36. What will you do? Though I ought not to ask you for these accounts, for I ought to have your account-books and to produce them. But you say that you never kept any accounts of your expenses in these years. Make me out at least this one which I am asking for, the account of the plate, and I will not mind the rest at present. “I have no writings of the sort; I cannot produce any accounts.” What then is to be done? What do you think that these judges can do? Your house was full of most beautiful statues already, before your praetorship; many were placed in your villas, many were deposited with your friends; many were given and presented to other people; yet you have no accounts speaking of any single one having been bought. All the plate in Sicilyhas been taken away. There is nothing left to any one that can be called his own. A scandalous defence is invented, that the praetor bought all that plate; and yet that cannot be proved by any accounts. If you do produce any accounts, still there is no entry in them how you have acquired what you have got. But of these years during which you say that you bought the greatest number of things, you produce no accounts at all. Must you not inevitably be, condemned, both by the accounts which you do, and by those which you do not produce?
36. fit? non debebam ego abs te has litteras poscere; me enim tabulas tuas habere et proferre oportebat. negas te horum annorum aliquot confecisse. hoc quod postulo de argento, de reliquo videro. “scriptum habeo nec possum edere.” futurum igitur est? quid existimas hosce iudices facere posse? plena signorum pulcherrimorum iam ante praeturam, multa ad villas tuas posita, multa deposita apud amicos, multa aliis data atque donata; tabulae nullum indicant emptum. argentum ablatum ex Sicilia est, nihil cuiquam quod suum dici vellet relictum. improba defensio, praetorem omne id argentum coemisse; tamen id ipsum tabulis demonstrari non potest., quas tabulas profers, in his quae habes quo modo habeas scriptum non est, horum autem temporum cum te plurimas res emisse dicis tabulas omnino nullas profers, nonne te et prolatis et non prolatis tabulis condemnari necesse est?
37. You also took away at Lilybaeumwhatever silver vessels you chose from Marcus Caelius, a Roman knight, a most excellent young man. You did not hesitate to take away the whole furniture, of Caius Cacurius, a most active and accomplished man, and of the greatest influence in his city. You took away, with the knowledge of every body, a very large and very beautiful table of citron-wood from Quintus Lutatius Diodorus, who, owing to the kind exertion of his interest by Quintus Catulus, was made a Roman citizen by Lucius Sulla. I do not object to you that you stripped and plundered a most worthy imitator of yours in his whole character, Apollonius, the son of Nico, a citizen of Drepanum, who is now called Aulus Clodius, of all his exquisitely wrought silver plate;—I say nothing of that. For he does not think that any injury has been done to him, because you came to his assistance when he was a ruined man, with the rope round his neck, and shared with him the property belonging to their father, of which he had plundered his wards at Drepanum. I am even very glad if you took anything from him, and I say that nothing was ever better done by you. But it certainly was not right that the statue of Apollo should have been taken away from Lyso of Lilybaeum, I a most eminent man, with whom you had been staying as a guest. But you will say that you bought it—I know that—for six hundred sesterces. So I suppose: I know it, I say; I will produce the accounts; and yet that ought not to have been done. Will you say that the drinking vessels with emblems of Lilybaeumon them were, bought from Heius, the minor to whom Marcellus is guardian, whom you had plundered of a large sum of money, or will you confess that they were taken by force?
37. a M. Coelio, equite Romano, lectissimo adulescente, quae voluisti Lilybaei abstulisti, tu C. Cacuri, prompti hominis et experientis et in primis gratiosi, supellectilem omnem auferre non dubitasti, tu maximam et pulcherrimam mensam citream a Q. Lutatio Diodoro, qui Q. Catuli beneficio ab L. Sulla civis Romanus factus est, omnibus scientibus Lilybaei abstulisti. tibi obicio quod hominem dignissimum tuis moribus, Apollonium, Niconis filium, Drepanitanum, qui nunc A. Clodius vocatur, omni argento optime facto spoliasti ac depeculatus es; taceo. enim putat ille sibi iniuriam factam, propterea quod homini iam perdito et collum in laqueum inserenti subvenisti, cum pupillis Drepanitanis bona patria erepta cum illo partitus es; gaudeo etiam si quid ab eo abstulisti, et abs te nihil rectius factum esse dico. A Lysone vero Lilybitano, primo homine, apud quem deversatus es, Apollinis signum ablatum certe non oportuit. te emisse., HS mille. “opinor.”, inquam. “Proferam litteras.” id factum non oportuit. A pupillo Heio, cui C. Marcellus tutor est, a quo pecuniam grandem eripueras, scaphia cum emblematis Lilybaei utrum empta esse dicis an confiteris erepta?
38. But why do I enumerate all his ordinary iniquities in affairs of this sort, which appear to consist only in robberies committed by him, and in losses borne by those whom he plundered? Listen, if you please, O judges, to an action of such a sort as will prove to you clearly his extraordinary madness and frenzy, rather than any ordinary covetousness. There is a man of Melita, called Diodorus, who has already given evidence before you. He has been now living at Lilybaeummany years; a man of great nobility at home, and of great credit and popularity with the people among whom he has settled, on account of his virtue. It is reported to Verres of this man that he has some exceedingly fine specimens of chased work; and among them two goblets called Thericlean, made by the hand of mentor with the most exquisite skill. And when Verres heard of this, he was inflamed with such a desire, not only of beholding, but also of appropriating them, that he summoned Diodorus, and demanded them. He replied, as was natural for a man who took great pride in them, that he had not got them at Lilybaeum; that he had left them at Melita, in the house of a relation of his.
38. quid ego istius in eius modi rebus mediocris iniurias colligo, quae tantum modo in furtis istius et damnis eorum a quibus auferebat versatae esse videantur?, si vultis, iudices, rem eius modi ut amentiam singularem et furorem iam, non cupiditatem eius perspicere possitis. Melitensis Diodorus est, qui apud vos antea testimonium dixit. Lilybaei multos iam annos habitat, homo et domi nobilis et apud eos quo se contulit propter virtutem splendidus et gratiosus. hoc Verri dicitur habere eum perbona toreumata, in his pocula quaedam, quae Thericlia nominantur, Mentoris manu summo artificio facta. iste ubi audivit, sic cupiditate inflammatus est non solum inspiciendi verum etiam auferendi ut Diodorum ad se vocaret ac posceret., qui illa non invitus haberet, respondit Lilybaei se non habere, Melitae apud quendam propinquum suum reliquisse.
