that
one hour in which I spoke"--this was the speech which we designate as
the Actio Prima contra Verrem, the first pleading made against Verres,
to which we shall come just now--"I took away all hope of bribing the
judges from the accused--from this brazen-faced, rich, dissolute, and
abandoned man. On the first day of the trial, on the mere calling of the
names of the witnesses, the people of Rome were able to perceive that if
this criminal were absolved, then there could be no chance for the
Republic. On the second day his friends and advocates had not only lost
all hope of gaining their cause, but all relish for going on with it.
The third day so paralyzed the man himself that he had to bethink
himself not what sort of reply he could make, but how he could escape
the necessity of replying by pretending to be ill."[98] It was in this
way that the trial was brought to an end.

But we must go back to the beginning. When an accusation was to be made
against some great Roman of the day on account of illegal public
misdoings, as was to be made now against Verres, the conduct of the
case, which would require probably great labor and expense, and would
give scope for the display of oratorical excellence, was regarded as a
task in which a young aspirant to public favor might obtain honor and by
which he might make himself known to the people. It had, therefore, come
to pass that there might be two or more accusers anxious to undertake
the work, and to show themselves off as solicitous on behalf of injured
innocence, or desirous of laboring in the service of the Republic. When
this was the case, a court of judges was called upon to decide whether
this man or that other was most fit to perform the work in hand. Such a
trial was called "Divinatio," because the judges had to get their lights
in the matter as best they could without the assistance of witnesses--by
some process of divination--with the aid of the gods, as it might be.
Cicero's first speech in the matter of Verres is called In Quintum
Caecilium Divinatio, because one Caecilius came forward to take the case
away from him. Here was a part of the scheme laid by Hortensius. To deal
with Cicero in such a matter would no doubt be awkward. His purpose, his
diligence, his skill, his eloquence, his honesty were known. There must
be a trial. So much was acknowledged; but if the conduct of it could be
relegated to a man who was dishonest, or who had no skill, no fitness,
no spe