4. There was in the house of Heius a private chapel of great sacredness, handed down to him from his ancestors, very ancient; in which he had four very beautiful statues, made with the greatest skill, and of very high character; calculated not only to delight Verres, that clever and accomplished man, but even any one of us whom he calls the mob:—one, a statue of Cupid, in marble, a work of Praxiteles; for in truth, while I have been inquiring into that man's conduct, I have learnt the names of the workmen; it was the same workman, as I imagine, who made that celebrated Cupid of the same figure as this which is at Thespiae, on account of which people go to see Thespiae, for there is no other reason for going to see it; and therefore that great man Lucius Mummius, when he carried away from that town the statues of the Muses which are now before the temple of Good Fortune, and the other statues which were not consecrated, did not touch this marble Cupid, because it had been consecrated.
4. apud Heium sacrarium magna cum dignitate in aedibus a maioribus traditum perantiquum, in quo signa pulcherrima quattuor summo artificio, summa nobilitate, quae non modo istum hominem ingeniosum et intellegentem, verum etiam quemvis nostrum, quos iste idiotas appellat, delectare possent, unum Cupidinis marmoreum Praxiteli; nimirum didici etiam, dum in istum inquiro, artificum nomina., opinor, artifex eiusdem modi Cupidinem fecit illum qui est Thespiis, propter quem Thespiae visuntur; nam alia visendi causa nulla est. ille L. Mummius, cum Thespiadas, quae ad aedem sunt, ceteraque profana ex illo oppido signa tolleret, hunc marmoreum Cupidinem, quod erat consecratus, non attigit.
5. But to return to that private chapel; there was this statue, which I am speaking of, of Cupid, made of marble. On the other side there was a Hercules, beautifully made of brass; that was said to be the work of Myron, as I believe, and it undoubtedly was so. Also before those gods there were little altars, which might indicate to any one the holiness of the chapel. There were besides two brazen statues, of no very great size, but of marvellous beauty, in the dress and robes of virgins, which with uplifted hands were supporting some sacred vessels which were placed on their heads, after the fashion of the Athenian virgins. They were called the Canephorae, but their maker was.... (who? who was he? thank you, you are quite right,) they called him Polycletus. Whenever any one of our citizens went to Messana, he used to go and see these statues. They were open every day for people to go to see them. The house was not more an ornament to its master, than it was to the city.
5. ut ad illud sacrarium redeam, signum erat hoc quod dico Cupidinis e marmore, ex altera parte Hercules egregie factus ex aere. dicebatur esse Myronis, ut opinor, et certe. ante hos deos erant arulae, quae cuivis religionem sacrari significare possent. aenea duo praeterea signa, non maxima verum eximia venustate, virginali habitu atque vestitu, quae manibus sublatis sacra quaedam more Atheniensium virginum reposita in capitibus sustinebant; Canephoroe ipsae vocabantur; sed earum artificem —quem? quemnam? recte admones—Polyclitum esse dicebant. Messanam ut quisque nostrum venerat, haec visere solebat; omnibus haec ad visendum patebant cotidie; domus erat non domino magis ornamento quam civitati.
6. Caius Claudius, whose aedileship we know to have been a most splendid affair, used this statue of Cupid, as long as he kept the forum decorated in honour of the immortal gods and the Roman people. And as he was connected by ties of hospitality with the Heii, and was the patron of the Mamertine people,—as he availed himself of their kindness to lend him this, so he was careful to restore it There have lately been noble men of the same kind, O judges;—why do I say lately, Yes, we have seen some very lately, a very little while ago indeed, who have adorned the forum and the public buildings, not with the spoils of the provinces, but with ornaments belonging to their friends,—with splendid things lent by their own connections, not with the produce of the thefts of guilty men,—and who afterwards have restored the statues and decorations, each to its proper owner; men who have not taken things away out of the cities of our allies for the sake of a four-day festival, under presence of the shows to be exhibited in their aedileship, and after that carried them off to their own homes, and their own villas.
6. C. Claudius, cuius aedilitatem magnificentissimam 6 scimus fuisse, usus est hoc Cupidine tam diu dum forum dis immortalibus populoque Romano habuit ornatum, et, cum hospes esset Heiorum, Mamertini autem populi patronus, ut illis benignis usus est ad commodandum, sic ipse diligens fuit ad reportandum. homines nobilis eius modi, iudices,—sed quid dico “nuper”? immo vero modo ac plane paulo ante vidimus, qui forum et basilicas non spoliis provinciarum sed ornamentis amicorum, commodis hospitum non furtis nocentium ornarent; qui tamen signa atque ornamenta sua cuique reddebant, non ablata ex urbibus sociorum atque amicorum quadridui causa, per simulationem aedilitatis, domum deinde atque ad suas villas auferebant.
7. All these statues which I have mentioned, O judges, Verres took away from Heius, out of his private chapel. Be left, I say, not one of those things, nor anything else, except one old wooden figure.—Good Fortune, as I believe; that, forsooth, he did not choose to have in his house! Oh! for the good faith of gods and men! What is the meaning of all this? What a cause is this? What impudence is this! The statues which I am speaking of, before they were taken away by you, no commander ever came to Messanawithout seeing So many praetors, so many consuls as there have been in Sicily, in time of peace, and in time of war; so many men of every sort as there have been—I do not speak of upright, innocent, conscientious men, but so many covetous, so many audacious, so many infamous men as there have been, not one of them all was violent enough, or seemed to himself powerful enough or noble enough, to venture to ask for, or to take away, or even to touch anything in that chapel. Shall Verres take away everything which is most beautiful everywhere? Shall it not be allowed to any one besides to have anything? Shall that one house of his contain so many wealthy houses? Was it for this reason that none of his predecessors ever touched these things, that he might be able to carry them off? Was this the reason why Caius Claudius Pulcher restored them, that Caius Verres might be able to steal them? But that Cupid had no wish for the house of a pimp and the establishment of a harlot; he was quite content to stay in that chapel where he was hereditary; he knew that he had been left to Heius by his ancestors, with the rest of the sacred things which he inherited; he did not require the heir of a prostitute.
