---
title: "Against Verres · In Verrem"
author: "Cicero"
translator: "Charles Duke Yonge"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/
cite: "Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge, Against Verres · In Verrem. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/"
---

# Against Verres · In Verrem

*Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge*

Cicero prosecutes the governor who plundered Sicily for three years: the first speech won the case, the five books of the second show Verres’ crimes one by one.

> Latin: ed. William Peterson, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0474.phi005, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Charles Duke Yonge, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0474.phi005.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Actio Prima · sections 1–29](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/1.md)
2. [Actio Prima · sections 30–56](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/2.md)
3. [Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 2–34](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/3.md)
4. [Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 35–65](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/4.md)
5. [Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 66–93](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/5.md)
6. [Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 94–126](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/6.md)
7. [Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 127–158](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/7.md)
8. [Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 1–35](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/8.md)
9. [Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 36–66](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/9.md)
10. [Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 67–99](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/10.md)
11. [Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 100–133](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/11.md)
12. [Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 134–161](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/12.md)
13. [Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 162–192](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/13.md)
14. [Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 4–40](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/14.md)
15. [Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 41–71](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/15.md)
16. [Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 72–106](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/16.md)
17. [Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 107–134](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/17.md)
18. [Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 135–167](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/18.md)
19. [Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 168–197](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/19.md)
20. [Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 198–228](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/20.md)
21. [Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 4–35](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/21.md)
22. [Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 36–65](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/22.md)
23. [Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 66–91](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/23.md)
24. [Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 92–121](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/24.md)
25. [Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 122–151](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/25.md)
26. [Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 1–31](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/26.md)
27. [Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 32–63](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/27.md)
28. [Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 64–96](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/28.md)
29. [Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 97–128](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/29.md)
30. [Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 129–160](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/30.md)
31. [Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 161–189](https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/31.md)

## 1. Actio Prima · sections 1–29

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/1/#p-N

[¶0] 1. After the last oration it was decided that Cicero was to conduct the prosecution against Verres; accordingly, a hundred and ten days were allowed to him to prepare the evidence, with which object he went himself to Sicily to examine witnesses, and to collect facts in support of his charges, taking with him his cousin Lucius Cicero as an assistant, and in this journey, contrary to all precedent, he bore his own expenses, resolving to put the island to no charge on his account. At Syracuse the praetor, Metellus, endeavoured to obstruct him in his inquiries, but the magistrates received him with great respect, and, declaring to him that all that they had previously done in favour of Verres (for they had erected a gilt statue of him, and had sent a testimonial of his good conduct and kind government of them to Rome) had been extorted from them by intrigue and terror, they delivered into his hands authentic accounts of many injuries their city had received from Verres, and they revoked by a formal decree the public praises which they had given him. Messana, however, continued firm in its engagements to Verres, and denied Cicero all the honours to which he was entitled. When he finished his investigations, apprehending that he might be waylaid by the contrivance of Verres, he returned by sea to Rome, where he found intrigues carrying on to protract the affair as much as possible, in order to delay the decision of it till the year following, when Hortensius and Metellus were to be the consuls, and the brother of Metellus was to be praetor, by whose united authority the prosecution might be stifled: and it was now so late in the year that there was not time to bring the trial to an end, if the ordinary couse of proceeding was to be adhered to. But Cicero, determined to bring on the decision while Glabrio continued to be praetor, abandoned his idea of making a long speech, and of taking up time in dilating on and enforcing the different counts of the indictment, and resolved to do nothing more than produce his witnesses, and offer them to examination; and this novel method of conducting the case, together with the powerful evidence produced, which he could not invalidate, so confounded Hortensius, that he could find nothing to say in his client's defence, who in despair went of his own accord into banishment. The object of Cicero in this oration is to show that it is out of sheer necessity that he does this, and that he is driven to such a proceeding by the intrigues of the opposite party. He therefore exhorts the judges not to be intimidated or cajoled into a dishonest decision, and threatens the opposite party with punishmet for endeavouring to corrupt the judges. That which was above all things to be desired, O judges, and which above all things was calculated to have the greatest influence towards allaying the unpopularity of your order, and putting an end to the discredit into which your judicial decisions have fallen, appears to have been thrown in your way, and given to you not by any human contrivance, but almost by the interposition of the gods, at a most important crisis of the republic. For an opinion has now become established, pernicious to us, and pernicious to the republic, which has been the common talk of every one, not only at Rome, but among foreign nations also,—that in the courts of law as they exist at present, no wealthy man, however guilty he may be, can possibly be convicted. Now at this time of peril to your order and to your tribunals, when men are ready to attempt by harangues, and by the proposal of new laws, to increase the existing unpopularity of the senate, Caius Verres is brought to trial as a criminal, a man condemned in the opinion of every one by his life and actions, but acquitted by the enormousness of his wealth according to his own hope and boast. I, O judges, have undertaken this cause as prosecutor with the greatest good wishes and expectation on the part of the Roman people, not in order to increase the unpopularity of the senate, but to relieve it from the discredit which I share with it. For I have brought before you a man, by acting justly in whose case you have an opportunity of retrieving the lost credit of your judicial proceedings, of regaining your credit with the Roman people, and of giving satisfaction to foreign nations; a man, the embezzler of the public funds, the petty tyrant of Asia and Pamphylia, the robber who deprived the city of its rights, the disgrace and ruin of the province of Sicily. And if you come to a decision about this man with severity and a due regard to your oaths, that authority which ought to remain in you will cling to you still; but if that man's vast riches shall break down the sanctity and honesty of the courts of justice, at least I shall achieve this, that it shall be plain that it was rather honest judgment that was wanting to the republic, than a criminal to the judges, or an accuser to the criminal. I, indeed, that I may confess to you the truth about myself, O judges, though many snares were laid for me by Caius Verres, both by land and sea, which I partly avoided by my own vigilance, and partly warded off by the zeal and kindness of my friends, yet I never seemed to be incurring so much danger, and I never was in such a state of great apprehension, as I am now in this very court of law.

> Latin: 1. erat optandum maxime, iudices, et quod unum ad invidiam vestri ordinis infamiamque iudiciorum sedandam maxime pertinebat, id non humano consilio sed prope divinitus datum atque oblatum vobis summo rei publicae tempore videtur. enim iam opinio perniciosa rei publicae vobisque periculosa, quae non modo apud nos sed apud exteras nationes omnium sermone percrebruit, his iudiciis quae nunc sunt pecuniosum hominem, quamvis sit nocens, neminem posse damnari. in ipso discrimine ordinis iudiciorumque vestrorum, cum sint parati qui contionibus et legibus hanc invidiam senatus inflammare conentur, reus in iudicium adductus est C. Verres, homo vita atque factis omnium iam opinione damnatus, pecuniae magnitudine sua spe et praedicatione absolutus. ego causae, iudices, cum summa voluntate et exspectatione populi Romani actor accessi, non ut augerem invidiam ordinis, sed ut infamiae communi succurrerem. enim hominem in quo reconciliare existimationem iudiciorum amissam, redire in gratiam cum populo Romano, satis facere exteris nationibus possetis, depeculatorem aerari, vexatorem Asiae atque Pamphyliae, praedonem iuris urbani, labem atque perniciem provinciae Siciliae. quo si vos severe ac religiose iudicaveritis, auctoritas ea quae in vobis remanere debet haerebit; sin istius ingentes divitiae iudiciorum religionem veritatemque perfregerint, ego hoc tamen adsequar, ut iudicium potius rei publicae quam aut reus iudicibus aut accusator reo defuisse videatur. ut de me confitear, iudices, cum multae mihi a C. Verre insidiae terra marique factae sint, quas partim mea diligentia devitarim, partim amicorum studio officioque reppulerim, numquam tamen neque tantum periculum mihi adire visus sum neque tanto opere pertimui ut nunc in ipso iudicio.

[¶1] 4. Nor does the expectation which people have formed of my conduct of this prosecution, nor this concourse of so vast a multitude as is here assembled, influence me (though indeed I am greatly agitated by these circumstances) so much as his nefarious plots which he is endeavouring to lay at one and the same time against me, against you, against Marcus Gabrio the praetor, and against the allies, against foreign nations, against the senate, and even against the very name of senator; whose favourite saying it is that they have got to fear who have stolen only as much as is enough for themselves, but that he has stolen so much that it may easily be plenty for many; that nothing is so holy that it cannot be corrupted, or so strongly fortified that it cannot be stormed by money.

> Latin: 4. tantum me exspectatio accusationis meae concursusque tantae multitudinis, quibus ego rebus vehementissime perturbor, commovet quantum istius insidiae nefariae, quas uno tempore mihi, vobis, M’. Glabrioni, populo Romano, sociis, exteris nationibus, ordini, nomini denique senatorio facere conatur; qui ita dictitat, iis esse metuendum qui quod ipsis solis satis esset surripuissent, se tantum eripuisse ut id multis satis esse possit; nihil esse tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.

[¶2] 5. But if he were as secret in acting as he is audacious in attempting, perhaps in some particular he might some time or other have escaped our notice. But it happens very fortunately that to his incredible audacity there is joined a most unexampled folly. For as he was unconcealed in committing his robberies of money, so in his hope of corrupting the judges he has made his intentions and endeavours visible to every one. He says that once only in his life has he felt fear: at the time when he was first impeached as a criminal by me; because he was only lately arrived from his province, and was branded with unpopularity and infamy, not modern but ancient and of long standing; and, besides that, the time was unlucky, being very ill-suited for corrupting the judges.

> Latin: 5. quam audax est ad conandum tam esset obscurus in agendo, fortasse aliqua in re nos aliquando fefellisset; verum hoc adhuc percommode cadit, quod cum incredibili eius audacia singularis stultitia coniuncta est; nam ut apertus in corripiendis pecuniis fuit, sic in spe corrumpendi iudici perspicua sua consilia conatusque omnibus fecit. ait se in vita pertimuisse,—tum cum primum a me reus factus sit; quod, cum e provincia recens esset, invidiaque et infamia non recenti sed vetere ac diuturna flagraret, tum ad iudicium corrumpendum tempus alienum offenderet.

[¶3] 6. Therefore, when I had demanded a very short time to prosecute my inquiries in Sicily, he found a man to ask for two days less to make investigations in Achaia; not with any real intention of doing the same with his diligence and industry, that I have accomplished by my labour, and daily and nightly investigations. For the Achaean inquisitor never even arrived at Brundusium. I in fifty days so traveled over the whole of Sicily that I examined into the records and injuries of all the tribes and of all private individuals, so that it was easily visible to every one, that he had been seeking out a man not really for the purpose of bringing the defendant whom he accused to trial, but merely to occupy the time which ought to belong to me.

> Latin: 6. cum ego diem inquirendi in Siciliam perexiguam postulavissem, invenit iste qui sibi in Achaiam biduo breviorem diem postularet; non ut is idem conficeret diligentia et industria sua quod ego meo labore et vigiliis consecutus sum, —etenim ille Achaicus inquisitor ne Brundisium quidem pervenit, ego Siciliam totam quinquaginta diebus sic obii ut omnium populorum privatorumque litteras iniuriasque cognoscerem; ut perspicuum cuivis esse posset hominem ab isto quaesitum esse non qui reum suum adduceret, sed qui meum tempus obsideret.

[¶4] 7. Now that most audacious and most senseless man thinks this. He is aware that I am come into court so thoroughly prepared and armed, that I shall fix all his thefts and crimes not only in your ears, but in the very eyes of all men. He sees that many senators are witnesses of his audacity, he sees that many Roman knights are so too, and many citizens, and many of the allies besides to whom he has done unmistakable injuries. He sees also that very numerous and very important deputations have come here at the same time from most friendly cities, armed with the public authority and evidence collected by their states.

> Latin: 7. homo audacissimus atque amentissimus hoc cogitat. me ita paratum atque instructum in iudicium venire ut non modo in auribus vestris, sed in oculis omnium sua furta atque flagitia defixurus sim; videt senatores multos esse testis audaciae suae, videt multos equites Romanos, frequentis praeterea civis atque socios, quibus ipse insignis iniurias fecerit, videt etiam tot tam gravis ab amicissimis civitatibus legationes cum publicis auctoritatibus convenisse.

[¶5] 8. And though this is the case, still he thinks so ill of all virtuous men, to such an extent does he believe the decisions of the senators to be corrupt and profligate, that he makes a custom of openly boasting that it was not without reason that he was greedy of money, since he now finds that there is such protection in money, and that he has bought (what was the hardest thing of all) the very time of his trial, in order to be able to buy everything else more easily; so that, as he could not by any possibility shirk the force of the accusations altogether, he might avoid the most violent gusts of the storm.

> Latin: 8. cum ita sint, usque eo de omnibus bonis male existimat, usque eo senatoria iudicia perdita profligataque esse arbitratur, ut hoc palam dictitet, non sine causa se cupidum pecuniae fuisse, quoniam in pecunia tantum praesidium experiatur esse; sese, id quod difficillimum fuerit, tempus ipsum emisse iudici sui, quo cetera facilius emere postea posset; ut, quoniam criminum vim subterfugere nullo modo poterat, procellam temporis devitaret.

[¶6] 9. But if he had placed any hope at all, not only in his cause, but in any honourable defence, or in the eloquence or in the influence of any one, he would not be so eager in collecting and catching at all these things; he would not scorn and despise the senatorial body to such a degree, as to procure a man to be selected out of the senate at his will to be made a criminal of, who should plead his cause before him, while he in the meantime was preparing whatever he had need of.

> Latin: 9. non modo in causa, verum in aliquo honesto praesidio aut in alicuius eloquentia aut gratia spem aliquam conlocasset, profecto non haec omnia colligeret atque aucuparetur; non usque eo despiceret contemneretque ordinem senatorium ut arbitratu eius deligeretur ex senatu qui reus fieret, qui, dum hic quae opus essent compararet, causam interea ante eum diceret.

[¶7] 10. And what the circumstances are on which he founds his hopes, and what hopes he builds on them, and what he is fixing his mind on. I see clearly. But how he can have the confidence to think that he can effect anything with the present praetor, and the present bench of Judges, I cannot conceive. This one thing I know, which the Roman people perceived too when he rejected the judges, that his hopes were of that nature that he placed all his expectations of safety in his money; and that if this protection were taken from him, he thought nothing would be any help to him. In truth, what genius is there so powerful, what faculty of speaking, what eloquence so mighty, as to be in any particular able to defend the life of that man, convicted as it is of so many vices and crimes, and long since condemned by the inclinations and private sentiments of every one?

> Latin: 10. ego rebus quid iste speret et quo animum intendat facile perspicio; quam ob rem vero se confidat aliquid proficere posse hoc praetore et hoc consilio intellegere non possum. Vnum illud intellego, quod populus Romanus in reiectione iudicum iudicavit, ea spe istum fuisse praeditum ut omnem rationem salutis in pecunia constitueret, hoc erepto praesidio ut nullam sibi rem adiumento fore arbitraretur. quod est ingenium tantum, quae tanta facultas dicendi aut copia, quae istius vitam tot vitiis flagitiisque convictam, iam pridem omnium voluntate iudicioque damnatam, aliqua ex parte possit defendere?

[¶8] 11. And, to say nothing of the stains and disgraces of his youth, what other remarkable event is there in his quaestorship, that first step to honour, except that Cnaeus Carbo was robbed by his quaestor of the public money? that the consul was plundered and betrayed? his army deserted? his province abandoned? the holy nature and obligations imposed on him by lot violated?—whose lieutenancy was the ruin of all Asia and Pamphylia, in which provinces he plundered many houses, very many cities, all the shrines and temples; when he renewed and repeated against Cnaeus Dolabella his ancient wicked tricks when he had been quaestor, and did not only in his danger desert, but even attack and betray the man to whom he had been lieutenant, and proquaestor, and whom he had brought into odium by his crimes;

> Latin: 11. ut adulescentiae maculas ignominiasque praeteream, quaestura, primus gradus honoris, quid aliud habet in se nisi Cn. Carbonem spoliatum a quaestore suo pecunia publica, nudatum et proditum consulem, desertum exercitum, relictam provinciam, sortis necessitudinem religionemque violatam? cuius legatio exitium fuit Asiae totius et Pamphyliae, quibus in provinciis multas domos, plurimas urbis, omnia fana depeculatus est, tum cum in Cn. Dolabellam suum scelus illud pristinum renovavit et instauravit quaestorium, cum eum, cui et legatus et pro quaestore fuisset, et in invidiam suis maleficiis adduxit, et in ipsis periculis non solum deseruit, sed etiam oppugnavit ac prodidit;

[¶9] 12. —whose only praetorship was the destruction of the sacred temples and the public works, and, as to his legal decisions, was the adjudging and awarding of property contrary to all established rules and precedents. But now he has established great and numerous monuments and proofs of all his vices in the province of Sicily, which he for three years so harassed and ruined that it can by no possibility be restored to its former condition, and appears scarcely able to be at all recovered after a long series of years, and a long succession of virtuous praetors.

> Latin: 12. cuius praetura urbana aedium sacrarum fuit publicorumque operum depopulatio, simul in iure dicundo bonorum possessionumque contra omnium instituta addictio et condonatio. vero omnium vitiorum suorum plurima et maxima constituit monumenta et indicia in provincia Sicilia, quam iste per triennium ita vexavit ac perdidit ut ea restitui in antiquum statum nullo modo possit, vix autem per multos annos innocentisque praetores aliqua ex parte recreari aliquando posse videatur.

[¶10] 13. While this man was praetor the Sicilians enjoyed neither their own laws, nor the degrees of our senate, nor the common rights of every nation. Every one in Sicily has only so much left as either escaped the notice or was disregarded by the satiety of that most avaricious and licentious man. No legal decision for three years was given on any other ground but his will; no property was so secure to any man, even if it had descended to him from his father and grandfather, but he was deprived of it at his command; enormous sums of money were exacted from the property of the cultivators of the soil by a new and nefarious system. The most faithful of the allies were classed in the number of enemies. Roman citizens were tortured and put to death like slaves; the greatest criminals were acquitted in the courts of justice through bribery; the most upright and honourable men, being prosecuted while absent, were condemned and banished without being heard in their own defence; the most fortified harbours, the greatest and strongest cities, were laid open to pirates and robbers; the sailors and soldiers of the Sicilians, our own allies and friends, died of hunger; the best built fleets on the most important stations were lost and destroyed, to the great disgrace of the Roman people.

> Latin: 13. praetore Siculi neque suas leges neque nostra senatus consulta neque communia iura tenuerunt: tantum quisque habet in Sicilia quantum hominis avarissimi et libidinosissimi aut imprudentiam subterfugit aut satietati superfuit. res per triennium nisi ad nutum istius iudicata est, nulla res tam patria cuiusquam atque avita fuit quae non ab eo imperio istius abiudicaretur. pecuniae ex aratorum bonis novo nefarioque instituto coactae, socii fidelissimi in hostium numero existimati, cives Romani servilem in modum cruciati et necati, homines nocentissimi propter pecunias iudicio liberati, honestissimi atque integerrimi absentes rei facti indicta causa damnati et eiecti, portus munitissimi, maximae tutissimaeque urbes piratis praedonibusque patefactae, nautae militesque Siculorum, socii nostri atque amici, fame necati, classes optimae atque opportunissimae cum magna ignominia populi Romani amissae et perditae.

[¶11] 14. This same man while praetor plundered and stripped those most ancient monuments, some erected by wealthy monarchs and intended by them as ornaments for their cities; some, too, the work of our own generals, which they either gave or restored as conquerors to the different states in Sicily. And he did this not only in the case of public statues and ornaments, but he also plundered all the temples consecrated in the deepest religious feelings of the people. He did not leave, in short, one god to the Sicilians which appeared to him to be made in a tolerably workmanlike manner, and with any of the skill of the ancients. I am prevented by actual shame from speaking of his nefarious licentiousness as shown in rapes and other such enormities; and I am unwilling also to increase the distress of those men who have been unable to preserve their children and their wives unpolluted by his wanton lust.

> Latin: 14. iste praetor monumenta antiquissima partim regum locupletissimorum, quae illi ornamento urbibus esse voluerunt, partim etiam nostrorum imperatorum, quae victores civitatibus Siculis aut dederunt aut reddiderunt, spoliavit nudavitque omnia. hoc solum in statuis ornamentisque publicis fecit, sed etiam delubra omnia sanctissimis religionibus consecrata depeculatus est, deum denique nullum Siculis, qui ei paulo magis adfabre atque antiquo artificio factus videretur, reliquit. stupris vero et flagitiis nefarias eius libidines commemorare pudore deterreor; simul illorum calamitatem commemorando augere nolo quibus liberos coniugesque suas integras ab istius petulantia conservare non licitum est.

[¶12] 15. But, you will say, these things were done by him in such a manner as not to be notorious to all men. I think there is no man who has heard his name who cannot also relate wicked actions of his; so that I ought rather to be afraid of being thought to omit many of his crimes, than to invent any charges against him. And indeed I do not think that this multitude which has collected to listen to me wishes so much to learn of me what the facts of the case are, as to go over it with me, refreshing its recollection of what it knows already. And as this is the case, that senseless and profligate man attempts to combat me in another manner. He does not seek to oppose the eloquence of any one also to me, he does not rely on the popularity, or influence, or authority of any one. He pretends that he trusts to these things; but I see what he is really aiming at; (and indeed he is not acting with any concealment.) He sets before me empty titles of nobility, that is to say the names of arrogant men, who do not hinder me so much by being noble, as assist me by being notorious,—he pretends to rely on their protection; when he has in reality been contriving something else this long time.

> Latin: 15. “enim haec ita commissa sunt ab isto ut non cognita sint ab omnibus.” esse arbitror neminem, qui nomen istius audierit, quin facta quoque eius nefaria commemorare possit, ut mihi magis timendum sit ne multa crimina praetermittere quam ne qua in istum fingere existimer. enim mihi videtur haec multitudo, quae ad audiendum convenit, cognoscere ex me causam voluisse, sed ea quae scit mecum recognoscere. cum ita sint, iste homo amens ac perditus alia mecum ratione pugnat. id agit ut alicuius eloquentiam mihi opponat; non gratia, non auctoritate cuiusquam, non potentia nititur. his se rebus confidere; sed video quid agat; neque enim agit occultissime. inania mihi nobilitatis, hoc est hominum adrogantium nomina, qui non tam me impediunt quod nobiles sunt, quam adiuvant quod noti sunt: simulat se eorum praesidio confidere, cum interea aliud quiddam iam diu machinetur.

[¶13] 16. What hope he now has, and what he is endeavouring to do, I will now briefly explain to you, O judges. But first of all, remark, I beg you, how the matter has been arranged by him from the beginning. When he first returned from the province, he endeavoured to get rid of this prosecution by corrupting the judges at a great expense; and this object he continued to keep in view till the conclusion of the appointment of the judges. After the judges were appointed—because in drawing lots for them the fortune of the Roman people had defeated his hopes, and because in rejecting some, my diligence had defeated his impudence—the whole attempt at bribery was abandoned.

> Latin: 16. spem nunc habeat in manibus et quid moliatur breviter iam, iudices, vobis exponam; sed prius ut ab initio res ab eo constituta sit, quaeso, cognoscite. Vt primum e provincia rediit, redemptio est huius iudici facta grandi pecunia. in condicione atque pacto usque ad eum finem dum iudices reiecti sunt: posteaquam reiectio iudicum facta est, quod et in sortitione istius spem fortuna populi Romani et in reiciendis iudicibus mea diligentia istorum impudentiam vicerat, renuntiata est tota condicio. se res habebat.

[¶14] 17. The affair was going on admirably; lists of your names and of the whole tribunal were in every one's hands. It did not seem possible to mark the votes of these men with any distinguishing mark or colour or spot of dirt; and that fellow, from having been brisk and in high spirits, became on a sudden so downcast and humbled, that he seemed to be condemned not only by the Roman people but even by himself. But lo! all of a sudden, within these few days, since the consular comitia have taken place, he has gone back to his original plan with more money, and the same plots are now laid against your reputation and against the fortunes of every one, by the instrumentality of the same people; which fact at first, O judges, was pointed out to me by a very slight hint and indication; but afterwards, when my suspicions were once aroused, I arrived at the knowledge of all the most secret counsels of that party without any mistake.

> Latin: 17. nominum vestrorum consilique huius in manibus erant omnium; nulla nota, nullus color, nullae sordes videbantur his sententiis adlini posse, cum iste repente ex alacri atque laeto sic erat humilis atque demissus ut non modo populo Romano, sed etiam sibi ipse condemnatus videretur. autem repente his diebus paucis comitiis consularibus factis eadem illa vetera consilia pecunia maiore repetuntur, eaedemque vestrae famae fortunisque omnium insidiae per eosdem homines comparantur. res primo, iudices, pertenui nobis argumento indicioque patefacta est: post aperto suspicionis introitu ad omnia intima istorum consilia sine ullo errore pervenimus.

[¶15] 18. For as Hortensius the consul elect was being attended home again from the Campus by a great concourse and multitude of people, Caius Curio fell in with that multitude by chance,—a man whom I wish to name by way of honour rather than of disparagement. I will tell you what, if he had been unwilling to have it mentioned, he would not have spoken of in so large an assembly so openly and undisguisedly; which, however, shall be mentioned by me deliberately and cautiously, that it may be seen that I pay due regard to our friendship and to his dignity.

> Latin: 18. ut Hortensius consul designatus domum reducebatur e campo cum maxima frequentia ac multitudine, fit obviam casu ei multitudini C. Curio, quem ego hominem honoris potius quam contumeliae causa nominatum volo; etenim ea dicam quae ille, si commemorari noluisset, non tanto in conventu tam aperte palamque dixisset; quae tamen a me pedetemptim cauteque dicentur, ut et amicitiae nostrae et dignitatis illius habita ratio esse intellegatur.

[¶16] 19. He sees Verres in the crowd by the arch of Fabius; he speaks to the man, and with a loud voice congratulates him on his victory. He does not say a word to Hortensius himself, who had been made consul, or to his friends and relations who were present attending on him; but he stops to speak to this man, embraces him, and bids him cast off all anxiety. “I give you notice,” said he, “that you have been acquitted by this day's comitia.” And as many most honourable men heard this, it is immediately reported to me; indeed, every one who saw me mentioned it to me the first thing. To some it appeared scandalous, to others ridiculous; ridiculous to those who thought that this cause depended on the credibility of the witnesses, on the importance of the charges, and on the power of the judges, and not on the consular comitia; scandalous to those who looked deeper, and who thought that this congratulation had reference to the corruption of the judge.

> Latin: 19. ad ipsum fornicem Fabianum in turba Verrem; 19 appellat hominem et ei voce maxima gratulatur; ipsi Hortensio, qui consul erat factus, propinquis necessariisque eius, qui tum aderant, verbum nullum facit; cum hoc consistit, hunc amplexatur, hunc iubet sine cura esse. “”, inquit, “tibi te hodiernis comitiis esse absolutum.” cum tam multi homines honestissimi audissent, statim ad me defertur; immo vero ut quisque me viderat narrabat. Aliis illud indignum, aliis ridiculum videbatur: ridiculum iis qui istius causam in testium fide, in criminum ratione, in iudicum potestate, non in comitiis consularibus positam arbitrabantur, indignum iis qui altius perspiciebant et hanc gratulationem ad iudicium corrumpendum spectare videbant.

[¶17] 20. In truth, they argued in this manner—the most honourable men spoke to one another and to me in this manner—that there were now manifestly and undeniably no courts of justice at all. The very criminal who the day before thought that he was already condemned, is acquitted now that his defender has been made consul. What are we to think then? Will it avail nothing that all Sicily, all the Sicilians, that all the merchants who have business in that country, that all public and private documents are now at Rome? Nothing, if the consul elect wills it otherwise. What! will not the judges be influenced by the accusation, by the evidence, by the universal opinion of the Roman people? No. Everything will be governed by the power and authority of one man. I will speak the truth, O judges. This thing agitated me greatly; for every good man was speaking in this way—“That fellow will be taken out of your hands; but we shall not preserve our judicial authority much longer; for who, when Verres is acquitted, will be able to make any objection to transferring it from us?”

> Latin: 20. sic ratiocinabantur, sic honestissimi homines inter se et mecum loquebantur, aperte iam et perspicue nulla esse iudicia. reus pridie iam ipse se condemnatum putabat, is, posteaquam defensor eius consul est factus, absolvitur? igitur? quod tota Sicilia, quod omnes Siculi, omnes negotiatores, omnes publicae privataeque litterae Romae sunt, nihilne id valebit? invito consule designato.? iudices non crimina, non testis, non existimationem populi Romani sequentur?; omnia in unius potestate ac moderatione vertentur. loquar, iudices. me haec res commovebat; optimus enim quisque ita loquebatur “quidem tibi eripietur, sed nos non tenebimus iudicia diutius; etenim quis poterit Verre absoluto de transferendis iudiciis recusare?”

[¶18] 21. It was a grievous thing to every one, and the sudden elation of that profligate man did not weigh with them as much as that fresh congratulation of a very honourable one. I wished to dissemble my own vexation at it; I wished to conceal my own grief of mind under a cheerful countenance, and to bury it in silence. But lo! on the very days when the praetors elected were dividing their duties by lot, and when it fell to the share of Marcus Metellus to hold trials concerning extortion, information is given me that that fellow was receiving such congratulations, that he also sent men home to announce it to his wife.

> Latin: 21. omnibus molestum; neque eos tam istius hominis perditi subita laetitia quam hominis amplissimi nova gratulatio commovebat. dissimulare me id moleste ferre, cupiebam animi dolorem vultu tegere et taciturnitate celare. autem illis ipsis diebus, cum praetores designati sortirentur et M. Metello obtigisset ut is de pecuniis repetundis quaereret, nuntiatur mihi tantam isti gratulationem esse factam ut is domum quoque pueros mitteret qui uxori suae nuntiarent.

[¶19] 22. And this too in truth displeased me; and yet I was not quite aware what I had so much to fear from this allotment of the praetor's duties. But I ascertained this one thing from trustworthy men from whom I received all my intelligence; that many chests full of Sicilian money had been sent by some senator to a Roman knight, and that of these about ten chests had been left at that senator's house, with the statement that they were left to be used in the comitia when I expected to be elected aedile, and that men to distribute this money among all the tribes had been summoned to attend him by night.

> Latin: 22. ne haec quidem mihi res placebat; neque tantopere quid in hac sorte metuendum mihi esset intellegebam. Vnum illud ex hominibus certis, ex quibus omnia comperi, reperiebam, fiscos compluris cum pecunia Siciliensi a quodam senatore ad equitem Romanum esse translatos; ex his quasi X fiscos ad senatorem illum relictos esse comitiorum meorum nomine; divisores omnium tribuum noctu ad istum vocatos.

[¶20] 23. Of whom one, who thought himself under the greatest obligations to me, came to me that same night; reports to me the speech which that fellow had addressed to them; that he had reminded them how liberally he had treated them formerly when he was candidate for the praetorship, and at the last consular and praetorian comitia; and in the second place that he had promised them immediately whatever money they required, if they could procure my rejection from the aedileship. That on this some of them said that they did not dare attempt it; that others answered that they did not think it could be managed; but that one bold friend was found, a man of the same family as himself, Quintus Verres, of the Romilian tribe, of the most perfect school of bribers, the pupil and friend of Verres' father, who promised that, if five hundred thousand sesterces were provided, he would manage it; and that there were some others who said that they would cooperate with him. And as this was the case, he warned me beforehand with a friendly disposition, to take great care.

> Latin: 23. quibus quidam, qui se omnia mea causa facere debere arbitrabatur, eadem illa nocte ad me venit; demonstrat qua iste oratione usus esset; commemorasse istum quam liberaliter eos tractasset iam antea, cum ipse praeturam petisset, et proxumis consularibus praetoriisque comitiis; deinde continuo esse pollicitum quantam vellent pecuniam, si me aedilitate deiecissent. alios negasse audere, alios respondisse non putare id perfici posse; inventum tamen esse fortem amicum ex eadem familia, Q. Verrem Romilia, ex optima divisorum disciplina, patris istius discipulum atque amicum, qui HS quingentis milibus depositis id se perfecturum polliceretur, et fuisse tamen non nullos qui se una facturos esse dicerent. cum ita essent, sane benivolo animo me ut magnopere caverem praemonebat.

[¶21] 24. I was disquieted about many most important matters at one and the same moment, and with very little time to deliberate. The comitia were at hand; and at them I was to be opposed at immense expenditure of money. This trial was at hand; the Sicilian treasurers menaced that matter also. I was afraid, from apprehension about the comitia, to conduct the matters relating to the trial with freedom; and because of the trial, I was unable to attend with all my heart to my canvass. Threatening the agents of bribery was out of the question, because I saw that they were aware that I was hampered and fettered by this trial.

> Latin: 24. rebus maximis uno atque eo perexiguo tempore. Vrgebant comitia, et in his ipsis oppugnabar grandi pecunia; instabat iudicium, ei quoque negotio fisci Sicilienses minabantur. quae ad iudicium pertinebant libere comitiorum metu deterrebar; petitioni toto animo servire propter iudicium non licebat; minari denique divisoribus ratio non erat, propterea quod eos intellegere videbam me hoc iudicio districtum atque obligatum futurum.

[¶22] 25. And at this same moment I hear that notice has been given to the Sicilians by Hortensius to come to speak to him at his house; that the Sicilians behaved in that matter with a proper sense of their own liberty, and, when they understood on what account they were sent for, they would not go. In the meantime my comitia began to be held; of which that fellow thought himself the master, as he had been of all the other comitia this year. He began to run about, that influential man, with his son, a youth of engaging and popular manners, among the tribes. The son began to address and to call on all the friends of his father, that is to say, all his agents for bribery; and when this was noticed and perceived, the Roman people took care with the most earnest goodwill that I should not be deprived of my honour through the money of that man, whose riches had not been able to make me violate my good faith.

> Latin: 25. hoc ipso tempore Siculis denuntiatum esse audio primum ab Hortensio, domum ad illum ut venirent; Siculos in eo sane liberos fuisse, qui quam ob rem arcesserentur cum intellegerent, non venisse. comitia nostra, quorum iste se, ut ceterorum hoc anno comitiorum, dominum esse arbitrabatur, haberi coepta sunt. iste homo potens cum filio blando et gratioso circum tribus; paternos amicos, hoc est divisores, appellare omnis et convenire. cum esset intellectum et animadversum, fecit animo libentissimo populus Romanus ut, cuius divitiae me de fide deducere non potuissent, ne eiusdem pecunia de honore deicerer.

[¶23] 26. After that I was released from that great anxiety about my canvass, I began, with a mind much more unoccupied and much more at ease, to think of nothing and to do nothing except what related to this trial. I find, O judges, these plans formed and begun to be put in execution by them, to protract the matter, whatever steps it might be necessary to take in order to do so, so that the cause might be pleaded before Marcus Metellus as praetor. That by doing so they would have these advantages; firstly, that Marcus Metellus was most friendly to them; secondly, that not only would Hortensius be consul, but Quintus Metellus also: and listen while I show you how great a friend he is to them. For he gave him a token of his goodwill of such a sort, that he seemed to be giving it as a return for the suffrages of the tribes which he had scoured to him.

> Latin: 26. illa petitionis magna cura liberatus sum, animo coepi multo magis vacuo ac soluto nihil aliud nisi de iudicio agere et cogitare., iudices, haec ab istis consilia inita et constituta ut, quacumque opus esset ratione, res ita duceretur ut apud M. Metellum praetorem causa diceretur. eo esse haec commoda: primum M. Metellum amicissimum, deinde Hortensium consulem, neque Hortensium solum, sed etiam Q. Metellum, qui quam isti sit amicus attendite; dedit enim praerogativam suae voluntatis eius modi ut isti pro praerogativis iam reddidisse videatur.

[¶24] 27. Did you think that I would say nothing of such serious matters as these? and that, at a crisis of such danger to the republic and my own character, I would consult anything rather than my duty and my dignity? The other consul elect sent for the Sicilians; some came, because Lucius Metellus was praetor in Sicily. To them he speaks in this manner: that he is the consul; that one of his brothers has Sicily for his province; that the other is to be judge in all prosecutions for extortion; and that care had been taken in many ways that there should be no possibility of Verres being injured.

> Latin: 27. me taciturum tantis de rebus existimavistis, et me in tanto rei publicae existimationisque meae periculo cuiquam consulturum potius quam officio et dignitati meae? alter consul designatus Siculos; veniunt non nulli, propterea quod L. Metellus esset praetor in Sicilia. iis ita loquitur, “se consulem esse; fratrem suum alterum Siciliam provinciam obtinere, alterum esse quaesiturum de pecuniis repetundis; Verri ne noceri possit multis rationibus esse provisum.”

[¶25] 28. I ask you, Metellus, what is corrupting the course of justice, if this is not,—to seek to frighten witnesses, and especially Sicilians, timid and oppressed men, not only by your own private influence, but by their fear of the consul, and by the power of two praetors? What would you do for an innocent man or for a relation, when for the sake of a most guilty man, entirely unconnected with you, you depart from your duty and your dignity, and allow what he is constantly saying to appear true to any one who is not acquainted with you?

> Latin: 28. est, quaeso, Metelle, iudicium conrumpere, si hoc non est, testis, praesertim Siculos, timidos homines et adflictos, non solum auctoritate deterrere, sed etiam consulari metu et duorum praetorum potestate? faceres pro innocente homine et propinquo, cum propter hominem perditissimum atque alienissimum de officio ac dignitate decedis, et committis ut quod ille dictitat alicui qui te ignoret verum esse videatur?

[¶26] 29. For they said that Verres said, that you had not been made consul by destiny, as the rest of your family had been, but by his assistance. Two consuls, therefore, and the judge are to be such because of his will. We shall not only, says he, avoid having a man too scrupulous in investigating, too subservient to the opinion of the people, Marcus Glabrio, but we shall have this advantage also:—Marcus Caesonius is the judge, the colleague of our accuser a man of tried and proved experience in the decision of actions. It will never do for us to have such a man as that on the bench, which we are endeavouring to corrupt by some means or other; for before, when he was one of the Judges on the tribunal of which Junius was president, he was not only very indignant at that shameful transaction, but he even betrayed and denounced it. After the first of January we shall not have this man for our judge,— we shall not have Quintus Manlius and Quintus Cornificius, two most severe and upright judges, for judges, because they will then be tribunes of the people.

> Latin: 29. hoc Verrem dicere aiebant, te non fato, ut ceteros ex vestra familia, sed opera sua consulem factum. igitur consules et quaesitor erunt ex illius voluntate. “solum effugiemus,” inquit, “hominem in quaerendo nimium diligentem, nimium servientem populi existimationi, M’. Glabrionem; accedet etiam nobis illud. est M. Caesonius, conlega nostri accusatoris, homo in rebus iudicandis spectatus et cognitus, quem minime expediat esse in eo consilio quod conemur aliqua ratione conrumpere, propterea quod iam antea, cum iudex in Iuniano consilio fuisset, turpissimum illud facinus non solum graviter tulit, sed etiam in medium protulit. iudicem ex Kalendis Ianuariis non habebimus;”

## 2. Actio Prima · sections 30–56

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/2/#p-N

[¶0] 30. Publius Sulpicius, a solemn and upright judge, must enter on his magistracy on the fifth of November. Marcus Crepereius, of that renowned equestrian family and of that incorruptible character; Lucius Cassius, of a family renowned for its severity in all things, and especially as judges; Cnaeus Tremellius, a man of the greatest scrupulousness and diligence;—these three men of ancient strictness of principle are all military tribunes elect. After the first of January they will not be able to act as judges. And besides this, we elect by lot a successor in the room of Marcus Metellus, since he is to preside over this very trial. And so after the first of January, the praetor, and almost the whole bench of judges being changed, we shall elude the terrible threats of the prosecutor, and the great expectations entertained of this trial, and manage it according to our own will and pleasure.

> Latin: 30. “Q. Manlium et Q. Cornificium, duos severissimos atque integerrimos iudices, quod tribuni plebis tum erunt, iudices non habebimus; P. Sulpicius, iudex tristis et integer, magistratum ineat oportet Nonis Decembribus; M. Crepereius ex acerrima illa equestri familia et disciplina, L. Cassius ex familia cum ad ceteras res tum ad iudicandum severissima, Cn. Tremellius, homo summa religione et diligentia, tres hi homines veteres tribuni militares sunt designati; ex Kalendis Ianuariis non iudicabunt. etiam in M. Metelli locum, quoniam is huic ipsi quaestioni praefuturus est. secundum Kalendas Ianuarias et praetore et prope toto commutato consilio magnas accusatoris minas magnamque exspectationem iudici ad nostrum arbitrium libidinemque eludemus.”

[¶1] 31. Today is the fifth of August. You began to assemble at the ninth hour. This day they do not even count. There are ten days between this and the votive games which Cnaeus Pompeius is going to celebrate. These games will take up fifteen days; then immediately the Roman games will follow. And so, when nearly forty days have intervened, then at length they think they shall have to answer what has been said by us; and they think that, what with speeches, and what with excuses, they will easily be able to protract the cause till the period of the games of Victory. With these the plebeian games are connected, after which there will be either no day at all, or very few for pleading in. And so, when the accusation has got stale and cold, the matter will come all fresh before Marcus Metellus as praetor. And if I had distrusted his good faith, I should not have retained him as a judge.

> Latin: 31. Nonae sunt hodie Sextiles; hora viii convenire coepistis; hunc diem iam ne numerant quidem. dies sunt ante ludos votivos, quos Cn. Pompeius facturus est; hi ludi dies quindecim auferent; deinde continuo Romani consequentur. prope xl diebus interpositis tum denique se ad ea quae a nobis dicta erunt responsuros esse arbitrantur; deinde se ducturos et dicendo et excusando facile ad ludos; cum his plebeios esse coniunctos, secundum quos aut nulli aut perpauci dies ad agendum futuri sunt: ita defessa ac refrigerata accusatione rem integram ad M. Metellum praetorem esse venturam. ego hominem, si eius fidei diffisus essem, iudicem non retinuissem;

[¶2] 32. But now I have such an opinion of him, that I would rather this matter was brought to a close while he is judge than while he is praetor; and I would rather entrust to him his own tablet while he is on his oath, than the tablets of others when he is restrained by no such obligation. Now, O judges, I consult you as to what you think I ought to do. For you will, in truth, without speaking, give me that advice which I understand that I must inevitably adopt. If I occupy the time which I legitimately might in speaking, I shall reap the fruit of my labour, industry, and diligence; and by this prosecution I shall make it manifest that no one in the memory of man appears ever to have come before a court of justice better prepared, more vigilant, or with his cause better got up. But while I am getting this credit for my industry, there is great danger lest the criminal may escape. What, then, is there which can be done? I think it is neither obscure nor hidden.

> Latin: 32. nunc tamen hoc animo sum ut eo iudice quam praetore hanc rem transigi malim, et iurato suam quam iniurato aliorum tabellas committere. ego, iudices, iam vos consulo quid mihi faciendum putetis; id enim consili mihi profecto taciti dabitis quod egomet mihi necessario capiendum intellego. utar ad dicendum meo legitimo tempore, mei laboris industriae diligentiaeque capiam fructum, et hac accusatione perficiam ut nemo umquam post hominum memoriam paratior, vigilantior, compositior ad iudicium venisse videatur. in hac laude industriae meae reus ne elabatur summum periculum est. est igitur quod fieri possit? obscurum, opinor, neque absconditum.

[¶3] 33. I will reserve for another time that fruit of praise which may be derived from a long uninterrupted speech. At present I must support this accusation by documentary evidence, by witnesses, by letters of private individuals and of public bodies, and by various other kinds of proof. The whole of this contest is between you and me, O Hortensius. I will speak openly. If I thought that you were contending with me in the matter of speaking, and of getting rid of the charges I bring against your client in this cause, I, too, would devote much pains to mounting an elaborate accusation, and to dilating on my charges. Now, since you have determined to contend against me with artifice, not so much in obedience to the promptings of your own nature, as from consulting his occasions and his cause, it is necessary for me to oppose conduct of that sort with prudence.

> Latin: 33. istum laudis, qui ex perpetua oratione percipi potuit, in alia tempora reservemus: nunc hominem tabulis, testibus, privatis publicisque litteris auctoritatibusque accusemus. omnis mihi tecum erit, Hortensi. aperte. te mecum dicendo ac diluendis criminibus in hac causa contendere putarem, ego quoque in accusando atque in explicandis criminibus operam consumerem: nunc quoniam pugnare contra me instituisti non tam ex tua natura quam ex istius tempore et causa [malitiose], necesse est istius modi rationi aliquo consilio obsistere.

[¶4] 34. Your plan is, to begin to answer me after two sets of games have been celebrated; mine is to have the adjournment over before the first series. And the result will be, that that plan of yours will be thought crafty, but this determination of mine necessary. But as for what I had begun to say,—namely, that the contest is between you and me, this is it,—I, when I had undertaken this cause at the request of the Sicilians, and had thought it a very honourable and glorious thing for me that they were willing to make experiment of my integrity and diligence, who already knew by experience my innocence and temperance: then, when I had undertaken this business, I proposed to myself some greater action also by which the Roman people should be able to see my goodwill towards the republic.

> Latin: 34. ratio est ut secundum binos ludos mihi respondere incipias, mea ut ante primos ludos comperendinem. fiet ut tua ista ratio existimetur astuta, meum hoc consilium necessarium. illud quod institueram dicere, mihi rem tecum esse, huius modi est. cum hanc causam Siculorum rogatu recepissem, idque mihi amplum et praeclarum existimassem, eos velle meae fidei diligentiaeque periculum facere qui innocentiae abstinentiaeque fecissent, tum suscepto negotio maius quiddam mihi proposui, in quo meam in rem publicam voluntatem populus Romanus perspicere posset.

[¶5] 35. For that seemed to me to be by no means worthy of my industry and efforts, for that man to be brought to trial by me who had been already condemned by the judgment of all men, unless that intolerable influence of yours, and that grasping nature which you have displayed for some years in many trials, was interposed also in the case of that desperate man. But no, since all this dominion and sovereignty of yours over the courts of justice delights you so much, and since there are some men who are neither ashamed of their licentiousness and their infamy, nor weary of it, and who, as if on purpose, seem to wish to encounter hatred and unpopularity from the Roman people, I profess that I have undertaken this,—a great burden perhaps, and one dangerous to myself, but still worthy of my applying myself to it with all the vigour of my age, and all diligence.

> Latin: 35. illud mihi nequaquam dignum industria conatuque meo videbatur, istum a me in iudicium iam omnium iudicio condemnatum vocari, nisi ista tua intolerabilis potentia, et ea cupiditas qua per hosce annos in quibusdam iudiciis usus es, etiam in istius hominis desperati causa interponeretur. vero, quoniam haec te omnis dominatio regnumque iudiciorum tanto opere delectat, et sunt homines quos libidinis infamiaeque suae neque pudeat neque taedeat, qui quasi de industria in odium offensionemque populi Romani inruere videantur, hoc me profiteor suscepisse magnum fortasse onus et mihi periculosum, verum tamen dignum in quo omnis nervos aetatis industriaeque meae contenderem.

[¶6] 36. And since the whole order of the senate is weighed down by the discredit brought on it by the wickedness and audacity of a few, and is overwhelmed by the infamy of the tribunals, I profess myself an enemy to this race of men, an accuser worthy of their hatred, a persevering, a bitter adversary. I arrogate this to myself, I claim this for myself, and I will carry out this enmity in my magistracy, and from that post in which the Roman people has willed that from the next first of January I shall act in concert with it in matters concerning the republic, and concerning wicked men. I promise the Roman people that this shall be the most honourable and the fairest employment of my aedileship. I warn, I forewarn, I give notice beforehand to those men who are wont either to put money down, to undertake for others, to receive money, or to promise money, or to act as agents in bribery, or as go-betweens in corrupting the seat of judgment, and who have promised their influence or their impudence in aid of such a business, in this trial to keep their hands and inclinations from this nefarious wickedness.

> Latin: 36. totus ordo paucorum improbitate et audacia premitur et urgetur infamia iudiciorum, profiteor huic generi hominum me inimicum accusatorem, odiosum, adsiduum, acerbum adversarium. mihi sumo, hoc mihi deposco, quod agam in magistratu, quod agam ex eo loco ex quo me populus Romanus ex Kalendis Ianuariis secum agere de re publica ac de hominibus improbis voluit; hoc munus aedilitatis meae populo Romano amplissimum pulcherrimumque polliceor., praedico, ante denuntio: qui aut deponere aut accipere aut recipere aut polliceri aut sequestres aut interpretes corrumpendi iudici solent esse, quique ad hanc rem aut potentiam aut impudentiam suam professi sunt, abstineant in hoc iudicio manus animosque ab hoc scelere nefario.

[¶7] 37. Hortensius will then be consul with the chief command and authority, but I shall be aedile—that is, I shall be a little more than a private individual; and yet this business, which I promise that I am going to advocate, is of such a nature, so pleasing and agreeable to the Roman people, that the consul himself will appear in this cause, if that be possible, even less than a private individual in comparison of me. All those things shall not only be mentioned, but even, where certain matters have been explained, shall be fully discussed, which for the last ten years, ever since the office of the judge has been transferred to the senate, has been nefariously and wickedly done in the decision of judicial matters.

> Latin: 37. tum consul Hortensius cum summo imperio et potestate, ego autem aedilis, hoc est paulo amplius quam privatus; tamen haec huius modi res est quam me acturum esse polliceor, ita populo Romano grata atque iucunda, ut ipse consul in hac causa prae me minus etiam, si fieri possit, quam privatus esse videatur. non modo commemorabuntur, sed etiam expositis certis rebus agentur, quae inter decem annos, posteaquam iudicia ad senatum translata sunt, in rebus iudicandis nefarie flagitioseque facta sunt.

[¶8] 38. The Roman people shall know from me why it is that when the equestrian body supplied the judges for nearly fifty years together, not even the slightest suspicion ever arose of bribes having been accepted for the purpose of influencing a decision; why it is, I say, when the judicial authority was transferred to the senatorial body, and the power of the Roman people over every one of us was taken away, Quintus Calidius, when he was condemned, said that a man of praetorian rank could not honestly be condemned at a less price than three hundred thousand sesterces; why it is that when Publius Septimius, a senator, was condemned for extortion, when Quintus Hortensius was praetor, damages were assessed against him, including money which he had received as judge to decide causes which came before him;

> Latin: 38. ex me populus Romanus quid sit quam ob rem, cum equester ordo iudicaret, annos prope quinquaginta continuos in nullo, iudices, equite Romano iudicante ne tenuissima quidem suspicio acceptae pecuniae ob rem iudicandam constituta sit; quid sit quod, iudiciis ad senatorium ordinem translatis sublataque populi Romani in unum quemque vestrum potestate, Q. Calidius damnatus dixerit minoris HS triciens praetorium hominem honeste non posse damnari; quid sit quod, P. Septimio senatore damnato Q. Hortensio praetore de pecuniis repetundis, lis aestimata sit eo nomine, quod ille ob rem iudicandam pecuniam accepisset.

[¶9] 39. why it is, that in the case of Caius Herennius, and in that of Caius Popillius, senators, both of whom were convicted of peculation—why it is, that in the case of Marcus Atilius, who was convicted of treason—this was made plain,—that they had all received money for the purpose of influencing their judicial decisions; why it is, that senators have been found who, when Caius Verres, as praetor of the city, gave out the lots, voted against the criminal whom they were condemning without having inquired into his case; why it is, that a senator was found who, when he was judge, took money in one and the same trial both from the defendant to distribute among the judges, and from the accuser to condemn the defendant.

> Latin: 39. in C. Herennio, quod in C. Popilio, senatoribus, qui ambo peculatus damnati sunt, quod in M. Atilio, qui de maiestate damnatus est, hoc planum factum est, eos pecuniam ob rem iudicandam accepisse, quod inventi sunt senatores qui C. Verre praetore urbano sortiente exirent in eum reum quem incognita causa condemnarent, quod inventus est senator qui, cum iudex esset, in eodem iudicio et ab reo pecuniam acciperet quam iudicibus divideret, et ab accusatore ut reum condemnaret.

[¶10] 40. But how shall I adequately complain of that stain, that disgrace, that calamity of the whole senatorial order,—that this thing actually happened in the city while the senatorial order furnished the judges, that the votes of men on their oaths were marked by coloured tablets? I pledge myself that I will urge all these things with diligence and with strictness. And what do you suppose will be my thoughts, if I find in this very trial any violation of the laws committed in any similar manner? especially when I can prove by many witnesses that Caius Verres often said in Sicily, in the hearing of many persons, “that he had a powerful friend, in confidence in whom he was plundering the province; and that he was not seeking money for himself alone, but that he had so distributed the three years of his Sicilian praetorship, that he should say he did exceedingly well, if he appropriated the gains of one year to the augmentation of his own property, those of the second year to his patrons and defenders, and reserved the whole of the third year, the most productive and gainful of all, for the judges.”

> Latin: 40. vero quo modo ego illam 4o labem ignominiam calamitatemque totius ordinis conquerar, hoc factum esse in hac civitate, cum senatorius ordo iudicaret, ut discoloribus signis iuratorum hominum sententiae notarentur? omnia me diligenter severeque acturum esse polliceor. me tandem animo fore putatis, si quid in hoc ipso iudicio intellexero simili aliqua ratione esse violatum atque commissum? cum praesertim planum facere multis testibus possim C. Verrem in Sicilia multis audientibus saepe dixisse se habere hominem potentem cuius fiducia provinciam spoliaret; neque sibi soli pecuniam quaerere, sed ita triennium illud praeturae Siciliensis distributum habere ut secum praeclare agi diceret si unius anni quaestum in rem suam converteret, alterum patronis et defensoribus traderet, tertium illum uberrimum quaestuosissimumque annum totum iudicibus reservaret.

[¶11] 41. From which it came into my mind to say that which, when I had said lately before Marcus Glabrio at the time of striking the list of judges, I perceived the Roman people greatly moved by; that I thought that foreign nations would send ambassadors to the Roman people to procure the abrogation of the law, and of all trials, about extortion; for if there were no trials, they think that each man would only plunder them of as much as he would think sufficient for himself and his children; but now, because there are trials of that sort, every one carries off as much as it will take to satisfy himself, his patrons, his advocates, the praetor, and the judges; and that this is an enormous sum; that they may be able to satisfy the cupidity of one most avaricious man, but are quite unable to incur the expense of his most guilty victory over the laws.

> Latin: 41. quo mihi venit in mentem illud dicere, quod apud M’. Glabrionem nuper cum in reiciundis iudicibus commemorassem intellexi vehementer populum Romanum commoveri, me arbitrari fore uti nationes exterae legatos ad populum Romanum mitterent, ut lex de pecuniis repetundis iudiciumque tolleretur; si enim iudicia nulla sint,, tantum unum quemque ablaturum putant quantum sibi ac liberis suis satis esse arbitretur; nunc, quod eius modi iudicia sint tantum unum quemque auferre quantum sibi, patronis, advocatis, praetori, iudicibus satis futurum sit; hoc profecto infinitum esse; se avarissimi hominis cupiditati satis facere posse, nocentissimi victoriae non posse.

[¶12] 42. O trials worthy of being recorded! O splendid reputation of our order! when the allies of the Roman people are unwilling that trials for extortion should take place, which were instituted by our ancestors for the sake of the allies. Would that man ever have had a favourable hope of his own safety, if he had not conceived in his mind a bad opinion of you? on which account, he ought, if possible, to be still more hated by you than he is by the Roman people, because he considers you like himself in avarice and wickedness and perjury.

> Latin: 42. O commemoranda iudicia praeclaramque existimationem nostri ordinis, cum socii populi Romani iudicia de pecuniis repetundis fieri nolunt, quae a maioribus nostris sociorum causa comparata sunt! iste umquam de se bonam spem habuisset, nisi de vobis malam opinionem animo imbibisset? maiore etiam, si fieri potest, apud vos odio esse debet quam est apud populum Romanum, cum in avaritia, scelere, periurio vos sui similis esse arbitretur.

[¶13] 43. And I beg you, in the name of the immortal gods, O judges, think of and guard against this; I warn you, I give notice to you, of what I am well assured, that this most seasonable opportunity has been given to you by the favour of the gods, for the purpose of delivering your whole order from hatred, from unpopularity, from infamy, and from disgrace. There is no severity believed to exist ill the tribunals, nor any scruples with regard to religion; in short, there are not believed to be any tribunals at all. Therefore we are despised and scorned by the Roman people; we are branded with a heavy and now a long standing infamy.

> Latin: 43. loco, per deos immortalis, iudices, consulite ac providete! praedicoque id quod intellego, tempus hoc vobis divinitus datum esse ut odio, invidia, infamia, turpitudine totum ordinem liberetis. in iudiciis severitas, nulla religio, nulla denique iam existimantur esse iudicia. a populo Romano contemnimur, despicimur; gravi diuturnaque iam flagramus infamia.

[¶14] 44. Nor, in fact, is there any other reason for which the Roman people has with so much earnestness sought the restoration of the tribunician power: but when it was demanding that in words, it seemed to be asking for that, but in reality it was asking for tribunes which it could trust. And this did not escape the notice of Quintus Catulus, a most sagacious and honourable man, who, when Cnaeus Pompeius, a most gallant and illustrious man, made a motion about the tribunitian power, and when he was asked his opinion, begin his speech in this manner, speaking with the greatest authority, “that the conscript fathers presided over the courts of justice badly and wickedly; but if in deciding judicial trials they had been willing to satisfy the expectations of the Roman people, men would not so greatly regret the tribunitian power?”

> Latin: 44. enim ullam aliam ob causam populus Romanus tribuniciam potestatem tanto studio requisivit; quam cum poscebat, verbo illam poscere videbatur, re vera iudicia poscebat. hoc Q. Catulum, hominem sapientissimum atque amplissimum, fugit, qui Cn. Pompeio, viro fortissimo et clarissimo, de tribunicia potestate referente cum esset sententiam rogatus, hoc initio est summa cum auctoritate usus, patres conscriptos iudicia male et flagitiose tueri; quodsi in rebus iudicandis populi Romani existimationi satis facere voluissent, non tanto opere homines fuisse tribuniciam potestatem desideraturos.

[¶15] 45. Lastly, when Cnaeus Pompeius himself, when first he delivered an address to the people as consul elect, mentioned (what seemed above all things to be watched for) that he would restore the power of the tribunes, a great shout was raised at his words, and a grateful murmur pervaded the assembly. And when he had said also in the same assembly “that the provinces were depopulated and tyrannised over, that the courts of justice were become base and wicked, and that he desired to provide for and to remedy that evil,” the Roman people then signified their good will, not with a shout, but with a universal uproar.

> Latin: 45. denique Cn. Pompeius cum 4s primum contionem ad urbem consul designatus habuit, ubi, id quod maxime exspectari videbatur, ostendit se tribuniciam potestatem restituturum, factus est in eo strepitus et grata contionis admurmuratio. in eadem contione cum dixisset populatas vexatasque esse provincias, iudicia autem turpia ac flagitiosa fieri; ei rei se providere ac consulere velle; tum vero non strepitu, sed maximo clamore suam 6 populus Romanus significavit voluntatem.

[¶16] 46. But now men are on the watch towers; they observe how every one of you behaves himself in respecting religion and in preserving the laws. They see that, ever since the passing of the law for restoring the power of the tribunes, only one senator, and he too a very insignificant one, has been condemned. And though they do nor blame this, yet they have nothing which they can very much commend. For there is no credit in being upright in a case where there is no one who is either able or who endeavours to corrupt one.

> Latin: 46. autem 46 homines in speculis sunt; observant quem ad modum sese unus quisque nostrum gerat in retinenda religione conservandisque legibus. adhuc post legem tribuniciam unum senatorem vel tenuissimum esse damnatum; quod tametsi non reprehendunt, tamen magno opere quod laudent non habent; nulla est enim laus ibi esse integrum ubi nemo est qui aut possit aut conetur corrumpere.

[¶17] 47. This is a trial in which you will be deciding about the defendant, the Roman people about you;—by the example of what happens to this man it will be determined whether, when senators are the judges, a very guilty and a very rich man can be condemned. Moreover, he is a criminal of such a sort, that there is absolutely nothing whatever in him except the greatest crimes, and excessive riches; so that if he be acquitted, no other opinion can be formed of the matter except that which is the most discreditable possible. Such numerous and enormous vices as his will not be considered to have been canceled by influence, by family connection, by some things which may have been done well, or even by the minor vices of flattery and subservience.

> Latin: 47. est iudicium in quo vos de reo, populus Romanus de vobis iudicabit; in hoc homine statuetur, possitne senatoribus iudicantibus homo nocentissimus pecuniosissimusque damnari. est eius modi reus in quo homine nihil sit praeter summa peccata maximamque pecuniam, ut, si liberatus sit, nulla alia suspicio nisi ea quae turpissima est residere possit; non gratia, non cognatione, non aliis recte factis, non denique aliquo mediocri vitio tot tantaque eius vitia sublevata esse videbuntur.

[¶18] 48. In short, I will conduct the cause in this manner; I will bring forward things of such a sort, so well known, so proved by evidence, so important, and so undeniable, that no one shall venture to use his influence to obtain from you the acquittal of that man; for I have a sure path and method by which I can investigate and become acquainted with all their endeavours. The matter will be so managed by me that not only the ears but even the eyes of the Roman people shall seem to be present at all their counsels.

> Latin: 48. ego causam sic agam, iudices, eius modi res, ita notas, ita testatas, ita magnas, ita manifestas proferam, ut nemo a vobis ut istum absolvatis per gratiam conetur contendere. autem certam viam atque rationem qua omnis illorum conatus investigare et consequi possim; ita res a me agetur ut in eorum consiliis omnibus non modo aures omnium, sed etiam oculi populi Romani interesse videantur.

[¶19] 49. You have in your power to remove and to eradicate the disgrace and infamy which has now for many years attached to your order. It is evident to all men, that since these tribunals have been established which we now have, there has never been a bench of judges of the same splendour and dignity as this. If anything is done wrongly in this case, all men will think not that other more capable judges should be appointed of the same order of men, which is not possible; but that another order must be sought for, from which to select the judges for the future.

> Latin: 49. aliquot iam per annos conceptam huic ordini turpitudinem atque infamiam delere ac tollere potestis. inter omnis post haec constituta iudicia, quibus nunc utimur, nullum hoc splendore atque hac dignitate consilium fuisse. si quid erit offensum, omnes homines non iam ex eodem ordine alios magis idoneos, quod fieri non potest, sed alium omnino ordinem ad res iudicandas quaerendum arbitrabuntur.

[¶20] 50. On which account, in the first place, I beg this of the immortal gods, which I seem to myself to have hopes of too, that in this trial no one may be found to be wicked except him who has long since been found to be such; secondly, if there are many wicked men, I promise this to you, O judges, I promise this to the Roman people, that my life shall fail rather than my vigour and perseverance in prosecuting their iniquity.

> Latin: 50. primum ab dis immortalibus, quod sperare mihi videor, hoc idem, iudices, opto, ut in hoc iudicio nemo improbus praeter eum qui iam pridem inventus est reperiatur; deinde, si plures improbi fuerint, hoc vobis, hoc populo Romano, iudices, confirmo, vitam mehercule mihi prius quam vim perseverantiamque ad illorum improbitatem persequendam defuturam.

[¶21] 51. But that iniquity, which, if it should be committed, I promise to prosecute severely, with however much trouble and danger to myself, and whatever enmities I may bring on myself by so doing, you, O Marcus Glabrio, can guard against ever taking place by your wisdom, and authority, and diligence. Do you undertake the cause of the tribunals. Do you undertake the cause of impartiality, of integrity, of good faith and of religion. Do you undertake the cause of the senate; that, being proved worthy by its conduct in this trial, it may come into favour and popularity with the Roman people. Think who you are, and in what a situation you are placed; what you ought to give to the Roman people, what you ought to repay to your ancestors. Let the recollection of the Acilian law passed by your father occur to your mind, owing to which law the Roman people has had this advantage of most admirable decisions and very strict judges in cases of extortion.

> Latin: 51. quod ego laboribus periculis inimicitiisque meis tum cum admissum erit dedecus severe me persecuturum esse polliceor, id ne accidat tu tua auctoritate, sapientia, diligentia, M’. Glabrio, potes providere. causam iudiciorum; suscipe causam severitatis, integritatis, fidei, religionis; suscipe causam senatus, ut is hoc iudicio probatus cum populo Romano et in laude et in gratia esse possit., quo loco sis, quid dare populo Romano, quid reddere maioribus tuis debeas; fac tibi paternae legis Aciliae veniat in mentem, qua lege populus Romanus de pecuniis repetundis optimis iudiciis severissimisque iudicibus usus est.

[¶22] 52. High authorities surround you which will not suffer you to forget your family credit; which will remind you day and night that your father was a most brave man, your grandfather a most wise one, and your father-in-law a most worthy man. Wherefore, if you have inherited the vigour and energy of your father Glabrio in resisting audacious men; if you have inherited the prudence of your grandfather Scaevola in foreseeing intrigues which are prepared against your fame and that of your fellow-judges; if you have any share of the constancy of your father-in-law Scaurus, so that no one can move you from your genuine and deliberate opinion, the Roman people will understand that with an upright and honourable praetor, and a carefully selected bench of judges, abundance of wealth has more influence in bringing a criminal into suspicion, than in contributing to his safety.

> Latin: 52. te summae auctoritates, quae te oblivisci laudis domesticae non sinant, quae te noctes diesque commoneant fortissimum tibi patrem, sapientissimum avum, gravissimum socerum fuisse. si Glabrionis patris vim et acrimoniam ceperis ad resistendum hominibus audacissimis, si avi Scaevolae prudentiam ad prospiciendas insidias quae tuae atque horum famae comparantur, si soceri Scauri constantiam, ut ne quis te de vera et certa possit sententia demovere, intelleget populus Romanus integerrimo atque honestissimo praetore delectoque consilio nocenti reo magnitudinem pecuniae plus habuisse momenti ad suspicionem criminis quam ad rationem salutis.

[¶23] 53. I am resolved not to permit the praetor or the judges to be hanged in this cause. I will not permit the matter to be delayed till the lictors of the consuls can go and summon the Sicilians, whom the servants of the consuls elect did not influence before, when by an unprecedented course of proceeding they sent for them all; I will not permit those miserable men, formerly the allies and friends of the Roman people, now their slaves and suppliants, to lose not only their rights and fortunes by their tyranny, but to be deprived of even the power of bewailing their condition;

> Latin: 53. certum est non committere ut in hac causa praetor nobis consiliumque mutetur. patiar rem in id tempus adduci ut quos adhuc servi designatorum consulum non moverunt, cum eos novo exemplo universos arcesserent, eos tum lictores consulum vocent; ut homines miseri, antea socii atque amici populi Romani, nunc servi ac supplices, non modo ius suum fortunasque omnis eorum imperio amittant, verum etiam deplorandi iuris sui potestatem non habeant.

[¶24] 54. I will not, I say, when the cause has been summed up by me, permit them after a delay of forty days has intervened, then at last to reply to me when my accusation has already fallen into oblivion through lapse of time; I will not permit the decision to be given when this crowd collected from all Italy has departed from Rome, which has assembled from all quarters at the same time on account of the comitia, of the games, and of the census. The reward of the credit gained by your decision, or the danger arising from the unpopularity which will accrue to you if you decide unjustly, I think ought to belong to you; the labour and anxiety to me; the knowledge of what is done and the recollection of what has been said by every one, to all.

> Latin: 54. sinam profecto causa a me perorata, quadraginta diebus interpositis, tum nobis denique responderi cum accusatio nostra in oblivionem diuturnitatis adducta sit. committam ut tum haec res iudicetur, cum haec frequentia totius Italiae Roma discesserit, quae convenit uno tempore undique comitiorum ludorum censendique causa. iudici et laudis fructum et offensionis periculum vestrum, laborem sollicitudinemque nostram, scientiam quid agatur, memoriamque quid a quoque dictum sit, omnium puto esse oportere.

[¶25] 55. I will adopt this course, not an unprecedented one, but one that has been adopted before, by those who are now the chief men of our state,—the course, I mean, of at once producing the witnesses. What you will find novel, O judges, is this, that I will so marshal my witnesses as to unfold the whole of my accusation; that when I have established it by examining my witnesses, by arguments, and by my speech, then I shall show the agreement of the evidence with my accusation: so that there shall be no difference between the established mode of prosecuting, and this new one, except that, according to the established mode, when everything has been said which is to be said, then the witnesses are produced; here they shall be produced as each count is brought forward; so that the other side shall have the same opportunity of examining them, of arguing and making speeches or their evidence. If there be any one who prefers an uninterrupted speech and the old mode of conducting a prosecution without any break, he shall have it in some other trial. But for this time let him understand that what we do is done by us on compulsion, (for we only do it with the design of opposing the artifice of the opposite party by our prudence.)

> Latin: 55. hoc non novum, sed ab iis qui nunc principes nostrae civitatis sunt ante factum, ut testibus utar statim: illud a me novum, iudices, cognoscetis, quod ita testis constituam ut crimen totum explicem, ubi id interrogando argumentis atque oratione firmavero, tum testis ad crimen adcommodem, ut nihil inter illam usitatam accusationem atque hanc novam intersit, nisi quod in illa tum cum omnia dicta sunt testes dantur, hic in singulas res dabuntur, ut illis quoque eadem interrogandi facultas argumentandi dicendique sit. quis erit qui perpetuam orationem accusationemque desideret, altera actione audiet; nunc id quod facimus,— quia ea ratione facimus, ut malitiae illorum consilio nostro occurramus,—necessario fieri intellegat.

[¶26] 56. This will be the first part of the prosecution. We say that Caius Verres has not only done many licentious acts, many cruel ones, towards Roman citizens, and towards some of the allies, many wicked acts against both gods and men; but especially that he has taken away four hundred thousand sesterces out of Sicily contrary to the laws. We will make this so plain to you by witnesses, by private documents, and by public records that you shall decide that, even if we had abundant space and leisure days for making a long speech without any inconvenience, still there was no need at all of a long speech in this matter. The following five orations were never spoken: they were published afterwards as they had been prepared and intended to be spoken if Verres had made a regular defence; for as this was the only cause in which Cicero had been engaged as accuser, he was willing to leave these orations as a specimen of his abilities that way, and as a pattern of a just and diligent impeachment of a corrupt magistrate. But Hortensius had been so confounded by the novelty of Cicero's mode of conducting the prosecution, and by the strength of the case brought against his client, that he was quite unable to make any defence, and Verres went into voluntary exile. In the beginning of this oration Cicero imagines Verres to be present, and to be prepared to make his defence, but before he proceeds to the main subjects of the prosecution, which occupy the last four orations he devotes this one to an examination of his previous character and conduct as a public man, as quaestor, as legatus, as praetor urbanus, and as praetor in Sicily; in order to show that his previous conduct had been such as to warrant any one in believing the charges he was now bringing against him. I think that no one of you, O judges, is ignorant that for these many days the discourse of the populace, and the opinion of the Roman people, has been that Caius Verres would not appear a second time before the bench to reply to my charges, and would not again present himself in court; And this idea had not got about merely because he had deliberately determined and resolved not to appear, but because no one believed that any one would be so audacious, so frantic, and so impudent, as, after having been convicted of such nefarious crimes, and by so many witnesses, to venture to present himself to the eyes of the judges, or to show his face to the Roman people.

> Latin: 56. primae actionis erit accusatio. C. Verrem, cum multa libidinose, multa crudeliter in civis Romanos atque socios, multa in deos hominesque nefarie fecerit, tum praeterea quadringentiens sestertium ex Sicilia contra leges abstulisse. testibus, hoc tabulis privatis publicisque auctoritatibus ita vobis planum faciemus ut hoc statuatis, etiamsi spatium ad dicendum nostro commodo vacuosque dies habuissemus, tamen oratione longa nihil opus fuisse.. vestrum ignorare arbitror, iudices, hunc per hosce dies sermonem vulgi atque hanc opinionem populi Romani fuisse, C. Verrem altera actione responsurum non esse neque ad iudicium adfuturum. fama non idcirco solum emanarat quod iste certe statuerat ac deliberaverat non adesse, verum etiam quod nemo quemquam tam audacem, tam amentem, tam impudentem fora arbitrabatur qui tam nefariis criminibus, tam multis testibus convictus ore iudicum aspicere aut os suum populo Romano ostendere auderet.

## 3. Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 2–34

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/3/#p-N

[¶0] 2. But he is the same Verres that he always was; as he was abandoned enough to dare, so he is hardened enough to listen to anything. He is present; he replies to us; he makes his defence. He does not even leave himself this much of character, to be supposed, by being silent and keeping out of the way when he is so visibly convicted of the most infamous conduct, to have sought for a modest escape for his impudence. I can endure this, O judges, and I am not vexed that I am to receive the reward of my labours, and you the reward of your virtue. For if he had done what he at first determined to, that is, had not appeared, it would have been somewhat less known than is desirable for me what pains I had taken in preparing and arranging this prosecution: and your praise, O judges, would have been exceedingly slight and little heard of.

> Latin: 2. idem Verres qui fuit semper, ut ad audendum proiectus, sic paratus ad audiendum. est, respondet, defenditur; ne hoc quidem sibi reliqui facit ut, in rebus turpissimis cum manifesto teneatur, si reticeat et absit, tamen impudentiae suae pudentem exitum quaesisse videatur., iudices, et non moleste fero me laboris mei, vos virtutis vestrae fructum esse laturos. si iste id fecisset quod prius statuerat, ut non adesset, minus aliquanto quam mihi opus esset cognosceretur quid ego in hac accusatione comparanda constituendaque elaborassem; vestra vero laus tenuis plane atque obscura, iudices, esset.

[¶1] 3. For this is not what the Roman people is expecting from you, nor what it can be contented with,—namely, for a man to be condemned who refuses to appear, and for you to act with resolution in the case of a man whom nobody has dared to defend. Aye, let him appear, let him reply; let him be defended with the utmost influence and the utmost zeal of the most powerful men, let my diligence have to contend with the covetousness of all of them, your integrity with his riches, the consistency of the witnesses with the threats and power of his patrons. Then indeed those things will be seen to be overcome when they have come to the contest and to the struggle. But if he had been condemned in his absence, he would have appeared not so much to have consulted his own advantage as to have grudged you your credit.

> Latin: 3. hoc a vobis populus Romanus exspectat neque eo potest esse contentus, si condemnatus sit is qui adesse noluerit, et si fortes fueritis in eo quem nemo sit ausus defendere. vero adsit, respondeat; summis opibus, summo studio potentissimorum hominum defendatur; certet mea diligentia cum illorum omnium cupiditate, vestra integritas cum illius pecunia, testium constantia cum illius patronorum minis atque potentia: tum demum illa omnia victa videbuntur cum in contentionem certamenque venerint. si esset iste damnatus, non tam sibi consuluisse quam invidisse vestrae laudi videretur.

[¶2] 4. For neither can there be any greater safety for the republic imagined at this time, than for the Roman people to understand that, if all unworthy judges are carefully rejected by the accusers, the allies, the laws, and the republic can be thoroughly defended by a bench of judges chosen from the senators; nor can any such injury to the fortunes of all happen, as for all regard for truth, for integrity, for good faith, and for religion to be, in the opinion of the Roman people, cast aside by the senatorial body.

> Latin: 4. enim salus ulla rei publicae maior hoc tempore reperiri potest quam populum Romanum intellegere, diligenter reiectis ab accusatore iudicibus, socios, leges, rem publicam senatorio consilio maxime posse defendi; neque tanta fortunis omnium pernicies ulla potest accedere quam opinione populi Romani rationem veritatis, integritatis, fidei, religionis ab hoc ordine abiudicari.

[¶3] 5. And therefore, I seem to myself, O judges, to have undertaken to uphold an important, and very failing, and almost neglected part of the republic, and by so doing to be acting not more for the benefit of my own reputation than of yours. For I have come forward to diminish the unpopularity of the courts of justice, and to remove the reproaches which are levelled at them; in order that, when this cause has been decided according to the wish of the Roman people, the authority of the courts of justice may appear to have been re-established in some degree by my diligence; and in order that this matter may be so decided that an end may be put at length to the controversy about the tribunals;

> Latin: 5. mihi videor [iudices] magnam et maxime aegram et prope depositam rei publicae partem suscepisse, neque in eo magis meae quam vestrae laudi existimationique servisse. enim ad invidiam iudiciorum levandam vituperationemque tollendam, ut, cum haec res pro voluntate populi Romani esset iudicata, aliqua ex parte mea diligentia constituta auctoritas iudiciorum videretur, si esset hoc iudicatum, ut finis aliquando iudiciariae controversiae constitueretur.

[¶4] 6. and, indeed, beyond all question, O judges, that matter depends on your decision in this cause. For the criminal is most guilty. And if he be condemned, men will cease to say that money is all powerful with the present tribunal; but if he be acquitted we shall cease to be able to make any objection to transferring the tribunal to another body. Although that fellow has not in reality any hope, nor the Roman people any fear of his acquittal, there are some men who do marvel at his singular impudence in being present, in replying to the accusations brought against him; but to me even this does not appear marvellous in comparison with his other actions of audacity and madness. For he has done many impious and nefarious actions both against gods and men; by the punishment for which crimes he is now disquieted and driven out of his mind and out of his senses.

> Latin: 6. sine dubio, iudices, in hac causa ea res in discrimen adducitur. est enim nocentissimus; qui si condemnatur, desinent homines dicere his iudiciis pecuniam plurimum posse; sin absolvitur, desinemus nos de iudiciis transferendis recusare. de absolutione istius neque ipse iam sperat nec populus Romanus metuit: de impudentia singulari, quod adest, quod respondet, sunt qui mirentur. pro cetera eius audacia atque amentia ne hoc quidem mirandum videtur; multa enim et in deos et in homines impie nefarieque commisit, quorum scelerum poenis agitatur et a mente consilioque deducitur.

[¶5] 7. The punishments of Roman citizens are driving him mad, some of whom he has delivered to the executioner, others he has put to death in prison, others he has crucified while demanding their rights as freemen and as Roman citizens. The gods of his fathers are hurrying him away to punishment, because he alone has been found to lead to execution sons torn from the embraces of their fathers, and to demand of parents payment for leave to bury their sons. The reverence due to, and the holy ceremonies practiced in, every shrine and every temple—but all violated by him; and the images of the gods, which have not only been taken away from their temples, but which are even lying in darkness, having been cast aside and thrown away by him—do not allow his mind to rest free from frenzy and madness.

> Latin: 7. eum praecipitem poenae civium Romanorum, quos partim securi percussit, partim in vinculis necavit, partim implorantis iura libertatis et civitatis in crucem sustulit. eum ad supplicium di patrii, quod iste inventus est qui e complexu parentum abreptos filios ad necem duceret, et parentis pretium pro sepultura liberum posceret. vero caerimoniaeque omnium sacrorum fanorumque violatae, simulacraque deorum, quae non modo ex suis templis ablata sunt sed etiam iacent in tenebris ab isto retrusa atque abdita, consistere eius animum sine furore atque amentia non sinunt.

[¶6] 8. Nor does he appear to me merely to offer himself to condemnation, nor to be content with the common punishment of avarice, when he has involved himself in so many atrocities; his savage and monstrous nature wishes for some extraordinary punishment. It is not alone demanded that, by his condemnation, their property may be restored to those from whom it has been taken away; but the insults offered to the religion of the immortal gods must be expiated, and the tortures of Roman citizens, and the blood of many innocent men, must be atoned for by that man's punishment.

> Latin: 8. iste mihi videtur se ad damnationem solum offerre, neque hoc avaritiae supplicio communi, qui se tot sceleribus obstrinxerit, contentus esse: singularem quandam poenam istius immanis atque importuna natura desiderat. id solum quaeritur ut isto damnato bona restituantur iis quibus erepta sunt, sed et religiones deorum immortalium expiandae et civium Romanorum cruciatus multorumque innocentium sanguis istius supplicio luendus est.

[¶7] 9. For we have brought before your tribunal not only a thief, but a wholesale robber; not only an adulterer, but a ravisher of chastity; not only a sacrilegious man, but an open enemy to all sacred things and all religion; not only an assassin, but a most barbarous murderer of both citizens and allies; so that I think him the only criminal in the memory of man so atrocious, that it is even for his own good to be condemned. For who is there who does not see this, that though he be acquitted, against the will of gods and men, yet that he cannot possibly be taken out of the hands of the Roman people? Who does not see that it would be an excellent thing for us in that case, if the Roman people were content with the punishment of that one criminal alone, and did not decide that he had not committed any greater wickedness against them when he plundered temples, when he murdered so many innocent men, when he destroyed Roman citizens by execution, by torture, by the cross,—when he released leaders of banditti for bribes,—than they, who, when on their oaths, acquitted a man covered with so many, with such enormous, with such unspeakable wickednesses?

> Latin: 9. enim furem sed ereptorem, non adulterum sed expugnatorem pudicitiae, non sacrilegum sed hostem sacrorum religionumque, non sicarium sed crudelissimum carnificem civium sociorumque in vestrum iudicium adduximus, ut ego hunc unum eius modi reum post hominum memoriam fuisse arbitrer cui damnari expediret. quis hoc non intellegit, istum absolutum dis hominibusque invitis tamen ex manibus populi Romani eripi nullo modo posse? hoc non perspicit, praeclare nobiscum actum iri si populus Romanus istius unius supplicio contentus fuerit, ac non sic statuerit, non istum maius in sese scelus concepisse,—cum fana spoliarit, cum tot homines innocentis necarit, cum civis Romanos morte, cruciatu, cruce adfecerit, cum praedonum duces accepta pecunia dimiserit,—quam eos, si qui istum tot tantis tam nefariis sceleribus coopertum iurati sententia sua liberarint?

[¶8] 10. There is, there is, O judges, no room for any one to err in respect of this man. He is not such a criminal, this is not such a time, this is not such a tribunal, (I fear to seem to say anything too arrogant before such men,) even the advocate is not such a man, that a criminal so guilty, so abandoned, so plainly convicted, can be either stealthily or openly snatched out of his hands with impunity. When such men as these are judges, shall I not be able to prove that Caius Verres has taken bribes contrary to the laws? Will such men venture to assert that they have not believed so many senators, so many Roman knights, so many cities, so many men of the highest honour from so illustrious a province, so many letters of whole nations and of private individuals? that they have resisted so general a wish of the Roman people?

> Latin: 10. est, non est in hoc homine cuiquam peccandi locus, iudices; non is est reus, non id tempus, non id consilium, (metuo ne quid adrogantius apud talis viros videar dicere), ne actor quidem est is cui reus tam nocens, tam perditus, tam convictus aut occulte subripi aut impune eripi possit. ego iudicibus non probabo C. Verrem contra leges pecuniam cepisse? tales viri se tot senatoribus, tot equitibus Romanis, tot civitatibus, tot hominibus honestissimis ex tam inlustri provincia, tot populorum privatorumque litteris non credidisse, tantae populi Romani voluntati restitisse?

[¶9] 11. Let them venture. We will find, if we are able to bring that fellow alive before another tribunal, men to whom we can prove that he in his quaestorship embezzled the public money which was given to Cnaeus Carbo the consul; men whom we can persuade that he got money under false pretences from the quaestors of the city, as you have learnt in my former pleadings. There will be some men, too, who will blame his boldness in having released some of the contractors from supplying the corn due to the public, when they could make it for his own interest. There will even, perhaps, be some men who will think that robbery of his most especially to be punished, when he did not hesitate to carry off out of the most holy temples and out of the cities of our allies and friends, the monuments of Marcus Marcellus and of Publius Africanus, which in name indeed belonged to them, but in reality both belonged and were always considered to belong to the Roman people.

> Latin: 11. : reperiemus, si istum vivum ad aliud iudicium perducere poterimus, quibus probemus istum in quaestura pecuniam publicam Cn. Carboni consuli datam avertisse, quibus persuadeamus istum alieno nomine a quaestoribus urbanis, quod priore actione didicistis, pecuniam abstulisse; erunt qui et in eo quoque audaciam eius reprehendant, quod aliquot nominibus de capite quantum commodum fuerit frumenti decumani detraxerit; erunt etiam fortasse, iudices, qui illum eius peculatum vel 5 acerrime vindicandum putent, quod iste M. Marcelli et P. Africani monumenta, quae nomine illorum, re vera populi Romani et erant et habebantur, ex fanis religiosissimis et ex urbibus sociorum atque amicorum non dubitarit auferre.

[¶10] 12. Suppose he has escaped from the court about peculation. Let him think of the generals of the enemy, for whose release he has accepted bribes; let him consider what answer he can make about those men whom he has left in his own house to substitute in their places; let him consider not only how he can get over our accusation, but also how he can remedy his own confession. Let him recollect that, in the former pleadings, being excited by the adverse and hostile shouts of the Roman people, he confessed that he had not caused the leaders of the pirates to be executed; and that he was afraid even then that it would be imputed to him that he had released them for money. Let him confess that, which cannot be denied, that he, as a private individual, kept the leaders of the pirates alive and unhurt in his own house, after he had returned to Rome, as long as he could do so for me. If in the case of such a prosecution for treason it was lawful for him to do so, I will admit that it was proper. Suppose he escapes from this accusation also; I will proceed to that point to which the Roman people has long been inviting me.

> Latin: 12. ex peculatus etiam iudicio: meditetur de ducibus hostium quos accepta pecunia liberavit, videat quid de illis respondeat quos in eorum locum subditos domi suae reservavit, quaerat non solum quem ad modum nostro crimini, verum etiam quo pacto suae confessioni possit mederi, meminerit se priore actione, clamore populi Romani infesto atque inimico excitatum, confessum esse duces praedonum a se securi non esse percussos, se iam tum esse veritum ne sibi crimini daretur eos ab se pecunia liberatos; fateatur, id quod negari non potest, se privatum hominem praedonum duces vivos atque incolumis domi suae, posteaquam Romam redierit, usque dum per me licuerit retinuisse. in illo maiestatis iudicio si licuisse sibi ostenderit, ego oportuisse concedam. hoc quoque evaserit: proficiscar eo quo me iam pridem vocat populus Romanus;

[¶11] 13. For it thinks that the decision concerning the rights to freedom and to citizenship belong to itself; and it thinks rightly. Let that fellow, forsooth, break down with his evidence the intentions of the senators—let him force his way through the questions of all men—let him make his escape from your severity; believe me, he will be held by much tighter chains in the hands of the Roman people. The Roman people will give credit to those Roman knights who, when they were produced as witnesses before you originally, said that a Roman citizen, one who was offering honourable men as his bail, was crucified by him in their sight.

> Latin: 13. de iure enim libertatis et civitatis suum putat esse iudicium, et recte putat. iste sane vi sua consilia senatoria, quaestiones omnium perrumpat, evolet ex vestra severitate: mihi credite, artioribus apud populum Romanum laqueis tenebitur. his equitibus Romanis populus Romanus qui ad vos ante producti testes ipsis inspectantibus ab isto civem Romanum, qui cognitores homines honestos daret, sublatum esse in crucem dixerunt;

[¶12] 14. The whole of the thirty-five tribes will believe a most honourable and accomplished man, Marcus Annius, who said, that when he was present, a Roman citizen perished by the hand of the executioner. That most admirable man Lucius Flavius, a Roman knight, will be listened to by the Roman people, who gave in evidence that his intimate friend Herennius, a merchant from Africa, though more than a hundred Roman citizens at Syracuse knew him, and defended him in tears, was put to death by the executioner. Lucius Suetius, a man endowed with every accomplishment, speaks to them with an honesty and authority and conscientious veracity which they must trust; and he said on his oath before you that many Roman citizens had been most cruelly put to death, with every circumstance of violence, in his stone-quarries. When I am conducting this cause for the sake of the Roman people from this rostrum, I have no fear that either any violence can be able to save him from the votes of the Roman people, or that any labour undertaken by me in my aedileship can be considered more honourable or more acceptable by the Roman people.

> Latin: 14. credent omnes v et xxx tribus homini gravissimo atque ornatissimo, M. Annio, qui se praesente civem Romanum securi percussum esse dixit; audietur a populo Romano vir primarius, eques Romanus, L. Flavius, qui suum familiarem Herennium, negotiatorem ex Africa, cum eum Syracusis amplius centum cives Romani cognoscerent lacrimantesque defenderent, pro testimonio dixit securi esse percussum; pro o babit fidem et auctoritatem et religionem suam L. Suettius, homo omnibus ornamentis praeditus, qui iuratus apud vos dixit multos civis Romanos in lautumiis istius imperio crudelissime per vim morte esse multatos. ego causam cum agam beneficio populi Romani de loco superiore, non vereor ne aut istum vis ulla ex populi Romani suffragiis eripere, aut a me ullum munus aedilitatis amplius aut gratius populo Romano esse possit.

[¶13] 15. Let, therefore, every one at this trial attempt everything. There is no mistake now which any one can make in this cause, O judges, which will not be made at your risk. My own line of conduct, as it is already known to you in what is past, is also provided for, and resolved on, in what is to come. I displayed my zeal for the republic at that time, when, after a long interval, I reintroduced the old custom, and at the request of the allies and friends of the Roman people, who were, however, my own most intimate connections, prosecuted a most audacious man. And this action of mine most virtuous and accomplished men (in which number many of you were) approved of to such a degree, that they refused the man who had been his quaestor, and who, having been offended by him, wished to prosecute his own quarrel against him, leave not only to prosecute the man himself, but even back the accusation against him, when he himself begged to do so.

> Latin: 15. omnes in hoc iudicio conentur omnia; nihil est iam quod in hac causa peccare quisquam, iudices, nisi vestro periculo possit. quidem ratio cum in praeteritis rebus est cognita, tum in reliquis explorata atque provisa est. meum studium in rem publicam iam illo tempore ostendi cum longo intervallo veterem consuetudinem rettuli, et rogatu sociorum atque amicorum populi Romani, meorum autem necessariorum, nomen hominis audacissimi detuli. meum factum lectissimi viri atque ornatissimi, quo in numero e vobis complures fuerunt, ita probaverunt ut ei qui istius quaestor fuisset, et ab isto laesus inimicitias iustas persequeretur, non modo deferendi nominis, sed ne subscribendi quidem, cum id postularet, facerent potestatem.

[¶14] 16. I went into Sicily for the sake of inquiring into the business, in which occupation the celerity of my return showed my industry; the multitude of documents and witnesses which I brought with me declared my diligence; and I further showed my moderation and scrupulousness, in that when I had arrived as a senator among the allies of the Roman people, having been quaestor in that province, I, though the defender of the common cause of them all, lodged rather with my own hereditary friends and connections, than those who had sought that assistance from me. My arrival was no trouble nor expense to any one, either publicly or privately. I used in the inquiry just as much power as the law gave me, not as much as I might have had through the zeal of those men whom that fellow had oppressed.

> Latin: 16. Siciliam sum inquirendi causa profectus; quo in negotio industriam meam celeritas reditionis, diligentiam multitudo litterarum et testium declaravit, pudorem vero ac religionem quod, cum venissem senator ad socios populi Romani, qui in ea provincia quaestor fuissem, ad hospites meos ac necessarios causae communis defensor deverti potius quam ad eos qui a me auxilium petivissent. meus adventus labori aut sumptui neque publice neque privatim fuit: vim in inquirendo tantam habui quantam mihi lex dabat, non quantam habere poteram istorum studio quos iste vexarat.

[¶15] 17. When I returned to Rome from Sicily, when he and his friends, luxurious and polite men, had disseminated reports of this sort, in order to blunt the inclinations of the witnesses,—such as that I had been seduced by a great bribe from proceeding with a genuine prosecution; although it did not seem probable to any one, because the witnesses from Sicily were men who had known me as a quaestor in the province; and as the witnesses from Rome were men of the highest character, who knew every one of us thoroughly, just as they themselves are known; still I had some apprehension lest any one should have a doubt of my good faith and integrity, till we came to striking out the objectionable judges. I knew that in selecting the judges, some men, even within my own recollection, had not avoided the suspicion of a good understanding with the opposite party, though their industry and diligence was being proved actually in the prosecution of them.

> Latin: 17. Romam ut ex Sicilia redii, cum iste atque istius amici, homines lauti et urbani, sermones eius modi dissipassent, quo animos testium retardarent, me magna pecunia a vera accusatione esse deductum, tametsi probabatur nemini, quod et ex Sicilia testes erant ii qui quaestorem me in provincia cognoverant, et hinc homines maxime inlustres, qui, ut ipsi noti sunt, sic nostrum unum quemque optime norunt, tamen usque eo timui ne quis de mea fide atque integritate dubitaret donec ad reiciundos iudices venimus. in reiciundis iudicibus non nullos memoria nostra pactionis suspicionem non vitasse, cum in ipsa accusatione eorum industria ac diligentia probaretur.

[¶16] 18. I objected to objectionable judges in such a way that this is plain,—that since the republic has had that constitution which we now enjoy, no tribunal has ever existed of similar renown and dignity. And this credit that fellow says that he shares in common with me; since when he rejected Publius Galba as judge, he retained Marcus Lucretius; and when, upon this, his patron asked him why he had allowed his most intimate friends Sextus Paeduceus, Quintus Considius, and Quintus Junius, to be objected to, he answered, because he knew them to be too much attached to their own ideas and opinions in coming to a decision.

> Latin: 18. reieci iudices ut hoc constet, post hunc statum rei publicae quo nunc utimur simili splendore et dignitate consilium nullum fuisse. iste laudem communem sibi ait esse mecum; qui cum P. Galbam iudicem reiecisset, M. Lucretium retinuit, et cum eius patronus ex eo quaereret cur suos familiarissimos, Sex. Peducaeum, Q. Considium, Q. Iunium reici passus esset, respondit “quod eos in iudicando nimium sui iuris sententiaeque cognosset”.

[¶17] 19. And so when the business of objecting to the judges was over, I hoped that you and I had now one common task before us. I thought that my good faith and diligence was approved of, not only by those to whom I was known, but even by strangers. And I was not mistaken: for in the comitia for my election, when that man was employing boundless bribery against me, the Roman people decided that his money, which had no influence with me when put in opposition to my own good faith, ought to have no influence with them to rob me of my honour. On the day when you first, O judges, were summoned to this place, and sat in judgment on this criminal, who was so hostile to your order, who was so desirous of a new constitution, of a new tribunal and new judges, as not to be moved at the sight of you and of your assembled body?

> Latin: 19. iudicibus reiectis sperabam iam onus meum vobiscum esse commune; putabam non solum notis sed etiam ignotis probatam meam fidem esse et diligentiam. me non fefellit; nam comitiis meis, cum iste infinita largitione contra me uteretur, populus Romanus iudicavit istius pecuniam, quae apud me contra fidem meam nihil potuisset, apud se contra honorem meum nihil posse debere. quidem die primum, iudices, citati in hunc reum consedistis, quis tam iniquus huic ordini fuit, quis tam novarum rerum iudiciorum iudicumque cupidus qui non aspectu consessuque vestro commoveretur?

[¶18] 20. When on the trial your dignity procured me the fruit of my diligence, I gained thus much,—that in the same hour that I began to speak, I cut off from that audacious, wealthy, extravagant, and abandoned criminal, all hope of corrupting the judges; that on the very first day, when such a number of witnesses had been brought forward, the Roman people determined that If he were acquitted, the republic would no longer exist; that the second day took away from his friends, not only all hope of victory, but even all inclination to make any defence; that the third day prostrated the man so entirely, that, pretending to be sick, he took counsel, not what reply he could make, but how he could avoid making any; and after that, on the subsequent days, he was so oppressed and overwhelmed by these accusations, by these witnesses, both from the city and from the provinces, that when these days of the games intervened, no one thought that he had procured an adjournment, but they thought that he was condemned.

> Latin: 20. in eo vestra dignitas mihi fructum diligentiae referret, id sum adsecutus, ut una hora qua coepi dicere reo audaci, pecunioso, profuso, perdito spem iudici corrumpendi praeciderem; ut primo die testium tanto numero citato populus Romanus iudicaret isto absoluto rem publicam stare non posse; ut alter dies amicis istius ac defensoribus non modo spem victoriae sed etiam voluntatem defensionis auferret, ut tertius dies sic hominem prosterneret ut morbo simulato non quid responderet, sed quem ad modum non responderet, deliberaret. reliquis diebus his criminibus, his testibus, et urbanis et provincialibus, sic obrutus atque oppressus est ut his ludorum diebus interpositis nemo istum comperendinatum, sed condemnatum iudicaret.

[¶19] 21. So that, as far as I am concerned, O judges, I gained the day; for I did not desire the spoils of Caius Verres, but the good opinion of the Roman people. It was my business to act as accuser only if I had a good cause. What cause was ever juster than the being appointed and selected by as illustrious a province as its defender? To consult the welfare of the republic;—what could be more honourable for the republic, than while the tribunals were in such general discredit, to bring before them a man by whose condemnation the whole order of the senate might be restored to credit and favour with the Roman people?—to prove and convince men that it was a guilty man who was brought to trial? Who is there of the Roman people who did not carry away this conviction from the previous pleading, that if all the wickednesses, thefts, and enormities of all who have ever been condemned before were brought together into one place, they could scarcely be likened or compared to but a small part of this man's crimes?

> Latin: 21. ego quod ad me attinet, iudices, vici; non enim spolia C. Verris, sed existimationem populi Romani concupivi. fuit cum causa accedere ad accusandum: quae causa fuit honestior, quam a tam inlustri provincia defensorem constitui et deligi? rei publicae consulere: quid tam e re publica quam in tanta invidia iudiciorum adducere hominem cuius damnatione totus ordo cum populo Romano et in laude et in gratia posset esse? ostendere ac persuadere hominem nocentem adductum esse: quis est in populo Romano qui hoc non ex priore actione abstulerit, omnium ante damnatorum scelera, furta, flagitia, si unum in locum conferantur, vix cum huius parva parte aequari conferrique posse?

[¶20] 22. Judges, consider and deliberate what becomes your fame, your reputation, and the common safety? Your eminence prevents your being able to make any mistake without the greatest injury and danger to the republic. For the Roman people cannot hope that there are any other men in the senate who can judge uprightly, if you cannot. It is inevitable that, when it has learnt to despair of the whole order, it should look for another class of men and another system of judicial proceedings. If this seems to you at all a trifling matter, because you think the being judges a grave and inconvenient burden, you ought to be aware, in the first place, that it makes a difference whether you throw off that burden yourselves, of your own accord, or whether the power of sitting as judges is taken away from you because you have been unable to convince the Roman people of your good faith and scrupulous honesty. In the second place, consider this also, with what great danger we shall come before those judges whom the Roman people, by reason of its hatred to you, has willed shall judge concerning you.

> Latin: 22. quod ad vestram famam existimationem salutemque communem pertinet, iudices, prospicite atque consulite: splendor vester facit ut peccare sine summo rei publicae detrimento ac periculo non possitis. enim potest sperare populus Romanus esse alios in senatu qui recte possint iudicare, vos si non potueritis: necesse est, cum de toto ordine desperarit, aliud genus hominum atque aliam rationem iudiciorum requirat. si vobis ideo levius videtur quod putatis onus esse grave et incommodum iudicare, intellegere debetis primum interesse utrum id onus vosmet ipsi reieceritis, an, quod probare populo Romano fidem vestram et religionem non potueritis, eo vobis iudicandi potestas erepta sit; deinde etiam illud cogitare, quanto periculo venturi simus ad eos iudices quos propter odium nostri populus Romanus de nobis voluerit iudicare.

[¶21] 23. But I will tell you, O judges, what I am sure of. Know, then, that there are some men who are possessed with such a hatred or your order, that they now make a practice of openly saying that they are willing for that man, whom they know to be a most infamous one, to be acquitted for this one reason,—that then the honour or the judgment-seat may be taken from the senate with ignominy and disgrace. It is not my fear for your good faith, O judges, which has urged me to lay these considerations before you at some length, but the new hopes which those men are entertaining; for when those hopes had brought Verres suddenly back from the gates of the city to this court, some men suspected that his intention had not been changed so suddenly without a cause.

> Latin: 23. vobis dicam id quod intellexi, iudices. scitote esse quosdam quos tantum odium nostri ordinis teneat ut hoc palam iam dictitent, se istum, quem sciant esse hominem improbissimum, hoc uno nomine absolvi velle ut ab senatu iudicia per ignominiam turpitudinemque auferantur. me pluribus verbis, iudices, vobiscum agere coegit non timor meus de vestra fide, sed spes illorum nova, quae cum Verrem a porta subito ad iudicium retraxisset, non nulli suspicati sunt non sine causa illius consilium tam repente esse mutatum.

[¶22] 24. Now, in order that Hortensius may not be able to employ any new sort of complaint, and to say that a defendant is oppressed if the accuser says nothing about him; that nothing is so dangerous to the fortunes of an innocent man as for his adversaries to keep silence; and in order that he may not praise my abilities in a way which I do not like, when he says that, if I had said much, I should have relieved him against whom I was speaking, and that I have undone him because I said nothing,—I will comply with his wishes, I shall employ one long unbroken speech: not because it is necessary, but that I may try whether he will be most vexed at my having been silent then or at my speaking now.

> Latin: 24. ne novo querimoniae genere uti possit Hortensius et ea dicere, opprimi reum de quo nihil dicat accusator, nihil esse tam periculosum fortunis innocentium quam tacere adversarios; et ne aliter quam ego velim meum laudet ingenium, cum dicat me, si multa dixissem, sublevaturum fuisse eum quem contra dicerem, quia non dixerim, perdidisse: morem illi geram, utar oratione perpetua, non quo iam hoc sit necesse, verum ut experiar utrum ille ferat molestius me tunc tacuisse an nunc dicere.

[¶23] 25. Here you, perhaps, will take care that I do not remit one hour of the time allowed me by law. If I do not employ the whole time which is allowed me by law, you will complain; you will invoke the faith of gods and men, calling them to witness how Caius Verres is circumvented because the prosecutor will not speak as long as he is allowed to speak by the law. What the law gives me for my own sake, may I not be allowed to forbear using? For the time for stating the accusation is given me for my own sake, that I may be able to unfold my charges and the whole cause in my speech. If I do not use it all, I do you no injury, but I give up something of my own right and advantage. You injure me, says he, for the cause ought to be thoroughly investigated. Certainly, for otherwise a defendant cannot be condemned, however guilty he may be. Were you, then, indignant that anything should be done by me to make it less easy for him to be condemned? For if the cause be understood, many men may be acquitted; if it be not understood, no one can be condemned.

> Latin: 25. tu fortasse eris diligens ne quam ego horam de meis legitimis horis remittam; nisi omni tempore quod mihi lege concessum est abusus ero, querere, deum atque hominum fidem implorabis, circumveniri C. Verrem quod accusator nolit tam diu quam diu liceat dicere. mihi lex mea causa dedit, eo mihi non uti non licebit? accusandi mihi tempus mea causa datum est, ut possem oratione mea crimina causamque explicare: hoc si non utor, non tibi iniuriam facio, sed de meo iure aliquid et commodo detraho. “enim”, inquit, “cognosci oportet”: ea re quidem quod aliter condemnari reus, quamvis sit nocens, non potest, igitur tu moleste tulisti, a me aliquid factum esse quo minus iste condemnari posset? nam causa cognita possunt multi absolvi, incognita quidem condemnari nemo potest.

[¶24] 26. I injure him, it seems, for I take away the right of adjournment. The most vexatious thing that the law has in it, the allowing a cause to be twice pleaded, has either been instituted for my sake rather than for yours, or, at all events, not more for your sake than for mine. For if to speak twice be an advantage, certainly it is an advantage which is common to both If there is a necessity that he who has spoken last should be refuted, then it is for the sake of the prosecutor that the he has been established that there should be a second discussion. But, as I imagine, Glaucia first proposed the law that the defendant might have an adjournment; before that time the decision might either be given at once, or the judges might take time to consider. Which law, then, do you think the mildest? I think that ancient one, by which a man might either be acquitted quickly, or condemned after deliberation. I restore you that law of Acilius, according to which many men who have only been accused once, whose cause has only been pleaded once, in whose case witnesses have only been heard once, have been condemned on charges by no means so clearly proved, nor so flagitious as those on which you are convicted. Think that you are pleading your cause, not according to that severe law, but according to that most merciful one. I will accuse you; you shall reply. Having produced my witnesses, I will lay the whole matter before the bench in such a way, that even if the law gave them a power of adjournment, yet they shall think it discreditable to themselves not to decide at the first hearing.

> Latin: 26. “enim comperendinatum”: quod habet lex in se molestissimum, bis ut causa dicatur,—quod aut mea causa potius est constitutum quam tua, aut nihilo tua potius quam mea. si bis dicere est commodum, certe utriusque commune est; si eum qui posterius dixit opus est redargui, accusatoris causa, ut bis ageretur, constitutum est., ut opinor, Glaucia primus tulit ut comperendinaretur reus; antea vel iudicari primo poterat vel amplius pronuntiari. Vtram igitur putas legem molliorem?, illam veterem, qua vel cito absolvi vel tarde condemnari licebat. tibi illam Aciliam legem restituo, qua lege multi semel accusati, semel dicta causa, semel auditis testibus condemnati sunt, nequaquam tam manifestis neque tantis criminibus quantis tu convinceris. Puta te non hac tam atroci, sed illa lege mitissima causam dicere.; respondebis; testibus editis ita mittam in consilium ut, etiamsi lex ampliandi faciat potestatem, tamen isti turpe sibi existiment non primo iudicare.

[¶25] 27. But if it be necessary for the cause to be thoroughly investigated, has this one been investigated but superficially? Are we keeping back anything, O Hortensius, a trick which we have often seen practiced in pleading? Who ever attends much to the advocate in this sort of action, in which anything is said to have been carried off and stolen by any one? Is not all the expectation of the judges fixed on the documents or on the witnesses? I said in the first pleading that I would make it plain that Caius Verres had carried off four hundred thousand sesterces contrary to the law. What ought I to have said? Should I have pleaded more plainly if I had related the whole affair thus?—There was a certain man of Halesa, named Dio, who, when a great inheritance had come to his son from a relation while Sacerdos was praetor, had at the time no trouble nor dispute about it. Verres, as soon as he arrived in the province, immediately wrote letters from Messana; he summoned Dio before him, he procured false witnesses from among his own friends to say that that inheritance had been forfeited to Venus Erycina. He announced that he himself would take cognisance of that matter.

> Latin: 27. si causam cognosci opus est. parumne cognita est?, Hortensi, quod saepe experti in dicendo sumus. nos magnopere attendit umquam in hoc quidem genere causarum, ubi aliquid ereptum aut ablatum a quopiam dicitur? aut in tabulis aut in testibus omnis exspectatio iudicum est? prima actione me planum esse facturum C. Verrem HS quadringentiens contra leges abstulisse.? hoc planius egissem, si ita narrassem? “Dio quidam fuit Halaesinus, qui, cum eius filio praetore C. Sacerdote hereditas a propinquo permagna venisset, nihil habuit tum neque negoti neque controversiae. Verres simul ac tetigit provinciam, statim Messana litteras dedit, Dionem evocavit, calumniatores ex sinu suo adposuit qui illam hereditatem Veneri Erycinae commissam esse dicerent; hac de re ostendit se ipsum cogniturum.”

[¶26] 28. I can detail to you the whole affair in regular order, and at last tell you what the result was, namely, that Dio paid a million of sesterces, in order to prevail in a cause of most undeniable justice, besides that Verres had his herds of mares driven away, and all his plate and embroidered vestments carried off. But neither while I was so relating these things, nor while you were denying them, would our speeches be of any great importance. At what time then would the judge prick up his ears and begin to strain his attention? When Dio himself came forward, and the others who had at that time been engaged in Sicily on Dio's business, when, at the very time when Dio was pleading his cause, he was proved to have borrowed money, to have galled in all that was owing to him, to have sold farms; when the accounts of respectable men were produced, when they who had supplied Dio with money said that they had heard at the time that the money was taken on purpose to be given to Verres; when the friends, and connections, and patrons of Dio, most honourable men, said that they had heard the same thing.

> Latin: 28. deinceps totam rem explicare, deinde ad extremum id quod accidit dicere, Dionem HS deciens centena milia numerasse ut causam certissimam obtineret; praeterea greges equarum eius istum abigendos curasse, argenti, vestis stragulae quod fuerit curasse auferendum. neque cum ego dicerem neque cum tu negares, magni momenti nostra esset oratio. tempore igitur auris iudex erigeret animumque attenderet? Dio ipse prodiret, cum ceteri qui tum in Sicilia negotiis Dionis interfuissent, cum per eos ipsos dies per quos causam Dio diceret reperiretur pecunias sumpsisse mutuas, nomina sua exegisse, praedia vendidisse; cum tabulae virorum bonorum proferrentur; cum qui pecuniam Dioni dederunt dicerent se iam tum audisse eos nummos sumi ut Verri darentur; cum amici, hospites, patroni Dionis, homines honestissimi, haec eadem se audisse dicerent.

[¶27] 29. Then, when this was going on, you would, I suppose, attend as you did attend. Then the cause would seem to be going on. Everything was managed by me in the former pleading so that among all the charges there was not one in which any one of you desired an uninterrupted statement of the case. I deny that anything was said by the witnesses which was either obscure to any one of you, or which required the eloquence of any orator to set it off. In truth, you must recollect that I conducted the case in this way; I set forth and detailed the whole charge at the time of the examination of witnesses, so that as soon as I had explained the whole affair, I then immediately examined the witnesses. And by that means, not only you, who have to judge, are in possession of our charges, but also the Roman people became acquainted with the whole accusation and the whole cause: although I am speaking of my own conduct as if I had done so of my own will rather than because I was induced to do so by any injustice of yours.

> Latin: 29. , cum haec fierent, tum vos audiretis, sicut audistis: tum causa agi vere videretur. a me sunt acta omnia priore actione ut in criminibus omnibus nullum esset in quo quisquam vestrum perpetuam accusationem requireret. esse quicquam a testibus dictum quod aut vestrum cuipiam esset obscurum aut cuiusquam oratoris eloquentiam quaereret. sic me ipsum egisse memoria tenetis ut in testibus interrogandis omnia crimina proponerem et explicarem, ut, cum rem totam in medio posuissem, tum denique testem interrogarem. non modo vos, quibus est iudicandum, nostra crimina tenetis, sed etiam populus Romanus totam accusationem causamque cognovit. ita de meo facto loquor quasi ego illud mea voluntate potius quam vestra iniuria adductus fecerim.

[¶28] 30. But you interposed another accuser, who, when I had only demanded a hundred and ten days to prosecute my inquiries in Sicily, demanded a hundred and eight for himself to go for a similar purpose into Achaia. When you had deprived me of the three months most suitable for conducting my cause, you thought that I would give you up the remainder of the year, so that, when he had employed the time allowed to me, you, O Hortensius, after the interruption of two festivals, might make your reply forty days afterwards; and then, that the time might be so spun out, that we might come from Marius Glabrio, the praetor, and from the greater part of these judges, to another praetor, and other judges.

> Latin: 30. accusatorem qui, cum ego mihi c et x dies solos in Siciliam postulassem, c et VIII sibi in Achaiam postularet. mihi tris cum eripuissetis ad agendum maxime adpositos, reliquum omne tempus huius anni me vobis remissurum putastis, ut, cum horis nostris nos essemus usi, tu binis ludis interpositis quadragesimo post die responderes, deinde ita tempus duceretur ut a M’. Glabrione praetore et a magna parte horum iudicum ad praetorem alium iudicesque alios veniremus.

[¶29] 31. If I had not seen this—if every one, both acquaintances and strangers, had not warned me that the object which they were driving at, which they were contriving, for which they were striving, was to cause the matter to be delayed to that time—I suppose, if I had chosen to spend all the time allowed me in stating the accusation, I should be under apprehensions that I should not have charges enough to bring, that subjects for a speech would be wanting to me, that my voice and strength would fail me, that I should not be able to accuse twice a man whom no one had dared to defend at the first pleading of the cause. I made my conduct appear reasonable both to the judges and also to the Roman people. There is no one who thinks that their injustice and impudence could have been opposed by any other means. Indeed, how great would have been my folly, if, though I might have avoided it, I had allowed matters to come on on the day which they who had undertaken to deliver him from justice provided for in their undertaking, when they gave their undertaking to deliver him in these words—“If the trial took place on or after the first of January?”

> Latin: 31. si ego non vidissem, si me non omnes noti ignotique monuissent id agi, id cogitari, in eo elaborari ut res in illud tempus reiceretur, credo, si meis horis in accusando uti voluissem, vererer ne mihi crimina non suppeterent, ne oratio deesset, ne vox viresque deficerent, ne, quem nemo prima actione defendere ausus esset, eum ego bis accusare non possem. meum consilium cum iudicibus tum populo Romano probavi: nemo est qui alia ratione istorum iniuriae atque impudentiae potuisse obsisti arbitretur. qua stultitia fuissem, si, quam diem qui istum eripiendum redemerunt in cautione viderunt,—cum ita caverent, “si post Kalendas Ianuarias in consilium iretur”,— in eam diem ego, cum potuissem vitare, incidissem?

[¶30] 32. Now I must provide for the careful management of the time which is allowed me for making a speech, since I am determined to state the whole case most fully. Therefore I will pass by that first act of his life, most infamous and most wicked as it was. He shall hear nothing from me of the vices and offences of his childhood, nothing about his most dissolute youth: how that youth was spent, you either remember, or else you can recognise it in the son whom he has brought up to be so like himself: I will pass over everything which appears shameful to be mentioned; and I will consider not only what that fellow ought to have said of himself, but also what it becomes me to say. Do you, I entreat you, permit this, and grant to my modesty, that it may be allowed to pass over in silence some portion of his shamelessness.

> Latin: 32. mihi temporis eius quod mihi ad dicendum datur, quoniam in animo est causam omnem exponere, habenda ratio est diligenter. primum illum actum istius vitae turpissimum et flagitiosissimum praetermittam. a me de pueritiae suae flagitiis audiet, nihil ex illa impura adulescentia sua; quae qualis fuerit aut meministis, aut ex eo quem sui simillimum produxit recognoscere potestis. praeteribo quae mihi turpia dictu videbuntur, neque solum quid istum audire, verum etiam quid me deceat dicere considerabo., quaeso, date hoc et concedite pudori meo ut aliquam partem de istius impudentia reticere possim.

[¶31] 33. At that time which passed before he came into office and became a public character, he may have free and untouched as far as I am concerned. Nothing shall be said of his drunken nocturnal revels; no mention shall be made of his pimps, and dicers, and panders; his losses at play, and the licentious transactions which the estate of his father and his own age prompted him to shall be passed over in silence. He may have lived in all infamy at that time with impunity, as far as I am concerned; the rest of his life has been such that I can well afford to put up with the loss of not mentioning those enormities.

> Latin: 33. illud tempus quod fuit antequam iste ad magistratus remque publicam accessit, habeat per me solutum ac liberum. de nocturnis eius bacchationibus ac vigiliis; lenonum, aleatorum, perductorum nulla mentio fiat; damna, dedecora, quae res patris eius, aetas ipsius pertulit, praetereantur; lucretur indicia veteris infamiae; patiatur eius vita reliqua me hanc tantam iacturam criminum facere.

[¶32] 34. You were quaestors to Cnaeus Papirius the consul fourteen years ago. All that you have done from that day to this day I bring before the court. Not one hour will be found free from theft, from wickedness, from cruelty, from atrocity. These years have been passed by you in the quaestorship, and in the lieutenancy in Asia, and in the city praetorship, and in the Sicilian praetorship. On which account a division of my whole action will also be made into four parts. As quaestor you received our province by lot, according to the decree of the senate. A consular province fell to your lot, so that you were with Cnaeus Carbo, the consul, and had that province. There was at that time dissension among the citizens: and in that I am not going to say anything as to what part you ought to have taken. This only do I say, that at such a time as that you ought to have made up your mind which side you would take and which party you would espouse. Carbo was very indignant that there had fallen to his lot as his quaestor a man of such notorious luxury and indolence. But he loaded him with all sorts of kindnesses. Not to dwell too long on this; money was voted, was paid; he went as quaestor to the province; he came into Gaul, where he had been for some time expected, to the army of the consul with the money. At the very first opportunity that offered, (take notice of the principle on which the man discharged the duties of his offices, and administered the affairs of the republic,) the quaestor, having embezzled the public money, deserted the consul, the army, and his allotted province.

> Latin: 34. Cn. Papirio consuli fuisti abhinc annos quattuordecim. ea die ad hanc diem quae fecisti in iudicium voco: hora nulla vacua a furto, scelere, crudelitate, flagitio reperietur. sunt anni consumpti in quaestura et legatione Asiatica et praetura urbana et praetura Siciliensi; quare haec eadem erit quadripertita distributio totius accusationis meae. ex senatus consulto provinciam sortitus es: obtigit tibi consularis, ut cum consule Cn. Carbone esses eamque provinciam obtineres. tum dissensio civium, de qua nihil sum dicturus quid sentire debueris: unum hoc dico, in eius modi tempore ac sorte statuere te debuisse utrum malles sentire atque defendere. Carbo graviter ferebat sibi quaestorem obtigisse hominem singulari luxuria atque inertia; verum tamen ornabat eum beneficiis officiisque omnibus. diutius teneam, pecunia attributa, numerata est: profectus est quaestor in provinciam: venit exspectatus in Galliam ad exercitum consularem cum pecunia. ac primum ei occasio visa est,—cognoscite hominis principium magistratuum gerendorum et rei publicae administrandae,—aversa pecunia publica quaestor consulem, exercitum, sortem, provinciamque deseruit.

## 4. Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 35–65

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/4/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/4/#p-N

[¶0] 35. I see what I have done; he rouses himself up; he hopes that, in the instance of this charge, some breeze may be wafted this way of good will and approbation for those men to him the name of Cnaeus Carbo, though dead, is unwelcome, and to whom he hopes that that desertion and betrayal of his consul will prove acceptable. As if he had done it from any desire to take the part of the nobility, or from any party zeal, and had not rather openly pillaged the consul, the army and the province, and then, because of this most impudent theft, had run away. For such an action as that is obscure, and such that one may suspect that Caius Verres, because he could not bear new men, passed over to the nobility, that is, to his own party, and that he did nothing from consideration of money.

> Latin: 35. quid egerim: erigit se, sperat sibi auram posse aliquam adflari in hoc crimine voluntatis defensionisque eorum quibus Cn. Carbonis mortui nomen odio sit, quibus illam relictionem proditionemque consulis sui gratam sperat fore. vero id cupiditate defendendae nobilitatis aut studio partium fecerit, ac non apertissime consulem, exercitum, provinciamque compilarit et propter impudentissimum furtum aufugerit! est enim obscurum et eius modi factum eius ut possit aliquis suspicari C. Verrem, quod ferre novos homines non potuerit, ad nobilitatem, hoc est ad suos, transisse, nihil fecisse propter pecuniam!

[¶1] 36. Let us see how he gave in his accounts; now he himself will show why he left Cnaeus Carbo; now he himself will show what he is. First of all take notice of their brevity—“I received,” says he, “two million two hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred and seventeen sesterces; I spent, for pay to the soldiers, for corn, for the lieutenants, for the pro-quaestor, for the praetorian cohort, sixteen hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred and seventeen sesterces; I left at Ariminum six hundred thousand sesterces.” Is this giving in accounts? Did either I, or you, O Hortensius, or any man ever give in his accounts in this manner? What does this mean? what impudence it is! what audacity! What precedent is there of any such in all the number of accounts that have ever been rendered by public officers? And yet these six hundred thousand sesterces, as to which he could not even devise a false account of whom he had paid them to, and which he said he had left at Ariminum,—these six hundred thousand sesterces which he had in hand, Carbo never touched, Sulla never saved them, nor were these ever brought into the treasury. He selected Ariminum as the town, because at the time when he was giving in his accounts, it had been taken and plundered. He did not suspect, what he shall now find out, that plenty of the Ariminians were left to us after that disaster as witnesses to that point. Read now— “Accounts rendered to Publius Lentulus, and Lucius Triarius, quaestors of the city.”

> Latin: 36. rationes quem ad modum rettulerit: iam ipse ostendet quam ob rem Cn. Carbonem reliquerit, iam se ipse indicabit. brevitatem cognoscite: accepi, inquit, viciens dvcenta triginta qvinqve milia qvadringentos decem et septem nvmmos. dedi stipendio, frvmento, legatis, pro qvaestore, cohorti praetoriae hs mille sescenta triginta qvinqve milia qvadringentos decem et septem nvmmos. reliqvi: arimini hs sescenta milia. Hoc est rationes referre? hoc modo aut ego aut tu, Hortensi, aut quisquam omnium rettulit? hoc est? quae impudentia, quae audacia? quod exemplum ex tot hominum rationibus relatis huiusce modi est? tamen HS sescenta milia, quae ne falso quidem potuit quibus data essent describere, quae se Arimini scribit reliquisse, quae ipsa HS sescenta milia reliqua facta sunt, neque Carbo attigit neque Sulla vidit neque in aerarium relata sunt. sibi elegit Ariminum, quod tum, cum iste rationes referebat, oppressum direptumque erat: non suspicabatur, id quod nunc sentiet, satis multos ex illa calamitate Ariminensium testis nobis in hanc rem reliquos esse. denuo.

[¶2] 37. Read on—“According to the decree of the senate.” In order to be allowed to give in accounts in such a manner as this, he became one of Sulla's party in an instant, and not for the sake of contributing to the restoration of honour and dignity to the nobility. Even if you had deserted empty-handed, still your desertion would be decided to be wicked, your betrayal of your consul, infamous. Oh, Cnaeus Carbo was a bad citizen, a scandalous consul, a seditious man. He may have been so to others: when did he begin to be so to you? After he entrusted to you the money, the supplying of corn, all his accounts, and his army; for if he had displeased you before that, you would have done the same as Marcus Piso did the year after. When he had fallen by lot to Lucius Scipio, as consul, he never touched the money, he never joined the army at all. The opinions he embraced concerning the republic he embraced so as to do no violence to his own good faith, to the customs of our ancestors, nor to the obligations imposed on him by the lot which he had drawn.

> Latin: 37. P. Lentvlo L. Triario qvaestoribvs vrbanis res rationvm relatarvm. Recita. senatvs consvlto. Vt hoc pacto rationem referre liceret, eo Sullanus repente factus est, non ut honos et dignitas nobilitati restitueretur. illinc inanis profugisses, tamen ista tua fuga nefaria proditio consulis tui conscelerata iudicaretur. “civis, improbus consul, seditiosus homo Cn. Carbo fuit.” aliis: tibi quando esse coepit? posteaquam tibi pecuniam, rem frumentariam, rationes omnis suas exercitumque commisit. si tibi antea displicuisset, idem fecisses quod anno post M. Piso. cum L. Scipioni consuli obtigisset, non attigit pecuniam, non ad exercitum profectus est; quod de re publica sensit, ita sensit ut nec fidem suam nec morem maiorum nec necessitudinem sortis laederet.

[¶3] 38. In truth, if we wish to disturb all these things, and to throw them into confusion, we shall render life full of danger, intrigue, and enmity; if such allurements are to have no scruples to protect them; if the connection between men in prosperous and doubtful fortunes is to cause no friendship; if the customs and principles of our ancestors are to have no authority. He is the common enemy of all men who has once been the enemy of his own connections. No wise man ever thought that a traitor was to be trusted; Sulla himself, to whom the arrival of the fellow ought to have been most acceptable, removed him from himself and from his army: he ordered him to remain at Beneventum, among those men whom he believed to be exceedingly friendly to his party, where he could do no harm to his cause and could have no influence on the termination of the war. Afterwards, indeed, he rewarded him liberally; he allowed him to seize some estates of men who had been proscribed lying in the territory of Beneventum; he loaded him with honour as a traitor; he put no confidence in him as a friend.

> Latin: 38. si haec perturbare omnia ac permiscere volumus, totam vitam periculosam, invidiosam, infestamque reddemus,—si nullam religionem sors habebit, nullam societatem coniunctio secundae dubiaeque fortunae, nullam auctoritatem mores atque instituta maiorum. est communis inimicus qui fuit hostis suorum. umquam sapiens proditori credendum putavit. Sulla, cui adventus istius gratissimus esse debuit, ab se hominem atque ab exercitu suo removit: Beneventi esse iussit apud eos quos suis partibus amicissimos esse intellegebat, ubi iste summae rei causaeque nocere nihil posset. postea praemia tamen liberaliter tribuit, bona quaedam proscriptorum in agro Beneventano diripienda concessit, habuit honorem ut proditori, non ut amico fidem.

[¶4] 39. Now, although there are men who hate Cnaeus Carbo, though dead, yet they ought to think, not what they were glad to have happen, but what they themselves would have to fear in a similar case. This is a misfortune common to many a cause for alarm, and a danger common to many. There are no intrigues more difficult to guard against than those which are concealed under a pretence of duty, or under the name of some intimate connection. For you can easily avoid one who is openly an adversary, by guarding against him; but this secret, internal, and domestic evil not only exists, but even overwhelms you before you can foresee it or examine into it. Is it not so?

> Latin: 39. quamvis sint homines qui mortuum Cn. Carbonem oderint, tamen hi debent non quid illi accidere voluerint, sed quid ipsis in tali re metuendum sit cogitare. est hoc malum, communis metus, commune periculum. sunt occultiores insidiae quam eae quae latent in simulatione offici aut in aliquo necessitudinis nomine. eum qui palam est adversarius facile cavendo vitare possis; hoc vero occultum intestinum ac domesticum malum non modo non exsistit, verum etiam opprimit antequam prospicere atque explorare potueris. vero?

[¶5] 40. When you were sent as quaestor to the army, not only as guardian of the money, but also of the consul; when you were the sharer in all his business and of all his counsels, when you were considered by him as one of his own children, according to the tenor of the principles of our ancestors; could you on a sudden leave him? desert him? pass over to the enemy? O wickedness! O monster to be banished to the very end of the world! For that nature which has committed such an atrocity as this cannot be contented with this one crime alone. It must be always contriving something of this sort; it must be occupied in similar audacity and perfidy.

> Latin: 40. cum quaestor ad exercitum missus sis, custos non solum pecuniae sed etiam consulis, particeps omnium rerum consiliorumque fueris, habitus sis in liberum loco, sicut mos maiorum ferebat, repente relinquas, deseras, ad adversarios transeas? O scelus, o portentum in ultimas terras exportandum! enim potest ea natura quae tantum facinus commiserit hoc uno scelere esse contenta: necesse est semper aliquid eius modi moliatur, necesse est in simili audacia perfidiaque versetur.

[¶6] 41. Therefore, that same fellow whom Cnaeus Dolabella afterwards, when Caius Malleolus had been slain, had for his quaestor, (I know not whether this connection was not even a closer one than the connection with Carbo, and whether the consideration of his having been voluntarily chosen is not stronger than that of his having been chosen by lot,) behaved to Cnaeus Dolabella in the same manner as he had behaved in to Cnaeus Carbo. For, the charges which properly touched himself, he transferred to his shoulders; and gave information of everything connected with his cause to his enemies and accusers. He himself gave most hostile and most infamous evidence against the man to whom he had been lieutenant and pro-quaestor. Dolabella, unfortunate as he was, through his abominable betrayal, through his infamous and false testimony, was injured far more than by either, by the odium created by that fellow's own thefts and atrocities.

> Latin: 41. idem iste, quem Cn. Dolabella postea C. Malleolo occiso pro quaestore habuit,—haud scio an maior etiam haec necessitudo fuerit quam illa Carbonis, ac plus iudicium voluntatis valere quam sortis debeat,—idem in Cn. Dolabellam qui in Cn. Carbonem fuit. quae in ipsum valebant crimina contulit in illum, causamque illius omnem ad inimicos accusatoresque detulit; ipse in eum cui legatus, cui pro quaestore fuerat, inimicissimum atque improbissimum testimonium dixit. miser cum esset Cn. Dolabella,— cum proditione istius nefaria, tum improbo ac falso eiusdem testimonio,—tum multo ex maxima parte istius furtorum ac flagitiorum invidia conflagravit.

[¶7] 42. What can you do with such a man? or what hope can you allow so perfidious, so ill-omened an animal to entertain? One who despised and trampled on the lot which bound him to Cnaeus Carbo, the choice which connected him with Cnaeus Dolabella, and not only deserted them both, but also betrayed and attacked them. Do not, I beg of you, O judges, judge of his crimes by the brevity of my speech rather than by the magnitude of the actions themselves. For I am forced to make haste in order to have time to set before you all the things which I have resolved to relate to you. Wherefore, now that his quaestorship has been put before you, saw that the dishonesty and wickedness of his first conduct in his first office has been thoroughly seen, listen, I pray you, to the remainder.

> Latin: 42. hoc homine faciatis aut ad quam spem tam perfidiosum, tam importunum animal reservetis? qui in Cn. Carbone sortem, in Cn. Dolabella voluntatem neglexerit ac violarit, eosque ambo non modo deseruerit sed etiam prodiderit atque oppugnarit., quaeso, iudices, brevitate orationis meae potius quam rerum ipsarum magnitudine crimina ponderare; mihi enim properandum necessario est, ut omnia vobis quae mihi constituta sunt possim exponere.

[¶8] 43. And in this I will pass over that period of proscription and rapine which took place under Sulla; nor will I allow him to derive any argument for his own defence from that time of common calamity to all men. I will accuse him of nothing but his own peculiar and well-proved crimes. Therefore, omitting all mention of the time of Sulla from the accusation, consider that splendid lieutenancy of his. After Cilicia was appointed to Cnaeus Dolabella as his province, O ye immortal gods! with what covetousness, with what incessant applications, did he force from him that lieutenancy for himself, which was indeed the beginning of the greatest calamity to Dolabella. For as he proceeded on his journey to the province, wherever he went his conduct was such, that it was not some lieutenant of the Roman people, but rather some calamity that seemed to be going through the country.

> Latin: 43. ob rem quaestura istius demonstrata primique magistratus et furto et scelere perspecto, reliqua attendite. quibus illud tempus Sullanarum proscriptionum ac rapinarum praetermittam; neque ego istum sibi ex communi calamitate defensionem ullam sinam sumere, suis eum certis propriisque criminibus accusabo. ob rem hoc omni tempore Sullano ex accusatione circumscripto legationem eius praeclaram cognoscite.

[¶9] 44. In Achaia, (I will omit all minor things, to some of which perhaps some one else may some time or other have done something like; I will mention nothing except what is unprecedented, nothing except what would appear incredible, if it were alleged against any other criminal,) he demanded money from a Sicyonian magistrate. Do not let this be considered a crime in Verres; others have done the tame. When he could not give it, he punished him; a scandalous, but still not an unheard-of act. Listen to the sort of punishment; you will ask, of what race of men you are to think him a specimen. He ordered a fire to be made of green and damp wood in a narrow place. There he left a free man, a noble in his own country, an ally and friend of the Roman people, tortured with smoke, half dead.

> Latin: 44. Cn. Dolabellae provincia Cilicia constituta est, o di immortales, quanta iste cupiditate, quibus adlegationibus illam sibi legationem expugnavit! id quod Cn. Dolabellae principium maximae calamitatis fuit. ut est profectus, quacumque iter fecit, eius modi fuit, non ut legatus populi Romani, sed ut quaedam calamitas pervadere videretur. Achaia— praetermittam minora omnia, quorum simile forsitan alius quoque aliquid aliquando fecerit; nihil dicam nisi singulare, nisi id quod, si in alium reum diceretur, incredibile videretur—magistratum Sicyonium nummos poposcit. sit hoc crimen in Verrem: fecerunt alii. ille non daret, animadvertit: improbum, sed non inauditum.

[¶10] 45. After that, what statues, what paintings he carried off from Achaia, I will not mention at present. There is another part of my speech which I have reserved for speaking of this covetousness of the man. You have heard that at Athens a great sum of money was taken out of the temple of Minerva. This was mentioned in the trial of Cnaeus Dolabella. Mentioned? the amount too was stated. Of this design you will find that Caius Verres was not only a partaker, but was even the chief instigator.

> Latin: 45. animadversionis videte: quaeretis ex quo genere hominem istum iudicetis. ex lignis viridibus atque umidis in loco angusto fieri iussit: ibi hominem ingenuum, domi nobilem, populi Romani socium atque amicum, fumo excruciatum semivivum reliquit. quae iste signa, quas tabulas pictas ex Achaia sustulerit, non dicam hoc loco: est mihi alius locus ad hanc eius cupiditatem demonstrandam separatus. Athenis audistis ex aede Minervae grande auri pondus ablatum; dictum est hoc in Cn. Dolabellae iudicio.? etiam aestimatum. consili non participem C. Verrem, sed principem fuisse reperietis.

[¶11] 46. He came to Delos. There from that most holy temple of Apollo he privately took away by night the most beautiful and ancient statues, and took care that they were all placed on board his own transport. The next day, when the inhabitants of Delos saw their temple plundered, they were very indignant. For the holiness and antiquity of that temple is so great in their eyes, that they believe that Apollo himself was born in that place. However, they did not dare to say one word about it, lest haply Dolabella himself might be concerned in the business. Then on a sudden a very great tempest arose, O judges; so that Dolabella could not only not depart, when he wished, but could scarcely stand in the city, such vast waves were dashed on shore. Here that ship of that pirate loaded with the consecrated statues, being cast up and driven ashore by the waves, is broken to pieces. Those statues of Apollo were found on the shore; by command of Dolabella they are restored; the tempest is lulled; Dolabella departs from Delos.

> Latin: 46. Delum venit. ex fano Apollinis religiosissimo noctu clam sustulit signa pulcherrima atque antiquissima, eaque in onerariam navem suam conicienda curavit. cum fanum spoliatum viderent ii qui Delum incolebant, graviter ferebant; est enim tanta apud eos eius fani religio atque antiquitas ut in eo loco ipsum Apollinem natum esse arbitrentur. tamen facere non audebant, ne forte ea res ad Dolabellam ipsum pertineret. subito tempestates coortae sunt maximae, iudices, ut non modo proficisci cum cuperet Dolabella non posset, sed vix in oppido consisteret: ita magni fluctus eiciebantur. navis illa praedonis istius, onusta signis religiosis, expulsa atque eiecta fluctu frangitur; in litore signa illa Apollinis reperiuntur; iussu Dolabellae reponuntur. sedatur, Dolabella Delo proficiscitur.

[¶12] 47. I do not doubt, though there was no feeling of humanity ever in you, no regard for holiness, still that now in your fear and danger thoughts of your wicked actions occurred to you. Can there be any comfortable hope of safety cherished by you, when you recollect how impious, how wicked, how blasphemous has been your conduct towards the immortal gods? Did you dare to plunder the Delian Apollo? Did you dare to lay impious and sacrilegious hands on that temple, so ancient, so venerated, so holy? If you were not in your childhood taught and framed to learn and know what has been committed to writing, still would you not afterwards, when you came into the very places themselves, learn and believe what is handed down both by tradition and by documents:

> Latin: 47. dubito quin, tametsi nullus in te sensus humanitatis, nulla ratio umquam fuit religionis, nunc tamen in metu periculoque tuo tuorum tibi scelerum veniat in mentem. tibi ulla spes salutis commoda ostendi, cum recordaris in deos immortalis quam impius, quam sceleratus, quam nefarius fueris? Apollinemne tu Delium spoliare ausus es? tu templo tam antiquo, tam sancto, tam religioso manus impias ac sacrilegas adferre conatus es? in pueritia non iis artibus ac disciplinis institutus eras ut ea quae litteris mandata sunt disceres atque cognosceres, ne postea quidem, cum in ea ipsa loca venisti, potuisti accipere id quod est proditum memoria ac litteris, Latonam ex longo errore et fuga gravidam et iam ad pariendum temporibus exactis confugisse Delum atque ibi Apollinem Dianamque peperisse?

[¶13] 48. That Latona, after a long wandering and persecution, pregnant, and now near bringing forth, when her time was come, fled to Delos, and there brought forth Apollo and Diana; from which belief of men that island is considered sacred to those gods; and such is and always has been the influence of that religious belief, that not even the Persians, when they waged war on all Greece, on gods and men, and when they had put in with a fleet of a thousand ships at Delos, attempted to violate, or even to touch anything. Did you, O most wicked, O most insane of men, attempt to plunder this temple? Was any covetousness of such power as to extinguish such solemn religious belief? And if you did not think of this at that time, do you not recollect even now that there is no evil so great as not to have been long since due to you for your wicked actions?

> Latin: 48. qua ex opinione hominum illa insula eorum deorum sacra putatur, tantaque eius auctoritas religionis et est et semper fuit ut ne Persae quidem, cum bellum toti Graeciae, dis hominibusque, indixissent, et mille numero navium classem ad Delum adpulissent, quicquam conarentur aut violare aut attingere. tu fanum depopulari, homo improbissime atque amentissime, audebas? ulla cupiditas tanta quae tantam exstingueret religionem? si tum haec non cogitabas, ne nunc quidem recordaris nullum esse tantum malum quod non tibi pro sceleribus tuis iam diu debeatur?

[¶14] 49. But after he arrived in Asia,—why should I enumerate the dinners, the suppers, the horses, and the presents which marked that progress? I am not going to say anything against Verres for everyday crimes. I say that he carried off by force some most beautiful statues from Chios; also from Erythrae; also from Halicarnassus. From Tenedos (I pass over the money which he seized) he carried off Tenes himself, who among the Tenedians is considered a most holy god, who is said to have founded that city, after whose name it is called Tenedos. This very Tenes, I say, most admirably wrought, which you have seen before now in the assembly, he carried off amid the great lamentations of the city.

> Latin: 49. Asiam vero postquam venit, quid ego adventus istius prandia, cenas, equos muneraque commemorem? cum Verre de cotidianis criminibus acturus sum: Chio per vim signa pulcherrima dico abstulisse, item Erythris et Halicarnasso. Tenedo—praetereo pecuniam quam eripuit —Tenem ipsum, qui apud Tenedios sanctissimus deus habetur, qui urbem illam dicitur condidisse, cuius ex nomine Tenedus nominatur, hunc ipsum, inquam, Tenem pulcherrime factum, quem quondam in comitio vidistis, abstulit magno cum gemitu civitatis.

[¶15] 50. But that storming of that most ancient and most noble temple of the Samian Juno, how grievous was it to the Samians! how bitter to all Asia! how notorious to all men! how notorious to every one of you! And when ambassadors had come from Samos into Asia to Caius Nero, to complain of this attack on that temple, they received for answer, that complaints of that sort, which concerned a lieutenant of the Roman people, ought not to be brought before the praetor, but must be carried to Rome. What pictures did he carry off from thence; what statues! which I saw lately in his house, when I went thither for the sake of sealing it up.

> Latin: 50. vero expugnatio fani antiquissimi et nobilissimi Iunonis Samiae quam luctuosa Samiis fuit, quam acerba toti Asiae, quam clara apud omnis, quam nemini vestrum inaudita! de qua expugnatione cum legati ad C. Neronem in Asiam Samo venissent, responsum tulerunt eius modi querimonias, quae ad legatos populi Romani pertinerent, non ad praetorem sed Romam deferri oportere. iste tabulas illinc, quae signa sustulit! quae cognovi egomet apud istum in aedibus nuper, cum obsignandi gratia venissem.

[¶16] 51. And where are those statues now, O Verres? I mean those which I lately saw in your house against every pillar, and also in every space between two pillars, and actually arranged in the grove in the open air? Why were those things left at your house, as long as you thought that another praetor, with the other judges whom you expected to have substituted in the room of these, was to sit in judgment upon your? But when you saw that we preferred suiting the convenience of our own witnesses rather than your convenience as to time, you left not one statue in your house except two which were in the middle of it, and which were themselves stolen from Samos. Did you not think that I would summon your most intimate friends to give evidence of this matter, who had often been at your house, and ask of them whether they knew that statues were there which were not?

> Latin: 51. signa nunc, Verres, ubi sunt? illa quaero quae apud te nuper ad omnis columnas, omnibus etiam intercolumniis, in silva denique disposita sub divo vidimus. ea, quam diu alium praetorem cum iis iudicibus quos in horum locum subsortitus esses de te in consilium iturum putasti, tam diu domi fuerunt: posteaquam nostris testibus nos quam horis tuis uti malle vidisti, nullum signum domi reliquisti praeter duo quae in mediis aedibus sunt, quae ipsa Samo sublata sunt? putasti me tuis familiarissimis in hanc rem testimonia denuntiaturum, qui tuae domi semper fuissent, ex quibus quaererem, signa scirentne fuisse quae non essent?

[¶17] 52. What did you think that these men would think of you then, when they saw that you were no longer contending against your accuser, but against the quaestor and the brokers? On which matter you heard Charidemus of Chios give his evidence at the former pleadings, that he, when he was captain of a trireme, and was attending Verres on his departure from Asia, was with him at Samos, by command of Dolabella and that he then knew that the temple of Juno had been plundered, and the town of Samos; that afterwards he had been put on his trial before the Chians, his fellow citizens, on the accusation of the Samians; and that he had been acquitted because he had made it plain that the allegations of the Samians concerned Verres, and not him.

> Latin: 52. tum hos de te iudicaturos arbitratus es, cum viderent te iam non contra accusatorem tuum, sed contra quaestorem sectoremque pugnare? de re Charidemum Chium testimonium priore actione dicere audistis, sese, cum esset trierarchus et Verrem ex Asia decedentem prosequeretur iussu Dolabellae, fuisse una cum isto Sami, seseque tum scire spoliatum esse fanum Iunonis et oppidum Samum; posteaque se causam apud Chios civis suos Samiis accusantibus publice dixisse, eoque se esse absolutum quod planum fecisset ea quae legati Samiorum dicerent ad Verrem, non ad se pertinere.

[¶18] 53. You know that Aspendus is an ancient and noble town in Pamphylia, full of very fine statues. I do not say that one statue or another was taken away from thence: this I say, that you, O Verres, left not one statue at Aspendus; that everything from the temples and from all public places was openly seized and carried away on wagons, the citizens all looking on. And he even carried off that harp-player of Aspendus, of whom you have often heard the saying, which is a proverb among the Greeks, who used to say that he could sing everything within himself, and put him in the inmost part of his own house, so as to appear to have surpassed the statue itself in trickery.

> Latin: 53. Aspendum vetus oppidum et nobile in Pamphylia scitis esse, plenissimum signorum optimorum. dicam illinc hoc signum ablatum esse et illud: hoc dico, nullum te Aspendi signum, Verres, reliquisse, omnia ex fanis, ex locis publicis, palam, spectantibus omnibus, plaustris evecta exportataque esse. etiam illum Aspendium citharistam, de quo saepe audistis id quod est Graecis hominibus in proverbio, quem omnia “intus canere” dicebant, sustulit et in intimis suis aedibus posuit, ut etiam illum ipsum suo artificio superasse videatur.

[¶19] 54. At Perga we are aware that there is a very ancient and very holy temple of Diana. That too, I say, was stripped and plundered by you; and all the gold which there was on Diana herself was taken off and carried away. What, in the name of mischief, can such audacity and inanity mean? In the very cities of our friends and allies, which you visited under the pretext of your office as lieutenant, if you had stormed them by force with an army, and had exercised military rule there; still, I think, the statues and ornaments which you took away, you would have carried, not to your own house, nor to the suburban villas of your friends, but to Rome for the public use.

> Latin: 54. Pergae fanum antiquissimum et sanctissimum Dianae scimus esse: id quoque a te nudatum ac spoliatum esse, ex ipsa Diana quod habebat auri detractum atque ablatum esse dico., malum, est ista tanta audacia atque amentia! enim sociorum atque amicorum urbis adisti legationis iure et nomine, si in eas vi cum exercitu imperioque invasisses, tamen, opinor, quae signa atque ornamenta ex iis urbibus sustulisses, haec non in tuam domum neque in suburbana amicorum, sed Romam in publicum deportasses.

[¶20] 55. Why should I speak of Marcus Marcellus, who took Syracuse, that most beautiful city? why of Lucius Scipio, who waged war in Asia, and conquered Antiochus, a most powerful monarch? why of Flaminius, who subdued Philip the king, and Macedonia? why of Lucius Paullus, who with his might and valour conquered king Perses? why of Lucius Mummius, who overthrew that most beautiful and elegant city Corinth, full of all sorts of riches, and brought many cities of Achaia and Boeotia under the empire and dominion of the Roman people?—their houses, though they were rich in virtue and honour, were empty of statues and paintings. But we see the whole city, the temples of the gods, and all parts of Italy, adorned with their gifts, and with memorials of them.

> Latin: 55. ego de M. Marcello loquar, qui Syracusas, urbem ornatissimam, cepit? quid de L. Scipione, qui bellum in Asia gessit Antiochumque, regem potentissimum, vicit? quid de Flaminino, qui regem Philippum et Macedoniam subegit? quid de L. Paulo, qui regem Persen vi ac virtute superavit? quid de L. Mummio, qui urbem pulcherrimam atque ornatissimam, Corinthum, plenissimam rerum omnium, sustulit, urbisque Achaiae Boeotiaeque multas sub imperium populi Romani dicionemque subiunxit? domus, cum honore ac virtute florerent, signis et tabulis pictis erant vacuae; at vero urbem totam templaque deorum omnisque Italiae partis illorum donis ac monumentis exornatas videmus.

[¶21] 56. I am afraid all this may seem to some people too ancient, and long ago obsolete. For at that time all men were so uniformly disposed in the same manner, that this credit of eminent virtue and incorruptibility appears to belong, not only to those men, but also to those times. Publius Servilius, a most illustrious man, who has performed the noblest exploits, is present. He will deliver his opinion on your conduct. He, by his power, had forces; his wisdom and his valour took Olympus, an ancient city, and one strengthened and embellished in every possible manner. I am bringing forward recent example of a most distinguished man. For Servilius, as a general of the Roman people, took Olympus after you, as lieutenant of the quaestor in the same district, had taken care to harass and plunder all the cities of our friends and allies even when they were at peace.

> Latin: 56. ne haec forte cuipiam nimis antiqua et iam obsoleta videantur; ita enim tum aequabiliter omnes erant eius modi ut haec laus eximiae virtutis et innocentiae non solum hominum, verum etiam temporum illorum esse videatur. P. Servilius, vir clarissimus, maximis rebus gestis, adest de te sententiam laturus: Olympum vi, copiis, consilio, virtute cepit, urbem antiquam et omnibus rebus auctam et ornatam. exemplum fortissimi viri profero; nam postea Servilius imperator populi Romani Olympum urbem hostium cepit quam tu in isdem illis locis legatus quaestorius oppida pacata sociorum atque amicorum diripienda ac vexanda curasti.

[¶22] 57. The things which you carried off from the holiest temples with wickedness, and like a robber, we cannot see, except in your own houses, or in those of your friends. The statues and decorations which Publius Servilius brought away from the cities of our enemies, taken by his courage and valour, according to the laws of war and his own rights as commander-in-chief, he brought home for the Roman people; he carried them in his triumph, and took care that a description of them should be engraved on public tablets and hid up in the treasury. You may learn from public documents the industry of that most honourable man. Read—“The accounts delivered by Publius Servilius.” You see not only the number of the statues, but the size, the figure, and the condition of each one among them accurately described in writing. Certainly, the delight arising from virtue and from victory is much greater than that pleasure which is derived from licentiousness and covetousness. I say that Servilius took much more care to have the booty of the Roman people noted and described, than you took to have your plunder catalogued.

> Latin: 57. quae ex fanis religiosissimis per scelus et latrocinium abstulisti, ea nos videre nisi in tuis amicorumque tuorum tectis non possumus: P. Servilius quae signa atque ornamenta ex urbe hostium vi et virtute capta belli lege atque imperatorio iure sustulit, ea populo Romano adportavit, per triumphum vexit, in tabula publica ad aerarium perscribenda curavit. ex litteris publicis hominis amplissimi diligentiam.. rationes relatae P. Servili. solum numerum signorum, sed etiam unius cuiusque magnitudinem, figuram, statum litteris definiri vides. maior est virtutis victoriaeque iucunditas quam ista voluptas quae percipitur ex libidine et cupiditate. diligentius habere dico Servilium praedam populi Romani quam te tua furta notata atque perscripta.

[¶23] 58. You will say that your statues and paintings were also an ornament to the city and forum of the Roman people. I recollect: I, together with the Roman people, saw the forum and place for holding the assemblies adorned with embellishments, in appearance indeed magnificent, but to one's senses and thoughts bitter and melancholy. I saw everything glittering with your thefts, with the plunder of the provinces, with the spoils of our allies and friends. At which time, O judges, that fellow conceived the hope of committing his other crimes. For he saw that these men, who wished to be called the masters of the courts of law, were slaves to these desires.

> Latin: 58. tua quoque signa et tabulas pictas ornamento urbi foroque populi Romani fuisse.; vidi simul cum populo Romano forum comitiumque adornatum ad speciem magnifico ornatu, ad sensum cogitationemque acerbo et lugubri; vidi conlucere omnia furtis tuis, praeda provinciarum, spoliis sociorum atque amicorum. quidem tempore, iudices, iste spem maximam reliquorum quoque peccatorum nactus est; vidit enim eos qui iudiciorum se dominos dici volebant harum cupiditatum esse servos.

[¶24] 59. But the allies and foreign nations then first abandoned the hope of saving any of their property and fortunes, because, as it happened, there were at that time very many ambassadors from Asia and Achaia at Rome, who worshipped in the forum the images of the gods which had been taken from their temples. And so also, when they recognised the other statues and ornaments, they wept, as they beheld the different pieces of their property in different place. And from all those men we then used to hear discourses of this sort:—“That it was impossible for any one to doubt of the ruin of our allies and friends, when men saw in the forum of the Roman people, in which formerly those men used to be accused and condemned who had done any injury to the allies, those things now openly placed which had been wickedly seized and taken away from the allies.”

> Latin: 59. vero nationesque exterae spem omnem tum primum abiecerunt rerum ac fortunarum suarum, propterea quod casu legati ex Asia atque Achaia plurimi Romae tunc fuerunt, qui deorum simulacra ex suis fanis sublata in foro venerabantur, itemque cetera signa et ornamenta cum cognoscerent, alia alio in loco lacrimantes intuebantur. omnium hunc sermonem tum esse audiebamus, nihil esse quod quisquam dubitaret de exitio sociorum atque amicorum, cum quidem viderent in foro populi Romani, quo in loco antea qui sociis iniurias fecerant accusari et condemnari solebant, ibi esse palam posita ea quae ab sociis per scelus ablata ereptaque essent.

[¶25] 60. Here I do not expect that he will deny that he has many statues, and countless paintings. But, as I fancy, he is accustomed at times to say that he purchased these things which he seized and stole; since indeed he was sent at the public expense, and with the title of ambassador, into Achaia, Asia, and Pamphylia as a purchaser of statues and paintings. I have all the accounts both of that fellow and of his father, of money received, which I have most carefully read and arranged; those of your father, as long as he lived, you own, as far as you say that you have made them up. For in that man, O judges, you will find this new thing. We hear that some men have never kept accounts; which is a mistaken opinion of men with respect to Antonius; for he kept them most carefully. But there may be men of that sort, but they are by no means to be approved of. We hear that some men have not kept them from the beginning, but after some time have made them up; there is a way of accounting for this too. But this is unprecedented and absurd which this man gave us for an answer, when we demanded his account of him: “That he kept them up to the consulship of Marcus Terentius and Caius Cassius; but that, after that, he gave up keeping them.”

> Latin: 60. ego non arbitror illum negaturum signa se plurima, tabulas pictas innumerabilis habere; sed, ut opinor, solet haec quae rapuit et furatus est non numquam dicere se emisse, quoniam quidem in Achaiam, Asiam, Pamphyliam sumptu publico et legationis nomine mercator signorum tabularumque pictarum missus est. istius et patris eius accepi tabulas omnis, quas diligentissime legi atque digessi, patris, quoad vixit, tuas, quoad ais te confecisse. in isto, iudices, hoc novum reperietis. aliquem tabulas numquam confecisse; quae est opinio hominum de Antonio falsa, nam fecit diligentissime; verum sit hoc genus aliquod, minime probandum. alium non ab initio fecisse, sed ex tempore aliquo confecisse; est aliqua etiam huiusce rei ratio. vero novum et ridiculum est, quod hic nobis respondit cum ab eo tabulas postularemus, usque ad M. Terentium et C. Cassium consules confecisse, postea destitisse.

[¶26] 61. In another place we will consider what sort of a reply this is; at present I am not concerned with it; for of the times about which I am at present occupied I have the accounts, both yours and those of your father. You cannot deny that you carried off very many most beautiful statues, very many admirable paintings. I wish you would deny it. Show in your accounts or in those of your father that any one of them was purchased, and you have gained your cause. There is not even any possibility of your having bought those two most beautiful statues which are now standing in your court, and which stood for many years by the folding doors of the Samian Juno; these two, I say, which are now the only statues left in your house, which are waiting for the broker, left alone and deserted by the other statues.

> Latin: 61. Alio loco hoc cuius modi sit considerabimus; nunc nihil ad me attinet; horum enim temporum in quibus nunc versor habeo tabulas et tuas et patris. signa pulcherrima, plurimas tabulas optimas deportasse te negare non potes. utinam neges! Vnum ostende in tabulis aut tuis aut patris tui emptum esse: vicisti. haec quidem duo signa pulcherrima quae nunc ad impluvium tuum stant, quae multos annos ante valvas Iunonis Samiae steterunt, habes quo modo emeris, haec, inquam, duo quae in aedibus tuis sola iam sunt, quae sectorem exspectant, relicta ac destituta a ceteris signis.

[¶27] 62. But, I suppose in these matters alone had he this irrepressible and unbridled covetousness; his other desires were restrained by some reason and moderation. To how many noble virgins, to how many matrons do you think he offered violence in that foul and obscene lieutenancy? In what town did he set his foot that he did not leave more traces of his rapes and atrocities than he did of his arrival? But I will pass over everything which can be denied; even those things which are most certain and most evident I will omit; I will select one of his abominable deeds, in order that I may the more easily at last arrive at Sicily, which has imposed the burden of this business on me.

> Latin: 62. , credo, in hisce solis rebus indomitas cupiditates atque effrenatas habebat: ceterae libidines eius ratione aliqua aut modo continebantur. multis istum ingenuis, quam multis matribus familias in illa taetra atque impura legatione vim attulisse existimatis? in oppido pedem posuit ubi non plura stuprorum flagitiorumque suorum quam adventus sui vestigia reliquerit? ego omnia quae negari poterunt praetermittam; etiam haec quae certissima sunt et clarissima relinquam; unum aliquod de nefariis istius factis eligam, quo facilius ad Siciliam possim aliquando, quae mihi hoc oneris negotique imposuit, pervenire.

[¶28] 63. There is a town on the Hellespont, O judges, called Lampsacus, among the first in the province of Asia for renown and for nobleness. And the citizens themselves of Lampsacus are most especially kind to all Roman citizens, and also are an especially quiet and orderly race; almost beyond all the rest of the Greeks inclined to the most perfect ease, rather than to any disorder or tumult. It happened, when he had prevailed on Cnaeus Dolabella to send him to king Nicomedes and to king Sadala, and when he had begged this expedition, more with a view to his own gain than to any advantage for the republic, that in that journey he came to Lampsacus, to the great misfortune and almost ruin of the city. He is conducted to the house of a man named Janitor as his host; and his companions also, are billeted on other entertainers. As was the fellow's custom, and as his lusts always instigating him to commit some wickedness prompted him, he immediately gives a commission to his companions, the most worthless and infamous of men, to inquire and find out whether there is any virgin woman worthy of his staying longer at Lampsacus for her sake.

> Latin: 63. est in Hellesponto Lampsacum, iudices, in 63 primis Asiae provinciae clarum et nobile; homines autem ipsi Lampsaceni cum summe in omnis civis Romanos officiosi, tum praeterea maxime sedati et quieti, prope praeter ceteros ad summum Graecorum otium potius quam ad ullam vim aut tumultum adcommodati., cum iste a Cn. Dolabella efflagitasset ut se ad regem Nicomedem regemque Sadalam mitteret, cumque iter hoc sibi magis ad quaestum suum quam ad rei publicae tempus adcommodatum depoposcisset, ut illo itinere veniret Lampsacum cum magna calamitate et prope pernicie civitatis. iste ad quendam hospitem, comitesque eius item apud ceteros hospites conlocantur. Vt mos erat istius, atque ut eum suae libidines flagitiosae facere admonebant, statim negotium dat illis suis comitibus, nequissimis turpissimisque hominibus, uti videant et investigent ecqua virgo sit aut mulier digna quam ob rem ipse Lampsaci diutius commoraretur.

[¶29] 64. He had a companion of the name of Rubrius, a man made for such vices as his, who used to find out all these things for him wherever he went, with wonderful address. He brings him the following news,—that there was a man of the name of Philodamus, in birth, in rank, in wealth, and in reputation by far the first man among the citizens of Lampsacus; that his daughter, who was living with her father because she had not yet got a husband, was a woman of extraordinary beauty, but was also considered exceedingly modest and virtuous. The fellow, when he heard this, was so inflamed with desire for that which he had not only not seen himself, but which even he from whom he heard of it had not seen himself, that he said he should like to go to Philodamus immediately. Janitor, his host, who suspected nothing, being afraid that he must have given him some offence himself, endeavoured with all his might to detain him. Verres, as he could not find any pretext for leaving his host's house began to pave his way for his meditated violence by other steps. He says that Rubrius, his most loved friend, his assistant in all such matters, and the partner of his counsels, is lodged with but little comfort. He orders him to be conducted to the house of Philodamus.

> Latin: 64. comes eius Rubrius quidam, homo factus ad istius libidines, qui miro artificio, quocumque venerat, haec investigare omnia solebat. ad eum rem istam defert, Philodamum esse quendam, genere, honore, copiis, existimatione facile principem Lampsacenorum; eius esse filiam, quae cum patre habitaret propterea quod virum non haberet, mulierem eximia pulchritudine; sed eam summa integritate pudicitiaque existimari., ut haec audivit, sic exarsit ad id quod non modo ipse numquam viderat, sed ne audierat quidem ab eo qui ipse vidisset, ut statim ad Philodamum migrare se diceret velle., qui nihil suspicaretur, veritus ne quid in ipso se offenderetur, hominem summa vi retinere coepit., qui hospitis relinquendi causam reperire non posset, alia sibi ratione viam munire ad stuprum coepit; Rubrium, delicias suas, in omnibus eius modi rebus adiutorem suum et conscium, parum laute deversari dicit; ad Philodamum deduci iubet.

[¶30] 65. But when this is reported to Philodamus, although he was ignorant what great misfortune was at that moment being contrived for him and for his children, still he comes to him,—represents to him that that is not his office,—that when it was his turn to receive guests, he was accustomed to receive the praetors and consuls themselves, and not the attendants of lieutenants. Verres, as he was hurried on by that one desire alone, disregarded all his demands and allegations, and ordered Rubrius to be introduced by force into the house of a man who had a right to refuse him admittance. On this, Philodamus, when he could not preserve his rights, studied at least to preserve his courtesy and affability. He who had always been considered most hospitable and most friendly towards our people, did not like to appear to have received even this fellow Rubrius into his house unwillingly; he prepares a banquet magnificently and luxuriously, being, as he was, among the richest of all his fellow citizens; he begs Rubrius to invite whoever were agreeable to himself; to leave, if he pleased, just room for himself alone. He even sends his own son, a most excellent youth, out to one of his relations to supper.

> Latin: 65. ubi est Philodamo nuntiatum, tametsi erat ignarus quantum sibi ac liberis suis iam tum mali constitueretur, tamen ad istum venit; ostendit munus illud suum non esse; se, cum suae partes essent hospitum recipiendorum, tum ipsos tamen praetores et consules, non legatorum adseculas, recipere solere., qui una cupiditate raperetur, totum illius postulatum causamque neglexit; per vim ad eum, qui recipere non debebat, Rubrium deduci imperavit. Philodamus, posteaquam ius suum obtinere non potuit, ut humanitatem consuetudinemque suam retineret laborabat., qui semper hospitalissimus amicissimusque nostrorum hominum existimatus esset, noluit videri ipsum illum Rubrium invitus domum suam recepisse; magnifice et ornate, ut erat in primis inter suos copiosus, convivium comparat; rogat Rubrium ut quos ei commodum sit invitet, locum sibi soli, si videatur, relinquat; etiam filium suum, lectissimum adulescentem, foras ad propinquum suum quendam mittit ad cenam.

## 5. Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 66–93

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/5/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/5/#p-N

[¶0] 66. Rubrius invites Verres's companions; Verres informs them all what there was to be done. They come early. They sit down to supper. Conversation takes place among them, and an invitation is given to drink in the Greek fashion. The host encourages them; they demand wine in larger goblets; the banquet proceeds with the conversation and joy of every one. When the business appeared to Rubrius to have got warm enough, “I would know of you, O Philodamus,” says he, “why you do not bid your daughter to be invited in hither to us?” The man, who was both a most dignified man, and of mature age, and a parent, was amazed at the speech of the rascal. Rubrius began to urge it. Then he, in order to give some answer, said that it was not the custom of the Greeks for women to sit down at the banquets of men. On this some one else from some other part of the room cried out, “But this is not to be borne; let the women be summoned.” And immediately Rubrius orders his slaves to shut the door, and to stand at the doors themselves.

> Latin: 66. Rubrius istius comites invitat; eos omnis Verres certiores facit quid opus esset. veniunt, discumbitur. sermo inter eos, et invitatio ut Graeco more biberetur; hortatur hospes, poscunt maioribus poculis, celebratur omnium sermone laetitiaque convivium. satis calere res Rubrio visa est, “,” inquit, “Philodame, cur ad nos filiam tuam non intro vocari iubes?”, qui et summa gravitate et iam id aetatis et parens esset, obstipuit hominis improbi dicto. Rubrius. ille, ut aliquid responderet, negavit moris esse Graecorum ut in convivio virorum accumberent mulieres. tum alius ex alia parte, “vero ferendum hoc quidem non est; vocetur mulier!” simul servis suis Rubrius ut ianuam clauderent et ipsi ad foris adsisterent imperat.

[¶1] 67. But when Philodamus perceived that what was intended and being prepared was, that violence should be offered to his daughter, he calls his servants to him, he bids them disregard him and defend his daughter, and orders some one to run out and bear the news to his son of this overpowering domestic misfortune. Meantime an uproar arises throughout the whole house; a fight takes place between the slaves of Rubrius and his host. That noble and most honourable man is buffeted about in his own house; every one fights for his own safety. At last Philodamus has a quantity of boiling water thrown over him by Rubrius himself. When the news of this is brought to the son, half dead with alarm he instantly hastens home to bring aid to save the life of his father and the modesty of his sister. All the citizens of Lampsacus, with the same spirit, the moment they heard of it, because both the worth of Philodamus and the enormity of the injury excited them, assembled by night at his house. At this time Cornelius, the lictor of Verres, who had been placed with his slaves by Rubrius, as if on guard, for the purpose of carrying off the woman, is slain; some of the slaves are wounded; Rubrius himself is wounded in the crowd. Verres, when he saw such an uproar excited by his own cupidity, began to wish to escape some way or other if he could.

> Latin: 67. ubi ille intellexit, id agi atque id parari ut filiae suae vis adferretur, servos suos ad se vocat; his imperat ut se ipsum neglegant, filiam defendant; excurrat aliquis qui hoc tantum domestici mali filio nuntiet interea fit tota domo; inter servos Rubri atque hospitis iactatur domi suae vir primarius et homo honestissimus; pro se quisque manus adfert; aqua denique ferventi a Rubrio ipso Philodamus perfunditur. ubi filio nuntiata sunt, statim exanimatus ad aedis contendit, ut et vitae patris et pudicitiae sororis succurreret; omnes eodem animo Lampsaceni, simul ut hoc audierunt, quod eos cum Philodami dignitas tum iniuriae magnitudo movebat, ad aedis noctu convenerunt. lictor istius Cornelius, qui cum eius servis erat a Rubrio quasi in praesidio ad auferendam mulierem conlocatus, occiditur; servi non nulli vulnerantur; ipse Rubrius in turba sauciatur., qui sua cupiditate tantos tumultus concitatos videret, cupere aliqua evolare, si posset.

[¶2] 68. The next morning men come early to the public assembly; they ask what is best to be done; every one delivered his own opinions to the people according as each individual had the most weight. No one was found whose opinion and speech was not to this purpose:—“That it need not be feared, if the Lampsacenes had avenged that man's atrocious wickedness by force and by the sword, that the senate and Roman people would have thought they ought to chastise their city. And if the lieutenants of the Roman people were to establish this law with respect to the allies, and to foreign nations,—that they were not to be allowed to preserve the chastity of their children unpolluted by their lusts, it was better to endure anything rather than to live in a state of such violence and bitterness.”

> Latin: 68. homines mane in contionem conveniunt; quaerunt quid optimum factu sit; pro se quisque, ut in quoque erat auctoritatis plurimum, ad populum loquebatur; inventus est nemo cuius non haec et sententia esset et oratio, non esse metuendum, si istius nefarium scelus Lampsaceni ulti vi manuque essent, ne senatus populusque Romanus in eam civitatem animadvertendum putaret; quodsi hoc iure legati populi Romani in socios nationesque exteras uterentur, ut pudicitiam liberorum servare ab eorum libidine tutam non liceret, quidvis esse perpeti satius quam in tanta vi atque acerbitate versari.

[¶3] 69. As all were of this opinion, and as every one spoke in this tenor, as his own feelings and indignation prompted each individual, all immediately proceeded towards the house where Verres was staying. They began to beat the door with stones, to attack it with weapons, to surround it with wood and faggots, and to apply fire to it. Then the Roman citizens who were dwelling as traders at Lampsacus run together to the spot; they entreat the citizens of Lampsacus to allow the name of the lieutenancy to have more weight with them than the insult of the lieutenant; they say that they were well aware that he was an infamous and wicked man, but as he had not accomplished what he had attempted, and as he was not going to be at Lampsacus any longer, their error in sparing a wicked man would be less than that of not sparing a lieutenant.

> Latin: 69. cum omnes sentirent, et. cum in eam rationem pro suo quisque sensu ac dolore loqueretur, omnes ad eam domum in qua iste deversabatur profecti sunt; caedere ianuam saxis, instare ferro, ligna et sarmenta circumdare ignemque subicere coeperunt. cives Romani, qui Lampsaci negotiabantur, concurrunt; orant Lampsacenos ut gravius apud eos nomen legationis quam iniuria legati putaretur; sese intellegere hominem illum esse impurum ac nefarium, sed quoniam nec perfecisset quod conatus esset, neque futurus esset Lampsaci postea, levius eorum peccatum fore si homini scelerato pepercissent quam si legato non pepercissent.

[¶4] 70. And so that fellow, far more wicked and infamous than even the notorious Hadrian, was a good deal more fortunate. He, because Roman citizens could not tolerate his avarice, was burnt alive at Utica in his own house; and that was thought to have happened to him so deservedly, that all men rejoiced, and no punishment was inflicted for the deed. This man, scorched indeed though he was by the fire made by our allies, yet escaped from those flames and that danger; and has not even yet been able to imagine what he had done, or what had happened to bring him into such great danger. For he cannot say:—“When I was trying to put down a sedition, when I was ordering corn, when I was collecting money for the soldiers, when in short I was doing something or other for the sake of the republic, because I gave some strict order, because I punished some one, because I threatened some one, all this happened.” Even if he were to say so, still he ought not to be pardoned, if he seemed to have been brought into such great danger through issuing too savage commands to our allies.

> Latin: 70. iste multo sceleratior et nequior quam ille Hadrianus aliquanto etiam felicior fuit., quod eius avaritiam cives Romani ferre non potuerunt, Vticae domi suae vivus exustus est, idque ita illi merito accidisse existimatum est ut laetarentur omnes neque ulla animadversio constitueretur: hic sociorum ambustus incendio tamen ex illa flamma periculoque evolavit, neque adhuc causam ullam excogitare potuit quam ob rem commiserit, aut quid evenerit, ut in tantum periculum veniret. enim potest dicere, “cum seditionem sedare vellem, cum frumentum imperarem, cum stipendium cogerem, cum aliquid denique rei publicae causa gererem, quod acrius imperavi, quod animadverti, quod minatus sum.” si diceret, tamen ignosci non oporteret, si nimis atrociter imperando sociis in tantum adductus periculum videretur.

[¶5] 71. Now when he neither dares himself to allege any such cause for the tumult as being true, nor even to invent such a falsehood, but when a most temperate man of his own order, who at that time was in attendance on Caius Nero, Publius Tettius, says that he too heard this same account at Lampsacus, (a man most accomplished in everything, Caius Varro, who was at that time in Asia as military tribune, says that be heard this very same story from Philodamus,) can you doubt that fortune was willing, not so much to save him from that danger, as to reserve him for your judgment! Unless, indeed, he will say, as indeed Hortensius did say, interrupting Tettius while he was giving his evidence in the former pleading (at which time indeed he gave plenty of proof that, if there were anything which he could say, he could not keep silence; so that we may all feel sure that, while he was silent in the other matters that were alleged, he was so because he had nothing to say); he at that time said this, that Philodamus and his son had been condemned by Caius Nero.

> Latin: 71. cum ipse causam illius tumultus neque veram dicere neque falsam confingere audeat, homo autem ordinis sui frugalissimus, qui tum accensus C. Neroni fuit, P. Tettius, haec eadem se Lampsaci cognosse dixerit, vir omnibus rebus ornatissimus, C. Varro, qui tum in Asia militum tribunus fuit, haec eadem ipse se ex Philodamo audisse dicat, potestis dubitare quin istum fortuna non tam ex illo periculo eripere voluerit quam ad vestrum iudicium reservare? Nisi vero illud dicet, quod et in Tetti testimonio priore actione interpellavit Hortensius—quo tempore quidem signi satis dedit, si quid esset quod posset dicere, se tacere non posse, ut, quam diu tacuit in ceteris testibus, scire omnes possemus nihil habuisse quod diceret: hoc tum dixit, Philodamum et filium eius a C. Nerone esse damnatos.

[¶6] 72. About which, not to make a long speech, I will merely say that Nero and his bench of judges came to that decision on the ground that it was plain that Cornelius, his lictor, had been slain, and that they thought it was not right that any one, even while avenging his own injuries, should have the power to kill a man. And as to this I see that you were not by Nero's sentence acquitted of atrocity, but that they were convicted of murder. And yet what sort of a conviction was that? Listen, I entreat you, O judges, and do sometimes pity our allies, and show that they ought to have, and that they have, some protection in your integrity. Because the man appeared to all Asia to have been lawfully slain, being in name indeed his lictor, but in reality the minister of his most profligate desires, Verres feared that Philodamus would be acquitted by the sentence of Nero. He begs and entreats Dolabella to leave his own province, to go to Nero; he shows that he himself cannot be safe if Philodamus be allowed to live and at any time to come to Rome.

> Latin: 72. quo ne multa disseram tantum dico, secutum id esse Neronem et eius consilium: quod Cornelium lictorem occisum esse constaret, putasse non oportere esse cuiquam ne in ulciscenda quidem iniuria hominis occidendi potestatem. quo video Neronis iudicio non te absolutum esse improbitatis, sed illos damnatos esse caedis. ista damnatio tamen cuius modi fuit?, quaeso, iudices, et aliquando miseremini sociorum et ostendite aliquid iis in vestra fide praesidi esse oportere. toti Asiae iure occisus videbatur istius ille verbo lictor, re vera minister improbissimae cupiditatis, pertimuit iste ne Philodamus Neronis iudicio liberaretur; rogat et orat Dolabellam ut de sua provincia decedat, ad Neronem proficiscatur; se demonstrat incolumem esse non posse, si Philodamo vivere atque aliquando Romam venire licuisset. est Dolabella:

[¶7] 73. Dolabella was moved; he did what many blamed, in leaving his army, his province, and the war, and in going into Asia, into the province of another magistrate, for the sake of a most worthless man. After he came to Nero, he urged him to take cognisance of the cause of Philodamus. He came himself to sit on the bench, and to be the first to deliver his opinion. He had brought with him also his prefects, and his military tribunes, all of whom Nero invited to take their places on the bench On that bench also was that most just judge Verres himself. There were some Romans also, creditors of some of the Greeks, to whom the favour of any lieutenant, be he ever so infamous, is of the greatest influence in enabling them to get in their money.

> Latin: 73. fecit id quod multi reprehenderunt, ut exercitum, provinciam, bellum relinqueret, et in Asiam hominis nequissimi causa in alienam provinciam proficisceretur. ad Neronem venit, contendit ab eo ut Philodami causam cognosceret. ipse qui esset in consilio et primus sententiam diceret; adduxerat etiam praefectos et tribunos militaris suos, quos Nero omnis in consilium vocavit; erat in consilio etiam aequissimus iudex ipse Verres; erant non nulli togati creditores Graecorum, quibus ad exigendas pecunias improbissimi cuiusque legati plurimum prodest gratia.

[¶8] 74. The unhappy prisoner could find no one to defend him; for what citizen was there who was not under the influence of Dolabella? what Greek who was not afraid of his power and authority? And then is assigned as the accuser a Roman citizen, one of the creditors of the Lampsacenes; and if he would only say what that fellow ordered him to say, he was to be enabled to compel payment of his money from the people, by the aid of that same Verres's lictors. When all these thing; were conducted with such zeal, and with such resources; when many were accusing that unhappy man, and no one was defending him; and when Dolabella, with his prefects, was taking an eager part on the bench; when Verres kept saying that his fortunes were at stake—when he also gave his evidence—when he also was sitting on the bench—when he also had provided the accuser; when all this was done, and when it was clear that the man had been slain, still, so great was the weight which the consideration of bat fellow's injury had, so great was his iniquity thought, that the case of Philodamus was adjourned for further inquiry.

> Latin: 74. miser defensorem reperire neminem poterat; quis enim esset aut togatus, qui Dolabellae gratia, aut Graecus, qui eiusdem vi et imperio non moveretur? autem adponitur civis Romanus de creditoribus Lampsacenorum; qui si dixisset quod iste iussisset, per eiusdem istius lictores a populo pecuniam posset exigere. haec omnia tanta contentione, tantis copiis agerentur; cum illum miserum multi accusarent, nemo defenderet; cumque Dolabella cum suis praefectis pugnaret in consilio, Verres fortunas agi suas diceret, idem testimonium diceret, idem esset in consilio, idem accusatorem parasset,—haec cum omnia fierent, et cum hominem constaret occisum, tamen tanta vis istius iniuriae, tanta in isto improbitas putabatur ut de Philodamo amplius pro nuntiaretur.

[¶9] 75. Why need I now speak of the energy of Cnaeus Dolabella at the second hearing of the cause,—of his tears of his agitation of body and minds? Why need I describe the mind of Caius Nero,—a most virtuous and innocent man, but still on some occasions too timid and low spirited?—who in that emergency had no idea what to do, unless, perchance (as every one wished him to do), to settle the matter without the intervention of Verres and Dolabella. Whatever had been done without their intervention all men would approve; but, as it was, the sentence which was given was thought not to have been pronounced judicially by Nero, but to have been extorted by Dolabella. For Philodamus and his son are convicted by a few votes: Dolabella is present; urges and presses Nero to have them executed as speedily as possible, in order that as few as may be may bear of that man's nefarious wickedness.

> Latin: 75. ego nunc in altera actione Cn. Dolabellae spiritus, quid huius lacrimas et concursationes proferam, quid C. Neronis, viri optimi atque innocentissimi, non nullis in rebus animum nimium timidum atque demissum? qui in illa re quid facere non habebat, nisi forte, id quod omnes tum desiderabant, ut ageret eam rem sine Verre et sine Dolabella. esset sine his actum, omnes probarent; tum vero quod pronuntiatum est non per Neronem iudicatum, sed per Dolabellam ereptum existimabatur. enim perpaucis sententiis Philodamus et eius filius., instat, urget Dolabella ut quam primum securi feriantur, quo quam minime multi ex illis de istius nefario scelere audire possent.

[¶10] 76. There is exhibited in the market-place of Laodicea a spectacle bitter, and miserable, and grievous to the whole province of Asia—an aged parent led forth to punishment, and on the other side a son; the one because he had defended the chastity of his children, the other because he had defended the life of his father and the fair fame of his sister. Each was weeping,—the father, not for his own execution, but for that of his son; the son for that of his father. How many tears do you think that Nero himself sheds? How great do you think was the weeping of all Asia? How great the groans and lamentations of the citizens of Lampsacus, that innocent men, nobles, allies and friends of the Roman people, should be put to death by public execution, on account of the unprecedented wickedness and impious desires of one most profligate man?

> Latin: 76. in foro Laodiceae spectaculum acerbum et miserum et grave toti Asiae provinciae, grandis natu parens adductus ad supplicium, ex altera parte filius, ille quod pudicitiam liberorum, hic quod vitam patris famamque sororis defenderat. uterque non de suo supplicio, sed pater de fili morte, de patris filius. lacrimarum ipsum Neronem putatis profudisse? quem fletum totius Asiae fuisse, quem luctum et gemitum Lampsacenorum? securi esse percussos homines innocentis nobilis, socios populi Romani atque amicos, propter hominis flagitiosissimi singularem nequitiam atque improbissimam cupiditatem!

[¶11] 77. After this, O Dolabella, no one can pity either you or your children, whom you have left miserable, in beggary and solitude. Was Verres so dear to you, that you should wish the disappointment of his lust to be expiated by the blood of innocent men? Did you leave your army and the enemy, in order by your own power and cruelty to diminish the dangers of that most wicked man? For, had you expected him to be an everlasting friend to you, because you had appointed him to act as your quaestor? Did you not know, that Cnaeus Carbo, the consul whose real quaestor he had been, had not only been deserted by him, but had also been deprived of his resources and his money, and nefariously attacked and betrayed by him? Therefore, you too experienced his perfidy when he joined your enemies,—when he, himself a most guilty man, gave most damaging evidence against you—when he refused to give in his accounts to the treasury unless you were condemned.

> Latin: 77. iam, Dolabella, neque me tui neque tuorum liberorum, quos tu miseros in egestate atque in solitudine reliquisti, misereri potest. Verresne tibi tanti fuit ut eius libidinem hominum innocentium sanguine lui velles? exercitum atque hostem relinquebas ut tua vi et crudelitate istius hominis improbissimi pericula sublevares? enim eum tibi quaestoris in loco constitueras, idcirco tibi amicum in perpetuum fore putasti? nesciebas ab eo Cn. Carbonem consulem, cuius re vera quaestor fuerat, non modo relictum sed etiam spoliatum auxiliis, pecunia, nefarie oppugnatum et proditum? igitur es istius perfidiam tum cum ipse se ad inimicos tuos contulit, cum in te homo ipse nocens acerrimum testimonium dixit, cum rationes ad aerarium nisi damnato te referre noluit.

[¶12] 78. Are your lusts, O Verres, to be so atrocious, that the provinces of the Roman people, that foreign nations, cannot limit and cannot endure them? Unless whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever you desire, whatever you think of, is in a moment to be subservient to your nod, is at once to obey your lust and desire, are men to be sent into people's houses? are the houses to be stormed? Are cities—not only the cities of enemies now reduced to peace—but are the cities of our allies and friends to be forced to have recourse to violence and to arms, in order to be able to repel from themselves and from their children the wickedness and lust of a lieutenant of the Roman people? For I ask of you, were you besieged at Lampsacus? Did that multitude begin to burn the house in which you were staying? Did the citizens of Lampsacus wish to burn a lieutenant of the Roman people alive? You cannot deny it; for I have your own evidence which you gave before Nero,—I have the letters which you sent to him. Recite the passage from his evidence.

> Latin: 78. tuae, Verres, libidines erunt ut eas capere ac sustinere non provinciae populi Romani, non nationes exterae possint? quod videris, quod audieris, quod concupieris, quod cogitaris, nisi id ad nutum tuum praesto fuerit, nisi libidini tuae cupiditatique paruerit, immittentur homines, expugnabuntur domus, civitates non modo pacatae, verum etiam sociorum atque amicorum ad vim atque ad arma confugient, ut ab se atque a liberis suis legati populi Romani scelus ac libidinem propulsare possint? quaero abs te circumsessusne sis Lampsaci, coeperitne domum in qua deversabare illa multitudo incendere, voluerintne legatum populi Romani comburere vivum Lampsaceni? non potes; habeo enim testimonium tuum quod apud Neronem dixisti, habeo quas ad eundem litteras misisti.

[¶13] 79. [The evidence of Caius Verres against Artemidorus is read.] Recite the passages out of Verres's letters to Nero. [Passages from the letters of Verres to Nero are read.] “Not long afterwards, they came into the house.” Was the city of Lampsacus endeavouring to make war on the Roman people? Did it wish to revolt from our dominion—to cast off the name of allies of Rome? For I see, and, from those things which I have read and heard, I am sure, that, if in any city a lieutenant of the Roman people has been, not only besieged, not only attacked with fire and sword, by violence, and by armed forces, but even to some extent actually injured, unless satisfaction be publicly made for the insult, war is invariably declared and waged against that city.

> Latin: 79. hunc ipsum locum de testimonio. testimonivm C. Verris in Artemidorvm. non mvlto post in domvm —. populo Romano Lampsacena civitas facere conabatur? deficere ab imperio ac nomine nostro volebat? enim et ex iis quae legi et audivi intellego, in qua civitate non modo legatus populi Romani circumsessus, non modo igni, ferro, manu, copiis oppugnatus, sed aliqua ex parte violatus sit, nisi publice satis factum sit, ei civitati bellum indici atque inferri solere.