39. On this he immediately sends men on whom he can rely to Melita; he writes to certain inhabitants of Melitato search out those vessels for him; he desires Diodorus to give them letters to that relation of his—the time appeared to him endless till he could see those pieces of plate. Diodorus, a prudent and careful man, who wished to keep his own property, writes to his relation to make answer to those men who came from Verres, that he had sent the cups to Lilybaeuma few days before. In the meantime he himself leaves the place. He preferred leaving his home, to staying in it and losing that exquisitely wrought silver work. But when Verres heard of this, he was so agitated that he seemed to every one to be raving, and to be beyond all question mad. Because he could not steal the plate himself, he said that he had been robbed by Diodorus of some exquisitely wrought vessels; he poured out threats against the absent Diodorus; he used to roar out before people; sometimes he could not restrain his tears. We have heard in the mythology of Eriphyla being so covetous that when she had seen a necklace, made, I suppose, of gold and jewels, she was so excited by its beauty, that she betrayed her husband for the sake of it. His covetousness was similar; but in one respect more violent and more senseless, because she was desiring a thing which she had seen, while his wishes were excited not only by his eyes, but even by his ears.
39. iste continuo mittit homines certos Melitam, scribit ad quosdam Melitensis ut ea vasa perquirant, rogat Diodorum ut ad illum propinquum suum det litteras; nihil ei longius videbatur quam dum illud videret argentum. Diodorus, homo frugi ac diligens, qui sua servare vellet, ad propinquum suum scribit ut iis qui a Verre venissent responderet illud argentum se paucis illis diebus misisse Lilybaeum. interea recedit; abesse a domo paulisper maluit quam praesens illud optime factum argentum amittere. ubi iste audivit, usque eo commotus est ut sine ulla dubitatione insanire omnibus ac furere videretur. non potuerat eripere argentum ipse Diodoro, erepta sibi vasa optime facta dicebat; minitari absenti Diodoro, vociferari palam, lacrimas interdum non tenere. Eriphylam accepimus in fabulis ea cupiditate ut, cum vidisset monile, ut opinor, ex auro et gemmis, pulchritudine eius incensa salutem viri proderet. Similis istius cupiditas, hoc etiam acrior atque insanior, quod illa cupiebat id quod viderat, huius libidines non solum oculis sed etiam auribus excitabantur.
40. He orders Diodorus to be sought for over the whole province. He had by this time struck his camp, packed up his baggage, and left Sicily. Verres, in order by some means or other to bring the man back to the province, devises this plan, if it is to be called a plan, and not rather a piece of madness. He sets up one of the men he calls his hounds, to say that he wishes to institute a prosecution against Diodorus of Melitafor a capital offence. At first all men wondered at such a thing being imputed to Diodorus, a most quiet man, and as far removed as any man from all suspicion, not only of crime, but of even the slightest irregularity. But it soon became evident, that all this was done for the sake of his silver. Verres does not hesitate to order the prosecution to be instituted; and that, I imagine, was the first instance of his allowing an accusation to be made against an absent man.
40. Diodorum tota provincia iubet: ille ex Sicilia iam castra commoverat et vasa collegerat., ut aliquo modo in provinciam illum revocaret, hanc excogitat rationem, si haec ratio potius quam amentia nominanda est. de suis canibus quendam qui dicat se Diodorum Melitensem rei capitalis reum velle facere. mirum omnibus videri Diodorum reum, hominem quietissimum, ab omni non modo facinoris verum etiam minimi errati suspicione remotissimum; deinde esse perspicuum fieri omnia illa propter argentum. non dubitat iubere nomen referri, et tum primum ut opinor istum absentis nomen recepisse.
41. The matter was notorious over all Sicily, that men were prosecuted for capital offences because the praetor coveted their chased silver plate; and that prosecutions were instituted against them not only when they were present, but even in their absence. Diodorus goes to Rome, and putting on mourning, calls on all his patrons and friends; relates the affair to every one. Earnest letters are written to Verres by his father, and by his friends, warning him to take care what he did, and what steps he took respecting Diodorus; that the matter was notorious and very unpopular; that he must be out of his senses; that this one charge would ruin him if he did not take care. At that time he considered his father, if not in the light of a parent, at least in that of a man. He had not yet sufficiently prepared himself for a trial; it was his first year in the province; he was not, as he was by the time of the affair of Sthenius, loaded with money. And so his frenzy was checked a little, not by shame, but by fear and alarm. He does not dare to condemn Diodorus; he takes his name out of the list of defendants while he is absent. In the meantime Diodorus, for nearly three years, as long as that man was praetor, was banished from the province and from his home.
41. clara Sicilia tota, propter caelati argenti cupiditatem reos fieri rerum capitalium, neque solum reos fieri, sed etiam absentis. Diodorus Romae sordidatus circum patronos atque hospites cursare, rem omnibus narrare. Litterae mittuntur isti a patre vehementes, ab amicis item, videret quid ageret de Diodoro, quo progrederetur; rem claram esse et invidiosam; insanire hominem, periturum hoc uno crimine, nisi cavisset. etiam tum patrem, si non in parentis, at in hominum numero putabat; ad iudicium nondum se satis instruxerat; primus annus erat provinciae, non erat ut in Sthenio, iam refertus pecunia. furor eius paululum non pudore, sed metu ac timore repressus est. Diodorum non audet absentem, de reis eximit. Diodorus interea praetore isto prope triennium provincia domoque caruit.
42. Every one else, not only Sicilians, but Roman citizens too, settled this in their minds, that, since he had carried his covetousness to such an extent, there was nothing which any one could expect to preserve or retain in his own possession if it was admired ever so little by Verres. But after they understood that that brave man, Quintus Arrius, whom the province was eagerly looking for, was not his successor, they then settled that they could keep nothing so carefully shut up or hidden away, as not to be most open and visible to his covetousness. After that, he took away from an honourable and highly esteemed Roman knight, named Cnaeus Salidius, whose son he knew to be a senator of the Roman people and a judge, some beautiful silver horses which had belonged to Quintus Maximus. I did not mean to say this, O judges, for he bought those, he did not steal them;
42. , non solum Siculi sed etiam cives Romani, hoc statuerant, quoniam iste tantum cupiditate progrederetur, nihil esse quod quisquam putaret se, quod isti paulo magis placeret, conservare aut domi retinere posse; postea vero quam intellexerunt isti virum fortem, quem summe provincia exspectabat, Q. Arrium, non succedere, statuerunt nihil se tam clausum neque tam reconditum posse habere quod non istius cupiditati apertissimum promptissimumque esset. iste ab equite Romano splendido et gratioso, Cn. Calidio, cuius filium sciebat senatorem populi Romani et iudicem esse, eculeos argenteos nobilis, qui Q. Maximi fuerant, aufert.
