services of Cicero in seeking for whatever reparation might be
possible. Verres had carried on his plunder during the years 73, 72,
71 B.C. During this time Cicero had been engaged sedulously as an
advocate in Rome. We know the names of some of the cases in which he
was engaged--those, for instance, for Publius Oppius, who, having
been Quaestor in Bithynia, was accused by his Proconsul of having
endeavored to rob the soldiers of their dues. We are told that the
poor province suffered greatly under these two officers, who were
always quarrelling as to a division of their plunder. In this case the
senior officer accused the younger, and the younger, by Cicero's aid,
was acquitted. Quintilian more than once refers to the speech made
for Oppius. Cicero also defended Varenus, who was charged with having
murdered his brother, and one Caius Mustius, of whom we only know
that he was a farmer of taxes. He was advocate also for Sthenius, a
Sicilian, who was accused before the Tribunes by Verres. We shall hear
of Sthenius again among the victims in Sicily. The special charge in
this case was that, having been condemned by Verres as Praetor in
Sicily, he had run away to Rome, which was illegal. He was, however,
acquitted. Of these speeches we have only some short fragments, which
have been quoted by authors whose works have come down to us, such as
Quintilian; by which we know, at any rate, that Cicero's writings had
been so far carefully preserved, and that they were commonly read in
those days. I will translate here the concluding words of a short
paper written by M. du Rozoir in reference to Cicero's life at this
period: "The assiduity of our orator at the bar had obtained for him
a high degree of favor among the people, because they had seen how
strictly he had observed that Cincian law which forbade advocates to
take either money or presents for then pleadings--which law, however,
the advocates of the day generally did not scruple to neglect."[97]
It is a good thing to be honest when honesty is in vogue; but to be