66. The king at first feared nothing, suspected nothing. One day passed—two days—many days. It was not brought back. Then the king sends to Verres to beg him to return it, if he will be so good. He bids the slaves come again. The king begins to think it strange. He sends a second time. It is not returned. He himself calls on the man; he begs him to restore it to him. Think of the face and marvellous impudence of the man. That thing which he knew, and which he had heard from the king himself was to be placed in the Capitol, which he knew was being kept for the great and good Jupiter, and for the Roman people, that he began to ask and entreat earnestly to have given to him. When the king said that he was prevented from complying by the reverence due to Jupiter Capitolinus, and by his regard for the opinion of men, because many nations were witnesses to the fact of the candelabrum having been made for a present to the god, the fellow began to threaten him most violently. When he sees that he is no more influenced by threats than he had been by prayers, on a sadden he orders him to leave his province before night. He says, that he has found out that pirates from his kingdom were coming against Sicily.
66. Rex primo nihil metuere, nihil suspicari; dies unus, alter, plures; non referri. mittit, si videatur, ut reddat. iste posterius ad se reverti. illi videri; mittit iterum; non redditur. hominem appellat, rogat ut reddat. os hominis insignemque impudentiam cognoscite. sciret, quod ex ipso rege audisset in Capitolio esse ponendum, quod Iovi, quod populo Romano servari videret, id sibi ut donaret rogare et vehementissime petere coepit. ille se et religione Iovis Capitolini et hominum existimatione impediri diceret, quod multae nationes testes essent illius operis ac muneris, iste homini minari acerrime coepit. Vbi videt eum nihilo magis minis quam precibus permoveri, repente hominem de provincia iubet ante noctem decedere; ait se comperisse ex eius regno piratas ad Siciliam esse venturos.
67. The king, in the most frequented place in Syracuse, in the forum,—in the forum at Syracuse, I say, (that no man may suppose I am bringing forward a charge about which there is any obscurity, or imagining anything which rests on mere suspicion,) weeping, and calling gods and men to witness, began to cry out that Caius Verres had taken from him a candelabrum made of jewels, which he was about to send to the Capitol, and which he wished to be in that most splendid temple as a memorial to the Roman people of his alliance with and friendship for them. He said that he did not care about the other works made of gold and jewels belonging to him which were in Verres's hands, but that it was a miserable and scandalous thing for this to be taken from him. And that, although it had long ago been consecrated in the minds and intentions of himself and his brother, still, that he then, before that assembled body of Roman citizens, offered, and gave, and dedicated, and consecrated it to the great and good Jupiter, and that he invoked Jupiterhimself as a witness of his intention and of his piety. What voice, what lungs, what power of mine can adequately express the indignation due to this atrocity? The King Antiochus, who had lived for two years at Romein the sight of all of us, with an almost royal retinue and establishment,—though he had been the friend and ally of the Roman people; though his father, and his grandfather, and his ancestors, most ancient and honourable sovereigns, had been our firmest friends; though he himself is monarch of a most opulent and extensive kingdom, is turned headlong out of a province of the Roman people.
67. Rex maximo conventu Syracusis in foro, ne quis forte me in crimine obscuro versari atque adfingere aliquid suspicione hominum arbitretur,—in foro, inquam, Syracusis flens ac deos hominesque contestans clamare coepit candelabrum factum e gemmis, quod in Capitolium missurus esset, quod in templo clarissimo populo Romano monumentum suae societatis amicitiaeque esse voluisset, id sibi C. Verrem abstulisse; de ceteris operibus ex auro et gemmis quae sua penes illum essent se non laborare, hoc sibi eripi miserum esse et indignum. etsi antea iam mente et cogitatione sua fratrisque sui consecratum esset, tamen 5 tum se in illo conventu civium Romanorum dare donare dicare consecrare Iovi, testemque ipsum Iovem suae voluntatis ac religionis adhibere. vox, quae latera, quae vires huius unius criminis querimoniam possunt sustinere? Rex Antiochus, qui Romae ante oculos omnium nostrum biennium fere comitatu regio atque ornatu fuisset, is cum amicus et socius populi Romani esset, amicissimo patre, avo, maioribus, antiquissimis et clarissimis regibus, opulentissimo et maximo regno, praeceps provincia populi Romani exturbatus est.
68. How do you suppose that foreign nations will take this? How do you suppose the news of this exploit of yours will be received in the dominions of other kings, and in the most distant countries of the world, when they hear that a king has been insulted by a praetor of the Roman people in his province? that a guest of the Roman people has been plundered? a friend and ally of the Roman people insultingly driven out? Know that your name and that of the Roman people will be an object of hatred and detestation to foreign nations. If this unheard-of insolence of Verres is to pass unpunished, all men will think, especially as the reputation of our men for avarice and covetousness has been very extensively spread, that this is not his crime only, but that of those who have approved of it. Many kings, many free cities, many opulent and powerful private men, cherish intentions of ornamenting the Capitol in such a way as the dignity of the temple and the reputation of our empire requires. And if they understand that you show a proper indignation at this kingly present being intercepted, they will then think that their zeal and their presents will be acceptable to you and to the Roman people. But if they hear that you have been indifferent to the complaint of so great a king, in so remarkable a case, in one of such bitter injustice, they will not be so crazy as to spend their time, and labour, and expense on things which they do not think will be acceptable to you.
68. ad modum hoc accepturas nationes exteras, quem ad modum huius tui facti famam in regna aliorum atque in ultimas terras perventuram putasti, cum audirent a praetore populi Romani in provincia violatum regem, spoliatum hospitem, eiectum socium populi Romani atque amicum? vestrum populique Romani odio atque acerbitati scitote nationibus exteris, iudices, futurum, si istius haec tanta iniuria impunita discesserit. omnes arbitrabuntur, praesertim cum haec fama de nostrorum hominum avaritia et cupiditate percrebruerit, non istius solius hoc esse facinus, sed eorum etiam qui adprobarint. reges, multae liberae civitates, multi privati opulenti ac potentes habent profecto in animo Capitolium sic ornare ut templi dignitas imperique nostri nomen desiderat; qui si intellexerint interverso hoc regali dono graviter vos tulisse, grata fore vobis populoque Romano sua studia ac dona arbitrabuntur; sin hoc vos in rege tam nobili, re tam eximia, iniuria tam acerba neglexisse audient, non erunt tam amentes ut operam curam pecuniam impendant in eas res quas vobis gratas fore non arbitrentur.
