July 26, 2025 • 44 mins
Dive into the captivating life of Marcus Tullius Cicero, an influential orator, statesman, philosopher, and correspondent who emerged as a new man in the chaotic final years of Romes republican government. In this biography, acclaimed novelist Anthony Trollope delivers a passionate defense of Ciceros virtues against critics who question his political and personal strength. Trollopes personal approach offers a unique glimpse into his own thought process and era, as well as those of Cicero. Volume I explores Ciceros formative years, his ascension through the courts and state offices to the Consulship, and his subsequent exile. This version omits footnotes and appendices, which mostly consist of bibliographical citations, Latin quotations, and substantial extracts from other works, unless they are explicitly referred to in the main text. Catch up with Volume II after this.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter six, Part two of the Life of Cicero, Volume ie.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Philippa Jevons. The Life
of Cicero, Volume one by Anthony Trollop, Chapter six Veries,
(00:21):
Part two. When the trial was over and Veries had
consented to go into exile and to pay whatever fine
was demanded, the perpetuo oratio, which Cicero thought good to
make on the matter, was published to the world. It
is written as though it was to have been spoken
with counterfeit tricks of oratory, with some tricks so well
(00:41):
done in the first part of it as to have
made one think that when these special words were prepared,
he must have intended to speak them. It has been agreed, however,
that such was not the case. It consists of a
narration of the villanies of Veries, and is divided into
what have been called five different speeches to work which
the following appellations are given. De prieturro Urbana, in which
(01:05):
we are told what Varies did when he was city
pritor and very many things also, which he did before
he came to that office. De Jurisdicione Siciliensi, in which
has described his conduct as a Roman magistrate on the
island de re frumentaria, setting forth the abomination of his
exactions in regard to the corn tax. De signis detailing
(01:27):
the robberies he perpetuated in regard to statues and other ornaments,
and de suplichis giving an account of the murders he
committed and the tortures he inflicted. A question is sometimes
mooted in conversation whether or no the general happiness of
the world has been improved by increasing civilization. When the
reader finds, from these stories, as told by a leading
(01:50):
Roman of the day, how men were treated under the
Roman oligarchy, not only Greek allies, but Romans also, I
think he will be inclined to answer the question in
favor of civilization. I can only give a few of
the many little histories which have been preserved for us
in this Actio secunda. But perhaps these few may suffice
(02:10):
to show how a great Roman officer could demean himself
in his government of the doings of varies before he
went to Sicily I will select two. It became his
duty on one occasion, a job which he seems to
have sought for purpose of Rapin, to go to Lampascus,
a town in Asia, as lieutenant or legget for Dollabella,
(02:31):
who then had command in Asia. Lampascus was on the
hellespont an allied town of specially good repute. Here he
is put up as a guest with all the honors
of a Roman officer, at the house of a citizen
named Janitor. But he heard that another citizen, on Philodamus, had
a beautiful daughter, an article with which we must suppose
(02:52):
that Janitor was not equally well supplied. Varies. Determined to
get at the lady orders that his creature, Rubrius shall
be quartered at the house of Philodemus. Philodelmus, who from
his rank was entitled to be burdened only with the
presence of leading Romans, grumbles at this, but having grumbled, consents,
(03:13):
and having consented, does the best to make his house comfortable.
He gives a great supper, at which the Romans eat
and drink and purposely create a tumult Varies, we understand
was not there. The intention is that the girl shall
be carried away and brought to him. In the middle
of their cups. The father is desired to produce his daughter,
(03:34):
but this he refuses to do. Rubrius then orders the
doors to be closed and proceeds to ransack the house. Philodelmus,
who will not stand this, fetches his son and calls
his fellow citizens around him. Rubrius succeeds in pouring boiling
water over his host, but in the row the Romans
get the worst of it. At last, one of Vereries
(03:57):
is lictors. Absolutely a Roman Lictor is killed and the
woman is not carried off. The man at least bore
the outward signs of elector, but according to Cicero, was
in the pay of Veries as his pimp. So far,
Veries fails, and the reader, rejoicing at the courage of
the father, who could protect his own house even against Romans,
(04:20):
begins to feel some surprise that this case should have
been selected. So far, the lieutenant had not done the
mischief he had intended, but he soon avenges his failure.
He induces Dolabella, his chief, to have Philodamus and his
son carried off to Laodicea, and there tried before Nero.
The then proconsul for killing the sham Lictor. They are
(04:43):
tried at Loodica before Nero Varies himself sitting as one
of the judges, and are condemned. Then, in the market
place of the town, in the presence of each other,
the father and son are beheaded, a thing, as Cicero says,
very sad for all Asia to behold. All this had
been done some years ago, and nevertheless Varies had been
(05:07):
chosen pritor and sent to Sicily to govern the Sicilians.
When Veries was prit or at Rome the year before
he was sent to Sicily, it became his duty, or
rather privilege, as he found it, to see that a
certain temple of castor in the city was given up
in proper condition by the executors of a defunct citizen
who had taken a contract for keeping it in repair.
(05:29):
This man, whose name had been Junius, left a son
who was a Junius, also under age, with a large fortune,
in charge of various trustees tutors, as they were called,
whose duty it was to protect the heir's interests. Varies,
knowing of old that no property was so easily preyed
on as that of a miner sees at once that
(05:50):
something may be done with the temple of Castor. The
heir took oath, and to the extent of his property,
he was bound to keep the edifice in good repair.
But hies, when he made an inspection, finds everything to
be in more than usually good repair. There is not
a scratch on the roof of which he can make use.
Nothing has been allowed to go astray. Then one of
(06:13):
his dogs, for he had boasted to his friend Ligor
that he always went about with dogs to search out
his game for him, suggested that some of the columns
were out of the perpendicular. Varies does not know what
this means, But the dog explains all columns are, in fact,
by strict measurement, more or less out of the perpendicular,
(06:34):
as we are told that all eyes squint a little,
though we do not see that this quint. But as
columns ought to be perpendicular, here was a matter on
which he might go to work. He does go to work.
The trustees, knowing their man, knowing also that in the
present condition of Rome, it was impossible to escape from
an unjust prietor without paying largely, went to his mistress
(06:57):
and endeavored to settle the matter with her. Here we
have an amusing picture of the way in which the
affairs of the city were carried on in that lady's establishment.
How she had her levee, took her bribes, and drove
a lucrative trade, doing, however, no good with her. The
trustees settled with an agent to pay Varies two hundred
thousand sisterces to drop the affair. This was something under
(07:22):
two thousand pounds, but Varies repudiated the arrangement with scorn.
He could do much better than that with such a
temple and such a miner. He puts the repairs up
to auction, and, refusing a bid from the trustees themselves,
the very persons who are the most interested in getting
the work done. If there were work to do, has
(07:42):
it knocked down to himself for five hundred and sixty
thousand sisterces, or about five thousand pounds. Then we are
told how he had the pretended work done by the
putting up of a rough crane. No real work is done,
no new stones are brought, no money is spent. That
is the way in which Varies filled his office as
(08:03):
pretor or barnus. But it does not see that any
public notice has taken of his iniquities. As long as
he confined himself to little jobs such as this. Then
we come to the affairs of Sicily, and the long
list of robberies is commenced by which that province was
made desolate. It seems that nothing gave so grand a
(08:23):
scope to the greed of a public functionary who was
at the same time governor and judge. As disputed wills,
it was not necessary that any of the person's concern
should dispute the will among them. Given the facts that
a man had died and left property behind him, then
varies would find means to drag the heir into court
and either frighten him into payment of a bribe or
(08:45):
else rob him of his inheritance. Before he left Rome
for the province, he heard that a large fortune had
been left to want Dio, on condition that he should
put up certain statues in the market place. It was
not uncommon for a man to desire the reputation of
adorning his own city, but to choose that the expense
should be borne by his heir rather than by himself.
(09:07):
Failing to put up the statues, the heir was required
to pay a fine to Venus Erquina to enrich, that is,
the worship of that goddess who had a favourites temple
under mount Erics. The statues had been duly erected, but
nevertheless here there was an opening. So Veries goes to work,
(09:28):
and in the name of Venus, brings an action against Dio.
The verdict is given not in favor of Venus, but
in favor of Veries. This manner of paying honor to
the gods, and especially to Venus, was common in Sicily.
