M. Tullius Cicero, De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 66

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[66] libenter haec coram cum Q. Quinto Catulo¹ et Q. Quinto Hortensio, summis et clarissimis viris, disputarem; norunt² enim sociorum volnera, vident eorum calamitates, querimonias audiunt. pro sociis vos contra hostis exercitus³ mittere putatis an hostium simulatione contra socios atque amicos? quae civitas est in Asia quae non modo imperatoris aut legati sed unius tribuni militum animos ac spiritus capere possit? 23 qua re, etiam si quem habetis qui conlatis signis exercitus regios superare posse videatur, tamen, nisi erit idem qui a⁴ pecuniis sociorum, qui ab eorum coniugibus ac liberis, qui ab ornamentis fanorum atque oppidorum⁵, qui ab auro gazaque regia manus, oculos, animum cohibere possit, non erit idoneus qui ad bellum Asiaticum regiumque mittatur.

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.) — 66 focus

[66] I would willingly argue this with those most eminent and illustrious men, Quintus Catulus and Quintus Hortensius; for they know the distresses of the allies, they see their calamities, they hear their complaints. Do you think that you are sending an army in defence of your allies against their enemies, or rather, under presence of the existence of enemies, against your allies and friends themselves? What city is there in Asia which can stand the ferocity and arrogance, I will not say of the, army, of a commander-in-chief, or of a lieutenant, but of even the brigade of one single military tribune? 23
So that even if you have any one who may appear able to cope in terms of advantage with the king's armies, still, unless he be also a man who can keep his hands, and eyes, and desires from the treasures of the allies, from their wives and children, from the ornaments of their temples and cities, from the gold and jewels of the king, he will not be a fit person to be sent to this Asiatic and royal war. Do you think that there is any city there peacefully inclined towards us which is rich?

Notes on the current edition

De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites

1. coram que Catulo H

2. norunt H: noverunt cett.

3. exercitus H: exercitum cett.

4. qui a H, Heumann: qui se a cett.

5. qui ab... oppidorum H: om. 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

liunc , i.e. Mithridates.

confirmavit , reassured.

erat enim , etc.: explaining the reason why these nations displayed hostility, though the Romans had no designs on them.

eis nationibus , i.e. those near Armenia.

gravis atque vehemens , potent and very strongly held.

fani : "the temple of the Persian Nanaea, or Anaitis, in Elymais, or the modern Luristan [that part of Susiana nearest to the Euphrates], the most celebrated and the richest shrine in the whole region of the Euphrates." Such a rumor would at once fire the population of the whole East.

urbem : Tigranocerta, the new capital of Tigranes, situated in the southwest part of his kingdom, near the river Tigris. This city was destroyed by Lucullus.

commovebatur , was affected. After all his successes, Lucullus had made somewhat the same mistake as Napoleon in his Russian expedition, and had found himself in an awkward situation, far from his base of operations, and in the midst of infuriated enemies.

M. Tullius Cicero De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites 66

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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