XXV. All this proceeded from his ambition, and also the circumstance that he was often carried away by the impetuosity of his oratory to disregard propriety. He once spoke in favour of Munatius,[204] who after being acquitted prosecuted Sabinus, a friend of Cicero, who is said to have been so transported with passion as to say, "Do you suppose, Munatius, that you were acquitted on your trial for your own merits, and not because I spread much darkness over the court when there was light?" He gained applause by a panegyric on Marcus Crassus from the Rostra, and a few days after he abused him, on which Crassus observed, "Did you not lately praise me in the same place?" to which Cicero replied, "Yes, for practice sake, exercising my eloquence on a mean subject." Crassus having remarked on one occasion that none of the Crassi had lived in Rome to be more than sixty years of age, and afterwards denying that he had said so, and observing, What could have led him to say this? Cicero replied, "You know that the Romans would be glad to hear it and so you wished to get their favour." When Crassus observed that he liked the Stoics, because they proved that the good man was rich,[205] "Consider," said Cicero, "if they do not rather prove that the wise man possesses everything." Now Crassus was charged with being fond of money. One of the sons of Crassus who was considered to resemble a certain Axius, and so to attach ill fame to his mother in respect to Axius, had made a speech in the Senate with applause, and Cicero being asked what he thought of him said, He is Axius Crassus.[206]