Political Speeches (Oxford World's Classics) (27 page)

Was there any place at all on any coast during those years that was either so well defended that its safety could be guaranteed or so well hidden that it would never be noticed? Who ever travelled by sea without exposing himself to the danger of being killed or enslaved—having to choose between sailing in winter or sailing when the sea was infested with pirates? Who ever thought that a war so large-scale, so humiliating, so long-standing, and so spread out and dispersed could be completed either by any number of commanders in a single year or by a single commander in any number of years? [32] Was there a single province that you
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succeeded in keeping free of pirates in all those years? Was there any revenue of yours that was secure? Was there any ally that you kept safe? Did your navy protect anyone? How many islands do you imagine were abandoned, how many cities of your allies emptied by fear or captured by the pirates?
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But why am I talking about things that happened far away? There was once a time when the Roman people used typically to conduct their wars in distant lands, and use the bulwarks of their power for the defence of their allies, not of their own homes. Do I need to point out that the seas were closed to your allies during those years, when your armies never made the crossing from Brundisium
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except in the depths of winter? Do I need to bewail the fact that people sent to you from foreign countries were taken prisoner, when even envoys of the Roman people were ransomed? Do I need to point out that the sea was not safe for merchants, when twelve axes
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fell into the hands of the pirates? [33] Do I need to mention the famous cities of Cnidus, Colophon, or Samos, or the countless others that were captured, when you are well aware that your own ports—those ports through which you draw life and breath—have been in the hands of the pirates? Can you be unaware that the busy port of Caieta, when it was full of ships, was sacked by the pirates under the eyes of the praetor, while the children of a man who had previously fought a war against the pirates were kidnapped by pirates at Misenum?
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Why should I bewail that setback at Ostia
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which brought shame and
disgrace on our country, when virtually under your very eyes a fleet actually commanded by a consul of the Roman people was captured and sunk by the pirates?

Immortal gods! Is it really possible that the astonishing, superhuman ability of a single mortal man has brought such a beacon of light to our country, and in so short a time, that you, who only recently looked out on an enemy fleet at the mouth of the Tiber, now hear that there is not a single pirate ship within the mouth of Ocean?
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[34] You have seen for yourselves the speed with which he achieved this; even so, I should not omit to mention it. For who in their eagerness for doing business or making money ever managed to visit so many places or complete so many long journeys in as short a time and as rapidly as, under Gnaeus Pompeius’ leadership, that unstoppable force of war sailed across the seas? Although it was not yet the season for navigation, he nevertheless went to Sicily, reconnoitred Africa, and took his fleet to Sardinia, and, by means of strong garrisons and fleets, secured those three bread baskets for Rome. [35] Next, after strengthening the two Spains and Transalpine Gaul with garrisons and ships and sending further ships to the coast of Illyricum and to Achaea and the whole of Greece, he returned to Italy and fortified the seas on either side with the largest fleets and the strongest garrisons; and after that, on the forty-ninth day after his departure from Brundisium, he personally added the whole of Cilicia to the empire of the Roman people. All pirates, wherever they were, were either taken prisoner and executed or else surrendered to his—and only to his—power and authority. When he was in Pamphylia, people from as far away as Crete
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sent envoys to him to ask for mercy: he did not deny them the chance of surrendering, but demanded hostages from them. And so this war, so vast, so longstanding, so widely dispersed, unleashed against all peoples and nations, was planned by Gnaeus Pompeius at the end of winter, begun at the beginning of spring, and completed by midsummer.
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[36] Such is his astonishing, superhuman ability as a commander. But to turn to his other qualities, which I began to discuss a few moments ago, how great and how numerous they are! In an ideal, perfect commander, we should not look only for military abilities: there are many other excellent qualities which support and go with them. In the first place, what integrity commanders should have; then what moderation in everything they do, what good faith, what
graciousness, what intelligence, what humanity! So let us briefly look at these qualities as they are found in Gnaeus Pompeius.

