[143]
In
truth, suppose, for example, that Caius Verres had demanded a hundred and twenty
thousand sesterces from the people of Centuripa, and
had taken this money from them; there would have been no doubt, I conceive, that, if
that were proved, he must have been condemned.—What then? Suppose he
demanded three hundred thousand sesterces of the same
people; and compelled them to give them, and carried them off? Shall he be acquitted
because it was entered in the accounts that that money was given for statues? I
think not; unless, indeed, our object is to create, not an unwillingness to take
money on the part of our magistrates, but a cause for giving it on the part of our
allies. But if statues are a great delight to any one, and if any one is greatly
attracted by the honour and glory of having them raised to him, still he must lay
down these rules; first of all, that he must not take to his own house the money
given for those purposes; secondly, that there must be some limit to those statues;
and lastly, that at all events they must not be exacted from unwilling people.
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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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