the tribune A. Gabinius, one of the most active demagogues of the time. Another law (lex Gabinia), proposed B.C. 67 by the same politician, required the Senate to appoint a commander of consular rank, with extraordinary powers for three years by land and sea, to suppress the piracy which infested every part of the Mediterranean, having its chief seat in Cilicia. It was understood as a matter of course that Gnaeus (or Cneius) Pompey, who had been living in retirement since his consulship, B.C. 70, would receive this appointment. Pompey accomplished his task with the most brilliant success, and in three months had the seas completely cleared. (See below, ch. xii.)

Meantime Glabrio had shown himself wholly incompetent to conduct the war against Mithridates, and early in B.C. 66, the tribune Caius Manilius proposed a law extending Pompey's command over the entire East. Power like this was quite inconsistent with the republican institutions of Rome and with the established authority of the Senate; so that the law was of course opposed by the aristocracy (optimates), led by Hortensius and Catulus. Cicero was now prætor. He was no democrat of the school of Gabinius and Cæsar; but on the other hand he had no hereditary sympathies with the Senate, and he probably failed to recognize the revolutionary character of the proposition and considered merely its practical advantages. He therefore advocated the passage of the Manilian Law with ardor.

The law was passed, and Pompey fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of his friends. He brought the Mithridatic War to an end, organized the Roman power throughout the East, and returned home, B.C. 61, with greater prestige and glory than had ever been won by any Roman before him.

The Oration on the Manilian Law was Cicero's first political speech. Till now he had been a public-spirited lawyer; from this time on he was essentially a politician, and it is not hard to see how unfavorably his character was influenced by contact with the corrupt politics of that day.

Q

Cicero's Reasons for Addressing a Political Assembly.

UAMQUAM mihi semper frequens conspectus vester multo jucundissimus, hic autem locus ad agendum amplissimus, ad dicendum ornatissimus est visus, Quirites, tamen hoc aditu laudis, qui semper optimo cuique maxime

patuit, non mea me voluntas adhuc, sed vitae meae ratio- 5

nes ab ineunte aetate susceptae prohibuerunt. Nam cum antea per aetatem nondum hujus auctoritatem loci attingere auderem, statueremque nihil huc nisi perfectum ingenio, elaboratum industria adferri oportere, omne meum tempus 5 amicorum temporibus transmittendum putavi. 2. Ita neque hic locus vacuus umquam fuit ab eis qui vestram causam defenderent, et meus labor, in privatorum periculis caste integreque versatus, ex vestro judicio fructum est amplissimum consecutus. Nam cum propter dilationem comitiIo orum ter praetor primus centuriis cunctis renuntiatus sum, facile intellexi, Quirites, et quid de me judicaretis, et quid aliis praescriberetis. Nunc cum et auctoritatis in me tantum sit, quantum vos honoribus mandandis esse voluistis, et ad agendum facultatis tantum, quantum homini vigilanti 15 ex forensi usu prope cotidiana dicendi exercitatio potuit adferre, certe et si quid auctoritatis in me est, apud eos utar qui eam mihi dederunt, et si quid in dicendo consequi possum, eis ostendam potissimum, qui ei quoque rei fructum suo judicio tribuendum esse duxerunt. 3. Atque illud 20 in primis mihi laetandum jure esse video, quod in hac insolita mihi ex hoc loco ratione dicendi causa talis oblata est, in qua oratio deesse nemini possit. Dicendum est enim de Cn. Pompei singulari eximiaque virtute: hujus autem orationis difficilius est exitum quam principium invenire. 25 Ita mihi non tam copia quam modus in dicendo quaerendus est.

The Situation in Asia.

II. 4. Atque, ut inde oratio mea proficiscatur, unde haec omnis causa ducitur,- bellum grave et periculosum vestris vectigalibus ac sociis a duobus potentissimis regibus 30 infertur, Mithridate et Tigrane, quorum alter relictus, alter lacessitus, occasionem sibi ad occupandam Asiam oblatam esse arbitrantur. Equitibus Romanis, honestissimis viris, adferuntur ex Asia cotidie litterae, quorum magnae res

aguntur in vestris vectigalibus exercendis occupatae: qui ad me, pro necessitudine quae mihi est cum illo ordine, causam rei publicae periculaque rerum suarum detulerunt: 5. Bithyniae, quae nunc vestra provincia est, vicos exustos esse compluris; regnum Ariobarzanis, quod finitimum est 5

vestris vectigalibus, totum esse in hostium potestate; L. Lucullum, magnis rebus gestis, ab eo bello discedere; huic qui successerit non satis esse paratum ad tantum bellum administrandum; unum ab omnibus sociis et civibus ad id bellum imperatorem deposci atque expeti, eundem hunc 10 unum ab hostibus metui, praeterea neminem.

Importance of the Mithridatic War.

6. Causa quae sit videtis: nunc quid agendum sit considerate. Primum mihi videtur de genere belli, deinde de magnitudine, tum de imperatore deligendo esse dicendum. Genus est belli ejus modi, quod maxime vestros animos 15 excitare atque inflammare ad persequendi studium debeat: in quo agitur populi Romani gloria, quae vobis a majoribus cum magna in omnibus rebus tum summa in re militari tradita est; agitur salus sociorum atque amicorum, pro qua multa majores vestri magna et gravia bella gesserunt; 20 aguntur certissima populi Romani vectigalia et maxima, quibus amissis et pacis ornamenta et subsidia belli requi

retis; aguntur bona multorum civium, quibus est a vobis et ipsorum et rei publicae causa consulendum.

Ill Success of the Former Wars in Asia.

III. 7. Et quoniam semper appetentes gloriae praeter ceteras gentis atque avidi laudis fuistis, delenda est vobis 5 illa macula [Mithridatico] bello superiore concepta, quae penitus jam insedit ac nimis inveteravit in populi Romani nomine, quod is, qui uno die, tota in Asia, tot in civitatibus, uno nuntio atque una significatione [litterarum] civis Romanos necandos trucidandosque denotavit, non modo 10 adhuc pcenam nullam suo dignam scelere suscepit, sed ab illo tempore annum jam tertium et vicesimum regnat, et ita regnat, ut se non Ponti neque Cappadociae latebris occultare velit, sed emergere ex patrio regno atque in vestris vectigalibus, hoc est, in Asiae luce versari. 8. Etenim 15 adhuc ita nostri cum illo rege contenderunt imperatores, ut ab illo insignia victoriae, non victoriam reportarent. Triumphavit L. Sulla, triumphavit L. Murena de Mithridate, duo fortissimi viri et summi imperatores; sed ita triumpharunt, ut ille pulsus superatusque regnaret. Verum 20 tamen illis imperatoribus laus est tribuenda quod egerunt, venia danda quod reliquerunt, propterea quod ab eo bello Sullam in Italiam res publica, Murenam Sulla revocavit.

Strength of the Enemy.

IV. 9. Mithridates autem omne reliquum tempus non ad oblivionem veteris belli, sed ad comparationem novi con25 tulit: qui [postea] cum maximas aedificasset ornassetque classis exercitusque permagnos quibuscumque ex gentibus potuisset comparasset, et se Bosporanis finitimis suis bellum inferre simularet, usque in Hispaniam legatos ac litteras misit ad eos duces quibuscum tum bellum gerebamus, ut, 30 cum duobus in locis disjunctissimis maximeque diversis uno