[introduction] Details of the robberies of Verres.
[8]
aedis Minervae
: the illustration shows how this ancient temple of Minerva in Syracuse has been made over into a church.
tamen in bello
: translate
though in war, still, etc. The particle tamen (
still) often suggests a concession (
although), not expressed, but loosely implied in the context or the circumstances; here the implied concession is
though the rights of an enemy in war are unlimited.
religionum
,
things sacred .
consuetudinis
, i.e. things hallowed by use.
Agathocli
: tyrant of Syracuse,
B.C. 317-289.
visendum
: see Manil., sect.
40
,
p.85, l. 6, note.
profana fecisset
: the Romans had a formula by which they called away (
evocare) and gained over to their side the tutelary deities of any cities they were besieging. Of course, the temples of these gods then lost all their sanctity and became profane buildings. With the same idea the true name of Rome and that of its tutelar divinity were said to be kept as a mystery, lest they should become known to an enemy, who might thus disarm the city of its protector.
Notwithstanding this doctrine, the Romans were often, as in the case of Marcellus, prevented by religious feeling (
religione) from violating the sacred edifices of conquered cities. Often, too, they transferred the worship of the deities in question to Rome. On the whole idea, cf. Aeneid, 2. 351.
jam
belongs with sacra religiosaque.
[9]
id quod
,
what
deberet
: subj. of characteristic.
in quibus erant
,
upon which were represented.
cognitione formarum
,
acquaintance with their features.
tamen
: see note on p.52, i. 4.
[10]
tam . . . cupidum
,
that I am so eager (in appos. with
quod).
illi
, i.e. the Greeks, as being over-fond of art. The Romans were inclined to look down upon culture and the fine arts as being less manly than politics and war; cf. the famous passage in the Aeneid, 6. 846-853.
argumenta
,
subjects or
stories (in relief) ; cf. Aeneid, vi. 20, and note.
Gorgonis
: the head of Medusa, a favorite subject of ancient art. See Fig. 10, from an ancient marble mask.
bullas
, i.e. knobs.
[11]
in hoc nomine
,
at this item (i.e. wondering why Verres should have taken these).
commoveri
,
were surprised .
satis esset
, i.e. they were only curiosities. Any natural object which was, in the view of the ancients, out of the common order of nature was regarded as a
monstrum or
prodigium, and as therefore associated in some w-ay with the gods ; hence such objects were frequently dedicated in temples.
id
merely repeats
hastas
.
[12] nam explains (ironically) why he asks the last question. A passion for art might, he suggests, excuse the theft of such an object as the Sappho, but the stealing of the bamboos was a wanton sacrilege.
potius, etc.,
rather than this most tasteful and cultivated man.
haberet
: §
444
(268); B. 277; G. 265; H. 559, 4 (484. v). H.-B. 503.
nimirum
(continuing the irony),
of course.
nostrum
,
of us (emph.), opp. to
Verres.
eat
(hort. subj.),
must go .
ad aedem Felicitatis
: the temple of
Felicitas was adorned with the spoils of conquered Corinth. Catulus had adorned his temple of
Fortuna, and Metellus his portico, with splendid works of art.
istorum
, Verres and his friends.
Tusculanum
,
villa at Tusculum (about 15 miles southeast of Rome) where the wealthy Romans, Hortensius among the rest, had splendid country-houses.
ornatum
, i.e. as it was on festal days.
commodarit
,
lent: such works of art were often placed temporarily in the Forum; cf. our modern
loan exhibitions.
operari
,
mere day-laborer: said in contempt of Verres’s pretensions to culture.
studia
,
fine
tastes.
delicias
,
luxurious pleasures (both ironical).
appositior
,
better fitted .
ad ferenda
, etc.,
to carry (as a porter)
than to carry off (as a connoisseur): a sarcasm on Verres’s coarse and heavy build.
[13]
Graeculus
: in contemptuous allusion to his pretence of taste.
subtiliter judicat
,
is a fine connoisseur of.
nunc
,
now (as it is) opposed to
si
. . .
tulisset
.
[14]
parinum
(corrupt and meaningless): the common reading is parvum; perhaps the old conjecture Parium,
of Parian marble, is best.
Libero patre
: not
Liber his father, but
father Liber, pater being a common attribute of Liber as well as of Mars and other gods.
Liberi filius
(1.6) is spurious.
[15]
Jovem
: the statue was of Zeus
οὖριος, god of favorable weather, identified, from some fancied resemblance, with
Juppiter imperator.
suo
: the emphatic position continues the emphasis on
Jovem
.
Flamininus
: T. Quinctius Flamininus, who defeated Philip of Macedon at Cynoscephalae,
B.C. 197.
in Ponti ore
: the Thracian Bosporus, the strait extending from Constantinople to the Black Sea, about 1 7 miles.
sua
: §
301
, b (196, c); cf. B. 244, 4; G. 309, 2; H. 503, 2 (449, 2); H.-B. 264, 2.
Capitolio
: the Capitol, or Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, had three
cellae, or chapels, sacred to the Capitolian triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. This was now the most illustrious temple,
the earthly abode, of Jupiter.
[16]
incolae
,
residents, i.e. persons of foreign birth who made Syracuse their home, without having obtained citizenship ; advenae (next line),
visitors .
[17]
adventu
, abl. of cause.
mensas Delphicas
: tables with three legs, like the Delphic tripod (see Figs. 13, 14); vasa Corinthia were made of a kind of bronze, of peculiar beauty and very costly.
Robberies of works of art are especially odious to men of Greek blood.
[18]
levia et contemnenda
: cf. note on
p. 53, l. 30
.
fanorum
,
shrines: the word indicates the consecrated spot rather than the temple or altar erected upon it.
[19]
nisi forte
: introducing, as usual, an absurd supposition.
desierunt
,
ceased, i.e. by the transference of the courts to the Senators.
Crasso
: L. Licinius Crassus, the famous orator, and Quintus Scaevola,
pontifex maximus, the famous jurist and statesman, were close friends, and colleagues in nearly every office. They were curule aediles,
B.C. 103, and gave the first exhibition of lion-fights. The splendor of their aedileship was the work of Crassus, a man of elegant and luxurious tastes, while Scaevola was moderate and simple in his habits.
Claudio
: probably a brother of Claudia, the wife of Tiberius Gracchus. In his aedileship,
B.C. 99, he exhibited fights of elephants.
commercium
: Crassus and Claudius would have bought such objects of art if anybody could have done it.
fuisse
, sc.
commercium.
[20]
referri
,
be entered, has for subject
pretio . . . abalienasse
.
rebus istis
,
things of that sort .
apud illos
, i.e. the Greeks generally.
[21] The cities referred to in this section were all centres of Greek art or celebrated for the possession of some masterpiece. Reginos: Rhegium,
Reggio, was a very ancient Greek city at the point of Italy nearest Sicily. It was a colony of Chalcis, probably founded in the eighth century B.C., and became a Roman
municipium after the Social War,
B.C. 91-90.
merere velle
,
would take .
illa
,
that famous.
Tarentinos
: Tarentum was the largest Greek city in Italy, a colony of Sparta, founded in the eighth century B.C., subjugated by Rome just after the invasion of Pyrrhus,
B.C. 272.
Cnidios . . . Coos
: observe the chiasm.
buculam
: the celebrated bronze cow of Myron.
longum
est,
it would be tedious: §
522
, a (311, c) ; B. 304, 3 ; G. 254, R.1 ; H. 525, 2 (476,5); H.-B. 582, 3, b.
Commmentary on the Plunder of Syracuse. James Bradstreet Greenough. ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge. Boston. 1897.
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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.