[¶14] 80. What, then, was the cause why the whole city of the Lampsacenes ran, as you write yourself, from the assembly to your house? For neither in the letters which you sent to Nero, nor in your evidence, do you mention any reason for so important a disturbance. You say that you were besieged, that fire was applied to your house, that faggots were put round it; you say that your lictor was slain; you say that you did not dare appear in the public streets; but the cause of all this alarm you conceal. For if Rubrius had done any injury to any one on his own account, and not at your instigation and for the gratification of your desires, they would rather have come to you to complain of the injury done by your companion, than have come to besiege you. As, therefore, he himself has concealed what the cause of that disturbance was, and as the witnesses produced by us have related it, do not both their evidence and his own continued silence prove the reason to be that which we have alleged?

> Latin: 80. fuit igitur causa cur cuncta civitas Lampsacenorum de contione, quem ad modum tute scribis, domum tuam concurreret? enim neque in litteris quas Neroni mittis, neque in testimonio causam tanti tumultus ostendis ullam. te dicis, ignem adlatum, sarmenta circumdata, lictorem tuum occisum esse dicis, prodeundi tibi in publicum potestatem factam negas: causam huius tanti terroris occultas. si quam Rubrius iniuriam suo nomine ac non impulsu tuo et tua cupiditate fecisset, de tui comitis iniuria questum ad te potius quam te oppugnatum venirent. igitur quae causa illius tumultus fuerit testes a nobis producti dixerint, ipse celarit, nonne causam hanc quam nos proposuimus cum illorum testimonia tum istius taciturnitas perpetua confirmat?

[¶15] 81. Will you then spare this man, O judges? whose offences are so great that they whom he injured could neither wait for the legitimate time to take their revenge, nor restrain to a future time the violence of their indignation. You were besieged? By whom? By the citizens of Lampsacus—barbarous men, I suppose, or, at all events, men who despised the name of the Roman people. Say rather, men, by nature, by custom, and by education most gentle; moreover, by condition, allies of the Roman people, by fortune our subjects, by inclination our suppliants—so that it is evident to all men, that unless the bitterness of the injury and the enormity of the wickedness had been such that the Lampsacenes thought it better to die than to endure it, they never would have advanced to such a pitch as to be more influenced by hatred of your lust—than by fear of your office as lieutenant.

> Latin: 81. homini parcetis igitur, iudices, cuius tanta peccata sunt ut ii quibus iniurias fecerit neque legitimum tempus exspectare ad ulciscendum neque vim tantam doloris in posterum differre potuerint? es. A quibus? A Lampsacenis. hominibus, credo, aut iis qui populi Romani nomen contemnerent. vero ab hominibus et natura et consuetudine et disciplina lenissimis, porro autem populi Romani condicione sociis, fortuna servis, voluntate supplicibus: ut perspicuum sit omnibus, nisi tanta acerbitas iniuriae, tanta vis sceleris fuisset ut Lampsaceni moriendum sibi potius quam perpetiendum putarent, numquam illos in eum locum progressuros fuisse ut vehementius odio libidinis tuae quam legationis metu moverentur.

[¶16] 82. Do not, in the name of the immortal gods, I entreat you—do not compel the allies and foreign nations to have recourse to such a refuge as that; and they must of necessity have recourse to it, unless you chastise such crimes. Nothing would ever have softened the citizens of Lampsacus towards him, except their believing that he would be punished at Rome. Although they had sustained such an injury that they could not sufficiently avenge it by any law in the world, yet they would have preferred to submit their griefs to our laws and tribunals, rather than to give way to their own feelings of indignation. You, when you have been besieged by so illustrious a city on account of your own wickedness and crime—when you have compelled men, miserable and maddened by calamity, as if in despair of our laws and tribunals, to fly to violence, to combat, and to arms—when you have shown yourself in the towns and cities of our friends, not as a lieutenant of the Roman people, but as a lustful and inhuman tyrant—when among foreign nations you have injured the reputation of our dominion and our name by your infamy and your crimes—when you have with difficulty saved yourself from the sword of the friends of the Roman people, and escaped from the fire of its allies, do you think you will find an asylum here? You are mistaken—they allowed you to escape alive that you might fall into our power here, not that you might find rest here.

> Latin: 82. , per deos immortalis, cogere socios atque exteras nationes hoc uti perfugio, quo, nisi vos vindicatis, utentur necessario! Lampsacenos in istum numquam ulla res mitigasset nisi eum poenas Romae daturum credidissent: etsi talem acceperant iniuriam, quam nulla lege satis digne persequi possent, tamen incommoda sua nostris committere legibus et iudiciis quam dolori suo permittere maluerunt. mihi, cum circumsessus a tam inlustri civitate sis propter tuum scelus atque flagitium, cum coegeris homines miseros et calamitosos quasi desperatis nostris legibus et iudiciis ad vim, ad manus, ad arma confugere, cum te in oppidis et civitatibus amicorum non legatum populi Romani, sed tyrannum libidinosum crudelemque praebueris, cum apud exteras nationes imperi nominisque nostri famam tuis probris flagitiisque violaris, cum te ex ferro amicorum populi Romani eripueris atque ex flamma sociorum evolaris, hic tibi perfugium speras futurum?: ut huc incideres, non ut hic conquiesceres, illi te vivum exire passi sunt.

[¶17] 83. And you say that a judicial decision was come to that you were injuriously besieged for no reason at Lampsacus, because Philodamus and his son were condemned. What if I show, if I make it evident, by the evidence of a worthless man indeed, but still a competent witness in this matter,—by the evidence of you yourself,—that you yourself transferred the reason of this siege laid to you, and the blame of it, to others? and that those whom you had accused were not punished? Then the decision of Nero will do you but little good. Recite the letters which he sent to Nero. [The letter of Caius Verres to Nero is read.] “Themistagoras and Thessalus.”... You write that Themistagoras and Thessalus stirred up the people. What people? They who besieged you; who endeavoured to burn you alive. Where do you prosecute them? Where do you accuse them? Where do you defend the name and rights of a lieutenant? Will you say that that was settled by the trial of Philodamus? Let me have the evidence of Verres himself.

> Latin: 83. ais iudicium esse factum te iniuria circumsessum esse Lampsaci, quod Philodamus cum filio condemnatus sit., si doceo, si planum facio teste homine nequam, verum ad hanc rem tamen idoneo—te ipso, inquam, teste docebo te huius circumsessionis tuae causam et culpam in alios transtulisse, neque in eos, quos tu insimularas, esse animadversum. nihil te iudicium Neronis adiuvat. quas ad Neronem litteras misit. epistvla C. Verris ad Neronem. Themistagoras et Thessalvs —. Themistagoram et Thessalum scribis populum concitasse. populum? te circumsedit, qui te vivum comburere conatus est. Vbi hos persequeris, ubi accusas, ubi defendis ius nomenque legati? in Philodami iudicio dices id actum? mihi ipsius Verris testimonium:

[¶18] 84. Let us see what that fellow said on his oath. Recite it. “Being asked by the accuser, he answered that he was not prosecuting for that in this trial, that he intended to prosecute for that another time.” How, then, does Nero's decision profit you?—how does the conviction of Philodamus? Though you, a lieutenant, had been besieged, and when, as you yourself write to Nero, a notorious injury had been done to the Roman people, and to the common cause of all lieutenants, you did not prosecute. You said that you intended to prosecute at some other time When was that time? When have you prosecuted? Why have you taken so much from the rights of a lieutenant's rank? Why have you abandoned and betrayed the cause of the Roman people? Why have you passed over your own injuries, involved as they were in the public injury? Ought you not to have brought the cause before the senate? to have complained of such atrocious injuries? to have taken care that those men who had excited the populace should be summoned by the letters of the consuls?

> Latin: 84. videamus quid idem iste iuratus dixerit.. ab accvsatore rogatvs respondit in hoc ivdicio non perseqvi: sibi in animo esse alio tempore perseqvi. igitur te iuvat Neronis iudicium, quid Philodami damnatio? cumesses circumsessus, cum que, quem ad modum tute ad Neronem scripsisti, populo Romano communique causae legatorum facta esset insignis iniuria, non es persecutus: dicis tibi in animo esse alio tempore persequi. fuit id tempus? quando es persecutus? imminuisti ius legationis, cur causam populi Romani deseruisti ac prodidisti, cur iniurias tuas coniunctas cum publicis reliquisti? te ad senatum causam deferre, non de tam atrocibus iniuriis conqueri, non eos homines qui populum concitarant consulum litteris evocandos curare oportuit?

[¶19] 85. Lately, when Marcus Aurelius Scaurus made the demand, because he said that he as quaestor had been prevented by force at Ephesus from taking his servant out of the temple of Diana, who had taken refuge in that asylum, Pericles, an Ephesian, a most noble man, was summoned to Rome, because he was accused of having been the author of that wrong. If you had stated to the senate that you, a lieutenant, had been so treated at Lampsacus, that your companions were wounded, your lictor slain, you yourself surrounded and nearly burnt, and that the ringleaders and principal actors and chiefs in that transaction were Themistagoras and Thessalus, who, you write, were so, who would not have been moved? Who would not have thought that he was taking care of himself in chastising the injury which had been done to you? Who would not have thought that not only your cause but that the common safety was at stake in that matter? In truth the name of lieutenant ought to be such as to pass in safety not only among the laws of allies, but even amid the arms of enemies.

> Latin: 85. M. Aurelio Scauro postulante, quod is Ephesi se quaestorem vi prohibitum esse dicebat quo minus e fano Dianae servum suum, qui in illud asylum confugisset, abduceret, Pericles Ephesius, homo nobilissimus, Romam evocatus est, quod auctor illius iniuriae fuisse arguebatur: tu, si te legatum ita Lampsaci tractatum esse senatum docuisses ut tui comites vulnerarentur, lictor occideretur, ipse circumsessus paene incenderere, eius autem rei duces et auctores principes fuisse, quos scribis, Themistagoram et Thessalum, quis non commoveretur, quis non ex iniuria quae tibi esset facta sibi provideret, quis non in ea re causam tuam, periculum commune agi arbitraretur? nomen legati eius modi esse debet quod non modo inter sociorum iura, sed etiam inter hostium tela incolume versetur.

[¶20] 86. This crime committed at Lampsacus is very great; a crime of lust and of the most infamous desires. Listen now to a tale of avarice, but little less iniquitous of its sort. He demanded of the Milesians a ship to attend him to Myndus as a guard. They immediately gave him a light vessel, a beautiful one of its class, splendidly adorned and armed. With this guard he went to Myndus. For, as to the wool being public property which he carried off from the Milesians,—as for his extravagance on his arrival,—as for his insults and injuries offered to the Milesian magistrates, although they might be stated not only truly, but also with vehemence and with indignation, still I shall pass them all over, and reserve them for another time to be proved by evidence. At present listen to this which cannot possibly be suppressed, and at the same time cannot be mentioned with proper dignity.

> Latin: 86. Magnum hoc Lampsacenum crimen est libidinis atque improbissimae cupiditatis: accipite nunc avaritiae prope modum in suo genere non levius. Milesios navem poposcit, quae eum praesidi causa Myndum prosequeretur: illi statim myoparonem egregium de sua classe ornatum atque armatum dederunt. praesidio Myndum profectus est. quid a Milesiis lanae publice abstulerit, item de sumptu in adventum, de contumeliis et iniuriis in magistratum Milesium tametsi dici cum vere tum graviter et vehementer potest, tamen dicere praetermittam eaque omnia testibus integra reservabo: illud, quod neque taceri ullo modo neque dici pro dignitate potest, cognoscite.

[¶21] 87. He orders the soldiers and the crew to return from Myndus to Miletus on foot; he himself sold that beautiful light vessel, picked out of the ten ships of the Milesians, to Lucius Magius and Lucius Rabius, who were living at Myndus. These are the men whom the senate lately voted should be considered in the number of enemies. In this vessel they sailed to all the enemies of the Roman people, from Dianium, which is in Spain, to Senope, which is in Pontus. O ye immortal gods! the incredible avarice, the unheard-of audacity of such a proceeding! Did you dare to sell a ship of the Roman fleet, which the city of Miletus had assigned to you to attend upon you? If the magnitude of the crime, if the opinion of men, had no influence on you, did this, too, never occur to you,—that so illustrious and so noble a city would he a witness against you of this most wicked theft, or rather of this most abominable robbery?

> Latin: 87. remigesque Miletum Myndo pedibus reverti iubet: ipse myoparonem pulcherrimum de decem Milesiorum navibus electum L. Magio et L. Fannio, qui Myndi habitabant, vendidit. sunt homines quos nuper senatus in hostium numero habendos censuit: hoc illi navigio ad omnis populi Romani hostis usque ab Dianio [quod in Hispania est] ad Sinopam [quae in Ponto est] navigaverunt. O, di immortales, incredibilem avaritiam singularemque audaciam! tu de classe populi Romani, quam tibi Milesia civitas ut te prosequeretur dedisset, ausus es vendere? te magnitudo malefici, si hominum existimatio non movebat, ne illud quidem cogitabas, huius improbissimi furti sive adeo nefariae praedae tam inlustrem ac tam nobilem civitatem testem futuram?

[¶22] 88. Or because at that time Cnaeus Dolabella attempted, at your request, to punish the man who had been in command of that vessel, and who had reported to the Milesians what had been done, and had ordered his report, which according to their laws had been inserted in the public registers, to be erased, did you, on that account, fancy that you had escaped from that accusation? That opinion of yours has much deceived you, and on many occasions. For you have always fancied, and especially in Sicily, that you had taken sufficient precautions for your defence, when you had either forbidden anything to be mentioned in the public records, or had compelled that which had been so mentioned to be erased. How vain that step is, although in the former pleading you learnt it in the instance of many cities of Sicily, yet you may learn it again in the case of this city. The citizens are, indeed, obedient to the command, as long as they are present who give the command. As soon as they are gone, they not only set down that which they have been forbidden to set down, but they also write down the reason why it was not entered in the public records at the time.

> Latin: 88. quia tum Cn. Dolabella in eum qui ei myoparoni praefuerat, Milesiisque rem gestam renuntiarat, animadvertere tuo rogatu conatus est, renuntiationemque eius, quae erat in publicas litteras relata illorum legibus, tolli iusserat, idcirco te ex hoc crimine elapsum esse arbitrabare? te ista fefellit opinio, et quidem multis in locis. enim existimasti, et maxime in Sicilia, satis cautum tibi ad defensionem fore, si aut referri aliquid in litteras publicas vetuisses, aut quod relatum esset tolli coegisses. quam nihil sit, tametsi ex multis Siciliae civitatibus priore actione didicisti, tamen etiam in hac ipsa civitate cognosce. illi quidem dicto audientes, quam diu adsunt ii qui imperant: simul ac discesserunt, non solum illud perscribunt quod tum prohibiti sunt, sed etiam causam adscribunt cur non tum in litteras relatum sit. istae litterae Mileti, manent, et dum erit illa civitas manebunt.

[¶23] 89. Those documents remain at Miletus, and will remain as long as that city lasts. For the Milesian people had built ten ships by command of Lucius Marcus out of the taxes imposed by the Roman people, as the other cities of Asia had done, each in proportion to its amount of taxation Wherefore they entered on their public records, that one of the ten had been lost, not by the sudden attack of pirates, but by the robbery of a lieutenant,—not by the violence of a storm, but by this horrible tempest which fell upon the allies.

> Latin: 89. enim navis iussu L. Murenae populus Milesius ex pecunia vectigali populo Romano fecerat, sicut pro sua quaeque parte Asiae ceterae civitates. ob rem unam ex decem, non praedonum repentino adventu sed legati latrocinio, non vi tempestatis sed hac horribili tempestate sociorum amissam in litteras publicas rettulerunt.

[¶24] 90. There are at Rome Milesian ambassadors, most noble men and the chief men of the city, who, although they are waiting with apprehension for the month of February and the time of the consuls elect, yet they not only do not dare to deny such an atrocious action when they are asked about it, but they cannot forbear speaking of it unasked if they are present. They will tell you, I say, being induced by regard to religion, and by their fear of their laws at home, what has become of that vessel. They will declare to you that Caius Verres has behaved himself like a most infamous pirate in regard to that fleet which was built against pirates. When Caius Malleolus, the quaestor of Dolabella, had been slain, he thought that two inheritances had come to him; one, that of his quaestorian office, for he was immediately desired by Dolabella to be his proquaestor; the other, of a guardianship, for as he was appointed guardian of the young Malleolus, he immediately invaded his property.

> Latin: 90. Romae legati Milesii, homines nobilissimi ac principes civitatis, qui tametsi mensem Februarium et consulum designatorum nomen exspectant, tamen hoc tantum facinus non modo negare interrogati, sed ne producti quidem reticere poterunt: dicent, inquam, et religione adducti et domesticarum legum metu, quid illo myoparone factum sit, ostendent C. Verrem, in ea classe quae contra piratas aedificata sit, piratam ipsum consceleratum fuisse. C. Malleolo, quaestore Cn. Dolabellae, occiso duas sibi hereditates venisse arbitratus est, unam quaestoriae procurationis, nam a Dolabella statim pro quaestore iussus est esse; alteram tutelae, nam cum pupilli tutor esset, in bona eius impetum fecit.

[¶25] 91. For Malleolus had started for his province so splendidly equipped that he left actually nothing behind him at home. Besides, he had put out a great deal of money among the provincials, and had taken bills from them. He had taken with him a great quantity of admirably embossed silver plate. For he, too, was a companion of that fellow Verres in that disease and in that covetousness; and so he left behind him at his death a great quantity of silver plate, a great household of slaves, many workmen, many beautiful youths. That fellow seized all the plate that took his fancy; carried off all the slaves he chose; carried off the wines and all the other things which are procured most easily in Asia, which he had left behind: the rest he sold, and took the money himself.

> Latin: 91. in provinciam sic copiose profectus erat ut domi prorsus nihil relinqueret; praeterea pecunias occuparat apud populos et syngraphas fecerat, argenti optimi caelati grande pondus secum tulerat, nam ille quoque sodalis istius erat in hoc morbo et cupiditate; grande pondus argenti, familiam magnam, multos artifices, multos formosos homines reliquit. quod argenti placuit invasit; quae mancipia voluit abduxit; vina ceteraque quae in Asia facillime comparantur, quae ille reliquerat, asportavit; reliqua vendidit, pecuniam exegit.

[¶26] 92. Though it was plain that he had received two million, five hundred thousand sesterces, when he returned to Rome, he rendered no account to his ward, none to his ward's mother, none to his fellow-guardians; though he had the servants of his ward, who were workmen, at home, and beautiful and accomplished slaves about him, he said that they were his own,—that he had bought them. When the mother and grandmother of the boy repeatedly asked him if he would neither restore the mosey nor render an account, at least to say how much money of Malleolus's he had received, being wearied with their importunities, at last he said, a million of sesterces. Then on the last line of his accounts, he put in a name at the bottom by a most shameless erasure; he put down that he had paid to Chrysogonus, a slave, six hundred thousand sesterces which he had received for his ward Malleolus. How out of a million they became six hundred thousand; how the six hundred thousand tallied so exactly with other accounts,—that of the money belonging to Cnaeus Carbo there was also a remainder of six hundred thousand sesterces; and how it was that they were put down as paid to Chrysogonus; why that name occurred on the bottom line of the page, and after an erasure, you will judge.

> Latin: 92. ad HS viciens quinquiens redegisse constaret, ut Romam rediit, nullam litteram pupillo, nullam matri eius, nullam tutoribus reddidit; servos artifices pupilli cum haberet domi, circum pedes autem homines formosos et litteratos, suos esse dicebat, se emisse. saepius mater et avia pueri postularent uti, si non redderet pecuniam nec rationem daret, diceret saltem quantum pecuniae deportasset, a multis efflagitatus aliquando dixit HS deciens; deinde in codicis extrema cera nomen infimum in flagitiosa litura fecit; expensa Chrysogono servo HS sescenta milia, accepta pupillo rettulit. modo ex deciens HS sescenta sint facta, quo modo dc eodem modo quadrarint ut illa de Cn. Carbonis pecunia reliqua HS sescenta facta sint, quo modo Chrysogono expensa lata sint, cur id nomen infimum in lituraque sit, vos existimabitis.

[¶27] 93. Yet, though he had entered in his accounts six hundred thousand sesterces as having been received, he has never paid over fifty thousand. Of the slaves, since he has been prosecuted in this manner, some have been restored, some are detained even now. All the gains which they had made, and all their substitutes are detained. This is that fellow's splendid guardianship. See to whom you are entrusting your children! Behold how great is the recollection of a dead companion! Behold how great is the fear of the opinion of the living! When all Asia had given herself up to you to be harassed and plundered, when all Pamphylia was placed at your mercy to be pillaged, were you not content with this rich booty? Could you not keep your hands off your guardianship, off your ward, off the son of your comrade? It is not now the Sicilians; they are now a set of ploughmen, as you are constantly saying, who are hemming you in. It is not the men who have been excited against you and rendered hostile to you by your own decrees and edicts. Malleolus is brought forward by me and his mother and his grandmother, who, unfortunate, and weeping, say that their boy has been stripped by you of his father's property.

> Latin: 93. HS sescenta milia cum accepta rettulisset, HS quinquaginta milia soluta non sunt; homines, posteaquam reus factus est, redditi alii alii etiam nunc retinentur; peculia omnium vicariique retinentur. est istius praeclara tutela. cui tuos liberos committas, en memoriam mortui sodalis, en metum vivorum existimationis! tibi se tota Asia spoliandam ac vexandam praebuisset, cum tibi exposita esset omnis ad praedandum Pamphylia, contentus his tam opimis rebus non fuisti? manus a tutela, manus a pupillo, manus a sodalis filio abstinere non potuisti? te non Siculi, non aratores, ut dictitas, circumveniunt, non hi qui decretis edictisque tuis in te concitati infestique sunt: a me productus est et mater eius atque avia, quae miserae flentes eversum a te puerum patriis bonis esse dixerunt.

## 6. Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 94–126

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/6/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/6/#p-N

[¶0] 94. What are you waiting for? till poor Malleolus rises from the shades below, and demands of you an account of your discharge of the duties of a guardian, of a comrade, of an intimate friend? Fancy that he is present himself, O most avaricious and most licentious man, restore the property of your comrade to his son; if not all you have robbed him of, at least that which you have confessed that you received. Why do you compel the son of your comrade to utter his first words in the forum with the voice of indignation and complaint? Why do you compel the wife of your comrade, the mother-in-law of your comrade, in short, the whole family of your dead comrade, to hear evidence against you? Why do you compel most modest and admirable women to come against their wont and against their will into so great an assembly of men? Recite the evidence of them all. [The evidence of the mother and grandmother is read.]

> Latin: 94. exspectas? an dum ab inferis ipse exsistat, atque abs te officia tutelae sodalitatis familiaritatisque flagitet? putato adesse. avarissime et spurcissime, redde bona sodalis filio, si non quae abstulisti, at quae confessus es! cogis sodalis filium hanc primam in foro vocem cum dolore et querimonia emittere? cur sodalis uxorem, sodalis socrum, domum denique totam sodalis mortui contra te testimonium dicere? cur pudentissimas lectissimasque feminas in tantum virorum conventum insolitas invitasque prodire cogis? omnium testimonia. testimonivm matris et aviae.

[¶1] 95. But how he as proquaestor harassed the republic of the Milyades, how he oppressed Lycia, Pamphylia, Piscidia, and all Phrygia, in his levying corn from them, and valuing it according to that valuation of his which he then devised for the first time, it is not necessary for me now to relate, know this much, that these articles (and all such matters were transacted through his instrumentality, while he levied on the cities corn, hides, hair-cloth, sacks, but did not receive the goods but exacted money instead of them),—for these articles alone damages were laid in the action against Dolabella, at three millions of sesterces. And all these things even if they were done with the consent of Dolabella, were yet all accomplished through the instrumentality of that man.

> Latin: 95. quaestore vero quo modo iste commune Milyadum vexarit, quo modo Lyciam, Pamphyliam, Pisidiam Phrygiamque totam frumento imperando, aestimando, hac sua, quam tum primum excogitavit, Siciliensi aestimatione adflixerit, non est necesse demonstrare verbis: hoc scitote, [his nominibus—quae res per hunc gestae sunt ] cum iste civitatibus frumentum, coria, cilicia, saccos imperaret, neque ea sumeret proque iis rebus pecuniam exigeret—his nominibus solis Cn. Dolabellae HS ad triciens litem esse aestimatam. omnia, etiamsi voluntate Dolabellae fiebant, per istum tamen omnia gerebantur.

[¶2] 96. I will pause on one article, for many are of the same sort. Recite. “Money received from the actions against Cnaeus Dolabella, praetor of the Roman people, that which was received from the State of the Milyades...” I say that you collected this money, that you made this valuation, that the money was paid to you; and I prove that you went through every part of the province with the same violence and injustice, when you were collecting most enormous sums, like some disastrous tempest or pestilence.

> Latin: 96. in uno nomine; multa enim sunt ex eodem genere.. de litibvs aestimatis Cn. Dolabellae pr. pecvniae redactae. qvod a commvni Milvadvm —. haec coegisse, te aestimasse, tibi pecuniam numeratam esse dico, eademque vi et iniuria, cum pecunias maximas cogeres, per omnis partis provinciae te tamquam aliquam calamitosam tempestatem pestemque pervasisse demonstro.

[¶3] 97. Therefore Marcus Scaurus, who accused Cnaeus Dolabella, held him under his power and in subjection. Being a young man, when in prosecuting his inquiries he ascertained the numerous robberies and iniquities of that man, he acted skillfully and warily. He showed him a huge volume full of his exploits; he got from the fellow all he wanted against Dolabella. He brought him forward as a witness; the fellow said everything which he thought the accuser wished him to say.

> Latin: 97. M. Scaurus, qui Cn. Dolabellam accusavit, istum in sua potestate ac dicione tenuit. adulescens cum istius in inquirendo multa furta ac flagitia cognosset, fecit perite et callide; volumen eius rerum gestarum maximum isti ostendit; ab homine quae voluit in Dolabellam abstulit; istum testem produxit; dixit iste quae velle accusatorem putavit. ex genere mihi testium qui cum isto furati sunt, si uti voluissem, magna copia fuisset; qui ut se periculo litium, coniunctione criminum liberarent, quo ego vellem descensuros pollicebantur.

[¶4] 98. And of that class of witnesses, men who were accomplices in his robberies, I might have had a great plenty if I had chosen to employ them; who offered of their own accord to go wherever I chose, in order to deliver themselves from the danger of actions, and from a connection with his crimes. I rejected the voluntary offers of all of them. There was not only no room for a traitor, there was none even for a deserter in my camp. Perhaps they are to be considered better accusers than I, who do all these things; but I wish the defender of others to be praised in my person, not the accuser. He does not dare bring in his accounts to the treasury before Dolabella is condemned. He prevails on the senate to grant him an adjournment; because he said that his account-books had been sealed up by the accusers of Dolabella; just as if he had not the power of copying them. This man is the only man who never renders accounts to the treasury. You have heard the accounts of his quaestorship rendered in three lines; but no accounts of his lieutenancy, till he was condemned and banished who alone could detect any error in them. The accounts of his praetorship, which, according to the decree of the senate, he ought to have rendered immediately on leaving office, he has not rendered to this very day.

> Latin: 98. Eorum ego voluntatem omnium repudiavi; non modo proditori, sed ne perfugae quidem locus in meis castris cuiquam fuit. meliores illi accusatores habendi sint, qui haec omnia fecerunt. est; sed ego defensorem in mea persona, non accusatorem maxime laudari volo. ad aerarium, antequam Dolabella condemnatus est, non audet referre; impetrat a senatu ut dies sibi prorogaretur, quod tabulas suas ab accusatoribus Dolabellae obsignatas diceret, proinde quasi exscribendi potestatem non haberet. est hic qui numquam rationes ad aerarium referat. Audistis quaestoriam rationem, tribus versiculis relatam; legationis, non nisi condemnato et eiecto eo qui posset reprehendere; nunc denique praeturae, quam ex senatus consulto statim referre debuit, usque ad hoc tempus non rettulit.

[¶5] 99. He said that he was waiting for the quaestors to appear in the senate; just as if a praetor could not give in his accounts without the quaestor, in the same way as the quaestor does without the praetor, (as you did, Hortensius, and as all have done.) He said that Dolabella obtained the same permission. The omen pleased the conscript fathers rather than the excuse; they admitted it. But now the quaestors have arrived some time. Why have you not rendered them now? Among the accounts of that infamous lieutenancy and pro-quaestorship of yours, those items occur which are necessarily set down also in the accounts of Dolabella. (An extract is read of the account of the damages assessed against Dolabella, praetor of the Roman people, for money received.)

> Latin: 99. se in senatu exspectare dixit, proinde quasi non, ut quaestor sine praetore possit rationem referre, —ut tu, Hortensi, ut omnes—eodem modo sine quaestore praetor. idem Dolabellam impetrasse. magis patribus conscriptis quam causa placuit: probaverunt. quaestores quoque iam pridem venerunt: cur non rettulisti? rationum ex ea faece legationis quaestoriaeque tuae procurationis illa sunt nomina, quae Dolabellae necessario sunt aestimata. litibvs aestimatis Dolabellae pr. et pro pr.:

[¶6] 100. The sum which Dolabella entered to Verres as having been received from him, is less than the sum which Verres has entered as having been paid to him by four hundred and thirty-five thousand sesterces. The sum which Dolabella made out that Verres received less than he has put down in his account-books, is two hundred and thirty-two thousand sesterces. Dolabella also made out that on account of corn he had received one million and eight hundred thousand sesterces; as to which you, O most incorruptible man, had quite a different entry in your account-books. Hence it is that those extraordinary gains of yours have accumulated, which we are examining into without any guide, article by article as we can;—hence the account with Quintus and Cnaeus Postumus Curtius, made up of many items; of which that fellow has not one in his account-books;—hence the fourteen hundred thousand sesterces paid to Publius Tadius at Athens, as I will prove by witnesses;—hence the praetorship, openly purchased; unless indeed that also is doubtful, how that man became praetor.

> Latin: 100. minus Dolabella Verri acceptum rettulit quam Verres illi expensum tulerit, HS quingenta triginta quinque milia, et quod plus fecit Dolabella Verrem accepisse quam iste in suis tabulis habuit, HS ducenta triginta duo milia, et quod plus frumenti fecit accepisse istum, HS deciens et octingenta milia, quod tu homo castissimus aliud in tabulis habebas. illae extraordinariae pecuniae, quas nullo duce tamen aliqua ex particula investigamus, redundarunt, hinc ratio cum Q. et Cn. Postumis Curtiis multis nominibus, quorum in tabulis iste habet nullum; hinc HS quater deciens P. Tadio numeratum Athenis testibus planum faciam; hinc empta apertissime praetura, nisi forte id etiam dubium est, quo modo iste praetor factus sit.

[¶7] 101. Oh, he was a man, indeed, of tried industry and energy, or else of a splendid reputation for economy, or perhaps, which is however of the least importance, for his constant attendance at our assemblies;—a man who had lived before his quaestorship with prostitutes and pimps; who had passed his quaestorship you yourselves know how;—who, since that infamous quaestorship, has scarcely been three days in Rome: who, while absent, has not been out of sight, but has been the common topic of conversation for every one on account of his countless iniquities. He, on a sudden, the moment he came to Rome, is made praetor for nothing! Besides that, other money was paid to buy off accusations. To whom it was paid is, I think, nothing to me; nothing to the matter in hand. That it was paid was at the time notorious to every one while the occurrence was recent.

> Latin: 101. scilicet aut industria aut opera probata aut frugalitatis existimatione praeclara aut denique, id quod levissimum est, adsiduitate, qui ante quaesturam cum meretricibus lenonibusque vixisset, quaesturam ita gessisset quem ad modum cognovistis, Romae post quaesturam illam nefariam vix triduum constitisset, absens non in oblivione iacuisset sed in adsidua commemoratione omnibus omnium flagitiorum fuisset, is repente, ut Romam venit, gratiis praetor factus est. Alia porro pecunia ne accusaretur data. sit data, nihil ad me, nihil ad rem pertinere arbitror: datam quidem esse tum inter omnis recenti negotio facile constabat.

[¶8] 102. O you most foolish, most senseless man, when you were making up your accounts, and when you wanted to shirk out of the charge of having made extraordinary gains, did you think that you would escape sufficiently from all suspicion, if when you lent men money you did not enter any sums as given to them, and put down no such item at all in your account-books, while the Curtii were giving you credit in their books for all that had been received? What good did it do you that you had not put down what was paid to them? Did you think you were going to try your cause by the production of no other account-books than your own?

> Latin: 102. stultissime et amentissime, tabulas cum conficeres et cum extraordinariae pecuniae crimen subterfugere velles, satis te elapsurum omni suspicione arbitrabare si, quibus pecuniam credebas, iis expensum non ferres, neque in tuas tabulas ullum nomen referres, cum tot tibi nominibus acceptum Curtii referrent? proderat tibi te expensum illis non tulisse? an tuis solis tabulis te causam dicturum existimasti?

[¶9] 103. However, let us now come to that splendid praetorship and to those crimes which are better known to those who are here present, than even to us who come prepared to speak after long consideration. In dealing with which, I do not doubt that I may not be able to avoid and escape from some blame on the ground of negligence. For many will say, “He said nothing of the transaction at which I was present; he never touched upon that injury which was done to me, or to my friend, transactions at which I was present.” To all those who are acquainted with the wrongs this man has done—that is, to the whole Roman people—I earnestly wish to make this excuse, that it will not be out of carelessness that I shall pass over many things, but because I wish to reserve some points till I produce the witnesses, and because I think it necessary to omit some altogether with a view to brevity, and to the time my speech must take. I will confess too, though against my will, that, as he never allowed any moment of time to pass free from crime, I have not been able to ascertain fully every iniquity which has been committed by him. Therefore I beg you to listen to me with respect to the crimes of his praetorship, expecting only to hear those mentioned, both in the matters of deciding law-suits and of insisting on the repair of public buildings, which are thoroughly worthy of a criminal whom it is not worth while to accuse of any small or ordinary offences.

> Latin: 103. ad illam iam veniamus praeclaram praeturam, criminaque ea quae notiora sunt his qui adsunt quam nobis qui meditati ad dicendum paratique venimus; in quibus non dubito quin offensionem neglegentiae vitare atque effugere non possim. enim ita dicent, “illo nihil dixit in quo ego interfui; illam iniuriam non attigit quae mihi aut quae amico meo facta est, quibus ego in rebus interfui”. omnibus qui istius iniurias norunt, hoc est populo Romano universo, me vehementer excusatum volo non neglegentia mea fore ut multa praeteream, sed quod alia testibus integra reservari velim, multa autem propter rationem brevitatis ac temporis praetermittenda existimem. etiam illud invitus, me prorsus, cum iste punctum temporis nullum vacuum peccato praeterire passus sit, omnia quae ab isto commissa sint non potuisse cognoscere. ita me de praeturae criminibus auditote ut ex utroque genere, et iuris dicendi et sartorum tectorum exigendorum, ea postuletis quae maxime digna sint eo reo cui parvum ac mediocre obici nihil oporteat.

[¶10] 104. For when he was made praetor, leaving the house of Chelidon after having taken the auspices, he drew the lot of the city province, more in accordance with his own inclination and that of Chelidon, than with the wish of the Roman people. And observe how he behaved at the very outset,—what his intentions were as shown in his first edict. Publius Annius Asellus died while Caius Sacerdos was praetor. As he had an only daughter, and as he was not included in the census, he did what nature prompted, and what no law forbade,—he appointed his daughter heiress of all his property. His daughter was his heiress. Everything made for the orphan; the equity of the law, the wish of the father, the edicts of the praetors, the usage of the law which existed at the time that Asellus died.

> Latin: 104. ut praetor factus est, qui auspicato a Chelidone surrexisset, sortem nactus est urbanae provinciae magis ex sua Chelidonisque quam ex populi Romani voluntate. principio qualis in edicto constituendo fuerit cognoscite. P. Annius mortuus est C. Sacerdote praetore. cum haberet unicam filiam neque census esset, quod eum natura hortabatur, lex nulla prohibebat, fecit ut filiam bonis suis heredem institueret. Heres erat filia. omnia cum pupilla, legis aequitas, voluntas patris, edicta praetorum, consuetudo iuris eius quod erat tum cum est mortuus.

[¶11] 105. That fellow, being praetor elect, (whether being instigated by others, or being tempted by circumstances, or whether, from the instinctive sagacity which he has in such matters, he came of his own accord to this rascality, without any prompter, without any informer, I know not; you only know the audacity and insanity of the man,) appeals to Lucius Annius as the heir, (who indeed was appointed heir after the daughter,) for I cannot be persuaded that Verres was appealed to by him; he says that he can give him the inheritance by an edict; he instructs the man in what can be done. To the one the property appeared desirable, the other thought that he could sell it. Verres, although he is of singular audacity, still sent privately to the young girl's mother; he preferred taking money for not issuing any new edict, to interposing so shameful and inhuman a decree.

> Latin: 105. praetor designatus—utrum admonitus an temptatus an, qua est ipse sagacitate in his rebus, sine duce ullo, sine indice pervenerit ad hanc improbitatem, nescio: vos tantum hominis audaciam amentiamque cognoscite—appellat heredem L. Annium, qui erat institutus secundum filiam (non enim mihi persuadetur istum ab illo prius appellatum); dicit se posse ei condonare edicto hereditatem; docet hominem quid possit fieri. bona res, huic vendibilis videbatur., tametsi singulari est audacia, tamen ad pupillae matrem submittebat; malebat pecuniam accipere, ne quid novi ediceret, quam ut hoc edictum tam improbum et tam inhumanum interponeret.

[¶12] 106. Her guardians, if they gave money to the praetor in the name of their ward, especially if it were a huge sum, did not see how they could enter it in their accounts; did not see how they could give it except at their own risk; and at the same time they did not believe that he would be so wicked. Being often applied to, they refused. I pray you, take notice, how equitable a decree he issued at the will of the man to whom he was giving the inheritance of which the children were robbed. “As I understand that the Lex Voconia...” Who would ever believe that Verres would be an adversary of women? or did he do something contrary to the interests of women, in order that the whole edict might not appear to have been drawn up at the will of Chelidon. He wishes, he says, to oppose the covetousness of men. Oh, certainly. Who, not only in the present age, but even in the times of our ancestors, was ever so far removed from covetousness? Recite what comes next, I beg; for the gravity of the man, his knowledge of the law, and his authority delight me. “Who, since the censorship of Aulus Postumius and Quintus Fulvius, has made, or shall have made....” Has made, or shall have made! who ever issued an edict in such a manner?

> Latin: 106. pecuniam praetori si pupillae nomine dedissent, grandem praesertim, quem ad modum in rationem inducerent, quem ad modum sine periculo suo dare possent, non videbant; simul et istum fore tam improbum non arbitrabantur; saepe appellati pernegaverunt. ad arbitrium eius cui condonabat hereditatem ereptam a liberis quam aequum edictum conscripserit, quaeso, cognoscite. cvm intellegam legem Voconiam —. umquam crederet mulierum adversarium Verrem futurum? an ideo aliquid contra mulieres fecit ne totum edictum ad Chelidonis arbitrium scriptum videretur? hominum ait se obviam ire. potius non modo his temporibus, sed etiam apud maiores nostros? quis tam remotus fuit a cupiditate?, quaeso, cetera; delectat enim me hominis gravitas, scientia iuris praetorii auctoritas.. qvi ab A. Postvmio Q. Fulvio censoribvs postve ea — — fecit fecerit.

[¶13] 107. Who ever proposed by an edict any penalty or danger for an act which could not be provided for otherwise either before the edict or after the edict? Publius Annius had made his will in accordance with law, with the statutes, with the authority of all who were consulted; a will neither improper, nor made in disregard of any duty, nor contrary to human nature. But even if he had made such a will as that, still, after his death no new law ought to have been enacted which should have any effect on his will. I suppose the Voconian law pleased you greatly? You should have imitated Quintus Voconius himself, who did not by his law take away her inheritance from any female whether virgin or matron, but established a law for the future, that no one who after the year of the existing censors should be enrolled in the census, should make either virgin or matron his heir.

> Latin: 107. “fecerit”? quis umquam edixit isto modo? quis umquam eius rei fraudem aut periculum proposuit edicto, quae neque post edictum reprehendi neque ante edictum provideri potuit?, legibus, auctoritate omnium qui consulebantur, testamentum P. Annius fecerat non improbum, non inofficiosum, non inhumanum: quodsi ita fecisset, tamen post illius mortem nihil de testamento illius novi iuris constitui oporteret. Voconia lex te videlicet delectabat. esses ipsum illum C. Voconium, qui lege sua hereditatem ademit nulli neque virgini neque mulieri: sanxit in posterum, qui post eos censores census esset, ne quis heredem virginem neve mulierem faceret.

[¶14] 108. In the Voconian law, there is no “has made or shall have made.” Nor in any law is time past ever implicated in blame, except in cases which are of their own nature wicked and nefarious, so that, even if there were no law, they would be strenuously to be avoided. And in these cases we see that many things are established by law in such a way that things done previously cannot be called in question—the Cornelian law the law about testaments, the law about money, and many others, in which no new law is established in the nation, but it is established that what has always been an evil action shall be liable to public prosecution up to a certain time.

> Latin: 108. lege Voconia non est fecit fecerit, neque in ulla praeteritum tempus reprehenditur nisi eius rei quae sua sponte tam scelerata et nefaria est ut, etiamsi lex non esset, magnopere vitanda fuerit. in his ipsis rebus multa videmus ita sancta esse legibus ut ante facta in iudicium non vocentur; Cornelia testamentaria, nummaria, ceterae complures, in quibus non ius aliquod novum populo constituitur, sed sancitur ut, quod semper malum facinus fuerit, eius quaestio ad populum pertineat ex certo tempore.

[¶15] 109. But if any one establishes any new regulation on any points of civil law, does he allow everything which has been previously done to remain unaltered? Look at the Atinian law, at the Furian law, at the Voconian law itself, as I said before; in short, at every law on the subject of civil rights; you will find in all of them that regulations are established which are only to come into operation after the passing of the law. Those who attribute the greatest importance to the edict, say that the edict of the praetor is an annual law. You embrace more in an edict than you can in a law. If the first of January puts an end to the edict of the praetor, why does not the edict have its birth also on the first of January? Or, is it the case that no one can advance forward by his edict into the year when another man is to be praetor, but that he may retire back into the year when another man has been praetor? And if you had published this edict for the sake of right, and not for the sake of one man, you would have composed it more carefully.

> Latin: 109. iure vero civili si quis novi quid instituit, is non omnia quae ante acta sunt rata esse patietur? mihi leges Atinias, Furias, Fusias, ipsam, ut dixi, Voconiam, omnis praeterea de iure civili: hoc reperies in omnibus statui ius quo post eam legem populus utatur. plurimum tribuunt edicto, praetoris edictum legem annuam dicunt esse: tu edicto plus amplecteris quam lege. finem edicto praetoris adferunt Kalendae Ianuariae, cur non initium quoque edicti nascitur a Kalendis Ianuariis? an in eum annum progredi nemo poterit edicto quo praetor alius futurus est, in illum quo alius praetor fuit regredietur?

[¶16] 110. You write, “If any one has made, or shall have made his heir......” What are we to think? Suppose a man has bequeathed in legacies more than comes to his heir or heirs, as by the Voconian law a man may do who is not included in the census? Why do you not guard against this, as it comes under the same class? Because in your expressions you are not thinking of the interests of a class, but of an individual; so that it is perfectly evident that you were influenced by a desire for money. And if you had issued this edict with only a prospective operation, it would have been less iniquitous; still it would have been scandalous: but in that case, though it might have been blamed, it could not have been doubted about, for no one would have broken it. Now it is an edict of such a sort, that any one can see that it was written, not for the people, but for the second heir of Publius Annius.

> Latin: 110. si hoc iuris, non unius hominis causa edixisses, cautius composuisses., qvi heredem fecit fecerit., si plus legarit quam ad heredem heredesve perveniat? quod per legem Voconiam ei qui census non sit licet; cur hoc, cum in eodem genere sit, non caves? non generis, sed hominis causam verbis amplecteris, ut facile appareat te pretio, non iure esse commotum. hoc si in posterum edixisses, etsi minus esset nefarium, tamen esset improbum; sed tum vituperari posset, in discrimen venire non posset; nemo enim committeret. est eius modi edictum ut quivis intellegat non populo esse scriptum, sed P. Anni secundis heredibus.

[¶17] 111. Therefore, though that heading had been embellished by you with so many words, and with that mercenary preamble, was any praetor found afterwards to draw up an edict in similar style? Not only no one ever did publish such an edict, but no one was ever apprehensive even of any one publishing such an edict. For after your praetorship many people made wills in the same manner, and among them Annia did so lately. She, by the advice of many of her relations, being a wealthy woman, because she was not included in the census, by her will made her daughter her heiress. This, now, is great proof of men's opinion of the singular wickedness of that fellow, that, though Verres had established this of his own accord, yet no one was apprehensive that any one could be found to adopt the rule which he had laid down. For you alone were found to be a man who could not be satisfied with correcting the wills of the living, unless you also rescinded those of the dead.

> Latin: 111. cum abs te caput illud tam multis verbis mercennarioque prooemio esset ornatum, ecquis inventus est postea praetor qui idem illud ediceret? modo nemo edixit, sed ne metuit quidem quisquam ne quis ediceret. post te praetorem multi in isdem causis fuerunt; in his nuper Annaea de multorum propinquorum sententia, pecuniosa mulier, quod censa non erat, testamento fecit heredem filiam. hoc magnum iudicium hominum de istius singulari improbitate, quod C. Verres sua sponte instituisset, id neminem metuisse ne quis reperiretur qui istius institutum sequi vellet; solus enim tu inventus es cui satis non fuerit corrigere testamenta vivorum, nisi etiam rescinderes mortuorum.

[¶18] 112. You yourself removed this clause from your Sicilian edict. You wished, if any matters arose unexpectedly, to decide them according to your edict as praetor of the city. The defence which you left yourself afterwards you yourself greatly injured, when you yourself, in your provincial edict, repudiated your own authority. And I do not doubt that as this action appears bitter and unworthy to me, to whom my daughter is very dear, it appears so also to each one of you who is influenced by a similar feeling and love for his daughters. For what has nature ordained to be more agreeable and more dear to us? What is more worthy to have all our affections and all our indulgence expended upon it?

> Latin: 112. ipse ex Siciliensi edicto hoc sustulisti; voluisti, ex improviso si quae res nata esset, ex urbano edicto decernere. postea tu tibi defensionem relinquebas, in ea maxime offendisti, cum tuam auctoritatem tute ipse edicto provinciali repudiabas. ego non dubito quin, ut mihi, cui mea filia maxime cordi est, res haec acerba videtur atque indigna, sic uni cuique vestrum, qui simili sensu atque indulgentia filiarum commovemini. enim natura nobis iucundius, quid carius esse voluit? quid est dignius in quo omnis nostra diligentia indulgentiaque consumatur?

[¶19] 113. O most infamous of men, why did you do so great an injury to Publius Annius after death? Why did you cause such indelible grief to his ashes and bones, as to take from his children the property of their father given to then? by the will of their father in accordance with the law and with the statutes, and to give them to whomsoever you pleased? Shall the praetor be able, when we are dead, to take away our property and our fortunes from those to whom we give them while alive? He says, “I will neither give any right of petition, nor possession.” Will you, then, take away from a young girl her purple-bordered robe? Will you take away, not only the ornaments of her fortune, but those also denoting her noble birth? Do we marvel that the citizens of Lampsacus flew to arms against that man? Do we marvel that when he was leaving his province, he fled secretly from Syracuse as if we were as indignant at what happens to others as at our own injury there would not be a relic of that man left to appear in the forum.

> Latin: 113. importunis ime, cur tantam iniuriam P. Annio mortuo fecisti? cur hunc dolorem cineri eius atque ossibus inussisti, ut liberis eius bona patria—voluntate patris, iure, legibus tradita—eriperes, et cui tibi esset commodum condonares? vivi bona nostra partimur, iis praetor adimere nobis mortuis bona fortunasque poterit? nec petitionem, inquit, nec possessionem dabo. igitur pupillae togam praetextam, detrahes ornamenta non solum fortunae sed etiam ingenuitatis? ad arma contra istum hominem Lampsacenos isse, miramur istum de provincia decedentem clam Syracusis profugisse? si alienam vicem pro nostra iniuria doleremus, vestigium istius in foro nullum esset relictum.

[¶20] 114. The father gives to his daughter: you forbid it. The laws allow it: yet you interpose your authority. He gives to her of his own property in such a manner as not to infringe any law. What do you find to blame in that? Nothing, I think. But I allow you to do so. Forbid it if you can; if you can find any one to listen to you; if any one can possibly obey your order. Will you take away their will from the dead,—their property from the living,—their rights from all men? Would not the Roman people have avenged itself by force if it had not reserved you for this occasion and for this trial? Since the establishment of the praetorian power, we have always adopted this principle,—that if no will was produced, then possession was given to that person who would have had the best right to be the heir, if the deceased had died intestate. Why this is the most righteous principle it is easy to show; but in a matter so established by precedent it is sufficient to point out that all men had previously laid down the law in this way, and that this was the ancient and customary edict.

> Latin: 114. dat filiae, prohibes; leges sinunt, tamen te interponis! suis bonis ita dat ut ab iure non abeat; quid habes quod reprehendas?, opinor. ego concedo; prohibe, si potes, si habes qui te audiat, si potest tibi dicto audiens esse quisquam. tu voluntatem mortuis, bona vivis, ius omnibus? populus Romanus non manu vindicasset, nisi te huic tempori atque huic iudicio reservasset? ius praetorium constitutum est, semper hoc iure usi sumus: si tabulae testamenti non proferrentur, tum ut uti quemque potissimum heredem esse oporteret, si is intestatus mortuus esset, ita secundum eum possessio daretur. hoc sit aequissimum facile est dicere, sed in re tam usitata satis est ostendere omnis antea ius ita dixisse, et hoc vetus edictum translaticiumque esse.

[¶21] 115. Listen to another new edict of the fellow in a case of frequent occurrence; and then, while there is any place where civil law can be learnt, pray send all the youths of Rome to his lectures. The genius of the man is marvellous; his prudence is marvellous. A man of the name of Minucius died while he was praetor. He left no will. By law his inheritance passed to the Minucian family. If Verres had issued the edict which all praetors both before and after him did issue, possession would have been given to the Minucian family. If any thought himself heir by will, though no will was known, he might proceed by law to put forward his claim to the inheritance; or if he had taken security for the claim, and given security, he then proceeded to try an action for his inheritance. This is the law which, as I imagine, both our ancestors and we ourselves have always been accustomed to. See, now, how that fellow amended it.

> Latin: 115. hominis aliud in re vetere edictum novum, et simul, dum est unde ius civile discatur, adulescentis in disciplinam ei tradite: mirum est hominis ingenium, mira prudentia. Minucius quidam mortuus est ante istum praetorem; eius testamentum erat nullum; lege hereditas ad gentem Minuciam veniebat. habuisset iste edictum, quod ante istum et postea omnes habuerunt, possessio Minuciae genti esset data: si quis testamento se heredem esse arbitraretur quod tum non exstaret, lege ageret in hereditatem, aut, pro praede litis vindiciarum cum satis accepisset, sponsionem faceret et ita de hereditate certaret., opinor, iure et maiores nostri et nos semper usi sumus. ut hoc iste correxerit.

[¶22] 116. He composes an edict;—such language that any one can perceive that it was written for the sake of one individual. He all but names the man; he details his whole cause; he disregards right, custom, equity, the edicts of all his predecessors. “According to the edict of the city praetor,—if any doubt arises about an inheritance, if the possessor does not give security....” What is it to the praetor which is the possessor? Is not this the point which ought to be inquired into, who ought to be the possessor? Therefore, because he is in possession, you do not remove him from the possession. If he were not in possession, you would not give him possession. For you nowhere say so; nor do you embrace anything else in your edict except that cause for which you had received money. What follows is ridiculous.

> Latin: 116. edictum his verbis ut quivis intellegere possit unius hominis causa conscriptum esse, tantum quod hominem non nominat; causam quidem totam perscribit, ius, consuetudinem, aequitatem, edicta omnium neglegit. ex edicto vrbano. sl de hereditate ambigitvr — — sl possessor sponsionem non faciet. Iam qui id ad praetorem, uter possessor sit? nonne id quaeri oportet, utrum possessorem esse oporteat?, quia possessor est, non moves possessione: si possessor non esset, non dares? enim scribis, neque tu aliud quicquam edicto amplecteris nisi eam causam pro qua pecuniam acceperas. hoc ridiculum est:

[¶23] 117. “If any doubt arises about an inheritance, and if testamentary papers are produced before me, sealed with not fewer seals than are required by law, I shall adjudge the inheritance as far as possible according to the testamentary papers.” So far is usual. This ought to follow next: “If testamentary papers are not produced....” What says he? That he will adjudge it to him who says he is the heir. What, then, is the difference whether testamentary papers are produced or not? If he produces them, though they may have only one seal less than is required by law, you will not give him possession; but if he produces no such papers at all, you will. What shall I say now? That no one else ever issued a similar edict afterwards? A very marvellous thing, truly, that there should have been no one who chose to be considered like that fellow! He himself, in his Sicilian edict, has not this passage. No; for he had received his payment for it. And so in the edict which I have mentioned before, which he issued in Sicily, about giving possession of inheritances, he laid down the same rules which all the praetors at Rome had laid down besides himself. From the Sicilian edict,—“If any doubt arise about an inheritance...”

> Latin: 117. si de hereditate ambigetvr et tabvlae testamenti obsignatae non minvs mvltis sign is qvam e lege oportet ad me proferentvr, se cvndvm tabvlas testamenti potissimvm possessionem dabo. translaticium est: sequi illud oportet, si tabvlae testamenti non proferentvr. ait? se ei daturum qui se dicat heredem esse. ergo interest proferantur necne? protulerit, uno signo ut sit minus quam ex lege oportet, non des possessionem: si omnino tabulas non proferet, dabis? nunc dicam? neminem umquam hoc postea alium edixisse? valde sit mirum neminem fuisse qui istius se similem dici vellet. in Siciliensi edicto hoc non habet; exegerat enim iam mercedem; item ut illo edicto de quo ante dixi, in Sicilia de hereditatum possessionibus dandis edixit idem quod omnes Romae praeter istum. edicto Siciliensi. si de hereditate ambigitvr —.

[¶24] 118. But, in the name of the immortal gods, what can possibly be said of this business? For I ask of you now a second time, as I did just now, with reference to the affair of Annia, about the inheritance of females,—I ask you now, I say, about the possession of inheritances,—why you were unwilling to transfer those paragraphs into your provincial edict? Did you think those men who were living in the province more worthy to enjoy just laws than we were? Or is one thing just in Rome and another in Sicily? For you cannot say in this place that there are many things in the province which require to be regulated differently from what they would if they existed at Rome; at all events not in the case of taking possession of inheritances, or of the inheritances of women. For in both these cases I see that nor only all other magistrates, but that you yourself, have issued edicts word for word the same as those which are accustomed to be issued at Rome. The clauses which, with great disgrace and for a great bribe, you had inserted in your edict at Rome, those alone, I see, you omitted in your Sicilian edict, in order not to incur odium in the province for nothing.

> Latin: 118. , per deos immortalis! quid est quod de hoc dici possit? enim iam quaero abs te, sicut modo in illo capite Anniano de mulierum hereditatibus, nunc in hoc de hereditatum possessionibus, cur ea capita in edictum provinciale transferre nolueris. Vtrum digniores homines existimasti eos qui habitant in provincia quam nos qui aequo iure uteremur, an aliud Romae aequum est, aliud in Sicilia? enim hoc potest hoc loco dici, multa esse in provinciis aliter edicenda; non de hereditatum quidem possessionibus, non de mulierum hereditatibus. in utroque genere video non modo ceteros, sed te ipsum totidem verbis edixisse quot verbis edici Romae solet. Romae magna cum infamia pretio accepto edixeras, ea sola te, ne gratis in provincia male audires, ex edicto Siciliensi sustulisse video.

[¶25] 119. And as, while he was praetor elect, he composed his whole edict at the pleasure of those who bought law of him to secure their own advantage; so also, when he had entered on his office, he used to make decrees contrary to his edict without the slightest scruple. Therefore, Lucius Piso filled many books with the affairs in which he had interposed his authority, because Verres had decreed in a manner contrary to his edict. And I think that you have not forgotten what a multitude and what respectable citizens used to assemble before Piso's seat while that man was praetor, and unless he had had him for a colleague, he would have been stoned in the very forum. But his injuries at that time appeared of less importance, because there was a refuge always ready in the justice and prudence of Piso, whom men could apply to without any labour, or any trouble, or any expense, and even without a patron to recommend them.

> Latin: 119. cum edictum totum eorum arbitratu, quam diu fuit designatus, componeret qui ab isto ius ad utilitatem suam nundinarentur, tum vero in magistratu contra illud ipsum edictum suum sine ulla religione decernebat. L. Piso multos codices implevit earum rerum in quibus ita intercessit, quod iste aliter atque ut edixerat decrevisset; quod vos oblitos esse non arbitror, quae multitudo, qui ordo ad Pisonis sellam isto praetore solitus sit convenire; quem iste conlegam nisi habuisset, lapidibus coopertus esset in foro. eo leviores istius iniuriae videbantur quod erat in aequitate prudentiaque Pisonis paratissimum perfugium, quo sine labore, sine molestia, sine impensa, etiam sine patrono homines uterentur.

[¶26] 120. For, I entreat you, recall to your recollection, O judges, what licence that fellow took in determining the law; how great a variation there was in his decrees, what open buying and selling of justice; how empty the houses of all those men who were accustomed to be consulted on points of civil law, how full and crammed was the house of Chelidon. And when men had come from that woman to him, and had whispered in his ear, at one time he would recall those between whom he had just decided, and alter his decree; at another time he, without the least scruple, gave a decision between other parties quite contrary to the last decision which he had given only a little while before.

> Latin: 120. , quaeso, redite in memoriam, iudices, quae libido istius in iure dicundo fuerit, quae varietas decretorum, quae nundinatio, quam inanes domus eorum omnium qui de iure civili consuli solent, quam plena ac referta Chelidonis; a qua muliere cum erat ad eum ventum et in aurem eius insusurratum, alias revocabat eos inter quos iam decreverat, decretumque mutabat, alias inter aliquos contrarium sine ulla religione decernebat ac proxumis paulo ante decreverat.

[¶27] 121. Hence it was that men were found who were even ridiculous in their indignation; some of whom, as you have heard, said that it was not strange that such piggish justice should be worthless. Others were colder; but still, because they were angry they seemed ridiculous, while they execrated Sacerdos who had spared so worthless a boar. And I should hardly mention these things, for they were not extraordinarily witty, nor are they worthy of the gravity of the present subject, if I did not wish you to recollect that his worthlessness and iniquity were constantly in the mouths of the populace, and had become a common proverb.

> Latin: 121. illi homines erant qui etiam ridiculi inveniebantur ex dolore; quorum alii, id quod saepe audistis, negabant mirandum esse ius tam nequam esse verrinum; alii etiam frigidiores erant, sed quia stomachabantur ridiculi videbantur esse, cum Sacerdotem exsecrabantur qui verrem tam nequam reliquisset. ego non commemorarem,—neque enim perfacete dicta neque porro hac severitate digna sunt, —nisi vos illud vellem recordari, istius nequitiam et iniquitatem tum in ore vulgi atque in communibus proverbiis esse versatam.

[¶28] 122. But shall I first speak of his arrogance towards the Roman people, or his cruelty? Beyond all question, cruelty is the graver and more atrocious crime. Do you think then that these men have forgotten how that fellow was accustomed to beat the common people of Rome with rods? And indeed a tribune of the people touched on that matter in the public assembly, when he produced in the sight of the Roman people the man whom he had beaten with rods. And I will give you the opportunity of taking cognisance of that business at its proper time.

> Latin: 122. plebem vero Romanam utrum superbiam prius commemorem an crudelitatem? Sine dubio crudelitas gravior est atque atrocior. igitur hos putatis esse quem ad modum sit iste solitus virgis plebem Romanam concidere? rem etiam tribunus plebis in contione egit, cum eum quem iste virgis ceciderat in conspectum populi Romani produxit; cuius rei recognoscendae faciam vobis suo tempore potestatem.

[¶29] 123. But who is ignorant with what arrogance he behaved? how he disregarded every one of a low condition, how he despised them, how he did not account the poor to be free men at all? Publius Trebonius made many virtuous and honourable men his heirs; and among them his own freedman. He had had a brother, Aulus Trebonius, a proscribed man. As he wished to make provision for him, he put down in his will, that his heirs should take an oath to manage that not less than half of each man's share should come to Aulus Trebonius, that proscribed brother of his. The freedman takes the oath; the other heirs go to Verres, and point out to him that they ought not to take such an oath; that they should be doing what was contrary to the Cornelian law, which forbids a proscribed man to be assisted. They obtain from him authority to refuse the oath. He gives them possession; that I do not find fault with. Certainly it was a scandalous thing for any part of his brother's property to be given to a man who was proscribed and in want. But that freedman thought that he should be committing a wickedness if he did not take the oath in obedience to the will of his patron.

> Latin: 123. vero quae fuerit quis ignorat? quem ad modum iste tenuissimum quemque contempserit, despexerit, liberum esse numquam duxerit? P. Trebonius viros bonos et honestos compluris fecit heredes; in iis fecit suum libertum. A. Trebonium fratrem habuerat proscriptum. cum cautum vellet, scripsit ut heredes iurarent se curaturos ut ex sua cuiusque parte ne minus dimidium ad A. Trebonium illum proscriptum perveniret. iurat; ceteri heredes adeunt ad Verrem, docent non oportere se id iurare facturos esse quod contra legem Corneliam esset, quae proscriptum iuvari vetaret; impetrant ut ne iurent; dat his possessionem. ego non reprehendo; etenim erat iniquum homini proscripto egenti de fraternis bonis quicquam dari., nisi ex testamento patroni iurasset, scelus se facturum arbitrabatur;

[¶30] 124. Therefore Verres declares that he will not give him possession of his inheritance, in order that he may not be able to assist his proscribed patron; and also in order that that might serve as a punishment for having obeyed the will of his other patron. You give possession to him who did not take the oath. I admit your right to do so; it is a privilege of the praetor. You take it from him who has taken the oath. According to what precedent? He is aiding a proscribed man. There is a law; there is a punishment established in such a case. What is that to him who is determining the law? Do you blame him because he assisted his patron, who was in distress at the time, or because he attended to the wishes of his other patron, who was dead, from whom he had received the greatest of all benefits? Which of these actions are you blaming? And then that most admirable man, sitting on his curule chair, said this: “Can a freedman be heir to a Roman knight of such great wealth?” O how modest must the class of freedmen be, since he departed from that place alive!

> Latin: 124. itaque ei Verres possessionem hereditatis negat se daturum, ne posset patronum suum proscriptum iuvare, simul ut esset poena quod alterius patroni testamento obtemperasset. possessionem ei qui non iuravit; concedo; praetorium est. tu ei qui iuravit; quo exemplo? iuvat; lex est, poena est. ad eum qui ius dicit? utrum reprehendis quod patronum iuvabat eum qui tum in miseriis erat, an quod alterius patroni mortui voluntatem conservabat, a quo summum beneficium acceperat? Vtrum horum reprehendis? hoc tum de sella vir optimus dixit: “Romano tam locupleti libertinus homo sit heres!” O modestum ordinem, quod illinc vivus surrexerit!

[¶31] 125. I can produce six hundred decrees in which, even if I were not to allege that money had interrupted justice, still the unprecedented and iniquitous nature of the decrees themselves would prove it. But that by one example you may be able to form your conjectures as to the rest, listen to what you have already heard in the previous pleading. There was a man called Caius Sulpicius Olympus. He died while Caius Sacerdos was praetor. I don't know whether it was not before Verres had begun to announce himself as a candidate for the praetorship. He made Marcus Octavius Ligur his heir. Ligur thus entered upon his inheritance; he took possession while Sacerdos was praetor, without any dispute. After Verres entered on his office, in accordance with his edict, an edict such as Sacerdos had not issued, the daughter of the patron of Sulpicius began to claim from Ligur a sixth part of the inheritance. Ligur was absent. His brother Lucius conducted his cause; his friends and relations were present. That fellow Verres said that, unless the business was settled with the woman, he should order her to take possession. Lucius Gellius defended the cause of Ligur. He showed that his edict ought not to prevail with respect to those inheritances which had accrued to the heirs before his praetorship; that, if this edict had existed at that time, perhaps Ligur would not have entered upon the inheritance at all. This just demand, and the highest authority of influential men, was beaten down by money.

> Latin: 125. sescenta decreta proferre in quibus, ut ego non dicam, pecuniam intercessisse ipsa decretorum novitas iniquitasque declarat; verum ut ex uno de ceteris coniecturam facere possitis, id quod priore actione didicistis, audite. C. Sulpicius Olympus fuit; is mortuus est C. Sacerdote praetore, nescio an antequam Verres praeturam petere coeperit; fecit heredem M. Octavium Ligurem. Ligus hereditatem adiit; possedit Sacerdote praetore sine ulla controversia. Verres magistratum iniit, ex edicto istius, quod edictum Sacerdos non habuerat, Sulpici patroni filia sextam partem. L. Gellius causam Liguris defendebat; docebat edictum eius non oportere in eas hereditates valere quae ante eum praetorem venissent; si hoc tum fuisset edictum, fortasse Ligurem hereditatem aditurum non fuisse. postulatio, summa hominum auctoritas pretio superabatur.

[¶32] 126. Ligur came to Rome; he did not doubt that, if he himself had seen Verres, he should have been able to move the man by the justice of his cause and by his own influence. He went to him to his house; he explains the whole business; he points out to him how long ago it was that the inheritance had come to him and, as it was easy for an able man to do in a most just cause, he said many things which might have influenced any one. At last he began to entreat him not to despise his influence and scorn his authority to such an extent as to inflict such an injury upon him. The fellow began to accuse Ligur of being so assiduous and so attentive in a business which was adventitious, and only belonging to him by way of inheritance. He said that he ought to have a regard for him also; that he required a great deal himself; that the dogs whom he kept about him required a great deal. I cannot recount those things to you more plainly than you have heard Ligur himself relate them in his evidence.

> Latin: 126. Romam Ligus; non dubitabat quin, si ipse Verrem convenisset, aequitate causae, auctoritate sua commovere hominem posset. ad eum venit, rem demonstrat, quam pridem sibi hereditas venisset docet; quod facile homini ingenioso in causa aequissima fuit, multa quae quemvis commovere possent dixit; ad extremum petere coepit ne usque eo suam auctoritatem despiceret gratiamque contemneret ut se tanta iniuria adficeret. Ligurem accusare coepit, qui in re adventicia atque hereditaria tam diligens, tam attentus esset; debere eum aiebat suam quoque rationem ducere; multa sibi opus esse, multa canibus suis, quos circa se haberet. possum illa planius commemorare quam ipsum Ligurem pro testimonio dicere audistis.

## 7. Actio Secunda · Book I · sections 127–158

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/7/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/7/#p-N

[¶0] 127. What are we to say, then, O Verres? Are we not to give credence to even these men as witnesses? Are these things not material to the question before us? Are we not to believe Marcus Octavius? Are we not to believe Lucius Ligur? Who will believe us? Who shall we believe? What is there, O Verres which can ever be made plain by witnesses, if this is not made so? Or is that which they relate a small thing? It is nothing less than the praetor of the city establishing this law as long as he remains in office,—that the praetor ought to be co-heir with all those to whom an inheritance comes. And can we doubt with what language that fellow was accustomed to address the rest of the citizens of an inferior rank, of inferior authority, and of inferior fortune; with what language he was accustomed to address country people from the municipal towns; with what language he was accustomed to address those whom he never thought free men,—I mean, the freedmen; when he did not hesitate to ask Marcus Octavius Ligur, a man of the highest consideration as to position, rank, name, virtue, ability, and influence, for money for deciding in favour of his undoubted lights? And as to how he behaved in the matter of putting the public buildings in proper repair, what shall I say? They have said, who felt it. There are others, too, who are speaking of this.

> Latin: 127. est, Verres? utrum ne his quidem testibus credetur, an haec ad rem non pertinent? non credemus M. Octavio, non L. Liguri? quis nobis credet, cui nos? quid est quod planum fieri testibus possit, si hoc non fit? id quod dicunt leve est? levius quam praetorem urbanum hoc iuris in suo magistratu constituere, omnibus quibus hereditas venerit coheredem praetorem esse oportere. vero dubitamus quo ore iste ceteros homines inferiores loco, auctoritate, ordine, quo ore homines rusticanos ex municipiis, quo denique ore, quos numquam liberos putavit, libertinos homines solitus sit appellare, qui ob ius dicendum M. Octavium Ligurem, hominem ornatissimum loco, ordine, nomine, virtute, ingenio, copiis, poscere pecuniam non dubitavit? sartis tectis vero quem ad modum se gesserit quid ego dicam? qui senserunt; sunt alii qui dicant; notae res ac manifestae prolatae sunt et proferentur.

[¶1] 128. Notorious and manifest facts have been brought forward, and shall be brought forward again. Caius Fannius, a Roman knight, the brother of Quintus Titinius, one of your judges, has said that he gave you money. Recite the evidence of Caius Fannius. [Read.] Pray do not believe Caius Fannius when he says this; do not believe—you I mean, O Quintus Titinius—do not believe Caius Fannius, your own brother. For he is saying what is incredible. He is accusing Caius Verres of avarice and audacity; vices which appear to meet in any one else rather than in him. Quintus Tadius has said something of the same sort, a most intimate friend of the father of Verres, and not unconnected with his mother, either in family or in name. He has produced his account-books, by which he proves that he had given him money. Recite the particulars of the accounts of Quintus Tadius. [Read.] Recite the evidence of Quintus Tadius. [Read.] Shall we not believe either the account-books of Quintus Tadius, or his evidence? What then shall we follow in coming to our decision? What else is giving all men free licence for every possible sin and crime, if it is not the disbelieving the evidence of the most honourable men, and the account books of honest ones?

> Latin: 128. Cn. Fannius, eques Romanus, frater germanus Q. Titini, iudicis tui, tibi pecuniam se dedisse. recita. Cn. Fanni testimonivm. Nolite Cn. Fannio dicenti credere, noli, inquam, tu, Q. Titini, Cn. Fannio, fratri tuo, credere; dicit enim rem incredibilem; C. Verrem insimulat avaritiae et audaciae, quae vitia videntur in quemvis potius quam in istum convenire. Q. Tadius, homo familiarissimus patris istius, non alienus a matris eius genere et nomine; tabulas protulit, quibus pecuniam se dedisse ostendit. recita. nomina Q. Tadi. recita. testimonivm Q. Tadi. Tadi quidem tabulis nec testimonio credemus? igitur in iudiciis sequemur? est aliud omnibus omnia peccata et maleficia concedere nisi hoc, hominum honestorum testimoniis et virorum bonorum tabulis non credere?

[¶2] 129. For why should I mention the daily conversation and daily complaints of the Roman people?—why that fellow's most impudent theft, I should rather say, his new and unexampled robber? how he dared in the temple of Castor, in that most illustrious and renowned monument, a temple which is placed before the eyes and in the daily view of the Roman people, to which the senate is often summoned, where crowded deliberations on the most momentous affairs take place every day, why should I mention his having dared to leave in that place, in contempt of anything any one can say, an eternal monument of his audacity?

> Latin: 129. quid ego de cotidiano sermone querimoniaque populi Romani loquar, de istius impudentissimo furto seu potius novo ac singulari latrocinio? ausum esse in aede Castoris, celeberrimo clarissimoque monumento—quod templum in oculis cotidianoque aspectu populi Romani positum est, quo saepe numero senatus convocatur, quo maximarum rerum frequentissimae cotidie advocationes fiunt—in eo loco in sermone hominum audaciae suae monumentum aeternum relinquere.

[¶3] 130. Publius Junius, O judges, had the guardianship, of the temple of Castor. He died in the consulship of Lucius Sulla and Quintus Metellus. He left behind him a young son under age. When Lucius Octavius and Caius Aurelius the consuls had let out contracts for the holy temple, and were not able to examine all the public buildings to see in what repair they were; nor could the praetors to whom that business had been assigned, namely, Caius Sacerdos and Marcus Caesius; a decree of the senate was passed that Caius Verres and Publius Caelius, the praetors should examine into and decide about those public buildings as to which no examination or decision had yet taken place. And after this power was conferred on him, that man, as you have learnt from Caius Fannius and from Quintus Tadius, as he had committed his robberies in every sort of affair without the least disguise and with the greatest effrontery, wished to leave this as a most visible record of his robberies, which we might, not occasionally hear of, but see every day of our lives.

> Latin: 130. Castoris, iudices, P. Iunius habuit tuendam de L. Sulla Q. Metello consulibus. mortuus est; reliquit pupillum parvum filium. L. Octavius C. Aurelius consules aedis sacras locavissent neque potuissent omnia sarta tecta exigere, neque ii praetores quibus erat negotium datum, C. Sacerdos et M. Caesius, factum est senatus consultum, quibus de sartis tectis cognitum et iudicatum non esset, uti C. Verres P. Caelius praetores cognoscerent et iudicarent. potestate iste permissa sic abusus est ut ex Cn. Fannio et ex Q. Tadio cognovistis, verum tamen cum esset omnibus in rebus apertissime impudentissimeque praedatus, hoc voluit clarissimum relinquere indicium latrociniorum suorum, de quo non audire aliquando sed videre cotidie possemus.

[¶4] 131. He inquired who was bound to deliver up the temple of Castor in good repair. He knew that Junius himself was dead; he desired to know to whom his property belonged. He hears that his son is under age. The fellow, who had been in the habit of saying openly that boys and girls who were minors were the surest prey for the praetors, said that the thing he had so long wished for had been brought into his bosom. He thought that, in the care of a monument of such vast size, of such laborious finish, however sound and in however thorough a state of repair it might be, he should certainly find something to do, and some excuse for plunder.

> Latin: 131. quis aedem Castoris sartam tectam deberet tradere. Iunium ipsum mortuum esse sciebat; scire volebat ad quem illa res pertineret. pupillum esse filium. qui semper ita palam dictitasset, pupillos et pupillas certissimam praedam esse praetoribus, optatum negotium sibi in sinum delatum esse dicebat. illa amplitudine, illo opere, quamvis sartum tectum integrumque esset, tamen aliquid se inventurum in quo moliri praedarique posset arbitrabatur.

[¶5] 132. The temple of Castor ought to have been entrusted to Lucius Rabonius. He by chance was the guardian of the young Junius by his father's will. An agreement had been made between him and his ward, without any injury to either, in what state it should be given up to him. Verres summons Rabonius to appear before him he asks him whether there is anything which has not been handed over to him by his ward, which might be exacted from him. When he said, as was the case, that the delivery of the temple had been very easy for his ward; that all the statues and presents were in their places, that the temple itself was sound in every part; that fellow began to think it a shameful thing if he was to give up so large a temple and so extensive a work without enriching himself by booty, and especially by booty to be got from a minor.

> Latin: 132. L. Habonio aedem Castoris tradi oportebat: is casu pupilli Iuni tutor erat testamento patris: cum eo sine ullo intertrimento convenerat iam quem ad modum traderetur. ad se Habonium vocat; quaerit ecquid sit quod a pupillo traditum non sit, quod exigi debeat. ille, id quod erat, diceret facilem pupillo traditionem esse, signa et dona comparere omnia, ipsum templum omni opere esse integrum, indignum isti videri coepit ex tanta aede tantoque opere se non opimum praeda, praesertim a pupillo, discedere.

[¶6] 133. He comes himself into the temple of Castor; he looks all over the temple; he sees the roof adorned all over with a most splendid ceiling, and all the rest of the building as good as new and quite sound. He ponders; he considers what he can do. Some one of those dogs, of whom he himself had said to Ligur that there were a great number about him, said to him—“You, O Verres, have nothing which you can do here, unless you like to try the pillars by a plumb-line.” The man, utterly ignorant of everything, asks what is the meaning of the expression, “by a plumb-line.” They tell him that there is hardly any pillar which is exactly perpendicular when tried by a plumb-line. “By my truth,” says he, “that is what we must do; let the pillars be tested by a plumb-line.”

> Latin: 133. ipse in aedem Castoris, considerat templum; videt undique tectum pulcherrime laqueatum, praeterea cetera nova atque integra. se; quaerit quid agat. quidam ex illis canibus quos iste Liguri dixerat esse circa se multos, “, Verres, hic quod moliare nihil habes, nisi forte vis ad perpendiculum columnas exigere.” omnium rerum imperitus quaerit, quid sit “ad perpendiculum”: dicunt ei fere nullam esse columnam quae ad perpendiculum esse possit. “mehercule,” inquit, “sic agamus; columnae ad perpendiculum exigantur.”

[¶7] 134. Rabonius, like a man who knew the law, in which law the number of the pillars only is set down, but no mention made of a plumb-line, and who did not think it desirable for himself to receive the temple on such terms, lest he should be hereafter expected to hand it over under similar conditions, says that he is not to be treated in that way, and that such an examination has no right to be made. Verres orders Rabonius to be quiet, and at the same time holds out to him some hopes of a partnership with himself in the business. He easily overpowers him, a moderate man, and not at all obstinate in his opinions; and so he adheres to his determination of having the pillars examined.

> Latin: 134. Habonius, qui legem nosset—qua in lege numerus tantum columnarum traditur, perpendiculi mentio fit nulla—et qui non putaret sibi expedire ita accipere, ne eodem modo tradendum esset, negat id sibi deberi, negat oportere exigi. Habonium quiescere iubet et simul ei non nullam spem societatis ostendit; hominem modestum et minime pertinacem facile coercet; columnas ita se exacturum esse confirmat.

[¶8] 135. This unprecedented resolve, and the unexpected calamity of the minor, is immediately reported to Caius Mustius, the step-father of the youth, who is lately dead; to Marcus John Adams, his uncle, and to Publius Potitius, his guardian, a most frugal man. They report the business to a man of the greatest consideration, of the greatest benevolence and virtue, Marcus Marcellus, who was also a guardian of the minor. Marcus Marcellus comes to Verres; he begs of him with many arguments, in the name of his own good faith and diligence in his office, not to endeavour to deprive Junius his ward of his father's fortune by the greatest injustice. Verres, who had already in hope and belief devoured that booty, was neither influenced by the justice of Marcus Marcellus's argument, nor by his authority. And therefore he answered that he should proceed with the examination, according to the orders which he had given.

> Latin: 135. res atque improvisa pupilli calamitas nuntiatur statim C. Mustio, vitrico pupilli, qui nuper est mortuus, M. Iunio patruo, P. Titio tutori, homini frugalissimo; hi rem ad virum primarium summo officio ac virtute praeditum, M. Marcellum, qui erat pupilli tutor, deferunt. ad Verrem M. Marcellus; petit ab eo pro sua fide ac diligentia pluribus verbis ne per summam iniuriam pupillum Iunium fortunis patriis conetur evertere., qui iam spe atque opinione praedam illam devorasset, neque ulla aequitate orationis neque auctoritate M. Marcelli commotus est; itaque quem ad modum ostendisset se id exacturum esse respondit.

[¶9] 136. As they found that or all applications to this man were ineffectual, all access to him difficult, and almost impossible, being, as he was, a man with whom neither right, nor equity, nor mercy, nor the arguments of a relation, nor the wishes of a friend, nor the influence of any one had any weight, they resolve that the best thing which they could do, as indeed might have occurred to any one, was to beg Chelidon for her aid, who, while Verres was praetor, was not only the real judge in all civil law, and in the disputes of all private individuals, but who was supreme also in this affair of the repairs of the public buildings.

> Latin: 136. sibi omnis ad istum adlegationes difficilis, omnis aditus arduos ac potius interclusos viderent—apud quem non ius, non aequitas, non misericordia, non propinqui oratio, non amici voluntas, non cuiusquam auctoritas [pro pretio ], non gratia valeret—statuunt id sibi esse optimum factu, quod cuivis venisset in mentem, petere auxilium a Chelidone, quae isto praetore non modo in iure civili privatorumque omnium controversiis populo Romano praefuit, verum etiam in his sartis tectisque dominata est.

[¶10] 137. Caius Mustius, a Roman knight, a farmer of the revenues, a man of the very highest honour, came to Chelidon. Marcus Junius, the uncle of the youth, a most frugal and temperate man, came to her; a man who shows his regard for his high rank by the greatest honour, and modesty, and attention to his duties. Publius Potitius, his guardian, came to her. Oh that praetorship of yours, bitter to many, miserable, scandalous? To say nothing of other points, with what shame, with what indignation, do you think that such men as these went to the house of a prostitute? men who would have encountered such disgrace on no account, unless the urgency of their duty and of their relationship to the injured youth had compelled them to do so. They came, as I say, to Chelidon. The house was full; new laws, new decrees, new decisions were being solicited: “Let him give me possession.”... “Do not let him take away from me.”... “Do not let him give sentence against me.”.... “Let him adjudge the property to me.” Some were paying money, some were signing documents. The house was full, not with a prostitute's train, but rather with a crowd seeking audience of the praetor.

> Latin: 137. ad Chelidonem C. Mustius, eques Romanus, publicanus, homo cum primis honestus; venit M. Iunius, patruus pueri, frugalissimus homo et castissimus; venit homo summo pudore, summo officio, spectatissimus ordinis sui, P. Titius tutor. O multis acerbam, o miseram atque indignam praeturam tuam! Vt omittam cetera, quo tandem pudore talis viros, quo dolore meretricis domum venisse arbitramini? qui numquam ulla condicione istam turpitudinem subissent nisi offici necessitudinisque ratio coegisset., ut dico, ad Chelidonem. erat plena; nova iura, nova decreta, nova iudicia petebantur. “det possessionem, mihi ne adimat, in me iudicium ne det, mihi bona addicat.” Alii nummos numerabant, ab aliis tabellae obsignabantur; domus erat non meretricio conventu sed praetoria turba referta.

[¶11] 138. As soon as they can get access to her, the men whom I have mentioned go to her. Mustius speaks, he explains the whole affair, he begs for her assistance, he promises money. She answers, considering she was a prostitute, not unreasonably: she says that she will gladly do what they wish, and that she will talk the matter over with Verres carefully; and desires Mustius to come again. Then they depart. The next day they go again. She says that the man cannot be prevailed on, that he says that a vast sum can be made of the business. I am afraid that perhaps some of the people, who were not present at the former pleading, (because these things seem incredible on account of their consummate baseness,) may think that they are invented by me. You, O judges, have known them before.

> Latin: 138. ac potestas primum data est, adeunt hi quos dixi. C. Mustius, rem demonstrat, petit auxilium, pecuniam pollicetur. illa ut meretrix non inhumaniter; libenter ait se facturam, et se cum isto diligenter sermocinaturam; reverti iubet. discedunt: postridie revertuntur. illa posse hominem exorari; permagnam eum dicere ex illa re pecuniam confici posse. ne quis forte de populo, qui priore actione non adfuit, haec, quia propter insignem turpitudinem sunt incredibilia, fingi a me arbitretur. vos antea, iudices, cognovistis.

[¶12] 139. Publius Potitius, the guardian of the minor Junius, stated them on his oath. So did Marcus Junius, his uncle and guardian. So would Mustius have stated them if he had been alive; but as Mustius cannot, Lucius Domitius stated that while the affair was recent, he heard these things stated by Mustius; and though he knew that I had had the account from Mustius while he was alive, for I was very intimate with him; (and indeed I defended Caius Mustius when he gained that trial which he had about almost the whole of his property;) though, I say, Lucius Domitius knew that I was aware that Mustius was accustomed to tell him all his affairs, yet he said nothing about Chelidon as long as he could help it; he directed his replies to other points. So great was the modesty of that most eminent young man, of that pattern for the youth of the city, that for some time, though he was pressed by me on that point, he would rather give any answer than mention the name of Chelidon. At first, he said that the friends of Verres had been deputed to mention the subject to him; at last, after a time, being absolutely compelled to do so, he named Chelidon.

> Latin: 139. iuratus P. Titius, tutor pupilli Iuni, dixit M. Iunius tutor et patruus; Mustius dixisset, si viveret, sed recenti re de Mustio auditum est; dixit L. Domitius, qui cum sciret me ex Mustio vivo audisse, quod eo sum usus plurimum (etenim iudicium, quod prope omnium fortunarum suarum C. Mustius habuit, me uno defendente vicit), cum hoc, ut dico, sciret L. Domitius, me scire ad eum res omnis Mustium solitum esse deferre, tamen de Chelidone reticuit quoad potuit, alio responsionem suam derivavit. in adulescente clarissimo ac principe iuventutis pudor fuit ut aliquam diu, cum a me premeretur, omnia potius responderet quam Chelidonem nominaret; primo necessarios istius ad eum adlegatos esse dicebat, deinde aliquando coactus Chelidonem nominavit.

[¶13] 140. Are you not ashamed, O Verres, to have carried on your praetorship according to the will of that woman, whom Lucius Domitius scarcely thought it creditable to him even to mention the name of? Being rejected by Chelidon, they adopt the necessary resolution of undertaking the business themselves. They settle the business, which ought to have come to scarcely forty thousand sesterces, with Rabonius the other guardian, for two hundred thousand. Rabonius reports the fact to Verres; as it seems to him the exaction has been sufficiently enormous and sufficiently shameless. He, who had expected a good deal more, receives Rabonius with harsh language, and says that he cannot satisfy him with such a settlement as that. To cut the matter short, he says that he shall issue contracts for the job.

> Latin: 140. te pudet, Verres, eius mulieris arbitratu gessisse praeturam quam L. Domitius ab se nominari vix sibi honestum esse arbitrabatur? a Chelidone capiunt consilium necessarium, ut suscipiant ipsi negotium. Habonio tutore, quod erat vix HS quadraginta milium, transigunt HS ducentis milibus. ad istum rem Habonius: ut sibi videatur, satis grandem pecuniam et satis impudentem esse., qui aliquanto plus cogitasset, male accipit verbis Habonium, negat eum sibi illa decisione satis facere posse; ne multa, locaturum se esse confirmat.

[¶14] 141. The guardians are ignorant of this; they think that what has been settled with Rabonius is definitely arranged—they fear no further misfortune for their ward. But Verres does not procrastinate; he begins to let out his contracts, (without issuing any advertisement or notice of the day,) at a most unfavourable time—at the very time of the Roman games, and while the forum is decorated for them. Therefore Rabonius gives notice to the guardians that he renounces the settlement to which he had come. However, the guardians come at the appointed time; Junius, the uncle of the youth, bids. Verres began to change colour: his countenance, his speech, his resolution failed him. He begins to consider what he was to do. If the contract was taken by the minor, if the affair slipped through the fingers of the purchaser whom he himself had provided, he would get no plunder. Therefore He contrives—what? Nothing very cleverly, nothing of which any one could say, “it was a rascally trick, but still a deep one.” Do not expect any disguised roguery from him, any underhand trick; you will find everything open, undisguised, shameless, senseless, audacious.

> Latin: 141. haec nesciunt; quod actum erat cum Habonio, putant id esse certissimum; nullam maiorem pupillo metuunt calamitatem. vero non procrastinat; locare incipit non proscripta neque edicta die, alienissimo tempore, ludis ipsis Romanis, foro ornato. renuntiat Habonius illam decisionem tutoribus. tamen ad tempus tutores; digitum tollit Iunius patruus; isti color immutatus est, vultus, oratio, mens denique excidit. ageret coepit cogitare; si opus pupillo redimeretur, si res abiret ab eo mancipe quem ipse adposuisset, sibi nullam praedam esse. excogitat— quid? ingeniose, nihil ut quisquam posset dicere, “, verum callide”; nihil ab isto vafrum, nihil veteratorium exspectaveritis; omnia aperta, omnia perspicua reperientur, impudentia, amentia, audacia.

[¶15] 142. “If the contract be taken by the minor, all the plunder is snatched out of my hands; what then is the remedy? What? The minor must not be allowed to have the contract.” Where is the usage in the case of selling property, securities, or lands adopted by every consul, and censor, and praetor, and quaestor, that that bidder shall have the preference to whom the property belongs, and at whose risk the property is sold? He excludes that bidder alone to whom alone, I was nearly saying, the power of taking the contract ought to have been offered. “For why,”—so the youth might say—“should any one aspire to my money against my will! What does he come forward for? The contract is let out for a work which is to be done and paid for out of my money. I say that it is I who am going to put the place in repair, the inspection of it afterwards will belong to you who let out the contract. You have taken sufficient security for the interests of the people with bonds and sureties; and if you do not think sufficient security has been taken, will you as praetor send whomsoever you please to take possession of my property, and not permit me to come forward in defence of my own fortune?”

> Latin: 142. “pupillo opus redimitur, mihi praeda de manibus eripitur. est igitur remedium? quod? liceat pupillo redimere.” Vbi illa consuetudo in bonis praedibus praediisque vendundis omnium consulum, censorum, praetorum, quaestorum denique, ut optima condicione sit is cuia res sit, cuium periculum? eum solum cui prope dicam soli potestatem factam oportebat. enim? quisquam ad meam pecuniam me invito adspirat, quisquam accedit? opus id quod ex mea pecunia reficiatur; ego me refecturum dico; probatio futura est tua, qui locas; praedibus et praediis populo cautum est; et, si non putas cautum, scilicet tu, praetor esse) caveas licet., in mea bona quos voles immittes, me ad meas fortunas defendendas accedere non sines.

[¶16] 143. It is worth while to consider the words of the contract itself. You will say that the same man drew it up who drew up that edict about inheritance. “The contract for work to be done, which the minor Junius's....” Speak, I pray you, a little more plainly. “Caius Verres, the praetor of the city, has added....” The contracts of the censors are being amended. For what do they say? I see in many old documents, “Cnaeus Domitius, Lucius Metellus, Lucius Cassius, Cnaeus Servilius have added....” Caius Verres wants something of the same sort. Read. What has he added? “Admit not as a partner in this work any one who has taken a contract from Lucius Marcius and Marcus Perperna the censors; give him no snare in it; and let him not contract for it.” Why so? Is it that the work may not be faulty? But the inspection afterwards belonged to you. Lest he should not have capital enough? But sufficient security had been taken for the people's interest in bonds and sureties, and more security still might have been had.

> Latin: 143. pretium est legem ipsam cognoscere; dicetis eundem conscripsisse qui illud edictum de hereditate. Recital lex operi facivndo. qvae pvpilli Ivni —., dic, quaeso, clarius. C. Verres praetor vrbanvs addidit. Corriguntur leges censoriae! enim? video in multis veteribus legibus, Cn. Domitivs L. Metelevs censores addidervnt, L. Cassivs Cn. Servilivs censores addidervnt: vult aliquid eius modi C. Verres.: quid addidit?. qvi de L. Marco M. Perperna censoribvs—— socivm ne admittito neve partem dato neve redimito. ita? ne vitiosum opus fieret? erat probatio tua. parum locuples esset? erat et esset amplius, si velles, populo cautum praedibus et praediis.

[¶17] 144. If in this case the business itself, if the scandalous nature of your injustice had no weight with you;—if the misfortune of this minor, the tears of his relations, the peril of Decimus Brutus, whose lands were pledged as security for him, and the authority of Marcus Marcellus his guardian had no influence with you, did you not even consider this, that your crime would be such that you would neither be able to deny it, (for you had entered it in your account-books,) nor, if you confessed it, to make any excuse for it? The contract is knocked down at five hundred and fifty thousand sesterces, while the guardians kept crying out that they could do it even to the satisfaction of the most unjust of men, for eighty thousand. In truth, what was the job?

> Latin: 144. te si res ipsa, si indignitas iniuriae tuae non commovebat, si pupilli calamitas, si propinquorum lacrimae, si D. Bruti, cuius praedia suberant, periculum, si M. Marcelli tutoris auctoritas apud te ponderis nihil habebat, ne illud quidem animadvertebas, eius modi fore hoc peccatum tuum quod tu neque negare posses, —in tabulas enim legem rettulisti,—neque cum defensione aliqua confiteri? opus HS dlx milibus, cum tutores HS cciↄↄ cciↄↄ cciↄↄ cciↄↄ id opus ad illius iniquissimi hominis arbitrium se effecturos esse clamarent. quid erat operis?

[¶18] 145. That which you saw. All those pillars which you see whitewashed, had a crane put against them, were taken down at a very little expense, and put up again of the same stone as before. And you let this work out for five hundred and sixty thousand sesterces. And among those pillars I say that there are some which have never been moved at all by your contractor. I say that there are some which only had the outer coat scraped off, and a fresh coat put on. But, if I had thought that it cost so much to whitewash pillars, I should certainly never have stood for the aedileship. Still, in order that something might appear to be really being done, and that it might not seem to be a mere robbery of a minor—“If in the course of the work you injure anything, you must repair it.”

> Latin: 145. quod vos vidistis; omnes illae columnae, quas dealbatas videtis, machina adposita nulla impensa deiectae eisdemque lapidibus repositae sunt. tu HS dlx milibus locavisti. in illis columnis dico esse quae a tuo redemptore commotae non sint; dico esse ex qua tantum tectorium vetus deiectum sit et novum inductum. tanta pecunia columnas dealbari putassem, certe numquam aedilitatem petivissem.

[¶19] 146. What was there that he could injure, when he was only putting back every stone in its place? “He who takes the contract must give security to bear the man harmless who has taken the work from the former contractor.” He is joking when he orders Rabonius to give himself security. “Ready money is to be paid.” Out of what funds? From his funds who cried out that he would do for eighty thousand sesterces what you let out at five hundred and sixty thousand. Out of what funds? out of the funds of a minor, whose tender age and desolate condition, even if he had no guardians, the praetor himself ought to protect. But as his guardians did protect him, you took away not only his paternal fortune, but the property of the guardians also.

> Latin: 146. ut videatur tamen res agi et non eripi pupillo: sl qvid operis cavsa rescideris, reficito. erat quod rescinderet, cum suo quemque loco lapidem reponeret? qvi redemerit satis det damni infecti ei qvi a vetere redemptore accepit. Deridet, cum sibi ipsum iubet satis dare Habonium. pecvnia praesens solvetvr. de bonis? qui, quod tu HS dlx milibus locasti, se HS cciↄↄ cciↄↄ cciↄↄ cciↄↄ effecturum esse clamavit. de bonis?, cuius aetatem et solitudinem, etiamsi tutores non essent, defendere praetor debuit. defendentibus non modo patrias eius fortunas, sed etiam bona tutorum ademisti. orvs bonvm svo cviqve facito.

[¶20] 147. “Execute the work in the best materials of every sort.” Was any stone to be cut and brought to the place? Nothing was to be brought but the crane. For no stone, no materials at all were brought; there was just as much to be done in that contract as took a little labour of artisans at low wages, and there was the hire of the crane. Do you think it was less work to make one entirely new pillar without any old stone, which could be worked up again, or to put back those four in their places? No one doubts that it is a much a better job to make one new one. I will prove that in private houses, where there has been a great deal of expensive carriage, pillars no smaller than these are contracted for to be placed in an open court for forty thousand sesterces apiece.

> Latin: 147. est “suo cuique”? aliqui caedendus et adportandus fuit machina sua; nam illo non saxum, non materies ulla advecta est; tantum operis in ista locatione fuit quantum paucae operae fabrorum mercedis tulerunt, et manuspretium machinae. Vtrum existimatis minus operis esse unam columnam efficere ab integro novam nullo lapide redivivo an quattuor illas reponere? dubitat quin multo maius sit novam facere. in aedibus privatis longa difficilique vectura columnas singulas ad impluvium HS cciↄↄ cciↄↄ non minus magnas locatas.

[¶21] 148. But it is folly to argue about such manifest shamelessness of that man at any greater length, especially when in the whole contract he has openly disregarded the language and opinion of every one, inasmuch as he has added at the bottom of it, “Let him have the old materials for himself.” As if any old materials were taken from that work, and as if the whole work were not done with old materials. But still, if the minor was not allowed to take the contract, it was not necessary for it to come to Verres himself: some other of the citizens might have undertaken the work. Every one else was excluded no less openly than the minor. He appointed a day by which the work must be completed—the first of December. He gives out the contract about the thirteenth of September: every one is excluded by the shortness of the time. What happens then? How does Rabonius contrive to have his work done by that day?

> Latin: 148. ineptum est de tam perspicua eius impudentia pluribus verbis disputare, praesertim cum iste aperte tota lege omnium sermonem atque existimationem contempserit, qui etiam ad extremum adscripserit: rediviva sibi habeto; quasi quicquam redivivi ex opere illo tolleretur ac non totum opus ex redivivis constitueretur. enim si pupillo redimi non licebat non necesse erat rem ad ipsum pervenire; poterat aliquis ad id negotium de populo accedere. exclusi sunt non minus aperte quam pupillus. praestituit operi faciundo Kalendas Decembris, locat circiter Idus Septembris; angustiis temporis excluduntur omnes.

[¶22] 149. No one troubles Rabonius, neither on the first of December, nor on the fifth, nor on the thirteenth. At last Verres himself goes away to his province some time before the work is completed. After he was prosecuted, at first he said that he could not enter the work in his accounts; when Rabonius pressed it, he attributed the cause of it to me, because I had sealed up his books. Rabonius applies to me, and sends his friends to apply to me; he easily gets what he wishes for; Verres did not know what he was to do. By not having entered it in his accounts, he thought he should be able to make some defence; but he felt sure that Rabonius would reveal the whole of the transaction. Although, what could be more plain than it now is, even without the evidence of any witness whatever. At last he enters the work in Rabonius's name as undertaken by him, four years after the day which he had fixed for its completion.

> Latin: 149. ergo? Habonius istam diem quo modo adsequitur? Habonio molestus est neque Kalendis Decembribus neque Nonis neque Idibus; denique aliquanto ante in provinciam iste proficiscitur quam opus effectum est. reus factus est, primo negabat se opus in acceptum referre posse; cum instaret Habonius, in me causam conferebat, quod eum codicem obsignassem. a me Habonius et amicos adlegat: facile impetrat., quid ageret, nesciebat; si in acceptum non rettulisset, putabat se aliquid defensionis habiturum; Habonium porro intellegebat rem totam esse patefacturum,— tametsi quid poterat esse apertius quam nunc est?—ut uno minus teste ag eret, Habonio opus in acceptum rettulit quadriennio post quam diem operi dixerat.

[¶23] 150. He would never have allowed such terms as those if any other citizen had been the contractor; when he had shut out all the other contractors by the early day which he had fixed, and also because men did not choose to put themselves in the power of a man who, if they took the contract, thought that his plunder was torn from his hands. For why need we discuss the point where the money went to? He himself has showed us. First of all, when Decimus Brutus contended eagerly against him, who paid five hundred and sixty thousand sesterces of his own money; and as he could not resist him, though he had given out the job, and taken securities for its execution, he returned him a hundred and ten thousand. Now if this had been another man's money, he clearly could not have done so. In the second place, the money was paid to Cornificius, whom he cannot deny to have been his secretary. Lastly, the accounts of Rabonius himself cry out loudly that the plunder was Verres's own. Read “The items of the accounts of Rabonius.”

> Latin: 150. condicione, si quis de populo redemptor accessisset, non esset usus; cum die ceteros redemptores exclusisset, tum in eius arbitrium ac potestatem venire nolebant qui sibi ereptam praedam arbitraretur. ne argumentemur, quo ista pecunia pervenerit facit ipse indicium. cum vehementius cum eo D. Brutus contenderet, qui de sua pecunia HS dlx milia numeravit, quod iam iste ferre non poterat, opere addicto, praedibus acceptis de HS dlx milibus remisit D. Bruto HS cx milia., si aliena res esset, certe facere non potuisset. nummi numerati sunt Cornificio, quem scribam suum fuisse negare non potest. ipsius Haboni tabulae praedam illam istius fuisse clamant. Recital nomina Haboni.

[¶24] 151. Even in this place in the former pleadings Quintus Hortensius complained that the young Junius came clad in his praetexta into your presence, and stood with his uncle while he was giving his evidence; and said that I was seeking to rouse the popular feeling, and to excite odium against him, by producing the boy. What then was there, O Hortensius, to rouse the popular feeling? what was there to excite odium in that boy, I suppose, forsooth, I had brought forward the son of Gracchus, or of Saturninus, or of some man of that sort, to excite the feelings of an ignorant multitude by the mere name and recollection of his father. He was the son of Publius Junius, one of the common people of Rome; whom his dying father thought he ought to recommend to the protection of guardians and relations, and of the laws, and of the equity of the magistrates, and of your administration of justice.

> Latin: 151. etiam priore actione Q. Hortensius pupillum Iunium praetextatum venisse in vestrum conspectum et stetisse cum patruo testimonium dicente questus est, et me populariter agere atque invidiam commovere, quod puerum producerem, clamitavit. erat, Hortensi, tandem in illo puero populare, quid invidiosum? Gracchi, credo, aut Saturnini aut alicuius hominis eius modi produxeram filium, ut nomine ipso et memoria patris animos imperitae multitudinis commoverem. P. Iuni erat, hominis de plebe Romana, filius, quem pater moriens cum tutoribus et propinquis, tum legibus tum aequitati magistratuum, tum iudiciis vestris commendatum putavit.

[¶25] 152. He, through the wicked letting out of contracts by that man, and through his nefarious robbery, being deprived of all his paternal property and fortune, came before your tribunal, if for nothing else, at least to see him through whose conduct he himself has passed many years in mourning, a little less gaily dressed than he was used to be. Therefore, O Hortensius, it was not his age but his cause, not his dress but his fortune, that seemed to you calculated to rouse the popular feeling. Nor did it move you so much that he had come with the praetexta, as that he had come without the bulla. For no one was influenced by that dress which custom and the right of his free birth allowed him to wear. Men were indignant, and very indignant, that the ornament of childhood which his father had given him, the proof and sign of his good fortune, had been taken from him by that robber.

> Latin: 152. istius scelerato nefarioque latrocinio bonis patriis fortunisque omnibus spoliatus venit in iudicium, si nihil aliud, saltem ut eum cuius opera ipse multos annos esset in sordibus paulo tamen obsoletius vestitum videret. tibi, Hortensi, non illius aetas, sed causa, non vestitus, sed fortuna popularis videbatur, neque te tam commovebat quod ille cum toga praetexta, quam quod sine bulla venerat. enim neminem commovebat is quem illi mos et ius ingenuitatis dabat; quod ornamentum pueritiae pater dederat, indicium atque insigne fortunae, hoc ab isto praedone ereptum esse graviter tum et acerbe homines ferebant.

[¶26] 153. Nor were the tears which were shed for him shed more by the people than by us, and by yourself, O Hortensius, and by those who are to pronounce sentence in this cause. For because it is the common cause of all men, the common danger of all men, such wickedness like a conflagration must be put out by the common endeavours of all men. For we have little children; it is uncertain how long the life of each individual among us may last. We, while alive, ought to take care and provide that their desolate condition and childhood may be secured by the strongest possible protection. For who is there who can defend the childhood of our children against the dishonesty of magistrates? Their mother, I suppose. No doubt, the mother of Annia, though a most noble woman, was a great protection to her when she was left a minor. No doubt she, by imploring the aid of gods and men, prevented him from robbing her infant ward of her father's fortunes. Can their guardians defend them? Very easily, no doubt, with a praetor of that sort by whom both the arguments, and the earnestness, and the authority of Marcus Marcellus in the cause of his ward Junius were disregarded.

> Latin: 153. erant illae lacrimae populares magis quam nostrae, quam tuae, Q. Hortensi, quam horum qui sententiam laturi sunt, ideo quod communis est causa, commune periculum; communi praesidio talis improbitas tamquam aliquod incendium restinguendum est. enim liberos parvos; incertum est quam longa cuiusque nostrum vita futura sit; consulere vivi ac prospicere debemus ut illorum solitudo et pueritia quam firmissimo praesidio munita sit. est enim qui tueri possit liberum nostrorum pueritiam contra improbitatem magistratuum?, credo. magno praesidio fuit Anniae pupillae mater, femina primaria: minus illa deos hominesque implorante iste infanti pupillae fortunas patrias ademit. defendent? vero apud istius modi praetorem, a quo M. Marcelli tutoris in causa pupilli Iuni et oratio et voluntas et auctoritas repudiata est!

[¶27] 154. Do we ask what he did in the distant province of Phrygia? what in the most remote parts of Pamphylia? What a robber of pirates he proved himself in war, who had been found to be a nefarious plunderer of the Roman people in the forum? Do we doubt what that man would do with respect to spoils taken from the enemy, who appropriated to himself so much plunder from the spoils of Lucius Metellus? who let out a contract for whitewashing four pillars at a greater price than Metellus paid for erecting the whole of them? Must we wait to hear what the witnesses from Sicily say? Who has ever seen that temple who is not a witness of your avarice, of your injustice, of your audacity? Who has ever come from the statue of Vertumnus into the Circus Maximus, without being reminded at every step of your avarice? for that road, the road of the sacred cars and of such solemn processions, you have had repaired in such a way that you yourself do not dare go by it. Can any one think that when you were separated from Italy by the sea you spared the allies? You who chose the temple of Castor to be the witness of your thefts which the Roman people saw every day, and even the judges at the very moment that they were giving their decision concerning you.

> Latin: 154. etiam quid iste in ultima Phrygia, quid in extremis Pamphyliae partibus fecerit, qualis in bello praedonum praedo ipse fuerit qui in foro populi Romani pirata nefarius reperiatur? quid iste in hostium praeda molitus sit, qui manubias sibi tantas ex L. Metelli manubiis fecerit, qui maiore pecunia quattuor columnas dealbandas quam ille omnis aedificandas locaverit? quid dicant ex Sicilia testes? umquam templum illud aspexit quin avaritiae tuae, quin iniuriae, quin audaciae testis esset? quis a signo Vortumni in circum maximum venit quin is uno quoque gradu de avaritia tua commoneretur? quam tu viam tensarum atque pompae eius modi exegisti ut tu ipse illa ire non audeas. putet quisquam, cum ab Italia freto diiunctus esses, sociis temperasse, qui aedem Castoris testem tuorum furtorum esse volueris? quam populus Romanus cotidie, iudices etiam tum cum de te sententiam ferent, videbunt.

[¶28] 155. And he, even during his praetorship, exercised the office of judge in public cases. For even that must not be passed over. A fine was sought to be recovered from Quintus Opimius before him while praetor; who was brought to trial, as it was alleged, indeed, because while tribune of the people he had interposed his veto in a manner contrary to the Cornelian law, but, in reality, because while tribune of the people he had said something which gave offence to some one of the nobles. And if I were to wish to say anything of that decision, I should have to call in question and to attack many people, which it is not necessary for me to do. I will only say that a few arrogant men, to say the least of them, with his assistance, ruined all the fortunes of Quintus Opimius in fun and joke.

> Latin: 155. etiam iudicium in praetura publicum exercuit; non enim praetereundum est ne id quidem. multa est is apud istum praetorem a Q. Opimio; qui adductus est in iudicium, verbo quod, cum esset tribunus plebis, intercessisset contra legem Corneliam, re vera quod in tribunatu dixisset contra alicuius hominis nobilis voluntatem. quo iudicio si velim dicere omnia, multi appellandi laedendique sint, id quod mihi non est necesse; tantum dicam, paucos homines, ut levissime appellem, adrogantes hoc adiutore Q. Opimium per ludum et iocum fortunis omnibus evertisse.

[¶29] 156. Again; does he complain of me, because the first pleading of his cause was brought to an end by me in nine days only; when before himself as judge. Quintus Opimius, a senator of the Roman people, in three hours lost his property, his position, and all his titles of honour? On account of the scandalous nature of which decision, the question has often been mooted in the senate of taking away the whole class of fines and sentences of that sort. But what plunder he amassed in selling the property of Quintus Opimius, and how openly, how scandalously he amassed it, it would take too long to relate now. This I say,—unless I make it plain to you by the account-books of most honourable men, believe that I have invented it all for the present occasion.

> Latin: 156. mihi etiam queritur quod a nobis IX solis diebus prima actio sui iudici transacta sit, cum apud ipsum tribus horis Q. Opimius, senator populi Romani, bona, fortunas, ornamenta omnia amiserit? cuius propter indignitatem iudici saepissime est actum in senatu ut genus hoc totum multarum atque eius modi iudiciorum tolleretur. vero in bonis Q. Opimi vendendis quas iste praedas, quam aperte, quam improbe fecerit, longum est dicere: hoc dico, nisi vobis id hominum honestissimorum tabulis planum fecero, fingi a me hoc totum temporis causa putatote.

[¶30] 157. Now the man who profiting by the disaster of a Roman senator, at whose trial he had presided while praetor, endeavoured to strip him of his spoils and carry them to his own house, has he a right to deprecate any calamity to himself? For as for the choosing of other judges by Junius, of that I say nothing. For why should I? Should I venture to speak against the lists which you produced? It is difficult to do so; for not only does your own influence and that of the judges deter me, but also the golden ring of your secretary. I will not say that which it is difficult to prove; I will say this—which I will prove,—that many men of the first consequence heard you say that you ought to be pardoned for having produced a false list, for that, unless you had guarded against it, you yourself would also have been ruined by the same storm of unpopularity as that under which Caius Junius fell.

> Latin: 157. qui ex calamitate senatoris populi Romani, cum praetor iudicio eius praefuisset, spolia domum suam referre et manubias detrahere conatus sit, is ullam ab sese calamitatem poterit deprecari? de subsortitione illa Iuniana iudicum nihil dico. enim? contra tabulas quas tu protulisti audeam dicere? est; non enim me tua solum et iudicum auctoritas, sed etiam anulus aureus scribae tui deterret. dicam id quod probare difficile est; hoc dicam quod ostendam multos ex te viros primarios audisse, cum diceres ignosci tibi oportere quod falsum codicem protuleris; nam qua invidia C. Iunius conflagravit, ea, nisi providisses, tibi ipsi tum pereundum fuisset.

[¶31] 158. In this way has that fellow learnt to take care of himself and of his own safety, by entering both in his own private registers and in the public documents what had never happened; by effacing all mention of what had; and by continually taking away something, changing something (taking care that no erasure was visible), interpolating something. For he has come to such a pitch, that he cannot even find a defence for his crimes without committing other grimes. That most senseless man thought that such a substitution of his own judges also could be effected by the instrumentality of his comrade, Quintus Curtius, who was to be principal judge; and unless I had prevented that by the power of the people, and the outcries and reproaches of all men, the advantage of having judges taken from this decuria of our body, whose influence it was desirable for me should be rendered as extensive an possible, while he was substituting others for them without any reason, and placing on the bench those whom Verres had approved. … Cicero divides his accusation of Verres, on account of his conduct in Sicily, under four heads, of which the first is judicial corruption and extortion. And in this branch of the accusation he does not attend to the chronological order of his offences, but takes the instances according to the different classes under which they seem to fall, and according to their importance.

> Latin: 158. modo iste sibi et saluti suae prospicere didicit referendo in tabulas et privatas et publicas quod gestum non esset, tollendo quod esset, et semper aliquid demendo, mutando, interpolando; eo enim usque progreditur ut ne defensionem quidem maleficiorum suorum sine aliis maleficiis reperire possit. modi subsortitionem homo amentissimus suorum quoque iudicum fore putavit per sodalem suum Q. Curtium, iudicem quaestionis suae; cui ego nisi vi populi atque hominum clamore atque convicio restitissem, ex hac decuria vestra, cuius mihi copiam quam largissime factam oportebat, quos iste adnuerat in suum consilium sine causa subsortiebatur.

## 8. Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 1–35

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/8/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/8/#p-N

[¶0] 1. Many things, O judges, must be necessarily passed over by me, in order that I may be able at last to speak in some manner of those matters which have been entrusted to my good faith. For I have undertaken the cause of Sicily; that is the province which has tempted me to this business. But when I took upon myself this burden, and undertook the cause of Sicily, in my mind I embraced a wider range, for I took upon myself also the cause of my whole order—I took upon myself the cause of the Roman people; because I thought that in that case alone could a just decision be come to, if not only a wicked criminal was brought up, but if at the same time a diligent and firm accuser came before the court.

> Latin: 1. mihi necessario, iudices, praetermittenda sunt, ut possim aliquo modo aliquando de his rebus quae meae fidei commissae sunt dicere. enim causam Siciliae: ea me ad hoc negotium provincia attraxit. tamen hoc onere suscepto et recepta causa Siciliensi amplexus animo sum aliquanto amplius. enim causam totius ordinis, suscepi causam rei publicae, quod putabam tum denique recte iudicari posse si non modo reus improbus adduceretur, sed etiam diligens ac firmus accusator ad iudicium veniret.

[¶1] 2. On which account I must the sooner come to the cause of Sicily omitting all mention of his other thefts and iniquities, in order that I may be able to handle it while my strength is yet unimpaired, and that I may have time enough to dilate fully on the business. And before I begin to speak of the distresses of Sicily, it seems to me that I ought to say a little of the dignity and antiquity of that province, and of the advantage which it is to us. For as you ought to have a careful regard for all the allies and provinces, so especially ought you to have a regard for Sicily, O judges, for many, and those the greatest, reasons:—First, because of all foreign nations Sicily was the first who joined herself to the friendship and alliance of the Roman people. She was the first to be called a province; and the provinces are a great ornament to the empire. She was the first who taught our ancestors how glorious a thing it was to rule over foreign nations. She alone has displayed such good faith and such good will towards the Roman people, that the states of that island which have once come into our alliance have never revolted afterwards, but many of them, and those the most illustrious of them, have remained firm to our friendship for ever.

> Latin: 2. mihi maturius ad Siciliae causam veniendum est relictis ceteris eius furtis atque flagitiis, ut et viribus quam integerrimis agere et ad dicendum temporis satis habere possim. antequam de incommodis Siciliae dico, pauca mihi videntur esse de provinciae dignitate, vetustate, utilitate dicenda. cum omnium sociorum provinciarumque rationem diligenter habere debetis, tum praecipue Siciliae, iudices, plurimis iustissimisque de causis, primum quod omnium nationum exterarum princeps Sicilia se ad amicitiam fidemque populi Romani adplicavit. omnium, id quod ornamentum imperi est, provincia est appellata; prima docuit maiores nostros quam praeclarum esset exteris gentibus imperare; sola fuit ea fide benivolentiaque erga populum Romanum ut civitates eius insulae, quae semel in amicitiam nostram venissent, numquam postea deficerent, pleraeque autem et maxime inlustres in amicitia perpetuo manerent.

[¶2] 3. Therefore our ancestors made their first strides to dominion over Africa from this province. Nor would the mighty power of Carthage so soon have fallen, if Sicily had not been open to us, both as a granary to supply us with corn, and as a harbour for our fleets. Wherefore, Publius Africanus, when he had destroyed Carthage, adorned the cities of the Sicilians with most beautiful statues and monuments, in order to place the greatest number of monuments of his victory among those whom he thought were especially delighted at the victory of the Roman people.

> Latin: 3. maioribus nostris in Africam ex hac provincia gradus imperi factus est; neque enim tam facile opes Carthaginis tantae concidissent nisi illud et rei frumentariae subsidium et receptaculum classibus nostris pateret. P. Africanus Carthagine deleta Siculorum urbis signis monumentisque pulcherrimis exornavit, ut, quos victoria populi Romani maxime laetari arbitrabatur, apud eos monumenta victoriae plurima conlocaret.

[¶3] 4. Afterwards that illustrious man, Marcus Marcellus himself, whose valour in Sicily was felt by his enemies, his mercy by the conquered, and his good faith by all the Sicilians, not only provided in that war for the advantage of his allies, but spared even his conquered enemies. When by valour and skill he had taken Syracuse, that most beautiful city, which was not only strongly fortified by art, but was protected also by its natural advantages—by the character of the ground about it, and by the sea—he not only allowed it to remain without any diminution of its strength, but he left it so highly adorned, as to be at the same time a monument of his victory, of his clemency, and of his moderation; when men saw both what he had subdued, and whom he had spared, and what he had left behind him. He thought that Sicily was entitled to have so much honour paid to her, that he did not think that he ought to destroy even an enemy's city in an island of such allies.

> Latin: 4. ille ipse M. Marcellus, cuius in Sicilia virtutem hostes, misericordiam victi, fidem ceteri Siculi perspexerunt, non solum sociis in eo bello consuluit, verum etiam superatis hostibus temperavit. Vrbem pulcherrimam Syracusas, —quae cum manu munitissima esset, tum loci natura terra ac mari clauderetur,—cum vi consilioque cepisset, non solum incolumem passus est esse, sed ita reliquit ornatam ut esset idem monumentum victoriae, mansuetudinis, continentiae, cum homines viderent et quid expugnasset et quibus pepercisset et quae reliquisset: tantum ille honorem habendum Siciliae putavit ut ne hostium quidem urbem ex sociorum insula tollendam arbitraretur.

[¶4] 5. And therefore we have always so esteemed the island of Sicily for every purpose, as to think that whatever she could produce was not so much raised among the Sicilians as stored up in our own homes. When did she not deliver the corn which she was bound to deliver, by the proper day? When did she fail to promise us, of her own accord, whatever she thought we stood in need of? When did she ever refuse anything which was exacted of her? Therefore that illustrious Marcus Cato the wise called Sicily a storehouse of provisions for our republic—the nurse of the Roman people. But we experienced, in that long and difficult Italian war which we encountered, that Sicily was not only a storehouse of provisions to us, but was also an old and well-filled treasury left us by our ancestors; for, supplying us with hides, with tunics, and with corn, it clothed, armed, and fed our most numerous armies, without any expense at all to us.

> Latin: 5. ad omnis res sic illa provincia semper usi sumus ut, quicquid ex sese posset efferre, id non apud nos nasci, sed domi nostrae conditum iam putaremus. deberet non ad diem dedit? quando id quod opus esse putaret non ultro pollicita est? quando id quod imperaretur recusavit? ille M. Cato cellam penariam rei publicae nostrae, nutricem plebis Romanae Siciliam nominabat. vero experti sumus Italico maximo difficillimoque bello Siciliam nobis non pro penaria cella, sed pro aerario illo maiorum vetere ac referto fuisse; nam sine ullo sumptu nostro, coriis, tunicis, frumentoque suppeditando, maximos exercitus nostros vestivit, aluit, armavit.

[¶5] 6. What more need I say? How great are these services, O judges, which perhaps we are hardly aware we are receiving,—that we have many wealthy citizens, that they have a province with which they are connected, faithful and productive to which they may easily make excursions, where they may be welcome to engage in traffic; citizens, some of whom she dismisses with gain and profit by supplying them with merchandise, some she retains, as they take a fancy to turn farmers, or graziers, or traders in her land, or even to pitch in it their habitations and their homes. And this is no trifling advantage to the Roman people, that so vast a number of Roman citizens should be detained so near home by such a respectable and profitable business.

> Latin: 6. ? illa quae forsitan ne sentiamus quidem, iudices, quanta sunt! quod multis locupletioribus civibus utimur, quod habent propinquam fidelem fructuosamque provinciam, quo facile excurrant, ubi libenter negotium gerant; quos illa partim mercibus suppeditandis cum quaestu compendioque dimittit, partim retinet, ut arare, ut pascere, ut negotiari libeat, ut denique sedes ac domicilium conlocare; quod commodum non mediocre rei publicae est, tantum civium numerum tam prope a domo tam bonis fructuosisque rebus detineri.

[¶6] 7. And since our tributary nations and our provinces are, as it were, farms belonging to the Roman people; just as one is most pleased with those farms which are nearest to one, so too the suburban character of this province is very acceptable to the Roman people. And as to the inhabitants themselves, O judges, such is their patience their virtue, and their frugality, that they appear to come very nearly up to the old-fashioned manners of our country, and not to those which now prevail. There is nothing then like the rest of the Greeks; no sloth, no luxury; on the contrary there is the greatest diligence in all public and private affairs, the greatest economy, and the greatest vigilance. Moreover, they are so fond of our nation that they are the only people where neither a publican nor a money-changer is unpopular.

> Latin: 7. quoniam quasi quaedam praedia populi Romani sunt vectigalia nostra atque provinciae, quem ad modum vos propinquis vestris praediis maxime delectamini, sic populo Romano iucunda suburbanitas est huiusce provinciae. vero hominum ipsorum, iudices, ea patientia virtus frugalitasque est ut proxime ad nostram disciplinam illam veterem, non ad hanc quae nunc increbruit videantur accedere: nihil ceterorum simile Graecorum, nulla desidia, nulla luxuries, contra summus labor in publicis privatisque rebus, summa parsimonia, summa diligentia. porro nostros homines diligunt ut iis solis neque publicanus neque negotiator odio sit.

[¶7] 8. And they have born the injuries of many of our magistrates with such a disposition, that they have never till this time fled by any public resolution to the altar of our laws and to your protection; although they endured the misery of that year which so prostrated them that they could not have been preserved through it, if Caius Marcellus had not come among them, by some special providence, as it were, in order that the safety of Sicily might be twice secured by the same family. Afterwards, too, they experienced that terrible government of Marcus Antonius. For they had had these principles handed down to them from their ancestors, that the kindnesses of the Roman people to the Sicilians had been so great, that they ought to think even the injustice of some of our men endurable.

> Latin: 8. autem nostrorum iniurias ita multorum tulerunt ut numquam ante hoc tempus ad aram legum praesidiumque vestrum publico consilio confugerint, tametsi et illum annum pertulerant qui sic eos adflixerat ut salvi esse non possent, nisi C. Marcellus quasi aliquo fato venisset, ut bis ex eadem familia salus Siciliae constitueretur, et post M. Antoni infinitum illud imperium senserant. a maioribus suis acceperant, tanta populi Romani in Siculos esse beneficia ut etiam iniurias nostrorum hominum perferendas putarent.

[¶8] 9. The states have never before this man's time given any public evidence against any one. And they would have borne even this man himself, if he had sinned against them like a man, in any ordinary manner; or in short, in any one single kind of tyranny. But as they were unable to endure luxury, cruelty, avarice, and pride, when they had lost by the wickedness and lust of one man all their own advantages, all their own rights, and all fruits of the kindness of the senate and the Roman people, they determined either to avenge themselves for the injuries they had suffered from that man by your instrumentality or if they seemed to you unworthy of receiving aid and assistance at your hands, then to leave their cities and their homes, since they had already left their fields, having been driven out of them by his injuries.

> Latin: 9. neminem civitates ante hunc testimonium publice dixerunt; hunc denique ipsum pertulissent, si humano modo, si usitato more, si denique uno aliquo in genere peccasset. cum perferre non possent luxuriem, crudelitatem, avaritiam, superbiam, cum omnia sua commoda, iura, beneficia senatus populique Romani unius scelere ac libidine perdidissent, hoc statuerunt, aut illius iniurias per vos ulcisci ac persequi, aut, si vobis indigni essent visi quibus opem auxiliumque ferretis, urbis ac sedes suas relinquere, quandoquidem agros iam ante istius iniuriis exagitati reliquissent.

[¶9] 10. With this design all the deputations begged of Lucius Metellus that he would come as his successor as early as possible; with these feelings, they so often bewailed their miseries to their patrons; agitated by this indignation, they addressed the consuls with demands, which seemed to be not demands, but charges against that tyrant. They contrived also, by their indignation and their tears, to draw me, whose good faith and moderation they had experienced, almost from the employment of my life, in order to become his accuser; an action with which both the settled plan of my life and my inclination are utterly inconsistent (although in this business I appear to have undertaken a cause which has more parts of defence than of accusation in it).

> Latin: 10. consilio ab L. Metello legationes universae petiverunt ut quam primum isti succederet, hoc animo totiens apud patronos de suis miseriis deplorarunt, hoc commoti dolore postulata consulibus, quae non postulata sed in istum crimina viderentur esse, ediderunt. etiam ut me, cuius fidem continentiamque cognorant, prope de vitae meae statu dolore ac lacrimis suis deducerent ut ego istum accusarem, a quo mea longissime ratio voluntasque abhorrebat; quamquam in hac causa multo pluris partis mihi defensionis quam accusationis suscepisse videor.

[¶10] 11. Lastly, the most noble men and the chief men of the whole province have come forward both publicly and privately; every city of the greatest authority—every city of the highest reputation—have come forward with the greatest earnestness to prosecute its oppressor for its injuries. But how, O judges, have they come? It seems to me that I ought to speak before you now on behalf of the Sicilians with more freedom than perhaps they themselves wish. For I shall consult their safety rather than their inclination. Do you think that there was ever any criminal in any province defended in his absence against the inquiry into his conduct urged by his accuser, with such influence, and with such zeal? The quaestors of both provinces, who were so while he was praetor, stood close to me with their forces.

> Latin: 11. ex tota provincia homines nobilissimi primique publice privatimque venerunt, gravissima atque amplissima quaeque civitas vehementissime suas iniurias persecuta est. (11) quem ad modum, iudices, venerunt? enim mihi iam liberius apud vos pro Siculis loqui debere quam forsitan ipsi velint: saluti potius eorum consulam quam voluntati. existimatis umquam ulla in provincia reum absentem contra inquisitionem accusatoris tantis opibus, tanta cupiditate esse defensum? utriusque provinciae qui isto praetore fuerant cum fascibus mihi praesto fuerunt:

[¶11] 12. Those also who succeeded them, very zealous for his interests, liberally fed from his stores, were no less vehement against me. See how great was his influence who had four quaestors in one province, most zealous defenders and bulwarks of his cause; and the praetor and all his train so zealous in his interest, that it was quite plain, that it was not Sicily, which they had come upon when stripped bare, so much as Verres himself, who had left it loaded, which they looked upon as their province. They began to threaten the Sicilians, if they decreed any deputations to make statements against him; to threaten any one who had gone on any such deputation, to make most liberal promises to others, if they spoke well of him; to detain by force and under guard the most damaging witnesses of his private transactions, whom we had summoned by word of mouth to give evidence.

> Latin: 12. his porro qui successerunt, vehementer istius cupidi, liberaliter ex istius cibariis tractati, non minus acres contra me fuerunt. quid potuerit qui quattuor in una provincia quaestores studiosissimos defensores propugnatoresque habuerit, praetorem vero cohortemque totam sic studiosam ut facile appareret non tam illis Siciliam, quam inanem offenderant, quam Verrem ipsum, qui plenus decesserat, provinciam fuisse. Siculis si decrevissent legationes quae contra istum dicerent, minari si qui essent profecti, aliis si laudarent benignissime promittere, gravissimos privatarum rerum testis, quibus nos praesentibus denuntiavimus, eos vi custodiisque retinere.

[¶12] 13. And though all this was done, yet know ye, that there was but one single city, that, namely, of the Mamertines, which by public resolution sent ambassadors to speak in his favour. But you heard the chief man of that embassy, the most noble man of that state, Caius Eleius, speak on his oath, and say, that Verres had had a transport of the largest size built at Messana, the work being contracted for at the expense of the city. And that same ambassador of the Mamertines, his panegyrist, said that he had not only robbed him of his private property, but had also carried away his sacred vessels, and the images of the Di Penates, which he had received from his ancestors, out of his house. A noble panegyric; when the one business of the ambassadors is discharged by two operations, praising the man and demanding back what has been stolen by him. And on what account that very city is friendly to him, shall be told in its proper place. For you will find that those very things which are the causes of the Mamertines bearing him good-will, are themselves sufficiently just causes for his condemnation. No other city, O judges, praises him by public resolution.

> Latin: 13. cum omnia facta sint, tamen unam solam scitote esse civitatem Mamertinam quae publice legatos, qui istum laudarent, miserit. autem legationis principem, civitatis nobilissimum civem, C. Heium, iuratum dicere audistis isti navem onerariam maximam Messanae esse publice coactis operis aedificatam; idemque Mamertinorum legatus, istius laudator, non solum istum bona sua, verum etiam sacra deosque penatis a maioribus traditos ex aedibus suis eripuisse dixit. laudatio, cum duabus in rebus legatorum una opera consumitur, in laudando atque repetendo! ea ipsa civitas qua ratione isti amica sit, dicetur certo loco; reperietis enim, quae causae benivolentiae Mamertinis erga istum sint, eas ipsas causas satis iustas esse damnationis. Alia civitas nulla, iudices, publico consilio laudat.

[¶13] 14. The power of supreme authority has had so much influence with a very few men, not in the cities, that either some most insignificant people of the most miserable and deserted towns were found who would go to Rome without the command of their people or their senate, or on the other hand, those who had been voted as ambassadors against him, and who had received the public evidence to deliver, and the public commission, were detained by force or by fear. And I am not vexed at this having happened in a few instances, in order that the rest of the cities, so numerous, so powerful, and so wise,—that all Sicily, in short, should have all the more influence with you when you see that they could be restrained by no force, could be hindered by no danger, from making experiment whether the complaints of your oldest and most faithful allies had any weight with you.

> Latin: 14. illa summi imperi tantum potuit apud perpaucos homines, non civitates, ut aut levissimi quidam ex miserrimis desertissimisque oppidis invenirentur qui iniussu populi ac senatus proficiscerentur, aut ii qui contra istum legati decreti erant, et testimonium publicum mandataque acceperant, vi ac metu retinerentur. ego in paucis tamen usu venisse non moleste tuli, quo reliquae tot et tantae et tam graves civitates, tota denique Sicilia plus auctoritatis apud vos haberet, cum videretis nulla vi retineri, nullo periculo prohiberi potuisse quo minus experirentur ecquid apud vos querimoniae valerent antiquissimorum fidelissimorumque sociorum.

[¶14] 15. For as to what some of you may, perhaps, have heard, that he had a public encomium passed upon him by the Syracusans, although in the former pleading you learnt from the evidence of Heraclius the Syracusan what sort of encomium it was, still it shall be proved to you in another place how the whole matter really stands as far as that city is concerned For you shall see clearly that no man has ever been so hated by any people as that man both is and has been by the Syracusans. But perhaps it is only the native Sicilians who are persecuting him: the Roman citizens who are trading in Sicily defend him, love him, desire his safety. First of all, if that were the case, still in this trial for extortion, which has been established for the sake of the allies, according to that law and forms of proceeding which the allies are entitled to, you ought to listen to the complaints of the allies.

> Latin: 15. quod fortasse non nemo vestrum audierit, istum a Syracusanis publice laudari, id tametsi priore actione ex Heraclii Syracusani testimonio cuius modi esset cognovistis, tamen vobis alio loco ut se tota res habeat, quod ad eam civitatem attineat, demonstrabitur. enim nullis hominibus quemquam tanto odio quanto istum Syracusanis et esse et fuisse. enim istum Siculi soli persequuntur: cives Romani qui negotiantur in Sicilia defendunt, diligunt, salvum esse cupiunt., si ita esset, tamen vos in hac quaestione de pecuniis repetundis, quae sociorum causa constituta est lege iudicioque sociali, sociorum querimonias audire oporteret.

[¶15] 16. But you were able to see clearly in the former pleading, that many Roman citizens from Sicily, most honourable men, gave evidence about most important transactions, both as to injuries which they had received themselves, and injuries which they knew had been inflicted on others. I, O judges, affirm in this way what I know. I seem to myself to have done an action acceptable to the Sicilians in seeking to avenge their injuries with my own labour, at my own peril, and at the risk of incurring enmity in some quarters; and I am sure that this which I am doing is not less acceptable to our own citizens, who think that the safety of their rights, of their liberty, of their properties and fortunes, consists in tho condemnation of that man.

> Latin: 16. intellegere potuistis priore actione civis Romanos honestissimos ex Sicilia plurimis maximisque de rebus, et quas ipsi accepissent iniurias et quas scirent esse aliis factas, pro testimonio dicere. hoc quod intellego, iudices, sic confirmo. mihi gratum fecisse Siculis quod eorum iniurias meo labore, inimicitiis, periculo sim persecutus: non minus hoc gratum me nostris civibus intellego fecisse, qui hoc existimant, iuris libertatis rerum fortunarumque suarum salutem in istius damnatione consistere.

[¶16] 17. On which account, while speaking of his Sicilian praetorship, I will not object to your listening to me on this condition, that if he has been approved of by any description of men whatever; whether of Sicilians or of our own citizens; if he has been approved of by any class of men, whether agriculturists, or graziers, or merchants; if he has not been the common enemy and plunderer of all these men,—if, in short, he has ever spared any man in any thing, then you, too, shall spare him. Now, as soon as Sicily fell to him by lot as his province, immediately at Rome, while he was yet in the city, before he departed, he began to consider within himself and to deliberate with his friends, by what means he might make the greatest sum of money in that province in one year. He did not like to learn while he was acting, (though he was not entirely ignorant and inexperienced in the oppression of a province,) but he wished to arrive in Sicily with all his plans for plunder carefully thought of and prepared.

> Latin: 17. de istius praetura Siciliensi non recuso quin ita me audiatis ut, si cuiquam generi hominum sive Siculorum sive nostrorum civium, si cuiquam ordini sive aratorum sive pecuariorum sive mercatorum probatus sit, si non horum omnium communis hostis praedoque fuerit, si cuiquam denique in re umquam ulla temperarit, ut vos quoque ei temperetis. simul atque ei sorte provincia Sicilia obvenit, statim Romae, ab urbe antequam proficisceretur, quaerere ipse secum et agitare cum suis coepit quibusnam rebus in ea provincia maximam uno anno pecuniam facere posset. in agendo discere,—tametsi non provinciae rudis erat et tiro: [sed Siciliae ] paratus ad praedam meditatusque venire cupiebat.

[¶17] 18. Oh how correct was the augury diffused by common report and common conversation among the people in that province! when from his very name men augured in a jesting way what he would do in the province. Indeed, who could doubt, when they recollected his flight and robbery in his quaestorship—when they considered his spoliation of temples and shrines in his lieutenancy—when they saw in the forum the plunder of his praetorship—what sort of man he was likely to prove in the fourth act of his villainy? And that you may be aware that he inquired at Rome not only into the different kinds of robbery which he might be able to execute, but into the very names of his victims, listen to this most certain proof, by which you will be able more easily to form an opinion of his unexampled impudence.

> Latin: 18. O praeclare coniectum a vulgo in illam provinciam omen communis famae atque sermonis, cum ex nomine istius quid iste in provincia facturus esset perridicule homines augurabantur! quis dubitare posset, cum istius in quaestura fugam et furtum recognosceret, cum in legatione oppidorum fanorumque spoliationes cogitaret, cum videret in foro latrocinia praeturae, qualis iste in quarto actu improbitatis futurus esset? ut intellegatis eum Romae quaesisse non modo genera furandi, sed etiam nomina certissima, accipite argumentum quo facilius de singulari eius impudentia existimare possitis.

[¶18] 19. The very day on which he reached Sicily, (see now whether he was not come, according to that omen bruited about the city,) prepared to sweep the province pretty clean, he immediately sends letters from Messana to Halesa, which I suppose he had written in Italy. For, as soon as he disembarked from the ship, he gave orders that Dio of Halesa should come to him instantly; saying that he wished to make inquiry about an inheritance which had come to his son from a relation, Apollodorus Laphiro.

> Latin: 19. die Siciliam attigit—videte satisne paratus ex illo omine urbano ad everrendam provinciam venerit,—statim Messana litteras Halaesam mittit (quas ego istum in Italia conscripsisse arbitror; nam simul atque e navi egressus est dedit ), Halaesinus ad se Dio continuo veniret; se de hereditate velle cognoscere quae eius filio a propinquo homine, Apollodoro Laphirone, venisset.

[¶19] 20. It was, O judges, a very large sum of money. This Dio, O judges, is now, by the kindness of Quintus Metellus, become a Roman citizen; and in his case it was proved to your satisfaction at the former pleading, by the evidence of many men of the highest consideration, and by the account-books of many men, that a million of sesterces had been paid in order that, after Verres had inquired into the cause, in which there could no possible doubt exist, he might have a decision in his favour;—that, besides that all herds of the highest-bred mares were driven away, that all the plate and embroidered robes which he had in his home were carried off; so that Quintus Dio lost eleven hundred thousand sesterces because an inheritance had come to him, and for no other reason.

> Latin: 20. erat, iudices, pergrandis pecunia. est Dio, iudices, nunc beneficio Q. Metelli civis Romanus factus; de quo multis viris primariis testibus multorumque tabulis vobis priore actione satis factum est, HS deciens numerata esse ut eam causam, in qua ne tenuissima quidem dubitatio posset esse, isto cognoscente obtineret; praeterea greges nobilissimarum equarum abactos, argenti vestisque stragulae domi quod fuerit esse direptum; ita HS deciens Q. Dionem, quod hereditas ei venisset, nullam aliam ob causam perdidisse.

[¶20] 21. What are we to say? Who was praetor when this inheritance came to the son of Dio? The same man who was so when hers came to Annia the daughter of Publius Annius the senator,—the same who was so when his was left to Marcus Ligur the senator, namely Caius Sacerdos. What are we to say? Had no one been troublesome to Dio on the subject at the time?, No more than they had to Ligur, while Sacerdos was praetor. What then?: Did any one make any complaint to Verres? Nobody, unless perhaps you suppose that the informers were ready for him at the strait. When he was still at Rome, he heard that a very great inheritance had come to a certain Sicilian named Dio; that the heir had been enjoined by the terms of the will to erect statues in the forum; that, unless he erected them, he was to be liable to forfeiture to Venus Erycina. Although they had been erected in compliance with the will, still he; Verres, thought, since the name of Venus was mentioned, that he could find some pretext for making money of it.

> Latin: 21. ? haec hereditas quo praetore Dionis filio venerat? quo Anniae, P. Anni senatoris filiae, eodem quo M. Liguri senatori, C. Sacerdote praetore.? tum nemo molestus Dioni fuerat? plus quam Liguri Sacerdote praetore.? tum ad Verrem quis detulit?; nisi forte existimatis ei quadruplatores ad fretum praesto fuisse. urbem cum esset, audivit Dioni cuidam Siculo permagnam venisse hereditatem; heredem statuas iussum esse in foro ponere; nisi posuisset, Veneri Erycinae esse multatum. positae essent ex testamento, tamen putabat, quoniam Veneris nomen esset, causam calumniae se reperturum.

[¶21] 22. Therefore he sets up a man to claim that inheritance for Venus Erycina. For it was not (as would have been usual) the quaestor in whose province Mount Eryx was, who made the demand. A fellow of the name of Naevius Turpo is the claimant, a spy and emissary of Verres, the most infamous of all that band of informers of his, who had been condemned in the praetorship of Caius Sacerdos for many wickednesses. For the cause was such that the very praetor himself when he was seeking for an accuser, could not find one a little more respectable than this fellow. Verres acquits his man of any forfeiture to Venus, but condemns him to pay forfeit to himself. He preferred, forsooth, to have men do wrong rather than gods;—he preferred himself to extort from Dio what was contrary to law, rather than to let Venus take anything that was not due to her.

> Latin: 22. adponit qui petat Veneri Erycinae illam hereditatem. enim quaestor petit, ut est consuetudo, is qui Erycum montem obtinebat: petit Naevius Turpio quidam, istius excursor et emissarius, homo omnium ex illo conventu quadruplatorum deterrimus, C. Sacerdote praetore condemnatus iniuriarum; etenim erat eius modi causa ut ipse praetor, cum quaereret calumniatorem, paulo tamen consideratiorem reperire non posset. hominem Veneri absolvit, sibi condemnat. videlicet homines peccare quam deos: se potius a Dione quod non licebat, quam quod non debebatur auferre.

[¶22] 23. Why need I now in this place recite the evidence of Sextus Pompeius Chlorus, who pleaded Dio's cause? who was concerned in the whole business? A most honourable man, and, although he has long ago been made a Roman citizen in reward for his virtues, still the very chief man and the most noble of all the Sicilians. Why need I recite the evidence of Quintus Caecilius Dio himself, a most admirable and moderate man? Why need I recite that of Lucius Vetecilius Ligur, of Titus Manlius, of Lucius Calenus? by the evidence of all of whom this case about Dio's money was fully established. Marcus Lucullus said the same thing that he had long ago known all the facts of the tyranny practised on Dio, through the connection of hospitality which existed between them.

> Latin: 23. ego hic nunc Sex. Pompei Chlori testimonium recitem, qui causam Dionis egit, qui omnibus rebus interfuit, hominis honestissimi, tametsi civis Romanus virtutis causa iam diu est, tamen omnium Siculorum primi ac nobilissimi? quid ipsius Q. Caecili Dionis, hominis probatissimi ac pudentissimi? quid L. Caecili, L. Liguris, T. Manili, L. Caleni? quorum omnium testimoniis de hac Dionis pecunia confirmatum est. hoc idem M. Lucullus, se de his Dionis incommodis pro hospitio quod sibi cum eo esset iam ante cognosse.

[¶23] 24. What? Did Lucullus, who was at that time in Macedonia, know all these things better than you, O Hortensius, who were at Rome? you to whom Dio fled for aid? you who expostulated with Verres by letter in very severe terms about the injuries done to Dio? Is an this new to you now, and unexpected? is this the first time your ears have heard of this crime?, Did you hear nothing of it from Dio, nothing from your own mother-in-law, that most admirable woman, Servilia, an ancient friend and connection of Dio's? Are not my witnesses ignorant of many circumstances which you are acquainted with? Is it not owing, not to the innocence of your client, but to the exception made by the law, that I am prevented from summoning you as a witness on my side on this charge? [The evidence of Marcus Lucullus, of Chlorus, of Dio is read.] Does not this Venereal man, who went forth from the bosom of Chelidon to his province, appear to you to have got a sufficiently large sum by means of the name of Verres?

> Latin: 24. ? Lucullus, qui tum in Macedonia fuit, melius haec cognovit quam tu, Hortensi, qui Romae fuisti, ad quem Dio confugit, qui de Dionis iniuriis gravissime per litteras cum Verre questus es? tibi haec sunt? inopinata? nunc primum hoc aures tuae crimen accipiunt? nihil ex Dione, nihil ex socru tua, femina primaria, Servilia, vetere Dionis hospita, audisti? multa mei testes quae tu scis nesciunt? nonne te mihi testem in hoc crimine eripuit non istius innocentia, sed legis exceptio?. testimonia Lvcvlli, Chlori, Dionis. vobis magnam pecuniam Venerius homo, qui e Chelidonis sinu in provinciam profectus esset, Veneris nomine quaesisse videtur?

[¶24] 25. Listen now to a no less shamelessly false accusation in a case where a smaller sum was involved. Sosippus and Epicrates were brothers of the town of Agyrium; their father died twenty-two years ago, by whose will, if anything were done wrongly in any point, there was to be a forfeiture of his property to Venus. In the twentieth year after his death, though there had been in the interim so many praetors, so many quaestors, and so many false accusers in the province, the inheritance was claimed from the brothers in the name of Venus. Verres takes cognisance of the cause; by the agency of Volcatius he receives money from the two brothers, about four hundred thousand sesterces. You have heard the evidence of many people already; the brothers of Agyrium gained their cause, but on such terms that they left the court stripped and beggared.

> Latin: 25. aliam in minore pecunia non minus impudentem calumniam. Sosippus et Philocrates fratres sunt Agyrinenses. Horum pater abhinc duo et xx annos est mortuus; in cuius testamento, quodam loco si commissum quid esset, multa erat Veneri. vicensimo anno, cum tot interea praetores, tot quaestores, tot calumniatores in provincia fuissent, hereditas ab his Veneris nomine petita est. Verres cognoscit, pecuniam per Volcatium accipit, fere ad HS cccc milia, a duobus fratribus. testimonia audistis antea. Agyrinenses fratres ita ut egentes inanesque discederent.

[¶25] 26. Oh, but that money never came to Verres. What does that defence mean? is that asserted in this case, or only put out as a feeler? For to me it is quite a new light. Verres set up the accusers; Verres summoned the brother to appear before him; Verres heard the cause; Verres gave sentence. A vast sum was paid; they who paid it gained the cause; and you argue in defence “that money was not paid to Verres.” I can help you; my witnesses too say the same thing; they say they paid it to Volcatius. How did Volcatius acquire so much power as to get four hundred thousand sesterces from two men? Would any one have given Volcatius, if he had come on his own account, one half-farthing? Let him come now, let him try; no one will receive him in his house. But I say more; I accuse you of having received forty millions of sesterces contrary to law; and I deny that you have ever accounted for one farthing of that money; but when money was paid for your decrees, for your orders, for your decisions, the point to be inquired into was not into whose hand it was paid, but by whose oppression it was extorted.

> Latin: 26. enim ad Verrem pecunia ista non pervenit. ista defensio est? utrum adseveratur in hoc an temptatur? mihi enim res nova est. Verres calumniatorem adponebat, Verres adesse iubebat, Verres cognoscebat, Verres iudicabat; pecuniae maximae dabantur; qui dabant causas obtinebant. mihi ita defendas, “est ista Verri numerata pecunia?” te; mei quoque testes idem dicunt; Volcatio dicunt sese dedisse. vis erat in Volcatio tanta ut HS cccc milia duobus hominibus auferret? Volcatio, si sua sponte venisset, unam libellam dedisset? nunc, experiatur: tecto recipiet nemo. ego amplius dico: HS quadringentiens cepisse te arguo contra leges; nego tibi ipsi ullum nummum esse numeratum; sed cum ob tua decreta, ob edicta, ob imperia, ob iudicia pecuniae dabantur, non erat quaerendum cuius manu numerarentur, sed cuius iniuria cogerentur.

[¶26] 27. Those chosen companions of yours were your hands; the prefects, the secretaries, the surgeons, the attendants the soothsayers, the criers, were your hands. The more each individual was connected with you by any relationship, or affinity, or intimacy, the more he was considered one of your bands. The whole of that retinue of yours, which caused more evil to Sicily than a hundred troops of fugitive slaves would have caused, was beyond all question your hand. Whatever was taken by any one of these men, that must be considered not only as having been given to you, but as having been paid into your own hand. For if you, O judges, admit this defence, “He did not receive it himself,” you will put an end to all judicial proceedings for extortion. For no criminal will be brought before you so guilty as not to be able to avail himself of that plea? Indeed, since Verres uses it, what criminal will ever henceforward be found so abandoned as not to be thought equal to Quintus Lucius in innocence by comparison with that man? And even now those who say this do not appear to me to be defending Verres so much as trying, in the instance of Verres, what license of defence will be admitted in other cases.

> Latin: 27. illi tui delecti manus erant tuae; praefecti, scribae, accensi, medici, haruspices, praecones manus erant tuae; ut quisque te maxime cognatione adfinitate necessitudine aliqua attingebat, ita maxime manus tua putabatur; cohors tota illa, quae plus mali Siciliae dedit quam si centum cohortes fugitivorum fuissent, tua manus sine controversia fuit. ab horum quopiam captum est, id non modo tibi datum, sed tua manu numeratum iudicari necesse est. si hanc defensionem probabitis, “accepit ipse,” licet omnia de pecuniis repetundis iudicia tollatis. umquam reus tam nocens nocens Cp al.: v. Anecd. p. xxvii-xxviii. adducetur qui ista defensione non possit uti; etenim cum Verres utatur, quis erit umquam posthac reus tam perditus qui non ad Q. \Muci innocentiam referatur, si cum isto conferatur? nunc tam isti mihi Verrem defendere videntur quam in Verre defensionis temptare rationem.

[¶27] 28. And with reference to this matter, you, O judges, ought to take great care what you do. It concerns the chief interests of the republic, and the reputation of our order, and the safety of the allies. For if we wish to be thought innocent, we must not only show that we ourselves are moderate, but that our companions are so too. First of all, we must take care to take those men with us who with regard our credit and our safety. Secondly, if in the selection of men our hopes have deceived us through friendship for the persons, we must take care to punish them, to dismiss them. We must always live as if we expected to have to give an account of what we have been doing. This is what was said by Africanus, a most kind-hearted man, (but that kind-heartedness alone is really admirable which is exercised without any risk to a man's reputation, as it was by him,) when an old follower of his, who reckoned himself one of his friends, could not prevail on him to take him with him into Africa as his prefect, and was much annoyed at it.

> Latin: 28. de re, iudices, magnopere vobis providendum est: pertinet hoc ad summam rem publicam et ad existimationem ordinis nostri salutemque sociorum. enim innocentes existimari volumus, non solum nos, sed etiam nostros comites praestare debemus. omnium opera danda est ut eos nobiscum educamus qui nostrae famae capitique consulant; deinde, si in hominibus eligendis nos spes amicitiae fefellerit, ut vindicemus, missos faciamus, semper ita vivamus ut rationem reddendam nobis arbitremur. Africani est hoc, hominis liberalissimi—verum tamen ea liberalitas est probanda quae sine periculo existimationis est, ut in illo fuit:

[¶28] 29. “Do not marvel,” said he, “that you do not obtain this from me, for I have been a long time begging a man to whom I believe my reputation to be dear, to go with me as my prefect, and as yet I cannot prevail upon him.” And in truth there is much more reason to beg men to go with us as our officers into a province, if we wish to preserve our safety and our honour, than to give men office as a favour to them; but as for you, when you were inviting your friends into the province, as to a place for plunder, and were robbing in company with them, and by means of them, and were presenting them in the public assembly with golden rings, did it never occur to you that you should have to give an account, not only of yourself, but of their actions also?

> Latin: 29. cum ab eo quidam vetus adsectator et ex numero amicorum non impetraret uti se praefectum in Africam duceret, et id ferret moleste, “,” inquit, “mirari si tu hoc a me non impetras. iam pridem ab eo cui meam existimationem caram fore arbitror peto ut mecum praefectus proficiscatur, et adhuc impetrare non possum.” re vera multo magis est petendum ab hominibus, si salvi et honesti esse volumus, ut eant nobiscum in provinciam, quam in benefici loco deferendum. tu cum et tuos amicos in provinciam quasi in praedam invitabas et cum iis ac per eos praedabare et eos in contione anulis aureis donabas, non statuebas tibi non solum de tuis, sed etiam de illorum factis rationem esse reddendam?

[¶29] 30. When he had acquired for himself these great and abundant gains from these causes which he had determined to examine into himself with his council—that is, with this retinue of his—then he invented an infinite number of expedients for getting bold of a countless amount of money. No one doubts that all the wealth of every man is placed in the power of those men who allow trials to proceed, and of those who sit as judges at the trials, no one doubts that none of us can retain possession of his house, of his farm, or of his paternal property, if, when these are claimed by any one of you, a rascally praetor, whose judgments no one has the power of arresting, can assign any judge whom he chooses, and if the worthless and corrupt judge gives any sentence which the praetor bids him give.

> Latin: 30. hos sibi quaestus constituisset magnos atque uberes ex his causis quas ipse instituerat cum consilio, hoc est cum sua cohorte, cognoscere, tum illud infinitum genus invenerat ad innumerabilem pecuniam corripiendam. Dubium nemini est quin omnes omnium pecuniae positae sint in eorum potestate qui iudicia dant, et eorum qui iudicant, quin nemo vestrum possit aedis suas, nemo fundum, nemo bona patria obtinere, si, cum haec a quopiam vestrum petita sint, praetor improbus, cui nemo intercedere possit, det quem velit iudicem, iudex nequam et levis quod praetor iusserit iudicet.

[¶30] 31. But if this also be added, that the praetor assigns the trial to take place according to such a formula, that even Lucius Octavius Balbus, if he were judge, (a man of the greatest experience in all that belongs to the law and to the duties of a judge,) could not decide otherwise: suppose it ran in this way:—“Let Lucius Octavius be the judge; if it appears that the farm at Capena, which is in dispute, belongs, according to the law of the Roman people, to Publius Servilius, that farm must be restored to Quintus Catulus,” will not Lucius Octavius be bound, as judge, to compel Publius Servilius to restore the farm to Quintus Catulus, or to condemn him whom he ought not to condemn? The whole praetorian law was like that; the whole course of judicial proceedings in Sicily was like that for three years, while Verres was praetor. His decrees were like this:—“If he does not accept what you say that you owe, accuse him; if he claims anything, take him to prison.” He ordered Caius Fuficius, who claimed something, to be taken to prison; so he did Lucius Suetius and Lucius Rucilius. His tribunals he formed in this way:—those who were Roman citizens were to be judges, when Sicilians ought to have been, according to their laws, those who were Sicilians were to be judges, when Romans should have been.

> Latin: 31. vero illud quoque accedit, ut praetor in ea verba iudicium det ut vel L. Octavius Balbus iudex, homo et iuris et offici peritissimus, non possit aliter iudicare, —si iudicium sit eius modi L. Octavivs ivdex esto. si paret fvndum Capenatem, qvo de agitvr, ex ivre Qviritivm P. Servili esse, neqve is fvndvs Q. Catvlo restitvetvr, non necesse erit L. Octavio iudici cogere P. Servilium Q. Catulo fundum restituere, aut condemnare eum quem non oporteat? modi totum ius praetorium, omnis res iudiciaria fuit in Sicilia per triennium Verre praetore. eius modi, si non accipit qvod te debere dicis, accvses; si petit, dvcas: C. Fuficium duci iussit petitorem, L. Suettium, L. Racilium. eius modi: qui cives Romani erant iudicabant si Siculi essent, cum Siculos eorum legibus dari oporteret, qui Siculi, si cives Romani essent.

[¶31] 32. But that you may understand his whole system of judicial proceedings, listen first to the laws of the Sicilians in such uses, and then to the practices this man established. The Sicilians have this law,—that if a citizen of any town has a dispute with a fellow-citizen, he is to decide it in his own town, according to the laws there existing; if a Sicilian has a dispute with a Sicilian of a different city, in that case the praetor is to assign judges of that dispute, according to the law of Publius Rupilius, which be enacted by the advice of ten commissioners appointed to consider the subject, and which the Sicilians call the Rupilian law. If an individual makes a claim in a community, or a community on an individual, the senate of some third city is assigned to furnish the judges, as the citizens of the cities interested in the litigation are rejected as judges in such a case. If a Roman citizen makes a claim on a Sicilian, a Sicilian judge is assigned; if a Sicilian makes a claim on a Roman citizen, a Roman citizen is assigned as judge: in all other matters judges are appointed selected from the body of Roman citizens dwelling in the place. In law-suits between the farmers and the tax collectors, trials are regulated by the law about corn, which they call Lex Hieronica.

> Latin: 32. ut totum genus amplectamini iudiciorum, prius iura Siculorum, deinde istius instituta cognoscite. Siculi hoc iure sunt ut, quod civis cum cive agat, domi certet suis legibus, quod Siculus cum Siculo non eiusdem civitatis, ut de eo praetor iudices ex P. Rupili decreto, quod is de decem legatorum sententia statuit, quam illi legem Rupiliam vocant, sortiatur. privatus a populo petit aut populus a privato, senatus ex aliqua civitate qui iudicet datur, cum alternae civitates reiectae sunt; quod civis Romanus a Siculo petit, Siculus iudex, quod Siculus a civi Romano, civis Romanus datur; ceterarum rerum selecti iudices ex conventu civium Romanorum proponi solent. aratores et decumanos lege frumentaria, quam Hieronicam appellant, iudicia fiunt.

[¶32] 33. All these rights were not only thrown into disorder while that man was praetor, but indeed were openly taken away from both the Sicilians and from the Roman citizens. First of all, their own laws with reference to one another were disregarded. If a citizen had a dispute with another citizen, he either assigned any one as judge whom it was convenient to himself to assign, crier, soothsayer, or his own physician; or if a tribunal was established by the laws, and the parties had come before one of their fellow-citizens as the judge, that citizen was not allowed to decide without control. For, listen to the edict issued by this man, by which edict he brought every tribunal under his own authority: “If any one had given a wrong decision, he would examine into the matter himself; when he had examined, he would punish.” And when he did that, no one doubted that when the judge thought that some one else was doing to sit in judgment on his decision, and that he should be at the risk of his life in the matter, he would consider the inclination of the man who he expected would presently be judging in a matter affecting his down existence as a citizen.

> Latin: 33. omnia isto praetore non modo perturbata, sed plane et Siculis et civibus Romanis erepta sunt. suae leges: quod civis cum civi ageret, aut eum iudicem quem commodum erat,—praeconem, haruspicem, medicum suum,—dabat, aut si legibus erat iudicium constitutum et ad civem suum iudicem venerant, libere civi iudicare non licebat. enim hominis cognoscite, quo edicto omnia iudicia redegerat in suam potestatem, si qvi perperam ivdicasset, se cognitvrvm; cvm cognosset, animadversvrvm. Idque cum faciebat, nemo dubitabat quin, cum iudex alium de suo iudicio putaret iudicaturum seque in eo capitis periculum aditurum, voluntatem spectaret eius quem statim de capite suo putaret iudicaturum.

[¶33] 34. Judges selected from the Roman settlers there were none; none even of the traders in the cities were proposed as judges. The crowd of judges which I am speaking of was the retinue, not of Quintus Scaevola, (who, however, did not make practice of appointing judges from among his own followers,) but of Caius Verres. And what sort of a retinue do you suppose it was when such a man as he was its chief? You see announced in the edict, “If the senate gives an erroneous decision....” I will prove that, if at any time a bench of judges was taken from the senate, that also gave its decisions, through compulsion, on his part, contrary to their own opinions. There never was any selection of the judges by lot, according to the Rupilian law, except when he had no interest whatever in the case. The tribunals established in the case of many disputes by the Lex Hieronica were all abolished by a single edict; no judges were appointed selected from the settlers or from the traders. What great power he had you see; now learn how he exercised it.

> Latin: 34. ex conventu aut propositi ex negotiatoribus iudices nulli: haec copia, quam dico, iudicum cohors non Q. Scaevolae, qui tamen de cohorte sua dare non solebat, sed C. Verris. modi cohortem putatis hoc principe fuisse? videtis edictum, sl qvi perperam ivdicarit senatvs, eum quoque ostendam, si quando sit datus, coactu istius quod non senserit iudicasse. lege Rupilia sortitio nulla, nisi cum nihil intererat istius; lege Hieronica iudicia plurimarum controversiarum sublata uno nomine omnia; de conventu ac negotiatoribus nulli iudices. potestatem habuerit videtis, quas res gesserit cognoscite.

[¶34] 35. Heraclius is the son of Hiero, a Syracusan; a man among the very first for nobility of family, and, before Verres came as praetor, one of the most wealthy of the Syracusans; now a very poor man, owing to no other calamity but the avarice and injustice of that man. An inheritance of at least three millions of sesterces came to him by the will of his relation Heraclius; the house was full of silver plate exquisitely carved, of abundance of embroidered robes, and of most valuable slaves; things in which who is ignorant of the insane cupidity of that man? The fact was a subject of common conversation, that a great fortune had come to Heraclius that Heraclius would not only be rich, but that he would be amply supplied with furniture, plate, robes and slaves.

> Latin: 35. Heraclius est Hieronis filius Syracusanus, homo in primis domi suae nobilis et ante hunc praetorem vel pecuniosissimus Syracusanorum, nunc nulla alia calamitate nisi istius avaritia atque iniuria pauperrimus. hereditas ad HS facile triciens venit testamento propinqui sui Heraclii, plena domus caelati argenti optimi multaeque stragulae vestis pretiosorumque mancipiorum; quibus in rebus istius cupiditates et insanias quis ignorat? in sermone res, magnam Heraclio pecuniam relictam; non solum Heraclium divitem, sed etiam ornatum supellectile, argento, veste, mancipiis futurum.

## 9. Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 36–66

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/9/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/9/#p-N

[¶0] 36. Verres, too, hears this; and at first he tries by the tricks and maneuvers which he is so fond of, to get him to lend things to him to look at, which he means never to return. Afterwards he takes counsel from some Syracusans; and they were relations of his, whose wives too were not believed to be entirely strangers to him, by name Cleomenes and Aeschrio. What influence they had with him, and on what disgraceful reasons it was founded, you may understand from the rest of the accusation. These men, as I say, give Verres advice. They tell him that the property is a fine one, which in every sort of wealth; and that Heraclius himself is a man advancing in years, and not very active; and that he has no patron on whom he has any claim, or to whom he has any access except the Marcelli; that a condition was contained in the will in which he was mentioned as heir, that he was to erect some statues in the palaestra. We will contrive to produce people from the palaestra to assert that they have not been erected according to the terms of the will, and to claim the inheritance, because they say that it is forfeited to the palaestra. The idea pleased Verres.

> Latin: 36. haec etiam Verres, et primo illo suo leniore artificio Heraclium adgredi conatur, ut eum roget inspicienda, quae non reddat. a quibusdam Syracusanis admonetur,—hi autem quidam erant adfines istius, quorum iste uxores numquam alienas existimavit, Cleomenes et Aeschrio, qui quantum apud istum et quam turpi de causa potuerint ex reliquis criminibus intellegetis: hi, ut dico, hominem admonent rem esse praeclaram, refertam omnibus rebus, ipsum autem Heraclium hominem esse maiorem natu, non promptissimum; eum praeter Marcellos patronum, quem suo iure adire aut appellare posset, habere neminem; esse in eo testamento quo ille heres esset scriptus, ut statuas in palaestra deberet ponere. “ut palaestritae negent ex testamento esse positas, petant hereditatem, quod eam palaestrae commissam esse dicant.”

[¶1] 37. For he foresaw that, when such an inheritance became disputed, and was claimed by process of law, it was quite impossible for him not to get some plunder out of it before it was done with. He approves of the plan; he advises them to begin to act as speedily as possible, and to attack a man of that age, and disinclined to law-suits, with as much bluster as possible. An action is brought in due form against Heraclius. At first all marvel at the roguery of the accusation. After a little, of those who knew Verres, some suspected, and some clearly saw that he had cast his eyes on the inheritance. In the mean time the day had arrived, on which he had announced in his edict that, according to established usage, and to the Rupilian law, he would assign judges at Syracuse. He had come prepared to assign judges in this cause. Then Heraclius points out to him that he cannot assign judges in his cause that day, because the Rupilian law said that they were not to be assigned till thirty days after the action was commenced. The thirty days had not yet elapsed; Heraclius hoped that, if he could avoid having them appointed that day, Quintus Arrius, whom the province was eagerly expecting, would arrive as successor to Verres before another appointment could take place.

> Latin: 37. ratio Verri; nam hoc animo providebat, cum tanta hereditas in controversiam venisset iudicioque peteretur, fieri non posse ut sine praeda ipse discederet. consilium; auctor est ut quam primum agere incipiant, hominemque id aetatis minime litigiosum quam tumultuosissime adoriantur. Heraclio dica. mirantur omnes improbitatem calumniae; deinde qui istum nossent partim suspicabantur, partim plane videbant adiectum esse oculum hereditati. dies advenit quo die sese ex instituto ac lege Rupilia dicas sortiturum Syracusis iste edixerat. ad hanc dicam sortiendam venerat. eum docet Heraclius non posse eo die sortiri, quod lex Rupilia vetaret diebus xxx sortiri dicam quibus scripta esset. xxx nondum fuerant. Heraclius, si illum diem effugisset, ante alteram sortitionem Q. Arrium, quem provincia tum maxime exspectabat, successurum.

[¶2] 38. He postponed appointing judges in all suits, and fixed the first day for appointing them that he legally could after the thirty days claimed by Heraclius in his action had elapsed. When the day arrived, he began to pretend that he was desirous to appoint the judges. Heraclius comes with his advocates, and claims to be allowed to have the cause between him and the men of the palaestra, that is to say, with the Syracusan people, tried by strict law. His adversaries demand that judges be appointed to decide on that matter of those cities which were in the habit of frequenting the Syracusan courts. Judges were appointed, whomsoever Verres chose. Heraclius demanded, on the other hand, that judges should be appointed according to the provisions of the Rupilian law; and that no departure should be made from the established usage of their ancestors, from the authority of the senate, and from the rights of all the Sicilians.

> Latin: 38. omnibus dicis diem distulit, et eam diem constituit ut hanc Heraclii dicam sortiri post dies triginta ex lege posset. ea dies venit, iste incipit simulare se velle sortiri. Heraclius cum advocatis adit et postulat ut sibi cum palaestritis, hoc est cum populo Syracusano, aequo iure disceptare liceat. postulant ut in eam rem iudices dentur, ex iis civitatibus quae in id forum convenirent electi, qui Verri viderentur: Heraclius contra, ut iudices ex lege Rupilia dentur, ut ab institutis superiorum, ab auctoritate senatus, ab iure omnium Siculorum ne recedatur.

[¶3] 39. Why need I demonstrate the licentious wickedness of that Verres, in the administration of justice? Who of you is not aware of it, from his administration in this city? Who ever, while he was praetor, could obtain anything by law against the will of Chelidon? The province did not corrupt that man, as it has corrupted some; he was the same man that he had been at Rome. When Heraclius said, what all men well knew, that there was an established form of law among the Sicilians by which causes between them were to be tried; that there was the Rupilian law, which Publius Rupilius, the consul, had enacted, with the advice of ten chosen commissioners; that every praetor and consul in Sicily had always observed this law. He said that he should not appoint judges according to the provisions of the Rupilian law. He appointed five judges who were most agreeable to himself.

> Latin: 39. ego istius in iure dicundo libidinem et scelera demonstrem? quis vestrum non in urbana iuris dictione cognovit? quis umquam isto praetore Chelidone invita lege agere potuit? istum, ut non neminem, provincia corrupit; idem fuit qui Romae. id quod omnes intellegebant diceret Heraclius, ius esse certum Siculis inter se quo iure certarent, legem esse Rupiliam quam P. Rupilius consul de decem legatorum sententia dedisset, hanc omnis semper in Sicilia consules praetoresque servasse, negavit se e lege Rupilia sortiturum: quinque iudices, quos commodum ipsi fuit, dedit.

[¶4] 40. What can you do with such a man as this? What punishment can you find worthy of such licentiousness? Then it was prescribed to you by law, O most wicked and most shameless man, in what way you were to appoint judges among the Sicilians; when the authority of a general of the Roman people, when the dignity of ten commissioners, men of the highest rank, when a positive resolution of the senate was against you, in obedience to which resolution Publius Rupilius had established laws in Sicily by the advice of ten commissioners; when, before you came as praetor every one had most strictly observed the Rupilian laws in all points, and especially in judicial matters; did you dare to consider so many solemn circumstances as nothing in comparison with your own plunder? Did you acknowledge no law? Had you no scruple? no regard for your reputation? no fear of any judgment yourself? Has the authority of no one of any weight with you? Was there no example which you chose to follow?

> Latin: 40. hoc homine facias? quod supplicium dignum libidine eius invenias? tibi cum esset, homo deterrime et impudentissime, quem ad modum iudices inter Siculos dares, cum imperatoris populi Romani auctoritas, legatorum decem, summorum hominum, dignitas, senatus consultum intercederet, quo senatus consulto P. Rupilius de decem legatorum sententia leges in Sicilia constituerat, cum omnes ante te praetorem Rupilias leges et in ceteris rebus et in iudiciis maxime servassent, tu ausus es pro nihilo prae tua praeda tot res sanctissimas ducere? tibi nulla lex fuit, nulla religio, nullus existimationis pudor, nullus iudici metus? nullius apud te gravis auctoritas, nullum exemplum quod sequi velles?

[¶5] 41. But, I was going to say, when these five judges had been appointed, by no law, according to no use, with none of the proper ceremonies, with no drawing of lots, according to his mere will, not to examine into the cause, but to give whatever decision they were commanded, on that day nothing more was done; the parties are ordered to appear on the day following. In the meantime Heraclius, as he sees that it is all a plot laid by the praetor against his fortune, resolves, by the advice of his friends and relations, not to appear before the court. Accordingly he flies from Syracuse that night. Verres the next day, early in the morning,—for he had got up much earlier than he ever did before,—orders the judges to be summoned. When he finds that Heraclius does not appear, he begins to insist on their condemning Heraclius in his absence. They expostulate with him, and beg him, if he pleases, to adhere to the rule he had himself laid down, and not to compel them to decide against the absent party in favour of the party who was present, before the tenth hour. He agrees.

> Latin: 41. , ut institui dicere, quinque iudicibus nulla lege, nullo instituto, nulla reiectione, nulla sorte ex libidine istius datis, non qui causam cognoscerent, sed qui quod imperatum esset iudicarent, eo die nihil actum est; adesse iubentur postridie. Heraclius interea, cum omnis insidias fortunis suis a praetore fieri videret, capit consilium de amicorum et propinquorum sententia non adesse ad iudicium; itaque illa nocte Syracusis profugit. postridie mane, cum multo maturius quam umquam antea surrexisset, iudices citari iubet. Vbi comperit Heraclium non adesse, cogere incipit eos ut absentem Heraclium condemnent. eum commonefaciunt ut, si sibi videatur, utatur instituto suo nec cogat ante horam decimam de absente secundum praesentem iudicare: impetrant.

[¶6] 42. In the meantime both Verres himself began to be uneasy, and his friends and counselors began also to be a good deal vexed at Heraclius' having fled. They thought that the condemnation of an absent man, especially in a matter involving so large a sum of money, would be a far more odious measure than if he had appeared in court, and had there been condemned. To this consideration was added the fact, that because the judges had not been appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Rupilian law, they saw that the affair would appear much more base and more iniquitous. And so, while he endeavours to correct this error, his covetousness and dishonesty are made more evident. For he declares that he will not use those five judges; he orders (as ought to have been done at first, according to the Rupilian law) Heraclius to be summoned, and those who had brought the action against him; he says that he is going to appoint the judges by lot, according to the Rupilian law. That which Heraclius the day before could not obtain from him, though he begged and entreated it of him with many tears, occurred to him the next day of his own accord, and he recollected that he ought to appoint judges according to the Rupilian law. He draws the names of three out of the urn: he commands them to condemn Heraclius in his absence. So they condemn him.

> Latin: 42. sane perturbatus et ipse et eius amici et consiliarii moleste ferre coeperunt Heraclium profugisse; putabant absentis damnationem, praesertim tantae pecuniae, multo invidiosiorem fore quam si praesens damnatus esset. accedebat quod iudices e lege Rupilia dati non erant; multo etiam rem turpiorem fore et iniquiorem visum iri intellegebant. hoc dum corrigere vult, apertior eius cupiditas improbitasque facta est. illis quinque iudicibus uti se negat; iubet, id quod initio lege Rupilia fieri oportuerat, citari Heraclium et eos qui dicam scripserant; ait se iudices ex lege velle sortiri. ab eo pridie, cum multis lacrimis cum oraret atque obsecraret, Heraclius impetrare non potuerat, id ei postridie venit in mentem, ex lege Rupilia sortiri dicas oportere. ex urna tris; his ut absentem Heraclium condemnent imperat; itaque condemnant.

[¶7] 43. What was the meaning of that madness? Did you think that you would never have to give an account of your actions? Did you think that such men as these would never hear of these transactions? Is such an inheritance to be claimed without the slightest grounds for such a claim, in order to become the plunder of the praetor? is the name of the city to be introduced? is the base character of a false accuser to be fixed upon an honourable state? And not this only, but is the whole business to be conducted in such a matter that there is to be not even the least appearance of justice kept up? For, in the name of the immortal gods, what difference does it make whether the praetor commands and by force compels any one to abandon all his property, or passed a sentence by which, without any trial, he must lose all his fortune?

> Latin: 43. , malum, ista fuit amentia! Ecquando te rationem factorum tuorum redditurum putasti? ecquando his de rebus talis viros audituros existimasti? hereditas ea, quae nulla debetur, in praedam praetoris? interponatur nomen civitatis? imponatur honestae civitati turpissima persona calumniae? neque hoc solum, sed ita res agatur ut ne simulatio quidem aequitatis ulla adhibeatur?, per deos immortalis, quid interest utrum praetor imperet vique cogat aliquem de suis bonis omnibus decedere, an huiusce modi iudicium det, quo iudicio indicta causa fortunis omnibus everti necesse sit?

[¶8] 44. In truth you cannot deny that you ought to have appointed judges according to the provisions of the Rupilian law, especially when Heraclius demanded it. If you say that you departed from the law with the consent of Heraclius, you will entangle yourself, you will be hampered by the statement you make in your own defence. For if that was the case, why, in the first place, did he refuse to appear, when he might have had the judges chosen from the proper body which he demanded? Secondly, why, after his flight, did you appoint other judges by drawing lots, if you had appointed those who had been before appointed, with the consent of each party? Thirdly, Marcus Postumius, the quaestor, appointed as the other judges in the market-place; you appointed the judges in this case alone.

> Latin: 44. enim negare non potes te ex lege Rupilia sortiri iudices debuisse, cum praesertim Heraclius id postularet. illud dicis, te Heraclii voluntate ab lege recessisse, ipse te impedies, ipse tua defensione implicabere; quare enim primum ille adesse noluit, cum ex eo numero iudices haberet quos postularat? deinde tu cur post illius fugam iudices alios sortitus es, si eos qui erant antea dati utriusque dederas voluntate? ceteras dicas omnis illo foro M. Postumius quaestor sortitus est: hanc solam tu illo conventu reperiere sortitus.

[¶9] 45. However, by these means, some one will say, he gave that inheritance to the Syracusan people. In the first place, even if I were disposed to grant that, still you must condemn him; for it is not permitted to us with impunity to rob one man for the purpose of giving to another. But you will find that he despoiled that inheritance himself without making much secret of his proceedings; that the Syracusan people, indeed, had a great deal of the odium, a great deal of the infamy, but that another had the profit; that a few Syracusans, those who now say that they have come in obedience to the public command of their city, to bear testimony in his favour, were then sharers in the plunder, and are come hither now, not for the purpose of speaking in his favour, but to assist in the valuation of the damages which they claim from him. After he was condemned in his absence, possession is given to the palaestra of the Syracusans,—that is, to the Syracusan people,—not only of that inheritance which was in question, and which was of the value of three millions of sesterces, but also of all Heraclius's own paternal property, which was of equal amount.

> Latin: 45. , inquiet aliquis, donavit populo Syracusano illam hereditatem., si id confiteri velim, tamen istum condemnetis necesse est; neque enim permissum est ut impune nobis liceat, quod alicui eripuerimus, id alteri tradere. ex ista reperietis hereditate ita istum praedatum ut perpauca occulte fecerit; populum Syracusanum in maximam invidiam sua infamia, alieno praemio pervenisse, paucos Syracusanos,—eos qui nunc se publice laudationis causa venisse dicunt,—et tunc participes praedae fuisse et nunc non ad istius laudationem, sed ad communem litium aestimationem venisse. damnatus est absens, non solum illius hereditatis de qua ambigebatur, quae erat HS triciens, sed omnium bonorum paternorum ipsius Heraclii, quae non minor erat pecunia, palaestrae Syracusanorum, hoc est Syracusanis, possessio traditur.

[¶10] 46. What sort of a partnership in that of yours? You take away a man's inheritance, which had come to him from a relation, had come by will, had come in accordance with the laws; all which property, he, who made the will, had made over to this Heraclius to have and to use as he would, some time before he died,—of which inheritance, as he had died some time before you became praetor, there had been no dispute, nor had any one made any mention of it. However, be it so; take away inheritances from relations, give them to people at the palaestra; plunder other people's property in the name of the state; overturn laws, wills, the wishes of the dead, the rights of the living: had you any right to deprive Heraclius of his paternal property also? And yet as soon as he fled, how shamelessly, how undisguisedly, how cruelly, O ye immortal gods, was his property seized! How disastrous did that business seem to Heraclius, how profitable to Verres, how disgraceful to the Syracusans, how miserable to everybody! For the first measures which are taken are to carry whatever chased plate there was among that property to Verres: as for all Corinthian vessels, all embroidered robes, no one doubted that they would be taken and seized, and carried inevitably to his house, not only out of that house, but out of every house in the whole province. He took away whatever slaves he pleased, others he distributed to his friends: an auction was held, in which his invincible train was supreme everywhere.

> Latin: 46. est ista praetura? hereditatem quae venerat a propinquo, venerat testamento, venerat legibus; quae bona is qui testamentum fecerat huic Heraclio, aliquanto ante quam est mortuus, omnia utenda ac possidenda tradiderat, cuius hereditatis, cum ille aliquanto ante te praetorem esset mortuus, controversia fuerat nulla, mentionem fecerat nemo. esto. hereditatem propinquis, da palaestritis, praedare in bonis alienis nomine civitatis, everte leges, testamenta, voluntates mortuorum, iura vivorum: num etiam patriis Heraclium bonis exturbare oportuit? simul ac profugit, quam impudenter, quam palam, quam acerbe, di immortales, illa bona direpta sunt! quam illa res calamitosa Heraclio, quaestuosa Verri, turpis Syracusanis, miseranda omnibus videbatur! illud quidem statim curatur, ut quicquid caelati argenti fuit in illis bonis ad istum deferatur, quicquid Corinthiorum vasorum, stragulae vestis: haec nemo dubitabat quin non modo ex illa domo capta et oppressa, verum ex tota provincia ad istum comportari necesse esset. quae voluit abduxit, alia divisit; auctio facta est, in qua cohors istius invicta dominata est.

[¶11] 47. But this is remarkable. The Syracusans who presided over what was called the collection of this property of Heraclius, but what was in reality the division of it, gave in to the senate their accounts of the whole business; they said that many pairs of goblets many silver water-ewers, much valuable embroidered cloth, and many valuable slaves, had been presented to Verres; they stated how much money had been given to each person by his order. The Syracusans groaned, but still they bore it. Suddenly this item is read,—that two hundred and fifty thousand sesterces were given to one person by command of the praetor. A great outcry arises from every one, not only from every virtuous man, nor from those to whom it had always seemed scandalous that the goods of a private individual should be taken from him, by the greatest injustice, under the name of being claimed by the people, but even the very chief instigators of the wrong; and in some degree the partner in the rapine and plunder, began to cry out that the man ought to have his inheritance for himself. So great an uproar arise in the senate-house, that the people ran to see what had happened.

> Latin: 47. illud est praeclarum. Syracusani qui praefuerant his Heraclii bonis verbo redigendis, re dispertiendis, reddebant eorum negotiorum rationem in senatu; dicebant scyphorum paria complura, hydrias argenteas pretiosas, vestem stragulam multam, mancipia pretiosa data esse Verri; dicebant quantum cuique eius iussu nummorum esset datum. Syracusani, sed tamen patiebantur. recitatur uno nomine HS ccc iussu praetoris data esse. maximus clamor omnium, non modo optimi cuiusque neque eorum quibus indignum semper visum erat bona privati populi nomine per summam iniuriam erepta, verum etiam ipsi illi auctores iniuriae et ex aliqua particula socii praedae ac rapinarum clamare coeperunt sibi ut haberet hereditatem. in curia clamor factus est ut populus concurreret.

[¶12] 48. The matter being known to the whole assembly, is soon reported at Verres's house. The man was in a rage with those who had read out the accounts,—an enemy to all who had raised the outcry; he was in fury with rage and passion. But he was at that moment unlike himself. You know the appearance of the man, you know his audacity; yet at that moment he was much disquieted by the reports circulated among the people, by their outcry, and by the impossibility of concealing the robbery of so large a sum of money. When he came to himself, he summoned the Syracusans to him, because he could not deny that money had been given him by them; he did not go to a distance to look for some one, (in which case he would not have been able to prove it,) but he took one of his nearest relations, a sort of second son, and accused him of having stolen the money. He declared that he would make him refund it; and he, after he heard that, had a proper regard for his dignity, for his age, and for his noble birth. He addressed the senate on the subject; he declared to them that he had nothing to do with the business Of Verres he said what all saw to be true, and he said it plainly enough. Therefore, the Syracusans afterwards erected him a statue; and he himself, as soon as he could, left Verres, and departed from the province.

> Latin: 48. ab omni conventu cognita celeriter isti domum nuntiatur. inimicus iis qui recitassent, hostis omnibus qui acclamassent, exarsit iracundia ac stomacho; verum tamen fuit tum sui dissimilis. Nostis os hominis, nostis audaciam; tamen tum rumore populi et clamore et manifesto furto grandis pecuniae perturbatus est. Vbi se collegit, vocat ad se Syracusanos; qui non posset negare ab illis pecuniam datam, non quaesivit procul alicunde, (neque enim probaret), sed proximum, paene alterum filium, quem illam pecuniam diceret abstulisse; ostendit se reddere coacturum. posteaquam id audivit, habuit et dignitatis et aetatis et nobilitatis suae rationem; verba apud senatum fecit, docuit ad se nihil pertinere; de isto, id quod omnes videbant, ne ille quidem obscure locutus est. illi Syracusani statuam postea statuerunt, et is, ut primum potuit, istum reliquit de provinciaque decessit.

[¶13] 49. And yet they say that this man complains sometimes of his misery in being weighed down, not by his own offences and crimes, but by those of his friends. You had the province for three years; your son-in-law elect, a young man, was with you one year. Your companions, gallant men, who were your lieutenants, left you the first year. One lieutenant, Publius Tadius, who remained, was not much with you; but if he had been always with you, he would with the greatest care have spared your reputation, and still more would he have spared his own. What presence have you for accusing others? What reason have you for thinking that you can, I will not say, shift the blame of your actions on another, but that you can divide it with another?

> Latin: 49. tamen aiunt eum queri solere non numquam se miserum quod non suis, sed suorum peccatis et criminibus prematur. provinciam obtinuisti; gener, lectus adulescens, unum annum tecum fuit; sodales, viri fortes, legati tui primo anno te reliquerunt; unus legatus P. Tadius qui erat reliquus non ita tecum multum fuit; qui si semper una fuisset, tamen summa cura cum tuae, tum multo etiam magis suae famae pepercisset. est quod tu alios accuses? quid est quam ob rem putes te tuam culpam non modo derivare in aliquem, sed communicare cum altero posse?