Two sons received a fortune from their father, with a
condition that if some special thing were not done, a
(09:49):
fine should be paid to Venus. The man had been
dead twenty years, but the dogs which the prital kept
were very sharp and distant, as was the time found
out the clause, action is taken against the two sons,
who indeed gain their case, but they gain it by
a bribe so enormous that they are ruined men. There
(10:13):
was one Heraclius, the son of Hiero, a nobleman of Syracuse,
who received a legacy amounting to three million sesterces we
will say twenty four thousand pounds from a relative, also
a Heraclius, he had to a house full of handsome
silver plate, silk, and hangings, and valuable slaves a man
(10:35):
Dewey's ecum Dewey's Picti westis et auri. Varies heard, of course,
he had by this time taken some Sicilian dogs into
his service, men of Syracuse, and had learned from them
that there was a clause in the will of the
elder Heraclius that certain statues should be put up in
the gymnasium of the city. They undertake to bring forward
(10:59):
servants of the gymnasium, who should say that the statues
were never properly erected. Cicero tells us how Varies went
to work now in this court, now in that breaking
all the laws as to Sicilian jurisdiction, but still proceeding
under the pretense of law, till he got everything out
of the wretch, not only all the legacies from Heraclius,
(11:20):
but every shilling and every article left to the man
by his father. There is a pretense of giving some
of the money to the town of Syracuse, but for
himself he takes all the valuables, the Corinthian vases, the
purple hangings, what slaves He chooses, then everything else is
sold by auction. How he divided the spoil with the Syracusans,
(11:43):
and then quarreled with them, and how he lied as
to the share taken by himself, will all be found
in Cicero's narrative. Heraclius was of course ruined. For the
stories of Epicrites and Sapater, I must refer the reader
to the oration in that of Sopater. There is a
peculiarity that Veries managed to get paid by everybody all round.
(12:08):
The story of Sthenius is so interesting that I cannot
pass it by. Sthenius was a man of wealth and
high standing, living at Therma in Sicily, with whom Veries
often took up his abode. For as governor, he traveled
much about the island, always in pursuit of plunder. Sthenius
had his house full of beautiful things. Of all these
(12:30):
Veriries possessed himself, some by begging, some by demanding, and
some by absolute robbery. Sthenius grieved, as he was to
find himself pillaged bore all this. The man was Roman prital,
and injuries such as these had to be endured at Therma. However,
(12:51):
in the public place of the city, there were some
beautiful statues. For these varies longed and desired his host
to get them for him. Senius declared that this was impossible.
The statues had, under peculiar circumstances, been recovered by Scipio
Africanus from Carthage, and been restored by the Roman general
(13:12):
to the Sicilians from whom they had been taken, and
had been erected. At Therma. There was a peculiarly beautiful
figure of Stsicorus the poet, as an old man bent
double with a book in his hand, a very glorious
work of arts. And there was a goat in bronze,
probably as to which Cicero is at the pains of
telling us that even he, unskilled as he was in
(13:34):
such matters, could see its charms. No one had sharper
eyes for such pretty ornaments than Cicero, or a more
decided taste for them. But as Hortensius, his rival and
opponent in this case, had taken a marble sphinx from Veries,
he thought it expedient to show how superior he was
to such matters. There was probably something of joke in this,
(13:58):
as his predilections would no doubt be known to those
he was addressing in the matter, Sthenius was incorruptible, and
not even the prietor could carry them away without his aid. Cicero,
who is very warm in praise of Sthenius, declares that
here at last Varius had found one town, the only
one in the world from which he was unable to
(14:20):
carry away something of the public property by force or stealth,
or open command or favour. The governor was so disgusted
with this that he abandoned Sthenius, leaving the house which
he had plundered of everything, and betook himself to that
of one Agathenius, who had a beautiful daughter, Kaliedalma, who
(14:40):
with her husband Dorotheus, lived with her father. They were
enemies of Sthenius, and we are given to understand that
Varies ingratiated himself with them, partly for the sake of Kaledarma,
who seems very quickly to have been given up to him,
and partly that he might instigate them to bring actions
against Theenius. This is done with great success, so that
(15:03):
Sthenius is forced to run away and betake himself. Winter
as it was across the seas to Rome, It has
already been told that when he was at Rome, an
action was brought against him by Varies for having run
away when he was under judgment, in which Cicero defended him,
and in which he was acquitted. In the teeth of
(15:24):
his acquittal, Veries persecuted the man by every form of
law which came to his hands as prital, but always
in opposition to the law. There is an audacity about
the man's proceedings, in his open contempt for the laws
which it was his special duty to carry out, making
us feel how confident he was that he could carry
(15:44):
everything before him in Rome by means of his money
by robbery, and concealing his robberies, by selling his judgments
in such a way that he should maintain some reticence.
By ordinary precaution. He might have made much money, as
other governors had done, but he resolved that it would
pay him better to rob everywhere openly. And then, when
(16:06):
the day of reckoning came, to buy the judge's wholesale
as to shame at such doings, there was no such
feelings left among Romans. Before he comes to the story
of Theenius, Cicero makes a grandly ironical appeal to the
bench before him. Yes, O, judges, keep this man, keep
(16:27):
him in the state, spare him, preserve him so that
he too may sit with us as a judge here,
so that he too may, with impartiality, advise us as
a senator what may be best for us as to
peace and war. Not that we need trouble ourselves. As
to his senatorial duties, his authority would be nothing. When
(16:49):
would he dare, or when would he care to come
among us? Unless it might be the idle month of February.
When would a man so idle, so debauch show himself
in the Senate house. Let him come and show himself.
Let him advise us to attack the Cretans, to pronounce
the Greeks of Byzantium, free, to declare ptolemy king. Let
(17:11):
him speak and vote as Hortensius may direct. This will
have but little effect upon our lives or our property.
But beyond this there is something we must look to,
something that would be distrusted, something that every good man
has to fear. If by chance this man should escape
(17:32):
out of our hands, he would have to sit there
upon that bench and be a judge. He would be
called upon to pronounce on the lives of Roman citizens.
He would be the right hand officer in the army
of this man. Here, of this man, who is striving
to be the lord and ruler of our judgment seats
the people of Rome at least refuse this, This at
(17:55):
least cannot be endured. The third of these narrative tells
us how Vary is managed in his province that provision
of corn for the use of Rome, the collection of
which made the possession of Sicily so important to the Romans.
He begins with telling his readers, as he does too frequently,
how great and peculiar is the task he has undertaken,
(18:17):
and he uses an argument of which we cannot but
admit the truth, though we doubt whether any modern advocate
would dare to put it forward. We must remember, however,
that Romans were not accustomed to be shamefaced in praising themselves.
What Cicero says of himself, all others said also of themselves.
Only Cicero could say it better than others. He reminds
(18:39):
us that he who accuses another of any crime is
bound to be especially free from that crime himself. Would
you charge anyone as a thief? You must be clear
from any suspicion of even desiring another man's property. Have
you brought a man up for malice or cruelty? Take
care that you be not found hard hearted. Have you
(19:02):
called a man a seducer or an adulterer? Be sure
that your own life shows no trace of such vices.
Whatever you would punish in another, that you must avoid yourself.
A public accuser would be intolerable, or even a caviller
who should inveigh against sins for which he himself is
(19:22):
called in question. But in this man I find all
wickedness is combined. There is no lust, no iniquity, no
shamelessness of which his life does not supply us with
ample evidence. The nature of the difficulty to which Cicero
is thus subjected is visible enough as varies. Is all
(19:43):
that is bad, So must he, as accuser, be all
that is good, Which is more we should say than
any man would choose to declare of himself. But he
is equal to the occasion in regard to this man,
O judges, I lay down for myself the law as
I have stated it. I must so live that I
(20:05):
must clearly seem to be and always have been, the
very opposite of this man, not only in my words
and deeds, but as to that arrogance and impudence which
you see in him, then he shows how opposite he
is to Veries, at any rate in impudence. I am
not sorry to see. He goes on to say that
(20:27):
that life, which has always been the life of my
own choosing, has now been made a necessity to me
by the law which I have laid down for myself.
Mister Pecksniff spoke of himself in the same way, but
no one, I think, believed him. Cicero probably was believed.
But the most wonderful thing is that his manner of
(20:47):
life justified what he said of himself. When others of
his own order were abandoned to lust, iniquity, and shamelessness,
he lived in purity, with clean hands, doing good as
far as was in his power to those around him.
