1Not so very many years ago, they say, a certain Titus Caelius of Tarracina, a man of some note, after he had dined and gone to bed in the same room as his two young sons, was found in the morning with his throat cut. 1Since no one could be found, either slave or free, to whom suspicion could attach, while the two sons, at that age and sleeping close by, said they had not even noticed anything, the sons were indicted for parricide. 1What could be so suspicious? 1that neither of them had noticed? 1and that anyone had dared to venture into that room at precisely the time when the two young sons were there, who could easily both notice and defend him?
1Moreover there was no one on whom that suspicion could fall. 65Yet, when it had been made plain to the judges that they had been found asleep with the door open, the young men were acquitted at the trial and freed from all suspicion. 65For no one thought there could be anyone who, after polluting all divine and human laws by an unholy crime, could at once fall asleep, because those who have committed so great a deed not only cannot rest without anxiety but cannot even breathe without fear.