[¶14] 50. That two hundred and fifty thousand sesterces are refunded to the Syracusans, and how they afterwards returned to him by the backdoor, I will make evident to you, O judges, by documents and by witnesses. And akin to this iniquity and rascality of that fellow, by which plunder, consisting of a part of that property, came to many of the Syracusans against the will of the people and senate of Syracuse, are those crimes which were committed by the instrumentality of Theomnastus, and Aeschrio, and Dionysodorus, and Cleomenes, utterly against the wish of the city; first of all in plundering the whole city, of which matter I have arranged to speak in another part of my accusation, so that, by the assistance of those men whom I have named, he carried off all the statues, all the works in ivory out of the sacred temples, all the paintings from every place, and even whatever images of the gods he fancied; secondly, that in the senate-house of the Syracusans, which they call bouleuth/rion, a most honourable place, and of the highest reputation in the eyes of the citizens, where there is a brazen statue of Marcus Marcellus himself, (who preserved and restored that place to the Syracusans, though by the laws of war and victory he might have taken it away,) those men erected a gilt statue to him and another to his son; in order that, as long as the recollection of that man remained, the Syracusan senate might never be in the senate-house without lamentation and groaning.

> Latin: 50. illa HS ccc Syracusanis. quem ad modum ad istum postea per pseudothyrum revertantur, tabulis vobis testibusque, iudices, planum faciam. hac iniquitate istius et improbitate, iudices, quod praeda ex illis bonis ad multos Syracusanos invito populo senatuque Syracusano venerat, et illa scelera quae per Theomnastum et Aeschrionem et Dionysodorum et Cleomenem invitissima civitate illa facta sunt: primum ut urbs tota spoliaretur, qua de re alius mihi locus ad dicendum est constitutus; ut omnia signa iste per eos homines quos nominavi, omne ebur ex aedibus sacris, omnis undique tabulas pictas, deorum denique simulacra quae vellet auferret; deinde ut in curia Syracusis, quem locum illi βουλευτήριον nomine appellant, honestissimo loco et apud illos clarissimo, ubi illius ipsius M. Marcelli,—qui eum Syracusanis locum, quem eripere belli ac victoriae lege posset, conservavit et reddidit,—statua [ex aere facta ] est, ibi inauratam istius et alteram filio statuam ponerent, ut dum istius hominis memoria maneret senatus Syracusanus sine lacrimis et gemitu in curia esse non posset.

[¶15] 51. By means of the same partners in his injuries, and thefts, and bribes, during his command the festival of Marcellus at Syracuse is abolished, to the great grief of the city;—a festival which they both gladly paid as due to the recent services done them by Caius Marcellus, and also most gladly gave to the family and name and race of the Marcelli. Mithridates in Asia, when he had occupied the whole of that province, did not abolish the festival of Mucius. An enemy, and he too an enemy in other respects, only too savage and barbarous, still would not violate the honour of a name which had been consecrated by holy ceremonies. You forbade the Syracusans to grant one day of festival to the Marcelli, to whom they owed the being able to celebrate other days of festival.

> Latin: 51. eosdem istius furtorum iniuriarum uxorumque socios istius imperio Syracusis Marcellia tolluntur maximo gemitu luctuque civitatis, quem illi diem festum cum recentibus beneficiis C. Marcelli debitum reddebant, tum generi nomini familiae Marcellorum maxima voluntate tribuebant. Mithridates in Asia, cum eam provinciam totam occupasset, Mucia non sustulit. Hostis, et hostis in ceteris rebus nimis ferus et immanis, tamen honorem hominis deorum religione consecratum violare noluit: tu Syracusanos unum diem festum Marcellis impertire noluisti, per quos illi adepti sunt ut ceteros dies festos agitare possent?

[¶16] 52. Oh, but you gave them a splendid day instead of it; you allowed them to celebrate a festival in honour of Verres, and issued contracts for providing all that would be necessary for sacrifices and banquets on that day for many years. But in such an enormous superfluity of impudence as that man's, it seems better to pass over some things, that we may not appear to strain every point,—that we may not appear to have no feelings but those of indignation. For time, voice, lungs, would fail me, if I wished now to cry out how miserable and scandalous it is, that there should be a festive day in his name among those people, who think themselves utterly ruined by that man's conduct. O splendid Verrine festival! whither have you gone that you have not brought the people cause to remember that day? In truth, what house, what city, what temple even have you ever approached without leaving it emptied and ruined. Let the festival, then, be fitly called Verrine, and appear to be established, not from recollection of your name, but of your covetousness and your natural disposition.

> Latin: 52. vero praeclarum diem illis reposuisti Verria ut agerent, et ut ad eum diem quae sacris epulisque opus essent in compluris annos locarentur! in tanta istius impudentia remittendum aliquid videtur, ne omnia contendamus, ne omnia cum dolore agere videamur. me dies vox latera deficiant, si hoc nunc vociferari velim, quam miserum indignumque sit istius nomine apud eos diem festum esse qui se istius opera funditus exstinctos esse arbitrentur. O Verria praeclara! quo accessisti, quaeso, quo non attuleris tecum istum diem? quam tu domum, quam urbem adisti, quod fanum denique, quod non eversum atque extersum reliqueris? appellentur sane ista Verria, quae non ex nomine sed ex manibus naturaque tua constituta esse videantur.

[¶17] 53. See, O judges, how easily injustice, and the habit of doing wrong creeps on; see how difficult it is to check. There is a town called Bidis, an insignificant one indeed, not far from Syracuse. By far the first man of that city is a man of the name of Epicrates. An inheritance of five hundred thousand sesterces had come to him from some woman who was a relation of his, and so near a relation, that even if she had died intestate, Epicrates must have been her heir according to the laws of Bidis. The transaction at Syracuse which I have just mentioned was fresh in men's memories,—the affair I mean of Heraclius the Syracusan, who would not have lost his property if an inheritance had not come to him. To this Epicrates too an inheritance had come, as I have said.

> Latin: 53. facile serpat iniuria et peccandi consuetudo, quam non facile reprimatur, videte, iudices. Bidis oppidum est tenue sane, non longe a Syracusis. longe primus civitatis est Epicrates quidam. hereditas HS quingentorum milium venerat a muliere quadam propinqua, atque ita propinqua ut, ea etiamsi intestata esset mortua, Epicratem Bidinorum legibus heredem esse oporteret. erat illa res quam ante demonstravi, de Heraclio Syracusano, qui bona non perdidisset nisi ei venisset hereditas. quoque Epicrati venerat, ut dixi, hereditas.

[¶18] 54. His enemies began to consider that he too might be easily turned out of his property by the same praetor as Heraclius had been stripped of his by; they plan the affair secretly; they suggest it to Verres by his emissaries. The cause is arranged, so that the people belonging to the palaestra at Bidis are to claim his inheritance from Epicrates, just as the men of the Syracusan palaestra had claimed his from Heraclius. You never saw a praetor so devoted to the interests of the palaestra. But he defended the men of the palaestra in such a way that he himself came off with his wheels all the better greased. In this instance Verres, as soon as he foresaw what would happen, ordered eighty thousand sesterces to be paid to one of his friends.

> Latin: 54. coeperunt eius inimici nihilo minus eodem praetore hunc everti bonis posse quo Heraclius esset eversus. occulte instituunt; ad Verrem per eius interpretes deferunt. causa componitur ut item palaestritae Bidini peterent ab Epicrate hereditatem, quem ad modum palaestritae Syracusani ab Heraclio petivissent. 1 vos praetorem tam palaestricum vidistis; verum ita palaestritas defendebat ut ab illis ipse unctior abiret. statim, quo quid praesens esset, iubet cuidam amicorum suorum numerari HS lxxx.

[¶19] 55. The matter could not be kept entirely secret. Epicrates is informed of it by one of those who were concerned in it. At first he began to disregard and despise it, because the claim made against him had actually nothing in it about which a doubt could be raised. Afterwards when he thought of Heraclius, and recollected the licentiousness of Verres, he thought it better to depart secretly from the province. He did so; he went to Rhegium. And when this was known, they began to fret who had paid the money. They thought that nothing could be done in the absence of Epicrates. For Heraclius indeed had been present when the judges were appointed; but in the case of this man, who had departed before any steps had been taken in the action, before indeed there had been any open mention made of the dispute, they thought that nothing could be done. The men go to Rhegium; they go to Epicrates; they point out to him, what indeed he knew, that they had paid eighty thousand sesterces; they beg him to make up to them the money they themselves were out of pocket; they tell him he may take any security from them that he likes, that none of them will go to law with Epicrates about that inheritance.

> Latin: 55. occultari satis non potuit; per quendam eorum qui interfuerant fit Epicrates certior. contemnere et neglegere coepit, quod causa prorsus quod disputari posset nihil habebat. cum de Heraclio cogitaret et istius libidinem nosset, commodissimum putavit esse de provincia clam abire; itaque fecit; profectus est Regium. ubi auditum est, aestuare illi qui pecuniam dederant, putare nihil agi posse absente Epicrate; nam Heraclius tamen adfuerat, cum primo sunt dati iudices; de hoc qui, antequam aditum in ius esset, antequam mentio denique controversiae facta esset ulla, discessisset, putabant nihil agi posse. Regium proficiscuntur; Epicratem conveniunt; demonstrant, id quod ille sciebat, se HS lxxx dedisse; rogant eum ut sibi id quod ab ipsis abisset pecuniae curet, ab sese caveat quem ad modum velit, de illa hereditate cum Epicrate neminem esse acturum.

[¶20] 56. Epicrates reproaches the men at great length and with great severity, and dismisses them. They return from Rhegium to Syracuse; they complain to many people, as men in such a case are apt to do, that they have paid eighty thousand sesterces for nothing. The affair got abroad; it began to be the topic of every one's conversation. Verres repeats his old Syracusan trick. He says he wants to examine into that affair of the eighty thousand sesterces. He summons many people before him. The men of Bidis say that they gave it to Volcatius; they do not add that they had done so by his command. He summons Volcatius; he orders the money to be refunded. Volcatius with great equanimity brings the money, like a man who was sure to lose nothing by it; he returns it to them in the sight of many people; the men of Bidis carry the money away.

> Latin: 56. Epicrates homines multis verbis ab se male acceptos dimittit; redeunt illi Regio Syracusas, queri cum multis, ut fit, incipiunt se HS lxxx nummum frustra dedisse. percrebruit et in ore atque sermone omnium coepit esse. Verres refert illam suam Syracusanam; ait se velle de illis HS lxxx cognoscere; advocat multos. Bidini Volcatio se dedisse; illud non addunt, “iussu istius.” Volcatium vocat, pecuniam referri imperat. Volcatius animo aequissimo nummos adfert, qui nihil amitteret, reddit inspectantibus multis: Bidini nummos auferunt.

[¶21] 57. Some one will say, “What fault then do you find with Verres in this, who not only is not a thief himself, but who did not even allow any one else to be one?” Listen a moment. Now you shall see that this money which was just now seen to leave his house by the main road returned back again by a by-path. What came next? Ought not the praetor, having inquired into the case with the bench of judges, when he had found out that a companion of his own, with the object of corruptly swaying the law, the sentence, and the bench, (a matter in which the reputation of the praetor and even his condition as a free citizen were at stake,) had received money, and that the men of Bidis had given it, doing injury to the fair fame and fortune of the praetor,—ought he not, I say, to have punished both him who had taken the money, and those who had given it? You who had determined to punish those who had given an erroneous decision, which is often done out of ignorance, do you permit men to escape with impunity who thought that money might be received or be paid for the purpose of influencing your decree, your judicial decision? And yet that same Volcatius remained with you, although he was a Roman knight, after he had such disgrace put upon him.

> Latin: 57. aliquis, “ergo in hoc Verrem reprehendis, qui non modo ipse fur non est, sed ne alium quidem passus est esse?”; iam intellegetis hanc pecuniam, quae via modo visa est exire ab isto, eodem semita revertisse. enim debuit praetor facere, cum consilio re cognita cum comperisset suum comitem iuris decreti iudici corrumpendi causa,—qua in re ipsius praetoris caput existimatioque ageretur, —pecuniam accepisse, Bidinos autem pecuniam contra praetoris famam ac fortunas dedisse? non et in eum qui accepisset animadvertisset et in eos qui dedissent?, qui institueras in eos animadvertere qui perperam iudicassent, —quod saepe per imprudentiam fit,—hos pateris impune discedere qui ob tuum decretum, ob tuum iudicium pecuniam aut dandam aut accipiendam putarant?

[¶22] 58. For what is more disgraceful for a well-born man—what more unworthy of a free man, than to be compelled by the magistrate before a numerous assembly to restore what has been stolen; and if he had been of the disposition of which not only a Roman knight, but every free man ought to be, he would not have been able after that to look you in the face. He would have been a foe, an enemy, after he had been subjected to such an insult; unless, indeed, it had been done through collusion with you, and he had been serving your reputation rather than his own. And how great a friend he not only was to you then as long as he was with you in the province, but how great a friend he is even now, when you have long since been deserted by all the rest, you know yourself, and we can conceive. But is this the only argument that nothing was done without his knowledge, that Volcatius was not offended with him? that he punished neither Volcatius nor the men of Bidis?

> Latin: 58. Volcatius idem apud te postea fuit, eques Romanus, tanta accepta ignominia; nam quid est turpius ingenuo, quid minus libero dignum quam in conventu maximo cogi a magistratu furtum reddere? qui si eo animo esset quo non modo eques Romanus, sed quivis liber debet esse, aspicere te postea non potuisset; inimicus, hostis esset tanta contumelia accepta, nisi tecum tum conlusisset et tuae potius existimationi servisset quam suae. quam tibi amicus non modo tum fuerit quam diu tecum in provincia fuit, verum etiam nunc sit cum iam a ceteris amicis relictus es, et tu intellegis et nos existimare possumus. hoc solum argumentum est nihil isto imprudente factum, quod Volcatius ei non succensuit? quod iste neque in Volcatium neque in Bidinos animadvertit?

[¶23] 59. It is a great proof, but this is the greatest proof of all, that to those very men of Bidis, with whom he ought to have been angry, as being the men by whom he found out that his decree had been attempted to be influenced by bribes, because they could do nothing against Epicrates according to law, even if he were present,—to these very men, I say, he not only gave that inheritance which had come to Epicrates, but, as in the case of Heraclius of Syracuse, so too in this case, (which was even rather more atrocious than the other, because Epicrates had actually never had any action brought against him at all,) he gave them all his paternal property and fortune. For he showed that if any one made a demand of any thing from an absent person, he would hear the cause, though without any precedent for so doing. The men of Bidis appear—they claim the inheritance. The agents of Epicrates demand that he would either refer them to their own laws, or else appoint judges, in accordance with the provisions of the Rupilian law. The adversaries did not dare to say anything against this; no escape from it could be devised. They accuse the man of having fled for the purpose of cheating them. They demand to be allowed to take possession of his property.

> Latin: 59. magnum argumentum, verum illud maximum, quod illis ipsis Bidinis, quibus iste iratus esse debuit, a quibus comperit, quod iure agere cum Epicrate nihil possent, etiamsi adesset, idcirco suum decretum pecunia esse temptatum: iis, inquam, ipsis non modo illam hereditatem quae Epicrati venerat, sed, ut in Heraclio Syracusano, item in hoc,—paulo etiam atrocius, quod Epicrates appellatus omnino non erat,—bona patria fortunasque eius Bidinis tradidit. enim novo modo, si quis quid de absente peteret, se auditurum. Bidini, petunt hereditatem; procuratores postulant ut se ad leges suas reiciat aut ex lege Rupilia dicam scribi iubeat. non audebant contra dicere: exitus nullus reperiebatur. hominem fraudandi causa discessisse; postulant ut bona possidere iubeat.

[¶24] 60. Epicrates did not owe a farthing to any one. His friends said that, if any one claimed anything from him, they would stand the trial themselves, and that they would give security to satisfy the judgment. When the whole business was getting cool, by Verres's instigation they began to accuse Epicrates of having tampered with the public documents; a suspicion from which he was far removed. They demand a trial on that charge. His friends began to object that no new proceeding, that no trial affecting his rank and reputation, ought to be instituted while he was absent; and at the same time they did not cease to reiterate their demands that Verres should refer them to their own laws.

> Latin: 60. Epicrates nummum nullum nemini; amici, si quis quid peteret, iudicio se passuros, iudicatum solvi satis daturos esse dicebant. omnia consilia frigerent, admonitu istius insimulare coeperunt Epicratem litteras publicas corrupisse, a qua suspicione ille aberat plurimum: actionem eius rei postulant. recusare ne quod iudicium neve ipsius cognitio illo absente de existimatione eius constitueretur, et simul illud idem postulare non desistebant ut se ad leges suas reiceret.

[¶25] 61. He, having now got ample room for false accusation, when he sees that there is any point on which his friends refused to appear for Epicrates in his absence, declares that he will appoint a trial on that charge before any other. When all saw plainly that not only that money which had (to make a presence) been sent from his house, had returned back to it, but that he had afterwards received much more money, the friends of Epicrates ceased to argue in his defence. Verres ordered the men of Bidis to take possession of all his property, and to keep it for themselves. Besides the five hundred thousand sesterces which the inheritance amounted to, his own previous fortune amounted to fifteen hundred thousand. Was the affair planned out in this way from the beginning? Was it completed in this way? Is it a very trifling sum of money? Is Verres such a man as to be likely to have done all this which I have related for nothing?

> Latin: 61. amplam nactus, ubi videt esse aliquid quod amici absente Epicrate nollent defendere, adseverat se eius rei in primis actionem1 daturum. omnes perspicerent ad istum non modo illos nummos qui per simulationem ab isto exierant revertisse, sed multo etiam pluris eum postea nummos abstulisse, amici Epicratem defendere destiterunt, iste Epicratis bona Bidinos omnia possidere et sibi habere iussit. illa HS d hereditaria accessit ipsius antiqua HS quindeciens pecunia. Vtrum res ab initio ita ducta est an ad extremum ita perducta, an ita parva est pecunia, an is homo Verres ut haec quae dixi gratiis facta esse videantur?

[¶26] 62. Now, O judges, hear a little about the misery of the Sicilians. Both Heraclius the Syracusan, and Epicrates of Bidis, being stripped of all their property, came to Rome. They lived at Rome nearly two years in mourning attire, with unshaven beard and hair. When Lucius Metellus went to the province, then they also go back with Metellus, bearing with them letters of high recommendation. As soon as Metellus came to Syracuse he rescinded both the sentences—the sentence in the case of Epicrates, and that against Heraclius. In the property of both of them there was nothing which could be restored, except what was not able to be moved from its place.

> Latin: 62. nunc de miseria Siculorum, iudices, audite. Heraclius ille Syracusanus et hic Bidinus Epicrates expulsi bonis omnibus Romam venerunt; sordidati, maxima barba et capillo, Romae biennium prope fuerunt. L. Metellus in provinciam profectus est, tum isti bene commendati cum Metello una proficiscuntur. Metellus, simul ac venit Syracusas, utrumque rescidit, et de Epicrate et de Heraclio. utriusque bonis nihil erat quod restitui posset, nisi si quid moveri loco non potuerat.

[¶27] 63. Metellus had acted admirably on his first arrival, in rescinding and making of no effect all the unjust acts of that man which he could rescind. He had ordered Heraclius to be restored to his property; he was not restored. Every Syracusan senator who was accused by Heraclius he ordered to be imprisoned. And on this ground many were imprisoned. Epicrates was restored at once. Other sentences which had been pronounced at Lilybaeum, at Agrigentum, and at Panormus, were reviewed and reformed. Metellus showed that he did not mean to attend to the returns which had been made while Verres was praetor. The tithes which he had sold in a manner contrary to the Lex Hieronica, he said that he would sell according to that law. All the actions of Metellus went to the same point, so that he seemed to be remodeling the whole of Verres's praetorship. As soon as I arrived in Sicily, he changed his conduct.

> Latin: 63. hoc egregie primo adventu Metellus, ut omnis istius iniurias, quas modo posset, rescinderet et inritas faceret. Heraclium restitui iusserat ac non restituebatur, quisquis erat eductus senator Syracusanus ab Heraclio, duci iubebat; itaque permulti ducti sunt. Epicrates quidem continuo est restitutus. Alia iudicia Lilybaei, alia Agrigenti, alia Panhormi restituta sunt. qui isto praetore sunt habiti non servaturum se Metellus ostenderat; decumas quas iste contra legem Hieronicam vendiderat sese venditurum Hieronica lege edixerat. erant Metelli eius modi ut non tam suam praeturam gerere quam istius praeturam retexere videretur. atque ego in Siciliam veni, mutatus est.

[¶28] 64. A man of the name of Letilius had come to him two days before, a man not unversed in literature, so he constantly used him as his secretary. He had brought him many letters, and, among them, one from home which had changed the whole man. On a sudden he began to say that he wished to do everything to please Verres; that he was connected with him by the ties of both friendship and relationship. All men wondered that this should now at last have occurred to him, after he had injured him by so many actions and so many decisions. Some thought that Letilius had come as an ambassador from Verres, to put him in mind of their mutual interests, their friendship, and their relationship. From that time he began to solicit the cities for testimony in favour of Verres, and not only to try to deter the witnesses against him by threats, but even to detain them by force. And if I had not by my arrival checked his endeavours in some degree, and striven among the Sicilians, by the help of Glabrio's letters and of the law, I should not have been able to bring so many witnesses into this court.

> Latin: 64. ad eum illo biduo Laetilius quidam, homo non alienus a litteris; itaque eo iste tabellario semper usus est. epistulas compluris attulerat, in his unam domo quae totum mutarat hominem. coepit dicere se omnia Verris causa velle; sibi cum eo amicitiam cognationemque esse. omnes hoc ei tum denique in mentem venisse, posteaquam tam multis eum factis decretisque iugulasset. qui putarent Laetilium legatum a Verre venisse, qui gratiam amicitiam cognationemque commemoraret. illo tempore a civitatibus laudationes petere, testis non solum deterrere verbis, sed etiam vi retinere coepit. nisi ego meo adventu illius conatus aliquantum repressissem, et apud Siculos non Metelli, sed Glabrionis litteris ac lege pugnassem, tam multos [testis ] huc evocare non potuissem.

[¶29] 65. But, as I began to say, remark the miseries of the Sicilians. Heraclius, whom I have mentioned, and Epicrates came forward a great distance to meet me, with all their friends. When I came to Syracuse, they thanked me with tears; they wished to leave Syracuse, and go to Rome in my company: because I had many other towns left which I wanted to go to, I arranged with the men on what day they were to meet me at Messana. They sent a messenger to me there, that they were detained by the praetor. And though I summoned them formally to attend and give evidence,—though I gave in their names to Metellus,—though they were very eager to come, having been treated with the most enormous injustice, they have not arrived yet. These are the rights which the allies enjoy now, not to be allowed even to complain of their distresses.

> Latin: 65. , quod institui dicere, miserias cognoscite sociorum. Heraclius ille et Epicrates longe mihi obviam cum suis omnibus processerunt, venienti Syracusas egerunt gratias flentes, Romam mecum decedere cupiverunt. erant oppida mihi complura etiam reliqua quae adire vellem, constitui cum hominibus quo die mihi Messanae praesto essent. mihi nuntium miserunt se a praetore retineri. ego testimonium denuntiavi, quorum edidi nomina Metello, cupidissimi veniendi, maximis iniuriis adfecti, adhuc non venerunt. iure sunt socii ut iis ne deplorare quidem de suis incommodis liceat.

[¶30] 66. You have already heard the evidence of Heraclius of Centuripa, a most virtuous and noble young man, from whom a hundred thousand sesterces were claimed by a fraudulent and false accusation. Verres, by means of penalties and securities exacted, contrived to extort three hundred thousand; and the sentence which had been given in favour of Heraclius, in the affairs about which security had been given) he set aside, because a citizen of Centuripa had acted as judge between two of his fellow-citizens, and he said that he had given a false decision; he forbade him to appear in the senate, and deprived him by an interdict of all the privileges of citizens and of access to all public places. If any one struck him, he announced that he would take no cognisance of the injury; that if any claim were made on him, he would appoint a judge from his own retinue, but that he would not allow him an action on any ground whatever.

> Latin: 66. Heraclii Centuripini, optimi nobilissimique adulescentis, testimonium audistis; a quo HS c per calumniam malitiamque petita sunt. poenis compromissisque interpositis HS cccc extorquenda curavit, quodque iudicium secundum Heraclium de compromisso factum erat, cum civis Centuripinus inter duos civis diiudicasset, id inritum iussit esse eumque iudicem falsum iudicasse iudicavit; in senatu esse, locis commodisque publicis uti vetuit; si quis eum pulsasset, edixit sese iudicium iniuriarum non daturum; quicquid ab eo peteretur, iudicem de sua cohorte daturum, ipsi autem nullius actionem rei se daturum.

## 10. Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 67–99

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/10/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/10/#p-N

[¶0] 67. And his authority in the province had just this weight, that no one did strike him, though the praetor in his province gave every one leave by word, and in reality incited them to do so; nor did any one claim anything of him, though he had given licence to false accusation by his authority; yet that heavy mark of ignominy was attached to the man as long as Verres remained in the province. After this fear had been impressed on the judges, in a manner unexampled and wholly without precedent, do you suppose that any matter was decided in Sicily except according to his will and pleasure? Does this appear to have been the only effect of it, (which effect, however, it had,) to take his money from Heraclius? or was not this also the object, as the means by which the greatest plunder was to be got,—to bring, under presence of judicial decision, the property and fortune of every one into the power of that one man?

> Latin: 67. istius auctoritas tantum valuit ut neque illum pulsaret quisquam, cum praetor in provincia sua verbo permitteret, re hortaretur, neque quisquam ab eo quicquam peteret, cum iste calumniae licentiam sua auctoritate ostendisset; ignominia autem illa gravis tam diu in illo homine fuit, quam diu iste in provincia mansit. iniecto metu iudicibus novo more, nullo exemplo, ecquam rem putatis esse in Sicilia nisi ad nutum istius iudicatam? Vtrum id solum videtur esse actum, quod est tamen actum, ut haec Heraclio pecunia eriperetur, an etiam illud, in quo praeda erat maxima, ut nomine iudiciorum omnium bona atque fortunae in istius unius essent potestatem?

[¶1] 68. But why should I seek out every separate transaction and cause in the trials which took place on capital charges? Out of many, which are all nearly alike, I will select those which seem to go beyond all the others in rascality. There was a man of Halicya, named Sopater, among the first men of his state for riches and high character. He, having been accused by his enemies before Caius Sacerdos the praetor, on a capital charge, was easily acquitted. The same enemies again accused this same Sopater on the same charge before Caius Verres when he had come as successor to Sacerdos. The matter appeared trifling to Sopater, both because he was innocent, and because he thought that Verres would never dare to overturn the decision of Sacerdos. The defendant is cited to appear. The cause is heard at Syracuse. Those changes are brought forward by the accusers which had been already previously extinguished, not only by the defence, but also by the decision.

> Latin: 68. vero in rerum capitalium quaestionibus quid ego unam quamque rem colligam et causam? multis similibus ea sumam quae maxime improbitate excellere videbuntur. Sopater quidam fuit Halicyensis, homo domi suae cum primis locuples atque honestus; is ab inimicis suis apud C. Sacerdotem praetorem rei capitalis cum accusatus esset, facile eo iudicio est liberatus. eidem Sopatro idem inimici ad C. Verrem, cum is Sacerdoti successisset, eiusdem rei nomen detulerunt. Sopatro facilis videbatur, et quod erat innocens et quod Sacerdotis iudicium improbare istum ausurum non arbitrabatur. reus; causa agitur Syracusis; crimina tractantur ab accusatore ea quae erant antea non solum defensione, verum etiam iudicio dissoluta.

[¶2] 69. Quintus Minucius, a Roman knight, among the first for a high and honourable reputation, and not unknown to you, O judges, defended the cause of Sopater. There was nothing in the cause which seemed possible to be feared, or even to be doubted about at all. In the meantime that same Timarchides, that fellow's attendant and freedman, who is, as you have learnt by many witnesses at the former hearing, his agent and manager in all affairs of this sort, comes to Sopater, and advised him not to trust too much to the decision of Sacerdos and the justice of his cause; he tells him that his accusers and enemies have thoughts of giving money to the praetor, but that the praetor would rather take it to acquit; and at the same time, that he had rather, if it were possible, not rescind a decision of his predecessor. Sopater, as this happened to him quite suddenly and unexpectedly, was greatly perplexed, and had no answer ready to make to Timarchides, except that he would consider what he had best do in such a case; and at the same time he told him that he was in great difficulties respecting money matters. Afterwards he consulted with his friends; and as they advised him to purchase an acquittal, he came to Timarchides. Having explained his difficulties to him, he brings the man down to eighty thousand sesterces, and pays him that money.

> Latin: 69. Sopatri defendebat Q. Minucius, eques Romanus in primis splendidus atque honestus, vobisque, iudices, non ignotus. erat in causa quod metuendum aut omnino quod dubitandum videretur. istius libertus et accensus Timarchides, qui est, id quod ex plurimis testibus priore actione didicistis, rerum huiusce modi omnium transactor et administer, ad Sopatrum venit; monet hominem ne nimis iudicio Sacerdotis et causae suae confidat; accusatores inimicosque eius habere in animo pecuniam praetori dare; praetorem tamen ob salutem malle accipere, et simul malle, si fieri posset, rem iudicatam non rescindere. Sopater, cum hoc illi improvisum atque inopinatum accidisset, commotus est sane neque in praesentia Timarchidi quid responderet habuit, nisi se consideraturum quid sibi esset faciendum, et simul ostendit se in summa difficultate esse nummaria. ad amicos rettulit; qui cum ei fuissent auctores redimendae salutis, ad Timarchidem venit. suis difficultatibus hominem ad HS lxxx perducit, eamque ei pecuniam numerat.

[¶3] 70. When the cause came to be heard, all who were defending Sopater were without any fear or any anxiety. No crime had been committed; the matter had been decided; Verres had received the money. Who could doubt how it would turn out? The matter is not summed up that day; the court breaks up; Timarchides comes a second time to Sopater. He says that his accusers were promising a much larger sum to the praetor than what he had given, and that if he were wise he would consider what he had best do. The man, though he was a Sicilian, and a defendant—that is to say, though he had little chance of obtaining justice—and was in an unfortunate position, still would not bear with or listen to Timarchides any longer. Do, said he, whatever you please; I will not give any more And this, too, was the advice of his friends and defenders; and so much the more, because Verres, however he might conduct himself on the trial, still had with him on the bench some honourable men of the Syracusan community, who had also been on the bench with Sacerdos when this same Sopater had been acquitted. They considered that it was absolutely impossible for the same men, who had formerly acquitted Sopater, to condemn him now on the same charge, supported by the same witnesses. And so with this one hope they came before the court.

> Latin: 70. ad causam dicendam ventum est, tum vero sine metu sine cura omnes erant qui Sopatrum defendebant. nullum erat, res erat iudicata, Verres nummos acceperat: quis posset dubitare quidnam esset futurum? illo die non peroratur, iudicium dimittitur. ad Sopatrum Timarchides venit, ait accusatores eius multo maiorem pecuniam praetori polliceri quam quantam hic dedisset; proinde, si saperet, videret [quid sibi esset faciendum]., quamquam erat et Siculus et reus, hoc est et iure iniquo et tempore adverso, ferre tamen atque audire diutius Timarchidem non potuit. “,” inquit, “quod libet; daturus non sum amplius.” hoc amicis eius et defensoribus videbatur, atque eo etiam magis quod iste, quoquo modo se in ea quaestione praebebat, tamen in consilio habebat homines honestos e conventu Syracusano, qui Sacerdoti quoque in consilio fuerant tum cum est idem hic Sopater absolutus. rationis habebant, facere eos nullo modo posse ut eodem crimine eisdem testibus Sopatrum condemnarent idem homines qui antea absolvissent. hac una spe ad iudicium venitur.

[¶4] 71. And when they came thither, when the same men came in numbers on the bench who were used to sit there, and when the whole defence of Sopater rested on this hope, namely, on the number and dignity of the bench of judges, and on the fact of their being, as I have said before, the same men who had before acquitted Sopater of the same charge, mark the open rascality and audacity of the man, not attempted to be disguised, I will not say under any reason, but with even the least dissimulation. He orders Marcus Petilius, a Roman knight, whom he had with him on the bench, to attend to a private cause in which he was judge. Petilius refused, because Verres himself was detaining his friends whom he had wished to have with him on the bench. He, liberal man, said that he did not wish to detain any of the men who preferred being with Petilius. And so they all go; for the rest also prevail upon him not to detain them, saying that they wished to appear in favour of one or other of the parties who were concerned in that trial. And so he is left alone with his most worthless retinue.

> Latin: 71. posteaquam est ventum, cum in consilium frequentes convenissent idem qui solebant, et hac una spe tota defensio Sopatri niteretur, consili frequentia et dignitate, et quod erant, ut dixi, idem qui antea Sopatrum eodem illo crimine liberarant, cognoscite hominis apertam ac non modo non ratione, sed ne dissimulatione quidem tectam improbitatem et audaciam. M. Petilium, equitem Romanum, quem habebat in consilio, iubet operam dare, quod rei privatae iudex esset. Petilius recusabat, quod suos amicos, quos sibi in consilio esse vellet, ipse Verres retineret in consilio. homo liberalis negat se quemquam retinere eorum qui Petilio vellent adesse. discedunt omnes; nam ceteri quoque impetrant ne retineantur; qui se velle dicebant alterutri eorum qui tum illud iudicium habebant adesse. iste solus cum sua cohorte nequissima relinquitur.

[¶5] 72. Minucius, who was defending Sopater, did not doubt that Verres, since he had dismissed the whole bench, would not proceed with the investigation of his cause that day; when all of a sudden he is ordered to state his case. He answers, “To whom?” “To me,” says Verres, “if I appear to you of sufficient dignity to try the cause of a Sicilian, a Greek.” “Certainly,” says he, “you are of sufficient dignity, but I wish for the presence of those men who were present before, and were acquainted with the case.” “State your case,” says he; “they cannot be present.” “For in truth,” says Quintus Minucius, “Petilius begged me also to be with him on the bench;” and at the same time he began to leave his seat as counsel.

> Latin: 72. dubitabat Minucius, qui Sopatrum defendebat, quin iste, quoniam consilium dimisisset, illo die rem illam quaesiturus non esset, cum repente iubetur dicere., “quos?” “me,” inquit, “si tibi idoneus videor qui de homine Siculo ac Graeculo iudicem.” “es,” inquit, “sed pervellem adessent ii qui adfuerant antea causamque cognorant.” “,” inquit; “illi adesse non possunt.” “hercule,” inquit Minucius, “me quoque Petilius ut sibi in consilio adessem rogavit”, et simul a subselliis abire coepit.

[¶6] 73. Verres, in a rage, attacks him with pretty violent language, and even began to threaten him severely, for bringing such a charge, and trying to excite such odium against him. Minucius, who lived as a merchant at Syracuse, in such a way as always to bear in mind his rights and his dignity and who knew that it became him not to increase his property in the province at the expense of any portion of his liberty, gave the man such answer as seemed good to him, and as the occasion and the cause required. He said that he would not speak in defence of his client when the bench of judges was sent away and dismissed. And so he left the bar. And all the other friends and advocates of Sopater, except the Sicilians, did the same.

> Latin: 73. iratus hominem verbis vehementioribus prosequitur, atque ei gravius etiam minari coepit quod in se tantum crimen invidiamque conflaret. Minucius, qui Syracusis sic negotiaretur ut sui iuris dignitatisque meminisset, et qui sciret se ita in provincia rem augere oportere ut ne quid de libertate deperderet, homini quae visa sunt, et quae tempus illud tulit et causa, respondit, causam sese dimisso atque ablegato consilio defensurum negavit. a subselliis discessit, idemque hoc praeter Siculos ceteri Sopatri amici advocatique fecerunt.

[¶7] 74. Verres, though he is a man of incredible effrontery and audacity, yet when he was thus suddenly left alone got frightened and agitated. He did not know what to do, or which way to turn. If he adjourned the investigation at that time, he knew that when those men were present, whom he had got rid of for the time, Sopater would be acquitted; but if he condemned an unfortunate and innocent man, (while he himself, the praetor, was without any colleagues, and the defendant without any counsel or patron,) and rescinded the decision of Caius Sacerdos, he thought that he should not be able to withstand the unpopularity of such an act. So he was quite in a fever with perplexity. He turned himself every way, not only as to his mind, but also as to his body; so that all who were present could plainly see that fear and covetousness were contending together in his heart. There was a great crowd of people present, there was profound silence, and eager expectation which way his covetousness was going to find vent. His attendant Timarchides was constantly stooping down to his ear.

> Latin: 74. quamquam est incredibili importunitate et audacia, tamen subito solus destitutus pertimuit et conturbatus est; quid ageret, quo se verteret nesciebat. dimisisset eo tempore quaestionem, post, illis adhibitis in consilium quos ablegarat, absolutum iri Sopatrum videbat; sin autem hominem miserum atque innocentem ita condemnasset, cum ipse praetor sine consilio, reus autem sine patrono atque advocatis fuisset, iudiciumque C. Sacerdotis rescidisset, invidiam se sustinere tantam non posse arbitrabatur. aestuabat dubitatione, versabat se utramque in partem non solum mente, verum etiam corpore, ut omnes qui aderant intellegere possent in animo eius metum cum cupiditate pugnare. hominum conventus maximus, summum silentium, summa exspectatio quonam esset eius cupiditas eruptura; crebro se accensus demittebat ad aurem Timarchides.

[¶8] 75. Then at last he said, “Come, state your case.” Sopater began to implore him by the good faith of gods and man, to hear the cause in company with the rest of the bench. He orders the witnesses to be summoned instantly. One or two of them give their evidence briefly. No questions are asked. The crier proclaims that the case is closed. Verres, as if he were afraid that Petilius, having either finished or adjourned the private cause on which he was engaged, might return to the bench with the rest, jumps down in haste from his seat; he condemned an innocent man, one who had been acquitted by Caius Sacerdos, without hearing him in his defence, by the joint sentence of a secretary, a physician, and a soothsayer.

> Latin: 75. iste aliquando “dic!” inquit. orare atque obsecrare ut cum consilio cognosceret. repente iste testis citari iubet; dicit unus et alter breviter; nihil interrogatur; praeco dixisse pronuntiat., quasi metueret ne Petilius privato illo iudicio transacto aut prolato cum ceteris in consilium reverteretur, ita properans de sella exsilit, hominem innocentem a C. Sacerdote absolutum indicta causa de sententia scribae medici haruspicisque condemnat.

[¶9] 76. Keep, pray keep that man in the city, O judges. Spare him and preserve him, that you may have a man to assist you in judging causes; to declare his opinion in the senate on questions of war and peace, without any covetous desires. Although, indeed, we and the Roman people have less cause to be anxious as to what his opinion in the senate is likely to be: for what will be his authority? When will he have either the daring or the power to deliver his opinion? When will a man of such luxury and such indolence ever attempt to mount up to the senate-house except in the month of February? However, let him come; let him vote war against the Cretans, liberty to the Byzantines; let him call Ptolemy king; let him say and think everything which Hortensius wishes him. These things do not so immediately concern us—have not such immediate reference to the risk of our lives, or to the peril of our fortunes.

> Latin: 76. , retinete hominem in civitate, iudices, parcite et conservate, ut sit qui vobiscum res iudicet, qui in senatu sine ulla cupiditate de bello et pace sententiam ferat. minus id quidem nobis, minus populo Romano laborandum est, qualis istius in senatu sententia futura sit. enim eius auctoritas erit? quando iste sententiam dicere audebit aut poterit? quando autem homo tantae luxuriae atque desidiae nisi Februario mense aspirabit in curiam? veniat sane, decernat bellum Cretensibus, liberet Byzantios, regem appellet Ptolomaeum, quae vult Hortensius omnia dicat et sentiat; minus haec ad nos, minus ad vitae nostrae discrimen, minus ad fortunarum nostrarum periculum pertinent.

[¶10] 77. What really is of vital importance, what is formidable, what is to be dreaded by every virtuous man, is, that if through any influence this man escapes from this trial, he must be among the judges; he must give his decision on the lives of Roman citizens; he must be standard-bearer in the army of that man who wishes to possess undisputed sway over our courts of justice. This the Roman people refuses; this it will never endure; the whole people raises an outcry, and gives you leave, if you are delighted with these men, if you wish from such a set to add splendour to your order, and an ornament to the senate-house, to have that fellow among you as a senator, to have him even as a judge in your own cases, if you choose; but men who are not of your body, men to whom the admirable Cornelian laws do not give the power of objecting to more than three judges, do not choose that this man, so cruel, so wicked, so infamous should sit as judge in matters in which they are concerned.

> Latin: 77. est capitale, illud formidolosum, illud optimo cuique metuendum, quod iste, ex hoc iudicio si aliqua vi se eripuerit, in iudicibus sit necesse est, sententiam de capite civis Romani ferat, sit in eius exercitu signifer qui imperium iudiciorum tenere vult. populus Romanus recusat, hoc ferre non potest; clamat permittitque vobis ut, si istis hominibus delectemini, si ex eo genere splendorem ordini atque ornamentum curiae constituere velitis, habeatis sane istum vobiscum senatorem, etiam de vobis iudicem, si vultis, habeatis; de se homines, si qui extra istum ordinem sunt, quibus ne reiciendi quidem amplius quam trium iudicum praeclarae leges Corneliae faciunt potestatem, hunc hominem tam crudelem, tam sceleratum, tam nefarium nolunt iudicare.

[¶11] 78. In truth, if that is a wicked action, (which appears to me to be of all actions the most base, and the most wicked,) to take money to influence a decision in a court of law, to put up one's good faith and religion to auction; how much love wicked, flagitious, and scandalous is it, to condemn a man from whom you have taken money to acquit him?—so that the praetor does not even act up to the customs of robbers, for there is honour among thieves. It is a sin to take money from a defendant; how much more to take it from an accuser! how much more wicked still to take it from both parties! When you had put up your good faith to auction in the province, he had the most weight with you who gave you the most money.—That was natural: perhaps some time or other some one else may have done something of the same sort. But when you had already disposed of your good faith and of your scruples to the one party, and had received the money, and had afterwards sold the very same articles to his adversary for a still higher price, are you going to cheat both, and to decide as you please? and not even to give back the money to the party whom you have deceived?

> Latin: 78. si illud est flagitiosum, quod mihi omnium rerum turpissimum maximeque nefarium videtur, ob rem iudicandam pecuniam accipere, pretio habere addictam fidem et religionem, quanto illud flagitiosius improbius indignius, eum a quo pecuniam ob absolvendum acceperis condemnare, ut ne praedonum quidem praetor in fide retinenda consuetudinem conservet! est accipere ab reo: quanto magis ab accusatore, quanto etiam sceleratius ab utroque! cum proposuisses venalem in provincia, valuit apud te plus is qui pecuniam maiorem dedit.; forsitan aliquis aliquando eius modi quidpiam fecerit. vero fidem ac religionem tuam iam alteri addictam pecunia accepta habueris, postea eandem adversario tradideris maiore pecunia, utrumque falles, et trades cui voles, et ei quem fefelleris ne pecuniam quidem reddes?

[¶12] 79. What is the use of speaking to me of Bulbus, of Stalenus? What monster of this sort, what prodigy of wickedness have we ever heard of or seen, who would first sell his decision to the defendant, and afterwards decide in favour of the accuser? who would get rid of, and dismiss from the bench honourable men who were acquainted with the cause; would by himself alone condemn a defendant, who had been acquitted once from whom he had taken money, and would not restore: him his money?—Shall we have this man on the list of judges Shall he be named as judge in the second senatorial decury? Shall he be the Judge of the lives of free men? Shall a judicial tablet be entrusted to him, which he will mark not only with wax, but with blood too if it be made worth his while?

> Latin: 79. mihi tu Bulbum, quem Staienum? quod umquam huiusce modi monstrum aut prodigium audivimus aut vidimus, qui cum reo transigat, post cum accusatore decidat, honestos homines, qui causam norint, ableget a consilioque dimittat, ipse solus reum absolutum, a quo pecuniam acceperit, condemnet pecuniamque non reddat? hominem in iudicum numero habebimus? hic alteram decuriam senatoriam iudex obtinebit? hic de capite libero iudicabit? huic iudicialis tabella committetur? quam iste non modo cera, verum etiam sanguine, si visum erit, notabit.

[¶13] 80. For what of all these things does he deny having done? That, perhaps, which he must deny or else be silent,—the having taken the money? Why should he not deny it? But the Roman knight who defended Sopater, who was present at all his deliberations and at every transaction, Quintus Minucius, says on his oath that the money was paid; he says on his oath that Timarchides said that a greater sum was being offered by the accusers. All the Sicilians will say the same; all the citizens of Halicya will say the same; even the young son of Sopater will say the same, who by that most cruel man has been deprived of his innocent father and of his father's property.

> Latin: 80. enim horum se negat fecisse? illud videlicet unum, quod necesse est, pecuniam accepisse. iste neget? eques Romanus, qui Sopatrum defendit, qui omnibus eius consiliis rebusque interfuit, Q. Minucius, iuratus dicit pecuniam datam, iuratus dicit Timarchidem dixisse maiorem pecuniam ab accusatoribus dari; dicent hoc multi Siculi, dicent omnes Halicyenses, dicet etiam praetextatus Sopatri filius, qui ab isto homine crudelissimo patre innocentissimo pecuniaque patria privatus est.

[¶14] 81. But if I cannot make the case plain, as far as the money is concerned, by evidence, can you deny this, or will you now deny, that after you had dismissed the rest of the judges, after those excellent men who had sat on the bench with Caius Sacerdos, and who were used to sit there with you, had been got rid of, you by yourself decided a matter which had been decided before?—that the man, whom Caius Sacerdos, assisted by a bench of colleagues, after an investigation of the case, acquitted, you, without any bench of colleagues, without investigating the case, condemned? When you have confessed this, which was done openly in the forum at Syracuse, before the eyes of the whole province; then deny, if you like, that you received money. You will be very likely to find a man, when he sees these things which were done openly, to ask what you did secretly; or to doubt whether he had better believe my witnesses or your defenders.

> Latin: 81. si de pecunia testibus planum facere non possem, illud negare posses aut nunc negabis, te consilio tuo dimisso, viris primariis qui in consilio C. Sacerdoti fuerant tibique esse solebant remotis, de re iudicata iudicavisse? teque eum quem C. Sacerdos adhibito consilio causa cognita absolvisset, eundem remoto consilio causa incognita condemnasse? haec confessus eris, quae in foro palam Syracusis in ore atque in oculis provinciae gesta sunt, negato tum sane, si voles, te pecuniam accepisse: reperies, credo, aliquem qui, cum haec quae palam gesta sunt videat, quaerat quid tu occulte egeris, aut qui dubitet utrum malit meis testibus an tuis defensoribus credere.

[¶15] 82. I have already said, O judges, that I shall not enumerate all that fellow's actions which are of this sort; but that I shall select those which are the most remarkable. Listen now to another remarkable exploit of his, one that has already been mentioned in many places, and one of such a sort that every possible crime seems to be comprehended in that one. Listen carefully, for you will find that this deed had its origin in covetousness, its growth in lust, its consummation and completeness in cruelty.

> Latin: 82. iam ante me non omnia istius quae in hoc genere essent enumeraturum, sed electurum ea quae maxime excellerent. nunc aliud eius facinus nobile et multis locis saepe commemoratum, et eius modi ut in uno omnia maleficia inesse videantur. diligenter; invenietis enim id facinus natum a cupiditate, auctum per stuprum, crudelitate perfectum atque conclusum.

[¶16] 83. Sthenius, the man who is sitting by us, is a citizen of Thermae, long since known to many by his eminent virtue and his illustrious birth, and now known to all men by his own misfortune and the unexampled injuries he has received from that man. Verres having often enjoyed his hospitality, and having not only stayed often with him at Thermae, but having almost dwelt with him there, took away from him out of his house everything which could in any uncommon degree delight the mind or eyes of any one. In truth, Sthenius from his youth had collected such things as these with more than ordinary diligence; elegant furniture of brass, made at Delos and at Corinth, paintings, and even a good deal of elegantly wrought silver, as far as the wealth of a citizen of Thermae could afford. And these things, when he was in Asia as a young man, he had collected diligently, as I said, not so much for any pleasure to himself, as for ornaments against the visits of Roman citizens, his own friends and connections, whenever he invited them.

> Latin: 83. Sthenius est, hic qui nobis adsidet, Thermitanus, antea multis propter summam virtutem summamque nobilitatem, nunc propter suam calamitatem atque istius insignem iniuriam omnibus notus. hospitio Verres cum esset usus, et cum apud eum non solum Thermis saepenumero fuisset, sed etiam habitasset, omnia domo eius abstulit quae paulo magis animum cuiuspiam aut oculos possent commovere. Sthenius ab adulescentia paulo studiosius haec compararat: supellectilem ex aere elegantiorem et Deliacam et Corinthiam, tabulas pictas, etiam argenti bene facti, prout Thermitani hominis facultates ferebant, satis. cum esset in Asia adulescens studiose, ut dixi, compararat, non tam suae delectationis causa quam ad invitationes adventusque nostrorum hominum, [suorum ] amicorum atque hospitum.

[¶17] 84. But after Verres got them all, some by begging for then, some by demanding them, and some by boldly taking them, Sthenius bore it as well as he could, but he was affected with unavoidable indignation in his mind, at that fellow having rendered his house, which had been so beautifully furnished and decorated, naked and empty; still he told his indignation to no one. He thought he must bear the injuries of the praetor in silence—those of his guest with calmness.

> Latin: 84. posteaquam iste omnia abstulit, alia rogando, alia poscendo, alia sumendo, ferebat Sthenius ut poterat; angebatur animi necessario quod domum eius exornatam et instructam fere iam iste reddiderat nudam atque inanem; verum tamen dolorem suum nemini impertiebat; praetoris iniurias tacite, hospitis placide ferendas arbitrabatur.

[¶18] 85. Meantime that man, with that covetousness of his which was now notorious and the common talk of every one, as he took a violent fancy to some exceedingly beautiful and very ancient statues at Thermae placed in the public place, began to beg of Sthenius to promise him his countenance and to aid him in taking them away. But Sthenius not only refused, but declared to him that it was utterly impossible that most ancient statues, memorials of Publius Africanus, should ever be taken away out of the town of the Thermitani, as long as that city and the empire of the Roman people remained uninjured.

> Latin: 85. iste cupiditate illa sua nota atque apud omnis pervagata, cum signa quaedam pulcherrima atque antiquissima Thermis in publico posita vidisset, adamavit; a Sthenio petere coepit ut ad ea tollenda operam suam profiteretur seque adiuvaret. Sthenius vero non solum negavit, sed etiam ostendit fieri id nullo modo posse ut signa antiquissima, monumenta P. Africani, ex oppido Thermitanorum incolumi illa civitate imperioque populi Romani tollerentur.

[¶19] 86. Indeed, (that you may learn at the same time both the humanity and the justice of Publius Africanus,) the Carthaginians had formerly taken the town of Himera, one of the first towns in Sicily for renown and for beauty. Scipio as he thought it a thing worthy of the Roman people, that, after the war was over, our allies should recover their property in consequence of our victory, took care, after Carthage had been taken, that everything which he could manage should be restored to all the Sicilians. As Himera had been destroyed, those citizens whom the disasters of the war had spared had settled at Thermae, on the border of the same district, and not far from their ancient town. They thought that they were recovering the fortune and dignity of their fathers, when those ornaments of their ancestors were being placed in the town of Thermae.

> Latin: 86. ut simul Africani quoque humanitatem et aequitatem cognoscatis, oppidum Himeram Carthaginienses quondam ceperant, quod fuerat in primis Siciliae clarum et ornatum. Scipio, qui hoc dignum populo Romano arbitraretur, bello confecto socios sua per nostram victoriam recuperare, Siculis omnibus Carthagine capta quae potuit restituenda curavit. Himera deleta quos civis belli calamitas reliquos fecerat, ii se Thermis conlocarant in isdem agri finibus neque longe ab oppido antiquo, et se patrum fortunas et dignitatem recuperare arbitrabantur cum illa maiorum ornamenta in eorum oppido conlocabantur.

[¶20] 87. There were many statues of brass; among them a statue of Himera herself, of marvellous beauty, made in the shape and dress of a woman, after the name of the town and of the river. There was also a statue of the poet Stesichorus, aged, stooping,—made, as men think, with the most exceeding skill,—who was, indeed, a citizen of Himera, but who both was and is in the highest renown and estimation over all Greece for his genius. These things he coveted to a degree of madness. There is also, which I had almost passed over, a certain she-goat made, as even we who are skilled in these matters can judge, with wonderful skill and beauty. These, and other works of art, Scipio had not thrown away like a fool, in order that an intelligent man like Verres might have an opportunity of carrying them away, but he had restored them to the people of Thermae; not that he himself had not gardens, or a suburban villa, or some place or other where he could put them; but, if he had taken them home, they would not long have been called Scipio's, but theirs to whom they had come by his death. Now they are placed in such places that it seems to me they will always seem to be Scipio's, and so they are called.

> Latin: 87. signa ex aere complura; in his eximia pulchritudine ipsa Himera in muliebrem figuram habitumque formata ex oppidi nomine et fluminis. etiam Stesichori poetae statua senilis incurva cum libro summo, ut putant, artificio facta, qui fuit Himerae, sed et est et fuit tota Graecia summo propter ingenium honore et nomine. iste ad insaniam concupiverat., quod paene praeterii, capella quaedam est, ea quidem mire, ut etiam nos qui rudes harum rerum sumus intellegere possumus, scite facta et venuste. et alia Scipio non neglegenter abiecerat, ut homo intellegens Verres auferre posset, sed Thermitanis restituerat, non quo ipse hortos aut suburbanum aut locum omnino ubi ea poneret nullum haberet, sed quod, si domum abstulisset, non diu Scipionis appellarentur, sed eorum ad quoscumque illius morte venissent: nunc iis locis posita sunt ut mihi semper Scipionis fore videantur itaque dicantur.

[¶21] 88. When that fellow claimed those things, and the subject was mooted in the senate, Sthenius resisted his claim most earnestly, and urged many arguments, for he is among the first men in all Sicily for fluency of speech. He said that it was more honourable for the men of Thermae to abandon their city than to allow the memorials of their ancestors, the spoils of their enemies, the gifts of a most illustrious man, the proofs of the alliance and friendship with the Roman people, to be taken away out of their city. The minds of all were moved. No one was found who did not agree that it was better to die. And so Verres found this town almost the only one in the whole world from which he could not carry off anything of that sort belonging to the community, either by violence, or by stealth, or by his own absolute power, or by his interest, or by bribery. But, however, all this covetousness of his I will expose another time; at present I must return to Sthenius.

> Latin: 88. cum iste posceret agereturque ea res in senatu, Sthenius vehementissime restitit multaque, ut in primis Siculorum in dicendo copiosus est, commemoravit: urbem relinquere Thermitanis esse honestius quam pati tolli ex urbe monumenta maiorum, spolia hostium, beneficia clarissimi viri, indicia societatis populi Romani atque amicitiae. animi sunt omnium; repertus est nemo quin mori diceret satius esse. hoc adhuc oppidum Verres invenit prope solum in orbe terrarum unde nihil eius modi rerum de publico per vim, nihil occulte, nihil imperio, nihil gratia, nihil pretio posset auferre. hasce eius cupiditates exponam alio loco; nunc ad Sthenium revertar.

[¶22] 89. Verres being furiously enraged against Sthenius, renounces the connection of hospitality with him, leaves his house, and departs; for, indeed, he had moved his quarters before. The greatest enemies of Sthenius immediately invite him to their houses, in order to inflame his mind against Sthenius by inventing lies and accusing him. And these enemies were, Agathinus, a man of noble birth, and Dorotheus, who had married Callidama, the daughter of that same Agathinus, of whom Verres had heard. So he preferred migrating to the son-in-law of Agathinus. Only one night elapsed before he became so intimate with Dorotheus, that, as one might say, they had everything in common. He paid as great attention to Agathinus as if he had been some connection or relation of his own. He appeared even to despise that statue of Himera, because the figure and features of his hostess delighted him much more.

> Latin: 89. iste vehementer Sthenio atque incensus hospitium ei renuntiat, domo eius emigrat atque adeo exit; nam iam ante emigrarat. Eum autem statim inimicissimi Stheni domum suam invitant, ut animum eius in Sthenium inflammarent ementiendo aliquid et criminando. autem erant inimici Agathinus, homo nobilis, et Dorotheus, qui habebat in matrimonio Callidamam, Agathini eius filiam; de qua iste audierat, itaque ad generum Agathini migrare maluit. Vna nox intercesserat cum iste Dorotheum sic diligebat ut diceres omnia inter eos esse communia, Agathinum ita observabat ut aliquem adfinem atque propinquum; contemnere etiam signum illud Himerae iam videbatur, quod eum multo magis figura et liniamenta hospitae delectabant.

[¶23] 90. Therefore he began to instigate the men to create some danger for Sthenius, and to invent some accusation against him. They said they had nothing to allege against him. On this he openly declared to them, and promised to them that they might prove whatever they pleased against Sthenius if they only laid the information before him. So they do not delay. They immediately bring Sthenius before him; they say that the public documents have been tampered with by him. Sthenius demands, that as his own fellow-citizens are prosecuting him on a charge of tampering with the public documents, and as there is a right of action on such a charge according to the laws of the Thermitani since the senate and people of Rome had restored to the Thermitani their city, and their territory and their laws, because they had always remained faithful and friendly; and since Publius Rupilius had afterwards, in obedience to a degree of the senate, given laws to the Sicilinus, acting with the advice of ten commissioners, according to which the citizens were to use their own laws in their actions with one another; and singe Verres himself had the same regulation contained in his edict;—on all these accounts, I say, he claims of Verres to refer the matter to their own laws.

> Latin: 90. hortari homines coepit ut aliquid Sthenio periculi crearent criminisque confingerent. se illi nihil habere quod dicerent. iste iis aperte ostendit et confirmavit eos in Sthenium quidquid vellent, simul atque ad se detulissent, probaturos. illi non procrastinant, Sthenium statim educunt, aiunt ab eo litteras publicas esse corruptas. Sthenius postulat ut, cum secum sui cives agant de litteris publicis corruptis, eiusque rei legibus Thermitanorum actio sit, senatusque et populus Romanus Thermitanis, quod semper in amicitia fideque mansissent, urbem agros legesque suas reddidisset Publiusque Rupilius postea leges ita Siculis ex senatus consulto de x legatorum sententia dedisset ut cives inter sese legibus suis agerent, idemque hoc haberet Verres ipse in edicto: ut de his omnibus causis se ad leges reiceret.

[¶24] 91. That man, the justest of all men, and the most remote from covetousness, declares that he will investigate the affair himself, and bids him come prepared to plead his cause at the eighth hour. It was not difficult to see what that dishonest and wicked man was designing. And, indeed, he did not himself very much disguise it, and the woman could not hold her tongue. It was understood that his intention was, that, after he, without any pleading taking place, and without any witnesses being called, had condemned Sthenius, then, infamous that he was, he should cause the man, a man of noble birth, of mature age, and his own host, to be cruelly punished by scourging. And as this was notorious, by the advice of his friends and connections, Sthenius fled from there to Rome. He preferred trusting himself to the winter and to the waves, rather than not escape that common tempest and calamity of all the Sicilians.

> Latin: 91. homo omnium aequissimus atque a cupiditate remotissimus se cogniturum esse confirmat; paratum ad causam dicendam venire hora nona iubet. erat obscurum quid homo improbus ac nefarius cogitaret; neque enim ipse satis occultarat, nec mulier tacere potuerat. est id istum agere ut, cum Sthenium sine ullo argumento ac sine teste damnasset, tum homo nefarius de homine nobili atque id aetatis suoque hospite virgis supplicium crudelissime sumeret. cum esset perspicuum, de amicorum hospitumque suorum sententia Thermis Sthenius Romam profugit: hiemi fluctibusque sese committere maluit quam non istam communem Siculorum tempestatem calamitatemque vitaret.

[¶25] 92. That punctual and diligent man is ready at the eighth hour. He orders Sthenius to be summoned; and, when he sees that he does not appear, he begins to burn with indignation, and to go mad with rage; to despatch officers to his house; to send horsemen in every direction about his farms and country houses,—and as he kept waiting there till some certain news could be brought to him, he did not leave the court till the third hour of the night. The next day he came down again the first thing in the morning; he calls Agathinus, he bids him make his statement about the public documents against Sthenius in his absence. It was a cause of such a character, that, even though he had no adversary in court, and a judge unfriendly to the defendant, still he could not find anything to say.

> Latin: 92. homo certus et diligens ad horam nonam praesto est, Sthenium citari iubet. posteaquam videt non adesse, dolore ardere atque iracundia furere coepit, Venerios domum Stheni mittere, equis circum agros eius villasque dimittere. dum exspectat quidnam sibi certi adferatur, ante horam tertiam noctis de foro non discedit. mane descendit; Agathinum ad se vocat; iubet eum de litteris publicis in absentem Sthenium dicere. eius modi causa ut ille ne sine adversario quidem apud inimicum iudicem reperire posset quid diceret;

[¶26] 93. So that he confined himself to the mere statement that, when Sacerdos was praetor, Sthenius had tampered with the public documents. He had scarcely said this when Verres gives sentence “that Sthenius seems to have tampered with the public documents,” and, moreover, this man so devoted to Venus, added this besides, with no precedent for, no example of, such an addition, “For that action he should adjudge five hundred thousand sesterces to Venus Erycina out of the property of Sthenius.” And immediately he began to sell his property; and he would have sold it, if there had been ever so little delay in paying him the money.

> Latin: 93. itaque tantum verbo posuit, Sacerdote praetore Sthenium litteras publicas corrupisse. ille hoc dixerat cum iste pronuntiat Sthenivm litteras pvblicas corrvpisse videri; et hoc praeterea addit homo Venerius novo modo nullo exemplo, ob eam rem HS d Veneri Erycinae de Stheni bonis se exactvrvm, bonaque eius statim coepit vendere; et vendidisset, si tantulum morae fuisset quo minus ei pecunia illa numeraretur.

[¶27] 94. After it was paid, he was not content with this iniquity; he gave notice openly from the seat of justice, and from the tribunal, “That if any one wished to accuse Sthenius in his absence of a capital charge, he was ready to take the charge.” And immediately he began to instigate Agathinus, his new relation and host, to apply himself to such a cause, and to accuse him. But he said loudly, in the hearing of every one, that he would not do so, and that he was not so far an enemy to Sthenius as to say that he was implicated in any capital crime. Just at this moment a man of the name of Pacilius, a needy and worthless man, arrives on a sudden. He says, that he is willing to accuse the man in his absence if he may. And Verres tells him that he may, that it is a thing often done, and that he will receive the accusation. So the charge is made. Verres immediately issues an edict that Sthenius is to appear at Syracuse on the first of December.

> Latin: 94. posteaquam numerata est, contentus hac iniquitate iste non fuit; palam de sella ac tribunali pronuntiat, sl qvis absentem Sthenivm rei capitalis revm facere vellet, sese eivs nomen receptvrvum et simul ut ad causam accederet nomenque deferret, Agathinum, novum adfinem atque hospitem, coepit hortari. ille clare omnibus audientibus se id non esse facturum, neque se usque eo Sthenio esse inimicum ut eum rei capitalis adfinem esse diceret. tum repente Pacilius quidam, homo egens et levis, accedit; ait, si liceret, absentis nomen deferre se velle. vero et licere et fieri solere, et se recepturum; itaque defertur; edicit statim ut Kalendis Decembribus adsit Sthenius Syracusis.

[¶28] 95. He, when he had reached Rome, and had a sufficiently prosperous voyage for so unfavourable a time of year, and had found everything more just and gentle than the disposition of the praetor, his own guest, related the whole matter to his friends, and it appeared to them all cruel and scandalous, as indeed it was. Therefore Cnaeus Lentulus and Lucius Gellius the consuls immediately propose in the senate that it be established as a law, if it so seem good to the conscript fathers, “That men be not proceeded against on capital charges in the provinces while they are absent.” They relate to the senate the whole case of Sthenius, and the cruelty and injustice of Verres. Verres, the father of the praetor, was present in the senate, and with tears begged all the senators to spare his son, but he had not much success. For the inclination of the senate for the proposal of the consuls was extreme. Therefore opinions were delivered to this effect; “that as Sthenius had been proceeded against in his absence, it seemed good to the senate that no trial should take place in the case of an absent man; and if anything had been done, it seemed good that it should not be ratified.”

> Latin: 95. qui Romam pervenisset, satisque feliciter anni iam adverso tempore navigasset, omniaque habuisset aequiora et placabiliora quam animum praetoris atque hospitis, rem ad amicos suos detulit, quae, ut erat acerba atque indigna, sic videbatur omnibus. in senatu continuo Cn. Lentulus et L. Gellius consules faciunt mentionem placere statui, si patribus conscriptis videretur, ne absentes homines in provinciis rei fierent rerum capitalium; causam Stheni totam et istius crudelitatem et iniquitatem senatum docent. in senatu Verres pater istius, et flens unum quemque senatorum rogabat ut filio suo parceret; neque tamen multum proficiebat; erat enim summa voluntas senatus. sententiae dicebantur: cvm Sthenivs absens revs̵ factvs esset, de absente ivdicivm nvllvm fieri placere, et, sl qvod esset factvm, id ratvm esse non placere.

[¶29] 96. On that day nothing could be done, because it was so late, and because his father had found men to waste the time in speaking. Afterwards the elder Verres goes to all the defenders and connections of Sthenius; he begs and entreats them not to attack his son, not to be anxious about Sthenius; he assures them that he will take care that he suffers no injury by means of his son; that with that object he will send trustworthy men into Sicily both by sea and land. And it wanted now about thirty days of the first of December, on which day he had ordered Sthenius to appear at Syracuse.

> Latin: 96. die transigi nihil potuit, quod et id temporis erat et ille pater istius invenerat homines qui dicendo tempus consumerent. senex Verres defensores atque hospites omnis Stheni convenit, rogat eos atque orat ne oppugnent filium suum, de Sthenio ne laborent; confirmat iis curaturum se esse ne quid ei per filium suum noceretur; se homines certos eius rei causa in Siciliam et terra et mari esse missurum. erat spatium dierum fere xxx ante Kalendas Decembris, quo die iste ut Syracusis Sthenius adesset edixerat.

[¶30] 97. The friends of Sthenius are moved; they hope that by the letters and messengers of the father the Bon may be called off from his insane attempt. The cause is not agitated any more in the senate. Family messengers come to Verres, and bring him letters from his father before the first of December, before any steps whatever had been taken by him in Sthenius's affair; and at the same time many letters about the same business are brought to him from many of his friends and intimates. On this he, who had never any regard either for his duty or his danger, or for affection, or for humanity, when put in competition with his covetousness, did not think, as far as he was advised, that the authority of his father, nor, as far as he was entreated, that his inclination was to be preferred to the gratification of his own evil passions. On the morning of the first of December, according to his edict, he orders Sthenius to be summoned.

> Latin: 97. amici Stheni; sperant fore ut patris litteris nuntiisque filius ab illo furore revocetur. senatu postea causa non agitur. ad istum domestici nuntii litterasque a patre adferunt ante Kalendas Decembris, cum isti etiam tum de Sthenio in integro tota res esset, eodemque ei tempore de eadem re litterae complures a multis eius amicis ac necessariis adferuntur. iste, qui prae cupiditate neque offici sui neque periculi neque pietatis neque humanitatis rationem habuisset umquam, neque in eo quod monebatur auctoritatem patris neque in eo quod rogabatur voluntatem anteponendam putavit libidini suae, mane Kalendis Decembribus, ut edixerat, Sthenium citari iubet.

[¶31] 98. If your father, at the request of any friend, whether influenced by kindness or wishing to curry favour with him, had made that petition to you, still the inclination of your father ought to have had the greatest weight with you; but when he begged it of you for the sake of your own safety from a capital charge, and when he had sent trustworthy men from home, and when they had come to you at a time when the whole affair was still intact, could not even then a regard, if not for affection, at least for your own safety, bring you back to duty and to common sense? He summons the defendant. He does not answer. He summons the accuser. (Mark, I pray you, O judges; see how greatly fortune herself opposed that man's insanity, and see at the same time what chance aided the cause of Sthenius;) the accuser, Marcus Pacilius, being summoned, (I know not how it came about,) did not answer, did not appear.

> Latin: 98. abs te istam rem parens tuus alicuius amici rogatu benignitate aut ambitione adductus petisset, gravissima tamen apud te voluntas patris esse debuisset; cum vero abs te tui capitis causa peteret hominesque certos domo misisset, hique eo tempore ad te venissent cum tibi in integro tota res esset, ne tum quidem te potuit si non pietatis, at salutis tuae ratio ad officium sanitatemque reducere? reum; non respondit; citat accusatorem; (attendite, quaeso, iudices, quanto opere istius amentiae fortuna ipsa adversata sit, et simul videte qui Stheni causam casus adiuverit); citatus accusator, M. Pacilius, nescio quo casu non respondit, non adfuit.

[¶32] 99. If Sthenius had been accused while present, if he had been detected in a manifest crime, still, as his accuser did not appear, Sthenius ought not to have been condemned. In truth, if a defendant could be condemned though his accuser did not appear, I should not have come from Vibo to Velia in a little boat through the weapons of fugitive slaves, and pirates, and through yours, at a time when all that haste of mine at the peril of my life was to prevent your being taken out of the list of defendants if I did not appear on the appointed day. If then in this trial of yours that was the most desirable thing by you,—namely, for me not to appear when I was summoned, why did you not think that it ought also to serve Sthenius that his accuser had not appeared? He so managed the matter that the end entirely corresponded to the beginning; the same man against whom he had received an accusation while he was absent, he condemns now when the accuser is absent.

> Latin: 99. praesens Sthenius reus esset factus, si manifesto in maleficio teneretur, tamen, cum accusator non adesset, Sthenium condemnari non oporteret. si posset reus absente accusatore damnari, non ego a Vibone Veliam parvulo navigio inter fugitivorum ac praedonum ac tua tela venissem, quo tempore omnis illa mea festinatio fuit cum periculo capitis, ob eam causam ne tu ex reis eximerere si ego ad diem non adfuissem. igitur tibi erat in tuo iudicio optatissimum, me cum citatus essem non adesse, cur Sthenio non putasti prodesse oportere, cum eius accusator non adfuisset? fecit ut exitus principio simillimus reperiretur: quem absentem reum fecerat, eum absente accusatore condemnat.

## 11. Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 100–133

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/11/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/11/#p-N

[¶0] 100. At the very outset news was brought to him that the matter had been agitated in the senate, (which his father also had written him word of at great length,) that also in the public assembly Marcus Palicanus, a tribune of the people, had made a complaint to their of the treatment of Sthenius; lastly, that I myself had pleaded the cause of Sthenius before this college of the tribunes of the people, as by their edict no one was allowed to remain in Rome who had been condemned on a capital charge; and that when I had explained the business as I have now done to you, and had proved that this had no right to be considered a condemnation, the tribunes of the people passed this resolution, and that it was unanimously decreed by them, “That Sthenius did not appear to be prohibited by their edict from remaining in Rome.”

> Latin: 100. illi primis illis temporibus, id quod pater quoque ad eum pluribus verbis scripserat, agitatam rem esse in senatu; etiam in contione tribunum plebis de causa Stheni, M. Palicanum, esse questum; postremo me ipsum apud hoc collegium tribunorum plebis, cum eorum omnium edicto non liceret Romae quemquam esse qui rei capitalis condemnatus esset, egisse causam Stheni, et, cum ita rem exposuissem quem ad modum nunc apud vos, docuissemque hanc damnationem duci non oportere, x tribunos plebis hoc statuisse, idque de omnium sententia pronuntiatum esse, non videri Sthenivm lmpediri edicto qvo minvs ei Romae liceret esse.

[¶1] 101. When this news was brought to him, he for a while was alarmed and agitated; he turned the blunt end of his pen on to his tablets, and by so doing he overturned the whole of his cause. For he left himself nothing which could be defended by any means whatever. For if he were to urge in his defence, “It is lawful to take a charge against an absent man, no law forbids this being done in a province,” he would seem to be putting forth a faulty and worthless defence, but still it would be some sort of a defence. Lastly, he might employ that most desperate refuge, of saying, that he had acted ignorantly; that he had thought that it was lawful. And although this is the worst defence of all, still he would seem to have said something. He erases that from his tablets which he had put down, and enters “that the charge was brought against Sthenius while he was present.”

> Latin: 101. haec ad istum adferrentur, pertimuit aliquando et commotus est; vertit stilum in tabulis suis, quo facto causam omnem evertit suam; nihil enim sibi reliqui fecit quod defendi aliqua ratione posset. si ita defenderet, “nomen absentis licet; hoc fieri in provincia nulla lex vetat,” mala et improba defensione, verum aliqua tamen uti videretur; postremo illo desperatissimo perfugio uti posset, se imprudentem fecisse, existimasse id licere. haec perditissima defensio est, tamen aliquid dici videretur. ex tabulis id quod erat, et facit coram esse delatum.

[¶2] 102. Here consider in how many toils he involved himself; from which he could never disentangle himself. In the first place, he had often and openly declared himself in Sicily from his tribunal, and had asserted to many people in private conversation, that it was lawful to take a charge against an absent man; that he, for example, had done so himself—which he had. That he was in the habit of constantly saying this, was stated at the former pleading by Sextus Pompeius Chlorus, a man of whose virtue I have before spoken highly; and by Cnaeus Pompeius Theodorus, a man approved of by the judgment of that most illustrious man Cnaeus Pompeius in many most important affairs, and, by universal consent, a most accomplished person; and by Posides Matro of Solentum, a man of the highest rank, of the greatest reputation and virtue. And as many as you please will tell you the same thing at this present trial, both men who have heard it from his own mouth,—some of the leading men of our order,—and others too who were present when the accusation was taken against Sthenius in his absence. Moreover at Rome, when the matter was discussed in the senate, all his friends, and among them his own father, defended him on the ground of its being lawful so to act;—of its having been done constantly;—of his having done what he had done according to the example and established precedent of others.

> Latin: 102. videte in quot se laqueos induerit, quorum ex nullo se, iudices, umquam expediet. ipse in Sicilia saepe et palam de loco superiore dixerat et in sermone multis demonstrarat licere nomen recipere absentis; se exemplo fecisse quod fecisset. eum dictitasse priore actione et Sex. Pompeius Chlorus dixit, de cuius virtute antea commemoravi, et Cn. Pompeius Theodorus, homo et Cn. Pompei, clarissimi viri, iudicio plurimis maximisque in rebus probatissimus et omnium existimatione ornatissimus, et Posides Macro Soluntinus, homo summa nobilitate existimatione virtute ornatissimus, et hac actione quam voletis multi dicent, et qui ex isto ipso audierunt viri primarii nostri ordinis, et alii qui interfuerunt cum absentis nomen reciperetur. Romae, cum haec acta res esset in senatu, omnes istius amici, in his etiam pater eius hoc defendebat, licere fieri; saepe esse factum; iste quod fecisset aliorum exemplo institutoque fecisse.

[¶3] 103. Besides, all Sicily gives evidence of the fact which in the common petitions of all the states has prescribed this request to the consuls, “to beg and entreat of the conscript fathers, not to allow charges to be received against the absent.” Concerning which matter you heard Cnaeus Lentulus, the advocate of Sicily, and a most admirable young man, say, that the Sicilians, when they were instructing him in their case, and pointing out to him what matters were to be urged in their behalf before the senate, complained much of this misfortune of Sthenius, and on account of this injustice which had been done to Sthenius, resolved to make this demand which I have mentioned.

> Latin: 103. praeterea testimonium tota Sicilia, quae in communibus postulatis civitatum omnium consulibus edidit, rogare atque orare patres conscriptos ut statuerent ne absentium nomina reciperentur. de re Cn. Lentulum, patronum Siciliae, clarissimum adulescentem, dicere audistis, Siculos, cum se causam quae sibi in senatu pro his agenda esset docerent, de Stheni calamitate questos esse, propterque hanc iniuriam quae Sthenio facta esset eos statuisse ut hoc quod dico postularetur.

[¶4] 104. And as this is the ease, were you endued with such insanity and audacity, as, in a matter so clear, so thoroughly proved,—made so notorious even by you yourself, to dare to corrupt the public records? But how did you corrupt them? Did you not do it in such a way that, even if we all kept silence, still your own handwriting would be sufficient to condemn you? Give me, it you please, the document. Take it round to the judges; show it to them. Do you not see that the whole of this entry, where he states that the charge was made against Sthenius in his presence, is a correction? What was written there before? What blunder did he correct when he made that erasure? Why, O judges, do you wait for proofs of this charge from us? We say nothing; the books are before you, which cry out themselves that they have been tampered with and amended.

> Latin: 104. cum ita essent, tantane amentia praeditus atque audacia fuisti ut in re tam clara, tam testata, tam abs te ipso pervulgata tabulas publicas corrumpere auderes? quem ad modum corrupisti? nonne ita ut omnibus nobis tacentibus ipsae tuae te tabulae condemnare possent?, quaeso, codicem, circumfer, ostende. totum hoc nomen, coram ubi facit delatum, esse in litura? fuit istic antea scriptum? quod mendum ista litura correxit? a nobis, iudices, exspectatis argumenta huius criminis? dicimus; tabulae sunt in medio, quae se corruptas atque interlitas esse clamant.

[¶5] 105. Do you think you can possibly escape out of this business, when we are following you up, not by any uncertain opinion, but by your own traces, which you have left deeply printed and fresh in the public documents? Has he decided, (I should like to know,) without hearing the cause, that Sthenius has tampered with the public documents, who cannot possibly defend himself from the charge of having tampered with the public documents in the case of that very Sthenius?

> Latin: 105. istis etiam tu rebus effugere te posse confidis, cum te nos non opinione dubia, sed tuis vestigiis persequamur, quae tu in tabulis publicis expressa ac recentia reliquisti? mihi etiam Sthenium litteras publicas corrupisse causa incognita iudicavit, qui defendere non poterit se non in ipsius Stheni nomine litteras publicas corrupisse?

[¶6] 106. See now another instance of madness; see how, in trying to acquit himself; he entangles himself still more. He assigns an advocate to Sthenius.—Whom? Any relation or intimate friend? No.—Any citizen, any honourable and noble man of Florence? Not even that.—At least it was some Sicilian, in whom there was some credit and dignity? Far from it.—Whom then did he assign to him? A Roman citizen. Who can approve of this? When Sthenius was the man of the highest rank in his city, a man of most extensive connections, with numberless friends; when, besides, he was of the greatest influence all over Sicily, by his own personal character and popularity; could he find no Sicilian who was willing to be appointed his advocate? Will you approve of this? Did he himself prefer a Roman citizen? Tell me what Sicilian, when he was defendant in any action, ever had a Roman citizen assigned to him as his advocate? Produce the records of all the praetors who preceded Verres; open them. If you find one such instance, I will then admit to you that this was done as you have entered it in your public documents.

> Latin: 106. porro aliam amentiam; videte ut, dum expedire sese vult, induat. adscribit Sthenio—quem? cognatum aliquem aut propinquum?. Thermitanum aliquem, honestum hominem ac nobilem? id quidem. Siculum, in quo aliquis splendor dignitasque esset?. igitur? Romanum. hoc probari potest? esset Sthenius civitatis suae nobilissimus, amplissima cognatione, plurimis amicitiis, cum praeterea tota Sicilia multum auctoritate et gratia posset, invenire neminem Siculum potuit qui pro se cognitor fieret? probabis? ipse civem Romanum maluit? cui Siculo, cum is reus fieret, civis Romanus cognitor factus umquam sit. praetorum litteras qui ante te fuerunt profer, explica; si unum inveneris, ego hoc tibi, quem ad modum in tabulis scriptum habes, ita gestum esse concedam.

[¶7] 107. Oh but, I suppose, Sthenius thought it honourable to himself for Verres to choose a man for his advocate out of the number of Roman citizens who were his own friends and connections! Whom did he choose? Whose name is written in the records? Caius Claudius, the son of Caius, of the Palatine tribe. I do not ask who this Claudius is; how illustrious, how honourable, how well suited to the business, and deserving that, because of his influence and dignity, Sthenius should abandon the custom of all the Sicilians, and have a Roman citizen for his advocate. I do not ask any of these questions;—for perhaps Sthenius was influenced not by the high position of the man, but by his intimacy with him.—What? What shall we say if there was in the whole world a greater enemy to Sthenius than this very Caius Claudius, both constantly in old times, and especially at this time and in this affair?—if he appeared against him on the charge of tampering with the public documents?—if he opposed him by every means in his power? Which shall we believe,—that an enemy of Sthenius was actually appointed his advocate, or that you, at a time of the greatest danger to Sthenius, made free with the name of his enemy, to ensure his ruin?

> Latin: 107. , credo, Sthenius hoc sibi amplum putavit, eligere ex civium Romanorum numero, ex amicorum atque hospitum suorum copia, quem cognitorem daret. delegit? quis in tabulis scriptus est? C. Claudius C. F. Palatina. quaero quis hic sit Claudius, quam splendidus, quam honestus, quam idoneus propter cuius auctoritatem et dignitatem Sthenius ab omnium Siculorum consuetudine discederet et civem Romanum cognitorem daret. horum quaero; fortasse enim Sthenius non splendorem hominis, sed familiaritatem secutus est.? si omnium mortalium Sthenio nemo inimicior quam hic C. Claudius cum semper tum in his ipsis rebus et temporibus fuit, si de litteris corruptis contra venit, si contra omni ratione pugnavit, utrum potius pro Sthenio inimicum cognitorem esse factum an te ad Stheni periculum inimici eius nomine abusum esse credemus?

[¶8] 108. And that no one may have any doubt as to the real nature of the whole transaction, although I feel sure that by this time that man's rascality is pretty evident to you all, still listen yet a little longer. Do you see that man with curly hair, of a dark complexion, who is looking at us with such a countenance as shows that he seems to himself a very clever fellow? him, I mean, who has the papers in his hand—who is writing—who is prompting him—who is next to him. That is Caius Claudius, who in Sicily was considered Verres's agent and interpreter, the manager of all his dirty work, a sort of colleague to Timarchides. Now he is promoted so high that he scarcely seems to yield to Apronius in intimacy with him; indeed he called himself the colleague and ally not of Timarchides, but of Verres himself.

> Latin: 108. ne qui forte dubitet cuius modi hoc totum sit negotium, tametsi iam dudum omnibus istius improbitatem perspicuam esse confido, tamen paulum etiam attendite. illum subcrispo capillo, nigrum, qui eo vultu nos intuetur ut sibi ipse peracutus esse videatur, qui tabulas tenet, qui scribit, qui monet, qui proximus est. est Claudius, qui in Sicilia sequester istius, interpres, confector negotiorum, prope conlega Timarchidi numerabatur, nunc obtinet eum locum ut vix Apronio illi de familiaritate concedere videatur, ei qui se non Timarchidi sed ipsius Verris conlegam et socium esse dicebat.

[¶9] 109. Now doubt, if you can, that he chose that man of all the world to impose the worthless character of a false advocate on, whom he knew to be most hostile to Sthenius, and most friendly to himself. And will you hesitate in this case, O judges, to punish such enormous audacity and cruelty and injustice as that of this man? Will you hesitate to follow the example of those judges, who, when they had condemned Cnaeus Dolabella, rescinded the condemnation of Philodamus of Opus, because a charge had been received against him not in his absence, which is of all things the most unjust and the most intolerable, but after a commission had been given him by his fellow-citizens to proceed to Rome as their ambassador? That precedent which the judges, in obedience to the principles of equity, established in a less important cause, will you hesitate to adopt in a cause of the greatest consequence, especially now that it has been established by the authority of others?

> Latin: 109. etiam, si potestis, quin eum iste potissimum ex omni numero delegerit cui hanc cognitoris falsi improbam personam imponeret, quem et huic inimicissimum et sibi amicissimum esse arbitraretur! vos dubitabitis, iudices, tantam istius audaciam, tantam crudelitatem, tantam iniuriam vindicare? dubitabitis exemplum illorum iudicum sequi qui damnato Cn. Dolabella damnationem Philodami Opuntii resciderunt, quod is non absens reus factus esset, quae res iniquissima atque acerbissima est, sed cum ei legatio iam Romam a suis civibus esset data? illi iudices multo in leviore causa statuerunt aequitatem secuti, vos id statuere in gravissima causa, praesertim aliorum auctoritate iam confirmatum, dubitabitis?

[¶10] 110. But who was it, O Verres, whom you treated with such great, with such unexampled injustice? Against whom did you receive a charge in his absence? Whom did you condemn in his absence; not only without any crime, and without any witness, but even without any accuser? Who was it? O ye immortal gods! I will not say your own friend,—that which is the dearest title among men. I will not say your host,—which is the most holy name. There is nothing in Sthenius's case which I speak of less willingly. The only thing which I find it possible to blame him in is,—that he, a most moderate and upright man, invited you, a man full of adultery, and crime, and wickedness, to his house; that he, who had been and was connected by ties of hospitality with Caius Marius, with Cnaeus Pompeius, with Caius Marcellus, with Lucius Sisenna, your defender, and with other excellent citizens, added your name also to that of those unimpeachable men.

> Latin: 110. quem hominem, C. Verres, tanta tam insigni iniuria adfecisti? quem hominem absentem de litteris corruptis causa incognita condemnasti? cuius absentis nomen recepisti? quem absentem non modo sine crimine et sine teste, verum etiam sine accusatore damnasti? hominem? di immortales! non dicam amicum tuum, quod apud homines clarissimum est, non hospitem, quod sanctissimum est; nihil enim minus libenter de Sthenio commemoro, nihil aliud in eo quod reprehendi possit invenio nisi quod homo frugalissimus atque integerrimus te, hominem plenum stupri flagiti sceleris, domum suam invitavit, nisi quod, qui C. Mari, Cn. Pompei, C. Marcelli, L. Sisennae, tui defensoris, ceterorum virorum fortissimorum hospes fuisset atque esset, ad eum numerum clarissimorum hominum tuum quoque nomen adscripsit.

[¶11] 111. On which account I make no complaint of violated hospitality, and of your abominable wickedness in violating it; I say this not to those who know Sthenius,—that is to say, not to any one of those who have been in Sicily; (for no one who has is ignorant in how great authority he lived in his own city, in what great honour and consideration among all the Sicilians;) but I say it that those, too, who have not been in the province, may be able to understand who he was in whose case you established such a precedent, that both on account of the iniquity of the deed, as well as on account of the rank of the man, it appeared scandalous and intolerable to every one.

> Latin: 111. de hospitio violato et de tuo isto scelere nefario nil queror; hoc dico non iis qui Sthenium norunt, hoc est nemini eorum qui in Sicilia fuerunt,—nemo enim ignorat quo hic in civitate sua splendore, qua apud omnis Siculos dignitate atque existimatione sit; sed ut illi quoque qui in ea provincia non fuerunt intellegere possint in quo homine tu statueris exemplum eius modi, quod cum propter iniquitatem rei tum etiam propter hominis dignitatem acerbum omnibus atque intolerandum videretur.

[¶12] 112. Is not Sthenius the man, he who when he had very easily obtained all the honourable offices in his city, executed them with the greatest splendor, and magnificence?—who decorated a town, not itself of the first rank, with most spacious places of public resort, and most splendid monuments, at his own expense?—on account of whose good services towards the state of Thermae, and towards all the Sicilians, a brazen tablet was set up in the senate-house at Thermae; in which mention was made of his services, and engraved at the public expense?—which tablet was torn down under your government, and is now brought hither by me, that all may know the honour in which he was held among his countrymen, and his preeminent dignity.

> Latin: 112. Sthenius is qui, omnis honores domi suae facillime cum adeptus esset, amplissime ac magnificentissime gessit, qui oppidum non maximum maximis ex pecunia sua locis communibus monumentisque decoravit, cuius de meritis in rem publicam Thermitanorum Siculosque universos fuit aenea tabula fixa Thermis in curia, in qua publice erat de huius beneficiis scriptum et incisum? quae tabula tum imperio tuo revulsa, nunc a me tamen deportata est, ut omnes huius honores inter suos et amplitudinem possent cognoscere.

[¶13] 113. Is this the man, who when he was accused before that most illustrious man, Cnaeus Pompeius, and when his enemies and accusers charged him, in terms calculated to excite odium against him, rather than true, of having been ill affected to the republic on account of his intimacy and his connections of hospitality with Caius Marius, was acquitted by Cnaeus Pompeius with such language as showed that, from what had come out at that very trial, Cnaeus Pompeius judged him most worthy of his own intimacy? and moreover was defended and extolled by all the Sicilians in such a manner, that Pompeius thought that by his acquittal he had earned, not only the gratitude of the man himself, but that of the whole province? Lastly, is not he the man who had such affection towards the republic, and also such great authority among his fellow-citizens, that he alone in all Sicily, while you were praetor, did what not only no other Sicilian, but what all Sicily even could not do,—namely, prevented you from taking away any statue, any ornament, any sacred vessel, or any public property from Thermae; and that too when there were many remarkable beautiful things there, and though you coveted everything?

> Latin: 113. hic qui apud Cn. Pompeium, clarissimum virum, cum accusatus esset, quod propter C. Mari familiaritatem et hospitium contra rem publicam sensisse eum inimici et accusatores eius dicerent, cumque magis invidioso crimine quam vero arcesseretur, ita a Cn. Pompeio absolutus est ut in eo ipso iudicio Pompeius hunc hospitio suo dignissimum statueret? ita porro laudatus defensusque ab omnibus Siculis ut idem Pompeius non ab homine solum, sed etiam a provincia tota se huius absolutione inire gratiam arbitraretur? estne hic qui et animum in rem publicam habuit eius modi et tantum auctoritate apud suos civis potuit ut perficeret in Sicilia solus te praetore, quod non modo Siculus nemo sed ne Sicilia quidem tota potuisset, ut ex oppido Thermis nullum signum, nullum ornamentum, nihil ex sacro, nihil de publico attingeres, cum praesertim et essent multa praeclara et tu omnia concupisses?

[¶14] 114. See now, what a difference there is between you, in whose name days of festival are kept among the Sicilians, and those splendid Verrean games, are celebrated; to whom gilt statues are erected at Rome, presented by the commonwealth of Sicily, as we see inscribed upon them;—see, I say, what a difference there is between you and this Sicilian, who was condemned by you, the patron of Sicily. Him very many cities of Sicily praise by public resolutions in his favour, by their own evidence, by deputations went hither with that object. You, the patron of all the Sicilians, the solitary state of the Mamertini, the partner of your thefts and crimes, praises publicly; and yet in such a way that, by a new process, the deputies themselves injure your cause, though the deputation praises you. These other states all publicly accuse you, complain of you, impeach you by letters, by deputations, by evidence; and, if you are acquitted, think themselves utterly ruined.

> Latin: 114. nunc vide quid inter te, cuius nomine apud Siculos dies festi aguntur et praeclara illa Verria celebrantur, cui statuae Romae stant inauratae a communi Siciliae, quem ad modum inscriptum videmus, datae—vide, inquam, quid inter te et hunc Siculum, qui abs te est, patrono Siciliae, condemnatus, intersit. civitates ex Sicilia permultae testimonio suo legationibusque ad eam rem missis publice laudant: te, omnium Siculorum patronum, una Mamertina civitas, socia furtorum ac flagitiorum tuorum, publice laudat—ita tamen novo more ut legati laedant, legatio laudet—ceterae quidem civitates publice litteris legationibus testimoniis accusant, queruntur, arguunt: si tu absolutus sis, se funditus eversas esse arbitrantur.

[¶15] 115. It is in the case of this man and of his property that you have erected a monument of your crimes and cruelty even on Mount Eryx itself; on which is inscribed the name Sthenius of Thermae. I saw a Cupid made of silver, with a torch. What object had you,—what reason was there for employing the plunder of Sthenius on that subject rather than on any other? Did you wish it to be a token of your own cupidity, or a trophy of your friendship and connection of hospitality with him, or a proof of your love towards him? Men, who in their excelling wickedness are pleased not only with their lust and pleasure itself, but also with the fame of their wickedness, do wish to leave in many places the marks and traces of their crimes.

> Latin: 115. de homine ac de huius bonis etiam in Eryco monte monumentum tuorum [furtorum,] flagitiorum crudelitatisque posuisti, in quo Stheni Thermitani nomen adscriptum est. argenteum Cupidinem cum lampade. tandem habuit argumenti aut rationis res quam ob rem in eo potissimum Sthenianum praemium poneretur? utrum hoc signum cupiditatis tuae an tropaeum necessitudinis atque hospiti an amoris indicium esse voluisti? hoc homines quos in summa nequitia non solum libido et voluptas, verum etiam ipsius nequitiae fama delectet, ut multis in locis notas ac vestigia suorum flagitiorum relinqui velint.

[¶16] 116. He was burning with love of that hostess for whose sake he had violated the laws of hospitality. He wished that not only to be known, but also to be recorded for ever. And therefore, out of the proceeds of that very action which he had performed, Agathinus being the accuser, he thought that a reward was especially due to Venus, who had caused the prosecution and the whole proceeding. I should think you grateful to the Gods if you had given this gift to Venus, not out of the property of Sthenius, but out of your own, as you ought to have done, especially as an inheritance had come to you from Chelidon that very same year.

> Latin: 116. amore illius hospitae propter quam hospiti iura violarat; hoc non solum sciri tum, verum etiam commemorari semper volebat; itaque ex illa ipsa re quam accusante Agathino gesserat Veneri potissimum deberi praemium statuit, quae illam totam accusationem iudiciumque conflarat. te gratum in deos si hoc donum Veneri non de Stheni bonis dedisses, sed de tuis; quod facere debuisti, praesertim cum tibi illo ipso anno a Chelidone venisset hereditas.

[¶17] 117. On these grounds now, even if I had not undertaken this cause at the request of all the Sicilians; if the whole province had not requested this favour of me; if my affection and love for the republic, and the injury done to the credit of our order and of the courts of justice, had not compelled me to do so; and if this had been my only reason, that you had so cruelly, and wickedly, and abominably treated my friend and connection Sthenius, to whom I had formed an extraordinary attachment in my quaestorship, of whom I had the highest possible opinion, whom while I was in the province I knew to be most zealous and earnest for my reputation,—I should still think I had plenty of reason to incur the enmity of a most worthless man, in order to defend the safety and fortunes of my friend.

> Latin: 117. ego, si hanc causam non omnium Siculorum rogatu recepissem, si hoc a me muneris non universa provincia poposcisset, si me animus atque amor in rem publicam existimatioque offensa nostri ordinis ac iudiciorum non hoc facere coegisset, atque haec una causa fuisset quod amicum atque hospitem meum Sthenium, quem ego in quaestura mea singulariter dilexissem, de quo optime existimassem, quem in provincia existimationis meae studiosissimum cupidissimumque cognossem, tam crudeliter scelerate nefarieque tractasses, tamen digna causa videretur cur inimicitias hominis improbissimi susciperem, ut hospitis salutem fortunasque defenderem.

[¶18] 118. Many men have done the same in the times of our ancestors. Lately, too, that most eminent man Cnaeus Domitius did so, who accused Marcus Silanus, a man of consular rank, on account of the injuries done by him to Egritomarus of the Transalpine country, his friend. I should think it became me to follow the example of their good feeling and regard for their duty; and I should hold out hope to my friends and connections to think that they would live a safer life owing to my protection. But when the cause of Sthenius draws along with it the common calamity of the whole province, and when many of my friends and connections are being defended by me at the same time, both in their public and private interests, I ought not in truth to fear that any one can suppose that I have done what I have in undertaking this cause under the pressure and compulsion of any motive except that of the strictest duty. And that we may at last give up speaking of the investigations made, and the judicial proceedings conducted, and of the decisions given by that man; and as his exploits of that class are countless, let us put some bounds and limits to our speech and accusation. We will take a few cases of another sort.

> Latin: 118. hoc multi apud maiores nostros, fecit etiam nuper homo clarissimus, Cn. Domitius, qui M. Silanum, consularem hominem, accusavit propter Aegritomari Transalpini hospitis iniurias. me idoneum qui exemplum sequerer humanitatis atque offici, proponeremque spem meis hospitibus ac necessariis quo tutiorem sese vitam meo praesidio victuros esse arbitrarentur; cum vero in communibus iniuriis totius provinciae Stheni quoque causa contineatur, multique uno tempore a me hospites atque amici publice privatimque defendantur, profecto vereri non debeo ne quis hoc quod facio non existimet me summi offici ratione impulsum coactumque suscepisse. ut aliquando de rebus ab isto cognitis iudicatisque et de iudiciis datis dicere desistamus, et, quoniam facta istius in his generibus infinita sunt, nos modum aliquem et finem orationi nostrae criminibusque faciamus, pauca ex aliis generibus sumemus.

[¶19] 119. You have heard Quintus Varius say, that his agents paid that man a hundred and thirty thousand sesterces for a decision in his cause. You recollect that the evidence of Quintus Varius was corroborated, and that this whole affair was proved by the testimony of Caius Sacerdos, a most excellent man. You know that Cnaeus Sertius and Marcus Modius, Roman knights, and that six hundred Roman citizens besides, and many Sicilians, said that they had given that money for decisions in their causes. And why need I dilate upon this accusation when the whole matter is set plainly forth in the evidence? Why should I argue about what no one can doubt? Or will any man in the world doubt that he set up his judicial decisions for sale in Sicily, when at Rome he sold his very edict and all his decrees? and that he received money from the Sicilians in issuing extraordinary decrees, when he actually made a demand on Marcus Octavius Ligur for giving a decision on his cause?

> Latin: 119. Audistis ob ius dicendum Q. Varium dicere procuratores suos isti centum triginta milia nummum dedisse, meministis Q. Vari testimonium, remque hanc totam C. Sacerdotis, hominis ornatissimi, testimonio comprobari, scitis Cn. Sertium, M. Modium, equites Romanos, sescentos praeterea civis Romanos multosque Siculos dixisse se isti pecuniam ob ius dicendum dedisse. quo crimine quid ego disputem, cum id totum positum sit in testibus? quid porro argumenter, qua de re dubitare nemo possit? hoc dubitabit quisquam omnium, quin is venalem in Sicilia iuris dictionem habuerit qui Romae totum edictum atque omnia decreta vendiderit? et quin is ab Siculis ob decreta interponenda pecunias ceperit, qui M. Octavium Ligurem pecuniam ob ius dicendum poposcerit?

[¶20] 120. For what method of extorting money did he ever omit? What method did he fail to devise, even if it had escaped the notice of every one else? Was anything in the Sicilian states ever sought to be obtained in which there is any honour, any power, or any authority, that you did not make it a source of your own gain, and sell it to the best bidder? At the former pleading evidence was given of both a public and a private nature; deputies from Centuripa, from Halesa, from Catina, and from Panormus, and from many other cities gave evidence; but now, also, a great many private individuals have been examined, by whose testimony you have ascertained that no one in all Sicily for the space of three years was ever made senator in any city for nothing,—no one by vote, as their laws prescribe,—no one except by his command, or by his letters; and that in the appointment of all these senators, not only were no votes given, but there was not even any consideration of those families from which it was lawful to select men for that body, nor of their income, nor of their age; nor were any other of the Sicilian laws of the slightest influence.

> Latin: 120. enim iste praeterea genus pecuniae cogendae praeteriit? quod non ab omnibus aliis praeteritum excogitavit? ecqua res apud civitates Siculas expetitur, in qua aut honos aliquis sit aut potestas aut procuratio, quin eam rem tu ad tuum quaestum nundinationemque hominum traduxeris? Dicta sunt priore actione et privatim et publice testimonia; legati Centuripini, Halaesini, Catinenses, Panhormitanique dixerunt, multarum praeterea civitatum, iam vero privatim plurimi. ex testimoniis cognoscere potuistis tota Sicilia per triennium neminem ulla in civitate senatorem factum esse gratiis, neminem, ut leges eorum sunt, suffragiis, neminem nisi istius imperio aut litteris; atque in his omnibus senatoribus cooptandis non modo suffragia nulla fuisse, sed ne genera quidem spectata esse ex quibus in eum ordinem cooptari liceret, neque census neque aetates neque cetera Siculorum iura valuisse;

[¶21] 121. Whoever wished to be made a senator, though he was a boy, though he was unworthy, though he was of a class from which it was not lawful to take senators; still, if he paid money enough to appear in his eyes a fit man to gain his object, so it always was. Not only the laws of the Sicilians had no influence in this matter, but even those which had been given to them by the senate and people of Rome had none either. For the laws which he makes who has the supreme command given to him by the Roman people, and authority to make laws conferred on him by the senate, ought to be considered the laws of the senate and people of Rome.

> Latin: 121. quicumque senator voluerit fieri, quamvis puer, quamvis indignus, quamvis ex eo loco ex quo non liceret, si is pretio apud istum [idoneus] vinceret, factum esse semper; non modo Siculorum nihil in hac re valuisse leges, sed ne ab senatu quidem populoque Romano datas. enim leges sociis amicisque dat is qui habet imperium a populo Romano, auctoritatem legum dandarum ab senatu, eae debent et populi Romani et senatus existimari.

[¶22] 122. The citizens of Halesa, who were till lately in the enjoyment of their own laws, in return for the numerous and great services and good deeds done both by themselves and by their ancestors to our republic, lately in the consulship of Lucius Licinius and Quintus Mucius, requested laws from our senate, as they had disputes among themselves about the elections into their senate. The senate, by a very honourable decree, voted that Caius Claudius Pulcher, the son of Appius the praetor, should give them laws to regulate their elections into their senate. Caius Claudius, taking as his counselors all the Marcelli who were then alive, with their advice gave laws to the men of Halesa in which he laid down many rules about the age of the men who might be elected; that no one might be under thirty years of age; about trade,—that no one engaged in it might be elected; about their income, and about all other matters; all which regulations prevailed till that man became praetor by the authority of our magistrates, and with the cordial good-will of the men of Halesa. But from him even a crier who was desirous of it, bought that rank for a sum of money, and boys sixteen and seventeen years old purchased the title of senator; and that which the men of Halesa, our most ancient and faithful allies and friends, had petitioned, and that successfully, at Rome, to have put on such a footing that it might not be lawful for men to be elected even by vote, he now made easy to be obtained by bribery.

> Latin: 122. Halaesini pro multis ac magnis suis maiorumque suorum in rem publicam nostram meritis atque beneficiis suo iure nuper, L. Licinio Q. Mucio consulibus, cum haberent inter se controversias de senatu cooptando, leges ab senatu nostro petiverunt. senatus honorifico senatus consulto ut iis C. Claudius Appi filius praetor de senatu cooptando leges conscriberet. C. Claudius, adhibitis omnibus Marcellis qui tum erant, de eorum sententia leges Halaesinis dedit, in quibus multa sanxit de aetate hominum, ne qui minor xxx annis natus, de quaestu, quem qui fecisset ne legeretur, de censu, de ceteris rebus: quae omnia ante istum praetorem et nostrorum magistratuum auctoritate et Halaesinorum summa voluntate valuerunt. isto et praeco, qui voluit, illum ordinem pretio mercatus est, et pueri annorum senum septenumque denum senatorium nomen nundinati sunt; et quod Halaesini, antiquissimi et fidelissimi socii atque amici, Romae impetrarant, ut apud se ne suffragiis quidem fieri liceret, id pretio ut fieri posset effecit.

[¶23] 123. The people of Agrigentum have old laws about appointing their senate, given them by Scipio, in which the same principles are laid down, and this one besides,—as there are two classes of Agrigentines, one of the old inhabitants, and the other of the new,—settlers whom Titus Manlius, when praetor, had led from other towns of the Sicilians to Agrigentum, in obedience to a resolution of the senate;—it was provided in the laws of Scipio, that there should not be a greater number of members of the senate taken from the class of settlers than from the old inhabitants of Agrigentum. That man, who had levelled all laws by bribery, and who had taken away all distinction between things for money, not only disturbed all those regulations which related to age, rank, and traffic, but even with respect to these two classes of old and new inhabitants, he disturbed the proportion of their selection.

> Latin: 123. Agrigentini de senatu cooptando Scipionis leges antiquas habent, in quibus et illa eadem sancta sunt et hoc amplius: cum Agrigentinorum duo genera sint, unum veterum, alterum colonorum quos T. Manlius praetor ex senatus consulto de oppidis Siculorum deduxit Agrigentum, cautum est in Scipionis legibus ne plures essent in senatu ex colonorum numero quam ex vetere Agrigentinorum., qui omnia iura pretio exaequasset omniumque rerum dilectum atque discrimen pecunia sustulisset, non modo illa quae erant aetatis ordinis quaestusque permiscuit, sed etiam in his duobus generibus civium novorum veterumque turbavit.

[¶24] 124. For when a senator died of the old inhabitants, and when the remaining number of each class was equal, it was necessary, according to the laws, that one of the original inhabitants should be elected in order that there might be the larger number. And though this was the case, still, not only some of the original inhabitants, but also some of the new settlers, came to him to purchase the rank of senator. The result is, that through bribery, one of the new men carries the day, and gets letters of appointment from the praetor. The Agrigentines send deputies to him to inform him of their laws, and to explain to him the invariable usage of past years, in order that he might be aware that he had sold that rank to one with whom he had no right even to treat on the subject. By whose speech, as he had already received the money, he was not in the least influenced.

> Latin: 124. cum esset ex vetere numero quidam senator demortuus, et cum ex utroque genere par numerus reliquus esset, veterem cooptari necesse erat legibus, ut is amplior numerus esset. cum ita se res haberet, tamen ad istum emptum venerunt illum locum senatorium non solum veteres, verum etiam novi. ut pretio novus vincat litterasque a praetore adferat Agrigentum. Agrigentini ad istum legatos mittunt qui eum leges doceant consuetudinemque omnium annorum demonstrent, ut iste intellegeret ei se illum locum vendidisse cui ne commercium quidem esse oporteret; quorum oratione iste, cum pretium iam accepisset, ne tantulum quidem commotus est.

[¶25] 125. He did the same thing at Heraclea. For thither also Publius Rupilius led settlers and gave them similar laws about the appointment of the senate, and about the number of the old and new senators. There he did not only receive money, as he did in the other cities, but he even confused the class of the original inhabitants and of the new settlers. Do not wait for me to go through all the cities of Sicily in my speech. In this one statement I comprehend everything,—that no one could be made a senator while he was praetor except those who had given him money.

> Latin: 125. fecit Heracleae. eo quoque colonos P. Rupilius deduxit, legesque similis de cooptando senatu et de numero veterum ac novorum dedit. non solum iste ut apud ceteros pecuniam accepit, sed etiam genera veterum ac novorum numerumque permiscuit. exspectare dum omnis obeam oratione mea civitates: hoc uno complector omnia, neminem isto praetore senatorem fieri potuisse nisi qui isti pecuniam dedisset.

[¶26] 126. And I carry on the same charge to all magistracies, agencies, and priesthoods; by which acts he has not only trampled on the laws of men, but on all the religious reverence due to the immortal gods. There is at Syracuse a law respecting their religion, which enjoins a priest of Jupiter to be taken by lot every year; and that priesthood is considered among the Syracusans as the most honourable.

> Latin: 126. idem transfero in magistratus, curationes, sacerdotia; quibus in rebus non solum hominum iura, sed etiam deorum immortalium religiones omnis repudiavit. Syracusis lex est de religione, quae in annos singulos Iovis sacerdotem sortito capi iubeat, quod apud illos amplissimum sacerdotium putatur:

[¶27] 127. When three men have been selected by vote out of the three classes of citizens, the matter is decided by lot. He by his absolute command had contrived to have his intimate friend Theomnastus returned among the three by vote. When it came to the decision by lot, which he could not command, men were waiting to see what he would do. The fellow at first forbade them to elect by lot, as that seemed the easiest way, and ordered Theomnastus to be appointed without casting lots. The Syracusans say that cannot possibly be done, according to the reverence due to their sacred laws; they say it would be impious. He orders the law to be read to him. It is read. In it was written, “that as many lots were to be thrown into the urn as there were names returned; that he whose name was drawn was to have the priesthood.” He then, ingenious and clever man! said, “Capital! it is written, ‘As many lots as there are names returned;’ how many names then were returned?” It is answered, “Three.” “Is there then anything necessary except that three lots should be put in, and one drawn out?” “Nothing.” He orders three lots to be put in, on all of which was written the name of Theomnastus. A great outcry arises as it seemed to every one a scandalous and infamous proceeding. And so by these means that most honourable priesthood is given to Theomnastus.

> Latin: 127. cum suffragiis tres ex tribus generibus creati sunt, res revocatur ad sortem. iste imperio ut pro suffragio Theomnastus, familiaris suus, in tribus illis renuntiaretur: in sorte, cui imperare non potuerat, exspectabant homines quidnam acturus esset., id quod erat facillimum, primo vetat sortiri: iubet extra sortem Theomnastum renuntiari. id Syracusani per religiones sacrorum ullo modo fieri posse, fas denique negant esse. iste sibi legem recitari.; in qua scriptum erat ut, quot essent renuntiati, tot in hydriam sortes conicerentur; cuium nomen exisset, ut is haberet id sacerdotium. homo ingeniosus et peracutus, “,” inquit, “nempe scriptum ita est, qvot renvntiati ervnt. ergo, inquit, sunt renuntiati?”, “.” “igitur oportet nisi tres sortis conici, unam educi?” “.” iubet tres, in quibus omnibus esset inscriptum nomen Theomnasti. clamor maximus, cum id universis indignum ac nefarium videretur. Iovis illud sacerdotium amplissimum per hanc rationem Theomnasto datur.

[¶28] 128. At Cephalaedium there is a regular month, in which the pontifex is bound to be appointed. A man of the name of Artemo, surnamed Climachias, was desirous of that honour a man of sufficient riches to be sure, and of noble family; but he could not possibly have been appointed if a man of the name of Herodotus had been present. For that place and rank was thought to be so decidedly due to him for that year, that even Climachias could say nothing against him. The matter is referred to Verres, and is decided according to his usual fashion. Some beautiful and valuable specimens of carving are removed from Artemo's. Herodotus was at Rome; he thought that he should arrive in time enough for the comitia if he came the day before. Verres, in order that the comitia might not be held in any other month than the regular one, and that the honour might not be refused to Herodotus when he was present, (a thing which he was not anxious for, and which Climachias was very eager to avoid,) contrives, (I have said before, there is no one cleverer, and never was, in his way,)—he contrives, I say, how the comitia may be held in the regular month for them, and yet Herodotus may not be able to be present.

> Latin: 128. Cephaloedi mensis est certus, quo mense sacerdotem maximum creari oporteat. eius honoris cupidus Artemo quidam, Climachias cognomine, homo sane locuples et domi nobilis. is fieri nullo modo poterat si Herodotus quidam adesset: ei locus ille atque honos in illum annum ita deberi putabatur ut ne Climachias quidem contra diceret. ad istum defertur et istius more deciditur: toreumata sane nota et pretiosa auferuntur. Herodotus Romae erat; satis putabat se ad comitia tempore venturum si pridie venisset., ne aut alio mense ac fas erat comitia haberentur, aut Herodoto praesenti honos adimeretur, (id quod iste non laborabat, Climachias minime volebat), excogitat—dixi iam dudum, non est homo acutior quisquam nec fuit—excogitat, inquam, quem ad modum mense illo legitimo comitia haberentur nec tamen Herodotus adesse posset.

[¶29] 129. It is a custom of the Sicilians, and of the rest of the Greeks, because they wish their days and months to agree with the calculations as to the sun and moon, if there be any difference sometimes to take out a day, or, at most, two days from a month, which they call e)caire/simoi. And so also they sometimes make a month longer by a day or by two days. And when he heard of that, he, this new astronomer, who was thinking not so much of the heavens as of the heavy plate, he orders (not a day to be taken out of the month, but) a month and a half to be taken out of the year; so that the day which, as one may say, ought to have been the thirteenth of January, became the first of March. And that is done in spite of the remonstrances and indignation of every one. That was the legitimate day for holding the comitia. On that day Climachias is declared to have been elected priest.

> Latin: 129. consuetudo Siculorum ceterorumque Graecorum, quod suos dies mensisque congruere volunt cum solis lunaeque ratione, ut non numquam, si quid discrepet, eximant unum aliquem diem aut summum biduum ex mense, quos illi exaeresimos dies nominant; item non numquam uno die longiorem mensem faciunt aut biduo. cum iste cognosset novus astrologus, qui non tam caeli rationem quam caelati argenti duceret, eximi iubet non diem ex mense, sed ex anno unum dimidiatumque mensem hoc modo ut, quo die verbi causa esse oporteret Idus Ianuarias, is eo die Kalendas Martias proscribi iuberet: itaque fit omnibus recusantibus et plorantibus. is erat legitimus comitiis habendis. modo sacerdos Climachias renuntiatus est.

[¶30] 130. When Herodotus returns from Rome, fifteen days, as he supposed, before the comitia, he comes on the month of the comitia, when the comitia have been held thirty days before. Then the people of Cephalaedium voted an intercalary month of forty-five days, in order that the rest of the months might fall again into their proper season. If these things could be done at Rome, no doubt he would somehow or other have contrived to have the forty-five days between the two sets of games taken away, during which days alone this trial could take place.

> Latin: 130. Herodotus cum Roma revertitur, diebus, ut ipse putabat, xv ante comitia, offendit eum mensem qui consequitur mensem comitialem, comitiis iam abhinc xxx diebus factis. Cephaloeditani fecerunt intercalarium xxxxv dies longum, ut reliqui menses in suam rationem reverterentur. si Romae fieri posset, certe aliqua ratione expugnasset iste ut dies xxxxv inter binos ludos tollerentur, per quos solos iudicium fieri posset.

[¶31] 131. But now it is worth while to see how the censors were appointed in Sicily while that man was praetor. For that is the magistracy among the Sicilians, the appointments to which are made by the people with the greatest care, because all the Sicilians pay a yearly tax in proportion to their incomes; and, in making the census, the power is entrusted to the censor of making every sort of valuation, and of determining the total amount of every man's contribution. Therefore the people choose with the greatest care the man in whom they can place the greatest confidence in a matter affecting their own property; and on account of the greatness of the power, this magistracy is an object of the greatest ambition.

> Latin: 131. vero censores quem ad modum isto praetore in Sicilia creati sint, operae pretium est cognoscere. enim est magistratus apud Siculos qui diligentissime mandatur a populo propter hanc causam, quod omnes Siculi ex censu quotannis tributa conferunt, in censu habendo potestas omnis aestimationis habendae summaeque faciendae censori permittitur. et populus cui maximam fidem suarum rerum habeat maxima cura deligit, et propter magnitudinem potestatis hic magistratus a populo summa ambitione contenditur.

[¶32] 132. In such a matter, Verres did not choose to do any thing obscurely, nor to play tricks in the drawing of lots, nor to take days out of the calendar. He did not choose to do anything in an underhand manner, or by means of artifice; but in order to take away the fondness and desire for honours and ambition out of every city, feelings which usually tend to the ruin of a state, he declared that he should appoint the censors in every city.

> Latin: 132. ea re iste nihil obscure facere voluit, non in sortitione fallere neque dies de fastis eximere. sane vafre nec malitiose facere conatus est; sed ut studia cupiditatesque honorum atque ambitiones ex omnibus civitatibus tolleret, quae res evertendae rei publicae solent esse, ostendit sese in omnibus civitatibus censores esse facturum.

[¶33] 133. When the praetor announced so vast a scene of bargaining and trafficking as that, people came to Syracuse to see him, from all quarters. The whole of the praetor's house was on fire with the eagerness and cupidity of men; and no wonder, when all the comitia of so many cities were packed together into one house, and when all the ambition of an entire province was confined in one chamber. Bribes being openly asked for, and biddings being openly made, Timarchides appointed two censors for every city. He, by his own labour, and by his own visits to every one, by all the trouble which he took in this employment, achieved this, that all the money came to Verres without his having any anxiety on his part. How much money this Timarchides made, you cannot as yet know; for a certainty; but in what a variety of manners, and how shamefully, he plundered people, you heard at the former pleading, by the evidence of many witnesses.

> Latin: 133. mercatu praetoris indicto concurritur undique ad istum Syracusas; flagrabat domus tota praetoria studio hominum et cupiditate; nec mirum omnibus comitiis tot civitatum unam in domum revocatis, tantaque ambitione provinciae totius in uno cubiculo inclusa. palam pretiis et licitationibus factis, discribebat censores binos in singulas civitates Timarchides. suo labore suisque accessionibus huius negoti atque operis molestia consequebatur ut ad istum sine ulla sollicitudine summa pecuniae referretur. hic Timarchides quantam pecuniam fecerit plane adhuc cognoscere non potuistis; verum tamen priore actione quam varie, quam improbe praedatus esset, multorum testimoniis cognovistis.

## 12. Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 134–161

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/12/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/12/#p-N

[¶0] 134. But that you may not wonder how that freedman obtained so much influence with him, I will tell you briefly what the man is; so that you may both see the worthlessness of the man who kept such a fellow about him, especially in that employment and position, and that you may also see the misery of the province. In the seduction of women, and in all licentiousness and wickedness of that character, I found this Timarchides wonderfully fitted by nature to be subservient to his infamous lusts, and unexampled profligacy. In finding out who people were, in calling on them, in addressing them, in bribing them, in doing anything in matters of that sort, however cunningly, however audaciously, however shamelessly it might be necessary to go to work, I heard that this man could contrive admirable schemes for ensuring success. For, as for Verres himself, he was only a man of a covetousness ever open-mouthed, and ever threatening, but he had no ingenuity, no resources; so that, in whatever he did of his own accord, (just as you know was the case with him at Rome,) he seemed to rob openly rather than to cheat.

> Latin: 134. ne miremini qua ratione hic tantum apud istum libertus potuerit, exponam vobis breviter quid hominis sit, ut et istius nequitiam qui illum secum habuerit, eo praesertim numero ac loco, et calamitatem provinciae cognoscatis. mulierum corruptelis et in omni eius modi luxuria atque nequitia mirandum in modum reperiebam hunc Timarchidem ad istius flagitiosas libidines singularemque nequitiam natum atque aptum fuisse; investigare, adire, appellare, corrumpere, quidvis facere in eius modi rebus quamvis callide, quamvis audacter, quamvis impudenter; eundem mira quaedam excogitare genera furandi; nam ipsum Verrem tantum avaritia semper hiante atque imminente fuisse, ingenio et cogitatione nulla, ut quicquid sua sponte faciebat, item ut vos Romae cognovistis, eripere potius quam fallere videretur.

[¶1] 135. But the other fellow's skill and artifice were marvellous, so that he could hunt out and scent out with the greatest acuteness, all over the province, whatever had happened to any one, whatever any one stood in need of. He was able to find out, to converse with, to tamper with every one's foes, and every one's enemies; to know the circumstances of every trial on both sides; to ascertain men's inclinations, and power, and resources; where it was necessary to strike terror; where it was desirable to hold out hope. Every accuser, every informer, he had in his power, if he wished to cause trouble to any one, he did it without any difficulty. All Verres's decrees, and commands, and letters, he sold in the most skillful and cunning manner.

> Latin: 135. vero huius erat ars et malitia miranda, quod accuratissime tota provincia quid cuique accidisset, quid cuique opus esset, indagare et odorari solebat; omnium adversarios, omnium inimicos diligenter cognoscere, conloqui, attemptare; ex utraque parte causas voluntates perspicere, facultates et copias; quibus opus esset metum offerre, quibus expediret spem ostendere; accusatorum et quadruplatorum quicquid erat, habebat in potestate; quod cuique negoti conflare volebat, nullo labore faciebat; istius omnia decreta imperia litteras peritissime et callidissime venditabat.

[¶2] 136. And he was not only the minister of Verres's pleasures, he also took equally good care of himself. He not only picked up whatever money had slipped through his principal's fingers, by which he amassed great riches, but he also picked up the relics of his pleasures and of his profligacy. Therefore do not fancy that Athenio reigned in Sicily, for he took no city; but know ye that the runaway slave Timarchides reigned in every city of Sicily for three years; that the children, the matrons, the property, and all the fortunes of the most ancient and most devoted allies of the Roman people were all that time in the power of Timarchides. He therefore, as I say, he, Timarchides, sent censors into every city, having taken bribes for their appointment. Comitia for the election of censors, while Verres was praetor, were never held not even for the purpose of making a presence of legality.

> Latin: 136. non solum erat administer istius cupiditatum, verum etiam ipse sui meminerat, neque solum nummos, si qui isti exciderant, tollere solebat, ex quibus pecuniam maximam fecit, sed etiam voluptatum flagitiorumque istius ipse reliquias colligebat. in Sicilia non Athenionem, qui nullum oppidum cepit, sed Timarchidem fugitivum omnibus oppidis per triennium scitote regnasse; in Timarchidi potestate sociorum populi Romani antiquissimorum atque amicissimorum liberos, matres familias, bona fortunasque omnis fuisse. igitur, ut dico, Timarchides in omnis civitates accepto pretio censores dimisit: comitia isto praetore censorum ne simulandi quidem causa fuerunt.

[¶3] 137. This was the most shameless business of all. Three hundred denarii were openly exacted (for this, forsooth, was permitted by the laws) from each censor, to be paid down for the praetors statue. There were appointed a hundred and thirty censors. They gave one sum of money for the censorship contrary to the law; these thirty-nine thousand denarii they openly paid down for the statue, in compliance with the laws. First of all, what was all that money for? Secondly, why did the censors pay it to you for your statue? I suppose there is a regular order of censors, a college of them. They are a distinct class of men! Why, it is either cities in their capacity of communities, that confer these honours, or men according to their classes, as cultivators, as merchants, as shipowners. But why to censors rather than to aediles? Is it for any service that they have done? Therefore, will you confess that these things were begged of you,—for you will not dare to say they were purchased of you;—that you granted those magistracies to men out of favour, and not with a new to the interests of the republic? And when you confess this, will any one doubt that you incurred that unpopularity held hatred among the different tribes of that province, not out of ambition, nor for the sake of doing a kindness to any one, but with the object of procuring money?

> Latin: 137. hoc impudentissime: palam—licebat enim videlicet legibus—singulis censoribus denarii treceni ad statuam praetoris imperati sunt. cxxx facti sunt; pecuniam illam ob censuram contra leges clam dederunt; haec denarium xxxviiii milia palam salvis legibus contulerunt in statuam. quo tantam pecuniam? deinde quam ob rem censores ad statuam tibi conferebant? aliqui censorum est, conlegium, genus aliquod hominum? aut publice civitates istos honores habent aut, si homines, generatim, ut aratores, ut mercatores, ut navicularii; censores quidem qui magis quam aediles? beneficium? hoc fatebere, abs te haec petita esse—nam empta non audebis dicere; te eos magistratus hominibus benefici, non rei publicae causa permisisse? cum tute fateare, quisquam dubitabit quin tu istam apud populos provinciae totius invidiam atque offensionem non ambitionis neque beneficiorum conlocandorum, sed pecuniae conciliandae causa susceperis?

[¶4] 138. Therefore those censors did the same thing that those do in our republic, who have got offices by bribery; they took care to use their power so as to fill up again that gap in their property. The census was so taken, when you were praetor, that the affairs of no state whatever could be administered according to such a census. For they made a low return of the incomes of all the richest men, and exaggerated that of each poor man. And so in levying the taxes so heavy a burden was laid upon the common people, that even if the men themselves said nothing, the facts alone would discredit that census, as may easily be understood from the circumstances themselves. For Lucius Metellus who, after I came into Sicily for the sake of prosecuting my injuries, became on a sudden after the arrival of Letilius not only the friend of Verres, but even his relative; because he saw that that census could not possibly stand, ordered that former one to be attended to which had been when that most gallant and upright man, Sextus Peducaeus, was praetor. For at that time there were censors made according to the laws, elected by their cities, in whose case, if they did anything wrong, punishments were appointed by the law.

> Latin: 138. illi censores fecerunt idem quod in nostra re publica solent ii qui per largitionem magistratus adepti sunt: dederunt operam ut ita potestatem gererent ut illam lacunam rei familiaris explerent. census habitus est te praetore ut eo censu nullius civitatis res publica posset administrari; nam locupletissimi cuiusque censum extenuarant, tenuissimi auxerant. in tributis imperandis tantum oneris plebi imponebatur ut, etiamsi homines tacerent, res ipsa illum censum repudiaret, id quod intellegi facillime re ipsa potest. L. Metellus, qui, posteaquam ego inquirendi causa in Siciliam veni, repente L. Laetili adventu istius non modo amicus, verum etiam cognatus factus est,—is, quod videbat istius censu stari nullo modo posse, eum censum observari iussit qui viro fortissimo atque innocentissimo, Sex. Peducaeo, praetore habitus esset. enim tum censores legibus facti delecti a suis civitatibus, quibus, si quid commisissent, poenae legibus erant constitutae.

[¶5] 139. But when you were praetor, how could the censor either fear the law, by which he was not bound, since he had not been created by the law; or fear your reproof for having sold what he had bought of you? Let Metellus now detain my witnesses—let him compel others to praise him, as he has attempted in many instances; only let him do what he is doing. For whoever was treated by any one with such insult, with so much ignominy? Every fifth year a census is taken of all Sicily. A census was taken when Peducaeus was praetor. When the five years had elapsed in your praetorship, a census was taken again. The next year Lucius Metellus forbids any mention to be made of your census; he says that censors must be created afresh; and in the meantime he orders the census of Peducaeus to be attended to. If an enemy of yours had done this to you, although the province would have borne it with great equanimity, still it would have seemed the severe decision of an enemy. A new friend, a voluntary relation did it. For he could not do otherwise, if he wished to retain the province in its allegiance, if he wished to live himself in safety in the province.

> Latin: 139. autem praetore quis censor aut legem metueret qua non tenebatur, quoniam creatus lege non erat, aut animadversionem tuam, cum id quod abs te emerat vendidisset? iam sane meos testis Metellus, cogat alios laudare, sicut in multis conatus est; modo haec faciat quae facit. enim umquam tanta a quoquam contumelia, quis tanta ignominia adfectus est? Quinto quoque anno Sicilia tota censetur. censa praetore Peducaeo; quintus annus cum in te praetorem incidisset, censa denuo est. anno L. Metellus mentionem tui census fieri vetat; censores dicit de integro sibi creari placere; interea Peducaeanum censum observari iubet. si tuus inimicus fecisset, tamen, si animo aequo provincia tulisset, inimici iudicium grave videretur. amicus recens et cognatus voluntarius; aliter enim, si provinciam retinere, si salvus ipse in provincia vellet esse, facere non potuit. etiam quid hi iudicent?

[¶6] 140. Are you waiting to see what these men also will decide? If he had deprived you of your office, he would have treated you with less insult, than when he abrogated and annulled the things which you had done in your office. Nor did he behave in this way in that matter alone, but he had done the same in many other matters of the greatest importance, before I arrived in Sicily. For he ordered your friends, the palaestra people, to restore his property to Heraclius the Syracusan, and the people of Bidis to restore his property to Epicrates, and Appius Claudius his to his ward at Drepanum; and, if Letilius had not arrived in Sicily with letters a little too soon, in less than thirty days Metellus would have annulled your whole three years' praetorship.

> Latin: 140. tibi magistratum abrogasset, minore ignominia te adfecisset quam cum ea quae in magistratu gessisti sustulit atque inrita iussit esse. in hac re sola fuit eius modi, sed, antequam ego in Siciliam veni, in maximis rebus ac plurimis; nam et Heraclio Syracusanos tuos illos palaestritas bona restituere iussit, et Epicrati Bidinos, et pupillo Drepanitano A. Claudium, et, nisi mature Laetilius in Siciliam cum litteris venisset, minus xxx diebus Metellus totam trienni praeturam tuam rescidisset.

[¶7] 141. And, since I have spoken of that money which the censors paid to you for your statue, it seems to me that I ought not to pass over that method of raising money, which you exacted from the cities on presence of erecting statues. For I see that the sum total of that money is very large, amounting to a hundred and twenty thousand sesterces. This much is proved by the evidence and letters of the cities. And he admits that, and indeed he cannot say otherwise. What sort of conduct then are we to think that which he denies, when these actions which he confesses are so infamous? For what do you wish to be believed? That all that money was spent in statues?—Suppose it was. Still this is by no means to be endured, that the allies should be robbed of so much money, in order that statues of a most infamous robber may be placed in every alley, where it appears scarcely possible to pass in safety.

> Latin: 141. quoniam de ea pecunia quam tibi ad statuam censores contulerunt dixi, non mihi praetermittendum videtur ne illud quidem genus pecuniae conciliatae quam tu a civitatibus statuarum nomine coegisti. enim eius pecuniae summam esse pergrandem, ad HS viciens: tantum conficietur ex testimoniis et litteris civitatum. iste hoc concedit nec potest aliter dicere. cuius modi putamus esse illa quae negat, cum haec tam improba sint quae fatetur? enim vis constitui? consumptam esse istam omnem pecuniam in statuis? ita esse; tamen hoc ferendum nullo modo est, tantam a sociis pecuniam auferri ut omnibus in angiportis praedonis improbissimi statua ponatur, qua vix tuto transiri posse videatur.

[¶8] 142. But where in the world, or on what statues, was that enormous sum of money spent? It will be spent, you will say. Let us, forsooth, wait for the recurrence of that regular five years. If in this interval he has not spent it then at last we will impeach him for embezzlement in the article of statues. He is brought before the court as a criminal on many most important charges. We see that a hundred and twenty thousand sesterces have been taken on this one account. If you are condemned, you will not, I presume, trouble yourself about having that money spent on statues within five years. If you are acquitted, who will be so insane as to attack you in five years' time on the subject of the statues, after you have escaped from so many and such grave charges? If, therefore, this money has not been spent as yet, and if it is evident that it will not be spent, we may understand that a plan has been found out by which he may take and appropriate to himself a hundred and twenty thousand sesterces at one swoop, and by which others too, if this is sanctioned by you, may take as large sums as ever they please on similar grounds; so that we shall appear not to deter men from taking money, but, as we approve of some methods of taking money, we shall seem rather to be giving decent names to the basest actions.

> Latin: 142. ubi tandem aut in quibus statuis ista tanta pecunia consumpta est? “,” inquies. exspectemus legitimum illud quinquennium; si hoc intervallo non consumpserit, tum denique nomen eius de pecuniis repetundis statuarum nomine deferemus. est maximis plurimisque criminibus in iudicium vocatus: HS viciens ex hoc uno genere captum videmus. condemnatus eris, non, opinor, id ages ut ista pecunia in quinquennio consumatur in statuis; sin absolutus eris, quis erit tam amens qui te ex tot tantisque criminibus elapsum post quinquennium statuarum nomine arcessat? si neque adhuc consumpta est ista pecunia et est perspicuum non consumptum iri, licet iam intellegamus inventam esse rationem quare et iste HS viciens ex hoc uno genere conciliarit et ceperit, et ceteri— si hoc a vobis erit comprobatum—quam volent magnas hoc nomine pecunias capere possint; ut iam videamur non a pecuniis capiendis homines absterrere, sed, cum genera quaedam pecuniarum capiendarum comprobarimus, honesta nomina turpissimis rebus imponere.

[¶9] 143. In truth, suppose, for example, that Caius Verres had demanded a hundred and twenty thousand sesterces from the people of Centuripa, and had taken this money from them; there would have been no doubt, I conceive, that, if that were proved, he must have been condemned.—What then? Suppose he demanded three hundred thousand sesterces of the same people; and compelled them to give them, and carried them off? Shall he be acquitted because it was entered in the accounts that that money was given for statues? I think not; unless, indeed, our object is to create, not an unwillingness to take money on the part of our magistrates, but a cause for giving it on the part of our allies. But if statues are a great delight to any one, and if any one is greatly attracted by the honour and glory of having them raised to him, still he must lay down these rules; first of all, that he must not take to his own house the money given for those purposes; secondly, that there must be some limit to those statues; and lastly, that at all events they must not be exacted from unwilling people.

> Latin: 143. , si C. Verres HS c milia populum verbi gratia Centuripinum poposcisset eamque ab iis pecuniam abstulisset, non, opinor, esset dubium quin eum, cum id planum fieret, condemnari necesse esset.? si eundem populum HS cc milia poposcit eaque coegit atque abstulit, num idcirco absolvetur quod adscriptum est eam pecuniam datam statuarum nomine?, opinor; nisi forte id agimus, non ut magistratibus nostris moram accipiendi, sed ut sociis causam dandi adferre videamur. quem statuae magno opere delectant, et si quis earum honore aut gloria ducitur, is haec tamen constituat necesse est, primum averti pecuniam domum non placere, deinde ipsarum statuarum modum quendam esse oportere, deinde illud, certe ab invitis exigi non oportere.

[¶10] 144. And concerning the embezzlement of the money, I ask of you whether the cities themselves were accustomed to let out contracts for erecting statues to the man who would take the contract on the best terms, or to appoint some surveyor to superintend the erection of the statues, or to pay the money to you, or to any one whom you appointed? For the statues were erected under the superintendence of those men by whom that honour was paid to you—I am glad to hear it; but, if that money was paid to Timarchides, cease I beg of you, to pretend that you were desirous of glory and of monuments when you are detected is so evident a robbery. What then? Is there to be no limit to statues? But there must be. Indeed, consider the matter in this way.

> Latin: 144. de avertenda pecunia quaero abs te utrum ipsae civitates solitae sint statuas tibi faciundas locare ei cui possent optima condicione locare, an aliquem procuratorem praeficere qui statuis faciundis praeesset, an tibi, an cui tu imperasses, adnumerare pecuniam? si per eos statuae fiebant a quibus tibi iste honos habebatur, audio; sin Timarchidi pecunia numerabatur, desine, quaeso, simulare te, cum in manifestissimo furto teneare, gloriae studiosum ac monumentorum fuisse. vero? modum statuarum haberi nullum placet? habeatur necesse est.

[¶11] 145. The city of Syracuse (to speak of that city in preference to others) gave him a statue;—it is an honour: and gave his father one;—a pretty and profitable picture of affection: and gave his son one;—this may be endured, for they did not hate the boy: still how often, and for how many individuals will you take statues from the Syracusans? You accepted one to be placed in the forum. You compelled them to place one in the senate-house. You ordered them to contribute money for those statues which were to be erected at Rome. You ordered that the same men should also contribute as agriculturists, they did so. You ordered the same men also to pay their contribution to the common revenue of Sicily; even that they did also. When one city contributed money on so many different presences, and when the other cities did the same, does not the fact itself warn you to think that some bounds must be put to this covetousness? But if no city did this of its own accord; if all of them only paid you this money for statues because they were induced to do so by your command, by fear, by force, by injury; then, O ye immortal gods, can it be doubtful to any one, that, even if any one were to establish a law, that it was allowable to accept money for statues, still he would also establish one, that at all events it was not allowable to extort it?

> Latin: 145. sic considerate. Syracusana civitas, ut eam potissimum nominem, dedit ipsi statuam—est honos—et patri—bella haec pietatis et quaestuosa simulatio—et filio—ferri hoc potest, hunc enim puerum non oderant; verum quotiens et quot nominibus a Syracusanis statuas auferes? Vt in foro statuerent, abstulisti, ut in curia, coegisti, ut pecuniam conferrent in eas statuas quae Romae ponerentur imperasti; ut idem darent homines aratorum nomine, dederunt; ut idem pro parte in commune Siciliae conferrent, etiam id contulerunt. Vna civitas cum tot nominibus pecuniam contulerit idemque hoc civitates ceterae fecerint, nonne res ipsa vos admonet ut putetis modum aliquem huic cupiditati constitui oportere?? si hoc voluntate sua nulla civitas fecit, si omnes imperio, metu, vi, malo adductae tibi pecuniam statuarum nomine contulerunt, per deos immortalis, num cui dubium esse poterit quin, etiamsi statuerit accipere ad statuas licere, idem tamen statuat eripere certe non licere?

[¶12] 146. First, therefore, I will cite the whole of Sicily as a witness on this point; and Sicily declares to me with one voice that an immense sum of money was extorted from her by force under the name of providing statues. For the deputations of all the cities, in their common petitions—nearly all of which have arisen from your injuries,—have inserted this demand also; “that they might not for the future promise statues to any one till he had left the province.” There have been many praetors in Sicily. Often, in the times of our ancestors, the Sicilians have approached the senate; often in the memory of the present generation; but it is your praetorship that has introduced and originated a new kind of petition.

> Latin: 146. igitur in hanc rem testem totam Siciliam citabo, quae mihi una voce statuarum nomine magnam pecuniam per vim coactam esse demonstrat. legationes omnium civitatum in postulatis communibus, quae fere omnia ex tuis iniuriis nata sunt, etiam hoc ediderunt, vt statvas ne cvi, nisi cvm is de provincia decessisset, pollicerentvr. praetores in Sicilia fuerunt, totiens apud maiores nostros Siculi senatum adierunt, totiens hac memoria: tamen huiusce novi postulati genus atque principium tua praetura attulit.

[¶13] 147. For what else is so strange, not only in the matter but in the very form of the petition? For other points which occur in the same petitions with reference to your injuries, are indeed novel, but still they are not urged in a novel manner. The Sicilians beg and entreat of the conscript fathers that our magistrates may henceforth sell the tenths according to the law of Hiero. You were the first who had sold them in a way contrary to that law.—That they may not put a money value on the corn which is ordered for the public granary. This, too, is now requested for the first time on account of your three denarii: but that kind of petition is not unprecedented.—That a charge be not taken against any one in his absence. This has arisen from the misfortune of Sthenius, and your tyranny.—I will not enumerate the other points. All the demands of the Sicilians are of such a nature that they look like charges collected against you alone as a criminal. Still all these, though they refer to new injuries, preserve the ordinary form of requests.

> Latin: 147. enim tam novum non solum re, sed genere ipso postulandi? nam cetera quae sunt in isdem postulatis de iniuriis tuis sunt nova, sed tamen non novo modo postulantur. et orant Siculi patres conscriptos ut nostri magistratus posthac decumas lege Hieronica vendant. primus contra vendideras.. in cellam quod imperatur aestiment. quoque propter tuos ternos denarios nunc primum postulatur, sed genus ipsum postulandi non est novum. absentis nomen recipiatur. Stheni calamitate et tua natum est iniuria. non colligam. omnia Siculorum postulata eius modi ut crimina collecta in unum reum te esse videantur, quae tamen omnia novas iniurias habent, sed postulationum formulas usitatas;

[¶14] 148. But this request about the statues must seem ridiculous to the man who is not acquainted with the facts and with the meaning of it; for they entreat that they may not be compelled to erect statues;—what then? That they may not be allowed to do so;—what does this mean? Do you request of me not to be allowed to do what it depends on yourself to do or not? Ask rather that no one may compel you to promise a statue, or to erect one against your will. I shall do no good, says he; for they will all deny that they compelled me to do so: if you wish for my preservation, put this violence on me,—that it may be utterly illegal for me to make such a promise. It is from your praetorship that such a request as this has taken its rise; and those who employ it, intimate and openly declare that they, entirely against their will, contributed money for your statues, being compelled by fear and violence.

> Latin: 148. hoc postulatum de statuis ridiculum esse videatur ei qui rem sententiamque non perspiciat. enim, non uti ne cogantur statuere; quid igitur? ut ipsis ne liceat. est hoc? petis a me, quod in tua potestate est, ut id tibi facere ne liceat; pete potius ne quis te invitum polliceri aut facere cogat. “egero,” inquit; “negabunt enim omnes se coegisse; si me salvum esse vis, mihi impone istam vim ut omnino mihi ne liceat polliceri.” tua praetura primum haec est nata postulatio; qua cum utuntur, hoc significant atque adeo aperte ostendunt, sese ad statuas tuas pecuniam metu ac malo coactos invitissimos contulisse.

[¶15] 149. Even suppose they did not say this, still, would it not be impossible for you to avoid confessing it? See and consider what defence you are going to adopt; for then you will understand that you must confess this about the statues. For I am informed that your cause is planned out in this way by your advocates, men of great ingenuity, and that you are instructed and trained by them in this way; that, as each influential and honourable man from the province of Sicily gives an energetic testimony against you, as many of the lending Sicilians have already done to a great extent, you are immediately to say to your defenders, “That man is an enemy of mine because he is an agriculturist. And so, I suppose, you have it in your mind to set aside the class of agriculturists, saving that they have come with a hostile and inimical disposition towards Verres because he was a little strict in collecting the tenths. The agriculturists, then, are all your enemies, all your adversaries. There is not one of them who does not wish you dead. Altogether you are admirably well off, when that order and class of men which is the most virtuous and honourable, by which both the republic in general, and most especially that province upheld, as fixedly hostile to you.

> Latin: 149. ? si hoc non dicant, tibi non necesse sit ipsi id confiteri? et perspice qua defensione sis usurus: iam intelleges hoc tibi de statuis confitendum esse. enim renuntiatur ita constitui a tuis patronis, hominibus ingeniosis, causam tuam, et ita eos abs te institui et doceri, ut quisque ex provincia Sicilia gravior homo atque honestior testimonium vehementius dixerit, sicuti multi primarii viri multa dixerunt, te statim hoc istis tuis defensoribus dicere, “est propterea quod arator est.” uno genere, opinor, circumscribere habetis in animo genus hoc aratorum, quod eos infenso animo atque inimico venisse dicatis quia fuerit in decumis iste vehementior. aratores inimici omnes et adversarii sunt: nemo est eorum quin perisse te cupiat? praeclare te habes cum is ordo atque id hominum genus, quod optimum atque honestissimum est, a quo uno et summa res publica et illa provincia maxime continetur, tibi est inimicissimum.

[¶16] 150. However, be it so; another time we will consider of the disposition of the agriculturists and of their injuries. For the present I assume, what you grant me, that they are most hostile to you. You say, forsooth, on account of the tenths. I grant that; I do not inquire whether they are enemies with or without reason. What then is the meaning of those gilt equestrian statues which greatly offend the feelings and eyes of the Roman people, near the temple of Vulcan? For I see an inscription on them stating that the agriculturists had presented one of them. If they gave this statue to do you honour, they are not your enemies. Let us believe the witnesses; for then they were consulting your honour, now they are regarding their own consciences. But if they presented the statues under the compulsion of fear, you must confess that you exacted money in the province on account of statues by violence and fear. Choose whichever alternative you like.

> Latin: 150. esto; alio loco de aratorum animo et iniuriis videro; nunc, quod mihi abs te datur, id accipio, eos tibi esse inimicissimos. ita dicis: propter decumas.: non quaero, iure an iniuria sint inimici. ergo? illae quid sibi statuae equestres inauratae volunt, quae populi Romani oculos animosque maxime offendunt, propter aedem Volcani? nam inscriptum esse video quandam ex his statuis aratores dedisse. honoris causa statuam dederunt, inimici non sunt; credamus testibus; tum enim honori tuo, nunc iam religioni suae consulunt. autem metu coacti dederunt, confiteare necesse est te in provincia pecunias statuarum nomine per vim ac metum coegisse. Vtrum tibi commodum est elige.

[¶17] 151. In truth I would willingly now abandon this charge about the statues, to have you admit to me, what would be most honourable to you, that the agriculturists contributed this money for a statue to do you honour, of their own free will. Grant me this. In a moment you cut from under your feet the principal part of your defence. For then you will not be able to say that the agriculturists were angry with and enemies to you. O singular cause; O miserable and ruinous defence; for the defendant, and he too a defendant who has been praetor in Sicily, to be unwilling to receive an admission from his accuser that the agriculturists erected him a statue of their own free will, that they have a good opinion of him, that they are his friends, that they desire his safety! He is afraid of your believing this, for he is overwhelmed with the evidence given against him by the agriculturists.

> Latin: 151. libenter hoc iam crimen de statuis relinquam, ut mihi tu illud concedas, quod tibi honestissimum est, aratores tibi ad statuam honoris tui causa voluntate sua contulisse. mihi hoc; iam tibi maximam partem defensionis praecideris; non enim poteris aratores tibi iratos esse atque inimicos dicere. O causam singularem! o defensionem miseram ac perditam! nolle hoc accipere reum ab accusatore, et eum reum qui praetor in Sicilia fuerit, aratores ei statuam sua voluntate statuisse, aratores de eo bene existimare, amicos esse, salvum cupere! ne hoc vos existimetis; obruitur enim aratorum testimoniis. Vtar eo quod datur.

[¶18] 152. I will avail myself of what is granted to me; at all events you must judge that those men, who, as he himself wishes it to be believed, are most hostile to him, did not contribute money for his honour and for his monuments of their own free will. And that this may be most easily understood, ask any one you please of the witnesses whom I shall produce, who are witnesses from Sicily, whether a Roman citizen or a Sicilian, and one too who appears most hostile to you, who says that he has been plundered by you, whether he contributed anything in his own name to the statue? You will not find one man to deny it In truth they all contributed.

> Latin: 152. hoc vobis ita iudicandum est, eos qui isti inimicissimi sunt, ut ipse existimari vult, ad istius honores atque monumenta pecunias voluntate sua non contulisse. ut hoc totum facillime intellegi possit, quem voles eorum testium quos produxero, qui ex Sicilia testes sunt, sive togatum sive Siculum, rogato, et eum qui tibi inimicissimus esse videbitur, qui se spoliatum abs te esse dicet, ecquid suo nomine in tuam statuam contulerit; neminem reperies qui neget; etenim omnes dederunt.

[¶19] 153. Do you think then that any one will doubt that he who ought to be most hostile to you, who has received the severest injuries from you, paid money on account of a statue to you because he was compelled by violence and authoritative command, not out of kindness and by his own free will? And I have neither counted up, nor been able to count, O judges, the amount of this money, which is very large, and which has been most shamelessly extorted from unwilling men, so as to estimate how much was extorted from agriculturists, how much from traders who trade at Syracuse, at Agrigentum, at Panormus, at Lilybaeum; since you see by even his own confession that it was extorted from most unwilling contributors.

> Latin: 153. igitur putas dubitaturum quin is quem tibi inimicissimum esse oporteat, qui abs te gravissimas iniurias acceperit, pecuniam statuae nomine dederit vi atque imperio adductus, non officio ac voluntate? ego pecuniae, iudices, quae permagna est impudentissimeque coacta ab invitis, non habui rationem neque habere potui,—quantum ab aratoribus, quantum ab negotiatoribus qui Syracusis, qui Agrigenti, qui Panhormi, qui Lilybaei negotiantur esset coactum: eam iam intellegitis ipsius quoque confessione ab invitissimis coactam esse.

[¶20] 154. I come now to the cities of Sicily, in which case it is exceedingly easy to form an opinion of their inclination. Did the Sicilians also contribute against their will? It is not probable. In truth it is evident that Caius Verres so conducted himself during his praetorship in Sicily, that, as he could not satisfy both parties, both the Sicilians and the Romans, he considered rather his duty to our allies, than his ambition, which might have prompted him to gratify the citizens. And therefore I saw him called in an inscription at Syracuse, not only the patron of that island, but also the saviour of it. What a great expression is this! so great that it cannot be expressed by any single Latin word. He in truth is a saviour, who has given salvation. In his name days of festival are kept—that fine Verrean festival—not as if it was the festival of Marcellus, but instead of the Marcellean festival, which they abolished at his command. His triumphal arch is in the forum at Syracuse, on which his son stands, naked; and he himself from horseback looks down on the province which has been stripped bare by himself. His statues are in every place; which seem to show this, that he very nearly erected as many statues at Syracuse as he had taken away from it. And even at Rome we see an inscription in his honour carved at the foot of the statues, in letters of the largest size, “that that were given by the community of Sicily.” Why were they given? How can any one be induced to believe that such great honours were paid to him by people against their will?

> Latin: 154. nunc ad civitates Siciliae, de quibus facillime iudicium fieri voluntatis potest. etiam Siculi inviti contulerunt? est probabile. sic C. Verrem praeturam in Sicilia gessisse constat ut, cum utrisque satis facere non posset, et Siculis et togatis, offici potius in socios quam ambitionis in civis rationem duxerit. eum non solum patronvm illius insulae, sed etiam Sotera inscriptum vidi Syracusis. quantum est? magnum ut Latine uno verbo exprimi non possit. est nimirum soter qui salutem dedit. nomine etiam dies festi agitantur, pulchra illa Verria, non quasi Marcellia, sed pro Marcelliis, quae illi istius iussu sustulerunt; huius fornix in foro Syracusis est, in quo nudus filius stat, ipse autem ex equo nudatam ab se provinciam prospicit; huius statuae locis omnibus, quae hoc demonstrare videantur, prope modum non minus multas statuas istum posuisse Syracusis quam abstulisse; huic etiam Romae videmus in basi statuarum maximis litteris incisum, a commvni Siciliae datas.

[¶21] 155. Here, too, you must deliberate and consider even much more than you did in the case of the agriculturists, what you intend. It is an important matter. Do you wish the Sicilians, both in their public and private capacity, to be considered friends to you, or enemies? If enemies, what is to become of you? Whither will you free for refuge? On what will you depend? Just now you repudiated the greater part of the agriculturists, most honourable and wealthy men, both Sicilians and Roman citizens. Now, what will you do about the Sicilian cities? Will you say that the Sicilians are friendly to you? How can you say so? They who (though they have never done such a thing in the instance of any one else before, as to give public evidence against him, even though many men who have been praetors in that province have been condemned, and only two, who have been prosecuted, have been acquitted)—they, I say, who now come with letters, with commissions, with public testimonies against you, while, if they were to utter a panegyric on you in behalf of their state, they would appear to do so according to their usual custom, rather than because of your deserts. When these men make a public complaint of your actions, do they not show this that your injuries have been so great that they preferred to depart from their ancient habit, rather than not speak of your habits?

> Latin: 155. ob rem qui hoc probare potes cuiquam, tantos honores habitos esse ab invitis? tibi etiam multo magis quam paulo ante in aratoribus videndum et considerandum est quid velis. Magna res est utrum tibi Siculos publice privatimque amicos an inimicos existimari velis. inimicos, quid te futurum est? quo confugies? ubi nitere? aratorum, honestissimorum hominum ac locupletissimorum et Siculorum et civium Romanorum, maximum numerum abs te abalienasti: nunc de Siculis civitatibus quid ages? tibi Siculos esse amicos? qui poteris? qui, quod nullo in homine antea fecerant, ut in eum publice testimonium dicerent,—cum praesertim ex ea provincia condemnati sint complures qui ibi praetores fuerunt, duo soli absoluti,—hi nunc veniunt cum litteris, veniunt cum mandatis, veniunt cum testimoniis publicis; qui, si te publice laudarent, tamen id more potius suo quam merito tuo facere viderentur, hi cum de tuis factis publice conqueruntur, nonne hoc indicant, tantas esse iniurias ut multo maluerint de suo more decedere quam de tuis moribus non dicere?

[¶22] 156. You must, therefore, inevitably confess that the Sicilians are hostile to you; since they have addressed to the consuls petitions of the gravest moment directed against you, and have entreated me to undertake this cause, and the advocacy of their safety; since, though they were forbidden to come by the praetor, and hindered by four quaestors, they still have thought every one's threats and every danger insignificant, in comparison with their safety; since at the former pleading they gave their evidence so earnestly and so bitterly, that Hortensius said that Artemo, the deputy of Centuripa, end the witness authorized by the public council there, was an accuser, not a witness. In truth he, together with Andron, a most honourable and trustworthy man, both on account of his virtue and integrity, and also on account of his eloquence, was appointed by his fellow-citizens as their deputy in order that he might be able to explain in the most intelligible and clear manner the numerous and various injuries which they have sustained from Verres. The people of Halesa, of Catana, of Tyndaris, of Enna, of Herbita, of Agyrium, of Netum, of Segesta, gave evidence also. It is needless to enumerate them all. You know how many gave evidence, and how many things they proved at the former pleading. Now both they and the rest shall give their evidence.

> Latin: 156. igitur est tibi necessario Siculos inimicos esse, qui quidem [et ] in te gravissima postulata consulibus ediderint, et me ut hanc causam salutisque suae defensionem susciperem obsecrarint; qui cum a praetore prohiberentur, a quattuor quaestoribus impedirentur, omnium minas atque omnia pericula prae salute sua levia duxerint; qui priore actione ita testimonia graviter vehementerque dixerint ut Artemonem Centuripinum legatum et publice testem Q. Hortensius accusatorem, non testem esse diceret. ille cum propter virtutem et fidem cum Androne, homine honestissimo et certissimo, tum etiam propter eloquentiam legatus a suis civibus electus est, ut posset multas istius et varias iniurias quam apertissime vobis planissimeque explicare. Halaesini, Catinenses, Tyndaritani, Hennenses, Herbitenses, Agyrinenses, Netini, Segestani: enumerare omnis non est necesse. quam multi et quam multa priore actione dixerint: nunc et illi et reliqui dicent.

[¶23] 157. Every one, in short, shall be made aware of this fact in this cause,—that the feelings of the Sicilians are such, that if that man be not punished, they think that they must leave their habitations and their homes and depart from Sicily, and flee to some distant land. Will you persuade us that these men contributed large sums of money to confer honour and dignity on you of their own free will? I suppose, forsooth, they who did not like you to remain in safety in your own city, wished to have memorials of your person and name in their own cities! The facts show that they wished it. For I have been for some time thinking that I was handling the argument about the inclination of the Sicilians towards you too tenderly, as to whether they were desirous to erect statues to you, or were compelled to do so.

> Latin: 157. denique hoc in hac causa intellegent, hoc animo esse Siculos ut, si in istum animadversum non sit, sibi relinquendas domos ac sedes suas et ex Sicilia decedendum atque adeo fugiendum esse arbitrentur. homines tu persuadebis ad honorem atque amplitudinem tuam pecunias maximas voluntate sua contulisse?, qui te in tua civitate incolumem esse nollent, hi monumenta tuae formae ac nominis in suis civitatibus esse cupiebant. declarabit ut cupierint. dudum enim mihi nimium tenuiter Siculorum erga te voluntatis argumenta colligere videor, utrum statuas voluerint tibi statuere an coacti sint.

[¶24] 158. What man ever lived of whom such a thing was heard as has happened to you, that his statues in his province, erected in the public places, and some of them even in the holy temples, were thrown down by force by the whole population? There have been many guilty magistrates in Asia, many in Africa, many in Spain, in Gaul, in Sardinia, many in Sicily itself, but did we ever hear such a thing as this of any of them? It is an unexampled thing, O judges, a sort of prodigy amazing the Sicilians, and among all the Greeks. I would not have believed that story about the statues, if I had not seen them myself uprooted and lying on the ground; because it is a custom among all the Greeks to think that honours paid to men by monuments of that sort, are, to some extent, consecrated, and under the protection of the gods.

> Latin: 158. quo hoc homine auditum est umquam, quod tibi accidit, ut eius in provincia statuae in locis publicis positae, partim etiam in aedibus sacris, per vim et per universam multitudinem deicerentur? homines in Asia nocentes, tot in Africa, tot in Hispania, Gallia, Sardinia, tot in ipsa Sicilia fuerunt: ecquo de homine hoc umquam audivistis? est, iudices, in Siculis quidem et in omnibus Graecis monstri simile. crederem hoc de statuis nisi iacentis revulsasque vidissem, propterea quod apud omnis Graecos hic mos est, ut honorem hominibus habitum in monumentis eius modi non nulla religione deorum consecrari arbitrentur.

[¶25] 159. Therefore, when the Rhodians, almost single-handed, carried on the first war against Mithridates, and withstood all his power and his most vigorous attacks on their walls, and shores, and fleets,—when they, beyond all other nations, were enemies to the king; still, even then, at the time of imminent danger to their city, they did not touch his statue which was among them in the most frequented place in their city. Perhaps there might seem some inconsistency in preserving the effigy and image of the man, when they were striving to overthrow the man himself: but still I saw, when I was among them, that they had a religious feeling in those matters handed down to them from their ancestors, and that they argued in this way;—that as to the statue, they regarded the period when it had been erected; but as to the man, they regarded the fact of his waging war against them, and being an enemy. You see, therefore, that the custom and religious feeling of the Greeks, which is accustomed to defend the monuments of enemies, even at a time of actual war, could not, even in a time of profound peace, protect the statues of a praetor of the Roman people.

> Latin: 159. Rhodii, qui prope soli bellum illud superius cum Mithridate rege gesserint, omnisque eius copias acerrimumque impetum moenibus litoribus classibusque suis exceperint, tamen, cum ei regi inimici praeter ceteros essent, statuam eius, quae erat apud ipsos in celeberrimo urbis loco, ne tum quidem in ipsis urbis periculis attigerunt. forsitan vix convenire videretur, quem ipsum hominem cuperent evertere, eius effigiem simulacrumque servare; sed tamen videbam, apud eos cum essem, et religionem esse quandam in his rebus a maioribus traditam, et hoc disputari, cum statua se eius habuisse temporis rationem quo posita esset, cum homine eius quo gereret bellum atque hostis esset. igitur consuetudinem religionemque Graecorum, quae monumenta hostium in bello ipso soleat defendere, eam summa in pace praetoris populi Romani statuis praesidio non fuisse.

[¶26] 160. The men of Tauromenium which is a city in alliance with us, most quiet men, who were formerly as far removed as possible from the injuries of our magistrates, owing to the protection the treaty was to them; yet even they did not hesitate to overturn that man's statue. But when that was removed, they allowed the pedestal to remain in the forum, because they thought it would tell more strongly against him, if men knew that his statue had been thrown down by the Tauromenians, than if they thought that none had ever been erected. The men of Tyndarus threw down his statue in the forum; and for the same reason left the horse without a rider. At Leontini, even in that miserable and desolate city, his statue in the gymnasium was thrown down. For why should I speak of the Syracusans, when that act was not a private act of the Syracusans, but was done by them in common with all their neighbouring allies, and withal most the whole province? How great a multitude, how vast a concourse of men is said to have been present when his statues were pulled down and overturned! But where was this done? In the most frequented and sacred place of the whole city; before Serapis himself, in the very entrance and vestibule of the temple. And if Metellus had not acted with great vigour, and by his authority, and by a positive edict forbidden it, there would not have been a trace of a statue of that man left in all Sicily.

> Latin: 160. Tauromenitani, quorum est civitas foederata, homines quietissimi, qui maxime ab iniuriis nostrorum magistratuum remoti consuerant esse praesidio foederis,—hi tamen istius evertere statuam non dubitarunt; qua abiecta basim tamen in foro manere voluerunt, quod gravius in istum fore putabant si scirent homines statuam eius a Tauromenitanis esse deiectam quam si nullam umquam positam esse arbitrarentur. Tyndaritani deiecerunt in foro et eadem de causa equum inanem reliquerunt. Leontinis, misera in civitate atque inani, tamen istius in gymnasio statua deiecta est. quid ego de Syracusanis loquar? quod non est proprium Syracusanorum, sed et illorum et commune conventus illius ac prope totius provinciae. illuc multitudo, quanta vis hominum convenisse dicebatur tum cum statuae sunt illius deiectae et eversae! quo loco! ac religiosissimo, ante ipsum Serapim, in primo aditu vestibuloque templi. nisi Metellus hoc tam graviter egisset atque illam rem imperio edictoque prohibuisset, vestigium statuarum istius in tota Sicilia nullum esset relictum.

[¶27] 161. And I am not afraid of any of these things seeming to have been done in consequence of my arrival, much less in consequence of my instigation. All those things were done, not only before I arrived in Sicily, but before he reached Italy. While I was in Sicily, no statue was thrown down. Hear now what was done after I departed from thence. The senate of Centuripa decreed, and the people ordered, that the quaestors should issue a contract for taking down whatever statues there were of Caius Verres himself, of his father, and of his son; and that while such demolition was being executed, there should be not less than thirty senators present. Remark the soberness and dignity of that city. They neither chose that those statues should remain in their city which they themselves had given against their will, under the pressure of authority and violence; nor the statues of that man, against whom they themselves (a thing which they never did before) had sent by a public vote commissions and deputies, with the most weighty testimony, to Rome. And they thought that it would be a more important thing if it seemed to have been done by public authority, than by the violence of the multitude.

> Latin: 161. ego hoc non vereor, ne quid horum non modo impulsu verum omnino adventu meo factum esse videatur. ista ante facta sunt non modo quam ego Siciliam, verum etiam quam iste Italiam attigit. ego in Sicilia sum, nulla statua deiecta est: posteaquam illinc decessi, quae sint gesta cognoscite. Centuripinorum senatus decrevit populusque iussit ut, quae statuae Verris ipsius et patris eius et filii essent, eas quaestores demoliendas locarent, dumque ea demolitio fieret, senatores ne minus triginta adessent. gravitatem civitatis ac dignitatem. eas in urbe sua statuas esse voluerunt quas inviti per vim atque imperium dedissent, neque eius hominis in quem ipsi cum gravissimo testimonio publice, quod numquam antea, Romam mandata legatosque misissent; et id gravius esse putarunt si publico consilio, quam si per vim multitudinis factum esse videretur.

## 13. Actio Secunda · Book II · sections 162–192

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/13/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/13/#p-N

[¶0] 162. When, in pursuance of this design, the people of Centuripa had publicly destroyed his statues, Metellus hears of it. He is very indignant; he summons before him the magistrates of Centuripa and the ten principal citizens. He threatens them with measures of great severity, if they do not replace the statues. They report the matter to the senate. The statues, which could do no good to his cause, are replaced; the decrees of the people of Centuripa, which had been passed concerning the statues, are not taken away. Here I can excuse some of the actors. I cannot at all excuse Metellus, a wise man, if he acts foolishly. What? did he think it would look like a crime in Verres, if his statues were thrown down, a thing which is often done by the wind, or by some accident? There could be in such a fact as that no charge against the man, no reproof of him Whence, then, does the charge and accusation arise? From the intention and will of the people by whom it was caused.

> Latin: 162. hoc consilio statuas Centuripini publice sustulissent, audit Metellus; graviter fert; evocat ad se Centuripinorum magistratus et decem primos; nisi restituissent statuas, vehementer minatur. ad senatum renuntiant: statuae, quae istius causae nihil prodessent, reponuntur; decreta Centuripinorum, quae de statuis erant facta, non tolluntur. ego aliud alii concedo: Metello, homini sapienti, prorsus non possum ignoscere si quid stulte facit.? ille hoc putabat Verri criminosum fore, si statuae eius essent deiectae, quod saepe vento aut aliquo casu fieri solet? erat in hoc neque crimen ullum neque reprehensio. quo igitur crimen atque accusatio nascitur? hominum iudicio et voluntate.

[¶1] 163. I, if Metellus had not compelled the men of Centuripa to replace the statues, should say, “See, O judges, what exceeding and bitter indignation the injuries of that man have implanted in the minds of our allies and friends; when that most friendly and faithful city of Centuripa, which is, connected with the Roman people by so many reciprocal good offices, that it has not only always loved our republic, but has also shown its attachment to the very name of Roman in the person of every private individual, has decided by public resolution and by the public authority that the statues of Caius Verres ought not to exist in it.” I should recite the decrees of the people of Centuripa; I should extol that city, as with the greatest truth I might; I should relate that ten thousand of those citizens, the bravest and most faithful of our allies,—that every one of the whole people resolved, that there ought to be no monument of that man in their city. I should say this if Metellus had not replaced the statues.

> Latin: 163. , si Metellus statuas Centuripinos reponere non coegisset, haec dicerem,, iudices, quantum et quam acerbum dolorem sociorum atque amicorum animis inusserint istius iniuriae, cum Centuripinorum amicissima ac fidelissima civitas, quae tantis officiis cum populo Romano coniuncta est ut non solum rem publicam nostram, sed etiam in quovis homine privato nomen ipsum Romanum semper dilexerit, ea publico consilio atque auctoritate iudicarit C. Verris statuas esse in urbe sua non oportere. decreta Centuripinorum; laudarem illam civitatem, id quod verissime possem; commemorarem decem milia civium esse Centuripinorum, fortissimorum fidelissimorumque sociorum; eos omnis hoc statuisse, monumentum istius in sua civitate nullum esse oportere.

[¶2] 164. I should now wish to ask of Metellus himself, whether by his power and authority he has at all weakened my speech? I think the very same language is still appropriate. For, even if the statues were ever so much thrown down, I could not show them to you on the ground. This only statement could I use, that so wise a city had decided that the statues of Caius Verres ought to be demolished. And this argument Metellus has not taken from me. He has even given me this additional one; he has enabled me to complain, if I thought fit, that authority is exercised over our friends and allies with so much injustice, that, even in the services they do people, they are not allowed to use their own unbiased judgment; he has enabled me to entreat you to form your conjectures, how you suppose Lucius Metellus behaved to me in those matters in which he was able to injure me, when he behaved with such palpable partiality in this one in which he could be no hindrance to me. But I am not angry with Metellus, nor do I wish to rob him of his excuse which he puts forth to every one, that he did nothing spitefully nor with any especial design.

> Latin: 164. tum dicerem, si statuas Metellus non reposuisset: velim quaerere nunc ex ipso Metello, quidnam sua vi et auctoritate mihi ex hac oratione praeciderit. opinor omnia convenire. enim, si maxime statuae deiectae essent ego eas vobis possem iacentis ostendere; hoc uno uterer, civitatem tam gravem iudicasse statuas C. Verris demoliendas. mihi Metellus non eripuit; haec etiam addidit, ut quererer, si mihi videretur, tam iniquo iure sociis atque amicis imperari ut iis ne in suis quidem beneficiis libero iudicio uti liceret, vos rogarem ut coniecturam faceretis qualem in his rebus in me L. Metellum fuisse putaretis, in quibus [rebus ] obesse mihi posset, cum in hac re tam aperta cupiditate fuerit, in qua nihil obfuit. ego Metello non irascor neque ei suam vacationem eripio, qua ille apud omnis utitur, ut nihil malitiose neque consulto fecisse videatur.

[¶3] 165. Now, therefore, it is so evident that you cannot deny it, that no statue was given to you with the good will of any one; no money on account of statues, that was not squeezed out and extorted by force. And, in making that charge, I do not wish that alone to be understood, that you get money to the amount of a hundred and twenty thousand sesterces; but much more do I wish to have this point seen clearly, which was proved at the same time, namely, how great both is and was the hatred borne to you by the agriculturists, and by all the Sicilians. And as to this point, what your defence is to be I cannot guess.— “Yes, the Sicilians hate me, because I did a great deal for the sake of the Roman citizens.”

> Latin: 165. igitur est ita perspicuum ut negare non possis nullam tibi statuam voluntate cuiusquam datam, nullam pecuniam statuarum nomine nisi vi expressam et coactam. quidem in crimine non illud solum intellegi volo, te ad statuas HS viciens coegisse, sed multo etiam illud magis, quod simul demonstratum est quantum odium in te aratorum, quantum omnium Siculorum sit et fuerit. quo quae vestra defensio futura sit coniectura adsequi non queo.

[¶4] 166. But they too are most bitter against you, and most hostile. “I have the Roman citizens for my enemies, because I defended the interests and rights of the allies.” But the allies complain that they were considered and treated by you as enemies. “The agriculturists are hostile to me on account of the tenths.” Well; they who cultivate land untaxed and free from this impost; why do they hate you? why do the men of Halesa, of Centuripa, of Segesta, of Halicya hate you? What race of men, what number of men, what rank of men can you name that does not hate you, whether they be Roman citizens or Sicilians? So that even if I could not give a reason for their hating you, still I should think that the fact ought to be mentioned and that you also O judges, ought to hate the man whom all men hate.

> Latin: 166. “Siculi; togatorum enim causa multa feci.” hi quidem acerrimi inimici sunt. “habeo civis Romanos, quod sociorum commoda ac iura defendi.” socii in hostium numero sese abs te habitos queruntur. “inimici sunt propter decumas.”? qui agros immunis liberosque arant, cur oderunt? cur Halaesini, cur Centuripini, cur Segestani, cur Halicyenses? genus hominum, quem numerum, quem ordinem proferre possum qui te non oderit, sive civium Romanorum sive Siculorum? ut, etiamsi causas cur te oderint non possim dicere, tamen illud dicendum putem, quem omnes mortales oderint, eum vobis quoque odio esse oportere.

[¶5] 167. Will you dare to say, either that the agriculturists, that all the Sicilians, in short, think well of you, or that it has nothing to do with the subject what they think? You will not dare to say this, nor if you were to wish to do so would you be allowed. For those equestrian statues erected by the Sicilians, whom you affect to despise, and by the agriculturists, deprive you of the power of saying that; the statues, I mean, which a little while before you came to the city you ordered to be erected and to have inscriptions put upon them, to serve as a check to the inclinations of all your enemies and accusers.

> Latin: 167. hoc dicere audebis, utrum de te aratores, utrum denique Siculi universi bene existiment, aut quo modo existiment, ad rem id non pertinere? tu hoc dicere audebis, nec si cupias licebit; eripiunt enim tibi istam orationem contemnendorum Siculorum atque aratorum statuae illae equestres, quas tu paulo ante quam ad urbem venires poni inscribique iussisti, ut omnium inimicorum tuorum animos accusatorumque tardares.

[¶6] 168. For who would be troublesome to you, or who would dare to bring an action against you, when he saw statues erected to you by traders, by agriculturists, by the common voice of all Sicily? What other class of men is there in that province?—None. Therefore he is not only loved, but even honored by the whole province, and also by each separate portion of it, according to their class. Who will dare to touch this man? Can you then say that the evidence of agriculturists, of traders, and of all the Sicilians against you, ought to be no objection to you, when you hoped to be able to extinguish all your unpopularity and infamy by placing their names in an inscription on your statues? Or, if you attempted to add honour to your statues by their authority, shall I not be able to corroborate my argument by the dignity of those same men?

> Latin: 168. enim tibi molestus esset aut quis appellare te auderet, cum videret statuas ab negotiatoribus, ab aratoribus, a communi Siciliae positas? est aliud in illa provincia genus hominum?. ab universa provincia, generatimque a singulis eius partibus, non solum diligitur, sed etiam ornatur. hunc attingere audeat? igitur dicere nihil tibi obesse oportere aratorum, negotiatorum, Siculorumque omnium testimonia, cum eorum nominibus in statuarum inscriptione oppositis omnem te speraris invidiam atque infamiam tuam posse exstingere? an, quorum tu auctoritate statuas cohonestare tuas conatus es, eorum ego dignitate accusationem meam comprobare non potero?

[¶7] 169. Unless, perchance, in that matter, some little hope still consoles you, because you were popular among the farmers of the revenues: but I have taken care, through my diligence, that that popularity should not serve,—you have contrived, by your own wisdom, to show that it ought to be, an injury to you. Listen, O judges, to the whole affair in a few words. In the collecting the tax on pasture lands in Sicily there is a sub-collector of the name of Lucius Carpinatius, who both for the sake of his own profit, and perhaps because he thought it for the interest of his partners, cultivated the favour of Verres to the neglect of everything else. He, while he was attending the praetor about all the markets, and never leaving him, had got into such familiarity with, and aptitude at the practice of selling Verres's decrees and decisions, and managing his other concerns, that he was considered almost a second Timarchides.

> Latin: 169. Nisi forte quod apud publicanos gratiosus fuisti, in ea re spes te aliqua consolatur. gratia ne quid tibi prodesse posset ego mea diligentia perfeci; ut etiam obesse deberet tu tua sapientia curasti. rem totam, iudices, breviter cognoscite. scriptura Siciliae pro magistro est quidam L. Carpinatius, qui et sui quaestus causa, et fortasse quod sociorum interesse arbitrabatur, bene penitus in istius familiaritatem sese dedit. cum praetorem circum omnia fora sectaretur neque ab eo umquam discederet, in eam iam venerat [familiaritatem] consuetudinem[que] in vendendis istius decretis et iudiciis transigendisque negotiis, ut prope alter Timarchides numeraretur;

[¶8] 170. He was in one respect still more important; because he also lent money at usury to those who were purchasing anything of the praetor. And this usury, O judges, was such that even the profit from the other transactions was inferior to the gain obtained by it. For the money which he entered as paid to those with whom he was dealing, he entered also under the name of Verres's secretary, or of Timarchides, or even under Verres's own name, as received from them. And besides that, he lent other large sums belonging to Verres, of which he made no entry at all, in his own name.

> Latin: 170. hoc erat etiam capitalior, quod idem pecunias iis qui ab isto aliquid mercabantur faenori dabat. autem faeneratio erat eius modi, iudices, ut etiam is quaestus huic cederet; nam quas pecunias ferebat iis expensas quibuscum contrahebat, eas aut scribae istius aut Timarchidi aut etiam isti ipsi referebat acceptas. praeterea pecunias istius extraordinarias grandis suo nomine faenerabatur.

[¶9] 171. Originally this Carpinatius, before he had become so intimate with Verres, had often written letters to the shareholders about his unjust actions. But Canuleius, who had an agency at Syracuse, in the harbour, had also written accounts to his shareholders of many of Verres's robberies, giving instances, especially, concerning things which had been exported from Syracuse without paying the harbour dues. But the same company was farming both the harbour dues and the taxes on pasture land. And thus it happened that there were many things which we could state and produce against Verres from the letters of that company.

> Latin: 171. primo Carpinatius, antequam in istius familiaritatem tantam pervenisset, aliquotiens ad socios litteras de istius iniuriis miserat; Canuleius vero, qui in portu Syracusis operas dabat, furta quoque istius permulta nominatim ad socios perscripserat, ea quae sine portorio Syracusis erant exportata; portum autem et scripturam eadem societas habebat. factum est ut essent permulta quae ex societatis litteris dicere in istum et proferre possemus.

[¶10] 172. But it happened that Carpinatius, who had by this time become connected with him by the greatest intimacy, and also by community of interests, afterwards sent frequent letters to his partners, speaking of his exceeding kindness, and of his services to their common property. And in truth, as he was used to do and to decree everything which Carpinatius requested him, Carpinatius also began to write still more flaming accounts to his shareholders, in order, if possible, utterly to efface the recollection of all that he had written before. But at last, when Verres was departing, he sent letters to them, to beg them to go out in crowds to meet him and to give him thanks; and to promise zealously that they would do whatever he desired them. And the shareholders did so, according to the old custom of farmers; not because they thought him deserving of any honour, but because they thought it was for their own interest to be thought to remember kindness, and to be grateful for it. They expressed their thanks to him, and said that Carpinatius had often sent letters to them mentioning his good offices.

> Latin: 172. accidit ut Carpinatius, qui iam cum isto summa consuetudine, praeterea re ac ratione coniunctus esset, crebras postea litteras ad socios de istius summis officiis in rem communem beneficiisque mitteret. cum iste omnia quaecumque Carpinatius postulabat facere ac decernere solebat, tum ille etiam plura scribebat ad socios, ut, si posset, quae antea scripserat, ea plane exstingueret. extremum vero, cum iste iam decedebat, eius modi litteras ad eos misit: ut huic frequentes obviam prodirent, gratias agerent, facturos se si quid imperasset studiose pollicerentur. socii fecerunt vetere instituto publicanorum, non quo istum ullo honore dignum arbitrarentur, sed quod sua interesse putabant se memores gratosque existimari: gratias isti egerunt, Carpinatium saepe ad se de eius officiis litteras misisse dixerunt.

[¶11] 173. When he had made answer that he had done those things gladly, and had greatly extolled the services of Carpinatius, he charges a friend of his, who at that time was the chief collector of that company, to take care diligently, and to make sure that there was nothing in any of the letters of any of the partners which could tell against his safety and reputation. Accordingly he, having got rid of the main body of the shareholders, summons the collectors of the tenths, and communicates the business to them. They resolve and determine that those letters in which any attack was made on the character of Caius Verres shall be removed, and that care he taken that that business shall not by any possibility be any injury to Caius Verres.

> Latin: 173. cum respondisset ea se libenter fecisse operasque Carpinati magno opere laudasset, dat amico suo cuidam negotium, qui tum magister erat eius societatis, ut diligenter caveret atque prospiceret ne quid esset in litteris sociorum quod contra caput suum aut existimationem valere posset. ille multitudine sociorum remota decumanos convocat, rem defert. illi atque decernunt ut eae litterae quibus existimatio C. Verris laederetur removerentur, operaque daretur ne ea res C. Verri fraudi esse posset.

[¶12] 174. If I prove that the collectors of the truths passed this resolution,—if I make it evident that, according to this decree, the letters were removed, what more would you wait for? Can I produce to you any affair more absolutely decided? Can I bring before your tribunal any criminal more fully condemned? But condemned by whose judgment? By that, forsooth, of those men whom they who wish for severe tribunals think ought to decide on causes,—by the judgment of the farmers, whom the people is now demanding to have for judges, and concerning whom, that we may have them for judges, we at this moment see a law proposed, not by a man of our body, not by a man born of the equestrian order, not by a man of the noblest birth:

> Latin: 174. ostendo hoc decrevisse decumanos, si planum facio hoc decreto remotas esse litteras, quid exspectatis amplius? possumne magis rem iudicatam adferre, magis reum condemnatum in iudicium adducere? quorum iudicio condemnatum! eorum quos ii qui severiora iudicia desiderant arbitrantur res iudicare oportere [publicanorum iudicio ]; quos videlicet nunc populus iudices poscit, de quibus, ut eos iudices habeamus, legem ab homine non nostri generis, non ex equestri loco profecto, sed nobilissimo promulgatam videmus;

[¶13] 175. the collectors of the tenths, that is to say, the chiefs, and, as it were, the senators of the farmers, voted that these letters should be removed out of sight. I have men, who were present, whom I can produce, to whom I will entrust this proof, most honourable and wealthy men, the very chief of the equestrian order, on whose high credit the very speech and cause of the man who has proposed this law mainly relies. They shall come before you; they shall say what they deter mined. Indeed, if I know the men properly, they will not speak falsely For they were able, indeed, to put letters to their community out of sight; they have not been able to put out of sight their own good faith and conscientiousness. Therefore the Roman knights, who condemned you by their judgment, have not been willing to be condemned in the judgment of those judges. Do you now consider whether you prefer to follow their decision or their inclination.

> Latin: 175. decumani, hoc est principes et quasi senatores publicanorum, removendas de medio litteras censuerunt. ex iis qui adfuerunt quos producam, quibus hoc committam, homines honestissimos ac locupletissimos, istos ipsos principes equestris ordinis, quorum splendore vel maxime istius qui legem promulgavit oratio et causa nititur. in medium, dicent quid statuerint; profecto, si recte homines novi, non mentientur; litteras enim communis de medio removere potuerunt, fidem suam et religionem removere non possunt. equites Romani, qui te suo iudicio condemnarunt, horum iudicio condemnari noluerunt: vos nunc utrum illorum iudicium an voluntatem sequi malitis, considerate.

[¶14] 176. But see now, how far the zeal of your friends, your own devices, and the inclination of those partners aid you. I will speak a little more openly; for I am not afraid of any one thinking that I am saying this in the spirit of an accuser rather than with proper freedom. If the collectors had not removed those letters according to the resolution of the farmers of the tenths, I could only say against you what I had found in those letters; but now that the resolution has been passed, and the letters have been removed, I may say whatever I can, and the judge may suspect whatever he chooses. I say that you exported from Syracuse an immense weight of gold, of silver, of ivory, of purple; much cloth from Melita, much embroidered stuff, much furniture of Delos, many Corinthian vessels, a great quantity of corn, an immense load of honey; and that on account of these things, because no port dues were paid on them, Lucius Canuleius, who was the agent in the harbour, sent letters to his partners. Does this appear a sufficiently grave charge?

> Latin: 176. vide quid te amicorum tuorum studium, quid tuum consilium, quid sociorum voluntas adiuvet. paulo promptius; neque enim iam vereor ne quis hoc me magis accusatorie quam libere dixisse arbitretur. istas litteras non decreto decumanorum magistri removissent, tantum possem in te dicere quantum in litteris invenissem: nunc decreto isto facto litterisque remotis tantum mihi licet dicere quantum possum, tantum iudici suspicari quantum velit. te maximum pondus auri argenti eboris purpurae, plurimam vestem Melitensem, plurimam stragulam, multam Deliacam supellectilem, plurima vasa Corinthia, magnum numerum frumenti, vim mellis maximam Syracusis exportasse; his pro rebus quod portorium non esset datum, litteras ad socios misisse L. Canuleium, qui in portu operas daret. magnum crimen hoc videtur?

[¶15] 177. None, I think, can be graver. What will Hortensius say in defence? Will he demand that I produce the letters of Canuleius? Will he say that a charge of this sort is worthless unless it be supported by letters? I shall cry out that the letters have been put out of the way; that by a resolution of the shareholders the proofs and evidences of his thefts have been taken from me. He must either contend that this has not been done, or he must bear the brunt of all my weapons. Do you deny that this was done? I am glad to hear that defence. I descend into the arena; for equal terms and an equal contest are before us. I will produce witnesses, and I will produce many at the same time; since they were together when this took place, they shall be together now also. When they are examined, let them be bound not only by the obligation of their oath and regard for their character, but also by a common consciousness of the truth.

> Latin: 177. , opinor, maius. defendet Hortensius? ut litteras Canulei proferam? crimen eius modi nisi litteris confirmetur inane esse dicet? litteras remotas esse de medio, decreto sociorum erepta mihi esse istius indicia ac monumenta furtorum. hoc contendat numquam esse factum, aut omnia tela excipiat necesse est. esse factum? ista mihi defensio, descendo; aequa enim contentio, aequum certamen proponitur. testis, et producam pluris eodem tempore; quoniam tum cum actum est una fuerunt, nunc quoque una sint; cum interrogabuntur, obligentur non solum iuris iurandi atque existimationis periculo, sed etiam communi inter se conscientia.