43. I wish I had not mentioned them. Now he will boast, and have a fine ride on these horses. “I bought them, I have paid the money for them.” I have no doubt account books also will be produced. It is well worth while. Give me then the account-books. You are at liberty to get rid of this charge respecting Calidius, as long as I can get a sight of these accounts; still, if you had bought them, what ground had Calidius for complaining at Rome, that, though he had been living so many years in Sicilyas a trader, you were the only person who had so despised and so insulted him, as to plunder him in common with all the rest of the Sicilians? what ground had he for declaring that he would demand his plate back again from you, if he had sold it to you of his own free will? Moreover, how could you avoid restoring it to Cnaeus Calidius; especially when he was such an intimate friend of Lucius Sisenna, your defender, and as you had restored their property to the other friends of Sisenna?
43. huc incidi, iudices; emit enim, non abstulit; nollem dixisse; iactabit se et in his equitabit eculeis. “, pecuniam solvi.”. “tabulae proferentur.” tanti; cedo tabulas. sane crimen hoc Calidianum, dum ego tabulas aspicere possim. tamen quid erat quod Calidius Romae quereretur se, cum tot annos in Sicilia negotiaretur, a te solo ita esse contemptum, ita despectum ut etiam una cum ceteris Siculis despoliaretur, si emeras? erat quod confirmabat se abs te argentum esse repetiturum, si id tibi sua voluntate vendiderat? porro posses facere ut Cn. Calidio non redderes? praesertim cum is L. Sisenna, defensore tuo, tam familiariter uteretur, et cum ceteris familiaribus Sisennae reddidisses.
44. Lastly, I do not suppose you will deny that by the intervention of Potamo, a friend of yours, you restored his plate to Lucius Cordius, an honourable man, but not more highly esteemed than Cnaeus Calidius; and it was he who made the cause of the rest more difficult to plead before you; for though you had promised many men to restore them their property, yet, after Cordius had stated in his evidence that you had restored him his, you desisted from making any more restorations, because you saw that you lost your plunder, and yet could not escape the evidence against you. Under all other praetors Cnaeus Calidius, a Roman knight, was allowed to have plate finely wrought; he was permitted to be able from his own stores to adorn and furnish a banquet handsomely, when he had invited a magistrate or any superior officer. Many men in power and authority have been with Cnaeus Calidius at his house; no one was ever found so mad as to take from him that admirable and splendid plate; no one was found bold enough to ask for it; no one impudent enough to beg him to sell it.
44. non opinor negaturum esse te homini honesto, sed non gratiosiori quam Cn. Calidius est, L. Curidio, te argentum per Potamonem, amicum tuum, reddidisse. quidem ceterorum causam apud te difficiliorem fecit. cum te compluribus confirmasses redditurum, posteaquam Curidius pro testimonio dixit te sibi reddidisse, finem reddendi fecisti, quod intellexisti praeda te de manibus emissa testimonium tamen effugere non posse. Cn. Calidio, equiti Romano, per omnis alios praetores licuit habere argentum bene factum, licuit posse domesticis copiis, cum magistratum aut aliquem superiorem invitasset, ornare et apparare convivium. domi Cn. Calidi cum potestate atque imperio fuerunt: nemo inventus est tam amens qui illud argentum tam praeclarum ac tam nobile eriperet, nemo tam audax qui posceret, nemo tam impudens qui postularet ut venderet.
45. For it is an arrogant thing, an intolerable thing, O judges, for a praetor to say to an honourable, and rich, and well-appointed man in his province, “Sell me those chased goblets.” For it is saying, “You do not deserve to have things which are so beautifully made; they are better suited to a man of my stamp.” Are you, O Verres, more worthy than Calidius? whom (not to compare your way of life with his, for they are not to be compared, but) I will compare you with in respect of this very dignity owing to which you make yourself out his superior. You gave eighty thousand sestercesto canvassing agents to procure your election as praetor; you gave three hundred thousand to an accuser not to press hardly upon you: do you, on that account, look down upon and despise the equestrian order? Is it on that account that it seemed to you a scandalous thing that Calidius should have anything that you admired rather than that you should?
45. Superbum est enim, iudices, et non ferendum dicere praetorem in provincia homini honesto, locupleti, splendido, “mihi vasa caelata”; hoc est enim dicere, “es dignus tu qui habeas quae tam bene facta sunt, meae dignitatis ista sunt.” dignior, Verres, quam Calidius? qui, ut non conferam vitam neque existimationem tuam cum illius—neque enim est conferenda; hoc ipsum conferam quo tu te superiorem fingis; quod HS ccc divisoribus ut praetor renuntiarere dedisti, trecenta accusatori ne tibi odiosus esset, ea re contemnis equestrem ordinem et despicis? ea re tibi indignum visum est quicquam, quod tibi placeret, Calidium potius habere quam te?
46. He has been long boasting of this transaction with Calidius, and telling every one that he bought the things. Did you also buy that censer of Lucius Papilius, a man of the highest reputation, wealth, and honour, and a Roman knight? who stated in his evidence that, when you had begged for it to look at, you returned it with the emblems torn off; so that you may understand that it is all taste in that man, not avarice; that it is the fine work that he covets, not the silver. Nor was this abstinence exercised only in the case of Papirius; he practiced exactly the same conduct with respect to every censer in Sicily; and it is quite incredible how many beautifully wrought censers there were. I imagine that, when Sicilywas at the height of its power and opulence, there were extensive workshops in that island; for before that man went thither as praetor there was no house tolerably rich, in which there were not these things, even if there was no other silver plate besides; namely, a large dish with figures and images of the gods embossed on it, a goblet which the women used for sacred purposes, and a censer. And all these were antique, and executed with the most admirable skill, so that one may suspect everything else in Sicilywas on a similar scale of magnificence; but that though fortune had deprived them of much, those things were still preserved among them which were retained for purposes of religion.
