[68]
Come now—you thought it better that the captain of the pirates should be
kept in custody, according to a novel practice, than that he should be put to death
according to universal precedent. What then is that custody? Among what people?
Where is he kept? You have all heard of the Syracusan stone-quarries. Many of you
are acquainted with them. It is a vast work and splendid; the work of the old kings
and tyrants. The whole of it is cut out of rock excavated to a marvellous depth, and
carved out by the labour of great multitudes of men. Nothing can either be made or
imagined so closed against all escape, so hedged in on all sides, so safe for
keeping prisoners in. Into these quarries men are commanded to be brought even from
other cities in Sicily, if they are
commanded by the public authorities to be kept in custody.
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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