12.1
He also bribed a man to bring a charge of high treason against Gaius Rabirius, who some years before had rendered conspicuous service to the senate in repressing the seditious designs of the tribune Lucius Saturninus; and when he had been selected by lot to sentence the accused,As iudex perduellionis, or duumvir perduellionis, one of a commission of two men appointed to try cases of high treason. Of these one was selected by lot (sorte ductus) to conduct the trial, if one were necessary, and pass sentence. An appeal was allowed and the duumvir then brought the case before the comitia centuriata (in the regal period before the comitia curiata). See Livy 1. 26. 5 ff.; Cic. Rab. 4. he did so with such eagerness, that when Rabirius appealed to the people, nothing was so much in his favour as the bitter hostility of his judge.
13.1
After giving up hope of the special commission,As governor of Egypt; see chap. xi. he announced his candidacy for the office of pontifex maximus, resorting to the most lavish bribery. Thinking on the enormous debt which he had thus contracted, he is said to have declared to his mother on the morning of the election, as she kissed him when he was starting for the polls, that he would never return except as pontifex. And in fact he so decisively defeated two very strong competitors (for they were greatly his superiors in age and rank), that he polled more votes in their tribes than were cast for both of them in all the tribes.
