I. The Nature of the War

This is considered under four heads (defined in sect. 6 ): there are at stake (1) the dignity and prestige of Rome (sects. 7 - 11 ); (2) the safety of the allies (sects. 12 , 13 ); (3) the chief revenues of the state (sects. 14 - 16 ); (4) the investments of the publicani, whose embarrassment would cause a financial panic in Rome itself (sects. 17 - 19 ).

Notes on The Manilian Law. James Bradstreet Greenough. ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge. Boston. 1897.

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

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De Imperio Cn. Pompei Ad Quirites Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 1. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.) — 6 focus

[6] causa quae sit videtis; nunc quid agendum sit ipsi¹ considerate. primum mihi videtur de genere belli, deinde de magnitudine, tum de imperatore deligendo esse dicendum. genus est eius belli² quod maxime vestros animos excitare atque inflammare ad persequendi studium³ debeat. in quo agitur populi Romani gloria quae vobis a maioribus cum magna in omnibus rebus⁴ tum summa in re militari tradita est; agitur salus sociorum atque amicorum pro qua multa maiores vestri magna et⁵ gravia bella⁶ gesserunt; aguntur certissima populi Romani vectigalia et maxima quibus amissis et pacis ornamenta et subsidia belli requiretis; aguntur bona multorum civium quibus est a vobis⁷ et ipsorum causa et rei⁸ publicae consulendum.

[7] 3 et quoniam semper appetentes gloriae praeter ceteras gentis atque avidi laudis fuistis, delenda vobis est⁹ illa macula Mithridatico bello superiore concepta¹⁰ quae penitus iam¹¹ insedit ac nimis inveteravit in populi Romani nomine, quod is qui uno die tota in Asia tot in civitatibus uno nuntio atque una significatione¹² omnis¹³ civis Romanos necandos trucidandosque curavit, non modo adhuc poenam nullam suo dignam scelere¹⁴ suscepit sed ab illo tempore annum iam tertium et vicesimum regnat¹⁵, et ita regnat ut se non Ponti¹⁶ neque Cappadociae latebris occultare velit sed emergere ex¹⁷ patrio regno atque in vestris vectigalibus, hoc est in Asiae luce, versari.

[8] etenim adhuc ita nostri cum illo rege contenderunt imperatores ut ab illo insignia victoriae, non victoriam reportarent. triumphavit L. ucius Sulla, triumphavit L. ucius Murena de Mithridate, duo fortissimi viri et summi imperatores, sed ita triumpharunt ut ille pulsus superatusque regnaret. verum tamen illis imperatoribus laus est tribuenda quod egerunt¹⁸, venia danda quod reliquerunt, propterea quod ab eo bello Sullam in Italiam res publica, Murenam Sulla revocavit.

[9] 4 Mithridates autem omne reliquum tempus non ad oblivionem veteris belli sed ad comparationem novi contulit. qui postea, cum¹⁹ maximas aedificasset ornassetque classis exercitusque permagnos quibuscumque ex gentibus potuisset comparasset²⁰ et se²¹ Bosphoranis, finitimis suis, bellum inferre simularet, usque in Hispaniam legatos ac litteras²² misit ad eos duces quibuscum tum bellum gerebamus, ut, cum duobus in locis disiunctissimis maximeque diversis uno consilio a binis²³ hostium copiis bellum terra marique gereretur, vos ancipiti contentione districti²⁴ de imperio dimicaretis.

[10] sed tamen alterius partis periculum, Sertorianae atque Hispaniensis, quae multo plus firmamenti ac roboris habebat, Cn. Gnaei Pompei divino consilio ac singulari virtute depulsum est; in altera parte ita res ab²⁵ L. Lucio Lucullo, summo viro, est administrata ut initia illa rerum gestarum²⁶ magna atque praeclara non felicitati eius sed virtuti, haec autem extrema quae nuper acciderunt non culpae sed fortunae tribuenda esse videantur. sed de Lucullo dicam alio loco, et ita dicam, Quirites, ut neque vera laus ei detracta oratione mea neque falsa adficta²⁷ esse videatur;

[11] de vestri imperi dignitate atque gloria, quoniam is est exorsus orationis meae, videte quem vobis animum suscipiendum putetis.

