After adducing figures from the period 212 – 146 BC in the previous paragraph, Cicero suddenly pauses to voice the fear that his grand sweep of exempla from the more or less distant past will be deemed ‘ancient history’, that is, lacking pertinence in the present context. After an attempt to explicate the reason for his apprehension, he homes in on a contemporary figure, P. Servilius, whose conduct in office he explores in detail as a positive foil for Verres in both this and the subsequent paragraph.
