[144]
Did you, O Verres, dare to
confine such a number of Roman citizens in a prison built for foreigners, for wicked
men, for pirates, and for enemies? Did no thoughts of this tribunal, or of the
public assembly, or of this numerous multitude which I see around me, and which is
now regarding you with a most hostile and inimical disposition, occur to your mind?
Did not the dignity of the Roman people, though absent, did not the appearance of
such a concourse as this ever present itself to your eyes or to your thoughts? Did
you never think that you should have to return home to the sight of these men, that
you should have to come into the forum of the Roman people, that you should have to
submit yourself to the power of the laws and courts of justice?
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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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