[1] And now that he was engaging in public life with greater ardour, he considered it a shameful thing that while craftsmen, using vessels and instruments that are lifeless, know the name and place and capacity of every one of them, the statesman, on the contrary, whose instruments for carrying out public measures are men, should be indifferent and careless about knowing his fellow-citizens.
[2] Wherefore he not only accustomed himself to remember their names, but also learned to know the quarter of the city in which every notable person dwelt, where he owned a country-place, what friends he had, and what neighbours; so that whatever road in Italy Cicero travelled, it was easy for him to name and point out the estates and villas of his friends.
[3] His property, though sufficient to meet his expenses, was nevertheless small, and therefore men wondered that he would accept neither fees nor gifts for his services as advocate, and above all when he undertook the prosecution of Verres. This man, who had been praetor of Sicily, and whom the Sicilians prosecuted for many villainous acts, Cicero convicted, not by speaking, but, in a way, by actually not speaking.
[4] For the praetors favoured Verres, and by many obstacles and delays had put off the case until the very last day,
1
since it was clear that a day’s time would not be enough for the speeches of the advocates and so the trial would not be finished. But Cicero rose and said there was no need of speeches,
2
and then brought up and examined his witnesses and bade the jurors cast their votes. Nevertheless, many witty sayings of his in connection with this trial are on record.
[5] For instance,
verres is the Roman word for a castrated
porker; when, accordingly, a freedman named Caecilius, who was suspected of Jewish practices, wanted to thrust aside the Sicilian accusers and denounce Verres himself, Cicero said:
What has a Jew to do with a Verres? Moreover, Verres had a young son, who had the name of lending himself to base practices. Accordingly, when Cicero was reviled by Verres for effeminacy,
You ought, said he,
to revile your sons at home.
[6] And again, the orator Hortensius did not venture to plead the cause of Verres directly, but was persuaded to appear for him at the assessment of the fine, and received an ivory sphinx as his reward; and when Cicero made some oblique reference to him and Hortensius declared that he had no skill in solving riddles,
And yet, said Cicero,
thou hast the Sphinx at thy house.
Cicero. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1919.
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