A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

VERRES. VERRES. 1241
generals of the latter in the war againsi Caesar in slaves and filling up vacancies in the senate with
B. C. 52. He was defeated and taken prisoner in aliens and freedmen (Appian, B. C. i. 100); and
the great battle which was fought to relieve the at the time of the younger Verres's praetorship
siege of Alesia. (Caes. B. G. vii. 76, 83, 88.) Cornelius was the most ordinary surname at Rome.
VE(RGILIA'NUS. [VIRGILIANUS.] (Cic. Corn. p. 450, Orelli.) Now we know of no
VERGI'LIUS. [VIRGIaIUS.] extraordinary increase of the Gens Caecilia at
VERGI'NIUS. [VIRGINIUS.] this period, while the augmentation of the Gens
VERI'NA, AE'LIA, the wife of Leo I, by Cornelia is certain. (Comp. Appian, 1. c. with Cic.
whom she had a daughter Ariadne, married to Verrin. iii. 28, 49.) The connection of the Caecilii
Zeno. Leo left the kingdom to his grandson Metelli with Verres, if not assumed for a temporary
Leo II., the son of Ariadne and Zeno, who only purpose (ii. 2. 26, 56), may perhaps be thus exlived a few months, and was succeeded by his plained. If the elder Verres were originally a
father Zeno. The subsequent history of Verina is freedman or a kinsman of Sulla, and raised by him
given under ZENO. to senatorian rank, he would take in the one case
VERMINA, the son of Syphax, king of the or he would bear in the other the gentile name of
Massaesylians, the westernmost tribe of the Nu- Cornelius. That he was Sulla's kinsman is not almidians, is first mentioned in B. C. 204, when he together improbable, since that branch of the Gens
took the field with his father against their rival Cornelia had fallen into decay (Plut. Sull. 1), and
Masinissa, whom they defeated. After the defeat may have contained more than one cognomen. But
and capture of his father in the following year Sulla's fourth wife was Caecilia Metella, daughter
[SYPHAX], Vermina continued faithful to the of L. Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus [No. 13],
Carthaginians. He joined Hannibal soon after he and through her Verres, when it suited him, may
landed in Africa, but he was not present at the have claimed affinity with the Metelli. Verres
battle of Zama, as he was probably engaged in may even have derived his relationship to this
collecting forces in his own dominions. He arrived house or to the Cornelii from his mother's family,
very soon after the battle at the head of a con- whom Cicero mentions with respect (ii. 1. 49).
siderable army, but was attacked by the Romans On the other hand, among Cicero's innumerable
and defeated with great loss. Fifteen thousand of taunts, none directly reproaches Verres with a
his men were slain and twelve hundred taken servile or even an obscure origin, although he menprisoners; Vermina himself escaped with difficulty tions many ignoble Cornelii, e. g. Artemidorus
accompanied by only a few horsemen. He had Cornelius, a physician and others ".jamnpridenm inanow no alternative but submission. In B. C. 200 probi, repente Cornelii " (ii. 1. 26, 27. 3. 28, 49,
he sent an embassy to Rome, praying for forgive- iv. 13. ~ 30). The elder Verres and his kinsman
ness, and begging that the senate would call him Q. Verres are described as veteran bribers and
a king, an ally, and a friend. The senate replied corrupters (i. 8. 9), but without allusion to servile
that he must first sue for peace, and that they or libertine birth. Verres itself too is a genuine
would send commissioners into his kingdom to Italian name, like Capra, Taurus, Ovinius, Suildictate the terms on which it would be granted. lius, and seems to have had its proper correlate in
When the commissioners arrived in Africa, they Scrof.i (Varr. R. R. ii. 1). The question probably
were received by Vermina with the greatest respect. admits of no positive solution, and it is even posA peace was concluded with him, the terms of sible that as in the cases of Marius, Munmmius,
which are not mentioned, but we know that the and Sertorius, who bore no family-name, the family
greater part of his hereditary dominions was be- of Verres may have borne no gentile name. (See
stowed upon Masinissa. (Liv. xxix. 33; Appian, Muretus, Var. Lect. iii. 8.)
Pun. 33; Liv. xxx. 36, 40, xxxi. 11, 19.) [MA- The impeachment of Verres derives its importSINISSA.] ance from the cause rather than the criminal. We
VERRES, C. [CORNELIUS?] 1. Was a Ro- have no evidence to his character beyond the
_man senator, who appears to have been connected charges of his great antagonist, and even the deby birth, adoption, or emancipation with the fence of him which Hortensius published and
Cornelia gens. Cicero, whose anger Verres had Quintilian read (Inst. x. 1. ~ 23), referred to some
incurred by interfering in his election for the other prosecution. To depict Verres in Cicero's
aedileship B. c. 70, calls him a veteran briber and colours would be to draw an anomalous monster,
manager of votes. Verres took alarm at his son's and to transcribe the greater portion of the imreckless proceedings in Sicily, B. c. 73-71; and peachment. It will be more consistent, therefore,
although he supplicated the senate in his behalf, with our purpose and our limits to refer generally
despatched special messengers to Syracuse with to the Verrine orations for the catalogue of his.warnings to be more circumspect in future. The crimes and the delineation of his character, espeelder Verres had a share in his son's pillage of cially since the notorious licence of ancient invecthe Sicilians. (Verrin. i. 8, 9, ii. 1. 23, 39, 40; tive, and the circumstances under which Cicero
Pseud. Ascon. in Verrmn.; in Q. Caecil. proem.) spoke, render exaggeration certain, while we have
2. Son of the preceding, was born about B. c. no means of sifting or softening it. Individually
112. It is remarkable that the gentile name of Verres was a very ordinary person, with brutal inthe Verres family is nowhere mentioned. In more stincts, manners, and associates, conspicuous in a
than one passage of the Verrine orations, Cicero demoralized age, and in an incurably corrupt class
seems on the point of giving their full appellation of men, - the provincial governors under the comto the Verres, but always withholds it apparently monwealth,-for his licentiousness, rapacity, and
as notorious. It was probably Cornelius, although cruelty. Generically as the representative of that
there seems to have been some connection also with class Verres became an important personage, since
the Caecilii Metelli. (Verrin. ii. 2. 26, 56.) upon the issue of his trial depended the selnate's
Sulla, on his return from Greece B. C. 83, created tenure of the judicia, the prevalence of the oligarchy,
a numerous body of Conielii by emancipating and the very existence of the provincial and colonial