1It is useful that there should be many accusers in a state, so that recklessness may be held in check by fear; 1but this is useful only on condition that we are not openly made fools of by accusers. 1Someone is innocent, but, although he is free from guilt, he is still not free from suspicion; 1though it is a sad thing, I could still in some way forgive the man who accuses him. 1For since he has something he can say that sounds incriminating and suspicious, he would not seem to be openly making a mockery and knowingly bringing a false charge. 1That is why we all readily allow there to be as many accusers as possible, because an innocent man, if he is accused, can be acquitted, but a guilty man, unless he has been accused, cannot be condemned; 1and it is better for an innocent man to be acquitted than for a guilty man not to stand trial.
1Contracts for feeding the geese are let out at public expense, and dogs are kept on the Capitol, to give warning if thieves come. 1But they cannot tell thieves apart; still they give warning if anyone comes to the Capitol at night, and because that is suspicious, though they are beasts, they err rather on the side of caution. 1But if the dogs were to bark in daylight too, when people had come to pay their respects to the gods, I imagine their legs would be broken, because they were fierce even when there was no ground for suspicion. 57The case of accusers is very much the same. 57Some of you are geese, who only cackle and can do no harm; others are dogs, who can both bark and bite.
57We see that you are provided with your rations; 57but your chief duty is to attack those who deserve it. 57This pleases the people most of all. 57Next, if you wish, even when it seems likely that someone has committed a crime, bark on suspicion; 57that too can be allowed. 57But if you act in such a way as to charge someone with killing his father, and cannot say either why or how, and simply bark with no ground for suspicion, no one, to be sure, will break your legs, but, if I know these men well, they will brand that letter, to which you are so hostile that you hate even all the Kalends, so firmly on your forehead that afterwards you will be able to accuse no one but your own bad luck.