A laugh will be raised at his expense in regard
to that assertion of his that, even in the matter
(21:08):
of arrogance, his conduct should be the opposite of that
of Eries. But this will come because I have failed
to interpret accurately the meaning of those words auris oculorum
que la contumachia ak superubia quamouidetis Veries, as we can understand,
had carried himself during the trial with a bragging, brazen,
(21:29):
bold face, determined to show no shame as to his
own doings. It is in this, which was a matter
of manner and taste, that Cicero declares that he will
be the man's opposite. As well as in conduct as
to the ordinary boastings by which it has to be
acknowledged that Cicero sometimes disgusts his readers. It will be
impossible for us to receive a just idea of his
(21:51):
character without remembering that it was the custom of a
Roman to boast. We wait to have good things said
of us, or us as to wait the Roman said
them of himself. The weeny, weedy weekie was the ordinary
mode of expression in those times and in earlier times
among the Greeks. This is distasteful to us, and it
(22:15):
will probably be distasteful to those who come after us
two or three hundred years. Hence, that this or that
British statesman should have made himself an earl or a
knight of the Garter. Now it is thought by many
to be proper enough. It will shock men in future
days that great peers or rich commoners should have bargained
for ribbons and lieutenancies and titles. Now it is the
(22:37):
way of the time. Though virtue and vice may be
said to remain the same from all time to all time,
the latitudes allowed and the deviations encouraged in this or
the other age must be considered before the character of
a man can be discovered. The boastings of Cicero have
been preserved for us. We have to bethink ourselves that
(22:59):
his words are two thousand years old. There is such
a touch of humanity in them, such a feeling of
latter day's civilization, and almost of Christianity, that we are
apt to condemn what remains in them of paganism, as
though they were uttered yesterday. When we come to the
coarseness of his attacks, his descriptions of Piso by and
(23:20):
by his abuse of Gabinius, and his invectives against Antony.
When we read his altered opinions as shown in the
period of Caesar's dominion, his flattery of Caesar when in power,
and his exultations when Caesar has been killed, When we
find that he could be coarse in his language, and
a bully and servile. For it has all to be admitted.
(23:41):
We have to reflect under what circumstances, under what surroundings,
and for what object were used the words which displease us.
Speaking before the full court at this trial, he dared
to say he knew how to live as a man,
and to carry himself as a gentleman, as men and
gentlemen were. Then he was justified. The description of Veris's
(24:06):
rapacity in regard to the corn tax is long and complex,
and need hardly be followed at length, unless by those
who desire to know how the iniquity of such a
one could make the most of an imposition which was
in itself very bad, and pile up the burden till
the poor province was unable to bear it. There were
three kinds of them position as to corn. The first,
(24:28):
called the decumannum, was simply a tithe. The producers through
the island had to furnish Rome with the tenth of
their produce, and it was the prito's duty, or rather
that of the christ or under the pritle, to see
that the tithe was collected. How Veri's sort of this himself,
and how he treated the Sicilian husbandman in regard to
(24:49):
the tithe is so told that we are obliged to
give the man credit for an infinite fertility of resources.
Then there is the emptum or corn bought for the
use of re rome, of which there were two kinds.
A second tithe had to be furnished at a price
fixed by the Roman Senate, which price was considered to
be below that of its real value. And then eight
(25:12):
hundred thousand bushels were purchased or nominally purchased, at a
price which was also fixed by the Senate, but which
was nearer to the real value. Three sistersis a bushel
for the first and four for the last were the
prices fixed at this time for making these payments. Vast
sums of money were omitted to varies, of which the
(25:33):
accounts were so kept that it was hard to say
whether any found its way into the hands of the farmers,
who undoubtedly furnished the corn. The third corn tax was
the istimatum. This consisted of a certain fixed quantity which
had to be supplied to the prit or for the
use of his governmental establishment, to be supplied either in
(25:53):
grain or in money. What such a one as there is,
would do with this, the reader may conceive all this
was of vital importance to Rome. Sicily and Africa were
the granaries from which Rome was supplied with its bread.
To get supplies from a province was necessary. Rich men
have servants in order that they may live at ease themselves.
(26:16):
So it was with the Romans, to whom the provinces
acted as servants. It was necessary to have a sharp agent,
some proconsul or proprietor. But when there came one so
sharp as Varies, all power of recreating supplies would for
a time be destroyed. Even Cicero boasted that, in a
time of great scarcity, he, being the Christor in Sicily,
(26:39):
had sent extraordinary store of corn over to the city.
But he had so done it as to satisfy all
who were concerned. Varies in his corn dealings with the
Sicilians had a certain friend, companion and minister, one of
his favorite dogs. Perhaps we may call him named Apronius,
whom Cicero specially describes. The description. I must give because
(27:04):
it is so powerful, because it shows us how one
man could in those days speak of another in open
court before all the world. Because it affords us an
instance of the intensity of hatred which the orator could
throw into his words. But I must hide it in
the original language, as I could not translate it without offense.
Footnote in werem Actio Secunda, Book three nine, Latin text
(27:30):
follows from is rat apronius ile to inconvibio saltare nudus
kueperat end of footnote. Then we have a book devoted
to the special pillage of statues and other ornaments, which,
for the genius displayed in storytelling, is perhaps of all
the very narrations the most amusing. The Greek people had become,
(27:53):
in a peculiar way, devoted to what we generally call art.
We are much given to the collecting of pictures, bronze
and marbles, partly from love of such things, partly from
pride in ornamenting our houses so as to excite the
admiration of others, partly from a feeling that money so
invested is not badly placed with a view to future returns.
(28:14):
All these feelings operated with the Greeks to a much
greater extent. Investment in consoles and railway shares were not
open to them. Money they used to lend at usury.
No doubt but with a great chance of losing it.
The Greek colonists were industrious, were covetous, and prudent. From this,
(28:34):
it had come to pass that as they made their
way about the world, to the cities which they established
round the Mediterranean, they collected in their new homes great
store of ornamental wealth. This was done with much profusion
at Syracuse, a Greek city in Sicily, and spread from
there of the whole island. The temples of the gods
were filled with the works of the great Greek artists,
(28:56):
and every man of note had his gallery. That Veries Hogg,
as he has described to have been, had a passion
for these things, is manifest to us. He came to
his death at last in defense of some favorite images.
He had returned to Rome by means of Caesar's amnesty,
and mark Antony had him murdered because he would not
(29:17):
surrender some treasures of art. When we read the de
Signis about statues, we are led to imagine that the
search after these things was the chief object of the
man throughout his three years of office. As we have
before been made to suppose that all his mind and
time had been devoted to the cheating of the Sicilians
in the matter of corn. But though varies loved these trinkets,
(29:40):
it was not altogether for himself that he sought them.
Only one third of his plunder was for himself. Senators, judges, advocates, consuls,
and priters could be bribed with articles of virtue as
well as with money. There are eleven separate stories told
of these robberies. I will give very short the details
(30:00):
of one or two. There was one Marcus Haeus, a
rich citizen of Messana, in whose house fairies took great delight.
Messana itself was very useful to him, and the Mamertines,
as the people of Messana were called, were his best
friends in all Sicily. For he made Messana the depot
of his blunder, and there he caused to be built,
(30:21):
at the expense of the government, an enormous ship called
the Sibea, in which his treasures were carried out of
the island. He therefore specially favored Messana, and the district
of Messana was supposed to have been scourged with him
with lighter rods than those used elsewhere in Sicily. But
this man Haus had a chapel very sacred in which
(30:43):
were preserved four specially beautiful images. There was a Cupid
by Praxitiles, and a bronze Hercules by Miro, and two
Canephera by Polyclitus. These were treasures which all the world
came to see, and which were open to be seen
by all day. These vairies took away and caused accounts
(31:04):
to be forged, in which it was made to appear
that he had bought them for trifling sums. It seems
that some forced assent had been obtained from Haeus as
to the transaction. Now there was a plan in vogue
for making things pleasant for a proconsul retiring from his government,
in accordance with which a deputation would proceed from the
province to Rome to declare how well and kindly the
(31:26):
proconsul had behaved in his government. The Allies, even when
they had been, as it were, skinned alive by their governor,
were constrained to send their deputations. Deputations were got up
in Sicily from Messana and Syracuse, and with the others
from Messana came this man Haeus. Haius did not wish
(31:47):
to tell about his statues, but he was asked questions
and was forced to answer, Cicero informs us how it
all took place. He was a man, he said. This
is what Cicero tells us that Haihus said, who was
well esteemed in his own country, and would wish you,
you judges, to think well of his religious spirit and
(32:08):
of his personal dignity. He had come here to praise
Varies because he had been required to do so by
his fellow citizens. He, however, had never kept things for
sale in his own house, and had he been left
to himself, nothing would have induced him to part with
the sacred images which had been left to him by
his ancestors as the ornaments of his own chapel. Nevertheless,
(32:31):
he had come to praise Veries, and would have held
his tongue had it been possible. Cicero finishes his catalog
by telling us of the manifold robberies committed by Varies
in Syracuse, especially from the temples of the gods, and
he begins his account of the Syracusan iniquities by drawing
a parallel between two romans whose names were well known
(32:52):
in that city, Marcellus, who had besieged it as an
enemy and taken it, and Veries, who had been sent
to govern it in peace. Marcellus had saved the lives
of the Syracusans. Veries had made the forum to run
with their blood. The harbor, which had held its own
against Marcellus, as we may read in our Livy, had
(33:13):
been wilfully opened by Veries to Silician pirates. This Syracuse,
which had been so carefully preserved by its Roman conqueror,
the most beautiful of all the Greek cities on the
face of the earth, so beautiful that Marcellus had spared
to it. All its public ornaments had been stripped bare
by Veries. There was the temple of Minerva, from which
(33:36):
he had taken all the pictures. There were the doors
to this temple, of such beauty that books had been
written about them. He stripped the ivory ornaments from them,
and the golden balls with which they had been made splendid.
