Minucius Felix — Octavius 15
XV. "You depart," said Caecilius, "from the duty of a religious judge: for it is most unjust that you weaken the forces of my action by an interruption of a most weighty disputation, when Octavius may have each point intact and untouched to refute, if he can."
"That which you charge," I said, "I brought forth as a common advantage, unless I am mistaken, so that by scrupulous examination we may weigh our opinion not by the swelling of eloquence but by the solidity of the things themselves. Nor is attention to be called away longer, as you complain, when in total silence it is allowed to hear the response of our Januarius already eager."
Latin
XV. "Decedis" inquit Caecilius "officio iudicis religiosi: nam periniurium est vires te actionis meae intergressu gravissimae disputationis infringere, cum Octavius integra et inlibata habeat singula, si potest, refutare." "Id quod criminaris" inquam "in commune, nisi fallor, conpendium protuli, ut examine scrupuloso nostram sententiam non eloquentiae tumore, sed rerum ipsarum soliditate libremus. Nec avocanda, quod quereris, diutius intentio, cum toto silentio liceat responsionem Ianuari nostri iam gestientis audire."