7. omnia quae dixi signa, iudices, ab Heio e sacrario Verres abstulit; nullum, inquam, horum reliquit neque aliud ullum tamen praeter unum pervetus ligneum, Fortunam, ut opinor; eam iste habere domi suae noluit. deum hominumque fidem! quid hoc est? quae haec causa est, quae ista impudentia? dico signa, antequam abs te sublata sunt, Messanam cum imperio nemo venit quin viserit. praetores, tot consules in Sicilia cum in pace tum etiam in bello fuerunt, tot homines cuiusque modi—non loquor de integris, innocentibus, religiosis —tot cupidi, tot improbi, tot audaces, quorum nemo sibi tam vehemens, tam potens, tam nobilis visus est qui ex illo sacrario quicquam poscere aut tollere aut attingere auderet: Verres quod ubique erit pulcherrimum auferet? nihil habere cuiquam praeterea licebit? tot domus locupletissimas istius domus una capiet? nemo superiorum attigit ut hic tolleret? ideo C. Claudius rettulit ut C. Verres posset auferre? non requirebat ille Cupido lenonis domum ac meretriciam disciplinam; facile illo sacrario patrio continebatur; Heio se a maioribus relictum esse sciebat in hereditate sacrorum, non quaerebat meretricis heredem.
8. But why am I borne on so impetuously? I shall in a moment be refuted by one word. “I bought it,” says he. O ye immortal gods, what a splendid defence! we sent a broker into the province with military command and with the forces, to buy up all the statues, all the paintings, all the silver plate and gold plate, and ivory, and jewels, and to leave nothing to any body. For this defence seems to me to be got ready for everything; that he bought them. In the first place, if I should grant to you that which you wish, namely, that you bought them, since against all this class of accusations you are going to use this defence alone, I ask what sort of tribunals you thought that there would be at Rome, if you thought that any one would grant you this, that you in your praetorship and in your command bought up so many and such valuable things,—everything, in short, which was of any value in the whole province.
8. quid ego tam vehementer invehor? verbo uno repellar. “,” inquit. immortales, praeclaram defensionem! in provinciam cum imperio ac securibus misimus, omnia qui signa, tabulas pictas, omne argentum, aurum, ebur, gemmas coemeret, nihil cuiquam relinqueret! enim mihi ad omnia defensio patefieri videtur, emisse., si id quod vis tibi ego concedam, ut emeris,—quoniam in toto hoc genere hac una defensione usurus es,— quaero cuius modi tu iudicia Romae putaris esse, si tibi hoc quemquam concessurum putasti, te in praetura atque imperio tot res tam pretiosas, omnis denique res quae alicuius preti fuerint, tota ex provincia coemisse?
9. Remark the care of our ancestors, who as yet suspected no such conduct as this, but yet provided against the things which might happen in affairs of small importance. They thought that no one who had gone as governor or as lieutenant into a province would be so insane as to buy silver, for that was given him out of the public fends; or raiment, for that was afforded him by the laws; they thought he might buy a slave, a thing which we all use, and which is not provided by the laws. They made a law, therefore, “that no one should buy a slave except in the room of a slave who was dead.” If any slave had died at Rome? No, if any one had died in the place where his master was. For they did not mean you to furnish your house in the province, but to be of use to the province in its necessities.
9. maiorum diligentiam, qui nihildum etiam istius modi suspicabantur, verum tamen ea quae parvis in rebus accidere poterant providebant. qui cum potestate aut legatione in provinciam esset profectus tam amentem fore putaverunt ut emeret argentum, dabatur enim de publico; ut vestem, praebebatur enim legibus; mancipium putarunt, quo et omnes utimur et non praebetur a populo: sanxerunt ne quis emeret nisi in demortui locum. qui Romae esset demortuus? immo, si quis ibidem; non enim te instruere domum tuam voluerunt in provincia, sed illum usum provinciae supplere.
10. What was the reason why they so carefully kept us from making purchases in the provinces? This was it, O judges, because they thought it a robbery, not a purchase, when the seller was not allowed to sell on his own terms. And they were aware that, in the provinces, if he who was there with the command and power of a governor wished to purchase what was in any one's possession, and was allowed to do so, it would come to pass that he would get whatever he chose, whether it was to be sold or not, at whatever price he pleased. Some one will say, “Do not deal with Verres in that manner; do not try and examine his actions by the standard of old-fashioned conscientiousness; allow him to have bought them without being punished for it, provided he bought them in a fair way, not through any arbitrary exercise of power, nor from any one against his will, or by violence.” I will so deal with him. If Heius had anything for sale, if he sold it for the price at which he valued it, I give up inquiring why you bought it.
10. fuit causa cur tam diligenter nos in provinciis ab emptionibus removerent?, iudices, quod putabant ereptionem esse, non emptionem, cum venditori suo arbitratu vendere non liceret. provinciis intellegebant, si is qui esset cum imperio ac potestate quod apud quemque esset emere vellet, idque ei liceret, fore uti quod quisque vellet, sive esset venale sive non esset, quanti vellet auferret. aliquis: “isto modo agere cum Verre, noli eius facta ad antiquae religionis rationem exquirere; concede ut impune emerit, modo ut bona ratione emerit, nihil pro potestate, nihil ab invito, nihil per iniuriam.” agam: si, quod venale habuit Heius, id quanti aestimabat tanti vendidit, desino quaerere cur emeris.
11. What then are we to do? Are we to use arguments in a case of this sort? We must ask, I suppose, whether Heius was in debt, whether he had an auction,—if he had, whether he was in such difficulties about money matters, whether he was oppressed by such want, by such necessity, as to strip his private chapel, to sell his paternal gods. But I see that the man had no auction; that he never sold anything except the produce of his land; that he not only had no debts, but that he had always abundance of ready money. Even if all these things were contrary to what I say they were, still I say that he would not have sold things which had been so many years in the household and chapel of his ancestors. “What will you say if he was persuaded by the greatness of the sum given him for them?” It is not probable that a man, rich as he was, honourable as he was, should have preferred money to his own religious feelings and to the memorials of his ancestors.
11. igitur nobis faciendum est? num argumentis utendum in re eius modi?, credo, est Heius iste num aes alienum habuerit, num auctionem fecerit; si fecit, num tanta difficultas eum rei nummariae tenuerit, tanta egestas, tanta vis presserit ut sacrarium suum spoliaret, ut deos patrios venderet. hominem video auctionem fecisse nullam, vendidisse praeter fructus suos nihil umquam, non modo in aere alieno nullo, sed in suis nummis multis esse et semper fuisse; si haec contra ac dico essent omnia, tamen illum haec, quae tot annos in familia sacrarioque maiorum fuissent, venditurum non fuisse. “, si magnitudine pecuniae persuasum est?” simile non est ut ille homo tam locuples, tam honestus, religioni suae monumentisque maiorum pecuniam anteponeret.
