M. Tullius Cicero, De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 32

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[32] quam provinciam tenuistis a praedonibus liberam¹ per hosce annos? quod vectigal vobis tutum fuit? quem socium defendistis? cui praesidio classibus vestris fuistis? quam multas existimatis insulas esse desertas, quam multas aut² metu relictas aut a praedonibus captas urbis esse sociorum? 12 sed quid ego longinqua commemoro? fuit hoc quondam, fuit proprium³ populi Romani longe a domo bellare et propugnaculis imperi sociorum fortunas, non sua tecta defendere. sociis ego vestris⁴ mare per hosce⁵ annos clausum fuisse dicam, cum exercitus vestri numquam Brundisio⁶ nisi hieme summa⁷ transmiserint? qui ad vos ab exteris nationibus venirent, captos querar, cum legati populi Romani redempti sint? mercatoribus mare tutum⁸ non fuisse dicam, cum duodecim secures in praedonum potestatem pervenerint?

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

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by National Endowment For The Humanities (NEH).

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.) — 32 focus

[32] In all these later years what province have you had free from pirates? what revenue has been safe? what ally have you been able to protect? to whom have your fleets been any defence? How many islands do you suppose have been deserted? how many cities of the allies do you think have been either abandoned out of fear of the pirates, or have been taken by them? 12
But why do I speak of distant events? It was—it was, indeed, formerly—a characteristic of the Roman people to carry on its wars at a distance from home, and to defend by the bulwarks of its power not its own homes, but the fortunes of its allies. Need I say, that the sea has during all these latter years been closed against your allies, when even our own armies never ventured to cross over from Brundusium , except in the depth of winter? Need I complain that men who were coming to you from foreign nations were taken prisoners, when even the ambassadors of the Roman people were forced to be ransomed? Need I say, that the sea was not safe for merchants, when twelve axes ¹ came into the power of the pirates?

Notes on the current edition

De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites

1. liberam om. H

2. multas audistis aut π

3. fuit proprium proprium H

4. ego vestris H: ego nostris Et: vestris ego δπ

5. hosce Hb ψ: hos Et

6. Brundisio H: a Brundisio cett. ( cf. §35)

7. hieme summa HE: summa hieme cett.

8. mare tutum H: tutum mare 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

videte ne : the Latin expresses in the form of a purpose clause ("see to it lest," etc.) what we should put in the form of an indir. quest. ("see whether it be not," etc.).

ut , as, correl. with

sic .

illis , i.e. your ancestors.

non posse : subject of sit.

quid? a regular formula of transition, again.

quod , that: § 572 , b (333, b); G. 542; H. 588, 3 (540, iv, N.); H.-B. 552, 1.

periculum ac discrimen , a dangerous crisis: the former word signifying the trial; the latter the decision. (See Introd., p. xlv.)

Ariobarzanes : king of Cappadocia. It was the designs of Mithridates upon this kingdom that first brought him into collision with Rome. (Fig. 20 is from a fine bust of some unknown Cappadocian.)

certum , a particular.

cum : causal.

sine summo periculo , i.e. by offending Lucullus and Glabrio.

M. Tullius Cicero De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites 32

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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