Institutio Oratoria

In the last resort we may plead for mercy, a though most writers deny that this is ever admissible in the courts. [*](Pro Lig. X. 30. ) Indeed Cicero himself seems to support this view in his defence of Quintus Ligarius where he says,

I have pleaded many causes, Caesar, some of them even in association with yourself, so long as your political ambitions prevented you from abandoning the bar, but never have I pleaded in words such as these, ' Forgive him, gentlemen, he erred, he made a slip, he did not think that it mattered, he will never do it again,'

and so on.

On the other hand, in addressing the senate, the people, the emperor or any other authority who is in a position to show clemency, such pleas for mercy have a legitimate place. In such cases there are three points based on the circumstances of the accused which are most effective. The first is drawn from his previous life, if he has been blameless in his conduct and deserved well of the state, or if there is good hope that his conduct will be blameless for the future and likely to be of some use to his fellow men; the second is operative if it appears that he has been sufficiently

punished already on the ground that he has suffered other misfortunes, or that his present peril is extreme, or that he has repented of his sin; while thirdly we may base his appeal on his external circumstances, his birth, his rank, his connexions, his friendships.