In Defense of the Proposed Manilian Law (M. Tullius Cicero)

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	In Defense of the Proposed Manilian Law Author: M. Tullius Cicero	Translator: C. D. Yonge
1	quamquam mihi semper frequens conspectus vester multo iucundissimus , hic autem locus ad agendum amplissimus , ad dicendum ornatissimus est visus , Quirites , tamen hoc aditu laudis qui semper optimo cuique maxime patuit non mea me voluntas adhuc sed vitae meae rationes ab ineunte aetate susceptae prohibuerunt . nam cum antea nondum huius auctoritatem loci attingere auderem statueremque nihil huc nisi perfectum ingenio , elaboratum industria adferri oportere , omne meum tempus amicorum temporibus transmittendum putavi .	Although, O Romans, your numerous assembly has always seemed to me the most agreeable body that any one can address, and this place, which is most honourable to plead in, has also seemed always the most distinguished place for delivering an oration in, still I have been prevented from trying this road to glory, which has at all times been entirely open to every virtuous man, not indeed by my own will, but by the system of life which I have adopted from my earliest years. For as hitherto I have not dared, on account of my youth, to intrude upon the authority of this place, and as I considered that no arguments ought to be brought to this place except such as were the fruit of great ability, and worked up with the greatest industry, I have thought it fit to devote all my time to the necessities of my friends.
2	ita neque hic locus vacuus fuit umquam ab eis qui vestram causam defenderent et meus labor in privatorum periculis caste integreque versatus ex vestro iudicio fructum est amplissimum consecutus . nam cum propter dilationem comitiorum ter praetor primus centuriis cunctis renuntiatus sum , facile intellexi , Quirites , et quid de me iudicaretis et quid aliis praescriberetis . nunc cum et auctoritatis in me tantum sit quantum vos honoribus mandandis esse voluistis , et ad agendum facultatis tantum quantum homini vigilanti ex forensi usu prope cotidiana dicendi exercitatio potuit adferre , certe et , si quid auctoritatis in me est , apud eos utar qui eam mihi dederunt et , si quid in dicendo consequi possum , eis ostendam potissimum qui ei quoque rei fructum suo iudicio tribuendum esse duxerunt .	And accordingly, this place has never been unoccupied by men who were defending your cause, and my industry, which has been virtuously and honestly employed about the dangers of private individuals, has received its most honourable reward in your approbation. For when, on account of the adjournment of the comitia, I was three times elected the first praetor by all the centuries, I easily perceived, O Romans, what your opinion of me was, and what conduct you enjoined to others. Now, when there is that authority in me which you, by conferring honours on me, have chosen that there should be, and all that facility in pleading which almost daily practice in speaking can give a vigilant man who has habituated himself to the forum, at all events, if I have any authority, I will employ it before those who have given it to me; and if I can accomplish anything by speaking, I will display it to those men above all others, who have thought fit, by their decision, to confer honours on that qualification.
3	atque illud in primis mihi laetandum iure esse video quod in hac insolita mihi ex hoc loco ratione dicendi causa talis oblata est in qua oratio deesse nemini possit . dicendum est enim de Cn . Pompei singulari eximiaque virtute ; huius autem orationis difficilius est exitum quam principium invenire . ita mihi non tam copia quam modus in dicendo quaerendus est .	And, above all things, I see that I have reason to rejoice on this account, that, since I am speaking in this place, to which I am so entirely unaccustomed, I have a cause to advocate in which eloquence can hardly fail any one; for I have to speak of the eminent and extraordinary virtue of Cnaeus Pompey; and it is harder for me to find out how to end a discourse on such a subject, than how to begin one. So that what I have to seek for is not so much a variety of arguments, as moderation in employing them.
4	atque ut inde oratio mea proficiscatur unde haec omnis causa ducitur , bellum grave et periculosum vestris vectigalibus atque sociis a duobus potentissimis adfertur regibus , Mithridate et Tigrane , quorum alter relictus , alter lacessitus occasionem sibi ad occupandam Asiam oblatam esse arbitratur . equitibus Romanis , honestissimis viris , adferuntur ex Asia cotidie litterae , quorum magnae res aguntur in vestris vectigalibus exercendis occupatae ; qui ad me pro necessitudine quae mihi est cum illo ordine causam rei publicae periculaque rerum suarum detulerunt ,	And, that my oration may take its origin from the same source from which all this cause is to be maintained; an important war, and one perilous to your revenues and to your allies, is being waged against you by two most powerful kings, Mithridates and Tigranes. One of these having been left to himself, and the other having been attacked, thinks that an opportunity offers itself to him to occupy all Asia. Letters are brought from Asia every day to Roman knights, most honourable men, who have great property at stake, which is all employed in the collection of your revenues; and they, in consequence of the intimate connection which I have with their order, have come to me and entrusted me with the task of pleading the cause of the republic, and warding off danger from their private fortunes.
