It was so they did it at Rome. That men should have gone through all
this in search of plunder and wealth does not strike us as being
marvellous, or even out of place. A vile object justifies vile means.
But there were some at Rome who had it in their hearts really to serve
their country, and with whom it was at the same time a matter of
conscience that, in serving their country, they would not dishonestly
or dishonorably enrich themselves. There was still a grain of salt
left. But even this could not make itself available for useful purpose
without having recourse to tricks such as these!

[Sidenote: B.C. 75, aetat 32.]

In his proper year Cicero became Quaestor, and had assigned to him
by lot the duty of looking after the Western Division of Sicily. For
Sicily, though but one province as regarded general condition, being
under one governor with proconsular authority, retained separate
modes of government, or, rather, varied forms of subjection to Rome,
especially in matters of taxation, according as it had or had not
been conquered from the Carthaginians.[87] Cicero was quartered at
Lilybaeum, on the west, whereas the other Quaestor was placed at
Syracuse, in the east. There were at that time twenty Quaestors
elected annually, some of whom remained in Rome; but most of the
number were stationed about the Empire, there being always one as
assistant to each Proconsul. When a Consul took the field with an
army, he always had a Quaestor with him. This had become the case so
generally that the Quaestor became, as it were, something between
a private secretary and a senior lieutenant to a governor. The
arrangement came to have a certain sanctity attached to it, as though
there was something in the connection warmer and closer than that of