Book 5
This speech is divided into three divisions. First of all Cicero speaks of the conduct of Verres with respect to the war of the runaway slaves, which arose out of the relics of the war of Spartacus, which was brought to a termination just before the end of Verres's praetorship. In the second place he speaks of his conduct with respect to the pirates and banditti, who at that time infested the sea and the coasts of Sicily. And in the third place he impeaches him on account of the punishments he had inflicted on Roman citizens. But this last topic takes up, comparatively speaking, but a small part of the oration, though it has given the title to the whole oration. In the first two divisions of the speech Cicero is mainly occupied in replying to Hortensius, who had highly extolled Verres's military conduct and valour.