46. se iam dudum de Calidio, narrat omnibus emisse se. etiam de L. Papinio, viro primario, locupleti honestoque equite Romano, turibulum emisti? qui pro testimonio dixit te, cum inspiciendum poposcisses, evulso emblemate remisisse; ut intellegatis in homine intellegentiam esse non avaritiam, artifici cupidum non argenti fuisse. solum in Papinio fuit hac abstinentia; tenuit hoc institutum in turibulis omnibus quaecumque in Sicilia fuerunt. est autem quam multa et quam praeclara fuerint. tum cum Sicilia florebat opibus et copiis magna artificia fuisse in ea insula. domus erat ante istum praetorem nulla paulo locupletior qua in domo haec non essent, etiamsi praeterea nihil esset argenti, patella grandis cum sigillis ac simulacris deorum, patera qua mulieres ad res divinas uterentur, turibulum,—haec autem omnia antiquo opere et summo artificio facta, ut hoc liceret suspicari, fuisse aliquando apud Siculos peraeque pro portione cetera, sed, quibus multa fortuna ademisset, tamen apud eos remansisse ea quae religio retinuisset.
47. I said just now, O judges, that there were many censers, in almost every house in fact; I assert also, that now there is not even one left. What is the meaning of this? what monster, what prodigy did we send into the province? Does it not appear to you that he desired, when he returned to Rome, to satisfy not the covetousness of one man, not his own eyes only, but the insane passion of every covetous man, for as soon as he ever came into any city, immediately the Cibyratic hounds of his were slipped, to search and find cut everything. If they found any large vessel, any considerable work, they brought it to him with joy; if they could hunt out any smaller vessel of the same sort, they looked on those as a sort of lesser game, whether they were dishes, cups, censers, or anything else. What weepings of women, what lamentations do you suppose took place over these things? things which may perhaps seem insignificant to you, but which excite great and bitter indignation, especially among women, who grieve when those things are torn from their hands which they have been accustomed to use in religious ceremonies, which they have received from their ancestors, and which have always been in their family.
47. , iudices, multa fuisse fere apud omnis Siculos: ego idem confirmo nunc ne unum quidem esse. hoc est? quod hoc monstrum, quod prodigium in provinciam misimus? vobis id egisse videtur ut non unius libidinem, non suos oculos, sed omnium cupidissimorum insanias, cum Romam revertisset, expleret? simul atque in oppidum quodpiam venerat, immittebantur illi continuo Cibyratici canes, qui investigabant et perscrutabantur omnia. quod erat grande vas et maius opus inventum, laeti adferebant; si minus eius modi quidpiam venari potuerant, illa quidem certe pro lepusculis capiebantur, patellae, paterae, turibula.
48. Do not now wait while I follow up this charge from door to door, and show you that he stole a goblet from Aeschylus, the Tyndaritan; a dish from another citizen of Tyndarisnamed Thraso; a censer from Nymphodorus of Agrigentum. When I produce my witnesses from Sicilyhe may select whom he pleases for me to examine about dishes, goblets, and censers. Not only no town, no single house that is tolerably well off will be found to have been free from the injurious treatment of this man; who, even if he had come to a banquet, if he saw any finely wrought plate, could not, O judges, keep his hands from it. There is a man named Cnaeus Pompeius Philo, who was a native of Tyndaris; he gave Verres a supper at his visa in the country near Tyndaris; he did what Sicilians did not dare to do, but what, because he was a citizen of Rome, he thought he could do with impunity, he put before him a dish on which were some exceedingly beautiful figures. Verres, the moment he saw it, determined to rob his host's table of that memorial of the Penates and of the gods of hospitality. But yet, in accordance with what I have said before of his great moderation, he restored the rest of the silver after he had torn off the figures; so free was he from all avarice!
48. quos putatis fletus mulierum, quas lamentationes fieri solitas esse in hisce rebus? quae forsitan vobis parvae esse videantur, sed magnum et acerbum dolorem commovent, mulierculis praesertim, cum eripiuntur e manibus ea quibus ad res divinas uti consuerunt, quae a suis acceperunt, quae in familia semper fuerunt. nolite exspectare dum ego haec crimina agam ostiatim, ab Aeschylo Tyndaritano istum pateram abstulisse, a Thrasone item Tyndaritano patellam, a Nymphodoro Agrigentino turibulum. testis ex Sicilia dabo, quem volet ille eligat quem ego interrogem de patellis, pateris, turibulis: non modo oppidum nullum, sed ne domus quidem ulla paulo locupletior expers huius iniuriae reperietur. cum in convivium venisset, si quicquam caelati aspexerat, manus abstinere, iudices, non poterat. Cn. Pompeius est, Philo qui fuit, Tyndaritanus. cenam isti dabat apud villam in Tyndaritano. quod Siculi non audebant; ille, civis Romanus quod erat, impunius id se facturum putavit; adposuit patellam in qua sigilla erant egregia. continuo ut vidit, non dubitavit illud insigne penatium hospitaliumque deorum ex hospitali mensa tollere, sed tamen, quod ante de istius abstinentia dixeram, sigillis avulsis reliquum argentum sine ulla avaritia reddidit.
49. What want you more? Did he not do the same thing to Eupolemus of Calacta, a noble man, connected with, and an intimate friend of the Luculli; a man who is now serving in the army under Lucius Lucullus? He was supping with him; the rest of the silver which he had set before him had no ornament on it, lest he himself should also be left without any ornament; but there were also two goblets, of no large size, but with figures on them. He, as if he had been a professional diner-out, who was not to go away without a present, on the spot, in the sight of all the other guests, tore off the figures. I do not attempt to enumerate all his exploits of this sort; it is neither necessary nor possible. I only produce to you tokens and samples of each description of his varied and universal rascality. Nor did he behave in these affairs as if he would some day or other be called to account for them, but altogether as if he was either never likely to be prosecuted, or else as if the more he stole, the less would be his danger when he was brought before the court; inasmuch as he did these things which I am speaking of not secretly, not by the instrumentality of friends or agents, but openly, from his high position, by his own power and authority.
