A farm belonging to the wife of Xeno
Menenius, a most noble man, had been let to a settler. The settler, because he could
not bear the oppressive conduct of the collectors, had fled from his land. Verres
gave his favourite sentence of condemnation against
Xeno for not having made a return of his
acres. Xenosaid that it was no business of
his; that the farm was let. Verres ordered a trial to take place according to this
formula,—“If it should appear” that there were more acres in the farm than the
settler had returned, then Xeno was to be
condemned. He said not only that he had not been the cultivator of the land, which
was quite sufficient, but also that he was neither the owner of that farm, nor the
lessor of it; that it belonged to his wife; that she herself transacted her own
affairs; that she had let the land. A man of the very highest reputation, and of the
greatest authority, defended Xeno, Marcus
Cossetius. Nevertheless Verres ordered a trial, in which the penalty was fixed at
eighty thousand sesterces.
Xeno, although he saw that judges were
provided for him out of that band of robbers, still said that he would stand the
trial. Then that fellow, with a loud voice, so that Xeno might hear it, orders his
slaves of Venus to take care the man does not escape while the trial is proceeding,
and as soon as it is over to bring him before him. And at the same time he said
also, that he did not think that, if from his riches he disregarded the penalty of a
conviction, he would also disregard the scourge. He, under the compulsion of this
violence and this fear, paid the collectors all that Verres commanded.
There is a citizen of Morgentia, named Polemarchus, a virtuous and honourable man.
He, when seven hundred medimni were demanded as the
tenths due on fifty acres, because he refused to pay them, was summoned before the
praetor at his own house; and, as he was still in bed, he was introduced into his
bed-chamber, into which no one else was admitted, except his woman and the
collector. There he was beaten and kicked about till, though he had refused before
to pay seven hundred medimni, he now promised a
thousand. Eubulides Grosphus is a man of Centuripa, a man above all others of his
city, both for virtue and high birth, and also for wealth. They left this man, O
judges, the most honourable man of a most honourable city, not merely only so much
corn, but only so much life as pleased Apronius. For by force, by violence, and by
blows, he was induced to give corn, not as much as he had, but as much as was
demanded of him, which was even more.
Sostratus, and Numenius, and Nymphodorus, of the same city, three brothers of
kindred sentiments, when they had fled from their lands because more corn was
demanded of them than their lands had produced, were treated thus,—Apronius
collected a band of men, came into their allotments, took away all their tools,
carried off their slaves, and drove off their live stock. Afterwards, when
Nymphodorus came to Aetna to him, and
begged to have his property restored to him, he ordered the man to be seized and
hung up on a wild olive, a tree which is the forum there; and an ally and friend of
the Roman people, a settler and cultivator of your domain, hung suspended from a
tree in a city of our allies, and in the very forum, for as long a period as
Apronius chose.
I have now been recounting to you, O judges, the species of
countless injuries which he has wrought,—one of each sort. An infinite host of evil
actions I pass over. Place before your own eyes, keep in your minds, these invasions
by collectors of the whole of Sicily, their
plunderings of the cultivators of the soil, the harshness of this man, the absolute
reign of Apronius. He despised the Sicilians; he did not consider them as men, he
thought that they would not be vigorous in avenging themselves, and that you would
treat their oppression lightly.
Be it so. He adopted a false opinion about them, and a very injurious one about
you. But while he deserved so ill of the Sicilians, at least, I suppose, he was
attentive to the Roman citizens; he favoured them; he was wholly devoted to securing
their good-will and favour? He attentive to the Roman citizens? There were no men to
whom he was more severe or more hostile. I say nothing of chains, of imprisonment,
of scourgings, of executions. I say nothing even of that cross which he wished to be
a witness to the Roman citizens of his humanity and benevolence to them. I say
nothing, I say, of all this, and I put all this off to another opportunity. I am
speaking about the tenths,—about the condition of the Roman citizens in their
allotments; and how they were treated you heard from themselves. They have told you
that their property was taken from them.
But since there was such a cause for it as there was, these things are to he
endured,—I mean, the absence of all influence in justice, of all influence in
established customs. There are, in short, no evils, O judges, of such magnitude that
bravo men, of great and free spirit, think them intolerable. What shall we say if,
while that man was praetor, violent hands were, without any hesitation, laid by
Apronius on Roman knights, who were not obscure, nor unknown, but honourable, and
even illustrious? What more do you expect? What more do you think I can say? Must I
pass as quickly as possible from that man and from his actions, in order to come to
Apronius, as, when I was in Sicily, I
promised him that I would do?—who detained for two days in the public place at
Leontini, Caius Matrinius, a man, O judges, of the greatest virtue, the greatest
industry, the highest popularity. Know, O judges, that a Roman knight was kept two
days without food, without a roof over his head, by a man born in disgrace, trained
in infamy, practiced in accommodating himself to all Verres's vices and lusts; that
he was kept and detained by the guards of Apronius two days in the forum at
Leontini, and not released till he had agreed to submit to his terms.
