While we were examining this matter thoroughly, and
holding the documents actually in our hands, we see on a sudden erasures of such a
sort as to appear to be fresh wounds inflicted on papers. Immediately, having a
suspicion of something wrong, we bent our eyes and attention on the names
themselves. Money was entered as having been received from Caius Verrutius the son
of Caius, in such a way that the letters had been let stand down to the second R,
all the rest was an erasure. A second, a third, a fourth—there were a great many
names in the same state. As the matter was plain, so also was the abominable and
scandalous worthlessness of the accounts. We began to inquire of Carpinatius who
that Verrutius was, with whom he had such extensive pecuniary dealings. The man
began to hesitate, to look away, to colour. Because there is a provision made by law
with respect to the accounts of the farmers, forbidding their being taken to
Rome; in order that the matter might be
as clear and as completely proved as possible, I summon Carpinatius before the
tribunal of Metellus and produce the accounts of the company in the forum. There is
a great rush of people to the place; and as the partnership existing between
Carpinatius and that praetor, and his usury, were well known, all people were
watching with the most eager expectation to see what was contained in the accounts
I bring the matter before Metellus; I state to him that I have seen the accounts
of the shareholders, that in these there is a long account of one Caius Verrutius
made up of many items, and that I saw, by a computation of the years and months,
that this Verrutius had had no account at all with Carpinatius, either before the
arrival of Caius Verres, or after his departure. I demand that Carpinatius shall
give me an answer who that Verrutius is; whether he is a merchant, or a broker, or
an agriculturist, or a grazier; whether he is in Sicily, or whether he has now left it. All who were in the court
cried out at once that there had never been any one in Sicily of the name of Verrutius. I began to press the man to answer
me who he was, where he was, whence he came; why the servant of the company who made
up the accounts always made a blunder in the name of Verrutius at the same place?
And I made this demand, not because I thought it of any consequence that he should
be compelled to answer me these things against his will, but that the robberies of
one, the dishonesty of the other, and the audacity of both might be made evident to
all the world. And so I leave him in the court, dumb from fear and the consciousness
of his crimes, terrified out of his wits, and almost frightened to death; I take a
copy of the accounts in the forum, with a great crowd of men standing round me; the
most eminent men in the assembly are employed in making the copy; the letters and
the erasures are faithfully copied and imitated, and transferred from the accounts
into books.
The copy was examined and compared with the original with
the greatest care and diligence, and then sealed up by most honourable men. If
Carpinatius would not answer me then, do you, O Verres, answer me now, who you
imagine this Verrutius, who must almost be one of your own family, to be. It is
quite impossible that you should not have known a man in your own province, who, I
see, was in Sicily while you were praetor,
and who, I perceive from the accounts themselves, was a very wealthy man. And now,
that this may not be longer in obscurity, advance into the middle, This is said of the officers of the court who have the account in
their keeping during the trial. open the volume, the copy of the accounts,
so that every one may be able to see now, not the traces only of that man's avarice,
but the very bed in which it lay.
You see the word Verrutius?—You see the first
letters untouched? you see the last part of the name, the tail of Verres, smothered
in the erasure, as in the mud. The original accounts, O judges, are in exactly the
same state as this copy.—What are you waiting for? What more do you want? You,
Verres, why are you sitting there? Why do you delay? for either you must show us
Verrutius, or confess that you yourself are Verrutius. The ancient orators are
extolled, the Crassi and Antonii, because they had the skill to efface the
impression made by an accusation with great clearness, and to defend the causes of
accused persons with eloquence. It was not, forsooth, in ability only that they
surpassed those who are now employed here as counsel, but also in good fortune. No
one, in those times, committed such crimes as to leave no room for any defence; no
one lived in such a manner that no part of his life was free from the most extreme
infamy; no one was detected in such manifest guilt, that, shameless as he had been
in the action, he seemed still more shameless if he denied it.