5 maiores nostri saepe pro²⁸ mercatoribus²⁹ aut naviculariis nostris³⁰ iniuriosius tractatis bella gesserunt; vos tot milibus³¹ civium Romanorum uno nuntio atque uno tempore necatis quo tandem animo esse debetis? legati quod erant appellati superbius, Corinthum patres vestri totius Graeciae lumen exstinctum esse voluerunt; vos eum regem inultum esse patiemini qui legatum populi Romani consularem vinculis ac verberibus atque omni supplicio excruciatum necavit? illi libertatem imminutam civium Romanorum³² non tulerunt; vos ereptam vitam³³ neglegetis³⁴? ius legationis verbo violatum illi persecuti sunt; vos legatum omni supplicio interfectum relinquetis³⁵?

[12] videte ne, ut illis pulcherrimum fuit tantam vobis imperi gloriam tradere, sic vobis turpissimum sit id quod accepistis tueri et conservare non posse.

quid? quod salus sociorum summum in periculum ac discrimen vocatur, quo id³⁶ tandem animo ferre debetis? regno est expulsus³⁷ Ariobarzanes rex, socius populi Romani atque amicus; imminent duo reges toti Asiae non solum vobis inimicissimi sed etiam vestris sociis atque amicis; civitates autem omnes cuncta Asia atque Graecia³⁸ vestrum auxilium exspectare propter periculi magnitudinem coguntur; imperatorem a vobis certum³⁹ deposcere, cum praesertim vos alium miseritis, neque audent neque id se⁴⁰ facere sine summo periculo posse arbitrantur.

[13] vident enim⁴¹ et sentiunt hoc idem quod vos, unum virum esse in quo summa⁴² sint omnia, et eum propter esse⁴³, quo etiam carent aegrius; cuius adventu ipso atque nomine, tametsi ille ad maritimum bellum venerit, tamen impetus hostium repressos esse intellegunt ac retardatos. hi vos, quoniam libere loqui non licet, taciti⁴⁴ rogant ut se quoque⁴⁵ dignos existimetis quorum salutem tali viro commendetis, atque hoc etiam magis quod ceteras in provincias eius modi homines cum imperio mittimus ut, etiam si ab hoste defendant, tamen ipsorum adventus in⁴⁶ urbis sociorum non multum ab hostili expugnatione differant, hunc audiebant antea, nunc praesentem vident tanta temperantia, tanta mansuetudine, tanta humanitate ut ei beatissimi esse videantur apud quos ille diutissime commoretur⁴⁷.

[14] 6 qua re si propter socios nulla ipsi iniuria lacessiti maiores nostri cum Antiocho, cum Philippo, cum Aetolis, cum Poenis bella gesserunt, quanto vos studiosius⁴⁸ convenit iniuriis provocatos sociorum salutem una cum imperi vestri dignitate defendere, praesertim cum de maximis vestris vectigalibus agatur? nam ceterarum provinciarum vectigalia, Quirites, tanta sunt ut eis ad ipsas provincias tuendas⁴⁹ vix contenti esse possimus, Asia vero tam⁵⁰ opima est ac fertilis ut et ubertate agrorum et varietate fructuum et magnitudine pastionis et multitudine earum rerum quae exportentur⁵¹ facile omnibus terris antecellat. itaque haec vobis provincia, Quirites, si et belli utilitatem et pacis dignitatem retinere⁵² voltis, non modo a calamitate sed etiam a metu calamitatis⁵³ est defendenda.

[15] nam in ceteris rebus cum venit calamitas, tum detrimentum accipitur; at in vectigalibus non solum adventus mali sed etiam metus ipse adfert calamitatem. nam cum hostium copiae non longe absunt, etiam si inruptio nulla facta est, tamen pecua⁵⁴ relinquuntur⁵⁵, agri cultura deseritur, mercatorum navigatio conquiescit. ita neque ex portu neque ex decumis neque ex scriptura vectigal conservari potest; qua re saepe totius anni fructus uno rumore periculi atque uno belli terrore amittitur.

