course, himself the chief culprit. Next in guilt to him was Cleomenes.
But Cleomenes was spared for the same scandalous reason which had caused
his appointment to the command. The other captains, who might indeed
have shown more courage, but who were comparatively blameless, were
ordered to execution. It seemed all the more necessary to remove them
because they could have given inconvenient testimony as to the
inefficient condition of the ships.

The cruelty of Verres was indeed as conspicuous as his avarice. Of this,
as of his other vices, it would not suit the purpose of this book to
speak in detail. One conspicuous example will suffice. A certain Gavius
had given offense, how we know not, and had been confined in the
disused stone quarries which served for the public prison of Syracuse.
From these he contrived to escape, and made his way to Messana.
Unluckily for himself, he did not know that Messana was the one place in
Sicily where it would not be safe to speak against the governor. Just as
he was about to embark for Italy he was heard to complain of the
treatment which he had received, and was arrested and brought before the
chief magistrate of the town. Verres happened to come to the town the
same day, and heard what had happened. He ordered the man to be stripped
and flogged in the market-place. Gavius pleaded that he was a Roman
citizen and offered proof of his claim. Verres refused to listen, and
enraged by the repetition of the plea, actually ordered the man to be
crucified. "And set up," he said to his lictors, "set up the cross by
the straits. He is a Roman citizen, he says, and he will at least be
able to have a view of his native country." We know from the history of
St. Paul what a genuine privilege and protection this citizenship was.
And Cicero exactly expresses the feeling on the subject in his famous
words. "It is a crime to put a Roman citizen in irons; it is positive
wickedness to inflict stripes upon him; it is close upon parricide to