Quin immo sibi persuaserant neminem sine eloquentia aut adsequi posse in civitate aut tueri conspicuum et  eminentem locum: nec mirum, cum etiam inviti ad populum producerentur, cum parurn esset in senatu breviter censere, nisi qui ingenio et eloquentia sententiam suam tueretur, cum in aliquam invidiam aut crimen vocati sua voce respondendum haberent, cum testimonia quoque in <iudiciis> publicis non absentes nec per tabellam dare, sed coram et praesentes  dicere cogerentur.
With them, moreover, it was a conviction that without eloquence it was impossible for anyone either to attain to a position of distinction and prominence in the community, or to maintain it: and no wonder they cherished this conviction, when they were called on to appear in public even when they would rather not, when it was not enough to move a brief resolution in the senate, unless one made good ones opinion in an able speech, when persons who had in some way or other incurred odium, or else were definitely charged with some offence, had to put in an appearance in person, when, moreover, evidence in criminal trials had to be given not indirectly or by affidavit, but personally and by word of mouth.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Dialogus.json