M. Tullius Cicero, De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 33

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[33] Cnidum aut¹ Colophonem aut Samum, nobilissimas urbis, innumerabilisque alias captas esse commemorem, cum vestros portus atque eos portus quibus vitam ac² spiritum ducitis in praedonum fuisse potestate³ sciatis? an vero ignoratis portum Caietae celeberrimum et⁴ plenissimum navium inspectante praetore a praedonibus esse direptum, ex Miseno autem eius ipsius liberos qui cum praedonibus antea⁵ bellum gesserat⁶ a praedonibus esse sublatos? nam quid ego Ostiense incommodum atque illam labem atque ignominiam rei publicae querar, cum prope inspectantibus vobis classis ea cui consul populi Romani praepositus esset a praedonibus capta atque depressa⁷ est? pro di immortales! tantamne⁸ unius hominis incredibilis ac divina virtus tam brevi tempore lucem adferre rei publicae potuit ut vos, qui modo ante ostium Tiberinum classem hostium videbatis, ei⁹ nunc nullam intra Oceani ostium praedonum navem esse¹⁰ audiatis?

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

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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.) — 33 focus

[33] Need I mention, how Cnidus , and Colophon , and Samos , most noble cities, and others too in countless numbers, were taken by them, when you know that your own harbours, and those harbours too from which you derive, as it were, your very life and breath, were in the power of the pirates? Are you ignorant that the harbour of Caieta , that illustrious harbour, when full of ships, was plundered by the pirates under the very eyes of the praetor? and that from Misenum , the children of the very man who had before that waged war against the pirates in that place, were carried off by the pirates? For why should I complain of the disaster of Ostia , and of that stain and blot on the republic, when almost under your very eyes, that fleet which was under the command of a Roman consul was taken and destroyed by the pirates? O ye immortal gods! could the incredible and godlike virtue of one man in so short a time bring so much light to the republic, that you who had lately been used to see a fleet of the enemy before the mouth of the Tiber , should now hear that there is not one ship belonging to the pirates on this side of the Atlantic?

Notes on the current edition

De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites

1. Cnidum aut quid aut δ

2. ac HEt, Gellius 1. 7. 16: et πδ

3. potestatem Gellius

4. et H: ac E: atque cett.

5. antea H: antea ibi cett. ( cf. Mil. §50)

6. gesserat H πψ: gesserant Ebt: gesserunt σ

7. depressa Modius: deprehensa H: oppressa cett.

8. tantamne W (?), Hotoman: tantane cett.

9. ei hi Ht ψ, om. E π

10. esse om. H

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

vitam ac spiritum : ports of entry are the breath if life to a city which, like Rome, must import its daily supplies of food.

potestatem : acc., because it is implied that they fell into their power.

praetore : who he was is not known.

liberos (a rhetorical use of the plural for the singular): this was a daughter of the distinguished orator Marcus Antonius, who had celebrated a triumph for a victory over the pirates, B.C. 102.

classis ea , a fleet (not that fleet); followed by a subj. of characteristic (

praepositus esset ).

consul : who he was is not known.

Oceani ostium , the Strait of Gibraltar.

audiatis : for tense. see § 485 , c (287, c); B. 268,7; G. 513; H. 550 (495, vi); cf. H.-B. 478.

M. Tullius Cicero De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites 33

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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