e able to show that any other
action of his in any case had been prompted by avarice.

And again it will be desirable in every cause to mention the nature,
or the manner of life, or the pursuits, or the fortune, or some one of
those circumstances which are attributed to persons, in connexion with
that cause which the speaker says was the motive which induced the man
on his trial to do wrong; and also, if one cannot impute anything to
him in respect of an exactly corresponding class of faults, to bring
the disposition of one's adversary into discredit by reference to some
very dissimilar class. As, if you were to accuse him of having done
so and so, because he was instigated by avarice; and yet, if you are
unable to show that the man whom you accuse is avaricious, you must
show that other vices are not wholly foreign to his nature, and that
on that account it is no great wonder if a man who in any affair has
behaved basely, or covetously, or petulantly, should have erred in
this business also. For in proportion as you can detract from
the honesty and authority of the man who is accused, in the same
proportion has the force of the whole defence been weakened.

If it cannot be shown that the person on his trial has been ever
before implicated in any previous guilt, then that topic will come
into play which we are to use for the purpose of encouraging the
judges to think that the former character of the man has no bearing
on the present question; for that he has formerly concealed his
wickedness, but that he is now manifestly convicted; so that it is not
proper that this case should be looked at with reference to his former
life, but that his former life should now be reproved by this conduct
of his, and that formerly he had either no opportunity of doing wrong,
or no motive to do so. Or if this cannot be said, then we must have
recourse to this last assertion,--that it is no wonder if he now does
wrong for the first time, for that it is necessary that a man who
wishes to commit sin, must some time or other commit it for the first
time. If nothing whatever is known of his previous life, then it is
best to pass over this topic, and to state the reason why it is passed
over, and then to proceed at once to corroborate the accusation by
arguments.

XI. But the advocate for the defence ought in the first place to show,
if he can, that the life of the person who is accused has always been
as honourable as possible. And he will