CICERO, _in Verrem_, ii. 5. 62.
[Linenotes: 1. +Consano municipe+ = _a burgess of Consa_, on the borders of Lucania.
22. +Lex Porcia.+ Pa.s.sed by M. Porcius Cato, 197 B.C., forbade the execution or scourging of a Roman citizen.
+Leges Semp.r.o.niae+, a code of laws pa.s.sed by C. Semp.r.o.nius Gracchus, 123 B.C. One of these declared it to be the sole right of the people to decide capital cases.
22-24. +O graviter desiderata ... potestas!+ Sulla (Dictator 82-79 B.C.) took from the tribunes _the right of proposing laws_, and left them only their original right of Intercessio or veto. In 70 B.C.
Pompeius, who had formally accepted the democratic programme, gave back to the tribunes the power to initiate legislation.]
+The Orationes In Verrem.+ Cicero, as patronus of the Sicilians, undertook the prosecution of the Senator C. Verres for his gross misconduct as governor of Sicily, 73-71 B.C.
B30
CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, 106-48 B.C.
_The Lex Gabinia, 67 B.C._
Converterat Cn. Pompei persona totum in se terrarum orbem et per omnia maior cive habebatur. Qui c.u.m consul perquam laudabiliter iura.s.set se in nullam provinciam ex eo magistratu iturum idque serva.s.set, post biennium A. Gabinius tribunus {5} legem tulit, ut c.u.m belli more, non latrociniorum, orbem cla.s.sibus iam, non furtivis expeditionibus, piratae terrerent, quasdamque etiam Italiae urbis diripuissent, Cn. Pompeius ad eos opprimendos mitteretur essetque ei imperium aequum in omnibus {10} provinciis c.u.m proconsulibus usque ad quinquagesimum miliarium a mari.
Quo decreto paene totius terrarum orbis imperium uni viro deferebatur; sed tamen idem hoc ante biennium in M. Antoni praetura decretum erat.
Sed interdum persona ut exemplo {15} nocet, ita invidiam auget aut levat: in Antonio homines aequo animo pa.s.si erant; raro enim invidetur eorum honoribus, quorum vis non timetur: contra in iis homines extraordinaria reformidant, qui ea suo arbitrio aut deposituri aut retenturi videntur {20} et modum in voluntate habent. Dissuadebant optimates, sed consilia impetu victa sunt.
VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, ii. 31.
[Linenotes: 3-5. +Qui c.u.m consul ... serva.s.set.+ Pompeius, consul with Cra.s.sus in 71-70 B.C., thought it beneath his dignity to accept a consular province, and waited in Rome as a simple citizen until an opportunity should be offered him to play an extraordinary part.
5. +A. Gabinius+, a client of Pompeius, a man ruined in finances and character, but a dexterous negotiator, a bold orator, and a brave soldier. In 57 B.C. did excellent service as proconsul of Syria.
6-9. +ut c.u.m belli more ... diripuissent.+ "For twenty years the sea had been rendered unsafe by these curses of human society." The commerce of the whole Mediterranean was in their power.
13-15. +sed tamen ... decretum erat.+ In 74 B.C. M. Antonius, son of the orator and father of the triumvir, was entrusted by the Senate with the task of clearing the seas from the corsairs. In spite of his extensive powers, the utter incapacity of Antonius, and the mismanagement of the Senate, caused the expedition to end in failure and disgrace.]
+Result.+ "The Gabinio-Manilian proposals terminated the struggle between the senate and the popular party, which the Semp.r.o.nian laws (133-123 B.C.) had begun. As the Semp.r.o.nian laws first const.i.tuted the revolutionary party into a _political opposition_, the Gabinio-Manilian first converted it from an _opposition_ into a _government_." --M.
B31
CN. POMPEIUS MAGNUS, 106-48 B.C.
_Pompeius clears the Seas of Pirates, 67 B.C._
Quis enim umquam aut obeundi negoti aut consequendi quaestus studio tam brevi tempore tot loca adire, tantos cursus conficere potuit, quam celeriter Cn. Pompeio duce tanti belli impetus navigavit? Qui nondum tempestivo ad navigandum mari Siciliam {5} adiit, Africam exploravit, in Sardiniam c.u.m cla.s.se venit, atque haec tria frumentaria subsidia rei publicae firmissimis praesidiis cla.s.sibusque munivit. Inde c.u.m se in Italiam recep.i.s.set, duabus Hispaniis et Gallia transalpina praesidiis ac navibus confirmata, {10} missis item in oram Illyrici maris et in Achaiam omnemque Graeciam navibus Italiae duo maria maximis cla.s.sibus firmissimisque praesidiis adornavit, ipse autem, ut Brundisio profectus est, undequinquagesimo die totam ad imperium populi Romani {15} Ciliciam adiunxit: omnes, qui ubique praedones fuerant, partim capti interfectique sunt, partim unius huius se imperio ac potestati dediderunt. Ita tantum bellum, tam diuturnum, tam longe lateque dispersum, quo bello omnes gentes ac nationes {20} premebantur, Cn.
Pompeius extrema hieme adparavit, ineunte vere suscepit, media aestate confecit.
CICERO, _pro Lege Manilia_, 34, 35.
[Linenotes: 4. +tanti belli impetus,+ fig. for _an attacking fleet of such force_, which from its size would ordinarily sail slowly. --Wilkins.
5-8. +Qui ... munivit.+ Early in the year (+nondum tempestivo ad navigandum+) Pompeius cleared of pirates the Sicilian, African, and Sardinian waters, so re-establish the supply of grain from these provinces to Italy.
14-18. +undequagesimo ... dediderunt.+ The bold Cilician seakings alone ventured to face the Roman fleet in the offing of Coracesium (at the W. frontier of Cilicia), but were completely defeated.