12. “That may be, yet men are sometimes led away from their habits and principles by large sums of money.” Let us see, then, how great a sum this was which could turn Heius, a man of exceeding riches, by no means covetous, away from decency, from affection, and from religion. You ordered him, I suppose, to enter in his account books, “All these statues of Praxiteles, of Myron, of Polycletus, were sold to Verres for six thousand five hundred sesterces.” Read the extracts from his accounts— [The accounts of Heius are read.] I am delighted that the illustrious names of these workmen, whom those men extol to the skies, have fallen so low in the estimation of Verres—the Cupid of Praxiteles for sixteen hundred sesterces. From that forsooth has come the proverb “I had rather buy it than ask for it.”
12. “ista; verum tamen abducuntur homines non numquam etiam ab institutis suis magnitudine pecuniae.” quanta ista pecunia fuerit quae potuerit Heium, hominem maxime locupletem, minime avarum, ab humanitate, a pietate, ab religione deducere. iussisti, opinor, ipsum in tabulas referre: “omnia signa Praxiteli, Myronis, Polycliti HS sex milibus quingentis Verri vendita.” rettulit.. tabvlis. me haec praeclara nomina artificum, quae isti ad caelum ferunt, Verris aestimatione sic concidisse. Cupidinem Praxiteli HS mdc! hinc natum est, “emere quam rogare.”
13. Some one will say, “What! do you value those things at a very high price?” But I am not valuing them according to any calculation of my own, or any need which I have for them; but I think that the matter ought to be looked at by you in this light,—what is the value of these things in the opinion of those men who are judges of these things; at what price they are accustomed to be sold; at what price these very things could be sold, if they were sold openly and freely; lastly, at what price Verres himself values them. For he would never have been so foolish, if he had thought that Cupid worth only four hundred denarii, as to allow himself to be made a subject for the common conversation and general reproach of men.
13. aliquis: “? tu ista permagno aestimas?” vero ad meam rationem usumque meum non aestimo; verum tamen a vobis ita arbitror spectari oportere, quanti haec eorum iudicio qui studiosi sunt harum rerum aestimentur, quanti venire soleant, quanti haec ipsa, si palam libereque venirent, venire possent, denique ipse Verres quanti aestimet. enim, si denariis cccc Cupidinem illum putasset, commisisset ut propter eum in sermonem hominum atque in tantam vituperationem veniret.
14. Who then of you all is ignorant at how great a price these things are valued? Have we not seen at an auction a brazen statue of no great size sold for a hundred and twenty thousand sesterces? What if I were to choose to name men who have bought similar things for no less a price, or even for a higher one? Can I not do so? In truth, the only limit to the valuation of such things is the desire which any one has for them, for it is difficult to set bounds to the price unless you first set bounds to the wish. I see then that Heius was neither led by his inclination, nor by any temporary difficulties, nor by the greatness of the sum given, to sell these statues; and that you, under the presence of purchase which you put forward, in reality seized and took away these things by force, through fear, by your power and authority, from that man, whom, along with the rest of our allies in that country, the Roman people had entrusted not only to your power, but also to your upright exercise of it.
14. vestrum igitur nescit quanti haec aestimentur? auctione signum aeneum non maximum HS xl venire non vidimus?? si velim nominare homines qui aut non minoris aut etiam pluris emerint, nonne possum? qui modus est in his rebus cupiditatis, idem est aestimationis; difficile est finem facere pretio nisi libidini feceris. igitur Heium neque voluntate neque difficultate aliqua temporis nec magnitudine pecuniae adductum esse ut haec signa venderet, teque ista simulatione emptionis vi, metu, imperio, fascibus ab homine eo quem, una cum ceteris sociis, non solum potestati tuae sed etiam fidei populus Romanus commiserat eripuisse atque abstulisse.
15. What can there be, judges, so desirable for me in making this charge, as that Heius should say this same thing? Nothing certainly; but let us not wish for what is difficult to be obtained. Heius is a Mamertine. The state of the Mamertines alone, by a common resolution, praises that man in the name of the city. To all the rest of the Sicilians he is an object of hatred; by the Mamertines alone is he liked. But of that deputation which has been sent to utter his praises, Heius is the chief man; in truth, he is the chief man of his city, and too much occupied in discharging the public duties imposed upon him to speak of his private injuries.
15. mihi tam optandum, iudices, potest esse in hoc crimine quam ut haec eadem dicat ipse Heius? profecto; sed ne difficilia optemus. Heius est Mamertinus; Mamertina civitas istum publice communi consilio sola laudat; omnibus iste ceteris Siculis odio est, ab his solis amatur; eius autem legationis quae ad istum laudandum missa est princeps est Heius—etenim est primus civitatis: ne forte, dum publicis mandatis serviat, de privatis iniuriis reticeat.
16. Though I was aware of and had given weight to these considerations, still, O judges, I trusted myself to Heius. I produced him at the first pleading; and indeed I did it without any danger, for what answer could Heius give even if he turned out a dishonest man, and unlike himself? Could he say that these statues were at his house, and not with Verres? How could he say anything of that sort? If he were the basest of men, and were inclined to lie most shamelessly, he would say this; that he had had them for sale, and that he had sold them at the price he wanted for them. The man the most noble in all his city, who was especially anxious that you should have a high opinion of his conscientiousness and of his worth, says first, that he spoke in Verres's praise by the public authority of his city, because that commission had been given to him; secondly; that he had not had these things for sale, and that, if he had been allowed to do what he wished, he could never have been induced by any terms to sell those things which were in his private chapel, having been left to him and handed down to him from his ancestors.
16. cum scirem et cogitarem, commisi tamen, iudices, Heio; produxi prima actione, neque id tamen ullo periculo feci. enim poterat Heius respondere, si esset improbus, si sui dissimilis? esse illa signa domi suae, non esse apud Verrem? poterat quicquam eius modi dicere? Vt homo turpissimus esset impudentissimeque mentiretur, hoc diceret, illa se habuisse venalia, eaque sese quanti voluerit vendidisse. domi suae nobilissimus, qui vos de religione sua ac dignitate vere existimare maxime vellet, primo dixit se istum publice laudare, quod sibi ita mandatum esset; deinde neque se habuisse illa venalia neque ulla condicione, si utrum vellet liceret, adduci umquam potuisse ut venderet illa quae in sacrario fuissent a maioribus suis relicta et tradita.