[¶16] 178. If it be proved that this did take place as I say it did, will you be able to say, O Hortensius, that there was nothing in those letters to hurt Verres? You not only will not say so, but you will not even be able to say this,—that there was not as much in them as I say there was. This then is what you have brought about by your wisdom and by your interest; that, as I said a little while ago, you have given me the greatest licence for accusing, and he judges the most ample liberty to believe anything.

> Latin: 178. planum fit hoc ita quem ad modum dico esse factum, num poteris dicere, Hortensi, nihil in istis fuisse litteris quod Verrem laederet? modo id non dices, sed ne illud quidem tibi dicere licebit, tantum quantum ego dicam non fuisse. hoc vestro consilio et gratia perfecistis, ut, quem ad modum paulo ante dixi, et mihi summa facultas ad accusandum daretur, et iudici libera potestas ad credendum.

[¶17] 179. But though this be the case, still I will invent nothing. I will recollect that I have not taken a criminal to accuse, but that I have received clients to defend; and that you ought to hear the cause not as it might be produced by me, but as it has been brought to me; that I shall satisfy the Sicilians, if I diligently set forth what I have known myself in Sicily, and what I have heard from them; that I shall satisfy the Roman people, if I fear neither the violence nor the influence of any one; that I shall satisfy you, if by my good faith and diligence I give you an opportunity of deciding correctly and honestly; that I shall satisfy myself, if I do not depart a hair's breadth from that course of life which I have proposed to myself.

> Latin: 179. cum ita sit, nihil fingam tamen. me non sumpsisse quem accusarem, sed recepisse quos defenderem; vos ex me causam non a me prolatam, sed ad me delatam audire oportere; me Siculis satis esse facturum si quae cognovi in Sicilia, quae accepi ab ipsis, diligenter exposuero, populo Romano si nullius vim, nullius potentiam pertimuero, vobis si facultatem vere atque honeste iudicandi fide et diligentia mea fecero, mihimet si ne minimum quidem de meo curriculo vitae, quod mihi semper propositum fuit, decessero.

[¶18] 180. Wherefore, you have no ground to fear that I will invent anything against you. You have cause even to be glad; for I shall pass over many things which I know to have been done by you, because they are either too infamous, or scarcely credible. I will only discuss this whole affair of this society. That you may now hear the truth, I will ask, Was such a resolution passed? When I have ascertained that, I will ask, Have the letters been removed? When that too, is proved, you will understand the matter, even if I say nothing. If they who passed this resolution for his sake—namely, the Roman knights—were now also judges in his case, they would beyond all question condemn that man, concerning whom they knew that letters which laid bare his robberies had been sent to themselves, and had been removed by their own resolution. He, therefore, who must have been condemned by those Roman knights who desire everything to turn out for his interest, and who have been most kindly treated by him, can he, O judges, by any possible means or contrivance be acquitted by you?

> Latin: 180. nihil est quod metuas ne quid in te confingam: etiam quod laetere habes. enim quae scio a te esse commissa, quod aut nimium turpia aut parum credibilia sunt, praetermittam. agam de hoc toto nomine societatis. Vt iam scire possis, quaeram decretumne sit. id invenero, quaeram remotaene sint litterae. id quoque constabit, vos iam hoc me tacito intellegetis: si illi qui hoc istius causa decreverunt equites Romani nunc idem in eum iudices essent, istum sine dubio condemnarent, de quo litteras eas quae istius furta indicarent et ad se missas et suo decreto remotas scirent esse. igitur ab iis equitibus Romanis, qui istius causa cupiunt omnia, qui ab eo benignissime tractati sunt, condemnari necesse esset, is a vobis, iudices, ulla via aut ratione absolvi potest?

[¶19] 181. And that you may not suppose that those things which have been removed out of the way, and taken from you, were all so carefully hidden, and kept so secretly, that with all the diligence which I am aware is universally expected of me nothing concerning them has been able to be arrived at or discovered, I must tell you that, whatever could by any means or contrivance be found out, has been found out, O judges. You shall see in a moment the man detected in the very act; for as I have spent a great part of my life in attending to the causes of farmers, and have paid great attention to that body, I think that I am sufficiently acquainted with their customs by experience and by intercourse with them.

> Latin: 181. ne forte ea, quae remota de medio atque erepta nobis sunt, omnia ita condita fuisse atque ita abdita latuisse videantur ut haec diligentia, quam ego a me exspectari maxime puto, nihil eorum investigare, nihil adsequi potuerit, —quae consilio aliquo aut ratione inveniri potuerunt inventa sunt, iudices: manifestis in rebus hominem iam teneri videbitis. quod in publicanorum causis vel plurimum aetatis meae versor vehementerque illum ordinem observo, satis commode mihi videor eorum consuetudinem usu tractandoque cognosse.

[¶20] 182. Therefore, when I ascertained that the letters of the company were removed out of the way, I made a calculation of the years that that man had been in Sicily; then I inquired (what was exceedingly easy to discover) who during those years had been the collectors of that company,—in whose care the records had been. For I was aware that it was the custom of the collectors who kept the records, when they gave them up to the new collector, to retain copies of the documents themselves. And therefore I went in the first place to Lucius Vibius, a Roman knight, a man of the highest consideration, who, I ascertained, had been collector that very year about which I particularly had to inquire. I came upon the man unexpectedly when he was thinking of other things. I investigated what I could, and inquired into everything. I found only two small books, which had been sent by Lucius Canuleius to the shareholders from the harbour at Syracuse; in which there was entered an account of many months, and of things exported in Verres's name without having paid harbour dues. These I sealed up immediately.

> Latin: 182. ut hoc comperi, remotas esse litteras societatis, habui rationem eorum annorum per quos iste in Sicilia fuisset; dein quaesivi, quod erat inventu facillimum, qui per eos annos magistri illius societatis fuissent, apud quos tabulae fuissent. enim hanc magistrorum qui tabulas haberent consuetudinem esse, ut, cum tabulas novo magistro traderent, exempla litterarum ipsi habere non nollent. ad L. Vibium, equitem Romanum, virum primarium, quem reperiebam magistrum fuisse eo ipso anno qui mihi maxime quaerendus erat, primum veni. homini praeter opinionem improviso incidi. sum quae potui et quaesivi omnia: inveni duos solos libellos a L. Canuleio missos sociis ex portu Syracusis, in quibus erat scripta ratio mensuum complurium rerum exportatarum istius nomine sine portorio: itaque obsignavi statim.

[¶21] 183. These were documents of that sort which of all the papers of the company I was most anxious to find; but still I only found enough, O judges, to produce to you as a sample, as it were. But still, whatever is in these books, however unimportant it may seem to be, will at all events be undeniable; and by this you will be able to form your conjectures as to the rest. Read for me, I beg, this first book, and then the other. [The books of Canuleius are read.] I do not ask now whence you got those four hundred jars of honey, or such quantities of Maltese cloth, or fifty cushions for sofas or so many candelabra;—I do not, I say, inquire at present where you got these things; but, how you could want such a quantity of them, that I do ask. I say nothing about the honey; but what could you want with so many Maltese garments? as if you were going to dress all your friends' wives;—or with so many sofa cushions? as if you were going to furnish all their villas.

> Latin: 183. erat haec ex eodem genere quod ego maxime genus ex sociorum litteris reperire cupiebam; verum tantum inveni, iudices, quod apud vos quasi exempli causa proferre possem. tamen quicquid erit in his libellis, quantulumcumque videbitur esse, hoc quidem certe manifestum erit: de ceteris ex hoc coniecturam facere debebitis. mihi, quaeso, hunc primum libellum, deinde illum alterum. libelli Canveliani. quaero unde cccc amphoras mellis habueris, unde tantum Melitensium, unde L tricliniorum lectos, unde tot candelabra; non, inquam, iam quaero unde haec habueris, sed quo tantum tibi opus fuerit, id quaero. de melle, sed tantumne Melitensium, quasi etiam amicorum uxores, tantum lectorum, quasi omnium istorum villas ornaturus esses?

[¶22] 184. As in these little books there are only the accounts of a few months, conjecture in your minds what they must have been for the whole three years. This is what I contend for. From these small books found in the house of one collector of the company, you can form some conjecture how great a robber that man was in that province; what a number of desires, what different ones, what countless ones he indulged; what immense sums he made not only in money, but invested also in articles of this sort; which shall be detailed to you more fully another time. At present listen to this.

> Latin: 184. cum haec paucorum mensuum ratio in his libellis sit, facite ut vobis trienni totius veniat in mentem. contendo, ex his parvis libellis apud unum magistrum societatis repertis vos iam coniectura adsequi posse cuius modi praedo iste in illa provincia fuerit, quam multas cupiditates, quam varias, quam infinitas habuerit, quantam pecuniam non solum numeratam, verum etiam in huiusce modi rebus positam confecerit; quae vobis alio loco planius explicabuntur.

[¶23] 185. By these exportations, of which the list was read to you, he writes that the shareholders had lost sixty thousand sesterces by the five per cent due on them as harbour dues at Syracuse. In a few months, therefore, as these little insignificant books show, things were stolen by the praetor and exported from one single town of the value of twelve hundred thousand sesterces. Think now, as the island is one which is accessible by sea on all sides, what you can suppose was exported from other places? from Agrigentum, from Lilybaeum, from Panormus, from Thermae, from Halesa, from Catina, from the other towns? And what from Messana? the place which he thought safe for his purpose above all others,—where he was always easy and comfortable in his mind, because he had selected the Mamertines as men to whom he could send everything which was either to be preserved carefully, or exported secretly. After these books had been found, the rest were removed and concealed more carefully; but we, that all men may see that we are acting without any ulterior motive, are content with these books which we have produced.

> Latin: 185. hoc attendite. exportationibus quae recitatae sunt scribit HS lx socios perdidisse ex vicensima portori Syracusis. igitur mensibus, ut hi pusilli et contempti libelli indicant, furta praetoris, quae essent HS ∞cc, ex uno oppido solo exportata sunt. nunc,—cum illa Sicilia sit, hoc est insula quae undique exitus maritimos habeat,—quid ex ceteris locis exportatum putetis, quid Agrigento, quid Lilybaeo, quid Panhormo, quid Thermis, quid Halaesa, quid Catina, quid ex ceteris oppidis, quid vero Messana, quem iste sibi locum maxime tutum esse arbitrabatur, ubi animo semper soluto liberoque erat, quod sibi iste Mamertinos delegerat ad quos omnia quae aut diligentius servanda aut occultius exportanda erant deportaret. inventis libellis ceteri remoti et diligentius sunt reconditi; nos tamen, ut omnes intellegant hoc nos sine cupiditate agere, his ipsis libellis contenti sumus.

[¶24] 186. Now we will return to the accounts of the society of money received and paid, which they could not possibly remove honestly, and to your friend Carpinatius. We inspected at Syracuse accounts of the company made up by Carpinatius, which showed by many items that many of the men who had paid money to Verres, had borrowed it of Carpinatius. That will be clearer than daylight to you, O judges, when I produce the very men who paid the money; for you will see that the times at which, as they were in danger, they bought themselves off, agree with the records of the company not only as to the years, but even as to the months.

> Latin: 186. ad sociorum tabulas accepti et expensi, quas removere honeste nullo modo potuerunt, et ad amicum tuum Carpinatium revertemur. Syracusis a Carpinatio confectas tabulas societatis, quae significabant multis nominibus eos homines versuram a Carpinatio fecisse qui pecunias Verri dedissent; quod erit vobis luce clarius, iudices, tum cum eos ipsos produxero qui dederunt; intellegetis enim illa tempora per quae, cum essent in periculo, pretio sese redemerunt cum societatis tabulis non solum consulibus verum etiam mensibus convenire.

[¶25] 187. While we were examining this matter thoroughly, and holding the documents actually in our hands, we see on a sudden erasures of such a sort as to appear to be fresh wounds inflicted on papers. Immediately, having a suspicion of something wrong, we bent our eyes and attention on the names themselves. Money was entered as having been received from Caius Verrutius the son of Caius, in such a way that the letters had been let stand down to the second R, all the rest was an erasure. A second, a third, a fourth—there were a great many names in the same state. As the matter was plain, so also was the abominable and scandalous worthlessness of the accounts. We began to inquire of Carpinatius who that Verrutius was, with whom he had such extensive pecuniary dealings. The man began to hesitate, to look away, to colour. Because there is a provision made by law with respect to the accounts of the farmers, forbidding their being taken to Rome; in order that the matter might be as clear and as completely proved as possible, I summon Carpinatius before the tribunal of Metellus and produce the accounts of the company in the forum. There is a great rush of people to the place; and as the partnership existing between Carpinatius and that praetor, and his usury, were well known, all people were watching with the most eager expectation to see what was contained in the accounts I bring the matter before Metellus; I state to him that I have seen the accounts of the shareholders, that in these there is a long account of one Caius Verrutius made up of many items, and that I saw, by a computation of the years and months, that this Verrutius had had no account at all with Carpinatius, either before the arrival of Caius Verres, or after his departure.

> Latin: 187. haec maxime cognosceremus et in manibus tabulas haberemus, repente aspicimus lituras eius modi quasi quaedam vulnera tabularum recentia. suspicione offensi ad ea ipsa nomina oculos animumque transtulimus. acceptae pecuniae C. Verrvcio C. f., sic tamen ut usque ad alterum R litterae constarent integrae, reliquae omnes essent in litura; alterum, tertium, quartum, permulta erant eiusdem modi nomina. manifesto res flagitiosa litura tabularum atque insignis turpitudo teneretur, quaerere incipimus de Carpinatio quisnam is esset Verrucius quicum tantae pecuniae rationem haberet. homo, versari, rubere. lege excipiuntur tabulae publicanorum quo minus Romam deportentur, ut res quam maxime clara et testata esse posset, in ius ad Metellum Carpinatium voco tabulasque societatis in forum defero. maximus concursus hominum, et, quod erat Carpinati nota cum isto praetore societas ac faeneratio, summe exspectabant omnes quidnam in tabulis teneretur.

[¶26] 188. I demand that Carpinatius shall give me an answer who that Verrutius is; whether he is a merchant, or a broker, or an agriculturist, or a grazier; whether he is in Sicily, or whether he has now left it. All who were in the court cried out at once that there had never been any one in Sicily of the name of Verrutius. I began to press the man to answer me who he was, where he was, whence he came; why the servant of the company who made up the accounts always made a blunder in the name of Verrutius at the same place?

> Latin: 188. ad Metellum defero, me tabulas perspexisse sociorum; in his tabulis magnam rationem C. Verruci permultis nominibus esse, meque hoc perspicere ex consulum mensuumque ratione, hunc Verrucium neque ante adventum C. Verris neque post decessionem quicquam cum Carpinatio rationis habuisse; postulo ut mihi respondeat qui sit is Verrucius, mercator an negotiator an arator an pecuarius, in Sicilia sit an iam decesserit. omnes ex conventu neminem umquam in Sicilia fuisse Verrucium. instare ut mihi responderet quis esset, ubi esset, unde esset; cur servus societatis qui tabulas conficeret semper in Verruci nomine certo ex loco mendosus esset.

[¶27] 189. And I made this demand, not because I thought it of any consequence that he should be compelled to answer me these things against his will, but that the robberies of one, the dishonesty of the other, and the audacity of both might be made evident to all the world. And so I leave him in the court, dumb from fear and the consciousness of his crimes, terrified out of his wits, and almost frightened to death; I take a copy of the accounts in the forum, with a great crowd of men standing round me; the most eminent men in the assembly are employed in making the copy; the letters and the erasures are faithfully copied and imitated, and transferred from the accounts into books.

> Latin: 189. haec postulabam, non quo illum cogi putarem oportere ut ad ea mihi responderet invitus, sed ut omnibus istius furta, illius flagitium, utriusque audacia perspicua esse posset. illum in iure metu conscientiaque peccati mutum atque exanimatum ac vix vivum relinquo, tabulas in foro summa hominum frequentia exscribo; adhibentur in scribendo ex conventu viri primarii, litterae lituraeque omnes adsimulatae et expressae de tabulis in libros transferuntur.

[¶28] 190. The copy was examined and compared with the original with the greatest care and diligence, and then sealed up by most honourable men. If Carpinatius would not answer me then, do you, O Verres, answer me now, who you imagine this Verrutius, who must almost be one of your own family, to be. It is quite impossible that you should not have known a man in your own province, who, I see, was in Sicily while you were praetor, and who, I perceive from the accounts themselves, was a very wealthy man. And now, that this may not be longer in obscurity, advance into the middle, open the volume, the copy of the accounts, so that every one may be able to see now, not the traces only of that man's avarice, but the very bed in which it lay.

> Latin: 190. omnia summa cura et diligentia recognita et collata et ab hominibus honestissimis obsignata sunt. Carpinatius mihi tum respondere noluit, responde tu mihi nunc, Verres, quem esse hunc tuum paene gentilem Verrucium putes. non potest ut, quem video te praetore in Sicilia fuisse et quem ex ipsa ratione intellego locupletem fuisse, eum tu in tua provincia non cognoveris. adeo, ne hoc aut longius aut obscurius esse possit, procedite in medium atque explicate descriptionem imaginemque tabularum, ut omnes mortales istius avaritiae non iam vestigia sed ipsa cubilia videre possint. Liber explicetur.

[¶29] 191. You see the word Verrutius?—You see the first letters untouched? you see the last part of the name, the tail of Verres, smothered in the erasure, as in the mud. The original accounts, O judges, are in exactly the same state as this copy.—What are you waiting for? What more do you want? You, Verres, why are you sitting there? Why do you delay? for either you must show us Verrutius, or confess that you yourself are Verrutius. The ancient orators are extolled, the Crassi and Antonii, because they had the skill to efface the impression made by an accusation with great clearness, and to defend the causes of accused persons with eloquence. It was not, forsooth, in ability only that they surpassed those who are now employed here as counsel, but also in good fortune. No one, in those times, committed such crimes as to leave no room for any defence; no one lived in such a manner that no part of his life was free from the most extreme infamy; no one was detected in such manifest guilt, that, shameless as he had been in the action, he seemed still more shameless if he denied it.

> Latin: 191. Verrucium? videtis primas litteras integras? videtis extremam partem nominis, codam illam Verrinam tamquam in luto demersam esse in litura? habent se tabulae, iudices, ut videtis. exspectatis, quid quaeritis amplius? ipse, Verres, quid sedes, quid moraris? aut exhibeas nobis Verrucium necesse est aut te Verrucium esse fateare. oratores veteres, Crassi illi et Antonii, quod crimina diluere dilucide, quod copiose reorum causas defendere solerent: nimirum illi non ingenio solum his patronis, sed fortuna etiam praestiterunt. enim tum ita peccabat ut defensioni locum non relinqueret; nemo ita vivebat ut nulla eius vitae pars summae turpitudinis esset expers; nemo ita in manifesto peccato tenebatur ut, cum impudens fuisset in facto, tum impudentior videretur si negaret.

[¶30] 192. But now what can Hortensius do? Can he argue against the charges of avarice by panegyrics on his client's economy? He is defending a man thoroughly profligate, thoroughly licentious, thoroughly wicked. Can he lead your attention away from this infamy and profligacy of his, and turn them into some other direction by a mention of his bravery? But a man more inactive, more lazy, one who is more a man among women, a debauched woman among men, cannot be found.—But his manners are affable. Who is more obstinate more rude? more arrogant?—But still all this is without any injury to any one. Who has ever been more furious, more treacherous, and more cruel? With such a defendant and such a cause, what could all the Crassus's and Antonius's in the world do? This is all they would do, as I think, O Hortensius; they would have nothing to do with the cause at all, lest by contact with the impudence of another they might lose their own characters for virtue. For they come to plead causes free and unshackled, so as not, if they did not choose to act shamelessly in defending people, to be thought ungrateful for abandoning them. A great part of this speech is occupied with charges against Verres of extortion committed with respect to the decuriae or tenths. “The decuriae formed a part of the vectigalia of the Romans, and were paid by subjects whose territory, either by conquest, or by deditio, had become the property of the state. They consisted as the name denotes, of a tithe or tenth of the produce of the soil levied upon the cultivators (aratores) or occupiers (possessores) of the lands, which from being subject to this payment were called agri decumani... It appears from Cicero (.) that Romans, on reducing Sicily to a province, allowed to the old inhabitants a continuance of their ancient rights, and that, with some few exceptions, the territory of all the states was subjected, as formerly, to the payment of a tithe on corn, wine, oil, and the fruges minutae. It was further determined that place and time of paying these tithes to the decumani should ‘be and continue’ as settled by the law of king Hiero (Lex Hieronica), which enacted severe penalties against any arator who did not pay his due, as well as against the decumani who exacted more than their tenth... The name of decumani was also applied to the farmers of these tributes, who purchased them from the state, and then collected them on their own account.” In fact “the revenues which Rome derived from conquered countries, consisting chiefly of tolls, tithes, harbour duties, &c.... were chiefly let out, or, as the Romans expressed it, sold by the censors in Rome itself to the highest bidders, ( )... The tithes raised in the province of Sicily alone, with the exception of those of wine, oil, and garden produce, were not sold at Rome, but in the district of Sicily itself, according to a practice established by Hiero (, ). The persons who undertook the farming of the public revenue, of course, belonged to the wealthiest Romans. and down to the end of the republic, as well as during the earlier part of the empire, the farming of the public revenues was almost exclusively in the hands of the equites, whence the words equites and publicani are sometimes used as synonymous, (, 71.)... The publicani had to give security to the state for the sum at which they bought one or more branches of revenue in a province; and as no one person was rich enough to give sufficient security, a number of equites generally united together and formed a company (socii, societas, or corpus ) which was recognised by the state, and by which they were enabled to carry on their undertakings on a large scale. The shares which each partner in such a company took in the business were called partes, and if they were small particulae. The responsible person in each company, and the one who contracted with the state, was called manceps, but there was also a magister to manage the business of each company, who resided at Rome, and kept up an extensive correspondence with the agents in the provinces, (.) He seems to have held his office only for one year; his representative in the province was called submagister, who had to travel about and superintend the actual business of collecting the revenues... Nobody but a Roman citizen was allowed to become a member of a company of publicani; freedmen and slaves were excluded, ( ) No Roman magistrate, however, or governor of a province, was allowed to take any share whatever in a company of publicani, ( ), a regulation which was chiefly intended as a protection against the oppression of the provincials... The actual levying or collecting of the taxes in the provinces was performed by an inferior class of men, who were said operas publicanis dare, or esse in operis societatis, (.) They were engaged by the publicani, and consisted of freemen as well as slaves, Romans as well as provincials.” ( )—Smith, Dict. Ant. pp. 316, 806, vv. Decumae, Publicani. Verres had broken the law which forbade a governor of a province to hold shares in a company which farmed the revenue; and as he had therefore a personal interest in increasing the taxes, he committed unexampled acts of extortion himself, and protected those who committed similar act. And in many other respects he had plundered the cultivators of the public domain, whom I have called in this translation “agriculturists,” not using the word “farmers,” by which word I have rendered “publicani.” The medimnus, as we see, ( ), was equal to six modii, and contained within a fraction of twelve English gallons, or a bushel and a half. Every man, O judges, who, without being prompted by any enmity, or stung by any private injury, or tempted by any reward, prosecutes another for the good of the republic, ought to consider, not only how great a burden he is liking upon himself at the time, but also how much trouble he is courting for the remainder of his life. For he imposes on himself a law of innocence, of moderation, and of all virtues, who demands from another an account of his life; and he does so the more if, as I said before, he does this being urges by no other motive except a desire for the common good. For if any one assumes to himself to correct the manners of others, and to reprove their faults, who will pardon him, if he himself turn aside in any particular from the strict line of duty? Wherefore, a citizen of this sort is the more to he praised and beloved by all men for this reason also,—that he does not only remove a worthless citizen from the republic, but he also promises and binds himself to be such a man as to be compelled, not only by an ordinary inclination to virtue and duty, but by even some more unavoidable principle, to live virtuously and honourably. And, therefore, O judges, that most illustrious and most eloquent man, Lucius Crassus, was often heard to say that he did not repent of anything so much as having ever proceeded against Caius Carbo: for by so doing he had his inclination as to everything less uncontrolled, and he thought, too, that his way of life was remarked by more people than he liked. And he, fortified as he was by the protection of his own genius and fortune, was yet hampered by this anxiety which he had brought upon himself, before his judgment was fully formed, at his entrance into life; on which account virtue and integrity is less, looked for from those who undertake this business as young men, than from those who do so at a riper age; for they, for the sake of credit and ostentation, become accusers of others before they have had time to take notice how much more free the life of those who have accused no one is. We who have already shown both what we could do, and what judgment we had, unless we could easily restrain our desires, should never, of our own accord, deprive ourselves of all liberty and freedom in our way of life.

> Latin: 192. vero quid faciat Hortensius? avaritiaene crimina frugalitatis laudibus deprecetur? hominem flagitiosissimum libidinosissimum nequissimumque defendit. ab hac eius infamia nequitia vestros animos in aliam partem fortitudinis commemoratione traducat? homo inertior, ignavior, magis vir inter mulieres, impura inter viros muliercula proferri non potest. mores commodi. contumacior, quis inhumanior, quis superbior? haec sine cuiusquam malo. acerbior, quis insidiosior, quis crudelior umquam fuit? hoc homine atque in eius modi causa quid facerent omnes Crassi et Antonii?, opinor, Hortensi: ad causam non accederent neque in alterius impudentia sui pudoris existimationem amitterent. enim ad causas solutique veniebant, neque committebant ut, si impudentes in defendendo esse noluissent, ingrati in deserendo existimarentur. qui alterum, iudices, nullis impulsi inimicitiis, nulla privatim laesi iniuria, nullo praemio adducti in iudicium rei publicae causa vocant providere debent non solum quid oneris in praesentia tollant, sed quantum in omnem vitam negoti suscipere conentur. enim sibi ipsi dicunt innocentiae continentiae virtutumque omnium qui ab altero rationem vitae reposcunt, atque eo magis si id, ut ante dixi, faciunt nulla re commoti alia nisi utilitate communi. qui sibi hoc sumpsit, ut corrigat mores aliorum ac peccata reprehendat, quis huic ignoscat si qua in re ipse ab religione offici declinarit? hoc etiam magis ab omnibus eius modi civis laudandus ac diligendus est, quod non solum ab re publica civem improbum removet, verum etiam se ipsum eius modi fore profitetur ac praestat ut sibi non modo communi voluntate virtutis atque offici, sed etiam vi quadam magis necessaria recte sit honesteque vivendum. hoc, iudices, ex homine clarissimo atque eloquentissimo, L. Crasso, saepe auditum est, cum se nullius rei tam paenitere diceret quam quod C. Carbonem umquam in iudicium vocavisset; minus enim liberas omnium rerum voluntates habebat, et vitam suam pluribus quam vellet observari oculis arbitrabatur. ille his praesidiis ingeni fortunaeque munitus tamen hac cura continebatur, quam sibi nondum confirmato consilio sed ineunte aetate susceperat, minus etiam praecipitur eorum virtus et integritas qui ad hanc rem adulescentuli, quam qui iam firmata aetate descendunt. enim, ante quam potuerunt existimare quanto liberior vita sit eorum qui neminem accusarint, gloriae causa atque ostentationis accusant: nos qui iam et quid facere et quantum iudicare possemus ostendimus, nisi facile cupiditates nostras teneremus, numquam ipsimet nobis praecideremus istam licentiam libertatemque vivendi.

## 14. Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 4–40

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/14/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/14/#p-N

[¶0] 4. And I have a greater burden on me than those who have accused other men, (if that deserve to be called a burden which you bear with pleasure and delight,)—but still I have in one respect undertaken a greater burden than others who have done the same thing, because all men are required to abstain most especially from those vices for which they have reproved another. Have you accused any thief or rapacious man? You must for ever avoid all suspicion of avarice. Have you prosecuted any spiteful or cruel man? You must for ever take care not to appear in any matter the least harsh or severe. A seducer? an adulterer? You must, take care most diligently that no trace of licentiousness be ever seen in your conduct. In short, everything which you have impeached in another must be earnestly avoided by you your self. In truth, not only no accuser, but no reprover even can be endured, who is himself detected in the vice which he reproves in another.

> Latin: 4. ego hoc plus oneris habeo quam qui ceteros accusarunt,—si onus est id appellandum quod cum laetitia feras ac voluptate: verum tamen ego hoc amplius suscepi quam ceteri quod ita postulatur ab hominibus ut his abstineant maxime vitiis in quibus alterum reprehenderint. Furem aliquem aut rapacem accusaris: vitanda tibi semper erit omnis avaritiae suspicio. quempiam adduxeris aut crudelem: cavendum erit semper ne qua in re asperior aut inhumanior fuisse videare., adulterum: providendum diligenter ne quod in vita vestigium libidinis appareat: omnia postremo quae vindicaris in altero tibi ipsi vehementer fugienda sunt. non modo accusator, sed ne obiurgator quidem ferendus est is qui, quod in altero vitium reprehendit, in eo ipse reprehenditur.

[¶1] 5. I, in the case of one man, am finding fault with every vice which can exist in a wicked and abandoned man. I say that there is no indication of lust, of wickedness, of audacity, which you cannot see clearly in the life of that one man. In the case of this criminal, I, O judges, establish this law against myself; that I must so live as to appear to be, and always to have been, utterly unlike that man, not only in all my actions and words, but even in that arrogance and haughtiness of countenance and eyes which you see before you. I will bear without uneasiness, O judges, that that course of life which was previously agreeable to me of my own accord, shall now, by the law and conditions I hare laid down for myself, become necessary for me.

> Latin: 5. in uno homine omnia vitia quae possunt in homine perdito nefarioque esse reprehendo; nullum esse dico indicium libidinis sceleris audaciae quod non in istius unius vita perspicere possitis. in isto reo legem hanc mihi, iudices, statuo, vivendum ita esse ut isti non modo factis dictisque omnibus, sed etiam oris oculorumque illa contumacia ac superbia quam videtis, dissimillimus esse ac semper fuisse videar., non moleste fero, iudices, eam vitam quae mihi sua sponte antea iucunda fuerit nunc iam mea lege et condicione necessariam quoque futuram.

[¶2] 6. And in the case of this man you often, O Hortensius, are asking me, under the pressure of what enmity or what injury I have come forward to accuse him. I omit all mention of my duty, and of my connection with the Sicilians; I answer you as to the point of enmity. Do you think there is any greater enmity than that arising from the opposite opinions of men, and the contrariety of their wishes and inclinations? Can he who thinks good faith the holiest thing in life avoid being an enemy to that man who, as quaestor, dared to despoil, to desert, to betray, and to attack his consul, whose counsels he had shared, whose money he had received, with all whose business affairs he had been entrusted? Can he who reverences modesty and chastity behold with equanimity the daily adulteries, the dissolute manners of that man, the domestic pandering to his passions? Can he who wishes to pay due honours to the immortal gods, by any means avoid being an enemy to that man who has plundered all the temples, who has dared to commit his robberies even on the track of the wheels of the sacred car? Must not he who thinks that all men ought to live under equal laws, be very hostile to you, when he considers the variety and caprice of your decrees? Must not he who grieves at the injuries of the allies and the distresses of the provinces be excited against you by the plundering of Asia, the harassing of Pamphylia, the miserable state and the agony of Sicily? Ought not he who desires the rights and the liberty of the Roman citizens to be held sacred among all men,—to be even more than an enemy to you, when here collects your scourgings, your executions, your crosses erected for the punishment of Roman citizens?

> Latin: 6. in hoc homine saepe a me quaeris, Hortensi, quibus inimicitiis aut qua iniuria adductus ad accusandum descenderim? Mitto iam rationem offici mei necessitudinisque Siculorum: de ipsis tibi inimicitiis respondeo. tu maiores ullas inimicitias putas esse quam contrarias hominum sententias ac dissimilitudines studiorum ac voluntatum? sanctissimam in vita qui putat, potest ei non inimicus esse qui quaestor consulem suum consiliis commissis, pecunia tradita, rebus omnibus creditis spoliare, relinquere, prodere, oppugnare ausus sit? ac pudicitiam qui colit, potest animo aequo istius cotidiana adulteria, meretriciam disciplinam, domesticum lenocinium videre? religiones deorum immortalium retinere vult, ei qui fana spoliarit omnia, qui ex tensarum orbitis praedari sit ausus, inimicus non esse qui potest? iure aequo omnis putat esse oportere, is tibi non infestissimus sit, cum cogitet varietatem libidinemque decretorum tuorum? qui sociorum iniuriis provinciarumque incommodis doleat, is in te non expilatione Asiae, vexatione Pamphyliae, squalore et lacrimis Siciliae concitetur? qui civium Romanorum iura ac libertatem sanctam apud omnis haberi velit, is non tibi plus etiam quam inimicus esse debeat, cum tua verbera, cum securis, cum cruces ad civium Romanorum supplicia fixas recordetur?

[¶3] 7. Or if he had in any particular made a decree contrary to my interest unjustly, would you then think that I was fairly an enemy to him; but now that he has acted contrary to the interests, and property, and advantage, and inclination, and welfare of all good men, do you ask why I am an enemy to a man towards whom the whole Roman people is hostile? I, who above all other men ought to undertake, to gratify the desires of the Roman people, even a greater burden and duty than my strength perhaps is equal to. What? cannot even those matters, which seem more trifling, move any one's mind,—that the worthlessness and audacity of that man should have a more easy access to your own friendship, O Hortensius, and to that of other great and noble men, than the virtue and integrity of any one of us? You hate the industry of new men; you despise their economy; you scorn their modesty; you wish their talents and virtues to be depressed and extinguished.

> Latin: 7. si qua in re contra rem meam decrevisset aliquid iniuria, iure ei me inimicum esse arbitrarere: cum omnia contra omnium bonorum rem causam rationem utilitatem voluntatemque fecerit, quaeris cur ei sim inimicus cui populus Romanus infestus est? qui praesertim plus etiam quam pars virilis postulat pro voluntate populi Romani oneris ac muneris suscipere debeam.? illa quae leviora videntur esse non cuiusvis animum possunt movere, quod ad tuam ipsius amicitiam ceterorumque hominum magnorum atque nobilium faciliorem aditum istius habet nequitia et audacia quam cuiusquam nostrum virtus et integritas? hominum novorum industriam, despicitis eorum frugalitatem, pudorem contemnitis, ingenium vero et virtutem depressam exstinctamque cupitis: Verrem amatis!

[¶4] 8. You are fond of Verres: I suppose so. If you are not gratified with his virtue, and his innocence, and his industry, and his modesty, and his chastity, at least you are transported at his conversation, his accomplishments, and his high breeding. He has no such gifts; but, on the contrary, all his qualities are stained with the most extreme disgrace and infamy, with most extraordinary stupidity and boorishness. If any man's house is open to this man, do you think it is open, or rather that it is yawning and begging something? He is a favourite of your factors, of your valets. Your freedmen, your slaves, your housemaids, are in love with him. He, when he calls, is introduced out of his turn; he alone is admitted, while others, often most virtuous men, are excluded. From which it is very easily understood that those people are the most dear to you who have lived in such a manner that without your protection they cannot be safe.

> Latin: 8. credo: si non virtute, non industria, non innocentia, non pudore, non pudicitia, at sermone, at litteris, at humanitate eius delectamini. eorum est, contraque sunt omnia cum summo dedecore ac turpitudine tum singulari stultitia atque inhumanitate oblita. homini si cuius domus patet, utrum ea patere an hiare ac poscere aliquid videtur? vestri ianitores, hunc cubicularii diligunt; hunc liberti vestri, hunc servi ancillaeque amant; hic cum venit extra ordinem vocatur; hic solus introducitur; ceteri saepe frugalissimi homines excluduntur. quo intellegi potest eos vobis esse carissimos qui ita vixerint ut sine vestro praesidio salvi esse non possint.

[¶5] 9. What? do you think this can be endurable to any one,—that we should live on slender incomes in such a way as not even to wish to acquire anything more; that we should be content with maintaining our dignity, and the goodwill of the Roman people, not by wealth, but by virtue; but that that man having robbed every one on all sides, and having escaped with impunity, should live, in prosperity and abundance? that all your banquets should be decorated with his plate, your forum and hall of assembly with his statues and pictures? especially when, through your own valour, you are rich in all such trophies? That it should be Verres who adorns your villas with his spoils? That it should be Verres who is vying with Lucius Mummius: so that the one appears to have laid waste more cities of the allies, than the other overthrew belonging to the enemy? That the one, unassisted, seems to have adorned more villas with the decorations of temples, than the other decorated-temples with the spoils of the enemy? And shall he be dearer to you, in order that others may more willingly become subservient to your covetousness at their own risk?

> Latin: 9. ? hoc cuiquam ferendum putas esse, nos ita vivere in pecunia tenui ut prorsus nihil adquirere velimus, ut dignitatem nostram populique Romani beneficia non copiis sed virtute tueamur, istum rebus omnibus undique ereptis impune eludentem circumfluere atque abundare? huius argento dominia vestra, huius signis et tabulis forum comitiumque ornari, praesertim cum vos vestro Marte his rebus omnibus abundetis? Verrem esse qui vestras villas suis manubiis ornet? Verrem esse qui cum L. Mummio certet, ut pluris hic sociorum urbis quam ille hostium spoliasse videatur, pluris hic villas ornamentis fanorum quam ille fana spoliis hostium ornasse? is erit ob eam rem vobis carior ut ceteri libentius suo periculo vestris cupiditatibus serviant?

[¶6] 10. But these topics shall be mentioned at another time, and they have already been mentioned elsewhere. Let us proceed to the other matters, after we have in a few words, O judges, begged your favourable construction. All through our former speech we had your attention very carefully given to us. It was very pleasing to us; but it will be far more pleasing, if you will be so kind as to attend to what follows; because in all the things which were said before, there was some pleasure arising from the very variety and novelty of the subjects and of the charges. Now we are going to discuss the affair of corn; which indeed in the greatness of the iniquity exceeds nearly all the other charges, but will have far less variety and agreeableness in the discussion. But it is quite worthy of your authority and wisdom, O judges, in the matter of careful hearing, to give no less weight to conscientiousness in the discharge of your duties, than to pleasure.

> Latin: 10. haec et dicentur alio loco et dicta sunt: nunc proficiscemur ad reliqua, si pauca ante fuerimus a vobis, iudices, deprecati. omni oratione perattentos vestros animos habuimus: id fuit nobis gratum admodum. multo erit gratius si reliqua voletis attendere, propterea quod in his omnibus quae antea dicta sunt erat quaedam ex ipsa varietate ac novitate rerum et criminum delectatio, nunc tractare causam instituimus frumentariam, quae magnitudine iniuriae et re criminibus ceteris antecellet, iucunditatis in agendo et varietatis minus habebit. autem auctoritate et prudentia dignissimum est, iudices, in audiendi diligentia non minus religioni tribuere quam voluptati.

[¶7] 11. I, inquiring into this charge respecting the corn, keep this in view, O judges, that you are going to inquire into the estates and fortunes of all the Sicilians—into the property of all the Roman citizens who cultivate land in Sicily—into the revenues handed down to you by your ancestors—into the life and sustenance of the Roman people. And if these matters appear to you important—yes, and most important,—do not be weary if they are pressed upon you from various points of view, and at some length. It cannot escape the notice of any one of you, O judges, that all the advantage and desirableness of Sicily, which is in any way connected with the convenience of the Roman people, consists mainly in its corn; for in other respects we are indeed assisted by that province, but as to this article, we are fed and supported by it.

> Latin: 11. hac causa frumentaria cognoscenda haec vobis proponite, iudices, vos de rebus fortunisque Siculorum omnium, de civium Romanorum qui arant in Sicilia bonis, de vectigalibus a maioribus traditis, de vita victuque populi Romani cognituros: quae si magna atque adeo maxima vobis videbuntur, quam varie et quam copiose dicantur exspectare nolite. vestrum praeterit, iudices, omnem utilitatem opportunitatemque provinciae Siciliae, quae ad commoda populi Romani adiuncta sit, consistere in re frumentaria maxime; nam ceteris rebus adiuvamur ex illa provincia, hac vero alimur ac sustinemur.

[¶8] 12. The case, O judges, will be divided under three heads in my accusation: for, first, I shall speak of the collectors of the tenths; secondly, of the corn which has been bought; thirdly, of that which has been valued. There is, O judges, this difference between Sicily and other provinces, in the matter of tribute derived from the lands; that in the other provinces, either the tribute imposed is of a fixed amount, which is called stipendiarium, as in the case of the Spaniards and most of the Carthaginian provinces, being a sort of reward of victory, and penalty for war; or else a contract exists between the state and the farmers, settled by the censor, as is the case in Asia, by the Sempronian law. But the cities in Sicily were received into our friendship and alliance, retaining the same laws which they had before, and that being subject to the Roman people on the same conditions as they had formerly been subject to their own princes.

> Latin: 12. causa tripertita, iudices, erit in accusatione; primum enim de decumano, deinde de empto dicemus frumento, postremo de aestimato. Siciliam ceterasque provincias, iudices, in agrorum vectigalium ratione hoc interest, quod ceteris aut impositum vectigal est certum, quod stipendiarium dicitur, ut Hispanis et plerisque Poenorum quasi victoriae praemium ac poena belli, aut censoria locatio constituta est, ut Asiae lege Sempronia: Siciliae civitates sic in amicitiam fidemque accepimus ut eodem iure essent quo fuissent, eadem condicione populo Romano parerent qua suis antea paruissent.

[¶9] 13. Very few cities of Sicily were subdued in war by our ancestors, and even in the case of those which were, though their land was made the public domain of the Roman people, still it was afterwards restored to them. That domain is regularly let out to farmers by the censors. There are two federate cities, whose tenths are not put up to auction; the city of the Mamertines and Taurominium. Besides these, there are five cities without any treaty, free and enfranchised; Centuripa, Halesa, Segesta, Halicya, and Panormus. All the land of the other states of Sicily is subject to the payment of tenths; and was so, before the sovereignty of the Roman people, by the will and laws of the Sicilians themselves.

> Latin: 13. Siciliae civitates sunt bello a maioribus nostris subactae; quarum ager cum esset publicus populi Romani factus, tamen illis est redditus; is ager a censoribus locari solet. civitates duae sunt, quarum decumae venire non soleant, Mamertina et Tauromenitana, quinque praeterea sine foedere immunes [civitates ] ac liberae, Centuripina, Halaesina, Segestana, Halicyensis, Panhormitana; praeterea omnis ager Siciliae civitatum decumanus est, itemque ante imperium populi Romani ipsorum Siculorum voluntate et institutis fuit.

[¶10] 14. See now the wisdom of our ancestors, who, when they had added Sicily, so valuable an assistant both in war and peace, to the republic, were so careful to defend the Sicilians and to retain them in their allegiance, that they not only imposed no new tax upon their lands, but did not even alter the law of putting up for sale the contracts of the farmers of the tenths, or the time or place of selling them; so that they were to put them up for sale at the regular time of year, at the same place, in Sicily,—in short, in every respect as the law of Hiero directed; they permitted them still to manage their own affairs, and were not willing that their minds should be disturbed even by a new name to a law, much less by an actual new law.

> Latin: 14. nunc maiorum sapientiam, qui cum Siciliam tam opportunum subsidium belli atque pacis ad rem publicam adiunxissent, tanta cura Siculos tueri ac retinere voluerunt ut non modo eorum agris vectigal novum nullum imponerent, sed ne legem quidem venditionis decumarum neve vendundi aut tempus aut locum commutarent, ut certo tempore anni, ut ibidem in Sicilia, denique ut lege Hieronica venderent. eos in suis rebus ipsos interesse, eorumque animos non modo lege nova sed ne nomine quidem legis novo commoveri.

[¶11] 15. And so that resolved that the farming of the tenth should always be put up to auction according to the law of Hiero, in order that the discharge of that office might be the more agreeable if, though the supreme power was changed, still, not only the laws of that king who was very dear to the Sicilians, but his name also remained in force among them. This law the Sicilians always used before Verres was praetor. He first dared to root up and alter the established usages of them all, their customs which had been handed down to them from their ancestors, the conditions of their friendship with us, and the rights secured to them by our alliance.

> Latin: 15. decumas lege Hieronica semper vendundas censuerunt, ut iis iucundior esset muneris illius functio, si eius regis qui Siculis carissimus fuit non solum instituta commutato imperio, verum etiam nomen maneret. iure ante Verrem praetorem Siculi semper usi sunt: hic primus instituta omnium, consuetudinem a maioribus traditam, condicionem amicitiae, ius societatis convellere et commutare ausus est.

[¶12] 16. And in this, this is the first thing I object to and accuse you for, that in a custom of such long standing, and so thoroughly established, you made any innovation at all. Have you ever gained anything by this genius of yours? Were you superior in prudence and wisdom to so many wise and illustrious men who governed that province before you? That is your renown; this praise is due to your genius and diligence. I admit and grant this to you. I do know that, at Rome, when you were praetor, you did transfer by your edict the possession of inheritance from the children to strangers, from the first heirs to the second, from the laws to your own licentious covetousness. I do know that you corrected the edicts of all your predecessors, and gave possession of inheritance not according to the evidence of those who produced the will, but according to theirs who said that a will had been made. And I do know too that those new practices, first brought forward and invented by you, were a very great profit to you. I recollect, moreover, that you also abrogated and altered the laws of the censors about the keeping the public buildings in repair; so that he might not take the contract to whom the care of the building belonged; so that his guardians and relations might not consult the advantage, of their ward so as to prevent his being stripped of all his property; that you appointed a very limited time for the work, in order to exclude others from the business; but that with respect to the contractor you favoured, you did not observe any fixed time at all.

> Latin: 16. in re primum illud reprehendo et accuso, cur in re tam vetere, tam usitata quicquam novi feceris. aliquid adsecutus es? homines sapientissimos et clarissimos, qui illam provinciam ante te tenuerunt, prudentia consilioque vicisti? tuum, est ingeni diligentiaeque tuae: do hoc tibi et concedo. te Romae, cum praetor esses, edicto tuo possessiones hereditatum a liberis ad alienos, a primis heredibus ad secundos, a legibus ad libidinem tuam transtulisse; scio te edicta superiorum omnium correxisse et possessiones hereditatum non secundum eos qui proferrent, sed secundum eos qui dicerent testamentum factum dedisse; easque res novas abs te prolatas et inventas magno tibi quaestui fuisse scio; eundemque te memini censorias quoque leges in sartis tectis exigendis tollere et commutare, ne is redimeret cuia res esset, ne pupillo tutores propinquique consulerent quo minus fortunis omnibus everteretur; exiguam diem praefinire operi qua ceteros ab negotio excluderes, ipse in tuo redemptore nullam certam diem observares.

[¶13] 17. So that I do not marvel at your having established a new law in the matter of the tenths you, a man so wise, so thoroughly practiced in praetorian edicts and censorian laws. I do not wonder, I say, at your having invented something; but I do blame you, I do impeach you, for having of your own accord, without any command from the people, without the authority of the senate, changed the laws of the province of Sicily.

> Latin: 17. ob rem novam legem te in decumis statuisse non miror, hominem in edictis praetoriis, in censoriis legibus tam prudentem, tam exercitatum,—non, inquam, miror te aliquid excogitasse; sed quod tua sponte iniussu populi sine senatus auctoritate iura provinciae Siciliae mutaveris, id reprehendo, id accuso.

[¶14] 18. The senate permitted Lucius Octavius and Caius Cotta, the consuls, to put up to auction at Rome the tenths of wine, and oil, and of pulse, which before your time the quaestors had been in the habit of putting up in Sicily; and to establish any law with respect to those articles which they might think fit. When the contract was offered for sale, the farmers begged them to add some clauses to the law, and yet not to depart from the other laws of the censors. A man opposed this, who by accident was at Rome at that time; your host,—your host, and intimate friend, I say, O Verres,—Sthenius, of Thermae, who is here present The consuls examined into the matter. When they had summoned many of the principal and most honourable men of the state to form a council on the subject; according to the opinion of that council they gave notice that they should put the tenths up to auction according to the law of Hiero.

> Latin: 18. L. Octavio et C. Cottae consulibus senatus permisit ut vini et olei decumas et frugum minutarum, quas ante quaestores in Sicilia vendere consuessent, Romae venderent, legemque his rebus quam ipsis videretur dicerent. locatio fieret, publicani postularunt quasdam res ut ad legem adderent neque tamen a ceteris censoriis legibus recederent. dixit is qui casu tum Romae fuit, tuus hospes, Verres,—hospes, inquam, et familiaris tuus,—Sthenius hic Thermitanus. causam cognorunt; cum viros primarios atque amplissimos civitatis multos in consilium advocassent, de consili sententia pronuntiarunt se lege Hieronica vendituros.

[¶15] 19. Was it not so? Men of the greatest wisdom, invested with the supreme authority, to whom the senate had given the whole power of making laws respecting the letting out the farming of the tributes, (and this power had been ratified by the people, while only one Sicilian objected to it,) would not alter the name of the law of Hiero, even when the measure would have been accompanied by an augmentation of the revenue; but you, a man of no wisdom, of no authority, without any order from people or senate, while all Sicily objected, abrogated the whole law of Hiero, to the greatest injury and even destruction of the revenue.

> Latin: 19. vero? viri summa auctoritate praediti, quibus senatus legum dicendarum in locandis vectigalibus omnem potestatem permiserat populusque Romanus idem iusserat, Siculo uno recusante cum amplificatione vectigalium nomen Hieronicae legis mutare noluerunt: tu, homo minimi consili, nullius auctoritatis, iniussu populi ac senatus, tota Sicilia recusante, cum maximo detrimento atque adeo exitio vectigalium totam Hieronicam legem sustulisti?

[¶16] 20. But what law is this, O judges, which he amends, or rather totally abrogates? A law framed with the greatest acuteness and the greatest diligence, which gives up the cultivator of the land to the collector of the tenths, guarded by so many securities, that neither in the corn fields, nor on the threshing floors, nor in the barns, nor while removing his corn privately, nor while carrying it away openly, can the cultivator defraud the collector of one single grain without the severest punishment. The law has been framed with such care, that it is plain that a man framed it who had no other revenues; with such acuteness that it was plain that he was a Sicilian; with such severity, that he was evidently a tyrant: by this law, however, cultivating the land was an advantageous trade for the Sicilian; for the laws for the collectors of the tenths were also drawn up so carefully that it is not possible for more than the tenth to be extorted from the cultivator against his will.

> Latin: 20. quam legem corrigit, iudices, atque adeo totam tollit! ac diligentissime scriptam, quae lex omnibus custodiis subiectum aratorem decumano tradidit, ut neque in segetibus neque in areis neque in horreis neque in amovendo neque in exportando frumento grano uno posset arator sine maxima poena fraudare decumanum. lex ita diligenter est ut eum scripsisse appareat qui alia vectigalia non haberet, ita acute ut Siculum, ita severe ut tyrannum; qua lege Siculis tamen arare expediret; nam ita diligenter constituta sunt iura decumano ut tamen ab invito aratore plus decuma non possit auferri.

[¶17] 21. And though all these things were settled in this way, after so many years and even ages, Verres was found not only to change, but entirely to overturn them, and to convert to purposes of his own most infamous profit those regulations which had long ago been instituted and established for the safety of the allies and the benefit of the republic. In the first instance he appointed certain men, collectors of the tenths in name, in reality the ministers and satellites of his desires; by whom I will show that the province was for three years so harassed and plundered, O judges, that it will take many years and a long series of wise and incorruptible governors to recover it.

> Latin: 21. haec essent ita constituta, Verres tot annis atque adeo saeculis tot inventus est qui haec non commutaret sed everteret, eaque quae iam diu ad salutem sociorum utilitatemque rei publicae composita comparataque essent ad suos improbissimos quaestus converteret; qui primum certos instituerit nomine decumanos, re vera ministros ac satellites cupiditatum suarum, per quos ostendam sic provinciam per triennium vexatam atque vastatam, iudices, ut eam multis annis multorum innocentia sapientiaque recreare nequeamus.

[¶18] 22. The chief of all those who were called collectors, was Quintus Apronius, that man whom you see in court, concerning whose extraordinary wickedness you have heard the complaints of most influential deputations. Look, O judges, at the face and countenance of the man; and from that obstinacy which he retains now in the most desperate circumstances, you may imagine and recollect what his arrogance must have been in Sicily. This Apronius is the man whom Verres (though he had collected together the most infamous men from all quarters, and though he had taken with him no small number of men like himself in worthlessness, licentiousness, and audacity,) still considered most like himself of any man in the whole province. And so in a very short time they became intimate, not because of interest, nor of reason, nor of any introduction from mutual friends, but from the baseness and similarity of their pursuits.

> Latin: 22. Eorum omnium qui decumani vocabantur princeps erat Q. ille Apronius, quem videtis; de cuius improbitate singulari gravissimarum legationum querimonias audivistis., iudices, vultum hominis et aspectum, et ex ea contumacia quam hic in perditis rebus retinet illos eius spiritus Siciliensis quos fuisse putetis [cogitate ac] recordamini. est Apronius quem in provincia tota Verres, cum undique nequissimos homines conquisisset, et cum ipse secum sui similis duxisset non parum multos, nequitia luxuria audacia sui simillimum iudicavit; itaque istos inter se perbrevi tempore non res, non ratio, non commendatio aliqua, sed studiorum turpitudo similitudoque coniunxit.

[¶19] 23. You know the depraved and licentious habits of Verres. Imagine to yourselves, if you can, any one who can be in every respect equal to him in the wicked and dissolute commission of every crimes that man will be Apronius; who, as he shows not only by his life, but by his person and countenance, is a vast gulf and whirlpool of every sort of vice and infamy. Him did Verres employ as his chief agent in all his adulteries, in all his plundering of temples, in all his debauched banquets; and the similarity of their manners caused such a friendship and unanimity between them, that Apronius, whom every one else thought a boor and a barbarian, appeared to him alone an agreeable and an accomplished man; that, though every one else hated him, and could not bear the sight of him, Verres could not bear to be away from him; that, though others shunned even the banquets at which Apronius was to be presents Verres used the same cup with him; lastly, that, though the odour of Apronius's breath and person is such that even, as one may say, the beasts cannot endure him, he appeared to Verres alone sweet and pleasant. He sat next to him on the judgment-seat; he was alone with him in his chamber; he was at the head of his table at his banquets; and especially then, when he began to dance at the feast naked, while the young son of the praetor was sitting by.

> Latin: 23. Verris mores improbos impurosque nostis: fingite vobis si potestis, aliquem qui in omnibus isti rebus par ad omnium flagitiorum nefarias libidines esse possit; is erit Apronius ille qui, ut ipse non solum vita sed corpore atque ore significat, immensa aliqua vorago est aut gurges vitiorum turpitudinumque omnium. in omnibus stupris, hunc in fanorum expilationibus, hunc in impuris conviviis principem adhibebat; tantamque habet morum similitudo coniunctionem atque concordiam ut Apronius, qui aliis inhumanus ac barbarus, isti uni commodus ac disertus videretur; ut quem omnes odissent neque videre vellent, sine eo iste esse non posset; ut cum alii ne conviviis quidem isdem quibus Apronius, hic isdem etiam poculis uteretur; postremo ut odor Aproni taeterrimus oris et corporis,—quem, ut aiunt, ne bestiae quidem ferre possent,—uni isti suavis et iucundus videretur. erat in tribunali proximus, in cubiculo solus, in convivio dominus, ac tum maxime cum accubante praetextato praetoris filio saltare in convivio nudus coeperat.

[¶20] 24. This man, as I began to say, Verres selected for his principal agent in distressing and plundering the fortunes of the cultivators of the land. To this man's audacity, and wickedness, and cruelty, our most faithful allies and most virtuous citizens were given up, O judges, by this praetor, and were placed at his mercy by new regulations and new edicts, the entire law of Hiero, as I said before, having been rejected and repudiated.

> Latin: 24. , uti dicere institui, principem Verres ad fortunas aratorum vexandas diripiendasque esse voluit: huius audaciae nequitiae crudelitati fidelissimos socios optimosque civis scitota hoc praetore traditos, iudices, atque addictos fuisse novis institutis et edictis, tote Hieronica lege, quem ad modum antea dixi, reiecta ac repudiata.

[¶21] 25. First of all, listen, O judges, to his splendid edict. “Whatever amount of tithe the collector declared that the cultivator ought to pay, that amount the cultivator should be compelled to pay to the collector.”—How? Let him pay as much as Apronius demands? What is this? is the regulation of a praetor for allies, or the edict and command of an insane tyrant to conquered enemies? Am I to give as much as he demands? He will demand every grain that I can get out of my land. Am I to give all? Yes, and more too, if he chooses. What, then, am I to do? What do you think? You must either pay, or you will be convicted of having disobeyed the edict. O ye immortal gods, what a state of things is this For it is hardly credible. And indeed.

> Latin: 25. edictum, iudices, audite praeclarum: decumanus edidisset aratorem sibi decumae dare oportere, ut tantum arator decumano dare cogeretur. modo? poposcerit Apronius, dato. est hoc? utrum praetoris institutum in socios an in hostis victos insani edictum atque imperium tyranni? tantundem dabo quantum ille poposcerit? poscet omne quantum exaravero. omne? plus immo etiam, inquit, si volet. tum? quid censes? dabis aut contra edictum fecisse damnabere. deos immortalis, quid est hoc? veri enim simile non est.

[¶22] 26. I am persuaded, O judges, that, though you should think that all other vices are met in this man, still this must seem false to you. For I myself, though all Sicily told me of it, still should not dare to affirm this to you, if I was not able to recite to you these edicts from his own documents in those very words—as I will do. Give this, I pray you, to the clerk; he shall read from the register. Read the edict about the returns of property. [The edict about the returns of property is read.] He says I am not reading the whole. For that is what he seems to intimate by shaking his head. What am I passing over? is it that part where you take care of the interests of the Sicilians, and show regard for the miserable cultivators? For you announce in your edict, that you will condemn the collector in eightfold damages, if he has taken more than was due to him. I do not wish anything to be passed over. Read this also which he requires; read every word. [The edict about the eightfold damages is read.] Does this mean that the cultivator is to prosecute the collector at law? It is a miserable and unjust thing for men to be brought from the country into the forum, from the plough to the courts of justice; from habits of rustic life to actions and trials to which they are wholly unaccustomed.

> Latin: 26. mihi persuadeo, iudices, tametsi omnia in istum hominem convenire putetis, tamen hoc vobis falsum videri. enim, cum hoc tota Sicilia diceret, tamen adfirmare non auderem, si haec edicta non ex ipsius tabulis totidem verbis recitare possem, sicuti faciam., quaeso, scribae, recitet ex codice professionem.. edictvm de professione. me recitare totum; nam id significare nutu videtur. praetereo? an illud, ubi caves tamen Siculis et miseros respicis aratores? dicis enim te in decumanum, si plus abstulerit quam debitum sit, in octuplum iudicium daturum. mihi placet praetermitti; recita hoc quoque quod postulat totum.. edictvm de ivdicio in octvplvm. Iudicio ut arator decumanum persequatur? atque iniquum! agro homines traducis in forum, ab aratro ad subsellia, ab usu rerum rusticarum ad insolitam litem atque iudicium?

[¶23] 27. When in all the other countries liable to tribute, of Asia, of Macedonia, of Spain, of Gaul, of Africa, of Sicily, and in those parts of Italy also which are so liable; when in all these, I say, the farmer in every case has a right to claim and a power to distrain, but not to seize and take possession without the interference of the law, you established regulations respecting the most virtuous and honest and honourable class of men,—that is, respecting the cultivators of the soil,—which are contrary to all other laws. Which is the most just, for the collector to have to make his claim, or for the cultivator to have to recover what has been unlawfully seized? for them to go to trial when things are in their original state, or when one side is ruined? for him to be in possession of the property who has acquired it by hard labour, or him who has obtained it by bidding for it at an auction? What more? They who cultivate single acres, who never cease from personal labour, of which class there were a great number, and a vast multitude among the Sicilians before you came as praetor,—what are they to do? When they have given to Apronius all he has demanded, are they to leave their allotments? to leave their own household gods? to come to Syracuse, in order while you, forsooth, are praetor, to prosecute, by the equal law which they will find there, Apronius, the delight and joy of your life, in a suit for recovery of their property?

> Latin: 27. omnibus in aliis vectigalibus, Asiae Macedoniae Hispaniae Galliae Africae Sardiniae, ipsius Italiae quae vectigalia sunt —cum in his, inquam, rebus omnibus publicanus petitor ac pignerator, non ereptor neque possessor soleat esse, tu de optimo, de iustissimo, de honestissimo genere hominum, hoc est de aratoribus, ea iura constituebas quae omnibus aliis essent contraria? Vtrum est aequius, decumanum petere an aratorem repetere? iudicium integra re an perdita fieri? eum qui manu quaesierit, an eum qui digito sit licitus possidere?? qui singulis iugis arant, qui ab opere ipsi non recedunt,—quo in numero magnus ante te praetorem numerus ac magna multitudo Siculorum fuit,— quid facient cum dederint Apronio quod poposcerit? relinquent arationes, relinquent Larem familiarem suum? venient Syracusas, ut te praetore videlicet aequo iure Apronium, delicias ac vitam tuam, iudicio recuperatorio persequantur?

[¶24] 28. But so be it. Some fearless and experienced cultivator will be found, who, when he has paid the collector as much as he says is due, will seek to recover it by course of law, and will sue for the eightfold penalty. I look for the vigour of the edict, for the impartiality of the praetor; I espouse the cause of the cultivator; I wish to see Apronius condemned in the eightfold penalty. What now does the cultivator demand? Nothing but sentence for an eightfold penalty, according to the edict. What says Apronius? He is unable to object. What says the praetor? He bids him challenge the judges. Let us, says he, make out the decuries. What decuries? Those from my retinue; you will challenge the others. What? of what men is that retinue composed? Of Volusius the soothsayer, and Cornelius the physician, and the other dogs whom you see licking up the crumbs about my judgment-seat. For he never appointed any judge or recuperator from the proper body. He said all men who possessed one clod of earth were unfairly prejudiced against the collectors. People had to sue Apronius before these men who had not yet got rid of the surfeit from his last banquet. What a splendid and memorable court! what an impartial decision! what a safe resource for the cultivators of the soil!

> Latin: 28. esto: reperietur aliqui fortis et experiens arator, qui, cum tantum dederit decumano quantum ille deberi dixerit, iudicio repetat et poenam octupli persequatur: exspecto vim edicti, severitatem praetoris: faveo aratori, cupio octupli damnari Apronium. tandem postulat arator? nihil nisi ex edicto iudicium in octuplum. Apronius? non recusat. praetor? iubet recuperatores reicere. “scribamus.” decurias? “de cohorte mea reicies,” inquit. “? ista cohors quorum hominum est?” Volusi haruspicis et Corneli medici et horum canum quos tribunal meum vides lambere; nam de conventu nullum umquam iudicem nec recuperatorem dedit; iniquos decumanis aiebat omnis esse qui ullam agri glebam possiderent. erat ad eos contra Apronium qui nondum Aproniani convivi crapulam exhalassent. O praeclarum et commemorandum iudicium! o severum edictum! o tutum perfugium aratorum!

[¶25] 29. And that you may understand what sort of decisions are obtained in actions for the eightfold penalty, and what sort of judges those selected from that man's retinue are considered to be, listen to this. Do you think that any collector, when this licence was allowed him of taking from the cultivator whatever he claimed, ever did demand more than was due? Consider yourselves in your own minds, whether you think any one ever did so, especially when it might have happened, not solely through covetousness, but even though ignorance. Many must have done so. But I say that all extorted more, and a great deal more, than the proper tenths. Tell me of one man, in the whole three years of your praetorship, who was condemned in the eightfold penalty. Condemned, indeed! Tell me of one man who was ever prosecuted according to your edict. There was not, in fact, one cultivator who was able to complain that injustice had been done to him; not one collector who claimed one grain more as due to him than really was due. Far from that. Apronius seized and carried off whatever he chose from every one. In every district the cultivators, harassed and plundered as they were, were complaining, and yet no instance of a trial can be found.

> Latin: 29. ut intellegatis cuius modi ista iudicia in octuplum, cuius modi istius de cohorte recuperatores existimati sint, sic attendite. putatis decumanum, hac licentia permissa ut tantum ab aratore quantum poposcisset auferret, plus quam deberetur poposcisse? cum vestris animis vosmet ipsi ecquem putetis, praesertim cum id non solum avaritia sed etiam imprudentia accidere potuerit. necesse est. ego omnis dico plus, ac multo plus, quam decumam abstulisse. mihi unum ex triennio praeturae tuae qui octupli damnatus sit.? immo vero in quem iudicium ex edicto tuo postulatum sit. erat videlicet aratorum qui iniuriam sibi factam queri posset, nemo decumanorum qui grano amplius sibi quam deberetur deberi professus esset. vero contra rapiebat et asportabat quantum a quoque volebat Apronius, omnibus autem locis aratores spoliati ac vexati querebantur; neque tamen ullum iudicium reperietur.

[¶26] 30. Why is this? Why did so many bold, honourable, and highly esteemed men—so many Sicilians, so many Roman knights—when injured by one most worthless and infamous man, not seek to recover the eightfold penalty, which had most unquestionably been incurred? What is the cause, what is the reason? That reason alone, O judges, which you see,—because they knew they should come off at the trial defrauded and ridiculed. In truth, what sort of triad must that be, when three of the profligate and abandoned retinue of Verres sat on the tribunal under the name of judges?—slaves of Verres, not inherited by him from his father, but recommended to him by his mistress.

> Latin: 30. est hoc? viri fortes honesti gratiosi, tot Siculi, tot equites Romani, ab homine nequissimo ac turpissimo laesi poenam octupli sine ulla dubitatione commissam non persequebantur? causa, quae ratio est? una illa, iudices, quam videtis, quod ultro etiam inlusos se et inrisos ab iudicio discessuros videbant. quod esset iudicium, cum ex Verris turpissimo flagitiosissimoque comitatu tres recuperatorum nomine adsedissent adseculae istius, non a patre ei traditi sed a meretricula commendati?

[¶27] 31. The cultivator, forsooth, might plead his cause; he might show that no corn was left him by Apronius,—that even his other property was seized; that he himself had been driven away with blows. Those admirable men would lay their heads together, they would chat to one another about revels and harlots, if they could catch any when leaving the praetor. The cause would seem to be properly heard: Apronius would have risen, full of his new dignity as a knight; not like a collector all over dirt and dust, but reeking with perfumes, languid with the lateness of the last night's drinking party, with his first motion, and with his breath he would have filled the whole place with the odour of wine, of perfume, and of his person. He would have said, what he repeatedly has said, that he had bought, not the tenths, but the property and fortunes of the cultivators; that he, Apronius, was not a collector, but a second Verres,—the absolute lord and master of those men. And when he had said this, those admirable men of Verres's train, the judges, would deliberate, not about acquitting Apronius, but they would inquire how they could condemn the cultivator himself to pay damages to Apronius.

> Latin: 31. videlicet causam arator; nihil sibi frumenti ab Apronio relictum, bona sua etiam direpta, se pulsatum verberatumque diceret; conferrent viri boni capita, de comissatione loquerentur inter se ac de mulierculis, si quas a praetore abeuntis possent deprehendere; res agi videretur. Apronius, nova dignitas publicani, non ut decumanus squaloris plenus ac pulveris, sed unguentis oblitus, vino vigiliisque languidus; omnia primo motu ac spiritu suo vini unguenti corporis odore complesset. haec quae volgo dicere solebat, non se decumas emisse, sed bona fortunasque aratorum, non se decumanum esse Apronium, sed Verrem alterum dominum illorum ac tyrannum. cum dixisset, illi viri optimi de cohorte istius recuperatores non de absolvendo Apronio deliberarent, sed quaererent ecquo modo petitorem ipsum Apronio condemnare possent.

[¶28] 32. When you had granted this licence for plundering the cultivators to the collectors of the tenths,—that is, to Apronius,—by allowing him to demand as much as he chose, and to carry off as much as he demanded, were you preparing this defence for your trial,—that you had promised by edict that you would assign judges in a trial for an eightfold penalty? Even if in truth you were to give power to the cultivator, not only to challenge his judges, but even to pick them out of the whole body of the Syracusan assembly, (a body of most eminent and honourable men,) still no one could bear this new sort of injustice,—that, when one has given up the whole of one's produce to the farmer, and had one's property taken out of one's hands, then one is to endeavour to recover one's property and to seek its restitution by legal proceedings.

> Latin: 32. tu licentiam diripiendorum aratorum cum decumanis, hoc est cum Apronio permisisses, ut quantum vellet posceret, quantum poposcisset auferret, hoc tibi defensionis ad iudicium tuum comparabas, habuisse te edictum recuperatores daturum in octuplum? mehercule ex omni copia conventus Syracusani, splendidissimorum honestissimorumque hominum, faceres potestatem aratori non modo reiciendi sed etiam sumendi recuperatores, tamen hoc novum genus iniuriae ferre nemo posset, te, cum tuos omnis fructus publicano tradidisses et rem de manibus amisisses, tum bona tua repetere ac persequi lite atque iudicio.

[¶29] 33. But when what is granted by the edict is, in name indeed, a trial, but in reality a collusion of your attendants, most worthless men, with the collectors, who are your partners, and besides that, with the judges, do you still dare to mention that trial, especially when what you say is refuted, not merely by my speech, but by the facts themselves? when in all the distresses of the cultivators of the soil, and all the injustice of the collectors, not only has no trial ever taken place according to that splendid edict, but none has ever been so much as demanded?

> Latin: 33. vero verbo iudicium sit in edicto, re quidem vera tuorum comitum, hominum nequissimorum, conlusio cum decumanis, sociis tuis atque adeo procuratoribus, tamen audes ullius mentionem iudici facere? praesertim cum id non modo oratione mea sed etiam re ipsa refellatur, quod in tantis incommodis aratorum iniuriisque decumanorum nullum ex isto praeclaro edicto non modo factum sed ne postulatum quidem iudicium invenitur.

[¶30] 34. However, he will be more favourable to the cultivators than he appears; for the same man who has announced in his edict that he will allow a trial against the collectors, in which they shall be liable to an eightfold penalty, had it also set down in his edict, that he would grant a similar trial against the cultivators, in which they should be liable to a fourfold penalty. Who now dares to say that this man was unfavourably disposed or hostile to the cultivators? How much more lenient is he to them than to the collectors? He has ordered in his edict that the Sicilian magistrate should exact from the cultivator whatever the collector declared ought to be paid to him. What sentence has he left behind, which can be pronounced against a cultivator of the soil It is not a bad thing, says he, for that fear to exist; so that, when the money has been exacted from the cultivator, still there will be behind a fear of the court of justice, to prevent him from stirring himself. If you wish to exact money from me by process of law, remove the Sicilian magistrate. If you employ this violence, what need is there of a process of law? Moreover, who will there be who would not prefer paying to your collectors what they demand, to being condemned in four times the amount by your attendants.

> Latin: 34. tamen in aratores lenior quam videtur. qui in decumanos octupli iudicium se daturum edixit, idem habuit in edicto se in aratorem in quadruplum daturum. hunc audet dicere aratoribus infestum aut inimicum fuisse? quanto lenior est quam in publicanum! ut, quod decumanus edidisset sibi dari oportere, id ab aratore magistratus Siculus exigeret. est reliqui iudici quod in aratorem dari possit? “malum est,” inquit, “esse istam formidinem, ut, cum exactum sit ab aratore, tamen ne se commoveat reliquus metus iudici sit.” iudicio vis a me exigere, remove Siculum magistratum: si hanc vim adhibes, quid opus est iudicio? porro erit quin malit decumanis tuis dare quod poposcerint, quam ab adseculis tuis quadruplo condemnari?

[¶31] 35. But that is a splendid clause in the edict, that gives notice that in all disputes which arise between the cultivator and the collector, he will assign judges, if either party wishes it. In the first place, what dispute can there be when he who ought to make a claim, makes a seizure instead? and when he seizes, not as much as is due, but as much as he chooses? and when he, whose property is seized, cannot possibly recover his own by a suit at law? In the second place, this dirty fellow wants even in this to seem cunning and wily; for he frames his edict in these words—“If either wishes it, I will assign judges.” How neatly does he think he is robbing him! He gives each party the power of choice; but it makes no difference whether he wrote—“If either wishes it," or "If the collector wishes it.” For the cultivator will never wish for those judges of yours.

> Latin: 35. vero praeclara est clausula edicti, quod omnium controversiarum quae essent inter aratorem et decumanum, si uter velit, edicit se recuperatores daturum. quae potest esse controversia, cum is qui petere debet aufert, et cum is non quantum debetur sed quantum commodum est aufert, ille autem unde ablatum est iudicio suum recuperare nullo modo potest? in hoc homo luteus etiam callidus ac veterator esse vult, quod ita scribit, si vter volet, recvperatores dabo. lepide se furari putat! Vtrique facit potestatem, sed utrum ita scripserit, “si uter volet” an “si decumanus volet,” nihil interest; arator enim tuos istos recuperatores numquam volet.

[¶32] 36. What next? What sort of edicts are those which he issued to meet particular occasions, at the suggestion of Apronius? When Quintus Septitius, a most honourable man, and a Roman knight, resisted Apronius, and declared that he would not pay more than a tenth, a sudden special edict makes its appearance, that no one is to remove his corn from the threshing-floor before he has settled the demands of the collector. Septitius put up with this injustice also, and allowed his corn to be damaged by the rain, while remaining on the threshing-floor, when on a sudden that most fruitful and profitable edict comes out, that every one was to have his tenths delivered at the water-side before the first of August.

> Latin: 36. ? illa cuius modi sunt quae ex tempore ab Apronio admonitus edixit? Q. Septicio, honestissimo equite Romano, resistente Apronio et adfirmante se plus decuma non daturum, exoritur peculiare edictum repentinum, ne quis frumentum de area tolleret antequam cum decumano pactus esset. hanc quoque iniquitatem et imbri frumentum corrumpi in area patiebatur, cum illud edictum repente uberrimum et quaestuosissimum nascitur, ut an te Kalendas Sextilis omnis decumas ad aquam deportatas haberent.

[¶33] 37. By this edict, it was not the Sicilians, (for he had already sufficiently crushed and ruined them by his previous edicts,) but all those Roman knights who had fancied that they could preserve their rights against Apronius, excellent men, and highly esteemed by other praetors, who were delivered bound hand and foot into the power of Apronius. For just listen and see what sort of edicts these are. “A man,” says he, “is not to remove his corn from the threshing-floor, unless he has settled all demands.” This is a sufficiently strong inducement to making unfair demands; for I had rather give too much, than not remove my corn from the threshing-floor at the proper time. But that violence does not affect Septitius, and some others like Septitius, who say, “I will rather not remove my corn, than submit to an extortionate demand.” To these then the second edict is opposed. “You must have delivered it by the first of August.” I will deliver it then.—“Unless you have settled the demands, you shall not remove it.” So the fixing of the day for delivering it at the waterside, compelled the man to remove his corn from the threshing floor. And the prohibition to remove, unless the demand were settled, made the settlement compulsory and not voluntary.

> Latin: 37. edicto non Siculi, nam eos quidem superioribus edictis satis perdiderat atque adflixerat, sed isti ipsi equites Romani qui suum ius retinere se contra Apronium posse erant arbitrati, splendidi homines et aliis praetoribus gratiosi, vincti Apronio traditi sunt. enim cuius modi edicta sint. ne tollat, inquit, ex area, nisi erit pactvs. haec magna vis est ad inique paciscendum; malo enim plus dare quam non mature ex area tollere. ista vis Septicium et non nullos similis non coercet, qui ita dicunt, “tollam potius quam paciscar.” hoc opponitur, “habeas ante Kalendas Sextilis.” igitur. “Nisi pactus eris, non commovebis.” deportandi dies praestituta tollere cogebat ex area: prohibitio tollendi, nisi pactus esset, vim adhibebat pactioni, non voluntatem.

[¶34] 38. But what follows is not only contrary to the law of Hiero, not only contrary to the customs of all former praetors, but even contrary to all the rights of the Sicilians, which they have as granted them by the senate and people of Rome,—that they shall not be forced to give security to appear in any courts of justice but their own. Verres made a regulation that the cultivator should appear to an action brought by a collector in any court which the collector might choose. So that in this way also gain might accrue to Apronius, when he dragged a defendant all the way from Leontini to Lilybaeum to appear before the court there, by making false accusations against the wretched cultivators. Although that device for false accusation was also contrived with singular cunning, when he ordered that the cultivators should make a return of their acres, as to what they were sown with. And this had not only great power in causing most iniquitous claims to be submitted to, as we shall show hereafter, and that too without any advantage to the republic, but at the same time it gave a great handle to false accusations, which all men were liable to if Apronius chose.

> Latin: 38. vero illud non solum contra legem Hieronicam nec solum contra consuetudinem superiorum, sed etiam contra omnia iura Siculorum, quae habent a senatu populoque Romano, ne quis extra suum forum vadimonium promittere cogatur. iste ut arator decumano quo vellet decumanus vadimonium promitteret, ut hic quoque Apronio, cum ex Leontino usque Lilybaeum aliquem vadaretur, ex miseris aratoribus calumniandi quaestus accederet. illa fuit ad calumniam singulari consilio reperta ratio, quod edixerat ut aratores iugera sationum suarum profiterentur. res cum ad pactiones iniquissimas magnam vim habuit, sicut ostendam, neque ad ullam utilitatem rei publicae pertinuit, tum vero ad calumnias, in quas omnes inciderent quos vellet Apronius.

[¶35] 39. For, as any one said anything contrary to his inclination, immediately he was summoned before the court on some charge relative to the returns made of his lands. Through fear of which action a great quantity of corn was extorted from many, and vast sums were collected; not that it was really difficult to male a correct return of a man's acres, or even to make an extravagantly liberal one, (for what danger could there be in doing that?) but still it opened a pretext for demanding a trial because the cultivator had not made his return in the terms of the edict. And you must feel sure what sort of trial that would be while that man was praetor, if you recollect what sort of a train and retinue he had about him. What is it, then, which I wish you to understand, O judges, from the iniquity of these new edicts? That any injury has been done to our allies? That you see. That the authority of his predecessors has been overruled by him? He will not dare to deny it.

> Latin: 39. Vt enim quisque contra voluntatem eius dixerat, ita in eum iudicium de professione iugerum postulabatur, cuius iudici metu magnus a multis frumenti numerus ablatus magnaeque pecuniae coactae sunt; non quo iugerum numerum vere profiteri esset difficile aut amplius etiam profiteri, quid enim in eo periculi esse posset? sed causa erat iudici postulandi quod ex edicto professus non esset. autem quod fuerit isto praetore, si quae cohors et qui comitatus fuerit meministis, scire debetis. igitur est quod ex hac iniquitate novorum edictorum intellegi velim, iudices? factam sociis? at videtis. superiorum repudiatam? non audebit negare.

[¶36] 40. That Apronius had such great influence while he was praetor? That he must unavoidably confess. But perhaps you will inquire in this place, as the law reminds you to do, whether he himself has made any money by this conduct. I will show you that he has made vast sums, and I will prove that he established all those iniquitous rules which I have mentioned before, with no object but his own profit, when I have first removed out of his line of defence that rampart which he thinks he shall be able to employ against all my attacks. I sold, says he, the tenths at a high price. What are you saying? Did you, O most audacious and senseless of men, sell the tenths? Did you sell those portions which the senate and people of Rome allowed you to sell, or the whole produce; and in that the whole property and fortunes of the cultivators? If the crier had openly given notice by your order, that there was being sold, not a tenth, but half the corn, and if purchasers had come with the idea of buying half the corn—if then you had sold the half for more than the other praetors had sold the tenth part of it, would that seem strange to any one? But what shall we say if the crier gave notice of a sale of the tenths, but if, in fact, by your regulation,—by your edict,—by the terms of the sale which you offered, more than a half portion Was sold? Will you still think that creditable to yourself, to have sold what you had no right to sell for more than others sold what they fairly could?

> Latin: 40. Apronium isto praetore potuisse? confiteatur necesse est. vos fortasse, quod vos lex commonet,
(40) (16) id in hoc loco quaeretis, num quas ex hisce rebus pecunias ceperit. cepisse maximas, omnisque eas iniquitates de quibus antea dixi sui quaestus causa constituisse vincam, si prius illud propugnaculum quo contra omnis meos impetus usurum se putat ex defensione eius deiecero. “Magno,” inquit, “decumas vendidi.” ais? an tu decumas, homo audacissime atque amentissime, vendidisti? partis eas quas te senatus populusque Romanus voluit, an fructus integros atque adeo bona fortunasque aratorum omnis vendidisti? palam praeco iussu tuo praedicasset non decumas frumenti sed dimidias venire partis, et ita emptores accessissent ut ad dimidias partis emendas, si pluris vendidisses tu dimidias quam ceteri decumas, cuinam mirum videretur?? si praeco decumas pronuntiavit, re vera,—hoc est lege, edicto, condicione,—plus etiam quam dimidiae venierunt, tamen hoc tibi praeclarum putabis, te pluris quod non licebat quam ceteros quod oportebat vendidisse? decumas vendidisti quam ceteri.

## 15. Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 41–71

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/15/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/15/#p-N

[¶0] 41. Oh, you sold the tenths for more than others had sold them. By what means did you manage that? by innocent means? Look at the temple of Castor, and then, if you dare, talk of your innocent means. By your diligence? Look at the erasures in your registers at the name of Sthenius of Thermae, and then have the face to call yourself diligent. By your ability? You who refused at the former pleadings to put questions to the witnesses, and preferred presenting yourself dumb before them, pray call yourself and your advocates able men as much as you please. By what means, then, did you manage what you say you did? For it is a great credit to you if you have surpassed your predecessors in ability, and left to your successors your example and your authority. Perhaps you had no one before you fit to imitate. But, no doubt, all men will imitate you, the investor and first parent of such excellent methods.

> Latin: 41. rebus id adsecutus es? innocentia? aedem Castoris; deinde, si audes, fac mentionem innocentiae.? lituras tui contemplare in Stheni Thermitani nomine; deinde aude te dicere diligentem.? testis interrogare priore actione nolueris et iis tacitus os tuum praebere malueris, quamvis et te et patronos tuos ingeniosos esse dicito. igitur id quod ais adsecutus es? Magna est laus si superiores consilio vicisti, posterioribus exemplum atque auctoritatem reliquisti. fortasse idoneus fuit nemo quem imitarere; at te videlicet inventorem rerum optimarum ac principem imitabuntur omnes.

[¶1] 42. What cultivator of the soil, when you were praetor, paid a tenth? Who paid two-tenths only? Who was there who did not think himself treated with the greatest lenity if he paid three tenths instead of one, except a few men, who, on account of a partnership with you in your robberies, paid nothing at all? See how great a difference there is between your harshness and the kindness of the senate. The senate, when owing to any necessity of the republic it is compelled to decree that a second tenth shall be exacted, decrees that for that second tenth money be paid to the cultivators, so that the quantity which is taken beyond what is strictly due may be considered to be purchased, not to be taken away. You, when you were exacting and seizing so many tenths, not by a decree of the senate, but by your own edicts and nefarious regulations, shall you think that you have done a great deed if you sell them for more than Lucius Hortensius, the father of this Quintus Hortensius, did,—than Cnaeus Pompeius or Caius Marcellus sold them for; men who did not violate justice, or law, or established rules?

> Latin: 42. arator te praetore decumam dedit? quis duas? quis non maximo se adfectum beneficio putavit cum tribus decumis pro una defungeretur, praeter paucos qui propter societatem furtorum tuorum nihil omnino dederunt? inter importunitatem tuam senatusque bonitatem quid intersit. cum temporibus rei publicae cogitur ut decernat ut alterae decumae exigantur, ita decernit ut pro his decumis pecunia solvatur aratoribus, ut, quod plus sumitur quam debetur, id emi non auferri putetur: tu cum tot decumas non senatus consulto, sed novis edictis tuis nefariisque institutis exigeres et eriperes, magnum te fecisse arbitrare si pluris vendideris quam L. Hortensius, pater istius Q. Hortensi, quam Cn. Pompeius, quam C. Marcellus, qui ab aequitate, ab lege, ab institutis non recesserunt?

[¶2] 43. Were you to consider what might be got in one year, or in two years, and to neglect the safety of the province, the well-doing of the corn interest, and the interests of the republic in future times, though you came to the administration of affairs when matters were so managed that sufficient corn was supplied to the Roman people from Sicily, and still it was a profitable thing for the cultivators to plough and till their land? What have you brought about? What have you gained? In order that, while you were praetor, some addition might be made to the revenue derived from the tenths, you have caused the allotments of land to be deserted and abandoned. Lucius Metellus succeeded you. Were you more innocent than Metellus? Were you more desirous of credit and honour? For you were seeking the consulship, but Metellus neglected the renown which he had inherited from his father and his grandfather. He sold the tenths for much less, not only than you had done, but even than those had who had sold them before you. I ask, if he himself could not contrive any means for selling them at the best possible price, could he not follow in the fresh steps of you the very last praetor, so as to use your admirable edicts and regulations, invented and devised by you their author?

> Latin: 43. tibi unius anni aut bienni ratio fuit habenda, salus provinciae, commoda rei frumentariae, ratio rei publicae in posteritatem fuit neglegenda? rem ita constitutam accepisses ut et populo Romano satis frumenti ex Sicilia suppeditaretur et aratoribus tamen arare atque agros colere expediret, quid effecisti, quid adsecutus es? Vt populo Romano nescio quid te praetore ad decumas accederet, deserendas arationes relinquendasque curasti. tibi L. Metellus. innocentior quam Metellus? tu laudis et honoris cupidior? enim consulatus quaerebatur, Metello paternus honos et avitus neglegebatur. minoris vendidit non modo quam tu, sed etiam quam qui ante te vendiderunt., si ipse excogitare non potuerat quem ad modum quam plurimo venderet, ne tua quidem recentia proximi praetoris vestigia persequi poterat, ut tuis praeclaris abs te principe inventis et excogitatis edictis atque institutis uteretur?

[¶3] 44. But he thought that he should not at all be a Metellus if he imitated you in anything; he who when he thought that he was to go to that province sent letters to the cities of Sicily from Rome, a thing which no one in the memory of man ever did before, in which he exhorts and entreats the Sicilians to plough and sow their land for the service of the Roman people. He begs this some time before his arrival, and at the same time declares that he will sell the tenths according to the law of Hiero; that is to say, that in the whole business of the tenths he will do nothing like that man. And he writes this, not from being impelled by any covetousness to send letters into the province before his time, but out of prudence, lest, if the seed-time passed, we should have not a single grain of corn in the province of Sicily. See Metellus's letters.

> Latin: 44. vero tum se minime Metellum fore putavit si te ulla in re imitatus esset; qui ab urbe Roma, quod nemo umquam post hominum memoriam fecit, cum sibi in provinciam proficiscendum putaret, litteras ad Siciliae civitates miserit, per quas hortatur et rogat ut arent, ut serant. beneficio praetor hoc petit aliquanto ante adventum suum et simul ostendit se lege Hieronica venditurum, hoc est in omni ratione decumarum nihil istius simile facturum. haec non cupiditate aliqua scribit inductus ut in alienam provinciam mittat litteras ante tempus, sed consilio, ne, si tempus sationis praeterisset, granum ex provincia Sicilia nullum haberemus.

[¶4] 45. Read the letter of Lucius Metellus. [The letters of Lucius Metellus are read.] It is these letters, O judges, of Lucius Metellus, which you have heard, that have raised all the corn that there in this year in Sicily. No one would have broken one clod of earth in all the land of Sicily subject to the payment of tenths, if Metellus had not sent this letter. What? Did this idea occur to Metellus by inspiration, or had he his information from the Sicilians who had come to Rome in great numbers, and from the traders of Sicily? And who is ignorant what great crowds of them assembled at the door of the Marcelli, the most ancient patrons of Sicily? what crowds of them thronged to Cnaeus Pompeius, the consul elect, and to the rest of the men connected with the province? And such a thing never yet took place in the instance of any one, as for a man to be openly accused by those people over whose property and families he had supreme dominion and power. So great was the effect of his injuries, that men preferred to suffer anything, rather than not to bewail themselves and complain of his wickedness and injuries.

> Latin: 45. Metelli litteras.. epistvla L. Metelli. litterae, iudices, L. Metelli, quas audistis, hoc quantum est ex Sicilia frumenti hornotini exaraverunt: glebam commosset in agro decumano Siciliae nemo, si Metellus hanc epistulam non misisset.? Metello divinitus hoc venit in mentem an ab Siculis, qui Romam frequentissimi convenerant, negotiatoribusque Siciliae doctus est? quorum quanti conventus ad Marcellos, antiquissimos Siciliae patronos, quanti ad Cn. Pompeium tum consulem designatum, ceterosque illius provinciae necessarios fieri soliti sint, quis ignorat? quod quidem, iudices, nullo umquam de homine factum est, ut absens accusaretur ab iis palam quorum in bona liberosque summum imperium potestatemque haberet. vis erat iniuriarum ut homines quidvis perpeti quam non de istius improbitate deplorare et conqueri mallent.

[¶5] 46. And when Metellus had sent these letters couched in almost a supplicating tone to all the cities, still he was far from prevailing with them to sow the land as they formerly had. For many had fled, as I shall presently show, and had left not only their allotments of land, but even their paternal homes, being driven away by the injuries of that man. I will not indeed, O judges, say anything for the sake of unduly exaggerating my charges. But the sentiments which I have imbibed through my eyes and in my mind, those I will state to you truly, and, as far as I can, plainly.

> Latin: 46. litteras cum ad omnis civitates prope suppliciter misisset Metellus, tamen antiquum modum sationis nulla ex parte adsequi potuit; diffugerant enim permulti, id quod ostendam, nec solum arationes sed etiam sedes suas patrias istius iniuriis exagitati reliquerant. mehercule augendi criminis causa, iudices, dicam, sed, quem ipse accepi oculis animoque sensum, hunc vere apud vos et, ut potero, planissime exponam.

[¶6] 47. For when four years afterwards I came into Sicily, it appeared to me in such a condition as those countries are apt to be in, in which a bitter and long war has been carried on. Those plains and fields which I had formerly seen beautiful and verdant, I now saw so laid waste and desolate that the very land itself seemed to feel the want of its cultivators, and to be mourning for its master. The land of Herbita, of Enna, of Morgantia, of Assoria, of Imachara, and of Agyrium, was so deserted as to its principal part, that we had to look not only for the allotments of land, but also for the body of owners. But the district of Aetna, which used to be most highly cultivated, and that which was the very head of the corn country, the district of Leontini, the character of which was formerly such that when you had once seen that sown, you did not fear any dearness of provisions, was so rough and unsightly, that in the most fruitful part of Sicily we were asking where Sicily could be gone? The previous year had, indeed, greatly shaken the cultivators, but the last one had utterly ruined them.

> Latin: 47. cum quadriennio post in Siciliam venissem, sic mihi adfecta visa est ut eae terrae solent in quibus bellum acerbum diuturnumque versatum est. ego campos antea collisque nitidissimos viridissimosque vidissem, hos ita vastatos nunc ac desertos videbam ut ager ipse cultorem desiderare ac lugere dominum videretur. Herbitensis ager et Hennensis, Murgentinus, Assorinus, Imacharensis, Agyrinensis ita relictus erat ex maxima parte ut non solum iugorum sed etiam dominorum multitudinem quaereremus; Aetnensis vero ager, qui solebat esse cultissimus, et, quod caput est rei frumentariae, campus Leontinus,—cuius antea species haec erat ut, cum obsitum vidisses, annonae caritatem non vererere,—sic erat deformis atque horridus ut in uberrima Siciliae parte Siciliam quaereremus; labefactarat enim vehementer aratores iam superior annus, proximus vero funditus everterat.

[¶7] 48. Will you dare also to make mention to me of the tenths? Do you, after such wickedness, after such cruelty, after such numerous and serious injuries done to people, when the whole province of Sicily entirely depends on its arable land, and on its rights connected with that land; after the cultivators have been entirely ruined, the fields deserted—after you have left no one in so wealthy and populous a province—not only no property, but no hope even remaining; do you, I say, think that you can acquire any popularity by saying that you have sold the tenths at a better price than the other praetors? As if the Roman people had formed this wish, or the senate had given you this commission, by seizing all the fortunes of the cultivators under the name of tenths, to deprive the Roman people for all future time of that revenue, and of their supply of corn; and, as if after that, by adding some part of your own plunder to the total amount got from the tenths, you could appear to have deserved well of the Roman people. And I say this, as if his injustice was to be reproved in this particular, that, out of a desire for credit to be got by surpassing others in the sum derived from tenths, he had put forth a law rather too severe, and edicts rather too stringent, and rejected the examples of all his predecessors.

> Latin: 48. mihi etiam audes mentionem facere decumarum? tu in tanta improbitate, in tanta acerbitate, in tot ac tantis iniuriis, cum in arationibus et in earum rerum iure provincia Sicilia consistat, eversis funditus aratoribus, relictis agris, cum in provincia tam locuplete ac referta non modo rem sed ne spem quidem ullam reliquam cuiquam feceris, aliquid te populare putabis habere cum dices te pluris quam ceteros decumas vendidisse? vero aut populus Romanus hoc voluerit aut senatus hoc tibi mandaverit, ut, cum omnis aratorum fortunas decumarum nomine eriperes, in posterum fructu illo commodoque rei frumentariae populum Romanum privares, deinde, si quam partem tuae praedae ad summam decumarum addidisses, bene de re publica, bene de populo Romano meritus viderere. perinde loquor quasi in eo sit iniquitas eius reprehendenda, quod propter gloriae cupiditatem, ut aliquos summa frumenti decumani vinceret, acerbiorem legem, duriora edicta interposuerit, omnium superiorum auctoritatem repudiarit.

[¶8] 49. You sold the tenths at a high price. What will be said, if I prove that you appropriated and took to your own house no less a sum than you had sent to Rome under the name of tenths? What is there to obtain popularity for you in that plan of yours, when you took for yourself from a province of the Roman people a share equal to that which you sent to the Roman people? What will be said if I prove that you took twice as much corn yourself as you sent to the Roman people? Shall we still expect to see your advocate toss his head at this accusation, and throw himself on the people, and on the assembly here present? These things you have heard before, O judges; but perhaps you have heard it on no other authority than report, and the common conversation of men. Know now that an enormous sum was taken by him on pretences connected with corn; and consider at the same time the profligacy of that saying of his, when he said that by the profit made on the tenths alone, he could buy himself off from all his dangers.

> Latin: 49. Magno tu decumas vendidisti.? si doceo te non minus domum tuam avertisse quam Romam misisse decumarum nomine, quid habet populare oratio tua, cum ex provincia populi Romani aequam partem tu tibi sumpseris ac populo Romano miseris?? si duabus partibus doceo te amplius frumenti abstulisse quam populo Romano misisse, tamenne putamus patronum tuum in hoc crimine cerviculam iactaturum et populo se ac coronae daturum? vos antea, iudices, audistis, verum fortasse ita audistis ut auctorem rumorem haberetis sermonemque omnium. nunc innumerabilem pecuniam frumentario nomine ereptam, ut simul illam quoque eius vocem improbam agnoscatis qui se uno quaestu decumarum omnia sua pericula redempturum esse dicebat.

[¶9] 50. We have heard this for a long time, O judges. I say that there is not one of you who has not often heard that the collectors of the tenths were that mans partners. I do not think that anything else has been said against him falsely by those who think ill of him but this. For they are to be considered partners of a man, with whom the gains of a business are shared. But I say that the whole of these gains, and the whole of the fortunes of the cultivators, went to Verres alone. I say that Apronius, and those slaves of Venus, who were quite a new class of farmers first heard of in his praetorship! and the other collectors, were only agents of that one man's gains, and ministers of his plunder. How do you prove that?

> Latin: 50. hoc iam diu, iudices: nego quemquam esse vestrum quin saepe audierit socios istius fuisse decumanos. aliud arbitror falso in istum esse dictum ab iis qui male de isto existimarint, nisi hoc. socii putandi sunt quos inter res communicata est: ego rem totam fortunasque aratorum omnis istius fuisse dico, Apronium Veneriosque servos,—quod isto praetore fuit novum genus publicanorum,—ceterosque decumanos procuratores istius quaestus et administros rapinarum fuisse dico.

[¶10] 51. How did I prove that he had committed robbery in the contract for those pillars? Chiefly, I think, by this fact, that he had put forth an unjust and unprecedented law. For who ever attempted to change all the rights of people, and the customs of all men, getting great blame for so doing, except for some gain? I will proceed and carry this matter further. You sold the tenths according to an unjust law, in order to sell them for more money. Why, when the tenths were now knocked down and sold,—when nothing could now be added to their sum total, but much might be to your own gains,—why did new edicts appear, made on a sudden and to meet an emergency? For I say, that in your third year you issued edicts, that a collector might summon a man before the court anywhere he liked; that the cultivator might not remove his corn from the threshing-floor, before he had settled the claims of the collector; that they should have the tenths delivered at the water-side before the first of August. All these edicts, I say, you issued after the tenths had been sold. But if you had issued them for the sake of the republic, notice would have been given of them at the time of selling; because you were acting with a view to your own interest, you, being prompted by your love of gain and by the emergency, repaired the omission which had unintentionally occurred.

> Latin: 51. “modo hoc doces?” modo ex illa locatione columnarum docui istum esse praedatum: opinor, ex eo maxime quod iniquam legem novamque dixisset. enim umquam conatus est iura omnia et consuetudinem omnium commutare cum vituperatione sine quaestu? Pergam atque insequar longius. lege vendebas, quo pluris venderes. addictis iam et venditis decumis, cum iam ad summam decumarum nihil, ad tuum quaestum multum posset accedere, subito atque ex tempore nova nascebantur edicta? ut vadimonium decumano, quocumque is vellet, promitteretur, ut ex area, nisi pactus esset, arator ne tolleret, ut ante Kalendas Sextilis decumas deportatas haberet, haec omnia iam venditis decumis anno tertio te edixisse dico; quae si rei publicae causa faceres, in vendundo essent pronuntiata; quia tua causa faciebas, quod erat imprudentia praetermissum, id quaestu ac tempore admonitus reprehendisti.

[¶11] 52. But who can be induced to believe this—that you, without any profit, or even without the greatest profit to yourself, disregarded the great disgrace, the great danger to your position as a free man, and to your fortunes, which you were incurring, so far as, though you were daily hearing the groans and complaints of all Sicily,—though, as you yourself have said, you expected to be brought to trial for this,—though the hazard of this present trial is not at all inconsistent with the opinion you yourself had formed,—still to allow the cultivators of the soil to be harassed and plundered with circumstances of the most scandalous injustice? In truth, though you are a man of singular cruelty and audacity, still you would be unwilling for a whole province to be alienated from you,—for so many most honourable men to be made your greatest enemies, if your desire for money and present booty had not overcome all reason and all consideration of safety.

> Latin: 52. vero cui probari potest, te sine tuo quaestu, ac maximo quaestu, tantam tuam infamiam, tantum capitis tui fortunarumque tuarum periculum neglexisse ut, cum totius Siciliae cotidie gemitus querimoniasque audires, cum, ut ipse dixisti, reum te fore putares, cum huiusce iudici discrimen ab opinione tua non abhorreret, paterere tamen aratores indignissimis iniuriis vexari ac diripi?, quamquam es singulari crudelitate et audacia, tamen abs te totam abalienari provinciam, tot homines honestissimos ac locupletissimos tibi inimicissimos fieri nolles, nisi hanc rationem et cogitationem salutis tuae pecuniae cupiditas ac praesens illa praeda superaret.

[¶12] 53. But, O judges, since it is not possible for me to detail to you the sum total and the whole number of his acts of injustice,—since it would be an endless task to speak separately of the injuries done to each individual,—I beg you, listen to the different kinds of injustice. There is a man of Centuripa, named Nympho, a clever and industrious man, a most experienced and diligent cultivator. He, though he rented very large allotments, (as other rich men like him have been in the habit of doing in Sicily,) and though he cultivated them at great expense, keeping a great deal of stock, was treated by that man with such excessive injustice, that he not only abandoned his allotments, but even fled from Sicily, and came to Rome with many others who had been driven away by that man. He then contrived that the collector should assert that Nympho had not made a proper return of his number of acres, according to that notable edict, which had no other object except making profit of this sort.

> Latin: 53. quoniam summam ac numerum iniuriarum vobis, iudices, non possum expromere, singillatim autem de unius cuiusque incommodo dicere infinitum est, genera ipsa iniuriarum, quaeso, cognoscite. Nympho est Centuripinus, homo gnavus et industrius, experientissimus ac diligentissimus arator. cum arationes magnas conductas haberet, quod homines etiam locupletes, sicut ille est, in Sicilia facere consuerunt, easque magna impensa magnoque instrumento tueretur, tanta ab isto iniquitate oppressus est ut non modo arationes relinqueret, sed etiam ex Sicilia profugeret Romamque una cum multis ab isto eiectis veniret. ut decumanus Nymphonem negaret ex edicto illo praeclaro, quod nullam ad aliam rem nisi ad huius modi quaestus pertinebat, numerum iugerum professum esse.

[¶13] 54. As Nympho wished to defend himself in a regular action, he appoints some excellent judges, that same physician Cornelius, (his real name is Artemidorus, a citizen of Perga, under which name he had formerly in his own country acted as guide to Verres, and as prompter in his exploit of plundering the temple of Diana,) and Volusius the soothsayer, and Valerius the crier. Nympho was condemned before he had fairly got into court. In what penalty? perhaps you will ask, for there was no fixed sum mentioned in the edict In the penalty of all the corn which was on his threshing-floors. So Apronius the collector takes, by a penalty for violating an edict, and not by any rights connected with his farming the revenue—not the tenth that was due, not corn that had been removed and concealed, but seven thousand medimni of wheat—from the allotments of Nympho.

> Latin: 54. Nympho cum se vellet aequo iudicio defendere, dat iste viros optimos recuperatores, eundem illum medicum Cornelium, is est Artemidorus Pergaeus, qui in sua patria dux isti quondam et magister ad spoliandum Dianae templum fuit, et haruspicem Volusium et Valerium praeconem. Nympho antequam plane constitit condemnatur. fortasse quaeritis. erat edicti poena certa: frumenti eius omnis quod in areis esset. Apronius decumanus non decumam debitam, non frumentum remotum atque celatum, sed tritici Vll milia medimnum ex Nymphonis arationibus edicti poena, non redemptionis aliquo iure tollit.

[¶14] 55. A farm belonging to the wife of Xeno Menenius, a most noble man, had been let to a settler. The settler, because he could not bear the oppressive conduct of the collectors, had fled from his land. Verres gave his favourite sentence of condemnation against Xeno for not having made a return of his acres. Xenosaid that it was no business of his; that the farm was let. Verres ordered a trial to take place according to this formula,—“If it should appear” that there were more acres in the farm than the settler had returned, then Xeno was to be condemned. He said not only that he had not been the cultivator of the land, which was quite sufficient, but also that he was neither the owner of that farm, nor the lessor of it; that it belonged to his wife; that she herself transacted her own affairs; that she had let the land. A man of the very highest reputation, and of the greatest authority, defended Xeno, Marcus Cossetius. Nevertheless Verres ordered a trial, in which the penalty was fixed at eighty thousand sesterces. Xeno, although he saw that judges were provided for him out of that band of robbers, still said that he would stand the trial. Then that fellow, with a loud voice, so that Xeno might hear it, orders his slaves of Venus to take care the man does not escape while the trial is proceeding, and as soon as it is over to bring him before him. And at the same time he said also, that he did not think that, if from his riches he disregarded the penalty of a conviction, he would also disregard the scourge. He, under the compulsion of this violence and this fear, paid the collectors all that Verres commanded.

> Latin: 55. Xenonis Menaeni, nobilissimi hominis, uxoris fundus erat colono locatus; colonus, quod decumanorum iniurias ferre non poterat, ex agro profugerat. Verres in Xenonem iudicium dabat illud suum damnatorium de iugerum professione. Xeno ad se pertinere negabat; fundum elocatum esse dicebat. iste iudicium, si pareret ivgera eivs fvndi plvra esse qvam colonvs esset professvs, tum uti Xeno damnaretur. ille non modo se non arasse, id quod satis erat, sed nec dominum eius esse fundi nec locatorem; uxoris esse; eam ipsam suum negotium gerere, ipsam locavisse. Xenonem homo summo splendore et summa auctoritate praeditus, M. Cossutius. nihilo minus iudicium HS iↄↄↄ dabat. tametsi recuperatores de cohorte latronum sibi parari videbat, tamen iudicium se accepturum esse dicebat. iste maxima voce Veneriis imperat, ut Xeno audiret, dum res iudicetur hominem ut adservent; cum iudicata sit, ad se ut adducant; et illud simul ait, se non putare illum, si propter divitias poenam damnationis contemneret, etiam virgas contempturum. ille vi et hoc metu adductus tantum decumanis dedit quantum iste imperavit.

[¶15] 56. There is a citizen of Morgentia, named Polemarchus, a virtuous and honourable man. He, when seven hundred medimni were demanded as the tenths due on fifty acres, because he refused to pay them, was summoned before the praetor at his own house; and, as he was still in bed, he was introduced into his bed-chamber, into which no one else was admitted, except his woman and the collector. There he was beaten and kicked about till, though he had refused before to pay seven hundred medimni, he now promised a thousand. Eubulides Grosphus is a man of Centuripa, a man above all others of his city, both for virtue and high birth, and also for wealth. They left this man, O judges, the most honourable man of a most honourable city, not merely only so much corn, but only so much life as pleased Apronius. For by force, by violence, and by blows, he was induced to give corn, not as much as he had, but as much as was demanded of him, which was even more.

> Latin: 56. Polemarchus est Murgentinus, vir bonus atque honestus. cum pro iugeribus quinquaginta medimna dcc decumae imperarentur, quod recusabat, domum ad istum in ius eductus est, et, cum iste etiam cubaret, in cubiculum introductus est, quod nisi mulieri et decumano patebat alii nemini. cum pugnis et calcibus concisus esset, qui dcc medimnis decidere noluisset, mille promisit. Eubulidas est Grospus Centuripinus, homo cum virtute et nobilitate domi suae, tum etiam pecunia princeps. homini, iudices, honestissimae civitatis honestissimo non modo frumenti scitote sed etiam vitae et sanguinis tantum relictum esse quantum Aproni libido tulit; nam vi malo plagis adductus est ut frumenti daret, non quantum deberet, sed quantum cogeretur.

[¶16] 57. Sostratus, and Numenius, and Nymphodorus, of the same city, three brothers of kindred sentiments, when they had fled from their lands because more corn was demanded of them than their lands had produced, were treated thus,—Apronius collected a band of men, came into their allotments, took away all their tools, carried off their slaves, and drove off their live stock. Afterwards, when Nymphodorus came to Aetna to him, and begged to have his property restored to him, he ordered the man to be seized and hung up on a wild olive, a tree which is the forum there; and an ally and friend of the Roman people, a settler and cultivator of your domain, hung suspended from a tree in a city of our allies, and in the very forum, for as long a period as Apronius chose.

> Latin: 57. Sostratus et Numenius et Nymphodorus eiusdem civitatis cum ex agris tres fratres consortes profugissent, quod iis plus frumenti imperabatur quam quantum exararant, hominibus coactis in eorum arationes Apronius venit, omne instrumentum diripuit, familiam abduxit, pecus abegit. cum ad eum Nymphodorus venisset Aetnam et oraret ut sibi sua restituerentur, hominem corripi ac suspendi iussit in oleastro quodam, quae est arbor, iudices, Aetnae in foro. diu pependit in arbore socius amicusque populi Romani in sociorum urbe ac foro, colonus aratorque vester, quam diu voluntas Aproni tulit.

[¶17] 58. I have now been recounting to you, O judges, the species of countless injuries which he has wrought,—one of each sort. An infinite host of evil actions I pass over. Place before your own eyes, keep in your minds, these invasions by collectors of the whole of Sicily, their plunderings of the cultivators of the soil, the harshness of this man, the absolute reign of Apronius. He despised the Sicilians; he did not consider them as men, he thought that they would not be vigorous in avenging themselves, and that you would treat their oppression lightly.

> Latin: 58. iam dudum innumerabilium iniuriarum, iudices, singulis nominibus profero, infinitam multitudinem iniuriarum praetermitto. ante oculos animosque vestros tota Sicilia decumanorum hos impetus, aratorum direptiones, huius importunitatem, Aproni regnum proponite. Siculos; non duxit homines nec ipsos ad persequendum vehementis fore, et vos eorum iniurias leviter laturos existimavit.

[¶18] 59. Be it so. He adopted a false opinion about them, and a very injurious one about you. But while he deserved so ill of the Sicilians, at least, I suppose, he was attentive to the Roman citizens; he favoured them; he was wholly devoted to securing their good-will and favour? He attentive to the Roman citizens? There were no men to whom he was more severe or more hostile. I say nothing of chains, of imprisonment, of scourgings, of executions. I say nothing even of that cross which he wished to be a witness to the Roman citizens of his humanity and benevolence to them. I say nothing, I say, of all this, and I put all this off to another opportunity. I am speaking about the tenths,—about the condition of the Roman citizens in their allotments; and how they were treated you heard from themselves. They have told you that their property was taken from them.

> Latin: 59. ; falsam de illis habuit opinionem, malam de vobis; verum tamen, cum de Siculis male mereretur, civis Romanos coluit, iis indulsit, eorum voluntati et gratiae deditus fuit. civis Romanos? nullis inimicior aut infestior fuit. Mitto vincla, mitto carcerem, mitto verbera, mitto securis, crucem denique illam praetermitto quam iste civibus Romanis testem humanitatis in eos ac benivolentiae suae voluit esse,—mitto, inquam, haec omnia atque in aliud dicendi tempus reicio; de decumis, de civium Romanorum condicione in arationibus disputo; qui quem ad modum essent accepti, iudices, audistis ex ipsis; bona sibi erepta esse dixerunt.

[¶19] 60. But since there was such a cause for it as there was, these things are to he endured,—I mean, the absence of all influence in justice, of all influence in established customs. There are, in short, no evils, O judges, of such magnitude that bravo men, of great and free spirit, think them intolerable. What shall we say if, while that man was praetor, violent hands were, without any hesitation, laid by Apronius on Roman knights, who were not obscure, nor unknown, but honourable, and even illustrious? What more do you expect? What more do you think I can say? Must I pass as quickly as possible from that man and from his actions, in order to come to Apronius, as, when I was in Sicily, I promised him that I would do?—who detained for two days in the public place at Leontini, Caius Matrinius, a man, O judges, of the greatest virtue, the greatest industry, the highest popularity. Know, O judges, that a Roman knight was kept two days without food, without a roof over his head, by a man born in disgrace, trained in infamy, practiced in accommodating himself to all Verres's vices and lusts; that he was kept and detained by the guards of Apronius two days in the forum at Leontini, and not released till he had agreed to submit to his terms.

> Latin: 60. haec, quoniam eius modi causa fuit, ferenda sunt, nihil valuisse aequitatem, nihil consuetudinem; damna denique, iudices, nulla tanta sunt quae non viri fortes ac magno et libero animo adfecti ferenda arbitrentur. si equitibus Romanis non obscuris neque ignotis, sed honestis et inlustribus manus ab Apronio isto praetore sine ulla dubitatione adferebantur? exspectatis, quid amplius a me dicendum putatis? id agendum ut eo celerius de isto transigamus quo maturius ad Apronium possimus, id quod ego illi iam in Sicilia pollicitus sum, pervenire? qui C. Matrinium, iudices, summa virtute hominem, summa industria, summa gratia, Leontinis in publico biduum tenuit. A Q. Apronio, iudices, homine in dedecore nato, ad turpitudinem educato, ad Verris flagitia libidinesque accommodato, equitem Romanum scitote biduum cibo tectoque prohibitum, biduum Leontinis in foro custodiis Aproni retentum atque adservatum, neque ante dimissum quam ad condicionem eius depectus est.

[¶20] 61. For why, O judges, should I speak of Quintus Lollius, a Roman knight of tried probity and honour? (the matter which I am going to mention is clear, notorious, and undoubted throughout all Sicily;)—who, as he was a cultivator of the domain in the district of Aetna, and as his farm belonged to Apronius's district as well as the rest, relying on the ancient authority and influence of the equestrian order, declared that he would not pay the collectors more than was due from him to them. His words are reported to Apronius. He laughed, and marveled that Lollius had heard nothing of Matrinius or of his other actions. He sends his slaves of Venus to the man. Remark this also, that a collector had officers appointed to attend him by the praetor; and see if this is a slight argument that he abused the name of the collectors to purposes of his own gain. Lollius is brought before Apronius by the slaves of Venus, and dragged along, at a convenient moment, when Apronius had just returned from the palaestra, and was lying on a couch which he had spread in the forum of Aetna Lollius is placed in the middle of that seemly banquet of gladiators.

> Latin: 61. quid ego de Q. Lollio, iudices, dicam, equite Romano spectato atque honesto? res est quam dicturus sum, tota Sicilia celeberrima atque notissima. cum araret in Aetnensi, cumque is ager Apronio cum ceteris agris esset traditus, equestri vetere illa auctoritate et gratia fretus adfirmavit se decumanis plus quam deberet non daturum. eius sermo ad Apronium. vero iste ridere ac mirari Lollium nihil de Matrinio, nihil de ceteris rebus audisse. ad hominem Venerios. quoque attendite, apparitores a praetore adsignatos habuisse decumanum, si hoc mediocre argumentum videri potest istum decumanorum nomine ad suos quaestus esse abusum. a Veneriis atque adeo attrahitur Lollius, commodum cum Apronius e palaestra redisset, et in triclinio quod in foro Aetnae straverat recubuisset. LolIius in illo tempestivo gladiatorum convivio.

[¶21] 62. I would not, in truth, O judges, believe the things which I am now saying although I heard them commonly talked about, if the old man had not himself told them to me in the most solemn manner, when he was with tears expressing his thanks to me and to the willingness with which I had undertaken this accusation. A Roman knight, I say, nearly ninety years old, is placed in the middle of Apronius's banquet, while Apronius in the meantime was rubbing his head and face with ointment. “What is this, Lollius,” says he; “cannot you behave properly, unless you are compelled by severe measures?” What was the man to do? should he hold his tongue, or answer him? In truth he, a man of that bright character, and that age, did not know what to do. Meantime Apronius called for supper and wine; and his slaves, who were of no better manners than their master, and were born of the same class and in the same rank of life, brought these things before the eyes of Lollius. The guests began to laugh, Apronius himself roared; unless, perchance, you suppose that he did not laugh in the midst of wine and feasting, who even now at the time of his danger and ruin cannot suppress his laughter. Not to detain you too long; know, O judges, that Quintus Lollius, under the compulsion of these insults, came into the terms and conditions of Apronius.

> Latin: 62. mehercule haec quae loquor crederem, iudices, tametsi vulgo audieram, nisi mecum ipse senex, cum mihi atque huic voluntati accusationis meae lacrimans gratias ageret, summa cum auctoritate esset locutus., ut dico, eques Romanus annos prope lxxx natus in Aproni convivio, cum interea Apronius caput atque os suum unguento confricaret. “est, Lolli?” inquit; “tu nisi malo coactus recte facere nescis?” quid ageret, taceret responderet, quid faceret denique illa aetate et auctoritate praeditus nesciebat. Apronius interea cenam ac pocula poscebat; servi autem eius, qui et moribus isdem essent quibus dominus et eodem genere ac loco nati, praeter oculos Lolli haec omnia ferebant. convivae, cachinnare ipse Apronius, nisi forte existimatis eum in vino ac ludo non risisse qui nunc in periculo atque exitio suo risum tenere non possit. multa, iudices: his contumeliis scitote Q. Lollium coactum ad Aproni leges condicionesque venisse.

[¶22] 63. Lollius, enfeebled by old age and disease, could not come to give his evidence. What need have we of Lollius? There is no one who is ignorant of this, no one of your own friends, no one who is brought forward by you, no one at all who, if he is asked, will say that he now hears this for the first time. Marcus Lollius, his son, a most excellent young man, is present; you shall hear what he says—For Quintus Lollius, his son, who was the accuser of Calidius, a young man both virtuous and bold, and of the highest reputation for eloquence, when being excited by these injuries and insults he had set out for Sicily, was murdered on the way; and the crime of his death is imputed indeed to fugitive slaves; but, in reality, no one in Sicily doubts that he must be murdered because he could not keep to himself his intentions respecting Verres. He, in truth, had no doubt that the man who, under the prompting of a mere love of justice, had already accused another, would be ready as an accuser for him on his arrival, when he was stimulated by the injuries of his father, and indignation at the treatment received by his family.

> Latin: 63. Lollius aetate et morbo impeditus ad testimonium dicendum venire non potuit. opus est Lollio? hoc nescit, nemo tuorum amicorum, nemo abs te productus, nemo abs te interrogatus nunc se primum hoc dicet audire. M. Lollius, filius eius, adulescens lectissimus, praesto est: huius verba audietis. Q. Lollius, eius filius, qui Calidium accusavit, adulescens et bonus et fortis et in primis disertus, cum his iniuriis contumeliisque commotus in Siciliam esset profectus, in itinere occisus est. mortis causam fugitivi sustinent, re quidem vera nemo in Sicilia dubitat quin eo sit occisus quod habere clausa non potuerit sua consilia de Verre. porro non dubitabat quin is, qui alium antea studio adductus accusasset, sibi advenienti praesto esset futurus, cum esset parentis iniuriis et domestico dolore commotus.

[¶23] 64. Do you now thoroughly understand, O judges, what a pest, what a barbarian has been let loose in your most ancient, most loyal, and nearest province? Do you see now on what account Sicily, which has before this endured the thefts, and rapine, and iniquities, and insults of so many men, has not been able to submit to this unprecedented, and extraordinary, and incredible series of injuries and insults? All men are now aware why the whole province sought out that man as a defender of its safety, from the effects of whose good faith, and diligence, and perseverance Verres could not possibly be saved. You have been present at many trials, you know that many guilty and wicked men have been impeached within your own recollection, and that of your ancestors. Have you ever seen any one, have you ever heard of any one, who has lived in the practice of such great, such open robberies, of such audacity, of such shameless impudence?

> Latin: 64. intellegitis, iudices, quae pestis, quae immanitas in vestra antiquissima fidelissima proximaque provincia versata sit? iam videtis quam ob causam Sicilia, tot hominum antea furta rapinas iniquitates ignominiasque perpessa, hoc non potuerit novum ac singulare atque incredibile genus iniuriarum contumeliarumque perferre? omnes intellegunt cur universa provincia defensorem suae salutis eum quaesiverit cuius iste fidei diligentiae perseverantiae nulla ratione eripi possit. iudiciis interfuistis, tot homines nocentis et improbos accusatos et vestra et superiorum memoria scitis esse: ecquem vidistis, ecquem audistis in tantis furtis, in tam apertis, in tanta audacia, in tanta impudentia esse versatum?

[¶24] 65. Apronius had his attendants of Venus about him; he took them with him about the different cities; he ordered banquets to be prepared and couches to be spread for him at the public expense, and to be spread for him in the forum. Thither he ordered most honourable men to be summoned, not only Sicilians, but even Roman knights, so that men of the most thoroughly proved honour were detained at his banquet, when none but the most impure and profligate men would join him in a banquet. Would you, O most profligate and abandoned of all mortals, when you knew these things, when you were hearing of them every day, when you were seeing them, would you ever have allowed or endured that such things should have taken place, to your own great danger, if they had taken place without enormous profit to yourself? Was it the profit made by Apronius, and his most beastly conversation, and his flagitious caresses, that had such influence with you, that no care for or thought of your own fortunes ever touched your mind?

> Latin: 65. Apronius stipatores Venerios secum habebat; ducebat eos circum civitates; publice sibi convivia parari, sterni triclinia, et in foro sterni iubebat; eo vocari homines honestissimos non solum Siculos sed etiam equites Romanos, ut, quicum vivere nemo umquam nisi turpis impurusque voluisset, ad eius convivium spectatissimi atque honestissimi viri tenerentur. tu, omnium mortalium profligatissime ac perditissime, cum scires, cum audires cotidie, cum videres, si sine tuo quaestu maximo fierent, cum tanto periculo tuo fieri paterere atque concederes? apud te quaestus Aproni, tantum eius sermo inquinatissimus et blanditiae flagitiosae valuerunt ut numquam animum tuum cura tuarum fortunarum cogitatioque tangeret?

[¶25] 66. You see, O judges, what sort of conflagration, and how vast a torrent of collectors spread itself with violence, not only over the fields but also over all the other property of the cultivators; not only over the property, but also over the rights of liberty and of the state. You see some men suspended from trees; others beaten and scourged; others kept as prisoners in the public place; others left standing alone at a feast; others condemned by the physician and crier of the praetor; and nevertheless the property of all of them is carried off from the fields and plundered at the same time. What is all this? Is this the rule of the Roman people? Are these the laws of the Roman people? are these their tribunals? are these their faithful allies? is this their suburban province? Are not rather all these things such that even Athenio would not have done them if he had been victorious in Sicily? I say, O judges, that the evidence of fugitive slaves would not have equalled one quarter of the wickedness of that man. In this manner did he behave to individuals. What more shall I say? How were cities treated in their public capacity? You have heard many statements and testimonies from some cities, and you shall hear them from the rest.

> Latin: 66. , iudices, quod et quantum incendium decumanorum impetu non solum per agros sed etiam per reliquas fortunas aratorum, neque solum per bona sed etiam per iura libertatis et civitatis isto praetore pervaserit. pendere alios ex arbore, pulsari alios, alios autem verberari, porro alios in publico custodiri, destitui alios in convivio, condemnari alios a medico et praecone praetoris; bona tamen interea nihilo minus eorum omnium ex agris auferri ac diripi. est hoc? populi Romani imperium? praetoriae leges, iudicia? [socios fidelis, provincia suburbana]. omnia potius eius modi sunt quae, si Athenio rex fugitivorum vicisset, in Sicilia non fecisset?, inquam, iudices, esset ullam partem istius nequitiae fugitivorum insolentia consecuta. hoc modo: quid? publice civitates tractatae quem ad modum sunt? Audistis permulta, iudices, testimonia civitatum, et reliquarum audietis.

[¶26] 67. And first of all, listen to a brief tale concerning the people of Agyrium, a loyal and illustrious people. The state of Agyrium is among the first in all Sicily for honour;—a state of men wealthy before this man came as praetor, and of excellent cultivators of the soil. When this same Apronius had purchased the tenths of that district, he came to Agyrium; and when he had come thither with his regular attendants—that is to say, with threats and violence,—he began to ask an immense sum, so that when he had got his profit, he might depart. He said that he did not wish to have any trouble, nut that, when he had got his money, he would depart as soon as possible to some other city. All the Sicilians are not contemptible men, if only our magistrates leave them alone; but they are many, of sufficient courage, and very economical and temperate, and among the very first is this city of which I am now speaking, O judges.

> Latin: 67. primum de Agyrinensi populo fideli et inlustri breviter cognoscite. Agyrinensis est in primis honesta Siciliae civitas hominum ante hunc praetorem locupletium summorumque aratorum. agri decumas cum emisset idem Apronius, Agyrium venit. cum apparitoribus eo et vi ac minis venisset, poscere pecuniam grandem coepit ut accepto lucro discederet; nolle se negoti quicquam habere dicebat, sed accepta pecunia velle quam primum in aliam civitatem occurrere. omnes Siculi non contemnendi, si per nostros magistratus liceat, sed homines et satis fortes et plane frugi ac sobrii, et in primis haec civitas de qua loquor, iudices.

[¶27] 68. Therefore the men of Agyrium make answer to this most worthless man, that they will give him the tenths which are due from them, that they will not add to them any profit for himself, especially since he had bought them an excellent bargain. Apronius informs Verres, whose business it ready was, what was going on. Immediately, as if there had been some conspiracy at Agyrium formed against the republic, or as if the lieutenant of the praetor had been assaulted, the magistrates and five principal citizens are summoned from Agyrium at his command. They went to Syracuse. Apronius is there. He says that those very men who had come had acted contrary to the praetor's edict. They asked, in what? He answered, that he would say in what before the judges. He, that most just man, tried to strike his old terror into the wretched Agyrians; he threatened that he would appoint their judges out of his own retinue. The Agyrians, being very intrepid men, said that they would stand the trial.

> Latin: 68. homini improbissimo respondent Agyrinenses sese decumas ei quem ad modum deberent daturos: lucrum, cum ille magno praesertim emisset, non addituros. Apronius certiorem facit istum cuia res erat., tamquam coniuratio aliqua Agyri contra rem publicam facta aut legatus praetoris pulsatus esset, ita Agyrio magistratus et quinque primi accitu istius evocantur. Syracusas; praesto est Apronius; ait eos ipsos qui venissent contra edictum praetoris fecisse., quid? se ad recuperatores esse dicturum. aequissimus homo formidinem illam suam miseris Agyrinensibus iniciebat: recuperatores se de cohorte sua daturum minabatur. Agyrinenses, viri fortissimi, iudicio se passuros esse dicebant.

[¶28] 69. That fellow put on the tribunal Artemidorus Cornelius, the physician, Valerius, the crier, Tlepolemus, the painter, and judges of that sort; not one of whom was a Roman citizen, but Greek robbers of temples, long since infamous, and now all Corneliuses. The Agyrians saw that whatever charge Apronius brought before whose judges, he would very easily prove; but they preferred to be convicted, and so add to his unpopularity and infamy, rather than accede to his conditions and terms. They asked what formula would be given to the judges on which to try them? He answered, “If it appeared that they had acted contrary to the edict,” on which formula he said that he should pronounce judgment. They preferred trying the question according to a most unjust formula, and with most profligate judges, rather than come to any settlement with him of their own accord. He sent Timarchides privately to them, to warn them, if they were wise, to settle the matter. They refused. “What, then, will you do? Do you prefer to be convicted each of you in a penalty of fifty thousand sesterces?” They said they did. Then he said out loud, in the hearing of every one, “Whoever is condemned, shall be beaten to death with rods.” On this they began with tears to beg and entreat him to be allowed to give up their cornfields, and all their produce, and their allotments, when stripped of everything, to Apronius, and to depart themselves without insult and annoyance.

> Latin: 69. iste Artemidorum Cornelium medicum et Tlepolemum Cornelium pictorem et eius modi recuperatores, quorum civis Romanus nemo erat, sed Graeci sacrilegi iam pridem improbi, repente Cornelii. Agyrinenses, quicquid ad eos recuperatores Apronius attulisset, illum perfacile probaturum: condemnari cum istius invidia infamiaque malebant quam ad eius condiciones pactionesque accedere. quae in verba recuperatores daret., sl pareret adversvs edictvm fecisse; qua in re in iudicio dicturum esse aiebat. verbis, improbissimis recuperatoribus conflictari malebant quam quicquam cum isto sua voluntate decidere. iste Timarchidem qui moneret eos, si saperent, ut transigerent.. “ergo? in singulos HS quinquagenis milibus damnari mavultis?” Malle dicebant. iste clare omnibus audientibus, “damnatus erit,” inquit, “virgis ad necem caedetur.” illi flentes rogare atque orare coeperunt ut sibi suas segetes fructusque omnis arationesque vacuas Apronio tradere liceret, ut ipsi sine ignominia molestiaque discederent.

[¶29] 70. These were the terms, O judges, on which Verres sold the tenths. Hortensius may say, if he pleases, that Verres sold them at a high price. This was the condition of the cultivators of the soil while that man was praetor; that they thought themselves exceedingly well off, if they might give up their fields when stripped of everything to Apronius, for they wished to escaped the many crosses which were set before their eyes. Whatever Apronius had declared to be due, that they were forced to give, according to the edict. Suppose he declared more was due than the land produced? Just so. How could that be? The magistrates were bound, according to his own edict, to compel the payment. Well, but the cultivators could recover. Yes, but Artemidorus was the judge. What next? What happened if the cultivator had given less than Apronius had demanded? A prosecution of the cultivator to recover a fourfold penalty. Before judges taken from what body? From that admirable retinue of most honourable men in attendance on the praetor. What more? I say that you returned less than the proper number of acres: select judges for the matter which is to be tried, namely, your violation of the edict. Out of what class? Out of the same retinue. What will be the end of it? If you are convicted, (and what doubt can there be about a conviction with those judges?) you must be beaten to death with rods. When these are the rules, these the conditions, will there be any one so foolish as to think that what was sold were the tenths? Who believes that nine parts were left to the cultivator? Who does not perceive that that fellow considered as his own gain and plunder the property and possessions and fortunes of the cultivators? From fear of the gods the Agyrians said that they would do what they were commanded to.

> Latin: 70. lege, iudices, decumas vendidit Verres. licet Hortensius, si volet, magno Verrem decumas vendidisse. condicio fuit isto praetore aratorum, ut secum praeclare agi arbitrarentur si vacuos agros Apronio tradere liceret; multas enim cruces propositas effugere cupiebant. Apronius edidisset deberi, tantum ex edicto dandum erat. si plus edidisset quam quantum natum esset?, quando magistratus ex istius edicto exigere debebant. arator repetere poterat. Artemidoro recuperatore. si minus dedisset arator quam poposcisset Apronius? in aratorem in quadruplum. quo iudicum numero? cohorte praetoria praeclara hominum honestissimorum. amplius? te iugerum professum esse dico: recuperatores reice, quod adversus edictum feceris. quo numero? eadem cohorte. erit extremum? damnatus eris, atque adeo cum damnatus eris,—nam dubitatio damnationis illis recuperatoribus quae poterat esse?—virgis te ad necem caedi necesse erit. legibus, his condicionibus erit quisquam tam stultus qui decumas venisse arbitretur, qui aratori novem partis reliquas factas esse existimet, qui non intellegat istum sibi quaestui praedaeque habuisse bona possessiones fortunasque aratorum? metu Agyrinenses quod imperatum esset facturos se esse dixerunt.

[¶30] 71. Listen now to what his orders were; and conceal, if you can, that you are aware of what all Sicily well knew, that the praetor himself was the farmer of the tenths, or rather the lord and sovereign of all the allotments in the province. He orders the Agyrians to take the tenths themselves in the name of their city, and to give a compliment to Apronius. If he had bought them at a high price, since you are a man who inquired into the proper price with great diligence, who, as you say, sold them at a high price, why do you think that a compliment ought to be added as a present to the purchaser? Be it so; you did think so. Why did you order them to add it? What is the meaning; of taking and appropriating money, for which the law has a hold on you, if this is not it,—I mean the compelling men by force and despotic power against their will to give a compliment to another, that is to say, to give him money?

> Latin: 71. nunc quid imperarit, et dissimulate, si potestis, vos intellegere ipsum praetorem, id quod tota Sicilia perspexit, redemptorem decumarum atque adeo aratorum dominum ac regem fuisse. Agyrinensibus ut decumas ipsi publice accipiant, Apronio lucrum dent. magno emerat, quoniam tu es qui diligentissime pretia exquisisti, qui, ut ais, magno vendidisti, quare putabas emptori lucrum addi oportere?, putabas: quam ob rem imperabas ut adderent? quid est aliud capere et conciliare pecunias, in quo te lex tenet, si hoc non est, vi atque imperio cogere invitos lucrum dare alteri, hoc est pecuniam dare?

## 16. Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 72–106

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/16/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/16/#p-N

[¶0] 72. Well, what comes next? If they were ordered to give some small compliment to Apronius, the delight of the praetor's life, suppose that it was given to Apronius, if it seems to you the compliment to Apronius, and not the plunder of the praetor. You order them to take the tenths; to give Apronius a compliment,—thirty-three thousand medimni of wheat. What is this? One city is compelled by the command of the praetor to give to the Roman people out of one district almost food enough to support it for a month. Did you sell the tenths at a high price, when such a compliment was given to the collector? In truth, if you had inquired carefully into the proper price, then when you were selling them, they would rather have given ten thousand medimni more then, than six hundred thousand sesterces afterwards. It seems a great booty. Listen to what follows, and remark it carefully, so as to be the less surprised that the Sicilians, being compelled by their necessity, entreated aid from their patrons, from the consuls, from the senate, from the laws, from the tribunals.

> Latin: 72. tum? Apronio, deliciis praetoris, lucelli aliquid iussi sunt dare. Apronio datum, si Apronianum lucellum ac non praetoria praeda vobis videbitur. ut decumas accipiant, Apronio dent lucri tritici medimnum xxxiii. est hoc? Vna civitas ex uno agro plebis Romanae prope menstrua cibaria praetoris imperio donare Apronio cogitur. magno decumas vendidisti, cum tantum lucri decumano sit datum?, si pretium exquisisses diligenter tum cum vendebas, x medimnum potius addidissent quam HS dc postea. Magna praeda videtur: audite reliqua et diligenter attendite, quo minus miremini Siculos re necessaria coactos auxilium a patronis, ab consulibus, ab senatu, ab legibus, ab iudiciis petivisse.

[¶1] 73. To pay Apronius for testing the wheat which was given to him, Verres orders the Agyrians to pay Apronius three sesterces for every medimnus. What is this? When such a quantity of corn has been extorted and exacted under the name of a compliment, is money to be exacted besides for testing the corn? Or could, not only Apronius, but any one, if corn was to be served out to the army, disapprove of the Sicilian corn, which Verres might have measured on the threshing-floor, if he had liked? That vast quantity of corn is given and extorted at your command. That is not enough. Money is demanded besides. It is paid. That is too little. For the tenths of barley more money is extorted. You order thirty thousand sesterces to be paid. And so from one city there are extorted by force, by threats, by the despotic power and injustice of the praetor thirty-three thousand medimni of wheat, and besides that, sixty thousand sesterces! Are these things obscure? Or, even if all the world wished it, can those things be obscure which you did openly, which you ordered in open court, which you extorted when every one was looking on? concerning which matters the magistrates and five chief men of Agyrium, whom you summoned from their homes for the sake of your own gain, reported your acts and commands to their own senate at home; and that report, according to their laws, was recorded in the public registers, and the ambassadors of the Agyrians, most noble men, are at Rome, and have deposed to these facts in evidence.

> Latin: 73. Vt probaret Apronius hoc triticum quod ei dabatur, imperat Agyrinensibus Verres ut in medimna singula dentur Apronio HS. est hoc? tanto numero frumenti lucri nomine imperato et expresso, nummi praeterea exiguntur ut probetur frumentum? poterat non modo Apronius, sed quivis, exercitui si metiendum esset, improbare Siculum frumentum, quod illi ex area, si vellet, admetiri licebat? tantus numerus imperio tuo datur et cogitur. est satis; nummi praeterea imperantur.. Parum est. decumis hordei alia pecunia cogitur; iubes HS xxx lucri dari. ab una civitate vi minis imperio iniuriaque praetoris eripiuntur tritici medimnum xxxiii et praeterea HS lx. haec obscura sunt? aut, si omnes homines velint, obscura esse possunt? quae tu palam egisti, in conventu imperasti, omnibus inspectantibus coegisti; qua de re Agyrinenses magistratus et quinque primi, quos tu tui quaestus causa evocaras, acta et imperia tua domum ad senatum suum renuntiaverunt; quorum renuntiatio legibus illorum litteris publicis mandata est; quorum legati, homines nobilissimi, Romae sunt, qui hoc idem pro testimonio dixerunt!

[¶2] 74. Examine the public letters of the Agyrians; after that the public testimony of the city. Read the public letters. [The public letters are read.] Read the public evidence. [The public evidence is read.] You have remarked in this evidence, O judges, that Apollodorus, whose surname is Pyragrus, the chief man of his city, have his evidence with tears, and said that since the name of the Roman people had been heard by and known to the Sicilians, the Agyrians had never either said or done anything contrary to the interests of even the meanest of the Roman citizens; but that now they are compelled by great injuries, and great suffering to give evidence in a public manner against a praetor of the Roman people. You cannot, in truth. O Verres, invalidate the evidence of this one city by your defence; so great a weight is there in the fidelity of these men, such great indignation is there at their injuries, such great conscientiousness is there in the way in which they gave their evidence. But it is not one city alone, but every city, that now being crushed by similar distresses pursues you with deputations and public evidence.

> Latin: 74. Agyrinensium publicas litteras, deinde testimonium publicum civitatis.. litterae publicae, testlmonivm pvbliclum. Animadvertistis in hoc testimonio, iudices, Apollodorum, cui Pyragro cognomen est, principem suae civitatis, lacrimantem testari ac dicere numquam post populi Romani nomen ab Siculis auditum et cognitum Agyrinensis contra quemquam infimum civem Romanum dixisse aut fecisse quippiam, qui nunc contra praetorem populi Romani magnis iniuriis et magno dolore publice testimonium dicere cogerentur. Vni mehercule huic civitati, Verres, obsistere tua defensio non potest; tanta auctoritas est in eorum hominum fidelitate, tantus dolor in iniuria, tanta religio in testimonio. non una te tantum, sed universae similibus adflictae iniuriis et incommodis civitates legationibus ac testimoniis publicis persequuntur.

[¶3] 75. Let us now, in regular order, proceed to see in what way the city of Herbita, an honourable and formerly a wealthy city, was harassed and plundered by him. A city of what sort of men? Of excellent agriculturists, men most remote from courts of law, from tribunals, and from disputes; whom you, O most profligate of men, ought to have spared, whose interests you ought to have consulted, the whole race of whom you ought most carefully to have preserved. In the first year of your praetorship the tenths of that district were sold for eighteen thousand medimni of wheat. When Atidius, who was also his servant in the matter of tenths, had purchased them, and when he had come to Herbita with the title of' prefect, attended by the slaves of Verres, and when a place where he might lodge had been assigned him by the public act of the city, the people of Herbita are compelled to give him as a profit thirty-seven thousand modii of wheat, when the tenths of the wheat had been sold at eighteen thousand. And they are compelled to give this vast quantity of wheat in the name of their city, since the private cultivators of the soil had already fled from their lands, having been plundered and driven away by the injuries of the collectors.

> Latin: 75. deinceps videamus Herbitensis civitas honesta et antea copiosa quem ad modum spoliata ab isto ac vexata sit. quorum hominum! summorum aratorum, remotissimorum a foro, iudiciis, controversiis, quibus parcere et consulere, homo impurissime, et quod genus hominum studiosissime conservare debuisti. anno venierunt eius agri decumae tritici modium xviii Atidius, istius item minister in decumis, cum emisset et praefecti nomine cum venisset Herbitam cum Veneriis, locusque ei publice quo deverteretur datus esset, coguntur Herbitenses ei lucri dare tritici modium xxxviiidccc, cum decumae venissent tritici modium xviii. hoc tantum lucri coguntur dare publice tum cum iam privatim aratores ex agris spoliati atque exagitati decumanorum iniuriis profugissent.

[¶4] 76. In the second year, when Apronius had bought the tenths of wheat for twenty-five thousand modii, and when he himself had come to Herbita with his whole force and his whole band of robbers, the people was compelled to give him in the name of the city a present of twenty-six thousand modii of wheat, and a further gift of two thousand sesterces. I am not quite sure about this further gift, whether it was not given to Apronius himself as wages for his trouble, and a reward for his impudence. But concerning such an immense quantity of wheat, who can doubt that it came to that robber of corn, Verres, just as the corn of Agyrium did? But in the third year he adopted in this district the custom of sovereigns. They say that the barbarian kings of the Persians and Syrians are accustomed to have several wives, and to give to these wives cities in this fashion:—that this city is to dress the woman's waist, that one to dress her neck, that to dress her hair; and so they have whole nations not only privy to their lusts, but also assistants in it.

> Latin: 76. secundo cum emisset Apronius decumas tritici modium xxvdccc et ipse Herbitam cum illa sua praedonum copia manuque venisset, populus publice coactus est ei conferre lucri tritici modium xxi et accessionis HS ∞ ∞. accessione dubito an Apronio ipsi data sit merces operae atque impudentiae: de tritici quidem numero tanto quis potest dubitare quin ad istum praedonem frumentarium sicut Agyrinense frumentum pervenerit? tertio vero in hoc agro consuetudine usus est regia. aiunt reges barbaros Persarum ac Syrorum pluris uxores habere, his autem uxoribus civitates attribuere hoc modo: haec civitas mulieri in redimiculum praebeat, haec in collum, haec in crinis. populos habent universos non solum conscios libidinis suae, verum etiam administros.

[¶5] 77. Learn that the licentiousness and lust of that man who thought himself king of the Sicilians, was much the same. The name of the wife of Aeschrio, a Syracusan, is Pippa, whose name has been made notorious over all Sicily by that man's profligacy, and many verses were inscribed on the praetor's tribunal, and over the praetor's head, about that woman. This Aeschrio, the imaginary husband of Pippa, is appointed as a new farmer of the tenths of Herbita. When the men of Herbita saw that if the business got into Aeschrio's hands they should be plundered at the will of a most dissolute woman, they did against him as far as they thought that they could go. Aeschrio bid on, for he was not afraid that, while Verres was praetor, the woman, who would be really the farmer, would ever be allowed to lose by it. The tenths are knocked down to him at thirty-five thousand medimni, nearly half as much again as they had fetched the preceding year. The cultivators were utterly destroyed, and so much the more because in the preceding year they had been drained dry, and almost ruined. He was aware that they had been sold at so high a price, that more could not be squeezed out of the people; so he deducts from the sum total three thousand six hundred medimni, and enters on the registers thirty-one thousand four hundred.

> Latin: 77. istius, qui se regem Siculorum esse dicebat, licentiam libidinemque fuisse cognoscite. Aeschrionis Syracusani uxor est Pipa, cuius nomen istius nequitia tota Sicilia pervulgatum est; de qua muliere versus plurimi supra tribunal et supra praetoris caput scribebantur. Aeschrio, Pipae vir adumbratus, in Herbitensibus decumis novus instituitur publicanus. Herbitenses cum viderent, si ad Aeschrionem pretium resedisset, se ad arbitrium libidinosissimae mulieris spoliatum iri, liciti sunt usque adeo quoad se efficere posse arbitrabantur. adiecit Aeschrio; neque enim metuebat, ne praetore Verre decumana mulier damno adfici posset. medimnum viiic, dimidio fere pluris quam superiore anno. funditus evertebantur, et eo magis quod iam superioribus annis adflicti erant ac paene perditi. iste ita magno venisse ut amplius ab Herbitensibus exprimi non posset: demit de capite medimna dc, iubet in tabulas pro medimnum viiic referri viid.

[¶6] 78. Docimus had bought the tenths of barley belonging to the same district. This Docimus is the man who had brought to Verres Tertia, the daughter of Isidorus the actor, having taken her from a Rhodian flute-player. The influence of this woman Tertia was greater with him than that of Pippa, or of all the other women, and I had almost said, was as great in his Sicilian praetorship as that of Chelidon had been in his city praetorship. There come to Herbita the two rivals of the praetor, not likely to be troublesome to him, infamous agents of most abandoned women. They begin to demand, to beg, to threaten; but though they wished it, they were not able to imitate Apronius. The Sicilians were not so much afraid of Sicilians; still, as they put forth false accusations in every possible way, the Herbitenses undertake to appear in court at Syracuse. When they had arrived there, they are compelled to give to Aeschrio—that is, to Pippa—as much as had been deducted from the original purchase-money, three thousand six hundred modii of wheat. He was not willing to give to the woman who was really the farmer too much profits out of the tenths, lest in that case she should transfer her attention from her nocturnal gains to the farming of the tributes.

> Latin: 78. decumas eiusdem agri Docimus emerat. est Docimus ad quem iste deduxerat Tertiam, Isidori mimi filiam, vi abductam ab Rhodio tibicine. Tertiae plus etiam quam Pipae, plus quam ceterarum, ac prope dicam tantum apud istum in Siciliensi praetura auctoritas potuit quantum in urbana Chelidonis. Herbitam duo praetoris aemuli non molesti, muliercularum deterrimarum improbissimi cognitores; incipiunt postulare, poscere, minari; non poterant tamen, cum cuperent, Apronium imitari; Siculi Siculos non tam pertimescebant. omni ratione tamen illi calumniarentur, promittunt Herbitenses vadimonium Syracusas. posteaquam ventum est, coguntur Aeschrioni, hoc est Pipae, tantum dare quantum erat de capite demptum, tritici modium IIIDC. Mulierculae publicanae noluit ex decumis nimium lucri dare, ne forte ab nocturno suo quaestu animum ad vectigalia redimenda transferret.

[¶7] 79. The people of Herbita thought the matter was settled, when that man added,—“And what are you going to give out of the barley to my little friend Docimus? What are your intentions?” He transacted all this business, O judges, in his chamber, and in his bed. They said that they had no commission to give anything: “I do not hear you; pay him fifteen thousand sesterces.” What were the wretched men to do I or how could they refuse? especially when they saw the traces of the woman who was the collector fresh in the bed, by which they understood that he had been inflamed to persevere in his demand. And so one city of our allies and friends was made tributary of two most debauched women while Verres was praetor. And I now assert that that quantity of corn and those sums of money were given by the people of Herbita to the collectors in the name of the city. And yet by all that corn and all that money they could not deliver their fellow citizens from the injuries of the collectors. For after the property of the cultivators was destroyed and carried off, bribes were still to be given to the collectors to induce them to depart at length from their lands and from their cities.

> Latin: 79. putabant Herbitenses, cum iste, “? de hordeo,” inquit, “et de Docimo, amiculo meo, quid cogitatis?” hoc agebat in cubiculo, iudices, atque in lecto suo. illi quicquam sibi esse mandatum. “audio: numerate HS. xii.” facerent miseri, aut quid recusarent? praesertim cum in lecto decumanae mulieris vestigia viderent recentia, quibus illum inflammari ad perseverandum intellegebant. civitas una sociorum atque amicorum duabus deterrimis mulierculis Verre praetore vectigalis fuit. ego nunc eum frumenti numerum et eas pecunias publice decumanis ab Herbitensibus datas esse dico; quo illi frumento et quibus pecuniis tamen ab decumanorum iniuriis civis suos non redemerunt. enim iam et direptis aratorum bonis, haec decumanis merces dabatur ut aliquando ex eorum agris atque ex urbibus abirent.

[¶8] 80. And so when Philinus of Herbita, a man eloquent and prudent, and noble in his own city, spoke in public of the distress of the cultivators, and of their flight, and of the scanty numbers that were left behind, you remarked, O judges, the groans of the Roman people, a great crowd of whom has always been present at this cause. And concerning the scanty number of the cultivators I will speak at another time. But at this moment a topic, which I had almost passed over, must not be altogether forgotten. For, in the name of the immortal gods! how will you, I will not say tolerate, but how will you bear even to hear of the sums which Verres subtracted from the sum total?

> Latin: 80. cum Philinus Herbitensis, homo disertus et prudens et domi nobilis, de calamitate aratorum et de fuga et de reliquorum paucitate publice diceret, animadvertistis, iudices, gemitum populi Romani, cuius frequentia huic causae numquam defuit. de paucitate aratorum alio loco dicam: nunc illud quod praeterii non omnino relinquendum videtur., per deos immortalis, quod de capite iste dempsit, quo tandem modo vobis non modo ferendum, verum etiam audiendum videtur?

[¶9] 81. Up to this time there has been one man only since the first foundation of Rome, (and may the immortal gods grant that there may never be another,) to whom the republic wholly committed herself, being compelled by the necessities of the times and domestic misfortunes. He had such power, that without his consent no one could preserve either his property, or his liberty, or his life. He had such courage in his audacity, that he was not afraid to say in the public assembly, when he was selling the property of Roman citizens, that he was selling his own booty. All his actions we not only still maintain, but out of fear of greater inconveniences and calamities, we defend them by the public authority. One decree alone of his has been remodeled by a resolution of the senate, and a decree has been passed, that these men, from the sum total of whose debts he had made a deduction, should pay the money into the treasury. The senate laid down this principle,—that even he to whom they had entrusted everything had not power to diminish the total amount of revenue acquired and procured by the valour of the Roman people.

> Latin: 81. Vnus adhuc fuit post Romam conditam, —di immortales faxint, ne sit alter!—cui res publica totam se traderet temporibus et malis coacta domesticis, L. Sulla. tantum potuit ut nemo illo invito nec bona nec patriam nec vitam retinere posset; tantum animi habuit ad audaciam ut dicere in contione non dubitaret, bona civium Romanorum cum venderet, se praedam suam vendere. omnis res gestas non solum obtinemus, verum etiam propter maiorum incommodorum et calamitatum metum publica auctoritate defendimus: unum hoc aliquot senatus consultis reprehensum, decretumque est ut, quibus ille de capite dempsisset, ii pecunias in aerarium referrent. senatus hoc ne illi quidem esse licitum cui concesserat omnia, a populo factarum quaesitarumque rerum summas imminuere.

[¶10] 82. The conscript fathers decided that he had no power to remit even to the bravest men any portion of their debts to the state. And shall the senators decide that you have lawfully remitted any to a most profligate woman? The man, concerning whom the Roman people had established a law that his absolute will should be the law to the Roman people, still is found fault with in this one particular, out of reverence for their ancient laws. Did you, who were liable to almost every law, think that your lust and caprice was to be a law to you? He is blamed for remitting a part of that money which he himself had acquired. Shall you be pardoned who have remitted part of the revenue due to the Roman people?

> Latin: 82. viris fortissimis iudicarunt patres conscripti remittere de summa non potuisse: te mulieri deterrimae recte remisisse senatores iudicabunt?, de quo legem populus Romanus iusserat ut ipsius voluntas ei posset esse pro lege, tamen in hoc uno genere veterum religione legum reprehenditur: tu, qui omnibus legibus implicatus tenebare, libidinem tibi tuam pro lege esse voluisti? illo reprehenditur, quod ex ea pecunia remiserit quam ipse quaesierat: tibi concedetur, qui de capite vectigalium populi Romani remisisti?

[¶11] 83. And in this description of boldness he proceeded even much more shamelessly with respect to the tenths of the district of Segesta; for when he had knocked them down to this same Docimus, for five thousand modii of wheat, and had added as an extra present fifteen thousand sesterces, he compelled the people of Segesta to take them of Docimus at the same price in the name of their city; and you shall have this proved by the public testimony of the Segestans. Read the public testimony [The public testimony is read.] You have heard at what price the city took the tenths from Docimus,—at five thousand modii of wheat, and an extra gift. Learn now at what price he entered them in his accounts as having been sold. [The law respecting the sale of tithes, Caius Verres being the praetor, is read.] You see that in this item three thousand bushels of wheat are deducted from the sum total, and when he had taken all this from the food of the Roman people, from the sinews of the revenue, from the blood of the treasury, he gave it to Tertia the actress? Shall I call it rather an impudent action, to extort from allies of the state, or an infamous one to give it to a prostitute? or a wicked one to take it away from the Roman people, or an audacious one to make false entries in the public accounts? Can any influence or any bribery deliver you from the severity of these judges? And if it should deliver you, do you not still see that the things which I am mentioning belong to another count of the prosecution, and to the action for peculation?

> Latin: 83. in hoc genere audaciae multo etiam impudentius in decumis Acestensium versatus est; quas cum addixisset eidem illi Docimo, hoc est Tertiae, tritici modium v, et accessionem ascripsisset HS md, coegit Acestensis a Docimo tantundem publice accipere; id quod ex Acestensium publico testimonio cognoscite.. testmionivm pvblicum. Audistis quanti decumas acceperit a Docimo civitas, tritici modium v et accessionem: cognoscite nunc quanti se vendidisse rettulerit. lex decvmis vendvndis C. Verre pr. nomine videtis tritici modium ciↄ ciↄ ciↄ de capite esse dempta, quae cum de populi Romani victu, de vectigalium nervis, de sanguine detraxisset aerari, Tertiae mimae condonavit. Vtrum impudentius ab sociis abstulit an turpius meretrici dedit an improbius populo Romano ademit an audacius tabulas publicas commutavit? horum severitate te ulla vis eripiet aut ulla largitio? eripiet. si eripuerit, non intellegis haec quae iam dudum loquor ad aliam quaestionem atque ad peculatus iudicium pertinere?

[¶12] 84. Therefore I will reserve the whole of that class of offences, and return to the charge respecting the corn and the tenths which I had begun to speak of. While this man was laying waste the largest and most fertile districts by his own agency, that is to say by Apronius, that second Verres, he had others whom he could send, like hounds, among the lesser cities, worthless and infamous men, to whom he compelled the citizens to give either corn or money in the name of their city. There is a man called Aulus Valentius in Sicily, an interpreter, whom Verres used to employ not only as an interpreter of the Greek language, but also in his robberies and other crimes. This interpreter, an insignificant and needy man, becomes on a sudden a farmer of tenths. He purchases the tenths of the territory of Lipara, a poor and barren district, for six hundred medimni of wheat. The people of Lipara are convoked: they are compelled to take the tenths, and to pay Valentius thirty thousand sesterces as profit. O ye immortal gods! which argument will you take for your defence; that you sold the tenths for so much less than you might have done,—that the city immediately, of its own accord, added to the six hundred medimni thirty thousand sesterces as a compliment, that is to say, two thousand medimni of wheat? or that, after you had sold the tenths at a high price, you still extorted this money from the people of Lipara against their will?

> Latin: 84. hoc mihi reservabo genus totum integrum: ad illam quam institui causam frumenti ac decumarum revertar. cum agros maximos et feracissimos per se ipsum, hoc est per Apronium, Verrem alterum, depopularetur, ad minores civitates habebat alios quos tamquam canis immitteret, nequam homines et improbos, quibus aut frumentum aut pecuniam publice cogebat dari. A. Valentius est in Sicilia interpres, quo iste interprete non ad linguam Graecam, sed ad furta et flagitia uti solebat. hic interpres, homo levis atque egens, repente decumanus; emit agri Liparensis miseri atque ieiuni decumas tritici medimnis DC. Liparenses vocantur; ipsi accipere decumas et numerare Valentio coguntur lucri HS xxx. deos immortalis, utrum tibi sumes ad defensionem, tantone minoris te decumas vendidisse ut ad medimna dc HS xxx lucri statim sua voluntate civitas adderet, hoc est tritici medimnum ii, an, cum magno decumas vendidisses, te expressisse ab invitis Liparensibus hanc pecuniam?

[¶13] 85. But why do I ask of you what defence you are going to employ, instead of rather asking the city itself what you have done. Read the public testimony of the Liparans, and after that read how the money was given to Valentius. [The public testimony is read.] [The statement how the money was paid, extracted out of the public accounts, is read.] Was even this little state, so far removed out of your reach and out of your sight, separated from Sicily, placed on a barren and uncultivated island, turned as a sort of crown to all your other iniquities, into a source of plunder and profit to you in this matter of corn? You had given the whole island to one of your companions as a trifling present, and still were these profits from corn exacted from it as from the inland states? And therefore the men who for so many years, before you came as praetor, were in the habit of ransoming their lands from the pirates, now had a price set on themselves, and were compelled to ransom themselves from you.

> Latin: 85. quid ego ex te quaero quid defensurus sis, potius quam cognoscam ex ipsa civitate quid gestum sit? testimonium publicum Liparensium, deinde quem ad modum nummi Valentio sint dati. testimonivm pvblicvm. qvo modo solvtvm sit, ex litteris pvblicis. haec tam parva civitas, tam procul a manibus tuis atque a conspectu remota, seiuncta a Sicilia, in insula inculta tenuique posita, cumulata aliis tuis maioribus iniuriis, in hoc quoque frumentario genere praedae tibi et quaestui fuit? tu totam insulam cuidam tuorum sodalium sicut aliquod munusculum condonaras, ab hac etiam haec frumentaria lucra tamquam a mediterraneis exigebantur? qui tot annis agellos suos te praetore redimere a piratis solebant, idem se ipsos a te pretio imposito redemerunt.

[¶14] 86. What more need I say? Was not more extorted, under the name of a compliment, from the people of Tissa, a very small and poor city, but inhabited by very hard-working agriculturists and most frugal men, than the whole crop of corn which they had extracted from their land? Among them you sent as farmer Diognotus, a slave of Venus, a new class of collector altogether. Why, with such a precedent as this, are not the public slaves at Rome also entrusted with the revenues? In the second year of your praetorship the Tissans are compelled against their will to give twenty-one thousand sesterces as a compliment. In the third year they were compelled to give thirty thousand medimni of wheat to Diognotus, a slave of Venus, as a compliment! This Diognotus, who is making such vast profits out of the public revenues, has no deputy, no peculium at all. Doubt now, if you can, whether this Venereal officer of Verres received such an immense quantity of corn for himself, or exacted it for his master.

> Latin: 86. vero? a Tissensibus, perparva ac tenui civitate, sed aratoribus laboriosissimis frugalissimisque hominibus, nonne plus lucri nomine eripitur quam quantum omnino frumenti exararant? ad quos tu decumanum Diognetum Venerium misisti, novum genus publicani. hoc auctore non Romae quoque servi publici ad vectigalia accedunt? secundo Tissenses HS xxi lucri dare coguntur inviti; tertio anno xii mod. tritici lucri Diogneto Venerio dare coacti sunt. Diognetus, qui ex publicis vectigalibus tanta lucra facit, vicarium nullum habet, nihil omnino peculi. etiam nunc dubitate, si potestis, utrum tantum numerum tritici Venerius apparitor istius sibi acceperit an huic exegerit.

[¶15] 87. And learn this also from the public testimony of the Tissans. [The public testimony of the Tissans is read.] Is it only obscurely, O judges, that the praetor himself is the farmer, when his officers exact corn from the cities, levy money on them, take something more as a compliment for themselves than they are to pay over to the Roman people under the name of tenths? This was your idea of equity in your command—this was your idea of the dignity of the praetor, to make the slaves of Venus the lords of the Sicilian people. This was the line drawn, these were the distinctions of rank, while you were the praetor, that the cultivators of the soil were to be considered in the class of slaves, the slaves in the light of farmers of the revenue.

> Latin: 87. haec ex publico Tissensium testimonio cognoscite. testimonivm pvblicvm tissensivm., iudices, praetor ipse decumanus est, cum eius apparitores frumentum a civitatibus exigant, pecunias imperent, aliquanto plus ipsi lucri auferant quam quantum populo Romano decumarum nomine daturi sunt! aequitas in tuo imperio fuit, haec praetoris dignitas, ut servos Venerios Siculorum dominos esse velles; hic dilectus, hoc discrimen te praetore fuit, ut aratores in servorum numero essent, servi in publicanorum.

[¶16] 88. What more shall I say? Were not the wretched people of Amestratus, after such vast tenths had been imposed upon them, that they had nothing left for themselves, still compelled to pay money besides? The tenths are knocked down to Marcus Caesius in the presence of deputies from Amestratus and Heraclius, one of their deputies, is compelled at once to pay twenty-two thousand sesterces. What is the meaning of this? What is the meaning of this booty? of this violence? of this plundering of the allies? If Heraclius had been commissioned by his senate to purchase the tenths, he would have purchased them; if he was not, how could he pay money of his own accord? He reports to his fellow citizens that he has paid Caesius this money. Learn his report from his letters.

> Latin: 88. ? Amestratini miseri, impositis ita magnis decumis ut ipsis reliqui nihil fieret, nonne tamen numerare pecunias coacti sunt? decumae M. Caesio, cum adessent legati Amestratini; statim cogitur Heraclius legatus numerare HS xxii. hoc est? quae est ista praeda, quae vis, quae direptio sociorum? erat Heraclio ab senatu mandatum ut emeret, emisset: si non erat, qui poterat sua sponte pecuniam numerare? Caesio renuntiat se dedisse.

[¶17] 89. Read extracts from the public letters. [The public letters are read.] By what decree of the senate was this permission given to the deputy? By none. Why did he do so? He was compelled. Who says this? The whole city. Read the public testimony. [The public testimony is read.] By the same evidence you see that there was extorted from the same city in the second year a sum of money in a similar manner, and given to Sextus Vennonius. But you compel the Amestratines, needy men, after you have sold their tenths for eight hundred medimni to Banobalis, a slave of Venus, (just notice the names of the farmers,) to add more still as a compliment, than they had been sold for, though they had been sold at a high price. They gave Banobalis eight hundred medimni of wheat, and fifteen hundred sesterces. Surely that man would never have been so senseless, as to allow more corn to be given out of the domain of the Roman people to a slave of Venus than to the Roman people itself, unless all that plunder had, under the name of the slave, come in reality to himself.

> Latin: 89. renuntiationem ex litteris publicis.. litteris pvblicis. senatus consulto erat hoc legato permissum?. fecit? est. hoc dicit? civitas. testimonium publicum. testimonivm pvblicvm. Ab hac eadem civitate anno secundo simili ratione extortam esse pecuniam et. Vennonio datam ex eodem testimonio cognovistis. Amestratinos, homines tenuis, cum eorum decumas medimnis dccc vendidisses Bariobali Venerio—cognoscite nomina publicanorum!—cogis eos plus lucri addere quam quanti venierant, cum magno venissent. Bariobali medimna dcccl, HS md. Profecto numquam iste tam amens fuisset ut ex agro populi Romani plus frumenti servo Venerio quam populo Romano tribui pateretur, nisi omnis ea praeda servi nomine ad istum ipsum perveniret.

[¶18] 90. The people of Petra, though their tenths had been sold at a high price, were, very much against their will, compelled to give thirty-seven thousand sesterces to Publius Naevius Turpio, a most infamous man, who was convicted of assault while Sacerdos was praetor. Did you sell the tenths so carelessly, that, when a medimnus cost fifteen sesterces, and when the tenths were sold for three thousand medimni, that is, for forty-five thousand sesterces, still three thousand sesterces could be given to the farmer as a compliment? “Oh, but I sold the tenths of that district at a high price” he boasts, forsooth, not that a compliment was given to Turpio, but that money was taken from the Petrans.

> Latin: 90. Petrini, cum eorum decumae magno addictae essent, tamen invitissimi P. Naevio Turpioni, homini improbissimo, qui iniuriarum Sacerdote praetore damnatus est, HS lii dare coacti sunt. dissolute decumas vendidisti ut, cum esset medimnum HS xv, venissent autem decumae medimnum iii, hoc est HS xxxxv, lucri decumano HS lii darentur? permagno decumas eius agri vendidisti. gloriatur non Turpioni lucrum datum esse, sed Petrinis pecuniam ereptam.

[¶19] 91. What shall I say next? The Halicyans, the settlers among whom pay tenths, themselves have their lauds free from taxes. Were not they also compelled to give to the same Turpio fifteen thousand sesterces, when their tenths had been sold for a hundred medimni? If, as you are especially anxious to do, you could prove that these compliments all went to the farmers, and that none of them reached you, still these sums, taken and extorted as they were by your violence and injustice, ought to ensure your conviction; but, as you cannot persuade any one that you were so foolish as to wish Apronius and Turpio, two slaves, to become rich at your own risk and that of your children, do you think that any one will doubt that through the instrumentality of those emissaries all this money was really procured for you?

> Latin: 91. ? Halicyenses, quorum incolae decumas dant, ipsi agros immunis habent, nonne huic eidem Turpioni, cum decumae c med. venissent, HS xv dare coacti sunt? id quod maxime vis posses probare, haec ad decumanos lucra venisse, nihil te attigisse, tamen hae pecuniae per vim atque iniuriam tuam captae et conciliatae tibi fraudi ac damnationi esse deberent; cum vero hoc nemini persuadere possis, te tam amentem fuisse ut Apronium et Turpionem, servos homines, tuo liberumque tuorum periculo divites fieri velles, dubitaturum quemquam existimas quin illis emissariis haec tibi omnis pecunia quaesita sit?

[¶20] 92. Again, Symmachus, a slave of Venus, is sent as farmer to Segesta, a city exempt from such taxes; he brings letters from Verres, to order the cultivators to appear in a court of some other city than their own, contrary to every resolution of the senate, to all their rights and privileges, and to the Rupilian law. Hear the letters which he sent to the Segestans. [The letters of Caius Verres are read.] Now learn by one bargain made with an honourable and respected man, how this slave of Venus insulted the cultivators of the soil; for there are other instances of this sort.

> Latin: 92. Segestam item ad immunem civitatem Venerius Symmachus decumanus immittitur. ab isto litteras adfert, ut sibi contra omnia senatus consulta, contra omnia iura, contraque legem Rupiliam extra forum vadimonium promittant aratores. litteras quas ad Segestanos miserit. litterae C. Verris. Venerius quem ad modum aratores eluserit, ex una pactione hominis honesti gratiosique cognoscite; in eodem enim genere sunt cetera.

[¶21] 93. There is a man of the name of Diocles, a citizen of Panormus, surnamed Phimes, an illustrious man, and of high reputation as an agriculturist, he rented a farm in the Segestan district, (for there are no traders in that place,) for six thousand sesterces; after having been assaulted by this slave of Venus, he settled with him to give him sixteen thousand, six hundred, and sixty-four sesterces. You may learn this from Verres's own accounts. [The items entered under the name of Diocles of Panormus are read.] Anneius Brocchus also, a senator, a man of a reputation, and of a virtue with which you are all acquainted, was compelled to give money also besides corn to this same Symmachus. Was such a man, a senator of the Roman people, a subject of profit to a slave of Venus, while you were praetor?

> Latin: 93. Diocles est Panhormitanus, Phimes cognomine, homo inlustris ac nobilis. is agrum conductum in Segestano; nam commercium in eo agro nemini est; conductum habebat HS sex milibus. decuma, cum pulsatus a Venerio esset, decidit HS xvi et medimnis dcliiii. ex tabulis ipsius cognoscite. nomen Dioclis Panhormitani. eidem Symmacho C. Annaeus Brocchus senator, homo eo splendore, ea virtute, qua omnes existimatis, nummos praeter frumentum coactus est dare. Venerione servo te praetore talis vir, senator populi Romani, quaestui fuit?

[¶22] 94. Even if you were not aware that this body excelled all others in dignity, were you not at least aware of this, that it furnished the judges? Previously, when the equestrian order furnished the judges, infamous and rapacious magistrates in the provinces were subservient to the farmers; they honoured all who were in their employ; every Roman knight whom they saw in the province they pursued with attentions and courtesies; and that conduct was not so advantageous to the guilty, as it was a hindrance to many if they had acted in any respect contrary to the advantage or inclination of that body. This sort of principle was somehow or other diligently reserved among them as if by common consent, that whoever had thought any Roman knight deserving of any affront, was to be considered by their whole order as deserving of every possible misfortune.

> Latin: 94. ordinem si dignitate antecellere non existimabas, ne hoc quidem sciebas, iudicare? cum equester ordo iudicaret, improbi et rapaces magistratus in provinciis inserviebant publicanis; ornabant eos qui in operis erant; quemcumque equitem Romanum in provincia viderant, beneficiis ac liberalitate prosequebantur; neque tantum illa res nocentibus proderat quantum obfuit multis, cum aliquid contra utilitatem eius ordinis voluntatemque fecissent. hoc tum nescio quo modo quasi communi consilio ab illis diligenter, ut, qui unum equitem Romanum contumelia dignum putasset, ab universo ordine malo dignus iudicaretur:

[¶23] 95. Did you so despise the order of senators, did you so reduce everything to the standard of your own insults and caprices, had you so deliberated and fixed it in your own mind as an invariable rule, to reject as judges every one who dwelt in Sicily, or who had been in Sicily while you were praetor, that it never occurred to you that still you must come before judges of the same order? in whose minds, even if there were no indignation from any personal injury done to themselves, still there would be this thought, that they were affronted in the affront offered to another, and that the dignity of their order was contemptuously treated and trampled on, which, O judges, appears to me not to be endured with patience, for insult has in it a sting which modest and virtuous men can with difficulty put up with.

> Latin: 95. tu sic ordinem senatorium despexisti, sic ad iniurias libidinesque tuas omnia coaequasti, sic habuisti statutum cum animo ac deliberatum, omnis qui habitarent in Sicilia, aut qui Siciliam te praetore attigissent, iudices reicere ut illud non cogitares tamen, ad eiusdem ordinis homines te iudices esse venturum? in quibus si ex ipsorum domestico incommodo nullus dolor insideret, tamen esset illa cogitatio, in alterius iniuria sese despectos dignitatemque ordinis contemptam et abiectam. mehercule, iudices, mihi non mediocriter ferendum videtur; habet enim quendam aculeum contumelia, quem pati pudentes ac viri boni difficillime possunt.

[¶24] 96. You have plundered the Sicilians, for indeed the provincials are accustomed to obtain no revenge amid their wrongs. You have harassed the brokers, for they seldom come to Rome, and never of their own accord. You gave up a Roman knight to the ill-treatment of Apronius. To be sure; for what harm can they do you now, when they cannot be judges? What will you say when you treat senators also with the greatest violence? what else can you say but this, “Give me up that senator also, in order that the most honourable name of senator may appear to exist not only to excite the envy of the ignorant, but also to attract the insults of the worthless.”

> Latin: 96. Siculos; solent enim muti esse in iniuriis suis. negotiatores; inviti enim Romam raroque decedunt. Romanos ad Aproni iniurias dedisti; quid enim iam nocere possunt quibus non licet iudicare?? cum senatores summis iniuriis adficis, quid aliud dicis nisi hoc, “mihi etiam istum senatorem, ut hoc amplissimum nomen senatorium non modo ad invidiam imperitorum, sed etiam ad contumeliam improborum natum esse videatur?”

[¶25] 97. Nor did he do this in the case of Anneius alone, but in the instance of every senator, so that the name of that order had not so much influence in procuring honour as insult for its members. In the case of Caius Cassius, a most illustrious and most gallant man, though he was consul at that very time, in the first year of his praetorship, he behaved with such injustice, that, as his wife, a woman of the highest respectability, had lands in Leontini, inherited from her father, he ordered all her crops to be taken away for tenths. You shall have him as a witness in this cause, O Verres, since you have taken care not to have him as a judge.

> Latin: 97. hoc in uno fecit Annaeo, sed in omnibus senatoribus, ut ordinis nomen non tantum ad honorem quantum ad ignominiam valeret. C. Cassio, clarissimo et fortissimo viro, cum is eo ipso tempore primo istius anno consul esset, tanta improbitate usus est ut, cum eius uxor, femina primaria, paternas haberet arationes in Leontino, frumentum omne decumanos auferre iusserit. tu in hac causa testem, Verres, habebis, quoniam iudicem ne haberes providisti.

[¶26] 98. But you, O judges, ought to think that there is some community of interests, some close connection existing between the members of our body; many offices are imposed on this our order, many toils, many dangers, not only from the laws and courts of justice, but also from vague reports, and from the critical character of the times; so that this order is, as it were, exposed to view, and set on an eminence, in order, as it seems, to be the more easily caught by every blast of envy. In so miserable and unfair a condition of life, shall we not retain even the honour of not appearing vile and contemptible in the eyes of our own magistrates, when we appear before them to obtain our rights?

> Latin: 98. autem, iudices, putare debetis esse quiddam nobis inter nos commune atque coniunctum. sunt imposita huic ordini munera, multi labores, multa pericula non solum legum ac iudiciorum, sed etiam rumorum ac temporum: sic est hic ordo quasi propositus atque editus in altum ut ab omnibus ventis invidiae circumflari posse videatur. hac tam misera et iniqua condicione vitae ne hoc quidem retinebimus, iudices, ut magistratibus nostris in obtinendo iure nostro ne contemptissimi ac despicatissimi esse videamur?

[¶27] 99. The men of Thermae sent agents to purchase the tenths of their district. They thought it was much better for them, that they should be purchased by their own state at ever so high a price, than that they should get into the hands of some emissary of his. A man of the name of Venuleius had been put up to buy them. He did not cease from bidding. They went on competing with him, as long as the price appeared such as could by any possibility be borne. At last they gave up bidding. They are knocked down to Venuleius at eight thousand modii of wheat. Possidorus, the deputy of Thermae, sends notice home. Although it appeared to every one a most intolerable hardship, still there were given to Venuleius eight thousand modii of wheat, and two thousand sesterces besides, not to come near them. From which it is very evident which part was the wages of the farmer, and which the booty of the praetor. Give me the letters and testimony of the people of Thermae. [The accounts of the people of Thermae, and their evidence, are read.]

> Latin: 99. Thermitani miserunt qui decumas emerent agri sui. Magni sua putabant interesse publice potius quamvis magno emi quam in aliquem istius emissarium inciderent. erat Venuleius quidam qui emeret. liceri non destitit; illi quoad videbatur ferri aliquo modo posse contenderunt; postremo liceri destiterunt. Venuleio tritici medimnum viii milibus. Posidorus renuntiat. omnibus hoc intolerandum videretur, tamen Venuleio dantur, ne accedat, tritici mod. vll et praeterea HS ii: ex quo facile apparet quae merces decumani, quae praetoris praeda esse videatur. Thermitanorum mihi litteras et testimonium. tabvlae Thermitanorvm et testimonivm.

[¶28] 100. You compelled the Imacharans after you had taken away all their corn, after they had been impoverished by your incessant injuries, miserable and ruined as they were, to pay tribute so as to give Apronius twenty thousand sesterces. Read the decree about the tributes, and the public testimony. [The Resolution of the Senate about the tribute to be paid, is read. [The testimony of the Imacharans is read.] The people of Enna, though the tenths of the territory of Enna had been sold for three thousand two hundred medimni, were compelled to give Apronius eighteen thousand modii of wheat, and three thousand sesterces. I entreat you to remark what an enormous quantity of corn is extorted from every district liable to the payment of tenths; for my speech extends over every city which is so liable. And I am at present engaged about this class of injuries, O judges, in which it is not a case of single cultivators being stripped of all their property, but of compliments being exacted from the public treasury of each city, for the farmers, in order that at last they may depart from the lands and cities glutted and satiated with this immense heap of gain.

> Latin: 100. Imacharensis iam omni frumento ablato, iam omnibus iniuriis tuis exinanitos, tributum facere miseros ac perditos coegisti, ut Apronio darent HS xx. et decretum de tributis et publicum testimonium. senatvs consvltvm de tribvto confervndo. testimonivm Imacharensivm. Hennenses, cum decumae venissent agri Hennensis med. viiicc, Apronio coacti sunt dare tritici modium xviii et HS iii milia., attendite quantus numerus frumenti cogatur ex omni agro decumano. per omnis civitates quae decumas debent percurrit oratio mea, et in hoc genere nunc, iudices, versor, non in quo singillatim aratores eversi bonis omnibus sint, sed quae publice decumanis lucra data sint, ut aliquando ex eorum agris atque urbibus expleti atque saturati cum hoc cumulo quaestus decederent.

[¶29] 101. Why in the third year of your praetorship did you order the Calactans to carry the tenths of their land, which they had been accustomed to pay at Calacta, to Marcus Caesius the farmer of Amestratus, a thing which they had never done before you were praetor, and which you yourself had never ordered in the two years preceding? Why was Theomnastus the Syracusan sent by you into the district of Mutyca, where he so harassed the cultivators, that for their second teethe they were unavoidably forced to buy wheat, because they had actually none of their own, (a thing which I shall prove happened also in the case of other cities.)

> Latin: 101. Calactinis quam ob rem imperasti anno tertio ut decumas agri sui, quas Calactae dare consueverant, Amestrati M. Caesio decumano darent? quod neque ante te praetorem illi fecerant neque tu ipse hoc ita statueras antea per biennium. Theomnastus Syracusanus in agrum Mutycensem cur abs te immissus est? qui aratores ita vexavit ut illi in alteras decumas, id quod in aliis quoque civitatibus ostendam, triticum emere necessario propter inopiam cogerentur.

[¶30] 102. But now, from the agreements made with the people of Hybla, which were made with the farmer Cnaeus Sergius, you will perceive that six times as much corn as was sown was exacted of the cultivators Read the accounts of the sowings and the agreements, extracted from the public registers. Read. [The agreements of the people of Hybla with Cnaeus Sergius, extracted out of the public registers, are read.] Listen also to the returns of the sowings, and the agreements of the men of Mena with that slave of Venus. Read them out of the public registers. [The returns of the Sowings, arid the agreements of the Menans with the servant of Venus, extracted from the public registers, are read.] Will you, O judges, endure that a great deal more than has been produced should be exacted from our allies, from the cultivators of the domain of the Roman people, from those who are labouring for you, are in your service, who are so eager that the Roman people should be fed by them, that they only retain for themselves and their children enough for their actual subsistence, and should be exacted too with the greatest violence, and the most bitter insults?

> Latin: 102. vero ex Hyblensium pactionibus intellegetis, quae factae sunt cum decumano Cn. Sergio, sexiens tanto quam quantum satum sit ablatum esse ab aratoribus. sationes et pactiones ex litteris publicis. pactiones Menaenorum cum Venerio servo. item professiones sationum et pactiones Menaenorum., iudices, ab sociis, ab aratoribus populi Romani, ab eis qui vobis laborant, vobis serviunt, qui ita plebem Romanam ab sese ali volunt ut sibi ac liberis suis tantum supersit quo ipsi ali possint, ab his per summam iniuriam, per acerbissimas contumelias plus aliquanto ablatum esse quam natum sit?

[¶31] 103. I feel, O judges, that I must now set some bounds to the length of my speech, and that I must avoid wearying you. I will no longer dwell on one kind of injury alone, and I will leave the other instances out of my speech, though they will still make a part of my accusation. You shall hear the complaints of the Agregentines, most gallant, and most industrious men; you shall become acquainted, O judges, with the sufferings and the injuries of the Entellans, a people of the greatest perseverance and the greatest industry; the wrongs of the men of Heraclea, and Gela, and Solentum shall be mentioned: you shall be told of the fields of the Catanians, a most wealthy people and most friendly to us, ravaged by Apronius: you shall be made aware that the cities of Tyndaris, that most noble city, of Cephalaedis, of Halentia, of Apollonia, of Enguina, of Capitia, have been ruined by the iniquity of these farmers; that actually nothing is left to the citizens of Ina, of Murgentia, of Assoria, of Elorum, of Enna, and of Ietum; that the people of Cetaria and Acheria, small cities, are wholly crushed and destroyed; in short, that all the lands liable to the payment of tenths have been for three years tributary to the Roman people, to the extent of one tenth of their produce, and to Caius Verres to the extent of all the rest; that to most of the cultivators nothing at all is left, that if anything was either remitted to or left to any one, it was only just so much as remained of that property by which the avarice of that man had bees satiated.

> Latin: 103. Sentio, iudices, moderandum mihi esse iam orationi meae fugiendamque vestram satietatem. versabor in uno genere diutius, et ita cetera de oratione mea tollam ut in causa tamen relinquam. Agrigentinorum, fortissimorum virorum, diligentissimorum aratorum, querimonias; cognoscetis Entellinorum, hominum summi laboris summaeque industriae, dolorem et iniurias; Heracliensium, Gelensium, Soluntinorum incommoda proferentur; Catinensium, locupletissimorum hominum amicissimorumque, agros vexatos ab Apronio cognoscetis-; Tyndaritanam, nobilissimam civitatem, Cephaloeditanam, Haluntinam, Apolloniensem, Enguinam, Capitinam perditas esse hac iniquitate decumarum intellegetis; Inensibus, Murgentinis, Assorinis, Helorinis, Ietinis nihil omnino relictum; Cetarinos, Scherinos, parvarum civitatum homines, omnino abiectos esse ac perditos; omnis denique agros decumanos per triennium populo Romano ex parte decuma, C. Verri ex omni reliquo vectigalis fuisse, et plerisque aratoribus nihil omnino superfuisse; si cui quid [autem ] aut relictum aut remissum sit, id fuisse tantum quantum ex eo quo istius avaritia contenta fuit redundarit.

[¶32] 104. I have reserved the territories of two cities, O judges, to speak of last, the best and noblest of all, the territory of Aetna and that of Leontini: I will say nothing of the gains made out of these districts in his three years; I will select one year in order that I more easily may be able to explain what I have settled to mention. I will take the third year, because it is both the most recent, and because it has been managed by him in such a way that, since he knew that he was certainly going to depart, he evidently did not care if he left behind him not one cultivator of the soil in all Sicily. We will speak of the tenths of the territory of Aetna and Leontini. Give heed, O judges, carefully. The lands are fertile; it is the third year;

> Latin: 104. mihi civitatum reliquos feci agros, iudices, fere optimos ac nobilissimos, Aetnensem et Leontinum. Horum ego agrorum missos faciam quaestus trienni; unum annum eligam, quo facilius id quod institui explicare possim. annum tertium, quod et recentissimus est et ab isto ita administratus ut, cum se certe decessurum videret, non laboraret si aratorem nullum in Sicilia omnino esset relicturus. Agri Aetnensis et Leontini decumas agemus., iudices, diligenter. Agri sunt feraces, annus tertius, decumanus Apronius.

[¶33] 105. Apronius is the farmer. I will speak a little of the people of Aetna; for they themselves at the former pleading spoke in the name of their city. You recollect that Artemidorus of Aetna, the chief of that deputation, said, in the name of his city, that Apronius had come to Aetna with the slaves of Venus; that he had summoned the magistrates before him; that he had ordered a couch to be spread for him in the middle of the forum; that he was accustomed every day to feast not only in public, but at the public expense; that, when at those feasts the concert began to sound, and slaves began to serve him with wine in large goblets, then he used to detain the cultivators of the soil, and not only with injustice, but even with insolence, to extort, from them whatever quantity of corn he had ordered them to supply.

> Latin: 105. Aetnensibus perpauca dicam; dixerunt enim ipsi priore actione publice. tenetis Artemidorum Aetnensem, legationis eius principem, publice dicere Apronium venisse Aetnam cum Veneriis; vocasse ad se magistratus, imperasse ut in foro sibi medio lecti sternerentur, cotidie solitum esse non modo in publico, sed etiam de publico convivari; cum in eius conviviis symphonia caneret maximisque poculis ministraretur, retineri solitos esse aratores, atque ab eis non modo per iniuriam sed etiam per contumeliam tantum exprimi frumenti quantum Apronius imperasset.

