Rome's Treasure

Caesar's plunder of the Roman treasury is alluded to at the precise moment Dante describes the Gate of Purgatory opening to him:

E quando fuor ne' cardini distorti
li spigoli di quella regge sacra,
che di metallo son sonanti e forti,

non rugghiò sì né si mostrò sì acra
Tarpëa, come tolto le fu il buono
Metello, per che poi rimase macra.

And when the hinges of that sacred door,
which are of heavy and resounding metal,
were turning on their linchpins,

the Tarpeian rock roared not so loud
nor proved so strident when good Metellus
was drawn away and it was then left bare.

Purg. ix.133-138