But now what can Hortensius do? Can he argue against the
charges of avarice by panegyrics on his client's economy? He is defending a man
thoroughly profligate, thoroughly licentious, thoroughly wicked. Can he lead your
attention away from this infamy and profligacy of his, and turn them into some other
direction by a mention of his bravery? But a man more inactive, more lazy, one who
is more a man among women, a debauched woman among men, cannot be found.—But his
manners are affable. Who is more obstinate more rude? more arrogant?—But still all
this is without any injury to any one. Who has ever been more furious, more
treacherous, and more cruel? With such a defendant and such a cause, what could all
the Crassus's and Antonius's in the world do? This is all they would do, as I think,
O Hortensius; they would have nothing to do with the cause at all, lest by contact
with the impudence of another they might lose their own characters for virtue. For
they come to plead causes free and unshackled, so as not, if they did not choose to
act shamelessly in defending people, to be thought ungrateful for abandoning
them.
THE THIRD BOOK OF THE SECOND PLEADING IN THE ACCUSATION AGAINST CAIUS
VERRES.ON THE COURT RELATING TO CORN.
The Argument.
A great part of this speech is occupied with charges against Verres of extortion
committed with respect to the decuriae or tenths.
“The decuriae formed a part of the vectigalia of the Romans, and were paid by subjects whose
territory, either by conquest, or by deditio, had
become the property of the state. They consisted as the name denotes, of a tithe or
tenth of the produce of the soil levied upon the cultivators (aratores) or occupiers (possessores)
of the lands, which from being subject to this payment were called agri decumani . . . It appears from Cicero (c. Verr. act. ii. lib. iii..) that Romans, on reducing
Sicily to a province, allowed to the old
inhabitants a continuance of their ancient rights, and that, with some few
exceptions, the territory of all the states was subjected, as formerly, to the
payment of a tithe on corn, wine, oil, and the fruges
minutae.“Fruges minutae” probably pulse—Riddle's Lat. Dict. in v. Minutus.It was further determined that place and
time of paying these tithes to the decumani should
‘be and continue’ as settled by the law of king Hiero (Lex
Hieronica), which enacted severe penalties against any arator who did not pay his due, as well as against the
decumani who exacted more than their tenth . . .
The name of decumani was also applied to the
farmers of these tributes, who purchased them from the state, and then collected
them on their own account.” In fact “the revenues which Rome derived from conquered countries, consisting
chiefly of tolls, tithes, harbour duties, &c.... were chiefly let out, or, as
the Romans expressed it, sold by the censors in Rome itself to the highest bidders, (Cic.
c. Verr. ii. iii. 7.)... The tithes raised in the province of Sicily alone, with the exception of those of wine,
oil, and garden produce, were not sold at Rome, but in the district of Sicily itself, according to a practice established by Hiero (Cic. c. Verr. ii. iii. 64, 33). The persons who undertook the farming of the public revenue, of
course, belonged to the wealthiest Romans. and down to the end of the republic, as
well as during the earlier part of the empire, the farming of the public revenues
was almost exclusively in the hands of the equites,
whence the words equites and publicani are sometimes used as synonymous, (Cic. c. Verr. i. 51, 52, 71.) . . . The publicani had to give security to the state for the sum at which they
bought one or more branches of revenue in a province; and as no one person was rich
enough to give sufficient security, a number of equites generally united together and formed a company (socii, societas, or
corpus ) which was recognised by the state, and
by which they were enabled to carry on their undertakings on a large scale. The
shares which each partner in such a company took in the business were called
partes, and if they were small particulae. The responsible person in each company, and
the one who contracted with the state, was called manceps, but there was also a magister
to manage the business of each company, who resided at Rome, and kept up an extensive correspondence with the agents in the
provinces, (Cic. c. Verr. ii. 74.) He seems to
have held his office only for one year; his representative in the province was
called submagister, who had to travel about and
superintend the actual business of collecting the revenues . . . Nobody but a Roman
citizen was allowed to become a member of a company of publicani; freedmen and slaves were excluded, (Cic. c. Verr. ii. iii. 39) No Roman magistrate,
however, or governor of a province, was allowed to take any share whatever in a
company of publicani, (Cic. c. Verr. ii. iii. 57), a regulation which was chiefly intended as a
protection against the oppression of the provincials. . . The actual levying or
collecting of the taxes in the provinces was performed by an inferior class of men,
who were said operas publicanis dare, or esse in operis societatis, (Cic. c. Verr. ii. iii. 41..) They were engaged by the publicani, and consisted of freemen as well as slaves,
Romans as well as provincials.” (Cic. c. Verr. ii. iii.
