But afterwards, when he had become hardened by a long course of such infamy,—when
he had sated others, not himself,—why need I relate what sort of man he turned out?
what carefully guarded defences of modesty and chastity he broke down by violence
and audacity? or why should I connect the disgrace of an, one else with his
profligacy? I will not do so, O judges. I will pass over all old stories; I will
only mention two recent achievements of his, without fixing infamy on any one else;
and by those you will be able to conjecture the rest. One of them is, that it was so
notorious to every one, that during the consulship of Lucius Lucullus and Marcus
Cotta, no one ever came up from any municipal town to Rome on any law business, who was so ill-informed of what was going
on as not to know that all the laws of the Roman people were regulated by the will
and pleasure of Chelidon the prostitute. The other is that, after he had left the
city in the robe of war,—after he had pronounced the solemn vows for the success of
his administration, and for the common welfare of the republic, he was accustomed,
for the sake of committing adultery, to be brought back into the city, at night, in
a litter, to a woman who, though the wife of one man, was common to all men,
contrary to law, contrary to what was required by the auspices, contrary to
everything which is held sacred among gods and men.
O ye immortal gods! what a difference is there between the minds and ideas of men!
So may your good opinion and that of the Roman people approve of my intentions, and
sanction my hopes for the rest of my life, as I have received those offices with
which the Roman people has as yet entrusted me with the feeling that I was bound to
a conscientious discharge of every possible duty. I was appointed quaestor with the
feeling that that honour was not given to me so much as lent and entrusted to me. I
obtained the quaestorship in the province of Sicily, and considered that every man's eyes were turned upon me
alone. So that I thought that I and my quaestorship were being exhibited on some
theatre open to the whole world; so that I denied myself all those things which seem
to be indulgences, not merely to those irregular passions, but even those which are
coveted by nature itself and by necessity.
Now I am aedile elect, I consider what it is that I have received from the Roman
people; I consider that I am bound to celebrate holy games with the most solemn
ceremonies to Ceres, to Bacchus, and to
Libera; that I am bound to render Flora propitious to the Roman nation and people by
the splendour of her games; that it is my office to celebrate those most ancient
games, which were the first that were ever called Roman games, with the greatest
dignity and with all possible religious observance, in honour of Juno,
Jupiter, and Minerva; that the charge of
protecting all the sacred buildings and the whole city is entrusted to me; that as a
recompense for all that labour and anxiety these honours are granted to me,—an
honourable precedence in delivering my opinion in the senate; a toga praetexta; a curule chair; a right of transmitting my
image to the recollection of my posterity.
I wish, O judges, that all the gods may be propitious to me, as I do not receive by
any means so much pleasure from all these things, (though the honours conferred on
me by the people are most acceptable to me,) as I feel anxiety, and as I will take
pains, that this aedileship may not seem to have been given to some one of the
candidates, because it could not be helped, but to have been conferred on me because
it was proper that it should be, and to have been conferred by the deliberate
judgment of the people.
You, when you were appointed praetor, by whatever means it was brought about,—for I
leave out and pass over everything that was done at that time,—but when you were
appointed, as I have said, were you not roused by the very voice of the crier, who
made such frequent announcements that you had been invested with that honour by the
centimes of the seniors and juniors, to think that some part of the republic had
been entrusted to you? that for that one year you must do without the house of a
prostitute? When it fell to you by lot to preside in the court of justice, did you
never consider what an important affair, what a burden you had imposed on you? Did
it never once occur to you, if by any chance you were able to awaken yourself, that
that province, which it was difficult for a man to administer properly even if
endowed with the greatest wisdom and the greatest integrity, had fallen to the lot
of the greatest stupidity and worthlessness? Therefore, you were not only unwilling
to drive Chelidon from your house during your praetorship, but you even transported
your whole praetorship to Chelidon's house.
