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 (In Verrem II) which can be further divided into five books (II.1–5), often treated by scholars as separate …
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Citation: Tempest, Kathryn. "In Verrem". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 June 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20485, accessed 09 November 2024.]