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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.