VERRES, GAIUS (c. 120-43 B.C.), Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. It is not known to what gens he belonged. He at first supported Marius, but soon went over to Sulla who gave him land at Beneventum, and secured him against punishment for embezzlement. In 8o, Verres was quaestor in Asia on the staff of Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, governor of Cilicia. The governor and his subordinate plundered in concert, till in 78 Dolabella had to stand his trial at Rome, and was con victed, mainly on the evidence of Verres, who thus secured a pardon for himself. He was praetor in 74, and was then sent as governor to Sicily, the richest of the Roman provinces. The people were for the most part prosperous and contented, but under Verres the island experienced more misery and desolation than during the time of the first Punic or the recent servile wars. The corn-growers and the revenue collectors were ruined by taxation and the can celling of contracts; temples and private houses were robbed of their works of art ; and the rights of Roman citizens were dis regarded. Verres returned to Rome in 7o, and in the same year,
at the request of the Sicilians, Cicero prosecuted him. Verres was defended by the most eminent of Roman advocates, Q. Hor tensius. The court was composed exclusively of senators, some of whom might have been his personal friends. But the presiding judge, M'. Acilius Glabrio, was not corruptible. Verres tried to get the trial postponed till 69 when his friend Metellus would be the presiding judge, but in August Cicero opened the case. The effect of the first brief speech was so overwhelming that Hortensius refused to reply, and recommended his client to leave the country. He went to Massilia and lived there till 43, when he was proscribed by Antony, the reason alleged being his refusal to surrender some of his art treasures which Antony coveted.