5	Bithyniae quae nunc vestra provincia est vicos exustos esse compluris , regnum Ariobarzanis quod finitimum est vestris vectigalibus totum esse in hostium potestate ; ucium Lucullum magnis rebus gestis ab eo bello discedere ; huic qui successerit , non satis esse paratum ad tantum bellum administrandum ; unum ab omnibus sociis et civibus ad id bellum imperatorem deposci atque expeti , eundem hunc unum ab hostibus metui , praeterea neminem .	They say that many of the villages of Bithynia, which is at present a province belonging to you, have been burnt; that the kingdom of Ariobarzanes, which borders on those districts from which you derive a revenue, is wholly in the power of the enemy; that Lucullus, after having performed great exploits, is departing from that war; that it is not enough that whoever succeeds him should be prepared for the conduct of so important a war; that one general is demanded and required by all men, both allies and citizens, for that war; that he alone is feared by the enemy, and that no one else is.
6	causa quae sit videtis ; nunc quid agendum sit ipsi considerate . primum mihi videtur de genere belli , deinde de magnitudine , tum de imperatore deligendo esse dicendum . genus est eius belli quod maxime vestros animos excitare atque inflammare ad persequendi studium debeat . in quo agitur populi Romani gloria quae vobis a maioribus cum magna in omnibus rebus tum summa in re militari tradita est ; agitur salus sociorum atque amicorum pro qua multa maiores vestri magna et gravia bella gesserunt ; aguntur certissima populi Romani vectigalia et maxima quibus amissis et pacis ornamenta et subsidia belli requiretis ; aguntur bona multorum civium quibus est a vobis et ipsorum causa et rei publicae consulendum .	You see what the case is; now consider what you ought to do. It seems to me that I ought to speak in the first place of the sort of war that exists; in the second place, of its importance; and lastly, of the selection of a general. The kind of war is such as ought above all others to excite and inflame your minds to a determination to persevere in it. It is a war in which the glory of the Roman people is at stake; that glory which has been handed down to you from your ancestors, great indeed in everything, but most especially in military affairs. The safety of our friends and allies is at stake, in behalf of which your ancestors have waged many most important wars. The most certain and the largest revenues of the Roman people are at stake; and if they be lost, you will be at a loss for the luxuries of peace, and the sinews of war. The property of many citizens is at stake, which you ought greatly to regard, both for your own sake, and for that of the republic
7	et quoniam semper appetentes gloriae praeter ceteras gentis atque avidi laudis fuistis , delenda vobis est illa macula Mithridatico bello superiore concepta quae penitus iam insedit ac nimis inveteravit in populi Romani nomine , quod is qui uno die tota in Asia tot in civitatibus uno nuntio atque una significatione omnis civis Romanos necandos trucidandosque curavit , non modo adhuc poenam nullam suo dignam scelere suscepit sed ab illo tempore annum iam tertium et vicesimum regnat , et ita regnat ut se non Ponti neque Cappadociae latebris occultare velit sed emergere ex patrio regno atque in vestris vectigalibus , hoc est in Asiae luce , versari .	And since you have at all times been covetous of glory and greedy of praise beyond all other nations, you have to wipe out that stain, received in the former Mithridates War, which has now fixed itself deeply and eaten its way into the Roman name, the stain arising from the fact that he, who in one day marked down by one order, and one single letter, all the Roman citizens in all Asia, scattered as they were over so many cities, for slaughter and butchery, has not only never yet suffered any chastisement worthy of his wickedness, but now, twenty-three years after that time, is still a king, and a king in such a way that he is not content to hide himself in Pontus, or in the recesses of Cappadocia, but he seeks to emerge from his hereditary kingdom, and to range among your revenues, in the broad light of Asia.
