Cic. In Verrem, 2.2.123-124

Editor: D.Espinosa Espinosa

Text:

Agrigentini de senatu cooptando Scipionis leges antiquas habent, in quibus et illa eadem sancta sunt et hoc amplius: cum Agrigentinorum duo genera sint, unum ueterum, alterum colonorum quos Titus Manlius praetor ex senatus consulto de oppidis Siculorum deduxit Agrigentum, cautum est in Scipionis legibus ne plures essent in senatu ex colonorum numero quam ex uetere Agrigentinorum. Iste, qui omnia iura pretio exaequasset omniumque rerum dilectum atque discrimen pecunia sustulisset, non modo illa quae erant aetatis, ordinis quaestusque permiscuit, sed etiam in his duobus generibus ciuium nouorum ueterumque turbauit. [124] Nam cum esset ex uetere numero quidam senator demortuus, et cum ex utroque genere par numerus reliquus esset, ueterem cooptari necesse erat legibus, ut is amplior numerus esset. Quae cum ita se res haberet, tamen ad istum emptum uenerunt illum locum senatorium non solum ueteres, uerum etiam noui. Fit ut pretio nouus uincat litterasque a praetore adferat Agrigentum. Agrigentini ad istum legatos mittunt, qui eum leges doceant consuetudinemque omnium annorum demonstrent, ut iste intellegeret ei se illum locum uendidisse cui ne commercium quidem esse oporteret; quorum oratione iste, cum pretium iam accepisset, ne tantulum quidem commotus est.

(H.DE LA VILLE DE MIRMONT, Les Belles Lettres, 1960)

Translation: “The inhabitants of Agrigentum have certain ancient leges of Scipio about the admission to the senate (de senatu cooptando), in which the same provisions [as those given to Halaesa by C. Claudius Pulcher] are laid down, and the following one besides: as there are two groups among the inhabitants of Agrigentum, one of the old ones, the other made up of colonists whom the praetor T. Manlius led there from other Sicilian towns – in conformity with a decree of the Senate –, it was provided in the leges of Scipio that in the senate the number of colonists does not exceed that of the old inhabitants of Agrigentum. That one [i.e. Verres], who had placed all rights on the same level by putting a price on them, and who, by means of money, had removed all preferences and distinctions, not only modified everything concerning age, condition and gainful occupation, but he even brought confusion in this two groups of inhabitants, the new ones and the old ones. [124] Thus, since a certain senator belonging to the group of the old ones had died, and for this reason the number of both groups became equal, it was necessary – according to the leges – to enlist an old one in order that there might be the larger number. And although this was the situation, not only some of the old inhabitants, but also some of the new ones, came before that one [i.e. Verres] to purchase the senatorial condition. It happens that a new one wins it for money, and he brings to Agrigentum a letter of appointment from the praetor. The inhabitants of Agrigentum send ambassadors to him to inform him of the leges, and to show him that the custom had always been observed, in order that he understand that he had sold such condition to someone who did not even have the chance to buy it. Since he had already received the money, the speech did not make him slightly uncomfortable”. (D.Espinosa Espinosa)

Dating: 205-204 BC (SCRAMUZZA 1937 et alii, in the case of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus); 193 BC (GABBA 1959 et alii, in the case of L. Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus); 131-130 BC (BRENNAN 1993 and COVINO 2013, in the case of P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus)