69. And in this place I appeal to you, O Quintus Catulus; for I am speaking of your most honourable and most splendid monument. You ought to take upon yourself not only the severity of a judge with respect to this crime, but something like the vehemence of an enemy and an accuser. For, through the kindness of the senate and people of Rome, your honour is connected with that temple. Your name is consecrated at the same time as that temple in the everlasting recollection of men. It is by you that this case is to be encountered; by you, that this labour is to be undergone, in order that the Capitol, as it has been restored more magnificently, may also be adorned more splendidly than it was originally; that then that fire may seem to have been sent from heaven, not to destroy the temple of the great and good Jupiter, but to demand one for him more noble and more magnificent.
69. loco, Q. Catule, te appello; loquor enim de tuo clarissimo pulcherrimoque monumento. iudicis solum severitatem in hoc crimine, sed prope inimici atque accusatoris vim suscipere debes. enim honos illo templo senatus populique Romani beneficio, tui nominis aeterna memoria simul cum templo illo consecratur; tibi haec cura suscipienda, tibi haec opera sumenda est, ut Capitolium, quem ad modum magnificentius est restitutum, sic copiosius ornatum sit quam fuit, ut illa flamma divinitus exstitisse videatur, non quae deleret Iovis templum, sed quae praeclarius magnificentiusque deposceret.
70. You have heard Quintus Minucius Rufus say, that King Antiochus stayed at his house while at Syracuse; that he knew that this candelabrum had been taken to Verres's house; that he knew that it had not been returned. You heard, and you shall hear from the whole body of Roman settlers at Syracuse, that they will state to you that in their hearing it was dedicated and consecrated to the good and great Jupiterby King Antiochus. If you were not a judge, and this affair were reported to you, it would be your especial duty to follow it up; to reclaim the candelabrum, and to prosecute this cause. So that I do not doubt what ought to be your feelings as judge in this prosecution, when before any one else as judge you ought to be a much more vehement advocate and accuser than I am.
70. Q. Minucium dicere domi suae deversatum esse Antiochum regem Syracusis; se illud scire ad istum esse delatum, se scire non redditum; audisti et audies omni e conventu Syracusano qui ita dicant, sese audientibus illud Iovi dicatum esse ab rege Antiocho et consecratum. iudex non esses et haec ad te delata res esset, te potissimum hoc persequi, te petere, te agere oporteret. non dubito quo animo iudex huius criminis esse debeas, qui apud alium iudicem multo acrior quam ego sum actor accusatorque esse deberes.
71. And to you, O judges, what can appear more scandalous or more intolerable than this? Shall Verres have at his own house a candelabrum, made of jewels and gold, belonging to the great and good Jupiter? Shall that ornament be set out in his house at banquets which will be one scene of adultery and debauchery, with the brilliancy of which the temple of the great and good Jupiterought to glow and to be lighted up? Shall the decorations of the Capitol be placed in the house of that most infamous debauchee with the other ornaments which he has inherited from Chelidon? What do you suppose will ever be considered sacred or holy by him, when he does not now think himself liable to punishment for such enormous wickedness? who dares to come into this court of justice, where he cannot, like all others who are arraigned, pray to the great and good Jupiter, and entreat help from him? from whom even the immortal gods are reclaiming their property, before that tribunal which was appointed for the benefit of men, that they might recover what had been extorted unjustly from them? Do we marvel that Minerva at Athens, Apollo at Delos, Juno at Samos, Diana at Perga, and that many other gods besides all over Asiaand Greece, were plundered by him, when he could not keep his hands off the Capitol? That temple which private men are decorating and are intending to decorate out of their own riches, that Caius Verres would not suffer to be decorated by a king.
71. autem, iudices, quid hoc indignius aut quid minus ferendum videri potest? Verresne habebit domi suae candelabrum Iovis e gemmis auroque perfectum? cuius fulgore conlucere atque inlustrari Iovis templum oportebat, id apud istum in eius modi conviviis constituetur, quae domesticis stupris flagitiisque flagrabunt? in istius lenonis turpissimi domo simul cum ceteris Chelidonis hereditariis ornamentis Capitoli ornamenta ponentur? huic sacri umquam fore aut quid religiosi fuisse putatis qui nunc tanto scelere se obstrictum esse non sentiat, qui in iudicium veniat ubi ne precari quidem Iovem atque ab eo auxilium petere more omnium possit? a quo etiam di immortales sua repetunt in eo iudicio quod hominibus ad suas res repetendas est constitutum. Athenis Minervam, Deli Apollinem, Iunonem Sami, Pergae Dianam, multos praeterea ab isto deos tota Asia Graeciaque violatos, qui a Capitolio manus abstinere non potuerit? privati homines de suis pecuniis ornant ornaturique sunt, id C. Verres ab regibus ornari non passus est.
72. And, accordingly, after he had once conceived this nefarious wickedness, he considered nothing in all Sicilyafterwards sacred or hallowed; and he behaved himself in his province for three years in such a manner that war was thought to have been declared by him, not only against men, but also against the immortal gods. Segesta is a very ancient town in Sicily, O judges, which its inhabitants assert was founded by Aeneas when he was flying from Troyand coming to this country. And accordingly the Segestans think that they are connected with the Roman people, not only by a perpetual alliance and friendship, but even by some relationship. This town, as the state of the Segestans was at war with the Carthaginians on its own account and of its own accord, was formerly stormed and destroyed by the Carthaginians; and everything which could be any ornament to the city was transported from thence to Carthage. There was among the Segestans a statue of Diana, of brass, not only invested with the most sacred character, but also wrought with the most exquisite skill and beauty. When transferred to Carthage, it only changed its situation and its worshippers; it retained its former sanctity. For on account of its eminent beauty it seemed, even to their enemies, worthy of being most religiously worshipped.