He possesses them all, citizens, to the highest degree possible—but they can be recognized and understood more from a comparison with others
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than by being viewed on their own. [37] For what commander can count as a commander at all when centurions’ commissions in his army are and have been sold? What noble, patriotic ideals can we suppose are held by someone who has been so eager to hold on to his command that he has divided out among the holders of public office funds allotted to him by the treasury for fighting the war, or so greedy that he has lent out these funds at interest at Rome? I can tell from your muttering, citizens, that you know who the men are who have done these things. For my part, I am naming no one—so no one can be angry with me without admitting that he is one of those I am referring to. But is there anyone who does not know that this greed on the generals’ part has caused our armies to spread utter devastation wherever they go? [38] Just think of the tours which our commanders have made in Italy in recent years, through the countryside and the Roman citizen communities, and you will easily be able to infer how they act among foreigners. In recent years, do you think that more enemy cities have been destroyed by the arms of your soldiers, or allied states by their obligation to quarter them during the winter? No commander can control an army if he is not also capable of controlling himself; nor can he be strict in passing judgement if he is not willing to submit to the strict judgement of others. [39] It is said that, once his legions had arrived in Asia, no one who submitted to Gnaeus Pompeius was harmed by the hand, or even the footstep, of a single soldier in his whole army. Can we be surprised, then, that he surpasses all other commanders so completely? As for the way in which his soldiers behave in winter quarters, verbal and written reports reach us every day to the effect that not only is no one forced to spend money on the troops, but no one is allowed to even if he wants to. For our ancestors intended that the houses of our friends and allies should serve as a shelter from the winter weather, not as a shelter for greed.

[40] But think how much moderation he shows in other matters too. From where do you think he got his extraordinary rapidity, his astonishing speed in travelling? It was not because his rowers were unusually strong or because of any hitherto undiscovered method of
navigation or any new winds that he reached the most distant places as quickly as he did, but rather because he was not held back by the things that hold other commanders back. Greed did not deflect him from his chosen course and cause him to chase after plunder, nor did passion cause him to seek pleasure, or beautiful surroundings luxury, or famous places sight-seeing, or indeed work rest; and as for the statues, paintings, and other works of art which are found in Greek cities and which other commanders think are theirs for the taking,
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he did not even consider them worth going to see. [41] The result is that everyone in those places now regards Gnaeus Pompeius not as having been sent out from Rome, but as having come down from heaven. Now at last they have started to accept that there did once exist Romans who possessed the self-control that he does—something which foreign peoples had begun to suppose impossible, a myth without foundation. Now the splendour of your empire is beginning to shed its light on those peoples as well. Now they have come to understand that it was not for no reason, when we had magistrates of Gnaeus Pompeius’ moderation, that their ancestors preferred to be subjects of the Roman people than to rule others themselves.

Again, it is said that he makes himself so freely available to private citizens, and allows them such liberty to complain of the wrongs done to them by others, that although his standing is higher than that of princes, in his accessibility he seems on a par with the humblest in society. [42] His wisdom, too, and the authority and eloquence of his oratory—which is an element of the authority of a commander—you, citizens, have frequently had occasion to observe in this very place. As for his good faith, what store do you think our allies set by it when all our enemies, of every race, have judged it inviolable? And such is his humanity that it would be difficult to say which was greater—the enemy’s fear of his valour while they were fighting him or their gratitude for his mercy once they had been defeated. So will anyone hesitate to entrust this great war to him—a man who seems destined by some divine intelligence for the purpose of terminating all the wars of our time?

