whose assessment was next to that of the _equites_. The
Sullan regime was at an end, and in the tribunate emancipated from the
Senate's control the ambitious general of the future was to find his most
valuable ally.

*Trial of Verres.* In the same year, prior to the passing of the Aurelian
Law which reformed the juries, occurred the trial of Caius Verres,
ex-propraetor of Sicily, a case notable because the prosecution was
conducted by the young Marcus Tullius Cicero, whose accusation contained
in his published _Orations against Caius Verres_ constitutes a most
illuminating commentary upon provincial misgovernment under the Sullan
regime. The senatorial juries after 82 B. C., had protected the interests
of the provinces no better than had the equestrian juries established by
Caius Gracchus. They had shown themselves shamelessly venal, and a
provincial governor who made judicious disbursements could be confident
that he would be acquitted of any charges of extortion brought against
him. Relying upon this Verres, who was propraetor of Sicily in 73, 72 and
71 B. C., had carried off from that province money and valuables estimated
at 40,000,000 sesterces ($2,000,000). He had openly boasted that he
intended the profits of one year for himself, those of the second for his
friends and patrons, and those of the third for his jurors. At the opening
of the year 70 B. C. the Sicilian cities sued Verres for restitution of
damages and chose Cicero as their advocate. Cicero was a native of
Arpinum, the birthplace of Marius, and was now in his thirty-sixth year.
His upright conduct as quaestor in western Sicily in 75 B. C. had earned
him the confidence of the Sicilians, and his successful conduct of the
defense in several previous trials had marked him as a pleader of
exceptional ability. But Verres had entrusted his case to Quintus
Hortensius Hortalus, regarded at the time as the foremost of Roman
orators, and every conceivable device was resorted to in order to prevent
the case from coming to trial. Another prosecutor appeared, who claimed to
have a better right than Cicero to bring suit against Verres. This
necessitated a trial to decide which could better claim to represent the
Sicilians. Cicero was able to expose the falsity of the claims of his
rival, who was acting in collusion with Verres. He then proceeded to
Sicily where he gathered his evidence in fifty of the hundred and ten days
allowed him for the purpose. Before the hear