All capital crimes committed by a citizen against another were in a similar way referred by the consuls to the quaestores parricidii as their deputies.[1474] The activity of these officials is first mentioned by the annalists in connection with the trial of Sp. Cassius, not for murder but for perduellio.[1475] Lange’s[1476] explanation that the quaestors were appointed duumviri for the trial would satisfy all requirements; yet in myths of this kind we need not expect absolute legal consistency.[1477] According to another, perhaps even earlier, version he was tried and condemned at home by his father.[1478] The second instance is the trial of M. Volscius, 459, for false testimony,[1479] which was likewise a capital crime. Their judicial competence was recognized by the Twelve Tables;[1480] and two capital cases are assigned to their jurisdiction after the decemvirate, (1) that of Camillus on an accusation variously stated by the ancient authorities;[1481] he avoided capital prosecution before the centuries by retiring into exile, and in his absence was condemned by the tribes to a fine of 15,000 or perhaps 100,000 asses: (2) that of T. Quinctius Trogus brought by the quaestor M. Sergius,[1482] which must have taken place after 242.[1483] The reason for the fewness of the known cases is to be sought in the circumstance that their jurisdiction was substantially limited to common crimes, whereas political crimes came at first before the duumviri and afterward before the tribunes of the plebs.[1484] The criminal jurisdiction of the quaestors must have continued till the institution of standing quaestiones.[1485]