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offense, how we know not, and had been confined in the disused stone quarries which served for the public
prison of Syracuse. From these he contrived to escape, and made his way to Messana. Unluckily for himself,
he did not know that Messana was the one place in Sicily where it would not be safe to speak against the
governor. Just as he was about to embark for Italy he was heard to complain of the treatment which he had
received, and was arrested and brought before the chief magistrate of the town. Verres happened to come to
the town the same day, and heard what had happened. He ordered the man to be stripped and flogged in the
market-place. Gavius pleaded that he was a Roman citizen and offered proof of his claim. Verres refused to
listen, and enraged by the repetition of the plea, actually ordered the man to be crucified. "And set up," he said
to his lictors, "set up the cross by the straits. He is a Roman citizen, he says, and he will at least be able to
have a view of his native country." We know from the history of St. Paul what a genuine privilege and
protection this citizenship was. And Cicero exactly expresses the feeling on the subject in his famous words.
"It is a crime to put a Roman citizen in irons; it is positive wickedness to inflict stripes upon him; it is close
upon parricide to put him to death; as to crucifying him there is no word for it." And on this crowning act of
audacity Verres had the recklessness to venture.
After holding office for three years Verres came back to Rome. The people of Messana, his only friends in the
islands, had built a merchantman for him, and he loaded it with his spoils. He came back with a light heart. He
knew indeed that the Sicilians would impeach him. His wrong-doings had been too gross, too insolent, for
him to escape altogether. But he was confident that he had the means in his hands for securing an acquittal.
The men that were to judge him were men of his own order. The senators still retained the privilege which
Sulla had given them. They, and they alone, furnished the juries before whom such causes were tried. Of these
senators not a few had a fellow-feeling for a provincial governor accused of extortion and wrong. Some had
plundered provinces in the past; others hoped to do so in the future. Many insignificant men who could not
hope to obtain such promotion were notoriously open to bribes. And some who would have scorned to receive
money, or were too wealthy to be influenced by it, were not insensible to the charms of other gifts--to a fine
statue or a splendid picture judiciously bestowed. A few, even more scrupulous, who would not accept such
presents for their own halls or gardens, were glad to have such splendid ornaments for the games which they
exhibited to the people. Verres came back amply provided with these means of securing his safety. He openly
avowed--for indeed he was as frank as he was unscrupulous--that he had trebled his extortions in order that,
after leaving a sufficiency for himself, he might have wherewith to win the favor of his judges. It soon became
evident to him that he would need these and all other help, if he was to escape. The Sicilians engaged Cicero
to plead their cause. He had been quaestor in a division of the province for a year six years before, and had
won golden opinions by his moderation and integrity. And Cicero was a power in the courts of the law, all the
greater because he had never yet prosecuted, but had kept himself to what was held the more honorable task of
defending persons accused.[2] Verres secured Hortensius. He too was a great orator; Cicero had chosen him
as the model which he would imitate, and speaks of him as having been a splendid and energetic speaker, full
of life both in diction and action. At that time, perhaps, his reputation stood higher than that of Cicero himself.
It was something to have retained so powerful an advocate; it would be still more if it could be contrived that
the prosecutor should be a less formidable person. And there was a chance of contriving this. A certain
Caecilius was induced to come forward, and claim for himself, against Cicero, the duty of prosecuting the late
governor of Sicily. He too had been a quaestor in the province, and he had quarreled, or he pretended that he
had quarreled, with Verres. The first thing there had to be argued before the court, which, like our own,
CHAPTER IV. A ROMAN MAGISTRATE. 22
Roman life in the days of Cicero
consisted of a presiding judge and a jury, was the question, who was to prosecute, Cicero or Caecilius, or the
two together. Cicero made a great speech, in which he established his own claim. He was the choice of the
provincials; the honesty of his rival was doubtful, while it was quite certain that he was incompetent. The
court decided in his favor, and he was allowed one hundred and ten days to collect evidence. Verres had
another device in store. This time a member of the Senate came forward and claimed to prosecute Verres for
misdoings in the province of Achaia in Greece. He wanted one hundred and eight days only for collecting
evidence. If this claim should be allowed, the second prosecution would be taken first; of course it was not
intended to be serious, and would end in an acquittal. Meanwhile all the available time would have been
spent, and the Sicilian affair would have to be postponed till the next year. It was on postponement indeed that
Verres rested his hopes. In July Hortensius was elected consul for the following year, and if the trial could
only be put off till he had entered upon office, nothing was to be feared. Verres was openly congratulated in
the streets of Rome on his good fortune. "I have good news for you," cried a friend; "the election has taken
place and you are acquitted." Another friend had been chosen praetor, and would be the new presiding judge.
Consul and praetor between them would have the appointment of the new jurors, and would take care that
they should be such as the accused desired. At the same time the new governor of Sicily would be also a
friend, and he would throw judicious obstacles in the way of the attendance of witnesses. The sham
prosecution came to nothing. The prosecutor never left Italy. Cicero, on the other hand, employed the greatest
diligence. Accompanied by his cousin Lucius he visited all the chief cities of Sicily, and collected from them
an enormous mass of evidence. In this work he only spent fifty out of the hundred and ten days allotted to
him, and was ready to begin long before he was expected.
[Footnote 2: So Horace compliments a friend on being "the illustrious safeguard of the sad accused."]
Verres had still one hope left; and this, strangely enough, sprang out of the very number and enormity of his
crimes. The mass of evidence was so great that the trial might be expected to last for a long time. If it could
only be protracted into the next year, when his friends would be in office, he might still hope to escape. And
indeed there was but little time left. The trial began on the fifth of August. In the middle of the month Pompey
was to exhibit some games. Then would come the games called "The Games of Rome," and after this others
again, filling up much of the three months of September, October, and November. Cicero anticipated this
difficulty. He made a short speech (it could not have lasted more than two hours in delivering), in which he
stated the case in outline. He made a strong appeal to the jury. They were themselves on their trial. The eyes
of all the world were on them. If they did not do justice on so notorious a criminal they would never be trusted
any more. It would be seen that the senators were not fit to administer the law. The law itself was on its trial.
The provincials openly declared that if Verres was acquitted, the law under which their governors were liable
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