'
"And yet, since, on the testimony of Augustine, 'Every part out
of harmony with its whole is base,' that I may not seem the sole
anomaly among you, or, where others speak, be found by my silence
a disciple of Pythagoras surpassing the rest, I have chosen to be
found ridiculous for my speaking, rather than out of harmony for
my silence.
"What note then shall the noisy goose emit in the presence of the
clear-songed swans? Shall he offer new things, or things well
known? Things often considered and trite generate disgust; new
things lack authority. For, as Pliny says: 'It is an arduous task
to give novelty to old things, authority to new things,
brightness to things obsolete, charm to things disdained, light
to obscure things, credence to doubtful things, and to all things
naturalness!'
"The question which we have before us is old, but not
inveterate,--a question often argued, but whose decision is still
pending: Should a Judge decide according to the evidence, or
according to his conviction?"
Now he supported the second, but far less justifiable view, by
arguments taken from the Laws and the Canons, so forcible that,
while all were amazed, all were uncertain whether greater praise
should be given to the ornateness of the words or to the efficacy
of the arguments.
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