[34]
Judges selected from the
Roman settlers there were none; none even of the traders in the cities were proposed
as judges. The crowd of judges which I am speaking of was the retinue, not of
Quintus Scaevola, (who, however, did not make practice of appointing judges from
among his own followers,) but of Caius Verres. And what sort of a retinue do you
suppose it was when such a man as he was its chief? You see announced in the edict,
“If the senate gives an erroneous decision....” I will prove
that, if at any time a bench of judges was taken from the senate, that also gave its
decisions, through compulsion, on his part, contrary to their own opinions. There
never was any selection of the judges by lot, according to the Rupilian law, except
when he had no interest whatever in the case. The tribunals established in the case
of many disputes by the Lex Hieronica were all
abolished by a single edict; no judges were appointed selected from the settlers or
from the traders. What great power he had you see; now learn how he exercised 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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