had taken so much that there was plenty for others as well";[1] "he had so ordered the three years of his Sicilian prætorship, that he should do exceedingly well for himself if he put the proceeds of the first year into his own pocket, while he handed over the second to his advocate and supporters, and reserved the third, that fattest and most lucrative year of all, entire for the jury."[2]
His chances would have been much improved, if he could have put off the delivery of the verdict till after the beginning of the new year, when Hortensius would be consul with a Metellus for colleague, and another Metellus would be called to preside as prætor at the trial. By the help of intervening festivals he hoped to be able to spin out the trial over this date; but Cicero outwitted him by making very short opening speech, and leaving his case to be proved by the witnesses. The evidence was so overwhelming that Verres abandoned his defence and retired into exile.
In the meantime public opinion was running high against the corruption of the senatorial juries. If we may trust Cicero's representation, it was this which gave force to the whole attack against the constitution of Sulla. "The Roman people," he says,[3]: "though beset with many distresses and many anxieties, yet seeks for no reform in the State so eagerly as for the restoration of the old firmness and the old integrity of the juries. It is because they