[¶34] 106. You heard all these things, O judges, all which I now pass by and leave unnoticed. I say nothing of the luxury of Apronius, nothing of his insolence, nothing of his unexampled profligacy and wickedness; I will only speak of the gain and profit made out of one district in one year, so that you may the more easily be able to form your conjectures of the whole three years and of the whole of Sicily; but I do not mean to say much about the people of Aetna, for they have come hither themselves, they have brought with them their public documents; they have proved to you what gains were made by that honest man, the intimate friend of the praetor, Apronius. I pray of you learn this from their own testimony. Read the testimony of the people of Aetna. [The testimony of the people of Aetna is read.] What are you saying? Speak, speak, I pray you, louder, that the Roman people may hear about its revenues, its cultivators of the soil, its allies, and its friends. “Three hundred thousand medimni; and fifty thousand sesterces.” Oh, the immortal gods! Does one district in one year years three hundred thousand modii of wheat, and fifty thousand sesterces besides, as a compliment to Apronius? Did the tenths sell for so much less than they were really worth? or, though they had been sold at a sufficiently high price, was such a quantity of corn and money nevertheless exacted by main force from the cultivators? For whichever of these you say was the truth, blame and criminality will attach to it.

> Latin: 106. Audistis haec, iudices; quae nunc ego omnia praetereo et relinquo. de luxuria Aproni loquor, nihil de insolentia, nihil de permissa ab isto licentia, nihil de singulari nequitia ac turpitudine: tantum de quaestu ac lucro dicam unius agri et unius anni, quo facilius vos coniecturam de triennio et de tota Sicilia facere possitis. mihi Aetnensium brevis est ratio; ipsi enim venerunt, ipsi publicas litteras deportaverunt; docuerunt vos quid lucelli fecerit homo non malus, familiaris praetoris, Apronius., quaeso, ex ipsorum testimonio cognoscite.. testimonivm Aetnensium ais?, dic, quaeso, clarius, ut populus Romanus de suis vectigalibus, de suis aratoribus, de suis sociis atque amicis audiat. l MED., HS l deos immortalis! unus ager uno anno trecenta milia mod. tritici et praeterea HS l lucri dat Apronio! minoris decumae venierunt quam fuerunt, an, cum satis magno venissent, hic tantus tamen frumenti pecuniaeque numerus ab aratoribus per vim ablatus est? Vtrum enim horum dixeris, in eo culpa et crimen haerebit.

## 17. Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 107–134

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/17/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/17/#p-N

[¶0] 107. For you certainly will not say (what I wish you would say) that this quantity never came to Apronius. So I will hold you here, not only by the public covenants and letters, but also from the private ones of the cultivators, so as to let you understand that you were not mere diligent in executing robberies, than I have been in detecting them. Will you be able to bear this? Will any one defend you? Will these men be able to endure this, if they are inclined to pronounce a sentence favourable to you,—that Quintus Apronius, at one visit, out of one district, (besides all the money which was paid him, and which I have mentioned,) should have taken three hundred thousand modii of wheat, under the name of a compliment?

> Latin: 107. illud quidem non dices—quod utinam dicas!—ad Apronium non pervenisse tantum. te non modo publicis tenebo sed etiam privatis aratorum pactionibus ac litteris ut intellegas non te diligentiorem in faciendis furtis fuisse quam me in deprehendendis. tu feres? hoc quisquam defendet? hoc hi, si aliter de te statuere voluerint, sustinebunt? uno adventu ex uno agro Q. Apronium, praeter eam quam dixi pecuniam numeratam, ccc milia mod. tritici lucri nomine sustulisse!

[¶1] 108. What! are they the men of Aetna alone who say this? Yes, the Centuripans also, who are in occupation of far the largest part of the Aetnaean district, to whose ambassadors, most noble men, Andron and Artemon, their senate gave commissions which had reference to their city in his public capacity, concerning those injuries which the citizens of Centuripa sustained not in their own territories, but in those of others. The senate and people of Centuripa did not choose to send ambassadors; but the Centuripan cultivators of the soil, which is the greatest body of such men in Sicily, a body of most honourable and most wealthy men, themselves selected three ambassadors, fellow citizens of their own, in order that by their evidence you might be made aware of the calamities, not of one district only, but of almost all Sicily. For the Centuripans are engaged as cultivators of the soil in almost every part of Sicily. And they are the more important and the more trustworthy witnesses against you, because, the other cities ore influenced by their own distresses alone, the Centuripans as they occupy land in almost every district, have felt the injuries and wrongs of the other cities also.

> Latin: 108. ? hoc Aetnenses soli dicunt? etiam Centuripini, qui agri Aetnensis multo maximam partem possident; quorum legatis, hominibus nobilissimis, et Artemoni, senatus ea mandata dedit quae publice ad civitatem ipsorum pertinebant; de iis iniuriis quas cives Centuripini non in suis sed in aliorum finibus acceperant, senatus et populus Centuripinus legatos noluit mittere; ipsi aratores Centuripini, qui numerus est in Sicilia maximus hominum honestissimorum et locupletissimorum, tris legatos, civis suos, delegerunt, ut eorum testimonio non unius agri sed prope totius Siciliae calamitates cognosceretis. enim tota Sicilia fere Centuripini, et hoc in te graviores certioresque testes sunt, quod ceterae civitates suis solum incommodis commoventur, Centuripini, quod in omnium fere finibus possessiones habent, etiam ceterarum civitatum damna ac detrimenta senserunt.

[¶2] 109. But as I have said, the case of the men of Aetna is clear enough, and established both by public and by private documents. The task allotted to my diligence is to be required of me rather in the district of Leontini, for this reason, because the Leontini themselves have not assisted me much by their public authority. Nor, in truth, while that fellow was praetor, did these injuries of the farmers very greatly affect them, or rather, I might say, they did them good. This may, perhaps, appear a marvellous or even an incredible thing to you, that in such general distress of the cultivators of the soil, the Leontini, who were the heads of the corn interest, should have been free from injury and calamity. This is the reason, O judges, that in the territory of Leontini, no one of the Leontini, with the exception of the single family of Mnasistratus, occupies any land. And so, O judges, you shall hear the evidence of Mnasistratus, a most honest and virtuous man. Do not expect to hear any others of the Leontini, whom not only Apronius, but whom even a tempest in their fields could not injure. They in truth not only suffered no inconvenience, but even in the rapine of Apronius they found gain and advantage.

> Latin: 109. , uti dixi, ratio certa est Aetnensium et publicis et privatis litteris consignata. diligentiae pensum magis in Leontino agro est exigendum propter hanc causam, quod ipsi Leontini publice non sane me multum adiuverunt; neque enim eos isto praetore hae decumanorum iniuriae laeserunt, potius etiam, iudices, adiuverunt. fortasse hoc vobis aut incredibile videatur, in tantis aratorum incommodis Leontinos, qui principes rei frumentariae fuerint, expertis incommodorum atque iniuriarum fuisse. causae est, iudices, quod in agro Leontino praeter unam Mnasistrati familiam glebam Leontinorum possidet nemo. Mnasistrati, hominis honestissimi atque optimi viri, testimonium, iudices, audistis: ceteros Leontinos, quibus non modo Apronius in agris sed ne tempestas quidem ulla nocere potuit, exspectare nolite: etenim non modo incommodi nihil ceperunt, sed etiam in Apronianis illis rapinis in quaestu sunt compendioque versati.

[¶3] 110. Wherefore, since the city and embassy of the Leontini has failed me on account of the cause which I have mentioned, I must devise a plan and contrive a way for myself by which I may get at the gain of Apronius, or even at his enormous and wicked booty. The tenths of the Leontini territory were sold in the third year of Verres's praetorship for thirty-six thousand medimni of wheat; that is, for two hundred and twenty-six thousand modii of wheat. A great price, O judges, a great price; and I cannot deny it. Therefore it is certain that there must have been a loss, or at all events not a great gain to the farmers. For this very often happens to men who have taken a contract at a high rate.

> Latin: 110. , quoniam Leontina civitas me atque legatio propter eam quam dixi causam defecit, mihimet ineunda ratio et via reperiunda est qua ad Aproni quaestum, sive adeo qua ad istius ingentem immanemque praedam possim pervenire. Agri Leontini decumae tertio anno venierunt tritici medimnum xxxvi, hoc est tritici mod. cc et xvi milibus. Magno, iudices, magno; neque enim hoc possum negare. necesse est aut damnum aut certe non magnum lucrum fecisse decumanos; hoc enim solet usu venire iis qui magno redemerunt.

[¶4] 111. What will you think if I prove to you that, by this one purchase, there were made a hundred thousand modii of profit? what if it was two hundred thousand? what if three? what if four hundred thousand was the sum? Will you still doubt for whom that immense booty was acquired? Will any one say that I am unfair if from the mere magnitude of the gain made I form a conjecture as to the direction of the stolen goods and plunder? What if I prove to you, O judges, that those men who are making four hundred thousand modii of profit would have suffered a loss if your iniquity, O Verres, if judges of your retinue had not stepped in? Can any one doubt, in a case of so much gain and so much iniquity, that you made such immense profit by dishonest means? that for such immense gains you were willing to be dishonest?

> Latin: 111. , si ostendo in hac una emptione lucri fieri tritici mod. c? quid, si cc? quid, si ccc? quid, si cccc milia? dubitabitis etiam cui ista tanta praeda quaesita sit? me esse quispiam dices, qui ex lucri magnitudine coniecturam capiam furti atque praedae., si doceo, iudices, eos qui cccc mod. lucri faciunt damnum facturos fuisse, si tua iniquitas, si tui ex cohorte recuperatores non intercederent, num quis poterit in tanto lucro tantaque iniquitate dubitare quin propter improbitatem tuam tam magnos quaestus feceris, propter magnitudinem quaestus improbus esse volueris?

[¶5] 112. How then, O judges, am I to arrive at this knowledge of how much profit was made? Not from the accounts of Apronius, for when I sought for them, I could not find them, and when I brought him into court, I made him deny that he kept any accounts at all. If he was telling lies, why did he remove them out of the way, if they were likely to do you no harm? If he really had kept any accounts at all, does not that alone prove plainly enough, that it was not his own business that he was conducting? For it is a quality of tenths, that they cannot be managed without many papers; for it is necessary to keep an account of, and to set down in books the names of all the cultivators, and with each name the amount of their tenth. All the cultivators made returns of their acres according to your command and regulation; I do not believe that any one made a return of a smaller quantity than he had in cultivation, when there were so many crosses, so many penalties, so many judges of that retinue before his eyes. On an acre of Leontini ground about a medimnus of wheat is usually sown, according to the regular and constant allowance of seed. The land returns about eightfold on a fair average, but in an extraordinarily favourable season, about tenfold. And whenever that is the case, it then happens that the tenth is just the same quantity as was sown; that is to say, as many acres as are sown, so many medimni are due.

> Latin: 112. modo igitur hoc adsequar, iudices, ut sciam quantum lucri factum sit? ex Aproni tabulis, quas ego cum conquirerem non inveni, et cum in ius ipsum eduxi expressi ut conficere tabulas se negaret. mentiebatur, quam ob rem removebat, si hae tabulae nihil tibi erant obfuturae? si omnino nullas confecerat litteras, ne id quidem satis significat illum non suum negotium gessisse? est enim ratio decumanorum ut sine plurimis litteris confici non possit; singula enim nomina aratorum et cum singulis pactiones decumanorum litteris persequi et conficere necesse est. professi sunt aratores omnes imperio atque instituto tuo: non opinor quemquam minus esse professum quam quantum arasset, cum tot cruces, tot supplicia, tot ex cohorte recuperatores proponerentur. iugero Leontini agri medimnum fere tritici seritur perpetua atque aequabili satione; ager efficit cum octavo, bene ut agatur; verum ut omnes di adiuvent, cum decumo. si quando accidit, tum fit ut tantum decumae sit quantum severis, hoc est ut, quot iugera sint sata, totidem medimna decumae debeantur.

[¶6] 113. As this was the case, I say first of all, that the tenths of the territory of Leontini were sold for many more thousand medimni than there were thousands of acres sown in the district of Leontini. But if it was impossible for them to produce more than ten medimni on an acre, and if it was fair that a medimnus should be paid out of each acre liable to the payment of tenths, when the land produced a tenfold crop, which however very seldom happened, what was the calculation of the farmer if indeed it was the tenths of the cultivator that were being sold, and no his whole property, when he bought the tenths for many more medimni than there had been acres sown? In the Lecutini district the list and return made of acres is not more than thirty thousand. The tenths were sold for thirty-six thousand medimni. Did Apronius make a blunder, or rather was he mad? Yes, he would indeed have been mad if it had been lawful for the cultivators to give only what was due from them, and had not rather been compulsory on them to give whatever Apronius commanded.

> Latin: 113. cum ita esset, primum illud dico, pluribus milibus medimnum venisse decumas agri Leontini quam quot milia iugerum sata essent in agro Leontino. fieri non poterat ut plus quam x medimna ex iugero exararent, medimnum autem ex iugero decumano dari oportebat, cum ager, id quod perraro evenit, cum decumo extulisset, quae erat ratio decumanis, siquidem decumae ac non bona venibant aratorum, ut pluribus aliquanto medimnis decumas emerent quam iugera erant sata? Leontino iugerum subscriptio ac professio non est plus xxx; decumae xxxvl medimnum venierunt. an potius insanivit Apronius? tum insanisset, si aratoribus id quod deberent licitum esset, et non quod Apronius imperasset necesse fuisset dare.

[¶7] 114. If I prove that no man gave less for his tenths than three medimni to the acre, you will admit, I suppose, that, even supposing the produce amounted to a tenfold crop, no one paid less than three tenths. And indeed this was begged as a favour from Apronius, that they might be allowed to compound at three medimni an acre. For, as four and even five were exacted from many people, and as many had not only not a grain of corn, but not even a wisp of straw left out of all their crop and after all their year's labour; then the cultivators of Centuripa, which are the main body of agriculturists in the Leontini district, assembled in one place. They sent as a delegate to Apronius, Andron of Centuripa, a man among the first of his state for honour and nobility, (the same man whom now the city of Centuripa has sent to this trial as a deputy and as a witness,) in order that he might plead with him the cause of the cultivators of the soil, and beg of him not to exact of the Centuripan cultivators more than three medimni for each acre.

> Latin: 114. ostendam minus tribus medimnis in iugerum neminem dedisse decumae, concedes, opinor, ut cum decumo fructus arationis perceptus sit, neminem minus tribus decumis dedisse. hoc in benefici loco petitum est ab Apronio, ut in iugera singula ternis medimnis decidere liceret. cum a multis quaterna, etiam quina exigerentur, multis autem non modo granum nullum, sed ne paleae quidem ex omni fructu atque ex annuo labore relinquerentur, tum aratores Centuripini, qui numerus in agro Leontino maximus est, unum in locum convenerunt, hominem suae civitatis in primis honestum ac nobilem, Centuripinum, legarunt ad Apronium, (eundem quem hoc tempore ad hoc iudicium legatum et testem Centuripina civitas misit), ut is apud eum causam aratorum ageret, ab eoque peteret ut ab aratoribus Centuripinis ne amplius in iugera singula quam terna medimna exigeret.

[¶8] 115. This request was with difficulty obtained from Apronius, as a most excessive kindness to those men who were even then safe. And when this was obtained, this is what was obtained, forsooth, that they might be allowed to pay three tenths instead of one. But if your own interest had not been at stake in the matter, O Verres, they would rather have entreated you not to be made to pay more than one tenth, than have begged of a promise not to be made to pay more than three. Now, that at the present time I may pass over those rules which Apronius, in a kingly, or rather in a tyrannical spirit, made with respect to the cultivators, and that I may not at present call those men from whom he took all their corn, and to whom he left nothing not only of their corn, but nothing even of their property; just see how much gain is made of these three medimni, which he considered as a great favour and indulgence.

> Latin: 115. vix ab Apronio in summo beneficio pro iis qui etiam tum incolumes erant impetratum est. cum impetrabatur, hoc videlicet impetrabatur, ut pro singulis decumis ternas decumas dare liceret. tua res non ageretur, a te potius postularent ne amplius quam singulas, quam ab Apronio ut ne plus quam ternas decumas darent. ut hoc tempore ea quae regie seu potius tyrannice statuit in aratores Apronius praetermittam, neque eos appellem a quibus omne frumentum eripuit, et quibus nihil non modo de fructu sed ne de bonis quidem suis reliqui fecit, ex hisce ternis medimnis, quod benefici gratiaeque causa concessit, quid lucri fiat cognoscite.

[¶9] 116. The return of acres in the district of Leontini is thirty thousand. This amounts to ninety thousand medimni of wheat that is to say, to five hundred and forty thousand modii of wheat. Deduct two hundred and sixteen thousand modii of wheat, being what the tenths were sold for, and there remain three hundred and twenty-four thousand modii of wheat; add to the sum total of five hundred and forty thousand modii three fiftieths, that is to say, thirty-two thousand four hundred modii of wheat, (for three fiftieths besides were exacted from every one;) this now amounts to three hundred and fifty-six thousand four hundred modii of wheat. But I said that four hundred thousand sesterces of profit had been made. For I do not include in this calculation those who were not allowed to compound at three medimni an acre. But that by this present calculation I may make out the sum which I promised to do, many were compelled besides to pay two sesterces, and many even five, with each medimnus, and those who had to pay least paid a sesterce with every medimnus. To take the least of these sums, as we calculated there were ninety thousand medimni, we must add to that, according to this new and infamous example here given, ninety thousand sesterces.

> Latin: 116. est agri Leontini ad iugerum xxx; haec sunt ad tritici medimnum xc, id est mod. dxxxx; deductis tritici mod. ccxvi, quanti decumae venierunt, reliqua sunt tritici cccxxiiii. totius summae dxxxx milium mod. tris quinquagesimas; fit tritici mod. xxxiicccc (ab omnibus enim ternae praeterea quinquagesimae exigebantur); sunt haec iam ad ccclx mod. tritici. ego cccc lucri facta esse dixeram; non enim duco in hac ratione eos quibus ternis medimnis non est licitum decidere. ut hac ipsa ratione summam mei promissi compleam, ad singula medimna multi HS binos, multi HS singulos semis accessionis cogebantur dare, qui minimum, singulos nummos. ut sequamur, quoniam xc med. duximus, accedant eo novo pessimoque exemplo HS xc.

[¶10] 117. Will he now dare to tell me, that he sold the tenths at a high price, when he took for himself more than twice as much as he sent to the Roman people out of the same district? You sold the tenths of the Leontine district for two hundred and sixteen thousand modii of wheat? If you did so according to law, it was a fine price; if your caprice was the law, it was a low price; if you sold them so that those were called tenths which were in reality a half, you sold them at a very low price. For the yearly produce of all Sicily might be sold for much more, if that was what the senate or people of Rome had desired you to do. Indeed, the tenths were often sold for as much, when they were sold according to the law of Hiero, as they have been sold for now under the law of Verres. Let me have the accounts of the sale of tenths under Caius Norbanus. [The account of the sale of the tenths in the Leontine district under Caius Norbanus is read.] And yet, then, there were no trials about the return of acres; nor was Artemidorus Cornelius a judge, nor did a Sicilian magistrate exact from a cultivator whatever the farmer demanded; nor was it entreated as a favour from the farmer to be allowed to compound at three medimni an acre; nor was a cultivator obliged to give an additional present of money, nor to add three-fiftieths of corn. And yet a area, quantity of corn was sent to the Roman people.

> Latin: 117. mihi etiam dicere audebit magno se decumas vendidisse, cum ex eodem agro dimidio ipse plus abstulerit quam populo Romano miserit? ccxvi decumas agri Leontini vendidisti; si ex lege, magno; si ut lex esset libido tua, si ut quae dimidiae essent decumae vocarentur, parvo vendidisti; multo enim pluris fructus annui Siciliae venire potuerunt, si id te senatus aut populus Romanus facere voluisset. decumae saepe tanti venierunt, cum lege Hieronica venirent, quanti nunc lege Verria venierunt. mihi C. Norbani decumas venditas. C. Norbani decvmae venditae agri Leontini. tum neque iudicium de modo iugerum dabatur, neque erat Artemidorus Cornelius recuperator, neque ab aratore magistratus Siculus tantum exigebat quantum decumanus ediderat, nec beneficium petebatur a decumano, ut in iugera singula ternis medimnis decidere liceret, nec nummorum accessionem cogebatur arator dare nec ternas quinquagesimas frumenti addere: et tamen populo Romano magnus frumenti numerus mittebatur.

[¶11] 118. But what is the meaning of these fiftieths? what is the meaning of these additional presents of money? By what right, and, what is more, in what manner did you do this The cultivator gave the money. How or whence did he get it? If he had wished to be very liberal, he would have used a more heaped up measure, as men formerly used to do in the matter of the tenths, when they were sold by fair laws, and on fair terms. He gave the money. Where did he get it? from his corn? As if, while you were praetor, he had anything to sell. Something, then, must be taken from his principal, in order to add this pecuniary gratuity for Apronius to all the profit which he derived from the lands. The next thing is, Did they give it willingly or unwillingly? Willingly? They were very fond, I suppose, of Apronius. Unwillingly? How, then, were they compelled to do so, except by violence and ill-treatment? Again; that man, that most senseless man, in the selling of the tenths, caused additional sums to be added to every tenth. It was not much; he added two or three thousand sesterces. In the three years he made about five hundred thousand sesterces. He did this neither according to any precedent, nor by any right; nor did he make any return of that money; nor can any man ever imagine how he is going to defend himself against this petty charge.

> Latin: 118. vero istae sibi quinquagesimae, quid porro nummorum accessiones volunt? quo id iure atque adeo quo id more fecisti? dabat arator. modo aut unde? qui, si largissimus esse vellet, cumulatiore mensura uteretur, ut antea solebant facere in decumis, cum aequa lege et condicione venibant. nummum dabat! Vnde? de frumento? quasi habuisset te praetore quod venderet. vivo igitur erat aliquid resecandum, ut esset unde Apronio ad illos fructus arationum hoc corollarium nummorum adderetur. id porro utrum libentes an inviti dabant?? amabant, credo, Apronium.? qua re nisi vi et malo cogebantur? iste homo amentissimus in vendundis decumis nummorum faciebat accessiones ad singulas decumas, neque multum; bina aut terna milia nummum addebat; fiunt per triennium HS fortasse D milia. neque exemplo cuiusquam neque ullo iure fecit, neque eam pecuniam rettulit; neque hoc parvum crimen quem ad modum defensurus sit homo quisquam umquam excogitabit.

[¶12] 119. And, as this is the case, do you dare to say that you sold the tenths at a high price, when it is evident that you sold the property and fortunes of the cultivators, not for the cake of the Roman people, but with a view to your own gain. As if any steward, from a farm which had been used to produce ten thousand sesterces, having cut down and sold the trees, having taken away the buildings and the stock, and having driven off all the cattle, sent his master twenty thousand sesterces instead of ten, and made a hundred thousand more for himself. At first the master, not knowing the injury that had been done to him, would be glad, and be delighted with his steward, because he had got so much more profit out of the farm; but afterwards, when he heard that all those things on which the profit and cultivation of his farm depends have been removed and sold, he would punish his steward with the greatest severity, and think himself very ill used. So also, the Roman people, when it hears that Caius Verres has sold the tenths for more than that most innocent man, Caius Sacerdos, whom he succeeded, thinks that it has got a good steward and guardian over its lands and crops; but when it finds out that he has sold all the stock of the cultivators, all the resources of the revenue, and has destroyed all the hopes of their posterity by his avarice,—that he has devastated and drained the allotments and the Lands subject to tribute,—that he has made himself most enormous gain and booty,—it will perceive that it has been shamefully treated, and will think that man worthy of the severest punishment.

> Latin: 119. cum ita sit, audes dicere te magno decumas vendidisse, cum sit perspicuum te bona fortunasque aratorum non populi Romani, sed tui quaestus causa vendidisse? Vt si qui vilicus ex eo fundo qui sestertia dena meritasset, excisis arboribus ac venditis, demptis tegulis, instrumento, pecore abalienato, domino xx milia nummum pro x miserit, sibi alia praeterea centum confecerit, primo dominus ignarus incommodi sui gaudeat vilicoque delectetur, quod tanto plus [sibi] mercedis ex fundo refectum sit, deinde, cum audierit eas res quibus fundi fructus et cultura continetur amotas et venditas, summo supplicio vilicum adficiat et secum male actum putet: item populus Romanus, cum audit pluris decumas vendidisse C. Verrem quam innocentissimum hominem cui iste successit, C. Sacerdotem, putat se bonum in arationibus fructibusque suis habuisse custodem ac vilicum; cum senserit istum omne instrumentum aratorum, omnia subsidia vectigalium vendidisse, omnem spem posteritatis avaritia sua sustulisse, arationes et agros vectigalis vastasse atque exinanisse, ipsum maximos quaestus praedasque fecisse, intelleget secum actum esse pessime, istum autem summo supplicio dignum existimabit.

[¶13] 120. By what, then, can this be made evident? Chiefly by this fact, that the land of the province of Sicily liable to the payment of tenths is deserted through the avarice of that man. Nor does it happen only that those who have remained on their lands are now cultivating a smaller number of acres, but also very many rich men, farmers on a large scale, and skillful men, have deserted large and productive farms, and abandoned their whole allotments. That may be very easily ascertained from the public documents of the states; because according to the law of Hiero the number of cultivators is every year entered in the books by public authority before the magistrates. Read now how many cultivators of the Leontine district there were when Verres took the government. Eighty-three. And how many made returns in his third year? Thirty-two. I see that there were fifty-one cultivators so entirely got rid of that they had no successors. How many cultivators were there of the district of Mutyca, when you arrived? Let us see from the public documents. A hundred and eighty-eight. How many in your third year? A hundred and one. That one district has to regret eighty-seven cultivators, owing to that man's ill-treatment, and to that extent our republic has to regret the loss of so many heads of families, and demands them back at his hand, since they are the real revenues of the Roman people. The district of Herbita had in his first year two hundred and fifty-seven cultivators; in his third, a hundred and twenty. From this region a hundred and thirty-seven heads of families have fled like banished men. The district of Agyrium—what men lived in that land! how honourable, how wealthy they were? —had two hundred and fifty cultivators in the first year of your praetorship. What had it in the third year? Eighty,—as you have heard the Agyrian deputies read from their public documents.

> Latin: 120. Vnde ergo hoc intellegi potest? hoc maxime, quod ager decumanus provinciae Siciliae propter istius avaritiam desertus est. id solum accidit uti minus multis iugis ararent, si qui in agris remanserunt, sed etiam ut permulti locupletes homines, magni et navi aratores, agros latos ac fertilis desererent totasque arationes derelinquerent. adeo sciri facillime potest ex litteris publicis civitatum, propterea quod lege Hieronica numerus aratorum quotannis apud magistratus publice subscribitur. tandem, quot acceperit aratores agri Leontini Verres: lxxxilii. anno tertio profiteantur: xxxll. et quinquaginta aratores ita video deiectos ut iis ne vicarii quidem successerint. aratores adveniente te fuerunt agri Mutycensis? ex litteris publicis. clxxxvii.? anno tertio? lxxxvi. et unum aratores unus ager istius iniuria desiderat, atque adeo nostra res publica, quoniam illa populi Romani vectigalia sunt, hunc tot patrum familias numerum desiderat et reposcit. Herbitensis primo anno habuit aratores cclii, tertio cxx: hinc cxxxii patres familias extorres profugerunt. Agyrinensis ager—quorum hominum, quam honestorum, quam locupletium!—ccl aratores habuit primo anno praeturae tuae.

[¶14] 121. O ye immortal gods! If you had driven away out of the whole of Sicily a hundred and seventy cultivators of the soil, could you, with impartial judges, escape condemnation? When the one district of Agyrium is less populous by a hundred and seventy cultivators, will not you, O judges, form your conjectures of the state of the whole province? And you will find nearly the same state of things in every district liable to the payment of tenths, and that those to whom anything has been left out of a large patrimony, have remained behind with a much smaller stock, and cultivating a much smaller number of acres, because they were afraid, if they departed, that they should lose all the rest of their fortunes; but as for those to whom he had left nothing remaining which they could lose, they have fled not only from their farms, but from their cities. The very men who have remained—scarcely a tenth part of the old cultivators of the soil—were about to leave all their lands too, if Metellus had not sent letters to them from Rome, saying that he would sell the tenths according to the law of Hiero; and if he had not entreated them to sow as much land as they could, which they had always done for their own sakes, when no one entreated them, as long as they understood that they were sowing, and labouring, and going to expense for themselves and for the Roman people,—not for Verres and Apronius.

> Latin: 121. ? tertio anno? lxxx, quem ad modum legatos Agyrinensis recitare ex publicis litteris audistis. di immortales! si ex provincia tota clxx aratores eiecisses, possesne severis iudicibus salvus esse? Vnus ager Agyrinensis clxx aratoribus inanior cum sit, vos coniecturam totius provinciae nonne facietis? hoc peraeque in omni agro decumano reperietis; quibus aliquid tamen reliqui fuerit ex magno patrimonio, eos in agris minore instrumento, minus multis iugis remansisse, quod metuebant, si discessissent, ne reliquas fortunas omnis amitterent; quibus autem iste nihil reliqui quod perderent fecerat, eos plane non solum ex agris, verum etiam ex civitatibus suis profugisse. ipsi qui remanserant, vix decuma pars aratorum, relicturi agros omnes erant, nisi ad eos Metellus Roma litteras misisset se decumas lege Hieronica venditurum, et nisi ab iis hoc petivisset, ut sererent quam plurimum; quod illi semper sui causa fecerant, cum eos nemo rogaret, quam diu intellegebant sese sibi et populo Romano, non Verri et Apronio serere, impendere, laborare.

[¶15] 122. But now, O judges, if you neglect the fortunes of the Sicilians,—if you show no anxiety about the treatment the allies of the Roman people receive from our magistrates,—at all events undertake and defend the common cause of the Roman people. I say that the cultivators have been driven out,—that the lands subject to tribute have been devastated and drained by Verres—that the whole province has been depopulated and tyrannised over. All these things I prove by the public documents of the cities, and by the private evidence of most unimpeachable men. What would you have more? Do you wait till Lucius Metellus, who by his commands and by his power has deterred many witnesses from appearing against Verres shall himself, though absent, bear testimony to his wickedness, and dishonesty, and audacity? I think not. But he, who was his successor, has had the best opportunity of knowing the truth. That is true, but he is hindered by his friendship for him. Still, he ought to inform us accurately in what state the province is. He ought, still he is not forced to do so.

> Latin: 122. vero, iudices, si Siculorum fortunas neglegitis, si quem ad modum socii populi Romani a magistratibus nostris tractentur non laboratis, at vos communem populi Romani causam suscipite atque defendite. aratores esse dico, agros vectigalis vexatos atque exinanitos a Verre, populatam vastatamque provinciam: haec omnia doceo litteris civitatum, ostendo testimoniis et publicis honestissimarum civitatum et privatis primariorum virorum. vultis amplius? exspectatis dum L. Metellus, is qui multos in istum testis imperio et potestate deterruit, idem absens de istius scelere, improbitate, audacia testimonium dicat? opinor. is optime qui successit isti potuit cognoscere. est; verum amicitia impeditur. debet vos certiores facere quo pacto se habeat provincia.; verum tamen non cogitur.

[¶16] 123. Does any one require the evidence of Lucius Metellus against Verres? No one. Does any one demand it? I think not What, however, if I prove by the evidence and letters of Lucius Metellus that all these things are true? What will you say then? That Metellus writes falsely? or that he is desirous of injuring his friend? or that he, though he is praetor, does not know in what state the province is? Read the letters of Lucius Metellus, which he sent to Cnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Crassus, the consuls, those which he sent to Marcus Mummius, the praetor, those which he sent to the quaestors of the city. [The letter of Lucius Metellus is read.] “I sold the tenths according to the law of Hiero.” When he writes that he had sold them according to the law of Hiero, what is he writing? Why, that he had sold them as all others had done, except Verres. When he writes that he had sold them according to the law of Hiero, what is he writing? Why, that he had restored the privileges granted to the Sicilians by the kindness of our ancestors and taken away by Verres, and their rights, and the terms on which they became our allies and friends. He mentions at what price he sold the tenths of each district. After that what does he write?

> Latin: 123. quis in Verrem L. Metelli testimonium requirit?. quis postulat? opinor.? si testimonio L. Metelli ac litteris haec omnia vera esse docebo, quid dicetis? utrum Metellum falsum scribere an amicum laedendi esse cupidum, an praetorem quem ad modum provincia adflicta sit nescire? litteras L. Metelli, quas ad Cn. Pompeium et M. Crassum consules, quas ad M. Mummium praetorem, quas ad quaestores urbanos misit. epistvla L. Metelli. decvmas frvmenti lege Hieronica vendidi. scribit se lege Hieronica vendidisse, quid scribit? se vendidisse ut omnis praeter Verrem. scribit se lege Hieronica vendidisse, quid scribit? per istum erepta Siculis maiorum nostrorum beneficia, ius ipsorum, condicionem societatis, amicitiae, foederum reddidisse.
(124) quanti cuiusque agri decumas vendiderit; deinde quid scribit?

[¶17] 124. Read the rest of the letter.—“The greatest pains has been taken by me to sell the tenths for as good a price as possible.” Why then, O Metellus, did you not sell them for as much as Verres? “Because I found the allotments deserted, the fields empty, the province in a wretched and ruined condition.” What? And as for the land that was sown, how was any one found to sow it? Read the letters. [The letters are read.] He says that he had sent letters, and that, when he arrived, he had given a positive promise; he had interposed his authority to prevail on them, and had all but given hostages to the cultivators that he would be in no respect like Verres But what is this about which he says that he took so much pains? Read—“To prevail on the cultivators of the soil, who were left, to sow as largely as they could.” Who were left? What does this mean—left? After what war? after what devastation? What mighty slaughter was there in Sicily, or what was there of such duration and such disaster while you were praetor, that your successor had to collect and recover the cultivators who were left?

> Latin: 124. de epistula reliqua. svmma vi data est a me opera vt qvam plvrimo decvmas venderem. Cur igitur, Metelle, non ita magno vendidisti? desertas arationes, inanis agros, provinciam miseram perditamque offendisti.? id ipsum quod satum est qua ratione quisquam qui sereret inventus est?. Litteras ait se misisse et confirmasse, suam se interposuisse auctoritatem; tantum modo aratoribus Metellus obsides non dedit se in nulla re Verri similem futurum. quid est tandem in quo se elaborasse dicit?. vt aratores, qvi reliqvi erant, qvam plvrimvm sererent. Qui reliqui? quid hoc est “reliqui”? quo ex bello, qua ex vastitate? in Sicilia tanta clades aut quod bellum tam diuturnum, tam calamitosum te praetore versatum est ut is qui tibi successerit “reliquos” aratores collegisse et recreasse videatur?

[¶18] 125. When Sicily was harassed in the Carthaginian wars, and afterwards, in our fathers' and our own recollection, when great bands of fugitive slaves twice occupied the province, still there was no destruction of the cultivators of the soil; then, if the sowing was hindered, or the crop lost, the yearly revenue was lost too, but the number of owners and cultivators of the land remained undiminished. Then those officers who succeeded the praetors Marcus Laevinus, or Publius Rupilius, or Marcus Aquillius in that province, had not to collect the cultivators who were left. Did Verres and Apronius bring so much more distress on the province of Sicily than either Hasdrubal with his army of Carthaginians, or Athenio with his numerous bands of runaway slaves, that in those times, as soon as the enemy was subdued, all the land was ploughed, and the praetor had not to send letters to beg the cultivator to come to him, and entreat him to sow as much land as he could; but now, even after the departure of this most ill-omened pestilence, no one could be found who would till his land of his own free-will; and very few were left to return to their farms and their own familiar household gods, even when urged by the authority of Lucius Metellus?

> Latin: 125. bellis Carthaginiensibus Sicilia vexata est, et post nostra patrumque memoria cum bis in ea provincia magnae fugitivorum copiae versatae sunt, tamen aratorum interitio facta nulla est. sementi prohibita aut messe amissa fructus annuus interibat; tamen incolumis numerus manebat dominorum atque aratorum; tum qui M. Laevino aut P. Rupilio aut M’. Aquilio praetores in eam provinciam successerant aratores reliquos non colligebant. plus Verres cum Apronio provinciae Siciliae calamitatis importavit quam aut Hasdrubal cum Poenorum exercitu, aut Athenio cum fugitivorum maximis copiis, ut temporibus illis, simul atque hostis superatus esset, ager araretur omnis neque aratori praetor per litteras supplicaret neque eum praesens oraret ut quam plurimum sereret; nunc autem ne post abitum quidem huius importunissimae pestis quisquam reperiretur qui sua voluntate araret, pauci essent reliqui qui L. Metelli auctoritate in agros atque ad suum larem familiarem redirent?

[¶19] 126. Do not you feel, O most audacious and most senseless of omen, that you are destroyed by these letters? Do you not see that, when your successor addresses those agriculturists who are left, he writes this in express words, that they are left, not after war or after any calamity of that sort, but after your wickedness, and tyranny, and avarice, and cruelty? Read the rest—“But still in such quantities as the difficulty of the times and the poverty of the cultivators permitted.” The poverty of the cultivators, he says. If I, as the accuser, were to dwell so repeatedly on the same subject, I should be afraid of wearying your attention, O judges; but Metellus cries out, “If I had not written letters.” That is not enough—“If I had not, when on the spot, assured them.” Even that is not enough—“The cultivators who were left,” he says. Left? In that mournful word he intimates the condition of nearly the whole province of Sicily. He adds, “the poverty of the cultivators.”

> Latin: 126. te litteris, homo audacissime atque amentissime, iugulatum esse non sentis? non vides, cum is qui tibi successit aratores reliquos appellet, hoc eum diserte scribere, reliquos hos esse non ex bello neque ex aliqua eius modi calamitate, sed ex tuo scelere, importunitate, avaritia, crudelitate? cetera. tamen pro eo vt temporis difficvltas aratorvmqve penvria tvlit. “Aratorum,” inquit, “penuria.” ego accusator totiens de re eadem dicerem, vererer ne animos vestros offenderem, iudices. Metellus, nisi litteras misissem: non est satis. nisi praesens confirmassem: ne id quidem satis est. reliqvos, inquit, aratores.? prope lugubri verbo calamitatem provinciae Siciliae significat: addit, aratorvm penvria.

[¶20] 127. Wait a little, O judges, wait a little, if you can, for confirmation of my speech. I say that the cultivators have been driven away by that man's avarice: Metellus writes word that those who were left have been reassured by him. I say that the fields have been abandoned, and the allotments deserted: Metellus writes word that there is great penury among the cultivators. When he writes this, he shows that the allies and friends of the Roman people have been cast down, and driven off, and stripped of all their fortunes; and yet if any calamity had happened to these men by his means, even without any injury to our revenues, you ought to punish him, especially while judging according to that law which was established for the sake of the allies. But when our allies are oppressed and ruined, and the revenues of the Roman people diminished at the same time,—when our supplies of corn and provisions, our wealth, and the safety of the city and of our armies for the future is destroyed by his avarice, at least have a regard to the advantage of the Roman people, if you have no anxiety to show your regard for our most faithful allies.

> Latin: 127. etiam, iudices, exspectate, si potestis, auctoritatem accusationis meae. aratores istius avaritia eiectos: scribit Metellus “reliquos” ab se esse confirmatos. agros relictos arationesque esse desertas: scribit Metellus aratorum esse “penuriam”. cum scribit, illud ostendit, deiectos, fortunis omnibus expulsos esse populi Romani socios atque amicos. si qua calamitas propter istum salvis vectigalibus nostris accidisset, animum advertere tamen in eum vos oporteret, praesertim cum ea lege iudicaretis quae sociorum causa esset constituta: cum vero perditis profligatisque sociis vectigalia populi Romani sint deminuta, res frumentaria, commeatus, copiae, salus urbis atque exercituum nostrorum in posteritatem istius avaritia interierit, saltem populi Romani commoda respicite si sociis fidelissimis prospicere non laboratis.

[¶21] 128. And that you may be aware that man had no consideration for either the revenue or for our posterity, in comparison with present gain and booty, see what Metellus writes at the end:—“I have taken care of the revenues for the future.” He says that he has taken care of the revenues for the future. He would not write that he had taken care of the revenues, if he had not meant to show this, that you had ruined the revenues. For what reason was there for Metellus taking care for the future of the revenues in respect of the tenths, and of the whole corn interest, if that man had not diverted the revenues of the Roman people to his own profit And Metellus himself, who is taking care of the revenues for the future, who is reassembling the cultivators of the soil who are left, what does he effect but this, to make those men plough, if they can, to whom Verres's satellite Apronius has hardly left one plough remaining, but who yet remained on their land in the hope and expectation of Metellus? What more? What became of the rest of the Sicilians? What became of that numerous body of cultivators who were not only driven away from their farms, but who even fled from their cities, from the province, having had all their property and all their fortunes taken from them? By what means can they be recalled? How many praetors of incorruptible wisdom will be required to re-establish, in process of time, that multitude of cultivators in their farms and their habitations?

> Latin: 128. ut intellegatis ab isto prae lucro praedaque praesenti nec vectigalium nec posteritatis habitam esse rationem, cognoscite quid ad extremum scribat Metellus. in reliqvvm tamen tempvs vectigalibvs prospexi. reliquum tempus vectigalibus ait se prospexisse. scriberet se vectigalibus prospexisse nisi hoc vellet ostendere, te vectigalia perdidisse. enim erat quod vectigalibus prospiceret Metellus in decumis et in tota re frumentaria, si iste non vectigalia populi Romani quaestu suo pervertisset? ipse Metellus, qui vectigalibus prospicit, qui “reliquos” aratores colligit, quid adsequitur nisi hoc, ut arent, si qui possunt, quibus aratrum saltem aliquod satelles istius Apronius reliquum fecit, qui tamen in agris spe atque exspectatione Metelli remanserunt? ceteri Siculi? quid ille maximus numerus aratorum qui non modo ex agris eiecti sunt, sed etiam ex civitatibus suis, ex provincia denique bonis fortunisque omnibus ereptis profugerunt, qua ratione ii revocabuntur? praetorum innocentia sapientiaque opus est ut illa aratorum multitudo aliquando in suis agris ac sedibus conlocetur?

[¶22] 129. And that you may not marvel that so great a multitude has fled, as you find, from the public documents and from the returns of the cultivators, has fled, know that his cruelty and wickedness towards the cultivators was so excessive, (it is an incredible statement to make, O judges, but it is both a fact, and one that is notorious over all Sicily,) that men, on account of the insults and licentiousness of the collectors, actually killed themselves. It is proved that Diocles of Centuripa, a wealthy man, hung himself the very day that it was announced that Apronius had purchased the tenths. A man of high birth, Archonidas of Elorum, said that Dyrrachinus, the first man of his city, slew himself in the same way, when he heard that the collector had made a return, that, according to Verres's edict, he owed him a sum that he could not make good at the expense of all his property. Now you, though you always were the most dissolute and cruel of all mortals, still you never would have allowed, (because the groanings and lamentations of the province brought danger on your own head,)—you would never, I say, have allowed men to seek refuge from your injustice in hanging and death, if the matter had not tended to your profit and to your own acquisition of booty.

> Latin: 129. ne miremini tantam multitudinem profugisse quantam ex litteris publicis aratorumque professionibus cognovistis, scitote tantam acerbitatem istius, tantum scelus in aratores fuisse,—incredibile dictu est, iudices, sed et factum et tota Sicilia pervagatum,—ut homines propter iniurias licentiamque decumanorum mortem sibi ipsi consciverint. Centuripinum Dioclem, hominem locupletem, suspendisse se constat quo die sit ei nuntiatum Apronium decumas redemisse. Tyracinum, principem civitatis, eadem ratione mortem oppetisse dixit apud vos homo nobilissimus, Archonidas Helorinus, cum audisset tantum decumanum professum esse ex edicto istius sibi deberi quantum ille bonis suis omnibus efficere non posset. tu, tametsi omnium hominum dissolutissimus crudelissimusque semper fuisti, tamen numquam perpeterere, propterea quod ille gemitus luctusque provinciae ad tui capitis periculum pertinebat; non, inquam, perpeterere ut homines iniuriae tuae remedium morte ac suspendio quaererent, nisi ea res ad quaestum et ad praedam tuam pertineret.

[¶23] 130. What! would you have suffered it? Listen, O judges; for I must strive with all my sinews, and labour earnestly to make all men perceive how infamous, how evident, how undeniable a crime they are seeking to efface by means of money. This is a grave charge, a serious charge,—it is the most serious one which has been made in the memory of man, ever since trials for peculation and extortion were first instituted,—that a praetor of the Roman people has had collectors of the tenths for his partners. It is not the case that a private individual is now for the first time having this charge brought against him by an enemy, or a defendant by his accuser. Long ago, while sitting on his seat of justice as praetor, while he had the province of Sicily, when he was not only feared (as is common) on account of his absolute power, but also on account of its cruelty, (which is his especial characteristic,) he heard this charge urged against him a thousand times, when it was not carelessness which delayed him from avenging it, but the consciousness of his wickedness and avarice that kept him in check. For the collectors used to say openly, and, above all the rest, that one who had the greatest influence with him, and who was laying waste the most extensive districts, Apronius, that very little of these immense gains came to them, that the praetor was their partner.

> Latin: 130. ? illud perpeterere?, iudices; omnibus enim nervis mihi contendendum est atque in hoc elaborandum, ut omnes intellegant quam improbam, quam manifestam, quam confessam rem pecunia redimere conetur. crimen est hoc et vehemens et post hominum memoriam iudiciaque de pecuniis repetundis constituta gravissimum, praetorem socios habuisse decumanos. hoc nunc primum audit privatus de inimico, reus ab accusatore: iam antea in sella sedens praetor, cum provinciam Siciliam obtineret, cum ab omnibus non solum, id quod commune est, propter imperium, sed etiam, id quod istius praecipuum est, propter crudelitatem metueretur, miliens audivit, cum eius animum ad persequendum non neglegentia tardaret, sed conscientia sceleris avaritiaeque suae refrenaret. enim decumani palam, et praeter ceteros is qui apud istum plurimum poterat maximosque agros populabatur, Apronius, perparvum ex illis magnis lucris ad se pervenire, praetorem esse socium.

[¶24] 131. When the collectors were in the habit of saying this all over the province, and mixing up your name with so base and infamous a business, did it never come into your mind to take care of your own character? Did it never occur to you to look to your liberty and fortunes? When the terror of your name was constantly present to the ears and minds of the cultivators,—when the collectors made use, not of their own power, but of your wickedness and your name to compel the cultivators to come to terms with them,—Did you think that there would be any tribunal at Rome so profligate, so abandoned, so mercenary that any protection from its judgment would be found for you?—when it was notorious that, when the tenths had been sold contrary to the regulations, the laws, and the customs of all men, the collectors, while employed in seizing the property and fortunes of the cultivators, were used to say that the shares were yours, the affair yours, the plunder yours; and that you said nothing, and though you could not conceal that you were aware of it, were still able to bear and endure it, because the magnitude of the gain obscured the magnitude of the danger, and because the desire of money had a good deal more influence over you than the fear of judgment.

> Latin: 131. cum palam decumani tota provincia loquerentur tuumque nomen in re tam turpi nefariaque interponerent, nihilne tibi venit in mentem existimationi tuae consulere, nihil denique capiti ac fortunis tuis providere? cum tui nominis terror in auribus animisque aratorum versaretur, cum decumani aratoribus ad pactiones faciendas non suam vim, sed tuum scelus ac nomen opponerent. iudicium Romae tam dissolutum, tam perditum, tam nummarium fore putasti, quo ex iudicio te ulla servare posset? cum planum fieret, decumis contra instituta leges consuetudinemque omnium venditis, in aratorum bonis fortunisque diripiendis decumanos dictitasse tuas esse partis, tuam rem, tuam praedam, idque te tacuisse et, cum dissimulare non posses, potuisse tamen perpeti et perferre, quod magnitudo lucri obscuraret periculi magnitudinem plusque aliquanto apud te pecuniae cupiditas quam iudici metus posset.

[¶25] 132. Be it so; you cannot deny the rest. You have not even left yourself this resource, to be able to say that you heard nothing of this,—that no mention of your infamy ever came to your ears; for the cultivators were complaining with groans and tears. Did you not know it? The whole province was loud in its indignation. Did no one tell you of it? Complaints were being made of your injuries, and meetings held on the subject at Home,—were you ignorant of this? Were you ignorant of all these facts? What? when Publius Rubrius summoned Quintus Apronius openly at Syracuse in your hearing, at a great assembly of the people, to be bound over to stand a trial, offering to prove, “that Apronius had frequently said that you were his partner in the affair of the tenths.” Did not these words strike you? did they not agitate you? did they not arouse you to take care of your own liberty and fortunes? You were silent; you even pacified their quarrel; you took pains to prevent the trial from coming on. O ye immortal gods! could either an innocent man have endured this? or would not even a man ever so guilty, if it were only because he thought that there might be a trial at Rome hereafter, have endeavoured by some dissimulation to study his character in the eyes of men?

> Latin: 132. , cetera negare non potes; ne illud quidem tibi reliquum fecisti, ut hoc posses dicere, nihil eorum te audisse, nihil ad tuas auris de infamia tua pervenisse. cum luctu et gemitu aratores: tu id nesciebas? tota provincia: nemo id tibi renuntiabat? Romae querimoniae de tuis iniuriis conventusque habebantur: ignorabas haec? ignorabas haec omnia?? cum palam Syracusis te audiente maximo conventu L. Rubrius Q. Apronium sponsione lacessivit, ni Apronivs dictitaret te sibi in decvmis esse socivm, haec te vox non perculit, non perturbavit, non ut capiti et fortunis tuis prospiceres excitavit?, sedasti etiam litis illorum, et sponsio illa ne fieret laborasti. di immortales, hoc aut innocens homo perpeti potuisset, aut quamvis nocens, qui modo iudicia Romae fore putaret, non aliqua simulatione existimationi se hominum venditasset?

[¶26] 133. What is the case? A wager is offered about a matter affecting your position as a free citizen, and your fortunes. Do you sit still and say nothing? do not you follow up the matter? do not you persevere? do not you ask to whom Apronius said it? who heard him? whence it arose? how it was stated to have happened If any one had whispered in your ear, and told you that Apronius was in the habit of saying that you were his partner, you ought to have been roused, to have summoned Apronius, and not to have been satisfied yourself with him, till you had satisfied the opinion of others with respect to yourself. But when in the crowded forum, in a great concourse of people, this charge was urged, in word and presence indeed, against Apronius, but in reality against you, could you ever have received such a blow in silence, unless you had decided that, say what you would in so evident a case, you would only make the matter worse?

> Latin: 133. est hoc? sponsio fit de capite ac fortunis tuis: tu sedes et quiescis? non persequeris? non perseveras? non perquiris cui dixerit Apronius, quis audierit? unde hoc natum, quem ad modum prolatum sit? tibi aliquis ad aurem accessisset et dixisset Apronium dictitare te sibi esse socium, commoveri te oportuit, evocare Apronium, nec illum ante tibi satis facere quam tu omnium existimationi satis fecisses: cum vero in foro celeberrimo tanta frequentia hoc verbo ac simulatione Apronio, re vera tibi obiectum esset, tu umquam tantam plagam tacitus accipere potuisses nisi hoc ita statuisses, in re tam manifesta quicquid dixisses te deterius esse facturum?

[¶27] 134. Many men have dismissed quaestors, lieutenants, prefects, and tribunes, and ordered them to leave the province, because they thought that their own reputation was being injured through their misconduct, or because they considered that they were behaving ill in some particular. Would you never have addressed Apronius, a man scarcely a free man, profligate, abandoned, infamous, who could not preserve, I will not say an honest mind, but not even a pure soul, with even one harsh word, and that too when smarting under disgrace and insult yourself? And moreover, the respect due to a partnership would not have been so sacred in your eyes as to make you indifferent to the danger you were in, if you had not seen the matter was so well known and so notorious to every one.

> Latin: 134. , legatos, praefectos, tribunos suos multi missos fecerunt et de provincia decedere iusserunt, quod illorum culpa se minus commode audire arbitrarentur aut quod peccare ipsos aliqua in re iudicarent: tu Apronium, hominem vix liberum, contaminatum, perditum, flagitiosum, qui non modo animum integrum sed ne animam quidem puram conservare potuisset, eum in tanto tuo dedecore profecto verbo quidem graviore appellasses, neque apud te tam sancta religio societatis fuisset ut tui capitis periculum neglegeres, nisi rem tam notam esse omnibus et tam manifestam videres.

## 18. Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 135–167

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/18/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/18/#p-N

[¶0] 135. Publius Scandilius, a Roman knight, whom you are all acquainted with, did afterwards adopt the same legal proceedings against this same Apronius respecting that partnership, which Rubrius had wished to adopt. He urged them on; he pressed it, he gave him no respite; security was given to the amount of five thousand sesterces; Scandilius began to demand recuperators or a judge. Does not this wicked praetor seem to be hemmed in now within sufficiently narrow bounds in his own province, yes, and even on his own throne and tribunal; so that he must either while present and sitting on the bench allow a trial to proceed affecting his own liberty, or else confess that he must be convicted by every tribunal in the world? The trial is on this formula, “that Apronius says that you are his partner in the matter of the tenths.” The province is yours; you are present, judgment is demanded from you yourself. What do you do? What do you decree? You say that you will assign judges. You do well; though where will there be found judges of such courage as to dare, in his province, when the praetor himself is present, to decide in a manner not only contrary to his with, but adverse even to his fortunes?

> Latin: 135. eodem Apronio postea P. Scandilius, eques Romanus, quem vos omnes nostis, eandem sponsionem de societate fecit quam Rubrius facere voluerat., oppressit, non remisit; facta est sponsio HS v; coepit Scandilius recuperatores aut iudicem postulare. vobis praetori improbo circumdati cancelli videntur in sua provincia, immo vero in sella ac tribunali, ut aut de suo capite iudicium fieri patiatur praesens ac sedens, aut confiteatur se omnibus iudiciis convinci necesse esse? est, ni te Apronivs socivm in decvmis esse dicat; provincia tua est, ades, abs te iudicium postulatur; quid facis, quid decernis? dicis te daturum. agis; tametsi qui tantis erunt cervicibus recuperatores qui audeant in provincia, cum praetor adsit, non solum contra voluntatem eius sed etiam contra fortunas iudicare?

[¶1] 136. However, be it so; the case is evident; there was no one who did not say that he had heard this distinctly; all the most respectable men were most undoubted witnesses of it; there was no one in all Sicily who did not know that the tenths belonged to the praetor, no one who had not heard Apronius frequently say so; moreover, there was a fine body of settlers at Syracuse, many Roman knights, men of the highest consideration, out of which number the judges must be selected, who could not possibly decide in any other manner. Scandilius does not cease to demand judges; then that innocent man, who was so eager to efface that suspicion, and to remove it from himself, says that he will assign judges from his own retinue.

> Latin: 136. esto; manifesta res est; nemo esset quin hoc se audisse liquido diceret; locupletissimus quisque ac certissimus testis esset; nemo erat Sicilia tota quin sciret decumas esse praetoris, nemo quin audisset id Apronium dictitasse; praeterea conventus honestus Syracusis, multi equites Romani, viri primarii, ex qua copia recuperatores reici oporteret, qui aliter iudicare nullo modo possent. Scandilius poscere recuperatores. iste homo innocens, qui illam suspicionem levare atque ab sese removere cuperet, recuperatores dicit se de cohorte sua daturum.

[¶2] 137. In the name of the good faith of gods and men, who is it that I am accusing? in whose case am I not desirous that my industry and diligence should be proved? What is it that I sought to effect and obtain by speaking and meditating on this matter? I have hold, I have hold I say, in the middle of the revenues of the Roman people, in the very crops of the province of Sicily, of a thief, manifestly embezzling the whole revenue derived from the corn, an immense sum: I have hold of him; so I say that he cannot deny it. For what will he say? Security has been entered into for a prosecution against your agent Apronius, in a matter in which all your fortunes are at stake—on the charge of having been in the habit of saying that you were his partner in the tenths. All men are waiting to see how anxious you will be about this, how you will endeavour to give men a favourable opinion of you and of your innocence. Will you here appoint as judges your physician, and your soothsayer, and your crier, or even that man whom you had in your train, in case there was any affair of importance, a judge like Cassius, Papirius Potamo, a severe man of the old equestrian school? Scandilius began to demand judges from the body of settlers; then Verres says that he will not entrust a trial in which his own character is at stake, to any one except his own people. The brokers think it a scandalous thing for a man to protest against, as unjust to himself, that form in which they transact their business. The praetor protests against the whole province as unjust to him.

> Latin: 137. deum hominumque fidem, quem ego accuso? in quo meam industriam ac diligentiam spectari volo? quid est quod ego dicendo aut cogitando efficere aut adsequi debeam?, teneo, inquam, in mediis vectigalibus populi Romani, in ipsis fructibus provinciae Siciliae furem manifesto avertentem rem frumentariam omnem, pecuniam maximam,—teneo, inquam, ita ut negare non possit. quid hic dicet? facta est cum cognitore tuo Apronio de fortunis tuis omnibus, ni socium te sibi in decumis esse dictitaret; exspectant omnes quantae tibi ea res curae sit, quem ad modum hominum existimationi te atque innocentiam tuam probari velis. tu medicum et haruspicem et praeconem tuum recuperatores dabis aut etiam illum ipsum quem tu in cohorte tua Cassianum iudicem habebas, si qua res maior esset, Papirium Potamonem, hominem severum ex vetere illa equestri disciplina? Scandilius postulare de conventu recuperatores. iste negat se de existimatione sua cuiquam nisi suis commissurum. sibi putant esse turpe id forum sibi iniquum eierare ubi negotientur; praetor provinciam suam sibi totam iniquam eierat.

[¶3] 138. Oh, unexampled impudence! Does he demand to be acquitted at Rome, who has decided in his own province that it is impossible that he should be acquitted? who thinks that money will have a greater influence over senators most carefully chosen, than fear will over three judges? But Scandilius says that he will not say a word before a judge like Artemidorus, and still he presses the matter on, and loads you with favourable conditions, if you choose to avail yourself of them. If you decide that, in the whole province of Sicily, no capable judge or recuperator can be found, he requires of you to refer the matter to Rome; and on this you exclaim that the man is a dishonest man, for demanding a trial in which your character is at stake to take place in a place where he knows that you are unpopular.

> Latin: 138. singularem! postulat se Romae absolvi qui in sua provincia iudicarit absolvi se nullo modo posse, qui plus existimet apud lectissimos senatores pecuniam quam apud tris negotiatores metum valere! Scandilius vero negat sese apud Artemidorum recuperatorem verbum esse facturum, et tamen auget atque onerat te bonis condicionibus, si tu uti velis; si ex provincia Sicilia tota statuas idoneum iudicem aut recuperatorem nullum posse reperiri, postulat abs te ut Romam rem reicias.

[¶4] 139. You say you will not send the case to Rome. You say that you will not appoint judges out of the body of settlers; you put forward your own retinue. Scandilius says that he shall abandon the whole affair for the present, and return at his own time. What do you say to that? what do you do? you compel Scandilius to do what? to prosecute the matter regularly? In a shameless manner you put an end to the long-expected trial of your character; you do not do that—what do you do, then?

> Latin: 139. enim vero tu exclamas hominem improbum, qui postulet ibi de tua existimatione iudicium fieri ubi te invidiosum esse intellegat: negas te Romam reiecturum, negas de conventu recuperatores daturum, cohortem tuam proponis. Scandilius rem se totam relicturum dicit et suo tempore esse rediturum. tu ibi tum? quid facis? Scandilium cogis—quid? sponsionem acceptam facere? tollis exspectatum existimationis tuae iudicium: non facis. ergo?

[¶5] 140. Do you permit Apronius to select what judges he chooses out of your retinue? It is a scandalous thing that you should give one of the parties a power of selecting judges from that worthless crew, rather than give both a power of rejecting judges from a respectable class. You do neither of those things—what then? Is there anything more abominable that can be done? Yes; for he compels Scandilius to give and pay over that five thousand sesterces to Apronius. What neater thing could be done by a praetor desirous of a fair reputation,—one who was anxious to repel from himself all suspicion, and to deliver himself from infamy? He had been a common topic of conversation, of reproach, of abuse. A worthless and debauched man had been in the habit of saying that the praetor was his partner. The master had come before the courts, had come to trial; he, upright and innocent man that he was, had an opportunity, by punishing Apronius, of relieving himself from the most serious disgrace. What punishment does he devise? what penalty for Apronius? He compels Scandilius to pay to Apronius five thousand sesterces, as reward and wages for his unprecedented rascality, his audacity, and his proclamation of this wicked partnership.

> Latin: 140. Apronio permittis ut quos velit de cohorte sumat recuperatores? uni potius ex iniquis sumundi quam utrique ex aequis reiciundi fieri potestatem. facis eorum. ergo? aliquid quod improbius fieri possit?; cogit enim Scandilium quinque illa milia nummum dare atque adnumerare Apronio. potuit elegantius facere praetor cupidus existimationis bonae, qui ab se omnem suspicionem propulsare, qui se eripere ex infamia cuperet? erat in sermonem, invidiam, vituperationem; dictitarat homo improbus atque impurus, Apronius, socium esse praetorem; venerat res in iudicium atque discrimen; potestas erat isti homini integro atque innocenti data, ut, in Apronium cum animum advertisset, sese gravissima levaret infamia. excogitat poenae, quid animadversionis in Apronium? Scandilium Apronio ob singularem improbitatem atque audaciam praedicationemque nefariae societatis HS v mercedis ac praemi nomine dare.

[¶6] 141. What difference did it make, O most audacious man, whether you made this decree, or whether you yourself made that profession and declaration concerning yourself which Apronius was in the habit of making? The man whom, if there had been shame, yes, if there had even been any fear in you, you ought not to have let go without punishment, you could not allow to come off without a reward. You might see the truth in every case, O judges, from this single affair of Scandilius. First of all, that this charge about the partnership in the tenths was not cooked up at Rome, was not invented by the accuser; it was not (as we are accustomed sometimes to say in making a defence for a man) a domestic or back-stairs accusation; it was not originated in a time of your danger, but it was an old charge, bruited about long ago, when you were praetor, not made up at Rome by your enemies, but brought to Rome from the province.

> Latin: 141. interfuit, homo audacissime, utrum hoc decerneres, an id quod Apronius dictitabat tute de te profiterere ac dictitares? hominem, si qui pudor in te atque adeo si qui metus fuisset, sine supplicio dimittere non debuisti, hunc abs te sine praemio discedere noluisti? simul intellegere potestis, iudices, ex hoc uno crimine Scandiliano: primum hoc non esse Romae natum de societate decumarum, non ab accusatore fictum, non,—ut solemus interdum in defensionibus dicere,—crimen domesticum ac vernaculum, non ex tempore periculi tui constitutum, sed vetus, agitatum iam et te praetore iactatum, et non ab inimicis Romae compositum sed Romam ex provincia deportatum.

[¶7] 142. At the same time his great favour to Apronius may be clearly seen; also the, I will not say confession, but the boast of Apronius, about him. Besides all this, you can rake as clearly proved this first, that, in his own province, he would not entrust a trim in which his reputation was at stake, to any one out of his own retinue. Is there any judge who has not been convinced, from the very beginning of my accusation respecting the collection of tenths, that he had made an attack on the property and fortunes of the cultivators of the soil? Who is there who did not at once decide, from what I then proved, that he had sold the tenths under a law quite novel, and, therefore, no law at all, contrary to the usage and established regulations of all his predecessors?

> Latin: 142. illud intellegi potest istius in Apronium studium, Aproni de isto non modo confessio verum etiam commemoratio. accedit quod hoc quoque intellegere potestis, istum statuisse in provincia sua existimationis suae iudicium extra cohortem suam committendum fuisse nemini. est iudex cui non ab initio decumani criminis persuasum sit istum in aratorum bona fortunasque impetum fecisse? hoc non ex eo statim iudicavit, quod ostendi istum decumas nova lege atque adeo nulla lege contra omnium consuetudinem atque instituta vendidisse?

[¶8] 143. But even if I had not such judges as I have, such impartial, such careful, such conscientious judges, is there any one whatever who has not long ago formed his opinion and his judgment from the magnitude of the injuries done, the dishonesty of the decrees, the iniquity of the tribunals? Even although a man may be somewhat careless in judging,—somewhat indifferent to the laws, to his duty to the republic, to our allies and friends, what then? Can even such a man doubt of the dishonesty of that man, when he is aware that such vast gains were made,—such iniquitous compromises extorted by violence and terror?—when he knows that cities were compelled by violence and imperious commands, by the fear of scourges and death, to give such great rewards, not only to Apronius and to men like him, but even to the slaves of Venus?

> Latin: 143. ut istos ego iudices tam severos, tam diligentis, tam religiosos non habeam, ecquis est ex iniuriarum magnitudine, improbitate decretorum, iudiciorum iniquitate qui hoc non iam dudum statuerit et iudicarit? sane sit aliquis dissolutior in iudicando, legum offici rei publicae sociorum atque amicorum neglegentior: quid? is possitne de istius improbitate dubitare, cum tanta lucra facta, tam iniquas pactiones vi et metu expressas cognoverit, cum tanta praemia civitates vi atque imperio, virgarum ac mortis metu, non modo Apronio atque eius similibus verum etiam Veneriis servis dare coactas?

[¶9] 144. But if any one is but little influenced by the injuries done to our allies,—if there be any one who is not moved by the flight, the calamities, the banishment, and the suicides of the cultivators of the soil; still I cannot doubt that the man who knows, both from the documents of the cities and the letter of Lucius Metellus, that Sicily has been laid waste and the farms deserted, must decide that it is quite impossible that any other than the severest judgment should be passed on that man. Will there be any one who can conceal from himself, or be indifferent to these facts? I have brought before you trials commenced respecting the partnership in the tenths, but prevented by that man from being brought to a decision. What is there that any one can possibly desire plainer than this? I have no doubt that I have satisfied you, O judges. But I will go further; not, indeed, in order that this may be proved more completely to your satisfaction than I feel sure that it already is, but that he may at last give over his impudence,—may cease at Last to believe that he can purchase these things which he himself was always ready to sell his good faith, his oath, truth, duty, and religion;—that his friends may cease to keep continually saying things which may be injury, a stain, and odium, and infamy to all of us.

> Latin: 144. quis sociorum incommodis minus commovetur,—si quem aratorum fugae calamitates exsilia suspendia denique non permovent,—non possum dubitare quin is tamen, cum vastatam Siciliam, relictos agros ex civitatum litteris et ex epistula L. Metelli cognoverit, statuat fieri non posse ut de isto non severissime iudicetur. etiam aliquis qui haec omnia dissimulare ac neglegere possit? sponsiones ipso praesente factas de decumarum societate ab ipso prohibitas iudicari: quid est quod possit quisquam manifestius hoc desiderare? dubito quin vobis satis fecerim, iudices; verum tamen progrediar longius, non mehercule quo magis hoc vobis persuadeatur quam iam persuasum esse confido, sed ut ille aliquando impudentiae suae finem faciat, aliquando desinat ea se putare emere quae ipse semper habuit venalia,—fidem ius iurandum veritatem officium religionem,—desinant amici eius ea dictitare quae detrimento maculae invidiae infamiae nobis omnibus esse possint.

[¶10] 145. But what friends are they? Alas, the order of senators! wretched, and unpopular, and detested through the fault and unworthiness of a few! That Alba Aemilius, sitting at the entrance of the market, should say openly that Verres had gained his cause,—that he had bought the judges, one for four hundred thousand sesterces, another for five, the one who who went cheapest, for three! And when he was answered that that was impossible; that many witnesses would give evidence, and besides, that I should not desert the cause,—“Though,” said he, “every one were to make every possible statement against him, still, unless the matter be brought home to him so evidently that no answer can be given, we have gained the cause.”

> Latin: 145. qui amici! O miserum, o invidiosum offensumque paucorum culpa atque indignitate ordinem senatorium! Albam Aemilium sedentem in faucibus macelli loqui palam vicisse Verrem, emptos habere iudices, alium HS cccc, alium HS d, quem minimo, ccc! ei cum responsum esset fieri non posse, multos testis esse dicturos, me praeterea causae non defuturum, “hercle,” inquit, “omnes omnia dicant, in illo, nisi ita res manifesta erit adlata ut responderi nihil possit, vicimus.”

[¶11] 146. You say well, Alba. I will agree to your conditions. You think that conjecture avails nothing at a trial,—that suspicion avails nothing,—that the character of one's previous life avails nothing,—nor the evidence of virtuous men,—nor the authority or letters of cities. You demand evident proof I do not ask for judges like Cassius. I do not ask for the ancient impartiality of courts of justice. I do not, O judges, implore your good faith, your self-respect, your conscientiousness in giving judgment. I will take Alba for my judge; that man who is himself desirous of being considered an unprincipled buffoon: who by the buffoons has always been considered as a gladiator, rather than as a buffoon. I will bring forward such a case about the tenths that Alba shall confess that Verres, in the case of the corn, and in that of the property of the cultivators of the soil has been an open and undisguised robber.

> Latin: 146. agis, Alba: ad tuam veniam condicionem. putas valere in iudiciis coniecturam, nihil suspicionem, nihil ante actae vitae existimationem, nihil virorum bonorum testimonia, nihil civitatum auctoritates ac litteras: res manifestas quaeris. quaero iudices Cassianos, veterem iudiciorum severitatem non requiro, vestram in hac re fidem dignitatem religionem in iudicando non imploro; Albam habebo iudicem, eum hominem qui se ipse scurram improbissimum existimari vult, cum a scurris semper potius gladiator quam scurra appellatus sit; adferam rem eius modi in decumis ut Alba fateatur istum in re frumentaria et in bonis aratorum aperte palamque esse praedatum.

[¶12] 147. He says that he sold the tenths of the Leontine district at a high price. I showed at the beginning that he ought not to be considered to have sold them at a high price' who in name indeed sold the tenths, but who in reality and by the terms of the sale, and through his law, and through his edict, and through the licentiousness of the collectors, left no tenths at all to the cultivators of the soil. I proved that also, that others had sold the tenths of the Leontine district and of other districts also, for a high price; and that they had sold them according to the law of Hiero; and that they sold them for even more than you had, and that then no cultivator had complained. Nor indeed was there anything of which any one could complain, when they were sold according to a law most equitably framed; nor did it ever make any difference to the cultivator at what price the tenths were sold. For it is not the case that, if they be sold at a high price, the cultivator owes more, if at a low price, less. As the crops are produced, so are the tenths sold. But it is for the interest of the cultivator, that his crops should be such that the tenths may be able to be sold at as high a price as possible. As long as the cultivator does not give more than a tenth, it is for his interest that the tenth should be as large as possible.

> Latin: 147. agri Leontini magno dicis te vendidisse. iam illud initio, non existimandum magno vendidisse eum qui verbo decumas vendiderit, re et condicione et lege et edicto et licentia decumanorum decumas aratoribus nullas reliquas fecerit. illud ostendi, vendidisse alios magno decumas agri Leontini ceterorumque agrorum, et lege Hieronica vendidisse et pluris etiam quam te vendidisse, nec aratorem quemquam esse questum; nec enim fuit quod quisquam queri posset, cum lege aequissime scripta venderent, neque illud umquam aratoris interfuit, quanti decumae venirent. enim ita est ut, si magno venierint, plus arator debeat, si parvo, minus; ut frumenta nata sunt, ita decumae veneunt; aratoris autem interest ita se frumenta habere ut decumae quam plurimo venire possint; dum arator ne plus decuma det, expedit ei decumam esse quam maximam.

[¶13] 148. But, I imagine, you mean this to be the chief article of your defence, that you sold all the tenths at a high price, but the tenths of the Leontine district, which produces the most, for two hundred and sixteen thousand modii of wheat. If I prove that you could have sold them for a good deal more, but that you would not knock them down to those who were bidding against Apronius, and that you adjudged them to Apronius for much less than you might have adjudged them to others;—if I prove this, will even Alba, not only your oldest friend, out even your lover, be able to acquit you? I assert that a Roman knight, a man of the highest honour, Quintus Minucius, with others like himself, was willing to add to the tenths of the Leontine district not one thousand, not two thousand, not three thousand modii of wheat, but thirty thousand modii of wheat to the tenths of one single district, and that he was not allowed to become the purchaser, that the matter might not escape the grasp of Apronius.

> Latin: 148. hoc, ut opinor, esse vis caput defensionis tuae, magno te decumas vendidisse, atque aliorum quidem agrorum pro portione magno decumas vendidisse, agri vero Leontini, qui plurimum efficit, tritici mod. ccxvi. doceo pluris aliquanto potuisse te vendere, neque iis voluisse addicere qui contra Apronium licerentur, et Apronio multo minoris quam aliis potueris vendere tradidisse,— si hoc doceo, poteritne te ipse Alba, tuus antiquissimus non solum amicus verum etiam amator, absolvere? equitem Romanum, hominem in primis honestum, Q. Minucium, cum sui similibus ad decumas agri Leontini tritici mod. non mille non duo nec tria milia, sed ad unas unius agri decumas tritici modium triginta voluisse addere: ei potestatem emendi non esse factam, ne res abiret ab Apronio.

[¶14] 149. You cannot by any means deny this, unless you are determined to deny everything. The business was transacted openly, in a full assembly, at Syracuse. The whole province is the witness, because men are accustomed to flock together thither from all parts at the sale or the tenths. And whether you confess this, or whether it be proved against you, do you not see in what important and what evident acts you are detected. First of all, it is proved that that business and that booty was yours. For unless it was, why did you prefer that Acronius (who every one was saying was only managing your affairs in the matter of the tenths as your agent) should get the tenths of the Leontine district rather than Quintus Minucius? Secondly, that an enormous and immense profit was made by you. For if you would not have been influenced by thirty thousand modii of wheat, at all events Minucius would willingly have given thus much as a compliment to Apronius, if he had been willing to accept it.

> Latin: 149. hoc, nisi forte negare omnia constituisti, nullo modo potes; palam res gesta est maximo conventu Syracusis; testis est tota provincia, propterea quod undique ad emendas decumas solent eo convenire. sive fateris sive convinceris, quot et quam manifestis in rebus teneare non vides? tuam rem illam et praedam fuisse; nam ni ita esset, cur tu Apronium malebas, quem omnes tuum procuratorem esse in decumis, tuum negotium agere loquebantur, quam Minucium decumas agri Leontini sumere? immensum atque infinitum lucrum esse factum; nam si xxx tu commotus non esses, certe hoc idem lucri Minucius Apronio libenter dedisset, si ille accipere voluisset.

[¶15] 150. How great then must we suppose the expectation of booty which he entertained to have been, when he despised and scorned such vast present profit: acquired without the slightest trouble. Thirdly, Minucius himself would never have wished to have them at such a price, if you had been selling the tenths according to the Law of Hiero; but because he saw that by your new edicts and most iniquitous resolutions he should get a good deal more than tenths, on that account he advanced higher. But Apronius had always even a good deal more permitted to him than you had announced in your edict. How much gain then can we suppose was made by him to whom everything was permitted; when that man was so willing to add so large a compliment, who would not have had the same licence if he had bought the tenths?

> Latin: 150. igitur illi spem praedae propositam arbitramur fuisse qui tantum praesens lucrum nulla opera insumpta contempserit atque despexerit? ipse Minucius numquam tanti habere voluisset, si decumas tu lege Hieronica venderes; sed quia tuis novis edictis et iniquissimis institutis plus aliquanto se quam decumas ablaturum videbat, idcirco longius progressus est. Apronio semper plus etiam multo abs te permissum est quam quod edixeras. igitur quaestum putamus factum esse per eum cui quidvis licitum sit, cum tantum lucri voluerit addere is cui, si decumas emisset, idem non liceret?

[¶16] 151. Lastly, unquestionably that defence, under which you have constantly thought that all your thefts and iniquities could be concealed, is cut from under your feet; that you sold the tenths at a high price—that you consulted the interest of the Roman people—that you provided for plenty of provisions. He cannot say this, who cannot deny that he sold the tenths of one district for thirty thousand modii less than he might have done; even if I were to grant you this, that you did not grant them to Minucius because you had already adjudged them to Apronius; for they say that that is what you are in the habit of saying, and I am expecting to hear it, and I wish you would make that defence. But, even if it were so, still you cannot boast of this as a great thing, that you sold the tenths at a high price, when you admit that there were people who were willing to buy them at a much higher price.

> Latin: 151. illa quidem certe tibi praecisa defensio est, in qua tu semper omnia tua furta atque flagitia latere posse arbitratus es, magno te decumas vendidisse, plebi Romanae consuluisse, annonae prospexisse. potest hoc dicere is qui negare non potest se unius agri decumas xxx milibus modium minoris quam potuerit vendidisse; ut etiamsi tibi hoc concedam, Minucio ideo te non tradidisse quod iam addixisses Apronio (aiunt enim te ita dictitare, quod ego exspecto cupioque te illud defendere)—verum ut ita sit, tamen non potes hoc quasi praeclarum aliquid praedicare, magno te decumas vendidisse, cum fuisse fateare qui multo pluris voluerit emere.

[¶17] 152. The avarice, then, and covetousness of this man, his wickedness, and dishonesty, and audacity, are proved, O judges, are proved most incontestably. What more shall I say What if his own friends and defenders have formed the same opinion that I have? What can you have more? On the arrival of Lucius Metellus the praetor, when Verres had made all his retinue friends of this also by that sovereign medicine of his, money, men applied to Metellus; Apronius was brought before him; his accuser was a man of the highest consideration, Caius Gallius, a senator. He demanded of Metellus to give him a right of action according to the terms of his edict against Apronius, “for having taken away property by force or by fear,” which formula of Octavius, Metellus had both adopted at Rome, and now imported into the province. He does not succeed; as Metellus said that he did not wish by means of such a trial to prejudge the case of Verres himself in a matter affecting his condition as a free citizen. The whole retinue of Metellus, grateful men, stood by Apronius. Caius Gallius, a man of our order, cannot obtain from Lucius Metellus, his most intimate friend, a trial in accordance with his own edict.

> Latin: 152. igitur iam, iudices, et manifesto tenetur avaritia, cupiditas hominis, scelus, improbitas, audacia.? si haec quae dico ipsius amici defensoresque iudicarunt, quid amplius vultis? L. Metelli praetoris, cum omnis eius comites iste sibi suo illo panchresto medicamento amicos reddidisset, aditum est ad Metellum; eductus est Apronius. vir primarius, C. Gallus senator; postulavit ab L. Metello ut ex edicto suo iudicium daret in Apronium, qvod per vim avt metvm abstvlisset, quam formulam Octavianam et Romae Metellus habuerat et habebat in provincia. impetrat, cum hoc diceret Metellus, praeiudicium se de capite C. Verris per hoc iudicium nolle fieri. Metelli cohors hominum non ingratorum aderat Apronio; C. Gallus, homo vestri ordinis, a suo familiarissimo L. Metello iudicium ex edicto non potest impetrare.

[¶18] 153. I do not blame Metellus; he spared a friend of his—a connection, indeed, as I have heard him say himself. I do not, I say, blame Metellus; but I do marvel how he not only prejudged the case of a man concerning whom he was unwilling that any previous decision should take place by means of judges, but even judged most severely and harshly respecting him. For, in the first place, if he thought that Apronius would be acquitted, there was no reason for his fearing any previous decision. In the second place, if Apronius were condemned, all men were likely to think that the cause of Verres was involved in his; this at all events Metellus did now decide, and he determined that their affairs and their causes were identical, since he determined that, if Apronius were condemned, it would be a prejudging of the case of Verres. And one fact is at the same time a proof of two things; both that the cultivators gave much more than they owed to Apronius because they were constrained by violence and fear; and also, that Apronius was transacting Verres's business in his own name, since Lucius Metellus determined that Apronius could not be condemned without giving a decision at the same time respecting the wickedness and dishonesty of Verres.

> Latin: 153. reprehendo Metellum,—pepercit homini amico et, quem ad modum ipsum dicere audivi, necessario: non reprehendo, inquam, Metellum, sed hoc miror, quo modo de quo homine praeiudicium noluerit fieri per recuperatores, de hoc ipse non modo praeiudicarit verum gravissime ac vehementissime iudicarit. enim si Apronium absolutum iri putaret, nihil erat quod ullum praeiudicium vereretur; deinde si condemnato Apronio coniunctam cum eo Verris causam omnes erant existimaturi, Metellus quidem certe iam hoc iudicabat, eorum rem causamque esse coniunctam, qui statueret Apronio condemnato de isto praeiudicium futurum. simul una res utrique rei est argumento, et aratores vi et metu coactos Apronio multo plus quam debuerint dedisse, et Apronium istius rem suo nomine egisse, cum L. Metellus statuerit non posse Apronium condemnari quin simul de istius scelere atque improbitate iudicaretur.

[¶19] 154. I come now to the letter of Timarchides, his freedman and attendant; and when I have spoken of that, I shall have finished the whole of my charge respecting the truth This is the letter, O judges, which we found at Syracuse, in the house of Apronius, where we were looking for letters. It was sent, as it proves itself, on the journey, when Verres had already departed from the province; written by the hand of Timarchides Read the letter of Timarchides: “Timarchides, the officer of Verres, wishes health to Apronius.” Now I do not blame this which he has written, “The officer.” For why should clerks alone assume to themselves this privilege? “Lucius Papirius the clerk,” I should like this signature to be common to all attendants, lictors, and messengers. “Be sure and be very diligent in everything which concerns the praetor's character.” He recommends Verres to Apronius, and exhorts him to resist his enemies; Your reputation is protected by a very efficient guard, if indeed it depends on the diligence and authority of Apronius. “You have virtue and eloquence.”

> Latin: 154. nunc ad epistulam Timarchidi, liberti istius et accensi; de qua cum dixero, totum hoc crimen decumanum peroraro. epistula est, iudices, quam nos Syracusis in aedibus Aproni cum litteras conquireremus invenimus. Missa est, ut ipsa significat, ex itinere, cum Verres iam de provincia decessisset, Timarchidi manu scripta.. epistvla Timarchidi. Timarchides Verris accensvs salvtem dicit. Iam hoc quidem non reprehendo quod adscribit “accensus”; cur enim sibi hoc scribae soli sumant, L. Papirivs Scriba? ego hoc esse commune accensorum, lictorum, viatorum. fac diligentiam adhibeas, qvod ad praetoris existimationem attinet. Commendat Apronio Verrem, et hortatur ut inimicis eius resistat. praesidio munitur existimatio tua, siquidem in Aproni constituitur diligentia atque auctoritate. habes virtvtem, eloqventiam.

[¶20] 155. How abundantly Apronius is praised by Timarchides! How splendidly! Whom ought I to expect to be otherwise than pleased with that man who is so highly approved by Timarchides? “You have ample funds.” It is quite inevitable that what there was superfluous of the gain you both made by the corn, must have gone chiefly to the man by whose intervention you transacted that business. “Get hold of the new clerks and officers. —Use every means that offer, in concert with Lucius Vulteius, who has the greatest influence.” See now, what an opinion Timarchides has of his own dishonest cunning, when he gives precepts of dishonesty to Apronius! Now these words, “Use every means in your power ” —Does not he seem to be drawing words out of his master's house, suited to every sort of iniquity? “I beg, my brother, that you will trust your own little brother,” your comrade, indeed, in gain and robbery, your twin-brother and image in worthlessness, dishonesty, and audacity. “You will be considered dear to the retinue.” What does this mean, “to the retinue?” What has that to do with it? Are you teaching Apronius? What? had he come into this retinue at your prompting, or of his own accord? “Whatever is needful for each man, that employ.” How great, do you suppose, must have been the impudence of that man when in power, who even after his departure is so shameless? He says that everything can be done by money: you must give, waste, and spend, if you wish to gain your cause. Even this, that Timarchides should give this advice to Apronius, is not so offensive to me, as the fact of his also giving it to his patron: “When you press a request, all men gain their objects.”

> Latin: 155. copiose laudatur Apronius a Timarchide, quam magnifice! ego illum non putem placere oportere qui tanto opere Timarchidi probatus sit? habes svmptvm vnde facias. est, si quid redundarit de vestro frumentario quaestu, ad illum potissimum per quem agebatis defluxisse. scribas, apparitores recentis arripe; cvm L. Volteio, qvi plvrimvm potest, caede, concide.̵ quam valde malitiae suae confidat Timarchides, qui etiam Apronio improbitatis praecepta det. hoc “caede, concide”! nonne vobis verba domo patroni depromere videtur ad omne genus nequitiae accommodata? volo, ml frater, fratercvlo tvo credas. quidem in lucris atque furtis, gemino et simillimo nequitia, improbitate, audacia. in cohorte carvs habebere. est hoc “in cohorte”? quo pertinet? Apronium doces? quid? in vestram cohortem te monitore an sua sponte pervenerat? qvod cviqve opvs est, oppone. impudentia putatis eum in dominatione fuisse qui in fuga tam improbus sit? omnia pecunia effici posse: dare, profundere oportere, si velis vincere. hoc mihi tam molestum est Apronio suadere Timarchidem, quam quod hoc idem patrono suo praecipit. te postvlante omnes vincere solent.

[¶21] 156. Yes, while Verres was praetor, not while Sacerdos was, or Peducaeus, or this very Lucius Metellus. “You know that Metellus is a wise man.” But this is really intolerable, that the abilities of that most excellent man, Lucius Metellus, should be laughed at, and despised and scorned by that runaway slave Timarchides. “If you have Vulteius with you, everything will be mere child's play to you.” Here Timarchides is greatly mistaken, in thinking either that Vulteius can be corrupted by money, or that Metellus is going to discharge the duties of his praetorship according to the will of any one man; but he is mistaken by forming his conjectures from his own experience. Because he saw that, through his own intervention and that of others, many men had been able to do whatever they pleased with Verres, without meeting with any difficulty, he thought that there were the same means of access to every one. You did very easily whatever you wanted with Verres, and found it as easy as child's play to do so, because you knew many of the kinds of play in which he indulged. “Metellus and Vulteius have been impressed with the idea that you have ruined the cultivators of the soil.” Who attributed the action to Apronius, when he had ruined any cultivator? or to Timarchides when he had taken money for assigning a trial, or making a decree, or giving any order, or remitting any thing? or to Sextus the lictor, when he, as executioner, had put an innocent man to death? No one. Every body at the time attributed these things to Verres; whom they desire now to see condemned.

> Latin: 156. /Verre quidem praetore, non Sacerdote, non Peducaeo, non hoc ipso Metello. scis Metellvm sapientem esse. vero ferri iam non potest, inrideri viri optimi, L. Metelli, ingenium et contemni ac despici a fugitivo Timarchide. si volteivm habebis, omnia lvdibvndvs conficies. vehementer errat Timarchides, qui aut Volteium pecunia corrumpi putet posse, aut Metellum unius arbitratu gerere praeturam, sed errat coniectura domestica. multos et per se et per alios multa ludibundos apud Verrem effecisse vidit, ad omnis eosdem patere aditus arbitratur. vos efficiebatis ludibundi quae volebatis a Verre, quod multa eius ludorum genera noratis. incvlcatvm est Metello et Volteio te aratores evertisse. istuc Apronio attribuebat, cum aratorem aliquem everterat, aut Timarchidi, cum ob iudicandum aut decernendum aut imperandum aliquid aut remittendum pecuniam acceperat, aut Sextio lictori, cum aliquem innocentem securi percusserat?; omnes ei tum attribuebant quem nunc condemnari volunt.

[¶22] 157. “People have dinned into their ears, that you were a partner of the praetor's.” Do you not see how clear the matter both is and was when even Timarchides is afraid of this? Will you not admit that we are not inventing this charge against you, but that your freedman has been this long time seeking some defence against this charge? Your freedman and officer, one most intimate, and indeed connected with you and your children in everything, writes to Apronius, that it is universally pointed out to Metellus that Apronius had been your partner in the tenths. “Make him see the dishonesty of the cultivators: they shall suffer for it, if the gods will.” What, in the name of the immortal gods, is the meaning of that? or on what account can we say that such great and bitter hatred is excited against the cultivators? What injury have the cultivators of the soil done to Verres, that even his freedman and officer should attack them with so inimical a disposition in these letters? And I would not, O judges, have read to you the letter of this runaway slave, if I had not wished you to see from it the precepts, and customs, and system of the whole household. Do you see how he advises Apronius? by what means and by what presents he may insinuate himself into the intimacy of Metellus? how he may corrupt Vulteius? how he may win over with bribes the clerks and the chief officer? He teaches him what he has himself seen done. He teaches a stranger the lessons which he has learnt at home himself. But in this one thing he makes a mistake, that he thinks there is the same road to every one's intimacy.

> Latin: 157. obtvdervnt eivs avris te socivm praetoris fvisse. hoc quam clarum sit et fuerit, cum etiam Timarchides hoc metuat? concedesne non hoc crimen nos in te confingere, sed iam pridem ad crimen aliquam defensionem libertum quaerere? et accensus tuus, et tibi ac liberis tuis omnibus in rebus coniunctus ac proximus, ad Apronium scribit vulgo esse ab omnibus ita demonstratum Metello, tibi Apronium in decumis socium fuisse. fac sciat improbitatem aratorvm; ipsi svdabvnt, sl di volvnt. Quod istuc, per deos immortalis, aut qua de causa excitatum esse dicamus in aratores tam infestum odium atque tantum? iniuriam fecerunt Verri aratores ut eos etiam libertus et accensus eius tam irato animo ac litteris insequatur? ego huius fugitivi, iudices, vobis epistulam recitassem, nisi ut ex ea totius familiae praecepta et instituta et disciplinam cognosceretis. ut moneat Apronium quibus rebus ac muneribus se insinuet in familiaritatem Metelli, Volteium corrumpat, scribas accensumque pretio deleniat. praecipit quae vidit, ea monet alienum hominem quae domi didicit ipse; verum in hoc errat uno, quod existimat easdem vias ad omnium familiaritates esse munitas.

[¶23] 158. Although I am deservedly angry with Metellus, still I will say this which is true. Apronius could not corrupt Metellus with bribes, as he had corrupted Verres, nor with banquets, nor with women, nor with debauched and profligate conversation, by which means he had, I will not say crept into that man's friendship slowly and gradually, but had in a very short time got possession of the whole man and his whole retinue. But as for the retinue of Metellus, which he speaks of, what was the use of his corrupting that, when no judges were appointed out of it to judge the causes of the cultivators?

> Latin: 158. merito sum iratus Metello, tamen haec quae vera sunt dicam. Apronius ipsum Metellum non pretio, ut Verrem, non convivio, non muliere, non sermone impuro atque improbo posset corrumpere, quibus rebus non sensim atque moderate ad istius amicitiam adrepserat, sed brevi tempore totum hominem totamque eius praeturam possederat; cohortem autem Metelli, quam vocat, quid erat quod corrumperet, ex qua recuperatores in aratorem nulli dabantur?

[¶24] 159. For as for what he writes, that the son of Metellus was a mere boy, he is greatly mistaken. For there is not the same access to the son of every praetor. O Timarchides, the son of Metellus is in the province, not a boy, but a virtuous and modest youth, worthy of his rank and name. How that boy of yours had behaved in the province, I would not say if I thought it the fault of the boy, and not the fault of his father. Did not you, though you knew yourself and your own habits of life, O Verres, take with you your son, still clad in the robes of a boy, into Sicily, so that even if nature had separated the boy from his father's vices and from every resemblance to his family, still habit and training might prevent his degenerating from them?

> Latin: 159. quod scribit Metelli filium puerum esse, vehementer errat; non enim ad omnis praetorum filios idem aditus sunt. O Timarchide, Metelli est filius in provincia non puer, sed adulescens pudens ac bonus, dignus illo loco ac nomine; vester iste puer praetextatus in provincia quem ad modum fuisset non dicerem si pueri esse illam culpam ac non patris existimarem., cum te ac tuam vitam nosses, in Siciliam tecum grandem praetextatum filium ducebas, ut, etiamsi natura puerum a paternis vitiis atque a generis similitudine abduceret, consuetudo tamen eum et disciplina degenerare non sineret?

[¶25] 160. Suppose there had been in him the disposition of Caius Laelius, of Marcus Cato, still what good could be expected or extracted out of one who has lived in the licentious school of his father in such a way that he has never seen one modest or sober banquet? who since he has grown up has lived in daily revels for three years among immodest women and intemperate men? who has never heard a word from his father by which he might become more modest or more virtuous? who has never seen his father do anything, which, if he had imitated, would not have laid him under the most disgraceful imputation of all, that of being considered like his father?

> Latin: 160. enim fuisse in eo C. Laeli aut M. Catonis materiem atque indolem: quid ex eo boni sperari atque effici potest qui in patris luxurie sic vixerit ut nullum umquam pudicum neque sobrium convivium viderit, qui in epulis cotidianis adulta aetate per triennium inter impudicas mulieres et intemperantis viros versatus sit, nihil umquam audierit a patre quo pudentior aut melior esset, nihil umquam patrem facere viderit quod cum imitatus esset non, id quod turpissimum est, patris similis putaretur?

[¶26] 161. By which conduct you have done an injury, not only to your son, but also to the republic. For you had begotten children, not for yourself alone, but also for your country; who might not only be a pleasure to you, but who might some day or other be able to be of use to the republic. You ought to have trained and educated them according to the customs of your ancestors, and the established system of the state; not in your crimes, in your infamy. Were he the able, and modest, and upright son of a lazy, and debauched, and worthless father then the republic would have had a valuable present from you. Now you have given to the state another Verres instead of yourself, if, indeed, he is not worse (If that be possible) in this respect,—that you have turned out such as you are without being bred up in the school of a dissolute man, but only under a thief, and a go-between.

> Latin: 161. in rebus non solum filio, Verres, verum etiam rei publicae fecisti iniuriam. enim liberos non solum tibi sed etiam patriae, qui non modo tibi voluptati sed etiam qui aliquando usui rei publicae esse possent. Eos instituere atque erudire ad maiorum instituta, ad civitatis disciplinam, non ad tua flagitia neque ad tuas turpitudines debuisti: esset ex inerti atque improbo et impuro parente navus et pudens et probus filius, haberet aliquid abs te res publica muneris. pro te Verrem substituisti alterum civitati; nisi forte hoc deteriorem, si fieri potest, quod tu eius modi evasisti non in hominis luxuriosi, sed tantum in furis ac divisoris disciplina educatus;

[¶27] 162. What can we expect likely to turn out more complete than a person who is by nature your son, by education your pupil, by inclination your copyist? Whom, however, I, O judges, would gladly see turn out a virtuous and gallant man. For I am not influenced by his enmity, if, indeed, there is to be enmity between him and me; for if I am innocent and like myself in everything, how will his enmity hurt me? And if, in any respect, I am like Verres, an enemy will no more be wanting to me than he has been wanting to him. In truth, O judges, the republic ought to be such, and shall be such, being established by the impartiality of the tribunals, that an enemy shall never be wanting to the guilty, and shall never be able to injure the innocent. There is, therefore, no cause why I should not be glad for that son of his to emerge out of his father's vices and infamy. And although it may be difficult, yet I do not know whether it be impossible; especially if (as is at present the case) the guardians placed over him by his friends continue to watch him, since his father is so indifferent to him, and so dissolute.

> Latin: 162. quid isto fore festivius arbitramur, si est tuus natura filius, consuetudine discipulus, voluntate similis? ego, iudices, quamvis bonum fortemque facile paterer evadere; non enim me inimicitiae commovent, si quae mihi cum isto futurae sunt. si in omnibus rebus innocens fuero meique similis, quid mihi istius inimicitiae nocebunt? sin aliqua in re Verris similis fuero, non magis mihi deerit inimicus quam Verri defuit., iudices, eius modi res publica debet esse, et erit veritate iudiciorum constituta, ut inimicus neque deesse nocenti possit neque obesse innocenti. nulla res est quam ob rem ego istum nolim ex paternis probris ac vitiis emergere; id quod tametsi isti difficile est, tamen haud scio an fieri possit, praesertim si, sicut nunc fit, custodes amicorum eum sectabuntur, quoniam pater tam neglegens ac dissolutus est.

[¶28] 163. But my speech has now digressed more than I had intended from the letter of Timarchides: and I said, that when that had been read, I would end all I had to say on the charge connected with the tenths; from which you have clearly seen that an incalculable amount of corn has been for these three years diverted from the republic, and taken illegally from the cultivators. The next thing is, O judges, for me to explain to you the charge about the purchase of corn, a theft very large in amount, and exceedingly shameless. And I entreat you to listen while I briefly lay before you my statements, being both certain, few in number, and important. It was Verres's duty according to a decree of the senate, and according to the law of Terentius and to the law of Cassius about corn, to purchase corn in Sicily. There were two descriptions of purchase,—the one the purchase of the second tenths, the other the purchase of what was furnished in fair proportions by the different cities. Of corn derived from the second tenths the quantity would be as much as had been derived from the first tenths; of corn levied on the cities in this way there would be eight hundred thousand modii. The price fixed for the corn collected as the second tenths was three sesterces a modius; for that furnished in compliance with the levy, four sesterces. Accordingly, for the corn furnished in compliance with the levy, there was paid to Verres each year three million two hundred thousand sesterces, which he was to pay to the cultivators of the soil; and for the second tenths, about nine millions of sesterces. And so, during the three years, there was nearly thirty-six million six hundred thousand sesterces paid to him for this purchase of corn in Sicily.

> Latin: 163. huc longius quam voluntas fuit ab epistula Timarchidi digressa est oratio mea, qua recitata conclusurum me esse crimen decumanum dixeram; ex quo intellexistis innumerabilem frumenti numerum per triennium aversum ab re publica esse ereptumque aratoribus. ut de frumento empto vos, iudices, doceam, maximo atque impudentissimo furto; de quo dum certa et pauca et magna dicam breviter, attendite. emere in Sicilia debuit Verres ex senatus consulto et ex lege Terentia et Cassia frumentaria. duo genera fuerunt, unum decumanum, alterum quod praeterea civitatibus aequaliter esset distributum; illius decumani tantum quantum ex primis decumis fuisset, huius imperati in annos singulos tritici mod. dccc; pretium autem constitutum decumano in modios singulos HS iii, imperato HS iii S. in frumentum imperatum HS duodetriciens in annos singulos Verri decernebatur quod aratoribus solveret, in alteras decumas fere ad nonagiens. per triennium ad hanc frumenti emptionem Siciliensem prope centiens et viciens erogatum est.

[¶29] 164. This enormous sum of money, given to you out of a poor and exhausted treasury; given to you for corn,—that is to say, for what was necessary for the safety and life of the citizens; given to you to be paid to the Sicilian cultivators of the soil, on whom the republic was imposing such great burdens;—this great sum, I say, was so handled by you, that I can prove, if I choose, that you appropriated the whole of this money, and that it all went to your own house. In fact, you managed the whole affair in such a way that this which I say can be proved to the most impartial judge. But I will have a regard for my own authority, I will recollect with what feelings, with what intentions I have undertaken the advocacy of this public cause. I will not deal with you in the spirit of an accuser; I will invent nothing; I do not wish any one to take for proved, while I am speaking, anything of which I myself do not already feel thoroughly convinced.

> Latin: 164. pecuniam tantam datam tibi ex aerario inopi atque exhausto, datam ad frumentum, hoc est ad necessitatem salutis et vitae, datam ut Siculis aratoribus, quibus tanta onera res publica imponeret, solveretur, abs te sic laceratam esse dico ut possim illud probare, si velim, omnem te hanc pecuniam domum tuam avertisse. sic hanc rem totam administrasti ut hoc quod dico probari aequissimo iudici possit. ego habebo rationem auctoritatis meae; meminero quo animo, quo consilio ad causam publicam accesserim; non agam tecum accusatorie, nihil fingam, nihil cuiquam probari volo me dicente quod non ante mihimet ipsi probatum sit.

[¶30] 165. In the ease of this public money, O judges, there are three kinds of thefts. In the first place, he put it out among the companies from which it had been drawn at twenty-four per cent interest; in the second place, he paid actually nothing at all for corn to very many of the cities; lastly, if he did pay any city, he deducted as large a sum as ever he chose. He paid no one whatever as much as was due to him. And first I ask you this—you, to whom the farmers of the revenue, according to the letters of Carpinatius, gave thanks. Was the public money, drawn from the treasury, given out of the revenues of the Roman people to purchase corn, was it a source of profit to you? Did it bring you in twenty-four per cent interest? I dare say you will deny it. For it is a disgraceful and dangerous confession to make.

> Latin: 165. hac pecunia publica, iudices, haec insunt tria genera furtorum: primum, cum posita esset pecunia apud eas societates unde erat attributa, binis centesimis faeneratus est, deinde permultis civitatibus pro frumento nihil solvit omnino, postremo, si cui civitati solvit, tantum detraxit quantum commodum fuit, nulli quod debitum est reddidit. primum hoc ex te quaero: tu, cui publicani ex Carpinati litteris gratias egerunt, pecunia publica ex aerario erogata, ex vectigalibus populi Romani ad emendum frumentum attributa, fueritne tibi quaestui, pensitaritne tibi binas centesimas? te negaturum; turpis enim est et periculosa confessio.

[¶31] 166. And it is a thing very difficult for me to prove, for by what witnesses am I to prove it? By the farmers of the revenue? They have been treated by him with great honour they will keep silence. By their letters? They have been put out of the way by a resolution of the collectors. Which way then shall I turn? Shall I leave unmentioned so infamous a business, a crime of such audacity and such shamelessness, on account of a dearth of witnesses or of documentary proofs? I will not do so, O judges, I will call a witness. Whom? Lucius Vettius Chilo, a most honourable and accomplished man of the equestrian order, who is such a friend of and so closely connected with Verres, that, even if he were not an excellent man, still whatever he said against him would seem to have great weight; but who is so good a man that, even if he were ever so great an enemy to him, yet his testimony ought to be believed.

> Latin: 166. autem hoc perarduum est demonstrare. enim testibus? publicanis? honorifice sunt: tacebunt. Litteris eorum? decumanorum remotae sunt. me igitur vertam? rem tam improbam, crimen tantae audaciae tantaeque impudentiae propter inopiam testium ac litterarum praetermittam? faciam, iudices, utar teste—quo? P. Vettio Chilone, homine equestris ordinis honestissimo atque ornatissimo, qui isti ita et amicus et necessarius est ut, etiamsi vir bonus non esset, tamen quod contra istum diceret grave videretur, ita vir bonus est ut, etiamsi inimicissimus isti esset, tamen eius testimonio credi oporteret.

[¶32] 167. He is annoyed and waiting to see what Vettius will say. He will say nothing because of this present occasion; nothing of his free will, nothing of which we can think that he might have spoken either way. He sent letters into Sicily to Carpinatius, when he was superintendent of the tax derived from the pasture lands, and manager of that company of farmers, which letters I found at Syracuse, in Carpinatius's house, among the portfolios of letters which had been brought to him; and at Rome in the house of Lucius Tullius, an intimate friend of yours, and another manager of the company, in portfolios of letters which had been received by him. And from these letters observe, I pray you, the impudence of this man's usury. [The letters of Lucius Vettius to Publius Servilius, and to Caius Antistius, managers of the company, are read.] Vettius says that he will be with you, and will take notice how you make up your accounts for the treasury; so that, if you do not restore to the people this money which has been put out at interest, you shall restore it to the company.

> Latin: 167. et exspectat quidnam Vettius dicturus sit. dicet ex tempore, nihil ex sua voluntate, nihil, cum utrumvis licuisse videatur. in Siciliam litteras ad Carpinatium, cum esset magister scripturae et sex publicorum, quas ego Syracusis apud Carpinatium in litterarum adlatarum libris, Romae in litterarum missarum apud magistrum L. Tullium, familiarem tuum, inveni; quibus ex litteris impudentiam faeneratoris, quaeso, cognoscite. litterae missae P. Vetti, P. Servili, C. Antisti magistrorvm se tibi ait futurum Vettius et observaturum quem ad modum rationes ad aerarium referas, ut, si hanc ex faenore pecuniam populo non rettuleris, reddas societati.

## 19. Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 168–197

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/19/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/19/#p-N

[¶0] 168. Can we not establish what we assert by this witness, can we not establish it by the letters of Publius Servilius and Caius Antistius, managers of the company, men of the highest reputation and of the highest honour, and by the authority of the company whose letters we are using? or must we seek for something on which we can rely more, for something more important? Vettius, your most intimate friend,—Vettius, your connection, to whose sister you are married,—Vettius, the brother of your wife, the brother of your quaestor, bears witness to your most infamous theft, to your most evident embezzlement; for by what other name is a lending of the public money at usury to be called? Read what follows. He says that your clerk, O Verres, was the drawer up of the bond for this usury: the managers threaten him also in their letters; in fact, it happened by chance that two managers were with Vettius. They think it intolerable that twenty-four per cent should be taken from them, and they are right to think so. For whoever did such a thing before? who ever attempted to do such a thing,—who ever thought that such a thing could be done, as for a magistrate to venture to take money as interest from the farmers, though the senate had often assisted the farmers by remitting the interests due from them? Certainly that man could have no hope of safety, if the farmers—that is, the Roman knights, were the judges.

> Latin: 168. hoc teste, possumus P. Servili et C. Antisti magistrorum litteris, primorum hominum atque honestissimorum, possumus auctoritate societatis, cuius litteris utimur, quod dicimus obtinere, an aliqua firmiora aut graviora quaerenda sunt? Vettius, tuus familiarissimus, Vettius, tuus adfinis, cuius sororem habes in matrimonio, tuae frater uxoris, Vettius, frater tui quaestoris, testatur litteris impudentissimum tuum furtum certissimumque peculatum; nam quo alio nomine pecuniae publicae faeneratio est appellanda? recita reliqva. Scribam tuum dicit, Verres, huius perscriptorem faenerationis fuisse: ei quoque magistri minantur in litteris, et casu scribae tum duo magistri fuerunt cum Vettio. centesimas ab sese ablatas ferendum non putant, et recte non putant. enim hoc fecit umquam, quis denique conatus est facere aut posse fieri cogitavit, ut, cum senatus usura publicanos saepe iuvisset, magistratus a publicanis pecuniam pro usura auderet auferre? huic homini spes nulla salutis esset, si publicani, hoc est si equites Romani iudicarent:

[¶1] 169. He ought to have less hope now, O judges, now that you have to decide; and so much the less, in proportion as it is more honourable to be roused by the injuries of others than by one's own. What reply do you think of making to all this? Will you deny that you did it? Will you defend yourself on the ground that it was lawful for you to do it? How can you deny it? Can you deny it, to be convicted by the authority of such important letters, by so many farmers appearing as witnesses? But how can you say it was lawful? In truth, if I were to prove that you, in your own province, had lent on usury your own money, and not the money of the Roman people, still you could not escape; but when I prove that you lent the public money, the money decreed to you to buy corn with, and that you received interest from the farmers, will you make any one believe that this was lawful? a deed than which not only others have never, but you yourself have never done a more audacious or more infamous one. I cannot, in truth, O judges, say that even that which appears to me to be perfectly unprecedented, and about which I am going to speak next—I mean, the fact of his having actually paid very many cities nothing at all for their corn—was either more audacious or more impudent; the booty derived from this act was perhaps greater, but the impudence of the other was certainly not less.

> Latin: 169. minor esse nunc, iudices, vobis disceptantibus debet, et tanto minor quanto est honestius alienis iniuriis quam re sua commoveri. ad haec respondere cogitas? utrum factum negabis an tibi hoc licitum esse defendes? qui potes? an ut tanta auctoritate litterarum, tot testibus publicanis convincare vero qui? hercule te tuam pecuniam praetorem in provincia faeneratum docerem, tamen effugere non posses; sed publicam, sed ob frumentum decretam, sed a publicanis faenore acceptam, hoc licuisse cuiquam probabis? quo non modo ceteri, sed tu ipse nihil audacius improbiusque fecisti. mehercule hoc, quod omnibus singulare videtur,—de quo mihi deinceps dicendum est,— possum, iudices, dicere audacius esse aut impudentius, quod permultis civitatibus pro frumento nihil solvit omnino: maior haec praeda fortasse, sed illa impudentia certe non minor.

[¶2] 170. And since I have said enough about this lending at interest, now, I pray you, give your attention to the question of the embezzlement of the whole sum in many instances. There are many cities in Sicily, O judges, of great splendour and of high reputation, and among the very first of these is the city of Halesa. You will find no city more faithful to its duties, more rich in wealth, more influential in its authority. After that man had ordered it to furnish every year sixty thousand modii of wheat, he took money for the wheat, at the price which wheat bore in Sicily at the time; all the money which he thus received from the public treasury, he kept for himself. I was amazed, O judges, when a man of the greatest ability, of the highest wisdom, and of the greatest influence, Aeneas of Halesa, first stated this to me at Halesa in the senate of Halesa; a man to whom the senate by public resolution had given a charge to return me and my brother thanks, and at the same time to explain to us the matters which concerned this trial.

> Latin: 170. quoniam de illa faeneratione satis dictum est, nunc de hac tota pecunia aversa, quaeso, cognoscite. Siciliae civitates multae sunt, iudices, ornatae atque honestae, ex quibus in primis numeranda est civitas Halaesina; nullam enim reperietis aut officiis fideliorem aut copiis locupletiorem aut auctoritate graviorem. iste in annos singulos cum sexagena milia tritici modium imperavisset, pro tritico nummos abstulit, quanti erat in Sicilia triticum; quos de publico nummos acceperat, retinuit omnis., iudices, cum hoc mihi primum Halaesae demonstravit in senatu Halaesinorum homo summo ingenio, summa prudentia, summa auctoritate praeditus, Halaesinus Aeneas, cui senatus dederat publicam causam ut mihi fratrique meo gratias ageret, et simul qui nos ea quae ad iudicium pertinerent doceret.

[¶3] 171. He proves to me that this was his constant custom and system; that, when the entire quantity of corn had been brought to him under the name of tenths, then he was accustomed to exact money from the cities, to object to the corn delivered, and as for all the corn which he was forced to send to Rome, he sent that quantity from his own profits and from his own store of corn. I demand the accounts, I inspect the documents, I see that the people of Halesa, from whom sixty thousand modii had bees levied, had given none, that they had paid money to Volcatus, and to Timarchides the clerk. I find a case of plunder of this kind, O judges, that the praetor, whose duty it was to buy corn, did not buy it, but sell it; and that he embezzles and appropriates the money which he ought to have divided among the cities. It did not appear to me any longer to be a theft, but a monster and a prodigy; to reject the corn of the cities, and to approve of his own; when he had approved of his own, then to put a price on that corn, to take from the cities what he had fixed, and to retain what he had received from the Roman people.

> Latin: 171. hanc istius consuetudinem ac rationem fuisse: quod omnis frumenti copia decumarum nomine penes istum esset redacta, solitum esse istum pecuniam cogere a civitatibus, frumentum improbare, quantum frumenti esset Romam mittendum, tantum de suo quaestu ac de sua copia frumenti mittere. rationes, inspicio litteras, video frumenti granum Halaesinos, quibus sexagena milia modium imperata erant, nullum dedisse, pecuniam Volcatio, Timarchidi, scribae dedisse: reperio genus huius modi, iudices, praedae, ut praetor, qui frumentum emere debeat, non emat sed vendat, pecunias, quas civitatibus distribuere debeat, eas omnis avertat atque auferat. mihi iam furtum, sed monstrum ac prodigium videbatur civitatum frumentum improbare, suum probare; cum suum probasset, pretium ei frumento constituere; quod constituisset, id a civitatibus auferre, quod a populo Romano accepisset, tenere.

[¶4] 172. How many degrees of offence in one single act of fraud do you think will be enough, if I insist on them severally, to bring the matter to a point where he can go no further? You reject the Sicilian corn; why? because you are sending some yourself. Have you any Sicily of your own, which can supply you corn of another sort? When the senate decrees that corn he bought in Sicily, or when the people order this, this, as I imagine, is what they mean, that Sicilian corn is to be brought from Sicily. When you reject all the corn of Sicily, do you send corn to Rome from Egypt or from Syria? You reject the corn of Halesa, of Cephalaedis, of Thermae, of Amestras, of Tyndaris, of Herbita, and of many other cities. What has happened then to cause the lands of these people to bear corn of such a sort while you were praetor, as they never bore before, so that it can neither be approved of by you, nor by the Roman people; especially when the managers of the different companies had taken corn, being the tenths, from the same land, and of the same year, to Rome? What has happened that the corn which made part of the tenths was approved, and that that which was bought, though out of the same barn, was not approved of? Is there any doubt that all that rejection of corn was contrived with the object of raising money?

> Latin: 172. vultis esse in uno furto peccatorum gradus, ut, si singulis insistere velim, progredi iste non possit? frumentum Siculorum.? ipse quod mittis? peculiarem habes aliquam Siciliam quae tibi ex alio genere frumentum suppeditare possit? senatus decernit ut ematur in Sicilia frumentum, aut cum populus iubet, hoc, ut opinor, intellegit, ex Sicilia Siculum frumentum apportari oportere: tu cum civitatum Siciliae vulgo omne frumentum improbas, num ex Aegypto aut Syria frumentum Romam missurus es? Halaesinum, Thermitanum, Cephaloeditanum, Amestratinum, Tyndaritanum, Herbitense, multarum praeterea civitatum! accidit tandem ut horum populorum agri frumentum eius modi te praetore ferrent,—quod numquam antea,—ut neque tibi neque populo Romano posset probari, praesertim cum ex isdem agris eiusdem anni frumentum ex decumis Romam mancipes advexissent? acciderat ut ex eodem horreo decumanum probaretur, emptum improbaretur? Dubiumne est quin ista omnis improbatio cogendae pecuniae causa nata sit?

[¶5] 173. Be it so. You reject the corn of Halesa, you have corn from another tribe which you approve of. Buy that which pleases you; dismiss those whose corn you have rejected. But from those whom you reject you exact such sum of money as may be equivalent to the quantity of corn which you require of their city. Is there any doubt what your object has been? I see from the public documents that the people of Halesa gave you fifteen sesterces for every medimnus—I will prove from the accounts of the wealthiest of the cultivators, that at the same time no one in Sicily sold corn at a higher price. What, then, is the reason for your rejecting, or rather what madness is it to reject corn which comes from that place from which the senate and the people of Rome ordered it to be brought? which comes from that very heap, a part of which, under the name of tenths, you had actually approved of? and besides, to exact money from the cities for the purchase of cow, when you had already received it from the treasury? Did the Terentian law enjoin you to buy corn from the Sicilians with the money of the Sicilians, or to buy corn from the Sicilians with the money of the Roman people?

> Latin: 173. , improbas Halaesinum, habes ab alio populo quod probes: eme illud quod placet, missos fac eos quorum frumentum improbasti. ab iis quos repudias exigis tantum pecuniae quantum ad eum numerum frumenti satis sit quem ei civitati imperas emendum. medimna singula video ex litteris publicis tibi Halaesinos HS quinos denos dedisse. ex tabulis locupletissimorum aratorum eodem tempore neminem in Sicilia pluris frumentum vendidisse. est ergo ista ratio aut quae potius amentia, frumentum improbare id quod ex eo loco sit ex quo senatus et populus Romanus emi voluerit, et ex eo acervo ex quo partem tu idem decumarum nomine probaris; deinde a civitatibus pecuniam ad emendum frumentum cogere, cum ex aerario acceperis? Vtrum enim te lex Terentia Siculorum pecunia frumentum emere an populi Romani pecunia frumentum a Siculis emere iussit?

[¶6] 174. But now you see that all that money out of the treasury, which ought to have been given to these cities for corn, has been made profit of by that man. For you take fifteen sesterces for a medimus of wheat; for that is the value of a medimus at that time. You keep eighteen sesterces; for that is the price of Sicilian corn, estimated according to law. What difference does it make whether you did this, or whether you did not reject the corn, but, after the corn was approved and accepted, detained all the public money, and paid none to any city whatever? when the valuation of the law is such that while it is tolerable to the Sicilians at other times, it ought also to be pleasant to them during your praetorship. For a modius is valued by law at three sesterces. But, while you were praetor, it was, as you boast in many letters to your friends, valued at two sesterces. But suppose it was three sesterces, since you exacted that price from the cities for every modius. When, if you had paid the Sicilians as much as the Roman people had ordered you to pay, it might have been most pleasing to the cultivators, you not only did not choose them to receive what they ought, but you even compelled them to pay what was not due from them.

> Latin: 174. vero ab isto omnem illam ex aerario pecuniam, quam his oportuit civitatibus pro frumento dari, lucri factam videtis. enim HS xv pro medimno; tanti enim est illo tempore medimnum; retines HS xxi; tanti enim est frumentum Siciliense ex lege aestimatum. interest utrum hoc feceris an frumentum Siciliense non improbaris, sed frumento probato et accepto pecuniam publicam tenueris omnem neque quicquam ulli dissolveris civitati? cum aestimatio legis eius modi sit ut ceteris temporibus tolerabilis Siculis, te praetore etiam grata esse debuerit. enim modius lege HS iiis aestimatus, fuit autem te praetore, ut tu in multis epistulis ad amicos tuos gloriaris, HS ii. fuerit HS iis, quoniam tu tantum a civitatibus in modios singulos exegisti; cum, si solveres Siculis tantum quantum te populus Romanus iusserat, aratoribus fieri gratissimum posset, tu non modo eos accipere quod oportebat noluisti, sed etiam dare quod non debebant coegisti?

[¶7] 175. And that these things were done in this manner, you may know, O judges, both from the public documents of the cities, and from their public testimonies; in all which you will find nothing false, nothing invented as suited to the times. Everything which we speak of is entered in the returns and made up in a regular manner, without any interpolations or irregularities being foisted into the people's accounts, but while they are all made up with deliberation and accuracy. Read the accounts of the people of Halesa. To whom does he say that money was paid? Speak, speak, I say, a little louder. “To Volcatius, to Timarchides, to Maevius.” What is all this, O Verres? have you not left yourself even this argument in your defence, that they are the managers of the companies who have been concerned in those matters? that they are the managers who have rejected the corn? that they are the managers who have settled the affair with the cities for money? and that it is they also who have taken money from you in the name of those cities? and, moreover, that they have bought corn for themselves; and that all these things do not at all concern you? It would, in truth, be an insufficient and a wretched defence for a praetor to say this, “I never touched the corn, I never saw it, I gave the managers of the companies the power of approving of rejecting it; the managers extorted money from the cities but I paid to the managers the money which I ought to have paid to the people.”

> Latin: 175. haec ita gesta esse, iudices, cognoscite et ex litteris publicis civitatum et ex testimoniis publicis, in quibus nihil fictum, nihil ad tempus accommodatum intellegetis; omnia quae dicimus rationibus populorum non interpositis neque perturbatis neque repentinis, sed certis, institutis, ordine relata atque confecta sunt.. rationes Halaesinorvm. Cui pecuniam datam dicit? etiam clarius. Volcatio, Timarchidi, Maevio. est, Verres? ne illam quidem tibi defensionem reliquam fecisti, mancipes in istis rebus esse versatos, mancipes frumentum improbasse, mancipes pretio cum civitatibus decidisse, et eosdem abs te illarum civitatum nomine pecunias abstulisse, deinde ipsos sibi frumentum coemisse, nihil haec ad te pertinere? mehercule ac misera defensio praetorem hoc dicere: “frumentum neque attigi neque aspexi, mancipibus potestatem probandi improbandique permisi; mancipes a civitatibus pecunias extorserunt, ego autem, quam pecuniam populis dare debui, mancipibus dedi!”

[¶8] 176. This is, as I have said, an insufficient, or rather, a profligate defence against an accusation. But still, even this one, if you were to wish to use it, you cannot use. Volcatius, the delight of yourself and your friends, forbids you to make mention of the manager; and Timarchides, the prop of your household, stops the mouth of your defence; who, as well as Volcatius, had money paid to him from the cities. But now your clerk, with that golden ring of his, which he procured out of these matters, will not allow you to avail yourself of that argument. What then remains for you, except to confess that you sent to Rome corn which had been bought with the money of the Sicilians? that you appropriated the public money to your own purposes? O you habit of sinning, what delight you afford to the wicked and the audacious, when chastisement is afar off, and when impunity attends you!

> Latin: 176. est haec quidem, ut dixi, ac potius perdita maximorum peccatorum, huius autem iniquitatis et inertiae confessio, non defensio criminis; sed tamen hac ipsa tibi, si uti cupias, non licet; vetat te Volcatius, tuae tuorumque deliciae, mentionem mancipis facere; Timarchides autem, columen familiae vestrae, premit fauces defensionis tuae, cui simul et Volcatio pecunia a civitate numerata est; iam vero scriba tuus anulo aureo suo, quem ex his rebus invenit, ista te ratione uti non sinet. igitur est reliquum nisi uti fateare te Romam frumentum emptum Siculorum pecunia misisse publicam pecuniam domum tuam convertisse? O consuetudo peccandi, quantam habes iucunditatem improbis et audacibus, cum poena afuit et licentia consecuta est!

[¶9] 177. This is not the first time that that man has been guilty of that sort of peculation, but now for the first time is he convicted. We have seen money paid to him from the treasury, while he was quaestor, for the expense of a consular army; we saw, a few months afterwards, both army and consul stripped of everything All that money lay hid in that obscurity and darkness which at that time had seized upon the whole republic. After that, he discharged the duties of the quaestorship to which he succeeded under Dolabella. He embezzled a vast sum of money; but he mixed up his accounts of that money with the confusion consequent on the conviction of Dolabella. Immense sums of money were entrusted to him when praetor. You will not find him a man to lick up these most infamous profits nervously and gently; he did not hesitate to swallow up at a gulp the whole of the public money. That wicked covetousness, when it is implanted in a man's nature, creeps on in such a way, when the habit of sinning has emancipated itself from restraint, that it is not able to put any limits to its audacity.

> Latin: 177. in hoc genere peculatus non nunc primum invenitur, sed nunc demum tenetur. huic ab aerario pecuniam numerari quaestori ad sumptum exercitus consularis, vidimus paucis post mensibus et exercitum et consulem spoliatum; illa omnis pecunia latuit in illa caligine ac tenebris quae totam rem publicam tum occuparant. gessit hereditariam quaesturam, cum a Dolabella magnam pecuniam avertit, sed eius rationem cum damnatione Dolabellae permiscuit. est pecunia tanta praetori; non reperietis hominem timide nec leviter haec improbissima lucra ligurrientem; devorare omnem pecuniam publicam non dubitavit. serpit illud insitum in natura malum consuetudine peccandi libera, finem ut audaciae statuere ipse non possit.

[¶10] 178. At length it is detected, and it is detected in affairs of great importance, and of undoubted certainty. And it seems to me that, by the interposition of the gods, this man too has become involved in such dishonesty, as not only to suffer punishment for the crimes which he has lately committed, but also to be overwhelmed with the vengeance due to the sins which he committed against Carbo and against Dolabella. There is in truth also another new feature in this crime, O judges, which will remove all doubts as to his criminality on the former charge respecting the tenths. For, to say nothing of this fact, that very many of the cultivators of the soil had not corn enough for the second tenths, and for those eight thousand modii which they were bound to sell to the Roman people, but that they bought them of your agent, that is, of Apronius; which is a clear proof that you had left the cultivators actually nothing: to pass over this, which teas been clearly set forth in many men's evidence, can anything be more certain than this,—that all the corn of Sicily, and all the crops of the land liable to the payment of tenths, were for three years in your power and in your barns?

> Latin: 178. igitur aliquando, et in rebus cum maximis tum manifestis tenetur; atque in eam fraudem mihi videtur divinitus incidisse, non solum ut eas poenas quas proxime meruisset solveret, sed ut illa etiam scelera eius in Carbonem et in Dolabellam vindicarentur. nova quoque alia res, iudices, exstitit in hoc crimine, quae tollat omnem dubitationem superioris illius decumani criminis. ut illud missum faciam, permultos aratores in alteras decumas et in haec dccc milia modium, quod emptum populo Romano darent, non habuisse, et a tuo procuratore, hoc est ab Apronio, emisse, ex quo intellegi potest nihil te aratoribus reliqui fecisse,—ut hoc praeteream, quod multorum est testimoniis expositum, potest illo quicquam esse certius, in tua potestate atque in tuis horreis omne frumentum Siciliae per triennium atque omnis fructus agri decumani fuisse?

[¶11] 179. for when you were demanding of the cities money for corn, whence was the corn to be procured for you to send to Rome, if you had it not all collected and locked up? Therefore, in the affair of that corn, the first profit of all was that of the corn itself, which had been taken by violence from the cultivators; the next profit was because that very corn which had been procured by you during your three years, you sold not once, but twice; not for one payment, but for two, though it was one and the same lot of corn; once to the cities, for fifteen sesterces a medimnus, a second time to the Roman people, from whom you got eighteen sesterces a medimus for the very same corn.

> Latin: 179. enim a civitatibus pro frumento pecuniam exigebas, unde erat frumentum quod Romam mitteres, si tu id non omne clausum et compressum possidebas? in eo frumento primus tibi ille quaestus erat ipsum frumentum, quod erat ereptum ab aratoribus, alter, quod frumentum improbissime per triennium partum non semel sed bis, neque uno sed duobus pretiis unum et idem frumentum vendidisti, semel civitatibus HS xv in medimnum, iterum populo Romano, a quo HS xxi in medimna pro eodem illo frumento abstulisti.

[¶12] 180. But perhaps you approved besides of the corn of the Centuripans, of the Agrigentines, and of some others, and paid money to these nations. There may be some cities in that number whose corn you were unwilling to object to. What then? Was all the money that was owed for corn paid to these cities? Find me one—not one people, but one cultivator. See, seek, look around, if perchance there is any single man in that province in which you were governor for three years, who does not wish you to be ruined. Produce me one, I say, out of all those cultivators who contributed money even to raise a statue to you, who will say that everything that was due for corn was paid. I pledge myself, O judges, that none will say so.

> Latin: 180. enim frumentum Centuripinorum et Agrigentinorum et non nullorum fortasse praeterea probasti et his populis pecuniam dissolvisti. sane aliquae civitates in eo numero, quarum frumentum improbare nolueris; quid tandem? his civitatibus omnisne pecunia quae pro frumento debita est dissoluta est? Vnum mihi reperi non populum, sed aratorem: vide, quaere, circumspice, si quis forte est ex ea provincia, in qua tu triennium praefuisti, qui te nolit perisse: unum, inquam, da mihi ex illis aratoribus qui tibi ad statuam pecuniam contulerunt, qui sibi dicat omne esse pro frumento quod oportuerit solutum., iudices, neminem esse dicturum.

[¶13] 181. Out of all the money which it was your duty to pay to the cultivators, you were in the habit of making deductions on certain pretexts; first of all for the examination, and for the difference in the exchanges; secondly, for some stealing money or other. All these names, O judges, do not belong to any legal demand, but to the most infamous robberies. For what difference of exchange can there be when all use one kind of money? And what is sealing money How has this name got introduced into the accounts of a magistrate? how came it to be connected with the public money? For the third description of deduction was such as if it were not only lawful, but even proper; and not only proper, but absolutely necessary. Two fiftieths were deducted from the entire sum in the name of the clerk. Who gave you leave to do this?—what law? what authority of the senate? Moreover where was the justice of your clerk taking such a sum, whether it was taken from the property of the cultivators, or from the revenues of the Roman people?

> Latin: 181. omni pecunia quam aratoribus solvere debuisti certis nominibus deductiones fieri solebant, primum pro spectatione et collybo, deinde pro nescio quo cerario. omnia, iudices, non rerum certarum, sed furtorum improbissimorum sunt vocabula. collybus esse qui potest, cum utuntur omnes uno genere nummorum? vero—quid? quo modo hoc nomen ad rationes magistratus, quo modo ad pecuniam publicam adlatum est? illud genus tertium deductionis erat eius modi, quasi non modo liceret sed etiam oporteret, nec solum oporteret sed plane necesse esset. nomine de tota pecunia binae quinquagesimae detrahebantur. tibi hoc concessit, quae lex, quae senatus auctoritas, quae porro aequitas, ut tantam pecuniam scriba tuus auferret sive de aratorum bonis sive de populi Romani vectigalibus?

[¶14] 182. For if that sum can he deducted without injury to the cultivators of the soil, let the Roman people have it, especially in the existing difficulties of the treasury; but if the Roman people intended it to be paid to the cultivators, and if it is just that it should be, then shall your officer, hired at small wages paid by the people, plunder the property of the cultivators? And shall Hortensius excite against me in this cause the whole body of clerks? and shall he say that their interests are undermined by me, and their lights opposed? as if this were allowed to the clerks by any precedent or by any right. Why should I go back to old times? or why should I make mention of those clerks, who, it is evident, were most upright and conscientious men? It does not escape my observation, O judges, that old examples are now listened to and considered as imaginary fables I will go only to the present wretched and profligate time. You, O Hortensius, have lately been quaestor. You can say what your clerks did; I say this of mine; when, in that same Sicily, I was paying the cities money for their corn, and had with me two most economical men as clerks, Lucius Manilius and Lucius Sergius, then I say that not only these two fiftieths were not deducted, but that not one single coin was deducted from any one. I would say that all the credit of this was to be attributed to me, O judges, if they had ever asked this of me, if they had ever thought of it.

> Latin: 182. si potest ista pecunia sine aratorum iniuria detrahi, populus Romanus habeat, in tantis praesertim aerari angustiis; sin autem et populus Romanus voluit, et aequum est ita solvi aratoribus, tuus apparitor parva mercede populi conductus de aratorum bonis praedabitur? in hac causa scribarum ordinem in me concitabit Hortensius et eorum commoda a me labefactari atque oppugnari iura dicet? vero hoc scribis ullo exemplo sit aut ullo iure concessum. ego vetera repetam aut quid eorum scribarum mentionem faciam quos constat sanctissimos homines atque innocentissimos fuisse? me fugit, iudices, vetera exempla pro fictis fabulis iam audiri atque haberi: in his temporibus versabor miseris ac perditis., Hortensi, quaestor fuisti. tui scribae fecerint, tu potes dicere: ego de meis hoc dico, cum in eadem ista Sicilia pro frumento pecuniam civitatibus solverem et mecum duos frugalissimos homines scribas haberem, L. Mamilium et L. Sergium, non modo istas duas quinquagesimas, sed omnino nummum nullum cuiquam esse deductum. hoc mihi totum esse attribuendum, iudices, si illi umquam hoc a me postulassent, si umquam omnino cogitassent.

[¶15] 183. For why should a clerk make this deduction, and not rather the muleteer who brought the corn down? or the courier, by whose arrival they heard of its coming and made the demand? or the crier, who ordered them to appear? or the lictor and the slave of Venus, who carried the money? What part of the business or what seasonable assistance can a scrivener pretend to, that, I will not say such high wages should be given him, but, that a division of such a large sum should take place with him? Oh they are a very honourable body of men;—who denies it? or what has that to do with this business? But they are an honourable body, because to their integrity are entrusted the public accounts and the safety of the magistrates. Ask, therefore, of those scriveners who are worthy of their body, masters of households, virtuous and honourable men, what is the meaning of those fiftieths? In a moment you will all clearly see that the whole affair is unprecedented and scandalous.

> Latin: 183. ob rem enim scriba deducat, ac non potius mulio qui advexerit, tabellarius cuius adventu certiores facti petiverunt, praeco qui adire iussit, viator aut Venerius qui fiscum sustulit? pars operae aut opportunitatis in scriba est cur ei non modo merces tanta detur, sed cur cum eo tantae pecuniae partitio fiat? “est honestus.” negat, aut quid ea res ad hanc rem pertinet? vero honestus, quod eorum hominum fidei tabulae publicae periculaque magistratuum committuntur. ex his scribis qui digni sunt illo ordine, patribus familias, viris bonis atque honestis, percontamini quid sibi istae quinquagesimae velint: iam omnibus intellegetis novam rem totam atque indignam videri.

[¶16] 184. Bring me back to those scriveners, if you please; do not get together those men who when with a little money scraped together from the presents of spendthrifts and the gratuities to actors, they have bought themselves a place in some decury, think that they have mounted from the first class of hissed buffoons into the second class of the citizens. Those scriveners I will have as arbitrators in this business between you and me, men who are indignant that those other fellows should be scriveners at ale Although, when we see that there are many unfit men in that order, an order which is held out as a reward for industry and good conduct, are we to wonder that there are some base men in that order also, a place in which any one can purchase for money? When you confess that your clerk, with your leave, took thirteen hundred thousand sesterces of the public money, do you think that you have any defence left? that any one can endure this? Do you think that even any one of those who are at this moment your own advocates can listen to this with equanimity? Do you think that, in the same city in which an action was brought against Caius Cato, a most illustrious man, a man of consular rank, to recover a sum of eighteen thousand sesterces; in that same city it could be permitted to your clerk to carry off at one swoop thirteen hundred thousand sesterces?

> Latin: 184. eos me scribas revoca, si placet, noli hos colligere, qui nummulis corrogatis de nepotum donis ac de scaenicorum corollariis, cum decuriam emerunt, ex primo ordine explosorum in secundum ordinem civitatis se venisse dicunt. Eos scribas tecum disceptatores huius criminis habebo qui istos scribas esse moleste ferunt. cum in eo ordine videamus esse multos non idoneos, qui ordo industriae propositus est et dignitati, mirabimur turpis aliquos ibi esse quo cuivis pretio licet pervenire? ex pecunia publica HS terdeciens scribam tuum permissu tuo cum abstulisse fateare, reliquam tibi ullam defensionem putas esse? hoc quemquam ferre posse, hoc quemquam denique nunc tuorum advocatorum animo aequo audire arbitrare, qua in civitate C. Catoni, consulari homini, clarissimo viro, HS viii lis aestimata sit, in eadem civitate apparitori tuo esse concessum ut HS terdeciens uno nomine auferret?

[¶17] 185. Here is where that golden ring came from, with which you presented him in the public assembly; a gift which was an act of such extraordinary impudence that it seemed novel to all the Sicilians, and to me incredible. For our generals, after a defeat of the enemy, after some splendid success, have often presented their secretaries with golden rings in a public assembly; but you, for what exploit, for the defeat of what enemy did you dare to summon an assembly for the purpose of making this present? Nor did you only present your clerk with a ring, but you also presented a man of great bravery, a man very unlike yourself, Quintus Rubrius, a man of eminent virtue, and dignity, and riches, with a crown, with horse trappings, and a chain; and also Marcus Cossutius, a most conscientious and honourable man, and Marcus Castritius, a man of the greatest wealth, and ability, and influence.

> Latin: 185. ille est anulus aureus quo tu istum in contione donasti; quae tua donatio singulari impudentia nova Siculis omnibus, mihi vero etiam incredibilis videbatur. enim nostri imperatores superatis hostibus, optime re publica gesta, scribas suos anulis aureis in contione donarunt: tu vero quibus rebus gestis, quo hoste superato contionem donandi causa advocare ausus es? enim solum scribam tuum anulo, sed etiam virum fortissimum ac tui dissimillimum, Q. Rubrium, excellentem virtute auctoritate copiis, corona et phaleris et torque donasti, M. Cossutium, sanctissimum virum atque honestissimum, M. Castricium, summo splendore ingenio gratia praeditum.

[¶18] 186. What was the meaning of these presents made to these three Roman citizens? Besides that, you gave presents also to some of the most powerful and noble of the Sicilians, who have not, as you hoped, been the more slow to come forward, but have only come with more dignity to give their evidence in this trial of yours. Where did all these presents come from? from the spoils of what enemy? gained in what victory? Of what booty or trophies do they make a part? Is it because while you were praetor, a most beautiful fleet, the bulwark of Sicily, the defence of the province, was burnt by the hands of pirates arriving in a few light galleys? or because the territory of Syracuse was laid waste by the conflagrations of the banditti while you were praetor? or because the forum of the Syracuse overflowed with the blood of the captains? or because a piratical galley sailed about in the harbour of Syracuse? I can find no reason which I can imagine for your having fallen into such madness, unless indeed your object was to prevent men from ever forgetting the disasters of your administration.

> Latin: 186. haec sibi horum trium civium Romanorum dona voluerunt? Siculos praeterea potentissimos nobilissimosque donasti, qui non, quem ad modum sperasti, tardiores fuerunt, sed ornatiores tuo iudicio ad testimonia dicenda venerunt. ex hostium spoliis, de qua victoria, qua ex praeda aut manubiis haec abs te donatio constituta est? an quod te praetore paucorum adventu myoparonum classis pulcherrima, Siciliae praesidium propugnaculumque provinciae, piratarum manibus incensa est? an quod ager Syracusanus praedonum incendiis te praetore vastatus est? an quod forum Syracusanum nauarchorum sanguine redundavit? an quod in portu Syracusano piraticus myoparo navigavit? possum reperire quam ob rem te in istam amentiam incidisse arbitrer, nisi forte id egisti ut hominibus ne oblivisci quidem rerum tuarum [male gestarum ] liceret.

[¶19] 187. A clerk was presented with a golden ring, and an assembly was convoked to witness that presentation. What must have been your face when you saw in the assembly those men out of whose property that golden ring was provided for the present; who themselves had laid aside their golden rings, and had taken them off from their children, in order that your clerk might have the means to support your liberality and kindness? Moreover, what was the preface to this present? Was it the old one used by the generals?—“Since in battle, in war, in military affairs, you....” There never was even any mention of such matters while you were praetor. Was it this, “Since you have never failed me in any act of covetousness, or in any baseness, and since you have been concerned with me in all my wicked actions, both during my lieutenancy, and my praetorship, and here in Sicily; on account of all these things, since I have already made you rich, I now present you with this golden ring?” This would have been the truth. For that golden ring given by you does not prove he was a brave man, but only a rich one. As we should judge that same ring, if given by some one else, to have evidence of virtue when given by you, we consider it only an accompaniment to money.

> Latin: 187. est aureo scriba donatus, et ad eam donationem contio est advocata. erat os tuum, cum videbas in contione eos homines quorum ex bonis istum anulo aureo donabas, qui ipsi anulos aureos posuerant liberisque suis detraxerant, ut esset unde scriba tuus hoc tuum munus ac beneficium tueretur? quae porro praefatio tuae donationis fuit? scilicet vetus atque imperatoria, qvandoqve tv qvidem in proelio, in bello, in re militari —cuius ne mentio quidem te praetore ulla facta est: an illa, qvandoqve tv nvlla vmqvam mihi in cvpiditate ac tvrpitvdine defvisti omnibvsqve in isdem flagitiis mecvm et in legatione et in praetvra et hic in Sicilia versatvs es, ob eas res te, qvoniam re̵ locvpletavi, hoc anvlo avreo dono? haec fuisset oratio; neque enim iste anulus aureus abs te datus istum virum fortem, sed hominem locupletem esse declarat. eundem anulum ab alio datum testem virtutis duceremus, abs te donatum comitem pecuniae iudicamus.

[¶20] 188. I have spoken, O judges, of the corn collected as tenths; I have spoken of that which was purchased; the last, the only remaining topic, is the valuation of the corn, which ought to have weight with every one, both from the vastness of the sum involved, and from the description of the injustice done; and more than either, because against this charge he is provided, not with some ingenious defence, but with a most scandalous confession of it. For though it was lawful for him, both by a decree of the senate, and also by the laws, to take corn and lay it up in the granaries, and though the senate had valued that corn at four sesterces for a modius of wheat, two for one of barley, Verres, having first added to the quantity of wheat, valued each modius of wheat with the cultivators at three denarii. My charge is not this, O Hortensius; do not you think about this; I know that many virtuous, and brave, and incorruptible men, have often valued, both with the cultivators of the soil and with cities, the corn which ought to have been taken and laid up in the granary, and have taken money instead of corn; I know what is accustomed to be done; I know what is lawful to be done; nothing which has been previously the custom of virtuous men is found fault with ill the conduct of Verres.

> Latin: 188. , iudices, est de decumano frumento, dictum de empto, extremum reliquum est de aestimato; quod cum magnitudine pecuniae tum iniuriae genere quemvis debet commovere, tum vero eo magis quod ad hoc crimen non ingeniosa aliqua defensio sed improbissima confessio comparatur. cum ex senatus consulto et ex legibus frumentum in cellam ei sumere liceret idque frumentum senatus ita aestimasset, quaternis HS tritici modium, binis hordei, iste hordei numero ad summam tritici adiecto tritici modios singulos cum aratoribus denariis ternis aestimavit. est in hoc crimen, Hortensi, ne forte ad hoc meditere, multos saepe viros bonos et fortis et innocentis cum aratoribus et cum civitatibus frumentum, in cellam quod sumi oporteret, aestimasse et pecuniam pro frumento abstulisse. quid soleat fieri, scio quid liceat; nihil quod antea fuerit in consuetudine bonorum nunc in istius facto reprehenditur;

[¶21] 189. This is what I find fault with, that, when a modius of wheat in Sicily cost two sesterces, as his letter which was sent to you declares, or at most, three, as has also already been made clear from all the evidence and all the accounts of the cultivators, he exacted from the cultivators three denarii for every modius of wheat. This is the charge; I wish you to understand, that my accusation turns not on the fact of his having valued the corn, nor even of his having valued it at three denarii but on that of his having increased the quantity of corn, and consequently the amount of the valuation. In truth this valuation originated, O judges, at first not in the convenience of the praetors or consuls, but in the advantage to the cultivators and the cities. For originally, no one was so impudent as to demand money when it was corn that was due; certainly this proceeded in the first instance from the cultivator or from the city which was required to furnish corn; when they had either sold the corn, or wished to keep it, or were not willing to carry it to that place where it was required to be delivered, they begged as a kindness and a favour, that they might be allowed, instead of the corn, to give the value of the corn. From such a commencement as this, and from the liberality and accommodating spirit of the magistrates the custom of valuations was introduced.

> Latin: 189. hoc reprehendo, quod, cum in Sicilia HS binis tritici modius esset, ut istius epistula ad te missa declarat, summum HS ternis, id quod et testimoniis omnium et tabulis aratorum planum factum antea est, tum iste pro tritici modiis singulis ternos ab aratoribus denarios exegit; hoc crimen est, ut intellegas non ex aestimatione neque ex ternis denariis pendere crimen, sed ex coniunctione annonae atque aestimationis. haec aestimatio nata est initio, iudices, non ex praetorum aut consulum, sed ex civitatum et aratorum commodo. enim fuit initio tam impudens qui, cum frumentum deberetur, pecuniam posceret. hoc ab aratore primum est profectum, aut ab ea civitate cui imperabatur; cum aut frumentum vendidisset aut servare vellet aut in eum locum quo imperabatur portare nollet, petivit in benefici loco et gratiae ut sibi pro frumento quanti frumentum esset dare liceret. huiusce modi principio atque ex liberalitate et accommodatione magistratuum consuetudo aestimationis introducta est.

[¶22] 190. More covetous, magistrates succeeded; who, in their avarice, devised not only a plan for their own gain, but also a way of escape, and a plea for their defence. They adopted a custom of always requiring corn to be delivered at the most remote and inconvenient places, in order that, through the difficulty of carriage, the cultivators might be more easily brought to the valuation which they wished. In a case of this kind it is easier to form one's opinion, than to make out a case for blame; because we can think the man who does this avaricious, but we cannot easily make out a charge against him; because it appears that we must grant this to our magistrates, that they may have power to receive the corn in any place they choose; therefore this is what many perhaps have done, not, however, so many out that those whom we recollect, or whom we have heard of as the most upright magistrates, have declined to do it.

> Latin: 190. sunt avariores magistratus, qui tamen in avaritia sua non solum viam quaestus invenerunt, verum etiam exitum ac rationem defensionis. semper in ultima ac difficillima ad portandum loca frumentum imperare, ut vecturae difficultate ad quam vellent aestimationem pervenirent. hoc genere facilior est existimatio quam reprehensio, ideo quod eum qui hoc facit avarum possumus existimare, crimen in eo constituere non tam facile possumus, quod videtur concedendum magistratibus nostris esse ut iis quo loco velint frumentum accipere liceat. hoc est quod multi fortasse fecerunt, sed ita multi ut ii quos innocentissimos meminimus aut audivimus non fecerint.

[¶23] 191. I ask of you now, O Hortensius, with which of these classes you are going to compare the conduct of Verres? With those, I suppose, who, influenced by their own kindness, have granted, as a favour and as a convenience to the cities, permission to give money instead of corn. And so I suppose the cultivators begged of him, that, as they could not sell a modius of wheat for three sesterces, they may be allowed to pay three denarii instead of each modius. Or, since you do not dare to say this, will you take refuge in that assertion, that, being influenced by the difficulty of carriage, they preferred to give three denarii? Of what carriage? Wishing not to have to carry it from what place to what place? from Philomelium to Ephesus? I see what is the difference between the price of corn at different places; I see too how many days' journey it is; I see that it is for the advantage of the Philomelians rather to pay in Phrygia the price which corn bears in Ephesus, than to carry it to Ephesus, or to send both money and agents to Ephesus to buy corn.

> Latin: 191. nunc abs te, Hortensi, cum utrisne tandem istius factum collaturus es? iis, credo, qui benignitate adducti per beneficium et gratiam civitatibus concesserunt ut nummos pro frumento darent. credo petisse ab isto aratores ut, cum HS ternis tritici modium vendere non possent, pro singulis modiis ternos denarios dare liceret. quoniam hoc non audes dicere, illuc confugies, vecturae difficultate adductus ternos denarios dare maluisse? vecturae? quo ex loco in quem locum ne portarent? Philomelio Ephesum? quid inter annonam interesse soleat, video quot dierum via sit, video Philomeliensibus expedire, quanti Ephesi sit frumentum, dare potius in Phrygia quam Ephesum portare aut ad emendum frumentum Ephesum pecuniam et legatos mittere.

[¶24] 192. But what can there be like that in Sicily? Enna is a completely inland town. Compel (that is the utmost stretch of your authority) the people of Enna to deliver their corn at the waterside; they will take it to Phintia, or to Halesa, or to Catina, places all very distant from one another, the same day that you issue the order; though there is not even need of any carriage at all; for all this profit of the valuation, O judges, arises from the variety in the price of corn. For a magistrate in a province can manage this,—namely, to receive it where it is dearest. And therefore that is the way valuations are managed in Asia and in Spain, and in those provinces in which corn is not everywhere the same price. But in Sicily what difference did it make to any one in what place he delivered it? for he had not to carry it; and wherever he was ordered to carry it, there he might buy the same quantity of corn which he sold at home.

> Latin: 192. Sicilia vero quid eius modi est? Henna mediterranea est maxime. ut ad aquam tibi, id quod summi iuris est, frumentum Hennenses admetiantur vel Phintiam vel Halaesam vel Catinam, loca inter se maxime diversa: eodem die quo iusseris deportabunt. ne vectura quidem est opus. totus quaestus hic, iudices, aestimationis ex annonae natus est varietate. enim magistratus in provincia adsequi potest, ut ibi accipiat ubi est carissimum. valet ista ratio aestimationis in Asia, valet in Hispania, valet in iis provinciis in quibus unum pretium frumento esse non solet: in Sicilia vero quid cuiusquam intererat quo loco daret? neque enim portandum erat, et, quo quisque vehere iussus esset, ibi tantidem frumentum emeret quanti domi vendidisset.

[¶25] 193. Wherefore, if, O Hortensius, you wish to show that anything, in the matter of the valuation, was done by him like what has been done by others, you must show that at any place in Sicily, while Verres was praetor, a modius of wheat ever cost three denarii. See what a defence I have opened to you; how unjust to our allies, how far removed from the good of the republic, how utterly foreign to the intention and meaning of the law. Do you, when I am prepared to deliver you corn on my own farm, in my own city,—in the very place, in short, in which you are, in which you live, in which you manage all your business and conduct the affairs of the province,—do you, I say, select for me some remote and desert corner of the island? Do you bid me deliver it there, whither it is very inconvenient to carry it? where I cannot purchase it?

> Latin: 193. ob rem, si vis, Hortensi, docere aliquid ab isto simile in aestimatione atque a ceteris esse factum, doceas oportebit aliquo in loco Siciliae praetore Verre ternis denariis tritici modium fuisse. quam tibi defensionem patefecerim, quam iniquam in socios, quam remotam ab utilitate rei publicae, quam seiunctam a voluntate ac sententia legis., cum tibi ego frumentum in meis agris atque in mea civitate, denique cum in iis locis in quibus es, versaris, rem geris, provinciam administras, paratus sim dare, angulum mihi aliquem eligas provinciae reconditum ac derelictum? iubeas ibi me metiri quo portare non expediat, ubi emere non possim?

[¶26] 194. It is a shameful action, O judges, intolerable, permitted to no one by law, but perhaps not yet punished in any instance. Still this very thing, which I say ought not to be endured, I grant to you, O Verres; I make you a present of it. If in any place of that province corn was at the price at which he valued it, then I think that this charge ought not to have any weight against him. But when it was fetching two sesterces, or even three at the outside, in any district of the province which you choose to name, you exacted twelve. If there cannot be any dispute between you and me either about the price of corn, or about your valuation, why are you sitting there? What are you waiting for? What will you say in your defence? Does money appear to have been appropriated by you contrary to the laws, contrary to the interests of the republic, to the great injury of our allies? Or will you say in your defence, that all this has been done lawfully, regularly, in a manner advantageous to the republic, without injury to any one?

> Latin: 194. facinus, iudices, non ferendum, nemini lege concessum, sed fortasse adhuc in nullo etiam vindicatum! ego hoc, quod ferri nego posse, Verri, iudices, concedo et largior. ullo in loco eius provinciae frumentum tanti fuit quanti iste aestimavit, hoc crimen in istum reum valere oportere non arbitror. enim vero, cum esset HS binis aut etiam ternis quibusvis in locis provinciae, duodenos sestertios exegisti. mihi tecum neque de annona neque de aestimatione tua potest esse controversia, quid sedes, quid exspectas, quid defendis? utrum tibi pecuniae coactae conciliatae videntur adversus leges, adversus rem publicam cum maxima sociorum iniuria, an vero id recte, ordine, e re publica, sine cuiusquam iniuria factum esse defendis?

[¶27] 195. When the senate had given you money out of the treasury, and had paid you money which you were to pay the cultivators, a denarius for every modius, what was it your duty to do? If you had wished to do what Lucius Piso, surnamed Thrifty, who first made the law about extortion, would have done, when you had bought the corn at the regular price, you would have returned whatever money there was over. If you wished to act as men desirous of gaining popularity, or as kind-hearted men would, as the senate had valued the corn at more than the regular price, you would have paid for it according to the valuation of the senate, and not according to the market price. Or if, as many do, a conduct which produces some profit indeed, but still an honest and allowable one, you would not have bought corn, since it was cheaper than they expected, but you would have retained the money which the senate had granted you for furnishing the granary. But what is it that you have done? What presence has it, I will not say of justice, but even of any ordinary roguery or impudence? For, indeed, there is not usually anything which men, however dishonest, dare to do openly in their magistracy, for which they cannot give, if not a good excuse, still some excuse or other.

> Latin: 195. tibi senatus ex aerario pecuniam prompsisset et singulos tibi denarios adnumerasset quos tu pro singulis modiis aratoribus solveres, quid facere debuisti? quod L. Piso ille Frugi, qui legem de pecuniis repetundis primus tulit, cum emisses quanti esset, quod superaret pecuniae rettulisses; si ut ambitiosi homines aut benigni, cum pluris senatus aestimasset quam quanti esset annona, ex senatus aestimatione, non ex annonae ratione solvisses; sin, ut plerique faciunt, in quo erat aliqui quaestus, sed is honestus atque concessus, frumentum, quoniam vilius erat, ne emisses, sumpsisses id nummorum quod tibi senatus cellae nomine concesserat. vero quid est? quam habet rationem non quaero aequitatis, sed ipsius improbitatis atque impudentiae? enim est fere quicquam quod homines palam facere audeant in magistratu quamvis improbe, quin eius facti si non bonam, at aliquam rationem adferre soleant.

[¶28] 196. But what sort of conduct is this? The praetor came. Says he, I must buy some corn of you. Very well. At a denarius for a modius I am much obliged to you; you are very liberal, for I cannot get three sesterces for it. But I don't want the corn, I will take the money. I had hoped, says the cultivator, that I should have touched the denarii; but if you must have money, consider what is the price of corn now. I see it costs two sesterces. What money, then, can be required of me for you, when the senate has allowed you four sesterces? Listen, now, to what he demands And I entreat you, O judges, remark at the same time the equity of the praetor:

> Latin: 196. quid est? praetor; frumentum, inquit, me abs te emere oportet.. denario. ac liberaliter; nam ego ternis HS non possum vendere. frumentum non opus est, nummos volo. sperabam, inquit arator, me ad denarios perventurum; sed, si ita necesse est, quanti frumentum sit considera. esse binis HS. ergo a me tibi nummorum dari potest, cum senatus tibi quaternos HS dederit? poscit? et, vos quaeso, simul, iudices, aequitatem praetoris attendite.

[¶29] 197. “The four sesterces which the senate has voted me, and has paid me out of the treasury, those I shall keep, and shall transfer out of the public chest into my strong box.” What comes next? What? “For each modius which I require of you, do you give me eight sesterces.” On what account? “What do you ask me on what account for? It is not so much on what account that we need think, as of how advantageous it will be,—how great a booty I shall get.” Speak, speak, says the cultivator, a little plainer. The senate desires that you should pay me money,—that I should deliver corn to you. Will you retain that money which the senate intended should be paid to me, and take two sesterces a-modius from me, to whom you ought to pay a denarius for each modius? And then will you call this plunder and robbery granary-money?

> Latin: 197. Quaternos HS, quos mihi senatus decrevit et ex aerario dedit, ego habebo et in cistam transferam de fisco. postea? quid? singulis modiis, quos tibi impero, tu mihi octonos HS dato. ratione? quaeris rationem? non tantam rationem res habet quantam utilitatem atque praedam., dic, inquit ille, planius. te voluit mihi nummos, me tibi frumentum dare: tu eos nummos quos mihi senatus dare voluit ipse habebis; a me, cui singulos denarios a te dari oportuit, binos auferes et huic praedae ac direptioni cellae nomen impones?

## 20. Actio Secunda · Book III · sections 198–228

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/20/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/20/#p-N

[¶0] 198. This one injury,—this single distress, was wanting to the cultivators under your praetorship, to complete the ruin of the remainder of their fortunes. For what remaining injury could be done to the man who, owing to this injury, was forced not only to dose all his corn, but even to sell all his tools and stock? He had no way to turn. From what produce could he find the money to pay you? Under the name of tenths, as much had been taken from him as the caprice of Apronius chose; for the second tenths and for the corn that had been purchased either nothing had been paid, or only so much as the clerk had left behind, or perhaps it was even taken for nothing, as you have had proved to you. Is money also to be extorted from the cultivators? How? By what right? by what precedent? For when the crops of the cultivator were carried off and plundered with every kind of injustice, the cultivator appeared to lose what he had himself raised with his plough, for which he had toiled, what his land and his cornfields had produced.

> Latin: 198. deerat iniuria et haec calamitas aratoribus te praetore qua reliquis fortunis omnibus everterentur. quid esse reliqui poterat ei qui per hanc iniuriam non modo fructum omnem amitteret, sed etiam omne instrumentum vendere cogeretur? se verteret? ex quo fructu nummos quos tibi daret inveniret? nomine tantum erat ablatum quantum voluntas tulerat Aproni: pro alteris decumis emptoque frumento aut nihil datum aut tantum datum quantum reliqui scribae fecerant, aut ultro etiam, id quod didicistis, ablatum. etiam nummi ab aratore? quo modo, quo iure, quo exemplo? cum fructus diripiebantur aratorum atque omni lacerabantur iniuria, videbatur id perdere arator quod aratro ipse quaesisset, in quo elaborasset, quod agri segetesque extulissent;

[¶1] 199. But amid this terrible ill-treatment, there was still this wretched consolation,—that he seemed only to be losing what, under another praetor, he could get again out of the same land. But now it is necessary for the cultivator—to give money, which he does not get out of the land—to sell his oxen, and his plough itself, and all his tools For you are not to think this. “The man has also possessions in ready money; he has also possessions inland, near the city.” For when a burden is imposed on a cultivator of the soil, it is not the mean and ability of the man that is to be considered, whether he has any property besides; but the quality and description of his land, what that can endure, what that can suffer, what that can and ought to produce. Although those men have been drained and ruined by Verres in every possible manner, still you ought to decide what contribution you consider the cultivator ought to render to the republic on account of his land, and what charges he can support. You impose the payment of tenths on them. They endure that. A second tenth. You think they must be subservient to your necessities,—that they must, besides that, supply you with more if you choose to purchase it They will so supply you if you choose.

> Latin: 199. quibus iniuriis gravissimis tamen illud erat miserum solacium, quod id perdere videbatur quod alio praetore eodem ex agro reparare posset. vero ut det arator quos non exarat, quos non aratro ac manu quaerit, boves et aratrum ipsum atque omne instrumentum vendat necesse est. enim debetis hoc cogitare: habet idem in nummis, habet in urbanis praediis. cum aratori aliquid imponitur, non hominis si quae sunt praeterea facultates, sed arationis ipsius vis ac ratio consideranda est, quid ea sustinere, quid pati, quid efficere possit ac debeat; quamquam illi quoque homines sunt ab isto omni ratione exinaniti ac perditi, tamen hoc vobis est statuendum, quid aratorem ipsum arationis nomine muneris in rem publicam fungi ac sustinere velitis. decumas, patiuntur; alteras, temporibus vestris serviendum putant; dent emptum praeterea; dabunt, si voletis.

[¶2] 200. How severe all this is, and how little, after all these deductions are made, can be left of clear profit for the owners, I think you, from your own farming experience, can guess. Add, now, to all this, the edicts, the regulations, the injuries of Verres,—add the reign and the rapine of Apronius, and the slaves of Apronius, in the land subject to the payment of tenths. Although I pass over all this; I am speaking of the granary. Is it your intention that the Sicilians should give corn to our magistrates for their granaries for nothing? What can be more scandalous, what can be more iniquitous than that? And yet, know you that this would have seemed to the cultivators a thing to be wished for, to be begged for, while that man was praetor. Sositenus is a citizen of Entella; a man of the greatest prudence, and of the noblest birth in his city. You have heard what he said when he was sent by the public authority to this trial as a deputy, together with Artemon and Meniscus, men of the highest character. He, when in the senate at Entella he was discussing with me the injustice of Verres, said this: that, if the question of the granaries and of the valuation were conceded, the Sicilians were willing to promise the senate corn for the granary without payment, so that we need not for the future vote such large sums to our magistrates.

> Latin: 200. quam sint gravia, et quid his rebus detractis possit ad dominos puri ac reliqui pervenire, credo vos ex vestris impensis, ex vestris rebus rusticis coniectura adsequi posse. nunc eodem istius edicta, instituta, iniurias; addite Aproni Veneriorumque servorum in agro decumano regna ac rapinas. haec omitto: de cella loquor. vobis in cellam magistratibus vestris frumentum Siculos gratis dare? hoc indignius, quid iniquius? hoc scitote aratoribus Verre praetore optandum ac petendum fuisse. Sositheus est Entellinus, homo cum primis prudens et domi nobilis, cuius verba audietis, qui ad hoc iudicium legatus publice cum Artemone et Menisco, primariis viris, missus est. cum in senatu Entellino multa mecum de istius iniuriis ageret, hoc dixit: si hoc de cella atque hac aestimatione concederetur, velle Siculos senatui polliceri frumentum in cellam gratis, ne posthac tantas pecunias magistratibus nostris decerneremus.

[¶3] 201. I am sure that you clearly perceive how advantageous this would be for the Sicilians not because of the justice of such a condition, but in the way of choosing the least of two evils; for the man who had given Verres a thousand modii for the granary as his share of the contribution required, would have given two, or, at most, three thousand sesterces, but the same man has now been compelled for the same quantity of corn to give eight thousand sesterces. A cultivator could not stand this for three years, at least not out of his own produce. He must inevitably have sold his stock. But if the land can endure this contribution and this tribute,—that is to say, if Sicily can bear and support it, let it pay it to the Roman people rather than to our magistrates. It is a great sum, a great and splendid revenue. If you can obtain it without damage to the province, without injury to our allies, I do not object at all. Let as much be given to the magistrates for their granary as has always been given. What Verres demands besides, that, if they cannot provide it, let them refuse. If they can provide it, let it be the revenue of the Roman people rather than the plunder of the praetor.

> Latin: 201. vos certo scio Siculis quanto opere hoc expediat non ad aequitatem condicionis, sed ad minima malorum eligenda. qui mille modium Verri suae partis in cellam gratis dedisset, duo milia nummum aut summum tria dedisset, idem nunc pro eodem numero frumenti HS viii dare coactus est. arator adsequi per triennium certe fructu suo non potuit: vendiderit instrumentum necesse est. hoc munus et hoc vectigal aratio tolerare, hoc est Sicilia ferre ac pati potest, populo Romano ferat potius quam nostris magistratibus. Magna est enim pecunia, magnum praeclarumque vectigal, si modo id salva provincia, si sine iniuria sociorum percipere possumus. detraho magistratibus; tantundem detur in cellam quantum semper datum est; quod praeterea Verres imperat, id, si facere non possunt, recusent; si possunt, populi Romani potius hoc sit vectigal quam praeda praetoris.

[¶4] 202. In the next place, why is that valuation established for only one description of corn? If it is just and endurable, then Sicily owes the Roman people tenths; let it give three denarii for each single modius of wheat; let it keep the corn itself. Money has been paid to you, O Verres,—one sum with which you were to buy corn for the granary, the other with which you were to buy corn from the cities to send to Rome. You keep at your own house the money which has been given to you; and besides that, you receive a vast sum in your own name. Do the same with respect to that corn which belongs to the Roman people; exact money from the cities according to the same valuation, and give back what you have received,—then the treasury of the Roman people will be better filled than it ever has been.

> Latin: 202. cur in uno genere solo frumenti ista aestimatio constituatur, si est aequa et ferenda? populo Romano Sicilia decumas; det pro singulis modiis tritici ternos denarios, sibi habeat frumentum. tibi est pecunia, Verres, una qua frumentum tibi emeres in cellam, altera qua frumentum emeres a civitatibus quod Romam mitteres. datam pecuniam domi retines, et praeterea pecuniam permagnam tuo nomine aufers; fac idem in eo frumento quod ad populum Romanum pertinet; exige eadem aestimatione pecuniam a civitatibus, et refer quam accepisti: iam refertius erit aerarium populi Romani quam umquam fuit.

[¶5] 203. But Sicily could not endure that in the case of the public corn; she did indeed bear it in the case of my own. Just as if that valuation was more just when your advantage was concerned, than when that of the Roman people was; or, as if the conduct which I speak of and that which you adopted, differed only in the description of the injury, and not in the magnitude of the sum involved. But that granary they can by no means bear, not even if everything else be remitted; not even if they were for ever hereafter delivered from all the injuries and distresses which they have suffered while you were praetor, still they say that they could not by any possibility support that granary and that valuation.

> Latin: 203. “enim istam rem in publico frumento Sicilia non ferret, hanc rem in meo frumento tulit.” quasi aut aequior sit ista aestimatio in tuo quam in populi Romani commodo, aut ea res quam ego dico et ea quam tu fecisti inter se genere iniuriae, non magnitudine pecuniae differat. istam ipsam cellam ferre nullo modo possunt: ut omnia remittantur, ut omnibus iniuriis et calamitatibus quas te praetore tulerunt in posterum liberentur, istam se cellam atque istam aestimationem negant ullo modo ferre posse.

[¶6] 204. Sophocles of Agrigentum, a most eloquent man, adorned with every sort of learning and with every virtue, is said to have spoken lately before Cnaeus Pompeius, when he was consul, on behalf of all Sicily, concerning the miseries of the cultivators, with great earnestness and great variety of arguments, and to have lamented their condition to him. And of all the things which he mentioned, this appeared the most scandalous to those who were present, (for the matter was discussed in the presence of a numerous assembly,) that, in the very matter in which the senate had dealt most honestly and most kindly with the cultivators, in that the praetor should plunder, and the cultivators be ruined and that should not only be done, but done in such a manner as if it were lawful and permitted.

> Latin: 204. Sosippus Agrigentinus apud Cn. Pompeium consulem nuper, homo disertissimus et omni doctrina et virtute ornatissimus, pro tota Sicilia de aratorum miseriis graviter et copiose dixisse ac deplorasse dicitur; ex quibus hoc iis qui aderant,—nam magno conventu acta res est,— indignissimum videbatur, qua in re senatus optime ac benignissime cum aratoribus egisset, large liberaliterque aestimasset, in ea re praedari praetorem, bonis everti aratores, et id non modo fieri sed ita fieri quasi liceat concessumque sit.

[¶7] 205. What says Hortensius to this? that the charge is false? He will never say this.—That no great sum was gained by this method? He will not even say that.—That no injury was done to Sicilians and the cultivators? How can he say that?—What then, will he say,—That it was done by other men. What is the meaning of this? Is it a defence against the charge, or company in banishment that he is seeking for? Will you in this republic, in this time of unchecked caprice, and (as up to this time the course of judicial proceedings has proved) licentiousness on the part of men, will you defend that which is found fault with, and affirm that it has been done properly; not by reference to right, nor to equity, nor to law, nor because it was expedient, nor because it was allowed, but because it was some one else who did it?

> Latin: 205. ad haec Hortensius? falsum esse crimen? numquam dicet. magnam hac ratione pecuniam captam? id quidem dicet. iniuriam factam Siculis atque aratoribus? poterit dicere? igitur dicet? alios. est hoc? utrum crimini defensio an comitatus exsilio quaeritur? in hac re publica atque in hac hominum libidine et, ut adhuc habuit se status iudiciorum, etiam licentia, non ex iure, non ex aequitate, non ex lege, non ex eo quod oportuerit, non ex eo quod licuerit, sed ex eo quod aliqui fecerit, id quod reprehenditur recte factum esse defendes?

[¶8] 206. Other men, too, hare done other things, and plenty of them; why in this charge alone do you use this sort of defence? There are some things in you so extraordinary, that they cannot be said of, or meet in the character of, any other man; there are some things which you have in common with many men. Therefore, to say nothing of your acts of peculation, or of your taking money for the appointment of judges, and other things of that sort which, perhaps, other men also may have committed; will you defend yourself, also, from the charge which I bring against you as the most serious one of all—the charge, namely, of having taken money to influence your legal decisions, by the same argument, that others have done so too? Even if I were to admit the assertion, still I should not admit it as any defence. For it would be better that by your condemnation there should be more limited room for defending dishonesty left to others, than that, owing to your acquittal, others should be thought to have legitimately done what they have done with the greatest audacity.

> Latin: 206. alii quidem aliquam multa; cur in hoc uno crimine isto genere defensionis uteris? quaedam omnino in te singularia, quae in nullum hominem alium dici neque convenire possint, quaedam tibi cum multis communia., ut omittam tuos peculatus, ut ob ius dicendum pecunias acceptas, ut eius modi cetera quae forsitan alii quoque etiam fecerint, illud in quo te gravissime accusavi, quod ob iudicandam rem pecuniam accepisses, eadem ista ratione defendes, fecisse alios? Vt ego adsentiar orationi, defensionem tamen non probabo. enim te damnato ceteris angustior locus improbitatis defendendae relinquetur, quam te absoluto alii quod audacissime fecerunt recte fecisse existimentur.

[¶9] 207. All the provinces are mourning; all the nations that are free are complaining; every kingdom is expostulating with us about our covetousness and our injustice; there is now no place on this side of the ocean, none so distant, none so out of the way, that, in these latter times, the lust and iniquity of our citizens has not reached it. The Roman people is now no longer able to bear (I have not to say the violence, the arms, and the war, but) the mourning, the tears, and the complaints, of all foreign nations. In a case of this sort, in speaking of customs of this sort, if he who is brought before the tribunal, when he is detected in evident crimes, says that others have also done the same, he will not want examples; but the republic will want safety, if, by the precedents of wicked men, wicked men are to be delivered from trial and from danger.

> Latin: 207. omnes provinciae, queruntur omnes liberi populi, regna denique etiam omnia de nostris cupiditatibus et iniuriis expostulant; locus intra Oceanum iam nullus est neque tam longinquus neque tam reconditus quo non per haec tempora nostrorum hominum libido iniquitasque pervaserit; sustinere iam populus Romanus omnium nationum non vim, non arma, non bellum, sed luctum, lacrimas, querimonias non potest. eius modi re ac moribus, si is qui erit adductus in iudicium, cum manifestis in flagitiis tenebitur, alios eadem fecisse dicet, illi exempla non deerunt: rei publicae salus deerit, si improborum exemplis improbi iudicio ac periculo liberabuntur.

[¶10] 208. Do you approve of the manners of men at present? Do you approve of men's behaving themselves in magistracies as they do? Do you approve, finally, of our allies being treated as you see that they have been treated all this time? Why am I forced to take all this trouble? Why are you all sitting here? Why do you not rise up and depart before I have got halfway through my speech? Do you wish to lay open at all the audacity and licentiousness of these men? Give up doubting whether it is more useful, because there are so many wicked men, to spare one, or by the punishment of one wicked man, to check the wickedness of many.

> Latin: 208. vobis hominum mores? placet ita geri magistratus ut geruntur? placet socios sic tractari, quod restat, ut per haec tempora tractatos videtis? haec a me opera consumitur? quid sedetis? cur non in media oratione mea consurgitis atque disceditis? autem istorum audacias ac libidines aliqua ex parte resecare? dubitare utrum sit utilius propter multos improbos uni parcere, an unius improbi supplicio multorum improbitatem coercere.

[¶11] 209. Although, what are those numerous instances of wicked men? For when in a cause of such importance, when in the case of a charge of such gravity, the defendant has begun to say that anything has frequently been done, those who hear him are expecting precedents drawn from ancient tradition; from old records and old documents, full of dignity, full of antiquity. For such instances usually have both a great deal of authority in proving any point, and are very pleasant to hear cited. Will you speak to me of the Africani, and the Catos and the Laelii, and will you say that they have done the same thing? Then, even though the act might not please me, still I should not be able to fight against the authority of those men. But, since you will not be able to produce them, will you bring forward these moderns, Quintus Catulus the father, Caius Marcius, Quintus Scaevola, Marcus Scaurus, Quintus Metellus? who have all governed provinces, and who have all levied corn on the ground of filling the granary. The authority of the men is great, so great as to be able to remove all suspicion of wrong-doing.

> Latin: 209. (90) quae ista sunt exempla multorum? cum in causa tanta, cum in crimine maximo dici a defensore coeptum est factitatum esse aliquid, exspectant ii qui audiunt exempla ex vetere memoria, ex monumentis ac litteris, plena dignitatis, plena antiquitatis; haec enim plurimum solent et auctoritatis habere ad probandum et iucunditatis ad audiendum. Africanos mihi et Catones et Laelios commemorabis et eos fecisse idem dices? res mihi non placeat, tamen contra hominum auctoritatem pugnare non potero., cum eos non poteris, proferes hos recentis, Q. Catulum patrem, C. Marium, Q. Scaevolam, M. Scaurum, Q. Metellum? qui omnes provincias habuerunt et frumentum cellae nomine imperaverunt. Magna est hominum auctoritas, et tanta ut etiam delicti suspicionem tegere possit.

[¶12] 210. But you have not, even out of these men who have lived more recently, one precedent of that authority. Whither, then, or to what examples will you bring me back? Will you lead me away from those men who have spent their lives in the service of the republic at a time when manners were very strict, and when the opinion of men was considered of great weight, and when the courts of justice were severe, to the existing caprice and licentiousness of men of the present age? And do you seek precedents for your defence among those men, as a warning to whom the Roman people have decided that they are in need of some severe examples? I do not, indeed, altogether condemn the manners of the present time, as long as we follow those examples which the Roman people approves of; not those which it condemns. I will not look around me, I will not go out of doors to seek for any one, while we have as judges those chiefs of the city, Publius Servilius and Quintus Catulus, who are men of such authority, and distinguished for such exploits, that they may be classed in that number of ancient and most illustrious men of whom I have previously spoken.

> Latin: 210. habes ne ex his quidem hominibus qui nuper fuerunt ullum auctorem istius aestimationis. me igitur aut ad quae exempla revocas? illis hominibus, qui tum versati sunt in re publica cum et optimi mores erant et hominum existimatio gravis habebatur et iudicia severa fiebant, ad hanc hominum libidinem ac licentiam me abducis, et, in quos aliquid exempli populus Romanus statui putat oportere, ab iis tu defensionis exempla quaeris? fugio ne hos quidem mores, dum modo ex his ea quae probat populus Romanus exempla, non ea quae condemnat sequamur. circumspiciam, non quaeram foris: habeo iudices tecum principes civitatis, P. Servilium et Q. Catulum, qui tanta auctoritate sunt, tantis rebus gestis, ut in illo antiquissimorum clarissimorumque hominum, de quibus antea dixi, numero reponantur.

[¶13] 211. We are seeking examples, and those not ancient ones. Very lately each of them had an army. Ask, O Hortensius, since you are fond of modern instances, what they did. Will you not? Quintus Catulus used corn, but he exacted no money. Publius Servilius, though he commanded an army for five years, and by that means might have made an incalculable sum of money, thought that nothing was lawful for himself which he had not seen his father and his grandfather, Quintus Metellus, do. Shall Caius Verres be found, who will say that everything is lawful for him which is profitable? Will he allege in his defence that he has done in accordance with the example set by others, what none, except wicked men, ever have done? Oh, but it has been often done in Sicily. What is that condition in which Sicily is? Why is the law of injustice, especially defined by a reference to the usages prevalent in that land which, on account of its antiquity as our ally, its fidelity, and its nearness to us, ought to enjoy the best laws of all?

> Latin: 211. quaerimus, et ea non antiqua. uterque horum exercitum habuit., Hortensi, quoniam te recentia exempla delectant, quid fecerint. vero? Q. Catulus frumento est usus, pecuniam non coegit; P. Servilius quinquennium exercitui cum praeesset et ista ratione innumerabilem pecuniam facere cum posset, non statuit sibi quicquam licere quod non patrem suum, non avum Q. Metellum, clarissimum hominem, facere vidisset: C. Verres reperietur qui, quicquid expediat, id licere dicat? quod nemo nisi improbus fecerit, id aliorum exemplo se fecisse defendat? in Sicilia factitatum est. est ista condicio Siciliae? cur quae optimo iure propter vetustatem, fidelitatem, propinquitatem esse debet, huic praecipua lex iniuriae definitur?

[¶14] 212. However, in Sicily itself, (I will not go abroad to look for examples,) I will take examples out of the very bench of judges before me. Caius Marcellus, I call you as a witness. You governed the province of Sicily when you were proconsul. Under your command were any sums of money extorted, under the name of money for the granary? I do not give you any credit for this. There are other exploits, other designs of yours worthy of the highest praise, measures by which you recovered and set up again an afflicted and ruined province. For even Lepidus whom you succeeded had not committed this fraud about the granary. What precedents then have you in Sicily affecting this charge about the granary, if you cannot defend yourself from the accusation by quoting any action even of Lepidus, much less any action of Marcellus?

> Latin: 212. in ista ipsa Sicilia non quaeram exemplum foris: hoc ipso ex consilio utar exemplis. C. Marcelle, te appello. Siciliae provinciae, cum esses pro consule, praefuisti: num quae in tuo imperio pecuniae cellae nomine coactae sunt? ego hoc in tua laude pono: alia sunt tua facta atque consilia summa laude digna, quibus illam tu provinciam adflictam et perditam erexisti atque recreasti; nam hoc de cella ne Lepidus quidem fecerat, cui tu successisti. sunt tibi igitur exempla in Sicilia cellae, si hoc crimen non modo Marcelli facto, sed ne Lepidi quidem potes defendere?

[¶15] 213. Are you going to bring me back to the valuation of the corn, and the exaction of money by Marcus Antonius? Just so, says he; to the valuation of Marcus Antonius. For this is what he seemed to mean by his signs and nods. Out of all the praetors of the Roman people then, and consuls, and generals, have you selected Marcus Antonius, and even the most infamous action done by him, for your imitation? And here is it difficult for me to say, or for the judges to think, that in that unlimited authority Marcus Antonius behaved himself in such a manner, that it is by far more injurious to Verres to say that as he, in a most infamous transaction, wished to imitate Antonius, than if he were able to allege in his defence, that he had never in his whole life done anything like Marcus Antonius? Men in trials are accustomed to allege, in making a defence against an accusation, not what any one did, but what he did that was good. In the middle of his course of injustice and covetousness death overtook Antony, while he was still both doing and planning many things contrary to the safety of the allies many things contrary to the advantage of our provinces. Will you defend the audacity of Verres by the example of Antonius, as if the senate and people of Rome approved of all his actions and designs?

> Latin: 213. me ad M. Antoni aestimationem frumenti exactionemque pecuniae revocaturus es? “,” inquit, “ad Antoni”; hoc enim mihi significasse et adnuisse visus est. omnibus igitur populi Romani praetoribus, consulibus, imperatoribus M. Antonium delegisti, et eius unum improbissimum factum, quod imitarere! hic utrum mini difficile est dicere an his existimare ita se in isto infinito imperio M. Antonium gessisse ut multo isti perniciosius sit dicere se ih re improbissima voluisse Antonium imitari quam si posset defendere nihil in vita se M. Antoni simile fecisse? in iudiciis ad crimen defendendum non quid fecerit quispiam proferre solent, sed quid probarit. Antonium, cum multa contra sociorum salutem, multa contra utilitatem provinciarum et faceret et cogitaret, in mediis eius iniuriis et cupiditatibus mors oppressit. mihi, quasi eius omnia facta atque consilia senatus, populus, iudices comprobarint, ita M. Antoni exemplo istius audaciam defendis?

[¶16] 214. But Sacerdos did the same. You name an upright man, and one endued with the greatest wisdom; but he can only be thought to have done the same thing, if he did it with the same intention. For the mere fact of the valuation has never been found fault with by me; but the equity of it depends on the advantage to, and willingness of the cultivator. No valuation can be found fault with, which is not only not disadvantageous, but which is even pleasing to the cultivator. Sacerdos, when he came into the province, commanded corn to be provided for the granary. As before the new harvest came in a modius of wheat was five denarii, the cities begged of him to have a valuation. The valuation wee somewhat lower than the actual market price, for he valued it at three denarii. You see that the same fact of a valuation, through the dissimilarity of the occasion, was a cause of praise in his instance, of accusation in yours. In his instance it was a kindness, in yours an injury.

> Latin: 214. idem fecit Sacerdos. innocentem et summa prudentia praeditum nominas; sed tum idem fecisse erit existimandus si eodem consilio fecerit. genus aestimationis ipsum a me numquam est reprehensum, sed eius aequitas aratorum commodo et voluntate perpenditur. potest reprehendi ulla aestimatio quae aratori non modo incommoda non est sed etiam grata est. Sacerdos ut in provinciam venit, frumentum in cellam imperavit. esset ante novum tritici modius denariis v petiverunt ab eo civitates ut aestimaret. aliquanto eius fuit aestimatio quam annona; nam aestimavit denariis iii. eandem aestimationem propter temporis dissimilitudinem in illo laudis causam habere, in te criminis, in illo benefici, in te iniuriae.

[¶17] 215. The same year Antonius valued corn at three denarii, after the harvest, in a season of exceeding cheapness, when the cultivators would rather give the corn for nothing, and he said that he had valued it at the same price as Sacerdos; and he spoke truly, but yet' by the same valuation the one had relieved the cultivators, the other had ruined them. And if it were not the case that the whole value of corn must be estimated by the season, and the market price, not by the abundance, nor by the total amount, these modii and a half of yours, O Hortensius, would never have been so agreeable; in distributing which to the Roman people, for every head, small as the quantity was, you did an action which was most agreeable to all men; for the dearness of corn caused that, which seemed a small thing in reality, to appear at that time a great one. If you had given such a largess to the Roman people in a time of cheapness, your kindness would have been derided and despised.

> Latin: 215. tempore praetor Antonius iii denariis aestimavit post messem, summa in vilitate, cum aratores frumentum dare gratis mallent, et aiebat se tantidem aestimasse quanti Sacerdotem, neque mentiebatur; sed eadem ista aestimatione alter sublevarat aratores, alter everterat. nisi omnis frumenti ratio ex temporibus esset et annona, non ex numero neque ex summa consideranda, numquam tam grati hi sesquimodii, Q. Hortensi, fuissent, quos tu cum ad mensurae tam exiguam rationem populo Romano in capita descripsisses, gratissimum omnibus fecisti; caritas enim annonae faciebat ut istuc, quod re parvum videtur, tempore magnum videretur. istuc si in vilitate populo Romano largiri voluisses, derisum tuum beneficium esset atque contemptum.

[¶18] 216. Do not, therefore, say that Verres did the same as Sacerdos had done, since he did not do it on the same occasion, nor when wheat was at a similar price; say rather, since you have a competent authority to quote, that he did for three years what Antonius did on his arrival, and with reference to scarcely a month's provisions, and defend his innocence by the act and authority of Marcus Antonius. For what will you say of Sextus Peducaeus, a most brave and honest man? What cultivator ever complained of him? or who did not think that his praetorship was the most impartial and the most active one that has ever been known up to this time? He governed the province for two years, when one year wee a year of cheapness, the other a year of the greatest dearness. Did any cultivator either give him money in the cheap season, or in the dear season complain of the valuation of his corn? Oh, but provisions were very abundant that dear season.

