[97]
Here, while you were praetor, Heracleo, the captain of the pirates, with four
small galleys, sailed about at his pleasure. O ye immortal gods! a piratical galley,
while the representative of the Roman people, its name and its forces were all in
Syracuse, came up to the very forum,
and to all the quays of the city. Those most glorious fleets of the Carthaginians,
when they were at the very height of their naval power, though they often made the
attempt in many wars, were never able to advance so far. Even the naval glory of the
Roman people, invincible as it was till your praetorship, in all the Punic and
Sicilian wars never penetrated so far. The situation of the place is such that the
Syracusans usually saw their enemies armed and victorious within their walls, in the
city, and in the forum, before they saw any enemy's ship in their harbour.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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