Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 40
Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. and Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D., Ed.

13. "Let us, however, follow out the details of this charge, in whatever way it was concocted. His charge is that he was attacked in many ways, and he has brought together all these methods of attack into a single day. [2] I wished to slay him by day, after the purification, when we clashed, and more than that (heaven help us!) on the day of purifications; I wished to kill him, I suppose by poison, when I invited him to dinner; I wished, when men armed with swords attended me on my revels, to kill him with the steel. [3] You see, indeed, what sorts of occasions are selected for this murder: times of sport, of feasting, of revelry. Well, what sort of day was it? The day when the army was purified, when [p. 43]between the parts of the divided victim, with the¹ royal arms of all the kings who have ever ruled in Macedonia borne before us, we two alone, riding at your side, father, led the way and the host of the Macedonians followed: [4] on this day, even if I had previously committed some act demanding atonement, was I, purified and with atonement made by the rite, at the very time when I could see the sacrificial victim lying on either side of our line of march, was I, I say, then revolving in my mind murder, poisons, swords made ready for the revels —that I might find in what other rites expiation for a conscience stained with every crime? [5] But a mind blinded by the desire to find grounds for accusation, while it tries to make everything seem suspicious, confuses one thing with another. [6] For, Perseus, if I wished to kill you with poison at the dinner, what was less suitable than by a stubborn contest and clash to make you angry, so that you would justly refuse, as you did, to come when I invited you to dinner? But when you had in your anger refused, which should I have done? [7] Should I have tried every means to appease you, that I might find another opportunity, since I had the poison once made ready? [8] Or should I leap, so to speak, from that plan straight to another, namely, to kill you with a sword, and on that very same day, under the pretence of a revel? [9] Further, on what line of reasoning, if I believed that it was from fear of death that you avoided my dinner, could I think that after that you would not from the same fear avoid my revel also?