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