But, I was going to say, when these five judges had been appointed, by no law,
according to no use, with none of the proper ceremonies, with no drawing of lots,
according to his mere will, not to examine into the cause, but to give whatever
decision they were commanded, on that day nothing more was done; the parties are
ordered to appear on the day following.
In the meantime both Verres himself began to be uneasy, and his friends and counselors began also to be a good deal vexed at Heraclius' having fled. They thought that the condemnation of an absent man, especially in a matter involving so large a sum of money, would be a far more odious measure than if he had appeared in court, and had there been condemned. To this consideration was added the fact, that because the judges had not been appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Rupilian law, they saw that the affair would appear much more base and more iniquitous. And so, while he endeavours to correct this error, his covetousness and dishonesty are made more evident. For he declares that he will not use those five judges; he orders (as ought to have been done at first, according to the Rupilian law) Heraclius to be summoned, and those who had brought the action against him; he says that he is going to appoint the judges by lot, according to the Rupilian law. That which Heraclius the day before could not obtain from him, though he begged and entreated it of him with many tears, occurred to him the next day of his own accord, and he recollected that he ought to appoint judges according to the Rupilian law. He draws the names of three out of the urn: he commands them to condemn Heraclius in his absence. So they condemn him.
What was the meaning of that madness? Did you think that you would never have to give an account of your actions? Did you think that such men as these would never hear of these transactions? Is such an inheritance to be claimed without the slightest grounds for such a claim, in order to become the plunder of the praetor? is the name of the city to be introduced? is the base character of a false accuser to be fixed upon an honourable state? And not this only, but is the whole business to be conducted in such a matter that there is to be not even the least appearance of justice kept up? For, in the name of the immortal gods, what difference does it make whether the praetor commands and by force compels any one to abandon all his property, or passed a sentence by which, without any trial, he must lose all his fortune?
In truth you cannot deny that you ought to have appointed judges according to the provisions of the Rupilian law, especially when Heraclius demanded it. If you say that you departed from the law with the consent of Heraclius, you will entangle yourself, you will be hampered by the statement you make in your own defence. For if that was the case, why, in the first place, did he refuse to appear, when he might have had the judges chosen from the proper body which he demanded? Secondly, why, after his flight, did you appoint other judges by drawing lots, if you had appointed those who had been before appointed, with the consent of each party? Thirdly, Marcus Postumius, the quaestor, appointed as the other judges in the market-place; you appointed the judges in this case alone.
However, by these means, some one will say, he gave that inheritance to the
Syracusan people. In the first place, even if I were disposed to grant that, still
you must condemn him; for it is not permitted to us with impunity to rob one man for
the purpose of giving to another. But you will find that he despoiled that
inheritance himself without making much secret of his proceedings; that the
Syracusan people, indeed, had a great deal of the odium, a great deal of the infamy,
but that another had the profit; that a few Syracusans, those who now say that they
have come in obedience to the public command of their city, to bear testimony in his
favour, were then sharers in the plunder, and are come hither now, not for the
purpose of speaking in his favour, but to assist in the valuation of the damages
which they claim from him. After he was condemned in his absence, possession is
given to the palaestra of the Syracusans,—that is, to the Syracusan people,—not only
of that inheritance which was in question, and which was of the value of three
millions of
What sort of a partnership in that of yours? You take away a man's inheritance,
which had come to him from a relation, had come by will, had come in accordance with
the laws; all which property, he, who made the will, had made over to this Heraclius
to have and to use as he would, some time before he died,—of which inheritance, as
he had died some time before you became praetor, there had been no dispute, nor had
any one made any mention of it.