[119]
You have heard Quintus Varius say, that his
agents paid that man a hundred and thirty thousand sesterces for a decision in his cause. You recollect that the evidence
of Quintus Varius was corroborated, and that this whole affair was proved by the
testimony of Caius Sacerdos, a most excellent man. You know that Cnaeus Sertius and
Marcus Modius, Roman knights, and that six hundred Roman citizens besides, and many
Sicilians, said that they had given that money for decisions in their causes. And
why need I dilate upon this accusation when the whole matter is set plainly forth in
the evidence? Why should I argue about what no one can doubt? Or will any man in the
world doubt that he set up his judicial decisions for sale in Sicily, when at Rome he sold his very edict and all his decrees? and that he received
money from the Sicilians in issuing extraordinary decrees, when he actually made a
demand on Marcus Octavius Ligur for giving a decision on his cause?
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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