Cicero's reputation and popularity already stood so high that he was elected Quaestor (B.C. 76), although, comparatively speaking, a stranger, and certainly unsupported by any powerful family interest. He served in Sicily under Sex. Peducaeus, Praetor of Lilybaeum. In B.C. 70 he gained great renown by his impeachment of Verres for his oppression of the Sicilians, whom he had ruled as Praetor of Syracuse for the space of three years (B.C. 73-71). The most strenuous exertions were made by Verres, backed by some of the most powerful families, to wrest the case out of the hands of Cicero, who, however, defeated the attempt, and having demanded and been allowed 110 days for the purpose of collecting evidence, he instantly set out for Sicily, which he traversed in less than two months, and returned attended by all the necessary witnesses. Another desperate effort was made by Hortensius, now Consul elect, who was counsel for the defendant, to raise up obstacles which might have the effect of delaying the trial until the commencement of the following year; but here again he was defeated by the promptitude and decision of his opponent, who opened the case very briefly, proceeded at once to the examination of the witnesses and the production of the depositions and other papers, which, taken together, constituted a mass of testimony so decisive that Verres gave up the contest as hopeless, and retired at once into exile without attempting any defense. The full pleadings, however, which were to have been delivered had the trial been permitted to run its ordinary course, were subsequently published by Cicero. In B.C. 69 Cicero was AEdile, and in 66 Praetor. In the latter year he delivered his celebrated address to the people in favor of the Manilian Law. Having now the Consulship in view, and knowing that, as a new man, he must expect the most determined opposition from the Nobles, he resolved to throw himself into the arms of the popular party, and to secure the friendship of Pompey, now certainly the most important person in the Republic.