Caecilius protests the judge's interruption; Marcus explains the shared shortcut
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Caecilius has just finished his attack on Christianity, and Marcus the narrator, acting as judge, has proposed weighing the arguments carefully; Caecilius now objects that Marcus is cutting short his case before Octavius has answered each point.
"You are abandoning the duty of a conscientious judge," Caecilius said, "for it is a great injustice to break the strength of my case by the interruption of a very serious debate, since Octavius ought to refute each point whole and undamaged, if he can."
"What you criticize," I said, "I have offered, unless I am mistaken, as a shared shortcut, so that by careful examination we may weigh our judgment not by swelling of eloquence but by the solidity of the things themselves.And the attention you complain about need not be diverted any longer, since in complete silence we may hear the response of our Januarius, who is already eager to speak."
Latin
Decedis, inquit Caecilius, officio iudicis religiosi: nam periniurium est uires te actionis meae intergressu grauissimae disputationis infringere, cum Octauius integra et inlibata debeat singula, si potest, refutare.
Id quod criminaris, inquam, in commune, nisi fallor, conpendium protuli, ut examine scrupuloso nostram sententiam non eloquentiae tumore, sed rerum ipsarum soliditate libremus, necauocanda, quod quereris, diutius intentio, cum toto silentio liceat responsionem Ianuari nostri iam gestientis audire.