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 Caecilium2). The collection of speeches called the
In Verremcontains three main speeches: the
Divinatio in Q. Caecilium, the Actio Prima (
In VerremI), and the long Actio Secunda (
InVerremII) 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
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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.]