It should not be urged on the part of Cicero that, so actuated, he defended Amerinus, a case in which he took part against the aristocrats, or defended Publius Sulla, in doing which he appeared on the side of the aristocracy.

Such a defence of his conduct would be misleading, and might be confuted.

It would be confuted by those who suppose him to have been "notoriously a political trimmer," as Mommsen has[270] called him; or a "deserter," as he was described by Dio Cassius and by the Pseudo-Sallust,[271] by showing that in fact he took up causes under the influence of strong personal motives such as rarely govern an English barrister.

These motives were in many cases partly political; but they operated in such a manner as to give no guide to his political views.

In defending Sulla's nephew he was moved, as far as we know, solely by private motives.