80 - 85 Flashcards
Hac tanta praeda auctus, mancipiis, argento, veste locupletatus, nihilo diligentior ad classem ornandam, milites revocandos alendosque esse coepit, cum ea res non solum provinciae saluti verum etiam ipsi praedae posset esse. Nam aestate summa, quo tempore ceteri praetores obire provinciam et concursare consuerunt, aut etiam in tanto praedonum metu et periculo ipsi navigare, eo tempore ad luxuriem libidinesque suas domo sua regia, quae regis Hieronis fuit, qua praetores uti solent, contentus non fuit: tabernacula, quem ad modum consuerat temporibus aestivis, quod antea demonstravi, carbaseis intenta velis collocari iussit in litore, quod est litus in Insula Syracusis post Arethusae fontem propter ipsum introitum atque ostium portus, amoeno sane et ab arbitris remoto loco.
He, enlarged by all this plunder and made more wealthy by slaves in their silver garments, began to be in no way more diligent in arranging the fleet or to calling back (to duty) and nourishing the soldiers, although that matter not only was possible (able) to be good for the safety for province but even in truth for plunder for himself. For in the height of summer, at which time the other praetors were accustomed to visiting and inspecting the province or even to sail with the very fear and danger of pirates, at that time he was not satisfied with respect to his own luxuries and lusts in his kingly home (which was king Hiero’s, which the praetors are accustomed to using); to spend the summer time in his usual manner he ordered tents , which I have demonstrated to you previously, to be set up on the shore with canvas line, where there is the shore and island of Syracuse beyond the fountain of Arethusa, close to the mouth and the enterance of the harbour,
In a place which is a surely pleasant spot removed from prying eyes
Hic dies aestivos praetor populi Romani, custos defensorque provinciae, sic vixit ut muliebriacotidie convivia essent, vir accumberet nemo praeter ipsum et praetextatum filium—etsi recte sine exceptione dixeram virum, cum isti essent, neminem fuisse; non numquam etiam libertus Timarchides adhibebatur; mulieres autem nuptae nobiles, praeter unam mimi Isidori filiam, quam iste propter amorem ab Rhodio tibicine abduxerat. Erat Pipa quaedam, uxor Aeschrionis Syracusani, de qua muliere plurimi versus qui in istius cupiditatem facti sunt tota Sicilia percelebrantur;
Here is the praetor of the roman people, guard and defender of the province, lived through the summer days, thus that there were female banquets and no man was reclining there except him and his son wearing the toga praetexta - and as they were the men, I might well have said without exception that there were no men. Sometimes even the freedman Timarchides was summoned, but the women were the brides of high rank with the one exception of the daughter of the mime Isidorus, whom he because of desire he had taken away from a Rhodian flute player. There was a certain woman Pipa, wife of the Syracusan Aeschrio, a woman about whom there were many verses which were written against him and his desires are often on mouths of people all over Sicily.
erat Nice, facie eximia, ut praedicatur, uxor Cleomeni Syracusani. Hanc1 vir amabat, verum tamen huius libidini adversari nec poterat nec audebat, et simul ab isto donis beneficiisquemultis devinciebatur. Illo autem tempore iste, tametsi ea est hominis impudentia quam nostis, ipse tamen cum vir esset Syracusis uxorem eius parum poterat animo soluto ac libero tot in acta dies secum habere. Itaque excogitat rem singularem; naves quibus legatus praefuerat Cleomeni tradit, classi populi Romani Cleomenem Syracusanum praeesse iubet atque imperare. Hoc eo facit ut ille non solum abesset a domo dum navigaret, sed etiam libenter cum magno honore beneficioque abesset, ipse autem remoto atque ablegato viro non liberius quam antea (quis enim umquam istius libidini obstitit?) sed paulo solutiore tamen animo secum illam haberet si non tamquam virum sed tamquam aemulum removisset.
There was Nice, with an extraordinary appearance, as it is said, wife of the Syracusan Cleomenes. Her husband was loving her, in truth however he neither was able nor dared to oppose the lust of this man (Verres), and at the same time he was bound by him by many gifts and favours. But at that time that man (Verres), although there is that shamelessness of the man which you know, but since her husband himself was at Syracuse, was unable to have the wife of Cleomenes with him for so many days on the shore with a sufficiently free and clear mind. And so he contrived a unique idea/plan: he handed over the ships, which his lieutenant had commanded over, to Cleomenes, and ordered the Syracusan Cleomenes to command over and order a fleet of the Roman people. He did this so that he might not only be absent from the house while sailing, but even willingly be absent with so great an honour and promotion (bestowed upon him), but he (Verres) himself with her husband removed and sent away might have her with him not more freely than before – for who at any time opposed his lust? – but at any rate with an easier mind, as if he had removed him not as a husband but as a rival.
