Chapter XXXIX.—Argument:  When Octavius Had Finished This Address, Minucius and Cæcilius Sate for Some Time in Attentive and Silent Wonder.  And Minucius Indeed Kept Silence in Admiration of Octavius, Silently Revolving What He Had Heard.

When Octavius had brought his speech to a close, for some time we were struck into silence, and held our countenances fixed in attention and as for me, I was lost in the greatness of my admiration, that he had so adorned those things which it is easier to feel than to say, both by arguments and by examples, and by authorities derived from reading; and that he had repelled the malevolent objectors with the very weapons of the philosophers with which they are armed, and had moreover shown the truth not only as easy, but also as agreeable.

CAPUT XXXIX.

ARGUMENTUM.---Haec porro quum perorasset Octavius, 0358A Minucius et Caecilius aliquando ad silentium stupefacti intentos vultus tenebant. Et Minucius quidem in Octavii admirationem raptus conticuit, apud se tacitus illa evolvens quae audierat.

Quum Octavius perorasset, aliquamdiu nos, ad silentium stupefacti, intentos vultus tenebamus: et, quod ad me est, magnitudine admirationis evanui, quod ea quae facilius est sentire quam dicere, et argumentis et exemplis et lectionum auctoritatibus adornasset; et quod malevolos iisdem illis, quibus armantur, philosophorum telis retudisset; ostendisset etiam veritatem, non tantummodo facilem, sed et favorabilem.