![]() ![]() “Such is the pure movement of nature prior to all reflection. ― Robert Harris, quote from Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Just as he had trained his body to carry the weight of his ambition, so he had, by effort of will, cured himself of travel sickness, and over the years he was to do a vast amount of work while journeying up and down Italy.) In this manner, almost without his noticing where he was, we completed the trip in less than a fortnight and came at last to Rome on the Ides of March,” Witness statements and records were grouped accordingly, and even as he bounced along, he began drafting whole passages of his opening speech. His plan, as I understood it, was to separate the mass of evidence into four sets of charges - corruption as a judge, extortion in collecting taxes and official revenues, the plundering of private and municipal property, and finally, illegal and tyrannical punishments. I would fetch documents from the baggage cart as he needed them and walk along at the rear of his carriage taking down his dictation, which was no easy feat. Cicero worked every mile of the way, swaying and pitching in the back of his covered wagon, as he assembled the outline of his case against Verres. Not that we had much opportunity to admire the birds and flowers. “THE JOURNEY BACK from Regium to Rome was easier than our progress south had been, for by now it was early spring, and the mainland soft and welcoming. ![]()
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