242. emerserint: emergere, to come forth, emerge.
porro: adv., straight on, forward, or, here, in turn.
243. invecta sint: invehere, to carry into, bring in.
hanc diem: dies is treated variously as m. or f., the latter especially when referring to a specific day or to time in general.
244. quod…Syracusis, quod…viderat, quod…concesserat, quod…solebant (247): a good example of TRICOLON CRESCENS, a common rhetorical device consisting of three (or more) consecutive cls., each longer and more complex than the one preceding and building to a climax.
246. incolae: incola, m., inhabitant, resident.
advenae: advena, m., stranger, foreigner.
247. id: repeats hoc tertium in 243, following the elaborate tricolon.
Verres stole other statues as well, including a famous one of Jupiter.
Quid? signum Paeanis ex aede Aesculapi praeclare factum, sacrum ac religiosum, non sustulisti?—quod omnes propter pulchritudinem 225 visere, propter religionem colere solebant. Quid? ex aede Liberi simulacrum Aristaei non tuo imperio palam ablatum est? Quid? ex aede Iovis religiosissimum simulacrum Iovis Imperatoris, pulcherrime factum, nonne abstulisti? Atque ille Paean sacrificiis anniversariis simul cum Aesculapio apud 230 illos colebatur; Aristaeus, qui inventor olei esse dicitur, una cum Libero patre apud illos eodem erat in templo consecratus.
Iovem autem Imperatorem quanto honore in suo templo fuisse arbitramini? Conicere potestis, si recordari volueritis quanta religione fuerit eadem specie ac forma signum illud quod ex 235 Macedonia captum in Capitolio posuerat T. Flamininus. Etenim tria ferebantur in orbe terrarum signa Iovis Imperatoris uno in genere pulcherrime facta: unum illud Macedonicum quod in Capitolio vidimus; alterum in Ponti ore et angustiis; tertium, quod Syracusis ante Verrem praetorem fuit. Illud Flamininus 240 ita ex aede sua sustulit ut in Capitolio, hoc est, in terrestri domicilio Iovis, poneret. Quod autem est ad introitum Ponti, id, cum tam multa ex illo mari bella emerserint, tam multa porro in Pontum invecta sint, usque ad hanc diem integrum inviolatumque servatum est. Hoc tertium, quod erat Syracusis, quod 245 M. Marcellus armatus et victor viderat, quod religioni concesserat, quod cives atque incolae Syracusani colere, advenae non solum visere verum etiam venerari solebant, id Verres ex templo Iovis sustulit.
Colossal head of Zeus Otricoli, Italy Museo Pio Clementino Vatican Museums Vatican State
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
249. saepius: lit., rather often = once again.
habetote: 2nd pers. pl. of fut. imper., think, consider.
250. esse…desideratos (251): have been missed = have been lost.
istius adventu…victoria Marcelli (251): CHIASMUS underscores the contrast; adventu and victoria are ABL. OF CAUSE.
251. ille: Marcellus.
requisisse: = requisivisse; Marcellus hoped to save him at the capture of Syracuse.
252. Archimedem illum: when ille follows the noun it modifies, it generally means that famous; Archimedes, the renowned Greek mathematician and inventor, was born at Syracuse in 287 B.C. and was carelessly slain by some Roman soldiers during Marcellus’ sack of the city in 212.
253. quem: = et eum; conjunctive use of the rel.
permoleste: adv., with much annoyance, with great distress.
tulisse: with dicitur (251).
254. asportaret: asportare, to carry off.
256. eos: the Syracusans.
261. nimio opere: excessively or perhaps, in a more positive sense, exceedingly (cp. magnopere); although Cicero here speaks somewhat patronizingly of the Greeks’ devotion to art, Greek artworks were actually very popular among the Romans, as is shown by the fact that so many ancient Greek works are known to us through Roman copies.
querimoniis: querimonia,lament, complaint.
264. hosce: emphatic for hos, these (recent).
exterae nationes: see on line 7.
266. huiusce modi: GEN. OF DESCRIPTION with spoliationes = tales spoliationes.
268. licet…dicat: often construed with acc. + inf., licet can also take a subjunct. cl., as here; it is permitted that he say = although he may say.
emisse: i.e., the various art objects he had stolen.
sicuti: = sicut.
credite hoc mihi (269): this cl. combines the two case constructions which may follow credo, (a) credite hoc, believe this (acc. of thing), (b) credite mihi, believe me (dat. of person), where Eng. might instead have, “believe me when I say this….”
269. tota Asia et Graecia: sc. in; the prep. is often omitted in place constructions, especially where the placename is modified by totus, medius, or a similar adj.
signum…urbis (270): this TRICOLON CRESCENS along with the ANAPHORA and the accumulation of indef. adv./adj./pron. (umquam/ullum/ullam/ullum/cuiquam) all intensify Cicero’s point.
271. scitote: for the form, see on habetote in 248.
272. emptionem: emptio, purchase.
qui: the indef. adj. is often used for the indef. pron. quis.
