[154]
I come now to the letter of Timarchides, his freedman and attendant; and when I
have spoken of that, I shall have finished the whole of my charge respecting the
truth This is the letter, O judges, which we found at Syracuse, in the house of Apronius, where we
were looking for letters. It was sent, as it proves itself, on the journey, when
Verres had already departed from the province; written by the hand of Timarchides
Read the letter of Timarchides: “Timarchides, the officer of Verres,
wishes health to Apronius.” Now I do not blame this which he has written,
“The officer.” 1 For why should clerks alone assume to themselves this privilege?
“Lucius Papirius the clerk,” I should like this signature to be
common to all attendants, lictors, and messengers. 2 “Be sure
and be very diligent in everything which concerns the praetor's
character.” He recommends Verres to Apronius, and exhorts him to resist
his enemies; Your reputation is protected by a very efficient guard, if indeed it
depends on the diligence and authority of Apronius. “You have virtue and
eloquence.”
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1 The Latin is accensus. “The accensus was a public officer who attended on several of the Roman magistrates. He anciently preceded the consul, who had not the fasces.... It was his duty to summon the people to the assemblies, and those who had law-suits to court; and also, by command of the consul and praetor, to proclaim the time, when it was the third hour, the sixth, &c. Accensi also attended on the governors of provinces, and were commonly freedmen of the magistrate on whom they attended.”—Smith, Dict. Ant. in voce.
2 The Latin is viator. “Viator was a servant who attended upon and executed the commands of certain Roman magistrates, to whom he bore the same relation that the lictor did to other magistrates. The name viator was derived from the circumstance of their being chiefly employed in messages, either to call upon senators to attend the meeting of the senate, or to summon people to the comitia.”—Smith, Dict. Ant. in voce.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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