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The prosecutor and defendant had the right of objecting to any member of the list. If more than one accuser offered, it was decided which should act at a preliminary trial called Divinatio. Owing to the desire to win fame by accusations, this occurrence was not unfrequent. When the day of the trial arrived the prosecutor first spoke, explaining the case and bringing in the evidence.
And those who take this sentence in a contrary sense interpret it amiss: "Ista sic reciprocantur, ut et si divinatio sit, dii sint; et si dii lint, sit divinatio." Much more wisely Pacuvius "Nam istis, qui linguam avium intelligunt, Plusque ex alieno jecore sapiunt, quam ex suo, Magis audiendum, quam auscultandum, censeo."
The second speech which we have the Divinatio, or speech against Cæcilius, having been the first is called the Actio Prima contra Verrem "the first process against Verres." This is almost entirely confined to an exhortation to the judges. Cicero had made up his mind to make no speech about Verres till after the trial should be over. There would not be the requisite time.
Such a trial was called "Divinatio," because the judges had to get their lights in the matter as best they could without the assistance of witnesses by some process of divination with the aid of the gods, as it might be. Cicero's first speech in the matter of Verres is called In Quintum Cæcilium Divinatio, because one Cæcilius came forward to take the case away from him.
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