The province followed; in which it never occurred to you that the fasces and axes, and such absolute authority, and such
dignity, and every sort of decoration, was not given to you in order, by the power
and authority derived from these things, to break down all the barriers of law and
modesty and duty, and to consider every man's property as your own booty; so that no
man's estate could be safe, no man's house closed; no man's life protected, no
woman's chastity fortified, against your cupidity and audacity; in which you behaved
yourself in such a way that, being detected in everything, you take refuge in an
imaginary war of runaway slaves; by which you now perceive, that not only no defence
is procured for you, but that an immense body of accusations is raised up against
you; unless, indeed, you are going to speak of the relics of the war in Italy, and the disaster of Temsa. Temsa is a town of the Bruttii, whither some of the relics of
Spartacus's army had fled. Verres had passed through it, or close to it, on his
return from Sicily. But when your
fortune recently conducted you to that place, at a most seasonable time, if you had
any courage, or any energy, you were found to be the same man that you had ever
been.
When the men of Valentia had come to you,
and when a noble and an eloquent man, Marcus Marius, was addressing you on their
behalf, begging you to undertake the business, and, as the power and the name of
praetor belonged to you, to act as their chief and leader in extinguishing that
small band that was at Temsa, you not only shunned that task, but at that very time,
while you were on the shore, that dear Tertia of yours, whom you were carrying with
you, was there in the sight of all men. And to the deputies from Valentia, such an illustrious and noble
municipality, you gave no answer at all in matters of such moment, while you were
still in your dark-coloured tunic and cloak. What can you, O judges, suppose that
this man did while on his journey? what can you suppose he did in the province
itself who, when he was on his way from his province, not to celebrate a triumph,
but to be put on his trial, did not avoid a scandal which could not have been
accompanied by any pleasure.
Oh! the noble murmur of the crowd in the temple of Bellona! You recollect, O
judges, when it was getting towards evening, and when mention had been made a short
time before of this disaster at Temsa, when no one was found who could be sent into
those districts with a military command, that some one said that Verres was not far
from Temsa. You recollect how universally every one murmured; how openly the chief
men repudiated the suggestion. And does the man who has been convicted of so many
accusations by so many witnesses, now place any hope in the votes of those judges,
who have already openly condemned him, even before his cause was heard?
Be it so. He has gained no credit either from any war of the runaway slaves, or
from the suspicion of such a war; because there has neither been any such war, nor
danger of any such war in Sicily; nor were
any precautions taken by him to prevent such a war. But, at all events, against any
war of pirates he had a fleet well equipped, and he exhibited extraordinary energy
in that matter. And therefore, while he was praetor, the province was admirably
defended. I will speak of the war with the pirates, and of the Sicilian fleet, when
I have first of all solemnly stated, that with respect to this matter alone, he
committed all his most enormous crimes,—crimes of avarice, of treason, of insanity,
of lust and of cruelty. I beg of you to give your most diligent attention, as you
have hitherto given it, while I briefly detail the events that took place.
In the first place, I say, that the naval affairs were managed, not with the view
of defending the province, but of acquiring money under presence of providing a
fleet. Though this had been the custom of former praetors, to impose a contribution
of ships and of a fixed number of sailors and soldiers on each city, yet you imposed
no contribution on the very important and wealthy city of the Mamertines. What money
the Mamertines gave you secretly for that indulgence, will be seen hereafter; we
will ascertain that from their own letters and witnesses.
But I assert, that a merchant vessel of the largest size, like a trireme, very
beautiful, and highly ornamented, was openly built at the public expense, with the
knowledge of all Sicily, and given and
presented to you by the magistrates and senate of the Mamertines. This ship, laden
with Sicilian booty, itself being also a part of that booty, put into Velia, at the same time that he himself left the
province laden with many articles, and especially with such as he did not like to
send to Rome along with the rest of the
fruits of his robberies before he arrived himself, because they were the most
valuable, and those which he was most fond of. I myself have lately seen that vessel
at Velia, O judges, and many other men
have seen it too; a very beautiful and highly ornamented ship, which, indeed, seemed
to all who beheld her, to be now looking for the banishment, and to be waiting for
the departure of her owner.