Accipit naves sociorum atque amicorum Cleomenes Syracusanus.
XXXII. Quid primum aut accusem aut querar? Siculone homini legati, quaestoris, praetoris denique potestatem, honorem, auctoritatem dari? Si te impediebat ista conviviorum mulierumque occupatio, ubi quaestores ubi legati, 1ubi ternis denariis aestimatum frumentum, ubi muli, ubi tabernacula, ubi tot tantaque ornamenta magistratibus et legatis a senatu populoque Romano permissa et data,1 denique ubi praefecti, ubi tribuni tui? Si civis Romanus dignus isto negotio nemo fuit, quid civitates quae in amicitia fideque populi Romani perpetuo manserant? ubi Segestana, ubi Centuripina civitas? quae cum officiis, fide, vetustate, tum etiam cognatione populi Romani nomen attingunt.
Cleomones the Syracusan receives the ships of our allies and friends. What accusation or complaint should I make first? That the power, authority, and honour of a lieutenant, of a quaestor, and finally of a praetor, is given to a Sicilian man. If that occupation/business of banquets and women was ensnaring/impeding you (so much), where were your quaestors? Where were your lieutenants? Where was the corn valued at three denarii each? Where were the mules? Where were the tents? Where were the so many and so great marks of honour bestowed upon and given to the magistrates and lieutenants by the senate and people of Rome? And finally, where were your commanders and where were your tribunes? If no Roman citizen was worthy of that employment, what about the communities who had continuously remained in the friendship and trust of the Roman people? Where was Segesta, where was the community/city/state of Centuripa? Who with favours and long-standing trust, as well as with blood-relationship are connected with name of the Roman people.
O di immortales! quid? si harum ipsarum civitatum militibus, navibus, nauarchis Syracusanus Cleomenes iussus est imperare, non omnis honos ab isto dignitatis aequitatis officiique sublatus est? Ecquod in Sicilia bellum gessimus, quin Centuripinis sociis, Syracusanis hostibus uteremur? Atque haec ego ad memoriam vetustatis, non ad contumeliam civitatis referri volo. Itaque ille vir clarissimus summusque imperator, M. Marcellus, cuius virtute captae, misericordia conservatae sunt Syracusae, habitare in ea parte urbis quae in Insula est Syracusanum neminem voluit; hodie, inquam, Syracusanum in ea parte habitare non licet; est enim locus quem vel pauci possent defendere. Committere igitur eum non fidelissimis hominibus noluit, simul quod ab illa parte urbis navibus aditus ex alto est; quam ob rem, qui nostros exercitus saepe excluserant, iis claustra loci committenda non existimavit.
O immortal gods! What then? If Syracusan Cleomenes has been ordered to command the soldiers, ships, captains of these very states, has not every honour of dignity and equal office been encroached upon by that man? And what war have we waged in Sicily without the Centuripians as allies and Syracusans as enemies? And I am wanting these things to be said for the memory of long ago not to insult the state. And so that most renowned man and greatest general, M. Marcellus, by whose courage Syracuse was captured and by whose clemency it was preserved, was not willing for any Syracusan to live in that part of the city, which is in the Island (Insula); to this day, I say, it is not allowed for a Syracusan to live in that area; for it is a place which only a few men could defend. Therefore, he did not wish to entrust it to men who are not the most trustworthy, at the same time because on that side of the city there is access for ships from the deep sea; on account of this situation, he did not think it fit to entrust the keys to the city to these men who had often excluded our armies.
Vide quid intersit inter tuam libidinem maiorumque auctoritatem, inter amorem furoremque tuum et illorum consilium atque prudentiam. Illi aditum litoris Syracusanis ademerunt, tu imperium maritimum concessisti; illi habitare in eo loco Syracusanum, qua naves accedere possent, noluerunt, tu classi et navibus Syracusanum praeesse voluisti; quibus illi urbis suae partem ademerunt, iis tu nostri imperii partem dedisti, et quorum sociorum opera Syracusani nobis dicto audientes sunt, eos Syracusano dicto audientes esse iussisti.
See what a difference there is between your lust and the gravity of our ancestors, between your raging love and the policy and prudence of those men. They took access to the shore away from the Syracusans, you have conceded control of the sea to them; they were not willing for a Syracusan to live in that place where ships were able to approach/enter, you wanted a Syracusan to be in command of our fleet and ships; you gave a part of our power to the same men from whom our ancestors took away a part of their city to those same men you gave a part of our power, and you ordered those allies of ours, by whose help the Syracusans are obedient to us, to be obedient to a Syracusan.