72. hoc nefario scelere concepto nihil postea tota in Sicilia neque sacri neque religiosi duxit esse; ita sese in ea provincia per triennium gessit ut ab isto non solum hominibus verum etiam dis immortalibus bellum indictum putaretur. Segesta est oppidum pervetus in Sicilia, iudices, quod ab Aenea fugiente a Troia atque in haec loca veniente conditum esse demonstrant. Segestani non solum perpetua societate atque amicitia, verum etiam cognatione se cum populo Romano coniunctos esse arbitrantur. quondam oppidum, cum illa civitas cum Poenis suo nomine ac sua sponte bellaret, a Carthaginiensibus vi captum atque deletum est, omniaque quae ornamento urbi esse possent Carthaginem sunt ex illo loco deportata. apud Segestanos ex aere Dianae simulacrum, cum summa atque antiquissima praeditum religione tum singulari opere artificioque perfectum. translatum Carthaginem locum tantum hominesque mutarat, religionem quidem pristinam conservabat; nam propter eximiam pulchritudinem etiam hostibus digna quam sanctissime colerent videbatur.
73. Some ages afterwards, Publius Scipio took Carthage, in the third Punic war; after which victory, (remark the virtue and carefulness of the man, so that you may both rejoice at your national examples of most eminent virtue, and may also judge tire incredible audacity of Verres worthy of the greater hatred by contrasting it with that virtue,) he summoned all the Sicilians, because he knew that during a long period of time Sicilyhad repeatedly been ravaged by the Carthaginians, and bids them seek for all they had lost, and promises them to take the greatest pains to ensure the restoration to the different cities of everything which had belonged to them. Then those things which had formerly been removed from Himera, and which I have mentioned before, were restored to the people of Thermae; some things were restored to the Gelans, some to the Agrigentines; among which was that noble bull, which that most cruel of all tyrants, Phalaris, is said to have had, into which he was accustomed to put men for punishment, and to put fire under. And when Scipio restored that bull to the Agrigentines, he is reported to have said, that he thought it reasonable for them to consider whether it was more advantageous to the Sicilians to be subject to their own princes, or to be under the dominion of the Roman people, when they had the same thing as a monument of the cruelty of their domestic masters, and of our liberality.
73. saeculis post P. Scipio bello Punico tertio Carthaginem cepit; qua in victoria,—videte hominis virtutem et diligentiam, ut et domesticis praeclarissimae virtutis exemplis gaudeatis et eo maiore odio dignam istius incredibilem audaciam iudicetis,—convocatis Siculis omnibus, quod diutissime saepissimeque Siciliam vexatam a Carthaginiensibus esse cognorat, iubet omnia conquiri; pollicetur sibi magnae curae fore ut omnia civitatibus, quae cuiusque fuissent, restituerentur. illa quae quondam erant Himera sublata, de quibus antea dixi, Thermitanis sunt reddita, tum alia Gelensibus, alia Agrigentinis, in quibus etiam ille nobilis taurus, quem crudelissimus omnium tyrannorum Phalaris habuisse dicitur, quo vivos supplici causa demittere homines et subicere flammam solebat. taurum cum Scipio redderet Agrigentinis, dixisse dicitur aequum esse illos cogitare utrum esset Agrigentinis utilius, suisne servire anne populo Romano obtemperare, cum idem monumentum et domesticae crudelitatis et nostrae mansuetudinis haberent.
74. At that time the same Diana of which I am speaking is restored with the greatest care to the Segestans. It is taken back to Segesta; it is replaced in its ancient situation, to the greatest joy and delight of all the citizens. It was placed at Segesta on a very lofty pedestal, on which was cut in large letters the name of Publius Africanus; and a statement was also engraved that “he had restored it after having taken Carthage.” It was worshipped by the citizens; it was visited by all strangers; when I was quaestor it was the very first thing, they showed me. It was a very large and tall statue with a flowing robe, but in spite of its large size it gave the idea of the age and dress of a virgin; her arrows hung from her shoulder, in her left hand she carried her bow, her right hand held a burning torch.
74. tempore Segestanis maxima cum cura haec ipsa Diana, de qua dicimus, redditur; reportatur Segestam; in suis antiquis sedibus summa cum gratulatione civium et laetitia reponitur. erat posita Segestae sane excelsa in basi, in qua grandibus litteris P. Africani nomen erat incisum eumque Carthagine capta restituisse perscriptum. a civibus, ab omnibus advenis visebatur; cum quaestor essem, nihil mihi ab illis est demonstratum prius. admodum amplum et excelsum signum cum stola; verum tamen inerat in illa magnitudine aetas atque habitus virginalis; sagittae pendebant ab umero, sinistra manu retinebat arcum, dextra ardentem facem praeferebat.
75. When that enemy of all sacred things, that violator of all religious scruples saw it, he began to burn with covetousness and insanity, as if he himself had been struck with that torch. He commands the magistrates to take the statue down and give it to him; and declares to them that nothing can be more agreeable to him. But they said that it was impossible for them to do so; that they were prevented from doing so, not only by the most extreme religious reverence, but also by the greatest respect for their own laws and courts of justice. Then he began to entreat this favour of them, then to threaten them, then to try and excite their hopes, then to arouse their fears. They opposed to his demands the name of Africanus; they said that it was the gift of the Roman people; that they themselves had no right over a thing which a most illustrious general, having taken a city of the enemy, had chosen to stand there as a monument of the victory of the Roman people.