> Latin: 216. igitur dicere istum idem fecisse quod Sacerdotem, quoniam non eodem tempore neque simili fecit annona: dicito potius, quoniam habes auctorem idoneum, quod Antonius uno adventu et vix menstruis cibariis fecerit, id istum per triennium fecisse, et istius innocentiam M. Antoni facto atque auctoritate defendito. de. quidem Peducaeo, fortissimo atque innocentissimo viro, quid dicetis? de quo quis umquam arator questus est? aut quis non ad hoc tempus innocentissimam omnium diligentissimamque praeturam illius hominis existimat? provinciam obtinuit. alter annus in vilitate, alter in summa caritate fuerit, num aut in vilitate nummum arator quisquam dedit aut in caritate de aestimatione frumenti questus est? uberiora cibaria facta sunt caritate.

[¶19] 217. I believe they were; that is not a new thing nor a blamable one. We very lately saw Caius Sentius, a man of old-fashioned and extraordinary incorruptibility, on account of the dearness of food which existed in Macedonia, make a great deal of money by furnishing provisions. So that I do not grudge you your profits, if any have come to you legally; I complain of your injustice; I impeach your dishonesty; I cat your avarice into court, and arraign it before this tribunal. But if you wish to excite a suspicion that this charge belongs to more men and more provinces than one, I will not be afraid of that defence of yours, but I will profess myself the defender of all the provinces. In truth I say this, and I say it with a loud voice, “Wherever this has been done, it has been done wickedly; whoever has done it is deserving of punishment.”

> Latin: 217. ; neque id est novum neque reprehendendum. C. Sentium vidimus, hominem vetere illa ac singulari innocentia praeditum, propter caritatem frumenti quae fuerat in Macedonia permagnam ex cibariis pecuniam deportare. ob rem non ego invideo commodis tuis, si quae ad te lege venerunt: iniuriam queror, improbitatem coarguo, avaritiam in crimen et in iudicium voco. suspiciones inicere velitis ad pluris homines et ad pluris provincias crimen hoc pertinere, non ego istam defensionem vestram pertimescam, sed me omnium provinciarum defensorem esse profitebor. hoc dico, et magna voce dico, Vbicumque hoc factum est, improbe factum est; quicumque hoc fecit, supplicio dignus est.

[¶20] 218. For, in the name of the immortal gods, see, O judges, look forward with your mind's eye at what will be the result. Many men have exacted large sums from unwilling cities, and from unwilling cultivators, in this way, under pretence of filling the granary. (I have no idea of any one person having done so except him, but I grant you this, and I admit that many have.) In the case of this man you see the matter brought before a court of justice; what can you do? can you, when you are judges in a case of embezzlement which is brought before you, overlook the misappropriation of so large a sum? or can you, though the law was made for the sake of the allies, turn a deaf ear to the complaints of the allies?

> Latin: 218. , per deos immortalis, videte, iudices, et prospicite animis quid futurum sit. magnas pecunias ab invitis civitatibus atque ab invitis aratoribus ista ratione cellae nomine coegerunt,—omnino ego neminem video praeter istum, sed do hoc vobis et concedo, esse multos: in hoc homine rem adductam in iudicium videtis. facere potestis? utrum, cum iudices sitis de pecunia capta conciliata, tantam pecuniam captam neglegere, an, cum lex sociorum causa rogata sit, sociorum querimonias non audire?

[¶21] 219. However, I give up this point too to you. Disregard what is past, if you please; but do not destroy their hopes for the future, and ruin all the provinces; guard against this,—against opening, by your authority, a visible and broad way for avarice, which up to this time has been in the habit of advancing by secret and narrow paths; for if you approve of this, and if you decide that it is lawful for money to be taken on that pretext, at all events there is no one except the most foolish of men who will not for the future do what as yet no one except the most dishonest of men ever has done; they are dishonest men who exact money contrary to the laws, they are fools who omit to do what it has been decided that they may do.

> Latin: 219. hoc quoque vobis remitto; neglegite praeterita, si vultis; sed ne reliquas spes turbetis atque omnis provincias evertatis, id providete, ne avaritiae, quae antehac occultis itineribus atque angustis uti solebat, auctoritate vestra viam patefaciatis inlustrem atque latam. si hoc probatis et si licere pecunias isto nomine capi iudicatis, certe hoc, quod adhuc nemo nisi improbissimus fecit, posthac nemo nisi stultissimus non faciet. sunt qui pecunias contra leges cogunt, stulti qui quod licere iudicatum est praetermittunt.

[¶22] 220. In the next place, see, O judges, what a boundless licence for plundering people of money you will he giving to men. If the man who exacts three denarii is acquitted, some one else will exact four, five, presently ten, or even twenty. What reproof will he meet with? At what degree of injury will the severity of the judge first begin to make a stand? How many denarii will it be that will be quite intolerable? and at what point will the iniquity and dishonesty of the valuation be first arraigned? For it is not the amount, but the description of valuation that will be approved of by you. Nor can you decide in this manner, that it is lawful for a valuation to be made when the price fixed is three denarii, but not lawful when the price fixed is ten; for when a departure is once made from the standard of the market price, and when the affair is once so changed that it is not the advantage of the cultivators which is the rule, but the will of the praetor, then the manner of valuing no longer depends on law and duty, but on the caprice and avarice of men. Wherefore, if in giving your decisions you once pass over the boundary of equity and law, know that you impose on those who come after no limit to dishonesty and avarice in valuing.

> Latin: 220. , iudices, videte, quam infinitam sitis hominibus licentiam pecuniarum eripiendarum daturi., ternos denarios qui coegit erit absolutus, quaternos, quinos, denos denique aut vicenos coget alius. erit reprehensio? in quo primum iniuriae gradu resistere incipiet severitas iudicis? quotus erit iste denarius qui non sit ferendus, et in quo primum aestimationis iniquitas atque improbitas reprehendatur? enim a vobis summa, sed genus aestimationis erit comprobatum, neque hoc potestis iudicare, ternis denariis aestimare licere, denis non licere. Vbi enim semel ab annonae ratione et ab aratorum voluntate res ad praetoris libidinem translata est, non est iam in lege neque in officio, sed in voluntate hominum atque avaritia positus modus aestimandi., si vos semel in iudicando finem aequitatis et legis transieritis, scitote vos nullum ceteris in aestimando finem improbitatis et avaritiae reliquisse.

[¶23] 221. See, therefore, how many things are required of you at once. Acquit the man who confesses that he has taken immense sums, doing at the same time the greatest injury to our allies. That is not enough. There are also many others who have done the same thing. Acquit them also, if there are any; so as to release as many rogues as possible by one decision. Even that is not enough. Cause that it may be lawful to those who come after them to do the same thing. It shall be lawful. Even this is too little. Allow it to be lawful for every one to value corn at whatever price he pleases. He may so value it. You see now, in truth, O judges, that if this valuation be approved of by you, there will be no limit hereafter to any man's avarice, nor any punishment for dishonesty.

> Latin: 221. igitur quam multa simul a vobis postulentur. eum qui se fateatur maximas pecunias cum summa sociorum iniuria cepisse. est satis: sunt alii quoque complures qui idem fecerint. etiam illos, si qui sunt, ut uno iudicio quam plurimos improbos liberetis. id quidem satis est: facite ut ceteris posthac idem liceat.: adhuc parum est. ut liceat quanti quisque velit tanti aestimare. est: stultissimus quisque posthac minimo aestimabit. iam profecto, iudices, hac aestimatione a vobis comprobata neque modum posthac avaritiae cuiusquam neque poenam improbitatis futuram.

[¶24] 222. What, therefore, O Hortensius, are you about? You are the consul elect, you have had a province allotted to you. When you speak on the subject of the valuation of corn, we shall listen to you as if you were avowing that you will do what you defend as having been legitimately done by Verres; and as if you were very eager that that should be lawful for you which you say was lawful for him. But if that is to be lawful, there is nothing which you can imagine any one likely to do hereafter, in consequence of which he can possibly be condemned for extortion. For whatever sum of money any one covets, that amount it will be lawful for him to acquire, under the plea of the granary, and by means of the highness of the valuation.

> Latin: 222. ob rem quid agis, Hortensi? es designatus, provinciam sortiturus es; de aestimatione frumenti cum dices, sic te audiemus quasi id quod ab isto recte factum esse defendes te facturum profiteare, et quasi quod isti licitum esse dices vehementer cupias tibi licere., si id licebit, nihil est quod putetis quemquam posthac commissurum ut de pecuniis repetundis condemnari possit. enim quisque concupierit pecuniam, tantam licebit per cellae nomen aestimationis magnitudine consequatur.

[¶25] 223. But there is a thing, which, even if Hortensius does not say it openly in defending Verres, he still does say in such a manner that you may suspect and think that this matter concerns the advantage of the senators; that it concerns the advantage of those who are judges, and who think that they will some day or other be in the provinces themselves as governors or as lieutenants. But you must think that we have splendid judges, if you think them likely to show indulgence to the faults of others, in order the more easily to be allowed to commit faults themselves. Do we then wish the Roman people, do we wish the provinces, and our allies, and foreign nations to think that, if senators are the judges, this particular manner of extorting immense sums of money with the greatest injustice will never be in any way chastised? But if that be the case, what can we say against that praetor who every day occupies the senate, who insists upon it that the republic can not prosper, if the office of judge is not restored to the equestrian order?

> Latin: 223. enim est quiddam quod, etiamsi palam in defendendo 9 non dicet Hortensius, tamen ita dicet ut vos id suspicari et cogitare possitis, pertinere hoc ad commodum senatorium, pertinere ad utilitatem eorum qui iudicent, qui in provinciis cum potestate aut cum legatione se futuros aliquando arbitrentur. vero existimas iudices nos habere, quos alienis peccatis concessuros putes quo facilius ipsis peccare liceat. id volumus populum Romanum, id provincias, id socios nationesque exteras existimare, si senatores iudicent, hoc certe unum genus infinitae pecuniae per summam iniuriam cogendae nullo modo posse reprehendi? si ita est, quid possumus contra illum praetorem dicere qui cotidie templum tenet, qui rem publicam sistere negat posse nisi ad equestrem ordinem iudicia referantur?

[¶26] 224. But if he begins to agitate this one point, that there is one description of extortion, common to all the senators, and now almost legalized in the case of that order, by which immense sums are taken from the allies with the greatest injustice; and that this cannot possibly be repressed by tribunals of senators, but that, while the equestrian order furnished the senators, it never was committed; who, then, can resist him? Who will be so desirous of gratifying you, who will be such a partisan of your order, as to be able to oppose the transference of the appointment of judges to that body? And I wish he were able to make a defence to this charge by any argument, however false, as long as it is natural and customary. You could then decide with less danger to yourselves, with less danger to all the provinces. Did he deny that he had adopted this valuation? You would appear to have believed the man in that statement, not to have approved of his action. He cannot possibly deny it. It is proved by all Sicily. Out of all that numerous band of cultivators, there is not one from whom money has not been exacted on the plea of the granary.

> Latin: 224. ille hoc unum agitare coeperit, esse aliquod genus cogendae pecuniae senatorium commune et iam prope concessum ordini, quo genere ab sociis maxima pecunia per summam iniuriam auferatur, neque id ullo modo senatoriis iudiciis reprehendi posse, idque, dum equester ordo iudicarit, numquam esse commissum, quis obsistet? quis erit tam cupidus vestri, tam fautor ordinis, qui de transferendis iudiciis possit recusare? utinam posset aliqua ratione hoc crimen quamvis falsa, modo humana atque usitata defendere: minore periculo vestro, minore periculo provinciarum omnium iudicaretis. hac aestimatione se usum, vos id credidissetis: homini credidisse, non factum comprobasse videremini. modo negare potest; urgetur a tota Sicilia; nemo est ex tanto numero aratorum a quo pecunia cellae nomine non sit exacta.

[¶27] 225. I wish he were able to say even this, that that affair does not concern him; that the whole business relating to corn was managed by the quaestors. Even that he cannot say, because his own letters are read which were sent to the cities, written on the subject of the three denarii. What then is his defence? “I have done what you accuse me of; I have extorted immense sums on the plea of the granary; but it was lawful for me to do so, and it will be lawful for you if you take care.” A dangerous thing for the provinces for any classes of injury to be established by judicial decision to a dangerous thing for our order, for the Roman people to think that these men, who themselves are subject to the laws, cannot defend the laws with strictness when they are judges. And while that man was praetor, O judges, there was not only no limit to his valuing corn, but there was none either to his demands of corn. Nor did he command that only to be supplied that was due, but as much as was advantageous for himself. I will put before you the sum total of all the corn commanded to be furnished for the granary, as collected out of the public documents, and the testimonies of the cities You will find, O judges, that man commanded the cities to supply five times as much as it was lawful for him to take for the granary. What can be added to this impudence, if he both valued it at such a price that men could not endure it, and also commanded so much more to be supplied than was permitted to him by the laws to require?

> Latin: 225. etiam hoc posset dicere, nihil ad se istam rationem pertinere, per quaestores rem frumentariam esse administratam. id quidem ei licet dicere, propterea quod ipsius litterae recitantur ad civitates de ternis denariis missae. est igitur defensio? “quod arguis; coegi pecunias maximas cellae nomine; sed hoc mihi licuit, vobis si prospicitis licebit.” provinciis genus iniuriae confirmari iudicio, perniciosum nostro ordini populum Romanum existimare non posse eos homines qui ipsi legibus teneantur leges in iudicando religiose defendere. isto praetore, iudices,, non solum aestimandi frumenti modus non fuit, sed ne imperandi quidem; neque enim id quod debebatur, sed quantum commodum fuit imperavit. faciam vobis ex publicis litteris ac testimoniis civitatum frumenti in cellam imperati: reperietis quinquiens tanto, iudices amplius istum quam quantum in cellam ei sumere licitum sit civitatibus imperasse. ad hanc impudentiam addi potest, si et aestimavit tanti ut homines ferre non possent, et tanto plus quam erat ei concessum legibus imperavit?

[¶28] 226. Wherefore, now that you have heard the whole business of the corn, O judges, you can easily see that Sicily, that most productive and most desirable province, has been lost to the Roman people, unless you recover it by your condemnation of that man. For what is Sicily, if you take away the cultivation of its land, and if you extinguish the multitude and the very name of the cultivators of the soil? For what can there be left of disaster which has not come to those unhappy cultivators, with every circumstance of injury and insult? They were liable, indeed, to pay tenths, but they have scarcely had a tenth left for themselves. When money has been due to them, it has not been paid; though the senate intended them to supply corn for the granary according to a very equitable valuation, they have been compelled to sell even the tools with which they cultivate their lands.

> Latin: 226. cognita tota re frumentaria, iudices, iam facillime perspicere potestis amissam esse populo Romano Siciliam, fructuosissimam atque opportunissimam provinciam, nisi eam vos istius damnatione recuperatis. est enim Sicilia si agri cultionem sustuleris et si aratorum numerum ac nomen exstinxeris? autem potest esse in calamitate residui quod non ad miseros aratores isto praetore per summam iniuriam ignominiamque pervenerit? quibus, cum decumas dare deberent, vix ipsis decumae relictae sunt; cum pecunia deberetur, soluta non est; cum optima aestimatione senatus frumentum eos in cellam dare voluisset, etiam instrumenta agrorum vendere coacti sunt.

[¶29] 227. I have already said, O judges, that even if you remove all these injuries, still that the occupation of cultivating land is maintained owing to the hopes and a certain sort of pleasure which it gives, rather than because of the profit and emolument arising from it. In truth every year constant labour and constant expense is incurred in the hope of a result which is casual and uncertain. Moreover, the crop does not command a high price, except in a disastrous harvest. But if there has been a great abundance of crops gathered, then there is cheapness in selling them. So that you may see that the corn must be badly sold if it is got in well, or else that the crop must be bad if you get a good price for it. And the whole business of agriculture is such, that it is regulated not by reason or by industry, but by those most uncertain things,—the weather and the winds. When from agriculture one tenth is extracted by law and on fair terms,—when a second is levied by a new regulation, on account of the necessity of procuring a sufficient supply for ourselves,—when, besides, corn is purchased every year by public authority,—and when, after all that, more still is ordered by magistrates and lieutenants to be supplied for the granary,—what, or how much is there after all this of his own crop which the cultivator or owner can have at his own disposal, for his own profit?

> Latin: 227. iam antea, iudices, ut has omnis iniurias tollatis, tamen ipsam rationem arandi spe magis et iucunditate quadam quam fructu atque emolumento teneri. ad incertum casum et eventum certus quotannis labor et certus sumptus impenditur. porro pretium nisi in calamitate fructuum non habet; si autem ubertas in percipiendis fructibus fuit, consequitur vilitas in vendendis, ut aut male vendendum intellegas, si bene processit, aut male perceptos fructus, si recte licet vendere. autem res rusticae eius modi sunt ut eas non ratio neque labor, sed res incertissimae, venti tempestatesque, moderentur. cum unae decumae lege et consuetudine detrahantur, alterae novis institutis propter annonae rationem imperentur, ematur praeterea frumentum quotannis publice, postremo etiam in cellam magistratibus et legatis imperetur, quid aut quantum praeterea est quod aut liberum possit habere ille arator ac dominus in potestate suorum fructuum aut in ipsis fructibus solutum?

[¶30] 228. And if all this is endured,—if by their care, and expense, and labour, they consult your advantage and that of the Roman people rather than themselves and their own profit,—still, ought they also to bear these new edicts and commands of the praetors, and the imperiousness of Apronius, and the robberies and rapine of the slaves of Venus? Ought they also to supply corn which ought to be purchased of them without getting any payment for it? Ought they also, though they are willing to supply corn for the granary without payment, to be forced to pay large sums too? Ought they also to endure all these injures and all these losses accompanied with the greatest insult and contumely? Therefore, O judges, those things which they have not at all been able to bear, they have not borne. You know that over the whole of Sicily the allotments of land are deserted and abandoned by their owners. Nor is there anything else to be gained by this trial, except that our most ancient and faithful allies, the Sicilians, Roman settlers, and the cultivators of the soil, owing to your strictness and your care, may return to their farms and to their homes under my guidance and through my instrumentality. The subject of this oration is the manner in which Verres had plundered not only private individuals, but even some temples, of valuable statues, and other works of art. Among the instances given some of the most prominent are the plunder of Heius, a Messanian, of Philarchus, of Centuripa, of several other private citizens, of Antiochus, the king; and of the temples of Diana, Mercury, and Ceres. A French translator in commenting on this oration says, with reference to the slighting way in which Cicero speaks of the works of art thus stolen,—“The Romans struggled for some time against the seductive power of the arts of Greece, to which for many ages they were strangers. At first they really did despise them, afterwards they affected to despise them, but at last they were forced to bow the head beneath the brilliant yoke of luxury; and Greece, industrious, learned, and polite, subdued by the admiration which it extorted, the ignorant, unlettered, and rude barbarians who had conquered her by force. Faithful to the ancient maxims of the republic, Cicero in this oration speaks only with a sort of disdain of the arts and works of the most famous artists. He even pretends sometimes not to be too well acquainted with the names of the most celebrated statuaries; he often repeats, and with a kind of affectation, that he knows very little of painting or sculpture; and rather prides himself, as one may say, on his ignorance. He seems to regard a taste for art as unworthy of the Romans, and the finest chefs d' oeuvre as children's toys, fit to amuse the trifling and frivolous minds of the Greeks, whose name he usually expresses by a contemptuous diminutive, (Graeculi,) but little calculated to fix the attention, or attract the esteem or wishes of a Roman mind. ****** In general there runs through these orations a tone more calculated to render Verres ridiculous, than to make one feel how much there was in all his attempts which was odious and horrible. The orator even permitted himself some pleasantries, for which his taste has been, perhaps too severely, called in question. Cicero had no dislike to puns, and has played a good deal on the name of Verres, which means a boar. He was too eager to acquire the reputation of a wit. It is true that the person of Verres was sufficiently inviting as a subject for ridicule. He was one of those gross men overloaded with fat in whom the bulk of body appears to stifle all delicacy of moral feeling. As he had tried to carry off a statue of Hercules which his people could with difficulty move upon its pedestal, Cicero calls this the thirteenth of the labours of Hercules. And playing continually on the name of Verres, he compares him to the boar of Erymanthus. At another time he calls him the dragnet of Sicily, because the name Verres has some resemblance to the word everriculum, which signifies a dragnet.” Hortensius endeavoured to defend Verres from the charge of having stolen these statues, &c. of which he admits that he had become the possessor, by contending that he had bought them. But it was contrary to the laws for a magistrate to purchase any such articles in his province; and Cicero shows also that the prices alleged to have been given are so wholly disproportionate to their value, that it is ridiculous to assert that the things had been purchased and not taken by force. I come now to what Verres himself calls his passion what his friends call his disease, his madness; what the Sicilians call his rapine; what I am to call it, I know not. I will state the whole affair to you, and do you consider it according to its own importance and not by the importance of its name. First of all, O judges, suffer me to make you acquainted with the description of this conduct of his; and then, perhaps, you will not be very much puzzled to know by what name to call it. I say that in all Sicily, in all that wealthy and ancient province, that in that number of towns and families of such exceeding riches, there was no silver vessel, no Corinthian or Delian plate, no jewel or pearl, nothing made of gold or ivory, no statue of marble or brass or ivory, no picture whether painted or embroidered, that he did not seek out, that he did not inspect, that, if he liked it, he did not take away. I seem to be making a very extensive charge; listen now to the manner in which I make it. For I am not embracing everything in one charge for the sake of making an impression, or of exaggerating his guilt. When I say that he left nothing whatever of the sort in the whole province, know that I am speaking according to the strict meaning of the words, and not in the spirit of an accuser. I will speak even more plainly; I will say that he has left nothing in any one's house, nothing even in the towns, nothing in public places, not even in the temples, nothing in the possession of any Sicilian, nothing in the possession of any Roman citizen; that he has left nothing, in short, which either came before his eyes or was suggested to his mind, whether private property or public, or profane or sacred, in all Sicily. Where then shall I begin rather than with that city which was above all others in your affection, and which was your chosen place of enjoyment? or with what class of men rather than with your flatterers? For by that means it will be the more easily seen how you behaved among those men who hate you, who accuse you, who will not let you rest, when you are proved to have plundered among the Mamertines, who are your friends, in the most infamous manner. Caius Heius is a Mamertine—all men will easily grant me this who have ever been to Messana; the most accomplished man in every point of view in all that city. His house is the very best in all Messana,—most thoroughly known, most constantly open, most especially hospitable to all our fellow-citizens. That house before the arrival of Verres was so splendidly adorned, as to be an ornament even to the city. For Messanaitself, which is admirable on account of its situation, its fortifications, and its harbour, is very empty and bare of those things in which Verres delights.

> Latin: 228. haec ferunt omnia, si potius vobis ac rei publicae quam sibi et suis commodis opera sumptu labore deserviunt, etiamne haec nova debent edicta et imperia praetorum et Aproni dominationem et Veneriorum servorum furta rapinasque ferre? etiamne frumentum pro empto gratis dare? etiamne in cellam cum cupiant gratis dare ultro pecuniam grandem addere? etiamne haec tot detrimenta atque damna cum maximis iniuriis contumeliisque perferre? haec, iudices, quae pati nullo modo potuerunt non pertulerunt. omnis tota Sicilia desertas atque a dominis relictas esse cognoscitis; neque quicquam aliud agitur hoc iudicio nisi ut antiquissimi socii et fidelissimi, Siculi, coloni populi Romani atque aratores, vestra severitate et diligentia me duce atque auctore in agros atque in sedes suas revertantur. nunc ad istius, quem ad modum ipse appellat, studium, ut amici eius, morbum et insaniam, ut Siculi, latrocinium; ego quo nomine appellem nescio; rem vobis proponam, vos eam suo non nominis pondere penditote. ipsum prius cognoscite, iudices; deinde fortasse non magno opere quaeretis quo id nomine appellandum putetis. in Sicilia tota, tam locupleti, tam vetere provincia, tot oppidis, tot familiis tam copiosis, ullum argenteum vas, ullum Corinthium aut Deliacum fuisse, ullam gemmam aut margaritam, quicquam ex auro aut ebore factum, signum ullum aeneum, marmoreum, eburneum, nego ullam picturam neque in tabula neque in textili quin conquisierit, inspexerit, quod placitum sit abstulerit. Magnum videor dicere: attendite etiam quem ad modum dicam. enim verbi neque criminis augendi causa complector omnia: cum dico nihil istum eius modi rerum in tota provincia reliquisse, Latine me scitote, non accusatorie loqui. planius: nihil in aedibus cuiusquam, ne in hospitis quidem, nihil in locis communibus, ne in fanis quidem, nihil apud Siculum, nihil apud civem Romanum, denique nihil istum, quod ad oculos animumque acciderit, neque privati neque publici neque profani neque sacri tota in Sicilia reliquisse. Vnde igitur potius incipiam quam ab ea civitate quae tibi una in amore atque in deliciis fuit, aut ex quo potius numero quam ex ipsis laudatoribus tuis? enim perspicietur qualis apud eos fueris qui te oderunt, qui accusant, qui persequuntur, cum apud tuos Mamertinos inveniare improbissima ratione esse praedatus. C. Heius est Mamertinus—omnes hoc mihi qui Messanam accesserunt facile concedunt —omnibus rebus illa in civitate ornatissimus. domus est vel optima Messanae, notissima quidem certe et nostris hominibus apertissima maximeque hospitalis. domus ante istius adventum ornata sic fuit ut urbi quoque esset ornamento; nam ipsa Messana, quae situ moenibus portuque ornata sit, ab his rebus quibus iste delectatur sane vacua atque nuda est.

## 21. Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 4–35

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/21/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/21/#p-N

[¶0] 4. There was in the house of Heius a private chapel of great sacredness, handed down to him from his ancestors, very ancient; in which he had four very beautiful statues, made with the greatest skill, and of very high character; calculated not only to delight Verres, that clever and accomplished man, but even any one of us whom he calls the mob:—one, a statue of Cupid, in marble, a work of Praxiteles; for in truth, while I have been inquiring into that man's conduct, I have learnt the names of the workmen; it was the same workman, as I imagine, who made that celebrated Cupid of the same figure as this which is at Thespiae, on account of which people go to see Thespiae, for there is no other reason for going to see it; and therefore that great man Lucius Mummius, when he carried away from that town the statues of the Muses which are now before the temple of Good Fortune, and the other statues which were not consecrated, did not touch this marble Cupid, because it had been consecrated.

> Latin: 4. apud Heium sacrarium magna cum dignitate in aedibus a maioribus traditum perantiquum, in quo signa pulcherrima quattuor summo artificio, summa nobilitate, quae non modo istum hominem ingeniosum et intellegentem, verum etiam quemvis nostrum, quos iste idiotas appellat, delectare possent, unum Cupidinis marmoreum Praxiteli; nimirum didici etiam, dum in istum inquiro, artificum nomina., opinor, artifex eiusdem modi Cupidinem fecit illum qui est Thespiis, propter quem Thespiae visuntur; nam alia visendi causa nulla est. ille L. Mummius, cum Thespiadas, quae ad aedem sunt, ceteraque profana ex illo oppido signa tolleret, hunc marmoreum Cupidinem, quod erat consecratus, non attigit.

[¶1] 5. But to return to that private chapel; there was this statue, which I am speaking of, of Cupid, made of marble. On the other side there was a Hercules, beautifully made of brass; that was said to be the work of Myron, as I believe, and it undoubtedly was so. Also before those gods there were little altars, which might indicate to any one the holiness of the chapel. There were besides two brazen statues, of no very great size, but of marvellous beauty, in the dress and robes of virgins, which with uplifted hands were supporting some sacred vessels which were placed on their heads, after the fashion of the Athenian virgins. They were called the Canephorae, but their maker was.... (who? who was he? thank you, you are quite right,) they called him Polycletus. Whenever any one of our citizens went to Messana, he used to go and see these statues. They were open every day for people to go to see them. The house was not more an ornament to its master, than it was to the city.

> Latin: 5. ut ad illud sacrarium redeam, signum erat hoc quod dico Cupidinis e marmore, ex altera parte Hercules egregie factus ex aere. dicebatur esse Myronis, ut opinor, et certe. ante hos deos erant arulae, quae cuivis religionem sacrari significare possent. aenea duo praeterea signa, non maxima verum eximia venustate, virginali habitu atque vestitu, quae manibus sublatis sacra quaedam more Atheniensium virginum reposita in capitibus sustinebant; Canephoroe ipsae vocabantur; sed earum artificem —quem? quemnam? recte admones—Polyclitum esse dicebant. Messanam ut quisque nostrum venerat, haec visere solebat; omnibus haec ad visendum patebant cotidie; domus erat non domino magis ornamento quam civitati.

[¶2] 6. Caius Claudius, whose aedileship we know to have been a most splendid affair, used this statue of Cupid, as long as he kept the forum decorated in honour of the immortal gods and the Roman people. And as he was connected by ties of hospitality with the Heii, and was the patron of the Mamertine people,—as he availed himself of their kindness to lend him this, so he was careful to restore it There have lately been noble men of the same kind, O judges;—why do I say lately, Yes, we have seen some very lately, a very little while ago indeed, who have adorned the forum and the public buildings, not with the spoils of the provinces, but with ornaments belonging to their friends,—with splendid things lent by their own connections, not with the produce of the thefts of guilty men,—and who afterwards have restored the statues and decorations, each to its proper owner; men who have not taken things away out of the cities of our allies for the sake of a four-day festival, under presence of the shows to be exhibited in their aedileship, and after that carried them off to their own homes, and their own villas.

> Latin: 6. C. Claudius, cuius aedilitatem magnificentissimam 6 scimus fuisse, usus est hoc Cupidine tam diu dum forum dis immortalibus populoque Romano habuit ornatum, et, cum hospes esset Heiorum, Mamertini autem populi patronus, ut illis benignis usus est ad commodandum, sic ipse diligens fuit ad reportandum. homines nobilis eius modi, iudices,—sed quid dico “nuper”? immo vero modo ac plane paulo ante vidimus, qui forum et basilicas non spoliis provinciarum sed ornamentis amicorum, commodis hospitum non furtis nocentium ornarent; qui tamen signa atque ornamenta sua cuique reddebant, non ablata ex urbibus sociorum atque amicorum quadridui causa, per simulationem aedilitatis, domum deinde atque ad suas villas auferebant.

[¶3] 7. All these statues which I have mentioned, O judges, Verres took away from Heius, out of his private chapel. Be left, I say, not one of those things, nor anything else, except one old wooden figure.—Good Fortune, as I believe; that, forsooth, he did not choose to have in his house! Oh! for the good faith of gods and men! What is the meaning of all this? What a cause is this? What impudence is this! The statues which I am speaking of, before they were taken away by you, no commander ever came to Messanawithout seeing So many praetors, so many consuls as there have been in Sicily, in time of peace, and in time of war; so many men of every sort as there have been—I do not speak of upright, innocent, conscientious men, but so many covetous, so many audacious, so many infamous men as there have been, not one of them all was violent enough, or seemed to himself powerful enough or noble enough, to venture to ask for, or to take away, or even to touch anything in that chapel. Shall Verres take away everything which is most beautiful everywhere? Shall it not be allowed to any one besides to have anything? Shall that one house of his contain so many wealthy houses? Was it for this reason that none of his predecessors ever touched these things, that he might be able to carry them off? Was this the reason why Caius Claudius Pulcher restored them, that Caius Verres might be able to steal them? But that Cupid had no wish for the house of a pimp and the establishment of a harlot; he was quite content to stay in that chapel where he was hereditary; he knew that he had been left to Heius by his ancestors, with the rest of the sacred things which he inherited; he did not require the heir of a prostitute.

> Latin: 7. omnia quae dixi signa, iudices, ab Heio e sacrario Verres abstulit; nullum, inquam, horum reliquit neque aliud ullum tamen praeter unum pervetus ligneum, Fortunam, ut opinor; eam iste habere domi suae noluit. deum hominumque fidem! quid hoc est? quae haec causa est, quae ista impudentia? dico signa, antequam abs te sublata sunt, Messanam cum imperio nemo venit quin viserit. praetores, tot consules in Sicilia cum in pace tum etiam in bello fuerunt, tot homines cuiusque modi—non loquor de integris, innocentibus, religiosis —tot cupidi, tot improbi, tot audaces, quorum nemo sibi tam vehemens, tam potens, tam nobilis visus est qui ex illo sacrario quicquam poscere aut tollere aut attingere auderet: Verres quod ubique erit pulcherrimum auferet? nihil habere cuiquam praeterea licebit? tot domus locupletissimas istius domus una capiet? nemo superiorum attigit ut hic tolleret? ideo C. Claudius rettulit ut C. Verres posset auferre? non requirebat ille Cupido lenonis domum ac meretriciam disciplinam; facile illo sacrario patrio continebatur; Heio se a maioribus relictum esse sciebat in hereditate sacrorum, non quaerebat meretricis heredem.

[¶4] 8. But why am I borne on so impetuously? I shall in a moment be refuted by one word. “I bought it,” says he. O ye immortal gods, what a splendid defence! we sent a broker into the province with military command and with the forces, to buy up all the statues, all the paintings, all the silver plate and gold plate, and ivory, and jewels, and to leave nothing to any body. For this defence seems to me to be got ready for everything; that he bought them. In the first place, if I should grant to you that which you wish, namely, that you bought them, since against all this class of accusations you are going to use this defence alone, I ask what sort of tribunals you thought that there would be at Rome, if you thought that any one would grant you this, that you in your praetorship and in your command bought up so many and such valuable things,—everything, in short, which was of any value in the whole province.

> Latin: 8. quid ego tam vehementer invehor? verbo uno repellar. “,” inquit. immortales, praeclaram defensionem! in provinciam cum imperio ac securibus misimus, omnia qui signa, tabulas pictas, omne argentum, aurum, ebur, gemmas coemeret, nihil cuiquam relinqueret! enim mihi ad omnia defensio patefieri videtur, emisse., si id quod vis tibi ego concedam, ut emeris,—quoniam in toto hoc genere hac una defensione usurus es,— quaero cuius modi tu iudicia Romae putaris esse, si tibi hoc quemquam concessurum putasti, te in praetura atque imperio tot res tam pretiosas, omnis denique res quae alicuius preti fuerint, tota ex provincia coemisse?

[¶5] 9. Remark the care of our ancestors, who as yet suspected no such conduct as this, but yet provided against the things which might happen in affairs of small importance. They thought that no one who had gone as governor or as lieutenant into a province would be so insane as to buy silver, for that was given him out of the public fends; or raiment, for that was afforded him by the laws; they thought he might buy a slave, a thing which we all use, and which is not provided by the laws. They made a law, therefore, “that no one should buy a slave except in the room of a slave who was dead.” If any slave had died at Rome? No, if any one had died in the place where his master was. For they did not mean you to furnish your house in the province, but to be of use to the province in its necessities.

> Latin: 9. maiorum diligentiam, qui nihildum etiam istius modi suspicabantur, verum tamen ea quae parvis in rebus accidere poterant providebant. qui cum potestate aut legatione in provinciam esset profectus tam amentem fore putaverunt ut emeret argentum, dabatur enim de publico; ut vestem, praebebatur enim legibus; mancipium putarunt, quo et omnes utimur et non praebetur a populo: sanxerunt ne quis emeret nisi in demortui locum. qui Romae esset demortuus? immo, si quis ibidem; non enim te instruere domum tuam voluerunt in provincia, sed illum usum provinciae supplere.

[¶6] 10. What was the reason why they so carefully kept us from making purchases in the provinces? This was it, O judges, because they thought it a robbery, not a purchase, when the seller was not allowed to sell on his own terms. And they were aware that, in the provinces, if he who was there with the command and power of a governor wished to purchase what was in any one's possession, and was allowed to do so, it would come to pass that he would get whatever he chose, whether it was to be sold or not, at whatever price he pleased. Some one will say, “Do not deal with Verres in that manner; do not try and examine his actions by the standard of old-fashioned conscientiousness; allow him to have bought them without being punished for it, provided he bought them in a fair way, not through any arbitrary exercise of power, nor from any one against his will, or by violence.” I will so deal with him. If Heius had anything for sale, if he sold it for the price at which he valued it, I give up inquiring why you bought it.

> Latin: 10. fuit causa cur tam diligenter nos in provinciis ab emptionibus removerent?, iudices, quod putabant ereptionem esse, non emptionem, cum venditori suo arbitratu vendere non liceret. provinciis intellegebant, si is qui esset cum imperio ac potestate quod apud quemque esset emere vellet, idque ei liceret, fore uti quod quisque vellet, sive esset venale sive non esset, quanti vellet auferret. aliquis: “isto modo agere cum Verre, noli eius facta ad antiquae religionis rationem exquirere; concede ut impune emerit, modo ut bona ratione emerit, nihil pro potestate, nihil ab invito, nihil per iniuriam.” agam: si, quod venale habuit Heius, id quanti aestimabat tanti vendidit, desino quaerere cur emeris.

[¶7] 11. What then are we to do? Are we to use arguments in a case of this sort? We must ask, I suppose, whether Heius was in debt, whether he had an auction,—if he had, whether he was in such difficulties about money matters, whether he was oppressed by such want, by such necessity, as to strip his private chapel, to sell his paternal gods. But I see that the man had no auction; that he never sold anything except the produce of his land; that he not only had no debts, but that he had always abundance of ready money. Even if all these things were contrary to what I say they were, still I say that he would not have sold things which had been so many years in the household and chapel of his ancestors. “What will you say if he was persuaded by the greatness of the sum given him for them?” It is not probable that a man, rich as he was, honourable as he was, should have preferred money to his own religious feelings and to the memorials of his ancestors.

> Latin: 11. igitur nobis faciendum est? num argumentis utendum in re eius modi?, credo, est Heius iste num aes alienum habuerit, num auctionem fecerit; si fecit, num tanta difficultas eum rei nummariae tenuerit, tanta egestas, tanta vis presserit ut sacrarium suum spoliaret, ut deos patrios venderet. hominem video auctionem fecisse nullam, vendidisse praeter fructus suos nihil umquam, non modo in aere alieno nullo, sed in suis nummis multis esse et semper fuisse; si haec contra ac dico essent omnia, tamen illum haec, quae tot annos in familia sacrarioque maiorum fuissent, venditurum non fuisse. “, si magnitudine pecuniae persuasum est?” simile non est ut ille homo tam locuples, tam honestus, religioni suae monumentisque maiorum pecuniam anteponeret.

[¶8] 12. “That may be, yet men are sometimes led away from their habits and principles by large sums of money.” Let us see, then, how great a sum this was which could turn Heius, a man of exceeding riches, by no means covetous, away from decency, from affection, and from religion. You ordered him, I suppose, to enter in his account books, “All these statues of Praxiteles, of Myron, of Polycletus, were sold to Verres for six thousand five hundred sesterces.” Read the extracts from his accounts— [The accounts of Heius are read.] I am delighted that the illustrious names of these workmen, whom those men extol to the skies, have fallen so low in the estimation of Verres—the Cupid of Praxiteles for sixteen hundred sesterces. From that forsooth has come the proverb “I had rather buy it than ask for it.”

> Latin: 12. “ista; verum tamen abducuntur homines non numquam etiam ab institutis suis magnitudine pecuniae.” quanta ista pecunia fuerit quae potuerit Heium, hominem maxime locupletem, minime avarum, ab humanitate, a pietate, ab religione deducere. iussisti, opinor, ipsum in tabulas referre: “omnia signa Praxiteli, Myronis, Polycliti HS sex milibus quingentis Verri vendita.” rettulit.. tabvlis. me haec praeclara nomina artificum, quae isti ad caelum ferunt, Verris aestimatione sic concidisse. Cupidinem Praxiteli HS mdc! hinc natum est, “emere quam rogare.”

[¶9] 13. Some one will say, “What! do you value those things at a very high price?” But I am not valuing them according to any calculation of my own, or any need which I have for them; but I think that the matter ought to be looked at by you in this light,—what is the value of these things in the opinion of those men who are judges of these things; at what price they are accustomed to be sold; at what price these very things could be sold, if they were sold openly and freely; lastly, at what price Verres himself values them. For he would never have been so foolish, if he had thought that Cupid worth only four hundred denarii, as to allow himself to be made a subject for the common conversation and general reproach of men.

> Latin: 13. aliquis: “? tu ista permagno aestimas?” vero ad meam rationem usumque meum non aestimo; verum tamen a vobis ita arbitror spectari oportere, quanti haec eorum iudicio qui studiosi sunt harum rerum aestimentur, quanti venire soleant, quanti haec ipsa, si palam libereque venirent, venire possent, denique ipse Verres quanti aestimet. enim, si denariis cccc Cupidinem illum putasset, commisisset ut propter eum in sermonem hominum atque in tantam vituperationem veniret.

[¶10] 14. Who then of you all is ignorant at how great a price these things are valued? Have we not seen at an auction a brazen statue of no great size sold for a hundred and twenty thousand sesterces? What if I were to choose to name men who have bought similar things for no less a price, or even for a higher one? Can I not do so? In truth, the only limit to the valuation of such things is the desire which any one has for them, for it is difficult to set bounds to the price unless you first set bounds to the wish. I see then that Heius was neither led by his inclination, nor by any temporary difficulties, nor by the greatness of the sum given, to sell these statues; and that you, under the presence of purchase which you put forward, in reality seized and took away these things by force, through fear, by your power and authority, from that man, whom, along with the rest of our allies in that country, the Roman people had entrusted not only to your power, but also to your upright exercise of it.

> Latin: 14. vestrum igitur nescit quanti haec aestimentur? auctione signum aeneum non maximum HS xl venire non vidimus?? si velim nominare homines qui aut non minoris aut etiam pluris emerint, nonne possum? qui modus est in his rebus cupiditatis, idem est aestimationis; difficile est finem facere pretio nisi libidini feceris. igitur Heium neque voluntate neque difficultate aliqua temporis nec magnitudine pecuniae adductum esse ut haec signa venderet, teque ista simulatione emptionis vi, metu, imperio, fascibus ab homine eo quem, una cum ceteris sociis, non solum potestati tuae sed etiam fidei populus Romanus commiserat eripuisse atque abstulisse.

[¶11] 15. What can there be, judges, so desirable for me in making this charge, as that Heius should say this same thing? Nothing certainly; but let us not wish for what is difficult to be obtained. Heius is a Mamertine. The state of the Mamertines alone, by a common resolution, praises that man in the name of the city. To all the rest of the Sicilians he is an object of hatred; by the Mamertines alone is he liked. But of that deputation which has been sent to utter his praises, Heius is the chief man; in truth, he is the chief man of his city, and too much occupied in discharging the public duties imposed upon him to speak of his private injuries.

> Latin: 15. mihi tam optandum, iudices, potest esse in hoc crimine quam ut haec eadem dicat ipse Heius? profecto; sed ne difficilia optemus. Heius est Mamertinus; Mamertina civitas istum publice communi consilio sola laudat; omnibus iste ceteris Siculis odio est, ab his solis amatur; eius autem legationis quae ad istum laudandum missa est princeps est Heius—etenim est primus civitatis: ne forte, dum publicis mandatis serviat, de privatis iniuriis reticeat.

[¶12] 16. Though I was aware of and had given weight to these considerations, still, O judges, I trusted myself to Heius. I produced him at the first pleading; and indeed I did it without any danger, for what answer could Heius give even if he turned out a dishonest man, and unlike himself? Could he say that these statues were at his house, and not with Verres? How could he say anything of that sort? If he were the basest of men, and were inclined to lie most shamelessly, he would say this; that he had had them for sale, and that he had sold them at the price he wanted for them. The man the most noble in all his city, who was especially anxious that you should have a high opinion of his conscientiousness and of his worth, says first, that he spoke in Verres's praise by the public authority of his city, because that commission had been given to him; secondly; that he had not had these things for sale, and that, if he had been allowed to do what he wished, he could never have been induced by any terms to sell those things which were in his private chapel, having been left to him and handed down to him from his ancestors.

> Latin: 16. cum scirem et cogitarem, commisi tamen, iudices, Heio; produxi prima actione, neque id tamen ullo periculo feci. enim poterat Heius respondere, si esset improbus, si sui dissimilis? esse illa signa domi suae, non esse apud Verrem? poterat quicquam eius modi dicere? Vt homo turpissimus esset impudentissimeque mentiretur, hoc diceret, illa se habuisse venalia, eaque sese quanti voluerit vendidisse. domi suae nobilissimus, qui vos de religione sua ac dignitate vere existimare maxime vellet, primo dixit se istum publice laudare, quod sibi ita mandatum esset; deinde neque se habuisse illa venalia neque ulla condicione, si utrum vellet liceret, adduci umquam potuisse ut venderet illa quae in sacrario fuissent a maioribus suis relicta et tradita.

[¶13] 17. Why are you sitting there, O Verres? What are you waiting for? Why do you say that you are hemmed in and overwhelmed by the cities of Centuripa, of Catina, of Halesa, of Tyndaris, of Enna, of Agyrium, and by all the other cities of Sicily? Your second country, as you used to call it, Messanaherself attacks you; your own MessanaI say; the assistant in your crimes, the witness of your lusts, the receiver of your booty and your thefts. For the most honourable man of that city is present, a deputy sent from his home on account of this very trial, the chief actor in the panegyric on you; who praises you by the public order of his city, for so he has been charged and commanded to do. Although you recollect, O judges, what he answered when he was asked about the ship; that it had been built by public labour, at the public expense, and that a Mamertine senator had been appointed by the public authority to superintend its building. Heius in his private capacity flees to you for aid, O judges; he avails himself of this law, the common fortress of our allies, by which this tribunal is established. Although there is a law for recovering money which has been unjustly extorted, he says that he does not seem to recover any money; which though it has been taken from him, he does not so much care about: but he says he does demand back from you the sacred images belonging to his ancestors, he does demand back from you his hereditary household god?

> Latin: 17. sedes, Verres? quid exspectas? quid te a Centuripina civitate, a Catinensi, ab Halaesina, a Tyndaritana, Hennensi, Agyrinensi ceterisque Siciliae civitatibus circumveniri atque opprimi dicis? te altera patria, quem ad modum dicere solebas, Messana circumvenit,—tua, inquam, Messana, tuorum adiutrix scelerum, libidinum testis, praedarum ac furtorum receptrix. enim vir amplissimus eius civitatis legatus huius iudici causa domo missus, princeps laudationis tuae, qui te publice laudat,—ita enim mandatum atque imperatum est; tametsi rogatus de cybaea tenetis memoria quid responderit: aedificatam publicis operis publice coactis, eique aedificandae publice Mamertinum senatorem praefuisse. ad vos privatim, iudices, confugit; utitur hac lege qua iudicium est, communi arce sociorum. lex est de pecuniis repetundis, ille se negat pecuniam repetere, quam ereptam non tanto opere desiderat: sacra se maiorum suorum repetere abs te dicit, deos penatis te patrios reposcit.

[¶14] 18. Have you any shame, O Verres? have you any religion? have you any fear, You have lived in Heius's house at Messana; you saw him almost daily performing sacred rites in his private chapel before those gods. He is not influenced by money; he does not even ask to have those things restored which were merely ornaments. Keep the Canephorae; restore the images of the gods. And because he said this, because after a given time he, an ally and friend of the Roman people, addressed his complaints to you in a moderate tone, because he was very attentive to religious obligation not only while demanding back his paternal gods, but also in giving his evidence on oath; know that one of the deputies has been sent back to Messana, that very man who superintended the building of that ship at the public expense, to demand from the senate that Heius should be condemned to an ignominious punishment.

> Latin: 18. pudor est, ecquae religio, Verres, ecqui metus? apud Heium Messanae, res illum divinas apud eos deos in suo sacrario prope cotidiano facere vidisti; non movetur pecunia, denique quae ornamenti causa fuerunt non requirit; tibi habe Canephoros, deorum simulacra restitue. quia dixit, quia tempore dato modeste apud vos socius amicusque populi Romani questus est, quia religioni suae non modo in dis patriis repetendis sed etiam in ipso testimonio ac iure iurando proximus fuit, hominem missum ab isto scitote esse Messanam de legatis unum,—illum ipsum qui navi istius aedificandae publice praefuit,—qui a senatu peteret ut Heius adficeretur ignominia.

[¶15] 19. O most insane of men, what did you think? that you should obtain what you requested? Did you not know how greatly he was esteemed by his fellow-citizens; how great his influence was considered? But suppose you had obtained your request; suppose that the Mamertines had passed any severe vote against Heius, what do you think would have been the authority of their panegyric, if they had decreed punishment to the man who it was notorious had given true evidence? Although, what sort of praise is that, when he who utters it, being questioned, is compelled to give answers injurious to him whom he is praising? What! are not those who are praising you, my witnesses? Heius is an encomiast of yours; he has done you the most serious injury. I will bring forward the rest; they will gladly be silent about all that they are allowed to suppress; they will say what they cannot help saying, unwillingly. Can they deny that a transport of the largest size was built for that man at Messana? Let them deny it if they can. Can they deny that a Mamertine senator was appointed by the public authority to superintend the building of that ship? I wish they would deny it. There are other points also which I prefer reserving unmentioned at present, in order to give as little time as possible to them for planning and arranging their perjury.

> Latin: 19. amentissime, quid putasti? impetraturum te? quanti is a civibus suis fieret, quanti auctoritas eius haberetur ignorabas? fac te impetravisse, fac aliquid gravius in Heium statuisse Mamertinos: quantam putas auctoritatem laudationis eorum futuram, si in eum quem constet verum pro testimonio dixisse poenam constituerint? quae est ista laudatio, cum laudator interrogatus laedat necesse est?? isti laudatores tui nonne testes mei sunt? Heius est laudator: laesit gravissime. ceteros: reticebunt quae poterunt libenter, dicent quae necesse erit ingratiis. isti onerariam navem maximam aedificatam esse Messanae?, si possunt. ei navi faciundae senatorem Mamertinum publice praefuisse? Vtinam negent! etiam cetera; quae malo integra reservare, ut quam minimum dem illis temporis ad meditandum confirmandumque periurium.

[¶16] 20. Let this praise, then, be placed to your account; let these men come to your relief with their authority, who neither ought to help you if they were able, nor could do so if they wished; on whom in their private capacity you have inflicted many injuries, and put many affronts, while in their city you have dishonoured many families for ever by your adulteries and crimes “But you have been of public service to their city.” Not without great injury to the republic and to the province of Sicily. They were bound to supply and they used to supply sixty thousand modiiof wheat to the Roman people for payment; that was remitted by you of your own sole authority. The republic was injured because by your means its right of dominion over one city was disparaged; the Sicilians were injured, because this quantity was not deducted from the total amount of the corn to be provided by the island, but was only transferred to the cities of Centuripa and Halesa, whose inhabitants were exempt from that tax; and on them a greater burden was imposed than they were able to bear.

> Latin: 20. tibi laudatio procedat in numerum? hi te homines auctoritate sua sublevent? qui te neque debent adiuvare si possint, neque possunt si velint; quibus tu privatim iniurias plurimas contumeliasque imposuisti, quo in oppido multas familias totas in perpetuum infamis tuis stupris flagitiisque fecisti. publice commodasti. sine magno quidem rei publicae provinciaeque Siciliae detrimento.
(21) modium L_X_ empta populo Romano dare debebant et solebant: abs te solo remissum est. publica detrimentum fecit quod per te imperi ius in una civitate imminutum est: Siculi, quod ipsum non de summa frumenti detractum est, sed translatum in Centuripinos et Halaesinos, immunis populos, et hoc plus impositum quam ferre possent.

[¶17] 21. It was your duty to require them to furnish a ship, in compliance with the treaty. You remitted it for three years. During all those years you never demanded one soldier. You acted as pirates are accustomed to act, who, though they are the common enemies of all men, still select some friends, whom they not only spare, but even enrich with their booty; and especially such as have a town in a convenient situation, where they often, and sometimes even necessarily, put in with their vessels. The town of Phaselis, which Publius Servilius took, had not been in former times a city of Cilicians and pirates. The Lycians, a Greek tribe, inhabited it; but because it was in such a situation as it was, and because it projected into the sea, so that pirates from Ciliciaoften necessarily touched at it when departing on an expedition, and were also often borne thither on their retreats, the pirates connected that city with themselves; at first by commercial intercourse, and afterwards by a regular alliance.

> Latin: 21. imperare ex foedere debuisti; remisisti in triennium; militem nullum umquam poposcisti per tot annos. item ut praedones solent; qui cum hostes communes sint omnium, tamen aliquos sibi instituunt amicos, quibus non modo parcant verum etiam praeda quos augeant, et eos maxime qui habent oppidum oportuno loco, quo saepe adeundum sit navibus.
(22) Phaselis illa, quam cepit P. Servilius, non fuerat urbs antea Cilicum atque praedonum; Lycii illam, Graeci homines, incolebant. quod erat eius modi loco atque ita proiecta in altum ut et exeuntes e Cicilia praedones saepe ad eam necessario devenirent, et, cum se ex hisce locis reciperent, eodem deferrentur, adsciverunt sibi illud oppidum piratae primo commercio, deinde etiam societate.

[¶18] 22. The city of the Mamertines was not formerly of bad character; it was even a city hostile to dishonest men, and detained the luggage of Caius Cato, the one who was consul But then what sort of a man was he? a most eminent and most influential man; who however, though he had been consul, was convicted. So Caius Cato, the grandson of two most illustrious men, Lucius Paullus and Marcus Cato, and the son of the sister of Publius Africanus; who, even when convicted, at a time when severe judgments were in the habit of being passed, found the damages to which he was liable only estimated at eighteen thousand sesterces; with this man, I say, the Mamertines were angry, who have often expended a greater sum than the damages in the action against Cato were laid at, in one banquet for Timarchides.

> Latin: 22. Mamertina civitas improba antea non erat; etiam erat inimica improborum, quae C. Catonis, illius qui consul fuit, impedimenta retinuit. cuius hominis! ac potentissimi; qui tamen cum consul fuisset, condemnatus est., C. Cato, duorum hominum clarissimorum nepos, L. Pauli et M. Catonis, et P. Africani sororis filius: quo damnato tum, cum severa iudicia fiebant, HS viii lis aestimata est. Mamertini irati fuerunt, qui maiorem sumptum quam quanti Catonis lis aestimata est in Timarchidi prandium saepe fecerunt.

[¶19] 23. But this city was the Phaselis for that robber and pirate of Sicily. Hither everything was brought from all quarters; with them it was left; whatever required to be concealed, they kept separate and stored away. By their agency he contrived everything which he wished put on board ship privately, and exported secretly; and in their harbour he contrived to have a vessel of the largest size built for him to send to Italyloaded with plunder. In return for these services, he gave them immunity from all expense, all labour, all military service, in short, from everything. For three years they were the only people, not only in Sicily, but, according to my opinion, in the whole world at such a time, who enjoyed excuse, relief, freedom, and immunity from every sort of expense, and trouble, and office.

> Latin: 23. haec civitas isti praedoni ac piratae Siciliensi Phaselis fuit; huc omnia undique deferebantur, apud istos relinquebantur; quod celari opus erat, habebant sepositum et reconditum; per istos quae volebat clam imponenda, occulte exportanda curabat; navem denique maximam, quam onustam furtis in Italiam mitteret, apud istos faciundam aedificandamque curavit; pro hisce rebus vacatio data est ab isto sumptus, laboris, militiae, rerum denique omnium; per triennium soli non modo in Sicilia verum, ut opinio mea fert, his quidem temporibus in omni orbe terrarum vacui, expertes, soluti ac liberi fuerunt ab omni sumptu, molestia, munere. illa Verria nata sunt, quod in convivium.

[¶20] 24. Hence arose that Verrean festival; hence it was that he ventured to order Sextus Cominius to be dragged before him at a banquet, at whom he attempted to throw a goblet, whom he ordered to be seized by the throat, and to be hurried from the banquet and thrown into a dark prison; hence came that cross, on which, in the sight of many men, he suspended a Roman citizen; that cross which he never ventured to erect anywhere except among that people, whom he had made sharers in all his crimes and robberies. Do you, O Mamertines, dare to come to praise any one? By what authority? by that which you ought to have with the Senatorial order? by that which you ought to have with the Roman people?

> Latin: 24. Cominium protrahi iussit, in quem scyphum de manu iacere conatus est, quem obtorta gula de convivio in vincla atque in tenebras abripi iussit; hinc illa crux in quam iste civem Romanum multis inspectantibus sustulit, quam non ausus est usquam defigere nisi apud eos quibuscum omnia scelera sua ac latrocinia communicavit. etiam vos quemquam venitis? qua auctoritate? utrum quam apud senatum an quam apud populum Romanum habere debetis?

[¶21] 25. Is there any city, not only in our provinces, but in the most distant nations, either so powerful, or so free, or so savage and uncivilized? is there any king, who would not invite a Senator of the Roman people to his house and to his home? An honour which is paid not only to the man, but in the first place to the Roman people, by whose indulgence we have risen to this order, and secondly to the authority of this order; and unless that is respected among our allies, where will be the name and dignity of the empire among foreign nations? The Mamertines did not give me any public invitation—when I say me, that is a trifle, but when they did not invite a Senator of the Roman people, they withheld an honour due not to the man but to his order. For to Tullius himself, the most splendid and magnificent house of Cnaeus Pompeius Basilicus was opened; with whom he would have lodged even if he had been invited by you. There was also the most honourable house of the Percennii, who are now also called Pompeius; where Lucius my brother lodged and was received by them with the greatest eagerness. A Senator of the Roman people, as far as depended on you as a body, lay in your town, and passed the night in the public streets. No other city ever did such a thing. “Yes,” say you, “for you were instituting a prosecution against our friend.” Will you put your own interpretation on what private business I have of my own, by diminishing the honour due to the Senate?

> Latin: 25. civitas est, non modo in provinciis nostris verum in ultimis nationibus, aut tam potens aut tam libera aut etiam tam immanis ac barbara, rex denique ecquis est qui senatorem populi Romani tecto ac domo non invitet? qui honos non homini solum habetur, sed primum populo Romano, cuius beneficio nos in hunc ordinem venimus, deinde ordinis auctoritati, quae nisi gravis erit apud socios et exteras nationes, ubi erit imperi nomen et dignitas? Mamertini me publice non invitarunt. cum dico, leve est: senatorem populi Romani si non invitarunt, honorem debitum detraxerunt non homini sed ordini. ipsi Tullio patebat domus locupletissima et amplissima Cn. Pompei, quo, etiamsi esset invitatus a vobis, tamen devertisset; erat etiam Percenniorum, qui nunc item Pompeii sunt, domus honestissima, quo Lucius frater meus summa illorum voluntate devertit. populi Romani, quod in vobis fuit, in vestro oppido iacuit et pernoctavit in publico. hoc civitas umquam alia commisit. “Amicum enim nostrum in iudicium vocabas.” quid ego privatim negoti geram interpretabere imminuendo honore senatorio?

[¶22] 26. But I will make my complaint of this conduct, if ever the time comes that there is any discussion concerning you among that body, which, up to this time, has been affronted by no one but you. With what face have you presented yourself before the eyes of the Roman people? when you have not yet pulled down that cross, which is even now stained with the blood of a Roman citizen, which is fixed up in your city by the harbour, and have not thrown it into the sea and purified all that place, before you came to Rome, and before this tribunal. On the territory of the Mamertines, connected with us by treaty, at peace with us, is that monument of your cruelty raised. Is not your city the only one where, when any one arrives at it from Italy, he sees the cross of a Roman citizen before he sees any friend of the Roman people? which you are in the habit of displaying to the people of Rhegium, whose city you envy, and to your inhabitants, Roman citizens as they are, to make them think less of themselves, and be less inclined to despise you, when they see the privileges of our citizenship extinguished by such a punishment.

> Latin: 26. haec tum queremur si quid de vobis per eum ordinem agetur, qui ordo a vobis adhuc solis contemptus est. populi Romani quidem conspectum quo ore vos commisistis? nec prius illam crucem, quae etiam nunc civis Romani sanguine redundat, quae fixa est ad portum urbemque vestram, revellistis neque in profundum abiecistis locumque illum omnem expiastis, quam Romam atque in horum conventum adiretis? Mamertinorum solo foederato atque pacato monumentum istius crudelitatis constitutum est. urbs electa est ad quam cum adirent ex Italia cives crucem civis Romani prius quam quemquam amicum populi Romani viderent? quam vos Reginis, quorum civitati invidetis, itemque incolis vestris, civibus Romanis, ostendere soletis, quo minus sibi adrogent minusque vos despiciant, cum videant ius civitatis illo supplicio esse mactatum.

[¶23] 27. But you say you bought these things? What? did you forget to purchase of the same Heius that Attalic tapestry, celebrated over the whole of Sicily? You might have bought them in the same way as you did the statues. For what did you do? Did you wish to spare the account books? This escaped the notice of that stupid man; he thought that what he stole from the wardrobe would be less notorious than what he had stolen from the private chapel. But how did he get it? I cannot relate it more plainly than Heius himself related it before you. When I asked, whether any other part of his property had come to Verres, he answered that he had sent him orders to send the tapestry to Agrigentumto him. I asked whether he had sent it. He replied as he must, that is, that he had been obedient to the praetor; that he had sent it.—I asked whether it had arrived at Agrigentum; he said it had arrived.—I asked in what condition it had returned; he said it had not returned yet.—There was a laugh and a murmur from all the people.

> Latin: 27. haec emisse te dicis.? illa Attalica tota Sicilia nominata ab eodem Heio [peripetasmata ] emere oblitus es? eodem modo ut signa. enim actum est? an litteris pepercisti? hominem amentem hoc fugit: minus clarum putavit fore quod de armario quam quod de sacrario esset ablatum. quo modo abstulit? possum dicere planius quam ipse apud vos dixit Heius. quaesissem num quid aliud de bonis eius pervenisset ad Verrem, respondit istum ad se misisse ut sibi mitteret Agrigentum peripetasmata. misisset ne; respondit, id quod necesse erat, se dicto audientem fuisse praetori, misisse. pervenissentne Agrigentum; dixit pervenisse. quem ad modum revertissent; negavit adhuc revertisse. populi atque admiratio omnium vestrum facta est.

[¶24] 28. Did it never occur to you in this instance to order him to make an entry in his books, that he had sold you this tapestry too, for six thousand five hundred sesterces? Did you fear that your debts would increase, if these things were to cost you six thousand five hundred sesterces, which you could easily sell for two hundred thousand? It was worth that, believe me. You would have been able to defend yourself if you had given that sum for it. No one would then have asked how much it was worth. If you could only prove that you had bought it, you could easily make your cause and your conduct appear reasonable to any one. But as it is, you have no way of getting out of your difficulty about the tapestry. What shall I say next?

> Latin: 28. tibi in mentem non venit iubere ut haec quoque referret HS vi milibus d se tibi vendidisse? ne aes alienum tibi cresceret, si HS vi milibus d tibi constarent ea quae tu facile posses vendere HS ducentis milibus? tanti, mihi crede; haberes quod defenderes; nemo quaereret quanti illa res esset; si modo te posses dicere emisse, facile cui velles tuam causam et factum probares; nunc de peripetasmatis quem ad modum te expedias non habes.

[¶25] 29. Did you take away by force some splendid harness, which is said to have belonged to King Hiero, from Philarchus of Centuripa, a wealthy and high-born man, or did you buy it of him? When I was in Sicily, this is what I heard from the Centuripans and from everybody else, for the case was very notorious; people said that you had taken away this harness from Philarchus of Centuripa, and other very beautiful harness from Aristus of Panormus, and a third set from Gratippus of Tyndarus. Indeed, if Philarchus had sold it to you, you would not, after the prosecution was instituted against you, have promised to restore it. But because you saw that many people knew of it, you thought that if you restored it to him, you would only have so much the less, but the original transaction would be proved against you nevertheless; and so you did not restore it. Philarchus said in his evidence, that when he became acquainted with this disease of yours, as your friends call it, he wished to conceal from you the knowledge of the existence of this harness; that when he was summoned by you, he said that he had not got any; and indeed, that he had removed them to another person's house, that they might not be found; but that your instinct was so great, that you saw them by the assistance of the very man in whose custody they were deposited; that then he could not deny that you had found him out, and so that the harness was taken from him against his will, and without any payment.

> Latin: 29. ? a Centuripino, homine locupleti ac nobili, phalerass pulcherrime factas, quae regis Hieronis fuisse dicuntur, utrum tandem abstulisti an emisti? Sicilia quidem cum essem, sic a Centuripinis, sic a ceteris audiebam,—non enim parum res erat clara: tam te has phaleras a Centuripino abstulisse dicebant quam alias item nobilis ab Aristo Panhormitano, quam tertias a Cratippo Tyndaritano. si vendidisset, non ei, posteaquam reus factus es, redditurum te promisisses. quia vidisti pluris scire, cogitasti, si ei reddidisses, te minus habiturum, rem nihilo minus testatam futuram: non reddidisti. pro testimonio se, quod nosset tuum istum morbum, ut amici tui appellant, cupisse te celare de phaleris; cum abs te appellatus esset, negasse habere sese; apud alium quoque eas habuisse depositas, ne qua invenirentur; tuam tantam fuisse sagacitatem ut eas per illum ipsum inspiceres, ubi erant depositae; tum se deprensum negare non potuisse; ita ab se invito phalera sublatas gratiis.

[¶26] 30. Now, O judges, it is worth your while to know how he was accustomed to find and trace out all these things. There are two brothers, citizens of Cibyra, Tlepolemus and Hiero, one of whom, I believe, was accustomed to model in wax, the other was a painter. I fancy these men, as they had become suspected by their fellow-citizens of having plundered the temple of Apollo at Cibyra, fearing a trial and the punishment of the law, had fled from their homes. As they had known that Verres was a great connoisseur of such works as theirs, at the time that he, as you learnt from the witnesses, came to Cibyrawith fictitious bills of exchange, they, when flying from their homes as exiles, came to him when he was in Asia. He has kept them with him ever since that time; and in the robberies he committed, and in the booty he acquired during his lieutenancy, he greatly availed himself of their assistance and their advice.

> Latin: 30. , ut haec omnia reperire ac perscrutari solitus sit, iudices, est operae pretium cognoscere. Cibyratae sunt fratres quidam, Tlepolemus et Hiero, quorum alterum fingere opinor e cera solitum esse, alterum esse pictorem. opinor, Cibyrae cum in suspicionem venissent suis civibus fanum expilasse Apollinis, veritos poenam iudici ac legis domo profugisse. Verrem artifici sui cupidum cognoverant tum, cum iste, id quod ex testibus didicistis, Cibyram cum inanibus syngraphis venerat, domo fugientes ad eum se exsules, cum iste esset in Asia, contulerunt. eos secum illo tempore et in legationis praedis atque furtis multum illorum opera consilioque usus est.

[¶27] 31. These are the men who were meant when Quintus Tadius made an entry in his books that he had given things by Verres's order to some Greek painters. They were already well known to, and had been thoroughly tried by him, when he took them with him into Sicily. And when they arrived there, they scented cut and tracked everything in so marvellous a manner, (you might have thought they were bloodhounds,) that, wherever anything was they found it out by some means or other. Some things they found out by threatening, some by promising; this by means of slaves, that through freemen; one thing by a friend, another by an enemy. Whatever pleased them was sure to be lost. They whose plate was demanded had nothing else to hope, than that Tlepolemus and Hiero might not approve of it.

> Latin: 31. sunt illi quibus in tabulis refert sese Q. Tadius “dedisse iussu istius, Graecis pictoribus”. Eos iam bene cognitos et re probatos secum in Siciliam duxit. posteaquam venerunt, mirandum in modum (canis venaticos diceres) ita odorabantur omnia et pervestigabant ut, ubi quidque esset, aliqua ratione invenirent. minando, aliud pollicendo, aliud per servos, aliud per liberos, per amicum aliud, aliud per inimicum inveniebant; quicquid illis placuerat, perdendum erat. aliud optabant quorum poscebatur argentum nisi ut id Hieroni et Tlepolemo displiceret.

[¶28] 32. I will relate to you this fact, O judges, most truly. I recollect that Pamphilus of Lilybaeum, a connection of mine by ties of hospitality, and a personal friend of mine, a man of the highest birth, told me, that when that man had taken from him, by his absolute power, an ewer made by the hand of Boethus, of exquisite workmanship and great weight, he went home very sad in truth, and greatly agitated, because a vessel of that sort, which had been left to him by his father and his forefathers, and which he was accustomed to use on days of festival, and on the arrival of ancient friends, had been taken from him. While I was sitting at home, said he, in great indignation, up comes one of the slaves of Venus; he orders me immediately to bring to the praetor some embossed goblets. I was greatly vexed, said he; I had two; I order them both to be taken out of the closet, lest any worse thing should happen, and to be brought after me to the praetor's house. When I got there the praetor was asleep; the Cibyratic brothers were walking about, and when they saw me, they said, Pamphilus, where are the cups? I show them with great grief;—they praise them.—I begin to complain that I shall have nothing left of any value at all, if my cups too were taken away. Then they, when they see me vexed, say, What are you willing to give us to prevent these from being taken from you? To make my story short, I said that I would give six hundred sesterces. Meantime the praetor summons us; he asks for the cups. Then they began to say to the praetor, that they had thought from what they had heard, that Pamphilus's cups were of some value, but that they were miserable things, quite unworthy of Verres's having them among his plate. He said, he thought so too.

> Latin: 32. mehercule hoc, iudices, dicam. Pamphilum Lilybitanum, amicum et hospitem meum, nobilem hominem, mihi narrare, cum iste ab sese hydriam Boethi manu factam praeclaro opere et grandi pondere per potestatem abstulisset, se sane tristem et conturbatum domum revertisse, quod vas eius modi, quod sibi a patre et a maioribus esset relictum, quo solitus esset uti ad festos dies, ad hospitum adventus, a se esset ablatum. “sederem,” inquit, “domi tristis, accurrit Venerius; iubet me scyphos sigillatos ad praetorem statim adferre. sum,” inquit; “binos habebam; iubeo promi utrosque, ne quid plus mali nasceretur, et mecum ad praetoris domum ferri. cum venio, praetor quiescebat; fratres illi Cibyratae inambulabant. me ubi viderunt, ‘Vbi sunt, Pamphile,’ inquiunt, ‘scyphi?’ tristis; laudant. queri me nihil habiturum quod alicuius esset preti si etiam scyphi essent ablati. illi, ubi me conturbatum vident, ‘vis nobis dare ut isti abs te ne auferantur?’ multa, HS mille me,” inquit, “poposcerunt; dixi me daturum. interea praetor, poscit scyphos.” illos coepisse praetori dicere putasse se, id quod audissent, alicuius preti scyphos esse Pamphili; luteum negotium esse, non dignum quod in suo argento Verres haberet. ille idem sibi videri. Pamphilus scyphos optimos aufert.

[¶29] 33. So Pamphilus saved his exquisite goblets. And indeed, before I heard this, though I knew that it was a very trifling sort of accomplishment to understand things of that sort, yet I used to wonder that he had any knowledge of them at all, as I knew that in nothing whatever had he any qualities like a man. But when I heard this, I then for the first time understood that that was the use of these two Cibyratic brothers; that in his robberies he used his own hands, but their eyes. But he was so covetous of that splendid reputation of being thought to be a judge of such matters, that lately, (just observe the man's madness,) after his case was adjourned, when he was already as good as condemned, and civilly dead, at the time of the games of the circus, when early in the morning the couches were spread in preparation for a banquet at the house of Lucius Sisenna, a man of the first consideration, and when the plate was all set out, and when, as was suited to the dignity of Lucius Sisenna, the house was full of honourable men, he came to the plate, and began in a leisurely way to examine and consider every separate piece. Some marveled at the folly of the man, who, while his trial was actually going on, was increasing the suspicion of that covetousness of which he was accused; others marveled at his insensibility, that any such things could come into his head, when the time for judgment in his cause was so near at hand, and when so many witnesses had spoken against him. But Sisenna's servants, who, I suppose, had heard the evidence which had been given against him, never took their eyes off him, and never departed out of reach of the plate.

> Latin: 33. mehercule ego antea, tametsi hoc nescio quid nugatorium sciebam esse, ista intellegere, tamen mirari solebam istum in his ipsis rebus aliquem sensum habere, quem scirem nulla in re quicquam simile hominis habere. primum intellexi ad eam rem istos fratres Cibyratas fuisse, ut iste in furando manibus suis oculis illorum uteretur. ita studiosus est huius praeclarae existimationis, ut putetur in hisce rebus intellegens esse, ut nuper—videte hominis amentiam: posteaquam est comperendinatus, cum iam pro damnato mortuoque esset, ludis circensibus mane apud L. Sisennam, virum primarium, cum essent triclinia strata argentumque expositum in aedibus, cum pro dignitate L. Sisennae domus esset plena hominum honestissimorum, accessit ad argentum, contemplari unum quidque otiose et considerare coepit. stultitiam alii, quod in ipso iudicio eius ipsius cupiditatis cuius insimularetur suspicionem augeret, alii amentiam, cui comperendinato, cum tam multi testes dixissent, quicquam illorum veniret in mentem. autem Sisennae, credo, qui audissent quae in istum testimonia essent dicta, oculos de isto nusquam deicere neque ab argento digitum discedere.

[¶30] 34. It is the part of a sagacious judge, from small circumstances to form his opinion of every man's covetousness or incontinence. And will any one believe that this man when praetor, was able to keep either his covetousness or his hands from the plate of the Sicilians, when, though a defendant, and a defendant within two days of judgment, a man in reality, and in the opinion of all men as good as already condemned, he could not in a large assembly restrain himself from handling and examining the plate of Lucius Sisenna?

> Latin: 34. boni iudicis parvis ex rebus coniecturam facere unius cuiusque et cupiditatis et continentiae. reus, et reus lege comperendinatus, re et opinione hominum paene damnatus, temperare non potuerit maximo conventu quin L. Sisennae argentum tractaret et consideraret, hunc praetorem in provincia quisquam putabit a Siculorum argento cupiditatem aut manus abstinere potuisse?

[¶31] 35. But that my discourse may return to Lilybaeum, from which I have made this digression, there is a man named Diocles, the son-in-law of Pamphilus, of that Pamphilus from whom the ewer was taken away, whose surname is Popillius. From this man he took away every article on his sideboard where his plate was set out. He may say, if he pleases, that he had bought them. In fact, in this case, by reason of the magnitude of the robbery, an entry of it, I imagine, has been made in the account-books. He ordered Timarchides to value the plate. How did he do it? At as low a price as any one ever valued any thing presented to an actor. Although I have been for some time acting foolishly in saying as much about your purchases, and in asking whether you bought the things, and how, and at what price you bought them, when I can settle all that by one word. Produce me a written list of what plate you acquired in the province of Sicily, from whom, and at what price you bought each article.

> Latin: 35. ut Lilybaeum, unde digressa est oratio, revertamur, Diocles est, Pamphili gener, illius a quo hydria ablata est, Popilius cognomine. hoc abaci vasa omnia, ut exposita fuerunt, abstulit. se licet emisse; etenim hic propter magnitudinem furti sunt, ut opinor, litterae factae. Timarchidem aestimare argentum, quo modo qui umquam tenuissime in donationem histrionum aestimavit. iam dudum ego erro qui tam multa de tuis emptionibus verba faciam, et quaeram utrum emeris necne et quo modo et quanti emeris, quod verbo transigere possum. mihi scriptum quid argenti in provincia Sicilia pararis, unde quidque aut quanti emeris.

## 22. Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 36–65

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/22/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/22/#p-N

[¶0] 36. What will you do? Though I ought not to ask you for these accounts, for I ought to have your account-books and to produce them. But you say that you never kept any accounts of your expenses in these years. Make me out at least this one which I am asking for, the account of the plate, and I will not mind the rest at present. “I have no writings of the sort; I cannot produce any accounts.” What then is to be done? What do you think that these judges can do? Your house was full of most beautiful statues already, before your praetorship; many were placed in your villas, many were deposited with your friends; many were given and presented to other people; yet you have no accounts speaking of any single one having been bought. All the plate in Sicilyhas been taken away. There is nothing left to any one that can be called his own. A scandalous defence is invented, that the praetor bought all that plate; and yet that cannot be proved by any accounts. If you do produce any accounts, still there is no entry in them how you have acquired what you have got. But of these years during which you say that you bought the greatest number of things, you produce no accounts at all. Must you not inevitably be, condemned, both by the accounts which you do, and by those which you do not produce?

> Latin: 36. fit? non debebam ego abs te has litteras poscere; me enim tabulas tuas habere et proferre oportebat. negas te horum annorum aliquot confecisse. hoc quod postulo de argento, de reliquo videro. “scriptum habeo nec possum edere.” futurum igitur est? quid existimas hosce iudices facere posse? plena signorum pulcherrimorum iam ante praeturam, multa ad villas tuas posita, multa deposita apud amicos, multa aliis data atque donata; tabulae nullum indicant emptum. argentum ablatum ex Sicilia est, nihil cuiquam quod suum dici vellet relictum. improba defensio, praetorem omne id argentum coemisse; tamen id ipsum tabulis demonstrari non potest., quas tabulas profers, in his quae habes quo modo habeas scriptum non est, horum autem temporum cum te plurimas res emisse dicis tabulas omnino nullas profers, nonne te et prolatis et non prolatis tabulis condemnari necesse est?

[¶1] 37. You also took away at Lilybaeumwhatever silver vessels you chose from Marcus Caelius, a Roman knight, a most excellent young man. You did not hesitate to take away the whole furniture, of Caius Cacurius, a most active and accomplished man, and of the greatest influence in his city. You took away, with the knowledge of every body, a very large and very beautiful table of citron-wood from Quintus Lutatius Diodorus, who, owing to the kind exertion of his interest by Quintus Catulus, was made a Roman citizen by Lucius Sulla. I do not object to you that you stripped and plundered a most worthy imitator of yours in his whole character, Apollonius, the son of Nico, a citizen of Drepanum, who is now called Aulus Clodius, of all his exquisitely wrought silver plate;—I say nothing of that. For he does not think that any injury has been done to him, because you came to his assistance when he was a ruined man, with the rope round his neck, and shared with him the property belonging to their father, of which he had plundered his wards at Drepanum. I am even very glad if you took anything from him, and I say that nothing was ever better done by you. But it certainly was not right that the statue of Apollo should have been taken away from Lyso of Lilybaeum, I a most eminent man, with whom you had been staying as a guest. But you will say that you bought it—I know that—for six hundred sesterces. So I suppose: I know it, I say; I will produce the accounts; and yet that ought not to have been done. Will you say that the drinking vessels with emblems of Lilybaeumon them were, bought from Heius, the minor to whom Marcellus is guardian, whom you had plundered of a large sum of money, or will you confess that they were taken by force?

> Latin: 37. a M. Coelio, equite Romano, lectissimo adulescente, quae voluisti Lilybaei abstulisti, tu C. Cacuri, prompti hominis et experientis et in primis gratiosi, supellectilem omnem auferre non dubitasti, tu maximam et pulcherrimam mensam citream a Q. Lutatio Diodoro, qui Q. Catuli beneficio ab L. Sulla civis Romanus factus est, omnibus scientibus Lilybaei abstulisti. tibi obicio quod hominem dignissimum tuis moribus, Apollonium, Niconis filium, Drepanitanum, qui nunc A. Clodius vocatur, omni argento optime facto spoliasti ac depeculatus es; taceo. enim putat ille sibi iniuriam factam, propterea quod homini iam perdito et collum in laqueum inserenti subvenisti, cum pupillis Drepanitanis bona patria erepta cum illo partitus es; gaudeo etiam si quid ab eo abstulisti, et abs te nihil rectius factum esse dico. A Lysone vero Lilybitano, primo homine, apud quem deversatus es, Apollinis signum ablatum certe non oportuit. te emisse., HS mille. “opinor.”, inquam. “Proferam litteras.” id factum non oportuit. A pupillo Heio, cui C. Marcellus tutor est, a quo pecuniam grandem eripueras, scaphia cum emblematis Lilybaei utrum empta esse dicis an confiteris erepta?

[¶2] 38. But why do I enumerate all his ordinary iniquities in affairs of this sort, which appear to consist only in robberies committed by him, and in losses borne by those whom he plundered? Listen, if you please, O judges, to an action of such a sort as will prove to you clearly his extraordinary madness and frenzy, rather than any ordinary covetousness. There is a man of Melita, called Diodorus, who has already given evidence before you. He has been now living at Lilybaeummany years; a man of great nobility at home, and of great credit and popularity with the people among whom he has settled, on account of his virtue. It is reported to Verres of this man that he has some exceedingly fine specimens of chased work; and among them two goblets called Thericlean, made by the hand of mentor with the most exquisite skill. And when Verres heard of this, he was inflamed with such a desire, not only of beholding, but also of appropriating them, that he summoned Diodorus, and demanded them. He replied, as was natural for a man who took great pride in them, that he had not got them at Lilybaeum; that he had left them at Melita, in the house of a relation of his.

> Latin: 38. quid ego istius in eius modi rebus mediocris iniurias colligo, quae tantum modo in furtis istius et damnis eorum a quibus auferebat versatae esse videantur?, si vultis, iudices, rem eius modi ut amentiam singularem et furorem iam, non cupiditatem eius perspicere possitis. Melitensis Diodorus est, qui apud vos antea testimonium dixit. Lilybaei multos iam annos habitat, homo et domi nobilis et apud eos quo se contulit propter virtutem splendidus et gratiosus. hoc Verri dicitur habere eum perbona toreumata, in his pocula quaedam, quae Thericlia nominantur, Mentoris manu summo artificio facta. iste ubi audivit, sic cupiditate inflammatus est non solum inspiciendi verum etiam auferendi ut Diodorum ad se vocaret ac posceret., qui illa non invitus haberet, respondit Lilybaei se non habere, Melitae apud quendam propinquum suum reliquisse.

[¶3] 39. On this he immediately sends men on whom he can rely to Melita; he writes to certain inhabitants of Melitato search out those vessels for him; he desires Diodorus to give them letters to that relation of his—the time appeared to him endless till he could see those pieces of plate. Diodorus, a prudent and careful man, who wished to keep his own property, writes to his relation to make answer to those men who came from Verres, that he had sent the cups to Lilybaeuma few days before. In the meantime he himself leaves the place. He preferred leaving his home, to staying in it and losing that exquisitely wrought silver work. But when Verres heard of this, he was so agitated that he seemed to every one to be raving, and to be beyond all question mad. Because he could not steal the plate himself, he said that he had been robbed by Diodorus of some exquisitely wrought vessels; he poured out threats against the absent Diodorus; he used to roar out before people; sometimes he could not restrain his tears. We have heard in the mythology of Eriphyla being so covetous that when she had seen a necklace, made, I suppose, of gold and jewels, she was so excited by its beauty, that she betrayed her husband for the sake of it. His covetousness was similar; but in one respect more violent and more senseless, because she was desiring a thing which she had seen, while his wishes were excited not only by his eyes, but even by his ears.

> Latin: 39. iste continuo mittit homines certos Melitam, scribit ad quosdam Melitensis ut ea vasa perquirant, rogat Diodorum ut ad illum propinquum suum det litteras; nihil ei longius videbatur quam dum illud videret argentum. Diodorus, homo frugi ac diligens, qui sua servare vellet, ad propinquum suum scribit ut iis qui a Verre venissent responderet illud argentum se paucis illis diebus misisse Lilybaeum. interea recedit; abesse a domo paulisper maluit quam praesens illud optime factum argentum amittere. ubi iste audivit, usque eo commotus est ut sine ulla dubitatione insanire omnibus ac furere videretur. non potuerat eripere argentum ipse Diodoro, erepta sibi vasa optime facta dicebat; minitari absenti Diodoro, vociferari palam, lacrimas interdum non tenere. Eriphylam accepimus in fabulis ea cupiditate ut, cum vidisset monile, ut opinor, ex auro et gemmis, pulchritudine eius incensa salutem viri proderet. Similis istius cupiditas, hoc etiam acrior atque insanior, quod illa cupiebat id quod viderat, huius libidines non solum oculis sed etiam auribus excitabantur.

[¶4] 40. He orders Diodorus to be sought for over the whole province. He had by this time struck his camp, packed up his baggage, and left Sicily. Verres, in order by some means or other to bring the man back to the province, devises this plan, if it is to be called a plan, and not rather a piece of madness. He sets up one of the men he calls his hounds, to say that he wishes to institute a prosecution against Diodorus of Melitafor a capital offence. At first all men wondered at such a thing being imputed to Diodorus, a most quiet man, and as far removed as any man from all suspicion, not only of crime, but of even the slightest irregularity. But it soon became evident, that all this was done for the sake of his silver. Verres does not hesitate to order the prosecution to be instituted; and that, I imagine, was the first instance of his allowing an accusation to be made against an absent man.

> Latin: 40. Diodorum tota provincia iubet: ille ex Sicilia iam castra commoverat et vasa collegerat., ut aliquo modo in provinciam illum revocaret, hanc excogitat rationem, si haec ratio potius quam amentia nominanda est. de suis canibus quendam qui dicat se Diodorum Melitensem rei capitalis reum velle facere. mirum omnibus videri Diodorum reum, hominem quietissimum, ab omni non modo facinoris verum etiam minimi errati suspicione remotissimum; deinde esse perspicuum fieri omnia illa propter argentum. non dubitat iubere nomen referri, et tum primum ut opinor istum absentis nomen recepisse.

[¶5] 41. The matter was notorious over all Sicily, that men were prosecuted for capital offences because the praetor coveted their chased silver plate; and that prosecutions were instituted against them not only when they were present, but even in their absence. Diodorus goes to Rome, and putting on mourning, calls on all his patrons and friends; relates the affair to every one. Earnest letters are written to Verres by his father, and by his friends, warning him to take care what he did, and what steps he took respecting Diodorus; that the matter was notorious and very unpopular; that he must be out of his senses; that this one charge would ruin him if he did not take care. At that time he considered his father, if not in the light of a parent, at least in that of a man. He had not yet sufficiently prepared himself for a trial; it was his first year in the province; he was not, as he was by the time of the affair of Sthenius, loaded with money. And so his frenzy was checked a little, not by shame, but by fear and alarm. He does not dare to condemn Diodorus; he takes his name out of the list of defendants while he is absent. In the meantime Diodorus, for nearly three years, as long as that man was praetor, was banished from the province and from his home.

> Latin: 41. clara Sicilia tota, propter caelati argenti cupiditatem reos fieri rerum capitalium, neque solum reos fieri, sed etiam absentis. Diodorus Romae sordidatus circum patronos atque hospites cursare, rem omnibus narrare. Litterae mittuntur isti a patre vehementes, ab amicis item, videret quid ageret de Diodoro, quo progrederetur; rem claram esse et invidiosam; insanire hominem, periturum hoc uno crimine, nisi cavisset. etiam tum patrem, si non in parentis, at in hominum numero putabat; ad iudicium nondum se satis instruxerat; primus annus erat provinciae, non erat ut in Sthenio, iam refertus pecunia. furor eius paululum non pudore, sed metu ac timore repressus est. Diodorum non audet absentem, de reis eximit. Diodorus interea praetore isto prope triennium provincia domoque caruit.

[¶6] 42. Every one else, not only Sicilians, but Roman citizens too, settled this in their minds, that, since he had carried his covetousness to such an extent, there was nothing which any one could expect to preserve or retain in his own possession if it was admired ever so little by Verres. But after they understood that that brave man, Quintus Arrius, whom the province was eagerly looking for, was not his successor, they then settled that they could keep nothing so carefully shut up or hidden away, as not to be most open and visible to his covetousness. After that, he took away from an honourable and highly esteemed Roman knight, named Cnaeus Salidius, whose son he knew to be a senator of the Roman people and a judge, some beautiful silver horses which had belonged to Quintus Maximus. I did not mean to say this, O judges, for he bought those, he did not steal them;

> Latin: 42. , non solum Siculi sed etiam cives Romani, hoc statuerant, quoniam iste tantum cupiditate progrederetur, nihil esse quod quisquam putaret se, quod isti paulo magis placeret, conservare aut domi retinere posse; postea vero quam intellexerunt isti virum fortem, quem summe provincia exspectabat, Q. Arrium, non succedere, statuerunt nihil se tam clausum neque tam reconditum posse habere quod non istius cupiditati apertissimum promptissimumque esset. iste ab equite Romano splendido et gratioso, Cn. Calidio, cuius filium sciebat senatorem populi Romani et iudicem esse, eculeos argenteos nobilis, qui Q. Maximi fuerant, aufert.

[¶7] 43. I wish I had not mentioned them. Now he will boast, and have a fine ride on these horses. “I bought them, I have paid the money for them.” I have no doubt account books also will be produced. It is well worth while. Give me then the account-books. You are at liberty to get rid of this charge respecting Calidius, as long as I can get a sight of these accounts; still, if you had bought them, what ground had Calidius for complaining at Rome, that, though he had been living so many years in Sicilyas a trader, you were the only person who had so despised and so insulted him, as to plunder him in common with all the rest of the Sicilians? what ground had he for declaring that he would demand his plate back again from you, if he had sold it to you of his own free will? Moreover, how could you avoid restoring it to Cnaeus Calidius; especially when he was such an intimate friend of Lucius Sisenna, your defender, and as you had restored their property to the other friends of Sisenna?

> Latin: 43. huc incidi, iudices; emit enim, non abstulit; nollem dixisse; iactabit se et in his equitabit eculeis. “, pecuniam solvi.”. “tabulae proferentur.” tanti; cedo tabulas. sane crimen hoc Calidianum, dum ego tabulas aspicere possim. tamen quid erat quod Calidius Romae quereretur se, cum tot annos in Sicilia negotiaretur, a te solo ita esse contemptum, ita despectum ut etiam una cum ceteris Siculis despoliaretur, si emeras? erat quod confirmabat se abs te argentum esse repetiturum, si id tibi sua voluntate vendiderat? porro posses facere ut Cn. Calidio non redderes? praesertim cum is L. Sisenna, defensore tuo, tam familiariter uteretur, et cum ceteris familiaribus Sisennae reddidisses.

[¶8] 44. Lastly, I do not suppose you will deny that by the intervention of Potamo, a friend of yours, you restored his plate to Lucius Cordius, an honourable man, but not more highly esteemed than Cnaeus Calidius; and it was he who made the cause of the rest more difficult to plead before you; for though you had promised many men to restore them their property, yet, after Cordius had stated in his evidence that you had restored him his, you desisted from making any more restorations, because you saw that you lost your plunder, and yet could not escape the evidence against you. Under all other praetors Cnaeus Calidius, a Roman knight, was allowed to have plate finely wrought; he was permitted to be able from his own stores to adorn and furnish a banquet handsomely, when he had invited a magistrate or any superior officer. Many men in power and authority have been with Cnaeus Calidius at his house; no one was ever found so mad as to take from him that admirable and splendid plate; no one was found bold enough to ask for it; no one impudent enough to beg him to sell it.

> Latin: 44. non opinor negaturum esse te homini honesto, sed non gratiosiori quam Cn. Calidius est, L. Curidio, te argentum per Potamonem, amicum tuum, reddidisse. quidem ceterorum causam apud te difficiliorem fecit. cum te compluribus confirmasses redditurum, posteaquam Curidius pro testimonio dixit te sibi reddidisse, finem reddendi fecisti, quod intellexisti praeda te de manibus emissa testimonium tamen effugere non posse. Cn. Calidio, equiti Romano, per omnis alios praetores licuit habere argentum bene factum, licuit posse domesticis copiis, cum magistratum aut aliquem superiorem invitasset, ornare et apparare convivium. domi Cn. Calidi cum potestate atque imperio fuerunt: nemo inventus est tam amens qui illud argentum tam praeclarum ac tam nobile eriperet, nemo tam audax qui posceret, nemo tam impudens qui postularet ut venderet.

[¶9] 45. For it is an arrogant thing, an intolerable thing, O judges, for a praetor to say to an honourable, and rich, and well-appointed man in his province, “Sell me those chased goblets.” For it is saying, “You do not deserve to have things which are so beautifully made; they are better suited to a man of my stamp.” Are you, O Verres, more worthy than Calidius? whom (not to compare your way of life with his, for they are not to be compared, but) I will compare you with in respect of this very dignity owing to which you make yourself out his superior. You gave eighty thousand sestercesto canvassing agents to procure your election as praetor; you gave three hundred thousand to an accuser not to press hardly upon you: do you, on that account, look down upon and despise the equestrian order? Is it on that account that it seemed to you a scandalous thing that Calidius should have anything that you admired rather than that you should?

> Latin: 45. Superbum est enim, iudices, et non ferendum dicere praetorem in provincia homini honesto, locupleti, splendido, “mihi vasa caelata”; hoc est enim dicere, “es dignus tu qui habeas quae tam bene facta sunt, meae dignitatis ista sunt.” dignior, Verres, quam Calidius? qui, ut non conferam vitam neque existimationem tuam cum illius—neque enim est conferenda; hoc ipsum conferam quo tu te superiorem fingis; quod HS ccc divisoribus ut praetor renuntiarere dedisti, trecenta accusatori ne tibi odiosus esset, ea re contemnis equestrem ordinem et despicis? ea re tibi indignum visum est quicquam, quod tibi placeret, Calidium potius habere quam te?

[¶10] 46. He has been long boasting of this transaction with Calidius, and telling every one that he bought the things. Did you also buy that censer of Lucius Papilius, a man of the highest reputation, wealth, and honour, and a Roman knight? who stated in his evidence that, when you had begged for it to look at, you returned it with the emblems torn off; so that you may understand that it is all taste in that man, not avarice; that it is the fine work that he covets, not the silver. Nor was this abstinence exercised only in the case of Papirius; he practiced exactly the same conduct with respect to every censer in Sicily; and it is quite incredible how many beautifully wrought censers there were. I imagine that, when Sicilywas at the height of its power and opulence, there were extensive workshops in that island; for before that man went thither as praetor there was no house tolerably rich, in which there were not these things, even if there was no other silver plate besides; namely, a large dish with figures and images of the gods embossed on it, a goblet which the women used for sacred purposes, and a censer. And all these were antique, and executed with the most admirable skill, so that one may suspect everything else in Sicilywas on a similar scale of magnificence; but that though fortune had deprived them of much, those things were still preserved among them which were retained for purposes of religion.

> Latin: 46. se iam dudum de Calidio, narrat omnibus emisse se. etiam de L. Papinio, viro primario, locupleti honestoque equite Romano, turibulum emisti? qui pro testimonio dixit te, cum inspiciendum poposcisses, evulso emblemate remisisse; ut intellegatis in homine intellegentiam esse non avaritiam, artifici cupidum non argenti fuisse. solum in Papinio fuit hac abstinentia; tenuit hoc institutum in turibulis omnibus quaecumque in Sicilia fuerunt. est autem quam multa et quam praeclara fuerint. tum cum Sicilia florebat opibus et copiis magna artificia fuisse in ea insula. domus erat ante istum praetorem nulla paulo locupletior qua in domo haec non essent, etiamsi praeterea nihil esset argenti, patella grandis cum sigillis ac simulacris deorum, patera qua mulieres ad res divinas uterentur, turibulum,—haec autem omnia antiquo opere et summo artificio facta, ut hoc liceret suspicari, fuisse aliquando apud Siculos peraeque pro portione cetera, sed, quibus multa fortuna ademisset, tamen apud eos remansisse ea quae religio retinuisset.

[¶11] 47. I said just now, O judges, that there were many censers, in almost every house in fact; I assert also, that now there is not even one left. What is the meaning of this? what monster, what prodigy did we send into the province? Does it not appear to you that he desired, when he returned to Rome, to satisfy not the covetousness of one man, not his own eyes only, but the insane passion of every covetous man, for as soon as he ever came into any city, immediately the Cibyratic hounds of his were slipped, to search and find cut everything. If they found any large vessel, any considerable work, they brought it to him with joy; if they could hunt out any smaller vessel of the same sort, they looked on those as a sort of lesser game, whether they were dishes, cups, censers, or anything else. What weepings of women, what lamentations do you suppose took place over these things? things which may perhaps seem insignificant to you, but which excite great and bitter indignation, especially among women, who grieve when those things are torn from their hands which they have been accustomed to use in religious ceremonies, which they have received from their ancestors, and which have always been in their family.

> Latin: 47. , iudices, multa fuisse fere apud omnis Siculos: ego idem confirmo nunc ne unum quidem esse. hoc est? quod hoc monstrum, quod prodigium in provinciam misimus? vobis id egisse videtur ut non unius libidinem, non suos oculos, sed omnium cupidissimorum insanias, cum Romam revertisset, expleret? simul atque in oppidum quodpiam venerat, immittebantur illi continuo Cibyratici canes, qui investigabant et perscrutabantur omnia. quod erat grande vas et maius opus inventum, laeti adferebant; si minus eius modi quidpiam venari potuerant, illa quidem certe pro lepusculis capiebantur, patellae, paterae, turibula.

[¶12] 48. Do not now wait while I follow up this charge from door to door, and show you that he stole a goblet from Aeschylus, the Tyndaritan; a dish from another citizen of Tyndarisnamed Thraso; a censer from Nymphodorus of Agrigentum. When I produce my witnesses from Sicilyhe may select whom he pleases for me to examine about dishes, goblets, and censers. Not only no town, no single house that is tolerably well off will be found to have been free from the injurious treatment of this man; who, even if he had come to a banquet, if he saw any finely wrought plate, could not, O judges, keep his hands from it. There is a man named Cnaeus Pompeius Philo, who was a native of Tyndaris; he gave Verres a supper at his visa in the country near Tyndaris; he did what Sicilians did not dare to do, but what, because he was a citizen of Rome, he thought he could do with impunity, he put before him a dish on which were some exceedingly beautiful figures. Verres, the moment he saw it, determined to rob his host's table of that memorial of the Penates and of the gods of hospitality. But yet, in accordance with what I have said before of his great moderation, he restored the rest of the silver after he had torn off the figures; so free was he from all avarice!

> Latin: 48. quos putatis fletus mulierum, quas lamentationes fieri solitas esse in hisce rebus? quae forsitan vobis parvae esse videantur, sed magnum et acerbum dolorem commovent, mulierculis praesertim, cum eripiuntur e manibus ea quibus ad res divinas uti consuerunt, quae a suis acceperunt, quae in familia semper fuerunt. nolite exspectare dum ego haec crimina agam ostiatim, ab Aeschylo Tyndaritano istum pateram abstulisse, a Thrasone item Tyndaritano patellam, a Nymphodoro Agrigentino turibulum. testis ex Sicilia dabo, quem volet ille eligat quem ego interrogem de patellis, pateris, turibulis: non modo oppidum nullum, sed ne domus quidem ulla paulo locupletior expers huius iniuriae reperietur. cum in convivium venisset, si quicquam caelati aspexerat, manus abstinere, iudices, non poterat. Cn. Pompeius est, Philo qui fuit, Tyndaritanus. cenam isti dabat apud villam in Tyndaritano. quod Siculi non audebant; ille, civis Romanus quod erat, impunius id se facturum putavit; adposuit patellam in qua sigilla erant egregia. continuo ut vidit, non dubitavit illud insigne penatium hospitaliumque deorum ex hospitali mensa tollere, sed tamen, quod ante de istius abstinentia dixeram, sigillis avulsis reliquum argentum sine ulla avaritia reddidit.

[¶13] 49. What want you more? Did he not do the same thing to Eupolemus of Calacta, a noble man, connected with, and an intimate friend of the Luculli; a man who is now serving in the army under Lucius Lucullus? He was supping with him; the rest of the silver which he had set before him had no ornament on it, lest he himself should also be left without any ornament; but there were also two goblets, of no large size, but with figures on them. He, as if he had been a professional diner-out, who was not to go away without a present, on the spot, in the sight of all the other guests, tore off the figures. I do not attempt to enumerate all his exploits of this sort; it is neither necessary nor possible. I only produce to you tokens and samples of each description of his varied and universal rascality. Nor did he behave in these affairs as if he would some day or other be called to account for them, but altogether as if he was either never likely to be prosecuted, or else as if the more he stole, the less would be his danger when he was brought before the court; inasmuch as he did these things which I am speaking of not secretly, not by the instrumentality of friends or agents, but openly, from his high position, by his own power and authority.

> Latin: 49. ? Eupolemo Calactino, homini nobili, Lucullorum hospiti ac perfamiliari, qui nunc apud exercitum cum L. Lucullo est, non idem fecit? apud eum; argentum ille ceterum purum adposuerat, ne purus ipse relinqueretur, duo pocula non magna, verum tamen cum emblemate. tamquam festivum acroama, ne sine corollario de convivio discederet, ibidem convivis spectantibus emblemata evellenda curavit. ego nunc istius facta omnia enumerare conor, neque opus est nec fieri ullo modo potest: tantum unius cuiusque de varia improbitate generis indicia apud vos et exempla profero. enim ita se gessit in his rebus tamquam rationem aliquando esset redditurus, sed prorsus ita quasi aut reus numquam esset futurus, aut, quo plura abstulisset, eo minore periculo in iudicium venturus esset; qui haec quae dico iam non occulte, non per amicos atque interpretes, sed palam de loco superiore ageret pro imperio et potestate.

[¶14] 50. When he had come to Catina, a wealthy, honourable, influential city, he ordered Dionysiarchus the proagorus, that is to say, the chief magistrate, to be summoned before him; he openly orders him to take care that all the silver plate which was in anybody's house at Catina, was collected together and brought to him. Did you not hear Philarchus of Centuripa, a man of the highest position as to noble birth, and virtue, and riches, say the same thing on his oath; namely, that Verres had charged and commanded him to collect together, and order to be conveyed to him, all the silver plate at Centuripa, by far the largest and wealthiest city in all Sicily? In the same manner at Agyrium, all the Corinthian vessels there were there, in accordance with his command, were transported to Syracuseby the agency of Apollodorus, whom you have heard as a witness.

> Latin: 50. Catinam cum venisset, oppidum locuples, honestum, copiosum, Dionysiarchum ad se proagorum, hoc est summum magistratum, vocari iubet; ei palam imperat ut omne argentum quod apud quemque esset Catinae conquirendum curaret et ad se adferendum. Centuripinum, primum hominem genere, virtute, pecunia, non hoc idem iuratum dicere audistis, sibi istum negotium dedisse atque imperasse ut Centuripinis, in civitate totius Siciliae multo maxima et locupletissima, omne argentum conquireret et ad se comportari iuberet? Agyrio similiter istius imperio vasa Corinthia per Apollodorum, quem testem audistis, Syracusas deportata sunt.

[¶15] 51. But the most extraordinary conduct of all was this; when that painstaking and industrious praetor had arrived at Haluntium, he would not himself go up into the town, because the ascent was steep and difficult; but he ordered Archagathus of Haluntium, one of the noblest men, not merely in his own city, but in all Sicily, to be summoned before him, and gave him a chance to take care that all the chased silver that there was at Haluntium, and every specimen of Corinthian work too, should be at once taken down from the town to the seaside. Archagathus went up into the town. That noble man, as one who wished to be loved and esteemed by his fellow citizens, was very indignant at having such an office imposed upon him, and did not know what to do. He announces the commands he has received. He orders every one to produce what they had. There was great consternation, for the tyrant himself had not gone away to any distance; lying on a litter by the sea-side below the town, he was waiting for Archagathus and the silver plate. What a gathering of people do you suppose took place in the sown? what an uproar? what weeping of women? they who saw it would have said that the Trojan horse had been introduced, and that the city was taken.

> Latin: 51. vero optima [est ], quod, cum Haluntium venisset praetor laboriosus et diligens, ipse in oppidum noluit accedere, quod erat difficili ascensu atque arduo, Archagathum Haluntinum, hominem non solum domi, sed tota Sicilia in primis nobilem, vocari iussit. negotium dedit ut, quidquid Halunti esset argenti caelati aut si quid etiam Corinthiorum, id omne statim ad mare ex oppido deportaretur. in oppidum Archagathus. nobilis, qui a suis amari et diligi vellet, ferebat graviter illam sibi ab isto provinciam datam, nec quid faceret habebat; pronuntiat quid sibi imperatum esset; iubet omnis proferre quod haberent. erat summus; ipse enim tyrannus non discedebat longius; Archagathum et argentum in lectica cubans ad mare infra oppidum exspectabat.

[¶16] 52. Vessels were brought out without their cases; others were wrenched out of the hands of women; many people's doors were broken open, and their locks forced. For what else can you suppose? Even if ever, at a time of war and tumult, arms are demanded of private citizens, still men give them unwillingly, though they know that they are giving them for the common safety. Do not suppose then that any one produced his carved plate out of his house for another man to steal, without the greatest distress. Everything is brought down to the shore. The Cibyratic brothers are summoned; they condemn some articles; whatever they approve of has its figures in relief or its embossed emblems torn off. And so the Haluntines, having had all their ornaments wrenched off, returned home with the plain silver.

> Latin: 52. concursum in oppido factum putatis, quem clamorem, quem porro fletum mulierum? qui videret equum Troianum introductum, urbem captam diceret. sine thecis vasa, extorqueri alia de manibus mulierum, ecfringi multorum foris, revelli claustra. enim putatis? si quando conquiruntur a privatis in bello ac tumultu, tamen homines inviti dant, etsi ad salutem communem dari sentiunt, ne quem putetis sine maximo dolore argentum caelatum domo, quod alter eriperet, protulisse. deferuntur. Cibyratae fratres vocantur; pauca improbant; quae probarant, iis crustae aut emblemata detrahebantur. Haluntini excussis deliciis cum argento puro domum revertuntur.

[¶17] 53. Was there ever, O judges, a dragnet of such a sort as this in that province? People have sometimes during their year of office diverted some part of the public property to their own use, in the most secret manner; sometimes they even secretly plundered some private citizen of something; and still they were condemned. And if you ask me, though I am detracting somewhat from my own credit by saying so, I think those were the real accusers, who traced the robberies of such men as this by scent, or by some lightly imprinted footsteps; for what is it that we are doing in respect of Verres, who has wallowed in the mud till we can find him out by the traces of his whole body? Is it a great undertaking to say anything against a man, who while he was passing by a place, having his litter put down to rest for a little time, plundered a whole city, house by house; without condescending to any pretences, openly, by his own authority, and by an absolute command? But still, that he might be able to say that he had bought them, he orders Archagathus to give those men, to whom the plate had belonged, some little money, just for form's sake. Archagathus found a few who would accept the money, and those he paid. And still Verres never paid Archagathus that money. Archagathus intended to claim it at Rome; but Cnaeus Lentulus Marcellinus demanded him, as you heard him state himself. Read the evidence of Archagathus, and of Lentulus,— and that you may not imagine that the man wished to heap up such a mass of figures without any reason, just see at what rate he valued you, and the opinion of the Roman people, and the laws, and the courts of justice, and the Sicilian witnesses and traders.

> Latin: 53. umquam, iudices, huiusce modi everriculum ulla 24 in provincia fuit? aliquid de publico quam obscurissime per magistratum solebant; etiam cum aliquid a privato non numquam, occulte auferebant, et ii tamen condemnabantur. si quaeritis, ut ipse de me detraham, illos ego accusatores puto fuisse qui eius modi hominum furta odore aut aliquo leviter presso vestigio persequebantur. nos quidem quid facimus in Verre, quem in luto volutatum totius corporis vestigiis invenimus? est in eum dicere aliquid qui praeteriens, lectica paulisper deposita, non per praestigias sed palam per potestatem uno imperio ostiatim totum oppidum compilaverit. tamen, ut posset dicere se emisse, Archagatho imperat ut illis aliquid, quorum argentum fuerat, nummulorum dicis causa daret. Archagathus paucos qui vellent accipere; iis dedit. Eos nummos tamen iste Archagatho non reddidit. Romae repetere Archagathus; Cn. Lentulus Marcellinus dissuasit, sicut ipsum dicere audistis.. Archagathi et Lentvli testimonium.

[¶18] 54. After he had collected such a vast number of figures that he had not left one single figure to anybody, he established an immense shop in the palace at Syracuse; he openly orders all the manufacturers, and carvers, and goldsmiths to be summoned—and he himself had many in his own employ; he collects a great multitude of men; he kept them employed uninterruptedly for eight months, though all that time no vessels were made of anything but gold. In that time he had so skillfully wrought the figures which he had torn off the goblets and censers, into golden goblets, or had so ingeniously joined them into golden cups, that you would say that they had been made for that very purpose; and he, the praetor, who says that it was owing to his vigilance that peace was maintained in Sicily, was accustomed to sit in his tunic and dark cloak the greater part of the day in this workshop.

> Latin: 54. ne forte hominem existimetis hanc tantam vim emblematum sine causa coacervare voluisse, videte quanti vos, quanti existimationem populi Romani, quanti leges et iudicia, quanti testis Siculos [negotiatores ] fecerit. tantam multitudinem collegerat emblematum ut ne unum quidem cuiquam reliquisset, instituit officinam Syracusis in regia maximam. artifices omnis, caelatores ac vascularios, convocari iubet, et ipse suos compluris habebat. Eos concludit, magnam hominum multitudinem. octo continuos his opus non defuit, cum vas nullum fieret nisi aureum. illa, ex patellis et turibulis quae evellerat, ita scite in aureis poculis inligabat, ita apte in scaphiis aureis includebat, ut ea ad illam rem nata esse diceres; ipse tamen praetor, qui sua vigilantia pacem in Sicilia dicit fuisse, in hac officina maiorem partem diei cum tunica pulla sedere solebat et pallio.

[¶19] 55. I would not venture, O judges, to mention these things, if I were not afraid that you might perhaps say that you had heard more about that man from others in common conversation, than you had heard from me in this trial; for who is there who has not heard of this workshop, of the golden vessels, of Verres's tunic and dark cloak? Name any respectable man you please out of the whole body of settlers at Syracuse, I will produce ham; there will not be one person who will not say that he has either seen this or heard of it.

> Latin: 55. ego, iudices, non auderem proferre, ni vererer ne forte plura de isto ab aliis in sermone quam a me in iudicio vos audisse diceretis. enim est qui de hac officina, qui de vasis aureis, qui de istius pallio non audierit? voles e conventu Syracusano virum bonum nominato; producam; nemo erit quin hoc se audisse aut vidisse dicat.

[¶20] 56. Alas for the age! alas for the degeneracy of our manners! I will not mention anything of any great antiquity; there are many of you, O judges, who knew Lucius Piso, the father of this Lucius Piso, who was praetor. When he was praetor in Spain, in which province he was slain, somehow or other, while he was practicing his exercises in arms, the golden ring which he had was broken and crushed. As he wanted to get himself another ring, he ordered a goldsmith to be summoned into the forum before his throne of office, at Corduba, and openly weighed him out the gold. He ordered the man to set up his bench in the forum, and to make him a ring in the presence of every one. Perhaps in truth some may say that he was too exact, and to this extent any one who chooses may blame him, but no further. Still such conduct was allowable for him, for he was the son of Lucius Piso, of that man who first made the law about extortion and embezzlement.

> Latin: 56. O tempora, O mores! nimium vetus proferam. vestrum aliquam multi qui L. Pisonem cognorint, huius L. Pisonis, qui praetor fuit, patrem. cum esset in Hispania praetor, qua in provincia occisus est, nescio quo pacto, dum armis exercetur, anulus aureus quem habebat fractus et comminutus est. vellet sibi anulum facere, aurificem iussit vocari in forum ad sellam Cordubae et palam appendit aurum; hominem in foro iubet sellam ponere et facere anulum omnibus praesentibus. fortasse dicet aliquis hunc diligentem; hactenus reprehendet, si qui volet, nihil amplius. fuit ei concedendum; filius enim L. Pisonis erat, eius qui primus de pecuniis repetundis legem tulit.

[¶21] 57. It is quite ridiculous for me to speak of Verres now, when I have just been speaking of Piso the Thrifty; still, see what a difference there is between the men: that man, while he was making some sideboards full of golden vessels, did not care what his reputation was, not only in Sicily, but also at Romein the court of justice; the other wished all Spainto know to half an ounce how much gold it took to make a praetor's ring. Forsooth, as the one proved his right to his name, so did the other to his surname. It is utterly impossible for me either to retain in my memory, or to embrace in my speech, all his exploits. I wish just to touch briefly on the different kinds of deeds, done by him, just as here the ring of Piso reminded me of what had otherwise entirely escaped my recollection. From how many honourable men do you imagine that that man tore the golden rings from off their fingers? He never hesitated to do so whenever he was pleased with either the jewels or the fashion of the ring belonging to any one. I am going to mention an incredible fact, but still one so notorious that I do not think that he himself will deny it.

> Latin: 57. est me nunc de Verre dicere, cum de Pisone Frugi dixerim; verum tamen quantum intersit videte. cum aliquot abacorum faceret vasa aurea, non laboravit quid non modo in Sicilia verum etiam Romae in iudicio audiret: ille in auri semuncia totam Hispaniam scire voluit unde praetori anulus fieret. ut hic nomen suum comprobavit, sic ille cognomen. modo possum omnia istius facta aut memoria consequi aut oratione complecti: genera ipsa cupio breviter attingere, ut hic modo me commonuit Pisonis anulus quod totum effluxerat. multis istum putatis hominibus honestis de digitis anulos abstulisse? dubitavit, quotienscumque alicuius aut gemma aut anulo delectatus est. dicam, sed ita clarum ut ipsum negaturum non arbitrer.

[¶22] 58. When a letter had been brought to Valentius his interpreter from Agrigentum, by chance Verres himself noticed the impression on the seal; he was pleased with it, he asked where the letter came from; he was told, from Agrigentum. He sent letters to the men with whom he was accustomed to communicate, ordering that ring to be brought to him as soon as possible. And accordingly, in compliance with his letter, it was torn off the finger of a master of a family, a certain Lucius Titius, a Roman citizen. But that covetousness of his is quite beyond belief. For as he wished to provide three hundred couches beautifully covered, with all other decorations for a banquet, for the different rooms which he has, not only at Rome, but in his different villas, he collected such a number, that there was no wealthy house in all Sicilywhere he did not set up an embroiderer's shop.

> Latin: 58. Valentio, eius interpreti, epistula Agrigento adlata esset, casu signum iste animadvertit in cretula. ei; quaesivit unde esset epistula; respondit Agrigento. litteras ad quos solebat misit, ut is anulus ad se primo quoque tempore adferretur. litteris istius patri familias, L. Titio, civi Romano, anulus de digito detractus est. vero eius cupiditas incredibilis est. ut in singula conclavia, quae iste non modo Romae sed in omnibus villis habet, tricenos lectos optime stratos cum ceteris ornamentis convivi quaereret, nimium multa comparare videretur; nulla domus in Sicilia locuples fuit ubi iste non textrinum instituerit.

[¶23] 59. There is a woman, a citizen of Segesta, very rich, and nobly born, by name Lamia. She, having her house full of spinning jennies, for three years was making him robes and coverlets, all dyed with purple; Attalus, a rich man at Netum; Lyso at Lilybaeum; Critolaus at Enna; at SyracuseAeschrio, Cleomenes, and Theomnastus; at Elorum Archonides and Megistus. My voice will fail me before the names of the men whom he employed in this way will; he himself supplied the purple—his friends supplied only the work, I dare say; for I have no wish to accuse him in every particular, as if it were not enough for me, with a view to accuse him, that he should have had so much to give, that he should have wished to carry away so many things; and, besides all that, this thing which he admits, namely, that he should have employed the work of his friends in affairs of this sort.

> Latin: 59. [est ] Segestana perdives et nobilis, Lamia nomine, per triennium isti plena domo telarum stragulam vestem confecit, nihil nisi conchylio tinctum Attalus, homo pecuniosus, Neti, Lyso Lilybaei, Critolaus Aetnae, Syracusis Aeschrio, Cleomenes, Theomnastus, Helori Archonidas,—dies me citius defecerit quam nomina. “dabat purpuram, tantum operam amici.”; iam enim non libet omnia criminari; quasi vero hoc mihi non satis sit ad crimen, habuisse tam multum quod daret, voluisse deportare tam multa, hoc denique, quod concedit, amicorum operis esse in huiusce modi rebus usum.

[¶24] 60. But now do you suppose that brazen couches and brazen candelabra were made at Syracuse for any one but for him the whole of that three years? He bought them, I suppose; but I am informing you so fully, O judges, of what that man did in his province as praetor, that he may not by chance appear to any one to have been careless, and not to have provided and adorned himself sufficiently when he had absolute power. I come now, not to a theft, not to avarice, not to covetousness, but to an action of that sort that every kind of wickedness seems to be contained in it, and to be in it; by which the immortal gods were insulted, the reputation and authority of the name of the Roman people was impaired, hospitality was betrayed and plundered, all the kings who were most friendly to us, and the nations which are under their rule and dominion, were alienated from us by his wickedness.

> Latin: 60. vero lectos aeratos et candelabra aenea num cui praeter istum Syracusis per triennium facta esse existimatis? “.”; sed tantum vos certiores, iudices, facio quid iste in provincia praetor egerit, ne cui forte neglegens nimium fuisse videatur neque se satis, cum potestatem habuerit, instruxisse et ornasse. nunc non iam ad furtum, non ad avaritiam, non ad cupiditatem, sed ad eius modi facinus in quo omnia nefaria contineri mihi atque inesse videantur; in quo di immortales violati, existimatio atque auctoritas nominis populi Romani imminuta, hospitium spoliatum ac proditum, abalienati scelere istius a nobis omnes reges amicissimi, nationesque quae in eorum regno ac dicione sunt.

[¶25] 61. For you know that the kings of Syria, the boyish sons of King Antiochus, have lately been at Rome. And they came not on account of the kingdom of Syria; for that they had obtained possession of without dispute, as they had received it from their father and their ancestors; but they thought that the kingdom of Egyptbelonged to them and to Selene their mother. When they, being hindered by the critical state of the republic at that time, were not able to obtain the discussion of the subject as they wished before the senate, they departed for Syria, their paternal kingdom. One of them—the one whose name is Antiochus—wished to make his journey through Sicily. And so, while Verres was praetor, he came to Syracuse.

> Latin: 61. reges Syriae, regis Antiochi filios pueros, scitis Romae nuper fuisse; qui venerant non propter Syriae regnum, nam id sine controversia obtinebant ut a patre et a maioribus acceperant, sed regnum Aegypti ad se et ad Selenen, matrem suam, pertinere arbitrabantur. posteaquam temporibus rei publicae exclusi per senatum agere quae voluerant non potuerunt, in Syriam in regnum patrium profecti sunt. Eorum alter, qui Antiochus vocatur, iter per Siciliam facere voluit, itaque isto praetore venit Syracusas.

[¶26] 62. On this Verres thought that an inheritance had come to him, because a man whom he had heard, and on other accounts suspected had many splendid things with him, had come into his kingdom and into his power. He sends him presents—liberal enough—for all domestic uses; as much wine and oil as he thought fit; and as much wheat as he could want, out of his tenths. After that he invites the king himself to supper. He decorates a couch abundantly and magnificently. He sets out the numerous, and beautiful silver vessels, in which he was so rich; for he had not yet made all those golden ones. He takes care that the banquet shall be splendidly appointed and provided in every particular. Why need I make a long story of it? The king departed thinking that Verres was superbly provided with everything, and that he himself had been magnificently treated. After that, he himself invites the praetor to supper. He displays all his treasures; much silver, also not a few goblets of gold, which, as is the custom of kings, and especially in Syria, were studded all over with most splendid jewels. There was also a vessel for wine, a ladle hollowed out of one single large precious stone, with a golden handle, concerning which, I think, you heard Quintus Minutius speak, a sufficiently capable judge, and sufficiently credible witness.

> Latin: 62. Verres hereditatem sibi venisse arbitratus est, quod in eius regnum ac manus venerat is quem iste et audierat multa secum praeclara habere et suspicabatur. homini munera satis large haec ad usum domesticum, olei, vini quod visum est, etiam tritici quod satis esset, de suis decumis. ipsum regem ad cenam vocavit. ample magnificeque triclinium; exponit ea, quibus abundabat, plurima et pulcherrima vasa argentea,—nam haec aurea nondum fecerat; omnibus curat rebus instructum et paratum ut sit convivium. multa? rex ita discessit ut et istum copiose ornatum et se honorifice acceptum arbitraretur. ad cenam deinde ipse praetorem; exponit suas copias omnis, multum argentum, non pauca etiam pocula ex auro, quae, ut mos est regius et maxime in Syria, gemmis erant distincta clarissimis. etiam vas vinarium, ex una gemma pergrandi trulla excavata, manubrio aureo, de qua, credo, satis idoneum satis gravem testem, Q. Minucium, dicere audistis.

[¶27] 63. Verres took each separate piece of plate into his hands, praised it—admired it. The king was delighted that that banquet was tolerably pleasant and agreeable to a praetor of the Roman people. After the banquet was over, Verres thought of nothing else, as the facts themselves showed, than how he might plunder and strip the king of everything before he departed from the province. He sends to ask for the most exquisite of the vessels which he had seen at Antiochus's lodgings. He said that he wished to show them to his engravers. The king, who did not know the man, most willingly sent them, without any suspicion of his intention. He sends also to borrow the jeweled ladle. He said that he wished to examine it more attentively; that also is sent to him.

> Latin: 63. unum quodque vas in manus sumere, laudare, mirari: rex gaudere praetori populi Romani satis iucundum et gratum illud esse convivium. inde discessum est, cogitare nihil iste aliud, quod ipsa res declaravit, nisi quem ad modum regem ex provincia spoliatum expilatumque dimitteret. rogatum vasa ea quae pulcherrima apud eum viderat; ait se suis caelatoribus velle ostendere. Rex, qui illum non nosset, sine ulla suspicione libentissime dedit. etiam trullam gemmeam rogatum; velle se eam diligentius considerare. quoque ei mittitur.

[¶28] 64. Now, O judges, mark what followed; things which you have already heard, and which the Roman people will not hear now for the first time, and which have been reported abroad among foreign nations to the furthest corners of the earth. The kings, whom I have spoken of, had brought to Romea candelabrum of the finest jewels, made with most extraordinary skill, in order to place it in the Capitol; but as they found that temple not yet finished, they could not place it there. Nor were they willing to display it and produce it in common, in order that it might seem more splendid when it was placed at its proper time in the shrine of the great and good Jupiter; and brighter; also, as its beauty would come fresh and untarnished before the eyes of men. They determined, therefore, to take it back with them into Syria, with the intention, when they should hear that the image of the great and good Jupiterwas dedicated, of sending ambassadors who should bring that exquisite and most beautiful present, with other offerings, to the Capitol.

> Latin: 64. reliquum, iudices, attendite, de quo et vos audistis et populus Romanus non nunc primum audiet et in exteris nationibus usque ad ultimas terras pervagatum est. e gemmis clarissimis opere mirabili perfectum reges ii, quos dico, Romam cum attulissent, ut in Capitolio ponerent, quod nondum perfectum templum offenderant, neque ponere potuerunt neque vulgo ostendere ac proferre voluerunt, ut et magnificentius videretur cum suo tempore in cella Iovis poneretur, et clarius cum pulchritudo eius recens ad oculos hominum atque integra perveniret: statuerunt id secum in Syriam reportare ut, cum audissent simulacrum Iovis dedicatum, legatos mitterent qui cum ceteris rebus illud quoque eximium ac pulcherrimum donum in Capitolium adferrent. res ad istius auris nescio quo modo;

[¶29] 65. The matter, I know not how, got to his ears. For the king had wished it kept entirely concealed; not because he feared or suspected anything, but because he did not wish many to feast their eyes on it before the Roman people. He begs the king, and entreats him most earnestly to send it to him; he says that he longs to look at it himself, and that he will not allow any one else to see it. Antiochus, being both of a childlike and royal disposition, suspected nothing of that man's dishonesty, and orders his servants to take it as secretly as possible, and well wrapped up, to the praetor's house. And when they brought it there, and placed it on a table, having taken off the coverings, Verres began to exclaim that it was a thing worthy of the kingdom of Syria, worthy of being a royal present, worthy of the Capitol. In truth, it was of such splendour as a thing must be which is made of the most brilliant and beautiful jewels; of such variety of pattern that the skill of the workmanship seemed to vie with the richness of the materials; and of such a size that it might easily be seen that it had been made not for the furniture of men, but for the decoration of a most noble temple. And when he appeared to have examined it sufficiently, the servants begin to take it up to carry it back again. He says that he wishes to examine it over and over again; that he is not half satiated with the sight of it; he orders them to depart and to leave the candelabrum. So they then return to Antiochus empty-handed.

> Latin: 65. nam rex id celatum voluerat, non quo quicquam metueret aut suspicaretur, sed ut ne multi illud ante praeciperent oculis quam populus Romanus. petit a rege et eum pluribus verbis rogat ut id ad se mittat; cupere se dicit inspicere neque se aliis videndi potestatem esse facturum. Antiochus, qui animo et puerili esset et regio, nihil de istius improbitate suspicatus est; imperat suis ut id in praetorium involutum quam occultissime deferrent. posteaquam attulerunt involucrisque reiectis constituerunt, clamare iste coepit dignam rem esse regno Syriae, dignam regio munere, dignam Capitolio. erat eo splendore qui ex clarissimis et pulcherrimis gemmis esse debebat, ea varietate operum ut ars certare videretur cum copia, ea magnitudine ut intellegi posset non ad hominum apparatum sed ad amplissimi templi ornatum esse factum. satis iam perspexisse videretur, tollere incipiunt ut referrent. ait se velle illud etiam atque etiam considerare; nequaquam se esse satiatum; iubet illos discedere et candelabrum relinquere. illi tum inanes ad Antiochum revertuntur.

## 23. Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 66–91

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/23/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/23/#p-N

[¶0] 66. The king at first feared nothing, suspected nothing. One day passed—two days—many days. It was not brought back. Then the king sends to Verres to beg him to return it, if he will be so good. He bids the slaves come again. The king begins to think it strange. He sends a second time. It is not returned. He himself calls on the man; he begs him to restore it to him. Think of the face and marvellous impudence of the man. That thing which he knew, and which he had heard from the king himself was to be placed in the Capitol, which he knew was being kept for the great and good Jupiter, and for the Roman people, that he began to ask and entreat earnestly to have given to him. When the king said that he was prevented from complying by the reverence due to Jupiter Capitolinus, and by his regard for the opinion of men, because many nations were witnesses to the fact of the candelabrum having been made for a present to the god, the fellow began to threaten him most violently. When he sees that he is no more influenced by threats than he had been by prayers, on a sadden he orders him to leave his province before night. He says, that he has found out that pirates from his kingdom were coming against Sicily.

> Latin: 66. Rex primo nihil metuere, nihil suspicari; dies unus, alter, plures; non referri. mittit, si videatur, ut reddat. iste posterius ad se reverti. illi videri; mittit iterum; non redditur. hominem appellat, rogat ut reddat. os hominis insignemque impudentiam cognoscite. sciret, quod ex ipso rege audisset in Capitolio esse ponendum, quod Iovi, quod populo Romano servari videret, id sibi ut donaret rogare et vehementissime petere coepit. ille se et religione Iovis Capitolini et hominum existimatione impediri diceret, quod multae nationes testes essent illius operis ac muneris, iste homini minari acerrime coepit. Vbi videt eum nihilo magis minis quam precibus permoveri, repente hominem de provincia iubet ante noctem decedere; ait se comperisse ex eius regno piratas ad Siciliam esse venturos.

[¶1] 67. The king, in the most frequented place in Syracuse, in the forum,—in the forum at Syracuse, I say, (that no man may suppose I am bringing forward a charge about which there is any obscurity, or imagining anything which rests on mere suspicion,) weeping, and calling gods and men to witness, began to cry out that Caius Verres had taken from him a candelabrum made of jewels, which he was about to send to the Capitol, and which he wished to be in that most splendid temple as a memorial to the Roman people of his alliance with and friendship for them. He said that he did not care about the other works made of gold and jewels belonging to him which were in Verres's hands, but that it was a miserable and scandalous thing for this to be taken from him. And that, although it had long ago been consecrated in the minds and intentions of himself and his brother, still, that he then, before that assembled body of Roman citizens, offered, and gave, and dedicated, and consecrated it to the great and good Jupiter, and that he invoked Jupiterhimself as a witness of his intention and of his piety. What voice, what lungs, what power of mine can adequately express the indignation due to this atrocity? The King Antiochus, who had lived for two years at Romein the sight of all of us, with an almost royal retinue and establishment,—though he had been the friend and ally of the Roman people; though his father, and his grandfather, and his ancestors, most ancient and honourable sovereigns, had been our firmest friends; though he himself is monarch of a most opulent and extensive kingdom, is turned headlong out of a province of the Roman people.

> Latin: 67. Rex maximo conventu Syracusis in foro, ne quis forte me in crimine obscuro versari atque adfingere aliquid suspicione hominum arbitretur,—in foro, inquam, Syracusis flens ac deos hominesque contestans clamare coepit candelabrum factum e gemmis, quod in Capitolium missurus esset, quod in templo clarissimo populo Romano monumentum suae societatis amicitiaeque esse voluisset, id sibi C. Verrem abstulisse; de ceteris operibus ex auro et gemmis quae sua penes illum essent se non laborare, hoc sibi eripi miserum esse et indignum. etsi antea iam mente et cogitatione sua fratrisque sui consecratum esset, tamen 5 tum se in illo conventu civium Romanorum dare donare dicare consecrare Iovi, testemque ipsum Iovem suae voluntatis ac religionis adhibere. vox, quae latera, quae vires huius unius criminis querimoniam possunt sustinere? Rex Antiochus, qui Romae ante oculos omnium nostrum biennium fere comitatu regio atque ornatu fuisset, is cum amicus et socius populi Romani esset, amicissimo patre, avo, maioribus, antiquissimis et clarissimis regibus, opulentissimo et maximo regno, praeceps provincia populi Romani exturbatus est.

[¶2] 68. How do you suppose that foreign nations will take this? How do you suppose the news of this exploit of yours will be received in the dominions of other kings, and in the most distant countries of the world, when they hear that a king has been insulted by a praetor of the Roman people in his province? that a guest of the Roman people has been plundered? a friend and ally of the Roman people insultingly driven out? Know that your name and that of the Roman people will be an object of hatred and detestation to foreign nations. If this unheard-of insolence of Verres is to pass unpunished, all men will think, especially as the reputation of our men for avarice and covetousness has been very extensively spread, that this is not his crime only, but that of those who have approved of it. Many kings, many free cities, many opulent and powerful private men, cherish intentions of ornamenting the Capitol in such a way as the dignity of the temple and the reputation of our empire requires. And if they understand that you show a proper indignation at this kingly present being intercepted, they will then think that their zeal and their presents will be acceptable to you and to the Roman people. But if they hear that you have been indifferent to the complaint of so great a king, in so remarkable a case, in one of such bitter injustice, they will not be so crazy as to spend their time, and labour, and expense on things which they do not think will be acceptable to you.

> Latin: 68. ad modum hoc accepturas nationes exteras, quem ad modum huius tui facti famam in regna aliorum atque in ultimas terras perventuram putasti, cum audirent a praetore populi Romani in provincia violatum regem, spoliatum hospitem, eiectum socium populi Romani atque amicum? vestrum populique Romani odio atque acerbitati scitote nationibus exteris, iudices, futurum, si istius haec tanta iniuria impunita discesserit. omnes arbitrabuntur, praesertim cum haec fama de nostrorum hominum avaritia et cupiditate percrebruerit, non istius solius hoc esse facinus, sed eorum etiam qui adprobarint. reges, multae liberae civitates, multi privati opulenti ac potentes habent profecto in animo Capitolium sic ornare ut templi dignitas imperique nostri nomen desiderat; qui si intellexerint interverso hoc regali dono graviter vos tulisse, grata fore vobis populoque Romano sua studia ac dona arbitrabuntur; sin hoc vos in rege tam nobili, re tam eximia, iniuria tam acerba neglexisse audient, non erunt tam amentes ut operam curam pecuniam impendant in eas res quas vobis gratas fore non arbitrentur.

[¶3] 69. And in this place I appeal to you, O Quintus Catulus; for I am speaking of your most honourable and most splendid monument. You ought to take upon yourself not only the severity of a judge with respect to this crime, but something like the vehemence of an enemy and an accuser. For, through the kindness of the senate and people of Rome, your honour is connected with that temple. Your name is consecrated at the same time as that temple in the everlasting recollection of men. It is by you that this case is to be encountered; by you, that this labour is to be undergone, in order that the Capitol, as it has been restored more magnificently, may also be adorned more splendidly than it was originally; that then that fire may seem to have been sent from heaven, not to destroy the temple of the great and good Jupiter, but to demand one for him more noble and more magnificent.

> Latin: 69. loco, Q. Catule, te appello; loquor enim de tuo clarissimo pulcherrimoque monumento. iudicis solum severitatem in hoc crimine, sed prope inimici atque accusatoris vim suscipere debes. enim honos illo templo senatus populique Romani beneficio, tui nominis aeterna memoria simul cum templo illo consecratur; tibi haec cura suscipienda, tibi haec opera sumenda est, ut Capitolium, quem ad modum magnificentius est restitutum, sic copiosius ornatum sit quam fuit, ut illa flamma divinitus exstitisse videatur, non quae deleret Iovis templum, sed quae praeclarius magnificentiusque deposceret.

[¶4] 70. You have heard Quintus Minucius Rufus say, that King Antiochus stayed at his house while at Syracuse; that he knew that this candelabrum had been taken to Verres's house; that he knew that it had not been returned. You heard, and you shall hear from the whole body of Roman settlers at Syracuse, that they will state to you that in their hearing it was dedicated and consecrated to the good and great Jupiterby King Antiochus. If you were not a judge, and this affair were reported to you, it would be your especial duty to follow it up; to reclaim the candelabrum, and to prosecute this cause. So that I do not doubt what ought to be your feelings as judge in this prosecution, when before any one else as judge you ought to be a much more vehement advocate and accuser than I am.

> Latin: 70. Q. Minucium dicere domi suae deversatum esse Antiochum regem Syracusis; se illud scire ad istum esse delatum, se scire non redditum; audisti et audies omni e conventu Syracusano qui ita dicant, sese audientibus illud Iovi dicatum esse ab rege Antiocho et consecratum. iudex non esses et haec ad te delata res esset, te potissimum hoc persequi, te petere, te agere oporteret. non dubito quo animo iudex huius criminis esse debeas, qui apud alium iudicem multo acrior quam ego sum actor accusatorque esse deberes.

[¶5] 71. And to you, O judges, what can appear more scandalous or more intolerable than this? Shall Verres have at his own house a candelabrum, made of jewels and gold, belonging to the great and good Jupiter? Shall that ornament be set out in his house at banquets which will be one scene of adultery and debauchery, with the brilliancy of which the temple of the great and good Jupiterought to glow and to be lighted up? Shall the decorations of the Capitol be placed in the house of that most infamous debauchee with the other ornaments which he has inherited from Chelidon? What do you suppose will ever be considered sacred or holy by him, when he does not now think himself liable to punishment for such enormous wickedness? who dares to come into this court of justice, where he cannot, like all others who are arraigned, pray to the great and good Jupiter, and entreat help from him? from whom even the immortal gods are reclaiming their property, before that tribunal which was appointed for the benefit of men, that they might recover what had been extorted unjustly from them? Do we marvel that Minerva at Athens, Apollo at Delos, Juno at Samos, Diana at Perga, and that many other gods besides all over Asiaand Greece, were plundered by him, when he could not keep his hands off the Capitol? That temple which private men are decorating and are intending to decorate out of their own riches, that Caius Verres would not suffer to be decorated by a king.

> Latin: 71. autem, iudices, quid hoc indignius aut quid minus ferendum videri potest? Verresne habebit domi suae candelabrum Iovis e gemmis auroque perfectum? cuius fulgore conlucere atque inlustrari Iovis templum oportebat, id apud istum in eius modi conviviis constituetur, quae domesticis stupris flagitiisque flagrabunt? in istius lenonis turpissimi domo simul cum ceteris Chelidonis hereditariis ornamentis Capitoli ornamenta ponentur? huic sacri umquam fore aut quid religiosi fuisse putatis qui nunc tanto scelere se obstrictum esse non sentiat, qui in iudicium veniat ubi ne precari quidem Iovem atque ab eo auxilium petere more omnium possit? a quo etiam di immortales sua repetunt in eo iudicio quod hominibus ad suas res repetendas est constitutum. Athenis Minervam, Deli Apollinem, Iunonem Sami, Pergae Dianam, multos praeterea ab isto deos tota Asia Graeciaque violatos, qui a Capitolio manus abstinere non potuerit? privati homines de suis pecuniis ornant ornaturique sunt, id C. Verres ab regibus ornari non passus est.

[¶6] 72. And, accordingly, after he had once conceived this nefarious wickedness, he considered nothing in all Sicilyafterwards sacred or hallowed; and he behaved himself in his province for three years in such a manner that war was thought to have been declared by him, not only against men, but also against the immortal gods. Segesta is a very ancient town in Sicily, O judges, which its inhabitants assert was founded by Aeneas when he was flying from Troyand coming to this country. And accordingly the Segestans think that they are connected with the Roman people, not only by a perpetual alliance and friendship, but even by some relationship. This town, as the state of the Segestans was at war with the Carthaginians on its own account and of its own accord, was formerly stormed and destroyed by the Carthaginians; and everything which could be any ornament to the city was transported from thence to Carthage. There was among the Segestans a statue of Diana, of brass, not only invested with the most sacred character, but also wrought with the most exquisite skill and beauty. When transferred to Carthage, it only changed its situation and its worshippers; it retained its former sanctity. For on account of its eminent beauty it seemed, even to their enemies, worthy of being most religiously worshipped.

> Latin: 72. hoc nefario scelere concepto nihil postea tota in Sicilia neque sacri neque religiosi duxit esse; ita sese in ea provincia per triennium gessit ut ab isto non solum hominibus verum etiam dis immortalibus bellum indictum putaretur. Segesta est oppidum pervetus in Sicilia, iudices, quod ab Aenea fugiente a Troia atque in haec loca veniente conditum esse demonstrant. Segestani non solum perpetua societate atque amicitia, verum etiam cognatione se cum populo Romano coniunctos esse arbitrantur. quondam oppidum, cum illa civitas cum Poenis suo nomine ac sua sponte bellaret, a Carthaginiensibus vi captum atque deletum est, omniaque quae ornamento urbi esse possent Carthaginem sunt ex illo loco deportata. apud Segestanos ex aere Dianae simulacrum, cum summa atque antiquissima praeditum religione tum singulari opere artificioque perfectum. translatum Carthaginem locum tantum hominesque mutarat, religionem quidem pristinam conservabat; nam propter eximiam pulchritudinem etiam hostibus digna quam sanctissime colerent videbatur.

[¶7] 73. Some ages afterwards, Publius Scipio took Carthage, in the third Punic war; after which victory, (remark the virtue and carefulness of the man, so that you may both rejoice at your national examples of most eminent virtue, and may also judge tire incredible audacity of Verres worthy of the greater hatred by contrasting it with that virtue,) he summoned all the Sicilians, because he knew that during a long period of time Sicilyhad repeatedly been ravaged by the Carthaginians, and bids them seek for all they had lost, and promises them to take the greatest pains to ensure the restoration to the different cities of everything which had belonged to them. Then those things which had formerly been removed from Himera, and which I have mentioned before, were restored to the people of Thermae; some things were restored to the Gelans, some to the Agrigentines; among which was that noble bull, which that most cruel of all tyrants, Phalaris, is said to have had, into which he was accustomed to put men for punishment, and to put fire under. And when Scipio restored that bull to the Agrigentines, he is reported to have said, that he thought it reasonable for them to consider whether it was more advantageous to the Sicilians to be subject to their own princes, or to be under the dominion of the Roman people, when they had the same thing as a monument of the cruelty of their domestic masters, and of our liberality.

> Latin: 73. saeculis post P. Scipio bello Punico tertio Carthaginem cepit; qua in victoria,—videte hominis virtutem et diligentiam, ut et domesticis praeclarissimae virtutis exemplis gaudeatis et eo maiore odio dignam istius incredibilem audaciam iudicetis,—convocatis Siculis omnibus, quod diutissime saepissimeque Siciliam vexatam a Carthaginiensibus esse cognorat, iubet omnia conquiri; pollicetur sibi magnae curae fore ut omnia civitatibus, quae cuiusque fuissent, restituerentur. illa quae quondam erant Himera sublata, de quibus antea dixi, Thermitanis sunt reddita, tum alia Gelensibus, alia Agrigentinis, in quibus etiam ille nobilis taurus, quem crudelissimus omnium tyrannorum Phalaris habuisse dicitur, quo vivos supplici causa demittere homines et subicere flammam solebat. taurum cum Scipio redderet Agrigentinis, dixisse dicitur aequum esse illos cogitare utrum esset Agrigentinis utilius, suisne servire anne populo Romano obtemperare, cum idem monumentum et domesticae crudelitatis et nostrae mansuetudinis haberent.

[¶8] 74. At that time the same Diana of which I am speaking is restored with the greatest care to the Segestans. It is taken back to Segesta; it is replaced in its ancient situation, to the greatest joy and delight of all the citizens. It was placed at Segesta on a very lofty pedestal, on which was cut in large letters the name of Publius Africanus; and a statement was also engraved that “he had restored it after having taken Carthage.” It was worshipped by the citizens; it was visited by all strangers; when I was quaestor it was the very first thing, they showed me. It was a very large and tall statue with a flowing robe, but in spite of its large size it gave the idea of the age and dress of a virgin; her arrows hung from her shoulder, in her left hand she carried her bow, her right hand held a burning torch.

> Latin: 74. tempore Segestanis maxima cum cura haec ipsa Diana, de qua dicimus, redditur; reportatur Segestam; in suis antiquis sedibus summa cum gratulatione civium et laetitia reponitur. erat posita Segestae sane excelsa in basi, in qua grandibus litteris P. Africani nomen erat incisum eumque Carthagine capta restituisse perscriptum. a civibus, ab omnibus advenis visebatur; cum quaestor essem, nihil mihi ab illis est demonstratum prius. admodum amplum et excelsum signum cum stola; verum tamen inerat in illa magnitudine aetas atque habitus virginalis; sagittae pendebant ab umero, sinistra manu retinebat arcum, dextra ardentem facem praeferebat.

[¶9] 75. When that enemy of all sacred things, that violator of all religious scruples saw it, he began to burn with covetousness and insanity, as if he himself had been struck with that torch. He commands the magistrates to take the statue down and give it to him; and declares to them that nothing can be more agreeable to him. But they said that it was impossible for them to do so; that they were prevented from doing so, not only by the most extreme religious reverence, but also by the greatest respect for their own laws and courts of justice. Then he began to entreat this favour of them, then to threaten them, then to try and excite their hopes, then to arouse their fears. They opposed to his demands the name of Africanus; they said that it was the gift of the Roman people; that they themselves had no right over a thing which a most illustrious general, having taken a city of the enemy, had chosen to stand there as a monument of the victory of the Roman people.

> Latin: 75. cum iste sacrorum omnium et religionum hostis praedoque vidisset, quasi illa ipsa face percussus esset, ita flagrare cupiditate atque amentia coepit; imperat magistratibus ut eam demoliantur et sibi dent; nihil sibi gratius ostendit futurum. vero dicere sibi id nefas esse, seseque cum summa religione tum summo metu legum et iudiciorum teneri. tum petere ab illis, tum minari, tum spem, tum metum ostendere. illi nomen interdum P. Africani; populi Romani illud esse dicebant; nihil se in eo potestatis habere quod imperator clarissimus urbe hostium capta monumentum victoriae populi Romani esse voluisset.

[¶10] 76. As he did not relax in his demand, but urged it every day with daily increasing earnestness, the matter was brought before their senate. His demand raises a violent outcry on all sides. And so at that time, and at his first arrival at Segesta, it is refused. Afterwards, whatever burdens could be imposed on any city in respect of exacting sailors and rowers, or in levying corn, he imposed on the Segestans beyond all other cities, and a good deal more than they could bear. Besides that, he used to summon their magistrates before him; he used to send for all the most noble and most virtuous of the citizens, to hurry them about with him to all the courts of justice in the province, to threaten every one of them separately to be the ruin of him, and to announce to them all in a body that he would utterly destroy their city. Therefore, at last, the Segestans, subdued by much ill-treatment and by great fear, resolved to obey the command of the praetor. With great grief and lamentation on the part of the whole city, with many tears and wailings on the part of all the men and women, a contract is advertised for taking down the statue of Diana.

> Latin: 76. iste nihilo remissius atque etiam multo vehementius instaret cotidie, res agitur in senatu: vehementer ab omnibus reclamatur. illo tempore ac primo istius adventu pernegatur., quidquid erat oneris in nautis remigibusque exigendis, in frumento imperando, Segestanis praeter ceteros imponebat, aliquanto amplius quam ferre possent. magistratus eorum evocabat, optimum quemque et nobilissimum ad se arcessebat, circum omnia provinciae fora rapiebat, singillatim uni cuique calamitati fore se denuntiabat, universis se funditus eversurum esse illam civitatem minabatur. aliquando multis malis magnoque metu victi Segestani praetoris imperio parendum esse decreverunt. Magno cum luctu et gemitu totius civitatis, multis cum lacrimis et lamentationibus virorum mulierumque omnium simulacrum Dianae tollendum locatur.

[¶11] 77. See now with what religious reverence it is regarded. Know, O judges, that among all the Segestans none was found, whether free man or slave, whether citizen or foreigner, to dare to touch that statue. Know that some barbarian workmen were brought from Lilybaeum; they at length, ignorant of the whole business, and of the religious character of the image, agreed to take it down for a sum of money, and took it down. And when it was being taken out of the city, how great was the concourse of women! how great was the weeping of the old men! some of whom even recollected that day when that same Diana being brought back to Segesta from Carthage, had announced to them, by its return, the victory of the Roman people. How different from that time did this day seem! then the general of the Roman people, a most illustrious man, was bringing back to the Segestans the gods of their fathers, recovered from an enemy's city; now a most base and profligate praetor of the same Roman people, was taking away, with the most nefarious wickedness, those very same gods from a city of his allies. What is more notorious throughout all Sicilythan that all the matrons and virgins of Segesta came together when Diana was being taken out of their city? that they anointed her with precious unguents? that they crowned her with chaplets and flowers? that they attended her to the borders of their territory with frankincense and burning perfumes?

> Latin: 77. quanta religio fuerit apud Segestanos. esse, iudices, scitote neminem, neque liberum neque servum, neque civem neque peregrinum, qui illud signum auderet attingere; barbaros quosdam Lilybaeo scitote adductos esse operarios; ii denique illud ignari totius negoti ac religionis mercede accepta sustulerunt. cum ex oppido exportabatur, quem conventum mulierum factum esse arbitramini, quem fletum maiorum natu? quorum non nulli etiam illum diem memoria tenebant cum illa eadem Diana Segestam Carthagine revecta victoriam populi Romani reditu suo nuntiasset. dissimilis hic dies illi tempori videbatur! imperator populi Romani, vir clarissimus, deos patrios reportabat Segestanis ex urbe hostium recuperatos: nunc ex urbe sociorum praetor eiusdem populi turpissimus atque impurissimus eosdem illos deos nefario scelere auferebat. hoc tota Sicilia est clarius, quam omnis Segestae matronas et virgines convenisse cum Diana exportaretur ex oppido, unxisse unguentis, complesse coronis et floribus, ture, odoribus incensis usque ad agri finis prosecutas esse?

[¶12] 78. If at the time you, by reason of your covetousness and audacity, did not, while in command, fear these religious feelings of the population, do you not fear them now, at a time of such peril to yourself and to your children? What man, against the will of the immortal gods, or what god, when you so trample on all the religious reverence due to them, do you think will come to your assistance? Has that Diana inspired you, while in quiet and at leisure, with no religious awe;—she, who though she had seen two cities, in which she was placed stormed and burnt, was yet twice preserved from the flames and weapons of two wars; she who, though she changed her situation owing to the victory of the Carthaginians, yet did not lose her holy character; and who, by the valour of Publius Africanus afterwards recovered her old worship, together with her old situation? And when this crime had been executed, as the pedestal was empty, and the name of Publius Africanus carved on it, the affair appeared scandalous and intolerable to every one, that not only was religion trampled on, but also that Caius Verres had taken away the glory of the exploits, the memorial of the virtues, the monument of the victory of Publius Africanus, that most gallant of men.

> Latin: 78. tu tantam religionem si tum in imperio propter cupiditatem atque audaciam non pertimescebas, ne nunc quidem in tanto tuo liberorumque tuorum periculo perhorrescis? tibi aut hominem invitis dis immortalibus aut vero deum tantis eorum religionibus violatis auxilio futurum putas? illa Diana in pace atque in otio religionem nullam attulit? quae cum duas urbis in quibus locata fuerat captas incensasque vidisset, bis ex duorum bellorum flamma ferroque servata est; quae Carthaginiensium victoria loco mutato religionem tamen non amisit, P. Africani virtute religionem simul cum loco recuperavit. quidem scelere suscepto cum inanis esset basis et in ea P. Africani nomen incisum, res indigna atque intoleranda videbatur omnibus non solum religiones esse violatas, verum etiam P. Africani, viri fortissimi, rerum gestarum gloriam, memoriam virtutis, monumenta victoriae C. Verrem sustulisse.

[¶13] 79. But when he was told afterwards of the pedestal and the inscription, he thought that men would forget the whole affair, if he took away the pedestal to which was serving as a sort of signpost to point out his crime. And so, by his command, the Segestans contracted to take away the pedestal too; and the terms of that contract were read to you from the public registers of the Segestans, at the former pleading. Now, O Publius Scipio, I appeal to you; to you, I say, a most virtuous and accomplished youth; from you I request and demand that assistance which is due to your family and to your name. Why do you take the part of that man who has embezzled the credit and honour of your family? Why do you wish him to be defended? Why am I undertaking what is properly your business? Why am I supporting a burden which ought to fall on you?—Marcus Tullius is reclaiming the monuments of Publius Africanus; Publius Scipio is defending the man who took them away. Though it is a principle handed down to us from our ancestors, for every one to defend the monuments of his ancestors, in such a way as not even to allow them to be decorated by one of another name, will you take the part of that man who is not charged merely with having in some degree spoilt the view of the monuments of Publius Scipio, but who has entirely removed and destroyed them?

> Latin: 79. cum isti renuntiaretur de basi ac litteris, existimavit homines in oblivionem totius negoti esse venturos si etiam basim tamquam indicem sui sceleris sustulisset. tollendam istius imperio locaverunt; quae vobis locatio ex publicis litteris Segestanorum priore actione recitata est. nunc, P. Scipio, te, inquam, lectissimum ornatissimumque adulescentem, appello, abs te officium tuum debitum generi et nomini requiro et flagito. pro isto, qui laudem honoremque familiae vestrae depeculatus est, pugnas, cur eum defensum esse vis, cur ego tuas partis suscipio, cur tuum munus sustineo, cur M. Tullius P. Africani monumenta requirit, P. Scipio eum qui illa sustulit defendit? mos a maioribus traditus sit, ut monumenta maiorum ita suorum quisque defendat ut ea ne ornari quidem nomine aliorum sinat, tu isti aderis, qui non obstruxit aliqua ex parte monumento P. Scipionis sed id funditus delevit ac sustulit?

[¶14] 80. Who then, in the name of the immortal gods, will defend the memory of Publius Scipio now that he is dead? who will defend the memorials and evidences of his valour, if you desert and abandon them; and not only allow them to be plundered and taken away, but even defend their plunderer and destroyer? The Segestans are present, your clients, the allies and friends of the Roman people. They inform you that Publius Africanus, when he had destroyed Carthage, restored the image of Diana to their ancestors; and that was set up among the Segestans arid dedicated in the name of that general;—that Verres has had it taken down and carried away, and as far as that is concerned, has utterly effaced and extinguished the name of Publius Scipio. They entreat and pray you to restore the object of their worship to them, its proper credit and glory to your own family, so enabling them by your assistance to recover from the house of a robber, what they recovered from the city of their enemies by the beneficence of Publius Africanus. What can you reply to them with honour, or what can they do but implore the aid of you and your good faith? They are present, they do implore it. You, O Publius, can protect the honour of your family renown; you can, you have every advantage which either fortune or nature ever gives to men. I do not wish to anticipate you in gathering the fruit that belongs to you; I am not covetous of the glory which ought to belong to another. It does not correspond to the modesty of my disposition, while Publius Scipio, a most promising young man, is alive and well, to put myself forward as the defender and advocate of the memorials of Publius Scipio.

> Latin: 80. igitur, per deos immortalis, tuebitur P. Scipionis memoriam mortui, quis monumenta atque indicia virtutis, si tu ea relinques aut deseres, nec solum spoliata illa patieris sed etiam eorum spoliatorem vexatoremque defendes? Segestani, clientes tui, socii populi Romani atque amici; certiorem te faciunt P. Africanum Carthagine deleta simulacrum Dianae maioribus suis restituisse, idque apud Segestanos eius imperatoris nomine positum ac dedicatum fuisse; hoc Verrem demoliendum et asportandum nomenque omnino P. Scipionis delendum tollendumque curasse; orant te atque obsecrant ut sibi religionem, generi tuo laudem gloriamque restituas, ut, quod per P. Africanum ex urbe hostium recuperarint, id per te ex praedonis domo conservare possint. aut tu his respondere honeste potes aut illi facere, nisi ut te ac fidem tuam implorent? et implorant. domesticae laudis amplitudinem, Scipio, tueri, potes; omnia sunt in te quae aut fortuna hominibus aut natura largitur; non praecerpo fructum offici tui, non alienam mihi laudem appeto, non est pudoris mei P. Scipione, florentissimo adulescente, vivo et incolumi me propugnatorem monumentorum P. Scipionis defensoremque profiteri.

[¶15] 81. Wherefore, if you will undertake the advocacy of your family renown, it will behoove me not only to be silent about your monuments, but even to be glad that the fortune of Publius Africanus, though dead, is such, that his honour is defended by those who are of the same family as himself, and that it requires no adventitious assistance. But if your friendship with that man is an obstacle to you,—if you think that this thing which I demand of you is not so intimately connected with your duty,—then I, as your locum tenens, will succeed to your office, I will undertake that business which I have thought not to belong to me. Let that proud aristocracy give up complaining that the Roman people willingly gives, and at all times has given, honours to new and diligent men. It is a foolish complaint that virtue should be of the greatest influence in that city which by its virtue governs all nations. Let the image of Publius Africanus be in the houses of other men; let heroes now dead be adorned with virtue and glory. He was such a man, he deserved so well of the Roman people, that he deserves to be recommended to the affection, not of one single family, but of the whole state. And so it partly does belong to me also to defend his honours with all my power, because I belong to that city which he rendered great, and illustrious, and renowned; and especially, because I practice, to the utmost of my power, those virtues in which he was preeminent,—equity, industry, temperance, the protection of the unhappy, and hatred of the dishonest; a relationship in pursuits and habits which is almost as important as that of which you boast, the relationship of name and family.

> Latin: 81. ob rem si suscipis domesticae laudis patrocinium, me non solum silere de vestris monumentis oportebit, sed etiam laetari P. Africani. eius modi fortunam esse mortui ut eius honos ab iis qui ex eadem familia sint defendatur, neque ullum adventicium auxilium requiratur. istius amicitia te impedit, si hoc quod ego abs te postulo minus ad officium tuum pertinere arbitrabere, succedam ego vicarius tuo muneri, suscipiam partis quas alienas esse arbitrabar. ista praeclara nobilitas desinat queri populum Romanum hominibus novis industriis libenter honores mandare semperque mandasse. est querendum in hac civitate, quae propter virtutem omnibus nationibus imperat, virtutem plurimum posse. apud alios imago P. Africani, ornentur alii mortui virtute ac nomine; talis ille vir fuit, ita de populo Romano meritus est ut non uni familiae sed universae civitati commendatus esse debeat. aliqua mea pars virilis, quod eius civitatis sum quam ille amplam inlustrem claramque reddidit, praecipue quod in his rebus pro mea parte versor quarum ille princeps fuit, aequitate, industria, temperantia, defensione miserorum, odio improborum; quae cognatio studiorum et artium prope modum non minus est coniuncta quam ista qua vos delectamini generis et nominis.

[¶16] 82. I reclaim from you, O Verres, the monument of Publius Africanus; I abandon the cause of the Sicilians, which I undertook; let there be no trial of you for extortion at present; never mind the injuries of the Segestans; let the pedestal of Publius Africanus be restored; let the name of that invincible commander be engraved on it anew; let that most beautiful statue, which was recovered when Carthagewas taken, be replaced. It is not I, the defender of the Sicilians,—it is not I, your prosecutor,—they are not the Segestans who demand this of you; but he who has taken on himself the defence and the preservation of the renown and glory of Publius Africanus. I am not afraid of not being able to give a good account of my performance of this duty to Publius Servilius the judge; who, as he has performed great exploits, and raised very many monuments of his good deeds, and has a natural anxiety about them, will be glad, forsooth, to leave them an object of care and protection not only to his own posterity, but to all brave men and good citizens; and not as a mark for the plunder of rogues. I am not afraid of its displeasing you, O Quintus Catulus, to whom the most superb and splendid monument in the whole world belongs, that there should be as many guardians of such monuments as possible, or that all good men should think it was a part of their duty to defend the glory of another.

> Latin: 82. abs te, Verres, monumentum P. Africani Siculorum quam suscepi relinquo, iudicium de pecuniis repetundis ne sit hoc tempore, Segestanorum iniuriae neglegantur: basis P. Scipionis restituatur, nomen invicti imperatoris incidatur, signum pulcherrimum Carthagine captum reponatur. abs te non Siculorum defensor, non tuus accusator, non Segestani postulant, sed is qui laudem gloriamque P. Africani tuendam conservandamque suscepit. vereor ne hoc officium meum P. Servilio iudici non probem, qui cum res maximas gesserit monumentaque suarum rerum gestarum cum maxime constituat atque in iis elaboret profecto volet haec non solum suis posteris verum etiam omnibus viris fortibus et bonis civibus defendenda, non spolianda improbis tradere. vereor ne tibi, Q. Catule, displiceat, cuius amplissimum orbi terrarum clarissimumque monumentum est, quam plurimos esse custodes monumentorum et putare omnis bonos alienae gloriae defensionem ad officium suum pertinere.

[¶17] 83. And indeed I am so far moved by the other robberies and atrocities of that fellow, as to think them worthy of great reproof; but that might be sufficient for them. But in this instance I am roused to such indignation, that nothing appears to me possible to be more scandalous or more intolerable. Shall Verres adorn his house, full of adultery, full of debauchery, full of infamy, with the monuments of Africanus? Shall Verres face the memorial of that most temperate and religious man, the image of the ever virgin Diana, in that house in which the iniquities of harlots and pimps are incessantly being practised?

> Latin: 83. ceteris istius furtis atque flagitiis ita moveor ut ea reprehendenda tantum putem; hic vero tanto dolore adficior ut nihil mihi indignius, nihil minus ferendum esse videatur. Verres Africani monumentis domum suam plenam stupri, plenam flagiti, plenam dedecoris ornabit? Verres temperantissimi sanctissimique viri monumentum, Dianae simulacrum virginis, in ea domo conlocabit in qua semper meretricum lenonumque flagitia versantur?

[¶18] 84. But is this the only monument of Africanus which you have violated? What! did you take away from the people of Tyndarisan image of Mercury most beautifully made, and placed there by the beneficence of the same Scipio? And how? O ye immortal gods! How audaciously, how infamously, how shamelessly did you do so! You have lately, judges, heard the deputies from Tyndaris, most honourable men, and the chief men of that city, say that the Mercury, which in their sacred anniversaries was worshipped among them with the extremest religious reverence, which Publius Africanus, after he had taken Carthage, had given to the Tyndaritans, not only as a monument of his victory, but as a memorial and evidence of their loyalty to and alliance with the Roman people, had been taken away by the violence, and wickedness, and arbitrary power of this man; who, when he first came to their city, in a moment, as if it were not only a becoming, but an indispensable thing to be done?—as if the senate had ordered it and the Roman people had sanctioned it,—in a moment, I say, ordered them to take the statue down and to transport it to Messana.

> Latin: 84. hoc solum Africani monumentum violasti.? a Tyndaritanis non eiusdem Scipionis beneficio positum simulacrum Mercuri pulcherrime factum sustulisti? quem ad modum, di immortales! quam audacter, quam libidinose, quam impudenter! Audistis nuper dicere legatos Tyndaritanos, homines honestissimos ac principes civitatis, Mercurium, qui sacris anniversariis apud eos ac summa religione coleretur, quem P. Africanus Carthagine capta Tyndaritanis non solum suae victoriae sed etiam illorum fidei societatisque monumentum atque indicium dedisset, huius vi scelere imperioque esse sublatum. ut primum in illud oppidum venit, statim, tamquam ita fieri non solum oporteret sed etiam necesse esset, tamquam hoc senatus mandasset populusque Romanus iussisset, ita continuo signum ut demolirentur et Messanam deportarent imperavit.

[¶19] 85. And as this appeared a scandalous thing to those who were present and who heard it, it was not persevered in by him during the first period of his visit; but when he departed, he ordered Sopater, their chief magistrate, whose statement you have heard, to take it down. When he refused, he threatened him violently; and then he left the city. The magistrate refers the matter to the senate; there is a violent outcry on all sides. To make my story short, some time afterwards he comes to that city again. Immediately he asks about the statue. He is answered that the senate will not allow it to be removed; that capital punishment is threatened to any one who should touch it without the orders of the senate: the impiety of removing is also urged. Then says he, “What do you mean by talking to me of impiety? or about punishment? or about the senate? I will not leave you alive; you shall be scourged to death if the statue is not given up.” Sopater with tears reports the matter to the senate a second time, and relates to them the covetousness and the threats of Verres. The senate gives Sopater no answer, but breaks up in agitation and perplexity. Sopater, being summoned by the praetor's messenger, informs him of the state of the case, and says that it is absolutely impossible.

> Latin: 85. cum illis qui aderant indignum, qui audiebant incredibile videretur, non est ab isto primo illo adventu perseveratum. mandat proagoro Sopatro, cuius verba audistis, ut demoliatur; cum recusaret, vehementer minatur et statim ex illo oppido proficiscitur. rem ille ad senatum; vehementer undique reclamatur. multa, iterum iste ad illos aliquanto post venit, quaerit continuo de signo. ei senatum non permittere; poenam capitis constitutam, si iniussu senatus quisquam attigisset; simul religio commemoratur. iste, “mihi religionem narras, quam poenam, quem senatum? vivum te non relinquam; moriere virgis nisi mihi signum traditur.” Sopater iterum flens ad senatum rem defert, istius cupiditatem minasque demonstrat. Sopatro responsum nullum dat, sed commotus perturbatusque discedit. praetoris arcessitus nuntio rem demonstrat, negat ullo modo fieri posse.

[¶20] 86. And all these things (for I do not think that I ought to omit any particular of his impudence) were done openly in the middle of the assembly, while Verres was sitting on his chair of office, in a lofty situation. It was the depth of winter; the weather, as you heard Sopater himself state, was bitterly cold; heavy rain was falling; when that fellow orders the lictors to throw Sopater headlong down from the portico on which he himself was sitting, and to strip him naked. The command was scarcely, out of his mouth, before you might have seen him stripped and surrounded by the lictors. All thought that the unhappy and innocent man was going to be scourged. They were mistaken. Do you think that Verres would scourge without any reason an ally and friend of the Roman people? He is not so wicked. All vices are not to be found in that man; he was never cruel. He treated the man with great gentleness and clemency. In the middle of the forum there are some statues of the Marcelli, as there are in most of the other towns of Sicily; out of these he selected the statue of Caius Marcellus, whose services to that city and to the whole province were most recent and most important. On that statue he orders Sopater, a man of noble birth in his city, and at that very time invested with the chief magistracy, to be placed astride and bound to it.

> Latin: 86. haec—nihil enim praetermittendum de istius impudentia videtur—agebantur in conventu palam de sella ac de loco superiore.
(86) hiems summa, tempestas, ut ipsum Sopatrum dicere audistis, perfrigida, imber maximus, cum iste imperat lictoribus ut Sopatrum de porticu, in qua ipse sedebat, praecipitem in forum deiciant nudumque constituant. erat hoc plane imperatum cum illum spoliatum stipatumque lictoribus videres. id fore putabant ut miser atque innocens virgis caederetur; fefellit hic homines opinio. iste caederet sine causa socium populi Romani atque amicum? usque eo est improbus; non omnia sunt in uno vitia; numquam fuit crudelis. hominem clementerque accepit. Equestres sunt medio in foro Marcellorum statuae, sicut fere ceteris in oppidis Siciliae; ex quibus iste C. Marcelli statuam delegit, cuius officia in illam civitatem totamque provinciam recentissima erant et maxima; in ea Sopatrum, hominem cum domi nobilem tum summo magistratu praeditum, divaricari ac deligari iubet.

[¶21] 87. What torture he suffered when he was bound naked in the open air, in the rain and in the cold, must be manifest to every body. Nor did he put an end to this insult and barbarity, till the people and the whole multitude, moved by the atrocity of his conduct and by pity for his victim, compelled the senate by their outcries to promise him that statue of Mercury. They cried out that the immortal gods themselves would avenge the act, and that in the meantime it was not fit that an innocent man should be murdered. Then the senate comes to him in a body, and promises him the statue. And so Sopater is taken down scarcely alive from the statue of Marcellus, to which he had almost become frozen. I cannot adequately accuse that man if I were to wish to do so; it requires not only genius, but an extraordinary amount of skill.

> Latin: 87. cruciatu sit adfectus venire in mentem necesse est omnibus, cum esset vinctus nudus in aere, in imbri, in frigore. tamen finis huic iniuriae crudelitatique fiebat donec populus atque universa multitudo, atrocitate rei misericordiaque commota, senatum clamore coegit ut isti simulacrum illud Mercuri polliceretur. fore ut ipsi se di immortales ulciscerentur; hominem interea perire innocentem non oportere. frequens senatus ad istum venit, pollicetur signum. Sopater de statua C. Marcelli, cum iam paene obriguisset, vix vivus aufertur. possum disposite istum accusare, si cupiam: opus est non solum ingenio verum etiam artificio quodam singulari.

[¶22] 88. This appears to be a single crime, this of the Tyndaritan Mercury, and it is brought forward by me as a single one; but there are many crimes contained in it—only I do not know how to separate and distinguish them. It is a case of money extorted, for he took away from the allies a statue worth a large sum of money. It is a case of embezzlement, because he did not hesitate to appropriate a public statue belonging to the Roman people, taken from the spoils of the enemy, placed where it was in the name of our general. It is a case of treason, because he dared to overturn and to carry away monuments of our empire, of our glory, and of our exploits. It is a case of impiety, because he violated the most solemn principles of religion. It is a case of inhumanity, because he invented a new and extraordinary description of punishment for an innocent man, an ally and friend of our nation.

> Latin: 88. Vnum hoc crimen videtur esse et a me pro uno ponitur, de Mercurio Tyndaritano; plura sunt, sed ea quo pacto distinguere ac separare possim nescio. pecuniarum captarum, quod signum ab sociis pecuniae magnae sustulit; est peculatus, quod publicum populi Romani signum de praeda hostium captum, positum imperatoris nostri nomine, non dubitavit auferre; est maiestatis, quod imperi nostri, gloriae, rerum gestarum monumenta evertere atque asportare ausus est; est sceleris, quod religiones maximas violavit; est crudelitatis, quod in hominem innocentem, in socium vestrum atque amicum, novum et singulare supplici genus excogitavit:

[¶23] 89. But what the other crime is, that I am unable to say; I know not by what name to call the crime which he committed with respect to the statue of Caius Marcellus. What is the meaning of it? Is it because he was the patron of the Sicilians? What then? What has that to do with it? Ought that fact to have had influence to procure assistance, or to bring disaster on his clients and friends? Was it your object to show that patrons were no protection against your violence? Who is there who would not be aware that there is greater power in the authority of a bad man who is present, than in the protection of good men who are absent? Or do you merely wish to prove by this conduct, your unprecedented insolence, and pride, and obstinacy? You thought, I imagine, that you were taking something from the dignity of the Marcelli? And therefore now the Marcelli are not the patrons of the Sicilians. Verres has been substituted in their place.

> Latin: 89. illud vero quid sit iam non queo dicere, quo nomine appellem nescio, quod in C. Marcelli statua. est hoc? patronusne quod erat? tum? quo id spectat? utrum ea res ad opem an ad calamitatem clientium atque hospitum valere debebat? an ut hoc ostenderes, contra vim tuam in patronis praesidi nihil esse? non hoc intellegeret, in improbi praesentis imperio maiorem esse vim quam in bonorum absentium patrocinio? vero ex hoc illa tua singularis significatur insolentia, superbia, contumacia? videlicet aliquid te de amplitudine Marcellorum putasti. nunc Siculorum Marcelli non sunt patroni, Verres in eorum locum substitutus est.

[¶24] 90. What virtue or what dignity did you think existed in you, that you should attempt to transfer to yourself, and to take away from these most trusty and most ancient patrons, so illustrious a body of clients as that splendid province? Can you with your stupidity, and worthlessness, and laziness defend the cause, I will not say of all Sicily, but even of one, the very meanest of the Sicilians? Was the statue of Marcellus to serve you for a pillory for the clients of the Marcelli? Did you out of his honour seek for punishments for those very men who had held him in honour? What followed? What did you think would happen to your statues? was it that which did happen? For the people of Tyndaristhrew down the statue of Verres, which he had ordered to be erected in his own honour near the Marcelli, and even on a higher pedestal, the very moment that they heard that a successor had been appointed to him. The fortune of the Sicilians has then given you Caius Marcellus for a judge, so that we may now surrender you, fettered and bound, to appease the injured sanctity of him to whose statue Sicilians were bound while you were praetor.

> Latin: 90. in te tantam virtutem esse aut dignitatem arbitratus es ut conarere clientelam tam splendidae, tam inlustris provinciae traducere ad te, auferre a certissimis antiquissimisque patronis? ista nequitia, stultitia, inertia non modo totius Siciliae, sed unius tenuissimi Siculi clientelam tueri potes? tibi Man idcelli statua pro patibulo in clientis Marcellorum fuit? tu ex illius honore in eos ipsos qui honorem illi habuerant supplicia quaerebas? postea? quid tandem tuis statuis fore arbitrabare? ar vero quod accidit? Tyndaritani statuam istius, quam sibi propter Marcellos altiore etiam basi poni iusserat, de- turbarunt simul ac successum isti audierunt. igitur tibi nunc fortuna Siculorum C. Marcellum iudicem, ut, cuius ad statuam Siculi te praetore alligabantur, eius religione te his iudicibus vinctum adstrictumque dedamus.

[¶25] 91. And in the first place, O judges, that man said that the people of Tyndarishad sold this statue to Caius Marcellus Aeserninus, who is here present. And he hoped that Caius Marcellus himself would assert thus much for his sake though it never seemed to me to be very likely that a young man born in that rank, the patron of Sicily, would lend his name to that fellow to enable him to transfer his guilt to another. But still I made such provision, and took such precaution against every possible bearing of the case, that if ally one had been found who was ever so anxious to take the guilt and crime of Verres upon himself, still he would not have taken anything by his motion, for I brought down to court such witnesses, and I had with me such written documents, that it could not have been possible to have entertained a doubt about that man's actions.

> Latin: 91. primo, iudices, hoc signum Mercuri dicebat iste Tyndaritanos M. Marcello huic Aesernino vendidisse, atque hoc sua causa etiam M. Marcellum ipsum sperabat esse dicturum; quod mihi numquam veri simile visum est, adulescentem illo loco natum, patronum Siciliae, nomen suum isti ad translationem criminis commodaturum. tamen ita mihi res tota provisa atque praecauta est ut, si maxime esset inventus qui in se suscipere istius culpam crimenque cuperet, tamen is proficere nihil posset. Eos enim deduxi testis et eas litteras deportavi ut de istius facto dubium esse nemini possit.

## 24. Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 92–121

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/24/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/24/#p-N

[¶0] 92. There are public documents to prove that that Mercury was transported to Messanaat the expense of the state. They state at what expense; and that a man named Poleas was ordered by the public authority to superintend the business—what more would you have? Where is he? He is close at hand, he is a witness, by the command of Sopater the Proagorus.—Who is he? The man who was bound to the statue. What? where is he? He is a witness—you have seen the man, and you have heard his statement. Demetrius, the master of the gymnastic school, superintended the pulling down of the statue, because he was appointed to manage that business; What? is it we who say this? No, he is present himself; moreover, that Verres himself lately promised at Rome, that he would restore that statue to the deputies, if the evidence already given in the affair were removed, and if security were given that the Tyndaritans would not give evidence against him, has been stated before you by Zosippus and Hismenias, most noble men, and the chief men of the city of Tyndaris.

> Latin: 92. litterae sunt deportatum Mercurium esse Messanam sumptu publico; dicunt quanti; praefuisse huic negotio publice legatum.? is ubi est? est, testis est. Sopatri iussu. est hic? ad statuam adstrictus est.? is ubi est? hominem et verba eius audistis. curavit Demetrius gymnasiarchus, quod is ei loco praeerat.? hoc nos dicimus? vero ipse praesens. Romae nuper ipsum istum esse pollicitum sese id signum legatis redditurum si eius rei testificatio tolleretur cautumque esset eos testimonium non esse dicturos,—dixit hoc apud vos Zosippus, et Ismenias, homines nobilissimi et principes Tyndaritanae civitatis.

[¶1] 93. What? did you not also at Agrigentumtake away a monument of the same Publius Scipio, a most beautiful statue of Apollo, on whose thigh there was the name of Myron, inscribed in diminutive silver letters, out of that most holy temple of Aesculapius? And when, O judges, he had privately committed that atrocity, and when in that most nefarious crime and robbery he had employed some of the most worthless men of the city as his guides and assistants, the whole city was greatly excited. For the Agrigentines were regretting at the same time the kindness of Africanus, and a national object of their worship, and an ornament of their city, and a record of their victory, and an evidence of their alliance with us. And therefore a command is imposed on those men who were the chief men of the city, and a charge is given to the quaestors and aediles to keep watch by night over the sacred edifices. And, indeed, at Agrigentum, (I imagine, on account of the great number and virtue of these men, and because great numbers of Roman citizens, gallant and intrepid and honourable men, live and trade in that town among the Agrigentines in the greatest harmony,) he did not dare openly to carry off, or even to beg for the things that took his fancy.

> Latin: 93. ? Agrigento nonne eiusdem P. Scipionis monumentum, signum Apollinis pulcherrimum, cuius in femore litteris minutis argenteis nomen Myronis erat inscriptum, ex Aesculapi religiosissimo fano sustulisti? quidem, iudices, cum iste clam fecisset, cum ad suum scelus illud furtumque nefarium quosdam homines improbos duces atque adiutores adhibuisset, vehementer commota civitas est. Vno enim tempore Agrigentini beneficium Africani, religionem domesticam, ornamentum urbis, indicium victoriae, testimonium societatis requirebant. ab iis qui principes in ea civitate erant praecipitur et negotium datur quaestoribus et aedilibus ut noctu vigilias agerent ad aedis sacras. iste Agrigenti—credo propter multitudinem illorum hominum atque virtutem, et quod cives Romani, viri fortes atque honesti, permulti in illo oppido coniunctissimo animo cum ipsis Agrigentinis vivunt ac negotiantur —non audebat palam poscere aut tollere quae placebant.

[¶2] 94. There is a temple of Hercules at Agrigentum, not far from the forum, considered very holy and greatly reverenced among the citizens. In it there is a brazen image of Hercules himself, than which I cannot easily tell where I have seen anything finer; (although I am not very much of a judge of those matters, though I have seen plenty of specimens;) so greatly venerated among them, O judges, that his mouth and his chin are a little worn away, because men in addressing their prayers and congratulations to him, are accustomed not only to worship the statue, but even to kiss it. While Verres was at Agrigentum, on a sudden, one stormy night, a great assemblage of armed slaves, and a great attack on this temple by them, takes place, under the leading of Timarchides. A cry is raised by the watchmen and guardians of the temple. And, at first, when they attempted to resist them and to defend the temple, they are driven back much injured with sticks and bludgeons. Afterwards, when the bolts were forced open, and the doors dashed in, they endeavour to pull down the statue and to overthrow it with levers; meantime, from the outcries of the keepers, a report got abroad over the whole city, that the national gods were being stormed, not by the unexpected invasion of enemies, or by the sudden irruption of pirates, but that a well armed and fully equipped band of fugitive slaves from the house and retinue of the praetor had attacked them.

> Latin: 94. Herculis templum est apud Agrigentinos non longe a foro, sane sanctum apud illos et religiosum. est ex aere simulacrum ipsius Herculis, quo non facile dixerim quicquam me vidisse pulchrius—tametsi non tam multum in istis rebus intellego quam multa vidi—usque eo, iudices, ut rictum eius ac mentum paulo sit attritius, quod in precibus et gratulationibus non solum id venerari verum etiam osculari solent. hoc templum, cum esset iste Agrigenti, duce Timarchide repente nocte intempesta servorum armatorum fit concursus atque impetus. a vigilibus fanique custodibus tollitur; qui primo cum obsistere ac defendere conarentur, male mulcati clavis ac fustibus repelluntur. convulsis repagulis ecfractisque valvis demoliri signum ac vectibus labefactare conantur. ex clamore fama tota urbe percrebruit expugnari deos patrios, non hostium adventu necopinato neque repentino praedonum impetu, sed ex domo atque ex cohorte praetoria manum fugitivorum instructam armatamque venisse.

[¶3] 95. No one in Agrigentumwas either so advanced in age, or so infirm in strength, as not to rise up on that night, awakened by that news, and to seize whatever weapon chance put into his hands. So in a very short time men are assembled at the temple from every part of the city. Already, for more than an hour, numbers of men had been labouring at pulling down that statue; and all that time it gave no sign of being shaken in any part; while some, putting levers under it, were endeavouring to throw it down, and others, having bound cords to all its limbs, were trying to pull it towards them. On a sudden all the Agrigentines collect together at the place; stones are thrown in numbers; the nocturnal soldiers of that illustrious commander run away—but they take with them two very small statues, in order not to return to that robber of all holy things entirely empty-handed. The Sicilians are never in such distress as not to be able to say something facetious and neat; as they did on this occasion. And so they said that this enormous boar had a right to be accounted one of the labours of Hercules, no less than the other boar of Erymanthus.

> Latin: 95. Agrigenti neque aetate tam adfecta neque viribus tam infirmis fuit qui non illa nocte eo nuntio excitatus surrexerit, telumque quod cuique fors offerebat arripuerit. brevi tempore ad fanum ex urbe tota concurritur. Horam amplius iam in demoliendo signo permulti homines moliebantur; illud interea nulla lababat ex parte, cum alii vectibus subiectis conarentur commovere, alii deligatum omnibus membris rapere ad se funibus. repente Agrigentini concurrunt; fit magna lapidatio; dant sese in fugam istius praeclari imperatoris nocturni milites. tamen sigilla perparvula tollunt, ne omnino inanes ad istum praedonem religionum revertantur. tam male est Siculis quin aliquid facete et commode dicant, velut in hac re aiebant in labores Herculis non minus hunc immanissimum verrem quam illum aprum Erymanthium referri oportere.

[¶4] 96. The people of Assorum, gallant and loyal men, afterwards imitated this brave conduct of the Agrigentines, though they did not come of so powerful or so distinguished a city. There is a river called Chrysas, which flows through the territories of Assorum. Chrysas, among that people, is considered a god, and is worshipped with the greatest reverence. His temple is in the fields, near the road which goes from Assorum to Enna. In it there is an image of Chrysas, exquisitely made of marble. He did not dare to beg that of the Assorians on account of the extraordinary sanctity of that temple; so he entrusts the business to Tlepolemus and Hiero. They, having prepared and armed a body of men, come by night; they break in the doors of the temple; the keepers of the temple and the guardians hear them in time. A trumpet the signal of alarm well known to all the neighbourhood, is sounded; men come in from the country, Tlepolemus is turned out and put to fight; nor was anything missed out of the temple of Chrysas except one very diminutive image of brass.

> Latin: 96. virtutem Agrigentinorum imitati sunt Assorini postea, viri fortes et fideles, sed nequaquam ex tam ampla neque tam ex nobili civitate. Chrysas est amnis qui per Assorinorum agros fluit; is apud illos habetur deus et religione maxima colitur. Fanum eius est in agro, propter ipsam viam qua Assoro itur Hennam; in eo Chrysae simulacrum est praeclare factum e marmore. iste poscere Assorinos propter singularem eius fani religionem non ausus est; Tlepolemo dat et Hieroni negotium. noctu facta manu armataque veniunt, foris aedis effringunt; aeditumi custodesque mature sentiunt; signum quod erat notum vicinitati bucina datur; homines ex agris concurrunt; eicitur fugaturque Tlepolemus, neque quicquam ex fano Chrysae praeter unum perparvulum signum ex aere desideratum est.

[¶5] 97. There is a temple of the mighty mother Cybele at Enguinum, for I must new not only mention each instance with the greatest brevity, but I must even pass over a great many, in order to come to the greater and more remarkable thefts and atrocities of this sort which this man has committed. In this temple that same Publius Scipio, a man excelling in every possible good quality, had placed breastplates and helmets of brass of Corinthian workmanship, and some huge ewers of a similar description, and wrought with the same exquisite skill, and had inscribed his own name upon them. Why should I make any more statements or utter any further complaints about that man's conduct? He took away, O judges, every one of those things. He left nothing in that most holy temple except the traces of the religion he had trampled on, and the name of Publius Scipio. The spoils won from the enemy, the memorials of our commanders, the ornaments and decorations of our temples, will hereafter, when these illustrious names are lost, be reckoned in the furniture and appointments of Caius Verres.

