1So let us deal here with what must be inquired into in this case; 1what you want discovered by torture, we admit. 1But if you ask why he freed them, rather than why he rewarded them too meagrely, you do not know how to find fault with an enemy's action. 58For this same Marcus Cato, who always speaks on every matter with constancy and courage, said — and said it at a turbulent public meeting, which was nevertheless calmed by his authority — that those who had defended their master's life were most worthy not only of freedom but of every reward. 58For what reward is great enough for slaves so loyal, so good, so faithful, thanks to whom he is alive?
58And yet even that is not worth as much as the fact that, thanks to the same men, he did not glut the mind and eyes of his cruellest enemy with his own blood and wounds. 58Had he not freed them, the preservers of their master, the avengers of a crime, the defenders against murder would even have had to be handed over to torture. 58Indeed, among these misfortunes there is nothing he bears with less distress than that, even if something should happen to him, they have nevertheless been paid the reward they deserved. 59But Milo is pressed hard by the examinations which have just been held in the Hall of Liberty.
59Of which slaves, pray? 59'Need you ask? 59Those of Publius Clodius.' 59Who demanded them? 59'Appius.' 59Who produced them? 59'Appius.' 59From where? 59'From Appius' house.' 59Good gods! 59what could be done more rigorously? 59Clodius has come very near the gods — nearer than when he forced his way in to them in person — since his death is being investigated as though it were a violation of sacred rites. 59Yet our ancestors refused to allow slaves to be examined against their master, not because the truth could not be found, but because it seemed degrading and more bitter to masters than death itself: when the prosecutor's slave is examined against the accused, can the truth be found?
60Come now, what was the examination, and of what sort? 60'Hey, you, Rufio,' for example, 'mind you don't lie: did Clodius lay an ambush for Milo?' 60'He did;' 60certain crucifixion. 60'He did not:' freedom in prospect. 60What could be more reliable than this examination? 60When slaves are suddenly seized for examination, the rest are nevertheless separated and thrown into cells so that no one can talk with them: these men, after spending a hundred days in the prosecutor's custody, were produced by that same prosecutor. 60What can be called more impartial than this examination, what more incorrupt?