M. TULLI CICERONIS

DE IMPERIO CN. POMPĒÏ

AD QUIRITES ORĀTIO

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. This speech was delivered in a contio, for the meaning of which see on Ad populum, II, Title, and Abbott, R. P. I. 164, 297. One of the most dangerous foreign foes with whom the Romans had to deal during the last two centuries B. C. was Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, 120-63. He was brave, energetic, unscrupulous and ambitious. By a long struggle he extended his kingdom until it included the territory on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Toward the beginning of the first century B. C. he turned his attention to western Asia Minor, part of which had become a Roman province in 129. Various disputes over the kingship of Bithynia, Paphlagonia and Cappadocia furnished Mithridates a pretext for occupying western Asia Minor, after which he gave orders for a general massacre of all Italians residing there. At least 80,000 perished. The Romans, who had previously determined upon active measures to expel Mithridates, were now thoroughly aroused and proceeded to the prosecution of the First Mithridatic War in 88. The command of their armies was intrusted to L. Cornelius Sulla. His campaigns were successful, and in 84 Mithridates was compelled to sue for peace, to give up 80 warships and all territory except his kingdom of Pontus, and to pay the Romans 3,000 talents. In 83 Sulla sailed to Italy, leaving two legions in Asia under Licinius Murena. Murena provoked Mithridates to a war fruitless for both sides, known as the Second Mithridatic War, 83-81. A period of comparative peace followed until 74, when Mithridates and his son-in-law Tigranes, king of Armenia, began the Third Mithridatic War. L. Licinius Lucullus, the Roman commander, gained many important victories, but in 68 his wearied and discontented soldiers refused to continue a war which, as they thought, only served the ambition of their general. With his troops he passed the winter at Nisibis in Mesopotamia, where they broke out in open mutiny. Encouraged by these

circumstances Mithridates and Tigranes resumed operations and won several battles more or less important over Roman lieutenants, Mithridates thereby regaining almost the whole of the territory taken from him. M'. Acilius Glabrio, one of the consuls of 67, was appointed to succeed Lucullus. The disobedience of the soldiers increased. Glabrio upon arriving in Asia in 66 did not assume command of the army of Lucullus, but went to his province, Bithynia, and there idly remained with the excuse that he must better prepare for such a contest. Meanwhile, in 67, the tribune Aulus Gabinius brought forward a bill giving Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus extraordinary powers for a war against the pirates of the Mediterranean, who for many years had preyed upon Roman commerce, hindered the importation of corn, and diminished the revenues of the state. In a campaign of three months Pompey annihilated the pirates and gained control of Cilicia, their stronghold, which was afterward made a Roman province. He was still in the south of Asia Minor in 66, when Gaius Manilius, tribune of the people, proposed that Pompey be intrusted with the war against Mithridates, as described.

1. Quamquam mihi semper frequens conspectus vester multō 1 iucundissimus, hic autem locus ad agendum amplissimus, ad dicendum ōrnātissimus est visus, Quirītēs, tamen hōc aditū laudis, qui semper optimō cuique maximē patuit, nōn mea mē ▸ voluntās adhuc, sed vitae meae ratiōnēs ab ineunte aetāte susceptae prohibuerunt. Nam cum antea per aetatem nōndum

Exordium: Why Cicero now first appears before a political assembly, §§1-3. 1. 1-6. frequens conspectus vester: 'the sight of you, thronging before my eyes;' conspectus = coetus, qui est in conspectu. hic locus: i.e., the rostra, the speaker's platform in the forum, so called because it was ornamented with the beaks of ships taken from the people of Antium in the Latin war, 338 B. C. ad agendum: sc. cum populo, a technical expression denoting the privilege of the higher magistrates 'to address the people in official capacity' on a law or measure. ad dicendum: refers to private citizens whom presiding magistrates might allow to speak from the rostra. amplissimus: 'most dignified,' 'most important,' 'most authoritative,'

used especially of senators, higher magistrates and their honors and offices, here of the place from which the magistrates spoke, for by reason of its long use and associations it added weight to what they said. ornatissimus: 'most honorable,' used in reference to distinguished persons, not necessarily magistrates. Quirites: for use see on Quirites, II. 1. 1. tamen prohibuerunt:'yet I have been excluded hitherto from this pathway to fame, which, etc., not by my wishes, but by,' etc. optimo cuique: 'to all the leading men,' in a political sense; only the leading men (principes civitatis Cicero calls them elsewhere) would be called to the rostra by the magistrates. mea me: for the juxtaposition cf. ego mea, IV. ó. 1.

huius auctoritatem loci attingere auderem statueremque nihil huc nisi perfectum ingenio, elabōrātum industria afferri oportēre, omne meum tempus amīcōrum temporibus trānsmitten10 dum putāvī. Ita neque hic locus vacuus umquam fuit ab iīs, 2 qui vestram causam defenderent, et meus labor, in prīvātōrum perīculis castē integrēque versātus,ex vestrō iūdiciō frūctum est amplissimum consecutus. Nam cum propter dīlātiōnem comitiōrum ter praetor prīmus centuriīs cunctis renunțiātus 15 sum, facile intellēxī, Quirītēs, et quid dē mē iūdicārētis et quid aliis praescriberētis. Nunc cum et auctoritātis in mē tantum sit, quantum vōs honoribus mandandis esse voluistis, et ad agendum facultatis tantum, quantum hominī vigilanti ex forēnsī ūsū prope cotidiana dicendi exercitatio potuit afferre, 20 certē et, si quid auctoritatis in mē est, apud eōs ūtar, qui eam mihi dederunt, et, si quid in dicendo consequi possum, iis ostendam potissimum, qui ei quoque rei fructum suō iūdiciō

rationes: 'plans.' ab ineunte aetate =ab ineunte adulescentia, 'at the beginning of young manhood,' i.e., after putting on the toga of manhood at 16. Cicero's career as an advocate began at 26. per aetatem: 'on account of my youth.'

7-9. huius auctoritatem loci: 'this influential place.' perfectum ingenio, elaboratum industria: 'fully developed by natural ability, and diligently worked out.' temporibus: for meaning see on I. 9. 10; used here for the sake of the word play with tempus in its literal sense. This use of a word in two meanings side by side is called traductio. et: 'on the one .. on the

10. neque hand this place has not other hand my labor has.' 11, 12. vestram causam causam rei publicae, balanced by privatorum. periculis: often used, as here, in the special sense of danger threatened by criminal trials; cf. temporibus, 1. 9. caste: 'disinterestedly,' i.e., without taking fees from clients, which was forbidden by law. integre: 'with fidelity' to his clients, i.e., without allowing himself to be bribed by opponents. iudicio:

'expressed judgment' in electing him to office.

13-16. dilationem: Three times the election had been adjourned after Cicero had received a large majority (primus), but before the list of praetors-elect had been completed. Such adjournment nullified what had been done and required a new start. centuriis: Each century cast one vote, as our states do when the election of a president is 'thrown into the house of representatives.' quid praescriberetis: i.e., quas vitae rationes. Nunc: opposed to antea, 1. 6.

17-19. ad agendum: see on 1. 2. honoribus mandandis: 'by giving me office' (see on I. 11. 20). vigilanti: 'wide-awake,' 'active,' 'energetic.' forensi usu: 'practice in the law-courts,' which were held in the forum.

20-22. utar, ostendam: sc. objects from the clause preceding them respectively. potissimum: 'rather than to any others,' here used of persons, and often of time and place; it takes its sense from the context. ei rei: i.e., dicendi facultati, 'oratorical ability,' for which si quid . possum, 1. 21, is a