[124]
Therefore Verres declares that he will not
give him possession of his inheritance, in order that he may not be able to assist
his proscribed patron; and also in order that that might serve as a punishment for
having obeyed the will of his other patron. You give possession to him who did not
take the oath. I admit your right to do so; it is a privilege of the praetor. You
take it from him who has taken the oath. According to what precedent? He is aiding a
proscribed man. There is a law; there is a punishment established in such a case.
What is that to him who is determining the law? Do you blame him because he assisted
his patron, who was in distress at the time, or because he attended to the wishes of
his other patron, who was dead, from whom he had received the greatest of all
benefits? Which of these actions are you blaming? And then that most admirable man,
sitting on his curule chair, said this: “Can a freedman be heir to a Roman
knight of such great wealth?” O how modest must the class of freedmen be,
since he departed from that place alive!
This text is part of:
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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