Aper having said this with his usual spirit and with vehemence of utterance, Maternus replied good-humouredly with something of a smile. I was preparing to attack the orators at as great length as Aper had praised them, for I thought that he would leave his praises of them and go on to demolish poets and the pursuit of poetry, but he appeased me by a sort of stratagem, granting permission to those who cannot plead causes, to make verses.
Ian., post diem VI quam Africam [Caesar] attigit, in campis planissimis purissimisque ab hora diei quinta usque ad solis occasum est decertatum.latin-ancient latin-ancient