[16] quo tandem igitur⁵⁶ animo esse existimatis aut eos qui vectigalia nobis pensitant, aut eos qui exercent atque exigunt, cum duo reges cum maximis copiis propter⁵⁷ adsint, cum una excursio equitatus perbrevi tempore totius anni vectigal auferre possit, cum publicani familias maximas quas in salinis⁵⁸ habent, quas in agris, quas in portibus⁵⁹ atque⁶⁰ in custodiis magno periculo se habere arbitrentur? putatisne vos illis rebus frui posse, nisi eos qui vobis fructui sunt⁶¹ conservaveritis⁶² non solum, ut ante dixi, calamitate sed etiam calamitatis formidine liberatos?

[17] 7 ac ne illud quidem vobis neglegendum est quod mihi ego extremum proposueram, cum essem de belli genere⁶³ dicturus, quod ad multorum bona civium Romanorum pertinet; quorum vobis pro vestra sapientia, Quirites, habenda est ratio diligenter. nam et publicani, homines honestissimi atque⁶⁴ ornatissimi, suas rationes et copias in illam provinciam contulerunt, quorum ipsorum per se res et fortunae vobis curae esse debent. etenim, si vectigalia nervos esse rei publicae semper duximus, eum certe ordinem qui exercet illa firmamentum ceterorum ordinum recte esse⁶⁵ dicemus.

[18] deinde ex ceteris⁶⁶ ordinibus homines gnavi⁶⁷ atque industrii partim ipsi in Asia negotiantur, quibus vos absentibus consulere debetis, partim eorum⁶⁸ in ea provincia pecunias magnas conlocatas habent. est igitur humanitatis vestrae magnum numerum civium⁶⁹ calamitate prohibere, sapientiae videre multorum civium calamitatem a re publica⁷⁰ seiunctam esse non posse. etenim illud primum⁷¹ parvi⁷² refert, vos⁷³ publicanis amissa⁷⁴ vectigalia postea victoria reciperare; neque enim isdem redimendi facultas erit propter calamitatem neque aliis voluntas propter timorem.

[19] deinde quod nos⁷⁵ eadem Asia atque idem iste Mithridates initio belli Asiatici docuit, id quidem⁷⁶ certe calamitate docti memoria retinere debemus. nam tum, cum⁷⁷ in Asia magnas permulti res amiserunt⁷⁸, scimus Romae solutione impedita fidem concidisse. non enim possunt una in civitate multi rem ac fortunas amittere ut non pluris secum in eandem trahant calamitatem: a quo periculo prohibete rem publicam. etenim — mihi⁷⁹ credite id quod ipsi videtis — haec fides atque haec ratio pecuniarum quae Romae, quae in foro versatur, implicata⁸⁰ est cum illis pecuniis Asiaticis et cohaeret; ruere illa non possunt ut haec non eodem labefacta motu concidant. qua re videte num⁸¹ dubitandum vobis sit omni studio ad id bellum incumbere in quo gloria nominis vestri, salus sociorum, vectigalia maxima, fortunae plurimorum civium coniunctae⁸² cum re publica defendantur.

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.) — 6 focus

[6]
You see what the case is; now consider what you ought to do. It seems to me that I ought to speak in the first place of the sort of war that exists; in the second place, of its importance; and lastly, of the selection of a general. The kind of war is such as ought above all others to excite and inflame your minds to a determination to persevere in it. It is a war in which the glory of the Roman people is at stake; that glory which has been handed down to you from your ancestors, great indeed in everything, but most especially in military affairs. The safety of our friends and allies is at stake, in behalf of which your ancestors have waged many most important wars. The most certain and the largest revenues of the Roman people are at stake; and if they be lost, you will be at a loss for the luxuries of peace, and the sinews of war. The property of many citizens is at stake, which you ought greatly to regard, both for your own sake, and for that of the republic

[7]
And since you have at all times been covetous of glory and greedy of praise beyond all other nations, you have to wipe out that stain, received in the former Mithridates War, which has now fixed itself deeply and eaten its way into the Roman name, the stain arising from the fact that he, who in one day marked down by one order, and one single letter, all the Roman citizens in all Asia , scattered as they were over so many cities, for slaughter and butchery, has not only never yet suffered any chastisement worthy of his wickedness, but now, twenty-three years after that time, is still a king, and a king in such a way that he is not content to hide himself in Pontus , or in the recesses of Cappadocia , but he seeks to emerge from his hereditary kingdom, and to range among your revenues, in the broad light of Asia .

