It was illegal, such payment having been forbidden by the "Lex Cincia De Muneribus," passed more than a century before Cicero began his pleadings.[78] But the law had become a dead letter in the majority of cases.

There can be no doubt that Hortensius, the predecessor and great rival of Cicero, took presents, if not absolute payment.

Indeed, the myth of honorary work, which is in itself absurd, was no more practicable in Rome than it has been found to be in England, where every barrister is theoretically presumed to work for nothing.

That the "Lex Cincia," as far as the payment of advocates went, was absurd, may be allowed by us all.

Services for which no regular payment can be exacted will always cost more than those which have a defined price.