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?
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
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.
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.