17.
[50]
But, if Cnaeus Pompeius were a private individual at
Rome at this present time, still he would be the
man who ought to be selected and sent out to so great a war. But now, when to all the other
exceeding advantages of the appointment, this opportunity is also added,—that he is
in those very countries already,—that he has an army with him,—that there
is another army there which can at once be made over to him by those who are in command of
it,—why do we delay? or why do we not, under the guidance of the immortal gods
themselves, commit this royal war also to him to whom all the other wars in those parts have
been already entrusted to the greatest advantage, to the very safety of the republic?
[51]
But, to be sure, that most illustrious man, Quintus Catulus, a man most honestly attached to
the republic, and loaded with your kindness in a way most honourable to him; and also Quintus
Hortensius, a man endowed with the highest qualities of honour, and fortune, and virtue, and
genius, disagree to this proposal. And I admit that their authority has in many instances had
the greatest weight with you, and that it ought to have the greatest weight; but in this
cause, although you are aware that the opinions of many very brave and illustrious men are
unfavourable to us, still it is possible for us, disregarding those authorities, to arrive at
the truth by the circumstances of the case and by reason. And so much the more easily, because
those very men admit that everything which has been said by me up to this time is
true,—that the war is necessary, that it is an important war, and that all the
requisite qualifications are in the highest perfection in Cnaeus Pompeius.
[52]
What, then, does Hortensius say? “That if the whole power must be
given to one man, Pompeius alone is most worthy to have it, but that, nevertheless, the power
ought not to be entrusted to one individual.” That argument, however, has now become
obsolete, having been refuted much more by facts than by words. For you, also, Quintus
Hortensius, said many things with great force and fluency (as might be expected from your
exceeding ability, and eminent facility as an orator) in the senate against that brave man,
Aulus Gabinius, when he had brought forward the law about appointing one commander-in-chief
against the pirates; and also from this place where I now stand, you made a long speech
against that law.
[53]
What then? By the immortal gods, if your
authority had had greater weight with the Roman people than the safety and real interests of
the Roman people itself, should we have been this day in possession of our present glory, and
of the empire of the whole earth? Did this, then, appear to you to be dominion, when it was a
common thing for the ambassadors, and praetors, and quaestors of the Roman people to be taken
prisoners? when we were cut off from all supplies, both public and private, from all our
provinces? when all the seas were so closed against us, that we could neither visit any
private estate of our own, nor any public domain beyond the sea?
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