There is an island called Melita, O
judges, separated from Sicilyby a
sufficiently wide and perilous navigation, in which there is a town of the same
name, to which Verres never went, though it was for three years a manufactory to him
for weaving women's garments. Not far from that town, on a promontory, is an ancient
temple of Juno, which was always considered so holy, that it was not only always
kept inviolate and sacred in those Punic wars, which in those regions were carried
on almost wholly by the naval forces, but even by the bands of pirates which ravage
those seas. Moreover, it has been handed down to us by tradition, that once, when
the fleet of King Masinissa was forced to put into these ports, the king's
lieutenant took away some ivory teeth of an incredible size out of the temple, and
carried them into Africa, and gave them to
Masinissa; that at first the king was delighted with the present, but afterwards,
when he heard where they had come from, he immediately sent trustworthy men in a
quinquereme to take those teeth back; and that there was engraved on them in Punic
characters, “that Masinissa the king had accepted them ignorantly; but that, when he
knew the truth, he had taken care that they should be replaced and restored.” There
was besides an immense quantity of ivory, and many ornaments, among which were some
ivory victories of ancient workmanship, and wrought with exquisite skill.
Not to dwell too long on this, he took care to have all these things taken down and
carried off at one swoop by means of the slaves of the Venus whom he had sent
thither for that purpose.
O ye immortal gods! what sort of man is it that I am accusing? Who is it that I am
prosecuting according to our laws, and by this regular process? Concerning whom is
it that you are going to give your judicial decision? The deputies from Melitasent by the public authority of their state,
say that the shrine of Juno was plundered; that that man left nothing in that most
holy temple; that that place, to which the fleets of enemies often came, where
pirates are accustomed to winter almost every year, and which no pirate ever
violated, no enemy ever attacked before, was so plundered by that single man, that
nothing whatever was left in it. What, then, now are we to say of him as a
defendant, of me as an accuser, of this tribunal? Is he proved guilty of grave
crimes, or is he brought into this court on mere suspicion? Gods are proved to have
been carried off, temples to have been plundered, cities to have been stripped of
everything. And of those actions he has left himself no power of denying one, no
plea for defending one. In every particular he is convicted by me; he is detected by
the witnesses; he is overwhelmed by his own admissions; he is caught in the evident
commission of guilt; and even now he remains here, and in silence recognises his own
crimes as I enumerate them.
I seem to myself to have been too long occupied with one
class of crime. I am aware, O judges, that I have to encounter the weariness of your
ears and eyes at such a repetition of similar cases; I will, therefore, pass over
many instances. But I entreat you, O judges, in the name of the immortal gods, in
the name of these very gods of whose honour and worship we have been so long
speaking, refresh your minds so as to attend to what I am about to mention, while I
bring forward and detail to you that crime of his by which the whole province was
roused, and in speaking of which you will pardon me if I appear to go back rather
far, and trace the earliest recollections of the religious observances in question.
The importance of the affair will not allow me to pass over the atrocity of his
guilt with brevity.
It is an old opinion, O judges, which can be proved from the most ancient records
and monuments of the Greeks, that the whole island of Sicilywas consecrated to
Ceresand Libera. Not only did all other
nations think so but the Sicilians themselves were so convinced of it, that it
appeared a deeply rooted and innate belief in their minds. For they believe that
these goddesses were born in these districts, and that corn was first discovered in
this land, and that Libera was carried off, the same goddess whom they call
Proserpina, from a grove in the territory of Enna, a place which, because it is situated in the centre of the
island, is called the navel of Sicily. And
when Cereswished to seek her and trace her
out, she is said to have lit her torches at those flames which burst out at the
summit of Aetna, and carrying these torches
before her, to have wandered over the whole earth.
But Enna, where those things which I am
speaking of are said to have been done, is in a high and lofty situation, on the top
of which is a large level plain, and springs of water which are never dry. And the
whole of the plain is cut off and separated, so as to be difficult of approach.
Around it are many lakes and groves, and beautiful flowers at every season of the
year; so that the place itself appears to testify to that abduction of the virgin
which we have heard of from our boyhood. We have the same
advantage as, or rather greater advantages than Cicero in this respect, for we
have heard the story from our boyhood told far more beautifully than any Sicilian
ever imagined it. See Ovid Fasti, iv.
419.Near it is a cave turned towards the north, of unfathomable depth,
where they say that Father Pluto suddenly rose out of the earth in his chariot, and
carried the virgin off from that spot, and that on a sudden, at no great distance
from Syracuse, he went down beneath
the earth, and that immediately a lake sprang up in that place; and there to this
day the Syracusans celebrate anniversary festivals with a most numerous assemblage
of both sexes On account
of the antiquity of this belief, because in those places the traces and almost the
cradles of those gods are found, the worship of
Ceresof Ennaprevails to a wonderful extent, both in private and in public
over all Sicily. In truth, many prodigies
often attest her influence and divine powers. Her present help is often brought to
many in critical circumstances, so that this island appears not only to be loved,
but also to be watched over and protected by her.
Nor is it the Sicilians only, but even all other tribes and nations greatly worship
Ceresof Enna. In truth, if initiation into those sacred mysteries of the
Athenians sought for with the greatest avidity, to which people
Ceresis said to have come in that long
wandering of hers, and then she brought them corn. How much greater reverence ought
to be paid to her by those people among whom it is certain that she was born, and
first discovered corn. And, therefore, in the time of our fathers, at a most
disastrous and critical time to the republic, when, after the death of Tiberius
Gracchus, there was a fear that great dangers were portended to the state by various
prodigies, in the consulship of Publius Mucius and Lucius Calpurnius, recourse was
had to the Sibylline books, in which it was found set down, “that the most ancient
Ceresought to be appeased.” Then,
priests of the Roman people, selected from the most honourable college of decemvirs,
although there was in our own city a most beautiful and magnificent temple of
Ceres, nevertheless went as far as
Enna. For such was the authority and
antiquity of the reputation for holiness of that place, that when they went thither,
they seemed to be going not to a temple of
Ceres, but to
Ceresherself.
I will not din this into your ears any longer. I have been some time afraid that my
speech may appear unlike the usual fashion of speeches at trials unlike the daily
method of speaking. This I say, that this very Ceres, the most ancient, the most holy, the very chief of all sacred
things which are honoured by every people, and in every nation, was carried off by
Caius Verres from her temple and her home. Ye who have been to Enna, have seen a statue of
Ceresmade of marble, and in the other
temple a statue of Libera. They are very colossal and very beautiful, but not
exceedingly ancient. There was one of brass, of moderate size, but extraordinary
workmanship, with the torches in its hands, very ancient, by far the most ancient of
all those statues which are in that temple; that he carried off, and yet he was not
content with that.
Before the temple of Ceres, in an open and
an uncovered place, there are two statues, one of
Ceres, the other of Triptolemus, very
beautiful, and of colossal size. Their beauty was their danger, but their size their
safety, because the taking of them down and carrying them off appeared very
difficult. But in the right hand of
Ceresthere stood a beautifully wrought image
of Victory, and this he had wrenched out of the hand of
Ceresand carried off. What now must be his feelings at the
recollection of his crimes, when I, at the mere enumeration of them, am not only
roused to indignation in my mind, but even shudder over my whole body? For thoughts
of that temple, of that place, of that holy religion come into my mind. Everything
seems present before my eyes,—the day on which, when I had arrived at Enna, the priests of
Cerescame to meet me with garlands of
vervain, and with fillets; the concourse of citizens, among whom, while I was
addressing them, there was such weeping and groaning that the most bitter grief
seemed to have taken possession of the whole.