49. ? Eupolemo Calactino, homini nobili, Lucullorum hospiti ac perfamiliari, qui nunc apud exercitum cum L. Lucullo est, non idem fecit? apud eum; argentum ille ceterum purum adposuerat, ne purus ipse relinqueretur, duo pocula non magna, verum tamen cum emblemate. tamquam festivum acroama, ne sine corollario de convivio discederet, ibidem convivis spectantibus emblemata evellenda curavit. ego nunc istius facta omnia enumerare conor, neque opus est nec fieri ullo modo potest: tantum unius cuiusque de varia improbitate generis indicia apud vos et exempla profero. enim ita se gessit in his rebus tamquam rationem aliquando esset redditurus, sed prorsus ita quasi aut reus numquam esset futurus, aut, quo plura abstulisset, eo minore periculo in iudicium venturus esset; qui haec quae dico iam non occulte, non per amicos atque interpretes, sed palam de loco superiore ageret pro imperio et potestate.
50. When he had come to Catina, a wealthy, honourable, influential city, he ordered Dionysiarchus the proagorus, that is to say, the chief magistrate, to be summoned before him; he openly orders him to take care that all the silver plate which was in anybody's house at Catina, was collected together and brought to him. Did you not hear Philarchus of Centuripa, a man of the highest position as to noble birth, and virtue, and riches, say the same thing on his oath; namely, that Verres had charged and commanded him to collect together, and order to be conveyed to him, all the silver plate at Centuripa, by far the largest and wealthiest city in all Sicily? In the same manner at Agyrium, all the Corinthian vessels there were there, in accordance with his command, were transported to Syracuseby the agency of Apollodorus, whom you have heard as a witness.
50. Catinam cum venisset, oppidum locuples, honestum, copiosum, Dionysiarchum ad se proagorum, hoc est summum magistratum, vocari iubet; ei palam imperat ut omne argentum quod apud quemque esset Catinae conquirendum curaret et ad se adferendum. Centuripinum, primum hominem genere, virtute, pecunia, non hoc idem iuratum dicere audistis, sibi istum negotium dedisse atque imperasse ut Centuripinis, in civitate totius Siciliae multo maxima et locupletissima, omne argentum conquireret et ad se comportari iuberet? Agyrio similiter istius imperio vasa Corinthia per Apollodorum, quem testem audistis, Syracusas deportata sunt.
51. But the most extraordinary conduct of all was this; when that painstaking and industrious praetor had arrived at Haluntium, he would not himself go up into the town, because the ascent was steep and difficult; but he ordered Archagathus of Haluntium, one of the noblest men, not merely in his own city, but in all Sicily, to be summoned before him, and gave him a chance to take care that all the chased silver that there was at Haluntium, and every specimen of Corinthian work too, should be at once taken down from the town to the seaside. Archagathus went up into the town. That noble man, as one who wished to be loved and esteemed by his fellow citizens, was very indignant at having such an office imposed upon him, and did not know what to do. He announces the commands he has received. He orders every one to produce what they had. There was great consternation, for the tyrant himself had not gone away to any distance; lying on a litter by the sea-side below the town, he was waiting for Archagathus and the silver plate. What a gathering of people do you suppose took place in the sown? what an uproar? what weeping of women? they who saw it would have said that the Trojan horse had been introduced, and that the city was taken.
51. vero optima [est ], quod, cum Haluntium venisset praetor laboriosus et diligens, ipse in oppidum noluit accedere, quod erat difficili ascensu atque arduo, Archagathum Haluntinum, hominem non solum domi, sed tota Sicilia in primis nobilem, vocari iussit. negotium dedit ut, quidquid Halunti esset argenti caelati aut si quid etiam Corinthiorum, id omne statim ad mare ex oppido deportaretur. in oppidum Archagathus. nobilis, qui a suis amari et diligi vellet, ferebat graviter illam sibi ab isto provinciam datam, nec quid faceret habebat; pronuntiat quid sibi imperatum esset; iubet omnis proferre quod haberent. erat summus; ipse enim tyrannus non discedebat longius; Archagathum et argentum in lectica cubans ad mare infra oppidum exspectabat.
52. Vessels were brought out without their cases; others were wrenched out of the hands of women; many people's doors were broken open, and their locks forced. For what else can you suppose? Even if ever, at a time of war and tumult, arms are demanded of private citizens, still men give them unwillingly, though they know that they are giving them for the common safety. Do not suppose then that any one produced his carved plate out of his house for another man to steal, without the greatest distress. Everything is brought down to the shore. The Cibyratic brothers are summoned; they condemn some articles; whatever they approve of has its figures in relief or its embossed emblems torn off. And so the Haluntines, having had all their ornaments wrenched off, returned home with the plain silver.
52. concursum in oppido factum putatis, quem clamorem, quem porro fletum mulierum? qui videret equum Troianum introductum, urbem captam diceret. sine thecis vasa, extorqueri alia de manibus mulierum, ecfringi multorum foris, revelli claustra. enim putatis? si quando conquiruntur a privatis in bello ac tumultu, tamen homines inviti dant, etsi ad salutem communem dari sentiunt, ne quem putetis sine maximo dolore argentum caelatum domo, quod alter eriperet, protulisse. deferuntur. Cibyratae fratres vocantur; pauca improbant; quae probarant, iis crustae aut emblemata detrahebantur. Haluntini excussis deliciis cum argento puro domum revertuntur.
53. Was there ever, O judges, a dragnet of such a sort as this in that province? People have sometimes during their year of office diverted some part of the public property to their own use, in the most secret manner; sometimes they even secretly plundered some private citizen of something; and still they were condemned. And if you ask me, though I am detracting somewhat from my own credit by saying so, I think those were the real accusers, who traced the robberies of such men as this by scent, or by some lightly imprinted footsteps; for what is it that we are doing in respect of Verres, who has wallowed in the mud till we can find him out by the traces of his whole body? Is it a great undertaking to say anything against a man, who while he was passing by a place, having his litter put down to rest for a little time, plundered a whole city, house by house; without condescending to any pretences, openly, by his own authority, and by an absolute command? But still, that he might be able to say that he had bought them, he orders Archagathus to give those men, to whom the plate had belonged, some little money, just for form's sake. Archagathus found a few who would accept the money, and those he paid. And still Verres never paid Archagathus that money. Archagathus intended to claim it at Rome; but Cnaeus Lentulus Marcellinus demanded him, as you heard him state himself. Read the evidence of Archagathus, and of Lentulus,— and that you may not imagine that the man wished to heap up such a mass of figures without any reason, just see at what rate he valued you, and the opinion of the Roman people, and the laws, and the courts of justice, and the Sicilian witnesses and traders.
