrase (used of a slave) "in libertatem reclamare."