For why, O judges, should I speak of Quintus Lollius, a Roman knight of tried
probity and honour? (the matter which I am going to mention is clear, notorious, and
undoubted throughout all Sicily;)—who, as
he was a cultivator of the domain in the district of Aetna, and as his farm belonged to Apronius's district as well as the
rest, relying on the ancient authority and influence of the equestrian order,
declared that he would not pay the collectors more than was due from him to them.
His words are reported to Apronius. He laughed, and marveled that Lollius had heard
nothing of Matrinius or of his other actions. He sends his slaves of Venus to the
man. Remark this also, that a collector had officers appointed to attend him by the
praetor; and see if this is a slight argument that he abused the name of the
collectors to purposes of his own gain. Lollius is brought before Apronius by the
slaves of Venus, and dragged along, at a convenient moment, when Apronius had just
returned from the palaestra, and was lying on a couch which he had spread in the
forum of Aetna Lollius is placed in the middle of that seemly banquet of gladiators.
I would not, in truth, O judges, believe the things which I am now saying although
I heard them commonly talked about, if the old man had not himself told them to me
in the most solemn manner, when he was with tears expressing his thanks to me and to
the willingness with which I had undertaken this accusation. A Roman knight, I say,
nearly ninety years old, is placed in the middle of Apronius's banquet, while
Apronius in the meantime was rubbing his head and face with ointment. “What is this,
Lollius,” says he; “cannot you behave properly, unless you are compelled by severe
measures?” What was the man to do? should he hold his tongue, or answer him? In
truth he, a man of that bright character, and that age, did not know what to do.
Meantime Apronius called for supper and wine; and his slaves, who were of no better
manners than their master, and were born of the same class and in the same rank of
life, brought these things before the eyes of Lollius. The guests began to laugh,
Apronius himself roared; unless, perchance, you suppose that he did not laugh in the
midst of wine and feasting, who even now at the time of his danger and ruin cannot
suppress his laughter. Not to detain you too long; know, O judges, that Quintus
Lollius, under the compulsion of these insults, came into the terms and conditions
of Apronius.
Lollius, enfeebled by old age and disease, could not come to give his evidence.
What need have we of Lollius? There is no one who is ignorant of this, no one of
your own friends, no one who is brought forward by you, no one at all who, if he is
asked, will say that he now hears this for the first time. Marcus Lollius, his son,
a most excellent young man, is present; you shall hear what he says—For Quintus
Lollius, his son, who was the accuser of Calidius, a young man both virtuous and
bold, and of the highest reputation for eloquence, when being excited by these
injuries and insults he had set out for Sicily, was murdered on the way; and the crime of his death is
imputed indeed to fugitive slaves; but, in reality, no one in Sicily doubts that he must be murdered because he
could not keep to himself his intentions respecting Verres. He, in truth, had no
doubt that the man who, under the prompting of a mere love of justice, had already
accused another, would be ready as an accuser for him on his arrival, when he was
stimulated by the injuries of his father, and indignation at the treatment received
by his family.
Do you now thoroughly understand, O judges, what a pest, what a barbarian has been
let loose in your most ancient, most loyal, and nearest province? Do you see now on
what account Sicily, which has before this
endured the thefts, and rapine, and iniquities, and insults of so many men, has not
been able to submit to this unprecedented, and extraordinary, and incredible series
of injuries and insults? All men are now aware why the whole province sought out
that man as a defender of its safety, from the effects of whose good faith, and
diligence, and perseverance Verres could not possibly be saved. You have been
present at many trials, you know that many guilty and wicked men have been impeached
within your own recollection, and that of your ancestors. Have you ever seen any
one, have you ever heard of any one, who has lived in the practice of such great,
such open robberies, of such audacity, of such shameless impudence?
Apronius had his attendants of Venus about him; he took them with him about the
different cities; he ordered banquets to be prepared and couches to be spread for
him at the public expense, and to be spread for him in the forum. Thither he ordered
most honourable men to be summoned, not only Sicilians, but even Roman knights, so
that men of the most thoroughly proved honour were detained at his banquet, when
none but the most impure and profligate men would join him in a banquet. Would you,
O most profligate and abandoned of all mortals, when you knew these things, when you
were hearing of them every day, when you were seeing them, would you ever have
allowed or endured that such things should have taken place, to your own great
danger, if they had taken place without enormous profit to yourself? Was it the
profit made by Apronius, and his most beastly conversation, and his flagitious
caresses, that had such influence with you, that no care for or thought of your own
fortunes ever touched your mind?
