From among the latter a considerable number--thirty, perhaps, or forty, or even fifty--were appointed to sit with the Praetor to hear criminal cases of importance, and by their votes, which were recorded on tablets, the accused person was acquitted or condemned.

To be acquitted by the most profuse corruption entailed no disgrace on him who was tried, and often but little on the judges who tried him.

In Cicero's time the practice, with all its chances, had come to be well understood.

The Provincial Governors, with their Quaestors and lieutenants, were chosen from the high aristocracy, which also supplied the judges.

The judges themselves had been employed, or hoped to be employed, in similar lucrative service.