e when employed in defending his
client on the other charges.

XX But we may give an example of translation in a cause, in this
way--When certain armed men had come for the purpose of committing
violence, and armed men were also prepared on the other side, and when
one of the armed men with his sword cut off the hand of a certain
Roman knight who resisted his violence, the man whose hand had been
cut off brings an action for the injury. The man against whom the
action is brought pleads a demurrer before the praetor, without there
being any prejudice to a man on trial for his life. The man who brings
the action demands a trial on the simple fact, the man against whom
the action is brought says that a demurrer ought to be added. The
question is--"Shall the demurrer be allowed or not?" The reason
is--"No, for it is not desirable in an action for damages that there
should be any prejudged decision of a crime, such as is the subject of
inquiry when assassins are on their trial." The arguments intended to
invalidate this reason are--"The injuries are such that it is a shame
that a decision should not be come to as early as possible." The
thing to be decided is--"Whether the atrocity of the injuries is a
sufficient reason why, while that point is before the tribunal, a
previous decision should be given concerning some greater crime,
concerning which a tribunal is prepared." And this is the example. But
in every cause the question ought to be put to both parties, by whom,
and by whose agency, and how, and when it is desirable that the action
should be brought, or the decision given; or what ought to be decided
concerning that matter.

That ought to be assumed from the divisions of the law, concerning
which we must speak hereafter; and we then ought to argue as to what
is usually done in similar cases, and to consider whether, in this
instance, out of wickedness, one course is really adopted and another
pretended; or whether the tribunal has been appointed and the action
allowed to proceed through folly or necessity, because it could not be
done in any other manner, or owing to an opportunity which offered for
acting in such a manner; or whether it has been done rightly without
any interruption of any sort. But it is a common topic to urge against
the man who seeks to avail himself of a demurrer to an action, that
he is fleeing from a decision and from punishment, because he has
no confidence in the justice of his cause. And t