He tore from them the head of the Gorgon and
carried it away, leaving them to be rude doors. Goth
(33:56):
that he was, And he took the Sappho from the
a Eeum, the work of Selenian, a thing of such
beauty that no other man can have the like of
it in his own private house, yet varies. Has it
a man hardly fit to carry such a work of
art as a burden not possess it as a treasure
of his own? What, too, he says, have you not
(34:18):
stolen Pian from the temple of Esculapius, a statue so
remarkable for its beauty, so well known for the worship
attached to it, that all the world has been wont
to visit it. What has not the image of Aristaeus
been taken by you from the temple of Bacchus. Have
you not even stolen the statue of Jupiter Imperato, so
(34:39):
sacred in the eyes of all men, that Jupiter, which
the Greeks call Urios? You have not hesitated to rob
the temple of Rozappina of the lovely head in Parian marble,
Then Cicero speaks of the worship due to all these gods,
as though he himself believed in their godhead, As he
had begun this cha with the Mamartines of Massana. So
(35:02):
he ends it with an address to them. It is
well that you should come, you alone, out of all
the provinces, and praise varies here in Rome. But what
can you say for him? Was it not your duty
to have built a ship for the republic. You have
built none such, but have constructed a huge private transport
(35:23):
vessel for veries. Have you not been exempted from your
tax on corn? Have you not been exempted in regard
to naval and military recruits? Have you not been the
receptacle of all his stolen goods? They will have to confess,
these mamartines, that many a ship laden with his spoils
has left their port, and especially this huge transport ship
(35:47):
which they built for him. In the Dais of pliquis
the treatment about punishments, as the last division of this
process is called. Cicero tells the world how varies extracted
vengeance from those were opposed to him, and with what
horrid cruelty he raged against his enemies. The stories, indeed,
are very dreadful. It is harrowing to think that so
(36:10):
evil a man should have been invested with powers so
great for so bad a purpose. But that which strikes
a modern reader most is the sanctity attached to the
name of a Roman citizen, and the audacity with which
the Roman proconsul disregarded that sanctity. Kiwes Romanus is Cicero's
cry from the beginning to the end. No doubt he
(36:33):
is addressing himself to Romans and seeking popularity, as he
always did. But nevertheless, the demands made upon the outside
world at large by the glory of that appellation are astonishing,
even when put forward. On such an occasion as this one,
Gavius escapes from a prison in Syracuse, and making his
(36:54):
way to Messana, foolishly boasts that he would be soon
over in Italy, out of the way of prator Verie
and his cruelties. Veries, unfortunately is in Messana, and soon
hears from some of his friends the mamateines what Gavius
was saying. He at once orders Gavias to be flogged
in public. Qiuwe's Romanus sum, exclaims Galvius, No doubt, truly
(37:20):
it suits Veries to pretend to disbelieve this, and to
declare that the man is a remagate slave. The poor
wretch still cries kiws Romanus and trusts alone to that appeal.
Whereupon Veries puts up a cross on the sea shore
and has the man crucified in sight of Italy, so
that he should be able to see the country of
which he is so proud, whether he had done anything
(37:44):
to deserve crucifixion or flogging, or punishment at all, we
are not told the accusation against Veries is not for
crucifying the man, but for crucifying the Roman. It is
on this occasion that Cicero uses the words which have
become prover erbil as to the iniquity of this preceding
footnote in wherem Actyo Secunda, book five sixty six, Facinus
(38:09):
estwinkiri kiem romanum scelus erberai proper parichidium necari quid dicam
in crucem end of footnote. During the telling of this story,
he explains this doctrine, claiming for the Roman citizen all
the world over some such protection as freemasons are supposed
(38:31):
to give each other, whether known or unknown. Men of straw,
he says, of no special birth, go about the world.
They resort to places they have never seen before, where
they know none and none know them. Here, trusting to
their claims solely, they feel themselves to be safe, not
only where our magistrates are to be found, who are
(38:52):
bound both by law and by opinion, not only among
other Roman citizens who speak their language and follow the
same customs, but over the whole world they find this
to be sufficient protection. Then he goes on to say
that if any prit or may, at his will put
aside this sanctity, all the provinces, all the kingdoms, all
(39:13):
the free states, all the world abroad, will very soon
lose the feeling. But the most remarkable story is that
told of a certain pirate captain. Varies had been remiss
in regard to the pirates, very cowardly. Indeed, if we
had to believe Cicero, piracy in the Mediterranean was at
that time a terrible drawback to trade. That piracy that
(39:37):
a year or two afterward Pompey was effectual in destroying.
A governor in Sicily had, among other special duties, to
keep a sharp lookout for the pirates. This Varies omitted
so entirely that these scourges of the sea soon learned
that they might do almost as they pleased on the
Sicilian coasts. But it came to pass that on one
(39:57):
day a pirate vessel fell by accident into the hands
of the governor's offices. It was not taken, Cicero says,
but was so overladen that it was picked up almost sinking.
It was found to be full of fine, handsome men,
of silver, both plated and coined, and precious stuffs. Though
not taken, it was found and carried into Syracuse. Syracuse
(40:22):
is full of the news, and the first demand is
that the pirates, according to Roman custom, shall all be killed.
But this does not suit Berries. The slave markets of
the Roman Empire are open, and there are men among
the pirates whom it will suit him better to sell
than to kill. There are six musicians symphoniacas Hominez, whom
(40:44):
he sends at the present to a friend at Rome.
But the people of Syracuse are very much in earnest.
They're too sharp to be put off with pretenses, and
they count the number of slaughtered pirates. There are only
some useless, weak, ugly old fellows beheaded from day to day,
And being well aware how many men must have taken
(41:04):
to row and manage such a vessel, they demand that
the full crew shall be brought to the block. There
is nothing in victory more sweet, says Cicero, no evidence
more sure than to see those whom you did fear,
but have now got the better of, brought out to
tortures or death. Veriries is so much frightened by the
(41:25):
resolution of the citizens that he does not dare to
neglect their wishes. There are lying in the prisons of
Syracuse a lot of prisoners Roman citizens, of whom he
is glad to rid himself. He has then brought out
with their heads wrapped up so that they shall not
be known, and has them beheaded instead of the pirates.
(41:47):
A great deal is said too about the pirate captain,
the arch Pirate, as he has called. There seems to
have been some money dealings personally between him and Veries,
on account of which Veries kept him hidden. At any rate,
the arch Pirate was saved in such a manner. This
celebrated victory is managed. The pirate ship is taken, and
(42:09):
the chief Pirate is allowed to escape. The musicians are
said to Rome. The men who are good looking and
young are taken to the pritor's house. As many Roman
citizens as will fill their places are carried out as
public enemies, and are tortured and killed. All the gold
and silver and precious stuffs are made a prize of
(42:30):
by Veries. Such are the accusations brought against this wonderful man,
the truth of which has I think on the whole
been admitted. The picture of Roman life which it displays
is wonderful that such atrocity should have been possible, and
equally so of provincial subjection, that such cruelty should have
(42:51):
been endured. But in it all, the greatest wonder is
that there should have risen up a man so determined
to take the part of the weak against the stroke,
with no reward before him, apparently with no other prospect
than that of making himself odious to the party to
which he belonged. Cicero was not a gracus anxious to
(43:12):
throw himself into the arms of the people. He was
an oligarch by conviction, born to oligarchy, bred to it,
convinced that by it alone could the Roman Republic be preserved.
But he was convinced also that unless these oligarchs could
be made to do their duty, the republic could not stand.