> Latin: 97. Matris fanum apud Enguinos est,—iam enim mihi non modo breviter de uno quoque dicendum, sed etiam praetereunda videntur esse permulta, ut ad maiora istius et inlustriora in hoc genere furta et scelera veniamus: in hoc fano loricas galeasque aeneas, caelatas opere Corinthio, hydriasque grandis simili in genere atque eadem arte perfectas idem ille Scipio, vir omnibus rebus praecellentissimus, posuerat et suum nomen inscripserat. iam de isto plura dicam aut querar? illa, iudices, abstulit, nihil in religiosissimo fano praeter vestigia violatae religionis nomenque P. Scipionis reliquit; hostium spolia, monumenta imperatorum, decora atque ornamenta fanorum posthac his praeclaris nominibus amissis in instrumento atque in supellectile Verris nominabuntur.

[¶6] 98. Are you, forsooth, the only man who delights in Corinthian vases? Are you the best judge in the world of the mixture of that celebrated bronze, and of the delicate tracery of that work? Did not the great Scipio, that most learned and accomplished mall, under stand it too? But do you, a man without one single virtue, without education, without natural ability, and without any information, understand them and value them? Beware lest he be seen to have surpassed you and those other men who wished to be thought so elegant, not only in temperance, but in judgment and taste; for it was because he thoroughly understood how beautiful they were, that he thought that they were made, not for the luxury of men, but for the ornamenting of temples and cities, in order that they might appear to our posterity to be holy and sacred monuments.

> Latin: 98. videlicet solus vasis Corinthiis delectaris, tu illius aeris temperationem, tu operum liniamenta sollertissime perspicis! Scipio ille non intellegebat, homo doctissimus atque humanissimus: tu sine ulla bona arte, sine humanitate, sine ingenio, sine litteris, intellegis et iudicas! ne ille non solum temperantia sed etiam intellegentia te atque istos qui se elegantis dici volunt vicerit. quia quam pulchra essent intellegebat, idcirco existimabat ea non ad hominum luxuriem, sed ad ornatum fanorum atque oppidorum esse facta, †ut posteris nostris monumenta religiosa esse videantur.

[¶7] 99. Listen also, O judges, to the man's singular covetousness, audacity and madness, especially in polluting those sacred things, which not only may not be touched with the hands, but which may not be violated even in thought. There is a shrine of Ceresamong the Catenans of the same holy nature as the one at home, and worshipped as the goddess is worshipped among foreign nations, and in almost every country in the world. In the inmost part of that shrine there was an extremely ancient statue of Ceres, as to which men were not only ignorant of what sort it was, but even of its existence. For the entrance into that shrine does not belong to men, the sacred ceremonies are accustomed to be performed by women and virgins. Verres's slaves stole this statue by night out of that most holy and most ancient temple. The next day the priestesses of Ceres, and the female attendants of that temple, women of great age, noble and of proved virtue, report the affair to their magistrates. It appeared to all a most bitter, and scandalous, and miserable business.

> Latin: 99. etiam singularem eius, iudices, cupiditatem, audaciam, amentiam, in iis praesertim sacris polluendis quae non modo manibus attingi, sed ne cogitatione quidem violari fas fuit. Cereris est apud Catinensis eadem religione qua Romae, qua in ceteris locis, qua prope in toto orbe terrarum. eo sacrario intimo signum fuit Cereris perantiquum, quod viri non modo cuius modi esset sed ne esse quidem sciebant; aditus enim in id sacrarium non est viris; sacra per mulieres ac virgines confici solent. signum noctu clam istius servi ex illo religiosissimo atque antiquissimo loco sustulerunt. sacerdotes Cereris atque illius fani antistitae, maiores natu, probatae ac nobiles mulieres, rem ad magistratus suos deferunt. acerbum, indignum, luctuosum denique videbatur.

[¶8] 100. Then that man, influenced by the atrocity of the action, in order that all suspicion of that crime might be removed from himself, employs some one connected with him by ties of hospitality to find a man whom he might accuse of having done it, and bids him take care that he be convicted of the accusation, so that he himself might not be subject to the charge. The matter is not delayed. For when he had departed from Catina, an information is laid against a certain slave. He is accused; false witnesses are suborned against him; the whole senate sits in judgment on the affair, according to the laws of the Catenans. The priestesses are summoned; they are examined secretly in the senate-house, and asked what had been done, and how they thought that the statue had been carried off. They answer that the servants of the praetor had been seen in the temple. The matter, which previously had not been very obscure, began to be clear enough by the evidence of the priestesses. The judges deliberate; the innocent slave is acquitted by every vote, in order that you may the more easily be able to condemn this man by all your votes.

> Latin: 100. iste permotus illa atrocitate negoti, ut ab se sceleris illius suspicio demoveretur, dat hospiti suo cuidam negotium ut aliquem reperiret quem illud fecisse insimularet, daretque operam ut is eo crimine damnaretur, ne ipse esset in crimine. non procrastinatur. cum iste Catina profectus esset, servi cuiusdam nomen defertur; is accusatur, ficti testes in eum dantur. cunctus senatus Catinensium legibus iudicabat. Sacerdotes vocantur; ex iis quaeritur secreto in curia quid esse factum arbitrarentur, quem ad modum signum esset ablatum. illae praetoris in eo loco servos esse visos., quae esset iam antea non obscura, sacerdotum testimonio perspicua esse coepit. Itur in consilium; servus ille innocens omnibus sententiis absolvitur,—quo facilius vos hunc omnibus sententiis condemnare possitis.

[¶9] 101. For what is it that you ask, O Verres? What do you hope for? What do you expect? What god or man do you think will come to your assistance? Did you send slaves to that place to plunder a temple, where it was not lawful for free citizens to go, not even for the purpose of praying? Did you not hesitate to lay violent hands on those things from which the laws of religion enjoined you to keep even your eyes? Although it was not even because you were charmed by the eye that you were led into this wicked and nefarious conduct; for you coveted what you had never seen. You took a violent fancy, I say, to that which you had not previously beheld. From your ears did you conceive this covetousness, so violent that no fear, no religious scruple, no power of the gods, no regard for the opinion of men could restrain it.

> Latin: 101. Qquid enim postulas, Verres? quid speras, quid exspectas, quem tibi aut deum aut hominem auxilio futurum putas? Eone tu servos ad spoliandum fanum immittere ausus es quo liberos adire ne ornandi quidem causa fas erat? iisne rebus manus adferre non dubitasti a quibus etiam oculos cohibere te religionum iura cogebant? ne oculis quidem captus in hanc fraudem tam sceleratam ac tam nefariam decidisti; nam id concupisti quod numquam videras, id, inquam, adamasti quod antea non aspexeras; auribus tu tantam cupiditatem concepisti ut eam non metus, non religio, non deorum vis, non hominum existimatio contineret.

[¶10] 102. Oh! but you had heard of it, I suppose, from some good man, from some good authority. How could you have done that, when you could never have heard of it from any man at all? You heard of it, therefore, from a woman; since men could not have seen it nor known of it. What sort of woman do you think that she must have been, O judges? What a modest woman must she have been to converse with Verres! What a pious woman, to show him a plan for robbing a temple! But it is no great wonder if those sacred ceremonies which are performed by the most extreme chastity of virgins and matrons were violated by his adultery and profligacy. What, then, are we to think? Is this the only thing that he began to desire from mere hearing, when he had never seen it himself? No, there were many other things besides; of which I will select the plundering of that most noble and ancient temple, concerning which you heard witnesses give their evidence at the former pleading. Now, I beseech you, listen to the same story once more, and attend carefully as you hitherto have done.

> Latin: 102. ex bono viro, credo, audieras et bono auctore. id potes, qui ne ex viro quidem audire potueris? igitur ex muliere, quoniam id viri nec vidisse neque nosse poterant. porro illam feminam fuisse putatis, iudices, quam pudicam, quae cum Verre loqueretur, quam religiosam, quae sacrari spoliandi rationem ostenderet? minime mirum, quae sacra per summam castimoniam virorum ac mulierum fiant, eadem per istius stuprum ac flagitium esse violata. ergo? hoc solum auditione expetere coepit, cum id ipse non vidisset? vero alia complura; ex quibus eligam spoliationem nobilissimi atque antiquissimi fani, de qua priore actione testis dicere audistis. eadem illa, quaeso, audite et diligenter, sicut adhuc fecistis, attendite.

[¶11] 103. There is an island called Melita, O judges, separated from Sicilyby a sufficiently wide and perilous navigation, in which there is a town of the same name, to which Verres never went, though it was for three years a manufactory to him for weaving women's garments. Not far from that town, on a promontory, is an ancient temple of Juno, which was always considered so holy, that it was not only always kept inviolate and sacred in those Punic wars, which in those regions were carried on almost wholly by the naval forces, but even by the bands of pirates which ravage those seas. Moreover, it has been handed down to us by tradition, that once, when the fleet of King Masinissa was forced to put into these ports, the king's lieutenant took away some ivory teeth of an incredible size out of the temple, and carried them into Africa, and gave them to Masinissa; that at first the king was delighted with the present, but afterwards, when he heard where they had come from, he immediately sent trustworthy men in a quinquereme to take those teeth back; and that there was engraved on them in Punic characters, “that Masinissa the king had accepted them ignorantly; but that, when he knew the truth, he had taken care that they should be replaced and restored.” There was besides an immense quantity of ivory, and many ornaments, among which were some ivory victories of ancient workmanship, and wrought with exquisite skill.

> Latin: 103. Insula est Melita, iudices, satis lato a Sicilia mari periculosoque diiuncta; in qua est eodem nomine oppidum, quo iste numquam accessit, quod tamen isti textrinum per triennium ad muliebrem vestem conficiendam fuit. eo oppido non longe in promunturio fanum est Iunonis antiquum, quod tanta religione semper fuit ut non modo illis Punicis bellis quae in his fere locis navali copia gesta atque versata sunt, sed etiam hac praedonum multitudine semper inviolatum sanctumque fuerit. etiam hoc memoriae proditum est, classe quondam Masinissae regis ad eum locum adpulsa praefectum regium dentis eburneos incredibili magnitudine e fano sustulisse et eos in Africam portasse Masinissaeque donasse. Regem primo delectatum esse munere; post, ubi audisset unde essent, statim certos homines in quinqueremi misisse ui eos dentis reponerent. in iis scriptum litteris Punicis fuit regem Masinissam imprudentem accepisse, re cognita reportandos reponendosque curasse. praeterea magna vis eboris, multa ornamenta, in quibus eburneae antiquo opere ac summa arte perfectae.

[¶12] 104. Not to dwell too long on this, he took care to have all these things taken down and carried off at one swoop by means of the slaves of the Venus whom he had sent thither for that purpose. O ye immortal gods! what sort of man is it that I am accusing? Who is it that I am prosecuting according to our laws, and by this regular process? Concerning whom is it that you are going to give your judicial decision? The deputies from Melitasent by the public authority of their state, say that the shrine of Juno was plundered; that that man left nothing in that most holy temple; that that place, to which the fleets of enemies often came, where pirates are accustomed to winter almost every year, and which no pirate ever violated, no enemy ever attacked before, was so plundered by that single man, that nothing whatever was left in it. What, then, now are we to say of him as a defendant, of me as an accuser, of this tribunal? Is he proved guilty of grave crimes, or is he brought into this court on mere suspicion? Gods are proved to have been carried off, temples to have been plundered, cities to have been stripped of everything. And of those actions he has left himself no power of denying one, no plea for defending one. In every particular he is convicted by me; he is detected by the witnesses; he is overwhelmed by his own admissions; he is caught in the evident commission of guilt; and even now he remains here, and in silence recognises his own crimes as I enumerate them.

> Latin: 104. iste omnia, ne multis morer, uno impetu atque uno nuntio per servos Venerios, quos eius rei causa miserat, tollenda atque asportanda curavit. di immortales! quem ego hominem accuso? quem legibus aut iudiciali iure persequor? de quo vos sententiam per tabellam feretis? legati Melitenses publice spoliatum templum esse Iunonis, nihil istum in religiosissimo fano reliquisse; quem in locum classes hostium saepe accesserint, ubi piratae fere quotannis hiemare soleant, quod neque praedo violarit ante neque umquam hostis attigerit, id ab uno isto sic spoliatum esse ut nihil omnino sit relictum. nunc iste reus aut ego accusator aut hoc iudicium appellabitur? enim coarguitur aut suspicionibus in iudicium vocatur! ablati, fana vexata, nudatae urbes reperiuntur; earum autem rerum nullam sibi iste neque infitiandi rationem neque defendendi facultatem reliquit; omnibus in rebus coarguitur a me, convincitur a testibus, urgetur confessione sua, manifestis in maleficiis tenetur,—et manet etiam ac tacitus facta mecum sua recognoscit!

[¶13] 105. I seem to myself to have been too long occupied with one class of crime. I am aware, O judges, that I have to encounter the weariness of your ears and eyes at such a repetition of similar cases; I will, therefore, pass over many instances. But I entreat you, O judges, in the name of the immortal gods, in the name of these very gods of whose honour and worship we have been so long speaking, refresh your minds so as to attend to what I am about to mention, while I bring forward and detail to you that crime of his by which the whole province was roused, and in speaking of which you will pardon me if I appear to go back rather far, and trace the earliest recollections of the religious observances in question. The importance of the affair will not allow me to pass over the atrocity of his guilt with brevity.

> Latin: 105. mihi diu videor in uno genere versari criminum; sentio, iudices, occurrendum esse satietati aurium animorumque vestrorum. ob rem multa praetermittam; ad ea autem quae dicturus sum reficite vos, quaeso, iudices, per deos immortalis,—eos ipsos de quorum religione iam diu dicimus,—dum id eius facinus commemoro et profero quo provincia tota commota est. quo si paulo altius ordiri ac repetere memoriam religionis videbor, ignoscite: rei magnitudo me breviter perstringere atrocitatem criminis non sinit.

[¶14] 106. It is an old opinion, O judges, which can be proved from the most ancient records and monuments of the Greeks, that the whole island of Sicilywas consecrated to Ceresand Libera. Not only did all other nations think so but the Sicilians themselves were so convinced of it, that it appeared a deeply rooted and innate belief in their minds. For they believe that these goddesses were born in these districts, and that corn was first discovered in this land, and that Libera was carried off, the same goddess whom they call Proserpina, from a grove in the territory of Enna, a place which, because it is situated in the centre of the island, is called the navel of Sicily. And when Cereswished to seek her and trace her out, she is said to have lit her torches at those flames which burst out at the summit of Aetna, and carrying these torches before her, to have wandered over the whole earth.

> Latin: 106. est haec opinio, iudices, quae constat ex antiquissimis Graecorum litteris ac monumentis, insulam Siciliam totam esse Cereri et Liberae consecratam. cum ceterae gentes sic arbitrantur, tum ipsis Siculis ita persuasum est ut in animis eorum insitum atque innatum esse videatur. et natas esse has in his locis deas et fruges in ea terra primum repertas esse arbitrantur, et raptam esse Liberam, quam eandem Proserpinam vocant, ex Hennensium nemore, qui locus, quod in media est insula situs, umbilicus Siciliae nominatur. cum investigare et conquirere Ceres vellet, dicitur inflammasse taedas iis ignibus qui ex Aetnae vertice erumpunt; quas sibi cum ipsa praeferret, orbem omnem peragrasse terrarum.

[¶15] 107. But Enna, where those things which I am speaking of are said to have been done, is in a high and lofty situation, on the top of which is a large level plain, and springs of water which are never dry. And the whole of the plain is cut off and separated, so as to be difficult of approach. Around it are many lakes and groves, and beautiful flowers at every season of the year; so that the place itself appears to testify to that abduction of the virgin which we have heard of from our boyhood. Near it is a cave turned towards the north, of unfathomable depth, where they say that Father Pluto suddenly rose out of the earth in his chariot, and carried the virgin off from that spot, and that on a sudden, at no great distance from Syracuse, he went down beneath the earth, and that immediately a lake sprang up in that place; and there to this day the Syracusans celebrate anniversary festivals with a most numerous assemblage of both sexes On account of the antiquity of this belief, because in those places the traces and almost the cradles of those gods are found, the worship of Ceresof Ennaprevails to a wonderful extent, both in private and in public over all Sicily. In truth, many prodigies often attest her influence and divine powers. Her present help is often brought to many in critical circumstances, so that this island appears not only to be loved, but also to be watched over and protected by her.

> Latin: 107. Henna autem, ubi ea quae dico gesta esse memorantur, est loco perexcelso atque edito, quo in summo est aequata agri planities et aquae perennes, tota vero ab omni aditu circumcisa atque directa est; quam circa lacus lucique sunt plurimi atque laetissimi flores omni tempore anni, locus ut ipse raptum illum virginis, quem iam a pueris accepimus, declarare videatur. prope est spelunca quaedam conversa ad aquilonem infinita altitudine, qua patrem ferunt repente cum curru exstitisse abreptamque ex eo loco virginem secum asportasse et subito non longe a Syracusis penetrasse sub terras, lacumque in eo loco repente exstitisse, ubi usque ad hoc tempus Syracusani festos dies anniversarios agunt celeberrimo virorum mulierumque conventu. huius opinionis vetustatem, quod horum in his locis vestigia ac prope incunabula reperiuntur deorum, mira quaedam tota Sicilia privatim ac publice religio est Cereris Hennensis. multa saepe prodigia vim eius numenque declarant; multis saepe in difficillimis rebus praesens auxilium eius oblatum est, ut haec insula ab ea non solum diligi sed etiam incoli custodirique videatur.

[¶16] 108. Nor is it the Sicilians only, but even all other tribes and nations greatly worship Ceresof Enna. In truth, if initiation into those sacred mysteries of the Athenians sought for with the greatest avidity, to which people Ceresis said to have come in that long wandering of hers, and then she brought them corn. How much greater reverence ought to be paid to her by those people among whom it is certain that she was born, and first discovered corn. And, therefore, in the time of our fathers, at a most disastrous and critical time to the republic, when, after the death of Tiberius Gracchus, there was a fear that great dangers were portended to the state by various prodigies, in the consulship of Publius Mucius and Lucius Calpurnius, recourse was had to the Sibylline books, in which it was found set down, “that the most ancient Ceresought to be appeased.” Then, priests of the Roman people, selected from the most honourable college of decemvirs, although there was in our own city a most beautiful and magnificent temple of Ceres, nevertheless went as far as Enna. For such was the authority and antiquity of the reputation for holiness of that place, that when they went thither, they seemed to be going not to a temple of Ceres, but to Ceresherself.

> Latin: 108. solum Siculi, verum etiam ceterae gentes nationesque Hennensem Cererem maxime colunt. si Atheniensium sacra summa cupiditate expetuntur, ad quos Ceres in illo errore venisse dicitur frugesque attulisse, quantam esse religionem convenit eorum apud quos eam natam esse et fruges invenisse constat? apud patres nostros atroci ac difficili rei publicae tempore, cum Tiberio Graccho occiso magnorum periculorum metus ex ostentis portenderetur, P. Mucio L. Calpurnio consulibus aditum est ad libros Sibyllinos; ex quibus inventum est Cererem antiquissimam placari oportere. ex amplissimo collegio decemvirali sacerdotes populi Romani, cum esset in urbe nostra Cereris pulcherrimum et magnificentissimum templum, tamen usque Hennam profecti sunt. enim erat auctoritas et vetustas illius religionis ut, cum illuc irent, non ad aedem Cereris sed ad ipsam Cererem proficisci viderentur.

[¶17] 109. I will not din this into your ears any longer. I have been some time afraid that my speech may appear unlike the usual fashion of speeches at trials unlike the daily method of speaking. This I say, that this very Ceres, the most ancient, the most holy, the very chief of all sacred things which are honoured by every people, and in every nation, was carried off by Caius Verres from her temple and her home. Ye who have been to Enna, have seen a statue of Ceresmade of marble, and in the other temple a statue of Libera. They are very colossal and very beautiful, but not exceedingly ancient. There was one of brass, of moderate size, but extraordinary workmanship, with the torches in its hands, very ancient, by far the most ancient of all those statues which are in that temple; that he carried off, and yet he was not content with that.

> Latin: 109. obtundam diutius; etenim iam dudum vereor ne oratio mea aliena ab iudiciorum ratione et a cotidiana dicendi consuetudine esse videatur. dico, hanc ipsam Cererem antiquissimam, religiosissimam, principem omnium sacrorum quae apud omnis gentis nationesque fiunt, a C. Verre ex suis templis ac sedibus esse sublatam. accessistis Hennam, vidistis simulacrum Cereris e marmore et in altero templo Liberae. ea perampla atque praeclara, sed non ita antiqua. aere fuit quoddam modica amplitudine ac singulari opere cum facibus perantiquum, omnium illorum quae sunt in eo fano multo antiquissimum; id sustulit. tamen eo contentus non fuit.

[¶18] 110. Before the temple of Ceres, in an open and an uncovered place, there are two statues, one of Ceres, the other of Triptolemus, very beautiful, and of colossal size. Their beauty was their danger, but their size their safety, because the taking of them down and carrying them off appeared very difficult. But in the right hand of Ceresthere stood a beautifully wrought image of Victory, and this he had wrenched out of the hand of Ceresand carried off. What now must be his feelings at the recollection of his crimes, when I, at the mere enumeration of them, am not only roused to indignation in my mind, but even shudder over my whole body? For thoughts of that temple, of that place, of that holy religion come into my mind. Everything seems present before my eyes,—the day on which, when I had arrived at Enna, the priests of Cerescame to meet me with garlands of vervain, and with fillets; the concourse of citizens, among whom, while I was addressing them, there was such weeping and groaning that the most bitter grief seemed to have taken possession of the whole.

> Latin: 110. aedem Cereris in aperto ac propatulo loco signa duo sunt, Cereris unum, alterum Triptolemi, pulcherrima ac perampla. periculo, amplitudo saluti fuit, quod eorum demolitio atque asportatio perdifficilis videbatur. in manu Cereris dextra grande simulacrum pulcherrime factum; hoc iste e signo Cereris avellendum asportandumque curavit. tandem istius animus est nunc in recordatione scelerum suorum, cum ego ipse in commemoratione eorum non solum animo commovear verum etiam corpore perhorrescam? enim mihi fani, loci, religionis illius in mentem; versantur ante oculos omnia, dies ille quo, cum ego Hennam venissem, praesto mihi sacerdotes Cereris cum infulis ac verbenis fuerunt, contio conventusque civium, in quo ego cum loquerer tanti gemitus fletusque fiebant ut acerbissimus tota urbe luctus versari videretur.

[¶19] 111. They did not complain of the absolute way in which the tenths were levied, nor of the plunder of property, nor of the iniquity of tribunals, nor of that man's unhallowed lusts, nor of his violence, nor of the insults by which they had been oppressed and overwhelmed. It was the divinity of Ceres, the antiquity of their sacred observances, the holy veneration due to their temple, which they wished should have atonement made to them by the punishment of that most atrocious and audacious man. They said that they could endure everything else, that to everything else they were indifferent. This indignation of theirs was so great, that you might suppose that Verres, like another king of hell, had come to Ennaand had carried off, not Proserpina, but Ceresherself. And, in truth, that city does not appear to be a city, but a shrine of Ceres. The people of Ennathink that Ceresdwells among them; so that they appear to me not to be citizens of that city, but to be all priests, to be all ministers and officers of Ceres.

> Latin: 111. illi decumarum imperia, non bonorum direptiones, non iniqua iudicia, non importunas istius libidines, non vim, non contumelias quibus vexati oppressique erant conquerebantur; Cereris numen, sacrorum vetustatem, fani religionem istius sceleratissimi atque audacissimi supplicio expiari volebant; omnia se cetera pati ac neglegere dicebant. dolor erat tantus ut Verres alter Orcus venisse Hennam et non Proserpinam asportasse sed ipsam abripuisse Cererem videretur. urbs illa non urbs videtur, sed fanum Cereris esse; habitare apud sese Cererem Hennenses arbitrantur, ut mihi non cives illius civitatis, sed omnes sacerdotes, omnes accolae atque antistites Cereris esse videantur.

[¶20] 112. Did you dare to take away out of Ennathe statue of Ceres? Did you attempt at Ennato wrench Victory out of the hand of Ceres? to tear one goddess from the other?—nothing of which those men dared to violate, or even to touch, whose qualities were all more akin to wickedness than to religion. For while Publius Popillius and Publius Rupilius were consuls, slaves, runaway slaves, and barbarians, and enemies, were in possession of that place; but yet the slaves ware not so much slaves to their own masters, as you are to your passions; nor did the runaways flee from their masters as far as you flee from all laws and from all right; nor were the barbarians as barbarous in language and in race as you were in your nature and your habits; nor were the enemies as much enemies to men as you are to the immortal gods. How, then, can a man beg for any mercy who has surpassed slaves in baseness, runaway slaves in rashness, barbarians in wickedness, and enemies in inhumanity?

> Latin: 112. Henna tu simulacrum Cereris tollere audebas, Henna tu de manu Cereris eripere et deam deae detrahere conatus es? quorum nihil violare, nihil attingere ausi sunt in quibus erant omnia quae sceleri propiora sunt quam religioni. enim P. Popilio P. Rupilio consulibus illum locum servi, fugitivi, barbari, hostes; sed neque tam servi illi dominorum quam tu libidinum, neque tam fugitivi illi ab dominis quam tu ab iure et ab legibus, neque tam barbari lingua et natione illi quam tu natura et moribus, neque tam illi hostes hominibus quam tu dis immortalibus. deprecatio est igitur ei reliqua qui indignitate servos, temeritate fugitivos, scelere barbaros, crudelitate hostes vicerit?

[¶21] 113. You heard Theodorus and Numinius and Nicasio, deputies from Enna, say, in the name of their state, that they had this commission from their fellow-citizens, to go to Verres, and to demand from him the restoration of the statues of Ceresand of Victory. And if they obtained it then they were to adhere to the ancient customs of the state of Enna, not to give any public testimony against him although he had oppressed Sicily, since these were the principles which they had received from their ancestors. But if he did not restore them, then they were to go before the tribunal, to inform the judges of the injuries they had received, but, far above all things, to complain of the insults to their religion. And, in the name of the immortal gods I entreat you, O judges, do not you despise, do not you scorn or think lightly of their complaints. The injuries done to our allies are the present question; the authority of the laws is at stake; the reputation and the honesty of our courts of justice is at stake. And though all these are great considerations, yet this is the greatest of all,—the whole province is so imbued with religious feeling, such a superstitious dread arising out of that man's conduct has seized upon the minds of all the Sicilians, that whatever public or private misfortunes happen, appear to befall them because of that man's wickedness.

> Latin: 113. Audistis Theodorum et Numenium et Nicasionem, legatos Hennensis, publice dicere sese a suis civibus haec habere mandata, ut ad Verrem adirent et eum simulacrum Cereris et reposcerent; id si impetrassent, tum ut morem veterem Hennensium conservarent, publice in eum, tametsi vexasset Siciliam, tamen, quoniam haec a maioribus instituta accepissent, testimonium ne quod dicerent; sin autem ea non reddidisset, tum ut in iudicio adessent, tum ut de eius iniuriis iudices docerent, sed maxime de religione quererentur. illorum querimonias nolite, per deos immortalis, aspernari, nolite contemnere ac neglegere, iudices! iniuriae sociorum, agitur vis legum, agitur existimatio veritasque iudiciorum. sunt omnia permagna, verum illud maximum: tanta religione obstricta tota provincia est, tanta superstitio ex istius facto mentis omnium Siculorum occupavit ut quaecumque accidant publice privatimque incommoda propter eam causam sceleris istius evenire videantur.

[¶22] 114. You have heard the Centuripans, the Agyrians, the Catenans, the Herbitans, the Ennans, and many other deputies say, in the name of their states, how great was the solitude in their districts, how great the devastation, how universal the flight of the cultivators of the soil how deserted, how uncultivated, how desolate every place was. And although there are many and various injuries done by that man to which these things are owing, still this one cause, in the opinion of the Sicilians, is the most weighty of all; for, because of the insults offered to Ceres, they believe that all the crops and gifts of Cereshave perished in these districts. Bring remedies, O judges, to the insulted religion of the allies; preserve your own, for this is not a foreign religion, nor one with which you have no concern. But even if it were, if you were unwilling to adopt it yourselves, still you ought to be willing to inflict heavy punishment on the man who had violated it.

> Latin: 114. Audistis Centuripinos, Agyrinensis, Catinensis, Aetnensis, Herbitensis complurisque alios publice dicere quae solitudo esset in agris, quae vastitas, quae fuga aratorum, quam deserta, quam inculta, quam relicta omnia. tametsi multis istius et variis iniuriis acciderunt, tamen haec una causa in opinione Siculorum plurimum valet, quod Cerere violata omnis cultus fructusque Cereris in iis locis interisse arbitrantur. religioni sociorum, iudices, conservate vestram; neque enim haec externa vobis est religio neque aliena; quodsi esset, si suscipere eam nolletis, tamen in eo qui violasset sancire vos velle oporteret.

[¶23] 115. But now that the common religion of all nations is attacked in this way, now that these sacred observances are violated which our ancestors adopted and imported from foreign countries, and have honoured ever since,—sacred observances, which they called Greek observances, as in truth they were,—even if we were to wish to be indifferent and cold about these matters, how could we be so? I will mention the sacking of one city, also, and that the most beautiful and highly decorated of all, the city of Syracuse. And I will produce my proofs of that, O judges, in order at length to conclude and bring to an end the whole history of offences of this sort. There is scarcely any one of you who has not often heard how Syracusewas taken by Marcus Marcellus, and who has not sometimes also read the account in our annals. Compare this peace with that war; the visit of this praetor with the victory of that general; the debauched retinue of the one with the invincible army of the other; the lust of Verres with the continence of Marcellus;—and you will say that Syracusewas built by the man who took it; was taken by the man who received it well established and flourishing.

> Latin: 115. vero in communi omnium gentium religione, inque iis sacris quae maiores nostri ab exteris nationibus adscita atque arcessita coluerunt,—quae sacra, ut erant re vera, sic appellari Graeca voluerunt,—neglegentes ac dissoluti si cupiamus esse, qui possumus? Vnius etiam urbis omnium pulcherrimae atque ornatissimae, Syracusarum, direptionem commemorabo et in medium proferam, iudices, ut aliquando totam huius generis orationem concludam atque definiam. fere vestrum est quin quem ad modum captae sint a M. Marcello Syracusae saepe audierit, non numquam etiam in annalibus legerit. hanc pacem cum illo bello, huius praetoris adventum cum illius imperatoris victoria, huius cohortem impuram cum illius exercitu invicto, huius libidines cum illius continentia: ab illo qui cepit conditas, ab hoc qui constitutas accepit captas dicetis Syracusas.

[¶24] 116. And for the present I omit those things which will be mentioned, and have been already mentioned by me in an irregular manner in different parts of my speech—what the market-place of the Syracusans, which at the entrance of Marcellus was preserved unpolluted by slaughter, on the arrival of Verres overflowed with the blood of innocent Sicilians; that the harbour of the Syracusans, which at that time was shut against both our fleets and those of the Carthaginians, was, while Verres was praetor, open to Cilician pirates, or even to a single piratical galley. I say nothing of the violence offered to people of noble birth, of the ravishment of matrons, atrocities which then, when the city was taken, were not committed, neither through the hatred of enemies, nor through military licence, nor through the customs of war or the rights of victory. I pass over, I say, all these things which were done by that man for three whole years. Listen rather to acts which are connected with those matters of which I have hitherto been speaking.

> Latin: 116. iam illa omitto quae disperse a me multis in locis dicentur ac dicta sunt, forum Syracusanorum, quod introitu Marcelli purum a caede servatum est, id adventu Verris Siculorum innocentium sanguine redundasse, portum Syracusanorum, qui tum et nostris classibus et Carthaginiensium clausus fuisset, eum isto praetore Cilicum myoparoni praedonibusque patuisse; mitto adhibitam vim ingenuis, matres familias violatas, quae tum in urbe capta commissa non sunt neque odio hostili neque licentia militari neque more belli neque iure victoriae; mitto, inquam, haec omnia, quae ab isto per triennium perfecta sunt; ea quae coniuncta cum illis rebus sunt de quibus antea dixi cognoscite.

[¶25] 117. You have often heard that the city of Syracuseis the greatest of the Greek cities, and the most beautiful of all. It is so, O judges, as it is said to be; for it is so by its situation, which is strongly fortified, and which is on every side by which you can approach it, whether by sea or land, very beautiful to behold. And it has harbours almost enclosed within the walls, and in the sight of the whole city, harbours which have different entrances, but which meet together, and are connected at the other end. By their union a part of the town, which is called the island, being separated from the rest by a narrow arm of the sea, is again joined to and connected with the other by a bridge.

> Latin: 117. Vrbem Syracusas maximam esse Graecarum, pulcherrimam omnium saepe audistis., iudices, ita ut dicitur. et situ est cum munito tum ex omni aditu vel terra vel mari praeclaro ad aspectum, et portus habet prope in aedificatione amplexuque urbis inclusos; qui cum diversos inter se aditus habeant, in exitu coniunguntur et confluunt. Eorum coniunctione pars oppidi quae appellatur Insula, mari disiuncta angusto, ponte rursus adiungitur et continetur.

[¶26] 118. That city is so great that it may be said to consist of four cities of the largest size; one of which, as I have said, is that “Island,” which, surrounded by two harbours, projects out towards the mouth and entrance of each. In it there is a palace which did belong to king Hiero, which our praetors are in the habit of using; in it are many sacred buildings, but two, which have a great pre-eminence over all the others,—one a temple of Diana, and the other one, which before the arrival of that man was the most ornamented of all, sacred to Minerva. At the end of this island is a fountain of sweet water, the name of which is Arethusa, of incredible size, very full of fish, which would be entirely overwhelmed by the waves of the sea, if it were not protected from the sea by a rampart and dam of stone.

> Latin: 118. tanta est urbs ut ex quattuor urbibus maximis constare dicatur; quarum una est ea quam dixi Insula, quae duobus portibus cincta in utriusque portus ostium aditumque proiecta est; in qua domus est quae Hieronis regis fuit, qua praetores uti solent. ea sunt aedes sacrae complures, sed duae quae longe ceteris antecellant, Dianae, et altera, quae fuit ante istius adventum ornatissima, Minervae. hac insula extrema est fons aquae dulcis, cui nomen Arethusa est, incredibili magnitudine, plenissimus piscium, qui fluctu totus operiretur nisi munitione ac mole lapidum diiunctus esset a mari.

[¶27] 119. There is also another city at Syracuse, the name of which is Achradina, in which there is a very large forum, most beautiful porticoes, a highly decorated town-hall, a most spacious senate-house, and a superb temple of Jupiter Olympius; and the other districts of the city are joined together by one broad unbroken street, and divided by many cross streets, and by private houses. There is a third city, which because in that district there is an ancient temple of Fortune, is called Tyche, in which there is a spacious gymnasium, and many sacred buildings, and that district is the most frequented and the most populous. There is also a fourth city, which, because it is the last built, is called Neapolis, in the highest part of which there is a very large theatre, and, besides that there are two temples of great beauty, one of Ceres, the other of Libera, and a statue of Apollo, which is called Temenites, very beautiful and of colossal size; which, if he could have moved them, he would not have hesitated to carry off.

> Latin: 119. autem est urbs Syracusis, cui nomen Achradina est; in qua forum maximum, pulcherrimae porticus, ornatissimum prytanium, amplissima est curia templumque egregium Iovis Olympii ceteraeque urbis partes, quae una via lata perpetua multisque transversis divisae privatis aedificiis continentur. Tertia est urbs quae, quod in ea parte Fortunae fanum antiquum fuit, Tycha nominata est; in qua gymnasium amplissimum est et complures aedes sacrae, coliturque ea pars et habitatur frequentissime. autem est quae, quia postrema coaedificata est, Neapolis nominatur; quam ad summam theatrum maximum, praeterea duo templa sunt egregia, Cereris unum, alterum Liberae, signumque Apollinis, qui Temenites vocatur, pulcherrimum et maximum; quod iste si portare potuisset, non dubitasset auferre.

[¶28] 120. Now I will return to Marcellus, that I may not appear to have entered into this statement without any reason. He, when with his powerful army he had taken this splendid city, did not think it for the credit of the Roman people to destroy and extinguish this splendour, especially as no danger could possibly arise from it, and therefore he spared all the buildings, public as well as private, sacred as well as ordinary, as if he had come with his army for the purpose of defending them, not of taking them by storm. With respect to the decorations of the city, he had a regard to his own victory, and a regard to humanity, he thought it was due to his victory to transport man, things to Romewhich might be an ornament to this city, and due to humanity not utterly to strip the city, especially as it was one which he was anxious to preserve.

> Latin: 120. ad Marcellum revertar, ne haec a me sine causa commemorata esse videantur. cum tam praeclaram urbem vi copiisque cepisset, non putavit ad laudem populi Romani hoc pertinere, hanc pulchritudinem, ex qua praesertim periculi nihil ostenderetur, delere et exstinguere. aedificiis omnibus, publicis privatis, sacris profanis, sic pepercit quasi ad ea defendenda cum exercitu, non oppugnanda venisset. ornatu urbis habuit victoriae rationem, habuit humanitatis; victoriae putabat esse multa Romam deportare quae ornamento urbi esse possent, humanitatis non plane exspoliare urbem, praesertim quam conservare voluisset.

[¶29] 121. In this division of the ornaments, the victory of Marcellus did not covet more for the Roman people than his humanity reserved to the Syracusans. The things which were transported to Romewe see before the temples of Honour and of Virtue, and also in other places. He put nothing in his own house, nothing in his gardens, nothing in his suburban villa; he thought that his house could only be an ornament to the city if he abstained from carrying the ornaments which belonged to the city to his own house. But he left many things of extraordinary beauty at Syracuse; he violated not the respect due to any god; he laid hands on none. Compare Verres with him; not to compare the man with the man,—no such injury must be done to such a man as that, dead though he be; but to compare a state of peace with one of war, a state of law and order, and regular jurisdiction, with one of violence and martial law, and the supremacy of arms; to compare the arrival and retinue of the one with the victory and army of the other.

> Latin: 121. hac partitione ornatus non plus victoria Marcelli populo Romano adpetivit quam humanitas Syracusanis reservavit. Romam quae adportata sunt, ad aedem et itemque aliis in locis videmus. in aedibus, nihil in hortis posuit, nihil in suburbano; putavit, si urbis ornamenta domum suam non contulisset, domum suam ornamento urbi futuram. Syracusis autem permulta atque egregia reliquit; deum vero nullum violavit, nullum attigit. Verrem, non ut hominem cum homine comparetis, ne qua tali viro mortuo fiat iniuria, sed ut pacem cum bello, leges cum vi, forum et iuris dictionem cum ferro et armis, adventum et comitatum cum exercitu et victoria conferatis.

## 25. Actio Secunda · Book IV · sections 122–151

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/25/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/25/#p-N

[¶0] 122. There is a temple of Minerva in the island, of which I have already spoken, which Marcellus did not touch, which he left full of its treasures and ornaments, but which was so stripped and plundered by Verres, that it seems to have been in the hands, not of any enemy,—for enemies, even in war, respect the rites of religion, and the customs of the country,—but of some barbarian pirates. There was a cavalry battle of their king Agathocles, exquisitely painted in a series of pictures, and with these pictures the inside walls of the temple were covered. Nothing could be more noble than those paintings; there was nothing at Syracusethat was thought more worthy going to see. These pictures, Marcus Marcellus, though by that victory of his he had divested everything of its sacred inviolability of character, still, out of respect for religion, never touched; Verres, though, in consequence of the long peace, and the loyalty of the Syracusan people, he had received them as sacred and under the protection of religion, took away all those pictures, and left naked and unsightly those walls whose decorations had remained inviolate for so many ages, and had escaped so many wars:

> Latin: 122. Minervae est in Insula, de qua ante dixi; quam Marcellus non attigit, quam plenam atque ornatam reliquit; quae ab isto sic spoliata atque direpta est non ut ab hoste aliquo, qui tamen in bello religionem et consuetudinis iura retineret, sed ut a barbaris praedonibus vexata esse videatur. erat equestris Agathocli regis in tabulis picta praeclare; iis autem tabulis interiores templi parietes vestiebantur. erat ea pictura nobilius, nihil Syracusis quod magis visendum putaretur. tabulas M. Marcellus, cum omnia victoria illa sua profana fecisset, tamen religione impeditus non attigit; iste, cum illa propter diuturnam pacem fidelitatemque populi Syracusani sacra religiosaque accepisset, omnis eas tabulas abstulit, parietes quorum ornatus tot saecula manserant, tot bella effugerant, nudos ac deformatos reliquit.

[¶1] 123. Marcellus, who had vowed that if he took Syracusehe would erect two temples at Rome, was unwilling to adorn the temple which he was going to build with these treasures which were his by right of capture; Verres, who was bound by no vows to Honour or Virtue, as Marcellus was, but only to Venus and to Cupid, attempted to plunder the temple of Minerva. The one was unwilling to adorn gods in the spoil taken from gods, the other transferred the decorations of the virgin Minerva to the house of a prostitute. Besides this, he took away out of the same temple twenty-seven more pictures beautifully painted; among which were likenesses of the kings and tyrants of Sicily, which delighted one, not only by the skill of the painter, but also by reminding us of the men, and by enabling us to recognise their persons. And see now, how much worse a tyrant this man proved to the Syracusans than any of the old ones, as they, cruel as they were, still adorned the temples of the immortal gods, while this man took away the monuments and ornaments from the gods.

> Latin: 123. Marcellus qui, si Syracusas cepisset, duo templa se Romae dedicaturum voverat, is id quod erat aedificaturus iis rebus ornare quas ceperat noluit: Verres qui non Honori neque, quem ad modum ille, sed Veneri et Cupidini vota deberet, is Minervae templum spoliare conatus est. deos deorum spoliis ornari noluit, hic ornamenta Minervae virginis in meretriciam domum transtulit. et septem praeterea tabulas pulcherrime pictas ex eadem aede sustulit, in quibus erant imagines Siciliae regum ac tyrannorum, quae non solum pictorum artificio delectabant, sed etiam commemoratione hominum et cognitione formarum. videte quanto taetrior hic tyrannus Syracusanis fuerit quam quisquam superiorum, quia, cum illi tamen ornarint templa deorum immortalium, hic etiam illorum monumenta atque ornamenta sustulit.

[¶2] 124. But now what shall I say of the folding-doors of that temple? I am afraid that those who have not seen these things may think that I am speaking too highly of, and exaggerating everything, though no one ought to suspect that I should be so inconsiderate as to be selling that so many men of the highest reputation, especially when they are judges in this cause, who have been at Syracuse, and who have seen all these things themselves, should be witnesses to my rashness and falsehood. I am able to prove this distinctly, O judges, that no more magnificent doors, none more beautifully wrought of gold and ivory, ever existed in an, temple. It is incredible how many Greeks have left written accounts of the beauty of these doors: they, perhaps, may admire and extol them too much; be it so, still it is more honourable for our republic, O judges, that our general, in a time of war, should have left those things which appeared to them so beautiful, than that our praetor should have carried them off in a time of peace. On the folding-doors were some subjects most minutely executed in ivory; all these he caused to be taken out; he tore off and took away a very tine head of the Gorgon with snakes for hair; and he showed, too, that he was influenced not only by admiration for the workmanship, but by a desire of money and gain; for he did not hesitate to take away also all the golden knobs from these folding-doors, which were numerous and heavy; and it was not the workmanship of these, but the weight which pleased him. And so he left the folding-doors in such state, that, though they had formerly contributed greatly to the ornament of the temple, they now seemed to have been made only for the purpose of shutting it up.

> Latin: 124. vero quid ego de valvis illius templi commemorem? ne haec qui non viderunt omnia me nimis augere atque ornare arbitrentur; quod tamen nemo suspicari debet, tam esse me cupidum ut tot viros primarios velim, praesertim ex iudicum numero, qui Syracusis fuerint, qui haec viderint, esse temeritati et mendacio meo conscios. hoc liquido, iudices, possum, valvas magnificentiores, ex auro atque ebore perfectiores, nullas umquam ullo in templo fuisse. dictu est quam multi Graeci de harum valvarum pulchritudine scriptum reliquerint. forsitan haec illi mirentur atque efferant; esto; verum tamen honestius est rei publicae nostrae, iudices, ea quae illis pulchra esse videantur imperatorem nostrum in bello reliquisse quam praetorem in pace abstulisse. ebore diligentissime perfecta argumenta erant in valvis; ea detrahenda curavit omnia. Gorgonis os pulcherrimum cinctum anguibus revellit atque abstulit, et tamen indicavit se non solum artificio sed etiam pretio quaestuque duci; nam bullas aureas omnis ex iis valvis, quae erant multae et graves, non dubitavit auferre; quarum iste non opere delectabatur sed pondere. eius modi valvas reliquit ut quae olim ad ornandum templum erant maxime nunc tantum ad claudendum factae esse videantur.

[¶3] 125. Am I to speak also of the spears made of grass? for I saw that you were excited at the name of them when the witnesses mentioned them. They were such that it was sufficient to have seen them once, as there was neither any manual labour in them, nor any beauty, but simply an incredible size, which it would be quite sufficient even to hear of, and too much to see them more than once. Did you covet even those?

> Latin: 125. gramineas hastas—vidi enim vos in hoc nomine, cum testis diceret, commoveri: quod erat eius modi ut semel vidisse satis esset, (in quibus neque manu factum quicquam neque pulchritudo erat ulla, sed tantum magnitudo incredibilis de qua vel audire satis esset, nimium videre plus quam semel,) etiam id concupisti?

[¶4] 126. For the Sappho which was taken away out of the town-hall affords you so reasonable an excuse, that it may seem almost allowable and pardonable. That work of Silanion, so perfect, so elegant, so elaborate, (I will not say what private man, but) what nation could be so worthy to possess, as the most elegant and learned Verres? Certainly, nothing will be said against it. If any one of us, who are not as happy, who cannot be as refined as that man, should wish to behold anything of the sort, let him go to the temple of Good Fortune, to the monument of Catulus, to the portico of Metellus; let him take pains to get admittance into the Tusculan villa of any one of those men; let him see the forum when decorated, if Verres is ever so kind as to lend any of his treasures to the aediles. Shall Verres have all these things at home? shall Verres have his house full of his villas crammed with, the ornaments of temples and cities? Will you still, O judges, bear with the hobby, as he calls it, and pleasures of this vile artisan? a man who was born in such a rank, educated in such a way, and who is so formed both in mind and body, that he appears a much fitter person to take down statues than to appropriate them.

> Latin: 126. Sappho quae sublata de prytanio est dat tibi iustam excusationem, prope ut concedendum atque ignoscendum esse videatur. Silanionis opus tam perfectum, tam elegans, tam elaboratum quisquam non modo privatus sed populus potius haberet quam homo elegantissimus atque eruditissimus, Verres? contra dici nihil potest. enim unus quisque, qui tam beati quam iste est non sumus, tam delicati esse non possumus, si quando aliquid istius modi videre volet, eat ad aedem, ad monumentum Catuli, in porticum Metelli, det operam ut admittatur in alicuius istorum Tusculanum, spectet forum ornatum, si quid iste suorum aedilibus commodarit: Verres haec habeat domi, Verres ornamentis fanorum atque oppidorum habeat plenam domum, villas refertas. huius operari studia ac delicias, iudices, perferetis? qui ita natus, ita educatus est, ita factus et animo et corpore ut multo appositior ad ferenda quam ad auferenda signa esse videatur.

[¶5] 127. And how great a regret this Sappho which he carried off left behind her, can scarcely be told; for in the first place it was admirably made, and, besides, it had a very noble Greek epigram engraved upon the pedestal; and would not that learned man, that Grecian, who is such an acute judge of these matters, who is the only man who understands them, if he had understood one letter of Greek, have taken that away too? for now, because it is engraved on an empty pedestal, it both declares what was once, on the pedestal, and proves that it has been taken away. What shall I say more? Did you not take away the statue of Paean from out of the temple of Aesculapius, beautifully made, sacred, and holy as it was? a statue which all men went to see for its beauty, and worshipped for its sacred character. What more? was not the statue of Aristaeus openly taken away by your command out of the temple of Bacchus?

> Latin: 127. haec Sappho sublata quantum desiderium sui reliquerit, dici vix potest. cum ipsa fuit egregie facta, tum epigramma Graecum pernobile incisum est in basi, quod iste eruditus homo et Graeculus, qui haec subtiliter iudicat, qui solus intellegit, si unam litteram Graecam scisset, certe non sustulisset. enim quod scriptum est inani in basi declarat quid fuerit, et id ablatum indicat.? signum Paeanis ex aede Aesculapi praeclare factum, sacrum ac religiosum, non sustulisti? quod omnes propter pulchritudinem visere, propter religionem colere solebant.? ex aede simulacrum Aristaei non tuo imperio palam ablatum est?

[¶6] 128. What more? did you not take away out of the temple of Jupiterthat most holy statue of Jupiter Imperator, which the Greeks call *)/ourios, most beautifully made? What next? did you hesitate to take away out of the temple of Libera, that most exquisite bust of Parian marble, which we used to go to see? And that Paean used to be worshipped among that people together with Aesculapius, with anniversary sacrifices. Aristaeus, who being, as the Greeks report, the son of Bacchus, is said to have been the inventor of oil, was consecrated among them together with his father Bacchus, in the same temple.

> Latin: 128. ? ex aede Iovis religiosissimum simulacrum Iovis, quem Graeci Vrion nominant, pulcherrime factum nonne abstulisti?? ex aede Liberae agninum caput illud pulcherrimum, quod visere solebamus, num dubitasti tollere? ille Paean sacrificiis anniversariis simul cum Aesculapio apud illos colebatur; Aristaeus, qui [ut Graeci ferunt, filius ] inventor olei esse dicitur, una cum patre apud illos eodem erat in templo in consecratus.

[¶7] 129. But how great do you suppose was the honour paid to Jupiter Imperator in his own temple? You may collect it from this consideration, if you recollect how great was the religious reverence attached to that statue of the same appearance and form which Flaminius brought out of Macedonia, and placed in the Capitol. In truth, there were said to be in the whole world three statues of Jupiter Imperator, of the same class, all beautifully made: one was that one from Macedonia, which we have seen in the Capitol; a second was the one at the narrow straits, which are the mouth of the Euxine Sea; the third was that which was at Syracuse, till Verres came as praetor. Flaminius removed the first from its habitation, but only to place it in the Capitol, that is to say, in the house of Jupiter upon earth.

> Latin: 129. Iovem autem quanto honore suo templo fuisse arbitramini? potestis, si recordari volueritis quanta religione fuerit eadem specie ac forma signum illud quod ex Macedonia captum in Capitolio posuerat T. Flamininus.
(58) tria ferebantur in orbe terrarum signa Iovis uno in genere pulcherrime facta, unum illud Macedonicum quod in Capitolio vidimus, alterum in Ponti ore et angustiis, tertium quod Syracusis ante Verrem praetorem fuit. Flamininus ita ex aede sua sustulit ut in Capitolio, hoc est in terrestri domicilio Iovis poneret.

[¶8] 130. But as to the one that is at the entrance of the Euxine, that, though so many wars have proceeded from the shores of that sea, and though so many have been poured into Pontus, has still remained inviolate and untouched to this day. This third one, which was at Syracuse, which Marcus Marcellus, when in arms and victorious, had seen, which he had spared to the religion of the place, which both the citizens of, and settlers in Syracusewere used to worship, and strangers not only visited, but often venerated, Caius Verres took away from the temple of Jupiter.

> Latin: 130. autem est ad introitum Ponti, id, cum tam multa ex illo mari bella emerserint, tam multa porro in Pontum invecta sint, usque ad hanc diem integrum inviolatumque servatum est. tertium, quod erat Syracusis, quod M. Marcellus armatus et victor viderat, quod religioni concesserat, quod cives atque incolae colere, advenae non solum visere verum etiam venerari solebant, id C. Verres ex templo Iovis sustulit.

[¶9] 131. To return again to Marcellus. Judge of the case, O judges, in this way; think that more gods were lost to the Syracusans owing to the arrival of Verres, than even were owing to the victory of Marcellus. In truth, he is said to have sought diligently for the great Archimedes, a man of the highest genius and skill, and to have been greatly concerned when he heard that he had been killed; but that other man sought for everything which he did seek for, not for the purpose of preserving it, but of carrying it away. At present, then, all those things which might appear more insignificant, I will on that account pass over—how he took away Delphic tables made of marble, beautiful goblets of brass, an immense number of Corinthian vases, out of every sacred temple at Syracuse;

> Latin: 131. Vt saepius ad Marcellum revertar, iudices, sic habetote, pluris esse a Syracusanis istius adventu deos quam victoria Marcelli homines desideratos. ille requisisse etiam dicitur Archimedem illum, summo ingenio hominem ac disciplina, quem cum audisset interfectum permoleste tulisse: iste omnia quae requisivit, non ut conservaret verum ut asportaret requisivit. illa quae leviora videbuntur ideo praeteribo, quod mensas Delphicas e marmore, crateras ex aere pulcherrimas, vim maximam vasorum Corinthiorum ex omnibus aedibus sacris abstulit Syracusis.

[¶10] 132. and therefore, O judges, those men who are accustomed to take strangers about to all those things which are worth going to see, and to show them every separate thing, whom they call mystagogi, (or cicerones,) now have their description of things reversed; for as they formerly used to show what there was in every place, so now they show what has been taken from every place. What do you think, then? Do you think that those men are affected with but a moderate indignation? Not so, O judges: in the first place, because all men are influenced by religious feeling, and think that their paternal gods, whom they have received from their ancestors, are to be carefully worshipped and retained by themselves; and secondly, because this sort of ornament, these works and specimens of art, these statues and paintings, delight men of Greek extraction to an excessive degree; therefore by their complaints we can understand that these things appear most bitter to those men, which perhaps may seem trifling and contemptible to us. Believe me, O judges, although I am aware to a certainty that you yourselves hear the same things, that though both our allies and foreign nations have during these past years sustained many calamities and injuries, yet men of Greek extraction have not been, and are not, more indignant at any than at this ruthless plundering of their temples and altars.

> Latin: 132. , iudices, ii qui hospites ad ea quae visenda sunt solent ducere et unum quidque ostendere,—quos illi mystagogos vocant,—conversam iam habent demonstrationem suam. ut ante demonstrabant quid ubique esset, item nunc quid undique ablatum sit ostendunt. tum? mediocrine tandem dolore eos adfectos esse arbitramini? ita est, iudices, primum quod omnes religione moventur et deos patrios quos a maioribus acceperunt colendos sibi diligenter et retinendos esse arbitrantur; deinde hic ornatus, haec opera atque artificia, signa, tabulae pictae Graecos homines nimio opere delectant. ex illorum querimoniis intellegere possumus haec illis acerbissima videri quae forsitan nobis levia et contemnenda esse videantur. credite, iudices,—tametsi vosmet ipsos haec eadem audire certo scio,—cum multas acceperint per hosce annos socii atque exterae nationes calamitates et iniurias, nullas Graeci homines gravius ferunt ac tulerunt quam huiusce modi spoliationes fanorum atque oppidorum.

[¶11] 133. Although that man may say that he bought these things, as he is accustomed to say, yet, believe me in this, O judges,—no city in all Asiaor in all Greecehas ever sold one statue, one picture, or one decoration of the city, of its own free will to anybody. Unless, perchance, you suppose that, after strict judicial decisions had ceased to take place at Rome, the Greeks then began to sell these things, which they not only did not sell when there were courts of justice open, but which they even used to buy up; or unless you think that Lucius Crassus, Quintus Scaevola, Caius Claudius, most, powerful men, whose most splendid aedileships we have seen had no dealings in those sort of matters with the Greeks, but that those men had such dealings who became aediles after the destruction of the courts of justice.

> Latin: 133. iste dicat emisse se, sicuti solet dicere, credite hoc mihi, iudices: nulla umquam civitas tota Asia et Graecia signum ullum, tabulam pictam ullam ullum denique ornamentum urbis sua voluntate cuiquam vendidit; nisi forte existimatis, posteaquam iudicia severa Romae fieri desierunt, Graecos homines haec venditare coepisse, quae tum non modo non venditabant, cum iudicia fiebant, verum etiam coemebant; aut nisi arbitramini L. Crasso, Q. Scaevolae, C. Claudio, potentissimis hominibus, quorum aedilitates ornatissimas vidimus, commercium istarum rerum cum Graecis hominibus non fuisse, iis qui post iudiciorum dissolutionem aediles facti sunt fuisse.

[¶12] 134. Know also that that false presence of purchase was more bitter to the cities than if any one were privately to filch things, or boldly to steal them and carry them off. For they think it the most excessive baseness, that it should be entered on the public records that the city was induced by a price, and by a small price too, to sell and alienate those things which it had received from men of old. In truth, the Greeks delight to a marvellous degree in those things, which we despise. And therefore our ancestors willingly allowed those things to remain in numbers among the allies, in order that they might be as splendid and as flourishing as possible under our dominion; and among those nations whom they rendered taxable or tributary, still they left these things, in order that they who take delight in those things which to us seem insignificant, might have them as pleasures and consolations in slavery.

> Latin: 134. etiam scitote esse civitatibus falsam istam et simulatam emptionem quam si qui clam surripiat aut eripiat palam atque auferat; nam turpitudinem summam esse arbitrantur referri in tabulas publicas pretio adductam civitatem, et pretio parvo, ea quae accepisset a maioribus vendidisse atque abalienasse. mirandum in modum Graeci rebus istis, quas nos contemnimus, delectantur. maiores nostri facile patiebantur haec esse apud illos quam plurima: apud socios, ut imperio nostro quam ornatissimi florentissimique essent; apud eos autem quos vectigalis aut stipendiarios fecerant tamen haec relinquebant, ut illi, quibus haec iucunda sunt quae nobis levia videntur, haberent haec oblectamenta et solacia servitutis.

[¶13] 135. What do you think that the Rhegians, who now are Roman citizens, would take to allow that marble Venus to be taken from them? What would the Tarentines take to lose the Europa sitting on the Bull? or the Satyr which they have in the temple of Vesta? or their other monuments? What would the Thespians take to lose the statue of Cupid, the only object for which any one ever goes to see Thespiae? What would the men of Cnidostake for their marble Venus? or the Coans for their picture of her? or the Ephesians for Alexander? the men of Cyzicusfor their Ajax or Medea? What would the Rhodians take for Ialysus? the Athenians for their marble Bacchus, or their picture of Paralus, or their brazen Heifer, the work of Myron? It would be a long business and an unnecessary one, to mention what is worth going to see among all the different nations in all Asiaand Greece; but that is the reason why I am enumerating these things, because I wish you to consider that an incredible indignation must be the feeling of those men from whose cities these things are carried away.

> Latin: 135. arbitramini Reginos, qui iam cives Romani sunt, merere velle ut ab iis marmorea Venus illa auferatur? quid Tarentinos, ut Europam in tauro amittant, ut Satyrum qui apud illos in aede Vestae est, ut cetera? quid Thespiensis ut Cupidinis signum, propter quod unum visuntur Thespiae, quid Cnidios ut marmoream, quid ut pictam Coos, quid Ephesios ut Alexandrum, quid Cyzicenos ut Aiacem aut Medeam, quid Rhodios ut Ialysum, quid Atheniensis ut ex marmore Iacchum aut Paralum pictum aut ex aere Myronis buculam? est et non necessarium commemorare quae apud quosque visenda sunt tota Asia et Graecia; verum illud est quam ob rem haec commemorem, quod existimare vos hoc volo, mirum quendam dolorem accipere eos ex quorum urbibus haec auferantur.

[¶14] 136. And to say nothing of other nations, judge of the Syracusans themselves. For when I went to Syracuse, I originally believed what I had heard at Romefrom that man's friends, that the city of Syracuse, on account of the inheritance of Heraclius, was no less friendly to him than the city of the Mamertines, because of their participation in all his booty and robberies. And at the same time I was afraid that, owing to the influence of the high-born and beautiful women at whose will he had directed all the measures of his praetorship for three years, and of the men to whom they were married, I should be opposed not only by an excessive lenity, but even by a feeling of liberality towards that man, if I were to seek for any evidence out of the public records of the Syracusans.

> Latin: 136. ut ceteros omittamus, de ipsis Syracusanis cognoscite. quos ego cum venissem, sic primum existimabam, ut Romae ex istius amicis acceperam, civitatem Syracusanam propter Heracli hereditatem non minus esse isti amicam quam Mamertinam propter praedarum ac furtorum omnium societatem; simul et verebar ne mulierum nobilium et formosarum gratia, quarum iste arbitrio praeturam per triennium gesserat, virorumque quibuscum illae nuptae erant, nimia in istum non modo lenitudine sed etiam liberalitate oppugnarer, si quid ex litteris Syracusanorum conquirerem.

[¶15] 137. Therefore when at SyracuseI was chiefly with Roman citizens; I copied out their papers; I inquired into their injuries. As I was a long time occupied by that business, in order to rest a little and to give my mind a respite from care, I returned to those fine documents of Carpinatius; in which, in company with some of the most honourable knights of the body of Roman settlers, I unraveled the case of those Verrutii, whom I have mentioned before, but I expected no aid at all, either publicly or privately, from the Syracusans, nor had I any idea of asking for any. While I was doing this, on a sudden Heraclius came to me, who was in office at Syracuse, a man of high birth, who had been priest of Jupiter, which is the highest honour among the Syracusans; he requests of me and of my brother, if we have no objection, to go to their senate; that they were at that moment assembled in full numbers in the senate-house, and he said that he made this request to us to attend by command of the senate.

> Latin: 137. Syracusis cum civibus Romanis eram, eorum tabulas exquirebam, iniurias cognoscebam. diutius in negotio curaque fueram, ut requiescerem curamque animi remitterem, ad Carpinati praeclaras tabulas revertebar, ubi cum equitibus Romanis, hominibus ex illo conventu honestissimis, illius Verrucios, de quibus ante dixi, explicabam; a Syracusanis prorsus nihil adiumenti neque publice neque privatim exspectabam, neque erat in animo postulare. haec agerem, repente ad me venit Heraclius, is qui tum magistratum Syracusis habebat, homo nobilis, qui sacerdos Iovis fuisset, qui honos est apud Syracusanos amplissimus. mecum et cum fratre meo ut, si nobis videretur, adiremus ad eorum senatum; frequentis esse in curia; se iussu senatus a nobis petere ut veniremus.

[¶16] 138. At first we were in doubt what to do; but afterwards it soon occurred to us that we ought not to shun that assembly or that place. Therefore we came to the senate-house; they all rise at our entry to do us honour. We sat down at the request of the magistrates. Diodorus the son of Timarchides, who was the first man in that body both in influence and in age, and also as it seemed to me in experience and knowledge of business, began to speak; and the first sentence of his speech was to this effect—That the senate and people of Syracusewere grieved and indignant, that, though in all the other cities of SicilyI had informed the senate and people of what I proposed for their advantage or for their safety, and though I had received from them all commissions, deputies, letters and evidence, yet in that city I had done nothing of that sort. I answered, that deputies from the Syracusans had not been present at Romein that assembly of the Sicilians when my assistance was entreated by the common resolution of all the deputations, and when the cause of the whole of Sicilywas entrusted to me; and that I could not ask that any decree should be passed against Caius Verres in that senate-house in which I saw a gilt statue of Caius Verres.

> Latin: 138. (62) nobis fuit dubium quid ageremus; deinde cito venit in mentem non esse vitandum illum nobis conventum et locum; itaque in curiam venimus. sane consurgitur; nos rogatu magistratus adsedimus. is loqui qui et auctoritate et aetate et, ut mihi visum est, usu rerum antecedebat, Diodorus Timarchidi, cuius omnis oratio hanc habuit primo sententiam: senatum et populum Syracusanum moleste graviterque ferre quod ego, cum in ceteris Siciliae civitatibus senatum populumque docuissem quid iis utilitatis, quid salutis adferrem, et cum ab omnibus mandata, legatos, litteras testimoniaque sumpsissem, in illa civitate nihil eius modi facerem. neque Romae in conventu Siculorum, cum a me auxilium communi omnium legationum consilio petebatur causaque totius provinciae ad me deferebatur, legatos Syracusanorum adfuisse, neque me postulare ut quicquam contra C. Verrem decerneretur in ea curia in qua inauratam C. Verris statuam viderem.

[¶17] 139. And after I said that, such a groaning ensued at the sight and mention of the statue, that it appeared to have been placed in the senate-house as a monument of his wickednesses and not of his services. Then every one for himself, as fast as each could manage to speak, began to give me information of those things which I have just now mentioned; to tell me that the city was plundered—the temples stripped of their treasures—that of the inheritance of Heraclius, which he had adjudged to the men of the palaestra, he had taken by far the greatest share himself; and indeed, that they could not expect that he should care for the men of the palaestra, when he had taken away even the god who was the inventor of oil; that that statue had neither been made at the public expense, nor erected by public authority, but that those men who had been the sharers in the plunder of the inheritance of Heraclius, had had it made and placed where it was; and that those same men had been the deputies at Rome, who had been his assistants in dishonesty, his partners in his thefts and the witnesses of his debaucheries; and that therefore I ought the less to wonder if they were wanting to the unanimity of the deputies and to the safety of Sicily.

> Latin: 139. posteaquam dixi, tantus est gemitus factus aspectu statuae et commemoratione ut illud in curia positum monumentum scelerum non beneficiorum videretur. pro se quisque, quantum dicendo adsequi poterat, docere me coepit ea quae paulo ante commemoravi, spoliatam urbem, fana direpta, de Heracli hereditate, quam palaestritis concessisset, multo maximam partem ipsum abstulisse; neque postulandum fuisse ut ille palaestritas diligeret, qui etiam inventorem olei deum sustulisset; neque illam statuam esse ex pecunia publica neque publice datam, sed eos qui hereditatis diripiendae participes fuissent faciendam statuendamque curasse; eosdem Romae fuisse legatos, illius adiutores improbitatis, socios furtorum, conscios flagitiorum; eo minus mirari me oportere si illi communi legatorum voluntati et saluti Siciliae defuissent.

[¶18] 140. When I perceived that their indignation at that man's injuries was not only not less, but almost greater than that of the rest of the Sicilians, then I explained my own intentions to them, and my whole plan and system with reference to the whole of the business which I had undertaken; then I exhorted them not to be wanting to the common cause and the common safety, and to rescind that panegyric which they had voted a few days before, being compelled, a, they said, by violence and fear. Accordingly, O judges, the Syracusans, that man's clients and friends, do this. First of all, they produce to me the public documents which they had carefully stored up in the most sacred part of the treasury; in which they show me that everything, which I have said had been taken away, was entered, and even more things than I was able to mention. And they were entered in this way. “What had been taken out of the temple of Minerva.. This,... and that.” “What was missing out of the temple of Jupiter.” “What was missing out of the temple of Bacchus.” As each individual had had the charge of protecting and preserving those things, so it was entered; that each, when according to law he gave in his accounts, being bound to give up what he had received, had begged that he might be pardoned for the absence of these things and that all had accordingly been released from liability on that account, and that it was kept secret; all which documents I took care to have sealed up with the public seal and brought away.

> Latin: 140. Vbi eorum dolorem ex illius iniuriis non modo non minorem sed prope maiorem quam Siculorum ceterorum esse cognovi, tum meum animum in illos, tum mei consili negotique totius suscepti causam rationemque proposui, tum eos hortatus sum ut causae communi salutique ne deessent, ut illam laudationem, quam se vi ac metu coactos paucis illis diebus decresse dicebant, tollerent., iudices, Syracusani haec faciunt, istius clientes atque amici. mihi litteras publicas, quas in aerario sanctiore conditas habebant, proferunt; in quibus ostendunt omnia quae dixi ablata esse perscripta, et plura etiam quam ego potui dicere; perscripta autem hoc modo: ex aede Minervae hoc et illud abesset, quod ex aede Iovis, quod ex aede —ut quisque iis rebus tuendis conservandisque praefuerat, ita perscriptum erat—cum rationem e lege redderent et quae acceperant tradere deberent, petisse ut sibi, quod eae res abessent, ignosceretur; itaque omnis liberatos discessisse, et esse ignotum omnibus. ego litteras obsignandas publico signo deportandasque curavi.

[¶19] 141. But concerning the public panegyric on him this explanation was given: that at first, when the letters arrived from Verres about the panegyric, a little while before my arrival, nothing had been decreed; and after that, when some of his friends urged them that it ought to be decreed, they were rejected with the greatest outcry and the bitterest reproaches; but when I was on the point of arriving, then he who at that time was the chief governor had commanded them to decree it, and that it had been decreed in such a manner that the panegyric did him more damage than it could have done him good. So now, judges, do you receive the truth of that matter from me just as it was shown to me by them.

> Latin: 141. laudatione autem ratio sic mihi reddita est., cum a C. Verre litterae aliquanto ante adventum meum de laudatione venissent, nihil esse decretum; deinde, cum quidam ex illius amicis commonerent oportere decerni, maximo clamore esse et convicio repudiatos; postea, cum meus adventus adpropinquaret, imperasse eum qui summam potestatem haberet ut decernerent; decretum ita esse ut multo plus illi laudatio mali quam boni posset adferre. adeo, iudices, ut mihi ab illis demonstratum est, sic vos ex me cognoscite.

[¶20] 142. It is a custom at Syracuse, that, if a motion on any subject is brought before the senate, whoever wishes, gives his opinion on it. No one is asked by name for his sentiments; nevertheless, those are accustomed to speak first of their own accord, and naturally, according as they are superior in honour or in age; and that precedence is yielded to them by the rest; but, if at any time all are silent, then they are compelled to speak by lot. This was the custom when the motion was made respecting the panegyric of Verres. On which subject at first great numbers speak, in order to delay coming to any vote, and interpose this objection, that formerly, when they had heard that there was a prosecution instituted against Sextus Peducaeus, who had deserved admirably well of that city and of the whole province, and when, in return for his numerous and important services, they wished to vote a panegyric on him, they had been prohibited from doing so by Caius Verres; and that it would be an unjust thing, although Peducaeus had now no need of their praise, still not to vote that which at one time they had been eager to vote, before decreeing what they would only decree from compulsion.

> Latin: 142. est Syracusis ut, si qua de re ad senatum referant, dicat sententiam qui velit; nominatim nemo rogatur, et tamen, ut quisque aetate et honore antecedit ita primus solet sua sponte dicere, itaque a ceteris ei conceditur; sin aliquando tacent omnes, tunc sortito coguntur dicere. hic mos esset, refertur ad senatum de laudatione Verris. quo primum, ut aliquid esset morae, multi interpellant; de Sex. Peducaeo, qui de illa civitate totaque provincia optime meritus esset, sese antea, cum audissent ei negotium facessitum, cumque eum publice pro plurimis eius et maximis meritis laudare cuperent, a C. Verre prohibitos esse; iniquum esse, tametsi Peducaeus eorum laudatione iam non uteretur, tamen non id prius decernere quod aliquando voluissent quam quod tum cogerentur.

[¶21] 143. All shout in assent, and say approvingly that that is what ought to be done. So the question about Peducaeus is put to the senate. Each man gave his opinion in order, according as he had precedence in age and honour. You may learn this from the resolution itself; for the opinions delivered by the chief men are generally recorded. Read— [The list of speeches made on the subject of Sextus Peducaeus is read.] It says who were the chief supporters of the motion. The vote is carried. Then the question about Verres is put. Tell me, I pray, what happened. [The list of speeches made on the subject of Caius Verres....] Well what comes next? [As no one rose, and no one delivered his opinion....] What is this? [They proceed by lot.] Why was this? Was no one a willing praiser of your praetorship, or a willing defender of you from danger, especially when by being so he might have gained favour with the praetor? No one. Those very men who used to feast with you, your advisers and accomplices, did not venture to utter a word. In that very senate-house in which a statue of yourself and a naked statue of your son were standing, was there no one whom even your naked son in a province stripped naked could move to compassion?

> Latin: 143. omnes et adprobant ita fieri oportere. de Peducaeo. Vt quisque aetate et honore antecedebat, ita sententiam dixit ex ordine. adeo ex ipso senatus consulto cognoscite; nam principum sententiae perscribi solent.. qvod verba facta svnt de Sex. Pedvcaeo. qui primi suaserint.. deinde de Verre., quaeso, quo modo? “qvod verba facta svnt de C. Verre” —quid postea scriptum est?—“cvm svrgeret nemo neqve sententiam diceret”—quid est hoc?—“sors dvcitvr.” ob rem? nemo erat voluntarius laudator praeturae tuae, defensor periculorum, praesertim cum inire a praetore gratiam posset?. ipsi tui convivae, consiliarii, conscii, socii verbum facere non audent. qua curia statua tua stabat et nuda fili, in ea nemo fuit, ne quem nudus quidem filius nudata provincia commoveret.

[¶22] 144. Moreover they inform me also of this, that they had passed the vote of panegyric in such a form that all men might see that it was not a panegyric, but rather a satire, to remind every one of his shameful and disastrous praetorship. For in truth it was drawn up in these words. “Because he had scourged no one.” From which you are to understand, that he had caused most noble and innocent men to be executed. “Because he had administered the affairs of the province with vigilance,” when all his vigils were well known to have been devoted to debauchery and adultery; moreover, there was this clause added, which the defendant could never venture to produce, and the accuser would never cease to dwell upon; “Because Verres had kept all pirates at a distance from the island of Sicily;” men who in his time had entered even into the “island” of Syracuse.

> Latin: 144. etiam hoc me docent, eius modi senatus consultum fecisse laudatores ut omnes intellegere possent non laudationem sed potius inrisionem esse illam quae commonefaceret istius turpem calamitosamque praeturam. scriptum esse ita: qvod is̵ virgis neminem cecidisset — a quo cognostis nobilissimos homines atque innocentissimos securi esse percussos; qvod vigilanter provinciam administrasset —cuius omnis vigilias in stupris constat adulteriisque esse consumptas; [cuius modi constat, hoc vero scriptum esse, quod proferre non auderet reus, accusator recitare non desineret ] qvod praedones procvl ab insvla Sicilia prohibvisset [Verres̵] —quos etiam intra Syracusanam insulam recepisset.

[¶23] 145. And after I had received this information from them, I departed from the senate-house with my brother, in order that they might decree what they chose. Immediately they pass a decree. First, “That my brother Lucius should be connected with the city by ties of hospitably;” because he had shown the same goodwill to the Syracusans that I had always felt myself. That they not only wrote at that time, but also had engraved on brazen tablets and presented to us. Truly very fond of you are your Syracusans whom you are always talking of, who think it quite a sufficient reason for forming an intimate connection with your accuser, that he is going to be your accuser, and that he has come among them for the purpose of prosecuting inquiries against you. After that, a decree is passed, not with any difference of opinion, but almost unanimously, “That the panegyric which had been decreed to Caius Verres, be rescinded.”

> Latin: 145. (65) posteaquam ex illis cognovi, discessi cum fratre e curia, ut nobis absentibus, si quid vellent, decernerent. statim primum ut cum Lucio fratre hospitium publice fieret, quod is eandem voluntatem erga Syracusanos suscepisset quam ego semper habuissem. non modo tum scripserunt, verum etiam in aere incisum nobis tradiderunt. hercule te Syracusani tui, quos crebro commemorare soles, diligunt, qui cum accusatore tuo satis iustam causam coniungendae necessitudinis putant quod te accusaturus sit et quod inquisitum in te venerit. decernitur, ac non varie sed prope cunctis sententiis, ut laudatio quae C. Verri decreta esset tolleretur.

[¶24] 146. But, when not only the vote had been come to, but when it had even been drawn up in due form and entered in the records, an appeal is made to the praetor. But who makes this appeal? Any magistrate? No. Any senator? Not even that. Any Syracusan? Far from it. Who, then, appeals to the praetor? The man who had been Verres's quaestor, Caesetius. Oh, the ridiculous business! Oh, the deserted man! O man despaired of and abandoned by the Sicilian magistracy! In order to prevent the Sicilians passing a resolution of the senate, or from obtaining their rights according to their own customs and their own laws, an appeal is made to the praetor, not by any friend of his, not by any connection, not, in short, by any Sicilian, but by his own quaestor. Who saw this? Who heard it? That just and wise praetor orders the senate to be adjourned. A great multitude flocks to me. First of all, the senators cry out that their rights are being taken away; that their liberty is being taken away. The people praise the senate and thank them. The Roman citizens do not leave me. And on that day I had no harder task, than with all my exertions to prevent violent hands being laid on the man who made that appeal.

> Latin: 146. eo cum iam non solum discessio facta esset, sed etiam perscriptum atque in tabulas relatum, praetor appellatur. quis appellat? magistratus aliqui?.? id quidem. Syracusanorum aliqui?. igitur praetorem appellat? quaestor istius fuerat, P. Caesetius. O rem ridiculam! o desertum hominem, desperatum, relictum! A magistratu Siculo, ne senatus consultum Siculi homines facere possent, ne suum ius suis moribus, suis legibus obtinere possent, non amicus istius, non hospes, non denique aliquis Siculus, sed quaestor populi Romani praetorem appellat! hoc vidit, quis audivit? aequus et sapiens dimitti iubet senatum. ad me maxima multitudo. senatores clamare sibi eripi ius, eripi libertatem, populus senatum laudare, gratias agere, cives Romani a me nusquam discedere. quidem die nihil aegrius factum est multo labore meo quam ut manus ab illo appellatore abstinerentur.

[¶25] 147. When we had gone before the praetor's tribunal, he deliberates, forsooth, diligently and carefully what decision he shall give; for, before I say one word, he rises from his seat and departs. And so we departed from the forum when it was now nearly evening. The next day, the first thing in the morning, I beg of him to allow the Syracusans to give me a copy of the resolution which they had passed the day before. But he refuses, and says that it is a great shame for me to have made a speech in a Greek senate; and that, as for my having spoken in the Greek language to Greeks, that was a thing which could not be endured at all. I answered the man as I could, as I chose, and as I ought. Among other things, I recollect that I said that it was easy to be seen how great was the difference between him and the great Numidicus, the real and genuine Metellus. That that Metellus had refused to assist with his panegyric Lucius Lucullus, his sister's husband, with whom he was on the very best terms, but that he was procuring panegyrics from cities for a man totally unconnected with himself, by violence and compulsion.

> Latin: 147. ad praetorem in ius adissemus, excogitat sane acute quid decernat; nam ante quam verbum facerem, de sella surrexit atque abiit. tum de foro, cum iam advesperasceret, discessimus. mane ab eo postulo ut Syracusanis liceret senatus consultum, quod pridie fecissent, mihi reddere. enim vero negat et ait in-, dignum facinus esse quod ego in senatu Graeco verba fecissem; quod quidem apud Graecos Graece locutus essem, id ferri nullo modo posse. homini ut potui, ut debui, ut volui. multa tum etiam hoc me memini dicere, facile esse perspicuum quantum inter hunc et illum Numidicum, verum ac germanum Metellum, interesset; illum noluisse sua laudatione iuvare L. Lucullum, sororis virum, quicum optime convenisset, hunc homini alienissimo a civitatibus laudationes per vim et metum comparare.

[¶26] 148. But when I understood that it was many recent messengers, and many letters, not of introduction but of credit, that had had so much influence over him, at the suggestion of the Syracusans themselves I make a seizure of those documents in which the resolutions of the senate were recorded. And now behold a fresh confusion and strife. That, however, you may not suppose that he was without any friends or connections at Syracuse, that he was entirely desolate and forsaken, a man of the name of Theomnastus, a man ridiculously crazy, whom the Syracusans call Theoractus. attempted to detain those documents; a man in such a condition, that the boys follow him, and that every one laughs at him every time he opens his mouth. But his craziness, which is ridiculous to others, was then in truth very troublesome to me. For while he was foaming at the mouth, his eyes glaring, and he crying out as loud as he could that I was attacking him with violence, we came together before the tribunal.

> Latin: 148. ubi intellexi, multum apud illum recentis nuntios, multum tabellas non commendaticias sed tributarias valuisse, admonitu ipsorum Syracusanorum impetum in eas tabulas facio in quibus senatus consultum perscripserant. autem nova turba atque rixa, ne tamen istum omnino Syracusis sine amicis, sine hospitibus, plane nudum esse ac desertum putetis! incipit tabulas Theomnastus quidam, homo ridicule insanus, quem Syracusani Theoractum vocant; qui illic eius modi est ut eum pueri sectentur, ut omnes cum loqui coepit inrideant. s tamen insania, quae ridicula est aliis, mihi tum molesta sane fuit; nam cum spumas ageret in ore, oculis arderet, voce maxima vim me sibi adferre clamaret, copulati in ius pervenimus.

[¶27] 149. Then I began to beg to be allowed to seal up and carry away the records. He spoke against me; he denied that there had been any regular resolution of the senate passed, since an appeal had been made to the praetor. He said that a copy of it ought not to be given to me. I read the act, that I was to be allowed all documents and records. He, like a crazy man as he was, urged that our laws had nothing to do with him. That intelligent praetor decided that he did not choose, as the resolution of the senate had no business ever to be ratified, to allow me to take a copy of it to Rome. Not to make a long story of it, if I had not threatened the man vigorously, if I had not read to him the provisions of the act passed in this case, and the penalties enacted by it, I should not have been allowed to have the documents. But that crazy fellow, who had declaimed against me most violently on behalf of Verres, when he found he did not succeed, in order I suppose to recover my favour, gives me a book in which all Verres's Syracusan thefts were set down, which I had already been informed of by, and had a list of from them.

> Latin: 149. ego postulare coepi ut mihi tabulas obsignare ac deportare liceret; ille contra dicere, negare esse illud senatus consultum in quo praetor appellatus esset, negare id mihi tradi oportere. legem recitare, omnium mihi tabularum et litterarum fieri potestatem; ille furiosus urgere nihil ad se nostras leges pertinere. intellegens negare sibi placere, quod senatus consultum ratum esse non deberet, id me Romam deportare. multa? nisi vehementius homini minatus essem, nisi legis sanctionem poenamque recitassem, tabularum mihi potestas facta non esset. autem insanus, qui pro isto vehementissime contra me declamasset, postquam non impetravit, credo, ut in gratiam mecum rediret, libellum mihi dat in quo istius furta Syracusana perscripta erant, quae ego antea iam ab aliis cognoram et acceperam.

[¶28] 150. Now, then, let the Mamertines praise you, who are the only men of all that large province who wish you to get off, but let them praise you on condition that Heius, who is the chief man of that deputation, is present; let them praise you on condition that they are here, ready to reply to me on those points concerning which they are questioned. And that they may not be taken by surprise on a sudden, this is what I shall ask them:—Are they bound to furnish a ship to the Roman people? They will admit it. Have they supplied it while Verres was praetor? They will say, No. Have they built an enormous transport at the public expense which they have given to Verres? They will not be able to deny it. Has Verres taken corn from them to send to the Roman people, as his predecessor did? They will say, No. What soldiers or sailors have they furnished during those three years? They will say they furnished none at all. They will not be able to deny that Messanahas been the receiver of all his plunder and all his robberies. They will confess that an immense quantity of things were exported from that city; and besides that, that this large vessel given to him by the Mamertines, departed loaded when the praetor left Sicily.

> Latin: 150. te iam sane Mamertini, quoniam ex tota provincia soli sunt qui te salvum velint, ita tamen laudent ut Heius, qui princeps legationis est, adsit, ita laudent ut ad ea quae rogati erunt mihi parati sint respondere. ne subito a me opprimantur, haec sum rogaturus: navem populo Romano debeantne? fatebuntur. praetore C. Verre? negabunt. navem onerariam maximam publice, quam Verri dederunt? negare non poterunt. ab iis sumpseritne C. Verres, quod populo Romano mitteret, sicuti superiores? negabunt. militum aut nautarum per triennium dederint? nullum datum dicent. Messanam omnium istius furtorum ac praedarum receptricem negare non poterunt; permulta multis navibus illinc exportata, hanc navem denique maximam, a Mamertinis datam, onustam cum isto profectam fatebuntur.

[¶29] 151. You are welcome, then, to that panegyric of the Mamertines. As for the city of Syracuse, we see that that feels towards you as it has been treated by you; and among them that infamous Verrean festival, instituted by you, has been abolished. In truth, it was a most unseemly thing for honours such as belong to the gods to be paid to the man who had carried off the images of the gods. In truth, that conduct of the Syracusans would be deservedly reproached, If, when they had struck a most celebrated and solemn day of festival games out of their annals, because on that day Syracusewas said to have been taken by Marcellus, they should, notwithstanding, celebrate a day of festival in the name of Verres; though he had plundered the Syracusans of all which that day of disaster had left them. But observe the shamelessness and arrogance of the man, O judges, who not only instituted this disgraceful and ridiculous Verrean festival out of the money of Heraclius, but who also ordered the Marcellean festival to be abolished, in order that they might every year offer sacrifices to the man by whose means they had lost the sacred festivals which they had ever observed, and had lost their national deities, and that they might take away the festival days in honour of that family by whose means they had recovered all their other festivals. This speech is divided into three divisions. First of all Cicero speaks of the conduct of Verres with respect to the war of the runaway slaves, which arose out of the relics of the war of Spartacus, which was brought to a termination just before the end of Verres's praetorship. In the second place he speaks of his conduct with respect to the pirates and banditti, who at that time infested the sea and the coasts of Sicily. And in the third place he impeaches him on account of the punishments he had inflicted on Roman citizens. But this last topic takes up, comparatively speaking, but a small part of the oration, though it has given the title to the whole oration. In the first two divisions of the speech Cicero is mainly occupied in replying to Hortensius, who had highly extolled Verres's military conduct and valour.

> Latin: 151. ob rem tibi habe sane istam laudationem Mamertinorum; Syracusanam quidem civitatem ut abs te adfecta est ita in te esse animatam videmus, apud quos etiam Verria illa flagitiosa sublata sunt. minime conveniebat ei deorum honores haberi qui simulacra deorum abstulisset. hercule illud in Syracusanis merito reprehenderetur, si, cum diem festum ludorum de fastis suis sustulissent celeberrimum et sanctissimum, quod eo ipso die Syracusae a Marcello captae esse dicuntur, idem diem festum Verris nomine agerent, cum iste a Syracusanis quae ille calamitosus dies reliquerat ademisset. videte hominis impudentiam atque adrogantiam, iudices, qui non solum Verria haec turpia ac ridicula ex Heracli pecunia constituerit, verum etiam Marcellia tolli imperarit, ut ei sacra facerent quotannis cuius opera omnium annorum sacra deosque patrios amiserant, eius autem familiae dies festos tollerent per quam ceteros quoque festos dies recuperarant.

## 26. Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 1–31

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/26/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/26/#p-N

[¶0] 1. I see, O judges, that it is not doubtful to any one of you that Caius Verres most openly plundered everything in Sicily, whether sacred or profane, whether private or public property; and that, not only without the slightest scruple, but without even the very least disguise, he practiced every possible description of robbery and plunder. But a very heightened and pompous defence of him is put forward in reply to me, which I must consider very carefully beforehand, O judges, how I am to resist. For his cause is stated in this way; that by his valour, and by his singular vigilance exerted at a critical and perilous time, the province of Sicily was preserved in safety from fugitive slaves, and from the dangers of war.

> Latin: 1. video dubium esse, iudices, quin apertissime C. Verres in Sicilia sacra profanaque omnia et privatim et publice spoliarit, versatusque sit sine ulla non modo religione verum etiam dissimulatione in omni genere furandi atque praedandi. quaedam mihi magnifica et praeclara eius defensio ostenditur; cui quem ad modum resistam multo mihi ante est, iudices, providendum. enim causa constituitur, provinciam Siciliam virtute istius et vigilantia singulari dubiis formidolosisque temporibus a fugitivis atque a belli periculis tutam esse servatam.

[¶1] 2. What am I to do, O judges? In what way am I to shape my accusation? which way am I to turn? For to all my attacks the appellation of a gallant general is opposed, as a wall of defence. I am acquainted with the topic;—I see how Hortensius is going to boast himself. He will dilate upon the dangers of the war, the critical time of the republic, the scarcity of able generals; and that he will entreat of you, he will even claim as a right belonging to himself, that you do not suffer so great a general to be taken from the Roman people through the evidence of the Sicilians; that you do not allow his glory as a general to be overclouded by accusations of avarice.

> Latin: 2. agam, iudices? quo accusationis meae rationem conferam? quo me vertam? ad omnis enim meos impetus quasi murus quidam boni nomen imperatoris opponitur. Novi locum; video ubi se iactaturus sit Hortensius. Belli pericula, tempora rei publicae, imperatorum penuriam commemorabit; tum deprecabitur a vobis, tum etiam pro suo iure contendet ne patiamini talem imperatorem populo Romano Siculorum testimoniis eripi, ne obteri laudem imperatoriam criminibus avaritiae velitis.

[¶2] 3. I cannot dissemble my alarm, O judges; I am afraid that Caius Verres, on account of this amazing warlike valour of his, may escape with impunity from the consequences of all his actions. For it occurs to me, what great influence, what exceeding authority, the oration of Marcus Antonius was supposed to have had at the trial of Marcus Aquillius; who, as he was not only skillful as an orator, but bold also, when he had nearly finished his speech, took hold of Marcus Aquillius and placed him in the sight of every one, and tore his robe away from his chest, in order that the Roman people and the judges might see his scars, all received in front; and at the same time he enlarged a good deal on that wound which he had received on his head from the general of the enemy; and worked up the men who were to judge in the cause to such a pitch, that they were greatly afraid lest the man whom fortune had saved from the weapons of the enemy, and who had not spared himself, should appear to have been saved not to receive praise from the Roman people, but to endure the cruelty of the judges. Now again this same plan and method of defence is to be tried by the opposite party.

> Latin: 3. possum dissimulare, iudices; timeo ne C. Verres propter hanc eximiam virtutem in re militari omnia quae fecit impune fecerit. enim mihi in mentem in iudicio M’. Aquili quantum auctoritatis, quantum momenti oratio M. Antoni habuisse existimata sit; qui, ut erat in dicendo non solum sapiens sed etiam fortis, causa prope perorata ipse arripuit M’. Aquilium constituitque in conspectu omnium tunicamque eius a pectore abscidit, ut cicatrices populus Romanus iudicesque aspicerent adverso corpore exceptas; simul et de illo vulnere quod ille in capite ab hostium duce acceperat multa dixit, eoque adduxit eos qui erant iudicaturi vehementer ut vererentur ne, quem virum fortuna ex hostium telis eripuisset, cum sibi ipse non pepercisset, hic non ad populi Romani laudem sed ad iudicum crudelitatem videretur esse servatus.

[¶3] 4. The same object is aimed at. He may be a thief, he may be a robber of temples, he may he the very chief man in every sort of vice and criminality; but he is a gallant general and a fortunate one, and he must be preserved for the critical emergencies of the republic. I will not plead against you according to strict law; I will not urge that point, which perhaps I ought to carry if I did, that as this trial is appointed to take place according to a particular formula, the point that required to be proved by you, is not what gallant exploits you may have performed in war, but how you have kept your hands from other people's money,—I will not, I say, urge this; but I will ask, as I perceive you are desirous that I should, what has been your conduct and what have been your great exploits in war.

> Latin: 4. nunc ab illis defensionis ratio viaque temptatur, idem quaeritur. fur, sit sacrilegus, sit flagitiorum omnium vitiorumque princeps; at est bonus imperator, at felix et ad dubia rei publicae tempora reservandus. agam summo iure tecum, non dicam id quod debeam forsitan obtinere, cum iudicium certa lege sit,—non quid in re militari fortiter feceris, sed quem ad modum manus ab alienis pecuniis abstinueris abs te doceri oportere; non, inquam, sic agam, sed ita quaeram, quem ad modum te velle intellego, quae tua opera et quanta fuerit in bello.

[¶4] 5. What will you say? That in the war of the runaway slaves Sicily was delivered by your valour? It is a great praise; a very honourable boast. But in what war? For we have understood that after that war which Marcus Aquillius finished, there has been no war of fugitive slaves in Sicily. Oh! but there was in Italy. I admit that; a great and formidable war. Do you then attempt to claim for yourself any part of the credit arising from that war? Do you think that you are to share any of the glory of that victory with Marcus Crassus or Cnaeus Pompeius? I do not suppose that even this will be too great a stretch for your impudence, to venture to say something of that sort. You, forsooth, hindered any part of the forces of these slaves from passing over from Italy into Sicily? Where? When? From what part of Italy, as they never attempted to approach Sicily in any ships or vessels of any sort? For we never heard anything whatever of such an attempt; but we have heard that care was taken, by the courage and prudence of Marcus Crassus, that most valiant man, that the runaways should not make boats so as to be able to cross the strait to Messana; an attempt from which it would not have been so important to have cut them off, if there were supposed to have been any forces in Sicily able to oppose their invasion.

> Latin: 5. dicis? an bello fugitivorum Siciliam virtute tua liberatam? Magna laus et honesta oratio; sed tamen quo bello? enim, post illud bellum quod M’. Aquilius confecit, sic accepimus, nullum in Sicilia fugitivorum bellum fuisse. “in Italia fuit.”, et magnum quidem ac vehemens. igitur ex eo bello partem aliquam laudis appetere conaris? num tibi illius victoriae gloriam cum M. Crasso aut Cn. Pompeio communicatam putas? arbitror hoc etiam tuae deesse impudentiae, ut quicquam eius modi dicere audeas. videlicet ne ex Italia transire in Siciliam fugitivorum copiae possent. Vbi, quando, qua ex parte? cum aut ratibus aut navibus conarentur accedere? enim nihil umquam prorsus audivimus, sed illud audivimus, M. Crassi, fortissimi viri, virtute consilioque factum ne ratibus coniunctis freto fugitivi ad Messanam transire possent, a quo illi conatu non tanto opere prohibendi fuissent, si ulla in Sicilia praesidia ad illorum adventum opposita putarentur.

[¶5] 6. But though there was war in Italy so close to Sicily, still it never came into Sicily. Where is the wonder? for when it existed in Sicily, at exactly the same distance from Italy, no part of it reached Italy. What has the proximity of the countries to do with either side of the argument in discussing this topic? Will you say that access was very easy to the enemy, or that the contagion and temptation of imitating that war was a dangerous one? Every access to the island was not only difficult to, but was entirely cut off from men who had no ships; so that it was more easy for those men, to whom you say that Sicily was so near, to go to the shore of the ocean than to Cape Pelorus.

> Latin: 6. cum esset in Italia bellum tam prope a Sicilia, tamen in Sicilia non fuit. mirum? ne cum in Sicilia quidem fuit eodem intervallo, pars eius belli in Italiam ulla pervasit. propinquitas locorum ad utram partem hoc loco profertur? utrum aditum facilem hostibus an contagionem imitandi belli periculosam fuisse? omnis hominibus sine ulla facultate navium non modo disiunctus sed etiam clausus est, ut illis quibus Siciliam propinquam fuisse dicis facilius fuerit ad Oceanum pervenire quam ad Peloridem accedere.

[¶6] 7. But as for the contagious nature to that servile war, why is it spoken of by you more than by all the rest of the officers who were governors of the other provinces? Is it because before that time there had been wars of runaway slaves in Sicily? But that is the very cause why that province is now and has been in the least danger. For ever since Marcus Aquillius left it all the regulations and edicts of the praetors have been to this effect, that no slave should ever be seen with a weapon. What I am going to mention is an old story, and one, probably, owing to the severity of the example, not unknown to any one of you. They tell a story that Lucius Domitius was praetor in Sicily, and that an immense boar was brought to him; that he, marveling at the size of the beast, asked who had killed it. When he was told that it was such-an-one's shepherd, he ordered him to be summoned before him; that the shepherd came eagerly to the praetor, expecting praise and reward; that Domitius asked him how he had slain so huge a beast; that he answered “With a hunting spear;” and that he was instantly crucified by order of the praetor. This may, perhaps, appear harsh: I say nothing either way; all that I understand from the story is, that Domitius preferred to appear cruel in punishing, to seeming negligent in overlooking offences.

> Latin: 7. autem ista servilis belli cur abs te potius quam ab iis omnibus qui ceteras provincias obtinuerunt praedicatur? quod in Sicilia iam antea bella fugitivorum fuerunt? at ea ipsa causa est cur ista provincia minimo in periculo sit et fuerit. posteaquam illinc M’. Aquilius decessit, omnium instituta atque edicta praetorum fuerunt eius modi ut ne quis cum telo servus esset. est quod dicam, et propter severitatem exempli nemini fortasse vestrum inauditum, L. Domitium praetorem in Sicilia, cum aper ingens ad eum adlatus esset, admiratum requisisse quis eum percussisset; cum audisset pastorem cuiusdam fuisse, eum vocari ad se iussisse; illum cupide ad praetorem quasi ad laudem atque ad praemium accucurrisse; quaesisse Domitium qui tantam bestiam percussisset; illum respondisse, venabulo; statim deinde iussu praetoris in crucem esse sublatum. hoc fortasse videatur, neque ego ullam in partem disputo: tantum intellego, maluisse Domitium crudelem in animadvertendo quam in praetermittendo dissolutum videri.

[¶7] 8. Therefore, while these were the established regulations of the province, Caius Norbanus, a man neither very active nor very valiant, was at perfect ease, at the very moment that all Italy was raging with the servile war. For at that time Sicily easily took care of itself, so that no war could possibly arise there. In truth, as no two things are so closely united as the traders are with the Sicilians, by habit, by interest, by reason, and by community of sentiment; and as the Sicilians have all their affairs in such a state that it is most desirable for them to be at peace; and as they are so attached to the sway of the Roman people that they would be very sorry that its power should be diminished or altered; and as ever since the servile war all such dangers as these have been provided for, both by the regulations of the praetors, and by the discipline of the masters; there is no conceivable domestic evil which can arise out of the province itself.

> Latin: 8. his institutis provinciae iam tum, cum bello sociorum tota Italia arderet, homo non acerrimus nec fortissimus, C. Norbanus, in summo otio fuit: perfacile enim sese Sicilia iam tuebatur, ut ne quod ex ipsa bellum posset exsistere. cum nihil tam coniunctum sit quam negotiatores nostri cum Siculis usu, re, ratione, concordia, et cum ipsi Siculi res suas ita constitutas habeant ut iis pacem expediat esse, imperium autem populi Romani sic diligant ut id imminui aut commutari minime velint, cumque haec a servorum bello pericula et praetorum institutis et dominorum disciplina provisa sint, nullum est malum domesticum quod ex ipsa provincia nasci possit.

[¶8] 9. What then do you say? Were there no disturbances of slaves in Sicily while Verres was praetor? Are no conspiracies said to have taken place? None at all that have ever come to the knowledge of the senate and people of Rome; none which that man has thought worth writing public despatches to Rome about; and yet I do suspect that the body of slaves had begun to be less orderly in some parts of Sicily; and I infer that, not so much from any overt act, as from the actions and decrees of Verres. And see with how little of a hostile feeling I am going to conduct this case. I myself will mention and bring forward the things which he wishes to have mentioned, and which as yet you have never heard of.

> Latin: 9. igitur? nulline motus in Sicilia servorum Verre praetore, nullaene consensiones factae esse dicuntur? sane quod ad senatum populumque Romanum pervenerit, nihil quod iste publice Romam scripserit; et tamen coeptum esse in Sicilia moveri aliquot locis servitium suspicor. adeo non tam ex re quam ex istius factis decretisque cognosco. videte quam non inimico animo sim acturus: ego ipse haec quae ille quaerit, quae adhuc numquam audistis, commemorabo et proferam.

[¶9] 10. In the district of Triocala, a place which the fugitive slaves had occupied before, the family of a certain Sicilian called Leonidas was implicated in suspicion of a conspiracy. Information of the matter was laid before Verres. Immediately, as was natural, by his command, the men who had been named were arrested and taken to Lilybaeum. Their master was summoned to appear, and after the case had been heard they were condemned. What happened afterwards? What do you suppose? Perhaps you expect to hear of some robbery or plunder;—do not look on all occasions for the same things—when a man is in fear of war, what room is there for petty thefts? However, even if there was any opportunity for such a thing in this matter, it was overlooked. Perhaps he could have got some money out of Leonidas when he summoned him to appear. There was besides room for bargaining, (and that was an opportunity that he was not new to,) to get the cause adjourned; and a second chance, to get the slaves acquitted. But when the slaves had been condemned, what opportunity of plundering could there be? They must be brought up for punishment. For there were the witnesses who were sitting on the bench; the public records were witnesses; that most splendid city of Lilybaeum was a witness; that most honourable and numerous assembly of Roman citizens was a witness. Nothing can be done; they must be brought up. Accordingly, they are brought up, and fastened to the stake.

> Latin: 10. Triocalino, quem locum fugitivi iam ante tenuerunt, Leonidae cuiusdam Siculi familia in suspicionem est vocata coniurationis. delata ad istum., ut par fuit, iussu eius homines qui fuerant nominati comprehensi sunt adductique Lilybaeum; domino denuntiatum est, causa dicta, damnati. deinde? quid censetis? furtum fortasse aut praedam exspectatis aliquam. usque quaque idem quaerere. metu belli furandi locus qui potest esse? etiam si qua fuit in hac re occasio praetermissa est. potuit a Leonida nummorum aliquid auferre, cum denuntiavit ut adesset; fuit nundinatio aliqua, et isti non nova, ne causam dicerent; etiam alter locus, ut absolverentur: damnatis quidem servis quae praedandi potest esse ratio? produci ad supplicium necesse est. enim sunt qui in consilio fuerunt, testes publicae tabulae, testis splendidissima civitas Lilybitana, testis honestissimus maximusque conventus civium Romanorum: fieri nihil potest, producendi sunt. producuntur et ad palum alligantur.

[¶10] 11. Even now, O judges, you seem to me to be waiting to see what happened next; because that man never did anything without some gain and some booty. What could be done in such a case? What is profitable? Expect then to hear of some crime as infamous as you please; but I will outdo all your expectation. The men who had been convicted of wickedness and conspiracy, who had been delivered up for punishment, who had been bound to the stake, on a sudden, in the sight of many thousands of men, are unbound and restored to Leonidas their master. What can you say on this topic, O most insane of men? except, indeed, that which I do not ask you; what, in short, in so nefarious a business, although there can be no doubt about it, still, even if there were a doubt, ought not to be asked; namely, what or how much money you took to release them, and how you managed it. I give up the whole of this to you; and I release you from this anxiety; for I am not afraid of any one believing that you, without any payment, undertook an action which no man in the world except you could have been induced to undertake by any sum of money whatever. But about that system of thieving and plundering of yours I say nothing;—what I am now discussing is your renown as a general.

> Latin: 11. nunc mihi exspectare videmini, iudices, quid deinde factum sit, quod iste nihil umquam fecit sine aliquo quaestu atque praeda. in eius modi re fieri potuit? commodum est, exspectate facinus quam vultis improbum; vincam tamen exspectationem omnium. sceleris coniurationisque damnati, ad supplicium traditi, ad palum alligati, repente multis milibus hominum inspectantibus soluti sunt et Triocalino illi domino redditi. hoc loco potes dicere, homo amentissime, nisi id quod ego non quaero, quod denique in re tam nefaria, tametsi dubitari non potest, tamen ne si dubitetur quidem quaeri oporteat, quid aut quantum aut quo modo acceperis? tibi hoc totum atque ista te cura libero; neque enim metuo ne hoc cuiquam persuadeatur, ut, ad quod facinus nemo praeter te ulla pecunia adduci potuerit, id tu gratis suscipere conatus sis. de ista furandi praedandique ratione nihil dico, de hac imperatoria iam tua laude disputo.

[¶11] 12. What do you say, O you admirable guardian and defender of the province? Did you dare to snatch from the very jaws of death and to release slaves whom you had decided were eager to take arms and to make war in Sicily, and whom in accordance with the opinion of your colleagues on the bench you had sentenced, after they had been already delivered up to punishment after the manner of our ancestors and had been bound to the stake, in order to reserve for Roman citizens the cross which you had erected for condemned slaves? Ruined cities, when their affairs are all desperate, are often accustomed to these disastrous scenes, to have those who have been condemned restored to their original position; those who have been bound, released; those who have been banished, restored; decisions which have been given, rescinded. And when such events take place, there is no one who is not aware that that state is hastening to its fall. When such things take place, there is no one who thinks that there is any hope of safety left.

> Latin: 12. ais, bone custos defensorque provinciae? quos servos arma capere et bellum facere in Sicilia voluisse cognoras et de consili sententia iudicaras, hos ad supplicium iam more maiorum traditos ex media morte eripere ac liberare ausus es, ut, quam damnatis crucem servis fixeras, hanc indemnatis videlicet civibus Romanis reservares? civitates desperatis iam omnibus rebus hos solent exitus exitialis habere, ut damnati in integrum restituantur, vincti solvantur, exsules reducantur, res iudicatae rescindantur. cum accidunt, nemo est quin intellegat ruere illam rem publicam haec ubi eveniant; nemo est qui ullam spem salutis reliquam esse arbitretur.

[¶12] 13. And whenever these things do take place, their effect has been to cause popular or high-born men to be relieved from punishment or exile; still, not by the very men who have passed the sentences; still, not instantly; still, not if they have been convicted of those crimes which affected the lives and property of all the citizens. Still this is an utterly unprecedented step, and of such a character as to appear credible rather from consideration of who the criminal is, than from consideration of the case itself That a man should have released slaves; that that very man who had sentenced them should release them; that he should release them, in a moment, out of the very jaws of death, that he should release slaves convicted of a crime which affected the life and existence of every free man— O splendid general, not to be compared now to Marcus Aquillius, a most valiant man, but to the Paulli, the Scipios, and the Marii!

> Latin: 13. haec sicubi facta sunt ita facta sunt ut homines populares aut nobiles supplicio aut exsilio levarentur, at non ab iis ipsis qui iudicassent, at non statim, at non eorum facinorum damnati quae ad vitam et ad fortunas omnium pertinerent. vero novum et eius modi est ut magis propter reum quam propter rem ipsam credibile videatur, ut homines servos, ut ipse qui iudicarat, ut statim e medio supplicio dimiserit, ut eius facinoris damnatos servos quod ad omnium liberorum caput et sanguinem pertineret.

[¶13] 14. That a man should have had such foresight at a time of such alarm and danger to the province! As he saw that the minds of all the slaves in Sicily were in an unsettled state on account of the war of the runaway slaves in Italy, what was the great terror he struck into them to prevent any one's daring to stir? He ordered them to be arrested—who would not he alarmed? He ordered their masters to plead their cause—what could be so terrible to slaves? He pronounced “That they appeared to have done....” He seems to have extinguished the rising flame by the pain and death of a few. What follows next? Scourgings, and burnings, and all those extreme agonies which are part of the punishment of condemned criminals, and which strike terror into the rest, torture and the cross? From all these punishments they are released. Who can doubt that he must have overwhelmed the minds of the slaves with the most abject fear, when they saw a praetor so good-natured as to allow the lives of men condemned of wickedness and conspiracy to be redeemed from punishment, the very executioner acting as the go-between to negotiate the terms?

> Latin: 14. O praeclarum imperatorem nec iam cum M’. Aquilio, fortissimo viro, sed vero cum Paulis, Scipionibus, Mariis conferendum! tantumne vidisse in metu periculoque provinciae! servitiorum animos in Sicilia suspensos propter bellum Italiae fugitivorum videret, ne quis se commovere auderet, quantum terroris iniecit! iussit; quis non pertimescat? causam dicere dominos; quid servo tam formidolosum? fecisse videri pronuntiat; exortam videtur flammam paucorum dolore ac morte restinxisse. deinde sequitur? atque ignes et illa extrema ad supplicium damnatorum, metum ceterorum, cruciatus et crux. omnibus suppliciis sunt liberati. dubitet quin servorum animos summa formidine oppresserit, cum viderent ea facilitate praetorem ut ab eo servorum sceleris coniurationisque damnatorum vita vel ipso carnifice internuntio redimeretur?

[¶14] 15. What more? Did you not act in the same manner in the case of Aristodemus of Apollonia, and in that of Leon of Megara? What more? Did that unquiet state of the slaves, and that sudden suspicion of war, inspire you with any additional diligence in guarding the province, or with a new plan for acquiring most scandalous gain? When at your instigation the steward of Eumenides of Halicya, a highborn and honourable man of great wealth, was accused of some crime, you got sixty thousand sesterces from his master, and he lately explained to us, as a witness on his oath, how you managed it. From Caius Matrinius, a Roman knight, you took in his absence, while he was at Rome, a hundred thousand sesterces, because you said that his stewards and shepherds had fallen under suspicion. Lucius Flavius, the agent of Caius Matrinius, who paid you that money, deposed to this fact; Caius Matrinius himself made the same statement, and that most illustrious man, Cnaeus Lentulus the censor, who quite recently has both sent letters to you himself, and has procured others to be sent to you for the purpose of doing honour to Caius Matrinius, will prove the same thing.

> Latin: 15. ? hoc in Apolloniensi Aristodamo, quid? in Leonte Imacharensi non idem fecisti?? iste motus servitiorum bellique subita suspicio utrum tibi tandem diligentiam custodiendae provinciae an novam rationem improbissimi quaestus attulit? Halicyensis Eumenidae, nobilis hominis et honesti, magnae pecuniae vilicus cum impulsu tuo insimulatus esset, HS lx a domino accepisti, quod nuper ipse iuratus docuit quem ad modum gestum esset. equite Romano C. Matrinio absente, cum is esset Romae, quod eius vilicos pastoresque tibi in suspicionem venisse dixeras, HS dc abstulisti. hoc L. Flavius, qui tibi eam pecuniam numeravit, procurator C. Matrini, dixit ipse Matrinius, dicit vir clarissimus, Cn. Lentulus censor, qui Matrini honoris causa recenti negotio ad te litteras misit mittendasque curavit.

[¶15] 16. What more? Is it possible to pass over the case of Apollonius, the son of Diocles, a Panormitan, whose surname is Geminus? Can anything be mentioned which is more notorious in the whole of Sicily? anything which is more scandalous? anything which is more fully proved? This man Verres, as soon as he came to Panormus, ordered to be summoned before him, and to be cited before his tribunal, in the presence of a great number of the Roman settlers in that city. Men immediately began to talk; to wonder how it was that Apollonius, a wealthy man, had so long remained free from his attacks. “He has devised some plan; he has brought some charge against him; a rich man is not summoned in a hurry by Verres without some object.” All are in the greatest state of anxiety to see what is to happen, when on a sudden Apollonius himself runs up, out of breath, with his young son; for his father, a very old man, had been for some time confined to his bed.

> Latin: 16. ? de Apollonio, Diocli filio, Panhormitano, cui cognomen est, praeteriri potest? hoc tota Sicilia clarius, ecquid indignius, ecquid manifestius proferri potest?, ut Panhormum venit, ad se vocari et de tribunali citari iussit concursu magno frequentiaque conventus. statim loqui: “quod Apollonius, homo pecuniosus, tam diu ab isto maneret integer; excogitavit nescio quid, nescio quid attulit; profecto homo dives repente a Verre non sine causa citatur.” summa omnium quidnam id esset, cum exanimatus subito ipse accurrit cum adulescente filio; nam pater grandis natu iam diu lecto tenebatur.

[¶16] 17. Verres names one of his slaves, who he said was the manager of his flocks; says that he has formed a conspiracy, and excited slaves in other households. He had actually no such slave in his family at all. He orders him to be produced instantly. Apollonius asserts that he has no slave whatever of that name. Verres orders the man to be hurried from the tribunal, and to be cast into prison. He began to cry out, while he was being hurried off, that the, unhappy man that he was, had done nothing; had committed no offence; that his money was all out at loan, that ready money he had none. While he kept making these declarations in a very numerous assembly of people, so that every one could understand that he was treated with this bitter injustice and violence because he had not given Verres money,—while, I say, he kept making these statements about his money at the top of his voice, he was thrown into prison.

> Latin: 17. iste servum, quem magistrum pecoris esse diceret; eum dicit coniurasse et familias concitasse, —is omnino servus in familia non erat,—eum statim exhiberi iubet. Apollonius adfirmare se omnino nomine illo servum habere neminem: iste hominem abripi a tribunali et in carcerem conici iubet. ille, cum raperetur, nihil se miserum fecisse, nihil commisisse, pecuniam sibi esse in nominibus, numeratam in praesentia non habere. cum maxime summa hominum frequentia testificaretur, ut quivis intellegere posset eum, quod pecuniam non dedisset, idcirco illa tam acerba iniuria adfici—cum maxime, ut dico, hoc de pecunia clamaret, in vincla coniectus est.

[¶17] 18. See now the consistency of the praetor, and of that praetor who, now being on his trial, is not defended as a tolerable praetor, but is extolled as an admirable general. While a war of slaves was dreaded, he released condemned slaves from the same punishment which he inflicted on their masters who were not condemned. He threw into prison, under pretence of a servile war, without a trial, Apollonius, a most wealthy man, who if the runaway slaves had kindled a war in Sicily would have lost a most magnificent fortune: the slaves whom he himself, with the agreement of his assessors, decided had conspired together for the purpose of war, those, without the consent of his assessors, of his own accord, he released from all punishment.

> Latin: 18. constantiam praetoris, et eius praetoris qui in his rebus non ita defendatur ut mediocris praetor, sed ita laudetur ut optimus imperator. servorum bellum metueretur, quo supplicio dominos indemnatos adficiebat, hoc servos damnatos liberabat: Apollonium, hominem locupletissimum, qui, si fugitivi bellum in Sicilia facerent, amplissimas fortunas amitteret, belli fugitivorum nomine indicta causa in vincla coniecit: servos, quos ipse de consili sententia belli faciendi causa consensisse iudicavit, eos sine consili sententia sua sponte omni supplicio liberavit.

[¶18] 19. What more shall I say? If anything was done by Apollonius to justify his being punished, shall we conduct this affair in such a manner as to impute it as a crime to the defendant, as to seek to excite ill-feeling against him, if he has judged a man rather too harshly? I will not act in so bitter a spirit. I will not adopt the usual method of accusers, so as to disparage anything which may have been done mercifully, as having been so done out of indifference; or, if anything has been punished with severity, so as to pervert that into a charge of cruelty—I will not act on that system. I will follow your decisions; I will defend your authority as long as you choose; when you yourself begin to rescind your own decrees, then cease to be angry with me, for I will contend, as I have a right to do, that he who has been condemned by his own decision ought to be condemned by the decisions of judges on their oaths.

> Latin: 19. ? si aliquid ab Apollonio commissum est quam ob rem in eum iure animadverteretur, tamenne hanc rem sic agemus ut crimini aut invidiae reo putemus esse oportere si quo de homine severius iudicaverit? agam tam acerbe, non utar ista accusatoria consuetudine, si quid est factum clementer, ut dissolute factum criminer, si quid vindicatum est severe, ut ex eo crudelitatis invidiam colligam. agam ista ratione; tua sequar iudicia, tuam defendam auctoritatem, quoad tu voles; simul ac tute coeperis tua iudicia rescindere, mihi suscensere desinito; meo iure enim contendam eum qui suo iudicio damnatus sit iuratorum iudicum sententiis damnari oportere.

[¶19] 20. I will not defend the cause of Apollonius, my own friend and connection, lest I should seem to be rescinding, our decision; I will say nothing of the economy, of the virtue, of the industry of the man; I will even pass over that which I have mentioned before, that his fortune was invested in such a manner, in slaves, in cattle, in country houses, in money out at loan, that there was no man to whom it would be more injurious for there to be any disturbance or war in Sicily; I will not even say this, that if Apollonius were ever so much in fault, still an honourable man of a most honourable city ought not to have been so severely punished without a trial.

> Latin: 20. defendam Apolloni causam, amici atque hospitis mei, ne tuum iudicium videar rescindere; nihil de hominis frugalitate, virtute, diligentia dicam; praetermittam illud etiam de quo ante dixi, fortunas eius ita constitutas fuisse familia, pecore, villis, pecuniis creditis ut nemini minus expediret ullum in Sicilia tumultum aut bellum commoveri; non dicam ne illud quidem, si maxime in culpa fuerit Apollonius, tamen in hominem honestissimae civitatis honestissimum tam graviter animadverti causa indicta non oportuisse.

[¶20] 21. I will not seek to excite any odium against you, not even out of the circumstances that, while such a man was lying in prison, in darkness, in dirt and filth, all permission to visit him was refuted by your tyrannical prohibition to his aged father, and to his youthful son. I will even pass over this, that every time that you came to Panormus during that eighteen months, (for all that time was Apollonius kept in prison,) the senate of Panormus came to you as suppliants, with the public magistrates and priests, praying and entreating you to release some time or other that miserable and innocent man from that cruel treatment. I will omit all these statements; though, were I to choose to follow them up, I could easily show by your cruelty towards others, that every channel of mercy from the judges to yourself has been long since blocked up.

> Latin: 21. in te invidiam ne ex illis quidem rebus concitabo, cum esset talis vir in carcere, in tenebris, in squalore, in sordibus, tyrannicis interdictis tuis patri exacta aetate et adulescenti filio adeundi ad illum miserum potestatem numquam esse factam. illud praeteribo, quotienscumque Panhormum veneris illo anno et sex mensibus— nam tam diu fuit Apollonius in carcere—totiens te senatum Panhormitanum adisse supplicem, cum magistratibus sacerdotibusque publicis, orantem atque obsecrantem ut aliquando ille miser atque innocens calamitate illa liberaretur. haec omnia; quae si velim persequi, facile ostendam tua crudelitate in alios omnis tibi aditus misericordiae iudicum iam pridem esse praeclusos.

[¶21] 22. All those topics I will abandon, I will spare you them. For I know beforehand what Hortensius will say in your defence. He will confess that with Verres neither the old age of Apollonius's father, nor the youth of his son, nor the tears of both, had more influence than the advantage and safety of the republic. He will say that the affairs of the republic cannot be administered without terror and severity; he will ask why the fasces are borne before the praetors, why the axes are given to them, why prisons have been built, why so many punishments have been established against the wicked by the usage of our ancestors. And when he has said all this with becoming gravity and sternness, I will ask him why Verres all of a sudden ordered this same Apollonius to be released from prison, without any fresh circumstances having been brought to light, without any defence having been made, or any trial having taken place? And I will affirm that there is so much suspicion attached to this charge, that, without any arguments of mine, I will allow the judges to form their own opinion as to what a system of plundering this was, how infamous, how scandalous, and what an immense and boundless field it opens for inordinate gain.

> Latin: 22. tibi ista concedam et remittam; provideo enim quid sit defensurus Hortensius; fatebitur apud istum neque senectutem patris neque adulescentiam fili neque lacrimas utriusque plus s valuisse quam utilitatem salutemque provinciae; dicet rem publicam administrari sine metu ac severitate non posse; quaeret quam ob rem fasces praetoribus praeferantur, cur secures datae, cur carcer aedificatus, cur tot supplicia sint in improbos more maiorum constituta. cum omnia graviter severeque dixerit, quaeram cur hunc eundem Apollonium Verres idem repente nulla re nova adlata, nulla defensione, sine causa de carcere emitti iusserit; tantumque in hoc crimine suspicionis esse adfirmabo ut iam ipsis iudicibus sine mea argumentatione coniecturam facere permittam quod hoc genus praedandi, quam improbum, quam indignum, quamque ad magnitudinem quaestus immensum infinitumque esse videatur.

[¶22] 23. For first of all consider for a moment how many and how grievous were the evils which that man inflicted on Apollonius; and then calculate them and estimate them by money. You will find that they were all so continued in the case of this one wealthy man, as by their example to cause a fear of similar suffering and danger to all others. In the first place, there was a sudden accusation of a capital and detestable crime; judge what you think this worth, and how many have bought themselves off from such charges. In the next place, there is an accusation without an accuser, a sentence without any bench of judges, a condemnation without any defence having been made. Estimate the money to be got by all these transactions, and then suppose that Apollonius alone was an actual victim to these atrocities, but that all the rest, as many as they were, delivered themselves from these sufferings by money. Lastly, there were darkness, chains, imprisonment, punishment within the prison, seclusion from the sight of his parents and of his children, a denial of the free air and common light of heaven; but these things, which a man might freely give his life to escape, I am unable to estimate by the standard of money.

> Latin: 23. quae iste in Apollonio fecit, ea primum breviter cognoscite quot et quanta sint, deinde haec expendite atque aestimate pecunia: reperietis idcirco haec in uno homine pecunioso tot constituta ut ceteris formidines similium incommodorum atque exempla periculorum proponeret. insimulatio est repentina capitalis atque invidiosi criminis,—statuite quanti hoc putetis et quam multos redemisse; deinde crimen sine accusatore, sententia sine consilio, damnatio sine defensione, —aestimate harum omnium rerum pretia et cogitate in his iniquitatibus unum haesisse Apollonium, ceteros profecto multos ex his incommodis pecunia se liberasse; postremo tenebrae, vincla, carcer, inclusum supplicium atque a conspectu parentium ac liberum, denique a libero spiritu atque a communi luce seclusum,—haec vero, quae vel vita redimi recte possunt, aestimare pecunia non queo.

[¶23] 24. From all these things did Apollonius after a long time ransom himself, when he was worn out with suffering and misery; but still he taught the rest to meet that man's wickedness and avarice beforehand. Unless you think that a wealthy man was selected for so incredible an accusation without any object of gain; or that, again, he was on a sudden released from prison without any corresponding reason; or that this method of plundering was used and tried in the case of that man alone, and that terror was not, by means of his example, held out to and struck into every rich man in Sicily.

> Latin: 24. omnia sero redemit Apollonius iam maerore ac miseriis perditus, sed tamen ceteros docuit ante istius avaritiae scelerique occurrere; nisi vero existimatis hominem pecuniosissimum sine causa quaestus electum ad tam incredibile crimen aut sine eadem causa repente e carcere emissum, aut hoc praedandi genus ab isto in illo uno adhibitum ac temptatum, et non per illum omnibus pecuniosissimis Siculis metum propositum et iniectum.

[¶24] 25. I wish, O judges, to be prompted by him, since I am speaking of his military renown, if by accident I pass over anything. For I seem to myself to have spoken of all his exploits which are connected with his suspicion of a servile war; at all events I have not omitted anything intentionally. You are in possession of the man's wisdom, and diligence, and vigilance; and of his guardianship and defence of the province. The main thing is, as there are many classes of generals, for you to know to what class he belongs. But that, in the present dearth of brave men, you may not be ignorant of such a commander as he is, know,—I beg you, O judges, to be aware, that his is not the wisdom of Quintus Maximus, nor the promptness of action belonging to that great man the elder Africanus, nor the singular prudence of the Africanus of later times, nor the method and discipline of Paulus Aemilius, nor the vigour and courage of Caius Marcus; but that he is to be esteemed and taken care of as belonging to quite a different class of generals.

> Latin: 25. mihi ab illo, iudices, subici, quoniam de militari eius gloria dico, si quid forte praetereo. mihi videor iam de omnibus rebus eius gestis dixisse, quae quidem ad belli fugitivorum suspicionem pertinerent; certe nihil sciens praetermisi. hominis consilia, diligentiam, vigilantiam, custodiam defensionemque provinciae. illuc pertinet, ut sciatis, quoniam plura genera sunt imperatorum, ex quo genere iste sit, ne qui diutius in tanta penuria virorum fortium talem imperatorem ignorare possit. ad Q. Maximi sapientiam neque ad illius superioris Africani in re gerunda celeritatem, neque ad huius qui postea fuit singulare consilium, neque ad Pauli rationem ac disciplinam, neque ad C. Mari vim atque virtutem; sed aliud genus imperatoris sane diligenter retinendum et conservandum, quaeso, cognoscite.

[¶25] 26. In the first place, see how easy and pleasant to himself Verres by his own ingenuity and wisdom made the labour of marches, which is a labour of the greatest importance in all military affairs, and most especially necessary in Sicily. First, in the winter season he devises for himself this admirable remedy against the severity of the cold and the violence of storms and floods; he selected the city of Syracuse, the situation of which and the nature of its soil and atmosphere are said to be such that there never yet was a day of such violent and turbulent storms, that men could not see the sun at some time or other in the day. Here that gallant general was quartered in the winter months, so securely that it was not easy to see him, I will not say out of the house, but even out of bed. So the shortness of the day was consumed in banquets, the length of the night in adulteries and debaucheries.

> Latin: 26. primum laborem, qui vel maximus est in re militari, iudices, et in Sicilia maxime necessarius, accipite quam facilem sibi iste et iucundum ratione consilioque reddiderit. temporibus hibernis ad magnitudinem frigorum et tempestatum vim ac fluminum praeclarum hoc sibi remedium compararat. Vrbem Syracusas elegerat, cuius hic situs atque haec natura esse loci caelique dicitur ut nullus umquam dies tam magna ac turbulenta tempestate fuerit quin aliquo tempore eius diei solem homines viderint. ita vivebat iste bonus imperator hibernis mensibus ut eum non facile non modo extra tectum, sed ne extra lectum quidem quisquam viderit; ita diei brevitas conviviis, noctis longitudo stupris et flagitiis continebatur.

[¶26] 27. But when it began to be spring, the beginning of which he was not used to date from the west wind, or from any star, but he thought that spring was beginning when he had seen the rose, then he devoted himself to labour and to marches; and in these he proved himself so patient and active that no one ever once saw him sitting on a horse. For, as was the custom of the kings of Bithynia, he was borne on a litter carried by eight men, in which was a cushion, very beautiful, of Melitan manufacture, stuffed with roses. And he himself had one chaplet on his head, another on his neck, and kept putting a network bag to his nose, made of the finest thread, with minute interstices, full of roses. Having performed his march in this manner, when he came to any town he was carried in the same litter up to his chamber. Thither came the magistrates of the Sicilians, thither came the Roman knights, as you have heard many of them state on their oaths; there disputes were secretly communicated to him; and from thence, a little while afterwards, decrees were openly brought down. Then, when for a while he had dispensed the laws for bribery, and not out of considerations of justice, he thought that now the rest of his time was due to Venus and to Bacchus.

> Latin: 27. autem ver esse coeperat—cuius initium iste non a Favonio neque ab aliquo astro notabat, sed cum rosam viderat tum incipere ver arbitrabatur—dabat se labori atque itineribus; in quibus eo usque se praebebat patientem atque impigrum ut eum nemo umquam in equo sedentem viderit., ut mos fuit Bithyniae regibus, lectica octaphoro ferebatur, in qua pulvinus erat perlucidus Melitensis rosa fartus; ipse autem coronam habebat unam in capite, alteram in collo, reticulumque ad naris sibi admovebat tenuissimo lino, minutis maculis, plenum rosae. confecto itinere cum ad aliquod oppidum venerat, eadem lectica usque in cubiculum deferebatur. veniebant Siculorum magistratus, veniebant equites Romani, id quod ex multis iuratis audistis; controversiae secreto deferebantur, paulo post palam decreta auferebantur. ubi paulisper in cubiculo pretio non aequitate iura discripserat, Veneri iam et reliquum tempus deberi arbitrabatur.

[¶27] 28. And when speaking of this, I must not omit the admirable and singular diligence of this great general. For know that there is no town in all Sicily of those in which the praetors are accustomed to stay and hold their court, in which there was not some woman selected for him out of some respectable family, to gratify his lust. Some of them were even openly present at his banquets. If there were some a little modest, they used to come at the proper time, and avoided the light of day, and the crowd. And these banquets were celebrated, not with the orderly silence of the banquets of praetors and generals of the Roman people, nor with that modesty which is usually found at the entertainments of magistrates, but with the most excessive noise and licence of conversation sometimes even affairs proceeded to blows and fighting. For that strict and diligent praetor, who had never obeyed the laws of the Roman people, observed most carefully those rules which are laid down for drinking parties. And accordingly the ends of these banquets were such that men were often carried out from the feast as from a battle; others were left on the ground as dead; numbers lay prostrate without sense or feeling, so that any one who beheld the scene would have supposed that he was looking not on a banquet of a praetor, but on the battle of Cannae.

> Latin: 28. loco non mihi praetermittenda videtur praeclari imperatoris egregia ac singularis diligentia. scitote oppidum esse in Sicilia nullum ex iis oppidis in quibus consistere praetores et conventum agere soleant, quo in oppido non isti ex aliqua familia non ignobili delecta ad libidinem mulier esset. non nullae ex eo numero in convivium adhibebantur palam; si quae castiores erant, ad tempus veniebant, lucem conventumque vitabant. autem convivia non illo silentio populi Romani praetorum atque imperatorum, neque eo pudore qui in magistratuum conviviis versari soleat, sed cum maximo clamore atque convicio; non numquam etiam res ad pugnam atque ad manus vocabatur. enim praetor severus ac diligens, qui populi Romani legibus numquam paruisset, illis legibus quae in poculis ponebantur diligenter obtemperabat. erant exitus eius modi ut alius inter manus e convivio tamquam e proelio auferretur, alius tamquam occisus relinqueretur, plerique ut fusi sine mente ac sine ullo sensu iacerent,—ut quivis, cum aspexisset, non se praetoris convivium, sed Cannensem pugnam nequitiae videre arbitraretur.

[¶28] 29. But when the middle of summer began to be felt, the time that all the praetors in Sicily have been accustomed to devote to their journeys, because they think that the best time for travelling over the province where the corn is on the threshing-floor, because at that time all the members of a household are collected together, and the number of a person's slaves is seen, and the work that is done is most easily observed; the abundance of the harvest invites travel and the season of the year is no obstacle to it; then, I say, when all other praetors are used to travel about, that general of a new sort pitched himself a permanent camp in the most beautiful spot in Syracuse.

> Latin: 29. vero aestas summa esse coeperat, quod tempus omnes Siciliae semper praetores in itineribus consumere consuerunt, propterea quod tum putant obeundam esse maxime provinciam, cum in areis frumenta sunt, quod et familiae congregantur et magnitudo serviti perspicitur et labor operis maxime offendit, frumenti copia commonet, tempus anni non impedit: tum, inquam, cum concursant ceteri praetores, iste novo quodam genere imperator pulcherrimo Syracusarum loco stativa sibi castra faciebat.

[¶29] 30. For at the very entrance and mouth of the harbour, where first the bay begins to curve from the shore of the open sea towards the city, he pitched tents of fine linen curtains; thither he migrated from the praetorian palace which had belonged to king Hiero, and lived here so that during the whole summer no one ever saw him out of his tent. And to that tent no one had access unless he was either a boon companion, or a minister of his lust. Hither came all the women with whom he had any intrigue, and of these it is incredible how great a number there was at Syracuse. Hither came men worthy of that man's friendship, worthy associates in that course of life also those banquets. Among such men and such women as these, his son, now grown up, spent his time; in order that if nature removed him at all from the likeness to his father, still use and constant training might make him resemble him.

> Latin: 30. in ipso aditu atque ore portus, ubi primum ex alto sinus ab litore ad urbem inflectitur, tabernacula carbaseis intenta velis conlocabat. ex illa domo praetoria, quae regis Hieronis fuit, sic emigrabat ut eum per illos dies nemo extra illum locum videre posset. eum autem ipsum locum aditus erat nemini, nisi qui aut socius aut minister libidinis esse posset. omnes mulieres, quibuscum iste consuerat, conveniebant, quarum incredibile est quanta multitudo fuerit Syracusis; huc homines digni istius amicitia, digni vita illa conviviisque veniebant. eius modi viros et mulieres adulta aetate filius versabatur, ut eum, etiamsi natura a parentis similitudine abriperet, consuetudo tamen ac disciplina patris similem esse cogeret.

[¶30] 31. That Tertia whom I have spoken of before, having been tempted by trick and artifice to leave her Rhodian flute-player and to come hither, is reported to have caused great disturbance in that camp; as the wife of Cleomenes the Syracusan, a woman of noble birth, and the wife of Aeschrio, a woman of very respectable patronage, were very indignant that the daughter of Isidorus the buffoon should be admitted into their company. But that Hannibal, who thought that in his army there ought to be no rivalry of birth, but only of merit, was so much in love with this Tertia, that he carried her with him out of the province. And all that time, while that man, clad in a purple cloak and a tunic reaching to his ankles, was reveling in banquets with women, men were not offended, nor in the least vexed that the magistrate was absent from the forum that the laws were not administered, that the courts of justice were not held; that all that shore resounded with women's vices, and music and songs. They were not, I say, at all vexed at there being a total silence in the forum, no pleading, and no law. For it was not law or the court of justice that seemed to be absent from the forum, but violence and cruelty, and the bitter and shameful robbery of good men.

> Latin: 31. Tertia illa perducta per dolum atque insidias ab Rhodio tibicine maximas in istius castris effecisse dicitur turbas, cum indigne pateretur uxor Cleomenis Syracusani, nobilis mulier, itemque uxor Aeschrionis, honesto loco nata, in conventum suum mimi Isidori filiam venisse. autem Hannibal, qui in suis castris virtute putaret oportere non genere certari, sic hanc Tertiam dilexit ut eam secum ex provincia deportaret. per eos dies, cum iste cum pallio purpureo talarique tunica versaretur in conviviis muliebribus, non offendebantur homines neque moleste ferebant abesse a foro magistratum, non ius dici, non iudicia fieri; locum illum litoris percrepare totum mulierum vocibus cantuque symphoniae, in foro silentium esse summum causarum atque iuris, non ferebant homines moleste; non enim ius abesse videbatur a foro neque iudicia, sed vis et crudelitas et bonorum acerba et indigna direptio.

## 27. Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 32–63

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/27/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/27/#p-N

[¶0] 32. Do you then, O Hortensius, defend this man on the ground of his having been a general? Do you endeavour to conceal his thefts, his rapine, his cupidity, his cruelty, his pride, his wickedness, his audacity, by dwelling on the greatness of his exploits and his renown as a commander? No doubt I have cause to fear here, that at the end of your defence you may have recourse to the old conduct of Antonius, and to his mode of ending a speech; that Verres may be brought forward, his breast bared, that the Roman people may see his scars, inflicted by the bites of women, traces of lust and profligacy.

> Latin: 32. tu igitur imperatorem esse defendis, Hortensi? huius furta, rapinas, cupiditatem, crudelitatem, superbiam, scelus, audaciam rerum gestarum magnitudine atque imperatoriis laudibus tegere conaris? scilicet est metuendum ne ad exitum defensionis tuae vetus illa Antoniana dicendi ratio atque auctoritas proferatur, ne excitetur Verres, ne denudetur a pectore, ne cicatrices populus Romanus aspiciat, ex mulierum morsu vestigia libidinis atque nequitiae. faciant ut rei militaris, ut belli mentionem facere audeas!

[¶1] 33. May the gods grant that you may venture to make mention of military affairs and of war. For all his ancient military service shall be made known, in order that you may be aware, not only what he has been as a commander, but also how he behaved as a soldier in his campaigns. That first campaign of his shall be brought up again, in which he was, as he says himself, subservient to others, not their master. The camp of that gambler of Placentia shall be brought: up again, where, though he were assiduous in his attendance, he still lost his pay. Many of his losses in his campaigns shall be recounted, which were made up for and retrieved by the most infamous expedients.

> Latin: 33. enim omnia istius aera illa vetera, ut non solum in imperio verum etiam in stipendiis qualis fuerit intellegatis. prima illa militia, cum iste e foro abduci, non, ut ipse praedicat, perduci solebat; aleatoris Placentini castra commemorabuntur, in quibus cum frequens fuisset tamen aere dirutus est; multa eius in stipendiis damna proferentur, quae ab isto aetatis fructu dissoluta et compensata sunt.

[¶2] 34. But afterwards, when he had become hardened by a long course of such infamy,—when he had sated others, not himself,—why need I relate what sort of man he turned out? what carefully guarded defences of modesty and chastity he broke down by violence and audacity? or why should I connect the disgrace of an, one else with his profligacy? I will not do so, O judges. I will pass over all old stories; I will only mention two recent achievements of his, without fixing infamy on any one else; and by those you will be able to conjecture the rest. One of them is, that it was so notorious to every one, that during the consulship of Lucius Lucullus and Marcus Cotta, no one ever came up from any municipal town to Rome on any law business, who was so ill-informed of what was going on as not to know that all the laws of the Roman people were regulated by the will and pleasure of Chelidon the prostitute. The other is that, after he had left the city in the robe of war,—after he had pronounced the solemn vows for the success of his administration, and for the common welfare of the republic, he was accustomed, for the sake of committing adultery, to be brought back into the city, at night, in a litter, to a woman who, though the wife of one man, was common to all men, contrary to law, contrary to what was required by the auspices, contrary to everything which is held sacred among gods and men.

> Latin: 34. vero, cum in eius modi patientia turpitudinis aliena non sua satietate obduruisset, qui vir fuerit, quot praesidia, quam munita pudoris et pudicitiae vi et audacia ceperit, quid me attinet dicere aut coniungere cum istius flagitio cuiusquam praeterea dedecus? faciam, iudices; omnia vetera praetermittam, duo sola recentia sine cuiusquam infamia ponam, ex quibus coniecturam facere de omnibus possitis,—unum illud, quod ita fuit inlustre notumque omnibus ut nemo tam rusticanus homo L. Lucullo [et ] M. Cotta consulibus Romam ex ullo municipio vadimoni causa venerit, quin sciret iura omnia praetoris urbani nutu atque arbitrio Chelidonis meretriculae gubernari, alterum quod, cum paludatus exisset votaque pro imperio suo communique re publica nuncupasset, noctu stupri causa lectica in urbem introferri solitus est ad mulierem nuptam uni, propositam omnibus, contra fas, contra auspicia, contra omnis divinas atque humanas religiones!

[¶3] 35. O ye immortal gods! what a difference is there between the minds and ideas of men! So may your good opinion and that of the Roman people approve of my intentions, and sanction my hopes for the rest of my life, as I have received those offices with which the Roman people has as yet entrusted me with the feeling that I was bound to a conscientious discharge of every possible duty. I was appointed quaestor with the feeling that that honour was not given to me so much as lent and entrusted to me. I obtained the quaestorship in the province of Sicily, and considered that every man's eyes were turned upon me alone. So that I thought that I and my quaestorship were being exhibited on some theatre open to the whole world; so that I denied myself all those things which seem to be indulgences, not merely to those irregular passions, but even those which are coveted by nature itself and by necessity.

> Latin: 35. O di immortales! quid interest inter mentes hominum et cogitationes! mihi meam voluntatem spemque reliquae vitae vestra populique Romani existimatio comprobet, ut ego, quos adhuc mihi magistratus populus Romanus mandavit, sic eos accepi ut me omnium officiorum obstringi religione arbitrarer! quaestor sum factus ut mihi illum honorem tum non solum datum, sed etiam creditum et commissum putarem; sic obtinui quaesturam in Sicilia provincia ut omnium oculos in me unum coniectos esse arbitrarer, ut me quaesturamque meam quasi in aliquo terrarum orbis theatro versari existimarem, ut semper omnia quae iucunda videntur esse, ea non modo his extraordinariis cupiditatibus, sed etiam ipsi naturae ac necessitati denegarem.

[¶4] 36. Now I am aedile elect, I consider what it is that I have received from the Roman people; I consider that I am bound to celebrate holy games with the most solemn ceremonies to Ceres, to Bacchus, and to Libera; that I am bound to render Flora propitious to the Roman nation and people by the splendour of her games; that it is my office to celebrate those most ancient games, which were the first that were ever called Roman games, with the greatest dignity and with all possible religious observance, in honour of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva; that the charge of protecting all the sacred buildings and the whole city is entrusted to me; that as a recompense for all that labour and anxiety these honours are granted to me,—an honourable precedence in delivering my opinion in the senate; a toga praetexta; a curule chair; a right of transmitting my image to the recollection of my posterity.

> Latin: 36. sum designatus aedilis; habeo rationem quid a populo Romano acceperim; mihi ludos sanctissimos maxima cum cura et caerimonia Cereri,, Liberaeque faciundos, mihi Floram matrem populo plebique Romanae ludorum celebritate placandam, mihi ludos antiquissimos, qui primi Romani appellati sunt, cum dignitate maxima et religione Iovi, Iunoni, Minervaeque esse faciundos, mihi sacrarum aedium procurationem, mihi totam urbem tuendam esse commissam; ob earum rerum laborem et sollicitudinem fructus illos datos, antiquiorem in senatu sententiae dicendae locum, togam praetextam, sellam curulem, ius imaginis ad memoriam posteritatemque prodendae.

[¶5] 37. I wish, O judges, that all the gods may be propitious to me, as I do not receive by any means so much pleasure from all these things, (though the honours conferred on me by the people are most acceptable to me,) as I feel anxiety, and as I will take pains, that this aedileship may not seem to have been given to some one of the candidates, because it could not be helped, but to have been conferred on me because it was proper that it should be, and to have been conferred by the deliberate judgment of the people.

> Latin: 37. his ego omnibus rebus, iudices,—ita mihi omnis deos propitios velim,— etiamsi mihi iucundissimus est honos populi, tamen nequaquam capio tantum voluptatis quantum et sollicitudinis et laboris, ut haec ipsa aedilitas, non quia necesse fuerit, alicui candidato data, sed, quia sic oportuerit, recte conlocata et iudicio populi in loco esse posita videatur.

[¶6] 38. You, when you were appointed praetor, by whatever means it was brought about,—for I leave out and pass over everything that was done at that time,—but when you were appointed, as I have said, were you not roused by the very voice of the crier, who made such frequent announcements that you had been invested with that honour by the centimes of the seniors and juniors, to think that some part of the republic had been entrusted to you? that for that one year you must do without the house of a prostitute? When it fell to you by lot to preside in the court of justice, did you never consider what an important affair, what a burden you had imposed on you? Did it never once occur to you, if by any chance you were able to awaken yourself, that that province, which it was difficult for a man to administer properly even if endowed with the greatest wisdom and the greatest integrity, had fallen to the lot of the greatest stupidity and worthlessness? Therefore, you were not only unwilling to drive Chelidon from your house during your praetorship, but you even transported your whole praetorship to Chelidon's house.

> Latin: 38. cum esses praetor renuntiatus quoquo modo,—mitto enim et praetereo quid tum sit actum,—sed cum esses renuntiatus, ut dixi, non ipsa praeconis voce excitatus es, qui te totiens seniorum iuniorumque centuriis illo honore adfici pronuntiavit, ut hoc putares, aliquam rei publicae partem tibi creditam, annum tibi illum unum domo carendum esse meretricis? tibi sorte obtigisset uti ius diceres, quantum negoti, quid oneris haberes, numquam cogitasti? neque illud rationis habuisti, si forte te expergefacere posses, eam provinciam, quam tueri singulari sapientia atque integritate difficile esset, ad summam stultitiam nequitiamque venisse? non modo a domo tua Chelidonem in praetura excludere noluisti, sed in Cheliodonis domum praeturam totam detulisti.

[¶7] 39. The province followed; in which it never occurred to you that the fasces and axes, and such absolute authority, and such dignity, and every sort of decoration, was not given to you in order, by the power and authority derived from these things, to break down all the barriers of law and modesty and duty, and to consider every man's property as your own booty; so that no man's estate could be safe, no man's house closed; no man's life protected, no woman's chastity fortified, against your cupidity and audacity; in which you behaved yourself in such a way that, being detected in everything, you take refuge in an imaginary war of runaway slaves; by which you now perceive, that not only no defence is procured for you, but that an immense body of accusations is raised up against you; unless, indeed, you are going to speak of the relics of the war in Italy, and the disaster of Temsa. But when your fortune recently conducted you to that place, at a most seasonable time, if you had any courage, or any energy, you were found to be the same man that you had ever been.

> Latin: 39. provincia est; in qua numquam tibi venit in mentem non tibi idcirco fascis ac securis et tantam imperi vim tantamque ornamentorum omnium dignitatem datam ut earum rerum vi et auctoritate omnia repagula pudoris officique perfringeres, ut omnium bona praedam tuam duceres, ut nullius res tuta, nullius domus clausa, nullius vita saepta, nullius pudicitia munita contra tuam cupiditatem et audaciam posset esse; in qua tu te ita gessisti ut, omnibus cum teneare rebus, ad bellum fugitivorum confugias; ex quo iam intellegis non modo nullam tibi defensionem, sed maximam vim criminum exortam. Nisi forte Italici fugitivorum belli reliquias atque illud Tempsanum incommodum proferes, ad quod recens cum te peropportune fortuna attulisset, si quid in te virtutis aut industriae habuisses, idem qui semper fueras inventus es.

[¶8] 40. When the men of Valentia had come to you, and when a noble and an eloquent man, Marcus Marius, was addressing you on their behalf, begging you to undertake the business, and, as the power and the name of praetor belonged to you, to act as their chief and leader in extinguishing that small band that was at Temsa, you not only shunned that task, but at that very time, while you were on the shore, that dear Tertia of yours, whom you were carrying with you, was there in the sight of all men. And to the deputies from Valentia, such an illustrious and noble municipality, you gave no answer at all in matters of such moment, while you were still in your dark-coloured tunic and cloak. What can you, O judges, suppose that this man did while on his journey? what can you suppose he did in the province itself who, when he was on his way from his province, not to celebrate a triumph, but to be put on his trial, did not avoid a scandal which could not have been accompanied by any pleasure.

> Latin: 40. ad te Valentini venissent et pro iis homo disertus ac nobilis, M. Marius, loqueretur, ut negotium susciperes, ut, cum penes te praetorium imperium ac nomen esset, ad illam parvam manum exstinguendam ducem te principemque praeberes, non modo id refugisti, sed eo ipso tempore, cum esses in litore, Tertia illa tua, quam tu tecum deportaras, erat in omnium conspectu; ipsis autem Valentinis ex tam inlustri nobilique municipio tantis de rebus responsum dedisti, cum esses cum tunica pulla et pallio. hunc proficiscentem, quid in ipsa provincia fecisse existimatis qui, cum iam ex provincia non ad triumphum sed ad iudicium decederet, ne illam quidem infamiam fugerit quam sine ulla voluptate capiebat?

[¶9] 41. Oh! the noble murmur of the crowd in the temple of Bellona! You recollect, O judges, when it was getting towards evening, and when mention had been made a short time before of this disaster at Temsa, when no one was found who could be sent into those districts with a military command, that some one said that Verres was not far from Temsa. You recollect how universally every one murmured; how openly the chief men repudiated the suggestion. And does the man who has been convicted of so many accusations by so many witnesses, now place any hope in the votes of those judges, who have already openly condemned him, even before his cause was heard?

> Latin: 41. O divina senatus frequentis in aede Bellonae admurmuratio! tenetis, iudices, cum advesperasceret et paulo ante esset de hoc Tempsano incommodo nuntiatum, cum inveniretur nemo qui in illa loca cum imperio mitteretur, dixisset que quidam Verrem esse non longe a Tempsa, quam valde universi admurmuraverint, quam palam principes dixerint contra. his tot criminibus testimoniisque convictus in eorum tabella spem sibi aliquam proponit, quorum omnium palam causa incognita voce damnatus est?

[¶10] 42. Be it so. He has gained no credit either from any war of the runaway slaves, or from the suspicion of such a war; because there has neither been any such war, nor danger of any such war in Sicily; nor were any precautions taken by him to prevent such a war. But, at all events, against any war of pirates he had a fleet well equipped, and he exhibited extraordinary energy in that matter. And therefore, while he was praetor, the province was admirably defended. I will speak of the war with the pirates, and of the Sicilian fleet, when I have first of all solemnly stated, that with respect to this matter alone, he committed all his most enormous crimes,—crimes of avarice, of treason, of insanity, of lust and of cruelty. I beg of you to give your most diligent attention, as you have hitherto given it, while I briefly detail the events that took place.

> Latin: 42. ; nihil ex fugitivorum bello aut suspicione belli laudis adeptus est, quod neque bellum eius modi neque belli periculum fuit in Sicilia, neque ab isto provisum est ne quod esset; at vero contra bellum praedonum classem habuit ornatam diligentiamque in eo singularem, itaque ab isto praeclare defensa provincia est. de bello praedonum, sic de classe Siciliensi, iudices, dicam ut hoc iam ante confirmem, in hoc uno genere omnis inesse culpas istius maximas avaritiae, maiestatis, dementiae, libidinis, crudelitatis. dum breviter expono, quaeso, ut fecistis adhuc, diligenter attendite.

[¶11] 43. In the first place, I say, that the naval affairs were managed, not with the view of defending the province, but of acquiring money under presence of providing a fleet. Though this had been the custom of former praetors, to impose a contribution of ships and of a fixed number of sailors and soldiers on each city, yet you imposed no contribution on the very important and wealthy city of the Mamertines. What money the Mamertines gave you secretly for that indulgence, will be seen hereafter; we will ascertain that from their own letters and witnesses.

> Latin: 43. navalem primum ita dico esse administratam, non uti provincia defenderetur, sed uti classis nomine pecunia quaereretur. praetorum consuetudo cum haec fuisset, ut naves civitatibus certusque numerus nautarum militumque imperaretur, maximae et locupletissimae civitati Mamertinae nihil horum imperavisti. hanc rem quid tibi Mamertini clam pecuniae dederint, post, si videbitur, ex ipsorum litteris testibusque quaeremus.

[¶12] 44. But I assert, that a merchant vessel of the largest size, like a trireme, very beautiful, and highly ornamented, was openly built at the public expense, with the knowledge of all Sicily, and given and presented to you by the magistrates and senate of the Mamertines. This ship, laden with Sicilian booty, itself being also a part of that booty, put into Velia, at the same time that he himself left the province laden with many articles, and especially with such as he did not like to send to Rome along with the rest of the fruits of his robberies before he arrived himself, because they were the most valuable, and those which he was most fond of. I myself have lately seen that vessel at Velia, O judges, and many other men have seen it too; a very beautiful and highly ornamented ship, which, indeed, seemed to all who beheld her, to be now looking for the banishment, and to be waiting for the departure of her owner.

> Latin: 44. vero cybaeam, maximam triremis instar, [pulcherrimam atque ornatissimam cybaeam ], palam aedificatam sumptu publico tuo nomine, publice, sciente tota Sicilia, per magistratum senatumque Mamertinum tibi datam donatamque esse dico. navis onusta praeda Siciliensi, cum ipsa quoque esset ex praeda, simul cum ipse decederet, adpulsa Veliam est cum plurimis rebus, et iis quas iste Romam mittere cum ceteris furtis noluit, quod erant clarissimae maximeque eum delectabant. navem nuper egomet vidi Veliae multique alii viderunt, pulcherrimam atque ornatissimam, iudices: quae quidem omnibus qui eam aspexerant prospectare iam exsilium atque explorare fugam domini videbatur.

[¶13] 45. What answer will you make to me now? Unless, perhaps, you say what, although it cannot possibly be admitted as an excuse, yet must be urged in a trial for extortion, that that ship was built with your own money. Dare, at least, to say this which is necessary. Do not be afraid, O Hortensius, of my asking how it became lawful for a senator to build a ship? Those are old and dead laws, as you are accustomed to call them, which forbid it. There was such a republic here, once, O judges; there was such strictness in the tribunals, that an accuser would have thought such a transaction worthy to be classed among the most serious crimes. For what did you want of a ship? when, if you were going anywhere on account of the state, ships were provided for you at the public expense, both to convey you, and to guard you? But it is not possible for you to go anywhere on your own private account, nor to send for articles across the sea from those countries in which it is not lawful for you to have any possessions, or any dealings.

> Latin: 45. mihi hoc loco respondebis? nisi forte id quod, tametsi probari nullo modo potest, tamen dici quidem in iudicio de pecuniis repetundis necesse est, de tua pecunia aedificatam esse navem. hoc saltem dicere quod necesse est; noli metuere, Hortensi, ne quaeram qui licuerit aedificare navem senatori; antiquae sunt istae leges et mortuae, quem ad modum tu soles dicere, quae vetant. ista res publica quondam, fuit ista severitas in iudiciis, ut istam rem accusator in magnis criminibus obiciendam putaret. enim tibi navi? qui si quo publice proficisceris, praesidi et vecturae causa sumptu publico navigia praebentur; privatim autem nec proficisci quoquam potes nec arcessere res transmarinas ex iis locis in quibus te habere nihil licet.

[¶14] 46. Then, why have you prepared anything contrary to the laws? This charge would have had weight in the ancient severity and dignity of the republic. Now, I not only do not accuse you on account of this offence, but I do not even reprove you with an ordinary reprimand. Lastly, did you never think that this would be discreditable to you? did you never think it would be ground for an accusation, or cause for unpopularity, to have a transport openly built for you, in a most frequented place in that province in which you had the supreme command? What did you suppose that they said who saw it? What did you suppose that they thought who heard of it? Did they think that you were going to take that vessel to Italy, empty? that you were going to let it out as a sailing boat, when you got to Rome? No one would even believe that you had in Italy any farm on the coast, and that you were preparing a merchant vessel for the purpose of moving your crops. Did you wish every man's conversation to be such as for men to say openly that you were preparing that ship to carry all your plunder from Sicily, and to go to and fro for the booty which you had left behind?

> Latin: 46. cur quicquam contra leges parasti? hoc crimen in illa vetere severitate ac dignitate rei publicae; nunc non modo te hoc crimine non arguo, sed ne illa quidem communi vituperatione reprehendo: tibi hoc numquam turpe, numquam criminosum, numquam invidiosum fore putasti, celeberrimo loco palam tibi aedificari onerariam navem in provincia quam tu cum imperio obtinebas? eos loqui qui videbant, quid existimare eos qui audiebant arbitrabare? inanem te navem esse illam in Italiam adducturum? naviculariam, cum Romam venisses, esse facturum? illud quidem quisquam poterat suspicari, te in Italia maritimum habere fundum et ad fructus deportandos onerariam navem comparare. modi voluisti de te sermonem esse omnium palam ut loquerentur te illam navem parare quae praedam ex Sicilia deportaret, et ad ea furta quae reliquisses commearet.

[¶15] 47. But, however, I give up and grant the whole of this, if you say that the vessel was built with your money. But, O most demented of men, are you not aware that this ground was cut from under your feet by those very friends of yours, the Mamertines themselves, in the previous pleading? For Heius, the chief man of the city,—the chief man of that deputation which was sent to utter a panegyric on you, said that the ship had been built for you by the public labour of the Mamertines, and that a Mamertine Senator had been appointed by public authority to superintend the building of it. The only thing that remains is the materials. And this you yourself compelled the Rhegians to furnish at the public expense, as they say themselves (not that you can deny it), because the Mamertines have no proper materials. If both the materials of which the vessel is built, and if those who built it, were provided by your authority, not at your expense, what, then, is the secret thing which you say was paid for with your money? Oh! but the Mamertines have no enemies respecting it in their public accounts.

> Latin: 47. haec omnia, si doces navem de tua pecunia aedificatam, remitto atque concedo. hoc, homo amentissime, non intellegis priore actione ab ipsis istis Mamertinis, tuis laudatoribus, esse sublatum? dixit Heius, princeps civitatis, princeps istius legationis quae ad tuam laudationem missa est, navem tibi operis publicis Mamertinorum esse factam, eique faciendae senatorem Mamertinum publice praefuisse. est materies. Reginis, ut ipsi dicunt— tametsi tu negare non potes—publice, quod Mamertini materiem non habent, imperavisti. et ex quo fit navis, et qui faciunt, imperio tibi tuo non pretio praesto fuerunt, ubi tandem istud latet quod tu de tua pecunia dicis impensum? Mamertini in tabulis nihil habent.

[¶16] 48. In the first place, I can understand that it may be possible that they did not disburse any money out of the treasury. In fact, even the Capitol, as it was built in the time of our ancestors, was able to be built and completed by public authority, but without any public payment, workmen being pressed into the service, and a fair quota of work being exacted from each person respectively. In the next place, I see this also, (which I will prove when I produce my witnesses, from the accounts of the Mamertines themselves,) that a great deal of money was spent by that man which was entered as paid for imaginary contracts for works that never existed. For it is not at all strange that the Mamertines should in their accounts have shown a regard for that man's safety, from whom they had received the greatest benefits, and whom they had known to be much more friendly to them than he was to the Roman people. But if it is any argument that the Mamertines did not give you money, because they have not got it down in their accounts, let it be an argument also that the ship cost you nothing, because you have no entry to produce of having bought it, or having made a contract with any one to build it for you.

> Latin: 48. video potuisse fieri ut ex aerario nihil darent; etenim vel Capitolium, sicut apud maiores nostros factum est, publice coactis fabris operisque imperatis gratiis exaedificari atque effici potuit; deinde—id quod perspicio et quod ostendam, cum ipsos produxero, ipsorum ex litteris—multas pecunias isti erogatas in operum locationes falsas atque inanis esse perscriptas. illud minime mirum est, Mamertinos a quo summum beneficium acceperant, quem sibi amiciorem quam populo Romano esse cognoverant, eius capiti litteris suis pepercisse. si argumento est Mamertinos tibi pecuniam non dedisse, quia scriptum non habent, sit argumento tibi gratiis stare navem, quia, quid emeris aut quid locaris, scriptum proferre non potes.

[¶17] 49. Oh! but you did not command the Mamertines to furnish a ship, because they are one of the confederate cities. Thank God, we have a man trained by the hands of the Fetiales; a man above all others pious and careful in all that belongs to public religion. Let all the men who have been praetors before you be given up to the Mamertines, because they have commanded them to furnish ships contrary to the provisions of the treaty. But still you, O you pious and scrupulous man, how was it that you commanded the people of Tauromenium, which is also a confederate city, to furnish a ship? Will you make any one believe that, while the case of both the states was exactly the same, the law that you administered, and the condition in which you left each, was so different, without money being the cause of the difference?

> Latin: 49. enim idcirco navem Mamertinis non imperasti, quod sunt foederati. adprobent! hominem in fetialium manibus educatum, unum praeter ceteros in publicis religionibus foederum sanctum ac diligentem; omnes qui ante te fuerunt praetores dedantur Mamertinis, quod iis navem contra pactionem foederis imperarint. tamen tu, sancte homo ac religiose, cur Tauromenitanis item foederatis navem imperasti? hoc probabis, in aequa causa populorum sine pretio varium ius et disparem condicionem fuisse?

[¶18] 50. What, if I prove, O judges, that these two treaties with the two states were of such a nature, that in the case of the people of Tauromenium it was expressly provided for and guarded against in the treaty, “that they were not bound to furnish a vessel;” but that in the case of the Mamertines it was set down and written in the treaty itself, “that they were bound to furnish a vessel;” but that Verres, in opposition to both treaties, compelled the Tauromenians to furnish one, and excused the Mamertines? Can it, then, be doubtful to any one that, while Verres was praetor, that merchant-vessel was a greater assistance to the Mamertines than the treaty was to the Tauromenians? Let the treaties be read. [The treaties of the Mamertines and the Tauromenians with the Roman people are read.] By that act therefore, of kindness, as you call it—of corruption and dishonesty, as the case itself proves,—you detracted from the majesty of the republic, you diminished the reinforcements of the Roman people—you diminished their resources, acquired by the valour and wisdom of their ancestors; you destroyed their imperial rights, and the terms on which the allies became such, and all recollection of the treaty. They who by the express words of the treaty were bound to send at their own expense and risk a ship properly armed and equipped with everything necessary, even as far as the ocean if we ordered them to do so, those men bought from you for money a release from the terms of the treaty, and a release from the lights of sovereignty which we had over them, so as to be excused from even sailing in that narrow sea before their own houses and homes, from defending their own walls and harbours.

> Latin: 50. ? si eius modi esse haec duo foedera duorum so populorum, iudices, doceo, ut Tauromenitanis nominatim cautum et exceptum sit foedere ne navem dare debeant, Mamertinis in ipso foedere sanctum atque praescriptum sit ut navem dare necesse sit, istum autem contra foedus et Tauromenitanis imperasse et Mamertinis remisisse, num cui dubium poterit esse quin Verre praetore plus Mamertinis cybaea quam Tauromenitanis foedus opitulatum sit? foedera. igitur tuo, quem ad modum ipse praedicas, beneficio, ut res indicat, pretio atque mercede minuisti maiestatem rei publicae, minuisti auxilia populi Romani, minuisti copias maiorum virtute ac sapientia comparatas, sustulisti ius imperi, condicionem sociorum, memoriam foederis: qui ex foedere ipso navem vel usque ad Oceanum, si imperassemus, sumptu periculoque suo armatam atque ornatam mittere debuerunt, hi ne in freto ante sua tecta et domos navigarent, ne sua moenia portusque defenderent, pretio abs te ius foederis et imperi condicionem redemerunt.

[¶19] 51. How much labour, and trouble, and money, do you suppose the Mamertines at the time of making this treaty would willingly have devoted to the object of preventing this bireme from being mentioned in it, if they could by any possibility have obtained such a favour from our ancestors? For when this heavy burden was imposed on the city, there was contained somehow or other in that treaty of alliance some badge, as it were, of slavery. That which then, when their services were recent, before the matter was finally determined, when the Roman people were in no difficulties, they could not obtain by treaty from our ancestors; that now, when they have done us no new service, after so many years,—now that it has been enforced every year by our right of sovereignty, and has been invariably observed—now, I say, when we are in great want of vessels, they have obtained from Caius Verres by bribery. Oh! but this is all that they have gained, exemption from furnishing a ship! Have the Mamertines for the last three years furnished one sailor, one soldier, to serve either in fleet or in garrison, all the time you have been praetor?

> Latin: 51. censetis in hoc foedere faciendo voluisse Mamertinos impendere laboris, operae, pecuniae ne haec biremis adscriberetur, si id ullo modo possent a nostris maioribus impetrare? cum hoc munus imponebatur tam grave civitati, inerat nescio quo modo in illo foedere societatis quasi quaedam nota servitutis. tum, recentibus suis officiis, integra re, nullis populi Romani difficultatibus, a maioribus nostris foedere adsequi non potuerunt, id nunc, nullo novo officio suo, tot annis post,—iure imperi nostri quotannis usurpatum ac semper retentum,—summa in difficultate navium, a C. Verre pretio adsecuti sunt, ac non hoc solum adsecuti, ne navem darent: ecquem nautam, ecquem militem, qui aut in classe aut in praesidio esset, te praetore per triennium Mamertini dederunt?

[¶20] 52. Lastly, when according to the resolution of the senate, and also according to the Terentian and Cassian law, corn was to be bought in equal proportions from all the cities of Sicily, from that light burden also, which they shared too with all the other cities, you relieved the Mamertines.—You will say that the Mamertines do not owe corn. How do not owe corn? Do you mean to say they were not bound to sell us corn? For this corn was not a contribution to be exacted, but a supply to be purchased. By your permission, then, by your interpretation of the treaty, the Mamertines were not bound to assist the Roman people, even by supplying their markets, and furnishing them with provisions.

> Latin: 52. cum ex senatus consulto itemque ex lege Terentia et Cassia frumentum aequabiliter emi ab omnibus Siciliae civitatibus oporteret, id quoque munus leve atque commune Mamertinis remisisti. frumentum Mamertinos non debere. modo non debere? an ut ne venderent? non enim erat hoc genus frumenti ex eo genere quod exigeretur, sed ex eo quod emeretur. igitur auctore et interprete ne foro quidem et commeatu Mamertini iuvare populum Romanum debuerunt.

[¶21] 53. And what city, then, was bound to supply these things? As for those who cultivate the public domains, it is settled what they are bound to furnish by the Censorian Law. Why did you exact from them anything besides that in another class of contribution? What? Do those who are liable to the payment of tenths owe anything more than a single tenth, according to the Law of Hiero? Why have you fixed in their case also how much corn they were to be bound to sell to us, that being another description of contribution? Those who are exempt undoubtedly owe nothing. But you not only exacted this from them, but even by way of making them give more than they possibly could, you added to their burden those sixty thousand modii from which you excused the Mamertines. And this is not what I say, that this was not rightly exacted from the others; what I say is, that it was a scandalous thing to excuse the Mamertines, whose case was exactly the same, and from whom all previous praetors had exacted the same contribution that they did from the rest, and had paid them for it according to the resolution of the senate, and the law. And in order to drive in this indulgence with a big nail, as one may say, he takes cognisance of the cause of the Mamertines while sitting on the bench with his assessors, and pronounces judgment, that he, according to the decision of the bench, does not demand any corn from the Mamertines.

> Latin: 53. tandem civitas fuit quae deberet? publicos agros arant, certum est quid e lege censoria debeant: cur his quicquam praeterea ex alio genere imperavisti?? decumani num quid praeter singulas decumas ex lege Hieronica debent? cur his quoque statuisti quantum ex hoc genere frumenti empti darent? immunes? hi certe nihil debent. eis non modo imperasti, verum etiam, quo plus darent quam poterant, haec sexagena milia modium, quae Mamertinis remiseras, addidisti. hoc dico, ceteris non recte imperatum, sed Mamertinis, qui erant in eadem causa, et quibus superiores omnes item ut ceteris imperarant pecuniamque ex senatus consulto et ex lege dissolverant, his dico non recte remissum. ut hoc beneficium, quem ad modum dicitur, trabali clavo figeret, cum consilio causam Mamertinorum cognoscit et de consili sententia Mamertinis se frumentum non imperare pronuntiat.

[¶22] 54. Listen to the decree of the mercenary praetor from his own note-book; and take notice how great his gravity is in framing a degree, how great his dignity is in pronouncing it. Read the next memorandum of his decrees. [The decree, extracted from Verres's note-book, is read.] He says, “that he does this willingly,” and therefore he makes the entry in his book. What then? suppose you had not used this word “willingly,” should we, forsooth, have supposed that you made this profit unwillingly? “And by the advice of the bench;” you have heard a fair list of the assessors read to you, O judges Did it seem to you, when you heard their names, that a list of assessors to a praetor was being read, or a roll of the troop and company of a most infamous bandit?

> Latin: 54. decretum mercennarii praetoris ex ipsius commentario, et cognoscite quanta in scribendo gravitas, quanta in constituendo iure sit auctoritas.. commentarivs. consili sententia libenter ait se facere itaque perscribit., si hoc verbo non esses usus “libenter”? nos videlicet invitum te quaestum facere putaremus. “de consili sententia”! recitari consilium, iudices, audistis; utrum vobis consilium tandem praetoris recitari videbatur, cum audiebatis nomina, an praedonis improbissimi societas atque comitatus?

[¶23] 55. Here are interpreters of treaties, settlers of the terms of alliances, authorities as to religious obligations! Corn was never bought in Sicily by public order, without the Mamertines being ordered to furnish their just proportion, till that fellow appointed this select and admirable bench of his, in order to get money from them, and to act up to his invariable character. Therefore, that decree had just the weight that the authority of that man ought to have, who sold a decree to those men from whom it had been his duty to buy corn. For Lucius Metellus, the moment he arrived as his successor, required corn of the Mamertines, according to the regulations and appointment of Caius Sacerdos and Sextus Peducaeus.

> Latin: 55. foederum interpretes, societatis, pactionis, religionis auctores! in Sicilia frumentum publice est emptum quin Mamertinis pro portione imperaretur, antequam hoc delectum praeclarumque consilium iste dedit, ut ab his nummos acciperet ac sui similis esset. tantum valuit istius decreti auctoritas quantum debuit eius hominis qui, a quibus frumentum emere debuisset, iis decretum vendidisset. statim L. Metellus ut isti successit, ex C. Sacerdotis et ex Sex. Peducaei instituto ac litteris frumentum Mamertinis imperavit.

[¶24] 56. Then the Mamertines perceived that they could not longer retain the privilege which they had bought from its unprincipled author. Come now, you, who were desirous to be thought such a scrupulous interpreter of treaties, tell us why you compelled the Tauromenians and the Netians to furnish corn; for both of those are confederate cities. And the Netians were not wanting to themselves, for as soon as you pronounced your decision that you willingly excused the Mamertines, they came before you, and proved to you that their case under the treaty was exactly the same. You could not make a different decree in a case which was identical with the other. You pronounce that the Netians are not bound to furnish corn, and still you exact it from them. Give me the papers of this same praetor referring to his decrees, and to the corn that was ordered to be supplied, and to the wheat that was bought. [The papers of the praetor referring to the decrees, to the corn ordered to be supplied, and to the wheat purchased, are read.] In a case of such enormous and shameful inconsistency, what can we suspect, O judges, rather than that which is inevitable; either that money was not given to him by the Netians when he demanded it, or else that the Mamertines were given to understand that they had disposed of all their bribes and presents very advantageously, when others, whose case was identical with theirs, could not obtain the same privileges?

> Latin: 56. illi intellexerunt se id quod a malo auctore emissent diutius obtinere non posse. (22) (56) porro, tu, qui tam religiosum existimari te voluisti interpretem foederum, cur Tauromenitanis frumentum, cur Netinis imperasti? quarum civitatum utraque foederata est. Netini quidem sibi non defuerunt ac, simul pronuntiasti libenter te Mamertinis remittere, te adierunt et eandem suam causam foederis esse docuerunt. aliter decernere eadem in causa non potuisti; pronuntias Netinos frumentum dare non debere et ab his tamen exigis. mihi eiusdem praetoris litteras et rerum decretarum et frumenti imperati. litterae rervm decretarvm. Quid potius in hac tanta et tam turpi inconstantia suspicari possumus, iudices, quam id quod necesse est, aut isti a Netinis pecuniam cum posceret non datam, aut id esse actum ut intellegerent Mamertini bene se apud istum tam multa pretia ac munera conlocasse, cum idem alii iuris ex eadem causa non obtinerent?

[¶25] 57. Will he here again venture to make mention to me of the panegyric of the Mamertines? for who is there of you, O judges, who is not aware how many weapons that furnishes against him? In the first place, as in courts of justice it is more respectable for a man who cannot produce ten witnesses to speak to his character, to produce none at all, than not to complete the number made as it were legitimate by usage; so there are a great many cities in Sicily over which you were governor for three years; almost all the rest accuse you; a few insignificant ones, kept back by fear, say nothing; one speaks in your favour. What does all this show except that you are aware how advantageous genuine evidence to a person's character is; but that, nevertheless, your administration of the province was such that you are forced of necessity to do without that advantage?

> Latin: 57. mihi etiam audebit mentionem facere Mamertinae laudationis! in qua quam multa sint vulnera quis est vestrum, iudices, quin intellegat? enim in iudiciis qui decem laudatores dare non potest, honestius est ei nullum dare quam illum quasi legitimum numerum consuetudinis non explere. in Sicilia civitates sunt quibus tu per triennium praefuisti: arguunt ceterae, paucae et parvae vi et metu repressae silent, una laudat. quid est nisi intellegere quid habeat utilitatis vera laudatio, sed tamen ita provinciae praefuisse ut hac utilitate necessario sit carendum?

[¶26] 58. In the next place, as I said before on another occasion, what sort of a panegyric is that, when the chief men of the deputation commissioned to utter it, stated, both that a ship had been built for you at the public expense, and also that they themselves had been plundered and pillaged by you in respect of their private property? Lastly, what else is it that these people do, when they are the only people in all Sicily who praise you, beyond proving to us that you gave them everything of which you robbed our republic? What colony is there in Italy in possession of such privileges, what municipality is there enjoying such immunities, as to have had for all these years such a profitable exemption from all burdens, as the city of the Mamertines has had for three years? They alone have not given what they were bound to give according to the treaties; they alone, as long as that man was praetor, enjoyed immunity from all burdens; they alone under that man's authority lived in such a condition that they gave nothing to the Roman people, and refused nothing to Verres.

> Latin: 58. , quod alio loco antea dixi, quae est ista tandem laudatio, cuius laudationis legati et principes et publice tibi navem aedificatam et privatim se ipsos abs te spoliatos expilatosque esse dixerunt? quid aliud isti faciunt, cum te soli ex Sicilia laudant, nisi testimonio nobis sunt omnia te sibi esse largitum quae tu de re publica nostra detraxeris? colonia est in Italia tam bono iure, quod tam immune municipium, quod per hosce annos tam commoda vacatione omnium rerum sit usum quam Mamertina civitas? triennium soli ex foedere quod debuerunt non dederunt, soli isto praetore omnium rerum immunes fuerunt, soli in istius imperio ea condicione vixerunt ut populo Romano nihil darent, Verri nihil negarent.

[¶27] 59. But to return to the fleet, from which topic I have been digressing; you accepted a ship from the Mamertines contrary to the laws; you granted them relaxation contrary to the treaties; so that you behaved like a rogue twice in the case of one city, as you both granted indulgences which you had no right to grant, and accepted what it was not lawful for you to accept. You ought to have exacted a ship from them fit to sail against robbers, not to carry off the produce of your robberies; one which might have defended the province from being despoiled, not one that was to bear away the fresh spoils of the province. The Mamertines gave you both a city to which you might carry all the plunder you amassed from all quarters, and also a ship, in which you might take it away. That town was a receptacle for your plunder, those men were the witnesses to and guardians of your plunder; they supplied to you both a repository for your thefts, and a conveyance for them. In consequence, even when you had lost a fleet by your own avarice and worthlessness, you did not venture to require a ship of the Mamertines, at a time when our want of ships was so excessive, and the distress of the province so great, that, even if it had been necessary to beg as supplicants for a ship, they would have granted it. But all your power either of commanding a vessel to be furnished, or of begging for one, was crippled, not by the bireme supplied to the Roman people, but by that splendid merchant vessel given to the praetor. That was the price of your authority, of the reinforcement they were bound to supply, of exemption from the requirements of law, and usage, and of the treaty.

> Latin: 59. ut ad classem, quo ex loco sum digressus, revertar, accepisti a Mamertinis navem contra leges, remisisti contra foedera. in una civitate bis improbus fuisti, cum et remisisti quod non oportebat, et accepisti quod non licebat. te oportuit navem quae contra praedones, non quae cum praeda navigaret, quae defenderet ne provincia spoliaretur, non quae provinciae spolia portaret. Mamertini tibi et urbem quo furta undique deportares, et navem in qua exportares praebuerunt; illud tibi oppidum receptaculum praedae fuit, illi homines testes custodesque furtorum, illi tibi et locum furtis et furtorum vehiculum comparaverunt. ne tum quidem cum classem avaritia ac nequitia tua perdidisti Mamertinis navem imperare ausus es; quo tempore in tanta inopia navium tantaque calamitate provinciae, etiamsi precario essent rogandi, tamen ab iis impetraretur. enim tibi et imperandi vim et rogandi conatum praeclara illa non populo Romano reddita biremis, sed praetori donata cybaea. fuit merces imperi, auxili, iuris, consuetudinis, foederis.

[¶28] 60. You have now the case of the trusty assistance of one city lost to us and sold. Now listen to a new system of robbery first invented by Verres. Each city was always accustomed to give to its admiral the money necessary for the expense of the fleet, for provisions, for pay, and for all such things. The admiral did not dare to give the sailors any ground for accusing him, and was, besides, bound to render an account of the money to his fellow-citizens. In the whole business all the trouble and all the risk was his. This, I say, was the regular course not only in Sicily, but in every province, even in the case of the pay and expense of the Latin allies, at the time when we were accustomed to employ their assistance. Verres was the first man, ever since our dominion was established, who ordered that all that money should be paid to him by the cities, in order that whoever he chose to appoint might have the handling of that money.

> Latin: 60. unius civitatis firmum auxilium amissum ac venditum pretio: cognoscite nunc novam praedandi rationem ab hoc primum excogitatam. omnem in classem frumento stipendio ceterisque rebus suo quaeque nauarcho civitas semper dare solebat. neque ut accusaretur a nautis committere audebat, et civibus suis rationes referre debebat, et in illo omni negotio non modo labore sed etiam periculo suo versabatur. hoc, ut dico, factitatum semper, nec solum in Sicilia sed in omnibus provinciis, etiam in sociorum et Latinorum stipendio ac sumptu, tum cum illorum auxiliis uti solebamus: Verres post imperium constitutum primus imperavit ut ea pecunia omnis a civitatibus sibi adnumeraretur, ut is eam pecuniam tractaret quem ipse praefecisset.

[¶29] 61. Who can doubt why you were the first man to change the ancient custom of all your predecessors, to disregard the great advantage of having the money pass through the hands of others, and to undertake a work of such difficulty, so liable to accusation,—a task of such delicacy, inseparable from suspicion? After that, other sources of gain are established arising from this one article of the navy; just listen to their number, O judges;—he receives money from the cities to excuse them from furnishing sailors; the sailors that are furnished he releases for a bribe; he makes a profit of the whole of thee pay of those who are thus released; he does not pay the rest all that he ought to pay. All this you shall have proved to you by the evidence of the cities. Read the evidence of the cities. [The evidence of the cities is read.]

> Latin: 61. potest esse dubium quam ob rem et omnium consuetudinem veterem primus immutaris, et tantam utilitatem per alios tractandae pecuniae neglexeris, et tantam difficultatem cum crimine, molestiam cum suspicione susceperis? alii quaestus instituuntur, ex uno genere navali videte quam multi! accipere a civitatibus pecuniam ne nautas darent, pretio certo missos facere nautas, missorum omne stipendium lucrari, reliquis quod deberet non dare,—haec omnia ex civitatum testimoniis cognoscite.

[¶30] 62. Did you ever hear of such a man? Did you ever hear, O judges, of such impudence? of such audacity? to impose on the cities the payment of a sum of money in proportion to the number of soldiers, and to fix a regular price, six hundred sesterces, for the discharge of each sailor! and as those who paid that sum were released from service for the whole summer, Verres pocketed all that he received both for their pay and for their maintenance. And by this means he made a double profit of the discharge of one person. And this most insane of men, at a time of frequent invasion of pirates, and of imminent danger to the province, did this so openly, that the pirates themselves were aware of it, and the whole province was a witness to it.

> Latin: 62. . testimonia civitatvm. Huncine hominem, hancine impudentiam, iudices, hanc audaciam! civitatibus pro numero militum pecuniarum summas discribere, certum pretium, sescenos nummos, nautarum missionis constituere! quos qui dederat commeatum totius aestatis abstulerat, iste, quod eius nautae nomine pro stipendio frumentoque acceperat, lucrabatur. quaestus duplex unius missionis fiebat. haec homo amentissimus in tanto praedonum impetu tantoque periculo provinciae sic palam faciebat ut et ipsi praedones scirent et tota provincia testis esset.

[¶31] 63. When, owing to this man's inordinate avarice, there was a fleet indeed in name in Sicily, but in reality empty ships, fit only to carry plunder for the praetor, not to strike terror into pirates; nevertheless, while Publius Caesetius and Publius Tadius were sailing about with these ten half-manned ships, they, I will not say took, but led away with them one ship, laden with the spoils of the pirates, evidently overwhelmed and sinking with the burden of its freight. That vessel was full of a number of most beautiful quilts, full of quantities of well-wrought plate, and of coined money; full of embroidered robes. This one vessel was not taken by our fleet, but was found at Megaris, a place not far from Syracuse. And when the news was brought to him, although he was lying in his tent on the shore, with a lot of women, drunk, still he roused himself, and immediately sent to the quaestor and to his own lieutenant many men to act as guards, in order that everything might be brought to him to see in an uninjured state, as soon as possible.

> Latin: 63. propter istius hanc avaritiam nomine classis esset in Sicilia, re quidem vera naves inanes, quae praedam praetori non quae praedonibus metum adferrent, tamen, cum P. Caesetius et P. Tadius decem navibus suis semiplenis navigarent, navem quandam piratarum praeda refertam non ceperunt, sed abduxerunt onere suo plane captam atque depressam. ea navis plena iuventutis formosissimae, plena argenti facti atque signati, multa cum stragula veste. una navis a classe nostra non capta est, sed inventa ad Megaridem, qui locus est non longe a Syracusis. ubi isti nuntiatum est, tametsi in acta cum mulierculis iacebat ebrius, erexit se tamen et statim quaestori legatoque suo custodes misit compluris, ut omnia sibi integra quam primum exhiberentur.

## 28. Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 64–96

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/28/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/28/#p-N

[¶0] 64. The vessel is brought to Syracuse. All expect that the pirates will be punished. He, as if it was not a case of pirates being taken, but of a booty being brought to him, considers all the prisoners who were old or ugly as enemies; those who had any beauty, or youth, or skill in anything, he takes away: some he distributed among his clerks, his retinue, and his son; six skillful musicians he sends to Rome as a present to some friend of his. All that night he spent in unloading the ship. No one sees the captain of the pirate vessel, who ought to have been executed. And to this very day every one believes, (how much truth there is in the belief, you also may be able to conjecture,) that Verres secretly took money of the pirates for the release of the captain of the pirates.

> Latin: 64. navis Syracusas; exspectatur ab omnibus supplicium. quasi praeda sibi advecta, non praedonibus captis, si qui senes ac deformes erant, eos in hostium numero ducit; qui aliquid formae aetatis artificique habebant, abducit omnis, non nullos scribis filio cohortique distribuit, symphoniacos homines sex cuidam amico suo Romam muneri misit. Nox illa tota in exinaniunda nave consumitur. ipsum videt nemo, de quo supplicium sumi oportuit. omnes sic habent —quid eius sit vos coniectura adsequi debetis—istum clam a piratis ob hunc archipiratam pecuniam accepisse.

[¶1] 65. It is only a conjecture; but no one can be a good judge who is not influenced by such certain grounds of suspicion. You know the man, you know the custom of all men,—how gladly any one who has taken a chief of pirates or of the enemy, allows him to be seen openly by all men. But of all the body of citizens and settlers at Syracuse, I never saw one man, O judges, who said that he had seen that captain of the pirates who had been taken; though all men, as is the regular custom, flocked to the prison, asked for him, and were anxious to see him. What happened to make that man be kept so carefully out of sight, that no one was ever able to get a glimpse of him, even by accident? Though all the seafaring men at Syracuse, who had often heard of the name of that captain, who had often been alarmed by him, wished to feed their eyes on, and to gratify their minds with his torture and execution, yet no one was allowed even to see him.

