The paper examines the alienation of art works (mostly Greek) by Roman conquerors or functionaries. The booty brought by Roman generals from the conquered cities included a number of art works to be displayed in the capital as ornamenta urbis, while the generals themselves usually took no advantage of them. On the other hand, they could be illegally seized by functionaries who abused their position. An obvious example of such corrupt practice is Gaius Verres, who is tackled in a famous speech by Cicero.