[8] Indeed up to this time your generals have been, contending with the king so as to carry off tokens of victory rather than actual victory. Lucius Sulla has triumphed, Lucius Murena has triumphed over Mithridates, two most gallant men, and most consummate generals; but yet they have triumphed in such a way that he, though routed and defeated, was still king. Not but what praise is to be given to those generals for what they did. Pardon must be conceded to them for what they left undone; because the republic recalled Sulla from that war into Italy , and Sulla recalled Murena.

[9]
But Mithridates employed all the time which he had left to him, not in forgetting the old war, but in preparing for a new one; and, after he had built and equipped very large fleets, and had got together mighty armies from every nation he could, and had pretended to be preparing war against the tribes of the Bosphorus, his neighbours, sent ambassadors and letters as far as Spain to those chiefs with whom we were at war at the time, in order that, as you would by that means have war waged against you in the two parts of the world the furthest separated and most remote of all from one another, by two separate enemies warring against you with one uniform plan, you, hampered by the double enmity, might find that you were fighting for the empire itself.

[10] However; the danger on one side, the danger from Sertorius and from Spain , which had much the most solid foundation and the most formidable strength, was warded off by the divine wisdom and extraordinary valour of Cnaeus Pompeius. And on the other side of the empire, affairs were so managed by Lucilius Lucullus, that most illustrious of men, that the beginning, of all those achievements in those countries, great and eminent as they were, deserve to be attributed not to his good fortune but to his valour; but the latter events which have taken place lately, ought to be imputed not to his fault, but to his ill-fortune. However, of Lucullus I will speak hereafter, and I will speak, O Romans, in such a manner, that his true glory shall not appear to be at all disparaged by my pleading, nor, on the other hand, shall any undeserved credit seem to be given to him.

[11] At present, when we are speaking of the dignity and glory of your empire, since that is the beginning of my oration, consider what feelings you think you ought to entertain. 5
Your ancestors have often waged war on account of their merchants and seafaring men having been injuriously treated. What ought to be your feelings when so many thousand Roman citizens have been put to death by one order and at one time? Because their ambassadors had been spoken to with insolence, your ancestors determined that Corinth , the light of all Greece , should be destroyed. Will you allow that king to remain unpunished, who has murdered a lieutenant of the Roman people of consular rank, having tortured him with chains and scourging, and every sort of punishment? They would not allow the freedom of Roman citizens to be diminished; will you be indifferent to their lives being taken? They avenged the privileges of our embassy when they were violated by a word; will you abandon an ambassador who has been put to death with every sort of cruelty?

[12] Take care lest, as it was a most glorious thing for them, to leave you such wide renown and such a powerful empire, it should be a most discreditable thing for you, not to be able to defend and preserve that which you have received. What more shall I say? Shall I say, that the safety of our allies is involved in the greatest hazard and danger? King Ariobarzanes has been driven from his kingdom, an ally and friend of the Roman people; two kings are threatening all Asia , who are not only most hostile to you, but also to your friends and allies. And every city throughout all Asia, and throughout all Greece , is compelled by the magnitude of the danger to put its whole trust in the expectation of your assistance. They do not dare to beg of you any particular general, especially since you have sent them another, nor do they think that they can do this without extreme danger.

[13] They see and feel this, the same thing which you too see and feel,—that there is one man in whom all qualities are in the highest perfection, and that he is near, (which circumstance makes it seem harder to be deprived of him,) by whose mere arrival and name, although it was a maritime war for which he came, they are nevertheless aware that the attacks of the enemy were retarded and repressed. They then, since they cannot speak freely, silently entreat you to think them (as you have thought your allies in the other provinces) worthy of having their safety recommended to such a man; and to think them worthy even more than others, because we often send men with absolute authority into such a province as theirs, of such character, that, even if they protect them from the enemy, still their arrival among the cities of the allies is not very different from an invasion of the enemy. They used to hear of him before, now they see him among them; a man of such moderation, such mildness, such humanity, that those seem to be the happiest people among whom he remains for the longest time.

