duce these slaves. I have good
reason for asking you to name those who witnessed that guilty ritual
when I cast the moribund Thallus into one of his fits. The only
witness you mention is that worthless boy, Sicinius Pudens, in whose
name you accuse me. He says that he was present. His extreme youth is
no reason why we should reject his sworn evidence, but the fact that
he is one of my accusers _does_ detract from his credibility. It would
have been easier for you, Aemilianus, and your evidence would have
carried much more weight, had you said that you were present at the
rite and had been mad ever since, instead of entrusting the whole
business to the evidence of boys as though it were a mere joke. A boy
had a fit, a boy saw him. Was it also some boy that bewitched him?

46. At this point Tannonius Pudens, like the old hand he is, saw that
this lie also was falling flat and was doomed to failure by the frowns
and murmurs of the audience, and so, in order to check the suspicions
of some of them by kindling fresh expectations, he said that he would
produce other boys as well whom I had similarly bewitched. He thus
passed to another line of accusation. I might ignore it, but I will go
out of my way to challenge it as I have done with all the rest. I want
those boys to be produced. I hear they have been bribed by the promise
of their liberty to perjure themselves. But I say no more. Only
produce them. I demand and insist, Tannonius Pudens, that you should
fulfil your promise. Bring forward those boys in whose evidence you
put your trust; produce them, name them. You may use the time allotted
to my speech for the purpose. Speak, I say, Tannonius. Why are you
silent? Why do you hesitate? Why look round? If _he_ does not remember
his instructions, or has forgotten his witnesses' names, do you at any
rate, Aemilianus, come forward and tell us what instructions you gave
your advocate, and produce those boys. Why do you turn pale? Why are
you silent? Is this the way to bring an accusation? Is this the way
to indict a man on so serious a charge? Is it not rather an insult to
so distinguished a citizen as Claudius Maximus, and a false and
slanderous persecution of myself? However, if your representative has
made a slip in his speech, and there are no such boys to produce, at
any rate make some use of the fourteen whom I have brought into court.
If you refuse, why did you demand the appearance of such a housefull?

47. You have dem