53. umquam, iudices, huiusce modi everriculum ulla 24 in provincia fuit? aliquid de publico quam obscurissime per magistratum solebant; etiam cum aliquid a privato non numquam, occulte auferebant, et ii tamen condemnabantur. si quaeritis, ut ipse de me detraham, illos ego accusatores puto fuisse qui eius modi hominum furta odore aut aliquo leviter presso vestigio persequebantur. nos quidem quid facimus in Verre, quem in luto volutatum totius corporis vestigiis invenimus? est in eum dicere aliquid qui praeteriens, lectica paulisper deposita, non per praestigias sed palam per potestatem uno imperio ostiatim totum oppidum compilaverit. tamen, ut posset dicere se emisse, Archagatho imperat ut illis aliquid, quorum argentum fuerat, nummulorum dicis causa daret. Archagathus paucos qui vellent accipere; iis dedit. Eos nummos tamen iste Archagatho non reddidit. Romae repetere Archagathus; Cn. Lentulus Marcellinus dissuasit, sicut ipsum dicere audistis.. Archagathi et Lentvli testimonium.
54. After he had collected such a vast number of figures that he had not left one single figure to anybody, he established an immense shop in the palace at Syracuse; he openly orders all the manufacturers, and carvers, and goldsmiths to be summoned—and he himself had many in his own employ; he collects a great multitude of men; he kept them employed uninterruptedly for eight months, though all that time no vessels were made of anything but gold. In that time he had so skillfully wrought the figures which he had torn off the goblets and censers, into golden goblets, or had so ingeniously joined them into golden cups, that you would say that they had been made for that very purpose; and he, the praetor, who says that it was owing to his vigilance that peace was maintained in Sicily, was accustomed to sit in his tunic and dark cloak the greater part of the day in this workshop.
54. ne forte hominem existimetis hanc tantam vim emblematum sine causa coacervare voluisse, videte quanti vos, quanti existimationem populi Romani, quanti leges et iudicia, quanti testis Siculos [negotiatores ] fecerit. tantam multitudinem collegerat emblematum ut ne unum quidem cuiquam reliquisset, instituit officinam Syracusis in regia maximam. artifices omnis, caelatores ac vascularios, convocari iubet, et ipse suos compluris habebat. Eos concludit, magnam hominum multitudinem. octo continuos his opus non defuit, cum vas nullum fieret nisi aureum. illa, ex patellis et turibulis quae evellerat, ita scite in aureis poculis inligabat, ita apte in scaphiis aureis includebat, ut ea ad illam rem nata esse diceres; ipse tamen praetor, qui sua vigilantia pacem in Sicilia dicit fuisse, in hac officina maiorem partem diei cum tunica pulla sedere solebat et pallio.
55. I would not venture, O judges, to mention these things, if I were not afraid that you might perhaps say that you had heard more about that man from others in common conversation, than you had heard from me in this trial; for who is there who has not heard of this workshop, of the golden vessels, of Verres's tunic and dark cloak? Name any respectable man you please out of the whole body of settlers at Syracuse, I will produce ham; there will not be one person who will not say that he has either seen this or heard of it.
55. ego, iudices, non auderem proferre, ni vererer ne forte plura de isto ab aliis in sermone quam a me in iudicio vos audisse diceretis. enim est qui de hac officina, qui de vasis aureis, qui de istius pallio non audierit? voles e conventu Syracusano virum bonum nominato; producam; nemo erit quin hoc se audisse aut vidisse dicat.
56. Alas for the age! alas for the degeneracy of our manners! I will not mention anything of any great antiquity; there are many of you, O judges, who knew Lucius Piso, the father of this Lucius Piso, who was praetor. When he was praetor in Spain, in which province he was slain, somehow or other, while he was practicing his exercises in arms, the golden ring which he had was broken and crushed. As he wanted to get himself another ring, he ordered a goldsmith to be summoned into the forum before his throne of office, at Corduba, and openly weighed him out the gold. He ordered the man to set up his bench in the forum, and to make him a ring in the presence of every one. Perhaps in truth some may say that he was too exact, and to this extent any one who chooses may blame him, but no further. Still such conduct was allowable for him, for he was the son of Lucius Piso, of that man who first made the law about extortion and embezzlement.
56. O tempora, O mores! nimium vetus proferam. vestrum aliquam multi qui L. Pisonem cognorint, huius L. Pisonis, qui praetor fuit, patrem. cum esset in Hispania praetor, qua in provincia occisus est, nescio quo pacto, dum armis exercetur, anulus aureus quem habebat fractus et comminutus est. vellet sibi anulum facere, aurificem iussit vocari in forum ad sellam Cordubae et palam appendit aurum; hominem in foro iubet sellam ponere et facere anulum omnibus praesentibus. fortasse dicet aliquis hunc diligentem; hactenus reprehendet, si qui volet, nihil amplius. fuit ei concedendum; filius enim L. Pisonis erat, eius qui primus de pecuniis repetundis legem tulit.
57. It is quite ridiculous for me to speak of Verres now, when I have just been speaking of Piso the Thrifty; still, see what a difference there is between the men: that man, while he was making some sideboards full of golden vessels, did not care what his reputation was, not only in Sicily, but also at Romein the court of justice; the other wished all Spainto know to half an ounce how much gold it took to make a praetor's ring. Forsooth, as the one proved his right to his name, so did the other to his surname. It is utterly impossible for me either to retain in my memory, or to embrace in my speech, all his exploits. I wish just to touch briefly on the different kinds of deeds, done by him, just as here the ring of Piso reminded me of what had otherwise entirely escaped my recollection. From how many honourable men do you imagine that that man tore the golden rings from off their fingers? He never hesitated to do so whenever he was pleased with either the jewels or the fashion of the ring belonging to any one. I am going to mention an incredible fact, but still one so notorious that I do not think that he himself will deny it.
57. est me nunc de Verre dicere, cum de Pisone Frugi dixerim; verum tamen quantum intersit videte. cum aliquot abacorum faceret vasa aurea, non laboravit quid non modo in Sicilia verum etiam Romae in iudicio audiret: ille in auri semuncia totam Hispaniam scire voluit unde praetori anulus fieret. ut hic nomen suum comprobavit, sic ille cognomen. modo possum omnia istius facta aut memoria consequi aut oratione complecti: genera ipsa cupio breviter attingere, ut hic modo me commonuit Pisonis anulus quod totum effluxerat. multis istum putatis hominibus honestis de digitis anulos abstulisse? dubitavit, quotienscumque alicuius aut gemma aut anulo delectatus est. dicam, sed ita clarum ut ipsum negaturum non arbitrer.
