1Sometimes in the courts I look round for Marcus Regulus; 1for I am unwilling to say that I miss him. 2Why, then, do I look for him? 2He held oratory in honour; he was anxious, he went pale, he wrote his speeches out, although he could not learn them by heart. 2That very habit of his, of painting round now his right eye, now his left — the right if he was going to plead for a plaintiff, the other if for a defendant — of shifting a white patch now to this eyebrow, now to that, of always consulting soothsayers about the outcome of a case, came from excessive superstition, but also from a great regard for oratory.
3Then there were things most pleasant for those who spoke with him: that he asked for unlimited time, that he gathered an audience. 3For what is more pleasant than to speak at your ease for as long as you like, with the odium falling on another, and before someone else's audience, as if caught there by surprise? 4But however that may be, Regulus did well to die: better, if he had done it sooner. 4For now he could certainly have lived without harm to the state, under a prince under whom he could do no harm. 5So it is permissible sometimes to miss him. 5For since he died the custom has spread everywhere and grown strong of both granting and asking for two water-clocks, or one, sometimes even half of one.
5For those who speak would rather have pleaded than plead, and those who listen would rather finish than judge. 5So great is the carelessness, so great the idleness, so great, in short, the disrespect for oratory and for the risks of the accused. 6Are we wiser than our ancestors, are we more just than the very laws, which grant so many hours, so many days, so many adjournments? 6They, no doubt, were dull and slow beyond measure; 6we speak more clearly, understand more quickly, judge more scrupulously, because we rush through cases in fewer water-clocks than they used to be unfolded in days. 7O Regulus, you who by your self-seeking won from everyone what very few grant to good faith!
7For my part, whenever I sit as judge, which I do even more often than I speak, I give as much water as anyone asks for. 8For I think it rash to guess how long a case is before it has been heard, and to set a time limit to business whose extent you do not know, especially since the first thing a judge owes to his oath is patience, which is a great part of justice. 8But some superfluous things are said. 8Yes: but it is better that these too should be said than that necessary things should not be said. 9Besides, whether they are superfluous you cannot know until you have heard them.
9But of these things better face to face, as of many faults of our state. 9For you too, out of love for the common good, are accustomed to wish that things should be mended which it is now hard to correct. 10Now let us look back at our own homes. 10Is all well in yours? 10In mine there is nothing new. 10But to me the blessings are the more welcome because they last, and the troubles the lighter because I have grown used to them. 10Farewell.