The Classics for All Lawyers' Group next event is happening on Tuesday 28 April at Twenty Essex, London WC2R 3AL from 5.30pm with Dr Kathryn Tempest.
Corruption hit the headlines at Rome in 70 BC when Cicero brought a dramatic prosecution against Gaius Verres, the former governor of Sicily, on charges of extortion. Yet proving ‘corruption’ was far from straightforward. Roman law provided statutes, but not a clear or stable definition of what counted as corrupt behaviour. For every accusation Cicero levelled at Verres, there was a plausible defence rooted in the accepted political and social practices of the Roman Republic.
In this lecture and Q&A, Dr Tempest will use Cicero’s speeches to explore how Romans debated the meaning of corruption, what legal mechanisms they devised to restrain it, and why they ultimately came to see the moral and political decay of their leaders as a cause, and a symptom, of the Republic’s collapse. The lecture and Q&A will be followed by refreshments and networking at Twenty Essex.
If you're an existing member who would like to come along, please email [email protected] to reserve your space. To join the Lawyers' Group and attend this and future events, please find out more and register here.