Bibliography: E.PAIS, Alcune osservazioni sulla storia e sull’amministrazione della Sicilia durante il dominio romano, Archivio Storico Siciliano, 13, 1888, 114-256, 127 nt. 3; V.M.SCRAMUZZA, Roman Sicily, in: T.Frank (ed.), An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome, III. Britain, Spain, Sicily, Gaul, Baltimore 1937, 225-377, 234; T.R.S.BROUGHTON, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. I (500 B.C. – 100 B.C.), New York 1951, 334-335 nr. 2; T.R.S.BROUGHTON, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2 (99 B.C. – 31 B.C.), New York 1952, 11; E.GABBA, L’elogio di Brindisi, Athenaeum 36, 1958, 90-105, 101; E.GABBA, Sui senati delle città siciliane nell’età di Verre, Athenaeum 37, 1959, 304-320; H.DE LA VILLE DE MIRMONT, Cicéron. Discours, tome III. Seconde action contre Verrès, livre second: la préture de Sicile, Les Belles Lettres, Parigi 1960²; F.P.RIZZO, Problemi costituzionali sicelioti, Kokalos 14-15, 1968-1969, 365-396, 375-377 nt. 27, 388; D.ASHERI, Nota sul senato di Agrigento, RFIC 97, 1969, 268-272; P.GARNSEY, Honorarium decurionatus, Historia 20.2-3, 1971, 309-325, 315-316 nt. 30, 316-317 nt. 34; J.A.WAELE, Acragas Graeca. Die historische Topographie des griechischen Akragas auf Sizilien I. Historischer Teil, Gravenhage 1971, 174-176; G.MANGANARO, Per una storia della Sicilia romana, in: ANRW I.1, Berlin-New York 1972, 442-461, 452; G.MANGANARO, La provincia romana, in: E.Gabba – G.Vallet (eds.), La Sicilia antica, II. 2. La Sicilia romana, Napoli 1980, 411-461, 422-423, 439, 445; G.BEJOR, Aspetti della romanizzazione della Sicilia, in: Forme di contatto e processi di trasformazione nelle società antiche, Atti del Convegno, Cortona, 24-30 maggio 1981, Roma – Pisa 1983, 345-378, 354-355; J.F.RODRÍGUEZ NEILA, Candidaturas in absentia y magistraturas municipales romanas, Lucentum 5, 1986, 95-117, 111; G.PEREIRA MENAUT, Valentini veteran et veteres. Una nota, Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina 17, 1987, 337-340, 338-339; J.L.FERRARY, Philhellénisme et impérialisme. Aspects idéologiques de la conquête romaine du monde hellénistique, de la seconde guerre de Macédonie à la guerre contre Mithridate, Roma 1988, 9 nt. 14, 10 nt. 16; M.CRAWFORD, Origini e sviluppi del sistema provinciale romano, in: G.Clemente – F.Coarelli – E.Gabba (eds.), Storia di Roma II/1, Torino 1990, 91-121, 112; D.R.SHACKLETON-BAILEY, Onomasticon to Cicero’s Speeches, Leipzig 1992², 65; T.C.BRENNAN, The commanders in the First Sicilian Slave War, RFIC 121, 1993, 153-184, 178-183; E.DENIAUX, Clientèles et pouvoir à l’époque de Cicéron, Roma 1993, 326, 524; M.GENOVESE, Condizioni delle civitates della Sicilia ed assetti amministrativo-contributivi delle altre province nella prospettazione ciceroniana delle Verrine, Iura 44, 1993, 171-243, 219-221 nt. 89; A.LINTOTT, Imperium Romanum. Politics and administration, London – New York 1993, 54, 132; F.P.RIZZO, Il bouleuterion e la synkletos dei Centodieci, Kokalos 42, 1996, 75-82; TH.A.J.McGINN, Prostitution, Sexuality, and Law in Ancient Rome, New York 1998, 35; C.ANASTASI, Studi vecchi e nuovi sulle dinamiche migratorie nella Sicilia romana di età repubblicana, in: M.Barra Bagnasco – E.De Miro (eds.), Magna Grecia e Sicilia. Stato degli studi