77)—Smith, Dict. Ant. pp. 316, 806, vv. Decumae, Publicani.
Verres had broken the law which forbade a governor of a province to hold shares in
a company which farmed the revenue; and as he had therefore a personal interest in
increasing the taxes, he committed unexampled acts of extortion himself, and
protected those who committed similar act. And in many other respects he had
plundered the cultivators of the public domain, whom I have called in this
translation “agriculturists,” not using the word “farmers,” by which word I have
rendered “publicani.”
The medimnus, as we see, (ch. 45,
46), was equal to six modii, and contained within a fraction of twelve English gallons, or a
bushel and a half.
Every man, O judges, who, without being prompted by any enmity, or stung by any
private injury, or tempted by any reward, prosecutes another for the good of the
republic, ought to consider, not only how great a burden he is liking upon himself
at the time, but also how much trouble he is courting for the remainder of his life. For he imposes on himself a law of innocence, of
moderation, and of all virtues, who demands from another an account of his life; and
he does so the more if, as I said before, he does this being urges by no other
motive except a desire for the common good.
For if any one assumes to himself to correct the manners of others, and to reprove
their faults, who will pardon him, if he himself turn aside in any particular from
the strict line of duty? Wherefore, a citizen of this sort is the more to he praised
and beloved by all men for this reason also,—that he does not only remove a
worthless citizen from the republic, but he also promises and binds himself to be
such a man as to be compelled, not only by an ordinary inclination to virtue and
duty, but by even some more unavoidable principle, to live virtuously and
honourably.
And, therefore, O judges, that most illustrious and most eloquent man, Lucius
Crassus, was often heard to say that he did not repent of anything so much as having
ever proceeded against Caius Carbo: for by so doing he had his inclination as to
everything less uncontrolled, and he thought, too, that his way of life was remarked
by more people than he liked. And he, fortified as he was by the protection of his
own genius and fortune, was yet hampered by this anxiety which he had brought upon
himself, before his judgment was fully formed, at his entrance into life; on which
account virtue and integrity is less, looked for from those who undertake this
business as young men, than from those who do so at a riper age; for they, for the
sake of credit and ostentation, become accusers of others before they have had time
to take notice how much more free the life of those who have accused no one is. We
who have already shown both what we could do, and what judgment we had, unless we
could easily restrain our desires, should never, of our own accord, deprive
ourselves of all liberty and freedom in our way of life.
And I have a greater burden on me than those who have accused other men, (if that
deserve to be called a burden which you bear with pleasure and delight,)—but still I
have in one respect undertaken a greater burden than others who have done the same
thing, because all men are required to abstain most especially from those vices for
which they have reproved another. Have you accused any thief or rapacious man? You
must for ever avoid all suspicion of avarice. Have you prosecuted any spiteful or
cruel man? You must for ever take care not to appear in any matter the least harsh
or severe. A seducer? an adulterer? You must, take care most diligently that no
trace of licentiousness be ever seen in your conduct. In short, everything which you
have impeached in another must be earnestly avoided by you your self. In truth, not
only no accuser, but no reprover even can be endured, who is himself detected in the
vice which he reproves in another.
