Trial Of Verres Flashcards
Civero’s age
36
Year
70BC
Cicero’s political rank
Senator of Quaestorial rank
3 reasons why he took the trial
Hated dishonest administrations
Was sympathetic to the equites
To gain fame
To supersede the most distinguished orator of the day Quintus Hortensius
Who was in charge of the extortion courts at the time
The senate
Defending Verres
Quintus Hortensius
What did the opposition do to stop the trial
Tried to put up a false prosecutor
Tried to occupy the courts with a different case
Why did they try to postpone the trial to 69BC
Next yer there would be more complaisant judges would be available
M.Metellus-would be president of the extortion courts
Hortensius+Q.Metellus -consul
Amount of speeches written by Cicero against Verres
6
Two speeches that were expected
- Had to make a speech to show he should have the trial instead if the false prosecutor
- orator perpetua (speech endless) -Cicero does not give it to save time
Cicero’s preparation
Had 40 investigation days to gather witnesses an documents
-presents the case immediately, witnesses And evidence ready
When had Verres been governor of Sicily
73-71Bc
Rank of Verres
Praetorial rank
-higher than Cicero
Aurelian law made the change that
70BC
Equestrians allowed in the courts as well as senators
Why did Cicero have to act quickly
August-games-law courts shut
Cicero’s speech to the judges
“Almost heaven sent” “gift”
“Gentlemen”
“I am eager to remove your bad reputation”
President of the extortion courts
Manius Glabrio
Trial opportunity for Cicero
Make a name for himself
Opportunity for senate
To keep their good name
Recover lost respect regain favour
Verres’s crimes against individuals
Set traps for Cicero
Stole public funds from Carbo
Disloyal, brought “deep discredit” upon Dolabella “subjected him to treacherous abuse”
Verres crimes against the state
“Sacked the treasury”
“Devastated Asia and Pamphylia”
“His tenure of the city was a record of robberies”
“Long series of thefts from temples and other public buildings” whilst praetor at Rome
“For three long years he so thoroughly despoiled and pillaged the province” Sicily
Verres use of money for the trial
Bough the date for his own trial
Tried to buy judges
“Nothing is to sacred to be corrupted by Money”
Definition of corruption
Dishonest and fraudulent behaviour of someone in power
Ciceros attempts to win over the judges
“Think of the position you occupy”
“Your duty to Rome”
“We” “friends of ours”
“Set right your damaged reputation”
Verres is made to sound dangerous
“Fresh series of criminal plots”
“He proposes to ensnare myself,yourself,Glabrio,the whole roman people, its allies,the other nations of the world,senatorial order, everything for which it stands”
“Degraded lunatic”
Ciceros ego should be trusted
“You will find a certain innovation in my method”
Verres actual use of power
Renewed province laws
And senatorial decrees
Established his own laws to suit him
Actual crimes
Corrupted justice system (All laws had to be decreed by him)
Despoiled and pillage the province
Stopped inheritance
Robbed money from forums
Tortured and killed roman citizens like slaves
Accepted bribes from criminals
Obstacles faced by Cicero
Metellus- friend of Verres
Verres was paying praetors to block Ciceros election for Aedile
Ciceros opinion on Hortensius
“Your tyrannical dominance in our courts”
“Repulsive and outrageous behaviour”
Reputation of senate
“A unique chance to make your senatorial order less unpopular”
“I am eager to remove your bad reputation”
Cicero appeals to the Senate owing their country something
“Think of the position you occupy”
“The debt you owe your ancestors”
“Your duty to Rome”
Ciceros address to Manius Glabrio
“Employ your wisdom, prestige and industry”
Importance of this trial to the senators
“Been so damaging to our order”
“This trial will bring you…great popularity”
“This hatred that rages against the senate”
“Set right the damaged reputation of these courts”
The effect of the trial on Cicero
“I will sooner lose my life”
“Upon any such scandal, at the expense of whatever labour, peril, an hostility to myself”
The evidence Cicero threatens to produce
“By witnesses and documents, public and private, which I am going to cite”
The final charges against Verres
“Many acts of lechery and brutality against the citizens and allies of Rome”
“Many crimes against god and man”
“He has a illegaly taken from Sicily sums amounting to forty million sesterces”
What happened before Verres’s trial 71BC
Third Servile War ends; Slave uprising under leadership of Spartacus is crushed by a Roman army under Marcus Licinius Crassus.
The danger of Verres
“Grave crisis”
A “fatal” belief at “Rome and even in foreign countries” that even the worst criminal will never be convicted provided that he has money”
Consuls 70BC
Pompey
Crassus
Ciceros political rank 70BC
Senator
Quaestorial rank
Elected Aedile
Consuls 69BC
Hortensius
Quintus Metellus
-both friends of Verres
Ciceros political rank 69BC
Aedile
Verres rank 70BC
Pro-praetorian rank
President of the extortion courts 70BC
Acilius Glabrio
President of the extortion court 69BC
Caecilius Metellus
-friend of Verres’s
convincing language suggesting it is a gift
“Peculiarly desirable gift”
“Too opportune to be if human origin”
“It almost seems heaven sent”
Cicero states that it is his bad reputation also
“your bad reputation- which is as much mine as yours”
Verres in Asia and Pamphilia
“Has sacked the treasury”
“devastated Asia and Pamphylia”
“his tenure of the city praetorship was a record of robberies”
What has Verres already been able to do with money
the date for his own trial
Verres is truly bad, there is only one thing that can save him and that is money
“the greatest brains, fluency, and eloquence in the world could not even begin to defend the life this man has led”
Crime against Carbo
had public funds stolen by his own quaestor (Verres)
Crime against Dollabella
“subjected him to treacherous abuse”
Crimes as praetor in Rome
theft from temples and other public buildings
Crimes against Sicily
For three long years so thoroughly despoiled and pillaged the province that its restoration to its previous state is out of the question
“not a single lawsuit was decided without his convenience”
Crimes against the Roman people
Roman citizens were tortured and put to death like slaves
Verres was a bad ruler
powerfully fortified harbors, great and well protected cities were left open to attack…it was an appalling disgrace for our country
Cicero calls his adulteries
loathsome manifestations of lust
what did he try to buy
the whole panel of judges
what does Cicero say about the injustice of being protected if your friend is consul
“does a man one day regard his conviction as certain, and on the next procure acquittal when his advocate has become consul?”
Verres tried to block Ciceros aedileship
he had at once gone on to promise them any sum they chose to ask if they would block my election as aedile
-one offered to do it for 500,000 sesterces
what does he say about the order of knights
while the order of knights controlled the courts, for nearly fifty years not one single knight who was a judge incurred the slightest suspicion of allowing his verdict to be influenced by a bribe.
money illegally taken from Sicily
forty million sesterces
amount of days spent collecting evidence
fifty
Rule of four used to show what the courts would get rid of by supporting him
“heaven itself has vouchsafed you this opportunity, disgrace, ill-fame, and scandal”
The only two options Cicero gives the Senate
“this trial will bring you either great popularity or great discredit”
Cicero has been thorough in his research
“I spent fifty days on a careful investigation of the entire island of Sicily; got to know every document”
–exact numbers, “careful” “entire” “every”
