lius was of
course ruined. For the stories of Epicrates and Sopater I must refer the
reader to the oration. In that of Sopater there is the peculiarity that
Verres managed to get paid by everybody all round.

The story of Sthenius is so interesting that I cannot pass it by.
Sthenius was a man of wealth and high standing, living at Therma in
Sicily, with whom Verres often took up his abode; for, as governor, he
travelled much about the island, always in pursuit of plunder. Sthenius
had had his house full of beautiful things. Of all these Verres
possessed himself--some by begging, some by demanding, and some by
absolute robbery. Sthenius, grieved as he was to find himself pillaged,
bore all this. The man was Roman Praetor, and injuries such as these had
to be endured. At Therma, however, in the public place of the city,
there were some beautiful statues. For these Verres longed, and desired
his host to get them for him. Sthenius declared that this was
impossible. The statues had, under peculiar circumstances, been
recovered by Scipio Africanus from Carthage, and been restored by the
Roman General to the Sicilians, from whom they had been taken, and had
been erected at Therma. There was a peculiarly beautiful figure of
Stesichorus, the poet, as an old man bent double, with a book in his
hand--a very glorious work of art; and there was a goat--in bronze
probably--as to which Cicero is at the pains of telling us that even he,
unskilled as he was in such matters, could see its charms. No one had
sharper eyes for such pretty ornaments than Cicero, or a more decided
taste for them. But as Hortensius, his rival and opponent in this case,
had taken a marble sphinx from Verres, he thought it expedient to show
how superior he was to such matters. There was probably something of
joke in this, as his predilections would no doubt be known to those he
was addressing.[117]

In the matter Sthenius was incorruptible, and not even the Praetor could
carry them away without his aid. Cicero, who is very warm in praise of
Sthenius, declares that "here at last Verres had found one town, the
only one in the world, from which he was unable to carry away something
of the public property by force, or stealth, or open command, or
favor."[118] The governor was so disgusted with this that he abandoned
Sthenius, leaving the house which he had plundered of everything, and
betook himself to that of one Agathinus, who had a beautiful daughter,
Callidama