Therefore it was that he dared to defy his own brethren,
(43:35):
and to make the acquittal of Varies an impossibility. I
should be inclined to think that the day on which
Hortensius threw up the sponge and Veries submitted to banishment
and fine, was the happiest in the orator's life. Veries
was made to pay a fine which was very insufficient
for his crimes, and then to retire into comfortable exile.
(43:58):
From this he returned to when the Roman exiles were amnestied,
and were shortly afterward murdered by Anthony, as has been
told before end of chapter six
Chapter six, Part two of the Life of Cicero, Volume ie.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Philippa Jevons. The Life
of Cicero, Volume one by Anthony Trollop, Chapter six Veries,
(00:21):
Part two. When the trial was over and Veries had
consented to go into exile and to pay whatever fine
was demanded, the perpetuo oratio, which Cicero thought good to
make on the matter, was published to the world. It
is written as though it was to have been spoken
with counterfeit tricks of oratory, with some tricks so well
(00:41):
done in the first part of it as to have
made one think that when these special words were prepared,
he must have intended to speak them. It has been agreed, however,
that such was not the case. It consists of a
narration of the villanies of Veries, and is divided into
what have been called five different speeches to work which
the following appellations are given. De prieturro Urbana, in which
(01:05):
we are told what Varies did when he was city
pritor and very many things also, which he did before
he came to that office. De Jurisdicione Siciliensi, in which
has described his conduct as a Roman magistrate on the
island de re frumentaria, setting forth the abomination of his
exactions in regard to the corn tax. De signis detailing
(01:27):
the robberies he perpetuated in regard to statues and other ornaments,
and de suplichis giving an account of the murders he
committed and the tortures he inflicted. A question is sometimes
mooted in conversation whether or no the general happiness of
the world has been improved by increasing civilization. When the
reader finds, from these stories, as told by a leading
(01:50):
Roman of the day, how men were treated under the
Roman oligarchy, not only Greek allies, but Romans also, I
think he will be inclined to answer the question in
favor of civilization. I can only give a few of
the many little histories which have been preserved for us
in this Actio secunda. But perhaps these few may suffice
(02:10):
to show how a great Roman officer could demean himself
in his government of the doings of varies before he
went to Sicily I will select two. It became his
duty on one occasion, a job which he seems to
have sought for purpose of Rapin, to go to Lampascus,
a town in Asia, as lieutenant or legget for Dollabella,
(02:31):
who then had command in Asia. Lampascus was on the
hellespont an allied town of specially good repute. Here he
is put up as a guest with all the honors
of a Roman officer, at the house of a citizen
named Janitor. But he heard that another citizen, on Philodamus, had
a beautiful daughter, an article with which we must suppose
(02:52):
that Janitor was not equally well supplied. Varies. Determined to
get at the lady orders that his creature, Rubrius shall
be quartered at the house of Philodemus. Philodelmus, who from
his rank was entitled to be burdened only with the
presence of leading Romans, grumbles at this, but having grumbled, consents,
(03:13):
and having consented, does the best to make his house comfortable.
He gives a great supper, at which the Romans eat
and drink and purposely create a tumult Varies, we understand
was not there. The intention is that the girl shall
be carried away and brought to him. In the middle
of their cups. The father is desired to produce his daughter,
(03:34):
but this he refuses to do. Rubrius then orders the
doors to be closed and proceeds to ransack the house. Philodelmus,
who will not stand this, fetches his son and calls
his fellow citizens around him. Rubrius succeeds in pouring boiling
water over his host, but in the row the Romans
get the worst of it. At last, one of Vereries
(03:57):
is lictors. Absolutely a Roman Lictor is killed and the
woman is not carried off. The man at least bore
the outward signs of elector, but according to Cicero, was
in the pay of Veries as his pimp. So far,
Veries fails, and the reader, rejoicing at the courage of
the father, who could protect his own house even against Romans,
(04:20):
begins to feel some surprise that this case should have
been selected. So far, the lieutenant had not done the
mischief he had intended, but he soon avenges his failure.
He induces Dolabella, his chief, to have Philodamus and his
son carried off to Laodicea, and there tried before Nero.
The then proconsul for killing the sham Lictor. They are
(04:43):
tried at Loodica before Nero Varies himself sitting as one
of the judges, and are condemned. Then, in the market
place of the town, in the presence of each other,
the father and son are beheaded, a thing, as Cicero says,
very sad for all Asia to behold. All this had
been done some years ago, and nevertheless Varies had been
(05:07):
chosen pritor and sent to Sicily to govern the Sicilians.
When Veries was prit or at Rome the year before
he was sent to Sicily, it became his duty, or
rather privilege, as he found it, to see that a
certain temple of castor in the city was given up
in proper condition by the executors of a defunct citizen
who had taken a contract for keeping it in repair.
(05:29):
This man, whose name had been Junius, left a son
who was a Junius, also under age, with a large fortune,
in charge of various trustees tutors, as they were called,
whose duty it was to protect the heir's interests. Varies,
knowing of old that no property was so easily preyed
on as that of a miner sees at once that
(05:50):
something may be done with the temple of Castor. The
heir took oath, and to the extent of his property,
he was bound to keep the edifice in good repair.
But hies, when he made an inspection, finds everything to
be in more than usually good repair. There is not
a scratch on the roof of which he can make use.
Nothing has been allowed to go astray. Then one of
(06:13):
his dogs, for he had boasted to his friend Ligor
that he always went about with dogs to search out
his game for him, suggested that some of the columns
were out of the perpendicular. Varies does not know what
this means, But the dog explains all columns are, in fact,
by strict measurement, more or less out of the perpendicular,
(06:34):
as we are told that all eyes squint a little,
though we do not see that this quint. But as
columns ought to be perpendicular, here was a matter on
which he might go to work. He does go to work.
The trustees, knowing their man, knowing also that in the
present condition of Rome, it was impossible to escape from
an unjust prietor without paying largely, went to his mistress
(06:57):
and endeavored to settle the matter with her. Here we
have an amusing picture of the way in which the
affairs of the city were carried on in that lady's establishment.
How she had her levee, took her bribes, and drove
a lucrative trade, doing, however, no good with her. The
trustees settled with an agent to pay Varies two hundred
thousand sisterces to drop the affair. This was something under
(07:22):
two thousand pounds, but Varies repudiated the arrangement with scorn.
He could do much better than that with such a
temple and such a miner. He puts the repairs up
to auction, and, refusing a bid from the trustees themselves,
the very persons who are the most interested in getting
the work done. If there were work to do, has
(07:42):
it knocked down to himself for five hundred and sixty
thousand sisterces, or about five thousand pounds. Then we are
told how he had the pretended work done by the
putting up of a rough crane. No real work is done,
no new stones are brought, no money is spent. That
is the way in which Varies filled his office as
(08:03):
pretor or barnus. But it does not see that any
public notice has taken of his iniquities. As long as
he confined himself to little jobs such as this. Then
we come to the affairs of Sicily, and the long
list of robberies is commenced by which that province was
made desolate. It seems that nothing gave so grand a
(08:23):
scope to the greed of a public functionary who was
at the same time governor and judge. As disputed wills,
it was not necessary that any of the person's concern
should dispute the will among them. Given the facts that
a man had died and left property behind him, then
varies would find means to drag the heir into court
and either frighten him into payment of a bribe or
(08:45):
else rob him of his inheritance. Before he left Rome
for the province, he heard that a large fortune had
been left to want Dio, on condition that he should
put up certain statues in the market place. It was
not uncommon for a man to desire the reputation of
adorning his own city, but to choose that the expense
should be borne by his heir rather than by himself.
(09:07):
Failing to put up the statues, the heir was required
to pay a fine to Venus Erquina to enrich, that is,
the worship of that goddess who had a favourites temple
under mount Erics. The statues had been duly erected, but
nevertheless here there was an opening. So Veries goes to work,
(09:28):
and in the name of Venus, brings an action against Dio.
The verdict is given not in favor of Venus, but
in favor of Veries. This manner of paying honor to
the gods, and especially to Venus, was common in Sicily.