58. When a letter had been brought to Valentius his interpreter from Agrigentum, by chance Verres himself noticed the impression on the seal; he was pleased with it, he asked where the letter came from; he was told, from Agrigentum. He sent letters to the men with whom he was accustomed to communicate, ordering that ring to be brought to him as soon as possible. And accordingly, in compliance with his letter, it was torn off the finger of a master of a family, a certain Lucius Titius, a Roman citizen. But that covetousness of his is quite beyond belief. For as he wished to provide three hundred couches beautifully covered, with all other decorations for a banquet, for the different rooms which he has, not only at Rome, but in his different villas, he collected such a number, that there was no wealthy house in all Sicilywhere he did not set up an embroiderer's shop.
58. Valentio, eius interpreti, epistula Agrigento adlata esset, casu signum iste animadvertit in cretula. ei; quaesivit unde esset epistula; respondit Agrigento. litteras ad quos solebat misit, ut is anulus ad se primo quoque tempore adferretur. litteris istius patri familias, L. Titio, civi Romano, anulus de digito detractus est. vero eius cupiditas incredibilis est. ut in singula conclavia, quae iste non modo Romae sed in omnibus villis habet, tricenos lectos optime stratos cum ceteris ornamentis convivi quaereret, nimium multa comparare videretur; nulla domus in Sicilia locuples fuit ubi iste non textrinum instituerit.
59. There is a woman, a citizen of Segesta, very rich, and nobly born, by name Lamia. She, having her house full of spinning jennies, for three years was making him robes and coverlets, all dyed with purple; Attalus, a rich man at Netum; Lyso at Lilybaeum; Critolaus at Enna; at SyracuseAeschrio, Cleomenes, and Theomnastus; at Elorum Archonides and Megistus. My voice will fail me before the names of the men whom he employed in this way will; he himself supplied the purple—his friends supplied only the work, I dare say; for I have no wish to accuse him in every particular, as if it were not enough for me, with a view to accuse him, that he should have had so much to give, that he should have wished to carry away so many things; and, besides all that, this thing which he admits, namely, that he should have employed the work of his friends in affairs of this sort.
59. [est ] Segestana perdives et nobilis, Lamia nomine, per triennium isti plena domo telarum stragulam vestem confecit, nihil nisi conchylio tinctum Attalus, homo pecuniosus, Neti, Lyso Lilybaei, Critolaus Aetnae, Syracusis Aeschrio, Cleomenes, Theomnastus, Helori Archonidas,—dies me citius defecerit quam nomina. “dabat purpuram, tantum operam amici.”; iam enim non libet omnia criminari; quasi vero hoc mihi non satis sit ad crimen, habuisse tam multum quod daret, voluisse deportare tam multa, hoc denique, quod concedit, amicorum operis esse in huiusce modi rebus usum.
60. But now do you suppose that brazen couches and brazen candelabra were made at Syracuse for any one but for him the whole of that three years? He bought them, I suppose; but I am informing you so fully, O judges, of what that man did in his province as praetor, that he may not by chance appear to any one to have been careless, and not to have provided and adorned himself sufficiently when he had absolute power. I come now, not to a theft, not to avarice, not to covetousness, but to an action of that sort that every kind of wickedness seems to be contained in it, and to be in it; by which the immortal gods were insulted, the reputation and authority of the name of the Roman people was impaired, hospitality was betrayed and plundered, all the kings who were most friendly to us, and the nations which are under their rule and dominion, were alienated from us by his wickedness.
60. vero lectos aeratos et candelabra aenea num cui praeter istum Syracusis per triennium facta esse existimatis? “.”; sed tantum vos certiores, iudices, facio quid iste in provincia praetor egerit, ne cui forte neglegens nimium fuisse videatur neque se satis, cum potestatem habuerit, instruxisse et ornasse. nunc non iam ad furtum, non ad avaritiam, non ad cupiditatem, sed ad eius modi facinus in quo omnia nefaria contineri mihi atque inesse videantur; in quo di immortales violati, existimatio atque auctoritas nominis populi Romani imminuta, hospitium spoliatum ac proditum, abalienati scelere istius a nobis omnes reges amicissimi, nationesque quae in eorum regno ac dicione sunt.
61. For you know that the kings of Syria, the boyish sons of King Antiochus, have lately been at Rome. And they came not on account of the kingdom of Syria; for that they had obtained possession of without dispute, as they had received it from their father and their ancestors; but they thought that the kingdom of Egyptbelonged to them and to Selene their mother. When they, being hindered by the critical state of the republic at that time, were not able to obtain the discussion of the subject as they wished before the senate, they departed for Syria, their paternal kingdom. One of them—the one whose name is Antiochus—wished to make his journey through Sicily. And so, while Verres was praetor, he came to Syracuse.
61. reges Syriae, regis Antiochi filios pueros, scitis Romae nuper fuisse; qui venerant non propter Syriae regnum, nam id sine controversia obtinebant ut a patre et a maioribus acceperant, sed regnum Aegypti ad se et ad Selenen, matrem suam, pertinere arbitrabantur. posteaquam temporibus rei publicae exclusi per senatum agere quae voluerant non potuerunt, in Syriam in regnum patrium profecti sunt. Eorum alter, qui Antiochus vocatur, iter per Siciliam facere voluit, itaque isto praetore venit Syracusas.
62. On this Verres thought that an inheritance had come to him, because a man whom he had heard, and on other accounts suspected had many splendid things with him, had come into his kingdom and into his power. He sends him presents—liberal enough—for all domestic uses; as much wine and oil as he thought fit; and as much wheat as he could want, out of his tenths. After that he invites the king himself to supper. He decorates a couch abundantly and magnificently. He sets out the numerous, and beautiful silver vessels, in which he was so rich; for he had not yet made all those golden ones. He takes care that the banquet shall be splendidly appointed and provided in every particular. Why need I make a long story of it? The king departed thinking that Verres was superbly provided with everything, and that he himself had been magnificently treated. After that, he himself invites the praetor to supper. He displays all his treasures; much silver, also not a few goblets of gold, which, as is the custom of kings, and especially in Syria, were studded all over with most splendid jewels. There was also a vessel for wine, a ladle hollowed out of one single large precious stone, with a golden handle, concerning which, I think, you heard Quintus Minutius speak, a sufficiently capable judge, and sufficiently credible witness.