8	etenim adhuc ita nostri cum illo rege contenderunt imperatores ut ab illo insignia victoriae , non victoriam reportarent . triumphavit ucius Sulla , triumphavit ucius Murena de Mithridate , duo fortissimi viri et summi imperatores , sed ita triumpharunt ut ille pulsus superatusque regnaret . verum tamen illis imperatoribus laus est tribuenda quod egerunt , venia danda quod reliquerunt , propterea quod ab eo bello Sullam in Italiam res publica , Murenam Sulla revocavit .	Indeed up to this time your generals have been, contending with the king so as to carry off tokens of victory rather than actual victory. Lucius Sulla has triumphed, Lucius Murena has triumphed over Mithridates, two most gallant men, and most consummate generals; but yet they have triumphed in such a way that he, though routed and defeated, was still king. Not but what praise is to be given to those generals for what they did. Pardon must be conceded to them for what they left undone; because the republic recalled Sulla from that war into Italy, and Sulla recalled Murena.
9	Mithridates autem omne reliquum tempus non ad oblivionem veteris belli sed ad comparationem novi contulit . qui postea , cum maximas aedificasset ornassetque classis exercitusque permagnos quibuscumque ex gentibus potuisset comparasset et se Bosphoranis , finitimis suis , bellum inferre simularet , usque in Hispaniam legatos ac litteras misit ad eos duces quibuscum tum bellum gerebamus , ut , cum duobus in locis disiunctissimis maximeque diversis uno consilio a binis hostium copiis bellum terra marique gereretur , vos ancipiti contentione districti de imperio dimicaretis .	But Mithridates employed all the time which he had left to him, not in forgetting the old war, but in preparing for a new one; and, after he had built and equipped very large fleets, and had got together mighty armies from every nation he could, and had pretended to be preparing war against the tribes of the Bosphorus, his neighbours, sent ambassadors and letters as far as Spain to those chiefs with whom we were at war at the time, in order that, as you would by that means have war waged against you in the two parts of the world the furthest separated and most remote of all from one another, by two separate enemies warring against you with one uniform plan, you, hampered by the double enmity, might find that you were fighting for the empire itself.
10	sed tamen alterius partis periculum , Sertorianae atque Hispaniensis , quae multo plus firmamenti ac roboris habebat , Gnaei Pompei divino consilio ac singulari virtute depulsum est ; in altera parte ita res ab Lucio Lucullo , summo viro , est administrata ut initia illa rerum gestarum magna atque praeclara non felicitati eius sed virtuti , haec autem extrema quae nuper acciderunt non culpae sed fortunae tribuenda esse videantur . sed de Lucullo dicam alio loco , et ita dicam , Quirites , ut neque vera laus ei detracta oratione mea neque falsa adficta esse videatur ;	However; the danger on one side, the danger from Sertorius and from Spain, which had much the most solid foundation and the most formidable strength, was warded off by the divine wisdom and extraordinary valour of Cnaeus Pompeius. And on the other side of the empire, affairs were so managed by Lucilius Lucullus, that most illustrious of men, that the beginning, of all those achievements in those countries, great and eminent as they were, deserve to be attributed not to his good fortune but to his valour; but the latter events which have taken place lately, ought to be imputed not to his fault, but to his ill-fortune. However, of Lucullus I will speak hereafter, and I will speak, O Romans, in such a manner, that his true glory shall not appear to be at all disparaged by my pleading, nor, on the other hand, shall any undeserved credit seem to be given to him.
11	de vestri imperi dignitate atque gloria , quoniam is est exorsus orationis meae , videte quem vobis animum suscipiendum putetis .	At present, when we are speaking of the dignity and glory of your empire, since that is the beginning of my oration, consider what feelings you think you ought to entertain.
12	maiores nostri saepe pro mercatoribus aut naviculariis nostris iniuriosius tractatis bella gesserunt ; vos tot milibus civium Romanorum uno nuntio atque uno tempore necatis quo tandem animo esse debetis ? legati quod erant appellati superbius , Corinthum patres vestri totius Graeciae lumen exstinctum esse voluerunt ; vos eum regem inultum esse patiemini qui legatum populi Romani consularem vinculis ac verberibus atque omni supplicio excruciatum necavit ? illi libertatem imminutam civium Romanorum non tulerunt ; vos ereptam vitam neglegetis ? ius legationis verbo violatum illi persecuti sunt ; vos legatum omni supplicio interfectum relinquetis ?	Your ancestors have often waged war on account of their merchants and seafaring men having been injuriously treated. What ought to be your feelings when so many thousand Roman citizens have been put to death by one order and at one time? Because their ambassadors had been spoken to with insolence, your ancestors determined that Corinth, the light of all Greece, should be destroyed. Will you allow that king to remain unpunished, who has murdered a lieutenant of the Roman people of consular rank, having tortured him with chains and scourging, and every sort of punishment? They would not allow the freedom of Roman citizens to be diminished; will you be indifferent to their lives being taken? They avenged the privileges of our embassy when they were violated by a word; will you abandon an ambassador who has been put to death with every sort of cruelty?
