[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.
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