62. Verres hereditatem sibi venisse arbitratus est, quod in eius regnum ac manus venerat is quem iste et audierat multa secum praeclara habere et suspicabatur. homini munera satis large haec ad usum domesticum, olei, vini quod visum est, etiam tritici quod satis esset, de suis decumis. ipsum regem ad cenam vocavit. ample magnificeque triclinium; exponit ea, quibus abundabat, plurima et pulcherrima vasa argentea,—nam haec aurea nondum fecerat; omnibus curat rebus instructum et paratum ut sit convivium. multa? rex ita discessit ut et istum copiose ornatum et se honorifice acceptum arbitraretur. ad cenam deinde ipse praetorem; exponit suas copias omnis, multum argentum, non pauca etiam pocula ex auro, quae, ut mos est regius et maxime in Syria, gemmis erant distincta clarissimis. etiam vas vinarium, ex una gemma pergrandi trulla excavata, manubrio aureo, de qua, credo, satis idoneum satis gravem testem, Q. Minucium, dicere audistis.
63. Verres took each separate piece of plate into his hands, praised it—admired it. The king was delighted that that banquet was tolerably pleasant and agreeable to a praetor of the Roman people. After the banquet was over, Verres thought of nothing else, as the facts themselves showed, than how he might plunder and strip the king of everything before he departed from the province. He sends to ask for the most exquisite of the vessels which he had seen at Antiochus's lodgings. He said that he wished to show them to his engravers. The king, who did not know the man, most willingly sent them, without any suspicion of his intention. He sends also to borrow the jeweled ladle. He said that he wished to examine it more attentively; that also is sent to him.
63. unum quodque vas in manus sumere, laudare, mirari: rex gaudere praetori populi Romani satis iucundum et gratum illud esse convivium. inde discessum est, cogitare nihil iste aliud, quod ipsa res declaravit, nisi quem ad modum regem ex provincia spoliatum expilatumque dimitteret. rogatum vasa ea quae pulcherrima apud eum viderat; ait se suis caelatoribus velle ostendere. Rex, qui illum non nosset, sine ulla suspicione libentissime dedit. etiam trullam gemmeam rogatum; velle se eam diligentius considerare. quoque ei mittitur.
64. Now, O judges, mark what followed; things which you have already heard, and which the Roman people will not hear now for the first time, and which have been reported abroad among foreign nations to the furthest corners of the earth. The kings, whom I have spoken of, had brought to Romea candelabrum of the finest jewels, made with most extraordinary skill, in order to place it in the Capitol; but as they found that temple not yet finished, they could not place it there. Nor were they willing to display it and produce it in common, in order that it might seem more splendid when it was placed at its proper time in the shrine of the great and good Jupiter; and brighter; also, as its beauty would come fresh and untarnished before the eyes of men. They determined, therefore, to take it back with them into Syria, with the intention, when they should hear that the image of the great and good Jupiterwas dedicated, of sending ambassadors who should bring that exquisite and most beautiful present, with other offerings, to the Capitol.
64. reliquum, iudices, attendite, de quo et vos audistis et populus Romanus non nunc primum audiet et in exteris nationibus usque ad ultimas terras pervagatum est. e gemmis clarissimis opere mirabili perfectum reges ii, quos dico, Romam cum attulissent, ut in Capitolio ponerent, quod nondum perfectum templum offenderant, neque ponere potuerunt neque vulgo ostendere ac proferre voluerunt, ut et magnificentius videretur cum suo tempore in cella Iovis poneretur, et clarius cum pulchritudo eius recens ad oculos hominum atque integra perveniret: statuerunt id secum in Syriam reportare ut, cum audissent simulacrum Iovis dedicatum, legatos mitterent qui cum ceteris rebus illud quoque eximium ac pulcherrimum donum in Capitolium adferrent. res ad istius auris nescio quo modo;
65. The matter, I know not how, got to his ears. For the king had wished it kept entirely concealed; not because he feared or suspected anything, but because he did not wish many to feast their eyes on it before the Roman people. He begs the king, and entreats him most earnestly to send it to him; he says that he longs to look at it himself, and that he will not allow any one else to see it. Antiochus, being both of a childlike and royal disposition, suspected nothing of that man's dishonesty, and orders his servants to take it as secretly as possible, and well wrapped up, to the praetor's house. And when they brought it there, and placed it on a table, having taken off the coverings, Verres began to exclaim that it was a thing worthy of the kingdom of Syria, worthy of being a royal present, worthy of the Capitol. In truth, it was of such splendour as a thing must be which is made of the most brilliant and beautiful jewels; of such variety of pattern that the skill of the workmanship seemed to vie with the richness of the materials; and of such a size that it might easily be seen that it had been made not for the furniture of men, but for the decoration of a most noble temple. And when he appeared to have examined it sufficiently, the servants begin to take it up to carry it back again. He says that he wishes to examine it over and over again; that he is not half satiated with the sight of it; he orders them to depart and to leave the candelabrum. So they then return to Antiochus empty-handed.
65. nam rex id celatum voluerat, non quo quicquam metueret aut suspicaretur, sed ut ne multi illud ante praeciperent oculis quam populus Romanus. petit a rege et eum pluribus verbis rogat ut id ad se mittat; cupere se dicit inspicere neque se aliis videndi potestatem esse facturum. Antiochus, qui animo et puerili esset et regio, nihil de istius improbitate suspicatus est; imperat suis ut id in praetorium involutum quam occultissime deferrent. posteaquam attulerunt involucrisque reiectis constituerunt, clamare iste coepit dignam rem esse regno Syriae, dignam regio munere, dignam Capitolio. erat eo splendore qui ex clarissimis et pulcherrimis gemmis esse debebat, ea varietate operum ut ars certare videretur cum copia, ea magnitudine ut intellegi posset non ad hominum apparatum sed ad amplissimi templi ornatum esse factum. satis iam perspexisse videretur, tollere incipiunt ut referrent. ait se velle illud etiam atque etiam considerare; nequaquam se esse satiatum; iubet illos discedere et candelabrum relinquere. illi tum inanes ad Antiochum revertuntur.