Hortensius
Cicero, 45 BC.
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This sentence is taken from Hortensius, a philosophical dialogue by Cicero composed in 45 BC, which was lost during the Middle Ages.
In this passage, Cicero uses a playful metaphor (the right to retake a move in the game of twelve lines) to grant his interlocutor the right to backpedal on a poorly initiated philosophical argument.
Itaque tibi concedo, quod in duodecim scriptis solemus, ut calculum reducas si te alicujus dati paenitet.
I therefore grant you what we are accustomed to doing in the game of twelve lines: to take back a piece (to replay a move) if you regret a move you have made.
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