transversis: sc. viis.
125. continentur: are occupied, filled.
126. fanum: temple, shrine.
Tycha:Tyche is Greek for Fortuna, the goddess of fate or luck.
128. Neapolis: Greek for New-city; cp. Naples in Italy.
129. quam ad summam: = et ad summam eam, and at the highest point of it; for the partitive sense of summam, see above on extrema (118).
theatrum: sc. est (forms of esse are often omitted in Lat. and their equivalents must be supplied in translation); the theatre Cicero mentions survives to this day.
Description of Syracuse.
Roman theater, replacing a Greek original, with Mt. Aetna in background 1st century A.D., Taormina, Sicily, Italy
James C. Anderson, jr.
Urbem Syracusas maximam esse Graecarum, pulcherrimam omnium saepe audistis. Est, iudices, ita ut dicitur. Ea tanta est urbs ut ex quattuor urbibus maximis constare dicatur, quarum 115 una est Insula, in qua domus est quae Hieronis regis fuit, qua praetores uti solent. In ea sunt aedes sacrae complures, sed duae quae longe ceteris antecellant: Dianae et altera, quae fuit ante istius adventum ornatissima, Minervae. In hac insula extrema est fons aquae dulcis, cui nomen Arethusa est, incredibili magnitudine, 120 plenissimus piscium. Altera autem est urbs Syracusis, cui nomen Achradina est, in qua forum maximum, pulcherrimae porticus, ornatissimum prytaneum, amplissima est curia templumque egregium Iovis Olympii; ceteraeque urbis partes, quae, una via lata perpetua multisque transversis divisae, privatis 125 aedificiis continentur. Tertia est urbs quae, quod in ea parte Fortunae fanum antiquum fuit, Tycha nominata est, in qua gymnasium amplissimum est et complures aedes sacrae. Quarta autem est quae, quia postrema coaedificata est, Neapolis nominatur; quam ad summam theatrum maximum. Praeterea duo 130 templa sunt egregia, Cereris unum, alterum Liberae, signumque Apollinis, qui Temenites vocatur, pulcherrimum et maximum, quod iste si portare potuisset, non dubitasset auferre. (IV. 117–19, excerpts)
130. Cereris: gen. of Ceres; Ceres was the Roman goddess of grain, equivalent to the Greek Demeter, and thus an important deity on Sicily, where grain was a major agricultural product.
Liberae:Libera, another Italian agricultural deity, was associated with Proserpina (Persephone), daughter of the grain goddess.
signum: here, statue.
131. Apollinis: gen. of Apollo, god of the sun, who at Syracuse had the epithet “Temenites.”
132. portare: to carry; the cult statues in ancient temples were typically huge.
134. qui: for he; the so-called “conjunctive” use of the rel. pron. at the beginning of a sentence, often to be translated and he (qui = et is), is very common in Cicero.
vi copiisque (135):by force and troops = by force of troops = by military force; HENDIADYS.
135 hoc: explained by the appos. inf. phrase hanc…exstinguere.
136. praesertim: adv., especially.
ex qua…ostenderetur (137): a REL. CAUSAL CL., since from it….
138. publicis privatis, sacris profanis: a highly effective ASYNDETON, imparting a terse, staccato effect.
139. in: in the matter of, in respect to.
140. habuit…habuit: ANAPHORA (word repetition, especially at the beginning of successive phrases) and ASYNDETON emphasize the reasonableness and decency of Marcellus.
victoriae rationem: OBJ. GEN., consideration (regard) for his victory.
humanitatis: also with rationem, and positioned at the end of the sentence for emphasis; not always an easy word to translate, it seems here to connote kindness, courtesy, decency.
victoriae…esse (141): PRED. GEN. OF POSSESSION, lit., that it was of victory; freely, with deportare, that it was appropriate to his victory to carry off.
142. humanitatis: construed, like victoriae in the preceding cl., with putabat esse and the inf. exspoliare.
143. quam…voluisset: another rel. cl. with causal force (see on ex qua…ostenderetur, 136–37).
ornatus: OBJ. GEN.
145. quae: sc. ea as antecedent and dir. obj. of videmus.
aedem Honoris et Virtutis (146): this temple was just south of Rome on the Via Appia.
146. item: adv., also, likewise.
nihil…nihil…nihil (147): again ANAPHORA combined with ASYNDETON for emphasis—a favorite Ciceronian device.
aedibus: aedes in pl. often = house.
147. suburbano: sc. praedio, estate, villa.
urbis ornamenta domum suam…domum suam ornamento urbi (149): CHIASMUS underscores the contrasting idea.
149. permulta: per- as a prefix often has an intensive force such as very.
Marcellus spared Syracuse when he captured the city in 212 B.C.