75. cum iste sacrorum omnium et religionum hostis praedoque vidisset, quasi illa ipsa face percussus esset, ita flagrare cupiditate atque amentia coepit; imperat magistratibus ut eam demoliantur et sibi dent; nihil sibi gratius ostendit futurum. vero dicere sibi id nefas esse, seseque cum summa religione tum summo metu legum et iudiciorum teneri. tum petere ab illis, tum minari, tum spem, tum metum ostendere. illi nomen interdum P. Africani; populi Romani illud esse dicebant; nihil se in eo potestatis habere quod imperator clarissimus urbe hostium capta monumentum victoriae populi Romani esse voluisset.
76. As he did not relax in his demand, but urged it every day with daily increasing earnestness, the matter was brought before their senate. His demand raises a violent outcry on all sides. And so at that time, and at his first arrival at Segesta, it is refused. Afterwards, whatever burdens could be imposed on any city in respect of exacting sailors and rowers, or in levying corn, he imposed on the Segestans beyond all other cities, and a good deal more than they could bear. Besides that, he used to summon their magistrates before him; he used to send for all the most noble and most virtuous of the citizens, to hurry them about with him to all the courts of justice in the province, to threaten every one of them separately to be the ruin of him, and to announce to them all in a body that he would utterly destroy their city. Therefore, at last, the Segestans, subdued by much ill-treatment and by great fear, resolved to obey the command of the praetor. With great grief and lamentation on the part of the whole city, with many tears and wailings on the part of all the men and women, a contract is advertised for taking down the statue of Diana.
76. iste nihilo remissius atque etiam multo vehementius instaret cotidie, res agitur in senatu: vehementer ab omnibus reclamatur. illo tempore ac primo istius adventu pernegatur., quidquid erat oneris in nautis remigibusque exigendis, in frumento imperando, Segestanis praeter ceteros imponebat, aliquanto amplius quam ferre possent. magistratus eorum evocabat, optimum quemque et nobilissimum ad se arcessebat, circum omnia provinciae fora rapiebat, singillatim uni cuique calamitati fore se denuntiabat, universis se funditus eversurum esse illam civitatem minabatur. aliquando multis malis magnoque metu victi Segestani praetoris imperio parendum esse decreverunt. Magno cum luctu et gemitu totius civitatis, multis cum lacrimis et lamentationibus virorum mulierumque omnium simulacrum Dianae tollendum locatur.
77. See now with what religious reverence it is regarded. Know, O judges, that among all the Segestans none was found, whether free man or slave, whether citizen or foreigner, to dare to touch that statue. Know that some barbarian workmen were brought from Lilybaeum; they at length, ignorant of the whole business, and of the religious character of the image, agreed to take it down for a sum of money, and took it down. And when it was being taken out of the city, how great was the concourse of women! how great was the weeping of the old men! some of whom even recollected that day when that same Diana being brought back to Segesta from Carthage, had announced to them, by its return, the victory of the Roman people. How different from that time did this day seem! then the general of the Roman people, a most illustrious man, was bringing back to the Segestans the gods of their fathers, recovered from an enemy's city; now a most base and profligate praetor of the same Roman people, was taking away, with the most nefarious wickedness, those very same gods from a city of his allies. What is more notorious throughout all Sicilythan that all the matrons and virgins of Segesta came together when Diana was being taken out of their city? that they anointed her with precious unguents? that they crowned her with chaplets and flowers? that they attended her to the borders of their territory with frankincense and burning perfumes?
77. quanta religio fuerit apud Segestanos. esse, iudices, scitote neminem, neque liberum neque servum, neque civem neque peregrinum, qui illud signum auderet attingere; barbaros quosdam Lilybaeo scitote adductos esse operarios; ii denique illud ignari totius negoti ac religionis mercede accepta sustulerunt. cum ex oppido exportabatur, quem conventum mulierum factum esse arbitramini, quem fletum maiorum natu? quorum non nulli etiam illum diem memoria tenebant cum illa eadem Diana Segestam Carthagine revecta victoriam populi Romani reditu suo nuntiasset. dissimilis hic dies illi tempori videbatur! imperator populi Romani, vir clarissimus, deos patrios reportabat Segestanis ex urbe hostium recuperatos: nunc ex urbe sociorum praetor eiusdem populi turpissimus atque impurissimus eosdem illos deos nefario scelere auferebat. hoc tota Sicilia est clarius, quam omnis Segestae matronas et virgines convenisse cum Diana exportaretur ex oppido, unxisse unguentis, complesse coronis et floribus, ture, odoribus incensis usque ad agri finis prosecutas esse?
78. If at the time you, by reason of your covetousness and audacity, did not, while in command, fear these religious feelings of the population, do you not fear them now, at a time of such peril to yourself and to your children? What man, against the will of the immortal gods, or what god, when you so trample on all the religious reverence due to them, do you think will come to your assistance? Has that Diana inspired you, while in quiet and at leisure, with no religious awe;—she, who though she had seen two cities, in which she was placed stormed and burnt, was yet twice preserved from the flames and weapons of two wars; she who, though she changed her situation owing to the victory of the Carthaginians, yet did not lose her holy character; and who, by the valour of Publius Africanus afterwards recovered her old worship, together with her old situation? And when this crime had been executed, as the pedestal was empty, and the name of Publius Africanus carved on it, the affair appeared scandalous and intolerable to every one, that not only was religion trampled on, but also that Caius Verres had taken away the glory of the exploits, the memorial of the virtues, the monument of the victory of Publius Africanus, that most gallant of men.
