[127]
And how great a regret this Sappho which he carried off left
behind her, can scarcely be told; for in the first place it was admirably made, and,
besides, it had a very noble Greek epigram engraved upon the pedestal; and would not
that learned man, that Grecian, who is such an acute judge of these matters, who is
the only man who understands them, if he had understood one letter of Greek, have
taken that away too? for now, because it is engraved on an empty pedestal, it both
declares what was once, on the pedestal, and proves that it has been taken away.
What shall I say more? Did you not take away the statue of Paean from out of the
temple of Aesculapius, beautifully made, sacred, and holy as it was? a statue which
all men went to see for its beauty, and worshipped for its sacred character. What
more? was not the statue of Aristaeus openly taken away by your command out of the
temple of Bacchus?
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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