Apuleius: Apology and Florida

...presented the indictment in the name of my step-son, Sicinius Pudens Pudens was the younger brother of the deceased Pontianus. Because he was a minor, he could not legally bring a suit himself, making him a convenient "shield" for Aemilianus., a mere boy, adding that he appeared as his representative. This is a new method. He attacks me through the agency of a third person, whose tender age he employs to shield his unworthy self against a charge of false accusation In Roman law, a failed accuser could be charged with calumnia (malicious prosecution). By using a child as the formal accuser, Aemilianus hoped to avoid these penalties.. You, Maximus Claudius Maximus, the Proconsul of Africa and the presiding judge of this trial., with great acuteness saw through his designs and ordered him to renew his original accusation in person. In spite of his promise to comply, he cannot be induced to come to close quarters, but actually defies your authority and continues to skirmish at long range with his false accusations. He persistently shirks the perilous task of a direct attack, and perseveres in his assumption of the safe role of the accuser’s legal representative.

As a result, even before the case came into court, the real nature of the accusation became obvious to the meanest understanding. The man who invented the charge and was the first to utter it had not the courage to take the responsibility for it. Moreover the man in question is Sicinius Aemilianus, who, if he had discovered any true charge against me, would scarcely have been so backward in accusing a stranger of so many serious crimes, seeing that he falsely asserted his own uncle’s will to be a forgery although he knew it to be genuine: indeed he maintained this assertion with such obstinate violence, that even after that distinguished senator, Lollius Urbicus Quintus Lollius Urbicus was a highly respected official who had served as the Governor of Britain and Prefect of Rome. Mentioning him adds significant weight to Apuleius's character assassination of Aemilianus., in accordance with the decision of the distinguished consulars original: "consularium" — men of the highest social and political rank who had previously held the office of Consul., his assessors original: "assessoribus" — legal experts who sat alongside a magistrate to provide counsel on the law., had declared the will to be genuine and duly proven, he continued—