Two sons received a fortune from their father, with a
condition that if some special thing were not done, a
(09:49):
fine should be paid to Venus. The man had been
dead twenty years, but the dogs which the prital kept
were very sharp and distant, as was the time found
out the clause, action is taken against the two sons,
who indeed gain their case, but they gain it by
a bribe so enormous that they are ruined men. There
(10:13):
was one Heraclius, the son of Hiero, a nobleman of Syracuse,
who received a legacy amounting to three million sesterces we
will say twenty four thousand pounds from a relative, also
a Heraclius, he had to a house full of handsome
silver plate, silk, and hangings, and valuable slaves a man
(10:35):
Dewey's ecum Dewey's Picti westis et auri. Varies heard, of course,
he had by this time taken some Sicilian dogs into
his service, men of Syracuse, and had learned from them
that there was a clause in the will of the
elder Heraclius that certain statues should be put up in
the gymnasium of the city. They undertake to bring forward
(10:59):
servants of the gymnasium, who should say that the statues
were never properly erected. Cicero tells us how Varies went
to work now in this court, now in that breaking
all the laws as to Sicilian jurisdiction, but still proceeding
under the pretense of law, till he got everything out
of the wretch, not only all the legacies from Heraclius,
(11:20):
but every shilling and every article left to the man
by his father. There is a pretense of giving some
of the money to the town of Syracuse, but for
himself he takes all the valuables, the Corinthian vases, the
purple hangings, what slaves He chooses, then everything else is
sold by auction. How he divided the spoil with the Syracusans,
(11:43):
and then quarreled with them, and how he lied as
to the share taken by himself, will all be found
in Cicero's narrative. Heraclius was of course ruined. For the
stories of Epicrites and Sapater, I must refer the reader
to the oration in that of Sopater. There is a
peculiarity that Veries managed to get paid by everybody all round.
(12:08):
The story of Sthenius is so interesting that I cannot
pass it by. Sthenius was a man of wealth and
high standing, living at Therma in Sicily, with whom Veries
often took up his abode. For as governor, he traveled
much about the island, always in pursuit of plunder. Sthenius
had his house full of beautiful things. Of all these
(12:30):
Veriries possessed himself, some by begging, some by demanding, and
some by absolute robbery. Sthenius grieved, as he was to
find himself pillaged bore all this. The man was Roman prital,
and injuries such as these had to be endured at Therma. However,
(12:51):
in the public place of the city, there were some
beautiful statues. For these varies longed and desired his host
to get them for him. Senius declared that this was impossible.
The statues had, under peculiar circumstances, been recovered by Scipio
Africanus from Carthage, and been restored by the Roman general
(13:12):
to the Sicilians from whom they had been taken, and
had been erected. At Therma. There was a peculiarly beautiful
figure of Stsicorus the poet, as an old man bent
double with a book in his hand, a very glorious
work of arts. And there was a goat in bronze,
probably as to which Cicero is at the pains of
telling us that even he, unskilled as he was in
(13:34):
such matters, could see its charms. No one had sharper
eyes for such pretty ornaments than Cicero, or a more
decided taste for them. But as Hortensius, his rival and
opponent in this case, had taken a marble sphinx from Veries,
he thought it expedient to show how superior he was
to such matters. There was probably something of joke in this,
(13:58):
as his predilections would no doubt be known to those
he was addressing in the matter, Sthenius was incorruptible, and
not even the prietor could carry them away without his aid. Cicero,
who is very warm in praise of Sthenius, declares that
here at last Varius had found one town, the only
one in the world from which he was unable to
(14:20):
carry away something of the public property by force or stealth,
or open command or favour. The governor was so disgusted
with this that he abandoned Sthenius, leaving the house which
he had plundered of everything, and betook himself to that
of one Agathenius, who had a beautiful daughter, Kaliedalma, who
(14:40):
with her husband Dorotheus, lived with her father. They were
enemies of Sthenius, and we are given to understand that
Varies ingratiated himself with them, partly for the sake of Kaledarma,
who seems very quickly to have been given up to him,
and partly that he might instigate them to bring actions
against Theenius. This is done with great success, so that
(15:03):
Sthenius is forced to run away and betake himself. Winter
as it was across the seas to Rome, It has
already been told that when he was at Rome, an
action was brought against him by Varies for having run
away when he was under judgment, in which Cicero defended him,
and in which he was acquitted. In the teeth of
(15:24):
his acquittal, Veries persecuted the man by every form of
law which came to his hands as prital, but always
in opposition to the law. There is an audacity about
the man's proceedings, in his open contempt for the laws
which it was his special duty to carry out, making
us feel how confident he was that he could carry
(15:44):
everything before him in Rome by means of his money
by robbery, and concealing his robberies, by selling his judgments
in such a way that he should maintain some reticence.
By ordinary precaution. He might have made much money, as
other governors had done, but he resolved that it would
pay him better to rob everywhere openly. And then, when
(16:06):
the day of reckoning came, to buy the judge's wholesale
as to shame at such doings, there was no such
feelings left among Romans. Before he comes to the story
of Theenius, Cicero makes a grandly ironical appeal to the
bench before him. Yes, O, judges, keep this man, keep
(16:27):
him in the state, spare him, preserve him so that
he too may sit with us as a judge here,
so that he too may, with impartiality, advise us as
a senator what may be best for us as to
peace and war. Not that we need trouble ourselves. As
to his senatorial duties, his authority would be nothing. When
(16:49):
would he dare, or when would he care to come
among us? Unless it might be the idle month of February.
When would a man so idle, so debauch show himself
in the Senate house. Let him come and show himself.
Let him advise us to attack the Cretans, to pronounce
the Greeks of Byzantium, free, to declare ptolemy king. Let
(17:11):
him speak and vote as Hortensius may direct. This will
have but little effect upon our lives or our property.
But beyond this there is something we must look to,
something that would be distrusted, something that every good man
has to fear. If by chance this man should escape
(17:32):
out of our hands, he would have to sit there
upon that bench and be a judge. He would be
called upon to pronounce on the lives of Roman citizens.
He would be the right hand officer in the army
of this man. Here, of this man, who is striving
to be the lord and ruler of our judgment seats
the people of Rome at least refuse this, This at
(17:55):
least cannot be endured. The third of these narrative tells
us how Vary is managed in his province that provision
of corn for the use of Rome, the collection of
which made the possession of Sicily so important to the Romans.
He begins with telling his readers, as he does too frequently,
how great and peculiar is the task he has undertaken,
(18:17):
and he uses an argument of which we cannot but
admit the truth, though we doubt whether any modern advocate
would dare to put it forward. We must remember, however,
that Romans were not accustomed to be shamefaced in praising themselves.
What Cicero says of himself, all others said also of themselves.
Only Cicero could say it better than others. He reminds
(18:39):
us that he who accuses another of any crime is
bound to be especially free from that crime himself. Would
you charge anyone as a thief? You must be clear
from any suspicion of even desiring another man's property. Have
you brought a man up for malice or cruelty? Take
care that you be not found hard hearted. Have you
(19:02):
called a man a seducer or an adulterer? Be sure
that your own life shows no trace of such vices.
Whatever you would punish in another, that you must avoid yourself.
A public accuser would be intolerable, or even a caviller
who should inveigh against sins for which he himself is
(19:22):
called in question. But in this man I find all
wickedness is combined. There is no lust, no iniquity, no
shamelessness of which his life does not supply us with
ample evidence. The nature of the difficulty to which Cicero
is thus subjected is visible enough as varies. Is all
(19:43):
that is bad, So must he, as accuser, be all
that is good, Which is more we should say than
any man would choose to declare of himself. But he
is equal to the occasion in regard to this man,
O judges, I lay down for myself the law as
I have stated it. I must so live that I
(20:05):
must clearly seem to be and always have been, the
very opposite of this man, not only in my words
and deeds, but as to that arrogance and impudence which
you see in him, then he shows how opposite he
is to Veries, at any rate in impudence. I am
not sorry to see. He goes on to say that
(20:27):
that life, which has always been the life of my
own choosing, has now been made a necessity to me
by the law which I have laid down for myself.
Mister Pecksniff spoke of himself in the same way, but
no one, I think, believed him. Cicero probably was believed.
But the most wonderful thing is that his manner of
(20:47):
life justified what he said of himself. When others of
his own order were abandoned to lust, iniquity, and shamelessness,
he lived in purity, with clean hands, doing good as
far as was in his power to those around him.
