M. Tullius Cicero, De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites, Charles Duke Yonge (Translator), 40

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[40]
Come now, consider also what moderation he has displayed in other matters also. How was it, do you suppose, that he was able to display that excessive rapidity, and to perform that incredible voyage? For it was no unexampled number of rowers, no hitherto unknown skill in navigation, no new winds, which bore him so swiftly to the most distant lands; but those circumstances which are wont to delay other men did not delay him. No avarice turned him aside from his intended route in pursuit of some plunder or other; no lust led him away in pursuit of pleasure; no luxury allured him to seek its delights; the illustrious reputation of no city tempted him to make its acquaintance; even labour did not turn him aside to seek rest. Lastly, as for the statues, and pictures, and other embellishments of Greek cities, which other men think worth carrying away, he did not think them worthy even of a visit from him.

De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites. M. Tullius Cicero. Charles Duke Yonge (Translator). London. 1856.

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Current edition Perseus

In Defense of the Proposed Manilian Law (English) (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.)

Editions (1)

De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 1. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.) — 40 focus

[40] 14 age vero, ceteris in rebus quae¹ sit temperantia considerate. Vnde illam tantam celeritatem et tam incredibilem cursum inventum putatis? non enim illum eximia vis remigum aut ars inaudita quaedam gubernandi aut venti aliqui novi tam celeriter in ultimas terras pertulerunt, sed eae² res quae ceteros remorari solent non retardarunt. non avaritia ab instituto cursu ad praedam aliquam devocavit, non libido ad voluptatem, non amoenitas ad delectationem, non nobilitas urbis³ ad cognitionem, non denique labor ipse ad quietem; postremo signa et tabulas ceteraque ornamenta Graecorum oppidorum quae ceteri tollenda esse arbitrantur, ea sibi ille ne visenda quidem existimavit.

Commentary

Notes on The Manilian Law (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

celeritatem , speed;

cursum , extent of travel.

non . . . quaedam . . . aliqui , it was not that some, etc.

remigum : galleys, worked by oars and independent of the wind, were generally used as war vessels. In the Mediterranean (particularly in the Barbary States) their use was continued till a very late day; and for some purposes they are still employed. Their trained crews of rowers gave them a speed hardly less than that of steam vessels.

amoenitas : used of objects of sight, beauty of scenery, etc.

labor , toil, always with the sense of effort and fatigue.

ceteri , as Verres, for instance (see "The Plunder of Syracuse," pp.48 ff.).

visenda : the passion for travel and sight-seeing was as common among the ancients as in modern times (of. "The Plunder of Syracuse," p. 52, l. 9 ; p.57, ll. 5-7).

M. Tullius Cicero De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites 40

Charles Duke Yonge (Translator)

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