I, in the case of one man, am finding fault with every vice which can exist in a
wicked and abandoned man. I say that there is no indication of lust, of wickedness,
of audacity, which you cannot see clearly in the life of that one man. In the case
of this criminal, I, O judges, establish this law against myself; that I must so
live as to appear to be, and always to have been, utterly unlike that man, not only
in all my actions and words, but even in that arrogance and haughtiness of
countenance and eyes which you see before you. I will bear without uneasiness, O
judges, that that course of life which was previously agreeable to me of my own
accord, shall now, by the law and conditions I hare laid down for myself, become
necessary for me.
And in the case of this man you often, O Hortensius, are asking me, under the
pressure of what enmity or what injury I have come forward to accuse him. I omit all
mention of my duty, and of my connection with the Sicilians; I answer you as to the
point of enmity. Do you think there is any greater enmity than that arising from the
opposite opinions of men, and the contrariety of their wishes and inclinations? Can
he who thinks good faith the holiest thing in life avoid being an enemy to that man
who, as quaestor, dared to despoil, to desert, to betray, and to attack his consul,
whose counsels he had shared, whose money he had received, with all whose business
affairs he had been entrusted? Can he who reverences modesty and chastity behold
with equanimity the daily adulteries, the dissolute manners of that man, the
domestic pandering to his passions? Can he who wishes to pay due honours to the
immortal gods, by any means avoid being an enemy to that man who has plundered all
the temples, who has dared to commit his robberies even on the track of the wheels
of the sacred car? Thensa was
the chariot or car on which the images of the gods were carried in the Ludi Circenses. Must not he who thinks that all
men ought to live under equal laws, be very hostile to you, when he considers the
variety and caprice of your decrees? Must not he who grieves at the injuries of the
allies and the distresses of the provinces be excited against you by the plundering
of Asia, the harassing of Pamphylia, the miserable state and the agony of
Sicily? Ought not he who desires the
rights and the liberty of the Roman citizens to be held sacred among all men,—to be
even more than an enemy to you, when here collects your scourgings, your executions,
your crosses erected for the punishment of Roman citizens?
Or if he had in any particular made a decree contrary to my interest unjustly,
would you then think that I was fairly an enemy to him; but now that he has acted
contrary to the interests, and property, and advantage, and inclination, and welfare
of all good men, do you ask why I am an enemy to a man towards whom the whole Roman
people is hostile? I, who above all other men ought to undertake, to gratify the
desires of the Roman people, even a greater burden and duty than my strength perhaps
is equal to. What? cannot
even those matters, which seem more trifling, move any one's mind,—that the
worthlessness and audacity of that man should have a more easy access to your own
friendship, O Hortensius, and to that of other great and noble men, than the virtue
and integrity of any one of us? You hate the industry of new men; you despise their
economy; you scorn their modesty; you wish their talents and virtues to be depressed
and extinguished.
You are fond of Verres: I suppose so. If you are not gratified with his virtue,
and his innocence, and his industry, and his modesty, and his chastity, at least you
are transported at his conversation, his accomplishments, and his high breeding. He
has no such gifts; but, on the contrary, all his qualities are stained with the most
extreme disgrace and infamy, with most extraordinary stupidity and boorishness. If
any man's house is open to this man, do you think it is open, or rather that it is
yawning and begging something? He is a favourite of your factors, of your valets.
Your freedmen, your slaves, your housemaids, are in love with him. He, when he
calls, is introduced out of his turn; he alone is admitted, while others, often most
virtuous men, are excluded. From which it is very easily understood that those
people are the most dear to you who have lived in such a manner that without your
protection they cannot be safe.
