t the Senators had acted corruptly in the administration
of justice, we have the authority of Cicero in one of his Verrine
orations (_In Verr._ A 1, 13 and 16). The measure for restoring the
Equites to a share in the judicial functions was proposed by the
praetor L. Aurelius Cotta, the uncle of C. Julius Caesar, with the
approbation of Pompeius and Caesar, who were now acting in concert. The
charges of corruption which Cotta made against the Senate are recorded
by Cicero (_In Verr._ iii. 96). The proposed law (rogatio), which was
carried, made the Judices eligible out of the Senators, Equites, and
Tribuni AErarii, which three classes are mentioned by Cicero (_Ad
Atticum_, i. 16) as represented by the Judices who sat on the trial of
Clodius. The purity of the administration of justice was not hereby
improved. Cicero, on the occasion of the trial of Clodius, speaks of
all these classes having their dishonest representatives among the
judices.]

[Footnote 231: Compare the Life of Crassus, c. 12.

The remarks at the end of the chapter may be useful to some men who
would meddle with matters political, when their only training has been
in camps. Pompeius was merely a soldier, and had no capacity for civil
affairs.]

[Footnote 232: The history of piracy in the Mediterranean goes as far
back as the history of navigation. The numerous creeks and islands of
this inland sea offer favourable opportunities for piratical posts,
and accordingly we read of pirates as early as we read of commerce by
sea. (Thucydides, i. 5.) The disturbances in the Roman State had
encouraged these freebooters in their depredations. Caesar, when a
young man, fell into their hands (Life of Caesar, c. 1); and also P.
Clodius. The insecure state of Italy is shown by the fact of the
pirates even landing on the Italian coast, and seizing the Roman
magistrates, Sextilius and Bellienus. Cicero in his oration in favour
of the Lex Manilia (c. 12, c. 17, &c.) gives some particulars of the
excesses of the pirates. Antonia, whom they carried off, was the
daughter of the distinguished orator, Marcus Antonius (Life of Marius,
c. 44), who had been sent against the Cilician pirates B.C. 102, and
had a triumph for his victory over them. If Cicero alludes (_Pro Lege
Manilia_) to the capture of the daughter of Antonius, that probably
took place before B.C. 87, for in that year Antonius was put to death.
But Cicero speaks of the daughter of 'a praetor' being carried off f