Song for Cleomenes

[Verse 1]

73 years before the advent of the Christian era

As Rome was taking over any land within reach

Setting up proxy governments in the conquered lands

There lived one such man given just such a job

Gaius Verres, go

[Verse 2]

A praetor held a position which operated on trust

He was to govern instead of the emperor himself

It was an easy, easy privilege to abuse

And Verres did so

[Verse 3]

He was the governor of Agrigentum

Which we now know as Sicily

And he stole everything that wasn't nailed down

Took improper advantage of other men's wives

The list goes on, trust me

Cicero wrote it all down

[Verse 4]

At Syracuse, Verres welcomed a band of pirates

They all drank and danced and sang on the shore

And when the husband of one of Verres's paramours came

Bringing a fleet of boats with him

Verres, clever, if diabolical, gave him a job

And enlisted the pirates to burn the whole fleet down

[Outro]

The boats burned in the Sicilian harbor

The flames rose hundreds of feet into the air

We stood on the shore, watching them burn

We stood on the shore, we heard the old songs

Hey