De Oratore
Cicero, 55 BC
Cicero, 55 BC
Cicero ironically points out that good lawyers are also distinguished by their skill at playing the 'twelve lines' game, demonstrating that this board game was associated with the Roman legal elite.
Licet ista ratione dicamus, pila bene et duodecim scriptis ludere proprium esse juris civilis, quoniam utrumque eorum P. Mucius optime fecit.
We may thus say that being skilled at ball games and the 'twelve lines' is characteristic of the jurisconsult, since Publius Mucius excelled in both of these games.