[14]
Wherefore, if on account of their allies, though they themselves had not been roused by any injuries, your ancestors waged war against Antiochus, against Philip, against the Aetolians, and against the Carthaginians; with how much earnestness ought you, when you yourselves have been provoked by injurious treatment, to defend the safety of the allies, and at the same time, the dignity of your empire? especially when your greatest revenues are at stake. For the revenues of the other provinces, O Romans, are such that we can scarcely derive enough from them for the protection of the provinces themselves. But Asia is so rich and so productive, that in the fertility of its soil, and in the variety of its fruits, and in the vastness of its pasture lands, and in the multitude of all those things which are matters of exportation, it is greatly superior to all other countries. Therefore, O Romans, this province, if you have any regard for what tends to your advantage in time of war, and to your dignity in time of peace, must be defended by you, not only from all calamity, but from all fear of calamity.

[15] For in other matters when calamity comes on one, then damage is sustained; but in the case of revenues, not only the arrival of evil, but the bare dread of it, brings disaster. For when the troops of the enemy are not far off, even though no actual irruption takes place, still the flocks are abandoned, agriculture is relinquished, the sailing of merchants is at an end. And accordingly, neither from harbour dues, nor from tenths, nor from the tax on pasture lands, can any revenue be maintained. And therefore it often happens that the produce of an entire year is lost by one rumour of danger, and by one alarm of war.

[16] What do you think ought to be the feelings of those who pay us tribute, or of those who get it in, and exact it, when two kings with very numerous armies are all but on the spot? when one inroad of cavalry may in a very short time carry off the revenue of a whole year? when the publicans think that they retain the large households of slaves which they have in the salt-works, in the fields, in the harbours, and custom-houses, at the greatest risk? Do you think that you can enjoy these advantages unless you preserve those men who are productive to you, free not only, as I said before, from calamity, but even from the dread of calamity?

[17]
And even this must not be neglected by you, which I had proposed to myself as the last thing to be mentioned, when I was to speak of the kind of war, for it concerns the property of many Roman citizens; whom you, as becomes your wisdom, O Romans, must regard with the most careful solicitude. The publicans, ¹ most honourable and accomplished men, have taken all their resources and all their wealth into that province; and their property and fortunes ought, by themselves, to be an object of your special care. In truth, if we have always considered the revenues as the sinews of the republic, certainly we shall be right if we call that order of men which collects them, the prop and support of all the other orders.

[18] In the next place, clever and industrious men, of all the other orders of the state, are some of them actually trading themselves in Asia , and you ought to show a regard for their interests in their absence; and others of them have large sums invested in that province. It will, therefore become your humanity to protect a large number of those citizens from misfortune; it will become your wisdom to perceive that the misfortune of many citizens cannot be separated from the misfortune of the republic. In truth, firstly, it is of but little consequence for you afterwards to recover for the publicans revenues which have been once lost; for the same men have not afterwards the same power of contracting for them, and others have not the inclination, through fear.

[19] In the next place, that which the same Asia , and that same Mithridates taught us, at the beginning of the Asiatic war that, at all events, we, having learnt by disaster, ought to keep in our recollection. For we know that then, when many had lost large fortunes in Asia , all credit failed at Rome , from payments being hindered. For it is not possible for many men to lose their property and fortunes in one city, without drawing many along with them into the same vortex of disaster. But do you now preserve the republic from this misfortune; and believe me, (you yourselves see that it is the case,) this credit, and this state of the money-market which exists at Rome and in the forum, is bound up with, and is inseparable from, those fortunes which are invested in Asia . Those fortunes cannot fall without credit here being undermined by the came blow, and perishing along with them. Consider, then, whether you ought to hesitate to apply yourselves with all zeal to that war, in which the glory of your name, the safety of your allies, your greatest revenues, and the fortunes of numbers of your citizens, will be protected at the same time as the republic.

James Bradstreet Greenough Notes on The Manilian Law III.6_19.summary

ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge

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