could not speak, like lame men who get on horseback because they cannot walk. And his readiness and address in wit and sarcasm were thought to suit a pleader well. He was appointed quaestor in a great scarcity of corn, and had Sicily for his province, where, at first, he displeased many, by compelling them to send in their provisions to Rome, yet after they had had experience of his care, justice, and clemency, they honored him more than ever they did any of their governors before. It happened, also, that some young Romans of good and noble families, charged with neglect of discipline and misconduct in military service, were brought before the praetor in Sicily. Cicero undertook their defence, which he conducted admirably, and got them acquitted. So returning to Rome with a great opinion of himself for these things, a ludicrous incident befell him, as he tells us himself. Meeting an eminent citizen in Campania, whom he accounted his friend, he asked him what the Romans said and thought of his actions, as if the whole city had been filled with the glory of what he had done. His friend asked him in reply, "Where is it you have been, Cicero?" Utterly mortified and cast down, he perceived that the report of his actions had sunk into the city of Rome as into an immense ocean, without any visible effect or result in reputation. On beginning to apply himself more resolutely to public business, he remarked it as unreasonable that artificers, using vessels and instruments inanimate, should know the name, place, and use of every one of them, and yet the statesman, whose instruments for carrying out public measures are men, should be negligent and careless in the knowledge of persons. And so he not only acquainted himself with the names, but also knew the very place where every one of the more eminent citizens dwelt, what lands he possessed, his friends and his neighbors, and when he traveled on any road in Italy, he could readily name and show the estates and seats of his acquaintances. Having a small competency for his own expenses, it was much wondered at that he took neither fees nor gifts from his clients, and especially, that he did not do so when he undertook the prosecution of Verres. This Verres, who had been praetor of Sicily, and stood charged by the Sicilians with many evil practices during his government there, Cicero succeeded in getting condemned, not by speaking, but, as it were, by holding his tongue. For the praetors, favoring Verres, had deferred the trial by several adjournments to the last day, in which it was evident there could not be sufficient time for the advocates to be heard, and the cause brought to an issue. Cicero, therefore, came forward, and said there was no need of speeches; and after producing and examining witnesses, he required the judges to proceed to sentence. Many witty sayings are on record, as having been used by Cicero on the occasion. When a man named Caecilius,