A laugh will be raised at his expense in regard
to that assertion of his that, even in the matter
(21:08):
of arrogance, his conduct should be the opposite of that
of Eries. But this will come because I have failed
to interpret accurately the meaning of those words auris oculorum
que la contumachia ak superubia quamouidetis Veries, as we can understand,
had carried himself during the trial with a bragging, brazen,
(21:29):
bold face, determined to show no shame as to his
own doings. It is in this, which was a matter
of manner and taste, that Cicero declares that he will
be the man's opposite. As well as in conduct as
to the ordinary boastings by which it has to be
acknowledged that Cicero sometimes disgusts his readers. It will be
impossible for us to receive a just idea of his
(21:51):
character without remembering that it was the custom of a
Roman to boast. We wait to have good things said
of us, or us as to wait the Roman said
them of himself. The weeny, weedy weekie was the ordinary
mode of expression in those times and in earlier times
among the Greeks. This is distasteful to us, and it
(22:15):
will probably be distasteful to those who come after us
two or three hundred years. Hence, that this or that
British statesman should have made himself an earl or a
knight of the Garter. Now it is thought by many
to be proper enough. It will shock men in future
days that great peers or rich commoners should have bargained
for ribbons and lieutenancies and titles. Now it is the
(22:37):
way of the time. Though virtue and vice may be
said to remain the same from all time to all time,
the latitudes allowed and the deviations encouraged in this or
the other age must be considered before the character of
a man can be discovered. The boastings of Cicero have
been preserved for us. We have to bethink ourselves that
(22:59):
his words are two thousand years old. There is such
a touch of humanity in them, such a feeling of
latter day's civilization, and almost of Christianity, that we are
apt to condemn what remains in them of paganism, as
though they were uttered yesterday. When we come to the
coarseness of his attacks, his descriptions of Piso by and
(23:20):
by his abuse of Gabinius, and his invectives against Antony.
When we read his altered opinions as shown in the
period of Caesar's dominion, his flattery of Caesar when in power,
and his exultations when Caesar has been killed, When we
find that he could be coarse in his language, and
a bully and servile. For it has all to be admitted.
(23:41):
We have to reflect under what circumstances, under what surroundings,
and for what object were used the words which displease us.
Speaking before the full court at this trial, he dared
to say he knew how to live as a man,
and to carry himself as a gentleman, as men and
gentlemen were. Then he was justified. The description of Veris's
(24:06):
rapacity in regard to the corn tax is long and complex,
and need hardly be followed at length, unless by those
who desire to know how the iniquity of such a
one could make the most of an imposition which was
in itself very bad, and pile up the burden till
the poor province was unable to bear it. There were
three kinds of them position as to corn. The first,
(24:28):
called the decumannum, was simply a tithe. The producers through
the island had to furnish Rome with the tenth of
their produce, and it was the prito's duty, or rather
that of the christ or under the pritle, to see
that the tithe was collected. How Veri's sort of this himself,
and how he treated the Sicilian husbandman in regard to
(24:49):
the tithe is so told that we are obliged to
give the man credit for an infinite fertility of resources.
Then there is the emptum or corn bought for the
use of re rome, of which there were two kinds.
A second tithe had to be furnished at a price
fixed by the Roman Senate, which price was considered to
be below that of its real value. And then eight
(25:12):
hundred thousand bushels were purchased or nominally purchased, at a
price which was also fixed by the Senate, but which
was nearer to the real value. Three sistersis a bushel
for the first and four for the last were the
prices fixed at this time for making these payments. Vast
sums of money were omitted to varies, of which the
(25:33):
accounts were so kept that it was hard to say
whether any found its way into the hands of the farmers,
who undoubtedly furnished the corn. The third corn tax was
the istimatum. This consisted of a certain fixed quantity which
had to be supplied to the prit or for the
use of his governmental establishment, to be supplied either in
(25:53):
grain or in money. What such a one as there is,
would do with this, the reader may conceive all this
was of vital importance to Rome. Sicily and Africa were
the granaries from which Rome was supplied with its bread.
To get supplies from a province was necessary. Rich men
have servants in order that they may live at ease themselves.
(26:16):
So it was with the Romans, to whom the provinces
acted as servants. It was necessary to have a sharp agent,
some proconsul or proprietor. But when there came one so
sharp as Varies, all power of recreating supplies would for
a time be destroyed. Even Cicero boasted that, in a
time of great scarcity, he, being the Christor in Sicily,
(26:39):
had sent extraordinary store of corn over to the city.
But he had so done it as to satisfy all
who were concerned. Varies in his corn dealings with the
Sicilians had a certain friend, companion and minister, one of
his favorite dogs. Perhaps we may call him named Apronius,
whom Cicero specially describes. The description. I must give because
(27:04):
it is so powerful, because it shows us how one
man could in those days speak of another in open
court before all the world. Because it affords us an
instance of the intensity of hatred which the orator could
throw into his words. But I must hide it in
the original language, as I could not translate it without offense.
Footnote in werem Actio Secunda, Book three nine, Latin text
(27:30):
follows from is rat apronius ile to inconvibio saltare nudus
kueperat end of footnote. Then we have a book devoted
to the special pillage of statues and other ornaments, which,
for the genius displayed in storytelling, is perhaps of all
the very narrations the most amusing. The Greek people had become,
(27:53):
in a peculiar way, devoted to what we generally call art.
We are much given to the collecting of pictures, bronze
and marbles, partly from love of such things, partly from
pride in ornamenting our houses so as to excite the
admiration of others, partly from a feeling that money so
invested is not badly placed with a view to future returns.
(28:14):
All these feelings operated with the Greeks to a much
greater extent. Investment in consoles and railway shares were not
open to them. Money they used to lend at usury.
No doubt but with a great chance of losing it.
The Greek colonists were industrious, were covetous, and prudent. From this,
(28:34):
it had come to pass that as they made their
way about the world, to the cities which they established
round the Mediterranean, they collected in their new homes great
store of ornamental wealth. This was done with much profusion
at Syracuse, a Greek city in Sicily, and spread from
there of the whole island. The temples of the gods
were filled with the works of the great Greek artists,
(28:56):
and every man of note had his gallery. That Veries Hogg,
as he has described to have been, had a passion
for these things, is manifest to us. He came to
his death at last in defense of some favorite images.
He had returned to Rome by means of Caesar's amnesty,
and mark Antony had him murdered because he would not
(29:17):
surrender some treasures of art. When we read the de
Signis about statues, we are led to imagine that the
search after these things was the chief object of the
man throughout his three years of office. As we have
before been made to suppose that all his mind and
time had been devoted to the cheating of the Sicilians
in the matter of corn. But though varies loved these trinkets,
(29:40):
it was not altogether for himself that he sought them.
Only one third of his plunder was for himself. Senators, judges, advocates, consuls,
and priters could be bribed with articles of virtue as
well as with money. There are eleven separate stories told
of these robberies. I will give very short the details
(30:00):
of one or two. There was one Marcus Haeus, a
rich citizen of Messana, in whose house fairies took great delight.
Messana itself was very useful to him, and the Mamertines,
as the people of Messana were called, were his best
friends in all Sicily. For he made Messana the depot
of his blunder, and there he caused to be built,
(30:21):
at the expense of the government, an enormous ship called
the Sibea, in which his treasures were carried out of
the island. He therefore specially favored Messana, and the district
of Messana was supposed to have been scourged with him
with lighter rods than those used elsewhere in Sicily. But
this man Haus had a chapel very sacred in which
(30:43):
were preserved four specially beautiful images. There was a Cupid
by Praxitiles, and a bronze Hercules by Miro, and two
Canephera by Polyclitus. These were treasures which all the world
came to see, and which were open to be seen
by all day. These vairies took away and caused accounts
(31:04):
to be forged, in which it was made to appear
that he had bought them for trifling sums. It seems
that some forced assent had been obtained from Haeus as
to the transaction. Now there was a plan in vogue
for making things pleasant for a proconsul retiring from his government,
in accordance with which a deputation would proceed from the
province to Rome to declare how well and kindly the
(31:26):
proconsul had behaved in his government. The Allies, even when
they had been, as it were, skinned alive by their governor,
were constrained to send their deputations. Deputations were got up
in Sicily from Messana and Syracuse, and with the others
from Messana came this man Haeus. Haius did not wish
(31:47):
to tell about his statues, but he was asked questions
and was forced to answer, Cicero informs us how it
all took place. He was a man, he said. This
is what Cicero tells us that Haihus said, who was
well esteemed in his own country, and would wish you,
you judges, to think well of his religious spirit and
(32:08):
of his personal dignity. He had come here to praise
Varies because he had been required to do so by
his fellow citizens. He, however, had never kept things for
sale in his own house, and had he been left
to himself, nothing would have induced him to part with
the sacred images which had been left to him by
his ancestors as the ornaments of his own chapel. Nevertheless,
(32:31):
he had come to praise Veries, and would have held
his tongue had it been possible. Cicero finishes his catalog
by telling us of the manifold robberies committed by Varies
in Syracuse, especially from the temples of the gods, and
he begins his account of the Syracusan iniquities by drawing
a parallel between two romans whose names were well known
(32:52):
in that city, Marcellus, who had besieged it as an
enemy and taken it, and Veries, who had been sent
to govern it in peace. Marcellus had saved the lives
of the Syracusans. Veries had made the forum to run
with their blood. The harbor, which had held its own
against Marcellus, as we may read in our Livy, had
(33:13):
been wilfully opened by Veries to Silician pirates. This Syracuse,
which had been so carefully preserved by its Roman conqueror,
the most beautiful of all the Greek cities on the
face of the earth, so beautiful that Marcellus had spared
to it. All its public ornaments had been stripped bare
by Veries. There was the temple of Minerva, from which
(33:36):
he had taken all the pictures. There were the doors
to this temple, of such beauty that books had been
written about them. He stripped the ivory ornaments from them,
and the golden balls with which they had been made splendid.
