If you think that your usual vulgarity and joking will secure your pardon you are far from the mark

If you think that your usual vulgarity and joking will secure your pardon in court or win from these men any indulgence or sympathy to which you are not entitled, you are a fool and very far from the mark. Hyperides. Against Philippides. Speech 2. Section 7.

Image: Roman mosaic depicting theater masks, 2nd century CE, photographed at the Capitoline Museum.