[166]
And it is a thing very difficult for me to
prove, for by what witnesses am I to prove it? By the farmers of the revenue? They
have been treated by him with great honour they will keep silence. By their letters?
They have been put out of the way by a resolution of the collectors. Which way then
shall I turn? Shall I leave unmentioned so infamous a business, a crime of such
audacity and such shamelessness, on account of a dearth of witnesses or of
documentary proofs? I will not do so, O judges, I will call a witness. Whom? Lucius
Vettius Chilo, a most honourable and accomplished man of the equestrian order, who
is such a friend of and so closely connected with Verres, that, even if he were not
an excellent man, still whatever he said against him would seem to have great
weight; but who is so good a man that, even if he were ever so great an enemy to
him, yet his testimony ought to be believed.
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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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