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out, I am a Roman citizen; I have served under Lucius Pretius, who is now at Panormus, and will attest my innocence.' The blood-thirsty prætor, deaf to all he could urge in his own defence, ordered the infamous punishment to be inflicted. Thus, fathers, was an innocent Roman citizen publicly mangled with scourging; whilst the only words he uttered amidst his cruel sufferings were, I am a Roman citizen! With these he hoped to defend himself from violence and infamy; but of so little service was this privilege to him, that while he was thus asserting his citizenship, the order was given for his execution-for his execution upon the cross!

O liberty!-O sound once delightful to every Roman ear!-O sacred privilege of Roman citi. zenship!- -once sacred!-now trampled upon!But what then? Is it come to this! Shall an inferior magistrate, a governor who holds his whole power of the Roman people, in a Roman province, within sight of Italy, bind, scourge, torture with fire and red-hot plates of iron, and at last put to the infamous death of the cross, a Roman citizen? Shall neither the cries of innocence expiring in agony, nor the tears of pitying spectators, nor the majesty of the Roman commonwealth, nor the fear of the justice of his country, restrain the licentious and wanton cruelty of a monster, who, in confidence of his riches, strikes at the root of liberty, and sets mankind at defiance?

I conclude with expressing my hopes, that your wisdom and justice, fathers, will not, by suffering the atrocious and unexampled insolence of Caius Verres to escape the due punishment, leave room

to apprehend the danger of a total subversion of authority, and introduction of general anarchy and confusion.

Cicero.

ORATION FOR ARCHIAS THE POET, ACCUSED BY A PERSON OF OBSCURE BIRTH OF NOT BEING A CITIZEN OF ROME.

IF, my lord, I have any abilities, and I am sensible they are but small; if, by speaking often, have acquired any merit as a speaker; if I have derived any knowledge from the study of the liberal arts, which have ever been my delight, A. Licinius may justly claim the fruit of all. For looking back upon past scenes, and calling to remembrance the earliest part of my life, I find it was he who prompted me first to engage in a course of study, and directed me in it. If my tongue, then, formed and animated by him, has ever been the means of saving any, I am certainly bound by all the ties of gratitude to employ it in the defence of him, who has taught it to assist and defend others. And though his genius and course of study are very different from mine, let no one be surprised at what I advance: for I have not bestowed the whole of my time on the study of eloquence, and besides, all the liberal arts are nearly allied to each other, and have, as it were, one common bond of union.

But lest it should appear strange, that in a legal proceeding, and a public cause, before an excellent prætor, the most impartial judges, and so crowded an assembly, I lay aside the usual style

of trials, and introduce one very different from that of the bar; I must beg to be indulged in this liberty, which, I hope, will not be disagreeable to you, and which seems indeed to be due to the defendant that whilst I am pleading for an excellent poet, and a man of great erudition, before so learned an audience, such distinguished patrons of the liberal arts, and so eminent a prætor, you would allow me to enlarge with some freedom on learning and liberal studies; and to employ an almost unprecedented language for one, who, by reason of a studious and unactive life, has been little conversant in dangers and public trials. If this, my lords, is granted me, I shall not only prove that A. Licinius ought not, as he is a citizen, to be deprived of his privileges, but that, if he were not, he ought to be admitted.

For no sooner had Archias got beyond the years of childhood, and applied himself to poetry, after finishing those studies by which the minds of youth are usually formed to a taste for polite learning, than his genius showed itself superior to any at Antioch, the place where he was born, of a noble family; once indeed a rich and renowned city, but still famous for liberal arts, and fertile in learned men. He was afterwards received with such applause in the other cities of Asia, and all over Greece, that though they expected more than fame had promised concerning him, even these expectations were exceeded, and their admiration of him greatly increased. Italy was, at that time, full of the arts and sciences of Greece, which were then cultivated with more care among the Latins than now they are, and were not even

neglected at Rome, the public tranquillity being favourable to them. Accordingly, the inhabitants of Tarentum, Rhegium, and Naples, made him free of their respective cities, and conferred other honours upon him; and all those who had any taste, reckoned him worthy of their acquaintance and friendship. Being thus known by fame to those who were strangers to his person, he came to Rome in the consulship of Marius and Catulus ; the first of whom had, by his glorious deeds, furnished out a noble subject for a poet; and the other, besides his memorable actions, was both a judge and a lover of poetry. Though he had not yet reached his seventeenth year, yet no sooner was he arrived than the Luculli took him into their family; which, as it was the first that received him in his youth, so it afforded him freedom of access even in old age; nor was this owing to his great genius and learning alone, but likewise to his amiable temper and virtuous disposition. At that time, too, Q. Metellus Numidicus, and his son Pius, were delighted with his conversation; M. Æmilius was one of his hearers; Q. Catulus, both the elder and younger, honoured him with their intimacy; L. Crassus courted him; and being united by the greatest familiarity to the Luculli, Drusus, the Octavii, Cato, and the whole Hortensian family; it was no small honour to him to receive marks of the highest regard, not only from those who were really desirous of hearing him, and of being instructed by him, but even from those who affected to be so.

A considerable time after, he went with L. Lucullus into Sicily, and, leaving that province in

VOL. III.

company with the same Lucullus, came to Heraclea, which being joined with Rome by the closest bonds of alliance, he was desirous of being made free of it: and obtained his request, both on account of his own merit, and the interest and authority of Lucullus. Strangers were admitted to the freedom of Rome, according to the law of Silvanus and Carbo, upon the following conditions: "if they were enrolled by free cities; if they had a dwelling in Italy, when the law passed; and if they declared their enrolment before the prætor within the space of sixty days.' Agreeable to this law, Archias, who had resided at Rome for many years, made his declaration before the prætor, Q. Metellus, who was his intimate friend. If the right of citizenship and the law is all I have to prove, I have done; the cause is ended. For which of these things, Gracchus, can you deny? Will you say that he was not made a citizen of Heraclea at that time? Why, here is Lucullus, a man of the greatest credit, honour, and integrity, who affirms it; and that not as a thing he believes, but as what he knows; not as what he heard of, but as what he saw; not as what he was present at, but as what he transacted. Here are likewise deputies from Heraclea, who affirm the same; men of the greatest quality come hither on purpose to give public testimony in this cause. But here you will desire to see the public register of Heraclea, which we all know was burnt in the Italian war, together with the office wherein it was kept. Now, is it not ridiculous to say nothing to the evidences which we have, and to desire those which we cannot have; to be silent as to the tes

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