6.
[14]
Wherefore, if on account of their allies, though they themselves had not been roused by any
injuries, your ancestors waged war against Antiochus, against Philip, against the Aetolians,
and against the Carthaginians; with how much earnestness ought you, when you yourselves have
been provoked by injurious treatment, to defend the safety of the allies, and at the same
time, the dignity of your empire? especially when your greatest revenues are at stake. For the
revenues of the other provinces, O Romans, are such that we can scarcely derive enough from
them for the protection of the provinces themselves. But Asia is so rich and so productive, that in the fertility of its soil, and in the
variety of its fruits, and in the vastness of its pasture lands, and in the multitude of all
those things which are matters of exportation, it is greatly superior to all other countries.
Therefore, O Romans, this province, if you have any regard for what tends to your advantage in
time of war, and to your dignity in time of peace, must be defended by you, not only from all
calamity, but from all fear of calamity.
[15]
For in other
matters when calamity comes on one, then damage is sustained; but in the case of revenues, not
only the arrival of evil, but the bare dread of it, brings disaster. For when the troops of
the enemy are not far off, even though no actual irruption takes place, still the flocks are
abandoned, agriculture is relinquished, the sailing of merchants is at an end. And
accordingly, neither from harbour dues, nor from tenths, nor from the tax on pasture lands,
can any revenue be maintained. And therefore it often happens that the produce of an entire
year is lost by one rumour of danger, and by one alarm of war.
[16]
What do you think ought to be the feelings of those who pay us tribute, or
of those who get it in, and exact it, when two kings with very numerous armies are all but on
the spot? when one inroad of cavalry may in a very short time carry off the revenue of a whole
year? when the publicans think that they retain the large households of slaves which they have
in the salt-works, in the fields, in the harbours, and custom-houses, at the greatest risk? Do
you think that you can enjoy these advantages unless you preserve those men who are productive
to you, free not only, as I said before, from calamity, but even from the dread of calamity?
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