78. tu tantam religionem si tum in imperio propter cupiditatem atque audaciam non pertimescebas, ne nunc quidem in tanto tuo liberorumque tuorum periculo perhorrescis? tibi aut hominem invitis dis immortalibus aut vero deum tantis eorum religionibus violatis auxilio futurum putas? illa Diana in pace atque in otio religionem nullam attulit? quae cum duas urbis in quibus locata fuerat captas incensasque vidisset, bis ex duorum bellorum flamma ferroque servata est; quae Carthaginiensium victoria loco mutato religionem tamen non amisit, P. Africani virtute religionem simul cum loco recuperavit. quidem scelere suscepto cum inanis esset basis et in ea P. Africani nomen incisum, res indigna atque intoleranda videbatur omnibus non solum religiones esse violatas, verum etiam P. Africani, viri fortissimi, rerum gestarum gloriam, memoriam virtutis, monumenta victoriae C. Verrem sustulisse.
79. But when he was told afterwards of the pedestal and the inscription, he thought that men would forget the whole affair, if he took away the pedestal to which was serving as a sort of signpost to point out his crime. And so, by his command, the Segestans contracted to take away the pedestal too; and the terms of that contract were read to you from the public registers of the Segestans, at the former pleading. Now, O Publius Scipio, I appeal to you; to you, I say, a most virtuous and accomplished youth; from you I request and demand that assistance which is due to your family and to your name. Why do you take the part of that man who has embezzled the credit and honour of your family? Why do you wish him to be defended? Why am I undertaking what is properly your business? Why am I supporting a burden which ought to fall on you?—Marcus Tullius is reclaiming the monuments of Publius Africanus; Publius Scipio is defending the man who took them away. Though it is a principle handed down to us from our ancestors, for every one to defend the monuments of his ancestors, in such a way as not even to allow them to be decorated by one of another name, will you take the part of that man who is not charged merely with having in some degree spoilt the view of the monuments of Publius Scipio, but who has entirely removed and destroyed them?
79. cum isti renuntiaretur de basi ac litteris, existimavit homines in oblivionem totius negoti esse venturos si etiam basim tamquam indicem sui sceleris sustulisset. tollendam istius imperio locaverunt; quae vobis locatio ex publicis litteris Segestanorum priore actione recitata est. nunc, P. Scipio, te, inquam, lectissimum ornatissimumque adulescentem, appello, abs te officium tuum debitum generi et nomini requiro et flagito. pro isto, qui laudem honoremque familiae vestrae depeculatus est, pugnas, cur eum defensum esse vis, cur ego tuas partis suscipio, cur tuum munus sustineo, cur M. Tullius P. Africani monumenta requirit, P. Scipio eum qui illa sustulit defendit? mos a maioribus traditus sit, ut monumenta maiorum ita suorum quisque defendat ut ea ne ornari quidem nomine aliorum sinat, tu isti aderis, qui non obstruxit aliqua ex parte monumento P. Scipionis sed id funditus delevit ac sustulit?
80. Who then, in the name of the immortal gods, will defend the memory of Publius Scipio now that he is dead? who will defend the memorials and evidences of his valour, if you desert and abandon them; and not only allow them to be plundered and taken away, but even defend their plunderer and destroyer? The Segestans are present, your clients, the allies and friends of the Roman people. They inform you that Publius Africanus, when he had destroyed Carthage, restored the image of Diana to their ancestors; and that was set up among the Segestans arid dedicated in the name of that general;—that Verres has had it taken down and carried away, and as far as that is concerned, has utterly effaced and extinguished the name of Publius Scipio. They entreat and pray you to restore the object of their worship to them, its proper credit and glory to your own family, so enabling them by your assistance to recover from the house of a robber, what they recovered from the city of their enemies by the beneficence of Publius Africanus. What can you reply to them with honour, or what can they do but implore the aid of you and your good faith? They are present, they do implore it. You, O Publius, can protect the honour of your family renown; you can, you have every advantage which either fortune or nature ever gives to men. I do not wish to anticipate you in gathering the fruit that belongs to you; I am not covetous of the glory which ought to belong to another. It does not correspond to the modesty of my disposition, while Publius Scipio, a most promising young man, is alive and well, to put myself forward as the defender and advocate of the memorials of Publius Scipio.
80. igitur, per deos immortalis, tuebitur P. Scipionis memoriam mortui, quis monumenta atque indicia virtutis, si tu ea relinques aut deseres, nec solum spoliata illa patieris sed etiam eorum spoliatorem vexatoremque defendes? Segestani, clientes tui, socii populi Romani atque amici; certiorem te faciunt P. Africanum Carthagine deleta simulacrum Dianae maioribus suis restituisse, idque apud Segestanos eius imperatoris nomine positum ac dedicatum fuisse; hoc Verrem demoliendum et asportandum nomenque omnino P. Scipionis delendum tollendumque curasse; orant te atque obsecrant ut sibi religionem, generi tuo laudem gloriamque restituas, ut, quod per P. Africanum ex urbe hostium recuperarint, id per te ex praedonis domo conservare possint. aut tu his respondere honeste potes aut illi facere, nisi ut te ac fidem tuam implorent? et implorant. domesticae laudis amplitudinem, Scipio, tueri, potes; omnia sunt in te quae aut fortuna hominibus aut natura largitur; non praecerpo fructum offici tui, non alienam mihi laudem appeto, non est pudoris mei P. Scipione, florentissimo adulescente, vivo et incolumi me propugnatorem monumentorum P. Scipionis defensoremque profiteri.
81. Wherefore, if you will undertake the advocacy of your family renown, it will behoove me not only to be silent about your monuments, but even to be glad that the fortune of Publius Africanus, though dead, is such, that his honour is defended by those who are of the same family as himself, and that it requires no adventitious assistance. But if your friendship with that man is an obstacle to you,—if you think that this thing which I demand of you is not so intimately connected with your duty,—then I, as your locum tenens, will succeed to your office, I will undertake that business which I have thought not to belong to me. Let that proud aristocracy give up complaining that the Roman people willingly gives, and at all times has given, honours to new and diligent men. It is a foolish complaint that virtue should be of the greatest influence in that city which by its virtue governs all nations. Let the image of Publius Africanus be in the houses of other men; let heroes now dead be adorned with virtue and glory. He was such a man, he deserved so well of the Roman people, that he deserves to be recommended to the affection, not of one single family, but of the whole state. And so it partly does belong to me also to defend his honours with all my power, because I belong to that city which he rendered great, and illustrious, and renowned; and especially, because I practice, to the utmost of my power, those virtues in which he was preeminent,—equity, industry, temperance, the protection of the unhappy, and hatred of the dishonest; a relationship in pursuits and habits which is almost as important as that of which you boast, the relationship of name and family.