13	videte ne , ut illis pulcherrimum fuit tantam vobis imperi gloriam tradere , sic vobis turpissimum sit id quod accepistis tueri et conservare non posse . quid ? quod salus sociorum summum in periculum ac discrimen vocatur , quo id tandem animo ferre debetis ? regno est expulsus Ariobarzanes rex , socius populi Romani atque amicus ; imminent duo reges toti Asiae non solum vobis inimicissimi sed etiam vestris sociis atque amicis ; civitates autem omnes cuncta Asia atque Graecia vestrum auxilium exspectare propter periculi magnitudinem coguntur ; imperatorem a vobis certum deposcere , cum praesertim vos alium miseritis , neque audent neque id se facere sine summo periculo posse arbitrantur .	Take care lest, as it was a most glorious thing for them, to leave you such wide renown and such a powerful empire, it should be a most discreditable thing for you, not to be able to defend and preserve that which you have received. What more shall I say? Shall I say, that the safety of our allies is involved in the greatest hazard and danger? King Ariobarzanes has been driven from his kingdom, an ally and friend of the Roman people; two kings are threatening all Asia, who are not only most hostile to you, but also to your friends and allies. And every city throughout all Asia, and throughout all Greece, is compelled by the magnitude of the danger to put its whole trust in the expectation of your assistance. They do not dare to beg of you any particular general, especially since you have sent them another, nor do they think that they can do this without extreme danger.
14	vident enim et sentiunt hoc idem quod vos , unum virum esse in quo summa sint omnia , et eum propter esse , quo etiam carent aegrius ; cuius adventu ipso atque nomine , tametsi ille ad maritimum bellum venerit , tamen impetus hostium repressos esse intellegunt ac retardatos . hi vos , quoniam libere loqui non licet , taciti rogant ut se quoque dignos existimetis quorum salutem tali viro commendetis , atque hoc etiam magis quod ceteras in provincias eius modi homines cum imperio mittimus ut , etiam si ab hoste defendant , tamen ipsorum adventus in urbis sociorum non multum ab hostili expugnatione differant , hunc audiebant antea , nunc praesentem vident tanta temperantia , tanta mansuetudine , tanta humanitate ut ei beatissimi esse videantur apud quos ille diutissime commoretur .	They see and feel this, the same thing which you too see and feel,—that there is one man in whom all qualities are in the highest perfection, and that he is near, (which circumstance makes it seem harder to be deprived of him,) by whose mere arrival and name, although it was a maritime war for which he came, they are nevertheless aware that the attacks of the enemy were retarded and repressed. They then, since they cannot speak freely, silently entreat you to think them (as you have thought your allies in the other provinces) worthy of having their safety recommended to such a man; and to think them worthy even more than others, because we often send men with absolute authority into such a province as theirs, of such character, that, even if they protect them from the enemy, still their arrival among the cities of the allies is not very different from an invasion of the enemy. They used to hear of him before, now they see him among them; a man of such moderation, such mildness, such humanity, that those seem to be the happiest people among whom he remains for the longest time.
15	qua re si propter socios nulla ipsi iniuria lacessiti maiores nostri cum Antiocho , cum Philippo , cum Aetolis , cum Poenis bella gesserunt , quanto vos studiosius convenit iniuriis provocatos sociorum salutem una cum imperi vestri dignitate defendere , praesertim cum de maximis vestris vectigalibus agatur ? nam ceterarum provinciarum vectigalia , Quirites , tanta sunt ut eis ad ipsas provincias tuendas vix contenti esse possimus , Asia vero tam opima est ac fertilis ut et ubertate agrorum et varietate fructuum et magnitudine pastionis et multitudine earum rerum quae exportentur facile omnibus terris antecellat . itaque haec vobis provincia , Quirites , si et belli utilitatem et pacis dignitatem retinere voltis , non modo a calamitate sed etiam a metu calamitatis est defendenda .	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.
16	nam in ceteris rebus cum venit calamitas , tum detrimentum accipitur ; at in vectigalibus non solum adventus mali sed etiam metus ipse adfert calamitatem . nam cum hostium copiae non longe absunt , etiam si inruptio nulla facta est , tamen pecua relinquuntur , agri cultura deseritur , mercatorum navigatio conquiescit . ita neque ex portu neque ex decumis neque ex scriptura vectigal conservari potest ; qua re saepe totius anni fructus uno rumore periculi atque uno belli terrore amittitur .	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.