You see, O judges, what sort of conflagration, and how vast a torrent of
collectors spread itself with violence, not only over the fields but also over all
the other property of the cultivators; not only over the property, but also over the
rights of liberty and of the state. You see some men suspended from trees; others
beaten and scourged; others kept as prisoners in the public place; others left
standing alone at a feast; others condemned by the physician and crier of the
praetor; and nevertheless the property of all of them is carried off from the fields
and plundered at the same time. What is all this? Is this the rule of the Roman
people? Are these the laws of the Roman people? are these their tribunals? are these
their faithful allies? is this their suburban province? Are not rather all these
things such that even Athenio would not have done them if he had been victorious in
Sicily? I say, O judges, that the
evidence of fugitive slaves would not have equalled one quarter of the wickedness of
that man. In this manner
did he behave to individuals. What more shall I say? How were cities treated in
their public capacity? You have heard many statements and testimonies from some
cities, and you shall hear them from the rest.
And first of all, listen to a brief tale concerning the people of Agyrium, a loyal and illustrious people. The state
of Agyrium is among the first in all
Sicily for honour;—a state of men wealthy
before this man came as praetor, and of excellent cultivators of the soil. When this
same Apronius had purchased the tenths of that district, he came to Agyrium; and when he had come thither with his
regular attendants—that is to say, with threats and violence,—he began to ask an
immense sum, so that when he had got his profit, he might depart. He said that he
did not wish to have any trouble, nut that, when he had got his money, he would
depart as soon as possible to some other city. All the Sicilians are not
contemptible men, if only our magistrates leave them alone; but they are many, of
sufficient courage, and very economical and temperate, and among the very first is
this city of which I am now speaking, O judges.
Therefore the men of Agyrium make answer
to this most worthless man, that they will give him the tenths which are due from
them, that they will not add to them any profit for himself, especially since he had
bought them an excellent bargain. Apronius informs Verres, whose business it ready
was, what was going on.
Immediately, as if there had been some conspiracy at Agyrium formed against the republic, or as if the lieutenant of the
praetor had been assaulted, the magistrates and five principal citizens are summoned
from Agyrium at his command. They went to
Syracuse. Apronius is there. He says
that those very men who had come had acted contrary to the praetor's edict. They
asked, in what? He answered, that he would say in what before the judges. He, that
most just man, tried to strike his old terror into the wretched Agyrians; he
threatened that he would appoint their judges out of his own retinue. The Agyrians,
being very intrepid men, said that they would stand the trial.
That fellow put on the tribunal Artemidorus Cornelius, the physician, Valerius,
the crier, Tlepolemus, the painter, and judges of that sort; not one of whom was a
Roman citizen, but Greek robbers of temples, long since infamous, and now all
Corneliuses. The Agyrians saw that whatever charge Apronius brought before whose
judges, he would very easily prove; but they preferred to be convicted, and so add
to his unpopularity and infamy, rather than accede to his conditions and terms. They
asked what formula would be given to the judges on which to try them? He answered,
“If it appeared that they had acted contrary to the edict,” on which formula he said
that he should pronounce judgment. They preferred trying the question according to a
most unjust formula, and with most profligate judges, rather than come to any
settlement with him of their own accord. He sent Timarchides privately to them, to
warn them, if they were wise, to settle the matter. They refused. “What, then, will
you do? Do you prefer to be convicted each of you in a penalty of fifty thousand
sesterces?” They said they did. Then he said out
loud, in the hearing of every one, “Whoever is condemned, shall be beaten to death
with rods.” On this they began with tears to beg and entreat him to be allowed to
give up their cornfields, and all their produce, and their allotments, when stripped
of everything, to Apronius, and to depart themselves without insult and annoyance.
These were the terms, O judges, on which Verres sold the tenths. Hortensius may
say, if he pleases, that Verres sold them at a high price. This was the condition of the cultivators
of the soil while that man was praetor; that they thought themselves exceedingly
well off, if they might give up their fields when stripped of everything to
Apronius, for they wished to escaped the many crosses which were set before their
eyes. Whatever Apronius had declared to be due, that they were forced to give,
according to the edict. Suppose he declared more was due than the land produced?
