M. Tullius Cicero, De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 20

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[20] 8 quoniam de genere belli dixi, nunc de magnitudine pauca dicam. potest enim hoc¹ dici, belli genus esse ita necessarium ut sit gerendum, non esse ita magnum ut sit pertimescendum. in quo maxime laborandum est ne forte ea² vobis quae diligentissime providenda sunt contemnenda esse videantur. atque ut omnes intellegant me L. Lucio Lucullo tantum impertire laudis quantum forti viro et sapienti³ homini et magno imperatori debeatur, dico eius adventu maximas Mithridati⁴ copias omnibus rebus ornatas atque instructas fuisse, urbemque Asiae clarissimam nobisque amicissimam Cyzicenorum oppressam⁵ esse ab ipso rege maxima multitudine et oppugnatam vehementissime; quam L. Lucius Lucullus virtute, adsiduitate, consilio summis obsidionis periculis liberavit.

De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites. M. Tullius Cicero. ed. Albert Curtis Clark. Oxford. 1908.

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Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (1)

In Defense of the Proposed Manilian Law Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 20 focus

[20]
Since I have spoken of the description of war, I will now say a few words about its magnitude. For this may be said of it,—that it is a kind of war so necessary, that it must absolutely be waged, and yet not one of such magnitude as to be formidable. And in this we must take the greatest care that those things do not appear to you contemptible which require to be most diligently guarded against. And that all men may understand that I give Lucius Lucullus all the praise that is due to a gallant man, and most wise ¹ man, and to a most consummate general, I say that when he first arrived in Asia , the forces of Mithridates were most numerous, well appointed, and provided with every requisite; and that the finest city in Asia , and the one, too, that was most friendly to us, the city of Cyzicus , was besieged by the king in person, with an enormous army, and that the siege had been pressed most vigorously, when Lucius Lucullus, by his valour, and perseverance, and wisdom, relieved it from the most extreme danger.

Notes on the current edition

De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites

1. enim hoc hoc enim E: autem hoc t

2. ea H, Buttmann: a cett.

3. sapienti HEt: sapientissimo cett.

4. Mithridati Wt: Mithridatis cett. ( cf. §23)

5. oppressam H: obsessam cett.

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

etenim , for (you will notice).

triumphavit de : not triumphed over, but celebrated a triumph for a victory over. The word is repeated in emphatic antithesis to the clause sed . . . regnaret.

regnaret , was still a king (i.e. in possession of his kingdom).

verum tamen , but still.

quod egerunt , for what they have done: by a Latin idiom quod is here equivalent to propter id quod.

res publica , the public: interest Sulla had hastened to make an unsatisfactory peace, that he might return and restore order in Italy, which was in the power of the Marian faction.

M. Tullius Cicero De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites 20

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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