^Aedis Minervae est in Insula, de qua ante dixi; quam Marcellus non attigit, quam plenam atque ornatam reliquit; quae ab isto sic spoliata atque direpta est, non ut ab hoste aliquo, qui tamen in bello religionem et consuetudinis iura retineret, sed ut a barbaris praedonibus vexata esse videatur. Pugna erat equestris Agathocli regis in tabulis picta; iis autem tabulis interiores templi parietes vestiebantur. Nihil erat ea pictura nobilius, nihil Syracusis quod magis videndum putaretur. Has tabulas M. Marcellus, cum omnia victoria illa sua profana fecisset, tamen religione impeditus non attigit; iste, cum illa iam propter diuturnam pacem fidelitatemque populi Syracusani sacra religiosaque accepisset, omnes eas tabulas abstulit, parietes, quorum ornatus tot saecula manserant, tot bella effugerant, nudos ac deformatos reliquit.
There is a temple of Minerva on the island, which I mentioned before, which Marcellus did not touch, which remained complete and decorated, which has been despoiled and ruined by that man [Verres]. It would seem to have been wrecked not by an enemy general (on the contrary, the general maintained religion and the customary law) but by barbarian hordes. There was a painting on panels of a battle, with King Agathokles on horseback; the inside walls of the temple were covered with these panels. Nothing was more famous than this picture, nothing in Syracuse was considered more worthwhile to see. Although he had made all things un-sacred by his victory, Marcus Marcellus did not touch these panels, held back by his own religious feeling. But although they had regained their sacred and religious character thanks to the enduring submission and loyalty of the Syracusan people, that man [Verres] removed all the panels and left the walls which they had decorated for so many centuries, which had escaped so many wars, naked and disfigured.