17. Why are you sitting there, O Verres? What are you waiting for? Why do you say that you are hemmed in and overwhelmed by the cities of Centuripa, of Catina, of Halesa, of Tyndaris, of Enna, of Agyrium, and by all the other cities of Sicily? Your second country, as you used to call it, Messanaherself attacks you; your own MessanaI say; the assistant in your crimes, the witness of your lusts, the receiver of your booty and your thefts. For the most honourable man of that city is present, a deputy sent from his home on account of this very trial, the chief actor in the panegyric on you; who praises you by the public order of his city, for so he has been charged and commanded to do. Although you recollect, O judges, what he answered when he was asked about the ship; that it had been built by public labour, at the public expense, and that a Mamertine senator had been appointed by the public authority to superintend its building. Heius in his private capacity flees to you for aid, O judges; he avails himself of this law, the common fortress of our allies, by which this tribunal is established. Although there is a law for recovering money which has been unjustly extorted, he says that he does not seem to recover any money; which though it has been taken from him, he does not so much care about: but he says he does demand back from you the sacred images belonging to his ancestors, he does demand back from you his hereditary household god?
17. sedes, Verres? quid exspectas? quid te a Centuripina civitate, a Catinensi, ab Halaesina, a Tyndaritana, Hennensi, Agyrinensi ceterisque Siciliae civitatibus circumveniri atque opprimi dicis? te altera patria, quem ad modum dicere solebas, Messana circumvenit,—tua, inquam, Messana, tuorum adiutrix scelerum, libidinum testis, praedarum ac furtorum receptrix. enim vir amplissimus eius civitatis legatus huius iudici causa domo missus, princeps laudationis tuae, qui te publice laudat,—ita enim mandatum atque imperatum est; tametsi rogatus de cybaea tenetis memoria quid responderit: aedificatam publicis operis publice coactis, eique aedificandae publice Mamertinum senatorem praefuisse. ad vos privatim, iudices, confugit; utitur hac lege qua iudicium est, communi arce sociorum. lex est de pecuniis repetundis, ille se negat pecuniam repetere, quam ereptam non tanto opere desiderat: sacra se maiorum suorum repetere abs te dicit, deos penatis te patrios reposcit.
18. Have you any shame, O Verres? have you any religion? have you any fear, You have lived in Heius's house at Messana; you saw him almost daily performing sacred rites in his private chapel before those gods. He is not influenced by money; he does not even ask to have those things restored which were merely ornaments. Keep the Canephorae; restore the images of the gods. And because he said this, because after a given time he, an ally and friend of the Roman people, addressed his complaints to you in a moderate tone, because he was very attentive to religious obligation not only while demanding back his paternal gods, but also in giving his evidence on oath; know that one of the deputies has been sent back to Messana, that very man who superintended the building of that ship at the public expense, to demand from the senate that Heius should be condemned to an ignominious punishment.
18. pudor est, ecquae religio, Verres, ecqui metus? apud Heium Messanae, res illum divinas apud eos deos in suo sacrario prope cotidiano facere vidisti; non movetur pecunia, denique quae ornamenti causa fuerunt non requirit; tibi habe Canephoros, deorum simulacra restitue. quia dixit, quia tempore dato modeste apud vos socius amicusque populi Romani questus est, quia religioni suae non modo in dis patriis repetendis sed etiam in ipso testimonio ac iure iurando proximus fuit, hominem missum ab isto scitote esse Messanam de legatis unum,—illum ipsum qui navi istius aedificandae publice praefuit,—qui a senatu peteret ut Heius adficeretur ignominia.
19. O most insane of men, what did you think? that you should obtain what you requested? Did you not know how greatly he was esteemed by his fellow-citizens; how great his influence was considered? But suppose you had obtained your request; suppose that the Mamertines had passed any severe vote against Heius, what do you think would have been the authority of their panegyric, if they had decreed punishment to the man who it was notorious had given true evidence? Although, what sort of praise is that, when he who utters it, being questioned, is compelled to give answers injurious to him whom he is praising? What! are not those who are praising you, my witnesses? Heius is an encomiast of yours; he has done you the most serious injury. I will bring forward the rest; they will gladly be silent about all that they are allowed to suppress; they will say what they cannot help saying, unwillingly. Can they deny that a transport of the largest size was built for that man at Messana? Let them deny it if they can. Can they deny that a Mamertine senator was appointed by the public authority to superintend the building of that ship? I wish they would deny it. There are other points also which I prefer reserving unmentioned at present, in order to give as little time as possible to them for planning and arranging their perjury.
19. amentissime, quid putasti? impetraturum te? quanti is a civibus suis fieret, quanti auctoritas eius haberetur ignorabas? fac te impetravisse, fac aliquid gravius in Heium statuisse Mamertinos: quantam putas auctoritatem laudationis eorum futuram, si in eum quem constet verum pro testimonio dixisse poenam constituerint? quae est ista laudatio, cum laudator interrogatus laedat necesse est?? isti laudatores tui nonne testes mei sunt? Heius est laudator: laesit gravissime. ceteros: reticebunt quae poterunt libenter, dicent quae necesse erit ingratiis. isti onerariam navem maximam aedificatam esse Messanae?, si possunt. ei navi faciundae senatorem Mamertinum publice praefuisse? Vtinam negent! etiam cetera; quae malo integra reservare, ut quam minimum dem illis temporis ad meditandum confirmandumque periurium.
20. Let this praise, then, be placed to your account; let these men come to your relief with their authority, who neither ought to help you if they were able, nor could do so if they wished; on whom in their private capacity you have inflicted many injuries, and put many affronts, while in their city you have dishonoured many families for ever by your adulteries and crimes “But you have been of public service to their city.” Not without great injury to the republic and to the province of Sicily. They were bound to supply and they used to supply sixty thousand modiiof wheat to the Roman people for payment; that was remitted by you of your own sole authority. The republic was injured because by your means its right of dominion over one city was disparaged; the Sicilians were injured, because this quantity was not deducted from the total amount of the corn to be provided by the island, but was only transferred to the cities of Centuripa and Halesa, whose inhabitants were exempt from that tax; and on them a greater burden was imposed than they were able to bear.
