The cross is a visible representation of what Roman “order” entails, particularly for those whom the system does not represent—enslaved laborers, conquered peoples, etc. The symbol first appears when, on the road to meet Crassus, Cicero and Tiro pass legionaries hammering together 6,000 crosses for Spartacus’s surviving rebels, spaced “one hundred and seventeen paces between each cross” along 350 miles of the Appian Way (51). That Crassus describes the calculation with administrative pride underscores that the spectacle of violence and death is central to the Roman system of government. In a similar vein, Cicero finds the prison records doctored when he visits the Stone Quarries: Pirates listed as crucified are actually freed for ransom, while innocent passengers are killed under their names. The cross here features in bookkeeping that conceals which Romans are protecting which criminals, suggesting its symbolic relationship to the corruption of those in power.

The image also appears at Messana, where the cross facing the straits to Italy marks the spot of Gavius’s death. Cicero’s reconstruction in court of that crucifixion destroys Verres in an instance of poetic justice: The same shape that Crassus uses to discipline slaves becomes the evidence Cicero uses to bring down a governor. While this might seem to suggest that no one is above the law, the move only works because, in this case, the method of execution was applied to a Roman citizen. This strikes those present as a grave injustice even as it reveals how easily Rome’s violence can turn inward.