> Latin: 65. “est.” esse bonus nemo potest qui suspicione certa non movetur. nostis, consuetudinem omnium tenetis,—qui ducem praedonum aut hostium ceperit, quam libenter eum palam ante oculos omnium esse patiatur. in tanto conventu Syracusis vidi neminem, iudices, qui archipiratam captum sese vidisse diceret, cum omnes, ut mos est, ut solet fieri, concurrerent, quaererent, videre cuperent. accidit cur tanto opere iste homo occultaretur ut eum ne casu quidem quisquam aspicere posset? maritimi Syracusis, qui saepe istius ducis nomen audissent, saepe timuissent, cum eius cruciatu atque supplicio pascere oculos animumque exsaturare vellent, potestas aspiciendi nemini facta est.

[¶2] 66. One man, Publius Servilius, took more captains of pirates alive than all our commanders put together had done before. Was any one at any time denied the enjoyment of being allowed to see a captive pirate? On the contrary: wherever Servilius went he afforded every one that most delightful spectacle, of pirates taken prisoners and in chains. Therefore, people everywhere ran to meet him, so that the, assembled not only in the towns through which the pirates were led, but from all neighbouring towns also, for the purpose of seeing them. And why was it that that triumph was of all triumphs the most acceptable and the most delightful to the Roman people? Because nothing is sweeter than victory. But there is no more certain evidence of victory than to set those whom you have often been afraid of, led in chains to execution.

> Latin: 66. Vnus pluris praedonum duces vivos cepit P. Servilius quam omnes antea. Ecquando igitur isto fructu quisquam caruit, ut videre piratam captum non liceret? contra, quacumque iter fecit, hoc iucundissimum spectaculum omnibus vinctorum captorumque hostium praebebat; itaque ei concursus fiebat undique ut non modo ex iis oppidis qua ducebantur sed etiam ex finitimis visendi causa convenirent. autem triumphus quam ob rem omnium triumphorum gratissimus populo Romano fuit et iucundissimus? nihil est victoria dulcius, nullum est autem testimonium victoriae certius quam, quos saepe metueris, eos te vinctos ad supplicium duci videre.

[¶3] 67. Why did you not act in this manner? Why was that pirate so concealed as if it were impiety to behold him? Why did you not execute him? For what object did you reserve him? Have you ever heard of any captain of pirates having been taken prisoner before, who was not executed? Tell me one original whose conduct you imitated; tell me one precedent. You kept the captain of the pirates alive in order, I suppose, to lead him in your triumph in front of your chariot. For, indeed, there was nothing wanting but for the naval triumph to be decreed to you on the occasion of a most beautiful fleet of the Roman people having been lost, and the province plundered.

> Latin: 67. tu quam ob rem non fecisti? quam ob rem ita pirata iste occultatus est quasi eum aspici nefas esset? quam ob rem supplicium non sumpsisti? quam ob causam hominem reservasti? ecquem scis in Sicilia antea captum archipiratam qui non securi percussus sit? Vnum cedo auctorem tui facti, unius profer exemplum. tu archipiratam servabas: quo? triumphum, credo, quem ante currum tuum duceres; neque enim quicquam erat reliquum nisi uti classe populi Romani pulcherrima amissa provinciaque lacerata triumphus tibi navalis decerneretur.

[¶4] 68. Come now—you thought it better that the captain of the pirates should be kept in custody, according to a novel practice, than that he should be put to death according to universal precedent. What then is that custody? Among what people? Where is he kept? You have all heard of the Syracusan stone-quarries. Many of you are acquainted with them. It is a vast work and splendid; the work of the old kings and tyrants. The whole of it is cut out of rock excavated to a marvellous depth, and carved out by the labour of great multitudes of men. Nothing can either be made or imagined so closed against all escape, so hedged in on all sides, so safe for keeping prisoners in. Into these quarries men are commanded to be brought even from other cities in Sicily, if they are commanded by the public authorities to be kept in custody.

> Latin: 68. porro, custodiri ducem praedonum novo more quam securi feriri omnium exemplo magis placuit. sunt istae custodiae? apud quos homines, quem ad modum est adservatus? Syracusanas omnes audistis, plerique nostis. est ingens, magnificum, regum ac tyrannorum; totum est e saxo in mirandam altitudinem depresso et multorum operis penitus exciso; nihil tam clausum ad exitum, nihil tam saeptum undique, nihil tam tutum ad custodiam nec fieri nec cogitari potest. has lautumias, si qui publice custodiendi sunt, etiam ex ceteris oppidis Siciliae deduci imperantur.

[¶5] 69. Because he had imprisoned there many Roman citizens who were his prisoners, and because he ordered the other pirates to be put there too, he was aware that if he committed this counterfeit captain of the pirates to the same custody, a great many men in those quarries would inquire for the real captain. And therefore he does not venture to commit the man to this best of all and safest of all places of confinement. In fact he is afraid of the whole of Syracuse. He sends the man away. Where to? Perhaps to Lilybaeum. I see; he was not then so entirely afraid of the seafaring men? By no means, O judges. To Panormus then? I understand; although indeed, since he was taken within the Syracusan district, he ought, at all events, to have been kept in prison at Syracuse, if he was not to be executed there.

> Latin: 69. quod multos captivos civis Romanos coniecerat, quod eodem ceteros piratas condi imperarat, intellexit, si hunc subditivum archipiratam in eandem custodiam dedisset, fore ut a multis in lautumiis verus ille dux quaereretur. hominem huic optimae tutissimaeque custodiae non audet committere, denique Syracusas totas timet, amandat hominem—quo? Lilybaeum fortasse?; tamen homines maritimos non plane reformidat., iudices. Panhormum igitur?; quamquam Syracusis, quoniam in Syracusano captus erat, maxime, si minus supplicio adfici, at custodiri oportebat.

[¶6] 70. Not at Panormus even. What then? where do you suppose it was? He sends him away to men the furthest removed from all fear or suspicion of pirates, as unconnected as possible with, all navigation or maritime affairs—to the Centuripans, a thoroughly inland people, complete farmers, who would never have been alarmed at the name of a naval pirate, but who, while you were praetor, had lived in dread of that chief of all land pirates, Apronius. And, that every one might easily see that Verres's object was, that that counterfeit might easily and cheerfully pretend to be what he was not, he enjoins the Centuripans to take case that he is supplied as comfortably and liberally as possible with food and with all things.

> Latin: 70. Panhormum quidem. igitur? quo putatis? homines a piratarum metu et suspicione alienissimos, a navigando rebusque maritimis remotissimos, ad Centuripinos, homines maxime mediterraneos, summos aratores, qui nomen numquam timuissent maritimi praedonis, unum te praetore horruissent Apronium, terrestrem archipiratam. ut quivis facile perspiceret id ab isto actum esse ut ille suppositus facile et libenter se illum qui non erat esse simularet, imperat Centuripinis ut is victu ceterisque rebus quam liberalissime commodissimeque adhiberetur.

[¶7] 71. In the meantime, the Syracusans, acute and humane men, who were capable not only of seeing what was evident, but also of conjecturing what was hidden, kept an account every day of the pirates who were put to death; how many there ought to be they calculated from the size of the vessel itself which had been taken, and from the number of oars. He, because he had removed and taken away all who had any skill in anything, or any beauty, suspected that there would be an outcry if he had all the pirates fastened to the stake at once, as is the usual custom, because so many more had been taken away than were left: although on this account he had determined to bring them out in different parties, at different times, still in the whole city there was no one who did not keep a strict account and list of them; and they did not only wish to see the rest, but they openly demanded and claimed it.

> Latin: 71. Syracusani, homines periti et humani, qui non modo ea quae perspicua essent videre verum etiam occulta suspicari possent, habebant rationem omnes cotidie piratarum qui securi ferirentur; quam multos esse oporteret, ex ipso navigio quod erat captum et ex remorum numero coniciebant., quod omnis qui artifici aliquid habuerant aut formae removerat atque abduxerat, reliquos si, ut consuetudo est, universos ad palum alligasset, clamorem populi fore suspicabatur, cum tanto plures abducti essent quam relicti; propter hanc causam cum instituisset alios alio tempore producere, tamen in tanto conventu nemo erat quin rationem numerumque haberet, et reliquos non desideraret solum sed etiam posceret et flagitaret.

[¶8] 72. As there was a great number wanting, that most infamous man began to substitute, in the room of those of the pirates whom he had taken into his own house, the Roman citizens whom he had previously thrown into prison; some of whom he accused of having been soldiers of Sertorius, and said that they had been driven on shore in Sicily, while flying from Spain; others, who had been taken by pirates, while they were engaged in commerce, or else sailing with some other object, he accused of having been with the pirates of their own free will: and therefore some Roman citizens, with their heads muffled up; that they might not be recognised, were taken from prison to the fatal stake and to execution; others, though they were recognised by many Roman citizens, and though all attempted to defend them, were put to death. But of their most shameful death did most cruel tortures I will speak when I begin to discuss this topic; and I will speak with such feelings, that, if in the course of that complaint which I shall make of that man's cruelty, and of the most scandalous execution of Roman citizens, not only my strength, but even my life should fail me, I should think it delightful and honourable.

> Latin: 72. magnus numerus deesset, tum iste homo nefarius in eorum locum quos domum suam de piratis abduxerat substituere et supponere coepit civis Romanos, quos in carcerem antea coniecerat; quorum alios Sertorianos milites fuisse insimulabat, et ex Hispania fugientis ad Siciliam adpulsos esse dicebat, alios, qui a praedonibus erant capti, cum mercaturas facerent aut aliquam ob causam navigarent, sua voluntate cum piratis fuisse arguebat. alii cives Romani, ne cognoscerentur, capitibus obvolutis e carcere ad palum atque ad necem rapiebantur, alii, cum a multis civibus Romanis cognoscerentur, ab omnibus defenderentur, securi feriebantur. ego de acerbissima morte crudelissimoque cruciatu dicam cum eum locum tractare coepero, et ita dicam ut, si me in ea querimonia quam sum habiturus de istius crudelitate et de civium Romanorum indignissima morte non modo vires verum etiam vita deficiat, id mihi praeclarum et iucundum putem.

[¶9] 73. These then are his exploits, this is his splendid victory; a piratical galley was captured, the captain was released, the musicians were sent to Rome; those with any good looks, any youth, or ally skill, were taken home by him; Roman citizens were tortured and executed in their room, and to make up their number; all the store of robes was taken away, all the silver and gold was taken by him and appropriated to his own use. But how did he defend himself at the former pleading? He who had been silent for so many days, on a sudden sprang up at the evidence of Marcus Annius, a most illustrious man, when he said that a Roman citizen had been executed, and that the captain of the pirates had not. Being roused by the consciousness of his wickedness, and by the frenzy which was inspired by his crimes, he said that, because be knew that he should be accused of having taken money, and of not having executed the real captain of the pirates, he had on that account not executed him, and he said that two captains of pirates were now in confinement in his house.

> Latin: 73. igitur est gesta res, haec victoria praeclara: myoparone piratico capto dux liberatus, symphoniaci Romam missi, formosi homines et adulescentes et artifices domum abducti, in eorum locum et ad eorum numerum cives Romani hostilem in modum cruciati et necati, omnis vestis ablata, omne aurum et argentum ablatum et aversum. quem ad modum ipse se induit priore actione! tot dies tacuisset, repente in M. Anni, hominis splendidissimi, testimonio,—cum is civem Romanum dixisset, archipiratam negasset securi esse percussum,—exsiluit conscientia sceleris et furore ex maleficiis concepto excitatus; dixit se, quod sciret sibi crimini datum iri pecuniam accepisse neque de vero archipirata sumpsisse supplicium, ideo se securi non percussisse; domi esse apud sese archipiratas dixit duos.

[¶10] 74. See the clemency, or rather the marvellous and unexampled patience of the Roman people! Annius, a Roman knight, says that a Roman citizen was put to death by the hand of the executioner. You say nothing. He says that the captain of the pirates was not executed. You admit it. At that a groan and outcry arises from all the assembly; though nevertheless the Roman people checked themselves, and forbore to inflict present punishment on you, and left you in safety for the present, being reserved for the severity of the judges. You, who knew that you should be accused, how did you know it? how came you ever to suspect it? You had no enemy. Even if you had, still you had not lived in such a way as to have any fear of a court of justice before yourselves. Did conscience, as often happens, make you timid and suspicious? Can you, then, who, when you were in command, were even then in fear of tribunals and accusations, now that you are on your trial as a criminal, and that the case is proved against you by so many witnesses, can you, I say, doubt of your condemnation?

> Latin: 74. O clementiam populi Romani seu potius patientiam miram ac singularem! Romanum securi esse percussum M. Annius, eques Romanus, dicit, taces: archipiratam negat, fateris. gemitus omnium et clamor, cum tamen a praesenti supplicio tuo continuit populus Romanus se et repressit et salutis suae rationem iudicum severitati reservavit.? sciebas tibi crimini datum iri? quam ob rem sciebas, quam ob rem etiam suspicabare? habebas neminem; si haberes, tamen non ita vixeras ut metum iudici propositum habere deberes. te, id quod fieri solet, conscientia timidum suspiciosumque faciebat? igitur, cum esses cum imperio, iam tum crimen et iudicium horrueris, cum tot testibus coarguare potes de damnatione dubitare?

[¶11] 75. But if you were afraid of this accusation,—that some one might say that you had substituted some one else, whom you had caused to be executed for the captain of the pirates, did you think that it would be a stronger argument in your defence, to produce among strangers a long time after, (because I required and compelled you to do so,) a man who you said was the captain of the pirates; or to execute him, while the affair was still of recent date, at Syracuse, among people who knew him well, in the sight of almost all Sicily? See how great a difference it makes which was done. In the one case there could have been no blame attached to you; in the other you have no defence. And accordingly, all men have always done the one thing; but I can find no one before you yourself, who has ever done the other. You detained the pirate alive. Till when? As long as you were in command. Why did you do so? On what account? According to what precedent? Why did you detain him so long? Why, I say, while the Roman citizens who were taken in the pirate's company were immediately put to death, did you give the pirates themselves so long a lease of life?

> Latin: 75. si crimen hoc metuebas, ne quis suppositum abs te esse diceret qui pro archipirata securi feriretur, utrum tandem tibi ad defensionem firmius fore putasti, in iudicio coactu atque efflagitatu meo producere ad ignotos tanto post eum quem archipiratam esse diceres, an recenti re, Syracusis, apud notos, inspectante Sicilia paene tota, securi ferire? quid intersit utrum faciendum fuerit: in illo reprehensio nulla esset, hic defensio nulla est. illud semper omnes fecerunt, hoc quis ante te, quis praeter te, fecerit quaero. vivum tenuisti. ad finem? cum imperio fuisti. ob causam, quo exemplo, cur tam diu? cur, inquam, civibus Romanis quos piratae ceperant securi statim percussis, ipsis piratis lucis usuram tam diuturnam dedisti?

[¶12] 76. However, so be it. Let your conduct be responsible all the time that you were praetor. Did you still, when you became a private man, and when you became defendant—yes, and when you were all but condemned,—did you still, I say, detain the captain of our enemies in your private house? One month, a second month, almost a year, in fact, after they were taken, were the pirates in your house; where they would be still, if it had not been for me, that is to say, if it had not been for Marcus Acilius Glabrio, the praetor, who, at my demand, ordered them to be brought up and to be committed to prison. What is the law in such a case? What is the general custom? What are the precedents? Can any private man in the whole world detain within the walls of his own house the most bitter and unceasing enemy of the Roman people or, I should rather say, the common enemy of every race and nation?

> Latin: 76. esto, sit tibi illud liberum omne tempus quoad cum imperio fuisti: etiamne privatus, etiamne reus, etiamne paene damnatus hostium duces privata in domo retinuisti? Vnum, alterum mensem, prope annum denique domi tuae piratae a quo tempore capti sunt, quoad per me licitum est, fuerunt, hoc est quoad per M’. Glabrionem licitum est, qui postulante me produci atque in carcerem condi imperavit. est huiusce rei ius, quae consuetudo, quod exemplum? acerrimum atque infestissimum populi Romani seu potius communem hostem gentium nationumque omnium quisquam omnium mortalium privatus intra moenia domi suae retinere poterit?

[¶13] 77. What more shall I say? What would you say, if the very day before you were compelled by me to confess that, though you had put Roman citizens to death, the pirate captain was alive and in your house—if, I say, the very day before, he had escaped from your house, and had been able to collect an army against the Roman people? Would you say, “He dwelt with me, he was in my house; in order the more easily to refute the accusations of my enemies, I reserved this man alive and in safety for my trial?” Is it so? Will you defend yourself from danger, at the risk of the whole community? Will you regulate the time of the punishments which are due to conquered enemies, by what is convenient for yourself, not by what is expedient for the Roman people? Shall an enemy of the Roman people be kept in private custody? But even those who have triumphs, and who on that account keep the generals of the enemy alive a longer time, in order that, while they are led in triumph, the Roman people may enjoy an ennobling spectacle, and a splendid fruit of victory; nevertheless, when they begin to turn their chariot from the forum towards the Capitol, order them to be taken back to prison, and the same day brings to the conquerors the end of their authority, and to the conquered the end of their lives.

> Latin: 77. ? si pridie quam a me tu coactus es confiteri civibus Romanis securi percussis praedonum ducem vivere, habitare apud te,—si, inquam, pridie domo tua profugisset, si aliquam manum contra rem publicam facere potuisset, quid diceres? “me habitavit, mecum fuit; ego illum ad iudicium meum, quo facilius crimen inimicorum diluere possem, vivum atque incolumem reservavi.” vero? tu tua pericula communi periculo defendes? tu supplicia quae debentur hostibus victis ad tuum, non ad rei publicae tempus conferes? populi Romani hostis privati hominis custodiis adservabitur? etiam qui triumphant eoque diutius vivos hostium duces reservant, ut his per triumphum ductis pulcherrimum spectaculum fructumque victoriae populus Romanus percipere possit, tamen cum de foro in Capitolium currus flectere incipiunt illos duci in carcerem iubent, idemque dies et victoribus imperi et victis vitae finem facit.

[¶14] 78. And now, can I suppose that any one doubts that you would never have allowed (especially as you made sure, as you say, that a prosecution would be instituted against you) that pirate to escape execution, and to live to increase your danger which was ever before your eyes? For indeed, suppose he had died, whom could you (who say that you were afraid of a prosecution) have convinced of it? When it was notorious that the captain of the pirates had been seen by no one at Syracuse, and that all desired to see him; when no one had any doubt that he had been released by you for a sum of money; when it was a common topic of conversation that some one had been substituted in his place, who you wished to make believe was the man; when you yourself had confessed that you had, for so long a time before, been afraid of that accusation; if you had said that he had died, who would have believed you?

> Latin: 78. nunc cuiquam credo esse dubium quin tu id commissurus non fueris,—praesertim cum statuisses, ut ais, tibi causam esse dicendam,—ut ille archipirata non potius securi feriretur quam, quod erat ante oculos positum, tuo periculo viveret! enim esset mortuus, tu, qui crimen ais te metuisse, quaero, cui probares? constaret istum Syracusis nullo visum esse archipiratam, ab omnibus desideratum, cum dubitaret nemo quin abs te pecunia liberatus esset, cum vulgo loquerentur suppositum in eius locum quem pro illo probare velles, cum tu te fassus esses id crimen tanto ante metuisse: si eum diceres esse mortuum, quis te audiret?

[¶15] 79. Now, when you produce this man of yours, whoever he may be, still you see that you are laughed at. What would you have done if he had escaped? if he had broken his bonds, as Nico, that most celebrated pirate did, who was afterwards retaken by Publius Servilius, with the same good fortune as he had originally taken him with; what would you have said then? But the case was this.—If once that real captain of the pirates was put to death, you would not get that money. If this counterfeit one had died or had escaped, it would not have been difficult to substitute another in the room of one who was himself only a substitute. I have said more than I intended of that pirate captain; and yet I have passed over those things which are the most certain proofs of this crime. For I wish the whole of this accusation to remain untouched for the present. There is a certain place for its discussion, a certain law to be mentioned in connection with it, a certain tribunal for whose judgment it is reserved.

> Latin: 79. cum vivum nescio quem istum producis, tamen te derideri vides.? si aufugisset, si vincla rupisset ita ut Nico, ille nobilissimus pirata, fecit, quem P. Servilius qua felicitate ceperat eadem recuperavit, quid diceres? hoc erat: si ille semel verus pirata securi percussus esset, pecuniam illam non haberes; si hic falsus esset mortuus aut profugisset, non esset difficile alium in suppositi locum supponere. dixi quam volui de illo archipirata, et tamen ea quae certissima sunt huius criminis argumenta praetermisi. enim esse totum mihi crimen hoc integrum: est certus locus, certa lex, certum tribunal quo hoc reservetur.

[¶16] 80. Though enriched with all this booty, with these slaves, with this silver plate, and these robes, he was still no more diligent than before in equipping the fleet, in recalling and provisioning the troops; though that would not only have tended to the safety of the province, but might have been even profitable to himself. For in the height of summer, when all other praetors have been accustomed to visit all the province, and to travel about, or to sail about,—at a time when there was such fear of and such danger from the pirates; at that time he was not content, for the purpose of his luxury and lust, with his own kingly palace which had belonged to king Hiero, and which the praetors are in the habit of using. He ordered, as I have stated already, tents, such as he was wont to use at the summer season, erected of fine linen curtains, to be pitched on the seashore; on that part of the shore which is within the island of Syracuse, behind the fountain of Arethusa; close to the entrance and mouth of the harbour, in a very pleasant situation, and one far enough removed from overlookers.

> Latin: 80. tanta praeda auctus, mancipiis argento veste locupletatus, nihilo diligentior ad classem ornandam milites revocandos alendosque esse coepit, cum ea res non solum provinciae saluti verum etiam ipsi praedae posset esse. aestate summa, quo tempore ceteri praetores obire provinciam et concursare consuerunt aut etiam in tanto praedonum metu et periculo ipsi navigare, eo tempore ad luxuriem libidinesque suas domo sua regia—quae regis Hieronis fuit, qua praetores uti solent —contentus non fuit; tabernacula, quem ad modum consuerat temporibus aestivis, quod antea demonstravi, carbaseis intenta velis conlocari iussit in litore, quod est litus in Insula Syracusis post Arethusae fontem propter ipsum introitum atque ostium portus amoeno sane et ab arbitris remoto loco.

[¶17] 81. Here the praetor of the Roman people, the guardian and defender of the province, lived for sixty days of the summer in such a style that he had banquets of women every day, while no man was admitted except himself and his youthful son. Although, indeed, I might have made no exception, but might have said that there was no man there at all, as there were only these two. Sometimes also his freedman Timarchides was admitted. But the women were all wives of citizens, of noble birth, except one the daughter of an actor named Isidorus, whom he, out of love, had seduced away from a Rhodian flute player. There was a woman called Pippa, the wife of Aeschrio the Syracusan, concerning which woman many verses, which were made on Verres's fondness for her, are quoted over all Sicily.

> Latin: 81. dies aestivos praetor populi Romani, custos defensorque provinciae, sic vixit ut muliebria cotidie convivia essent, vir accumberet nemo praeter ipsum et praetextatum filium—etsi recte sine exceptione dixeram virum, cum isti essent, neminem fuisse. numquam etiam libertus Timarchides adhibebatur, mulieres autem nuptae nobiles praeter unam mimi Isidori filiam, quam iste propter amorem ab Rhodio tibicine abduxerat. Pipa quaedam, uxor Aeschrionis Syracusani, de qua muliere plurimi versus qui in istius cupiditatem facti sunt tota Sicilia percelebrantur;

[¶18] 82. There was a woman too, called Nice, with a very beautiful face, as it is said, the wife of Cleomenes the Syracusan. Cleomenes, her husband, was greatly attached to her, but still he had neither the power nor the courage to oppose the lust of the praetor; and at the same time he was bound to him by many presents and many good offices. But at that time Verres, though you well know how great his impudence is, still could not, as her husband was at Syracuse, be quite easy in his mind at keeping her with him so many days on the seashore. Accordingly, he contrives a very singular plan. He gives the command of the fleet, which his lieutenant had had, to Cleomenes. He orders Cleomenes, a Syracusan, to command a fleet of the Roman people. He does this, in order that he might not only be absent from home all the time that he was at sea, but that he might be so willingly, being placed in a post of great honour and profit; and that he himself in the meantime, the husband being sent away to a distance, might have her with him,—I will not say more easily than before, for who ever opposed his lust? but with a rather more tranquil mind, as he had got rid of him, not as a husband but as a rival.—Cleomenes, a Syracusan, takes the command of a fleet of our allies and friends.

> Latin: 82. erat, facie eximia, ut praedicatur, uxor Cleomeni Syracusani. vir amabat, verum tamen huius libidini adversari nec poterat nec audebat, et simul ab isto donis beneficiisque multis devinciebatur. autem tempore iste, tametsi ea est hominis impudentia quam nostis, ipse tamen cum vir esset Syracusis, uxorem eius parum poterat animo soluto ac libero tot in acta dies secum habere. excogitat rem singularem; navis quibus legatus praefuerat Cleomeni tradit, classi populi Romani Cleomenem Syracusanum praeesse iubet atque imperare. eo facit ut ille non solum abesset a domo dum navigaret, sed etiam libenter cum magno honore beneficioque abesset, ipse autem remoto atque ablegato viro non liberius quam antea—quis enim umquam istius libidini obstitit?—sed paulo solutiore animo tamen secum illam haberet, si non tamquam virum sed tamquam aemulum removisset.

[¶19] 83. What topic of accusation or complaint shall I urge first, O judges? That the power, and honour, and authority of a lieutenant, of a quaestor, yes, even of a praetor, was given to a Sicilian? If you were so occupied with feasts and women as to be prevented from taking the command yourself, where were your quaestors? where were your lieutenants? where was the corn valued at three denarii? where were the mules? where were the tents? where were all the numerous and splendid badges of honour conferred and bestowed by the senate and people of Rome on their magistrates and lieutenants? Lastly, where were your prefects and tribunes? If there was no Roman citizen worthy of that employment, what had become of the cities which had always remained true to the alliance and friendship of the Roman people? What had become of the city of Segesta? of the city of Centuripa? which both by old services, by good faith, by antiquity of alliance, and even by relationship, are connected with the name of the Roman people.

> Latin: 83. navis sociorum atque amicorum Cleomenes Syracusanus. primum aut accusem aut querar? Siculone homini legati, quaestoris, praetoris denique potestatem, honorem, auctoritatem dari? te impediebat ista conviviorum mulierumque occupatio, ubi quaestores, ubi legati, ubi ternis denariis aestimatum frumentum, ubi muli, ubi tabernacula, ubi tot tantaque ornamenta magistratibus et legatis a senatu populoque Romano permissa et data, denique ubi praefecti, ubi tribuni tui? civis Romanus dignus isto negotio nemo fuit, quid civitates quae in amicitia fideque populi Romani perpetuo manserant? ubi Segestana, ubi Centuripina civitas? quae cum officiis fide vetustate, tum etiam cognatione populi Romani nomen attingunt.

[¶20] 84. O ye immortal gods! What shall we say, when Cleomenes, a Syracusan, is ordered to command the soldiers, and the ships, and the officers of these very cities? Has not Verres by such an action taken away all the honour due to worth, to justice, and to old services? Have we ever once waged war in Sicily, that we have not had the Centuripans for our friends, and the Syracusans for our enemies? And I am speaking now only by way of recollection of past time, not as meaning insult to that city. And therefore that most illustrious man and consummate general, Marcus Marcellus, by whose valour Syracuse was taken, by whose clemency it was preserved, forbade any Syracusan to dwell in that part of the city which is called the Island. To this day, I say, it is contrary to law for any Syracusan to dwell in that part of the city. For it is a place which even a very few men can defend. And therefore he would not entrust it to any but the most faithful men; and he had another reason too, because in that part of the city there is access to ships from the open sea. Therefore he did not think fit to entrust the keys of the place to those who had often excluded our armies.

> Latin: 84. O di immortales! quid? si harum ipsarum civitatum militibus, navibus, nauarchis Syracusanus Cleomenes iussus est imperare, non omnis honos ab isto dignitatis, aequitatis, officique sublatus est? in Sicilia bellum gessimus quin Centuripinis sociis, Syracusanis hostibus uteremur? haec ego ad memoriam vetustatis, non ad contumeliam civitatis referri volo. ille vir clarissimus summusque imperator, M. Marcellus, cuius virtute captae, misericordia conservatae sunt Syracusae, habitare in ea parte urbis quae in Insula est Syracusanum neminem voluit; hodie, inquam, Syracusanum in ea parte habitare non licet; est enim locus quem vel pauci possent defendere. igitur eum non fidelissimis hominibus noluit, simul quod ab illa parte urbis navibus aditus ex alto est; quam ob rem qui nostros exercitus saepe excluserant, iis claustra loci committenda non existimavit.

[¶21] 85. See now how great is the difference between your lust and the authority of our ancestors; between your love and frenzy, and their wisdom and prudence. They took away from the Syracusans all access to the shore; you have given them the command of the sea. They would not allow a Syracusans to dwell in that part of the city which ships could approach; you appointed a Syracusan to command the fleet and the ships. You gave those men a part of our sovereignty, from whom they took a part of their own city; and you ordered those allies of ours to be obedient to the Syracusans, to whose aid it is owing that the Syracusans are obedient to us.

> Latin: 85. quid intersit inter tuam libidinem maiorumque auctoritatem, inter amorem furoremque tuum et illorum consilium atque prudentiam. aditum litoris Syracusanis ademerunt, tu imperium maritimum concessisti; illi habitare in eo loco Syracusanum, qua naves accedere possent, noluerunt, tu classi et navibus Syracusanum praeesse voluisti; quibus illi urbis suae partem ademerunt, iis tu nostri imperi partem dedisti, et quorum sociorum opera Syracusani nobis dicto audientes sunt, eos Syracusano dicto audientis esse iussisti.

[¶22] 86. Cleomenes leaves the harbour in a Centuripan trireme. A Segestan vessel comes next; then a Tyndaritan ship; then one from Herbita, one from Heraclia, one from Apollonia, one from Haluntium; a fine fleet to look at, but helpless and useless because of the discharge of its fighting men, and of its rowers. That diligent praetor surveyed the fleet under his orders, as long as it was passing by his scene of profligate revelry. And he too, who for many days had not been seen, then for a short time afforded the sailors a sight of himself. The praetor of the Roman people stood in his slippers, clad in a purple cloak, and a tunic reaching down to his ankles, leaning on a prostitute on the shore. And since that time, many Sicilians and Roman citizens have often seen him in this very dress.

> Latin: 86. in Centuripina quadriremi Cleomenes e portu; sequitur Segestana navis, Tyndaritana, Herbitensis, Heracliensis, Apolloniensis, Haluntina, praeclara classis in speciem, sed inops et infirma propter dimissionem propugnatorum atque remigum. diu in imperio suo classem iste praetor diligens vidit quam diu convivium eius flagitiosissimum praetervecta est; ipse autem, qui visus multis diebus non esset, tum se tamen in conspectum nautis paulisper dedit. soleatus praetor populi Romani cum pallio purpureo tunicaque talari muliercula nixus in litore. hoc istum vestitu Siculi civesque Romani permulti saepe viderant.

[¶23] 87. After the fleet had proceeded a little way, and had arrived, after five days' sailing, at Pachynum, the sailors, being compelled by hunger, gather the roots of the wild palm, of which there was a great quantity in that neighbourhood, as there is in most parts of Sicily, and support themselves in a miserable and wretched way on these. But Cleomenes, who considered himself another Verres, not only in luxury and worthlessness, but in power also, spent, like him, all his days in drinking in a tent which he had pitched on the seashore. But all of a sudden, while Cleomenes was drunk, and all his crews famishing, news is brought that a fleet of pirates is in the harbour of Odyssea; for that is the name of the place. But our fleet was in the harbour of Pachynum. But Cleomenes, because there was a garrison of troops (in name, if not in reality) in that place, fancied that, with the soldiers he drew from thence, he might make up his proper complement of sailors and rowers. The same system was found to nave been put in practice by that most covetous man with respect to the troops, that had been adopted towards the fleet, for only a few remained, and the rest had been discharged.

> Latin: 87. paulum provecta classis est et Pachynum quinto die denique adpulsa, nautae coacti fame radices palmarum agrestium, quarum erat in illis locis, sicuti in magna parte Siciliae, multitudo, colligebant et iis miseri perditique alebantur; Cleomenes autem, qui alterum se Verrem cum luxurie ac nequitia tum etiam imperio putaret, similiter totos dies in litore tabernaculo posito perpotabat. autem repente ebrio Cleomene esurientibus ceteris nuntiatur piratarum esse navis in portu Odysseae; nam ita is locus nominatur; nostra autem classis erat in portu Pachyni. Cleomenes autem, quod erat terrestre praesidium non re sed nomine, speravit iis militibus quos ex eo loco deduxisset explere se numerum nautarum et remigum posse. est eadem istius hominis avarissimi ratio in praesidiis quae in classibus; nam erant perpauci reliqui, ceteri dimissi.

[¶24] 88. Cleomenes, as commander-in-chief, in a Centuripan quadrireme ordered the mast to be erected, the sails to be set, the anchor to be weighed, and made signal for the rest of the ships to follow him. This Centuripan vessel was an extraordinarily fast sailer; for, while Verres was praetor, no one had any opportunity of knowing what each ship could do with oars; although in order to do honour and to show favour to Cleomenes, there was a much smaller deficiency of rowers and soldiers in that quadrireme. The quadrireme, almost flying, had already got out of sight, while the other ships were still hard at work in their original station.

> Latin: 88. Cleomenes in quadriremi Centuripina malum erigi, vela fieri, praecidi ancoras imperavit, et simul ut se ceteri sequerentur signum dari iussit. Centuripina navis erat incredibili celeritate velis; nam scire isto praetore nemo poterat quid quaeque navis remis facere posset; etsi in hac quadriremi propter honorem et gratiam Cleomenis minime multi remiges et milites deerant. iam e conspectu fere fugiens quadriremis, cum etiam tum ceterae naves uno in loco moliebantur.

[¶25] 89. However those who were left behind displayed a good deal of courage. Although they were few in numbers, still they cried out, that whatever might be the event, they were willing to fight; and they preferred losing by the sword the little life and strength that hunger had left them. And if Cleomenes had not run away so long before, there would have been some means of making resistance, for that ship was the only one with a deck, and was large enough to have been a bulwark to the rest, and if it had been engaged in battle with the pirates, it would have looked like a city among those piratical galleys; but at that time the sailors being helpless, and deserted by their commander and prefect of the fleet, began of necessity to hold the same course that he had held.

> Latin: 89. animus in reliquis; quamquam erant pauci, quoquo modo res se habebat, pugnare tamen se velle clamabant, et quod reliquum vitae viriumque fames fecerat id ferro potissimum reddere volebant. Cleomenes non tanto ante fugisset, aliqua tamen ad resistendum ratio fuisset. enim sola illa navis constrata et ita magna ut propugnaculo ceteris posset esse, quae si in praedonum pugna versaretur, urbis instar habere inter illos piraticos myoparones videretur; sed tum inopes, relicti ab duce praefectoque classis, eundem necessario cursum tenere coeperunt.

[¶26] 90. Accordingly they all sailed towards Elorum, as Cleomenes had done; but they indeed were not so much flying from the attack of the pirates as following their commander. Then as each was last in flight, he was first in danger, for the pirates came upon the last ships first, and so the Haluntian vessel is taken first, which was commanded by an Haluntian of noble birth, Philarchus by name, whom the Locrians afterwards ransomed at the public expense from those pirates, and from whom, on his oath, you at the former pleading learnt the whole of the circumstances and their cause. The Apollonian vessel is taken next, and Anthropinus, its captain, is slain.

> Latin: 90. Helorum versus, ut ipse Cleomenes, ita ceteri navigabant, neque ii tam praedonum impetum fugiebant quam imperatorem sequebantur. ut quisque in fuga postremus, ita in periculo princeps erat; postremam enim quamque navem piratae primam adoriebantur. prima Haluntinorum navis capitur, cui praeerat Haluntinus homo nobilis,, quem ab illis praedonibus Locrenses postea publice redemerunt; ex quo vos priore actione iurato rem omnem causamque cognostis. Apolloniensis navis capitur, et eius praefectus Anthropinus occiditur.

[¶27] 91. While all this was going on, in the meantime Cleomenes had already arrived at Elorum, already he had hastened on land from the ship, and had left the quadrireme tossing about in the surf. The rest of the captains of ships, when the commander-in-chief had landed, as they had no possible means either of resisting or of escaping by sea, ran their ships ashore at Elorum, and followed Cleomenes. Then Heracleo, the captain of the pirates, being suddenly victorious, beyond all his hopes, not through any valour of his own, but owing to the avarice and worthlessness of Verres, as soon as evening came on, ordered a most beautiful fleet belonging to the Roman people, having been driven on shore and abandoned, to be set fire to and burnt.

> Latin: 91. dum aguntur, interea Cleomenes iam ad Helori litus pervenerat; iam sese in terram e navi eiecerat quadrirememque fluctuantem in salo reliquerat. praefecti navium, cum in terram imperator exisset, cum ipsi neque repugnare neque mari effugere ullo modo possent, adpulsis ad Helorum navibus Cleomenem persecuti sunt. praedonum dux Heracleo, repente praeter spem non sua virtute sed istius avaritia nequitiaque victor, classem pulcherrimam populi Romani in litus expulsam et eiectam, cum primum invesperasceret, inflammari incendique iussit.

[¶28] 92. O what a miserable and bitter time for the province of Sicily! O what an event, calamitous and fatal to many innocent people! O what unexampled worthlessness and infamy of that man! On one and the same night, the praetor was burning with the flame of the most disgraceful love, a fleet of the Roman people with the fire of pirates. It was a stormy night when the news of this terrible disaster was brought to Syracuse—men run to the praetor's house, to which his women had conducted him back a little while before from his splendid banquet, with songs and music. Cleomenes, although it was night, still does not dare to show himself in public. He shuts himself up in his house, but his wife was not there to console her husband in his misfortunes.

> Latin: 92. O tempus miserum atque acerbum provinciae Siciliae! casum illum multis innocentibus calamitosum atque funestum! o istius nequitiam ac turpitudinem singularem! Vna atque eadem nox erat qua praetor amoris turpissimi flamma, classis populi Romani praedonum incendio conflagrabat. nocte intempesta gravis huiusce mali nuntius Syracusas; curritur ad praetorium, quo istum ex illo praeclaro convivio reduxerant paulo ante mulieres cum cantu atque symphonia. Cleomenes, quamquam nox erat, tamen in publico esse non audet; includit se domi; neque aderat uxor, quae consolari hominem in malis posset.

[¶29] 93. But the discipline of this noble commander-in-chief was so strict in his own house, that though the event was so important, the news so serious, still no one could be admitted; no one dared either to wake him if asleep, or to address him if awake. But now, when the affair had become known to everybody, a vast multitude was collecting in every part of the city; for the arrival of the pirates was not given notice of, as had formerly been the custom, by a fire raised on a watchtower, or a hill, but both the disaster that had already been sustained, and the danger that was impending, were notified by the conflagration of the fleet itself. When the praetor was inquired for, and when it was plain that no one had told him the news, a rush of people towards his house takes place with great impetuosity and loud cries.

> Latin: 93. autem praeclari imperatoris ita erat severa domi disciplina ut in re tanta et tam gravi nuntio nemo admitteretur, nemo esset qui auderet aut dormientem excitare aut interpellare vigilantem. vero re ab omnibus cognita concursabat urbe tota maxima multitudo. enim, sicut erat antea semper consuetudo, praedonum adventum significabat ignis e specula sublatus aut tumulo, sed flamma ex ipso incendio navium et calamitatem acceptam et periculum reliquum nuntiabat. praetor quaereretur et constaret neminem ei nuntiasse, fit ad domum eius cum clamore concursus atque impetus.

[¶30] 94. Then, he himself, being roused, comes forth; he hears the whole news from Timarchides; he takes his military cloak. It was now nearly dawn. He comes forth into the middle of the crowd, bewildered with wine, and sleep, and debauchery. He is received by all with such a shout that it seemed to bring before his eyes a resemblance to the dangers of Lampsacus. But this present appeared greater than that, because, though both the mobs hated him equally, the numbers here were much greater. People began to talk to one another of his tent on the shore, of his flagitious banquets; the names of his women were called out by the crowd; men asked him openly where he had been, and what he had been doing for so many days together, during which no one had seen him. Then they demanded Cleomenes, who had been appointed commander-in-chief by him; and nothing was ever nearer happening than the transference of the precedent of Utica in the case of Hadrian to Syracuse; so that two graves of two most infamous governors would have been contained in two provinces. However, regard was had by the multitude to the time, regard was had to the impending danger, regard was had, too, to their common dignity and character, because the body of settlers of Roman citizens at Syracuse is such as to be considered the most dignified body, not only in that province, but even in this republic.

> Latin: 94. iste excitatus audit rem omnem ex Timarchide, sagum sumit,—lucebat iam fere,— procedit in medium vini somni stupri plenus. ab omnibus eius modi clamore ut ei Lampsaceni periculi similitudo versaretur ante oculos; hoc etiam maius hoc videbatur, quod in odio simili multitudo hominum haec erat maxima. istius acta commemorabatur, tum flagitiosa illa convivia, tum appellabantur a multitudine mulieres nominatim, tum quaerebant ex isto palam tot dies continuos per quos numquam visus esset ubi fuisset, quid egisset, tum imperator ab isto praepositus Cleomenes flagitabatur, neque quicquam propius est factum quam ut illud Vticense exemplum de Hadriano transferretur Syracusas, ut duo sepulchra duorum praetorum improborum duabus in provinciis constituerentur. habita est a multitudine ratio temporis, habita tumultus, habita etiam dignitatis existimationisque communis, quod is est conventus Syracusis civium Romanorum ut non modo illa provincia, verum etiam hac re publica dignissimus existimetur.

[¶31] 95. They all encourage one another, while he is still half asleep and stupefied; they take arms; they fill the whole forum and the island, which is a considerable portion of the whole city. The pirates having remained at Elorum that single night, left our ships still smoking, and began to sail to Syracuse; for as they, forsooth, had often heard that nothing could be finer than the fortifications and harbour of Syracuse, they had made up their minds that if they did not see them while Verres was praetor, they should never see them at all.

> Latin: 95. ipsi se, cum hic etiam tum semisomnus stuperet, arma capiunt, totum forum atque Insulam, quae est urbis magna pars, complent. Vnam illam noctem solam praedones ad Helorum commorati, cum fumantis etiam nostras navis reliquissent, accedere incipiunt Syracusas; qui videlicet saepe audissent nihil esse pulchrius quam Syracusarum moenia ac portus, statuerant se, si ea Verre praetore non vidissent, numquam esse visuros.

[¶32] 96. And first of all they came to those summer quarters of the praetor, landing at that very part of the shore where he, having pitched his tents, had set up his camp of luxury while all this was going on. But when they found the place empty, and understood that the praetor had removed his quarters from that place, they immediately, without any fear, began to penetrate to the harbour itself. When I say into the harbour, O judges, (for I must explain myself carefully for the sake of those who are unacquainted with the place,) I mean that the pirates came into the city, and into the most central parts of the city; for that town is not closed in by the harbour, but the harbour itself is surrounded and closed in by the town; so that it is not only the innermost walls that are washed by the sea, but the harbour, if I may so say, flows into the very bosom of the city.

> Latin: 96. primo ad illa aestiva praetoris accedunt, ipsam illam ad partem litoris ubi iste per eos dies tabernaculis positis castra luxuriae conlocarat. posteaquam inanem locum offenderunt et praetorem commosse ex eo loco castra senserunt, statim sine ullo metu in ipsum portum penetrare coeperunt. in portum dico, iudices,— explanandum est enim diligentius eorum causa qui locum ignorant,—in urbem dico atque in urbis intimam partem venisse piratas; non enim portu illud oppidum clauditur, sed urbe portus ipse cingitur et continetur, ut non adluantur mari moenia extrema, sed ipse influat in urbis sinum portus.

## 29. Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 97–128

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/29/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/29/#p-N

[¶0] 97. Here, while you were praetor, Heracleo, the captain of the pirates, with four small galleys, sailed about at his pleasure. O ye immortal gods! a piratical galley, while the representative of the Roman people, its name and its forces were all in Syracuse, came up to the very forum, and to all the quays of the city. Those most glorious fleets of the Carthaginians, when they were at the very height of their naval power, though they often made the attempt in many wars, were never able to advance so far. Even the naval glory of the Roman people, invincible as it was till your praetorship, in all the Punic and Sicilian wars never penetrated so far. The situation of the place is such that the Syracusans usually saw their enemies armed and victorious within their walls, in the city, and in the forum, before they saw any enemy's ship in their harbour.

> Latin: 97. te praetore Heracleo pirata cum quattuor myoparonibus parvis ad arbitrium suum navigavit. di immortales! piraticus myoparo, cum imperi populi Romani nomen ac fasces essent Syracusis, usque ad forum Syracusanorum et ad omnis crepidines urbis accessit, quo neque Carthaginiensium gloriosissimae classes, cum mari plurimum poterant, multis bellis saepe conatae umquam aspirare potuerunt, neque populi Romani invicta ante te praetorem gloria illa navalis umquam tot Punicis Siciliensibusque bellis penetrare potuit; qui locus eius modi est ut ante Syracusani in moenibus suis, in urbe, in foro hostem armatum ac victorem quam in portu ullam hostium navem viderint.

[¶1] 98. Here, while you were praetor, galleys of pirates sailed about, where previously the only fleet that had ever entered in the history of the world, was the Athenian fleet of three hundred ships, which forced its way in by its weight and its numbers; and that fleet was in that very harbour defeated and destroyed, owing to the natural character of the place and harbour. Here first was the power of that splendid city defeated, weakened, and impaired. In this harbour, shipwreck was made of the nobleness and dominion and glory of Athens. Did a pirate penetrate to that part of the city which he could not approach without leaving a great part of the city not only on his flanks but in his rear? He passed by the whole island, which is at Syracuse a very considerable part of the city, having its own distinct name, and separate walls; in which part, as I said before, our ancestors forbade any Syracusan to dwell, because they knew that the harbour would be in the power of whatever people were occupying that district of the city.

> Latin: 98. , te praetore, praedonum naviculae pervagatae sunt quo Atheniensium classis sola post hominum memoriam trecentis navibus vi ac multitudine invasit; quae in eo ipso portu loci ipsius portusque natura victa atque superata est. primum opes illius civitatis comminutae depressaeque sunt: in hoc portu Atheniensium nobilitatis, imperi, gloriae naufragium factum existimatur. Eone pirata penetravit quo simul atque adisset non modo a latere sed etiam a tergo magnam partem urbis relinqueret? Insulam totam praetervectus est, quae est urbs Syracusis suo nomine ac moenibus, quo in loco maiores, ut ante dixi, Syracusanum habitare vetuerunt, quod, qui illam partem urbis tenerent, in eorum potestatem portum futurum intellegebant.

[¶2] 99. And how did he wander through it? He threw down around him the roots of the wild palms which he had found in our ships, in order that all men might become acquainted with the dishonesty of Verres, and the disaster of Sicily. O that Sicilian soldiers, children of those cultivators of the soil whose fathers produced such crops of corn by their labour that they were able to supply the Roman people and the whole of Italy,—that they, born in the island of Ceres, where corn is said to have been first discovered, should have been driven to use such food as their ancestors, by the discovery of corn, had delivered all other nations from! While you were praetor the Sicilian soldiers were fed on the roots of wild palms, pirates on Sicilian corn.

> Latin: 99. quem ad modum est pervagatus! palmarum agrestium, quas in nostris navibus invenerant, iactabant, ut omnes istius improbitatem et calamitatem Siciliae possent cognoscere. Siculosne milites, aratorumne liberos, quorum patres tantum labore suo frumenti exarabant ut populo Romano totique Italiae suppeditare possent, eosne in insula Cereris natos, ubi primum fruges inventae esse dicuntur, eo cibo esse usos a quo maiores eorum ceteros quoque frugibus inventis removerunt! praetore Siculi milites palmarum stirpibus, piratae Siculo frumento alebantur!

[¶3] 100. O miserable and bitter spectacle! that the glory of the city and the name of the Roman people should be a laughingstock; that in the face of all that body of inhabitants and all that multitude of people, a pirate in a piratical galley should celebrate a triumph in the harbour of Syracuse over a fleet of the Roman people, while the oars of the pirates were actually besprinkling the eyes of that most worthless and cowardly praetor. After the pirates had left the harbour, not because of any alarm, but because they were weary of staying there, these men began to inquire the cause of so great a disaster. All began to say, and to argue openly, that it was by no means strange, that when the soldiers and the crews had been dismissed, and the rest had been destroyed by want and famine, while the praetor was spending all his time in drinking with his women, such a disgrace and calamity should have fallen upon them.

> Latin: 100. O spectaculum miserum atque acerbum! ludibrio esse urbis gloriam, populi Romani nomen, omnium hominum conventum atque multitudinem piratico myoparoni! in portu Syracusano de classe populi Romani triumphum agere piratam, cum praetoris inertissimi nequissimique oculos praedonum remi respergerent! e portu piratae non metu aliquo adfecti sed satietate exierunt, tum coeperunt quaerere homines causam illius tantae calamitatis. omnes et palam disputare minime esse mirandum si remigibus militibusque dimissis, reliquis egestate et fame perditis, praetore tot dies cum mulierculis perpotante, tanta ignominia et calamitas esset accepta.

[¶4] 101. And all the reproaches which they heaped upon him, all the infamy that they attributed to him, was confirmed by the statements of those men who had been appointed by their own cities to command their ships; the rest of whom had fled to Syracuse after the loss of the fleet. Each of them stated how many men they knew had been discharged out of their respective ships. The matter was clear, and his avarice was proved not only by arguments, but also by undeniable witnesses. The man is informed that nothing is done in the forum and in the assembly all that day, except putting questions to the naval captains how the fleet was lost. That they made answer, and informed every one that it was owing to the discharge of the rowers, the want of food of the rest, the cowardice and desertion of Cleomenes. And when he heard this, he began to form this design. He had long since made up his mind that a prosecution would be instituted against him, long before this happened, as you have heard him say himself at the former pleading. He saw that if those naval captains were produced as witnesses against him, he should not be able to stand against so serious an accusation. He forms at first a plan, foolish indeed, but still merciful.

> Latin: 101. autem istius vituperatio atque infamia confirmabatur eorum sermone qui a suis civitatibus illis navibus praepositi fuerant. ex illo numero reliqui Syracusas classe amissa refugerant dicebant quot ex sua quisque nave missos sciret esse. erat clara, neque solum argumentis sed etiam certis testibus istius audacia tenebatur. certior fit agi nihil in foro et conventu toto die nisi hoc, quaeri ex nauarchis quem ad modum classis sit amissa; illos respondere et docere unum quemque, missione remigum, fame reliquorum, Cleomenis timore et fuga. posteaquam iste cognovit, hanc rationem habere coepit. sibi dicendam esse statuerat iam antequam hoc usu venit, ita ut ipsum priore actione dicere audistis. illis nauarchis testibus tantum hoc crimen sustinere se nullo modo posse. capit primo stultum, verum tamen clemens.

[¶5] 102. He orders Cleomenes and the naval captains to be summoned before him. They come. He accuses them of having held this language about himself; he begs them to cease from holding it; and begs every one there to say that he had had in his ship as large a crew as he ought to have had, and that none had been discharged. They promise him to do whatever he wished. He does not delay. He immediately summons his friends. He then asks of all the captains separately how many sailors each had had on board his ship. Each of them answers as he had been enjoined to. He makes an entry of their answers in his journal. He seals it up, prudent man that he is, with the seals of his friends; in order forsooth, to use this evidence against this charge, if ever it should be necessary.

> Latin: 102. ad se vocari iubet; veniunt. eos quod eius modi de se sermones habuerint; rogat ut in sua quisque dicat navi se tantum habuisse nautarum quantum oportuerit, neque quemquam esse dimissum. enim vero se ostendunt quod vellet esse facturos. non procrastinat, advocat amicos statim; quaerit ex iis singillatim quot quisque nautas habuerit. unus quisque ut erat praeceptum. in tabulas refert; obsignat signis amicorum providens homo, ut contra hoc crimen, si quando opus esset, hac videlicet testificatione uteretur.

[¶6] 103. I imagine that senseless man must have been laughed at by his own counselors, and warned that these documents would do him no good; that if the charge were made, there would be even more suspicion owing to these extraordinary precautions of the praetor. He had already behaved with such folly in many cases, as even publicly to order whatever he pleased to be expunged out of, or entered in the records of different cities. All which things he now finds out are of no use to him, since he is convicted by documents, and witnesses, and authorities which are all undeniable. When he sees that their confession, and all the evidence which he has manufactured, and his journals, will be of no use to him, he then adopts the design, not of a worthless praetor, (for even that might have been endured,) but an inhuman and senseless tyrant. He determines, that if he wishes to palliate that accusation, (for he did not suppose that he could get rid of it altogether,) all the naval captains, the witnesses of his wickedness, must be put to death.

> Latin: 103. esse credo hominem amentem a suis consiliariis et admonitum hasce ei tabulas nihil profuturas, etiam plus ex nimia praetoris diligentia suspicionis in eo crimine futurum. iste erat hac stultitia multis in rebus usus ut publice quoque quae vellet in litteris civitatum tolli et referri iuberet; quae omnia nunc intellegit sibi nihil prodesse, posteaquam certis litteris testibus auctoritatibusque convincitur. Vbi hoc videt, illorum confessionem, testificationem suam, tabellas sibi nullo adiumento futuras, init consilium non improbi praetoris,—nam id quidem esset ferendum,—sed importuni atque amentis tyranni: statuit, si hoc crimen extenuari vellet,—nam omnino tolli posse non arbitrabatur,—nauarchos omnis, testis sui sceleris, vita esse privandos.

[¶7] 104. The next consideration was,—“What am I to do with Cleomenes? Can I put those men to death whom I placed under his command, and spare him whom I placed in command and authority over them? Can I punish those men who followed Cleomenes, and pardon Cleomenes who bade them fly with him, and follow him? Can I be severe to those men who had vessels not only devoid of crews, but devoid of decks, and be merciful to him who was the only man who had a decked ship, and whose ship, too, was not stripped bare like those of the others?” Cleomenes must die too. What signify his promises? what do the curses that he will heap on him? what do the pledges of friendship and mutual embraces? what does that comradeship in the service, of a woman on that most luxurious sea-shore signify? It was utterly impossible that Cleomenes could be spared. He summons Cleomenes.

> Latin: 104. illa ratio: “Cleomene fiet? poterone animum advertere in eos quos dicto audientis esse iussi, missum facere eum cui potestatem imperiumque permisi? poterone eos adficere supplicio qui Cleomenen secuti sunt, ignoscere Cleomeni qui secum fugere et se consequi iussit? poterone esse in eos vehemens qui navis non modo inanis habuerunt sed etiam apertas, in eum dissolutus qui solus habuerit constratam navem et minus exinanitam? Cleomenes una!” Vbi fides, ubi exsecrationes, ubi dexterae complexusque, ubi illud contubernium muliebris militiae in illo delicatissimo litore? nullo modo poterat quin Cleomeni parceretur.

[¶8] 105. He tells him that he has made up his mind to execute all the naval captains; that considerations of his own personal danger required such a step. “I will spare you alone, and I will endure the blame of all that disaster myself, and all possible reproaches for my inconsistency, rather than act cruelly to you on the one hand, or, on the other hand, leave so many and such important witnesses against me in safety and in life.” Cleomenes thanks him: approves of his intention; and says that that is what must be done. But he reminds him, of what he had forgotten, that it will not he possible for him to put Phalargus the Centuripan, one of the naval captains, to death, because he had been with him himself in the Centuripan quadrireme. What, then, is he to do? Shall that man, of such a city as that, a most noble youth, be left to be a witness? At present, says Cleomenes, for it must be so; but afterwards we will take care that it shall be put out of his power to injure us.

> Latin: 105. Cleomenen, dicit ei se statuisse animadvertere in omnis nauarchos; ita sui periculi rationes ferre ac postulare. “uni parcam et potius istius culpae crimen vituperationemque inconstantiae suscipiam quam aut in te sim crudelis aut tot tam gravis testis vivos incolumisque esse patiar.” gratias Cleomenes, adprobat consilium, dicit ita fieri oportere, admonet tamen illud, quod istum fugerat, in Phalacrum, Centuripinum nauarchum, non posse animadverti, propterea quod secum una fuisset in Centuripina quadriremi. ergo? iste homo ex eius modi civitate, adulescens nobilissimus, testis relinquetur? “praesentia,” inquit Cleomenes, “quoniam ita necesse est; sed post aliquid videbimus ne iste nobis obstare possit.”

[¶9] 106. After all this was settled and determined, Verres immediately advances from his praetorian house, inflamed with wickedness, frenzy, and cruelty. He comes into the forum. He orders the naval captains to be summoned. They immediately come with all speed, as men who were afraid of nothing, and suspected nothing. He orders those unhappy and innocent men to be loaded with chains. They began to invoke the good faith of the praetor, and to ask why he did so? Then he says that this is the reason,—because they had betrayed the fleet to the pirates. There is a great outcry, and great astonishment on the part of the people, that there should be so much impudence and audacity in the man as to attribute to others the origin of a calamity which had happened entirely owing to his own avarice; or to bring against others a charge of treason, when he himself was thought to be a partner of the pirates; and lastly, they marveled at this charge not being originated till fifteen days after the fleet had been lost.

> Latin: 106. posteaquam acta et constituta sunt, procedit iste repente e praetorio inflammatus scelere furore crudelitate; in forum venit, nauarchos vocari iubet. nihil metuerent, nihil suspicarentur, statim accurrunt. hominibus miseris innocentibus inici catenas imperat. illi fidem praetoris, et quare id faceret rogare. iste hoc causae dicit, quod classem praedonibus prodidissent. clamor et admiratio populi tantam esse in homine impudentiam atque audaciam ut aut aliis causam calamitatis attribueret quae omnis propter avaritiam ipsius accidisset, aut, cum ipse praedonum socius arbitraretur, aliis proditionis crimen inferret; deinde hoc quinto decimo die crimen esse natum postquam classis esset amissa.

[¶10] 107. While these things were happening, inquiry was made where Cleomenes was: not that any one thought him, such as he was, worthy of any punishment for that disaster; for what could Cleomenes have done, (for it is not in my nature to accuse any one falsely,)—what, I say, could Cleomenes have done of any consequence, when his ships had been dismantled by the avarice of Verres? And they see him sitting by the side of the praetor, and whispering familiarly in his ear, as he was accustomed to do. But then it did seem a most scandalous thing to every one, that most honourable men, chosen by their own cities, should be put in chains and in prison, but that Cleomenes, on account of his partnership with him in debauchery and infamy, should be the praetor's most familiar friend.

> Latin: 107. haec ita fierent, quaerebatur ubi esset Cleomenes, non quo illum ipsum, cuicuimodi est, quisquam supplicio propter illud incommodum dignum putaret; nam quid Cleomenes facere potuit?—non enim possum quemquam insimulare falso— quid, inquam, magno opere potuit Cleomenes facere istius avaritia navibus exinanitis? eum vident sedere ad latus praetoris et ad aurem familiariter, ut solitus erat, insusurrare. vero omnibus indignissimum visum est homines honestissimos, electos e suis civitatibus, in ferrum atque in vincla coniectos, Cleomenem propter flagitiorum ac turpitudinum societatem familiarissimum esse praetori.

[¶11] 108. However, an accuser is produced against them, a certain Naevius Turpio, who, when Caius Sacerdos was praetor, had been convicted of an assault; a very suitable tool for the audacity of Verres; a man whom he had frequently employed in matters connected with the tenths, in capital prosecutions, and in every sort of false accusation, as a scout and emissary. The parents and relations of these unfortunate young men came to Syracuse, being aroused by the sudden news of this misfortune. They see their children loaded with chains, bearing on their necks and shoulders the punishment due to the avarice of Verres. They come forward, they defend them, they raise an outcry; they implore your good faith which at no time and no place had ever any existence. The father of one came forward, Dexis the Tyndaritan; a man of the noblest family, connected by ties of hospitality with you yourself, at whose house you had been, whom you had called your friend. When you saw him, a man of such high rank in such distress could not his tears, could not his old age could not the claims of hospitality and the name of friend recall you back from your wickedness to some degree of humanity?

> Latin: 108. iis tamen accusator Naevius Turpio quidam, qui C. Sacerdote praetore iniuriarum damnatus est, homo bene adpositus ad istius audaciam, quem iste in decumis, in rebus capitalibus, in omni calumnia praecursorem habere solebat et emissarium. Syracusas parentes propinquique miserorum adulescentium hoc repentino calamitatis suae commoti nuntio; vinctos aspiciunt catenis liberos suos, cum istius avaritiae poenam collo et cervicibus suis sustinerent; adsunt, defendunt, proclamant, fidem tuam, quae nusquam erat neque umquam fuerat, implorant. aderat Dexo Tyndaritanus, homo nobilissimus, hospes tuus. tu domi fueras, quem hospitem appellaras, eum cum illa auctoritate miseria videres perditum, non te eius lacrimae, non senectus, non hospiti ius atque nomen a scelere aliquam ad partem humanitatis revocare potuit?

[¶12] 109. But why do I speak of the claims of hospitality with reference to so inhuman a monster? He who entered Sthenius of Thermae, his own connection, whose house, while received in it in hospitality, he had plundered and stripped, in the list of criminals in his defence, and who, without allowing him to make any defence, condemned him to death; are we now to expect the claims and duties of hospitality from him? Are we dealing with a cruel man or with a savage and inhuman monster? Could not the tears of a father for the danger of his innocent son move you? As you had left your father at home, and kept your son with you, did neither your son who was present remind you of the affection of children, nor your father who was absent call to your recollection the indulgence of a father?

> Latin: 109. quid ego hospiti iura in hac immani belua commemoro? Sthenium Thermitanum, hospitem suum, cuius domum per hospitium exhausit et exinanivit, absentem in reos rettulerit, causa indicta capite damnarit, ab eo nunc hospitiorum iura atque officia quaeramus? homine [enim ] crudeli nobis res est an cum fera atque immani belua? patris lacrimae de innocentis fili periculo non movebant; cum patrem domi reliquisses, filium tecum haberes, te neque praesens filius de liberum caritate neque absens pater de indulgentia patria commonebat?

[¶13] 110. Your friend Aristeus, the son of Dexion, was in chains. Why was this? He had betrayed the fleet. For what bribe? He had deserted the army. What had Cleomenes done? He had done nothing at all. Yet you had presented him with a golden crown for his valour. He had discharged the sailors. But you had received from them all the price of their discharge. Another father, from another district, was Eubulida of Herlita: a man of great reputation in his city, and of high birth; who, because he had injured Cleomenes in defending his son, had been left nearly destitute. But what was there which any one could say or allege in his defence? They are not allowed to name Cleomenes. But the cause compels them to do so. You shall die if you do name him, (for he never threatened any one with trifling punishment.) But there were no rowers. What! are you accusing the praetor? Break his neck. If one is not allowed to name either the praetor, or the rival of the praetor, when the whole case turns on the conduct of these two men, what is to be done?

> Latin: 110. habebat hospes tuus Aristeus, Dexonis filius. ita? “classem.” ob praemium? “.” Cleomenes? “fuerat.” eum tu ob virtutem corona ante donaras. “nautas.” ab omnibus tu mercedem missionis acceperas. parens ex altera parte erat Herbitensis Eubulida, homo domi suae clarus et nobilis; qui quia Cleomenem in defendendo filio laeserat, nudus paene est destitutus. erat autem quod quisquam diceret aut defenderet? “Cleomenem nominare non licet.” causa cogit. “, si appellaris”; numquam enim iste cuiquam est mediocriter minatus. remiges non erant. “tu accuses? frange cervices.” neque praetorem neque praetoris aemulum appellari licebit, cum in his duobus tota causa sit, quid futurum est?

[¶14] 111. Heraclius of Segesta also pleads his cause; a man of the very noblest descent in his own city. Listen, O judges, as your humanity requires of you, for you will hear of great cruelties and injuries inflicted on the allies. Know then that the case of Heraclius was this:—that on account of a severe complaint in his eyes he had not gone to sea at all; but by his order who had the command, he had remained in his quarters at Syracuse. He certainly never betrayed the fleet; he did not run away in a fright; he did not desert the army; if he had, he might have been punished when the fleet was setting out from Syracuse. But he was in just the same condition as if he had been detected in some manifest crime; though no charge at all could be brought against him, not ever so falsely.

> Latin: 111. etiam causam Heracleus Segestanus, homo domi suae nobilissimo loco natus., ut vestra humanitas postulat, iudices; audietis enim de magnis incommodis iniuriisque sociorum. scitote fuisse Heracleum in ea causa, qui propter gravem morbum oculorum tum non navigarit, et iussu eius qui potestatem habuit in commeatu Syracusis remanserit! certe neque classem prodidit neque metu perterritus fugit neque exercitum deseruit; etenim tum esset hoc animadvertendum cum classis Syracusis proficiscebatur. tamen in eadem causa fuit, quasi esset in aliquo manifesto scelere deprehensus, in quem ne falsi quidem causa conferri criminis potuit.

[¶15] 112. Among these naval captains was a citizen of Heraclia, of the name of Junius, (for they have some Latin names of that sort,) a man, as long as he lived, illustrious in his own city, and after his death celebrated over all Sicily. In that man there was courage enough, not only to attack Verres, for that indeed, as he saw that he was sure to die, he was aware that he could do without any danger; but when his death was settled, while his mother was sitting in his prison, night and day weeping, he wrote out the defence which his cause required; and now there is no one in all Sicily who is not in possession of that defence, who does not read it, who is not constantly reminded by that oration, of your wickedness and cruelty. In it he states how many sailors he received from his city; how many Verres discharged, and for how much he discharged each of them; how many he had left. He makes similar statements with respect to the other ships and when he uttered these statements before you, he was scourged on the eyes. But when death was staring him in the face, he could easily endure pain of body; he cried out, what he has left also in writing, “That it was an infamous thing that the tears of an unchaste woman on behalf of the safety of Cleomenes should have more influence with you, than those of his mother for his life.”

> Latin: 112. in illis nauarchis Heracliensis quidam Furius,—nam habent illi non nulla huiusce modi Latina nomina,—homo, quam diu vixit, non domi suae solum, post mortem tota Sicilia clarus et nobilis. quo homine tantum animi fuit non solum ut istum libere laederet,—nam id quidem, quoniam moriundum videbat, sine periculo se facere intellegebat,—verum morte proposita, cum lacrimans in carcere mater noctes diesque adsideret, defensionem causae suae scripsit; quam nunc nemo est in Sicilia quin habeat, quin legat, quin tui sceleris et crudelitatis ex illa oratione commonefiat. qua docet quot a civitate sua nautas acceperit, quot et quanti quemque dimiserit, quot secum habuerit; item de ceteris navibus dicit; quae cum apud te diceret, virgis oculi verberabantur. morte proposita facile dolorem corporis patiebatur; clamabat, id quod scriptum reliquit, facinus esse indignum plus impudicissimae mulieris apud te de Cleomenis salute quam de sua vita lacrimas matris valere.

[¶16] 113. Afterwards I see that this also is stated, which, if the Roman people has formed a correct estimate of your characters, O judges, he, at the very hour of death, truly prophesied of you,—“That it was not possible for Verres to efface his own crimes by murdering the witnesses; that he, in the shades below, should be a still more serious witness against him, in the opinion of sensible judges, than if he were produced alive in a court of justice; for that then, if he were alive he would only be a witness to prove his avarice; but now, when he had been, put to death, he should be a witness of his wickedness, and audacity, and cruelty.” What follows is very fine,—“That, when your cause came to be tried, it would not be only the bands of witnesses, but the punishments inflicted on the innocent, and the furies that haunt the wicked, that would attend your trial; that he thought his own misfortune the lighter, because he had seen before now the edge of your axes, and the countenance and hand of Sextus your executioner, when in an assembly of Roman citizens, Roman citizens were publicly executed by your command.”

> Latin: 113. etiam illud video esse dictum quod, si recte vos populus Romanus cognovit, non falso ille de vobis iam in morte ipsa praedicavit, non posse Verrem testis interficiendo testimonium exstinguere; graviorem apud sapientis iudices se fore ab inferis testem quam si vivus in iudicium produceretur; tum avaritiae solum, si viveret, nunc, cum ita esset necatus, sceleris audaciae crudelitatis testem fore. illa praeclara: non testium modo catervas, cum tua res ageretur, sed ab dis manibus innocentium Poenas sceleratorumque Furias in tuum iudicium esse venturas; sese ideo leviorem suum casum fingere, quod iam ante aciem securium tuarum Sextique, tui carnificis, vultum et manum vidisset, cum in conventu civium Romanorum iussu tuo securi cives Romani ferirentur.

[¶17] 114. Not to dwell too long on this, Junius used most freely that liberty which you have given the allies, even at the moment of bitter punishment, such as was only fit for slaves. He condemns them all, with the approval of his assessors. And yet, in so important an affair, in a cause in which so many men and so many citizens were concerned, he neither sent for Publius Vettius, his quaestor, to take his advice; nor for Publius Cervius, an admirable man, his lieutenant, who, because he had been lieutenant in Sicily, while he was praetor was the first man rejected by him as a judge; but he condemns them all in conformity with the opinion expressed by a lot of robbers, that is, by his own retinue.

> Latin: 114. multa, iudices, libertate quam vos sociis dedistis, hac ille in acerbissimo supplicio miserrimae servitutis abusus est. omnis de consili sententia; tamen neque iste in tanta re tot hominum T. Vettium ad se arcessit, quaestorem suum, cuius consilio uteretur, neque P. Cervium, talem virum, legatum, qui quia legatus isto praetore in Sicilia fuit primus ab isto iudex reiectus est, sed de latronum, hoc est de comitum suorum sententia condemnat omnis.

[¶18] 115. On this all the Sicilians, our most faithful and most ancient allies, who have had the greatest kindnesses conferred on them by our ancestors, were greatly agitated, and alarmed at their own danger, and at the peril of all their fortunes. That that noted clemency and mildness of our dominion should have been changed into such cruelty and inhumanity! That so many men should be condemned at one time for no crime! That that infamous praetor should seek for a defence for his own robberies by the most shameful murder of innocent men! Nothing, O judges, appears possible to be added to such wickedness, insanity, and barbarity—and it is true that nothing can; for if it be compared with the iniquity of other men it will greatly surpass it all.

> Latin: 115. cuncti Siculi, fidelissimi atque antiquissimi socii, plurimis adfecti beneficiis a maioribus nostris, graviter commoventur et de suis periculis fortunisque omnibus pertimescunt: indigne ferunt illam clementiam mansuetudinemque nostri imperi in tantam crudelitatem inhumanitatemque esse conversam, condemnari tot homines uno tempore nullo crimine, defensionem suorum furtorum praetorem improbum ex indignissima morte innocentium quaerere. addi iam videtur, iudices, ad hanc improbitatem amentiam crudelitatemque posse, et recte nihil videtur. si cum aliorum improbitate certet, longe omnis multumque superabit;

[¶19] 116. But he is his own rival; his object is always to outdo his last crime by some new wickedness. I had said that Phalargus the Centuripan was made an exception by Cleomenes, because he had sailed in his quadrireme. Still because that young man was alarmed, as he saw that his case was identical with that of those men who had been put to death, though perfectly innocent; Timarchides came to him, and tells him that he is in no danger at all of being put to death, but warns him to take care lest he should be sentenced to be scourged. To make my story short, you heard the young man himself say, that because of his fear of being scourged he paid money to Timarchides.

> Latin: 116. sed secum cum ipse certat, id agit ut semper superius suum facinus novo scelere vincat. Phalacrum Centuripinum dixeram exceptum esse a Cleomene, quod in eius quadriremi Cleomenes vectus esset; tamen, quia pertimuerat adulescens, quod eandem suam causam videbat esse quam illorum qui innocentes peribant, accedit ad hominem Timarchides; a securi negat esse ei periculum, virgis ne caederetur monet ut caveat. multa, ipsum dicere adulescentem audistis se ob hunc metum pecuniam Timarchidi numerasse.

[¶20] 117. These are but light crimes in such a criminal as this. A naval captain of a most noble city ransoms himself from the danger of being scourged with a bribe—it was a human weakness. Another gave money to save himself from being condemned—it is a common thing. The Roman people does not wish Verres to be prosecuted on obsolete accusations; it demands new charges against him; it requires something which it has not heard before; it thinks that it is not a praetor of Sicily, but some most cruel tyrant that is being brought before the court. The condemned men are consigned to prison. They are sentenced to execution. Even the wretched parents of the naval captains are punished; they are prevented from visiting their sons; they are prevented from supplying their down children with food and raiment.

> Latin: 117. sunt haec in hoc reo. virgarum nauarchus, homo nobilissimus nobilissimae civitatis, pretio redemit: humanum est. Alius ne condemnaretur pecuniam dedit: usitatum est. vult populus Romanus obsoletis criminibus accusari Verrem, nova postulat, inaudita desiderat; non de praetore Siciliae, sed de nefario tyranno fieri iudicium arbitratur. in carcerem condemnati; supplicium constituitur in illos, sumitur de miseris parentibus nauarchorum; prohibentur adire ad filios, prohibentur liberis suis cibum vestitumque ferre.

[¶21] 118. These very fathers, whom you see here, lay on the threshold, and the wretched mothers spent their nights at the door of the prison, denied the parting embrace of their children, though they prayed for nothing but to be allowed to receive their son's dying breath. The porter of the prison, the executioner of the praetor, was there; the death and terror of both allies and citizens; the lictor Sextius, to whom every groan and every agony of every one was a certain gain—“To visit him, you must give so much; to be allowed to take him food into the prison, so much.” No one refused. “What now, what will you give me to put your son to death at one blow of my axe? to save him from longer torture? to spare him repeated blows? to take care that he shall give up the ghost without any sense of pain or torture?” Even for this object money was given to the lictor.

> Latin: 118. hi quos videtis iacebant in limine, matresque miserae pernoctabant ad ostium carceris ab extremo conspectu liberum exclusae; quae nihil aliud orabant nisi ut filiorum suorum postremum spiritum ore excipere liceret. ianitor carceris, carnifex praetoris, mors terrorque sociorum et civium Romanorum, lictor Sextius, cui ex omni gemitu doloreque certa merces comparabatur. “Vt adeas, tantum dabis, ut cibum tibi intro ferre liceat, tantum.” recusabat. “? ut uno ictu securis adferam mortem filio tuo, quid dabis? ne diu crucietur, ne saepius feriatur, ne cum sensu doloris aliquo spiritus auferatur?” ob hanc causam pecunia lictori dabatur.

[¶22] 119. Oh great and intolerable agony! oh terrible and bitter ill-fortune! Parents were compelled to purchase, not the life of their children, but a swiftness of execution for them. And the young men themselves also negotiated with Sextius about the same execution, and about that one blow; and at last, children entreated their parents to give money to the lictor for the sake of shortening their sufferings. Many and terrible sufferings have been invented for parents and relations; many—still death is the last of all. It shall not be. Is there any further advance that cruelty can make? One stall be found—for, when their children have been executed and slain, their bodies shall be exposed to wild beasts. If this is a miserable thing for a parent to endure, let him pay money for leave to bury him.

> Latin: 119. O magnum atque intolerandum dolorem! o gravem acerbamque fortunam! vitam liberum, sed mortis celeritatem pretio redimere cogebantur parentes. ipsi etiam adulescentes cum Sextio suo de plaga et de uno illo ictu loquebantur, idque postremum parentis suos liberi orabant, ut levandi cruciatus sui causa lictori pecunia daretur. et graves dolores inventi parentibus et propinquis, multi; verum tamen mors sit extremum. erit. aliquid ultra quo crudelitas progredi possit?; nam illorum, cum erunt securi percussi ac necati, corpora feris obicientur. si luctuosum est parentibus, redimant pretio sepeliendi potestatem.

[¶23] 120. You heard Onasus the Segestan, a man of noble birth, say that he had paid money to Timarchides for leave to bury the naval captain, Heraclius. And this (that you may not be able to say, “Yes, the fathers come, angry at the loss of their sons,”) is stated by a man of the highest consideration, a man of the noblest birth; and he does not state it with respect to any son of his own. And as to this, who was there at Syracuse at that time, who did not hear, and who does not know that these bargains for permission to bury were made with Timarchides by the living relations of those who had been put to death? Did they not speak openly with Timarchides? Were not all the relations of all the men present? Were not the funerals of living men openly bargained for? And then, when all those matters were settled and arranged, the men are brought out of prison and tied to the stake.

> Latin: 120. Onasum Segestanum, hominem nobilem, dicere audistis se ob sepulturam Heraclei nauarchi pecuniam Timarchidi numerasse; ne hoc possis dicere, “enim veniunt amissis filiis irati,” vir primarius, homo nobilissimus, dicit, neque de filio dicit. hoc quis tum fuit Syracusis quin audierit, quin sciat, has Timarchidi pactiones sepulturae cum vivis etiam illis esse factas? palam cum Timarchide loquebantur, non omnes omnium propinqui adhibebantur, non palam vivorum funera locabantur? omnibus rebus actis atque decisis producuntur e carcere, deligantur.

[¶24] 121. Who at that time was so cruel and hard-hearted, who was so inhuman, except you alone, as not to be moved by their youth, their high birth, and their misfortunes? Who was there who did not weep? who did not feel their calamity, as if he thought that it weep; not the fortune of others alone, but the common safety of all that was at stake? They are executed. You rejoice and triumph at the universal misery; you are delighted that the witnesses of your avarice are put out of the way: you were mistaken, O Verres, you were greatly mistaken, when you thought that you could wash out the stains of your thefts and iniquities in the blood of our innocent allies. You were borne on headlong in your frenzy, when you thought that you could heal the wounds of your avarice by applying remedies of inhumanity. In truth, although those who were the witnesses of your wickedness are dead, yet their relations are wanting neither to you nor to them; yet, out of this very body of naval captains some are alive, and are present here; whom, as it seems to me, fortune saved out of that punishment of innocent men.

> Latin: 121. tam fuit illo tempore ferreus, quis tam inhumanus praeter unum te, qui non illorum aetate nobilitate miseria commoveretur? fuit quin lacrimaret, quin ita calamitatem illam putaret illorum ut fortunam tamen non alienam, periculum autem commune arbitraretur? securi. tu in omnium gemitu et triumphas; testis avaritiae tuae gaudes esse sublatos., Verres, et vehementer errabas, cum te maculas furtorum et flagitiorum tuorum sociorum innocentium sanguine eluere arbitrabare; praeceps amentia ferebare, qui te existimares avaritiae vulnera crudelitatis remediis posse sanare. quamquam illi sunt mortui sceleris tui testes, tamen eorum propinqui neque tibi neque illis desunt, tamen ex ipso illo numero nauarchorum aliqui vivunt et adsunt, quos, ut mihi videtur, ad illorum innocentium poenas fortuna et ad hanc causam reservavit.

[¶25] 122. For this trial Philarchus the Haluntian is present, who, because be did not flee with Cleomenes, was overwhelmed by the pirates, and taken prisoner; whose misfortune was his safety, who, if he had not been taken prisoner by the pirates, would have fallen into to power of this partner of pirates. He will give his evidence, concerning the discharge of the sailors, the want of provisions, and the flight of Cleomenes. Phalargus the Centuripan is present, born in a most honourable city, and in a most honourable rank. He tells you the same thing; he differs from the other in no particular.

> Latin: 122. Haluntinus, qui quia cum Cleomene non fugit, oppressus a praedonibus et captus est; cui calamitas saluti fuit, qui nisi captus a piratis esset in hunc praedonem sociorum incidisset. is pro testimonio de missione nautarum, de fame, de Cleomenis fuga. Centuripinus Phalacrus in amplissima civitate amplissimo loco natus; eadem dicit, nulla in re discrepat.

[¶26] 123. In the name of the immortal gods, O judges, with what feelings are you sitting them? or with what feelings are you hearing these things? Am I out of my mind, and now I grieving more than I ought amid such disasters and distresses of our allies? or does this most bitter torture and agony of innocent man affect you also with an equal sense of pain? For when I say that a Herbitan, that a Heraclean was put to death, I see before my eyes all the indignity of that misfortune. That the citizens of those states, that the population of those lands, by whom and by whose care and labour an immense quantity of corn is procured every year for the Roman people, who were brought up and educated by their parents in the hope of our paternal rule, and of justice, should have been reserved for the nefarious inhumanity of Caius Verres, and for his fatal axe!

> Latin: 123. deos immortalis! quo tandem animo sedetis, iudices, aut haec quem ad modum auditis? Vtrum ego desipio et plus quam satis est doleo tanta calamitate miseriaque sociorum, an vos quoque hic acerbissimus innocentium cruciatus et maeror pari sensu doloris adficit? enim cum Herbitensem, cum Heracliensem securi percussum esse dico, versatur mihi ante oculos indignitas calamitatis. Eorumne populorum civis, eorum agrorum alumnos, ex quibus maxima vis frumenti quotannis plebi Romanae illorum operis ac laboribus quaeritur, qui a parentibus spe nostri imperi nostraeque aequitatis suscepti educatique sunt, ad C. Verris nefariam immanitatem et ad eius funestam securem esse servatos?

[¶27] 124. When the thought of that unhappy Tyndaritan, and of that Segestan, comes across me, then I consider at the same time the rights of the cities, and their duties. Those cities which Publius Africanus thought fit to be adorned with the spoils of the enemy, those Caius Verres has stripped, not only of those ornaments, but even of their noblest citizens, by the most abominable wickedness. See what the people of Tyndaris will willingly state. “We were not among the seventeen tribes of Sicily. We, in all the Punic and Sicilian wars, always adhered to the friendship and alliance of the Roman people; all possible aid in war, all attention and service in peace, has been at all times rendered by us to the Roman people.” Much, however, did their rights avail them, under that man's authority and government!

> Latin: 124. mihi Tyndaritani illius venit in mentem, cum Segestani, tum iura simul civitatum atque officia considero. urbis P. Africanus etiam ornandas esse spoliis hostium arbitratus est, eas C. Verres non solum illis ornamentis sed etiam viris nobilissimis nefario scelere privavit. quod Tyndaritani libenter praedicent: “in septemdecim populis Siciliae numeramur, nos semper omnibus Punicis Siciliensibusque bellis amicitiam fidemque populi Romani secuti sumus, a nobis omnia populo Romano semper et belli adiumenta et pacis ornamenta ministrata sunt.” vero haec iis iura profuerunt in istius imperio ac potestate!

[¶28] 125. Scipio once led your sailors against Carthage; but now Cleomenes leads ships that are almost dismantled against pirates. “Africanus,” says he, “shared with you the spoils of the enemy, and the reward of glory; but now, you, having been plundered by me, having had your vessel taken away by the pirates, are considered in the number and class of enemies.” What more shall I say? what advantages did that relationship of the Segestans to us, not only stated in old papers, and commemorated by words, but adopted and proved by many good offices of theirs towards us, bring to them under the government of that man? Just this much, O judges, that a young man of the highest rank was torn from his father's bosom, an innocent son from his mother's embrace, and given to that man's executioner, Sextius. That city to which our ancestors gave most extensive and valuable lands, which they exempted from tribute; the city, with all the weight of its relationship to us, of its loyalty, and of its ancient alliance with us, could not obtain even this privilege, of being allowed to avert by its prayers the death and execution of one most honourable and most innocent citizen.

> Latin: 125. quondam nautas contra Carthaginem Scipio duxit, at nunc navem contra praedones paene inanem Cleomenes ducit; vobiscum Africanus hostium spolia et praemia laudis communicavit, at nunc, per Verrem spoliati, nave a praedonibus abducta, ipsi in hostium loco numeroque ducimini. vero? illa Segestanorum non solum litteris tradita neque commemorata verbis, sed multis officiis illorum usurpata et comprobata cognatio quos tandem fructus huiusce necessitudinis in istius imperio tulit? hoc iure fuit, iudices, ut ex sinu patriae nobilissimus adulescens istius carnifici Sextio dederetur. civitati maiores nostri maximos agros atque optimos concesserunt, quam immunem esse voluerunt, haec apud te cognationis fidelitatis vetustatis auctoritatis ne hoc quidem iuris obtinuit, ut unius honestissimi atque innocentissimi civis mortem ac sanguinem deprecaretur.

[¶29] 126. Whither shall the allies flee for refuge? Whose help shall they implore? by what hope shall they still be retained in the desire to live, if you abandon them? Shall they come to the senate and beg them to punish Verres? That is not a usual course; it is not in accordance with the duty of the senate. Shall they betake themselves to the Roman people? The people will easily find all excuse; for they will say that they have established a law for the sake of the allies, and that they have appointed you as guardians and vindicators of that law. This then is the only place to which they can flee; this is the harbour, this is the citadel, this is the altar of the allies; to which indeed they do not at present betake themselves with the same views as they formerly used to entertain in seeking to recover their property. They are not seeking to recover silver, nor gold, nor robes, nor slaves, nor ornaments which have been carried off from their cities and their temples;—they fear, like ignorant men, that the Roman people now allows such things and permits them to be done. For we have now for many years been suffering; and we are silent when we see that all the money of all the nations has come into the hands of a few men; which we seem to tolerate and to permit with the more equanimity, because none of these robbers conceals what he is doing; none of them take the least trouble to keep their covetousness in any obscurity.

> Latin: 126. confugient socii? quem implorabunt? qua spe denique, ut vivere velint, tenebuntur, si vos eos deseretis? senatumne venient?? ut de Verre supplicium sumat? est usitatum, non senatorium. populum Romanum confugient? est populi causa; legem enim se sociorum causa iussisse et eius legis custodes ac vindices praeposuisse dicet. locus igitur est unus quo perfugiant, hic portus, haec arx, haec ara sociorum; quo quidem nunc non ita confugiunt ut antea in suis repetundis rebus solebant. argentum, non aurum, non vestem, non mancipia repetunt, non ornamenta quae ex urbibus fanisque erepta sunt; metuunt homines imperiti ne iam haec populus Romanus concedat et ita velit fieri. enim multos iam annos et silemus, cum videamus ad paucos homines omnis omnium nationum pecunias pervenisse. eo magis ferre animo aequo et concedere videmur, quia nemo istorum dissimulat, nemo laborat ut obscura sua cupiditas esse videatur.

[¶30] 127. In our most beautiful and highly decorated city what statue, or what painting is there, which has not been taken and brought away from conquered enemies? But the villas of those men are adorned and filled with numerous and most beautiful spoils of our most faithful allies. Where do you think is the wealth of foreign nations, which they are all now deprived of, when you see Athens, Pergamos, Cyzicus, Miletus, Chios, Samos, all Asia in short, and Achaia, and Greece, and Sicily, now all contained in a few villas? But all these things, as I was saying, your allies abandon and are indifferent to now. They took care by their own services and loyalty not to be deprived of their property by the public authority of the Roman people; though they were unable to resist the covetousness of a few individuals, yet they could in some degree satiate it; but now not only as all their power of resisting taken away, but also all their means also of supplying such demands. Therefore they do not care about their property; they do not seek to recover their money, though that is nominally the subject of this prosecution; that they abandon and are indifferent to;—in this dress in which you see them they now fly to you.

> Latin: 127. urbe nostra pulcherrima atque ornatissima quod signum, quae tabula picta est quae non ab hostibus victis capta atque deportata sit? at istorum villae sociorum fidelissimorum plurimis et pulcherrimis spoliis ornatae refertaeque sunt. Vbi pecunias exterarum nationum esse arbitramini, quae nunc omnes egent, cum Athenas, Pergamum, Cyzicum, Miletum, Chium, Samum. totam denique Asiam, Achaiam, Graeciam, Siciliam tam in paucis villis inclusas esse videatis? haec, ut dico, omnia iam socii vestri relinquunt et neglegunt, iudices. publice a populo Romano spoliarentur officiis ac fide providerunt; paucorum cupiditati tum, cum obsistere non poterant, tamen sufficere aliquo modo poterant; nunc vero iam adempta est non modo resistendi verum etiam suppeditandi facultas. res suas neglegunt; pecunias, quo nomine iudicium hoc appellatur, non repetunt, relinquunt; hoc iam ornatu ad vos confugiunt.

[¶31] 128. Behold, behold, O judges, the miserable and squalid condition of our allies. Sthenius, the Thermitan, whom you see here, with this uncombed hair and mourning robe, though his whole house has been stripped of everything, makes no mention of your robberies, O Verres; he claims to recover his own safety from you, nothing more. For you, by your lust and wickedness, have removed him entirely from his country, in which he flourished as a leading man, illustrious for his many virtues and distinguished services. This man Dexio, whom you see now present, demands of you, not the public treasures of which you stripped Tyndaris, nor the wealth of which you robbed him as a private individual, but, wretched that he is, he demands of you his most virtuous, his most innocent, his only son. He does not want to carry back home a sum of money obtained from you as damages, but he seeks out of your calamity some consolation for the ashes and bones of his son. This other man here, the aged Eubulida, has not, at the close of life, undertaken such fatigue and so long a journey, to recover any of his property, but to see you condemned with the same eyes that beheld the bleeding neck of his own son.

> Latin: 128. , aspicite, iudices, squalorem sordisque sociorum! Sthenius hic Thermitanus cum hoc capillo atque veste, domo sua tota expilata, mentionem tuorum furtorum non facit; sese ipsum abs te repetit, nihil amplius; totum enim tua libidine et scelere ex sua patria, in qua multis virtutibus ac beneficiis princeps fuit, sustulisti. Dexo hic, quem videtis, non quae publice Tyndaride, non quae privatim sibi eripuisti, sed unicum miser abs te filium optimum atque innocentissimum flagitat; non ex litibus aestimatis tuis pecuniam domum, sed ex tua calamitate cineri atque ossibus fili sui solacium vult aliquod reportare. tam grandis natu Eubulida hoc tantum exacta aetate laboris itinerisque suscepit, non ut aliquid de suis bonis recuperaret, sed ut, quibus oculis cruentas cervices fili sui viderat, isdem te condemnatum videret.

## 30. Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 129–160

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/30/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/30/#p-N

[¶0] 129. If it had not been for Lucius Metellus, O judges, the mothers of those men, their wives and sisters, were on their way hither; and one of them, when I arrived at Heraclea late at night, came to meet me with all the matrons of that city, and with many torches; and so, styling me her saviour, calling you her executioner, uttering in an imploring manner the name of her son, she fell down, wretched as she was, at my feet, as if I were able to raise her son from the shades below. In the other cities also the aged mothers, and even the little children of those miserable men did the same thing; while the helpless age of each class appeared especially to stand in need of my labour and diligence, of your good faith and pity.

> Latin: 129. per L. Metellum licitum esset, iudices, matres illorum miserorum sororesque veniebant; quarum una, cum ego ad Heracleam noctu accederem, cum omnibus matronis eius civitatis et cum multis facibus mihi obviam venit, et ita,—me suam salutem appellans, te suum carnificem nominans, fili nomen implorans, —mihi ad pedes misera iacuit quasi ego eius excitare ab inferis filium possem. hoc itidem ceteris in civitatibus grandes natu matres et item parvi liberi miserorum; quorum utrumque aetas laborem et industriam meam, fidem et misericordiam vestram requirebat.

[¶1] 130. Therefore, O judges, this complaint was brought to me by Sicily most especially and beyond all other complaints. I have undertaken this task, induced by the tears of others, not by any desire of my own for glory; in order that false condemnation, and imprisonment, and chains, and axes, and the torture of our allies, and the execution of innocent men, and last of all, that the bodies of the lifeless dead, and the agony of living parents and relations, may not he a source of profit to our magistrates. If, by that man's condemnation obtained through your good faith and strict justice, O judges, I remove this fear from Sicily, I shall think enough has been done in discharge of my duty, and enough to satisfy their wishes who have entreated this assistance from me.

> Latin: 130. ad me, iudices, hanc querimoniam praeter ceteras Sicilia detulit; lacrimis ego huc, non gloria inductus accessi, ne falsa damnatio, ne carcer, ne catenae, ne verbera, ne secures, ne cruciatus sociorum, ne sanguis innocentium, ne denique etiam exsanguia corpora mortuorum, ne maeror parentum ac propinquorum magistratibus nostris quaestui posset esse. ego si metum Siciliae damnatione istius per vestram fidem et veritatem deiecero, iudices, satis officio meo, satis illorum voluntati qui a me hoc petiverunt factum esse arbitrabor.

[¶2] 131. Wherefore, if by any chance you find one who attempts to defend him from this accusation in the matter of the fleet, let him defend him thus; let him leave out those common topics which have nothing to do with the business—that I am attributing to him blame which belongs to fortune; that I am imputing to him disaster as a crime; that I am accusing him of the loss of a fleet, when, in the uncertain risks of war which are common to both sides, many gallant men have often met with disasters both by land and sea. I am imputing to you nothing in which fortune was concerned; you have no pretext for bringing up the disasters of others; you have nothing to do with collecting instances of the misfortunes of many others. I say the ships were dismantled; I say the rowers and sailors were discharged; I say the rest had been living on the roots of wild palms; that a Sicilian was appointed to command a fleet of the Roman people; a Syracusan to command our allies and friends; I say that, all that time, and for many preceding days, you were spending your time in drunken revels on the sea-shore with your concubines; and I produce my informants and witnesses, who prove all these charges.

> Latin: 131. si quem forte inveneris qui hoc navale crimen conetur defendere, is ita defendat ut illa communia quae ad causam nihil pertinent praetermittat, me culpae fortunam adsignare, calamitatem crimini dare, me amissionem classis obicere, cum multi viri fortes in communi incertoque periculo belli et terra et mari saepe offenderint. tibi obicio fortunam, nihil est quod ceterorum res minus commode gestas proferas, nihil est quod multorum naufragia fortunae colligas. navis inanis fuisse dico, remiges nautasque dimissos, reliquos stirpibus vixisse palmarum; praefuisse classi populi Romani Siculum, perpetuo sociis atque amicis Syracusanum; te illo tempore ipso superioribusque diebus omnibus in litore cum mulierculis perpotasse dico; harum rerum omnium auctores testisque produco.

[¶3] 132. Do I seem to be insulting you in your calamity; to be cutting you off from your legitimate excuse of blaming fortune? Do I appear to be attacking and reproaching you for the ordinary chances of war? Although the men who are indeed accustomed to object to the results of fortune being made a charge against them, are those who have committed themselves to her, and have encountered her perils and vicissitudes. But in that disaster of yours, fortune had no share at all. For men are accustomed to try the fortune of war, and to encounter danger in battles, not in banquets. But in that disaster of yours we cannot say that Mars had any share; we may say that Venus had. But if it is not right that the disasters of fortune should be imputed to you, why did you not allow her some weight in furnishing excuses and defence for those innocent men?

> Latin: 132. tibi insultare in calamitate, num intercludere perfugia Martem illorum fortunae, num casus bellicos exprobrare aut obicere videor? solent ii fortunam sibi obici nolle qui se fortunae commiserunt, qui in eius periculis sunt ac varietate versati. quidem calamitatis tuae fortuna particeps non fuit. enim in proeliis, non in conviviis belli fortunam periclitari solent; in illa autem calamitate non fuisse communem, sed possumus dicere. fortunam tibi obici non oportet, cur tu fortunae innocentium veniam ac locum non dedisti?

[¶4] 133. You must also deprive yourself of the argument, that you are now accused and held up to odium by me, for having punished and executed men according to the custom of our ancestors by accusation does not turn on any one's punishment. I do not say that no one ought to have been put to death; I do not say that all fear is to be removed from military service, severity from command, or punishment from guilt. I confess that there are many precedents for severe and terrible punishments inflicted not only on our allies, but even on our citizens and soldiers. You may therefore omit all such topics as these. I prove that the fault was not in the naval captains, but in you. I accuse you of having discharged the soldiers and rowers for a bribe. The rest of the naval captains say the came. The confederate city of the Netians bears public testimony to the truth of this charge. The cities of Herbita, of Amestras, of Enna, of Agyrium, of Tyndaris, and the Ionians, all give their public testimony to the same effect. Last of all, your own witness, your own commander, your own host, Cleomenes, says this,—that he had landed on the coast in order to collect soldiers from Pachynum, where there was a garrison of troops, in order to put them on board the fleet; which he certainly would not have done if the ships had had their complement. For the system of ships when fully equipped and fully manned is such that you have no room, I will not say for many more, but for even one single man more.

> Latin: 133. illud praecidas licet, te, quod supplicium more maiorum sumpseris securique percusseris, idcirco a me in crimen et in invidiam vocari. in supplicio crimen meum vertitur; non ego nego securi quemquam feriri debere, non ego metum ex re militari, non severitatem imperi, non poenam flagiti tolli dico oportere; fateor non modo in socios sed etiam in civis militesque nostros persaepe esse severe ac vehementer vindicatum. haec quoque praetermittas licet. culpam non in nauarchis sed in te fuisse demonstro, te pretio remiges militesque dimisisse arguo. nauarchi reliqui dicunt, hoc Netinorum foederata civitas publice dicit, hoc Amestratini, hoc Herbitenses, hoc Hennenses, Agyrinenses, Tyndaritani publice dicunt, tuus denique testis, tuus imperator, tuus aemulus, tuus hospes Cleomenes hoc dicit, sese in terram esse egressum ut Pachyno e terrestri praesidio milites colligeret, quos in navibus conlocaret; quod certe non fecisset si suum numerum naves haberent; ea est enim ratio instructarum ornatarumque navium ut non modo plures sed ne singuli quidem possint accedere.

[¶5] 134. I say, moreover, that those very sailors who were left, were worn out and disabled by famine, and by a want of every necessary. I say, that either all were free from blame, or that if blame must be attributable to some one, the greatest blame must be due to him who had the best ship, the largest crew, and the chief command; or, that if all were to blame, Cleomenes ought not to have been a spectator of the death and torture of those men. I say, besides, that in those executions, to allow of that traffic in tears, of that bargaining for an effective wound and a deadly blow, of that bargaining for the funeral and sepulture of the victims, was impiety.

> Latin: 134. practerea illos ipsos reliquos nautas fame atque inopia rerum omnium confectos fuisse ae perditos; dico aut omnis extra culpam fuisse, aut, si uni attribuenda culpa sit, in eo maximam fuisse qui optimam navem, plurimos nautas haberet, summum imperium obtineret, aut, si omnes in culpa fuerint, non oportuisse Cleomenen constitui spectatorem illorum mortis atque cruciatus; dico etiam in ipso supplicio mercedem lacrimarum, mercedem vulneris atque plagae, mercedem funeris ac sepulturae constitui nefas fuisse.

[¶6] 135. Wherefore, if you will make me any answer at all, say this,—that the fleet was properly equipped and fully manned; that no fighting-men were absent, that no bench was without its rower; that ample corn was supplied to the rowers; that the naval captains are liars; that all those honourable cities are liars; that all Sicily is a liar;—that you were betrayed by Cleomenes, when he said that he had landed on the coast to get soldiers from Pachynum; that it was courage, and not troops that he needed;—that Cleomenes, while fighting most gallantly, was abandoned and deserted by these men, and that no money was paid to any one for leave to bury the dead.—If you say this, you shall be convicted of falsehood; if you say anything else, you will not be refuting what has been stated by me.

> Latin: 135. si mihi respondere voles haec dicito, classem instructam atque ornatam fuisse, nullum propugnatorem afuisse, nullum vacuum tractum esse remum, rem frumentariam esse suppeditatam; mentiri nauarchos, mentiri tot tam gravis civitates, mentiri etiam Siciliam totam; proditum esse te a Cleomene, qui se dixerit exisse in terram ut Pachyno deduceret milites; animum illis, non copias defuisse; Cleomenem acerrime pugnantem ab iis relictum esse atque desertum; nummum ob sepulturam datum nemini. si dices, tenebere; sin alia dices, ea quae a me dicta sunt non refutabis.

[¶7] 136. Here will you dare to say also, “Among my judges that one is my intimate friend, that one is a friend of my father?” Is it not the case that the more acquainted or connected with you any one is, the more he is ashamed at the charges brought against you? He is your father's friend—If your father himself were your judge, what, in the name of the immortal gods, could you do when he said this to you? ldquo; You, being in a province as praetor of the Roman people, when you had to carry on a naval war, three years excused the Mamertines from supplying the ship, which by treaty they were bound to supply; by those same Mamertines a transport of the largest size was built for you at the public expense; you exacted money from the cities on the pretest of the fleet; you discharged the rowers for a bribe; when a pirate vessel had been taken by your quaestor, and by your lieutenant, you removed the captain of the pirates from every one's sight; you ventured to put to death men who were called Roman citizens, who were recognised as such by many; you dared to take to your own house pirates, and to bring the captain of the pirates into the court of justice from your own house.

> Latin: 136. tu etiam dicere audebis, “in iudicibus ille familiaris meus, est paternus amicus ille.” ut quisque maxime est quicum tibi aliquid sit, ita te in huiusce modi crimine maxime eius pudet? “amicus est.” pater si iudicaret, per deos immortalis, quid facere posset? tibi haec diceret, “in provincia populi Romani praetor, cum tibi maritimum bellum esset administrandum, Mamertinis ex foedere quam deberent navem per triennium remisisti, tibi apud eosdem privata navis oneraria maxima publice est aedificata, tu a civitatibus pecunias classis nomine coegisti, tu pretio remiges dimisisti, tu, navis cum esset ab quaestore et ab legato capta praedonum, archipiratam ab oculis omnium removisti, tu, qui cives Romani esse dicerentur, qui a multis cognoscerentur, securi ferire potuisti, tu tuam domum piratas abducere, tu in iudicium archipiratam domo producere ausus es,”

[¶8] 137. You, in that splendid province, in the sight of our most faithful allies, and of most honourable Roman citizens, lay for many days together on the sea-shore in revelry and debauchery, and that at a time of the greatest alarm and danger to the province. All those days no one could find you at your own house, no one could see you in the forum; you entertained the mothers of families of our allies and friends at those banquets; among women of that sort you placed your youthful son, my grandson, in order that his father's life might furnish examples of iniquity to a time of life which is particularly unsteady and open to temptation; you, while praetor in your province, were seen in a tunic and purple cloak; you, to gratify your passion and lust, took away the command of the fleet from a lieutenant of the Roman people, and gave it to a Syracusan; your soldiers in the province of Sicily were in want of provisions and of corn; owing to your luxury and avarice, a fleet belonging to the Roman people was taken and burnt by pirates;

> Latin: 137. “tu in provincia tam splendida, tu apud socios fidelissimos, civis Romanos honestissimos, in metu periculoque provinciae dies continuos compluris in litore conviviisque iacuisti, te per eos dies nemo tuae domi convenire, nemo in foro videre potuit, tu sociorum atque amicorum ad ea convivia matres familias adhibuisti, tu inter eius modi mulieres praetextatum tuum filium, nepotem meum, conlocavisti, ut aetati maxime lubricae atque incertae exempla nequitiae parentis vita praeberet, tu praetor in provincia cum tunica pallioque purpureo visus es, tu propter amorem libidinemque tuam imperium navium legato populi Romani ademisti, Syracusano tradidisti, tui milites in provincia Sicilia frugibus frumentoque caruerunt, tua luxurie atque avaritia classis populi Romani a praedonibus capta et incensa est;”

[¶9] 138. in your praetorship, for the first time since Syracuse was a city, did pirates sail about in that harbour, which no enemy had ever entered; moreover, you did not seek to cover these numerous and terrible disgraces of yours by any concealment on your part, nor did you seek to make men forget them by keeping silence respecting them, but you even without any cause tore the captains of the ships from the embrace of their parents, who were your own friends and connections, and hurried them to death and torture; nor, in witnessing the grief and tears of those parents, did any recollection of my name soften your heart; the blood of innocent men was not only a pleasure but also a profit to you.” If your own father were to say this to you, could you entreat pardon from him? could you dare to beg even him to forgive you?

> Latin: 138. “post Syracusas conditas quem in portum numquam hostis accesserat, in eo te praetore primum piratae navigaverunt; neque haec tot et tanta dedecora dissimulatione tua neque oblivione hominum ac taciturnitate tegere voluisti, sed etiam navium praefectos sine ulla causa de complexu parentum suorum, hospitum tuorum, ad mortem cruciatumque rapuisti, neque te in parentum luctu atque lacrimis mei nominis commemoratio mitigavit; tibi hominum innocentium sanguis non modo voluptati sed etiam quaestui fuit!” —haec si tibi tuus parens diceret, posses ab eo veniam petere, posses ut tibi ignosceret postulare?

[¶10] 139. Enough has been done by me, O judges, to satisfy the Sicilians, enough to discharge my duty and obligation to them, enough to acquit me of my promise and of the labour which I have undertaken. The remainder of the accusation, O judges, is one which I have not received from any one, but which is, if I may so say, innate in me; it is one which has not been brought to me, but which is deeply fixed and implanted in all my feelings; it is one which concerns not the safety of the allies, but the life and existence of Roman citizens, that is to say, of every one of us. And in urging this, do not, O judges, expect to hear any arguments from me, as if the matter were doubtful. Everything which I am going to say about the punishment of Roman citizens, will be so evident and notorious, that I could produce all Sicily as witnesses to prove it. For some insanity, the frequent companion of wickedness and audacity, urged on that man's unrestrained ferocity of disposition and inhuman nature to such frenzy, that he never hesitated, openly, in the presence of the whole body of citizens and settlers, to employ against Roman citizens those punishments which have been instituted only for slaves convicted of crime.

> Latin: 139. est factum Siculis, satis officio ac necessitudini, satis promisso nostro ac recepto. est ea causa, iudices, quae iam non recepta sed innata, neque delata ad me sed in animo sensuque meo penitus adfixa atque insita est; quae non ad sociorum salutem, sed ad civium Romanorum, hoc est ad unius cuiusque nostrum, vitam et sanguinem pertinet. qua nolite a me, quasi dubium sit aliquid, argumenta, iudices, exspectare: omnia quae dicam sic erunt inlustria ut ad ea probanda totam Siciliam testem adhibere possem. enim quidam, sceleris et audaciae comes, istius effrenatum animum importunamque naturam tanta oppressit amentia ut numquam dubitaret in conventu palam supplicia, quae in convictos malefici servos constituta sunt, ea in civis Romanos expromere.

[¶11] 140. Why need I tell you how many men he has scourged? I will only say that, most briefly, O judges, while that man was praetor there was no discrimination whatever in the infliction of that sort of punishment; and, accordingly, the hands of the lictor were habitually laid on the persons of the Roman citizens, even without any actual order from Verres. Can you deny this, O Verres, that in the forum, at Lilybaeum, in the presence of a numerous body of inhabitants, Caius Servilius, a Roman citizen, an old trader of the body of settlers at Panormus, was beaten to the ground by rods and scourges before your tribunal, before your very feet? Dare first to deny this, if you can. No one was at Lilybaeum who did not see it. No one was in Sicily who did not hear of it. I assert that a Roman citizen fell down before your eyes, exhausted by the scourging of your lictors.

> Latin: 140. quam multos ceciderit quid ego commemorem? brevissime, iudices, dico: nullum fuit omnino civitatis isto praetore in hoc genere discrimen. iam consuetudine ad corpora civium Romanorum etiam sine istius nutu ferebatur manus ipsa lictoris. potes hoc negare, Verres, in foro Lilybaei maximo conventu C. Servilium, civem Romanum e conventu Panhormitano, veterem negotiatorem, ad tribunal ante pedes tuos ad terram virgis et verberibus abiectum? hoc primum negare, si potes; nemo Lilybaei fuit quin viderit, nemo in Sicilia quin audiverit. confectum dico a lictoribus tuis civem Romanum ante oculos tuos concidisse.

[¶12] 141. For what reason? O ye immortal gods!—though in asking that I am doing injury to the common cause of all the citizens, and to the privilege of citizenship, for I am asking what reason there was in the case of Servilius for this treatment, as if there could be any reason for its being legally inflicted on any Roman citizen. Pardon me this one error, O judges, for I will not in the rest of the cases ask for any reason. He had spoken rather freely of the dishonesty and worthlessness of Verres. And as soon as he was informed of this, he orders the man to Lilybaeum to give security in a prosecution instituted against him by one of the slaves of Verres. He gives security. He comes to Lilybaeum. Verres begins to compel him, though no one proceeded with any action against him, though no one made any claim on him, to be bound over in the sum of two thousand sesterces, to appear to a charge brought against him by his own lictor, in the formula,—“If he had made any profit by robbery.”—He says that he will appoint judges out of his own retinue. Servilius demurs, and entreats that he may not be proceeded against by a capital prosecution before unjust judges, and where there is no prosecutor.

> Latin: 141. quam ob causam, di immortales! tametsi iniuriam facio communi causae et iuri civitatis; quasi enim ulla possit esse causa cur hoc cuiquam civi Romano iure accidat, ita quaero quae in Servilio causa fuerit. in hoc uno, iudices; in ceteris enim non magnopere causas requiram. erat liberius de istius improbitate atque nequitia. isti simul ac renuntiatum est, hominem iubet Lilybaeum vadimonium Venerio servo promittere.; Lilybaeum venitur. eum coepit, cum ageret nemo, nemo postularet, sponsionem mille nummum facere cum lictore suo, “furtis quaestum faceret.” se de cohorte sua dicebat daturum. Servilius et recusare et deprecari ne iniquis iudicibus nullo adversario iudicium capitis in se constitueretur.

[¶13] 142. While he is urging this with a loud voice, six of the most vigorous lictors surround him, men in full practice in beating and scourging men; they beat him most furiously with rods; then the lictor who was nearest to him, the man whom I have already often mentioned, Sextus, turning his stick round, began to beat the wretched man violently on the eyes. Therefore, when blood had filled his mouth and eyes, he fell down, and they, nevertheless, continued to beat him on the sides while lying on the ground, till he said at last he would give security. He, having been treated in this manner, was taken away from the place as dead, and, in a short time afterwards, he died. But that devoted servant of Venus, that man so rich in wit and politeness, erected a silver Cupid out of his property in the temple of Venus. And in this way he misused the fortunes of men to fulfil the nightly vows made by him for the accomplishment of his desires.

> Latin: 142. cum maxime loqueretur, sex lictores circumsistunt valentissimi et ad pulsandos verberandosque homines exercitatissimi, caedunt acerrime virgis; denique proximus lictor, de quo iam saepe dixi, Sextius, converso baculo oculos misero tundere vehementissime coepit. ille, cum sanguis os oculosque complesset, concidit, cum illi nihilo minus iacenti latera tunderent, ut aliquando spondere se diceret. ille adfectus illim tum pro mortuo sublatus perbrevi postea est mortuus. autem homo Venerius, adfluens omni lepore ac venustate, de bonis illius in aede Veneris argenteum Cupidinem posuit. etiam fortunis hominum abutebatur ad nocturna vota cupiditatum suarum.

[¶14] 143. For why should I speak separately of all the other punishments inflicted on Roman citizens, rather than generally, and in the lump? That prison which was built at Syracuse, by that most cruel tyrant Dionysius, which is called the stone-quarries, was, under his government, the home of Roman citizens. As any one of them offended his eyes or his mind, he was instantly thrown into the stone-quarries. I see that this appears a scandalous thing to you, O judges; and I had observed that, at the former pleading, when the witnesses stated these things; for you thought that the privileges of freedom ought to be maintained, not only here, where there are tribunes of the people, where there are other magistrates, where there is a forum with many courts of justice, where there is the authority of the senate, where there is the opinion of the Roman people to hold a man in check, where the Roman people itself is present in great numbers; but, in whatever country or nation the privileges of Roman citizens are violated, you, O judges, decide that that violation concerns the common cause of freedom, and of your dignity.

> Latin: 143. quid ego de ceteris civium Romanorum suppliciis singillatim potius quam generatim atque universe loquar? ille qui est a crudelissimo tyranno Dionysio factus Syracusis, quae lautumiae vocantur, in istius imperio domicilium civium Romanorum fuit. Vt quisque istius animum aut oculos offenderat, in lautumias statim coniciebatur. hoc video videri omnibus, iudices, et id iam priore actione, cum haec testes dicerent, intellexi. enim putatis oportere iura libertatis non modo hic ubi tribuni plebis sunt, ubi ceteri magistratus, ubi forum plenum iudiciorum, ubi senatus auctoritas, ubi existimatio populi Romani et frequentia, sed ubicumque terrarum et gentium violatum ius civium Romanorum sit, statuitis id pertinere ad communem causam libertatis et dignitatis.

[¶15] 144. Did you, O Verres, dare to confine such a number of Roman citizens in a prison built for foreigners, for wicked men, for pirates, and for enemies? Did no thoughts of this tribunal, or of the public assembly, or of this numerous multitude which I see around me, and which is now regarding you with a most hostile and inimical disposition, occur to your mind? Did not the dignity of the Roman people, though absent, did not the appearance of such a concourse as this ever present itself to your eyes or to your thoughts? Did you never think that you should have to return home to the sight of these men, that you should have to come into the forum of the Roman people, that you should have to submit yourself to the power of the laws and courts of justice?

> Latin: 144. externorum hominum maleficorum sceleratorumque, in praedonum hostiumque custodias tu tantum numerum civium Romanorum includere ausus es? tibi iudici, numquam contionis, numquam huius tantae frequentiae, quae nunc te animo iniquissimo infestissimoque intuetur, venit in mentem? numquam tibi populi Romani absentis dignitas, numquam species ipsa huiusce multitudinis in oculis animoque versata est? numquam te in horum conspectum rediturum, numquam in forum populi Romani venturum, numquam sub legum et iudiciorum potestatem casurum esse duxisti?

[¶16] 145. But what, O Verres, was that passion of yours for practicing cruelty? what was your reason for undertaking so many wicked actions? It was nothing, O judges, except a new and unprecedented system of plundering. For like those men whose histories we have learnt from the poets, who are said to have occupied some bays on the sea-coast, or some promontories, or some precipitous rocks, in order to be able to murder those who had been driven to such places in their vessels, this man also looked down as an enemy over every sea, from every part of Sicily. Every ship that came from Asia, from Syria, from Tyre, from Alexandria, was immediately seized by informers and guards that he could rely upon; their crews were all thrown into the stone-quarries; their freights and merchandise carried up into the praetor's house. After a long interval there was seen to range through Sicily, not another Dionysius, not another Phalaris, (for their island has at one time or another produced many inhuman tyrants,) but a new sort of monster, endowed with all the ancient savage barbarity which is said to have formerly existed in those same districts;

> Latin: 145. quae erat ista libido crudelitatis exercendae, quae tot scelerum suscipiendorum causa?, iudices, praeter praedandi novam singularemque rationem. ut illi quos a poetis accepimus, qui sinus quosdam obsedisse maritimos aut aliqua promunturia aut praerupta saxa tenuisse dicuntur, ut eos qui essent adpulsi navigiis interficere possent, sic iste in omnia maria infestus ex omnibus Siciliae partibus imminebat. navis ex Asia, quae ex Syria, quae Tyro, quae Alexandria venerat, statim certis indicibus et custodibus tenebatur; vectores omnes in lautumias coniciebantur, onera atque merces in praetoriam domum deferebantur. in Sicilia longo intervallo alter non Dionysius ille nec Phalaris,—tulit enim illa quondam insula multos et crudelis tyrannos,—sed quoddam novum monstrum ex vetere illa immanitate quae in isdem locis versata esse dicitur.

[¶17] 146. for I do not think that either Scylla or Charybdis was such an enemy to sailors, as that man has been in the same waters. And in one respect he is far more to be dreaded than they, because he is girdled with more numerous and more powerful hounds than they were. He is a second Cyclops, far more savage than the first; for Verres had possession of the whole island; Polyphemus is said to have occupied only Aetna and that part of Sicily. But what pretext was alleged at the time by that man for this outrageous cruelty? The same which is now going to be stated in his defence. He used to say whenever any one came to Sicily a little better off than usual, that they were soldiers of Sertorius, and that they were flying from Dianium. They brought him presents to gain his protection from danger; some brought him Tyrian purple, others brought frankincense, perfumes, and linen robes; others gave jewels and pearls; some offered great bribes and Asiatic slaves, so that it was seen by their very goods from what place they came. They were not aware that those very things which they thought that they were employing as aids to ensure their safety, were the causes of their danger. For he would say that they had acquired those things by partnership with pirates, he would order the men themselves to be led away to the stone-quarries, he would see that their ships and their freights were diligently taken care of.

> Latin: 146. enim Charybdim tam infestam neque Scyllam nautis quam istum in eodem freto fuisse arbitror; hoc etiam iste infestior, quod multo se pluribus et immanioribus canibus succinxerat, Cyclops alter multo importunior; hic enim totam insulam obsidebat, ille Aetnam solam et eam Siciliae partem tenuisse dicitur. quae causa tum subiciebatur ab ipso, iudices, huius tam nefariae crudelitatis? quae nunc in defensione commemorabitur. accesserant ad Siciliam paulo pleniores, eos Sertorianos milites esse atque a Dianio fugere dicebat. ad deprecandum periculum proferebant alii purpuram Tyriam, tus alii atque odores vestemque linteam, gemmas alii et margaritas, vina non nulli Graeca venalisque Asiaticos, ut intellegeretur ex mercibus quibus ex locis navigarent. providerant eas ipsas sibi causas esse periculi, quibus argumentis se ad salutem uti arbitrabantur. enim haec eos ex piratarum societate adeptos esse dicebat; ipsos in lautumias abduci imperabat, navis eorum atque onera diligenter adservanda curabat.

[¶18] 147. When by these practices his prison had become full of merchants, then those scenes took place which you have heard related by Lucius Suetius, a Roman knight, and a most virtuous man, and by others. The necks of Roman citizens were broken in a most infamous manner in the prison; so that very expression and form of entreaty, “I am a Roman citizen,” which has often brought to many, in the most distant countries, succour and assistance, even among the barbarians, only brought to these men a more bitter death and a more immediate execution. What is this, O Verres? What reply are you thinking of making to this? That I am telling lies? that I am inventing things? that I am exaggerating this accusation? Will you dare to say any one of these things to those men who are defending you? Give me, I pray you, the documents of the Syracusans taken from his own bosom, which, methinks, were drawn up according to his will; give me the register of the prison, which is most carefully made up, stating in what day each individual was committed to prison, when he died, how he was executed. [The documents of the Syracusans are read.]

> Latin: 147. institutis cum completus iam mercatorum carcer esset, tum illa fiebant quae L. Suettium, equitem Romanum, lectissimum virum, dicere audistis, et quae ceteros audietis. in carcere frangebantur indignissime civium Romanorum, ut iam illa vox et imploratio, “Romanus sum,” quae saepe multis in ultimis terris opem inter barbaros et salutem tulit, ea mortem illis acerbiorem et supplicium maturius ferret. est, Verres? quid ad haec cogitas respondere? num mentiri me, num fingere aliquid, num augere crimen? num quid horum dicere istis defensoribus tuis audes? mihi, quaeso, ex ipsius sinu litteras Syracusanorum, quas ipse ad arbitrium suum confectas esse arbitratur, cedo rationem carceris, quae diligentissime conficitur, quo quisque die datus in custodiam, quo mortuus, quo necatus sit. litterae Syracvsanorvm.

[¶19] 148. You see that Roman citizens were thrown in crowds into the stone quarries; you see a multitude of your fellow-citizens heaped together in a most unworthy place. Look now for all the traces of their departure from that place, which are to be seen. There are none. Are they all dead of disease? If he were able to urge this in his defence, still such a defence would find credit with no one. But there is a word written in those documents, which that ignorant and profligate man never noticed, and would not have understood if he had. *)ekdikaiw/qhsan, it says that is, according to the Sicilian language, they were punished and put to death.

> Latin: 148. civis Romanos gregatim coniectos in lautumias, videtis indignissimo in loco coacervatam multitudinem vestrorum civium. nunc vestigia quibus exitus eorum ex illo loco compareant. sunt. mortui? ita posset defendere, tamen fides huic defensioni non haberetur. scriptum exstat in isdem litteris quod iste homo barbarus ac dissolutus neque attendere umquam neque intellegere potuit: ἐδικαιώθησαν, inquit, hoc est, ut Siculi loquuntur, supplicio adfecti ac necati sunt.

[¶20] 149. If any king, if any city among foreign nations, in any nation had done anything of this sort to a Roman citizen, should we not avenge that act by a public resolution? should we not prosecute our revenge by war? Could we leave such injury and insult offered the Roman name unavenged and unpunished? How many wars, and what serious ones do you think that our ancestors undertook, because Roman citizens were said to have been ill-treated, or Roman vessels detained, or Roman merchants plundered? But I am not complaining that men have been detained; I think one might endure their having been plundered; I am impeaching Verres because after their ships, their slaves, and their merchandise had been taken from them, the merchants themselves were thrown into prison—because Roman citizens were imprisoned and executed.

> Latin: 149. qui rex, si qua civitas exterarum gentium, si qua natio fecisset aliquid in civis Romanos eius modi, nonne publice vindicaremus, nonne bello persequeremur? possemus hanc iniuriam ignominiamque nominis Romani inultam impunitamque dimittere? bella maiores nostros et quanta suscepisse arbitramini, quod cives Romani iniuria adfecti, quod navicularii retenti, quod mercatores spoliati dicerentur? ego iam retentos non queror, spoliatos ferendum puto; navibus, mancipiis, mercibus ademptis in vincla mercatores esse coniectos et in vinclis civis Romanos necatos esse arguo.

[¶21] 150. If I were saying this among Scythians, not before such a multitude of Roman citizens, not before the most select senators of the city, not in the forum of the Roman people,—if I were relating such numerous and bitter punishments inflicted on Roman citizens, I should move the pity of even those barbarous men. For so great is the dignity of this empire, so great is the honour in which the Roman name is held among all nations, that the exercise of such cruelty towards our citizens seems to be permitted to no one. Can I think that there is any safety or any refuge for you, when I see you hemmed in by the severity of the judges, and entangled as it were in the meshes of a net by the concourse of the Roman people here present?

> Latin: 150. haec apud Scythas dicerem, non hic in tanta multitudine civium Romanorum, non apud senatores, lectissimos civitatis, non in foro populi Romani de tot et tam acerbis suppliciis civium Romanorum, tamen animos etiam barbarorum hominum permoverem; tanta enim huius imperi amplitudo, tanta nominis Romani dignitas est apud omnis nationes ut ista in nostros homines crudelitas nemini concessa esse videatur. tibi ego ullam salutem, ullum perfugium putem, cum te implicatum severitate iudicum, circumretitum frequentia populi Romani esse videam?

[¶22] 151. If, indeed, (though I have no idea that that is possible,) you were to escape from these toils, and effect your escape by any way or any method, you will then fall into that still greater net, in which you must be caught and destroyed by me from the elevation in which I stand. For even if I were to grant to him all that he urges in his defence, yet that very defence must turn out not less injurious to him than my true accusation. For what does he urge in his defence? He says that he arrested men flying from Spain, and put them to death. Who gave you leave to do so? By what right did you do so? Who else did the same thing? How was it lawful for you to do so?

> Latin: 151. mehercule, id quod fieri non posse intellego, ex his te laqueis exueris ac te aliqua via ac ratione explicaris, in illas tibi maiores plagas incidendum est in quibus te ab eodem me superiore ex loco confici et concidi necesse est. si etiam id quod defendit velim concedere, tamen ipsa illa falsa defensio non minus esse ei perniciosa quam mea vera accusatio debeat. enim defendit? Hispania fugientis se excepisse et supplicio adfecisse dicit. tibi id permisit? quo iure fecisti? quis idem fecit? qui tibi id facere licuit?

[¶23] 152. We see the forum and the porticoes full of those men, and we are contented to see them there. For the end of civil dissensions, and of the (shall I say) insanity, or destiny, or calamity in which they take their rise, is not so grievous as to make it unlawful for us to preserve the rest of our citizens in safety. That Verres there, that ancient betrayer of his consul, that transferrer of the quaestorship, that embezzler of the public money, has taken upon himself so much authority in the republic, that he would have inflicted a bitter and cruel death on all those men whom the senate, and the Roman people, and the magistrates allowed to remain in the forum, in the exercise of their rights as voters' in the city and in the republic, if fortune had brought them to any part of Sicily.

> Latin: 152. plenum et basilicas istorum hominum videmus, et animo aequo videmus; civilis enim dissensionis et seu amentiae seu fati seu calamitatis non est iste molestus exitus, in quo reliquos saltem civis incolumis licet conservare. Verres, ille vetus proditor consulis, translator quaesturae, aversor pecuniae publicae, tantum sibi auctoritatis in re publica suscepit ut, quibus hominibus per senatum, per populum Romanum, per omnis magistratus, in foro, in suffragiis, in hac urbe, in re publica versari liceret, iis omnibus mortem acerbam crudelemque proponeret si fortuna eos ad aliquam partem Siciliae detulisset.

[¶24] 153. After Perperna was slain, many of the number of Sertorius's soldiers fled to Cnaeus Pompeius, that most illustrious and gallant man. Was there one of them whom he did not preserve safe and unhurt with the greatest kindness? was there one suppliant citizen to whom that invincible right hand was not stretched out as a pledge of his faith, and as a sure token of safety? Was it then so? Was death and torture appointed by you, who had never done one important service to the republic, for those who found a harbour of refuge in that man against whom they had borne arms? See what an admirable defence you have imagined for yourself. I had rather, I had rather in truth, that the truth of this defence of yours were proved to these judges and to the Roman people, than the truth of my accusation. I had rather, I say, that you were thought a foe and an enemy to that class of men than to merchants and seafaring men. For the accusation I bring against you impeaches you of excessive avarice: the defence that you make for yourself accuses you of a sort of frenzy, of savage ferocity, of unheard-of cruelty, and of almost a new proscription.

> Latin: 153. Cn. Pompeium, clarissimum virum et fortissimum, permulti occiso Perperna ex illo Sertoriano numero militum confugerunt. non ille summo cum studio salvum incolumemque servavit? cui civi supplicanti non illa dextera invicta fidem porrexit et spem salutis ostendit? vero? quibus fuit portus apud eum quem contra arma tulerant, iis apud te, cuius nullum in re publica momentum umquam fuit, mors et cruciatus erat constitutus? quam commodam defensionem excogitaris! mehercule id quod tu defendis his iudicibus populoque Romano quam id quod ego insimulo probari, malo, inquam, te isti generi hominum quam mercatoribus et naviculariis inimicum atque infestum putari; meum enim crimen avaritiae te nimiae coarguit, tua defensio furoris cuiusdam et immanitatis et inauditae crudelitatis et paene novae proscriptionis.

[¶25] 154. But I may not avail myself of such an advantage as that, O judges; I may not; for all Puteoli is here; merchants in crowds have come to this trial, wealthy and honourable men, who will tell you, some that their partners, some that their freedmen were plundered by that man, were thrown into prison, that some were privately murdered in prison, some publicly executed. See now how impartially I will behave to you. When I produce Publius Granius as a witness to state that his freedmen were publicly executed by you, to demand back his ship and his merchandise from you, refute him if you can; I will abandon my own witness and will take your part; I will assist you, I say, prove that those men have been with Sertorius, and that, when flying from Dianium, they were driven to Sicily. There is nothing which I would rather have you prove. For no crime can be imagined or produced against you which is worthy of a greater punishment.

> Latin: 154. non licet me isto tanto bono, iudices, uti, non licet. enim Puteoli toti; frequentissimi venerunt ad hoc iudicium mercatores, homines locupletes atque honesti, qui partim socios suos, partim libertos, partim conlibertos spoliatos in vincla coniectos, partim in vinclis necatos, partim securi percussos esse dicunt. vide quam me sis usurus aequo. ego P. Granium testem produxero qui suos libertos abs te securi percussos esse dicat, qui abs te navem suam mercesque repetat, refellito, si poteris; meum testem deseram, tibi favebo, te, inquam, adiuvabo; ostendito illos cum Sertorio fuisse, ab Dianio fugientis ad Siciliam esse delatos. est quod te mallem probare; nullum enim facinus quod maiore supplicio dignum sit reperiri neque proferri potest.

[¶26] 155. I will call back the Roman knight, Lucius Flavius, if you wish; since at the previous pleading, being influenced, as your advocates are in the habit of saying, by some unusual prudence, but, (as all men are aware,) being overpowered by your own conscience, and by the authority of my witnesses, you did not put a question to any single witness. Let Flavius be asked, if you like, who Lucius Herennius was, the man who, he says, was a money-changer at Leptis; who, though he had more than a hundred Roman citizens in the body of settlers at Syracuse, who not only knew him, but defended him with their tears and with entreaties to you, was still publicly executed by you in the sight of all the Syracusans. I am very willing that this witness of mine should also be refuted, and that it should be demonstrated end proved by you that that Herennius had been one of Sertorius's soldiers.

> Latin: 155. iterum equitem Romanum, L. Flavium, si voles, quoniam priore actione,—ut patroni tui dictitant, nova quadam sapientia, ut omnes intellegunt, conscientia tua atque auctoritate meorum testium,—testem nullum interrogasti. Flavius, si voles, quinam fuerit T. Herennius, is quem ille argentariam Lepti fecisse dicit; qui cum amplius centum civis Romanos haberet ex conventu Syracusano qui eum non solum cognoscerent sed etiam lacrimantes ac te implorantes defenderent, tamen inspectantibus omnibus Syracusis securi percussus est. quoque testem meum refelli et illum Herennium Sertorianum fuisse abs te demonstrari et probari volo.

[¶27] 156. What shall we say of that multitude of those men who were produced with veiled heads among the pirates and prisoners in order to be executed? What was that new diligence of yours, and on what account was it put in operation? Did the loud outcries of Lucius Flavius and the rest about Lucius Herennius influence you? Had the excessive influence of Marcus Annius, a most influential and most honourable man, made you a little more careful and more fearful? who lately stated in his evidence that it was not some stranger, no one knows who, nor any foreigner, but a Roman citizen who was well known to the whole body of inhabitants, who had been born at Syracuse, who had been publicly executed by you.

> Latin: 156. de illa multitudine dicemus eorum qui capitibus involutis in piratarum captivorum numero producebantur, ut securi ferirentur? ista nova diligentia, quam ob causam abs te excogitata? an te L. Flavi ceterorumque de T. Herennio vociferatio commovebat? an M. Anni, gravissimi atque honestissimi viri, summa auctoritas paulo diligentiorem timidioremque fecerat? qui nuper pro testimonio non advenam nescio quem nec alienum, sed eum civem Romanum qui omnibus in illo conventu notus, qui Syracusis natus esset, abs te securi percussum esse dixit.

[¶28] 157. After this loud statement of theirs,—after this had become known by the common conversation and common complaints of all men, he began to be, I will not say more merciful in his punishments, but mere careful. He established the rule of bringing out Roman citizens for punishment with their heads muffled up, whom, however, he put to death in the sight of all men, because the citizens (as we have said before) were calculating the number of pirates with too much accuracy. Was this the condition that was established for the Roman people while you were praetor? were these the hopes under which they were to transact their business? was this the danger in which their lives and condition as freemen were placed? are there not risks enough at the hands of fortune to be encountered of necessity by merchants, unless they are threatened also with these terrors by our magistrates, and in our provinces? Was this the state to which it was decent to reduce that suburban and loyal province of Sicily, full of most valued allies, and of most honourable Roman citizens, which has at all times received with the greatest willingness all Roman citizens within its territories, that those who were sailing from the most distant parts of Syria or Egypt, who had been held in some honour, even among barbarians, on account of their name as Roman citizens, who had escaped from the ambushes of pirates, from the dangers of tempests, should be publicly executed in Sicily when they thought that they had now reached their home?

> Latin: 157. hanc illorum vociferationem, post hanc communem famam atque querimoniam non mitior in supplicio, sed diligentior esse coepit; capitibus involutis civis Romanos ad necem producere instituit; quos tamen idcirco necabat palam quod homines in conventu, id quod antea dixi, nimium diligenter praedonum numerum requirebant. Haecine plebi Romanae te praetore est constituta condicio, haec negoti gerendi spes, hoc capitis vitaeque discrimen? Parumne multa mercatoribus sunt necessario pericula subeunda fortunae, nisi etiam hae formidines ab nostris magistratibus atque in nostris provinciis impendebunt? eamne rem fuit haec suburbana ac fidelis provincia, plena optimorum sociorum honestissimorumque civium, quae civis Romanos omnis suis ipsa sedibus libentissime semper accepit, ut, qui usque ex ultima Syria atque Aegypto navigarent, qui apud barbaros propter togae nomen in honore aliquo fuissent, qui ex praedonum insidiis, qui ex tempestatum periculis profugissent, in Sicilia securi ferirentur, cum se iam domum venisse arbitrarentur?

[¶29] 158. For why should I speak of Publius Gavius, a citizen of the municipality of Cosa, O judges? or with what vigour of language, with what gravity of expression, with what grief of mind shall I mention him? But, indeed, that indignation fails me. I must take more care than usual that what I am going to say be worthy of my subject,—worthy of the indignation which I feel. For the charge is of such a nature, that when I was first informed of it I thought I should not avail myself of it. For although I knew that it was entirely true, still I thought that it would not appear credible. Being compelled by the tears of all the Roman citizens who are living as traders in Sicily, being influenced by the testimonies of the men of Valentia, most honourable men, and by those of all the Rhegians, and of many Roman knights who happened at that time to be at Messana, I produced at the previous pleading only just that amount of evidence which might prevent the matter from appearing doubtful to any one.

> Latin: 158. quid ego de P. Gavio, Consano municipe, dicam, iudices, aut qua vi vocis, qua gravitate verborum, quo dolore animi dicam? tametsi dolor me non deficit; ut cetera mihi in dicendo digna re, digna dolore meo, suppetant magis laborandum est. crimen eius modi est ut, cum primum ad me delatum est, usurum me illo non putarem; tametsi enim verissimum esse intellegebam, tamen credibile fore non arbitrabar. lacrimis omnium civium Romanorum qui in Sicilia negotiantur, adductus Valentinorum, hominum honestissimorum, omniumque Reginorum testimoniis multorumque equitum Romanorum qui casu tum Messanae fuerunt, dedi tantum priore actione testium res ut nemini dubia esse possit.

[¶30] 159. What shall I do now? When I have been speaking for so many hours of one class of offences, and of that man's nefarious cruelty,—when I have now expended nearly all my treasures of words of such a sort as are worthy of that man's wickedness on other matters, and have omitted to take precautions to keep your attention on the stretch by diversifying my accusations, how am I to deal with an affair of the importance that this is? There is, I think, but one method, but one line open to me. I will place the matter plainly before you, which is of itself of such importance that there is no need of my eloquence and eloquence, indeed, I have none, but there is no need of any one's eloquence to excite your feelings.

> Latin: 159. nunc agam? iam tot horas de uno genere ac de istius nefaria crudelitate dicam, cum prope omnem vim verborum eius modi, quae scelere istius digna sint, aliis in rebus consumpserim, neque hoc providerim, ut varietate criminum vos attentos tenerem, quem ad modum de tanta re dicam?, unus modus atque una ratio est; rem in medio ponam; quae tantum habet ipsa gravitatis ut neque mea, quae nulla est, neque cuiusquam ad inflammandos vestros animos eloquentia requiratur.

[¶31] 160. This Gavius whom I am speaking of, a citizens of Cosa, when he (among that vast number of Roman citizens who had been treated in the same way) had been thrown by Verres into prison, and somehow or other had escaped secretly out of the stone-quarries, and had come to Messana, being now almost within sight of Italy and of the walls of Rhegium, and being revived, after that fear of death and that darkness, by the light, as it were, of liberty and of the fragrance of the laws, began to talk at Messana, and to complain that he, a Roman citizen, had been thrown into prison. He said that he was now going straight to Rome, and that he would meet Verres on his arrival there. The miserable man was not aware that it made no difference e whether he said this at Messana, or before the man's face in his own praetorian palace. For, as I have shown you before, that man had selected this city as the assistant in his crimes, the receiver of his thefts, the partner in all his wickedness. Accordingly, Gavius is at once brought before the Mamertine magistrates; and, as it happened, Verres came on that very day to Messana. The matter is brought before him. He is told that the man was a Roman citizen, who was complaining that at Syracuse he had been confined in the stone-quarries, and who, when he was actually embarking on board ship, and uttering violent threats against Verres, had been brought back by them, and reserved in order that he himself might decide what should be done with him.

> Latin: 160. Gavius hic quem dico, Consanus, cum in illo numero civium Romanorum ab isto in vincla coniectus esset et nescio qua ratione clam e lautumiis profugisset Messanamque venisset, qui tam prope iam Italiam et moenia Reginorum, civium Romanorum, videret et ex illo metu mortis ac tenebris quasi luce libertatis et odore aliquo legum recreatus revixisset, loqui Messanae et queri coepit se civem Romanum in vincla coniectum, sibi recta iter esse Romam, Verri se praesto advenienti futurum. intellegebat miser nihil interesse utrum haec Messanae an apud istum in praetorio loqueretur; nam, ut antea vos docui, hanc sibi iste urbem delegerat quam haberet adiutricem scelerum, furtorum receptricem, flagitiorum omnium consciam. ad magistratum Mamertinum statim deducitur Gavius, eoque ipso die casu Messanam Verres venit. ad eum defertur, esse civem Romanum qui se Syracusis in lautumiis fuisse quereretur; quem iam ingredientem in navem et Verri nimis atrociter minitantem ab se retractum esse et adservatum, ut ipse in eum statueret quod videretur.

## 31. Actio Secunda · Book V · sections 161–189

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/31/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-in-verrem/31/#p-N

[¶0] 161. He thanks the men and praises their good-will and diligence in his behalf. He himself, inflamed with wickedness and frenzy, comes into the forum. His eyes glared; cruelty was visible in his whole countenance. All men waited to see what does he was going to take,—what he was going to do; when all of a sudden he orders the man to be seized, and to be stripped and bound in the middle of the forum, and the rods to be got ready. The miserable man cried out that he was a Roman citizen, a citizen, also, of the municipal town of Cosa,—that he had served with Lucius Pretius a most illustrious Roman knight, who was living as a trader at Panormus, and from whom Verres might know that he was speaking the truth. Then Verres says that he has ascertained that he had been sent into Sicily by the leaders of the runaway slaves, in order to act as a spy; a matter as to which there was no witness, no trace, nor even the slightest suspicion in the mind of any one.

> Latin: 161. hominibus gratias et eorum benivolentiam erga se diligentiamque conlaudat. inflammatus scelere et furore in forum venit; ardebant oculi, toto ex ore crudelitas eminebat. omnes quo tandem progressurus aut quidnam acturus esset, cum repente hominem proripi atque in foro medio nudari ac deligari et virgas expediri iubet. ille miser se civem esse Romanum, municipem Consanum; meruisse cum L. Raecio, splendidissimo equite Romano, qui Panhormi negotiaretur, ex quo haec Verres scire posset. iste, se comperisse eum speculandi causa in Siciliam a ducibus fugitivorum esse missum; cuius rei neque index neque vestigium aliquod neque suspicio cuiquam esset ulla; deinde iubet undique hominem vehementissime verberari.

[¶1] 162. Then he orders the man to be most violently scourged on all sides. In the middle of the forum of Messana a Roman citizen, O judges, was beaten with rods; while in the mean time no groan was heard, no other expression was heard from that wretched man, amid all his pain, and between the sound of the blows, except these words, “I am a citizen of Rome.” He fancied that by this one statement of his citizenship he could ward off all blows, and remove all torture from his person. He not only did not succeed in averting by his entreaties the violence of the rods, but as he kept on repeating his entreaties and the assertion of his citizenship, a cross—a cross I say—was got ready for that miserable man, who had never witnessed such a stretch of power.

> Latin: 162. virgis in medio foro Messanae civis Romanus, iudices, cum interea nullus gemitus, nulla vox alia illius miseri inter dolorem crepitumque plagarum audiebatur nisi haec, “Romanus sum.” se commemoratione civitatis! omnia verbera depulsurum cruciatumque a corpore deiecturum arbitrabatur; is non modo hoc non perfecit, ut virgarum vim deprecaretur, sed cum imploraret saepius usurparetque nomen civitatis, crux,—crux, inquam,—infelici et aerumnoso, qui numquam istam pestem viderat, comparabatur.

[¶2] 163. O the sweet name of liberty! O the admirable privileges of our citizenship! O Porcian law! O Sempronian laws! O power of the tribunes, bitterly regretted by, and at last restored to the Roman people! Have all our rights fallen so far, that in a province of the Roman people,—in a town of our confederate allies,—a Roman citizen should be bound in the forum, and beaten with rods by a man who only had the fasces and the axes through the kindness of the Roman people? What shall I say? When fire, and red-hot plates and other instruments of torture were employed? It the bitter entreaties and the miserable cries of that man had no power to restrain you, were you not moved even by the weeping and loud groans of the Roman citizens who were present at that time? Did you dare to drag any one to the cross who said that he was a Roman citizen? I was unwilling, O judges, to press this point so strongly at the former pleading; I was unwilling to do so. For you saw how the feelings of the multitude were excited against him with indignation, and hatred, and fear of their common danger. I, at that time, fixed a limit to my oration, and checked the eagerness of Caius Numitorius a Roman knight, a man of the highest character, one of my witnesses. And I rejoiced that Glabrio had acted (and he had acted most wisely) as he did in dismissing that witness immediately, in the middle of the discussion. In fact he was afraid that the Roman people might seem to have inflicted that punishment on Verres by tumultuary violence, which he was anxious he should only suffer according to the laws and by your judicial sentence.

> Latin: 163. nomen dulce libertatis! o ius eximium nostrae civitatis o lex Porcia legesque Semproniae! o graviter desiderata et aliquando reddita plebi Romanae tribunicia potestas! tandem haec omnia reciderunt ut civis Romanus in provincia populi Romani, in oppido foederatorum, ab eo qui beneficio populi Romani fascis et securis haberet deligatus in foro virgis caederetur?? cum ignes ardentesque laminae ceterique cruciatus admovebantur, si te illius acerba imploratio et vox miserabilis non inhibebat, ne civium quidem Romanorum qui tum aderant fletu et gemitu maximo commovebare? crucem tu agere ausus es quemquam qui se civem Romanum esse diceret? tam vehementer agere hoc prima actione, iudices, nolui; vidistis enim ut animi multitudinis in istum dolore et odio et communis periculi metu concitarentur. egomet mihi tum modum et orationi meae et C. Numitorio, equiti Romano, primo homini, testi meo; et Glabrionem id quod sapientissime fecit facere laetatus sum, ut repente consilium in medio testimonio dimitteret. verebatur ne populus Romanus ab isto eas poenas vi repetisse videretur, quas veritus esset ne iste legibus ac vestro iudicio non esset persoluturus.

[¶3] 164. Now since it is made clear beyond a doubt to every one, in what state your case is, and what will become of you, I will deal thus with you: I will prove that that Gavius whom you all of a sudden assert to have been a spy, had been confined by you in the stone-quarries at Syracuse; and I will prove that, not only by the registers of the Syracusans,—lest you should be able to say that, because there is a man named Gavius mentioned in those documents, I have invented this charge, and picked out this name so as to be able to say that this is the man,—but in accordance with your own choice I will produce witnesses, who will state that that identical man was thrown by you into the stone-quarries at Syracuse. I will produce, also, citizens of Cosa, his fellow citizens and relations,, who shall teach you, though it is too late, and who shall also teach the judges, (for it is not too late for them to know them,) that that Publius Gavius whom you crucified was a Roman citizen, and a citizen of the municipality of Cosa, not a spy of runaway slaves.

> Latin: 164. quoniam iam exploratum est omnibus quo loco causa tua sit et quid de te futurum sit, sic tecum agam. Gavium istum, quem repentinum speculatorem fuisse dicis, ostendam in lautumias Syracusis a te esse coniectum, neque id solum ex litteris ostendam Syracusanorum, ne possis dicere me, quia sit aliqui in litteris Gavius, hoc fingere et eligere nomen, ut hunc illum esse possim dicere, sed ad arbitrium tuum testis dabo qui istum ipsum Syracusis abs te in lautumias coniectum esse dicant. etiam Consanos municipes illius ac necessarios, qui te nunc sero doceant, iudices non sero, illum P. Gavium quem tu in crucem egisti civem Romanum et municipem Consanum, non speculatorem fugitivorum fuisse.

[¶4] 165. When I have made all these points, which I undertake to prove, abundantly plain to your most intimate friends, then I will also turn my attention to that which is granted me by you. I will say that I am content with that. For what—what, I say—did you yourself lately say, when in an agitated state you escaped from the outcry and violence of the Roman people? Why, that he had only cried out that he was a Roman citizen because he was seeking some respite, but that he was a spy. My witnesses are unimpeachable. For what else does Caius Numitorius say? what else do Marcus and Publius Cottius say, most noble men of the district of Tauromenium? what else does Marcus Lucceius say, who had a great business as a money-changer at Rhegium? what else do all the others ray? For as yet witnesses have only been produced by me of this class, not men who say that they were acquainted with Gavius, but men who say that they saw him at the time that he was being dragged to the cross, while crying out that he was a Roman citizen. And you, O Verres, say the same thing. You confess that he did cry out that he was a Roman citizen; but that the name of citizenship did not avail with you even as much as to cause the least hesitation in your mind, or even any brief respite from a most cruel and ignominious punishment.

> Latin: 165. haec omnia quae polliceor cumulate tuis proximis plana fecero, tum istuc ipsum tenebo quod abs te mihi datur; eo contentum esse me dicam. enim nuper tu ipse, cum populi Romani clamore atque impetu perturbatus exsiluisti, quid, inquam, elocutus es?, quod moram supplicio quaereret, ideo clamitasse se esse civem Romanum, sed speculatorem fuisse. mei testes veri sunt. enim dicit aliud C. Numitorius, quid M. et P. Cottii, nobilissimi homines ex agro Tauromenitano, quid Q. Lucceius, qui argentariam Regi maximam fecit, quid ceteri? enim testes ex eo genere a me sunt dati, non qui novisse Gavium, sed se vidisse dicerent, cum is, qui se civem Romanum esse clamaret, in crucem ageretur. tu, Verres, idem dicis, hoc tu confiteris, illum clamitasse se civem esse Romanum; apud te nomen civitatis ne tantum quidem valuisse ut dubitationem aliquam [crucis ], ut crudelissimi taeterrimique supplici aliquam parvam moram saltem posset adferre.

[¶5] 166. This is the point I press, this is what I dwell upon, O judges; with this single fact I am content. I give up, I am indifferent to all the rest. By his own confession he must be entangled and destroyed. You did not know who he was; you suspected that he was a spy. I do not ask you what were your grounds for that suspicion, I impeach you by your own words. He said that he was a Roman citizen. If you, O Verres, being taken among the Persians or in the remotest parts of India, were being led to execution, what else would you cry out but that you were a Roman citizen? And if that name of your city, honoured and renowned as it is among all men, would have availed you, a stranger among strangers, among barbarians, among men placed in the most remote and distant corners of the earth, ought not he, whoever he was, whom you were hurrying to the cross, who was a stranger to you, to have been able, when he said that he was a Roman citizen, to obtain from you, the praetor, if not an escape, at least a respite from death by his mention of and claims to citizenship?

> Latin: 166. teneo, hic haereo, iudices, hoc sum contentus uno, omitto ac neglego cetera; sua confessione induatur ac iuguletur necesse est. esset ignorabas, speculatorem esse suspicabare; non quaero qua suspicione, tua te accuso oratione: civem Romanum se esse dicebat. tu apud Persas aut in extrema India deprensus, Verres, ad supplicium ducerere, quid aliud clamitares nisi te civem esse Romanum? et si tibi ignoto apud ignotos, apud barbaros, apud homines in extremis atque ultimis gentibus positos, nobile et inlustre apud omnis nomen civitatis tuae profuisset, ille, quisquis erat, quem tu in crucem rapiebas, qui tibi esset ignotus, cum civem se Romanum esse diceret, apud te praetorem si non effugium ne moram quidem mortis mentione atque usurpatione civitatis adsequi potuit?

[¶6] 167. Men of no importance, born in an obscure rank, go to sea; they go to places which they have never seen before; where they can neither be known to the men among whom they have arrived, nor always find people to vouch for them. But still, owing to this confidence in the mere fact of their citizenship, they think that they shall be safe, not only among our own magistrates, who are restrained by fear of the laws and of public opinion, nor among our fellow citizens only, who are limited with them by community of language, of rights, and of many other things; but wherever they come they think that this will be a protection to them.

> Latin: 167. tenues, obscuro loco nati, navigant, adeunt ad ea loca quae numquam antea viderunt, ubi neque noti esse iis quo venerunt, neque semper cum cognitoribus esse possunt. una tamen fiducia civitatis non modo apud nostros magistratus, qui et legum et existimationis periculo continentur, neque apud civis solum Romanos, qui et sermonis et iuris et multarum rerum societate iuncti sunt, fore se tutos arbitrantur, sed, quocumque venerint, hanc sibi rem praesidio sperant futuram.

[¶7] 168. Take away this hope, take away this protection from Roman citizens, establish the fact that there is no assistance to be found in the words “I am a Roman citizen;” that a praetor, or any other officer, may with impunity order any punishment he pleases to be inflicted on a man who says that he is a Roman citizen, though no one knows that it is not true; and at one blow, by admitting that defence; you cut off from the Roman citizens all the provinces, all the kingdoms, all free cities, and indeed the whole world, which has hitherto been open most especially to our countrymen. But what shall be said if he named Lucius Pretius, a Roman knight, who was at that time living in Sicily as a trader, as a man who would vouch for him? Was it a very great undertaking to send letters to Panormus? to keep the man? to detain him in prison, confined in the custody of your dear friends the Mamertines, till Pretius came from Panormus? Did he know the man? Then you might remit some part of the extreme punishment. Did he not know him? Then, if you thought fit, you might establish this law for all people, that whoever was not known to you, and could not produce a rich man to vouch for him, even though he were a Roman citizen, was still to be crucified.

> Latin: 168. hanc spem, tolle hoc praesidium civibus Romanis, constitue nihil esse opis in hac voce, “Romanus sum,” posse impune praetorem aut alium quempiam supplicium quod velit in eum constituere qui se civem Romanum esse dicat, quod qui sit ignoret: iam omnis provincias, iam omnia regna, iam omnis liberas civitates, iam omnem orbem terrarum, qui semper nostris hominibus maxime patuit, civibus Romanis ista defensione praecluseris.? si L. Raecium, equitem Romanum, qui tum erat in Sicilia, nominabat, etiamne id magnum fuit, Panhormum litteras mittere? hominem custodiis Mamertinorum tuorum, vinctum clausum habuisses, dum Panhormo Raecius veniret; cognosceret hominem, aliquid de summo supplicio remitteres; si ignoraret, tum, si ita tibi videretur, hoc iuris in omnis constitueres, ut, qui neque tibi notus esset neque cognitorem locupletem daret, quamvis civis Romanus esset, in crucem tolleretur.

[¶8] 169. But why need I say more about Gavius? as if you were hostile to Gavius, and not rather an enemy to the name and class of citizens, and to all their rights. You were not, I say, an enemy to the individual, but to the common cause of liberty. For what was your object in ordering the Mamertines, when, according to their regular custom and usage, they had erected the cross behind the city in the Pompeian road, to place it where it looked towards the strait; and in adding, what you can by no means deny, what you said openly in the hearing of every one, that you chose that place in order that the man who said that he was a Roman citizen, might be able from his cross to behold Italy and to look towards his own home? And accordingly, O judges, that cross, for the first time since the foundation of Messana, was erected in that place. A spot commanding a view of Italy was picked out by that man, for the express purpose that the wretched man who was dying in agony and torture might see that the rights of liberty and of slavery were only separated by a very narrow strait, and that Italy might behold her son murdered by the most miserable and most painful punishment appropriate to slaves alone.

> Latin: 169. quid ego plura de Gavio? quasi tu Gavio tum fueris infestus ac non nomini generi iuri civium hostis. illi, inquam, homini sed causae communi libertatis inimicus fuisti. enim attinuit, cum Mamertini more atque instituto suo crucem fixissent post urbem in via Pompeia, te iubere in ea parte figere quae ad fretum spectaret, et hoc addere,—quod negare nullo modo potes, quod omnibus audientibus dixisti palam,—te idcirco illum locum deligere, ut ille, quoniam se civem Romanum esse diceret, ex cruce Italiam cernere ac domum suam prospicere posset? illa crux sola, iudices, post conditam Messanam illo in loco fixa est. Italiae conspectus ad eam rem ab isto delectus est, ut ille in dolore cruciatuque moriens perangusto fretu divisa servitutis ac libertatis iura cognosceret, Italia autem alumnum suum servitutis extremo summoque supplicio adfixum videret.

[¶9] 170. It is a crime to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is a wickedness; to put him to death is almost parricide. What shall I say of crucifying him? So guilty an action cannot by any possibility be adequately expressed by any name bad enough for it. Yet with all this that man was not content. “Let him behold his country,” said he; “let him die within sight of laws and liberty.” It was not Gavius, it was not one individual, I know not whom,—it was not one Roman citizen,—it was the common cause of freedom and citizenship that you exposed to that torture and nailed on that cross. But now consider the audacity of the man. Do not you think that he was indignant that be could not erect that cross for Roman citizens in the forum, in the comitium, in the very rostra? For the place in his province which was the most like those places in celebrity, and the nearest to them in point of distance, he did select. He chose that monument of his wickedness and audacity to be in the sight of Italy, in the very vestibule of Sicily, within sight of all passers-by as they sailed to and fro.

> Latin: 170. est vincire civem Romanum, scelus verberare, prope parricidium necare: quid dicam in crucem tollere? satis digno tam nefaria res appellari nullo modo potest. fuit his omnibus iste contentus; “spectet,” inquit, “patriam; in conspectu legum libertatisque moriatur.” tu hoc loco Gavium, non unum hominem nescio quem, sed communem libertatis et civitatis causam in illum cruciatum et crucem egisti. vero videte hominis audaciam! eum graviter tulisse arbitramini quod illam civibus Romanis crucem non posset in foro, non in comitio, non in rostris defigere? enim his locis in provincia sua celebritate simillimum, regione proximum potuit, elegit; monumentum sceleris audaciaeque suae voluit esse in conspectu Italiae, vestibulo Siciliae, praetervectione omnium qui ultro citroque s navigarent.

[¶10] 171. If I were to choose to make these complaints and to utter these lamentations, not to Roman citizens, not to any friends of our city, not to men who had heard of the name of the Roman people,—if I uttered them not to men, but to beasts,—or even, to go further, if I uttered them in some most desolate wilderness to the stones and rocks, still all things, mute and inanimate as they might be, would be moved by such excessive, by such scandalous atrocity of conduct. But now, when I am speaking before senators of the Roman people, the authors of the laws, of the courts of justice, and of all right, I ought not to fear that that man will not be judged to be the only Roman citizen deserving of that cross of his, and that all others will not be judged most undeserving of such a danger.

> Latin: 171. haec non ad civis Romanos, non ad aliquos amicos nostrae civitatis, non ad eos qui populi Romani nomen audissent, denique si non ad homines verum ad bestias, aut etiam, ut longius progrediar, si in aliqua desertissima solitudine ad saxa et ad scopulos haec conqueri ac deplorare vellem, tamen omnia muta atque inanima tanta et tam indigna rerum acerbitate commoverentur. vero cum loquar apud senatores populi Romani, legum et iudiciorum et iuris auctores, timere non debeo ne non unus iste civis Romanus illa cruce dignus, ceteri omnes simili periculo indignissimi iudicentur.

[¶11] 172. A little while ago, O judges, we did not restrain our tears at the miserable and most unworthy death of the naval captains; and it was right for us to be moved at the misery of our innocent allies; what now ought we to do when the lives of our relations are concerned? For the blood of all Roman citizens ought to be accounted kindred blood; since the consideration of the common safety, and truth requires it. All the Roman citizens in this place, both those who are present, and those who are absent in distant lands, require your severity, implore the aid of your good faith, look anxiously for your assistance. They think that all their privileges, all their advantages, all their defences, in short their whole liberty, depends on your sentence.

> Latin: 172. Paulo ante, iudices, lacrimas in morte misera atque indigna nauarchorum non tenebamus, et recte ac merito sociorum innocentium miseria commovebamur: quid nunc in nostro sanguine tandem facere debemus? civium Romanorum omnium sanguis coniunctus existimandus est, quoniam et salutis omnium ratio et veritas postulat. hoc loco cives Romani, et qui adsunt et qui ubique sunt, vestram severitatem desiderant, vestram fidem implorant, vestrum auxilium requirunt; omnia sua iura commoda auxilia, totam denique libertatem in vestris sententiis versari arbitrantur.

[¶12] 173. From me, although they have already had aid enough, still, if the affair should turn out ill, they will perhaps have more than the venture to ask for. For even though any violence should snatch that man from your severity, which I do not fear, a judges, nor do I think it by any means possible; still, if my expectations should in this deceive me, the Sicilians will complain that their cause is lost, and they will be as indignant as I shall myself; yet the Roman people, in a short time, since it has given me the power of pleading before them, shall through my exertions recover its rights by its own votes before the beginning of February. And if you have any anxiety, O judges, for my honour and for my renown, it is not unfavourable for my interests, that that man, having been saved from me at this trial, should be reserved for that decision of the Roman people. The cause is a splendid one, one easily to be proved by me, very acceptable and agreeable to the Roman people. Lastly, if I see where to have wished to rise at the expense of that one man, which I have not wished,—if he should be acquitted, (a thing which cannot happen without the wickedness of many men,) I shall be enabled to rise at the expense of many. But in truth, for your sake, O judges, and for the sake of the republic, I should grieve that such a crime was committed by this select bench of judges. I should grieve that those judges, whom I have myself approved of and joined in selecting, should walk about in this city branded with such disgrace by that man being acquitted, as to seem smeared not with wax, but with mud.

> Latin: 173. A me tametsi satis habent, tamen, si res aliter acciderit, plus habebunt fortasse quam postulant. si qua vis istum de vestra severitate eripuerit, id quod neque metuo, iudices, neque ullo modo fieri posse video,—sed si in hoc me ratio fefellerit, Siculi causam suam perisse querentur et mecum pariter moleste ferent, populus quidem Romanus brevi, quoniam mihi potestatem apud se agendi dedit, ius suum me agente suis suffragiis ante Kalendas Februarias recuperabit. si de mea gloria atque amplitudine quaeritis, iudices, non est alienum meis rationibus istum mihi ex hoc iudicio ereptum ad illud populi Romani iudicium reservari. est illa causa, probabilis mihi et facilis, populo grata atque iucunda; denique si videor hic, id quod ego non quaesivi, de uno isto voluisse crescere, isto absoluto, quod sine multorum scelere fieri non potest, de multis mihi crescere licebit. mehercule vestra reique publicae causa, iudices, nolo in hoc delecto consilio tantum flagiti esse commissum, nolo eos iudices quos ego probarim atque delegerim sic in hac urbe notatos isto absoluto ambulare ut non cera sed caeno obliti esse videantur.

[¶13] 174. Wherefore, from this place I warn you also, O Hortensius, if there is any room for giving a warning, to take care again and again, and to consider what you are doing, and whither you are proceeding; what man it is whom you are defending, and by what means you are doing so. Nor in this manner do I seek at all to limit you, so as to prevent your contending against me with all your genius, and all your ability in speaking. As to other things, if you think that you can secretly manage, out of court, some of the things which belong to this judicial trial; if you think that you can effect anything by artifice, by cunning, by influence, by your own popularity, by that man's wealth; then I am strongly of opinion you had better abandon that idea. And I warn you rather to put down, I warn you not to suffer to proceed any further the attempts which have already been commenced by that man, but which have been thoroughly detected by, and are thoroughly known to me. It will be at a great risk to yourself that any error is committed in this trial; at a greater risk than you think.

> Latin: 174. ob rem te quoque, Hortensi, si qui monendi locus ex hoc loco est, moneo videas etiam atque etiam et consideres quid agas, quo progrediare, quem hominem et qua ratione defendas. de illo tibi quicquam praefinio quo minus ingenio mecum atque omni dicendi facultate contendas; cetera si qua putas te occultius extra iudicium quae ad iudicium pertineant facere posse, si quid artificio consilio potentia gratia, copiis istius moliri cogitas, magno opere censeo desistas, et illa quae temptata iam et coepta sunt ab isto, a me autem pervestigata et cognita, moneo ut exstinguas et longius progredi ne sinas. Magno tuo periculo peccabitur in hoc iudicio, maiore quam putas.

[¶14] 175. For as for your thinking yourself now relieved from all fear for your reputation, and at the summit of all honour as consul elect, believe me, it is no less laborious a task to preserve those honours and kindnesses, conferred on you by the Roman people, than to acquire them. This city has borne as long as it could, as long as there was no help for it, that kingly sort of sway of yours which you have exercised in the courts of justice, and in every part of the republic. It has borne it, I say. But on the day when the tribunes of the people were restored to the Roman people, all those privileges (if you are not yourself already aware of it) were taken away from you. At this very time the eyes of all men are directed on each individual among us, to see with what good faith I prosecute him, with what scrupulous justice these men judge him, in what manner you defend him.

> Latin: 175. enim te liberatum iam existimationis metu, defunctum honoribus designatum consulem cogites, mihi crede, ornamenta ista et beneficia populi Romani non minore negotio retinentur quam comparantur. haec civitas quoad potuit, quoad necesse fuit, regiam istam vestram dominationem in iudiciis et in omni re publica, tulit; sed quo die populo Romano tribuni plebi restituti sunt, omnia ista vobis, si forte nondum intellegitis, adempta atque erepta sunt. nunc oculi coniecti sunt hoc ipso tempore in unum quemque nostrum, qua fide ego accusem, qua religione hi iudicent, qua tu ratione defendas.

[¶15] 176. And in the case of all of us, if any one of us turns aside ever so little from the right path, there will follow, not that silent opinion of men which you were formerly accustomed to despise, but a severe and fearless judgment of the Roman people. You have, O Quintus, no relationship, no connection with that man. In the case of this man you can have none of those excuses with which you formerly used to defend your excessive zeal in any trial. You are bound to take care above all things, that the things which that fellow used to say in the province, when he said that he did all that he was doing out of his confidence in you, shall not be thought to be true.

> Latin: 176. omnibus nobis, si qui tantulum de recta regione deflexerit, non illa tacita existimatio quam antea contemnere solebatis, sed vehemens ac liberum populi Romani iudicium consequetur. tibi, (2Quinte, cum isto cognatio, nulla necessitudo; quibus excusationibus antea nimium in aliquo iudicio studium tuum defendere solebas, earum habere in hoc homine nullam potes. iste in provincia palam dictitabat, cum ea quae faciebat tua se fiducia facere dicebat, ea ne vera putentur tibi maxime est providendum.

[¶16] 177. I feel sure now that I have discharged my duty to the satisfaction of all those who are most unfavourable to me. For I convicted him, in the few hours which the first pleading occupied, in the opinion of every man. The remainder of the trial is not now about my good faith, which has been amply proved, nor about that fellow's way of life, which has bean fully condemned; but it is the judges, and if I am to tell the truth, it is yourself, who will now be passed sentence on. But when will that sentence be passed? For that is a point that must be much looked to, since in all things, and especially in state affairs, the consideration of time and circumstance is of the greatest importance. Why, at that time when the Roman people shall demand another class of men, another order of citizens to act as judges. Sentence will be pronounced in deciding on that law about new judges and fresh tribunals which has been proposed in reality not by the man whose name you see on the back of it, but by this defendant. Verres, I say, has contrived to have this law drawn up and proposed from the hope and opinion which he entertains of you.

> Latin: 177. mei rationem iam offici confido esse omnibus iniquissimis meis persolutam; nam istum paucis horis primae actionis omnium mortalium sententiis condemnavi. iudicium iam non de mea fide, quae perspecta est, nec de istius vita, quae damnata est, sed de iudicibus et, vere ut dicam, de te futurum est. quo tempore futurum est?—nam id maxime providendum est; etenim cum omnibus in rebus, tum in re publica permagni momenti est ratio atque inclinatio temporum. eo, cum populus Romanus aliud genus hominum atque alium ordinem ad res iudicandas requirit, nempe lege de iudiciis iudicibusque novis promulgata; quam non is promulgavit quo nomine proscriptam videtis, sed hic reus,—hic, inquam, sua spe atque opinione quam de vobis habet legem illam scribendam promulgandamque curavit.

[¶17] 178. Therefore, when this cause was first commenced, that law had not been proposed; when Verres, alarmed at your impartiality, had given many indications that he was not likely to make any reply at all, still no mention was made of that law; when he seemed to pick up a little courage and to fortify himself with some little hope, immediately this law was proposed. And as your dignity is exceedingly inconsistent with this law, so his false hopes and preeminent impudence are strongly in favour of it. In this case, if anything blameworthy be done by any of you, either the Roman people itself will judge that man whom it has already pronounced unworthy of any trial at all; or else those men will judge, who, because of the unpopularity of the existing tribunals, will be appointed as new judges by a new law made respecting the old judges.

> Latin: 178. cum primo agere coepimus, lex non erat promulgata; cum iste vestra severitate permotus multa signa dederat quam ob rem responsurus non videretur, mentio de lege nulla fiebat; posteaquam iste recreari et confirmari visus est, lex statim promulgata est. legi cum vestra dignitas vehementer adversetur, istius spes falsa et insignis impudentia maxime suffragatur. si quid erit commissum a quoquam vestrum quod reprendatur, aut populus Romanus iudicabit de eo homine quem iam ante iudiciis indignum putarit, aut ei qui propter offensionem iudiciorum de veteribus iudicibus lege nova novi iudices erunt constituti.

[¶18] 179. For myself, even though I were not to say it myself, who is there who is not aware how far it is necessary for me to proceed? Will it be possible for me to be silent, O Hortensius? Will it be possible for me to dissemble, when the republic has received so severe a wound, that, though I pleaded the cause, our provinces will appear to have been pillaged, our allies oppressed, the immortal gods plundered, Roman citizens tortured and murdered with impunity? Will it be possible for me either to lay this burden on the shoulders of this tribunal, or any longer to endure it in silence? Must not the matter be agitated? must it not be brought publicly forward? Must not the good faith of the Roman people be implored? Must not all who have implicated themselves in such wickedness as to allow their good faith to be tampered with, or to give a corrupt decision, be summoned before the court, and made to encounter a public trial?

> Latin: 179. porro, ut ego non dicam, quis omnium mortalium non intellegit quam longe progredi sit necesse? silere, Hortensi, potero dissimulare, cum tantum res publica vulnus acceperit ut expilatae provinciae, vexati socii, di immortales spoliati, cives Romani cruciati et necati impune me actore esse videantur? potero ego hoc onus tantum aut in hoc iudicio deponere aut tacitus sustinere? agitanda res erit, non in medium proferenda, non populi Romani fides imploranda, non omnes qui tanto se scelere obstrinxerunt ut aut fidem suam corrumpi paterentur aut iudicium corrumperent in discrimen aut iudicium vocandi?

[¶19] 180. Perhaps some one will ask, Are you then going to take upon yourself such a labour, and such violent enmity from so many quarters? Not, of a truth, from any desire of mine, or of my own free will. But I have not the same liberty allowed me that they have who are born of noble family; on whom even when they are asleep all the honours of the Roman people are showered. I must live in this city on far other terms and other conditions. For the case of Marcus Cato, a most wise and active man, occurs to me; who, as he thought that it was better to be recommended to the Roman people by virtue than by high birth, and as he wished that the foundation of his race and name should be hid and extended by himself, voluntarily encountered the enmity of most influential men, and lived in the discharge of the greatest labours to an extreme old age with great credit.

> Latin: 180. aliquis fortasse, “igitur laborem, tantas inimicitias tot hominum suscepturus es?” studio quidem hercule ullo neque voluntate; sed non idem licet mihi quod iis qui nobili genere nati sunt, quibus omnia populi Romani beneficia dormientibus deferuntur; longe alia mihi lege in hac civitate et condicione vivendum est. mihi in mentem M. Catonis, hominis sapientissimi et vigilantissimi; qui cum se virtute non genere populo Romano commendari putaret, cum ipse sui generis initium ac nominis ab se gigni et propagari vellet, hominum potentissimorum suscepit inimicitias, et maximis laboribus suis usque ad summam senectutem summa cum gloria vixit.

[¶20] 181. After that, did not Quintus Pompeius, a man born in a low and obscure rank of life, gain the very highest honours by encountering the enmity of many, and great personal danger, and by undertaking great labour? And lately we have seen Caius Fimbria, Caius Marcius, and Caius Caelius, striving with no slight toil, and in spite of no insignificant opposition, to arrive at those honours which you nobles arrive at while devoted to amusement or absorbed in indifference. This is the system, this is the path for our adoption. These are the men whose conduct and principles we follow. We see how unpopular with, and how hateful to some men of noble birth, is the virtue and industry of new men; that, if we only turn our eyes away for a moment, snares are laid for us; that, if we give the least room for suspicion or for accusation, an attack is immediately made on us; that we must be always vigilant, always labouring. Are there any enmities?—let them be encountered; any toils?—Let them be undertaken.

> Latin: 181. Q. Pompeius, humili atque obscuro loco natus, nonne plurimis inimicitiis maximisque suis periculis ac laboribus amplissimos honores est adeptus? C. Fimbriam, C. Marium, C. Caelium vidimus non mediocribus inimicitiis ac laboribus contendere ut ad istos honores pervenirent ad quos vos per ludum et per neglegentiam pervenistis. eadem est nostrae rationis regio et via, horum nos hominum sectam atque instituta persequimur. quanta sit in invidia quantoque in odio apud quosdam nobilis homines novorum hominum virtus et industria; si tantulum oculos deiecerimus, praesto esse insidias; si ullum locum aperuerimus suspicioni aut crimini, accipiendum statim vulnus esse; semper nobis vigilandum, semper laborandum videmus. sunt, subeantur;

[¶21] 182. In truth, silent and secret enmities are more to be dreaded than war openly declared and waged against us. There's scarcely one man of noble birth who looks favourably on our industry; there are no services of ours by which we can secure their good-will; they differ from us in disposition and inclination, as if they were of a different race and a different nature. What danger then is there to us in their enmity, when their dispositions are already averse and inimical to us before we have at all provoked their enmity?

> Latin: 182. labor, suscipiatur; etenim tacitae magis et occultae inimicitiae timendae sunt quam indictae atque apertae. nobilium non fere quisquam nostrae industriae favet; nullis nostris officiis benivolentiam illorum adlicere possumus; quasi natura et genere diiuncti sint, ita dissident a nobis animo ac voluntate. quid habent eorum inimicitiae periculi, quorum animos iam aute habueris inimicos et invidos quam ullas inimicitias susceperis?

[¶22] 183. Wherefore, O judges, I earnestly wish that I may appear for the last time in the character of an accuser, in the case of this criminal, when I shall have given satisfaction to the Roman people, and discharged the duty due to the Sicilians my client, and which I have voluntarily undertaken. But it is my deliberate resolution, if the event should deceive the expectation which I cherish of you, to prosecute not only those who are particularly implicated in the guilt of corrupting the tribunal, but those also who have in any way been accomplices in it. Moreover, if there be any persons, who in the case of the criminal have any inclination to show themselves powerful, or audacious, or ingenious in corrupting the tribunal, let them hold themselves ready, seeing that they will have to fight a battle with us, while the Roman people will be the judges of the contest. And if they know that, in the case of this criminal, whom the Sicilian nation has given me for my enemy, I have been sufficiently energetic, sufficiently persevering, and sufficiently vigilant, they may conceive that I shall be a much more formidable and active enemy to those men whose enmity I have encountered of my own accord, for the sake of the Roman people.

> Latin: 183. ob rem mihi, iudices, optatum illud est, in hoc reo finem accusandi facere, cum et populo Romano satis factum et receptum officium Siculis, necessariis meis, erit persolutum; deliberatum autem est, si res opinionem meam quam de vobis habeo fefellerit, non modo eos persequi ad quos maxime culpa corrupti iudici, sed etiam illos ad quos conscientiae contagio pertinebit. si qui sunt qui in hoc reo aut potentes aut audaces ant artifices ad corrumpendum iudicium velint esse, ita sint parati ut disceptante populo Romano mecum sibi rem videant futuram; et si me in hoc reo, quem mihi inimicum Siculi dederunt, satis vehementem, satis perseverantem, satis vigilantem esse cognorunt, existiment in iis hominibus quorum ego inimicitias populi Romani salutis causa suscepero multo graviorem atque acriorem futurum.

[¶23] 184. Now, O good and great Jupiter, you, whose royal present, worthy of your most splendid temple, worthy of the Capitol and of that citadel of all nations, worthy of being the gift of a king, made for you by a king, dedicated and promised to you, that man by his nefarious wickedness wrested from the hands of a monarch; you whose most holy and most beautiful image he carried away from Syracuse;—And you, O royal Juno, whose two temples, situated in two islands of our allies—at Melita and Samos—temples of the greatest sanctity and the greatest antiquity, that same man, with similar wickedness, stripped of all their presents and ornaments;—And you, O Minerva, whom he also pillaged in two of your most renowned and most venerated temples—at Athens, when he took away a great quantity of gold, and at Syracuse, when he took away everything except the roof and walls;— And you, O Latona, O Apollo, O Diana, whose (I will not say temples, but, as the universal opinion and religious belief agrees,) ancient birthplace and divine home at Delos he plundered by a nocturnal robbery and attack;—You, also, O Apollo, whose image he carried away from Chios;—You, again and again, O Diana, whom he plundered at Perga; whose most holy image at Segesta, where it had been twice consecrated—once by their own religious gift, and a second time by the victory of Publius Africanus—he dared to take away and remove;—And you, O Mercury, whom Verres had placed in his villa, and in some private palaestra, but whom Publius Africanus had placed in a city of the allies.

> Latin: 184. te, Iuppiter, cuius iste donum regale, dignum tuo pulcherrimo templo, dignum Capitolio atque ista arce omnium nationum, dignum regio munere, tibi factum ab regibus, tibi dicatum atque promissum, per nefarium scelus de manibus regiis extorsit, cuiusque sanctissimum et pulcherrimum simulacrum Syracusis sustulit; teque, Iuno Regina, cuius duo fana duabus in insulis posita sociorum, Melitae et Sami, sanctissima et antiquissima, simili scelere idem iste omnibus donis ornamentisque nudavit; teque, Minerva, quam item duobus in clarissimis et religiosissimis templis expilavit, Athenis, cum auri grande pondus, Syracusis, cum omnia praeter tectum et parietes abstulit;

[¶24] 185. and in the gymnasium of the Tyndaritans, as a guardian and protector of the youth of the city;— And you, O Hercules, whom that man endeavoured, on a stormy night, with a band of slaves properly equipped and armed, to tear down from your situation, and to carry off;—And you, O most holy mother Cybele, whom he left among the Enguini, in your most august and venerated temple, plundered to such an extent, that the name only of Africanus, and some traces of your worship thus violated, remain, but the monuments of victory and all the ornaments of the temple are no longer visible,—You, also, O you judges and witnesses of all forensic matters, and of the most important tribunals, and of the laws, and of the courts of justice,—you, placed in the most frequented place belonging to the Roman people, O Castor and Pollux, from whose temple that man, in a most wicked manner, procured gain to himself, and enormous booty;—And, O all ye gods, who, borne on sacred cars, visit the solemn assemblies of our games, whose road that fellow contrived should be adapted, not to the dignity of your religious ceremonies, but to his own profit;

> Latin: 185. teque, Latona et Apollo et Diana, quorum iste Deli non fanum, sed, ut hominum opinio et religio fert, sedem antiquam divinumque domicilium nocturno latrocinio atque impetu compilavit; etiam te, Apollo, quem iste Chio sustulit; teque etiam atque etiam, Diana, quam Pergae spoliavit, cuius simulacrum sanctissimum Segestae, bis apud Segestanos consecratum, semel ipsorum religione, iterum P. Africani victoria, tollendum asportandumque curavit; teque, Mercuri, quem Verres in domo et in privata aliqua palaestra posuit, P. Africanus in urbe sociorum et in gymnasio Tyndaritanorum iuventutis illorum custodem ac praesidem voluit esse; teque, Hercules, quem iste Agrigenti nocte intempesta servorum instructa et comparata manu convellere suis sedibus atque auferre conatus est; teque, sanctissima mater Idaea, quam apud Enguinos augustissimo et religiosissimo in templo sic spoliatam reliquit ut nunc nomen modo Africani et vestigia violatae religionis maneant, monumenta victoriae fanique ornamenta non exstent; vosque, omnium rerum forensium, consiliorum maximorum, legum iudiciorumque arbitri et testes celeberrimo in loco populi Romani locati, Castor et Pollux, quorum e templo quaestum iste sibi et praedam improbissimam comparavit; omnesque di qui vehiculis tensarum sollemnis coetus ludorum invisitis, quorum iter iste ad suum quaestum, non ad religionum dignitatem faciundum exigendumque curavit; teque,

[¶25] 187. —And you, O Ceres and Libera, whose sacred worship, as the opinions and religious belief of all men agree, is contained in the most important and most abstruse mysteries; you, by whom the principles of life and food, the examples of laws, customs, humanity, and refinement are said to have been given and distributed to nations and to cities; you, whose sacred rites the Roman people has received from the Greeks and adopted, and now preserves with such religious awe, both publicly and privately, that they seem not to have been introduced from other nations, but rather to nave been transmitted from hence to other nations, but which nave been polluted and violated by that man alone, in such a manner, that he had one image of Ceres (which it was impious for a man not only to touch, but even to look upon) pulled down from its place in the temple at Catina, and taken away; and another image of whom he carried away from its proper seat and home at Enna; which was a work of such beauty, that men, when they saw it, thought either that they saw Ceres herself, or an image of Ceres not wrought by human hand, but one that had fallen from heaven;—

> Latin: 187. Ceres et Libera, quarum sacra, sicut opiniones hominum ac religiones ferunt, longe maximis atque occultissimis caerimoniis continentur, a quibus initia vitae atque victus, morum, legum, mansuetudinis, humanitatis hominibus et civitatibus data ac dispertita esse dicuntur, quarum sacra populus Romanus a Graecis adscita et accepta tanta religione et publice et privatim tuetur, non ut ab illis huc adlata, sed ut ceteris hinc tradita esse videantur, quae ab isto uno sic polluta ac violata sunt ut simulacrum Cereris unum, quod a viro non modo tangi sed ne aspici quidem fas fuit, e sacrario Catina convellendum auferendumque curarit, alterum autem Henna ex sua sede ac domo sustulerit, quod erat tale ut homines, cum viderent, aut ipsam videre se Cererem aut effigiem Cereris non humana manu factam, sed de caelo lapsam arbitrarentur, — vos etiam atque etiam imploro et appello, sanctissimae deae, quae illos Hennensis lacus lucosque incolitis, cunctaeque Siciliae, quae mihi defendenda tradita est, praesidetis, a quibus inventis frugibus et in orbem terrarum distributis omnes gentes ac nationes vestri religione numinis continentur;

[¶26] 188. You, again and again I implore and appeal to, most holy goddesses, who dwell around those lakes and groves of Enna, and who preside over all Sicily, which is entrusted to me to be defended; you whose invention and gift of corn, which you have distributed over the whole earth, inspires all nations and all races of men with reverence for your divine power;—And all the other gods, and all the goddesses, do I implore and entreat, against whose temples and religious worship that man, inspired by some wicked frenzy and audacity, has always waged a sacrilegious and impious war, that, if in dealing with this criminal and this cause my counsels have always tended to the safety of the allies, the dignity of the Roman people, and the maintenance of my own character for good faith; if all my cares, and vigilance, and thoughts have been directed to nothing but the discharge of my duty, and the establishment of truth, I implore them, O judges, so to influence you, that the thoughts which were mine when I undertook this cause, the good faith which has been mine in pleading it, may be yours also in deciding it.

> Latin: 188. ceteros item deos deasque omnis imploro et obtestor, quorum templis et religionibus iste nefario quodam furore et audacia instinctus bellum sacrilegum semper impiumque habuit indictum, ut, si in hoc reo atque in hac causa omnia mea consilia ad salutem sociorum, dignitatem rei publicae, fidem meam spectaverunt, si nullam ad rem nisi ad officium et virtutem omnes meae curae vigiliae cogitationesque elaborarunt, quae mea mens in suscipienda causa fuit, fides in agenda, eadem vestra sit in iudicanda;

[¶27] 189. Lastly, that, if all the actions of Caius Verres are unexampled and unheard of instances of wickedness, of audacity, of perfidy, of lust, of avarice, and of cruelty, an end worthy of such a life and such actions may, by your sentence, overtake him; and that the republic, and my own duty to it, may be content with my undertaking this one prosecution, and that I may be allowed for the future to defend the good, instead of being compelled to prosecute the infamous.

> Latin: 189. deinde uti C. Verrem, si eius omnia sunt inaudita et singularia facinora sceleris, audaciae, perfidiae, libidinis, avaritiae, crudelitatis, dignus exitus eius modi vita atque factis vestro iudicio consequatur, utique res publica meaque fides una hac accusatione mea contenta sit, mihique posthac bonos potius defendere liceat quam improbos accusare necesse sit.