Sthenius, the man who is sitting by us, is a citizen of Thermae, long since known
to many by his eminent virtue and his illustrious birth, and now known to all men by
his own misfortune and the unexampled injuries he has received from that man. Verres
having often enjoyed his hospitality, and having not only stayed often with him at
Thermae, but having almost dwelt with him there, took away from him out of his house
everything which could in any uncommon degree delight the mind or eyes of any one.
In truth, Sthenius from his youth had collected such things as these with more than
ordinary diligence; elegant furniture of brass, made at Delos and at Corinth, paintings, and even a good deal of elegantly wrought silver,
as far as the wealth of a citizen of Thermae could afford. And these things, when he
was in Asia as a young man, he had
collected diligently, as I said, not so much for any pleasure to himself, as for
ornaments against the visits of Roman citizens, his own friends and connections,
whenever he invited them.
But after Verres got them all, some by begging for then, some by demanding them,
and some by boldly taking them, Sthenius bore it as well as he could, but he was
affected with unavoidable indignation in his mind, at that fellow having rendered
his house, which had been so beautifully furnished and decorated, naked and empty;
still he told his indignation to no one. He thought he must bear the injuries of the
praetor in silence—those of his guest with calmness.
Meantime that man, with that covetousness of his which was now notorious and the
common talk of every one, as he took a violent fancy to some exceedingly beautiful
and very ancient statues at Thermae placed in the public place, began to beg of
Sthenius to promise him his countenance and to aid him in taking them away. But
Sthenius not only refused, but declared to him that it was utterly impossible that
most ancient statues, memorials of Publius Africanus, should ever be taken away out
of the town of the Thermitani, as long as that city and the empire of the Roman
people remained uninjured.
Indeed, (that you may learn at the same time both the humanity and the justice of
Publius Africanus,) the Carthaginians had formerly taken the town of Himera, one of
the first towns in Sicily for renown and
for beauty. Scipio as he thought it a thing worthy of the Roman people, that, after
the war was over, our allies should recover their property in consequence of our
victory, took care, after Carthage had
been taken, that everything which he could manage should be restored to all the
Sicilians. As Himera had been destroyed, those citizens whom the disasters of the
war had spared had settled at Thermae, on the border of the same district, and not
far from their ancient town. They thought that they were recovering the fortune and
dignity of their fathers, when those ornaments of their ancestors were being placed
in the town of Thermae.
There were many statues of brass; among them a statue of Himera herself, of
marvellous beauty, made in the shape and dress of a woman, after the name of the
town and of the river. There was also a statue of the poet Stesichorus, aged,
stooping,—made, as men think, with the most exceeding skill,—who was, indeed, a
citizen of Himera, but who both was and is in the highest renown and estimation over
all Greece for his genius. These things he
coveted to a degree of madness. There is also, which I had almost passed over, a
certain she-goat made, as even we who are skilled in these matters can judge, with
wonderful skill and beauty. These, and other works of art, Scipio had not thrown
away like a fool, in order that an intelligent man like Verres might have an
opportunity of carrying them away, but he had restored them to the people of
Thermae; not that he himself had not gardens, or a suburban villa, or some place or
other where he could put them; but, if he had taken them home, they would not long
have been called Scipio's, but theirs to whom they had come by his death. Now they
are placed in such places that it seems to me they will always seem to be Scipio's,
and so they are called.
When that fellow claimed those things, and the subject was mooted in the senate,
Sthenius resisted his claim most earnestly, and urged many arguments, for he is
among the first men in all Sicily for
fluency of speech. He said that it was more honourable for the men of Thermae to
abandon their city than to allow the memorials of their ancestors, the spoils of
their enemies, the gifts of a most illustrious man, the proofs of the alliance and
friendship with the Roman people, to be taken away out of their city. The minds of
all were moved. No one was found who did not agree that it was better to die. And so
Verres found this town almost the only one in the whole world from which he could
not carry off anything of that sort belonging to the community, either by violence,
or by stealth, or by his own absolute power, or by his interest, or by bribery. But,
however, all this covetousness of his I will expose another time; at present I must
return to Sthenius.
Verres being furiously enraged against Sthenius, renounces the connection of
hospitality with him, leaves his house, and departs; The Latin
is, “domo ejus emigrat, atque adeo
exit, nam jam ante migrarat.” Emigrat has only a simple meaning; exit is said of him who “goes forth without any baggage; he then
appeared migrasse when he plundered Sthenius of
all his furniture and plate, and removed it to his own house.”—Garaton.
for, indeed, he had moved his quarters before. The greatest enemies of Sthenius
immediately invite him to their houses, in order to inflame his mind against
Sthenius by inventing lies and accusing him. And these enemies were, Agathinus, a
man of noble birth, and Dorotheus, who had married Callidama, the daughter of that
same Agathinus, of whom Verres had heard. So he preferred migrating to the
son-in-law of Agathinus. Only one night elapsed before he became so intimate with
Dorotheus, that, as one might say, they had everything in common. He paid as great
attention to Agathinus as if he had been some connection or relation of his own. He
appeared even to despise that statue of Himera, because the figure and features of
his hostess delighted him much more.
Therefore he began to instigate the men to create some danger for Sthenius, and to
invent some accusation against him. They said they had nothing to allege against
him. On this he openly declared to them, and promised to them that they might prove
whatever they pleased against Sthenius if they only laid the information before him.
So they do not delay. They immediately bring Sthenius before him; they say that the
public documents have been tampered with by him. Sthenius demands, that as his own
fellow-citizens are prosecuting him on a charge of tampering with the public
documents, and as there is a right of action on such a charge according to the laws
of the Thermitani since the senate and people of Rome had restored to the Thermitani their city, and their territory
and their laws, because they had always remained faithful and friendly; and since
Publius Rupilius had afterwards, in obedience to a degree of the senate, given laws
to the Sicilinus, acting with the advice of ten commissioners, according to which
the citizens were to use their own laws in their actions with one another; and singe
Verres himself had the same regulation contained in his edict;—on all these
accounts, I say, he claims of Verres to refer the matter to their own laws.