What? do you think this can be endurable to any one,—that we should live on
slender incomes in such a way as not even to wish to acquire anything more; that we
should be content with maintaining our dignity, and the goodwill of the Roman
people, not by wealth, but by virtue; but that that man having robbed every one on
all sides, and having escaped with impunity, should live, in prosperity and
abundance? that all your banquets should be decorated with his plate, your forum and
hall of assembly with his statues and pictures? especially when, through your own
valour, you are rich in all such trophies? That it should be Verres who adorns your
villas with his spoils? That it should be Verres who is vying with Lucius Mummius:
so that the one appears to have laid waste more cities of the allies, than the other
overthrew belonging to the enemy? That the one, unassisted, seems to have adorned
more villas with the decorations of temples, than the other decorated-temples with
the spoils of the enemy? And shall he be dearer to you, in order that others may
more willingly become subservient to your covetousness at their own risk?
But these topics shall be mentioned at another time, and they have already been
mentioned elsewhere. Let us proceed to the other matters, after we have in a few
words, O judges, begged your favourable construction. All through our former speech
we had your attention very carefully given to us. It was very pleasing to us; but it
will be far more pleasing, if you will be so kind as to attend to what follows;
because in all the things which were said before, there was some pleasure arising
from the very variety and novelty of the subjects and of the charges. Now we are
going to discuss the affair of corn; which indeed in the greatness of the iniquity
exceeds nearly all the other charges, but will have far less variety and
agreeableness in the discussion. But it is quite worthy of your authority and
wisdom, O judges, in the matter of careful hearing, to give no less weight to
conscientiousness in the discharge of your duties, than to pleasure.
I, inquiring into this charge respecting the corn, keep this in view, O judges,
that you are going to inquire into the estates and fortunes of all the
Sicilians—into the property of all the Roman citizens who cultivate land in
Sicily—into the revenues handed down to
you by your ancestors—into the life and sustenance of the Roman people. And if these
matters appear to you important—yes, and most important,—do not be weary if they are
pressed upon you from various points of view, and at some length. It cannot escape
the notice of any one of you, O judges, that all the advantage and desirableness of
Sicily, which is in any way connected
with the convenience of the Roman people, consists mainly in its corn; for in other
respects we are indeed assisted by that province, but as to this article, we are fed
and supported by it.
The case, O judges, will be divided under three heads in my accusation: for,
first, I shall speak of the collectors of the tenths; secondly, of the corn which
has been bought; thirdly, of that which has been valued. There is, O judges, this difference
between Sicily and other provinces, in the matter of tribute derived from the lands;
that in the other provinces, either the tribute imposed is of a fixed amount, which
is called stipendiarium, as in the case of the
Spaniards and most of the Carthaginian provinces, being a sort of reward of victory,
and penalty for war; or else a contract exists between the state and the farmers,
settled by the censor, as is the case in Asia, by the Sempronian law. But the cities in Sicily were received into our friendship and
alliance, retaining the same laws which they had before, and that being subject to
the Roman people on the same conditions as they had formerly been subject to their
own princes.
Very few cities of Sicily were subdued in
war by our ancestors, and even in the case of those which were, though their land
was made the public domain of the Roman people, still it was afterwards restored to
them. That domain is regularly let out to farmers by the censors. There are two
federate cities, whose tenths are not put up to auction; the city of the Mamertines
and Taurominium. Besides these, there are five cities without any treaty, free and
enfranchised; Centuripa, Halesa, Segesta, Halicya, and Panormus. All the land of the other states of
Sicily is subject to the payment of
tenths; and was so, before the sovereignty of the Roman people, by the will and laws
of the Sicilians themselves.
See now the wisdom of our ancestors, who, when they had added Sicily, so valuable an assistant both in war and
peace, to the republic, were so careful to defend the Sicilians and to retain them
in their allegiance, that they not only imposed no new tax upon their lands, but did
not even alter the law of putting up for sale the contracts of the farmers of the
tenths, or the time or place of selling them; so that they were to put them up for
sale at the regular time of year, at the same place, in Sicily,—in short, in every respect as the law of Hiero directed; they
permitted them still to manage their own affairs, and were not willing that their
minds should be disturbed even by a new name to a law, much less by an actual new
law.