Forty-nine days (+undequinquagesimo+) after Pompeius had appeared in the Eastern seas, Cilicia was subdued, and the war at an end. "In all about 1300 piratical vessels are said to have been destroyed: besides which the richly filled a.r.s.enals and magazines of the buccaneers were burnt. Of the pirates, about 10,000 perished (+interfecti+); upwards of 20,000 fell alive (+partim capti--partim se dediderunt+) into the hands of the victor." --M.
22. +ineunte vere ... confecit.+ "In the summer of 67 B.C., three months after the beginning of the campaign, commerce resumed its wonted course, and instead of the former famine abundance prevailed in Italy." --M.]
+This was the first trial of rule centralised in a single hand,+ and Pompeius fully justified the confidence that was placed in him.
B32
THE THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR, 74-63 B.C. (2)
_Pompeius subdues Mithridates and Tigranes._
Pompeius interea memorabile adversus Mithridaten, qui post Luculli profectionem magnas novi exercitus vires reparaverat, bellum gessit. At rex fusus fugatusque et omnibus exutus copiis Armeniam Tigranenque generum pet.i.t, regem eius temporis, {5} nisi qua Luculli armis erat infractus, potentissimum. Simul itaque duos persecutus Pompeius intravit Armeniam. Prior filius Tigranis, sed discors patri, pervenit ad Pompeium: mox ipse supplex et praesens se regnumque dicioni eius permisit, {10} praefatus neminem alium neque Romanum neque ullius gentis virum futurum fuisse, cuius se societate commissurus foret, quam Pompeium; non esse turpe ab eo vinci, quem vincere esset nefas, neque inhoneste aliquem summitti huic, quem fortuna super {15} omnes extulisset. Servatus regi honos imperi, sed multato ingenti pecunia, quae omnis, sicuti Pompeio moris erat, redacta in quaestoris potestatem ac publicis descripta litteris. Syria aliaeque, quas occupaverat, provinciae ereptae, et aliae rest.i.tutae populo {20} Romano, aliae tum primum in eius potestatem redactae, ut Syria, quae tum primum facta est stipendiaria. Finis imperi regi terminatus Armenia.
VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, ii. 37.
+Context.+ In 66 B.C. Lucullus, of whom Mommsen says "hardly any other Roman general accomplished so much with so trifling means," was superseded by Pompeius. By the Lex Manilia Pompeius obtained, in addition to the extensive powers conferred upon him by the Lex Gabinia 67 B.C., the military administration of Asia as far as Armenia. "Never since Rome stood had such power been united in the hands of a single man." --M.
[Linenotes: 3-4. +rex fusus ... copiis+, i.e. in Lesser Armenia, on S. bank of R. Lycus, where Pompeius afterwards founded Nicopolis.
5. +Tigranenque generum pet.i.t.+ Tigranes had married Cleopatra, the daughter of Mithridates.
17-19. +quae omnis ... litteris,+ i.e. paid into the Roman treasury.
Cf. Lucan ix. 197 _Immodicas possedit opes, sed plura retentis_ | _Intulit_ sc. _in aerarium_.]
+The End of Mithridates.+ After his defeat at Nicopolis the aged king took refuge in his Northern capital of Panticapaeum (on the Cimmerian Bosporus). Here, when all turned against him, he took poison, 63 B.C.
"In him a great enemy was borne to the tomb, a greater than had ever yet withstood the Romans in the indolent East." --M.
+Syria made a Roman Province,+ 65 B.C.
B33
GAIUS IULIUS CAESAR (3)
A. _Curule Aedile, 65 B.C._
Aedilis praeter comitium ac forum basilicasque etiam Capitolium ornavit porticibus ad tempus exstructis, in quibus abundante rerum copia pars apparatus exponeretur. Venationes autem ludosque et c.u.m collega et separatim edidit, quo factum est, {5} ut communium quoque impensarum solus gratiam caperet, nec dissimularet collega eius Marcus Bibulus evenisse sibi quod Polluci: ut enim geminis fratribus aedes in foro const.i.tuta tantum Castoris vocaretur, ita suam Caesarisque munificentiam unius Caesaris {10} dici.
SUETONIUS, _Divus Iulius_, 10.
[Linenotes: 1. +Aedilis.+ As curule-aedile Caesar exceeded all previous expenditure. This was meant to secure the favour of the democracy, and gain the position of its leader, which was in fact vacant; for Cra.s.sus was never popular, and Pompeius was absent in the East.
+basilicas+ (as????? sc. ????a and st??: _regia_) = _halls_.
2. +porticibus:+ these acted as booths, in a grand fair, as we should say.
4. +Venationes+, here of the combats with wild beasts.
7. +M. Bibulus+, also Caesar"s colleague in his first consulship, 59 B.C.]
B. _Propraetor in Further Spain, 61 B.C._
Ex praetura ulteriorem sort.i.tus Hispaniam, retinentes creditores interventu sponsorum removit, ac neque more neque iure, ante quam provinciae ornarentur, profectus est; pacataque provincia, pari {15} festinatione, non expectato successore, ad triumphum simul consulatumque decessit. Sed c.u.m, edictis iam comitiis, ratio eius haberi non posset nisi privatus introisset urbem, et ambienti ut legibus solveretur multi contradicerent, coactus est triumphum, {20} ne consulatu excluderetur, dimittere.
SUETONIUS, _Divus Iulius_, 18.
+Context.+ In 69 B.C. Caesar was elected to a Quaestorship (the lowest step in the ladder of official life) and discharged his judicial duties in Further Spain with tact and industry.
[Linenotes: 13. +retinentes ... removit+ = _freed himself from his creditors, who were for detaining him_, by the help of sureties. Caesar is said to have borrowed from Cra.s.sus 830 talents.