[67]
Do you think that there
is any rich city there, which will appear to those men to be peacefully inclined towards us?
The sea-coast, O Romans, begged for Cnaeus Pompeius, not only on account of his renown for
military achievements, but also because of the moderation of his disposition. For it saw that
it was not the Roman people that was enriched every year by the public money, but only a few
individuals, and that we did nothing more by the name of our fleets beyond sustaining losses,
and so covering ourselves with additional disgrace. But now, are these men, who think that all
these honours and offices are not to be conferred on one person, ignorant with what desires,
with what hope of retrieving past losses, and on what conditions, these men go to the
provinces? As if Cnaeus Pompeius did not appear great in our eyes, not only on account of his
own positive virtues, but by a comparison with the vices of others.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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