Just so. How could that be? The magistrates were bound, according to his own edict,
to compel the payment. Well, but the cultivators could recover. Yes, but Artemidorus
was the judge. What next? What happened if the cultivator had given less than
Apronius had demanded? A prosecution of the cultivator to recover a fourfold
penalty. Before judges taken from what body? From that admirable retinue of most
honourable men in attendance on the praetor. What more? I say that you returned less
than the proper number of acres: select judges for the matter which is to be tried,
namely, your violation of the edict. Out of what class? Out of the same retinue.
What will be the end of it? If you are convicted, (and what doubt can there be about
a conviction with those judges?) you must be beaten to death with rods. When these
are the rules, these the conditions, will there be any one so foolish as to think
that what was sold were the tenths? Who believes that nine parts were left to the
cultivator? Who does not perceive that that fellow considered as his own gain and
plunder the property and possessions and fortunes of the cultivators? From fear of
the gods the Agyrians said that they would do what they were commanded to.
Listen now to what his orders were; and conceal, if you can, that you are aware of
what all Sicily well knew, that the praetor
himself was the farmer of the tenths, or rather the lord and sovereign of all the
allotments in the province. He orders the Agyrians to take the tenths themselves in
the name of their city, and to give a compliment to Apronius. If he had bought them
at a high price, since you are a man who inquired into the proper price with great
diligence, who, as you say, sold them at a high price, why do you think that a
compliment ought to be added as a present to the purchaser? Be it so; you did think
so. Why did you order them to add it? What is the meaning; of taking and
appropriating money, for which the law has a hold on you, if this is not it,—I mean
the compelling men by force and despotic power against their will to give a
compliment to another, that is to say, to give him money?
Well, what comes next? If they were ordered to give some small compliment to
Apronius, the delight of the praetor's life, suppose that it was given to Apronius,
if it seems to you the compliment to Apronius, and not the plunder of the praetor.
You order them to take the tenths; to give Apronius a compliment,—thirty-three
thousand medimni of wheat. What is this? One city
is compelled by the command of the praetor to give to the Roman people out of one
district almost food enough to support it for a month. Did you sell the tenths at a
high price, when such a compliment was given to the collector? In truth, if you had
inquired carefully into the proper price, then when you were selling them, they
would rather have given ten thousand medimni more
then, than six hundred thousand sesterces
afterwards. It seems a great booty. Listen to what follows, and remark it carefully,
so as to be the less surprised that the Sicilians, being compelled by their
necessity, entreated aid from their patrons, from the consuls, from the senate, from
the laws, from the tribunals.
To pay Apronius for testing the wheat which was given to him, Verres orders the
Agyrians to pay Apronius three sesterces for every
medimnus. What is this? When such a quantity of corn has been
extorted and exacted under the name of a compliment, is money to be exacted besides
for testing the corn? Or could, not only Apronius, but any one, if corn was to be
served out to the army, disapprove of the Sicilian corn, which Verres might have
measured on the threshing-floor, if he had liked? That vast quantity of corn is
given and extorted at your command. That is not enough. Money is demanded besides.
It is paid. That is too little. For the tenths of barley more money is extorted. You
order thirty thousand sesterces to be paid. And so
from one city there are extorted by force, by threats, by the despotic power and
injustice of the praetor thirty-three thousand medimni of wheat, and besides that, sixty thousand sesterces! Are these things obscure? Or, even if all the
world wished it, can those things be obscure which you did openly, which you ordered
in open court, which you extorted when every one was looking on? concerning which
matters the magistrates and five chief men of Agyrium, whom you summoned from their
homes for the sake of your own gain, reported your acts and commands to their own
senate at home; and that report, according to their laws, was recorded in the public
registers, and the ambassadors of the Agyrians, most noble men, are at Rome, and have deposed to these facts in evidence.
Examine the public letters of the Agyrians; after that the public testimony of the
city. Read the public letters. [The public letters are read.] Read the public
evidence. [The public evidence is read.] You have remarked
in this evidence, O judges, that Apollodorus, whose surname is Pyragrus, the chief
man of his city, have his evidence with tears, and said that since the name of the
Roman people had been heard by and known to the Sicilians, the Agyrians had never
either said or done anything contrary to the interests of even the meanest of the
Roman citizens; but that now they are compelled by great injuries, and great
suffering to give evidence in a public manner against a praetor of the Roman people.
You cannot, in truth. O Verres, invalidate the evidence of this one city by your
defence; so great a weight is there in the fidelity of these men, such great
indignation is there at their injuries, such great conscientiousness is there in the
way in which they gave their evidence. But it is not one city alone, but every city,
that now being crushed by similar distresses pursues you with deputations and public
evidence.