81. ob rem si suscipis domesticae laudis patrocinium, me non solum silere de vestris monumentis oportebit, sed etiam laetari P. Africani. eius modi fortunam esse mortui ut eius honos ab iis qui ex eadem familia sint defendatur, neque ullum adventicium auxilium requiratur. istius amicitia te impedit, si hoc quod ego abs te postulo minus ad officium tuum pertinere arbitrabere, succedam ego vicarius tuo muneri, suscipiam partis quas alienas esse arbitrabar. ista praeclara nobilitas desinat queri populum Romanum hominibus novis industriis libenter honores mandare semperque mandasse. est querendum in hac civitate, quae propter virtutem omnibus nationibus imperat, virtutem plurimum posse. apud alios imago P. Africani, ornentur alii mortui virtute ac nomine; talis ille vir fuit, ita de populo Romano meritus est ut non uni familiae sed universae civitati commendatus esse debeat. aliqua mea pars virilis, quod eius civitatis sum quam ille amplam inlustrem claramque reddidit, praecipue quod in his rebus pro mea parte versor quarum ille princeps fuit, aequitate, industria, temperantia, defensione miserorum, odio improborum; quae cognatio studiorum et artium prope modum non minus est coniuncta quam ista qua vos delectamini generis et nominis.
82. I reclaim from you, O Verres, the monument of Publius Africanus; I abandon the cause of the Sicilians, which I undertook; let there be no trial of you for extortion at present; never mind the injuries of the Segestans; let the pedestal of Publius Africanus be restored; let the name of that invincible commander be engraved on it anew; let that most beautiful statue, which was recovered when Carthagewas taken, be replaced. It is not I, the defender of the Sicilians,—it is not I, your prosecutor,—they are not the Segestans who demand this of you; but he who has taken on himself the defence and the preservation of the renown and glory of Publius Africanus. I am not afraid of not being able to give a good account of my performance of this duty to Publius Servilius the judge; who, as he has performed great exploits, and raised very many monuments of his good deeds, and has a natural anxiety about them, will be glad, forsooth, to leave them an object of care and protection not only to his own posterity, but to all brave men and good citizens; and not as a mark for the plunder of rogues. I am not afraid of its displeasing you, O Quintus Catulus, to whom the most superb and splendid monument in the whole world belongs, that there should be as many guardians of such monuments as possible, or that all good men should think it was a part of their duty to defend the glory of another.
82. abs te, Verres, monumentum P. Africani Siculorum quam suscepi relinquo, iudicium de pecuniis repetundis ne sit hoc tempore, Segestanorum iniuriae neglegantur: basis P. Scipionis restituatur, nomen invicti imperatoris incidatur, signum pulcherrimum Carthagine captum reponatur. abs te non Siculorum defensor, non tuus accusator, non Segestani postulant, sed is qui laudem gloriamque P. Africani tuendam conservandamque suscepit. vereor ne hoc officium meum P. Servilio iudici non probem, qui cum res maximas gesserit monumentaque suarum rerum gestarum cum maxime constituat atque in iis elaboret profecto volet haec non solum suis posteris verum etiam omnibus viris fortibus et bonis civibus defendenda, non spolianda improbis tradere. vereor ne tibi, Q. Catule, displiceat, cuius amplissimum orbi terrarum clarissimumque monumentum est, quam plurimos esse custodes monumentorum et putare omnis bonos alienae gloriae defensionem ad officium suum pertinere.
83. And indeed I am so far moved by the other robberies and atrocities of that fellow, as to think them worthy of great reproof; but that might be sufficient for them. But in this instance I am roused to such indignation, that nothing appears to me possible to be more scandalous or more intolerable. Shall Verres adorn his house, full of adultery, full of debauchery, full of infamy, with the monuments of Africanus? Shall Verres face the memorial of that most temperate and religious man, the image of the ever virgin Diana, in that house in which the iniquities of harlots and pimps are incessantly being practised?
83. ceteris istius furtis atque flagitiis ita moveor ut ea reprehendenda tantum putem; hic vero tanto dolore adficior ut nihil mihi indignius, nihil minus ferendum esse videatur. Verres Africani monumentis domum suam plenam stupri, plenam flagiti, plenam dedecoris ornabit? Verres temperantissimi sanctissimique viri monumentum, Dianae simulacrum virginis, in ea domo conlocabit in qua semper meretricum lenonumque flagitia versantur?
84. But is this the only monument of Africanus which you have violated? What! did you take away from the people of Tyndarisan image of Mercury most beautifully made, and placed there by the beneficence of the same Scipio? And how? O ye immortal gods! How audaciously, how infamously, how shamelessly did you do so! You have lately, judges, heard the deputies from Tyndaris, most honourable men, and the chief men of that city, say that the Mercury, which in their sacred anniversaries was worshipped among them with the extremest religious reverence, which Publius Africanus, after he had taken Carthage, had given to the Tyndaritans, not only as a monument of his victory, but as a memorial and evidence of their loyalty to and alliance with the Roman people, had been taken away by the violence, and wickedness, and arbitrary power of this man; who, when he first came to their city, in a moment, as if it were not only a becoming, but an indispensable thing to be done?—as if the senate had ordered it and the Roman people had sanctioned it,—in a moment, I say, ordered them to take the statue down and to transport it to Messana.
