What did Cicero do to Verres?

What did Cicero do to Verres?

In 70 BC, when Gnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Licinius Crassus shared the consulship for the first time, Rome’s rising star in oratory, Marcus Tullius Cicero, successfully prosecuted Gaius Verres on the charge of misconduct, especially extortion, during his term as governor of Sicily (73-71 BC).

What was Cicero accused of?

Taking this case was a courageous move for Cicero; parricide and matricide were considered appalling crimes, and the people whom Cicero accused of the murder—the most notorious being Chrysogonus—were favorites of Sulla.

What did Verres do?

Verres ruined the wheat-growers and the revenue collectors by exorbitant imposts or by the iniquitous canceling of contracts. He robbed temples (notably that on the site of the Cathedral of Syracuse) and private houses of their works of art, and disregarded the rights of Roman citizens.

What does Cicero say about Verres’ conduct?

First of all Cicero speaks of the conduct of Verres with respect to the war of the runaway slaves, which arose out of the relics of the war of Spartacus, which was brought to a termination just before the end of Verres’s praetorship.

What is the argument in Cicero’s Cicero?

The Argument. This speech is divided into three divisions. First of all Cicero speaks of the conduct of Verres with respect to the war of the runaway slaves, which arose out of the relics of the war of Spartacus, which was brought to a termination just before the end of Verres’s praetorship.

Why does Cicero play on the Verrines’ guilt?

Throughout the Verrines (though not in the passage under consideration here) Cicero plays on a sense of constitutional crisis. 41 It was part of a larger strategy “to make Verres’ guilt matter”, not least for purposes of self-promotion. 42 4.

Did Verres cry out that he was a Roman citizen?

And you, O Verres, say the same thing. You confess that he did cry out that he was a Roman citizen; but that the name of citizenship did not avail with you even as much as to cause the least hesitation in your mind, or even any brief respite from a most cruel and ignominious punishment. [ 166 ]