Of this are a thousand examples; but it will be enough to instance three of one and the same person. Scipio, being one day accused before the people of Rome of some crimes of a very high nature, instead of excusing himself or flattering his judges: "It will become you well," said he, "to sit in judgment upon a head, by whose means you have the power to judge all the world." Another time, all the answer he gave to several impeachments brought against him by a tribune of the people, instead of making his defence: "Let us go, citizens," said he, "let us go render thanks to the gods for the victory they gave me over the Carthaginians as this day," and advancing himself before towards the Temple, he had presently all the assembly and his very accuser himself following at his heels. And Petilius, having been set on by Cato to demand an account of the money that had passed through his hands in the province of Antioch, Scipio being come into the senate to that purpose, produced a book from under his robe, wherein he told them was an exact account of his receipts and disbursements; but being required to deliver it to the prothonotary to be examined, he refused, saying, he would not do himself so great a disgrace; and in the presence of the whole senate tore the book with his own hands to pieces. I do not believe that the most seared conscience could have counterfeited so great an assurance. He had naturally too high a spirit and was accustomed to too high a fortune, says Titius Livius, to know how to be criminal, and to lower himself to the meanness of defending his innocence. The putting men to the rack is a dangerous invention, and seems to be rather a trial of patience than of truth. Both he who has the fortitude to endure it conceals the truth, and he who has not: for why should pain sooner make me confess what really is, than force me to say what is not? And, on the contrary, if he who is not guilty of that whereof he is accused, has the courage to undergo those torments, why should not he who is guilty have the same, so fair a reward as life being in his prospect? I believe the ground of this invention proceeds from the consideration of the force of conscience: for, to the guilty, it seems to assist the rack to make him confess his fault and to shake his resolution; and, on the other side, that it fortifies the innocent against the torture. But when all is done, it is, in plain truth, a trial full of uncertainty and danger what would not a man say, what would not a man do, to avoid so intolerable torments?
像这样的例子可谓不计其数,只需举出同一个人的三个例子便足以说明问题了。有一天,西庇阿在罗马人民面前被指控犯有某重大罪行,但他并没有为自己进行辩解或向法官求情,而是对他们说:“是我给了你们审判所有人的权力,如今你们竟然审判到我的头上来了。”还有一次,面对人民法庭对他进行的起诉,他仍然没有自我辩护,而是慷慨陈词道:“来吧,公民们,让我们一起去感谢神明,因为也是在今天这样的日子,他们助我征服了迦太基人。”然后他就率先大踏步向神庙走去,所有人都尾随他同去,其中包括起诉他的人。又有一次,应加图的要求,人民法庭再次传讯西庇阿,要他对由他经手的在安提俄克省的一切开支作出汇报。为此事专程来到元老院的西庇阿,从袍子下面取出了一个账本,并对他们说,这个账本里记录了所有的收支项目。但他拒绝了把这个账本交给元老院进行检查的要求,因为这是对他人格的极大侮辱,于是他当着元老院全体成员的面亲手把账本撕成了碎片。我坚信,如此正义之人决不会做出弄虚作假的事;李维驰认为他品德高尚,性情豪爽,决不会作奸犯科,也不会低声下气地去申辩自己是无辜的。严刑拷打是一项危险的发明,似乎考验的是人的意志,而不是人的真诚。意志坚强的人能隐瞒真情,而不能忍受苦刑的人同样也可以做到。因为痛苦既然能够使我供认事实，为什么就不能使我编造谎言呢?另一方面,如果受到诬告的人有勇气忍受这些折磨,难道罪有应得之人就没有这种勇气,以期望得到价值不菲的报偿吗?我认为,这项发明的出发点建立在对良心力量的考虑上,因为对于有罪之人来说，似乎利用苦刑就可以动摇他的决心，使他承认自己所犯的错误,而对于无辜的人,苦刑反而能使其变得更加坚毅,决不会屈服于任何皮肉之苦。事实上,苦刑这种方法并不可靠。一个人为了免遭这种令人难以忍受的折磨,什么话不会说、什么事不会做呢?
Pain will make even the innocent lie.
---Publius Syrus
Whence it comes to pass, that him whom the judge has racked that he may not die innocent, he makes him die both innocent and racked. A thousand and a thousand have charged their own heads by false confessions. But 'so it is that some say it is the least evil human weakness could invent; very inhumanly, notwithstanding, and to very little purpose, in my opinion.
Many nations less barbarous in this than the Greeks and Romans who call them so, repute it horrible and cruel to torment and pull a man to pieces for a fault of which they are yet in doubt. How can he help your ignorance? Are not you unjust, that, not to kill him without cause, do worse than kill him? And that this is so, do but observe how often men prefer to die without reason than undergo this examination, more painful than execution itself; and that often by its extremity anticipates execution, and perform it.
痛苦甚至会令正直的人撒谎。
——帕布利乌斯・西鲁斯
审判者对人用刑是为了不让他无辜地死去,但结果还是让那个人受尽了折磨，无辜而死。所有的受刑者表现出来的似乎全是虚假的忏悔。然而,有人认为在软弱的人类的诸多发明中,苦刑是含有邪恶成分最少的一项;但在我看来，它却是最残忍、最没有意义的发明。
在希腊人和罗马人眼中最为野蛮的民族，其野蛮程度实际上并不及前者。在这个民族看来,折磨和杀害一个仅仅有犯错嫌疑的人,是极其恐怖和残忍的行为。他怎么能够减轻你的愚昧呢?你不想毫无根据地杀他,但你的所作所为却比直接杀死他还更为恶劣,难道说你的判断和行为都是公正的吗?事情就是这样:常常可以看到有些人宁愿无辜地被处死,也不愿接受审讯，因为这种审讯比死刑本身还令人忍无可忍，这好比在执行死刑之前就把人置于死地了。
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