13.
[36]
This is the godlike and incredible virtue of that general. What more shall I say? How many
and how great are his other exploits which I began to mention a short time back; for we are
not only to seek for skill in war in a consummate and perfect general, but there are many
other eminent qualities which are the satellites and companions of this virtue. And first of
all, how great should be the incorruptibility of generals! How great should be their
moderation in everything! How perfect their good faith! How universal should be their
affability! how brilliant their genius! how tender their humanity! And let us briefly consider
to what extent these qualities exist in Cnaeus Pompeius. For they are all of the highest
importance, O Romans, but yet they are to be seen and ascertained more by comparison with the
conduct of others than by any display which they make of themselves.
[37]
For how can we rank a man among generals of any class at all, if
centurionships 1 are sold, and have been constantly sold in his
army? What great or honourable thoughts can we suppose that that man cherishes concerning the
republic, who has either distributed the money which was taken from the treasury for the
conduct of the war among the magistrates, out of ambition 2 to keep
his province, or, out of avarice, has left it behind him at Rome, invested for his own advantage? Your murmurs show, O Romans, that you
recognise, in my description, men who have done these things. But I name no one, so that no
one can be angry with me, without making confession beforehand of his own malpractices. But
who is there who is ignorant what terrible distresses our armies suffer wherever they go,
through this covetousness of our generals?
[38]
Recollect the
marches which, during these latter years, our generals have made in Italy, through the lands and towns of the Roman citizens; then
you will more easily imagine what is the course pursued among foreign nations. Do you think
that of late years more cities of the enemy have been destroyed by the arms of your soldiers,
or more cities of your own allies by their winter campaigns? For that general who does not
restrain himself can never restrain his army; nor can he be strict in judging others who is
unwilling for others to be strict in judging him.
[39]
Do we
wonder now that this man should be so far superior to all others, when his legions arrived in
Asia in such order that not only no man's hand in so
numerous an army, but not even any man's footstep was said to have done the least injury to
any peaceful inhabitant? But now we have daily rumours—yes, and letters
too—brought to Rome about the way in which
the soldiers are behaving in their winter quarters; not only is no one compelled to spend
money on the entertainment of the troops, but he is not permitted to do so, even if he wish.
For our ancestors thought fit that the houses of our allies and friends should be a shelter to
our soldiers from the winter, not a theatre for the exercise of their avarice.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
1 The Scholiast says that Cicero is here hinting at Glabrio the consul, or at the younger Marius.
2 Lucullus is supposed to be meant here as it is said that he had employed large sums in soliciting the votes of influential men, so as to be left in command of the province of Asia, in which he had amassed enormous riches.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.