M. Tullius Cicero, In C. Verrem, 2.1.12

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[12] Suppose he has escaped from the court about peculation. Let him think of the generals of the enemy, for whose release he has accepted bribes; let him consider what answer he can make about those men whom he has left in his own house to substitute in their places;¹ let him consider not only how he can get over our accusation, but also how he can remedy his own confession. Let him recollect that, in the former pleadings, being excited by the adverse and hostile shouts of the Roman people, he confessed that he had not caused the leaders of the pirates to be executed; and that he was afraid even then that it would be imputed to him that he had released them for money. Let him confess that, which cannot be denied, that he, as a private individual, kept the leaders of the pirates alive and unhurt in his own house, after he had returned to Rome , as long as he could do so for me. If in the case of such a prosecution for treason it was lawful for him to do so, I will admit that it was proper. Suppose he escapes from this accusation also; I will proceed to that point to which the Roman people has long been inviting me.

In C. Verrem. M. Tullius Cicero. London. 1903.

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Current edition Perseus

Against Verres (English) (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 1. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1903.)

Editions (1)

In C. Verrem Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 3. Peterson, William, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917.) — 2.1.12 focus

[12] 5 emerserit ex peculatus etiam iudicio: meditetur de ducibus hostium quos accepta pecunia liberavit, videat quid de illis respondeat quos in eorum locum subditos domi suae reservavit, quaerat non solum quem ad modum nostro crimini, verum etiam quo pacto suae confessioni possit mederi, meminerit se priore actione, clamore populi Romani infesto atque inimico excitatum, confessum esse duces praedonum a se securi non esse percussos, se iam tum esse veritum¹ ne sibi crimini daretur eos ab se pecunia liberatos; fateatur, id quod negari non potest, se privatum hominem praedonum duces vivos atque incolumis domi suae, posteaquam Romam redierit, usque² dum per me licuerit retinuisse. hoc in illo maiestatis iudicio si licuisse sibi ostenderit, ego oportuisse concedam. ex hoc quoque evaserit: proficiscar eo quo me iam pridem³ vocat populus Romanus;

Notes on the current edition

Against Verres

1. This refers to the following act of Verres:—A single pirate ship had been taken by his lieutenant; the captain bribed Verres to save his life, but the people were impatient for the execution of him and his chief officers. Verres, who had in his dungeons many Roman citizens who had offended him, muffled up their faces, so that they could not speak and could not be recognised, and produced them on the scaffold, and put them to death as the pirates for whose execution the people were clamouring.

Commentary

Commentary on Impeachment of Verres (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

cum (causal)

sint , when men are ready.—

contionibus et legibus, harangues and bills (proposed laws). The proposition of a law which took the exclusive control of the courts from the Senators was even now pending, and the law ( Lex Aurelia) was passed before the case of Verres was decided.

conentur , purpose clause.

magnitudine , abl. of means.

spe , abl. of specification.

actor , complainant, i.e. agent or attorney for conducting the suit in personal processes ( in personam ).

adduxi enim hominem, etc.: cf. Burke, Impeachment of Warren Hastings: We have brought before your Lordships the first man in property and power; we have brought before you the head, the chief, the captain-general in iniquity,—one in whom all the frauds, all the peculations, all the tyranny in India are embodied, disciplined, and arrayed. Then, if we have brought before you such a person, if you strike at him, you will not have need of a great many more examples,— you strike at the whole corps if you strike at the head:

in quo , in whose case

reconciliare, etc., win back the lost repute.

possetis , purpose.

depeculatorem, etc.: for a more complete statement of these charges, see chs. iv , v .

juris urbani, i.e. as praetor urbanus (see sect. 12 ).

M. Tullius Cicero In C. Verrem 2.1.12

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