Journal of Classical Studies
Online ISSN : 2424-1520
Print ISSN : 0447-9114
ISSN-L : 0447-9114
A Consideration on the Historical Reliability of "the Verrine Orations"
Kunihiko TAKATA
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1967 Volume 15 Pages 63-74

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Abstract

"The Verrine Orations", the document drawn up in 70 B. C. by Cicero prosecuting C. Verres, ex-governor of Sicily, for extortion, peculation and spoliation, is the most important of the source materials which enable us to investigate the details of provincial administration under the late Roman Republic. Since the latter half of the 19th century this text, especially in its economic aspect, has been scrutinized by many students of Roman history. Most of them suspect that it contains too high a degree of exaggeration for them to placetheir unconditional reliance on it; for example, Liebenam observes in "Pauly-Wissowa's Realenzyklopadie" that we must take into account a great deal of exaggerations and forensic sophistries used by Cicero in Book Three (of the second speech) of the Verrine Orations. We have to ask whether any exaggeration exists or not in Cicero's statements and, if any, in what respect or to what degree it exists. On the other hand, we must inquire into the authenticity of those official records submitted by the cities of Sicily which constitute the essential materials of the Verrine Orations, though Cicero asserts that no inventions or interpolations or perversions are found in them. I should think that the best way to ascertain the authenticity of both the Sicilian official records and Cicero's treatments of them is to select the correlative statistical figures out of the text and to make clear their logical and mathematical consistency. The most suitable part of the Verrine Orations for this purpose is Book Three of the second speech, because it deals chiefly with the economic problems concerning taxation and abounds in the rather exact statistics. In this paper I tried to throw light on the above-mentioned questions by examining Book Three under four headings: (1) "additional fees (accessiones)", (2) cities on which "the purchased corn (frumentum emptum)" was imposed, (3) "clerical fees (scribae)" subtracted when the purchased corn was paid for, and (4) "tithes (decumae)" and "bonus (lucrum)". Eventually, my investigations brought me to the following conclusion....... As a rule the statistical figures mentioned in the Verrine Orations proved to be logically and mathematically correct, and so we might say that both the Sicilian official records and Cicero's descriptions are trustworthy as far as the figures are concerned. But we cannot always rely on Cicero's statements at face value, because he exaggerated their dimensions, in order to make Verres' villainies appear much worse and because he displayed so rhetorical skill as to expand the evil deeds of Verres, virtually limited to some cities, into those to all the cities of Sicily. That Cicero, though attached to strict Stoic principles from his early days, yet accused Verres rather dishonestly is perhaps due to his aspiration to deprive Hortensius, then on the defendant's side, of his acknowledged pre-eminence among Roman pleaders.

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