e prospettive di ricerca, Atti dell’Incontro di Studi, Messina, 2-4 dicembre 1996, Messina 1999, 403-414, 405 nt. 7, 408 nt. 23; T.C.BRENNAN, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic, Oxford 2000, 843 nt. 139; A.PINZONE, La ‘romanizzazione’ della Sicilia occidentale in età repubblicana, in: Atti delle Terze Giornate Internazionali di Studi sull’area elima, Gibellina-Erice-Contessa Entellina, 23-26 ottobre 1997, I-II, Pisa-Gibellina 2000, 849-878, 858, 874 nt. 50; E.LO CASCIO, Il census a Roma e la sua evoluzione dall’età serviana alla prima età imperiale, MEFRA 113.2, 2001, 565-603, 589 nt. 86; A.H.MAMOOJEE, Antiquus and Vetus: A Study in Latin Synonymy, Phoenix 57.1-2, 2003, 67-82, 75 nt. 22; J-M.DAVID, Les fondateurs et les cités, in L.Capogrossi Colognesi – E.Gabba (eds.), Gli Statuti Municipali, Pavia 2006, 723-741, 728 nt. 17; J.R.W.PRAG, Roman Magistrates in Sicily, 227-49 BC, in: J.Dubouloz – S.Pittia, La Sicile de Cicéron. Lectures des Verrines, Actes du Colloque de Paris, 10-20 mai 2006, Besançon 2007, 287-310, 288, 292, 293-294, 296; J.R.W.PRAG, Auxilia and Gymnasia: A Sicilian Model of Roman Imperialism, JRS 97, 2007, 91 nt. 132; A.DRUMMOND, The Ban on Gentiles Holding the Same Priesthood and Sulla’s Augurate, Historia 57.4, 2008, 367-407, 376-377 nt. 46; K.LEONIV, XII Tabulae, civitas e diritto municipale della Respublica, Annali della Facoltà di Giurisprudenza di Taranto, Anno I, nr. 2, 2008, 13-32, 28; J.DUBOULOZ – S.PITTIA, La Sicile romaine, de la disparition du royaume de Hiéron II à la réorganisation augustéenne des provinces, Pallas 80, 2009, 85-125, 111 nt. 139, 122; J.FOURNIER, La Lex Rupilia, un modèle de régime judiciaire provincial à l’époque républicaine?, CCG 21, 2010, 157-186, 170 nt. 56, 180 nt. 101; R.COVINO, The leges Scipionis of Cic. Verr. II. ii. 123-124 – Whose are they?, in: E.Anagnostou-Laoutides (ed.), The Australasian Society for Classical Studies (ASCS) 33, Selected Proceedings, 2012, 1-18; G.L.GREGORI, Appunti su società ed economia nella Sicilia d’età imperiale, in: M.Cassia et alii (eds.), Pignora amicitiae. Scritti di storia antica e di storiografia offerti a Mario Mazza, I-III, Acireale – Roma 2012, 299-320, 315 nt. 70; S.T.ROSELAAR, The Concept of commercium in the Roman Republic, Phoenix 66.3-4, 2012, 381-413, 384 nt. 16; R.COVINO, Stasis in Roman Sicily, Electryone 1, 2013, 18-28, 21-23, 25; J.NICOLS, Civic Patronage in the Roman Empire, Leiden 2014, 180; J.R.W.PRAG, Cities and civic life in Late Hellenistic Roman Sicily, CCG 25, 2014, 165-208, 170-172; L.PFUNTNER, Cooperation and Conflict between Governor and poleis in the Verrines, Phoenix 69.3-4, 2015, 355-375, 368; V.CAMINNECI, Il paesaggio funerario di Agrigento ellenistico romana, in: V.Cammineci et alii (eds.), Agrigento ellenistico-romana. Coscienza identitaria e margini di autonomia, Atti della Giornata di Studi, Agrigento, 30 giugno 2016, Bari 2018, 103-108, 105 nt. 14; D.ESPINOSA ESPINOSA, The Question of the oppida veteris Latii in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, CQ 68.1, 2018, 232-245, 241; L.PFUNTNER, Urbanism and Empire in Roman Sicily, Austin 2019, 109; L.CAPPELLETTI, Postille istituzionali al decreto SEG. 59, 1100 da Alesa, Sicilia, Index 48, 2020, 249-264, 259-260 nt. 42.