[43] Now authority is another factor of prime importance in the management of warfare and the command of armies; and I am sure no one doubts that the commander we are considering is preeminent in this too. Who is not aware how vitally important it is to
the management of a war what our enemies and our allies think of our generals—because we know that in such critical situations people are made to experience fear, contempt, hatred, and devotion just as much by talk and rumour as by rational calculation? What name, then, has ever been more famous throughout the world than his? Whose achievements have equalled his? On whom else have you bestowed such great and conspicuous marks of esteem—which more than anything else establish authority? [44] Do you imagine there is any region anywhere that is so remote that word has never reached it of that great day on which the entire Roman people packed the forum, together with all the temples which afford a view of this place, in order to insist that Gnaeus Pompeius, and he alone, be appointed commander in a war that affected all peoples?
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I do not intend to say any more, or use other commanders to demonstrate the importance of authority in war: Gnaeus Pompeius himself can be taken as the perfect example of every good quality.

On the very day on which you appointed him commander of the war against the pirates, grain, which had been extremely scarce and expensive, suddenly dropped in price and became as cheap as could hardly have happened in a time of prolonged peace and exceptional harvests—all as a result of one man’s reputation and the hopes he inspired. [45] And now, after the catastrophic defeat in Pontus which I reluctantly referred to a short while ago,
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when our allies were in a state of panic, the enemy’s resources and morale had recovered, and the province
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was left without adequate defences, you would have lost Asia, citizens, had not the good fortune of the Roman people so providentially brought Gnaeus Pompeius into the area at the critical moment. His arrival checked Mithridates, elated by his unaccustomed victory, and slowed the progress of Tigranes, who was threatening Asia with large forces. So who will doubt what his action will accomplish, when his authority has already produced such results? Who will doubt that with an official command and an army he will easily save our allies and revenues, when he has already protected them merely by his name and reputation?

[46] But look what it tells us about the authority of Gnaeus Pompeius amongst the enemies of the Roman people,
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when in so short a space of time they have all surrendered to him, and to him alone, from places so far away and so far apart; and when envoys from the assembly of Cretan states, when there was already a
commander of ours with an army in their island, travelled almost to the ends of the earth to find Gnaeus Pompeius and tell him that it was to him that all the states of Crete wished to surrender!
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And did not Mithridates himself send an envoy all the way to Spain, again to Gnaeus Pompeius?
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(Pompeius always considered the man an envoy, although those who resented that he had been sent expressly to Pompeius
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preferred to consider him a spy.) So you are now in a position to decide, citizens, what effect you think this authority will have on those kings,
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and on foreign peoples, heightened as it has been by his subsequent achievements and by the great marks of esteem which you have conferred upon him.

[47] It remains for me to speak about the quality of luck—something that no one can guarantee in his own case, but which we may nevertheless call to mind and take note of in the case of another. As is appropriate for a man speaking about something that is under the control of the gods, I will speak briefly and diffidently. In my judgement, it was not only because of their ability, but very often because of their good fortune that Maximus, Marcellus, Scipio, Marius,
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and the other great generals were granted armies and commands. For it is certainly the case that some men of distinction were helped towards their attainment of honour, glory, and great achievements by a kind of heaven-sent good fortune. But with respect to the luck of the man about whom I am now speaking, I am going to be careful not to claim too much. I shall avoid saying that good fortune was within his control, but instead will make it look as if I am doing no more than noting what has happened in the past, and expressing the hope that things will continue in the same way in the future. If I do that, the immortal gods will not view what I say as offensive or ungrateful. [48] I am therefore not going to proclaim his great achievements at home and on campaign, on land and at sea, and point out the luck that has accompanied them—how it is not just the case that his fellow-citizens have always agreed with his wishes, our allies always complied with them, and our enemies always obeyed them, but even the winds and the weather have always fallen in with them. This, though, I will say, very briefly, that no one has ever had the presumption to dare to ask the immortal gods, even privately in his own heart, for favours as numerous and substantial as those which the immortal gods have showered upon Gnaeus Pompeius. And not only for the sake of our common security and our
empire, but for the sake of the man himself, you ought to hope and pray, citizens, as indeed you do,
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that the luck that he enjoys should remain associated with him for ever.