20. tibi laudatio procedat in numerum? hi te homines auctoritate sua sublevent? qui te neque debent adiuvare si possint, neque possunt si velint; quibus tu privatim iniurias plurimas contumeliasque imposuisti, quo in oppido multas familias totas in perpetuum infamis tuis stupris flagitiisque fecisti. publice commodasti. sine magno quidem rei publicae provinciaeque Siciliae detrimento.(21) modium L_X_ empta populo Romano dare debebant et solebant: abs te solo remissum est. publica detrimentum fecit quod per te imperi ius in una civitate imminutum est: Siculi, quod ipsum non de summa frumenti detractum est, sed translatum in Centuripinos et Halaesinos, immunis populos, et hoc plus impositum quam ferre possent.
21. It was your duty to require them to furnish a ship, in compliance with the treaty. You remitted it for three years. During all those years you never demanded one soldier. You acted as pirates are accustomed to act, who, though they are the common enemies of all men, still select some friends, whom they not only spare, but even enrich with their booty; and especially such as have a town in a convenient situation, where they often, and sometimes even necessarily, put in with their vessels. The town of Phaselis, which Publius Servilius took, had not been in former times a city of Cilicians and pirates. The Lycians, a Greek tribe, inhabited it; but because it was in such a situation as it was, and because it projected into the sea, so that pirates from Ciliciaoften necessarily touched at it when departing on an expedition, and were also often borne thither on their retreats, the pirates connected that city with themselves; at first by commercial intercourse, and afterwards by a regular alliance.
21. imperare ex foedere debuisti; remisisti in triennium; militem nullum umquam poposcisti per tot annos. item ut praedones solent; qui cum hostes communes sint omnium, tamen aliquos sibi instituunt amicos, quibus non modo parcant verum etiam praeda quos augeant, et eos maxime qui habent oppidum oportuno loco, quo saepe adeundum sit navibus.(22) Phaselis illa, quam cepit P. Servilius, non fuerat urbs antea Cilicum atque praedonum; Lycii illam, Graeci homines, incolebant. quod erat eius modi loco atque ita proiecta in altum ut et exeuntes e Cicilia praedones saepe ad eam necessario devenirent, et, cum se ex hisce locis reciperent, eodem deferrentur, adsciverunt sibi illud oppidum piratae primo commercio, deinde etiam societate.
22. The city of the Mamertines was not formerly of bad character; it was even a city hostile to dishonest men, and detained the luggage of Caius Cato, the one who was consul But then what sort of a man was he? a most eminent and most influential man; who however, though he had been consul, was convicted. So Caius Cato, the grandson of two most illustrious men, Lucius Paullus and Marcus Cato, and the son of the sister of Publius Africanus; who, even when convicted, at a time when severe judgments were in the habit of being passed, found the damages to which he was liable only estimated at eighteen thousand sesterces; with this man, I say, the Mamertines were angry, who have often expended a greater sum than the damages in the action against Cato were laid at, in one banquet for Timarchides.
22. Mamertina civitas improba antea non erat; etiam erat inimica improborum, quae C. Catonis, illius qui consul fuit, impedimenta retinuit. cuius hominis! ac potentissimi; qui tamen cum consul fuisset, condemnatus est., C. Cato, duorum hominum clarissimorum nepos, L. Pauli et M. Catonis, et P. Africani sororis filius: quo damnato tum, cum severa iudicia fiebant, HS viii lis aestimata est. Mamertini irati fuerunt, qui maiorem sumptum quam quanti Catonis lis aestimata est in Timarchidi prandium saepe fecerunt.
23. But this city was the Phaselis for that robber and pirate of Sicily. Hither everything was brought from all quarters; with them it was left; whatever required to be concealed, they kept separate and stored away. By their agency he contrived everything which he wished put on board ship privately, and exported secretly; and in their harbour he contrived to have a vessel of the largest size built for him to send to Italyloaded with plunder. In return for these services, he gave them immunity from all expense, all labour, all military service, in short, from everything. For three years they were the only people, not only in Sicily, but, according to my opinion, in the whole world at such a time, who enjoyed excuse, relief, freedom, and immunity from every sort of expense, and trouble, and office.
23. haec civitas isti praedoni ac piratae Siciliensi Phaselis fuit; huc omnia undique deferebantur, apud istos relinquebantur; quod celari opus erat, habebant sepositum et reconditum; per istos quae volebat clam imponenda, occulte exportanda curabat; navem denique maximam, quam onustam furtis in Italiam mitteret, apud istos faciundam aedificandamque curavit; pro hisce rebus vacatio data est ab isto sumptus, laboris, militiae, rerum denique omnium; per triennium soli non modo in Sicilia verum, ut opinio mea fert, his quidem temporibus in omni orbe terrarum vacui, expertes, soluti ac liberi fuerunt ab omni sumptu, molestia, munere. illa Verria nata sunt, quod in convivium.
24. Hence arose that Verrean festival; hence it was that he ventured to order Sextus Cominius to be dragged before him at a banquet, at whom he attempted to throw a goblet, whom he ordered to be seized by the throat, and to be hurried from the banquet and thrown into a dark prison; hence came that cross, on which, in the sight of many men, he suspended a Roman citizen; that cross which he never ventured to erect anywhere except among that people, whom he had made sharers in all his crimes and robberies. Do you, O Mamertines, dare to come to praise any one? By what authority? by that which you ought to have with the Senatorial order? by that which you ought to have with the Roman people?
24. Cominium protrahi iussit, in quem scyphum de manu iacere conatus est, quem obtorta gula de convivio in vincla atque in tenebras abripi iussit; hinc illa crux in quam iste civem Romanum multis inspectantibus sustulit, quam non ausus est usquam defigere nisi apud eos quibuscum omnia scelera sua ac latrocinia communicavit. etiam vos quemquam venitis? qua auctoritate? utrum quam apud senatum an quam apud populum Romanum habere debetis?