84. hoc solum Africani monumentum violasti.? a Tyndaritanis non eiusdem Scipionis beneficio positum simulacrum Mercuri pulcherrime factum sustulisti? quem ad modum, di immortales! quam audacter, quam libidinose, quam impudenter! Audistis nuper dicere legatos Tyndaritanos, homines honestissimos ac principes civitatis, Mercurium, qui sacris anniversariis apud eos ac summa religione coleretur, quem P. Africanus Carthagine capta Tyndaritanis non solum suae victoriae sed etiam illorum fidei societatisque monumentum atque indicium dedisset, huius vi scelere imperioque esse sublatum. ut primum in illud oppidum venit, statim, tamquam ita fieri non solum oporteret sed etiam necesse esset, tamquam hoc senatus mandasset populusque Romanus iussisset, ita continuo signum ut demolirentur et Messanam deportarent imperavit.
85. And as this appeared a scandalous thing to those who were present and who heard it, it was not persevered in by him during the first period of his visit; but when he departed, he ordered Sopater, their chief magistrate, whose statement you have heard, to take it down. When he refused, he threatened him violently; and then he left the city. The magistrate refers the matter to the senate; there is a violent outcry on all sides. To make my story short, some time afterwards he comes to that city again. Immediately he asks about the statue. He is answered that the senate will not allow it to be removed; that capital punishment is threatened to any one who should touch it without the orders of the senate: the impiety of removing is also urged. Then says he, “What do you mean by talking to me of impiety? or about punishment? or about the senate? I will not leave you alive; you shall be scourged to death if the statue is not given up.” Sopater with tears reports the matter to the senate a second time, and relates to them the covetousness and the threats of Verres. The senate gives Sopater no answer, but breaks up in agitation and perplexity. Sopater, being summoned by the praetor's messenger, informs him of the state of the case, and says that it is absolutely impossible.
85. cum illis qui aderant indignum, qui audiebant incredibile videretur, non est ab isto primo illo adventu perseveratum. mandat proagoro Sopatro, cuius verba audistis, ut demoliatur; cum recusaret, vehementer minatur et statim ex illo oppido proficiscitur. rem ille ad senatum; vehementer undique reclamatur. multa, iterum iste ad illos aliquanto post venit, quaerit continuo de signo. ei senatum non permittere; poenam capitis constitutam, si iniussu senatus quisquam attigisset; simul religio commemoratur. iste, “mihi religionem narras, quam poenam, quem senatum? vivum te non relinquam; moriere virgis nisi mihi signum traditur.” Sopater iterum flens ad senatum rem defert, istius cupiditatem minasque demonstrat. Sopatro responsum nullum dat, sed commotus perturbatusque discedit. praetoris arcessitus nuntio rem demonstrat, negat ullo modo fieri posse.
86. And all these things (for I do not think that I ought to omit any particular of his impudence) were done openly in the middle of the assembly, while Verres was sitting on his chair of office, in a lofty situation. It was the depth of winter; the weather, as you heard Sopater himself state, was bitterly cold; heavy rain was falling; when that fellow orders the lictors to throw Sopater headlong down from the portico on which he himself was sitting, and to strip him naked. The command was scarcely, out of his mouth, before you might have seen him stripped and surrounded by the lictors. All thought that the unhappy and innocent man was going to be scourged. They were mistaken. Do you think that Verres would scourge without any reason an ally and friend of the Roman people? He is not so wicked. All vices are not to be found in that man; he was never cruel. He treated the man with great gentleness and clemency. In the middle of the forum there are some statues of the Marcelli, as there are in most of the other towns of Sicily; out of these he selected the statue of Caius Marcellus, whose services to that city and to the whole province were most recent and most important. On that statue he orders Sopater, a man of noble birth in his city, and at that very time invested with the chief magistracy, to be placed astride and bound to it.
86. haec—nihil enim praetermittendum de istius impudentia videtur—agebantur in conventu palam de sella ac de loco superiore.(86) hiems summa, tempestas, ut ipsum Sopatrum dicere audistis, perfrigida, imber maximus, cum iste imperat lictoribus ut Sopatrum de porticu, in qua ipse sedebat, praecipitem in forum deiciant nudumque constituant. erat hoc plane imperatum cum illum spoliatum stipatumque lictoribus videres. id fore putabant ut miser atque innocens virgis caederetur; fefellit hic homines opinio. iste caederet sine causa socium populi Romani atque amicum? usque eo est improbus; non omnia sunt in uno vitia; numquam fuit crudelis. hominem clementerque accepit. Equestres sunt medio in foro Marcellorum statuae, sicut fere ceteris in oppidis Siciliae; ex quibus iste C. Marcelli statuam delegit, cuius officia in illam civitatem totamque provinciam recentissima erant et maxima; in ea Sopatrum, hominem cum domi nobilem tum summo magistratu praeditum, divaricari ac deligari iubet.
87. What torture he suffered when he was bound naked in the open air, in the rain and in the cold, must be manifest to every body. Nor did he put an end to this insult and barbarity, till the people and the whole multitude, moved by the atrocity of his conduct and by pity for his victim, compelled the senate by their outcries to promise him that statue of Mercury. They cried out that the immortal gods themselves would avenge the act, and that in the meantime it was not fit that an innocent man should be murdered. Then the senate comes to him in a body, and promises him the statue. And so Sopater is taken down scarcely alive from the statue of Marcellus, to which he had almost become frozen. I cannot adequately accuse that man if I were to wish to do so; it requires not only genius, but an extraordinary amount of skill.
87. cruciatu sit adfectus venire in mentem necesse est omnibus, cum esset vinctus nudus in aere, in imbri, in frigore. tamen finis huic iniuriae crudelitatique fiebat donec populus atque universa multitudo, atrocitate rei misericordiaque commota, senatum clamore coegit ut isti simulacrum illud Mercuri polliceretur. fore ut ipsi se di immortales ulciscerentur; hominem interea perire innocentem non oportere. frequens senatus ad istum venit, pollicetur signum. Sopater de statua C. Marcelli, cum iam paene obriguisset, vix vivus aufertur. possum disposite istum accusare, si cupiam: opus est non solum ingenio verum etiam artificio quodam singulari.
