[62]
Did you ever hear of such a man? Did you ever hear, O judges, of such impudence? of
such audacity? to impose on the cities the payment of a sum of money in proportion
to the number of soldiers, and to fix a regular price, six hundred sesterces, for the discharge of each sailor! and as those who
paid that sum were released from service for the whole summer, Verres pocketed all
that he received both for their pay and for their maintenance. And by this means he
made a double profit of the discharge of one person. And this most insane of men, at
a time of frequent invasion of pirates, and of imminent danger to the province, did
this so openly, that the pirates themselves were aware of it, and the whole province
was a witness to it.
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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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