25. Is there any city, not only in our provinces, but in the most distant nations, either so powerful, or so free, or so savage and uncivilized? is there any king, who would not invite a Senator of the Roman people to his house and to his home? An honour which is paid not only to the man, but in the first place to the Roman people, by whose indulgence we have risen to this order, and secondly to the authority of this order; and unless that is respected among our allies, where will be the name and dignity of the empire among foreign nations? The Mamertines did not give me any public invitation—when I say me, that is a trifle, but when they did not invite a Senator of the Roman people, they withheld an honour due not to the man but to his order. For to Tullius himself, the most splendid and magnificent house of Cnaeus Pompeius Basilicus was opened; with whom he would have lodged even if he had been invited by you. There was also the most honourable house of the Percennii, who are now also called Pompeius; where Lucius my brother lodged and was received by them with the greatest eagerness. A Senator of the Roman people, as far as depended on you as a body, lay in your town, and passed the night in the public streets. No other city ever did such a thing. “Yes,” say you, “for you were instituting a prosecution against our friend.” Will you put your own interpretation on what private business I have of my own, by diminishing the honour due to the Senate?
25. civitas est, non modo in provinciis nostris verum in ultimis nationibus, aut tam potens aut tam libera aut etiam tam immanis ac barbara, rex denique ecquis est qui senatorem populi Romani tecto ac domo non invitet? qui honos non homini solum habetur, sed primum populo Romano, cuius beneficio nos in hunc ordinem venimus, deinde ordinis auctoritati, quae nisi gravis erit apud socios et exteras nationes, ubi erit imperi nomen et dignitas? Mamertini me publice non invitarunt. cum dico, leve est: senatorem populi Romani si non invitarunt, honorem debitum detraxerunt non homini sed ordini. ipsi Tullio patebat domus locupletissima et amplissima Cn. Pompei, quo, etiamsi esset invitatus a vobis, tamen devertisset; erat etiam Percenniorum, qui nunc item Pompeii sunt, domus honestissima, quo Lucius frater meus summa illorum voluntate devertit. populi Romani, quod in vobis fuit, in vestro oppido iacuit et pernoctavit in publico. hoc civitas umquam alia commisit. “Amicum enim nostrum in iudicium vocabas.” quid ego privatim negoti geram interpretabere imminuendo honore senatorio?
26. But I will make my complaint of this conduct, if ever the time comes that there is any discussion concerning you among that body, which, up to this time, has been affronted by no one but you. With what face have you presented yourself before the eyes of the Roman people? when you have not yet pulled down that cross, which is even now stained with the blood of a Roman citizen, which is fixed up in your city by the harbour, and have not thrown it into the sea and purified all that place, before you came to Rome, and before this tribunal. On the territory of the Mamertines, connected with us by treaty, at peace with us, is that monument of your cruelty raised. Is not your city the only one where, when any one arrives at it from Italy, he sees the cross of a Roman citizen before he sees any friend of the Roman people? which you are in the habit of displaying to the people of Rhegium, whose city you envy, and to your inhabitants, Roman citizens as they are, to make them think less of themselves, and be less inclined to despise you, when they see the privileges of our citizenship extinguished by such a punishment.
26. haec tum queremur si quid de vobis per eum ordinem agetur, qui ordo a vobis adhuc solis contemptus est. populi Romani quidem conspectum quo ore vos commisistis? nec prius illam crucem, quae etiam nunc civis Romani sanguine redundat, quae fixa est ad portum urbemque vestram, revellistis neque in profundum abiecistis locumque illum omnem expiastis, quam Romam atque in horum conventum adiretis? Mamertinorum solo foederato atque pacato monumentum istius crudelitatis constitutum est. urbs electa est ad quam cum adirent ex Italia cives crucem civis Romani prius quam quemquam amicum populi Romani viderent? quam vos Reginis, quorum civitati invidetis, itemque incolis vestris, civibus Romanis, ostendere soletis, quo minus sibi adrogent minusque vos despiciant, cum videant ius civitatis illo supplicio esse mactatum.
27. But you say you bought these things? What? did you forget to purchase of the same Heius that Attalic tapestry, celebrated over the whole of Sicily? You might have bought them in the same way as you did the statues. For what did you do? Did you wish to spare the account books? This escaped the notice of that stupid man; he thought that what he stole from the wardrobe would be less notorious than what he had stolen from the private chapel. But how did he get it? I cannot relate it more plainly than Heius himself related it before you. When I asked, whether any other part of his property had come to Verres, he answered that he had sent him orders to send the tapestry to Agrigentumto him. I asked whether he had sent it. He replied as he must, that is, that he had been obedient to the praetor; that he had sent it.—I asked whether it had arrived at Agrigentum; he said it had arrived.—I asked in what condition it had returned; he said it had not returned yet.—There was a laugh and a murmur from all the people.
27. haec emisse te dicis.? illa Attalica tota Sicilia nominata ab eodem Heio [peripetasmata ] emere oblitus es? eodem modo ut signa. enim actum est? an litteris pepercisti? hominem amentem hoc fugit: minus clarum putavit fore quod de armario quam quod de sacrario esset ablatum. quo modo abstulit? possum dicere planius quam ipse apud vos dixit Heius. quaesissem num quid aliud de bonis eius pervenisset ad Verrem, respondit istum ad se misisse ut sibi mitteret Agrigentum peripetasmata. misisset ne; respondit, id quod necesse erat, se dicto audientem fuisse praetori, misisse. pervenissentne Agrigentum; dixit pervenisse. quem ad modum revertissent; negavit adhuc revertisse. populi atque admiratio omnium vestrum facta est.
28. Did it never occur to you in this instance to order him to make an entry in his books, that he had sold you this tapestry too, for six thousand five hundred sesterces? Did you fear that your debts would increase, if these things were to cost you six thousand five hundred sesterces, which you could easily sell for two hundred thousand? It was worth that, believe me. You would have been able to defend yourself if you had given that sum for it. No one would then have asked how much it was worth. If you could only prove that you had bought it, you could easily make your cause and your conduct appear reasonable to any one. But as it is, you have no way of getting out of your difficulty about the tapestry. What shall I say next?
28. tibi in mentem non venit iubere ut haec quoque referret HS vi milibus d se tibi vendidisse? ne aes alienum tibi cresceret, si HS vi milibus d tibi constarent ea quae tu facile posses vendere HS ducentis milibus? tanti, mihi crede; haberes quod defenderes; nemo quaereret quanti illa res esset; si modo te posses dicere emisse, facile cui velles tuam causam et factum probares; nunc de peripetasmatis quem ad modum te expedias non habes.