17	quo tandem igitur animo esse existimatis aut eos qui vectigalia nobis pensitant , aut eos qui exercent atque exigunt , cum duo reges cum maximis copiis propter adsint , cum una excursio equitatus perbrevi tempore totius anni vectigal auferre possit , cum publicani familias maximas quas in salinis habent , quas in agris , quas in portibus atque in custodiis magno periculo se habere arbitrentur ? putatisne vos illis rebus frui posse , nisi eos qui vobis fructui sunt conservaveritis non solum , ut ante dixi , calamitate sed etiam calamitatis formidine liberatos ?	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?
18	ac ne illud quidem vobis neglegendum est quod mihi ego extremum proposueram , cum essem de belli genere dicturus , quod ad multorum bona civium Romanorum pertinet ; quorum vobis pro vestra sapientia , Quirites , habenda est ratio diligenter . nam et publicani , homines honestissimi atque ornatissimi , suas rationes et copias in illam provinciam contulerunt , quorum ipsorum per se res et fortunae vobis curae esse debent . etenim , si vectigalia nervos esse rei publicae semper duximus , eum certe ordinem qui exercet illa firmamentum ceterorum ordinum recte esse dicemus .	And even this must not be neglected by you, which I had proposed to myself as the last thing to be mentioned, when I was to speak of the kind of war, for it concerns the property of many Roman citizens; whom you, as becomes your wisdom, O Romans, must regard with the most careful solicitude. The publicans, most honourable and accomplished men, have taken all their resources and all their wealth into that province; and their property and fortunes ought, by themselves, to be an object of your special care. In truth, if we have always considered the revenues as the sinews of the republic, certainly we shall be right if we call that order of men which collects them, the prop and support of all the other orders.
19	deinde ex ceteris ordinibus homines gnavi atque industrii partim ipsi in Asia negotiantur , quibus vos absentibus consulere debetis , partim eorum in ea provincia pecunias magnas conlocatas habent . est igitur humanitatis vestrae magnum numerum civium calamitate prohibere , sapientiae videre multorum civium calamitatem a re publica seiunctam esse non posse . etenim illud primum parvi refert , vos publicanis amissa vectigalia postea victoria reciperare ; neque enim isdem redimendi facultas erit propter calamitatem neque aliis voluntas propter timorem .	In the next place, clever and industrious men, of all the other orders of the state, are some of them actually trading themselves in Asia, and you ought to show a regard for their interests in their absence; and others of them have large sums invested in that province. It will, therefore become your humanity to protect a large number of those citizens from misfortune; it will become your wisdom to perceive that the misfortune of many citizens cannot be separated from the misfortune of the republic. In truth, firstly, it is of but little consequence for you afterwards to recover for the publicans revenues which have been once lost; for the same men have not afterwards the same power of contracting for them, and others have not the inclination, through fear.
20	deinde quod nos eadem Asia atque idem iste Mithridates initio belli Asiatici docuit , id quidem certe calamitate docti memoria retinere debemus . nam tum , cum in Asia magnas permulti res amiserunt , scimus Romae solutione impedita fidem concidisse . non enim possunt una in civitate multi rem ac fortunas amittere ut non pluris secum in eandem trahant calamitatem : a quo periculo prohibete rem publicam . etenim — mihi credite id quod ipsi videtis — haec fides atque haec ratio pecuniarum quae Romae , quae in foro versatur , implicata est cum illis pecuniis Asiaticis et cohaeret ; ruere illa non possunt ut haec non eodem labefacta motu concidant . qua re videte num dubitandum vobis sit omni studio ad id bellum incumbere in quo gloria nominis vestri , salus sociorum , vectigalia maxima , fortunae plurimorum civium coniunctae cum re publica defendantur .	In the next place, that which the same Asia, and that same Mithridates taught us, at the beginning of the Asiatic war that, at all events, we, having learnt by disaster, ought to keep in our recollection. For we know that then, when many had lost large fortunes in Asia, all credit failed at Rome, from payments being hindered. For it is not possible for many men to lose their property and fortunes in one city, without drawing many along with them into the same vortex of disaster. But do you now preserve the republic from this misfortune; and believe me, (you yourselves see that it is the case,) this credit, and this state of the money-market which exists at Rome and in the forum, is bound up with, and is inseparable from, those fortunes which are invested in Asia. Those fortunes cannot fall without credit here being undermined by the came blow, and perishing along with them. Consider, then, whether you ought to hesitate to apply yourselves with all zeal to that war, in which the glory of your name, the safety of your allies, your greatest revenues, and the fortunes of numbers of your citizens, will be protected at the same time as the republic.