88. This appears to be a single crime, this of the Tyndaritan Mercury, and it is brought forward by me as a single one; but there are many crimes contained in it—only I do not know how to separate and distinguish them. It is a case of money extorted, for he took away from the allies a statue worth a large sum of money. It is a case of embezzlement, because he did not hesitate to appropriate a public statue belonging to the Roman people, taken from the spoils of the enemy, placed where it was in the name of our general. It is a case of treason, because he dared to overturn and to carry away monuments of our empire, of our glory, and of our exploits. It is a case of impiety, because he violated the most solemn principles of religion. It is a case of inhumanity, because he invented a new and extraordinary description of punishment for an innocent man, an ally and friend of our nation.
88. Vnum hoc crimen videtur esse et a me pro uno ponitur, de Mercurio Tyndaritano; plura sunt, sed ea quo pacto distinguere ac separare possim nescio. pecuniarum captarum, quod signum ab sociis pecuniae magnae sustulit; est peculatus, quod publicum populi Romani signum de praeda hostium captum, positum imperatoris nostri nomine, non dubitavit auferre; est maiestatis, quod imperi nostri, gloriae, rerum gestarum monumenta evertere atque asportare ausus est; est sceleris, quod religiones maximas violavit; est crudelitatis, quod in hominem innocentem, in socium vestrum atque amicum, novum et singulare supplici genus excogitavit:
89. But what the other crime is, that I am unable to say; I know not by what name to call the crime which he committed with respect to the statue of Caius Marcellus. What is the meaning of it? Is it because he was the patron of the Sicilians? What then? What has that to do with it? Ought that fact to have had influence to procure assistance, or to bring disaster on his clients and friends? Was it your object to show that patrons were no protection against your violence? Who is there who would not be aware that there is greater power in the authority of a bad man who is present, than in the protection of good men who are absent? Or do you merely wish to prove by this conduct, your unprecedented insolence, and pride, and obstinacy? You thought, I imagine, that you were taking something from the dignity of the Marcelli? And therefore now the Marcelli are not the patrons of the Sicilians. Verres has been substituted in their place.
89. illud vero quid sit iam non queo dicere, quo nomine appellem nescio, quod in C. Marcelli statua. est hoc? patronusne quod erat? tum? quo id spectat? utrum ea res ad opem an ad calamitatem clientium atque hospitum valere debebat? an ut hoc ostenderes, contra vim tuam in patronis praesidi nihil esse? non hoc intellegeret, in improbi praesentis imperio maiorem esse vim quam in bonorum absentium patrocinio? vero ex hoc illa tua singularis significatur insolentia, superbia, contumacia? videlicet aliquid te de amplitudine Marcellorum putasti. nunc Siculorum Marcelli non sunt patroni, Verres in eorum locum substitutus est.
90. What virtue or what dignity did you think existed in you, that you should attempt to transfer to yourself, and to take away from these most trusty and most ancient patrons, so illustrious a body of clients as that splendid province? Can you with your stupidity, and worthlessness, and laziness defend the cause, I will not say of all Sicily, but even of one, the very meanest of the Sicilians? Was the statue of Marcellus to serve you for a pillory for the clients of the Marcelli? Did you out of his honour seek for punishments for those very men who had held him in honour? What followed? What did you think would happen to your statues? was it that which did happen? For the people of Tyndaristhrew down the statue of Verres, which he had ordered to be erected in his own honour near the Marcelli, and even on a higher pedestal, the very moment that they heard that a successor had been appointed to him. The fortune of the Sicilians has then given you Caius Marcellus for a judge, so that we may now surrender you, fettered and bound, to appease the injured sanctity of him to whose statue Sicilians were bound while you were praetor.
90. in te tantam virtutem esse aut dignitatem arbitratus es ut conarere clientelam tam splendidae, tam inlustris provinciae traducere ad te, auferre a certissimis antiquissimisque patronis? ista nequitia, stultitia, inertia non modo totius Siciliae, sed unius tenuissimi Siculi clientelam tueri potes? tibi Man idcelli statua pro patibulo in clientis Marcellorum fuit? tu ex illius honore in eos ipsos qui honorem illi habuerant supplicia quaerebas? postea? quid tandem tuis statuis fore arbitrabare? ar vero quod accidit? Tyndaritani statuam istius, quam sibi propter Marcellos altiore etiam basi poni iusserat, de- turbarunt simul ac successum isti audierunt. igitur tibi nunc fortuna Siculorum C. Marcellum iudicem, ut, cuius ad statuam Siculi te praetore alligabantur, eius religione te his iudicibus vinctum adstrictumque dedamus.
91. And in the first place, O judges, that man said that the people of Tyndarishad sold this statue to Caius Marcellus Aeserninus, who is here present. And he hoped that Caius Marcellus himself would assert thus much for his sake though it never seemed to me to be very likely that a young man born in that rank, the patron of Sicily, would lend his name to that fellow to enable him to transfer his guilt to another. But still I made such provision, and took such precaution against every possible bearing of the case, that if ally one had been found who was ever so anxious to take the guilt and crime of Verres upon himself, still he would not have taken anything by his motion, for I brought down to court such witnesses, and I had with me such written documents, that it could not have been possible to have entertained a doubt about that man's actions.
91. primo, iudices, hoc signum Mercuri dicebat iste Tyndaritanos M. Marcello huic Aesernino vendidisse, atque hoc sua causa etiam M. Marcellum ipsum sperabat esse dicturum; quod mihi numquam veri simile visum est, adulescentem illo loco natum, patronum Siciliae, nomen suum isti ad translationem criminis commodaturum. tamen ita mihi res tota provisa atque praecauta est ut, si maxime esset inventus qui in se suscipere istius culpam crimenque cuperet, tamen is proficere nihil posset. Eos enim deduxi testis et eas litteras deportavi ut de istius facto dubium esse nemini possit.