He tore from them the head of the Gorgon and
carried it away, leaving them to be rude doors. Goth
(33:56):
that he was, And he took the Sappho from the
a Eeum, the work of Selenian, a thing of such
beauty that no other man can have the like of
it in his own private house, yet varies. Has it
a man hardly fit to carry such a work of
art as a burden not possess it as a treasure
of his own? What, too, he says, have you not
(34:18):
stolen Pian from the temple of Esculapius, a statue so
remarkable for its beauty, so well known for the worship
attached to it, that all the world has been wont
to visit it. What has not the image of Aristaeus
been taken by you from the temple of Bacchus. Have
you not even stolen the statue of Jupiter Imperato, so
(34:39):
sacred in the eyes of all men, that Jupiter, which
the Greeks call Urios? You have not hesitated to rob
the temple of Rozappina of the lovely head in Parian marble,
Then Cicero speaks of the worship due to all these gods,
as though he himself believed in their godhead, As he
had begun this cha with the Mamartines of Massana. So
(35:02):
he ends it with an address to them. It is
well that you should come, you alone, out of all
the provinces, and praise varies here in Rome. But what
can you say for him? Was it not your duty
to have built a ship for the republic. You have
built none such, but have constructed a huge private transport
(35:23):
vessel for veries. Have you not been exempted from your
tax on corn? Have you not been exempted in regard
to naval and military recruits? Have you not been the
receptacle of all his stolen goods? They will have to confess,
these mamartines, that many a ship laden with his spoils
has left their port, and especially this huge transport ship
(35:47):
which they built for him. In the Dais of pliquis
the treatment about punishments, as the last division of this
process is called. Cicero tells the world how varies extracted
vengeance from those were opposed to him, and with what
horrid cruelty he raged against his enemies. The stories, indeed,
are very dreadful. It is harrowing to think that so
(36:10):
evil a man should have been invested with powers so
great for so bad a purpose. But that which strikes
a modern reader most is the sanctity attached to the
name of a Roman citizen, and the audacity with which
the Roman proconsul disregarded that sanctity. Kiwes Romanus is Cicero's
cry from the beginning to the end. No doubt he
(36:33):
is addressing himself to Romans and seeking popularity, as he
always did. But nevertheless, the demands made upon the outside
world at large by the glory of that appellation are astonishing,
even when put forward. On such an occasion as this one,
Gavius escapes from a prison in Syracuse, and making his
(36:54):
way to Messana, foolishly boasts that he would be soon
over in Italy, out of the way of prator Verie
and his cruelties. Veries, unfortunately is in Messana, and soon
hears from some of his friends the mamateines what Gavius
was saying. He at once orders Gavias to be flogged
in public. Qiuwe's Romanus sum, exclaims Galvius, No doubt, truly
(37:20):
it suits Veries to pretend to disbelieve this, and to
declare that the man is a remagate slave. The poor
wretch still cries kiws Romanus and trusts alone to that appeal.
Whereupon Veries puts up a cross on the sea shore
and has the man crucified in sight of Italy, so
that he should be able to see the country of
which he is so proud, whether he had done anything
(37:44):
to deserve crucifixion or flogging, or punishment at all, we
are not told the accusation against Veries is not for
crucifying the man, but for crucifying the Roman. It is
on this occasion that Cicero uses the words which have
become prover erbil as to the iniquity of this preceding
footnote in wherem Actyo Secunda, book five sixty six, Facinus
(38:09):
estwinkiri kiem romanum scelus erberai proper parichidium necari quid dicam
in crucem end of footnote. During the telling of this story,
he explains this doctrine, claiming for the Roman citizen all
the world over some such protection as freemasons are supposed
(38:31):
to give each other, whether known or unknown. Men of straw,
he says, of no special birth, go about the world.
They resort to places they have never seen before, where
they know none and none know them. Here, trusting to
their claims solely, they feel themselves to be safe, not
only where our magistrates are to be found, who are
(38:52):
bound both by law and by opinion, not only among
other Roman citizens who speak their language and follow the
same customs, but over the whole world they find this
to be sufficient protection. Then he goes on to say
that if any prit or may, at his will put
aside this sanctity, all the provinces, all the kingdoms, all
(39:13):
the free states, all the world abroad, will very soon
lose the feeling. But the most remarkable story is that
told of a certain pirate captain. Varies had been remiss
in regard to the pirates, very cowardly. Indeed, if we
had to believe Cicero, piracy in the Mediterranean was at
that time a terrible drawback to trade. That piracy that
(39:37):
a year or two afterward Pompey was effectual in destroying.
A governor in Sicily had, among other special duties, to
keep a sharp lookout for the pirates. This Varies omitted
so entirely that these scourges of the sea soon learned
that they might do almost as they pleased on the
Sicilian coasts. But it came to pass that on one
(39:57):
day a pirate vessel fell by accident into the hands
of the governor's offices. It was not taken, Cicero says,
but was so overladen that it was picked up almost sinking.
It was found to be full of fine, handsome men,
of silver, both plated and coined, and precious stuffs. Though
not taken, it was found and carried into Syracuse. Syracuse
(40:22):
is full of the news, and the first demand is
that the pirates, according to Roman custom, shall all be killed.
But this does not suit Berries. The slave markets of
the Roman Empire are open, and there are men among
the pirates whom it will suit him better to sell
than to kill. There are six musicians symphoniacas Hominez, whom
(40:44):
he sends at the present to a friend at Rome.
But the people of Syracuse are very much in earnest.
They're too sharp to be put off with pretenses, and
they count the number of slaughtered pirates. There are only
some useless, weak, ugly old fellows beheaded from day to day,
And being well aware how many men must have taken
(41:04):
to row and manage such a vessel, they demand that
the full crew shall be brought to the block. There
is nothing in victory more sweet, says Cicero, no evidence
more sure than to see those whom you did fear,
but have now got the better of, brought out to
tortures or death. Veriries is so much frightened by the
(41:25):
resolution of the citizens that he does not dare to
neglect their wishes. There are lying in the prisons of
Syracuse a lot of prisoners Roman citizens, of whom he
is glad to rid himself. He has then brought out
with their heads wrapped up so that they shall not
be known, and has them beheaded instead of the pirates.
(41:47):
A great deal is said too about the pirate captain,
the arch Pirate, as he has called. There seems to
have been some money dealings personally between him and Veries,
on account of which Veries kept him hidden. At any rate,
the arch Pirate was saved in such a manner. This
celebrated victory is managed. The pirate ship is taken, and
(42:09):
the chief Pirate is allowed to escape. The musicians are
said to Rome. The men who are good looking and
young are taken to the pritor's house. As many Roman
citizens as will fill their places are carried out as
public enemies, and are tortured and killed. All the gold
and silver and precious stuffs are made a prize of
(42:30):
by Veries. Such are the accusations brought against this wonderful man,
the truth of which has I think on the whole
been admitted. The picture of Roman life which it displays
is wonderful that such atrocity should have been possible, and
equally so of provincial subjection, that such cruelty should have
(42:51):
been endured. But in it all, the greatest wonder is
that there should have risen up a man so determined
to take the part of the weak against the stroke,
with no reward before him, apparently with no other prospect
than that of making himself odious to the party to
which he belonged. Cicero was not a gracus anxious to
(43:12):
throw himself into the arms of the people. He was
an oligarch by conviction, born to oligarchy, bred to it,
convinced that by it alone could the Roman Republic be preserved.
But he was convinced also that unless these oligarchs could
be made to do their duty, the republic could not stand.
Therefore it was that he dared to defy his own brethren,
(43:35):
and to make the acquittal of Varies an impossibility. I
should be inclined to think that the day on which
Hortensius threw up the sponge and Veries submitted to banishment
and fine, was the happiest in the orator's life. Veries
was made to pay a fine which was very insufficient
for his crimes, and then to retire into comfortable exile.
(43:58):
From this he returned to when the Roman exiles were amnestied,
and were shortly afterward murdered by Anthony, as has been
told before end of chapter six
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!