29. Did you take away by force some splendid harness, which is said to have belonged to King Hiero, from Philarchus of Centuripa, a wealthy and high-born man, or did you buy it of him? When I was in Sicily, this is what I heard from the Centuripans and from everybody else, for the case was very notorious; people said that you had taken away this harness from Philarchus of Centuripa, and other very beautiful harness from Aristus of Panormus, and a third set from Gratippus of Tyndarus. Indeed, if Philarchus had sold it to you, you would not, after the prosecution was instituted against you, have promised to restore it. But because you saw that many people knew of it, you thought that if you restored it to him, you would only have so much the less, but the original transaction would be proved against you nevertheless; and so you did not restore it. Philarchus said in his evidence, that when he became acquainted with this disease of yours, as your friends call it, he wished to conceal from you the knowledge of the existence of this harness; that when he was summoned by you, he said that he had not got any; and indeed, that he had removed them to another person's house, that they might not be found; but that your instinct was so great, that you saw them by the assistance of the very man in whose custody they were deposited; that then he could not deny that you had found him out, and so that the harness was taken from him against his will, and without any payment.
29. ? a Centuripino, homine locupleti ac nobili, phalerass pulcherrime factas, quae regis Hieronis fuisse dicuntur, utrum tandem abstulisti an emisti? Sicilia quidem cum essem, sic a Centuripinis, sic a ceteris audiebam,—non enim parum res erat clara: tam te has phaleras a Centuripino abstulisse dicebant quam alias item nobilis ab Aristo Panhormitano, quam tertias a Cratippo Tyndaritano. si vendidisset, non ei, posteaquam reus factus es, redditurum te promisisses. quia vidisti pluris scire, cogitasti, si ei reddidisses, te minus habiturum, rem nihilo minus testatam futuram: non reddidisti. pro testimonio se, quod nosset tuum istum morbum, ut amici tui appellant, cupisse te celare de phaleris; cum abs te appellatus esset, negasse habere sese; apud alium quoque eas habuisse depositas, ne qua invenirentur; tuam tantam fuisse sagacitatem ut eas per illum ipsum inspiceres, ubi erant depositae; tum se deprensum negare non potuisse; ita ab se invito phalera sublatas gratiis.
30. Now, O judges, it is worth your while to know how he was accustomed to find and trace out all these things. There are two brothers, citizens of Cibyra, Tlepolemus and Hiero, one of whom, I believe, was accustomed to model in wax, the other was a painter. I fancy these men, as they had become suspected by their fellow-citizens of having plundered the temple of Apollo at Cibyra, fearing a trial and the punishment of the law, had fled from their homes. As they had known that Verres was a great connoisseur of such works as theirs, at the time that he, as you learnt from the witnesses, came to Cibyrawith fictitious bills of exchange, they, when flying from their homes as exiles, came to him when he was in Asia. He has kept them with him ever since that time; and in the robberies he committed, and in the booty he acquired during his lieutenancy, he greatly availed himself of their assistance and their advice.
30. , ut haec omnia reperire ac perscrutari solitus sit, iudices, est operae pretium cognoscere. Cibyratae sunt fratres quidam, Tlepolemus et Hiero, quorum alterum fingere opinor e cera solitum esse, alterum esse pictorem. opinor, Cibyrae cum in suspicionem venissent suis civibus fanum expilasse Apollinis, veritos poenam iudici ac legis domo profugisse. Verrem artifici sui cupidum cognoverant tum, cum iste, id quod ex testibus didicistis, Cibyram cum inanibus syngraphis venerat, domo fugientes ad eum se exsules, cum iste esset in Asia, contulerunt. eos secum illo tempore et in legationis praedis atque furtis multum illorum opera consilioque usus est.
31. These are the men who were meant when Quintus Tadius made an entry in his books that he had given things by Verres's order to some Greek painters. They were already well known to, and had been thoroughly tried by him, when he took them with him into Sicily. And when they arrived there, they scented cut and tracked everything in so marvellous a manner, (you might have thought they were bloodhounds,) that, wherever anything was they found it out by some means or other. Some things they found out by threatening, some by promising; this by means of slaves, that through freemen; one thing by a friend, another by an enemy. Whatever pleased them was sure to be lost. They whose plate was demanded had nothing else to hope, than that Tlepolemus and Hiero might not approve of it.
31. sunt illi quibus in tabulis refert sese Q. Tadius “dedisse iussu istius, Graecis pictoribus”. Eos iam bene cognitos et re probatos secum in Siciliam duxit. posteaquam venerunt, mirandum in modum (canis venaticos diceres) ita odorabantur omnia et pervestigabant ut, ubi quidque esset, aliqua ratione invenirent. minando, aliud pollicendo, aliud per servos, aliud per liberos, per amicum aliud, aliud per inimicum inveniebant; quicquid illis placuerat, perdendum erat. aliud optabant quorum poscebatur argentum nisi ut id Hieroni et Tlepolemo displiceret.
32. I will relate to you this fact, O judges, most truly. I recollect that Pamphilus of Lilybaeum, a connection of mine by ties of hospitality, and a personal friend of mine, a man of the highest birth, told me, that when that man had taken from him, by his absolute power, an ewer made by the hand of Boethus, of exquisite workmanship and great weight, he went home very sad in truth, and greatly agitated, because a vessel of that sort, which had been left to him by his father and his forefathers, and which he was accustomed to use on days of festival, and on the arrival of ancient friends, had been taken from him. While I was sitting at home, said he, in great indignation, up comes one of the slaves of Venus; he orders me immediately to bring to the praetor some embossed goblets. I was greatly vexed, said he; I had two; I order them both to be taken out of the closet, lest any worse thing should happen, and to be brought after me to the praetor's house. When I got there the praetor was asleep; the Cibyratic brothers were walking about, and when they saw me, they said, Pamphilus, where are the cups? I show them with great grief;—they praise them.—I begin to complain that I shall have nothing left of any value at all, if my cups too were taken away. Then they, when they see me vexed, say, What are you willing to give us to prevent these from being taken from you? To make my story short, I said that I would give six hundred sesterces. Meantime the praetor summons us; he asks for the cups. Then they began to say to the praetor, that they had thought from what they had heard, that Pamphilus's cups were of some value, but that they were miserable things, quite unworthy of Verres's having them among his plate. He said, he thought so too.
