THE last serious resistance to the Roman power in the East was offered by Mithridates VI., king of Pontus, the most formidable enemy encountered by Rome since the death of Hannibal. The dominions of Mithridates embraced the whole eastern coast of the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus), including the kingdom of Bosporus (Crimea) on the one hand, and Paphlagonia on the other, while the king of Armenia also was closely allied to him by marriage. There were three several "Mithridatic Wars." In the First the Romans were commanded by Sulla (88-84 B.C.), who gained great successes, and forced Mithridates to pay a large sum of money. In the Second (83-82), a short and unimportant affair, Murena, the Roman commander, was worsted. The Third broke out B.C. 74, and was successfully conducted by Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the ablest general of the aristocracy.

When this war had continued for several years, the democratic faction (populares) took advantage of some temporary reverses sustained by Lucullus, and of the unpopularity of his administration, to revoke his command and give to the consul of B.C. 67, M'. Acilius Glabrio (the same who had presided at the trial of Verres), the eastern war as his "province." The law effecting this change was proposed by

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.

QUA

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 comiti10 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