Cicero 31 & 32 Flashcards
testes nunc vero iam omnes orae atque omnes exterae gentes ac nationes, denique maria omnia, cum universa, tum in singulis oris omnes sinus atque portus.
Witnesses, as it is, are now indeed all coasts and all foreign ethnicities and nations, finally all seas both in their totality and, on every single coastline, all bays and ports.
quis enim toto mari locus per hos annos aut tam firmum habuit praesidium, ut tutus esset, aut tam fuit abditus, ut lateret? quis navigavit, qui non se aut mortis aut servitutis periculo committeret, cum aut hieme aut referto praedonum mari navigaret?
Which place on the whole sea either maintained a garrison throughout these years secure enough to keep it safe, or was so secluded that it escaped notice? Did anyone set to sea without exposing himself to the danger of either death or enslavement, seeing that he sailed either in winter or else on a sea teeming with pirates?
hoc tantum bellum, tam turpe, tam vetus, tam late divisum atque dispersum quis umquam arbitraretur aut ab omnibus imperatoribus uno anno aut omnibus annis ab uno imperatore confici posse?
Who would ever have supposed that so great a war- so shameful, so ancient, so widely spread and fragmented- could be brought to an end either by all generals in a single year or by a single general across an eternity?
quam provinciam tenuistis a praedonibus liberam per hosce annos? quod vectigal vobis tutum fuit? quem socium defendistis? cui praesidio classibus vestris fuistis?
Which province did you keep free from pirates throughout these particular years? Which revenue was safe to you? Which ally did you protect? For whom were you a safeguard with your fleet?
quam multas existimatis insulas esse desertas, quam multas aut metu relictas aut a praedonibus captas urbes esse sociorum? sed quid ego longinqua commemoro?
How many islands, do you think, have been deserted, how many cities of your allies have either been abandoned because of fear or been captured by pirates? But why do I recall matters far away?
fuit hoc quondam, fuit proprium populi Romani, longe a domo bellare et propugnaculis imperi sociorum fortunas, non sua tecta defendere.
Once this was the case, it was characteristic of the Roman people, namely to wage war far away from home and to defend, with the bulwarks of empire, the possessions of the allies rather than their own homes.
sociis ego nostris mare per hosce annos clausum fuisse dicam, cum exercitus vestri numquam Brundisio nisi hieme summa transmiserint?
Am I to say that for our allies the sea was off-limits throughout these years, when your own armies never crossed from Brundisium except in the middle of winter?
qui ad vos ab exteris nationibus venirent, captos querar, cum legati populi Romani redempti sint? mercatoribus tutm mare non fuisse dicam, cum duodecim secures in praedonum potestatem pervenerint?
Am I to lament that those were captured who came to you from foreign nations, when legates of the Roman people were ransomed? Am I to say that the sea was unsafe for merchants, when twelve axes fell into the power of the pirates?