32. mehercule hoc, iudices, dicam. Pamphilum Lilybitanum, amicum et hospitem meum, nobilem hominem, mihi narrare, cum iste ab sese hydriam Boethi manu factam praeclaro opere et grandi pondere per potestatem abstulisset, se sane tristem et conturbatum domum revertisse, quod vas eius modi, quod sibi a patre et a maioribus esset relictum, quo solitus esset uti ad festos dies, ad hospitum adventus, a se esset ablatum. “sederem,” inquit, “domi tristis, accurrit Venerius; iubet me scyphos sigillatos ad praetorem statim adferre. sum,” inquit; “binos habebam; iubeo promi utrosque, ne quid plus mali nasceretur, et mecum ad praetoris domum ferri. cum venio, praetor quiescebat; fratres illi Cibyratae inambulabant. me ubi viderunt, ‘Vbi sunt, Pamphile,’ inquiunt, ‘scyphi?’ tristis; laudant. queri me nihil habiturum quod alicuius esset preti si etiam scyphi essent ablati. illi, ubi me conturbatum vident, ‘vis nobis dare ut isti abs te ne auferantur?’ multa, HS mille me,” inquit, “poposcerunt; dixi me daturum. interea praetor, poscit scyphos.” illos coepisse praetori dicere putasse se, id quod audissent, alicuius preti scyphos esse Pamphili; luteum negotium esse, non dignum quod in suo argento Verres haberet. ille idem sibi videri. Pamphilus scyphos optimos aufert.
33. So Pamphilus saved his exquisite goblets. And indeed, before I heard this, though I knew that it was a very trifling sort of accomplishment to understand things of that sort, yet I used to wonder that he had any knowledge of them at all, as I knew that in nothing whatever had he any qualities like a man. But when I heard this, I then for the first time understood that that was the use of these two Cibyratic brothers; that in his robberies he used his own hands, but their eyes. But he was so covetous of that splendid reputation of being thought to be a judge of such matters, that lately, (just observe the man's madness,) after his case was adjourned, when he was already as good as condemned, and civilly dead, at the time of the games of the circus, when early in the morning the couches were spread in preparation for a banquet at the house of Lucius Sisenna, a man of the first consideration, and when the plate was all set out, and when, as was suited to the dignity of Lucius Sisenna, the house was full of honourable men, he came to the plate, and began in a leisurely way to examine and consider every separate piece. Some marveled at the folly of the man, who, while his trial was actually going on, was increasing the suspicion of that covetousness of which he was accused; others marveled at his insensibility, that any such things could come into his head, when the time for judgment in his cause was so near at hand, and when so many witnesses had spoken against him. But Sisenna's servants, who, I suppose, had heard the evidence which had been given against him, never took their eyes off him, and never departed out of reach of the plate.
33. mehercule ego antea, tametsi hoc nescio quid nugatorium sciebam esse, ista intellegere, tamen mirari solebam istum in his ipsis rebus aliquem sensum habere, quem scirem nulla in re quicquam simile hominis habere. primum intellexi ad eam rem istos fratres Cibyratas fuisse, ut iste in furando manibus suis oculis illorum uteretur. ita studiosus est huius praeclarae existimationis, ut putetur in hisce rebus intellegens esse, ut nuper—videte hominis amentiam: posteaquam est comperendinatus, cum iam pro damnato mortuoque esset, ludis circensibus mane apud L. Sisennam, virum primarium, cum essent triclinia strata argentumque expositum in aedibus, cum pro dignitate L. Sisennae domus esset plena hominum honestissimorum, accessit ad argentum, contemplari unum quidque otiose et considerare coepit. stultitiam alii, quod in ipso iudicio eius ipsius cupiditatis cuius insimularetur suspicionem augeret, alii amentiam, cui comperendinato, cum tam multi testes dixissent, quicquam illorum veniret in mentem. autem Sisennae, credo, qui audissent quae in istum testimonia essent dicta, oculos de isto nusquam deicere neque ab argento digitum discedere.
34. It is the part of a sagacious judge, from small circumstances to form his opinion of every man's covetousness or incontinence. And will any one believe that this man when praetor, was able to keep either his covetousness or his hands from the plate of the Sicilians, when, though a defendant, and a defendant within two days of judgment, a man in reality, and in the opinion of all men as good as already condemned, he could not in a large assembly restrain himself from handling and examining the plate of Lucius Sisenna?
34. boni iudicis parvis ex rebus coniecturam facere unius cuiusque et cupiditatis et continentiae. reus, et reus lege comperendinatus, re et opinione hominum paene damnatus, temperare non potuerit maximo conventu quin L. Sisennae argentum tractaret et consideraret, hunc praetorem in provincia quisquam putabit a Siculorum argento cupiditatem aut manus abstinere potuisse?
35. But that my discourse may return to Lilybaeum, from which I have made this digression, there is a man named Diocles, the son-in-law of Pamphilus, of that Pamphilus from whom the ewer was taken away, whose surname is Popillius. From this man he took away every article on his sideboard where his plate was set out. He may say, if he pleases, that he had bought them. In fact, in this case, by reason of the magnitude of the robbery, an entry of it, I imagine, has been made in the account-books. He ordered Timarchides to value the plate. How did he do it? At as low a price as any one ever valued any thing presented to an actor. Although I have been for some time acting foolishly in saying as much about your purchases, and in asking whether you bought the things, and how, and at what price you bought them, when I can settle all that by one word. Produce me a written list of what plate you acquired in the province of Sicily, from whom, and at what price you bought each article.
35. ut Lilybaeum, unde digressa est oratio, revertamur, Diocles est, Pamphili gener, illius a quo hydria ablata est, Popilius cognomine. hoc abaci vasa omnia, ut exposita fuerunt, abstulit. se licet emisse; etenim hic propter magnitudinem furti sunt, ut opinor, litterae factae. Timarchidem aestimare argentum, quo modo qui umquam tenuissime in donationem histrionum aestimavit. iam dudum ego erro qui tam multa de tuis emptionibus verba faciam, et quaeram utrum emeris necne et quo modo et quanti emeris, quod verbo transigere possum. mihi scriptum quid argenti in provincia Sicilia pararis, unde quidque aut quanti emeris.