Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem [Against Verres]

Kathryn Tempest (University of Roehampton)
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In 70 BCE Cicero launched the only major prosecution of his career: the prosecution of C. Verres. Verres had been the governor of Sicily (73–71 BCE) and reports of his widespread extortion were forthcoming. Cicero claims that he undertook the prosecution because the Sicilians begged him to help them; for Cicero was popular among the provincials, having served there as quaestor in 75 BCE (Cicero,

Divinatio in Caecilium

2). The collection of speeches called the

In Verrem

contains three main speeches: the

Divinatio in Q. Caecilium

, the Actio Prima (

In Verrem

I), and the long Actio Secunda (

InVerrem

II) which can be further divided into five books (II.1–5), often treated by scholars as separate speeches (see Tempest 2007).

The evidence against Verres was so overwhelming that a second

1032 words

Citation: Tempest, Kathryn. "In Verrem". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 June 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20485, accessed 12 December 2024.]

20485 In Verrem 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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